About Ziva Starr Raney

Ziva Starr Raney has a passion for excellence in nonprofit management, powerful leadership, and impactful philanthropy, which led to a 25+ year career in the nonprofit sector, most recently as a senior advancement advisor at the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America. Before joining Make-A-Wish, she spent 15 years as a Jewish professional in executive positions at both national and local organizations.

Throughout her career, she has successfully navigated challenges big and small. In 2008, as the new Development Director in a Make-A-Wish chapter, she successfully planned and led fundraising efforts that yielded the highest level of revenue to date during an economic crisis. She has been a guiding force for organizations turning around a failing situation to become leaders in their fields. As a board leader, Ziva has led through multiple organizational crises’ demonstrating resilience and fortitude even amidst the most challenging situations.

She has developed 8 Gates Consulting to bring her professional focus in strong governance, developing strategic frameworks, crisis management, executive coaching, and the design of effective fundraising strategies to other nonprofit organizations.

Ziva has served several years on the board and as President of Judea Reform Congregation in Durham, North Carolina; been on several chapter boards for Make-A-Wish, and volunteered on many committees for other nonprofit organizations. Ziva was recently honored to be asked to serve on the North American Board of the Union for Reform Judaism.

Ziva has a BA from the American University, an MPA in Nonprofit Management from Baruch College, CUNY, and a Certificate in Nonprofit Board Consulting from BoardSource.