We warmly welcome Jenny Krikava as our new community engagement manager. She’s already doing great things!

By Jenny Krikava, Community Engagement Manager, Community Foundation

Hi, I’m Jenny Krikava, the newest member of the community engagement team here at the Community Foundation. My primary responsibility will be to serve as the lead professional support for competitive grantmaking by the Basic Needs Giving Partnership.   

Jenny with Tobi

I’m proud to be from the Fox Cities and like to refer to myself as a boomerang. I was raised in Appleton, but after graduating from UW-Milwaukee I couldn’t get out of the state fast enough and moved to the beautiful Rocky Mountains of Colorado. I had an amazing experience living and working in Summit County, but my time away also gave me an appreciation of what a special community we have here in the Fox Cities. 

I moved back to Appleton in 2001 and have been a leader in the nonprofit sector for over 12 years, most recently as the development and marketing manager at Harbor House Domestic Abuse Programs. 

I am also a co-founder of a social enterprise funded through the Basic Needs Giving Partnership called JumpStart Auto Repair. It’s a garage for good in Neenah and owned by Harbor House and Christine Ann Domestic Abuse Services. 

The garage is open to the public with a mission to improve the auto repair experience for women and profits go to support survivors of domestic abuse.

Paul, Lukas and Jenny at Rockefeller Center, NYC

My entrepreneurial inspiration comes from my husband Paul, who co-founded Unity Snowboards based in Silverthorne, Colorado. He and I met in high school and we have a son, Lukas, who goes to Appleton North High School. 

We are a soccer family. Many of our weeknights and weekends are spent watching Lukas play and we love it when World Cup season comes around. We enjoy traveling and I fully embrace the title of official travel planner for my family.

I love the process of figuring out where to go and finding unique experiences off the beaten path.   

I love all things French and have a degree in French Language and Literature. I spent a year in France studying at the Université d’Orléans. Over the years, I have been fortunate to regularly return to visit my French family and friends and I look forward to my next trip in November. 

Jenny’s French “sister,” Evolene, in Paris

In my free time I like to keep up with my French through French language podcasts, radio stations, films and TV shows.  

“There is nothing new under the sun, but there are new suns.” – Octavia Butler 

I’m a big ideas person and energized by applying a future-thinking approach to addressing challenges in our community. I prefer to start with asking “what does a community that truly values everyone’s unique voice and offers equitable access to opportunity look like?” and starting from there to work toward solutions that take us beyond focusing on the problem to removing the barriers and re-building a stronger foundation.  

I’m very excited to contribute to the important work of the Community Foundation. I look forward to connecting our donors and funders to meaningful impact, empowering nonprofit organizations to leverage their unique value and expertise, and amplifying the important change the social sector is facilitating in our community.

What does a Community Foundation do? Glad you asked! Learn more here.