Vadim Samorodov is the Program Manager of the Global Fund for Community Foundations, a recently established programme of the Worldwide Initiative for Grantmaker Support (WINGS) aimed at supporting community foundations in developing and transitioning countries.
Prior to this position, Mr. Samorodov was involved in community foundation development with the Russian office of the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF). During those five years with CAF, the knowledge about and the value of community foundations spread widely in Russia, and the number of community foundations grew from 10 in 2001 to 30 in 2007.
Mr. Samorodov graduated from the Moscow Civil Engineering University and received his Masters degree in Business Administration from California State University-Hayward.
The WINGS Global Fund is legally based at the European Foundation Center in Brussels and aims to become an independent grant-making foundation by 2009. Mr. Samorodov is currently engaged in designing approaches to raise the institutional capacities of community foundations in developing and transitioning countries and promoting the concept worldwide.