Lauren is returning to MPP after working as a frontline fundraiser for more than a decade in impactful nonprofit organizations.

She first got involved in the cannabis movement as a volunteer in 2013, and got her first fundraising job as a temp (and later, a Membership Assistant) at MPP shortly after. She joined the Students for Sensible Drug Policy team in 2014 and became SSDP’s first Development Director, growing the organization’s budget by 77% in 5 years. In 2020, she became a Development Officer for the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia. There, she played a key role in steering ACLU-DC’s fundraising strategy amid the COVID-19 pandemic and multiple major civil liberties moments. Most recently, she managed a portfolio of leadership-level donors at Brown University, where she raised over $5 million in support of University priorities.

Lauren studied psychology at Northeastern University, and spent some of her early career working in community mental health programs and the restaurant industry. She has also served as a board member for Source Research Foundation, which provides grants for academic research and community projects related to psychedelics. Outside of work, Lauren can usually be found enjoying a good (or a bad) TV show, baking for her family and friends, or spoiling her rescue cat.