Julie Shafer Davitz
Plus Media Solutions
Founder/CEO
LinkedIn Bank of the West/BNP Paribas Ceres
Julie Davitz is an impact advisor who leverages her knowledge of grant-making, development and impact investing with executive experience gained from over 20 years in these sectors. Julie Davitz is currently CEO and founder of Plus Media Solutions to democratize access to positive social solutions.
A California native with family roots in wine-making going back three generations, Julie’s upbringing and early life centered on community, agriculture and sustainability.
As the first Executive Director of the Silver Giving Foundation, Julie established donor/grantee relationships, supervised numerous community collaborations and facilitated board development. Keynote projects meant building public/private partnerships to support a new youth center in Hunter’s Point in San Francisco and establish an early literacy program that was adopted by the State of California. Julie convened regular gatherings of key partners to work through donor differences and shape a common mission.
As the Director of Development for the Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Julie worked directly with the Nobel-prize winning founder to implement a development strategy for research and capital – focusing on major gift markets. Operating with national and international donors, Julie made sense of the science and current research to create a compelling argument in support of the construction of a state-of-the-art facility in Mission Bay.
As the Founder of Julie Shafer Development + Philanthropy, Julie enjoyed the chance to turn generous donors into committed philanthropists and concurrently, offering opportunities to align philanthropic values with for-profit investments. She helped personalize giving and investment strategies for families, individuals and nonprofits through exploration of giving goals and motivations as well as risk and return.
As Head of Impact Solutions for BNP Paribas/Bank of the West, Julie specialized in advising UHNW individuals and families as well as foundations, nonprofits and corporations, creating strategies for effective, efficient and sustainable philanthropic and for-profit investing across the spectrum of capital deployment.
Julie holds a BA from the University of California, a MFCC from University of San Francisco, and is a certified pastry chef. She lives in New York City but travels frequently working with domestic and international clients. When she’s not in her office, on a plane or in the kitchen, she’s running through Riverside Park training for her next triathlon.