Hannah Odell

Director of Strategic Giving, TED

Hannah Odell is a nonprofit fundraising professional specializing in major gifts and cross-sector partnership development. She has served more than 80 nonprofits in her 15-year career and developed a proven track record of launching successful multi-million-dollar campaigns, securing first-time foundation grants, and optimizing fundraising operations. She currently serves as Director of Strategic Giving at TED, where she combines storytelling and strategy to design and implement individual giving initiatives across all donor levels.

Hannah has supported a variety of missions and organizations ranging from startups to nationally recognized brands with expertise in climate change, international development, economic equity, and education. As the Chief Growth Officer of the Global Warming Mitigation Project, she helped to increase the budget by 45%, double the size of the board, and build new institutional partnerships. She spent eight years as the Managing Director of NYC fundraising consultancy Hudson Ferris, where she served as the senior strategist for organizations such as Climate XChange, Reading is Fundamental, Mathematical Association of America, The Knowledge House, Lift Up the Vulnerable, and many more. In 2019, she co-founded a coworking platform for nonprofits called GreaterSpace and was featured in Yahoo! Finance and Bloomberg News.

She is the Chairperson of the Resource Development Committee for Central America’s leading human rights organization, Foundation Cristosal, and serves as an Environment and Clean Energy Advisor to Northeastern University’s Impact Investment Fund. She is Chairperson of the Hudson Ferris Advisory Board and provides fundraising counsel to Y on Earth as member of its Global Advisory Board.