Interview with Sara Reeves, PEAK Southwest Chair

Sara Reeves is an active member of the PEAK community! Read on to discover how she builds camaraderie and collaboration, her proudest PEAK accomplishment, and how she works to drive equity.

What is your favorite part of volunteering for PEAK?

My favorite part of volunteering with PEAK is the people. Interacting with the PEAK Southwest Chapter steering committee members and meeting other chapter / affinity group leaders from across the country has been a real joy. I have made great connections and great friends. Just as important to me, I love volunteering for PEAK because I love giving back to an organization that has given so much to me. PEAK's resources and community were invaluable to me, and I want to do my part to ensure the same resources and community are available to others.

What are you most proud to have contributed to or accomplished as a PEAK volunteer?

I am most proud of helping to reignite the Southwest Chapter with support from my then co-chair, Matt Levitt. Like many things, the Southwest Chapter went dormant during COVID, and I am so excited to see our revitalized chapter today with a steering committee of 10 people strong. It would not be possible without Pallavi Bharadwaj, Jess Diaz, and Abbey Doyle - who volunteered to serve as subcommittee chairs for the newly restarted chapter. In 2026, we will be passing the torch to the next group of leaders, and I could not be more excited about what is to come for the chapter.

What are your hobbies outside of volunteering?

I love sitting in a creek reading a good book. Or sitting on the back porch, reading a book. Or sitting in the backyard, reading a book. There appears to be a theme. I also go for long walks, eat delicious foods, drink mezcal-based cocktails, and write strongly worded letters to my representatives.

How have you used the Principles for Peak Grantmaking in your work to make grantmaking more effective and equitable?

I became a grants manager by accident. I was a grant writer at an organization that needed a grants manager, and "grant" was already in my title. Having fallen into a role without any formal training, PEAK was my tutor. I read every guide, report, and manual. A year into managing United Way's grantmaking, COVID happened. I was ready with a folder of PEAK materials that I could share with leadership as we developed entirely new rapid response grantmaking processes. "Drive Equity" was critical. At every opportunity, we reflected on the questions. Since I have character limits on my response, I want to highlight just two of those questions: What approaches can you use to mitigate the impact of bias on your grant decisions and bring a diversity of voices into grantmaking decisions? And how we responded: We recruited (and paid) community members to serve on a large, supported grant review committee. We did that with each of the questions to ensure our process was as equitable as possible

Follow Sara Reeves to learn more about her wonderful work!