Buff Kavelman

President

Buff Kavelman founded The Kavelman Group Philanthropic Advisors (TKG) in 2007 to build strength and impact for donors and nonprofit leaders from many fields, including arts and culture, environmental conservation, public health, social justice, and global understanding. TKG’s clients range from start-up organizations to small family foundations and large institutions with years of global achievements. To date, the firm’s work has spanned over 60 countries in Africa, Asia, Oceania, Europe, and the Americas.

Buff is recognized for launching new initiatives, strengthening philanthropic strategies, turning around underperforming operations, and building effective partnerships. She began her career as a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, followed by senior positions at the American Academy in Rome, the Smithsonian, and Columbia University. With over 30 years of experience as a funder, board member, and nonprofit executive, she has a balanced perspective on philanthropy.

Before establishing TKG full-time in 2007, Buff served as Executive Director of University Programs and Events in the President’s office at Columbia, where she was also a member of the senior management team in University Development and Alumni Relations during a $4 billion campaign. Under her direction, Columbia’s World Leaders Forum was cited by The New Yorker as a leading center for international exchange of ideas on global challenges. She also created the Kraft Series for Interfaith and Intercultural Awareness which encouraged open debate on issues of religion in the public sphere.

Buff served as Director of Program Development at the American Academy in Rome, where she oversaw the Rome Prize Fellowship competition and all other public programs. She funded hundreds of communities across the country for the Design Arts Program of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and as Program Associate at the New York State Council on the Arts. At the NEA, she was on the founding team for the Mayor’s Institute on Design, which has been celebrated as one of the NEA’s outstanding initiatives that achieved lasting national impact and is now in its 30th year. 

She has volunteered on many nonprofit boards and advisory committees, including the Authors Guild Foundation, American Promise, Free Speech for People, the New York Philanthropic Advisors Network, Storefront for Art and Architecture, and the Women’s Media Center.

Buff was invited to lead the Council on Foundations’ national 2011 Family Philanthropy Conference session “How, When and Why to Work with Consultants?” From 2008 to 2022, she served on Philanthropy New York’s Membership Committee and co-chaired its International Grantmakers Network. Collectively PNY’s foundation and corporate members provide over $6 billion in annual philanthropic support on a national and global basis.

In 2023, Buff was asked to serve as a Global Ambassador for the Network of Engaged International Donors. In this role she is heading the organization’s membership activities in the New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and New Jersey region. 

Buff has participated on many grantmaking panels, including the New York Community Trust’s Nonprofit Excellence Awards, the J.M. Kaplan Fund’s Innovation Prize, the Architectural League of New York, the Utah State Council on the Arts, the Pew Trust’s Philadelphia Cultural Management Initiative, and the New York State Council on the Arts. 

An active community volunteer, Buff tutored public school children for over 16 years, worked as a Red Cross outreach and family service caseworker after September 11th, and was on the Race Committee for the Manhattan Sailing Club in New York Harbor. 

Buff received a B.A. in History of Art with high distinction and honors from the University of Michigan where she was elected to Mortar Board and Phi Beta Kappa. She holds an M.S. from Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Historic Preservation, where she also studied in the Graduate School of Business and was appointed Humanities Fellow at International House. In 2019 she was certified in Nonprofit Board Consulting by BoardSource.