“DBR is not about solving your last problem or even your current problem. It’s about equipping you to solve whatever problems come next for your organization.”
Since 1994, Samantha Bickham has been a change-maker and capacity-builder within the Gulf Coast region’s intricate network of foundations, nonprofits, and public, private, and community partnerships. She is the region’s principal partner for Frontline Solutions, a leading consultancy for national foundations funding impactful projects at the intersection of race and gender. She is an accomplished advisor on strategy, governance, and program management for nationwide projects demanding close collaboration between local chapters and communities. She has shaped strategy in the boardroom and C-suite, ensured delivery at the ground floor, and accelerated operational capacity at every level in between.
At a time when the social sector depends on bridging the gap between foundations, nonprofits and for-profit small businesses, Samantha Bickham brings an unrivaled track-record of helping mission-driven organizations achieve scale, elevate impact, and maximize potential.
Get to Know Samantha
Samantha launched DBR consulting in August 2005, exactly two weeks before Hurricane Katrina devasted our homes, communities, and families, and fundamentally transformed how we connect with each other to uplift our communities. Over the next six years, Samantha led the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation’s herculean efforts to steer financial resources, grants, contracts, and logistics to maximum impact; ultimately enabling 8,000 families to relocate back to New Orleans and 4,000 small businesses to resume their operations. By 2012, DBR had connected hundreds of communities across Louisiana and Mississippi to critical relief and redevelopment funds through the Louisiana Disaster Relief Fund, the Gulf Coast Funders for Equity, and the Greater New Orleans Foundation. The multi-billion-dollar size, scale, and complexity of these efforts firmly established Samantha as one of the region’s most knowledgeable experts and most influential voices on the complex intersection of foundation funding and nonprofit service delivery.
By 2013, Samantha’s work had attracted the attention of national visionaries like Frontline Solutions, a leading change-agent for foundations seeking to direct impactful funds to complex projects across multiple cities. She quickly became Frontline’s premier partner in the Gulf Coast, driving successful engagements for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Foundation for Louisiana, and the American Cancer Society. As the region’s reconstruction accelerated throughout the decade, Samantha led vital program development which drove community redevelopment, renewal, and rebirth.
- NOLA 4 Life Community of Practice – Strategic consultant for Frontline Solutions
- NOLA Fellowship Cohort – Facilitator for W.K. Kellogg Foundation
- 2025 Campaign for Black Men and Boys – Technical assistance and program management for 21st Century Foundation
- NEO Philanthropy – Program consultant
- Rethink New Orleans Schools – Fund development for Baptist Community Ministries’.
- Healthy Communities Roundtables – Strategic consultant for Frontline Solutions and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- Health Equity Community Project – Co-facilitator, community and institutes, for Frontline Solutions and the American Cancer Society
- Gathering of Leaders Conference – Coordinated site visits for Frontline Solutions on behalf Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
By 2017, Samantha was being regularly engaged for Board and Executive-level strategy, facilitation, consulting, and capacity-building. Her powerful theory of change – to help organizations engage, learn, and grow, soon transformed how foundations shape the outcomes they wish to create.
- Marguerite Casey Foundation – Financial consulting, board training, governance
- ExemptMeNow National Online Nonprofit Portal – Board Governance
- Campus Election Engagement Project (CEEP) – Staff Retreat
- NOLA4WOMEN Summit, 2018 – Facilitator for Gilbert & Associates
- Place Scan Community Conversations – W.K. Kellogg Foundation
- Equity Footprint Toolkit – Thought Leadership for Frontline Solutions
- Young Men Voices Have Power – Technical assistance and program management for Frontline Solutions and the Foundation for Louisiana
- Mississippi NAACP – Event coordination and site visit tours for Frontline Solutions
- Casey Family Programs Philanthropic Roundtable Project – Project management and consulting
- One Voice and Mississippi NAACP – Strategic planning retreat
- Scale Up – Business advisor at Urban League of Louisiana Women’s Business Resource Center
As a long-time thought leader in the region’s social sector, Samantha has years of proven experience championing programs which are only now beginning to receive the focus and investments they deserve: Social innovation, health equity, entrepreneurism, regional economic capacity, workforce development, and issues of importance facing males of color. She is a trusted advisor within executive and institutional giving circles, a trusted connector in the region’s most dynamic communities, and a trusted voice for staff-level trainings and seminars.
CV Highlights:
- B.S., Business Administration & Management, University of New Orleans
- 2014 Graduate, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program
- Life Fellow, Effective Leadership Program, United States-Southern African Center for Leadership and Public Values
- Fellow, Loyola University Institute of Environmental Communications
- Fellow, Metropolitan Area Committee Leadership Forum
- Fellow, Robert H. Hull Fellows Program
