Marilyn López is a philanthropic strategist and advisor who supports growing nonprofits in clarifying their work, strengthening strategy, and navigating growth, funding, and the systems around them.

She brings a bridge-building approach—helping organizations access the strategy, resources, and decision-making spaces that shape how their work is understood and supported, with a deep commitment to leaders navigating systems not built with them in mind.

With over a decade of experience across nonprofit and philanthropic sectors, Marilyn’s work sits at the intersection of adolescent development, youth civic learning and engagement, and equitable systems change.

In her current role as a Senior Program Officer at the Bezos Family Foundation, she leads strategy and grantmaking for a $70M national portfolio advancing youth civic agency and democratic participation. She partners closely with executive leaders and translates community insight into strategy and investment.

Marilyn is known for helping leaders make their work more visible, more legible, and more fully understood—without flattening its complexity or compromising its values.

Prior to her work in philanthropy, she spent seven years at Rainier Scholars supporting first-generation students and their families across the Puget Sound region. She has also held roles at BrightSpark, Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Houston, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Houston.

Her approach is shaped in part by her lived experience as the eldest of six in a working-class, mixed-status Mexican American family—navigating institutions, translating systems, and bridging worlds from an early age.

Those experiences informed her understanding of how power, policy, and access shape what becomes possible for communities—and continue to guide how she works today: listening closely, building trust, and helping leaders move through complexity with clarity and support.

She holds a Master of Nonprofit Leadership from Seattle University and a B.A. in History, with a minor in Mexican American Studies, from the University of Texas at Austin.