Benton Murphy

is External Grantee Evaluator at Lever Fund. He has more than twenty years’ experience working in the charitable sector and currently provides philanthropic advisory and grantmaking support services to clients in the DC region, including Lever Fund. Benton recently left the Greater Washington Community Foundation after 17 years where he most recently served as Senior Advisor for Impact where he led its VoicesDMV initiative and managed a set of endowed funds, including the Spring Creek Fund, Joshua Community Fund, Catalyst Fund and LGBTQ+ Fund for Philanthropy. Previously, Benton led the Greater Washington Workforce Development Collaborative, a coalition of local and national funders, corporations and private donors who pool their resources to support employment outcomes for low-income Washingtonians. Benton has also served as Senior Program Officer at the Community Foundation, supporting grantmaking and community initiatives including  the Walmart Washington@Work work readiness initiative, The Washington Area Partnership for Immigrants, The Common Ground Fund, and The Collaborative for Education Organizing. Benton is a frequent lecturer on effective grantmaking and stewardship of philanthropic capital at the George Washington University, American University and the Foundation Center. Benton holds a master’s degree in Public Administration from The George Washington University and an undergraduate degree from the University of Washington, Seattle.