Our Team

Carol A. Hass
President & CEO

Carol A. Hass is the founder, President and CEO of Community Works Consulting Inc. In this position, she manages a team of dedicated consultants who together secures millions in grant funding annually, provide tailored facilitation services for complex planning purposes, help grantmakers and philanthropists make strategic shifts, and offer a range of support designed to build the capacity for the nonprofit sector. Throughout her career, Carol has developed a reputation for creating inclusive environments where staff and volunteers thrive and produce high quality results.

Carol brings to her position more than 20 years of experience working and volunteering in and with community-based nonprofit organizations and philanthropic entities. Carol has served on numerous nonprofit boards, advisory boards, event production committees, grant review committees and panels, and strategic planning workgroups. She currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Dr. Yancey/Edgley Fellowship for Health Promotion, Physical Fitness and Community Health.

Our Valued Consulting Team

Bob Arnold
Director of Grantsmanship Services

Bob joined Community Works Consulting in 2022 as the Director of Grantsmanship Services. Bob began his nonprofit fundraising career in 2005 and has extensive experience managing all aspects of the grant lifecycle, from project design and prospecting to grant writing and reporting. He previously served as the Associate Director of Development for the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, where he was responsible for the museum’s entire grants portfolio, including more than 20 annual grants and several multi-million-dollar capital grants. Prior to his time at the Brooks, he served as the Associate Director of Grants & Foundations for Christian Brothers University, where he also earned an MBA in Nonprofit Management. He is a past president of the Mid-South Chapter of the Grant Professionals Association and a regular workshop instructor for Momentum Nonprofit Partners, leading a “Grant Writing 101” workshop. In 2021, he also became an Adjunct Professor in the University of Memphis’s Department of Public & Nonprofit Administration, where he teaches a course on grant development and management.

James E. Herr
Philanthropy Services Affiliate

Jim brings 20 years of experience in philanthropy and nonprofit management to his position with CWC. Jim was most recently a program officer at Annenberg Foundation where he worked across a broad portfolio of organizations and took the lead on the many funder collaboratives. As a program officer with the California Community Foundation (CCF), he focused on Arts and Youth Development programs. Before CCF, Jim led corporate philanthropy efforts for The Boeing Company and Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Jim served on the City of Los Angeles Human Relations Commission and is past Board Chair of the Southern California Leadership Network. He has also served on the boards of Liberty Hill Foundation, Visual Communications, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles, and East West Players.

Jim is a graduate of Leadership Southern California and participated in the Goodwill Cooperative Services Los Angeles Korean Leadership Exchange program. He was also selected as an American Leaders of Change Fellow through National Urban Fellows. He holds an MBA from Loyola Marymount University and an MLA and BA in Economics and minor in Political Science from Temple University.

A.J. King
Grantsmanship and Capacity Building Affiliate

AJ is a seasoned trainer, facilitator, and consultant with extensive experience working in a variety of nonprofit public health and social services settings. His diverse skills include advanced planning, writing, and presentation skills; program and curriculum development; evaluation; and grant proposal writing. Specific grant work includes proposal writing for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of State, California Department of Public health, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and numerous foundations.

Prior to joining the Community Works Consulting team in 2017, he served as Associate Director of the California HIV/AIDS Policy Research Center at UCLA and Director of Community Relations for the UCLA Center for HIV Identification, Prevention, and Treatment Services. For many years, AJ managed a federallyfunded national training program that provided capacity-building assistance to community-based organizations and health departments related to the implementation and evaluation of evidence-based programming. In addition, he has served as a program manager at various CBOs focused primarily on violence prevention, public health and social services. He holds a Master in Public Health degree from San Jose State University.

Agnieszka “Aga” Kunska
Grantsmanship Affiliate

Aga is a graduate of the Long Beach Nonprofit Partnership’s Grantsmanship Training and has served as a grant reviewer for the Long Beach Arts Council. She has seven years’ proven track record of crafting compelling writing that engages new funders and increases gifts for clients.

Prior to joining Community Works Consulting, she worked for 3 years in marketing and communications, and for 15 years as an award-nominated theatrical designer in Chicago and New York. She is a graduate of the renowned Yale School of Drama (Master of Fine Arts, 2003), where a study of the written word and its impact on an audience is an integral part of a rigorous 3-year training. Today, she finds satisfaction in applying her years of experience with storytelling to grantsmanship work that creates equity and opportunity for others. Her client relationships are shaped by her years of experience completing creative detailed work on deadline, while honoring an agreed-upon vision and input from a collaborative team.

Jean Miao
Philanthropy Services Affiliate

With more than two decades of experience in the nonprofit sector, Jean brings a global perspective to grantmaking and nonprofit program design. Her work in Asia and the United States has contributed to the advancement of organizations in a variety of sectors, from education, arts and culture to social services, public health, disaster relief, and social justice. She also brings insights into the needs and goals of donors, having spent much of her career assisting family offices and private foundations to achieve their goals through effective giving. Jean has worked at a number of philanthropic institutions, including The Ford Foundation, the Getty Foundation, and The California Endowment. She holds an MBA degree from The Anderson School at UCLA.

Roselma Samala
Philanthropy Services Affiliate

With over 20 years of experience in the nonprofit field, Roselma Samala offers advisement in the philanthropic field as well as grantmaking and strategic development. Her core areas include housing, arts, education, veterans, and mental health services. A native Southern Californian, she graduated from UCLA with a BA in Sociology and Asian American Studies, and later received her MBA from the Yale School of Management. Roselma also serves as Chair for the Center for Pacific Asian Family’s Board of Directors and received one of 25 national Leaders in Action Awards in 2015 from Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP).

Pat Wong
Grantsmanship and Capacity Building Affiliate

Patrice (Pat) Wong specializes in capacity building and grantsmanship services and joined the Community Works Consulting team in 2013. Her key strengths include infrastructure capacity building, strategic planning, program development, team leadership, program evaluation, and succession planning.

She previously served as the executive director of Long Beach Day Nursery, where she eliminated a long-standing structural deficit, and ensured the fiscal viability of this century-old organization. Pat is a true executive-level professional who has tackled many of the difficult problems that nonprofits face. She also served as a fellow at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. Her track record is backed by an MBA from the USC Marshall School of Business and a BA degree in social psychology from Occidental College. She has also completed executive education in Commercial and Industrial Development at the USC School of Urban and Regional Planning, and in Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Our Critical Support Team

Mike Davis
Bookkeeper

Mike joined Community Works Consulting in September of 2013, adding years of hands-on nonprofit experience to the team. An invaluable member of the team, he ensures that all our numbers add up and that projects stay on budget. Active in the industry since 1995, he has produced festivals, parades, annual conference and even rodeos, in addition to serving on various boards.

Aubri Kaesman
Administrative Manager

Aubri brings more than 25 years of management and administrative experience to the team, and has been known as the “Director of Order and Harmony” for Community Works Consulting since 2012. As office manager, executive assistant, and client liaison, she skillfully keeps our entire operation running smoothly. Before joining Community Works Consulting, Aubri worked in the design and construction industries. She holds a degree from The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising.