David Beckwith

David Beckwith is a consultant whose work focuses on organizational development, strategic planning, and community organizing for social justice nonprofits and philanthropic organizations. He is currently the principal of the Great Lakes Institute, based in Toledo, Ohio.

He has worked as a community organizer, trainer, and consultant to community groups since 1971. Until January of 2013 he was the Executive Director of The Needmor Fund, a national foundation based in Toledo, Ohio. He was formerly a Field Consultant for the Washington, DC based Center for Community Change; the founding Director of the New England Training Center for Community Organizers in Providence, RI; Field Coordinator for the Governance Task Force of President Carter’s National Commission on Neighborhoods; a Training Specialist with the national Legal Services Corporation in Washington, DC; the Director of the East Toledo Community Organization; a Research Associate at the University of Toledo’s Urban Affairs Center.