Tessa Vithayathil

In her role as a Senior Consultant for CommonImpact, Tessa helps bring businesses and nonprofits together via meaningful skills-based volunteering engagements. As part of this work, Tessa shepherds organizations and team members throughout the process, from design to implementation and evaluation. She connects private sector skills to public sector needs, ensuring that individuals across the spectrum are strengthening the local communities in which they live and work.

Tessa fostered her passion for social impact through experiences in fundraising, program management, and teaching. Before joining CommonImpact, she completed a year on the JET Programme, where she taught English to elementary and middle school students in Ishikawa, Japan. Prior to this, Tessa worked at the NYC Department of Small Business Services as part of the Customized Training team. In this role, she helped small businesses grow their bottom line and retain staff by managing a grants program for training and promoting talent. Tessa also worked on City Harvest’s Institutional Giving team, where she secured grants from corporations, government entities, and foundations to help fight hunger in New York City. At the core of these varied experiences is Tessa’s desire to help individuals and organizations grow their capacity for success.