Sarah Kelley specializes in mobilizing integrated grants and impact investments to combat extractive industries and create more just and sustainable alternatives. With 20 years of experience working with foundations, impact investors, and alternative financing vehicles, she brings expertise in building collaborative partnerships and particular cross-sector knowledge at the intersection of agriculture, petrochemicals, textiles, and toxics.
Sarah currently serves as Deputy Director of Forsythia Foundation and Managing Director of the Fibers Fund. At Forsythia, a foundation focused on reducing harmful chemicals and supporting the development of safer alternatives, she leads efforts to mobilize financial and legal strategies to accelerate the scaling of safer chemistries and materials. At the Fibers Fund, she manages a catalytic debt fund designed to facilitate the investment of financial capital into a regenerative U.S. natural fiber and textile industry, with a focus on economic justice. In prior roles, Sarah has worked extensively with funders and NGOs on research, strategy development, and innovative financing approaches through her consulting practice, Common Threads Consulting.
Sarah is a frequent speaker, author, and collaborator in national efforts to advance regenerative finance. She has presented at numerous climate, agriculture, textile industry, and investing conferences, and she currently serves on the board of a philanthropic intermediary advancing systems change in pesticide reform. Sarah was selected as a 2018-19 Just Economy Institute Fellow and was recently named to Impact Finance Center’s 2025 Who’s Who in Impact Investing.
Previously, Sarah spent 10 years as Senior Program Officer at Island Foundation, where she directed the Environment portfolio and managed grantmaking across a range of climate, agriculture, and environmental justice topics, and served for five years as Executive Director of Southeastern Massachusetts Agricultural Partnership, a nonprofit focused on supporting local food and agriculture. Sarah holds an M.S. in Plant and Soil Science from UMass Amherst and a B.A. in History with honors from Yale.