CathyBradley

Personal Commitment to Equity

With extensive experience from a career in fast-paced, high profile sports organizations, I offer a diverse skill set and professional network to help organizations make meaningful, data-driven philanthropic decisions by conducting thorough due diligence, cultivating strategic partnerships, and engaging internal and external stakeholders. 

I believe in the value of incorporating social impact into corporate partnerships. I advocate for capacity-building support for effective change and sustainable growth. I work to facilitate equitable access to quality programs, facilities, and opportunities in sports/recreation/fitness, the arts/culture, and education for children, women, BIPOC, and under-served communities. 

In my free time, I am committed to Board service and pro bono consultation to support organizations I am close to in the arts/culture and historic preservation. I also bring together and mentor women interested in sports careers, sharing career and job search best practices, challenges, and networking opportunities.

In everything I do, I strive to make things better:  situations, programs, systems, environments, and relationships. I like to make sense of things and concepts, to analyze, simplify, organize, and enhance.

I would love to be your trusted partner to help you achieve meaningful and sustainable philanthropic and social impact goals.

Cathy Bradley

Professional Bio

Cathy Bradley is an established philanthropy strategist who connects globally-recognized organizations with mission-aligned nonprofits to maximize meaningful, sustainable social impact. Throughout her 25+ year career, Cathy has worked with major sports industry leaders and nonprofits, ensuring the effective investment of more than $40 million to sports, fitness, cultural, and educational programs around the world. 

Career Path

After six years of professional growth opportunities and relationship building with the Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles, and Milwaukee Brewers, Cathy was named the Executive Director of Baseball Tomorrow Fund, a $40 million joint initiative of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the MLB Players Association in 2000. Over the next 19 years, she built the program into a trusted industry resource to fund youth baseball and softball programs and facilities, contributing to the nationally reported increase of nearly 3 million players from 2013 to 2018. Her efforts resulted in the distribution of $37M to over 1,000 projects around the world.

In 2020, Cathy joined Musco Sports Lighting, a global leader in sports, transportation, and infrastructure lighting. She advised the ownership and senior leaders on philanthropic and marketing initiatives, managing relationships with national partners including MLB and the National Recreation and Parks Association (NRPA), which subsequently hired her as interim senior director of development to grow corporate and institutional funding and sponsorship. 

From 2022-2024, Cathy oversaw individual and institutional giving as the Vice President of Development and Philanthropy at New York Road Runners, the nonprofit operator of the New York City Marathon. Under her leadership, contributed income increased by 40%, securing $14 million by growing sustainer-level memberships by 30% and the year-end campaign by 200%.

In 2025, Cathy was hired as the Vice President of Grantmaking at Inclusiv, a network of community development credit unions and recipient of $1.87B award from the Biden Administration's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund's Clean Communities Investment Accelerator program to support clean energy lending in underserved communities.

Consultancy Practice

Cathy is currently a philanthropy consultant, providing grant strategy and fundraising support to clients seeking to expand their national and global reach. She is the fractional Executive Director of the Professional Baseball Groundkeepers Association and provides consulting services to national and international nonprofits and associations in the sports and recreation industry. 

Teaching & Thought Leadership

Cathy is a teacher at all education levels. She introduces nonprofit professionals to corporate and foundation fundraising motivations and mechanisms as an adjunct instructor at the NYU School of Professional Studies Center for Global Affairs. She is also a certified substitute teacher in the NYC Department of Education public school system. 

Nonprofit Board Leadership

Cathy is an advocate for historical preservation, Black history, and equitable access to culture and educational opportunities in New York City, serving in leadership positions on the Board of Directors for the Historic House Trust of New York City and the Lewis H. Latimer House Museum in Flushing, Queens and maintaining a sustaining membership with the Public Theater.

Cathy was appointed to the advisory council of Play Global!, a U.S.-based nonprofit that teaches baseball to coaches and youth in developing countries and areas of conflict. She is also a member of the advisory council of Teamup, a Texas-based nonprofit that promotes project-based learning and empowers students to build technology focused on driving positive social change. Additionally, Cathy offers pro bono grant strategy consultation to nonprofits through the Taproot Foundation. 

Building upon her close connections in the sports industry and nonprofit sector, Cathy maintains a broad professional network. She was selected to the U.S.-Japan Foundation‘s leadership program in 2007, a highly competitive, professional exchange program with international professionals from various public and private industries and disciplines. She continues to actively participate in the program as a fellow.

Education

Cathy attended the University of Missouri, graduating with honors with a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a double major of administrative management and marketing. 

She continues to support her alma mater by volunteering her time to evaluate scholarship applications and provide feedback on student resumes. 

Personal Time

In her free time, Cathy is an "advanced-beginner" guitar player, an avid theater-goer, and crocheter. She is an active member of NYU's knitting and crocheting club, crafting baby afghans, winter hats, and scarves for local nonprofits and service agencies and baby octopus stuffies for the NYU Langone Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. 

Cathy further explores her creative side with her Etsy Shop, BradleyStyle, crafting tasteful, handmade gifts.

Cathy is a two-time, New York City Marathon finisher and a Chicago Marathon finisher.  

Cathy currently resides in New York City.

February 2026