Experience

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

• United States
• Public Policy Offices
• 100 - 200 Employee

• Senior Director of Operations Planning and Initiatives for the State Fiscal Policy division

  • Feb 2023 - Present

  As the Senior Director of Operations Planning & Initiatives for the State Fiscal Policy (SFP) division within the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Sonia works closely with Vice President for State Partnerships and the Senior Vice President of State Fiscal Policy to support their co-leadership of the division. She supports team leaders for the division’s 6 subteams in developing and updating team workplans, forecasting and updating each team’s budget, and problem-solving around resource needs. She oversees SFP’s SPI (Special Projects and Initiatives) team as they coordinate regrant projects supporting the State Priorities Partnership (SPP) network, SFP’s Events team as they plan and implement a variety of convenings, retreats and annual conference for the network, and the administrative work of SFP’s Operations Manager and Project Coordinator. In close collaboration with SFP staff who support various regranting initiatives, she manages the allocation of grant funds to individual regranting projects in accordance with SFP’s strategic objectives and our obligations to funders. She also coordinates longer-term planning to calibrate SFP cross-team engagement/input and team information-sharing, serving as a critical thought partner and advisor to the team’s vice presidents and subteam leaders in shaping the strategic direction of the SFP division and the SPP network. Show less

• Director of Strategic Grantmaking

  • Apr 2021 - Mar 2023



Meyer Foundation

• United States
• Philanthropy
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Director, Virginia Partnerships & Strategy

  • Jun 2018 - Apr 2021

  As the Director of Virginia Partnerships & Strategy at the Meyer Foundation, Sonia works to develop a grant portfolio focusing on the Foundation’s goals in housing, education, employment, and asset building, while also engaging in opportunities to expand the Foundation’s advocacy, capacity-building, convening, and collective action work in Northern Virginia. A passionate advocate for systems work to address entrenched challenges that maintain inequities, poverty, and multi-generational struggles, Sonia has cultivated collaborative relationships with nonprofit and public-sector leaders working throughout Northern Virginia. She believes in the power of weaving together data analysis, articulation of community values, and stories to mobilize community change. Show less



SCAN of Northern Virginia

• United States
• Non-profit Organizations
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Executive Director

  • Jul 2010 - Jun 2018

  As executive director of SCAN (Stop Child Abuse Now) of Northern Virginia, the regional child abuse prevention organization in Northern Virginia, Quinonez manages a staff of 12 and supports a Board of Directors of 15 to fund and deliver community-based programming, including engagement of 180 volunteers each year and a wide network of community partnerships. Through primary prevention (public education, awareness-raising, and capacity-building), secondary prevention (parenting classes and support groups), and tertiary prevention (through the national Court Appointed Special Advocate model), SCAN’s programs promote the well-being of children, improve parent-child relations and prevent child abuse and neglect across the region. Quinonez has doubled the organizational budget since becoming executive director in 2010, while increasing utilization of trauma-informed, evidence-based, and outcome-focused programming. Under her leadership, the organization has built collaborative partnerships in Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Greater Prince William. Show less

• Director of Development

  • Mar 2004 - Jul 2010

  As SCAN of Northern Virginia’s first Director of Development, Quinonez helped double the organization’s funding and programming. She prepared proposals, grant applications, and reports for foundations, corporate giving programs, and government contracts that grew the organization from a $250k budget to $500,000+ annual budget (more than doubling the annual budget and the organization’s reserves in that period). A detail-oriented planner and skilled organizer of volunteers, Quinonez coordinated the organization’s annual golf tournament, fall wine tasting event, and silent auctions at both, increasing funds raised through the annual fall fundraiser from $15K to $80K annual net. A savvy technology user, she created a constituent database for the organization and coordinated donor acquisition, appeals, acknowledgement, and cultivation activities. She worked with the Board of Directors’ Financial Development Committee to expand donor cultivation activities and establish a Circle of Hope major donor society for the organization. Meanwhile, Quinonez served on the organization’s Public Education team and helped foster the development of the Allies in Prevention Coalition as well as community-wide media campaign and public education activities. Quinonez also created, queried, and provided troubleshooting for a database to track clients and outcomes within the organization’s growing variety of Parent Education programming. Show less



Hispanic Committee of Virginia

• Falls Church, Virginia

• Director of Development

  • 2000 - 2003

  Quinonez applied cultural competency and bilingual language skills in English and Spanish to strengthen fundraising and outcome-focused program evaluation for this $2 million community-based organization serving Latino and Hispanic immigrants of all ages in the Northern Virginia region. She prepared proposals, grant applications, and reports for foundations, corporate giving programs, and government contracts for workforce development, domestic violence, and youth programming. A skilled event planner, Quinonez increased funds acquired through the organization’s annual gala from $40K to $140K. She launched a Corporate Partner advisory group and created a constituent database for the organization to coordinate donor acquisition, acknowledgement, cultivation, and stewardship processes. She served on the Senior Leadership team, supporting Strategic Planning, Employee Performance Appraisal, and Personnel Policy development processes. She developed, monitored, revised, and reported on program and organizational budgets and supervised the Development Associate and Volunteer Coordinator. Show less