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Meet Donna M. Butts

Donna M. Butts is an award-winning nonprofit executive, author, and nationally recognized advocate for intergenerational solutions that benefit children, youth, older adults, and families.

 

For more than twenty-seven years, Donna served as Executive Director of Generations United, a national nonprofit dedicated to strengthening families through intergenerational policy and practice. In this role, she elevated the needs of grandfamilies and advanced policies supporting families across generations. Her leadership helped shape national conversations and paved the way for critical legislation and resources for relative caregivers.

 

Generations United continues to play a central role in Donna’s life and work. Her ongoing advocacy, thought leadership, and storytelling remain deeply connected to the organization’s mission to strengthen families and build intergenerational solutions that allow all generations to thrive.

Focus Areas

  • Intergenerational public policy, practice, and community building

  • Expert in multigenerational families

  • Grandfamilies and kinship care

  • Aging and family systems

  • Equity, resilience, and community-based solutions

Career Highlights

  • Testified before the United States Congress

  • Addressed the United Nations

  • Quoted frequently in national media

  • Served more than 27 years as Executive Director of Generations United

Awards

  • One of the Top 50 Most Powerful and Influential Nonprofit Executives in the Nation by The Nonprofit Times  (2012, 2013, 2014)

  • One of the Top 50 Influencers in Aging by Next Avenue  (2015)

  • Generations United Eisner Prize for Excellence in Intergenerational Advocacy under her leadership (2015)

  • Honored with the International Federation for Family Development Award by International Federation for Family Development (2017)

  • Received the Jack Ossofsky Award for Leadership, Creativity, and Innovation in Programs and Services for Older Persons from National Council on Aging (2004)

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Impact at a Glance

Donna’s work has helped advance legislation and systems that recognize and support families across generations. Her advocacy focuses on ensuring that policy reflects real-world family structures and lived experiences.

  • National and international policy influence

  • Decades of leadership advancing intergenerational solutions

  • Advocacy for children, youth, older adults, and families

  • Presentations delivered in more than a dozen countries​

About Generations United

 

Founded in 1986, Generations United is an award-winning national nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., dedicated to improving the lives of children, youth, older adults, and families through intergenerational policy and practice. For decades, the organization has served as a leading voice in advancing solutions that recognize the strength, resilience, and diversity of families across generations.

Generations United is widely known for elevating the visibility of grandfamilies and kinship caregivers, influencing policy at the federal, state, and local levels, and providing research, tools, and education that shape how families are supported nationwide. Its work brings together policymakers, advocates, researchers, and community leaders to create systems that reflect real family structures and lived experiences.

Through advocacy, thought leadership, and cross-sector collaboration, Generations United has helped drive critical legislation, expand resources for caregivers, and reframe national conversations around aging, caregiving, and family well-being—ensuring that all generations are supported to thrive together.

 

As former Executive Director of Generations United, serving for more than 27 years, Donna led national efforts to:

  • Advocating for intergenerational solutions

  • Elevate the visibility of grandfamilies

  • Build cross-generational coalitions

  • Influence policy at the federal, state, and local levels

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