About Us
Tony Rosendo
CEO, Partner and Founder
Antonio (Tony) Rosendo grew up in Puerto Rico and Colorado, attending Colorado College, where he competed in track and football, before earning a master’s degree from the University of Denver. His career began in education, where his dedication to expanding educational equity led him to co-found Atlas Preparatory School, now serving over 1,300 Pre K-12 students.
Tony’s vision for impact soon extended beyond education. As CEO of the John & Margot Lane Foundation and the Bloom Foundation, he pioneered approaches that leveraged philanthropy to create sustainable community change. In 2020, he founded Spur Philanthropy, a model for collective impact that empowers foundations through innovative strategies in real estate, mission-driven investments, and public/private collaborations.
Through the Legacy Fellowship, Tony helped launch a transformative program focused on shaping impact in educational leadership.His expertise has been instrumental in building infrastructure, refining fundraising strategies, and scaling initiatives from local to statewide reach. Since moving to Seattle, Tony has teamed up with Sound Philanthropy, where he collaborates with high-impact organizations across the Western U.S., advising on strategic planning, board structure, and governance for foundations managing over $100 million in assets.
A seasoned board member, Tony is the former board chair of the Pikes Peak Community Foundation and a former trustee of Colorado College. His previous board roles include the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Corporation, the Colorado Springs Downtown Development Authority, the Pikes Peak Community Foundation, and the Pikes Peak Real Estate Foundation. He currently serves as a board member of the Sachs Foundation.
Tony and his wife, Laura, are now raising their two young sons in Seattle, where they enjoy the vibrant community and the outdoors. He loves exploring the Pacific Northwest, whether mountain biking, skiing, sailing, or cold plunging in nearby rivers. When he’s not chasing his boys around Seattle’s parks, you can find him fully embracing the Northwest lifestyle with every adventure it has to offer.
Sarah Hopper
Principal Collaborator
As the Founder and CEO of Sound Philanthropy, Sarah Hopper partners with thoughtful, heartful, game-changing philanthropic trailblazers, guiding the distribution of over $100 million in charitable giving. Since transitioning from her role as Vice President of Philanthropic Services at the Seattle Foundation to launch her own practice, Sarah has built a relationship-centered business that nourishes her heart, mind, and soul. She is deeply committed to creating meaningful connections between multi-generational family members, philanthropists, and grantees, which enrich her clients’ philanthropic journeys and elevate their impact.
In addition to her role at Sound Philanthropy, Sarah serves as the Executive Director of the Grousemont Foundation, where she provides long-range planning and strategic vision, overseeing grantmaking and operations to ensure the Foundation’s goals are met with purpose and compassion. Her approach is rooted in equity and humanity, recognizing that the philanthropic sector is part of a complex web of systems founded in racism. Sarah believes the sector has a unique responsibility—and opportunity—to change how communities are empowered and resourced through philanthropy, fostering equity and restoring humanity for everyone.
To deepen this commitment, Sarah founded the Racial Equity Action Community (REAC) in early 2022, a learning community that enables leaders and philanthropists to reimagine racial justice through trust-based giving, reparations, and compassionate community engagement. Through REAC, Sarah and her clients focus on equity by listening closely to those in proximity to the issues they aim to address, engaging in the patient, trust-based work of redefining “grantmaking” for systemic change.
When she is not expanding her heart and mind as a philanthropic advisor, Sarah can be found happily loving on her three kids, husband, and two dogs, or thinking about how to scratch her rediscovered, post-pandemic travel itch.
Robin Grossman
Leadership Advisor & Project Consultant
Robin Grossman is a versatile leader and strategic consultant with a proven record of building high-performance cultures, scaling operations, and driving impactful change across diverse sectors. Based in Colorado and originally from Taos, New Mexico, Robin brings a wealth of experience from collegiate athletics, business development, and product strategy to his work with Spur Philanthropy.
Robin has guided CEOs and executive teams on go-to-market strategies, team alignment, and leadership development. Recently, he has consulted on strategic initiatives for a $100M foundation and provided executive coaching focused on burnout prevention, board development, and enhancing organizational cohesion. His people-centered approach emphasizes building resilient teams and empowering leaders to drive sustainable impact.
Outside of work, Robin can be found skiing every month of the year and hitting the mountain bike trails whenever there’s a break from the snow. But above all, he treasures time with family and friends, and building connections over wonderful meals and adventures.
Laura Blackburn
Chief Relationship officer
Laura’s experiences growing up in the Middle East and Europe created a passion for philanthropy which she has pursued through the years in her community as a volunteer and philanthropy professional. Believing we all have a significant contribution to make, whether time, treasure, talent or our ties, Laura started her career in strategic marketing with World Vision – a three billion-dollar NGO. She came full circle after a decade as an executive in strategic development, to consult on an innovative program engaging the next generation, with World Vision International based in London. Laura then joined a local consultancy, to advise around creative philanthropy.
As a volunteer, Laura served on the Women of Vision Board of Directors (a fundraising arm for World Vision International) in Orange County, California and founded Junior Women of Vision, a sister organization that helps women in the community engage their children in philanthropy. She served as the Board Chair and PTO President of Lake Tahoe School, and the Board Liaison to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo for National Charity League – Pikes Peak Chapter.
Laura partners with the Nonprofit Institute at Colorado College to mentor and engage students interested in philanthropy, and the QUAD Innovation Partnership, advising students and recent alumni from CC, PPCC, UCCS, and the US Air Force Academy as they work to solve rooted problems in our community. Laura mentors a lovely Greenhouse Scholar and Gates Scholarship recipient from Colorado Springs. She also serves on the Goodwill of Colorado Foundation Board and the Touch of Love International Board, a faith based microloan organization.
Laura received a Bachelor of Arts from Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California, and a Master of Business Administration from the Marshal School of Business at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She enjoys being a mom to two college students and having more time with John, her husband of over 20 years. She loves to ski, walk the golf course, read, write, and expand her knowledge of Middle Eastern cookery.
Jenny Stafford
Chief Operating Officer and Partner
At 19, Jenny’s interest in art and museums led her to a career-changing internship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art…
4 E's to Excellent Philanthropy
What We Do
Spur Philanthropy’s personal approach provides our clients with a partner and roadmap to distinctive philanthropy and social impact.
Explore
Uncovering your unique giving interests and values, informs distinctive generosity with clear vision, mission and priorities.
engage
Create your specific roadmap to impact, using your Explore distinctives and our deep experience.
Enact
Centered around sourcing your philanthropic road map, we will collaborate with you to create and manage specific opportunities that align with your mission and values.
Enjoy
Celebrate the impact of your thoughtful work through personalized and curated experiences, visits, trips, and presentations.
To learn more about engaging with Spur, contact Tony Rosendo.
