Sarah Zakaria

Biography

Sarah Zakaria has devoted 20+ years to nonprofit sector focusing on fundraising and mission-sustaining programs in museums and educational institutions. She is currently an adjunct faculty at LSUS and University of San Diego teaching nonprofit management skills and fundraising methods to undergraduate, graduate and professional students. She has conducted research focused on access to resources for youth experiencing homelessness in San Diego.

Zakaria is an engaged member of her community. She is a member of National Charity League, an organization focused on engaging youth with philanthropic charities. In addition, she is active in a Christian church and teaches weekly
a youth Sunday School class.  

She served on the board of directors at the Museum Educators of Southern California and San Diego Audubon Society, a non-profit focused on conservation of birds, preservation of local sanctuaries and nature education. Zakaria has served on local collaborative committees that bring staff of multiple nonprofits together for idea exchange and coordination including the Balboa Park Educators Council, Cultural Volunteer Managers Council and San Diego Communications Council.

Zakaria developed her expertise in young adult development, volunteer leadership and grant writing through positions at the San Diego Natural History Museum’s Environmental Science and Education Center and UC San Diego’s Alumni Affairs. At University of San Diego, Zakaria applied these areas of focus to student-alumni and young alumni engagement through annual giving and other young philanthropy initiatives. Prior to that, Zakaria worked at several museums in the Mid-Atlantic including Philadelphia Museum of Art and UPENN's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology as well as volunteered for a year in northern Argentina with her church. Zakaria began her career in 1999 at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and helped plan the millennial blockbuster exhibition Vikings: the North Atlantic Saga, an epic retelling of how the Vikings discovered America in 1000 A.D.

Zakaria earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology from the George Washington University in Washington D.C. and a Master of Arts degree in Museum Education from University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  

Degrees

Research Interests

Charitable Planned Giving, Faith-based nonprofits, giving and leadership
Board Leadership, Voluntary Leadership,
Civic Youth Engagement, Youth & Young Adult Leadership in Philanthropy, Youth Homelessness Prevention, Alumni Giving in Higher Education
Museums, Nature Education and Environmental Conservation

Selected Publications

Stern, S., Zakaria, S., Prather, C., Gonzales, J, Lucky, C., Turner, L. (2021). Youth Homelessness in San Diego Understanding Obstacles to Service Use. Final Report for Urgent Challenges Initiative Research Grant. University of San Diego.

Teaching Assignments

NPA 763 - Seminar in Planned Giving
NPA 798 - Nonprofit Directed Project
NPA 402/602 - Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector
SOCL 392 (NPA 392/POLI 392) - Practicum in Nonprofit Organizations
SOCL 492 (NPA 492/POLI 492) - Seminar in Nonprofit Organizations

Office Hours

Monday, Wednesday, Friday noon to 1 pm CT