Hilda H. Polanco

Treasurer

Founder and CEO, FMA

Hilda leads BDO’s Nonprofit & Grantmaker Advisory team, which exclusively serves nonprofit organizations and their funders, and is the new home of FMA, the specialty practice she founded in 1999 as Fiscal Management Associates.

Passionate about helping nonprofits develop a resilient long-term financial strategy, Hilda has also worked closely with some of the nation’s largest foundations to illuminate the full cost of delivering nonprofit programs and has joined them in calling others in the philanthropic sector to better understand nonprofit revenue models and ultimately, to work toward more knowledgeable financing of those business models.

Hilda is widely known for providing nonprofit leaders with the skills and confidence they need to tell their organization’s financial story, as well as working with boards to strengthen their capacity to execute their fiduciary responsibility. Currently on the faculty of Columbia Business School’s Tamer Center for Social Enterprise, she is also a frequent speaker with the AICPA and philanthropy-serving organizations such as GEO, PEAK Philanthropy, and Philanthropy NY.

Hilda’s impact has been recognized throughout her career, earning her the Social Entrepreneur Award from the National Association of Women Business Owners-NYC; the Latina Excellence Award in Community Service from HISPANIC Magazine; New York Brava! Top Female CEO from SmartCEO; the Philanthropy Award from L.O.V.E, Latinas On the Verge of Excellence; and from WHEDCO, the award for Outstanding Leadership in Nonprofit Finance.

In addition to her service with Hispanics in Philanthropy, Hilda is a member of Latino U’s Advisory Board, the Board of Directors for Levitt Foundation, and is a Member of the National Network of Consultants to Grantmakers. She also serves as a Leap of Reason Ambassador, a selected community of leaders championing and contributing to a more effective social sector.