Donnell Bailey serves as National Director, Strategic Partnerships at Teach Plus, where he supports regional and national fundraising initiatives across multiple states. In this role, he leads high-impact donor strategies and manages a multi-state portfolio, partnering alongside the Senior Vice President of Development and CEO to build and cultivate key relationships with national funders.
Before joining Teach Plus, Donnell began his career in New Orleans, serving the people of Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District in U.S. Congressman Joseph Anh Cao’s office and on Capitol Hill as an education aide serving Louisianians in U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu’s office. He later served in the Obama White House on the President’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative, focused on improving life outcomes for boys and young men of color from cradle to career.
Throughout his career, Donnell has worked at the intersection of education and systems change. Upon returning to New Orleans, he served as Programs Manager for Democrats for Education Reform–Louisiana, leading programming and expanding its advocacy portfolio. He later supported diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives at Tulane University; served as Chief of Staff at Brothers Empowered to Teach, where he co-led a fundraising strategy that secured a $2 million gift from MacKenzie Scott; and co-founded the Squared Network to support first-generation college students.
Bailey formerly served as Governance Chair and Secretary on the KIPP New Orleans Board of Directors and on the Franklin & Marshall Alumni Association Board. A former Fellow of the Aspen Institute, Loyola Institute of Politics, and Urban League of Louisiana, he is a first-generation college graduate with a B.A. in Sociology from Franklin & Marshall College and an MPA from Tulane University. He is also the foreword author for Dr. Linda Belans’s book, States of Being: Leadership Coaching for Equitable Schools.
