Alison Watkins named new executive director of Los Alamos Community Foundation

Los Alamos Community Foundation has chosen Alison Watkins to lead an organization that helps decide how charitable dollars move through Los Alamos County, a role that carries outsized weight in a town where nonprofits, schools and service groups often depend on coordinated support.

Watkins is scheduled to start May 27. The foundation said the hire followed a broad search, and it comes as the group moves deeper into its second decade after celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2025. Watkins grew up in Los Alamos and moved back from Fort Worth in 2011, a detail that gives the transition strong local continuity at a moment when the foundation’s relationships with donors and nonprofit partners matter as much as its balance sheet.

The foundation’s work reaches beyond routine grantmaking. Los Alamos Community Foundation says its mission is to support philanthropy, highlight needs and support nonprofits serving Los Alamos County, and its vision is a thriving community where philanthropy makes a lasting impact. Its board sets policy, priorities and final grant approvals, with all directors serving unpaid three-year terms. Watkins will step into that structure with support from a board and two staff members, inheriting an operation that is meant to function as both a civic convener and a funding hub.

That makes the leadership change more than a personnel update. The next executive director will help determine how the foundation presents community needs, how it strengthens permanent funds and how it keeps local giving connected to recognizable priorities. The foundation has pointed to endowed funds for youth sports, community music organizations and heritage preservation, along with its first donor-advised fund, established in 2024 with a five-year $150,000 commitment from Anchorum Health Foundation for health and wellness programs in Los Alamos. During its anniversary year, the foundation also awarded $1,000 surprise grants to local nonprofits, a signal that it has been using small-dollar gifts to keep itself visible in the community.

Watkins also arrives with a background in local, community-facing work. Earlier profiles identified her as a native of Los Alamos who worked with Los Alamos MainStreet and Creative District and later served as assistant director of the Los Alamos Chamber of Commerce. For a foundation that depends on trust, that mix of local history and relationship-building may prove as important as any formal resume credential, especially as Liz Martineau prepares to leave for Colorado to be closer to family.