Isaiah Castilla
Managing Director
Isaiah is a managing director in Arabella’s Washington, DC office, where he partners with foundations, corporations, families, and individuals to advance social change. Isaiah takes great pride in partnering with donors, investors, and social entrepreneurs to turn ideas into impactful programs and projects for social change. Isaiah is especially passionate about democracy and civic life, environmental justice, and criminal justice and policing reform.
Isaiah’s background combines his experience as General Counsel with the fundraising skills he gained on the campaign trail. For four years, Isaiah was General Counsel and secretary at Democracy Fund, a private foundation working to protect and strengthen US democracy, and its affiliated (c)(4), Democracy Fund Voice. As General Counsel, Isaiah provided legal and strategic guidance for the foundation’s program development, compliance, and grant-making processes. Previously, Isaiah was Counsel for the Bolder Advocacy Program at Alliance for Justice, where he advised nonprofits and foundations on strategies to maximize their advocacy capacity and led workshops on federal nonprofit tax and campaign finance law.
Before practicing law, Isaiah was deputy finance director for the Musgrove for United States Senate Campaign, north regional finance director for the Alex Sink for Governor Campaign in Florida, and finance director and Counsel for the Progress for Mississippi PAC and Bill Luckett for Mississippi gubernatorial campaign. In these roles, Isaiah executed robust fundraising plans and gained a wealth of knowledge in state and federal campaign finance law.
Isaiah serves on the boards of Sojourners and the Voter Registration Project, a national voter registration and civic engagement organization. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Tougaloo College and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from Mississippi College School of Law.