Ulla Erhardt

Senior Philanthropy Director

Ulla Erhardt is a senior philanthropy director for the Climate Leadership Initiative (CLI), serving as an advisor to philanthropists and as a trusted partner for organizations working to address the challenges caused by climate change. Ulla primarily supports existing climate donors who are engaging their peers to address this issue. She also provides resources for donors who are not yet giving to climate change but are interested in learning more.

For more than 18 years, Ulla has worked with philanthropists, corporations, ultra-high-net-worth individuals and foundations in both the private and philanthropic sectors. Prior to joining CLI, Ulla served in a leadership role at WWF International, most recently as the head of philanthropy. There, she focused on building a community of donors to fund WWF International’s global priorities and helped donors understand the urgency of environmental action and the life-protecting impacts their gifts can have.

Prior to joining the philanthropic community, Ulla spent a decade in the private sector working for Butterfield and Robinson, a luxury travel company based in Canada and operating worldwide. She created custom trips for travelers from different cultural backgrounds and built a sense of community for each trip. She is trilingual in French, German and English and fluent in Italian and Spanish. Ulla has German parents, grew up in France and now lives in Switzerland. Every time she walks over a glacier in her beautiful home country, she sees first-hand the urgency of solving the climate crisis.