Dawn Abel

Dawn Abel is the Chief Advancement Officer at Society for Science. She began working at the Society in 2023.

Dawn is a highly accomplished nonprofit executive and fundraiser with an exceptional track record of transformative resource development at science focused organizations. With two decades of experience building dynamic and diversified fundraising teams and strategies that leverage individual donors, foundations, and corporate philanthropy, Dawn’s work has resulted in significant organizational growth and hundreds of millions of dollars in support for mission-based organizations.

Most recently, Dawn served as the Deputy Director of Advancement for the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, where she significantly increased the museum’s fundraising productivity, leading efforts to raise funds for its $150 million Our Shared Future Campaign. Dawn previously served as Director of Development for the National Academy of Medicine, the nation’s most esteemed and authoritative advisor in health and medicine and as Director of Community Relations and Foundations for BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, where she transformed the grant-making program from transactional and opportunistic to one that is strategic and impact focused. An early career in engineering laid the foundation for Dawn’s disciplined approach to nonprofit leadership, giving her profound insight into the importance of the Society’s work.

Dawn holds a Master of Arts in Management from the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York.