Who We Are

Rebecca Thomas & Associates (RTA) partners with philanthropic and nonprofit leaders to expand opportunities for community and cultural vitality. RTA helps grantmakers achieve impact by aligning capital to organizational needs. We assist nonprofits as they plan for, navigate and learn from change. We support the field with knowledge and perspective about what it takes to build resilient institutions in the service of their missions.

RTA sees our clients as partners in solving organizational and community challenges. To strengthen our collaborations, we seek and respect a diversity of views, listen before we communicate, respond authentically, and commit to continuous learning.

RTA is recognized for our ability to turn our clients’ creative ideas into realistic plans for action. We offer services in organizational development, business strategy, program design & management, and strategic communications.

Rebecca Thomas founded RTA to help nonprofits and their supporters balance their societal aspirations with business realities. She assists nonprofit leaders in making choices that build organizational health and adaptability. She collaborates with philanthropies to design and implement grant strategies and programs that contribute to vibrant communities.

Rebecca speaks and writes about the relationship between nonprofit finances and mission success, and she advocates for improvements in the way money flows to the sector. She is the co-author of Critical Steps Toward Capital Health in the Cultural Sector, The Case for Change Capital in the Arts and Change Capital in Action: Lessons from Leading Arts Organizations. Her essays have appeared in Grantmakers in the Arts’ Reader, Philanthropy News Digest and the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

As a former dancer, Rebecca has a particular passion for advising arts and culture nonprofits and grantmakers. She is an advisory board member for SMU DataArts and a member of the finance committee of Lark Play Development Center. She formerly served on the boards of DataArts, José Mateo Ballet Theatre and the Rock School for Dance Education.

Before founding RTA, Rebecca was Vice President at Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF), a community development financial institution that brings together investments, knowledge and advice to unlock the potential of mission-based organizations. There, she led NFF’s arts strategy, designed and implemented national programs, and directed business and product development efforts. Among her achievements was running the six-year $15 million Leading for the Future initiative, a program that combined flexible capital with advice to help leading performing arts organizations transform their business models to achieve artistic goals. Rebecca is also the architect of two online financial data platforms, developed in partnerships with the Cultural Data Project and GuideStar.

Earlier in her career, Rebecca was an award-winning Senior Economics Correspondent for Smartmoney.com, where she wrote about business and economic trends and appeared as a commentator on CNNfn, MSNBC, and Fox.

She received her MBA from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business and graduated with honors from Yale University. She lives in New York City with her husband and two adorable children.

Philip Rosenbloom helps mission-focused organizations develop sound financial strategy. Through a combination of rigorous data analysis and collaborative communication, he works with clients to reach consensus as they plan for financial health.

Through his independent consulting, and as former Manager of Nonprofit Finance Fund’s New York consulting team, Phil has worked with nonprofit clients both small and large in the arts, human services, and social justice advocacy. He has helped philanthropic institutions incorporate financial due diligence into their grantmaking practice, managed major technical assistance initiatives, and advised on the development of national data platforms for nonprofit assessment.

In the arts, Phil has worked with clients including the Apollo Theater, the Martha Graham Dance Company, Playwrights Horizons, Gibney Dance, New York Live Arts, and Dance Theater of Harlem to plan for financial sustainability and appropriate capitalization.

Phil holds a BA in Sociology from Oberlin College and an interdisciplinary MA from New York University. Phil serves as board treasurer for the Poughkeepsie Farm Project and as a board member for Community Family Development. He also serves on the finance committee of Hudson River Sloop Clearwater.

For more than 20 years, Denise DeMaio helped nonprofits articulate goals and strategies, and translate them into financially sustainable plans. She has been a lender, financial investment analyst, trainer, facilitator, project manager, board member, and consultant. She draws on experiences from her previous roles at a nonprofit organization, foundation and consulting firm.

Denise was most recently a lead consultant for KrasnePlows, where she led capitalization, strategy and operational planning engagements for a wide range of nonprofits. She also ran nonprofit finance trainings for foundations such as Tiger Foundation and Wellspring Philanthropic Fund. Before her 11 years at KrasnePlows, Denise was a lender and consultant for Nonprofit Finance Fund, where she worked nationally with over 200 nonprofit organizations across sectors.

Denise is a former board member and treasurer of Callen-Lorde Community Health Center. She holds a B.S. in Finance from Fordham University and a MPA from the Wagner School of Public Service at New York University.