FOUNDER + PRINCIPAL

Jonathan is a researcher, organizer and board director working towards social change.

Jonathan is a dual fellow at Harvard: a Democracy Visiting Fellow at the Nonviolent Action Lab within the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, and a Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Fellow at the Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights. Jonathan’s research interests are at the intersection of democracy, LGBTQ communities, and civil resistance.

Jonathan is the board chair of Funders for LGBTQ Issues and serves on the boards of the eBay Foundation and Hispanics in Philanthropy. Jonathan is the Founder and Principal of Transcendent Futures, an imagination, design, and action lab powering social change. Jonathan’s profile and contributions to social justice are memorialized at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, DC.

Jonathan brings over a decade of experience in nonprofit, philanthropy, and political leadership roles. Some of these roles include Vice President of Programs at the Marguerite Casey Foundation, Executive Director of the UndocuBlack Network, and National Latino Vote Director in Senator Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 Presidential Campaign. Jonathan also served as an external advisor to the MacArthur Foundation’s $120M Racial and Ethnic Justice Fund of 2021.

Jonathan earned a Master of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School, a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Goucher College, and an Associate of Arts degree from Montgomery College.

Jonathan’s purpose is to co-create a world of joy, love, and freedom.

PROGRAM ASSOCIATE

Khan is the administrative and programmatic collaborator of Transcendent Futures.

Trained as an architect, Khan has always believed that true impact through design is more than buildings - it's about people, memory, and place. He channels that conviction through his work with students and communities of color by crafting both physical and programmatic spaces that nurture belonging and spark change.

His path bridges architecture and organizing as he contributed to the 2023 Black in Design Conference at Harvard, the Kapor Center’s SMASH Summit in 2022, and the Southern California chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects.  As the Assistant Director of the SoCal NOMA Project Pipeline, he led a national program that immersed over 200 youth of color in the power of architecture and shaping one’s community. 

He earned his Master of Architecture from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and his Bachelor’s from Woodbury School of Architecture.

At the heart of Khan’s work is a commitment to strengthening civic engagement and fiercely pushing design boundaries that craft a new social and environmental status quo.