Noah Ponton

Noah Ponton is a Manager at Humanity United, where he provides program and grantmaking strategy to the foundation’s Forced Labor & Human Trafficking portfolio. He works directly with human rights NGOs, grassroots activists, workers, and journalists across South Asia and the Gulf on issues related to worker agency, corporate accountability, and migration. His work has included raising awareness around the abuses of low-wage migrant workers in Qatar ahead of the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup.

He serves as an advisory board member for Human Rights First, a nonprofit organization working to promote human rights and the rule of law within the United States and abroad. In 2023, he was selected as part of Foreign Policy for America’s NextGen Cohort, a fellowship dedicated to supporting early career foreign policy thinkers, advocates, and activists. In 2022, Noah was recognized as a 2022 Out Leader by the New America Foundation and Out in National Security.

Before working in philanthropy, Noah served in the offices of Senator Thomas Carper (DE) and Representative G. K. Butterfield (NC), where he conducted legislative research on issues related to U.S. foreign policy and humanitarian aid reform. As an aide to Liberal International’s Chief Human Rights Officer, he conducted policy research on the United Nations Responsibility to Protect (R2P) Doctrine and the politics of Western-backed humanitarian intervention in Libya and Rwanda. Noah has also worked at the National Women’s Law Center, providing support to the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund.

Noah holds a B.A. in Political Science and Peace, War, and Defense from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is an Honors Carolina Laureate.