Lyda Stokes

Lyda Phillips Stokes is the Director of Development for the Southeastern region at the Freedom Foundation, where she leads major gift efforts grounded in the belief that people—not institutions—are the best drivers of meaningful impact. She partners with donors who are passionate about protecting liberty and rolling back government overreach. Together, they help advance a mission that empowers public employees to decide for themselves whether to support a union—and to ensure their hard-earned dollars aren’t used to fund political agendas that don’t align with their values.

Before joining the Freedom Foundation, Lyda served as Director of Alumni Engagement for the Grassroots Leadership Academy—a nationwide training initiative housed within Americans for Prosperity Foundation—where she reactivated and equipped a network of over 30,000 trained activists. She later led the Koch Associate Program as its Director, overseeing one of the liberty movement’s most respected career accelerators for rising policy and nonprofit leaders.

Lyda began her career in higher education advancement, where she led student philanthropy efforts at William & Mary that earned national recognition. Under her leadership, William & Mary became a top-ranked institution for student philanthropy, setting records and redefining what engagement could look like on campus.

Lyda earned both her undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Mississippi. She now lives in Oxford with her husband and son, and regularly travels throughout the region to meet with the partners making this work possible.