Trends in Global Philanthropy – Speaker Series
Posted in News Story
Join us for our inaugural fireside chat in our spring series on global philanthropy with Dr. Cecilia Conrad, founding CEO of Lever for Change, and Dr. Kristen Molyneaux, President and Co-Founder of Lever for Change, hosted by Sushma Raman, Waldemar A. Nielsen Philanthropy Fellow.
Lever for Change is a nonprofit that creates equitable access in the world of philanthropy, through a unique model of open calls, expert review, and donor collaboration. Their mission is to connect donors with problem solvers to find and fund bold, effective solutions to accelerate social change. They have influenced over $2.5 billion in grants and supported more than 500 organizations worldwide.
The conversation will focus on Lever for Change’s unique model, trends in global philanthropy that address issues of transparency, accessibility, and scale, and impacts of recent shifts in public policy and funding streams on philanthropy.
Speaker Biographies:
Cecilia A. Conrad, Ph.D. is the founding CEO of Lever for Change and a member of its Board of Directors – Ex Officio. Dr. Conrad was formerly a Managing Director at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, where she led the MacArthur Fellows program and steered the cross-Foundation team that created MacArthur’s 100&Change—an athematic, open call competition that periodically makes a single $100 million grant to help solve a critical problem of our time. Before joining the Foundation in January 2013, Conrad had a distinguished career as both a professor of economics and an administrator at Pomona College in Claremont, CA.
Kristen J. Molyneaux, Ph.D. is President and cofounder of Lever for Change and previously served as Vice President for Program Strategy. She guides the work that helps philanthropists invest in high-impact solutions and builds the systems that made Lever for Change’s work accessible and transparent. Prior to joining Lever for Change, Dr. Molyneaux worked at the MacArthur Foundation, first as Program Officer for Girls’ Secondary Education in Developing Countries and then as Senior Program Officer for 100&Change. She has served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Uganda and Cape Verde and is a global practitioner and educator.
Sushma Raman is the Waldemar A. Nielsen Philanthropy Fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Public and Nonprofit Leadership, housed at the McCourt School of Public Policy. Sushma is a philanthropic and social change strategist with over two decades of experience leading programs and organizations. She has served as the executive director of the Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights at Harvard Kennedy School, a program officer at the Ford and Open Society Foundations, and President of Southern California Grantmakers. She has taught in graduate public policy schools at Harvard, UCLA, USC, and Tufts Fletcher School.
The event will take place in-person at Georgetown University’s Capitol Campus, 500 1st NW, Washington, DC 20001. Lunch will be provided.
An event in March will be announced soon!