Unfunded List Open Door Philanthropy

Jay and Shira Ruderman are a husband and wife who run a foundation created with the wealth of Jay's father Mort. The Ruderman Family Foundation has become synonymous with the cause of disability inclusion. In 2020, however, they decided to choose a new vanguard to fund and faced some public criticism for that decision. What are the expectations when a funder exits a field? What other causes out there are currently unfunded and unheard of? How can the champions of those causes approach family foundations? We talk about these questions and more in a wide ranging interview with this prolific husband and wife funding team.

In March of 2020 Amanda Cage became president and CEO of the National Fund for Workforce Solutions. A national coalition of grantmakers that includes family foundations as well as large companies provides the funds and Amanda oversees the work of distributing it where it can best help workers. Amanda's career includes stints as a labor organizer, jobs with several large foundations, helping to implement workforce solutions for the city of Chicago. Dave spoke to her at length about her work organizing funder collaboratives focused on workforce solutions. Enjoy.

What is the best way for well-known philanthropists to have social impact? Contests and challenges are not new but have become trendy of late in the world of philanthropy. Are these well-branded challenges great ways to identify grand solutions to social problems? What about the unfunded list of contestants? Are these contests fair and inclusive and available to everyone? Today we are fortunate to be joined by leaders in the field of contest philanthropy. They are here to share their knowledge and answer your questions.  Moderator: Becky Lee, Becky's Fund Panelists: Jeff Ubois, MacArthur Foundation's Lever for Change Challenge Alex Amouyel, MIT's SOLVE Challenge Nancy Conrad, Conrad Foundation's Conrad Challenge NOTE: About half way through the episode, the Sun was in Becky's eyes and it takes us all about 40 seconds to close the blinds. We considered editing it out, but instead hope that you enjoy this authentic, mid-panel moment. Also, as this was the last panel of the weekend, the battery on our recorder died during Q&A so we were unable too include all of the great questions asked.

Founding a new organization has great potential for impact, but it is often more effective to join organizations that are established and already doing work that is important to you. No one is an island and even leaders and founders do not do the work in a vacuum. This panel focuses on ways to be involved -- through paid work or volunteerism -- with projects that you are passionate about without starting something from scratch. All of today's panelists, none of whom are founders, have had great impact with their respective organizations and have joined us today to talk about it. Moderator: Margaret Chapman, Unfunded List Panelists: Anne Stauffer, Pew Charitable Trusts MarQuis Fair, Kaiser Permanente Elizabeth Franklin, Cancer Support Institute

The Founder embodies a mythical role in modern society. But what's it like to be one? We found several great founders running impactful organizations who all happen to have the same advisor, Russ Finkelstein, and invited them to come talk to us about their experiences. Moderator: Russ Finkelstein of Idealist and ClearlyNext Panelists: Ross Morales Rocketto - RunForSomething Elle Hearns - Black Lives Matter and Marsha P. Johnston Institute Hannah Dehradunwala - Transfernation Ivelyse Andino - Radical Health

Unfunded List has an office! We are members of a coworking space focused on open government, accountability and transparency called OpenGov Hub in Washington, DC. We have just completed our first full year in the Hub and it's been great. Our favorite moment so far has undoubtedly been the opportunity to sit down with Nada Zohdy for a special episode of Open Door Philanthropy. Nada Zohdy joined the OpenGov Hub in September 2015. As Director she oversees all strategy, operations, and programs for this growing social enterprise, and leads the design and implementation of programs to promote collaboration, innovation and learning across the Hub network of 40 member organizations. In 2015 she received a Master of Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where she was a Pforzheimer Nonprofit Fellow and focused on linking democracy/governance with social entrepreneurship/innovation. Nada was a consultant for the OECD through her applied Master's thesis, which analyzed the opinions of 100 local civil society groups about open government reforms in Tunisia. She also performed research on nonprofit collaborations, published by the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

Unfunded List founder Dave Moss interviews his father, a U.S. Cultural Historian, about the history of Philanthropy in America. Richard J. Moss (aka Pete Moss), was the John and Cornelia Gibson Professor of History at Colby College, where he taught U.S. History and American Studies for close to three decades. A cultural historian, he is the author of two biographies of the post-revolutionary figures Noah Webster and Jedidiah Morse. Later in his career, he became interested in the history of sport and leisure and authored two books on golf and country clubs. He also wrote Eden in the Pines, a history of Pinehurst, North Carolina, his current home. He earned his doctorate at Michigan State University in 1974. At Colby, his courses on American culture — particularly in the late 19th century — dealt substantially with philanthropy as an important aspect of American life.

Unfunded List founder Dave Moss interviews his father, a U.S. Cultural Historian, about the history of Philanthropy in America. Richard J. Moss (aka Pete Moss), was the John and Cornelia Gibson Professor of History at Colby College, where he taught U.S. History and American Studies for close to three decades. A cultural historian, he is the author of two biographies of the post-revolutionary figures Noah Webster and Jedidiah Morse. Later in his career, he became interested in the history of sport and leisure and authored two books on golf and country clubs. He also wrote Eden in the Pines, a history of Pinehurst, North Carolina, his current home. He earned his doctorate at Michigan State University in 1974. At Colby, his courses on American culture — particularly in the late 19th century — dealt substantially with philanthropy as an important aspect of American life.

Unfunded List founder Dave Moss interviews his father, a U.S. Cultural Historian, about the history of Philanthropy in America. Richard J. Moss (aka Pete Moss), was the John and Cornelia Gibson Professor of History at Colby College, where he taught U.S. History and American Studies for close to three decades. A cultural historian, he is the author of two biographies of the post-revolutionary figures Noah Webster and Jedidiah Morse. Later in his career, he became interested in the history of sport and leisure and authored two books on golf and country clubs. He also wrote Eden in the Pines, a history of Pinehurst, North Carolina, his current home. He earned his doctorate at Michigan State University in 1974. At Colby, his courses on American culture — particularly in the late 19th century — dealt substantially with philanthropy as an important aspect of American life.

Unfunded List founder Dave Moss interviews his father, a U.S. Cultural Historian, about the history of Philanthropy in America. Richard J. Moss (aka Pete Moss), was the John and Cornelia Gibson Professor of History at Colby College, where he taught U.S. History and American Studies for close to three decades. A cultural historian, he is the author of two biographies of the post-revolutionary figures Noah Webster and Jedidiah Morse. Later in his career, he became interested in the history of sport and leisure and authored two books on golf and country clubs. He also wrote Eden in the Pines, a history of Pinehurst, North Carolina, his current home. He earned his doctorate at Michigan State University in 1974. At Colby, his courses on American culture — particularly in the late 19th century — dealt substantially with philanthropy as an important aspect of American life.

Unfunded List founder Dave Moss interviews his father, a U.S. Cultural Historian, about the history of Philanthropy in America. Richard J. Moss (aka Pete Moss), was the John and Cornelia Gibson Professor of History at Colby College, where he taught U.S. History and American Studies for close to three decades. A cultural historian, he is the author of two biographies of the post-revolutionary figures Noah Webster and Jedidiah Morse. Later in his career, he became interested in the history of sport and leisure and authored two books on golf and country clubs. He also wrote Eden in the Pines, a history of Pinehurst, North Carolina, his current home. He earned his doctorate at Michigan State University in 1974. At Colby, his courses on American culture — particularly in the late 19th century — dealt substantially with philanthropy as an important aspect of American life.

Unfunded List founder Dave Moss interviews his father, a U.S. Cultural Historian, about the history of Philanthropy in America. Richard J. Moss (aka Pete Moss), was the John and Cornelia Gibson Professor of History at Colby College, where he taught U.S. History and American Studies for close to three decades. A cultural historian, he is the author of two biographies of the post-revolutionary figures Noah Webster and Jedidiah Morse. Later in his career, he became interested in the history of sport and leisure and authored two books on golf and country clubs. He also wrote Eden in the Pines, a history of Pinehurst, North Carolina, his current home. He earned his doctorate at Michigan State University in 1974. At Colby, his courses on American culture — particularly in the late 19th century — dealt substantially with philanthropy as an important aspect of American life.

Unfunded List founder Dave Moss interviews his father, a U.S. Cultural Historian, about the history of Philanthropy in America. Richard J. Moss (aka Pete Moss), was the John and Cornelia Gibson Professor of History at Colby College, where he taught U.S. History and American Studies for close to three decades. A cultural historian, he is the author of two biographies of the post-revolutionary figures Noah Webster and Jedidiah Morse. Later in his career, he became interested in the history of sport and leisure and authored two books on golf and country clubs. He also wrote Eden in the Pines, a history of Pinehurst, North Carolina, his current home. He earned his doctorate at Michigan State University in 1974. At Colby, his courses on American culture — particularly in the late 19th century — dealt substantially with philanthropy as an important aspect of American life.

Unfunded List founder Dave Moss interviews his father, a U.S. Cultural Historian, about the history of Philanthropy in America. Richard J. Moss (aka Pete Moss), was the John and Cornelia Gibson Professor of History at Colby College, where he taught U.S. History and American Studies for close to three decades. A cultural historian, he is the author of two biographies of the post-revolutionary figures Noah Webster and Jedidiah Morse. Later in his career, he became interested in the history of sport and leisure and authored two books on golf and country clubs. He also wrote Eden in the Pines, a history of Pinehurst, North Carolina, his current home. He earned his doctorate at Michigan State University in 1974. At Colby, his courses on American culture — particularly in the late 19th century — dealt substantially with philanthropy as an important aspect of American life.

Fundraising for innovative social change sometimes involves innovative fundraising approaches. At Unfunded List, we often run into social entrepreneurs who believe their first funding will come from a major well-known foundation. This is almost certainly not the case since major foundations like to fund established programs that can prove their impact.But how do you raise seed funding to test your idea? The panelists in today's Symposium on Unique Fundraisng Models all have answers to that question and are here to introduce themselves and share their stories about unique ways to fundraise for new ideas. Moderated by Sarah Hillware Founder, Girl's Health Ed & Senior Consultant to World Bank/WHO Panelists: Chris Trull, Fundraiser for Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-WI) Peter Williamson, Kettering Philanthropies & Founder of Game Genius, LLC Mali Locke, Director, Milken Institute Center for Strategic Philanthropy Earn your "degree" in non-traditional fundraising, nonprofit management, or grant writing by attending the next Unfunded University! This past April 27th 2019 on the campus of George Washington Universiity, global change-makers registered for classes and learned from and with some of the most experienced leaders in philanthropy. More info at www.unfundedlist.com