What will it take to solve the world’s most difficult challenges? The demands of fundraising often hamstring social entrepreneurs poised to dismantle unjust systems. Most grants are too small, too short, and too restrictive to achieve the kind of change funders actually hope to see. What happens when funders, large and small, combine funds—and forces—to advance systems change initiatives? Can alliances of the wealthy avoid reinforcing existing power structures while effectively addressing large-scale injustice?
Rukmini Banerji is Chief Executive Officer of Pratham Education Foundation. She
has extensive field experience working directly with rural and urban communities as well as in designing and implementing large scale partnerships with governments for improving children’s learning in India. From 2005 to 2014, she led Pratham’s research and assessment efforts including the well-known ASER initiative (Annual Status of Education Report). Rukmini is the 2021 recipient of the Yidan Prize for education development. Originally from Bihar, she is now based between New Delhi and Pune. Rukmini writes frequently on education in both Hindi and English and enjoys creating and telling stories to children.
Co-Founder of The Health Initiative, a national campaign to catalyze a new conversation about and increased investments in health, including access to healthy food, safe and affordable housing, and well-paying jobs. Previously, Onie co-founded Health Leads to enable physicians and other healthcare providers and caregivers across the country to address these fundamental drivers of patients’ health. Health Leads armed thousands of healthcare institutions with the tools, technology, analytics, and best practices to address their patients’ resource needs, ultimately serving as a model for the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation’s Accountable Health Communities pilot, the first federal pilot to screen and navigate patients to basic resources. Onie is a MacArthur “Genius” awardee, a member of the National Academy of Medicine, and an Aspen Institute Health Innovators Fellow. She received her J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she was an editor of the Harvard Law Review.
Heather Grady is a Vice President in the San Francisco team of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and leads the practice area of Environment and Climate Change, including a range of funder collaboratives, advisory engagements, and research. She co-founded and leads the Shifting Systems initiative that encourages funders to place longer-term, more adaptive funding with grantee partners to enable them to create systemic impact. She oversees a portfolio of over 40 sponsored projects and advises philanthropists and foundations. Her perspectives and practice have been influenced by two decades living and working in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. She previously worked with the Rockefeller Foundation, Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative, and Oxfam Great Britain. She is on the board of Doc Society, the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, Wildlife Justice Commission, the Dropbox Foundation and Forum for the Future, and the Advisory Council of Daughters for Earth.
Olivia Leland is the Founder and CEO of Co-Impact, a global philanthropic collaborative for equitable systems
change at scale, focused on advancing gender equality and elevating women and
girls’ power, agency and leadership at all levels. Olivia has more than two decades of international
experience in philanthropy, government, and the non-profit sector. Prior to
Co-Impact, Olivia was the founding director of the Giving Pledge – an effort
launched by Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett to help
address society’s most pressing problems by encouraging increased philanthropy.
Previously, Olivia worked in microfinance and financial inclusion, and in the
areas of strategy development, multi-sector collaboration, and advancing gender
equality.
Neera Nundy is the Co-founder and Partner at Dasra India, a strategic philanthropic organization that started in 1999. Her overarching goal is to enable social entrepreneurs and funders with the support they need to achieve big goals in areas such as gender, urban resilience, and sanitation through system change and collaborative philanthropy. Neera plays a crucial role in bringing capacity building, knowledge, funding, and networks to the sector. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and is a fellow of the third class of the Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship of the Ananta Aspen Center and a fellow of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. She is a Board Member of The Hunger Project, American School of Bombay, and Aangan Trust. She is Canadian, has lived in Mumbai for 21 years, runs Dasra with her husband Deval, and busy raising feminist sons – Ayush, Laxman, and Akbar – all teenagers!
