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Lior Ipp
CEO at The Roddenberry Foundation
Lior Ipp is a highly accomplished professional with a strong background in education and non-profit leadership.
He pursued his education at the prestigious Harvard Graduate School of Education, reflecting his commitment to excellence and continuous learning.
Lior has held prominent leadership roles in several renowned organizations, showcasing his expertise and dedication to making a positive impact.
Previously, he served as the Chief Executive Officer at The Roddenberry Foundation, illustrating his strategic vision and ability to drive organizational success.
He also excelled as the Chief Executive Officer at Breakthrough Collaborative, demonstrating his capacity to lead and inspire teams towards achieving common goals.
In addition, Lior contributed significantly to Ashoka's Youth Venture as the Director of Global Programming, indicating his passion for empowering youth and fostering social entrepreneurship.
His tenure as the Senior Director of After-School and Enrichment Programs at Oasis Children Services LLC highlights his proficiency in program development and management within the education sector.
With a wealth of experience in diverse leadership roles, Lior Ipp continues to be a prominent figure in the realms of education and non-profit organizations, leaving a lasting impact wherever he goes.
Highlights
Last week the debate regarding the pros and cons of “big bet philanthropy” was litigated once again in the Stanford Social Innovation Review. This should come as no surprise. As long as unfathomable wealth continues to accumulate and be inherited there will be a need amongst ultra wealthy individuals, DAFs, and foundations to disburse these funds in increasingly larger amounts. And the vast majority of these donors will look to the traditional custodians of philanthropic largess who will advise them to go “bold” and be “ambitious”, think “big”. And they will but not in the way they think.
In reality, there is no safer bet than joining a sizeable group of ultra wealthy individuals or massive foundations to make a grant, even an 8-figure one, to a well-established, well-resourced organization that has a 20 year track record. This isn’t a knock against the organization. In fact, it’s because of their expertise, leadership, and impact that they deserve a large grant and more power to them for being positioned to receive it.
But if we really want bigger and bolder approaches in philanthropy let’s look elsewhere. Rather than debate the merits of big bets— which aren’t going away— I’d suggest a “yes, and” solution. How about for every dollar a big donor gives to the collaborative funds mentioned in #SSIR, they (or the funds) direct 10 cents towards much smaller organizations who have the same vision, ambition, and impact orientation as their larger peers.
Let’s not forget that most if not all of today's large-scale systems change organizations started as small, local initiatives with a bold vision and a commitment to catalyzing change. To deepen and broaden the ecosystem, we need to identify these organizations earlier, support their growth, and amplify their work. Supporting a pipeline of smaller organizations, particularly those that are systems-oriented, is a strategic and bold investment in the future of the sector. We overlook them at our own peril. #SSIR #bigbetphilanthropy #funding #risk #philanthropy +1 Global Fund
We were speaking with a group of funders last week and the topic of funding pipelines came up. This is undoubtedly the single most frequent conversation we have: how to source high-impact organizations. Generally speaking, unless we hold an open call for applications, funders are dependent on referrals from their peers or a shared mechanism for deal flow. The problem with the former option is that open calls are too often an overly-complex, burdensome, and time-consuming process for everyone– potential applicants and funders alike. The challenge with the latter option is that it can lead to an insularity that only benefits a small number of organizations. It’s equivalent to only ever eating at restaurants recommended by a handful of friends.
The nest result is that we’ve created a funding ecosystem that’s highly inefficient and/or favors a small percentage of organizations (i.e. donor darlings) at the expense of so many other high-performing ones.
If we care about diversifying our funding pipelines and going beyond the “usual suspects” we need new and different frameworks for doing so. Through the +1 Global Fund w/Skoll Foundation, Tarsadia Foundation, The Schooner Foundation and others we’re leveraging peer-nominations through trusted-networks to identify under-the-radar organizations in the Global South.
If you want to learn more, join us (Roddenberry Foundation, Sall Family Foundation, Shockwave Foundation) for a virtual session on May 2, 2023 at @CCW2023 at 9am PST/12pm EST/18:00 CEST. Register now: https://bit.ly/3MqBBCD
#funding #philanthropy #SDGs #CatalysingChangeWeek2023 #Catalyst2030
