About The Harnisch Foundation

We believe in a fairer world that works better for everyone, with special attention on gender and racial equity.

When the Harnisch Foundation was created in 1998, our grantmaking budget was tiny, we wrote the checks by hand, and we measured our impact through the stories of individuals who’d benefited from the grants. As our budget expanded, so did our vision.

We began investing in larger strategic projects aimed at creating a fairer world that works better for everyone, with special attention on gender and racial equity.

We chose three ways to fund visionary social change work:

LEADERSHIP	We invest in leadership development, including our signature Funny Girls™ curriculum.
STORYTELLING	We invest in creative storytelling, including changing the ratio of storytellers and stories to be more inclusive of women and other people of color.
CONVENINGS	We know there’s no substitute for getting together in person, where relationships deepen and ideas flourish. Meetings are magnifiers.

In the decades since our founding, we have set our sights on bigger visions, and some of our grants are bigger, but we still have a heart for the smaller grant that makes a huge difference. That’s why we’re the home of the Awesome Without Borders chapter of the Awesome Foundation. Giving $1000 every week to something awesome keeps us close to our beginnings.

People tell us that from the beginning, our hallmarks have been:

Early investment in causes, leaders, new ideas
Willingness to make a fast decision
Getting the biggest possible bang for the buck
Connecting like-minds and making key introductions
Offering valuable coaching and guidance along with (or instead of) a grant
Shifting rapidly to acknowledge changing realities

In our third decade, we’re committed to living up to what we’re known for, doing better where we can. (If you have suggestions, tell us.)

MEET THE TEAM

Ruth Ann Harnisch, Founder & President

Ruth Ann founded the Harnisch Foundation in 1998, not only fully aware of the unfairness that allows families of wealth to shelter income from taxes but also determined to make the best use of this advantage. (Neither she nor any family member is on the Foundation’s payroll.) She’s a traitor to her economic class by working to end her own tax breaks. In the meantime, she purposes herself to use this privilege on behalf of others.

Prior to her philanthropic focus, Ruth Ann’s multimedia career in Nashville,TN allowed her to break a few glass ceilings. She was a television news reporter and anchor (fun fact, Oprah was her cubicle neighbor at CBS affiliate WTVF-TV), radio talk show host (WLAC-AM), OpEd Columnist and newspaper feature writer (Nashville Banner). This work taught her how public policy affected everyday lives and the fate of the world. Her days and nights on those jobs were a constant adventure in discovering what can go wrong in the world (and how people can prevent, fix, and/or reverse wrongness). She learned there were many ways to create social change.

One sure way to influence change is to apply money. So when Ruth Ann and Bill Harnisch married (and his generosity added personal financial resources to her tools of influence), TheHF was born. Millions of dollars and thousands of grants later, she’s grateful for the opportunity to make a difference in the causes she cares about most. Because she’s been sensitive to systems of inequality throughout her life, her philanthropic interests lean toward creating a fairer world for everyone, especially those who don’t benefit from a world built to serve white straight cis able-bodied men.

Outside of the foundation, Ruth Ann is a private investor with a portfolio that includes women-led startups. Ruth Ann invests both personal and philanthropic capital in content creation, including feature films, documentaries, series, and other media that advance social causes and explore topics of important public interest, often in partnership with other funders including Impact Partners. Her documentary films have been shortlisted for (Unrest), nominated for (The Hunting Ground), and won (Icarus, Best Documentary Feature, 2017) Oscar consideration.

Ruth Ann is also a professional certified coach. She has an active pro bono practice coaching “people who are up to something big in the world,” skills that also inform her volunteer service as a trained Crisis Text Line crisis counselor. Ruth Ann is a member of the Women Donors Network, Women Moving Millions, Rachel’s Network (environmental funders), the International Women’s Forum (Tennessee and New York City Forums), the Women at Sundance Leadership Council, and the Leadership Nashville Alumni Association. If you see her bouncing around the Zoom chat, she’s getting in those Fitbit steps. And because she’s over 70 she’ll be wearing a mask wherever she’s working on dismantling patriarchal white supremacy.

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Bill Harnisch, Founder

Bill Harnisch, co-founder of the Harnisch Foundation, bought his first share of stock when he was barely into his teens. That was over 60 years ago and Bill’s fascination with markets continues to this day. His success in the equity investment business provides the money that fuels the philanthropy.

Founded in 2000, his Peconic Partners hedge fund is his main vehicle for investment. He managed and sold two other investment firms during his career. Bill graduated from Baruch College of the City University of New York, where he now serves as a trustee of the Baruch College Fund Board and is a member of the Investment Committee. He was awarded the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1977, and is a member of the CFA Institute. He also belongs to the New York Academy of Sciences, YPO, and CEO.

His opinions on markets have been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, The New York Times, Business Week, Bloomberg News, and many other international publications.

Bill’s industry expertise in the field of health care informs his philanthropic interests, and in fact it was at an event for one of his medical charities that he met his future wife, Ruth Ann. In recent years Bill has taken a very active role in the Foundation’s work. He’s been an advisor and coach to TED Fellows as well as Baruch students who receive scholarships he’s endowed. He’s led the research on most of the social change documentaries in which the Foundation has invested.

He’s never forgotten his Queens, New York roots and he will gladly show you where he learned to swim, which in perfect alignment with our mission, used to be the Boys Club, and is now the Boys and Girls Club.

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Jenny Raymond, Executive Director

Jenny Raymond is the Executive Director of the New York City based Harnisch Foundation, and for over two decades has been driving the foundation’s mission to advance gender equity. She has administered more than $12 million dollars to support bold ideas, effective leaders, and creative communities. From investigating sustainable new models in journalism to supporting courageous storytelling to championing innovative solutions for the leadership development of women and girls, Jenny is on the forefront of truly creative philanthropy. In 2013, she founded the HF’s “Funny Girls,” a ground-breaking program that teaches leadership skills through improv to middle school girls, and continues to lead the program as it flourishes. She has spoken at TEDWomen, National Coalition of Girls Schools, and the Girl Scouts National Convention, and has appeared on NBC Nightly News, in Glamour, and in a video produced by Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls.

In addition to her work as a connector within the philanthropic domain, Jenny is a Juilliard-trained oboist with worldwide performances to her credit, including Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center. Jenny served on faculty at the Manhattan School of Music PreCollege Division from 1997-2017. She was a 2016 The Nantucket Project Scholar. She relishes wearing many hats and resides in New York City with her husband, award-winning interactive media designer Jake Barton, and children, Dexter and Pippa.

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Jill Frutkin, Education Manager, Funny Girls Program

Jill Frutkin is the Education Manager for the Funny Girls Program. She’s an innovative educator with an extensive background in the performing arts. Jill received her BFA from NYU Tisch and is a founding member and Board member of The TEAM, a Brooklyn based theatre company dedicated to creating new work about the experience of living in America today. With The TEAM, she has written and performed award winning new plays to critical acclaim domestically and abroad since 2004. Jill received her MST from Pace as an NYC Teaching Fellow and worked for many years as a special education teacher in NYC’s District 75. She went on to work for NYCTF in training and supporting new Special Education Fellows.

Jill has worked as a Teaching Artist in both public and private NYC schools, and was the Director of Special Education for Stages On The Sound. In a partnership with QSAC, she created and ran a Drama Education program specifically for students on the autism spectrum, which was recognized at the 2019 Broadway Arts for Autism benefit. In addition, Jill has worked as an applied improv instructor with The Engaging Educator, and an audiobook narrator with Recorded Books.

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