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.)

OUR HISTORY

Since our (modest) beginnings in 1998, theHF’s notable investments through the years demonstrate how we’ve expanded our commitment to social justice. We’ve always put our money where our values are, and it all started with our founder’s real-world education as a journalist in the 1970s.

2020

RespectAbility

RespectAbility works with employers, entertainment leaders, governors, policy makers, educators, self-advocates, non-profits, faith-based organizations, philanthropists and the media to fight stigmas and advance opportunities for people with disabilities. Because intersectionality includes normalizing the world for people with different needs, we’re glad to underwrite this dynamic group’s timely work with the entertainment industry. New standards for Best Picture Oscar(™) nominees mean filmmakers will be seeking out the counsel of RespectAbility experts. There will be a measurable difference in the number of people with disabilities both in front of and behind the camera.

2017

Higher Heights

When we began thinking intentionally about intersectionality, we sought an appropriate role to support emerging voices on the political stage. In 2016 we started a relationship with Higher Heights, a powerful network designed to expand Black women’s political power through convenings, webinars, training, and online events. Higher Heights Leadership Fund enlists tens of thousands of Black women (and their allies) to maximize the possibilities for Black women to lead on the local, state, and national levels. (In addition to foundation grants for the HH nonprofit 501(c)(3), Ruth Ann Harnisch supports their 501(c)(4) political action group with personal funds.)

2016

Ms. Foundation

The Ms. Foundation’s pivot to concentrating on women of color reflects our own desire to invest in women’s equality, equity and opportunity to earn money, with access to health care and child care. We underwrote some of the strategic study that led to this focus. Among our other contributions, we support the Ms. Foundation’s annual comedy showcase. We love Funny Girls of all ages!

2016

Funny Girls

Funny Girls -- our pioneering program that uses improv as a leadership tool for girls in grades 3-8 -- launches! Developed in creative collaboration with the Magnet Theater and Pilobolus Dance Theater, Funny Girls’ curriculum focuses on the skills of self-awareness, learning agility, collaboration, empathy, and resiliency. Running in partnership with social justice forward after school programs primarily in NYC, we train instructors chosen from the communities they serve. To meet the Funny Girls team, our partners and for more info on our (developing/exciting/exploding/blossoming) program, visit the Funny Girls program page.

2014

Inclusionists

Led by Dr. Stacy L. Smith at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, The Inclusionists study the state of diversity and inclusion in the entertainment industry. These pioneering researchers put hard numbers to the problems, thus creating measurable social change through the use of their research to spur advocacy, and action. We know the importance of this research and underwrite new studies that match our interests.

2014

Sundance Women Filmmakers Initiative

Our belief that media by and about women is one of the most effective ways to shift cultural norms and raise awareness made our partnership with the Sundance Institute a natural fit. A longtime patron, Ruth Ann has given grants to the Sundance Women Filmmakers Initiative (now Women at Sundance) and recently established a program of professional coaching for each of the Momentum Fellows selected for the program. In the truest spirit of inclusion and intersectionality, most offerings are now available to anyone outside the traditional white-male-able-bodied-non-ethnic stereotype.

2013

Exploring Disruptive Philanthropy

When we heard about the everyday people who give no-strings-attached $1000 grants to grassroots projects and their creators, we were eager to establish our own chapter with weekly grants. Awesome Without Borders celebrates the wildly imaginative, artistic, humanitarian, wacky as well as deadly serious ideas where a thousand dollars can make a difference. This microgiving portion of our diverse philanthropic investment portfolio gives us very high returns of joy.

2011

Founding Partner of SupporTED

Soon after Ruth Ann (a TED patron since 2006) began supporting the TED Fellows program, she offered to help create a team of coaching support for the Fellows. Alongside co-founder Renee Freedman, they developed SupporTED, a pro bono coaching initiative enlisting world-class professional coaches to volunteer their services to the Fellows. Later, Renee developed the SupporTED Collaboratorium, a four-day intensive where teams of coaches and other professionals offer their knowledge, talents, and ideas to Fellows. TheHF underwrote and managed the coaching program until TED itself decided to formally offer coaching services to the Fellows. The coaching benefit was consistently rated as one of the top benefits of the entire TEDFellowship, usually dueling for the top spot with attendance at the TED Conference itself.

2011

EDGE Certified Foundation

To be honest, we couldn’t have dreamed when we gave a grant to create systemic change globally that we would see results so soon. Closing the gender pay gap in corporations worldwide isn’t exactly a small feat. Launched as the Gender Equity Project, the first companies — including banking and retail institutions — have already been certified.

2008

Women Moving Millions

Ruth Ann qualified for membership in Women Moving Millions, an organization of women (and a few good men) each of whom have given one million dollars or more to the advancement of girls and women. Ruth Ann formerly co-chaired the WMM Film Circle and is currently participating in their $100 million dollar campaign, Give Bold Get Equal.

2008

Center for Sustainable Journalism

Old media was dying as ad spending evaporated. So when Professor Len Witt presented us with the opportunity to give founding funding to the Center for Sustainable Journalism at Kennesaw State University, we were grateful for the opportunity to underwrite his vision. For many years, the Center proved the viability of dedicated funding for a specific genre of journalism, specifically, reporting on Juvenile Justice. Today the founding leaders of the Center have passed that baton, and Len’s prescient imagining of a world in which people willingly pay journalists to produce specific content is burgeoning in today’s Substack, Medium, and other avenues for compensating journalists and commentators for their work. The center’s comprehensive reporting on juvenile justice — shared through the online Juvenile Justice Information Exchange and the printed publication YouthToday — has been its most successful enterprise to date.

2008

The Institute of Coaching

Experiencing the value of professional coaching herself, Ruth Ann recognized a need to invest in academic research for the coaching field. This led to a $2 million dollar gift to establish the Institute of Coaching at McLean Hospital, a Harvard Medical School Affiliate where Carol Kauffman, PhD serves as Executive Director and Margaret Moore and Susan David as Co-Directors. The mission of the Institute is to build scientific foundation and best practices of leadership, wellness and personal coaching.

2008

Baruch College Harnisch Scholars

When one of the most diverse educational institutions in the country created the “Department of Journalism and the Writing Professions,” it was the perfect opportunity for Ruth Ann, a “recovering journalist” and her husband Bill, a Baruch alum, to collaborate. The result: we underwrote StudioH, a new media lab, and provided annual scholarships aimed at empowering new voices in journalism. To date, over 200 Harnisch Family Scholars have graduated from the NYC College.

2001

Building Paths to Financial Freedom

Thistle Farms (formerly known as Magdalene), a residential program for women who have survived prostitution, trafficking and addiction, is an excellent example of the transformation that can happen when philanthropists invest early in powerful ideas. By establishing matching funds for Individual Development Accounts (IDAs), women had the financial means to rebuild their lives. What began as a small organization in Nashville, TN became an international movement to empower survivors.

2000

Women Donors Network

A community of progressive women who multiply their energy, strategic savvy, and philanthropic dollars to build a more just and fair world, Women Donors Network (WDN) addresses many of theHF’s focus areas. Ruth Ann joined back when the organization’s newsletter was still typed, printed, stapled and snailmailed. From its founding, when it helped women become comfortable taking control of their wealth and deploying it for social good, WDN today marshals and distributes bold multi-million dollar support of leaders and organizations driving the racial justice movement. WDN underwrites leading-edge efforts for social change, including research about who holds elected office and how to build a more inclusive society.

2000

First Million Dollar Grant

At a time when it wasn’t common for philanthropists to speak openly about giving, More than Money (MtM) was groundbreaking for “opening the green closet.” This grant, the largest in the organization’s history, allowed them to develop a public platform where the top 5% of wealthholders could connect and learn how to be better stewards of their affluence. The MtM founders also created the 50% League (now Bolder Giving) that inspired the now famous Giving Pledge.

1999

Bold Champion For Equal Rights

When the local chapter of PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) needed a partner who wasn’t afraid to shock Conservative Nashville with a billboard proclaiming “Someone You Know And Love Is Gay,” they knew who to call.

1998

Promoting Microfinance for Women

Matching funds for personal saving accounts, the success of trusting women with their own money led us to consider how access to independent income could impact women internationally. By partnering with leading development organization Pro Mujer, we were able to support their efforts to connect women in South America with microloans. The women business owners were each mutually responsible for paying back the loan, creating a level of accountability and commitment.

1998

Power of the Purse®

The Women’s Fund was established within The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee in 1994 by a committee of community leaders who wanted to invest in long-term solutions for transforming the lives of women and girls, subsequently improving the well-being of the entire community. An early supporter of the Women’s Fund, Ruth Ann helped to create and underwrite The Power of the Purse® luncheon, now the most major money-raising event for the Fund, of which she continues to support today.

1998

A Foundation is Born

Ruth Ann’s years of reporting on social justice issues and working as a woman in the field inspired her to fund agencies working to support girls and women, the poor, and others at a disadvantage. In 1998, The Harnisch Foundation was born. It began awarding grants to nonprofits in Tennessee where Ruth Ann resided at the time.

1995

Investing in Vulnerable Populations

Who speaks for the people with no political power? Nobody was fighting harder for the rights of the poor than Tennessee Justice Center founder and former Legal Aid lawyer Gordon Bonnyman. Ruth Ann, impressed by his leadership, funded his efforts to hold the state accountable for broken promises to its least powerful citizens.

1970s

Shattering Glass Ceilings

Ruth Ann broke through the norms of a MadMen era and became the first woman in Nashville to appear on the evening news set, a privilege only granted to men until then. (She was followed a few months later by newcomer Oprah Winfrey.) In addition to her role as a reporter/anchor, she was a talk show host at WLAC-AM, and a columnist for the Nashville Banner.

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.

Show less

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.

Show less

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.

Show less

Sara Ach, Program Manager, Funny Girls Program

Sara Ach is the Program Manager for the Funny Girls Program at the Harnisch Foundation. Sara is an experienced improvisor, starting at Upright Citizen’s Brigade and performing at venues around Los Angeles with her troop. She played collegiate soccer and is an avid champion of women in sports. Sara has also spent time in the classroom working with students in underserved communities around the San Francisco Bay Area through Breakthrough Collaborative. Having spent significant time working in sales & marketing, Sara is excited to have pivoted to combine her passion for education, equality, and female empowerment with her love of improv.

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.

Show less