A LAAF Initiative
Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen Foundation (LAAF)

Giving Circles Fund (GCF) uses the power of collective action to create lasting change.  The organization was founded on the premise that anyone can become a generous, committed and strategic giver. Recognizing that affordability, knowledge and impact are a barrier to entry for many people who want to give back, GCF developed an innovative online platform that has helped emerging philanthropists grant hundreds of thousands of dollars to deserving nonprofits across the country. In early 2016, Giving Circles Fund merged with the Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen Foundation (LAAF) in order to scale its impact. GCF and LAAF were natural partners because of our shared values and complementary programs, technology and educational content. LAAF’s founder and president, Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, has championed giving circles since founding the Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund (SV2) over 16 years ago. SV2 has grown from a small giving circle into the second largest venture philanthropy partnership in the world, and continues to grow its number of partners, total grantmaking and impact beyond the Silicon Valley community. 

By making it easy to build or join a giving circle, GCF inspires, educates and empowers people to give in a way that matters more.  

President
J.D. Willcox

J.D. is a newcomer to the non-profit space and has recently founded a startup in the performance apparel industry. Before that, after a brief stint in Baseball Operations for the Boston Red Sox after college, for eight years he worked at DC Energy, leading trading in California and the Midwest while also serving as the head of recruiting and professional development and captain emeritus of the firm’s softball team. J.D. lives in the greater Washington, D.C. area and is a 2002 graduate of Stanford University with a BS in Management Science and Engineering.

Treasurer
Jessica Prue Rifkind

As an associate director at Arabella Advisors, Jessica Prue Rifkind collaborates with philanthropic partners to develop, structure, and strengthen the impact of an array of special interest projects. Her work includes facilitating donor collaboratives, developing sustainability plans, managing grants and contracts, and conducting due diligence reviews for philanthropists. Prior to joining Arabella, Jessica led strategy and financial sustainability consulting engagements as a senior associate at Nonprofit Finance Fund. In this role, she developed sustainability plans, evaluated earned income ventures, and created dashboards for nonprofits nationwide. She also redesigned financial due diligence systems and formulated sector-specific giving strategies for several foundations. She graduated magna cum laude from Cornell University and holds an MPA from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University.

Board of Directors
Scott Alter

Scott is the co-founder of Standard Property Company, a real estate investment and management firm based in Los Angeles, CA. Standard Property Company is a full-service multi-family investment firm, providing investment, development, and management services to owners, investment managers, and investors across a diverse platform of geographic locations. Prior to co-founding Standard, Scott was an investment professional at Stockbridge Real Estate Funds, a real estate investment firm, which at the time of Scott’s departure, managed three real estate opportunity funds with over $2.7 billion of assets. Previously, Scott worked as a Financial Analyst in Merrill Lynch & Co.’s investment banking division. Scott received a B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University.

Board of Directors
Mike Berkowitz

Mike Berkowitz is co-founder & CEO of Third Plateau Social Impact Strategies, LLC, a full-service philanthropic advisory and nonprofit consulting firm that partners with the world’s most passionate and daring changemakers to reimagine, expand, and realize their social impact. Over a 10-year career in politics, fundraising, and philanthropy, Mike has developed an extensive background working with donors to determine their philanthropic priorities and advising them on their charitable and political investments. He has also counseled dozens of nonprofit institutions on effective development strategy, board development, strategic planning, and impact evaluation. A native of New York City, Mike lives in San Francisco with his wife, Debbie Tuttle Berkowitz. He has a B.A. in History, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Brown University.

Board of Directors
George Ingalls

George Ingalls began exploring philanthropy in 2004 when he joined the board of the Tecovas Foundation. Through his work with Tecovas, he has supported work in the arts, environment, social and economic justice, education, and philanthropy while learning about effective grantmaking and board membership. Outside of his philanthropic work, George works with participatory arts and related event production. He is in his fourth year with FIGMENT NYC; a free participatory arts event held annually on Governors Island, and has contributed to the production of two major major fundraising events for FIGMENT and other arts organizations since 2012. George has also built art and infrastructure for Burning Man and other events since 2011. He has lived in Brooklyn since 2011, but maintains strong ties to his home town of Amarillo, TX with a particular focus on its community of artists and creators.

Board of Directors
Ian Kleinfield

Ian is a Vice President in the Clean Technology and Renewables Investment Banking Group at Goldman Sachs, focused on advising, financing and investing in clean energy companies globally.  Prior to this role, Ian helped manage Goldman Sachs’ Private Wealth Management business in various positions across the U.S.   Ian is a CFA Charterholder and a 2005 graduate from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas.  Ian also serves as an active Board Member on the McCombs BBA/MPA Alumni Advisory Board.  A native of both New York and Texas, Ian lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

Board Chair
Gloria Chua
Over her last three years at Stanford, Gloria has discovered the joy of giving her time, effort and resources to causes she cares about, including increasing access to quality education and helping others lead mission-driven lives of impact, through founding Stanford’s first student group focused on technology for social change – Computer Science + Social Good, leading an Alternative Spring Break trip on education, technology and equity. She spends the rest of her time between finishing up her BS degree in Product Design as a senior at Stanford, fangirling over Radiolab and 99% Invisible, and singing in the shower. Gloria’s giving circle, TECH4GOOD funds organizations that build creative and technological capacities for individuals in underserved populations in the United States.  

Board Member
Heejung Chung

Heejung is currently taking a gap year before entering Stanford as a freshman in 2017. Over the next year, she will be interning as a frontend developer at SunScool– a Russian startup building a Bible Study app. She attended Castilleja School, where she co-founded and developed Mezzo– an app geared towards facilitating surplus food donation. She also served as a Publicity Lead on the Senior Gift Committee for her class, which reached 100% participation in donating. In her spare time, she enjoys folding origami and geeking out over TV shows with her family. Heejun’s Giving Circle for Better Food Security supports organizations which work to combat food insecurity worldwide. 

Board Member
Alinna Brown

Alinna is currently pursuing a BS in Mathematical and Computational Science at Stanford University, but also enjoys coursework in the humanities and psychology, which she studied during a quarter abroad at Oxford. She attended Castilleja School, where she worked as a Peer Advisor, mentor through the Halford Young Women Leaders Program and Student Ambassador. Alinna’s Gender and LGBTQ Inclusion Circle is dedicated to supporting both women’s and LGBTQ rights, with the goal of promoting confidence, self-value and inclusion in schools and in the workplace 

Board Member
Divya Siddarth

Divya Siddarth (she/her/hers) is a rising junior at Stanford University, majoring in Computational Decision Analysis. She is interested in bringing together technology and social impact, and plans on leveraging this interest to fight for gender equality and against gender-based violence (and take down the patriarchy). On campus, she is a teaching assistant for CS 50 – Using Tech for Good, a staff member at the Women’s Community Center, the Director of External Relations for Stanford Women in Business, and a coordinator at the Bridge Peer Counseling Center. She also loves doing work with Callisto, an effective and innovative sexual assault reporting platform, and is an intern at Upstart, a financial tech startup committed to offering more equitable access to capital and fair lending terms. In addition to these things, she loves dogs, socks, coconut ice cream, Terry Pratchett, and her home city of Los Angeles. She swears she is a fun person. Divya’s circle, Support Women of Color in STEM Research supports organizations that promote the work of women of color in scientific and engineering fields, particularly with regards to funding for women of color led projects. 

Board Member
Jason Randoing

Jason is a rising Junior at Stanford University studying Management Science and Engineering. Prior to studying at Stanford, Jason founded and led a volunteer organization in his hometown focused on increasing music education in low-income schools. He is involved in multiple student organizations including the Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students and the Stanford Pre-Business Association. Jason’s Innovation for Conservation circle supports nonprofits that use innovative and technology-driven approaches to environmental conservation. 

Board Member
Kiran Sridhar

Kiran is a sophomore at Stanford studying Economics. He is also the founder of Waste No Food, a nonprofit enabling groups that have excess food to donate to charities serving the hungry; thus far, Waste No Food has served about three million meals. In his free time, he enjoys rooting for Bay Area sports teams, exploring new neighborhoods and restaurants, and skiing. Kiran’s Transparency and Government Accountability circle seeks to create more transparent and representative government by leveraging technology and empowering the work of activists around the world. 

Board Member
Manu Chopra

Manu Chopra ’17 is a rising senior at Stanford studying Computer Science with focus in AI. At Stanford, he co-founded CS+Social Good, Stanford’s first student group focused on the intersection of CS and social impact. He has researched on building state of the art neural networks, taught CS to kids in rural India, worked with nonprofits in Nigeria to motivate healthcare workers and in China to engineer better sanitation and transport systems. This September, he is lecturing and leading CS 50 : Using Tech For Good, Stanford’s first official CS class focused on social impact. He also really likes Beyonce.

Board Member
Montana Morgan

Montana is a rising senior at Stanford University majoring in Earth Systems, an interdisciplinary major focused on environmental problem solving. Montana has participated in numerous service projects abroad and fundraising through National Charity League and Kappa Alpha Theta. She has also completed a Philanthropy Lab course this past Spring where students determined how to allocate $100,000 of grant funding to nonprofit organizations. She is currently a Corporate Social Responsibility Fellow for Stanford’s Haas Center for Public Service. Montana is committed to finding new ways to integrate social and environmental priorities into traditional business models and looks forward to exploring further the intersection of business and philanthropy.  Montana’s The Adventure Circle seeks to bring about social and environmental justice in the world. 

Board Member
Raquel Lane

Raquel was raised in Denver, Colorado and currently attends Stanford where she is a senior majoring in Chicano/Latino Studies and Spanish. She is passionate about immigrant rights and education equity. In her free time she enjoys the outdoors, snowboarding, and dancing salsa and bachata. Raquel’s Funding the Dream circle supports undocumented students and families in the U.S. through financing their educational and professional aspirations and plans. 

Board Member
Rebecca Mak

Rebecca is a sophomore at Castilleja School. She is a member of Castilleja’s varsity volleyball team, the news section editor of Castilleja’s newspaper, and the co-lead of the “Changing PACE” newsletter, which informs Castilleja students of new volunteer opportunities and internships. She is also the leader-in-training for Stanford Liver Center’s Team Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) high school chapter at Castilleja, where she fundraises and finds creative ways to promote awareness of Hepatitis B. Outside of school, she coaches volleyball and fundraises for Free the Children. Rebecca was also lucky enough to intern at the Stanford Daily and go on a service trip to rural Kenya with Free the Children over the summer. In her free time, you can find Rebecca reading or watching movies with friends. Rebecca’s EMPOWHER circle supports organizations that empower young girls all over the world by giving them the education and access to resources they deserve. 

Board Member
Sarah Hirshorn

Sarah Hirshorn is a senior at Stanford majoring in Public Policy with a self-designed concentration in social entrepreneurship. On campus she is a member of the varsity lightweight rowing team and is a two time team national champion in 2014 and 2015. During her freshman year she founded SWEEP (the Stanford Women’s Educational Erging Program) where her teammates teach youth from East Palo Alto how to use the rowing machine. Sarah had the opportunity to intern at the New York Foundling and the Case Foundation. In the future she hopes to combine her passions for entrepreneurship and social impact. Sarah’s Athlete’s in Action Giving Circle aims to make athletic opportunities more accessible for at risk youth in order that they may form health habits and learn qualities such as collaboration and resilience that will sustain them for life. 

 

 

Board Member
Tuan Caraballo

Tuan is a rising senior Computer Science major at Stanford University. In the field of Computer Science, he is interested in learning about web and mobile applications. Tuan was born and raised in Cuba, but migrated to the United States at the age of twenty-one. In his spare time, Tuan likes to read biographies, historical novels and keep up with current news. He also enjoys playing chess online and spending time with his fiancée. Tuan’s One Life One Hope circle seeks to provide humanitarian support to protect refugees and victims of war in Syria.  

 

Board Member
Ashlee Kupor

Ashlee Kupor is a junior at Los Gatos High School where she actively works to create a positive difference within her community.  As the junior class president, Ashlee is focused on creating events that unite the school campus.  She also founded and is the co-president of the Children of the World Club, a non-profit organization that sends school supplies to impoverished youth around the globe.  She has been part of the SV2 teens leadership team for the past 5 years and is currently serving as vice-chairperson on the Monte Sereno Youth Commission.  In her free time Ashlee enjoys running, cooking, and spending time with her friends and family.  Ashlee is so excited to be a part of the Student Advisory Board and to create a positive difference! Ashlee’s Girls in Computer Science circle will fund organizations that provide young women with the inspiration, knowledge and tools to go into computer science fields. 

Honorary Board Member
Jare Akchin

Jaré Akchin served on the board of Giving Circles Fund (formally One Percent Foundation) from 2009-2014, serving in leadership roles and supporting the organization’s mission of building a movement of next generation philanthropy. Jaré is currently a program officer at a private family foundation in Chicago. Previously, she served as the first Executive Director of Mishkan Chicago, Director of Annual Giving at JCC Chicago, and Founding Director of the Jewish Service Learning Project at Jewish Learning Works (formally the Bureau of Jewish Education) in San Francisco. Jaré has also worked with a number of organizations as a consultant, supporting program development, design thinking, fundraising, and general nonprofit management. Jaré holds a BS in Environmental Science and Public Policy from the University of Maryland and a Masters in Public Administration with a focus in Nonprofit Management from San Francisco State University. She is a Louisiana native who, despite being gone for too long, still cheers for the LSU Tigers, loves hot, humid summers, and makes a mean bowl of gumbo. 

Honorary Board Member
Daniel Kaufman

Daniel Kaufman is the Co-Founder of Giving Circles Fund (formerly the One Percent Foundation), an organization building a broad-based movement of next generation philanthropists by making giving accessible, engaging, and meaningful. He is also the Co-Founder of Third Plateau Social Impact Strategies, LLC, a consulting firm that specializes in designing and implementing innovative next generation philanthropic engagement opportunities for individuals, non-profits, foundations, and businesses. Prior to starting GCF and Third Plateau, Daniel worked as the General Counsel for Revolution Prep, an educational services and products company, and as an associate at Heller Ehrman, LLP in San Francisco. Previously, Daniel served as a Legislative Assistant for the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and the Interfaith Alliance, working on issues ranging from campaign finance reform to foreign policy. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Tutorpedia Foundation and as a representative on the Council on Foundations Next Gen Task Force. Daniel has a J.D. from UCLA School of Law and a B.A. from Stanford University. He lives in Sacramento, CA with his wife, Talia, and children, Mia and Eli.

Honorary Board Member
Jonathan Kaufman

Jonathan Kaufman is co-founder & Chief Non-Profit Officer of Third Plateau Social Impact Strategies.  In this role, Jonathan collaborates with nonprofits and social entrepreneurs all over the world, helping them expand and deepen their impact.  He specializes in business and strategic planning, metrics development, community engagement, and impact assessment for Third Plateau’s clients, which include international development organizations, inner-city school districts, affordable housing nonprofits, innovative family foundations, and dozens of other awe-inspiring changemakers.  Jonathan currently serves on the Board of Directors at Amir Project and on the Alumni Board at Education Pioneers (Bay Area).  He formerly sat on the Board of Directors at Good Shepherd Children and Family Services, Girls on the Run, and Giving Circles Fund (formerly the One Percent Foundation).  Jonathan holds a B.A. in Religion and Political Science from Vassar College and an MBA in Nonprofit Management and Social Entrepreneurship from Washington University in St. Louis, where he was a Danforth Scholar, received the Dean’s Award for Corporate Social Responsibility, and graduated at the top of his class.

Honorary Board Member
Talia Shani Kaufman

Since early 2011, Ms. Kaufman has developed WayUp Sacramento from a concept into a respected enterprise of growing programs and activities. As the Director of WayUp Sacramento, she manages all operations, including partnerships, marketing, grants and fundraising, community engagement and administration.  As part of her portfolio of program management, Ms. Kaufman directs the Sacramento Youth Leadership Program that helps over 500 youth develop leadership skills each year.  Previously, she was Program Manager for Californians for Patient Care, directing operations, staff productivity, patient advocacy, strategic planning, and program implementation.  Ms. Kaufman has held legislative staff positions in federal, state, and local government jurisdictions. Most recently, Ms. Kaufman participated in Leadership Sacramento, a program of the Metro Chamber designed to transform the Sacramento Region into an international center for commerce, learning, culture, and recreation. 

Honorary Board Member
Dulcie Madden

Dulcie currently attends the MIT Sloan School of Management, where she is an MBA Candidate for the Class of 2013. She also works in business development at Rest Devices, a Boston-based startup that develops user-centered devices for monitoring respiration. Previously, she worked as a Program Officer for the Deshpande Foundation in Hubli, India and Boston, Massachusetts. She received her BS in Biology from Georgetown University and her MPH from Boston University, where she concentrated in epidemiology and international health.

Honorary Board Member
Rachel Burrows Paradis

Rachel served as a board member of Giving Circles Fund (formerly the One Percent Foundation) from 2007 – 2010. She has deep experience with leadership and organizational development, project management and capacity building in the social change sector.  Rachel is currently the Managing Director at Movement Strategy Center (MSC). Before joining MSC, Rachel served as the Fellowship Director at Young People For (YP4), a program committed to identifying, engaging and empowering college students to develop leadership skills while creating meaningful social change in their communities. Rachel currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Native Youth Leadership Alliance (NYLA), an intergenerational collective of Tribal College students and their allies, founded by alumni of YP4. Rachel got her start in DC, serving as a Legislative Representative for the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC) and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). She earned a bachelors degree in government and sociology from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York. Rachel lives in San Francisco, CA with her husband Paul and daughter Zoe.

Honorary Board Member
Betsy Uhrman

Betsy is a Senior Consultant at NPO Solutions, where she works to expand the capacity and impact of nonprofit organizations. A native Angeleno, Betsy returned to LA–after stints in New York City and San Francisco–to complete her Masters in Public Administration at USC. Not a stranger to philanthropy, Betsy previously worked at the Open Society Institute and Tides Foundation; her responsibilities included providing strategic consultation and coordination for grantmaking programs. Betsy received a B.A. in English from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Betsy lives with her husband and daughter within blocks of the art museum and some of the best bakeries in LA.

Honorary Board Member
Ryan Vaughan

Ryan is an aerospace engineer working in space systems engineering for NASA in the San Francisco Bay Area. He currently lives in Mountain View, CA. Ryan grew up in the Bay Area and has a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from UCLA and an M.S. in Astronautical Engineering from USC.