Staff
Directors and Founders
Christopher and Anne
Ellinger are nationally-recognized writers, wealth counselors, workshop presenters,
and organizers on issues of wealth and philanthropy. Through their writing, individual counseling,
and workshops, they have guided several thousand people through the personal challenges of wealth
and philanthropy.
In 1991, they founded More than Money, a nonprofit peer education network with over 1000 participants nationwide. Through publications, gatherings, and web resources, More Than Money helps people with significant financial resources explore the impact of money in their lives and act on their highest values. In 2004 they launched the Zing Foundation to both continue their philanthropic promotion and to build on their life-long interest in the effective use of participatory arts for social change.
Anne and Christopher also direct True Story Theater, an improvisational performance company that builds community by "playing back" the true life experiences told by members of the audience, and are members of the International Playback Theater Network that connects Playback Theatre troupes round the world.
Executive Director
Jason brings to his work with Bolder Giving a background in philanthropy education, nonprofit strategy and leadership, and urban policy and education advocacy. He is also a Lecturer on Public Administration and Doctoral Candidate at New York University's Wagner School of Public Service. His research at NYU focuses on the role of charitable foundations in the policy making process and he teaches courses on nonprofit management, public policy, and philanthropy.
He is an experienced national donor educator and leader with over a decade of volunteer, professional and scholarly experience in philanthropic and social change work. He serves on the boards of Resource Generation, North Star Fund, Proteus Fund, 21st Century School Fund, and Social Justice Philanthropy Collaborative and on the advisory boards of Wealth for the Common Good and Chartered Advisors in Philanthropy program.
He comes to the Bolder Giving team from the 21st Century School Fund where he most recently worked as Deputy Director. Previously, he coordinated the Rockefeller Foundation's Next Generation Leadership Network housed at the NYU Research Center for Leadership in Action and has also worked for the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, White House Office of National AIDS Policy, and Oregon Commission on Children and Families.
A serial social entrepreneur, he co-founded Oregon Students Supporting Education (a statewide student organizing effort that helped prevent major budget cuts to Oregon public schools), the Multnomah Youth Commission (a youth-led agency that advises city and county leaders on program and policy decisions), and IAM LLC (an urban brownfield development planning firm that won the 2004 Goldman Sachs Global Social Venture Competition). He has an MS in Urban Policy and Nonprofit Management from the New School's Milano Graduate School and a BA in Political Communication from the George Washington University.
Operations Manager
Diane Dana from 1987 to 1996 helped launch and form the Community Service Learning (CSL) movement, now
practiced in schools and communities across the country. Four of those years were founding and
coordinating the Massachusetts School-based Community Service Learning Program at the state Department
of Education, the entity through which federal and state funds for CSL were channeled to schools and
school support resources. From 2000 through 2004 she worked with a team of faculty and staff in the Five
College area of Western MA (Smith, Amherst, Mt. Holyoke and Hampshire Colleges and UMass/Amherst) to
launch the Community for Integrative Learning and Action (CILA), a space for area educators to explore ways
that higher education can better serve the whole of students’ realities.
She works at Zing on a part time basis and spends her other part time hours working to support the SEED Project on Inclusive Curriculum (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) at the Wellesley Centers for Women, Wellesley College.
Arts Rising Funding Circle Coordinator
Amber Espar brings 15 years of experience in a variety of participatory arts and healing work – from contact improvisation to Action Theater, from mural painting with young people to compassionate communication skills. She recently completed intensive training in performance and facilitation with the Moving on Center School for Participatory Arts and is pursuing a certificate in somatic movement therapy and education.
Amber created and ran an urban school garden and nutrition program with Groundwork Somerville for five years. She has worked as an environmental educator connecting people of all ages to natural habitats for over 10 years. She regularly leads science, art and culture study trips to Latin America with high school youth. She has performed in solo and ensemble work across the country with troupes including Alligator Mouth Improv. Amber earned a BA in International Studies from Vassar College.
Web and Graphic Design
Jesse Pearlman Karlsberg is a web and graphic designer, an
artist and composer and a Sacred Harp
singer. He has designed web sites and print material for Google, Inc., Harvard Divinity School, Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute, Keshet, Class Matters, True Story Theater, and a variety of small business and non-profit clients.
Jesse sings and teaches Sacred Harp music around the United States and internationally. Sacred Harp is a lively a cappella community music tradition, with roots in the Southeastern United States. Jesse composes new music in the Sacred Harp style and creates collaborative and community art works exploring the intersections of history, technology, storytelling, and geology. His work encompasses installation, music for live performance, tunebooks, web design, audio tours, and works for radio.
Media and PR
Jennifer Leigh is an integrated marketing consultant with a specific concentration on the non-profit
sector, and has worked with clients in the philanthropy, affordable housing, healthcare, domestic violence and anti-poverty
arenas. In addition to er consulting work, Jennifer
is also Communications Director of The Poverty Institute, a non-partisan think tank that advocates for low-income Rhode
Islanders through tax and budget policy.
Data Entry Manager and Office Genie
Caty Vaganay grew up and lived in the South of France until 2001, where she
got her Licence in Organizational Psychology. She was CEO and Founder of an
Administrative-Assistance Company that hired disabled people to provide
online administrative assistance to clients.
Bolder Giving Volunteers
Carmen Lee is one of Zing's earliest volunteers, joining the Zing team when it
was just a sapling, and has watched it grow from strength to strength. With
her background in academic libraries, she now takes care of Research &
Online Community needs for Bolder Giving. She enjoys being a
part of Zing because it gives her an opportunity to explore greater, wiser,
more creative giving. She loves animals and the ocean, and is especially
fond of seagulls.
David Ludlow is a mountain-climbing, ocean-kayaking, spiritual-seeking
free-spirit. With a Masters in Social Work, a history as a community
organizer and a professional photographer, David founded Social Justice
Education, a Boston-based nonprofit, to help young people of color organize
for social change. David also
volunteers with the Boston Worker's Alliance to bring about employment
equity for unemployed workers.