Sunny Fischer, Board Member |
Sunny Fischer is the Executive Director of The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation in Chicago. The Driehaus Foundation makes grants primarily to organizations working to enhance the urban environment with a focus on architecture and design. The Foundation also supports the performing and visual arts as well as makes grants to organizations that provide opportunities for economically disadvantaged individuals.
Ms. Fischer has consulted for many foundations, including The Joyce Foundation (where she developed a funding program to raise immunization rates in Chicago's neighborhoods), The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Chicago Community Trust. She has also worked with non-profits on fund-raising, board, and program development. For its two-year duration, from 1997-1999, she directed the City of Chicago/Cook County Welfare Reform Task Force.
Ms. Fischer was a founding executive director of one of the first private women's foundations in the country, The Sophia Fund, and was the co-founder of the Chicago Foundation for Women.
Numerous organizations have honored Ms. Fischer for her work in philanthropy and for her work on non-violence, including the Association of Fund-Raising Professionals Chicago Chapter, the Women's Funding Network, Jewish Women International (the Perlman Humanitarian Award), and the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, which gave her its "Point of Lightning" award.
Born in New York City, Ms. Fischer was educated at Hunter College of the City University of New York. Her Masters degree is from the University of Chicago's School of Social Services Administration (SSA).
Besides the Graham Foundation Board of Trustees, her volunteer commitments include memberships on the board of the national Family Violence Prevention Fund and chairing the board of the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law. Her local commitments include the boards of the Neighborhood Writing Alliance, the Heartland Alliance, and serving as Vice-Chair of the Donors Forum of Chicago.