Perspectives | Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund

Every Voice Shines New Light

The value of an idea increases exponentially when it’s shared. From our staff, partners and grantees to the people impacted by their efforts, each perspective offers new insight into the critical issues at the heart of our work.

Our Contributors

Sepi Aghdaee

Sepi served as a Program Officer at the Haas, Jr. Fund
Rachel Baker

Rachel works to strengthen the field of leadership development for social change.
Cathy Cha

Cathy leads the Fund’s work to advance rights and create opportunities for all people.
Denis Chicola

Denis works to ensure that communications are at the core of the Fund’s efforts to advance rights and create opportunities.
Holly Delany Cole

Holly directs the Fund’s flagship leadership investment program, which helps grantees to build the leadership they need to reach their goals.
Matt Foreman

Matt oversees the Fund’s extensive support for the drive for equal rights and opportunities for LGBT people.
Victor Garcia
Walter J. Haas

In his leadership of the Haas, Jr. Fund, Walter J. Haas is guided by a commitment to serving the community and to creating opportunities for all people to succeed.
Loren Harris
Ira Hirschfield

Ira oversees the Fund’s investments and leads its work on selected community partnerships.
Jennifer Kirschenbaum
Tomás D. Morales
Paula Morris

Paula has worked with the Fund’s Flexible Leadership Awards program since its inception in 2005, and was its program director until January 2015.
Beth Rayfield

Beth Rayfield is the director of institutional advancement at the Center for Community Change (CCC) and former development director at CHIRLA.
Robert Ross
Jennie Lehua Watson

Jennie leads the Fund’s work to advance rights and create opportunities for all people.
Evan Wolfson

Evan is the founder and President of Freedom to Marry, a longtime Fund partner and key player in the campaign to win marriage equality nationwide.
Linda Wood

Linda leads the Fund’s work to strengthen leaders, organizations and movements that are advancing social change.
Sylvia Yee

Sylvia served as the Fund’s Vice President of Programs

Immigrants Rights Groups Need Support for Communications

October 2, 2019 | by

Four Key Takeaways on How Philanthropy Can Help

The Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund asked several immigrant rights organizations how foundations can help ramp up their strategic communications work. Here is what we heard.

As federal policy makes immigrants a target, foundations are stepping up to support nonprofits’ advocacy efforts and work to protect people who are in harm’s way. But grant makers must also give priority to a key…

Changing the Odds

September 30, 2019 | by

Testing New Approaches for Protecting and Advancing Basic Rights and Opportunities for All.

Haas, Jr. Fund President Cathy Cha on moving past a challenging moment in U.S. history and investing in positive, long-term solutions for immigrants and communities of color.

Whether I am picking up my seven-year-old daughter or attending a performance at her elementary school, the scenario is often the same. I see her little face scanning the room to find me in the crowd. Then our eyes…

The Role of Luck in College Access

September 30, 2019 | by

A Good Education Should be Accessible to Everyone—Not Just the Lucky Few

Haas Leadership Initiatives staff member Luigi Fu on his immigrant upbringing and what it means to create opportunity for all people.

Getting a good education shouldn’t be about luck. It should be something we seek for every child in every community across this country. I was a lucky one. Having grown up in an immigrant family, I was able to ex…

Individuals conducting messaging research

Breaking Through the Noise

September 25, 2019 | by

Research Effort Aims to Uncover How to Build More Support for Immigrants

Immigrant rights organizations, grassroots groups, and funders are combining in-depth conversations with quantitative research to find out what truly drives immigration opinions—and how to shift them.

Anti-immigrant rhetoric, fear-mongering, and violence have reached epidemic levels. Many people are understandably concerned that our nation has become hopelessly divided on the issue of immigration. The perception…

Cal State University San Bernardino students

Dreaming Higher

Investing in California’s Future by Investing in Undocumented Students

Interview with Cal State University San Bernardino President, Tomás D. Morales, on helping undocumented students and their families navigate public higher education.

Today, 11 million undocumented people live in a state of constant uncertainty and fear that they could be ripped from their lives and the people they love at any moment. And yet these aspiring Americans continue to…

Helping Kids Succeed in the Bayview

Testing New Approaches to Closing the Opportunity Gap for Preschool Children

The San Francisco Unified School District is working with the Haas, Jr. Fund to create high-quality learning from preschool through third grade.

I was 15 years into my career as an educator when I was hired to work at a school in the Bayview, the neighborhood where I grew up. Knowing the Bayview’s strength, beauty, and challenges, I arrived back home with a…

Voices from the Field

Hear insights, challenges and breakthroughs from our grantees’ inspiring work.

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Dreaming Higher

Investing in California’s Future by Investing in Undocumented Students

Interview with Cal State University San Bernardino President, Tomás D. Morales, on helping undocumented students and their families navigate public higher education.

Read this Story

First Person Stories

See the issues at the heart of our work through the eyes of those most closely affected.

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Jirayut “New” Latthivongskorn

Future (undocumented) doctor

New once kept his undocumented status a secret from everyone outside his family. Today, he is proudly the first undocumented medical student at UCSF.

Read this Story

Featured Content

Remembering Our Most Vulnerable Neighbors

Dreaming Higher

Cynthia Buiza

Cristina Jiménez

Supporting Nonprofit Fundraising Professionals

Every Voice Shines New Light

Our Contributors

Perspectives Search Filters

Perspectives That Match Filter Criteria

Immigrants Rights Groups Need Support for Communications

Changing the Odds

The Role of Luck in College Access

Breaking Through the Noise

Dreaming Higher

Helping Kids Succeed in the Bayview

Voices from the Field

Dreaming Higher

First Person Stories

Jirayut “New” Latthivongskorn