Elissa Leif

Experience

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  National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan

  Jul 1993 - Nov 1995

  Program Officer

  •Played a central role reorienting, developing, administering and producing all English materials for a grant program for NGOs conducting literacy projects in developing countries that dispersed approximately $1,000,000/year in 40-50 grants.•Evaluated grassroots literacy projects in Nepal, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and China and built network of project leaders.•Primary liaison between UNESCO and the Federation in the organization of a "World Conference of NGOs" involved in literacy in Tokyo in September, 1995.•Co-author of UNESCO guide to establishing grassroots literacy centers. Show less

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  Japan-U.S. Community Education & Exchange

  Nov 1995 - Oct 1998

  Program Director

  •Wrote narrative portions of government and foundation grants raising over $750,000 to develop new and existing programs of the organization.•Launched and managed the Japan-U.S. Nonprofit Internship Program, the organization's first core program. The program brought more than 200 college students and staff and volunteers at Japanese nonprofit organizations for internships in more than 100 U.S. nonprofits .•Conceived and implemented a pilot "reverse internship" program bringing U.S. college students and nonprofit leaders to Japan for month-long internships in nonprofit organizations.•Conceived the "Fellowships Creating Partnerships Program," JUCEE's flagship program linking U.S. and Japanese nonprofit organizations in long-term partnerships aimed at achieving specific policy or programmatic outcomes.•Developed orientation and training programs for each program to familiarize interns and fellows with nonprofit management and key U.S. social and policy issues. Show less

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  Children's Express

  Sept 1999 - Jun 2001

  Director of Asia-Pacific Development

  •Raised $300,000+ to support Children's Express activities in the Asia-Pacific region and coordinated establishment of full Children's Express bureau in Tokyo, Japan.•Conceived and directed a youth journalism project called "Learn from Us" designed to bring youth views on major education policy issues to adult decision-makers. The project enabled a diverse group of young people from three U.S. communities and Tokyo to cover education issues in their own regions as well as cross-culturally.•Traveled with U.S. young people in Japan and Japanese young people in the U.S., assisting them with translation and story editing concerning education issues (fall and winter 2001) and the U.S. Republican Presidential convention (summer 2000). Show less

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  Sacred Heart Adult Education Center

  Oct 2001 - Dec 2002

  Literacy Coordinator

  Raised funds for and helped the Center to establish, evaluate and institutionalize a unique "ESL Literacy Program" for the Center's most disadvantaged students--those with limited literacy skills in their native languages. Work included grant and report writing, baseline testing of students, training of volunteer tutors, evaluation of student progress, and developing the students' school newsletter into a more interactive format.

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  Open Society Institute

  Nov 2001 - Jun 2005

  Community Fellow/Journalism Program Coordinator, St. Veronica's Academy

  As the recipient of one of 10 annual 18-month “Community Fellowships” from the Open Society Institute, raised funds for and directed a journalism program exposing 4th-8th grade students in the low-income neighborhood of Cherry Hill to the broader world around them, to journalism and leadership skills, and to skills in design and production of a newsletter and Web site. During the 2003-04 school year, raised all funds for and established partnerships that facilitated a bilingual video-conference involving the St. Veronica’s students and other student journalists from Japan, London and New York, as well as a journalism trip to Japan for four students from the Cherry Hill community. Show less

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  KidsCook Productions

  Jun 2006 - May 2007

  Curriculum Director

  Under a U.S. Department of Education Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract, directed content and focus group research as well as a small research study on children’s cooking and nutrition knowledge for small, women-owned television production company. Worked with a national advisory board of experts in nutrition, obesity, cooking, and children’s media as well as veteran executive producers from Sesame Street. Pilot was successfully completed in May 2007, and is currently being pitched to television and cable networks. Show less

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  Class Acts Arts

  Apr 2007 - Dec 2009

  Director of Development

  Responsible for all forms of fundraising for a community-based arts education nonprofit with eight staff and a budget of $1.4 million. Work includes extensive grant-writing, coordinating of an annual campaign and outreach to individual donors, as well as budgeting and working with the board of directors. After coming in at a point of significant deficit in FY2007, I have been able to systematize and promote more strategic fundraising, resulting in several new funders, and helping the organization to pay off a $30,000 line of credit and move forward strategically with an eye to new areas of work. Show less

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  MindFarm

  Dec 2007 - Sept 2010

  Independent Consultant

  My recent consulting jobs for Mind Farm have included a stint as interim executive director of a community-based child abuse prevention and investigation nonprofit, in which I re-organized the organization’s development processes and introduced fund-raising software, and a fundraising feasibility study for the national expansion of an after-school program model.

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  Pictures from a Hiroshima Schoolyard

  Jan 2009 - Dec 2011

  Assistant Producer
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  MiniMatters | Videos + Marketing

  Dec 2009 - now

  Chief Executive Officer

  MiniMatters is a video marketing and production company serving associations, nonprofits, government agencies and businesses in the Maryland-Washington, D.C.-northern Virginia region. We consult on online communications strategies and technical issues to build client capacity in video communications, and have expertise in instructional design and ASL video production.

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  National Capital Gift Planning Council

  Jul 2015 - Jun 2021

  Board Member
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  Lumina Studio Theater

  Sept 2017 - Jan 2019

  Board Member