The CEO of the Rodenberry Foundation, Lior Ipp, on elevating small, locally-led organizations driving systems change.
The Roddenberry Foundation aligns its philanthropic vision with the values of equity, diversity, inclusivity, and justice that were hallmarks of Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek legacy.
The foundation operates four core programs designed to catalyze meaningful impact: the Catalyst Fund for early-stage, high-risk social enterprises; the Roddenberry Fellowship, which supports U.S.-based social justice leaders; the biennial Roddenberry Prize, which this year emphasizes "AI for Good"; and the +1 Global Fund, a funders’ collaborative addressing systemic challenges in underserved regions. Each program reflects a commitment to supporting innovative, underrepresented, and often overlooked organizations and individuals.
A highlight of the conversation centers on the +1 Global Fund. Initially launched as a COVID-19 relief initiative, it has evolved into a groundbreaking funders’ collaborative targeting small, locally-led organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa. These organizations — dubbed "triple threats" for their small size, local leadership, and systems-oriented approaches — are having outsized impacts despite their limited resources.
Lior discusses the success of the fund’s peer-nomination model, which taps into the knowledge of grassroots networks to identify high-impact candidates that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Lior emphasizes the foundation’s evolution from merely disbursing funds to fostering an ecosystem that includes capacity building, organizational development, and collaborative networks. The initiative’s mapping platform, set to launch next year, will provide unprecedented access to data about these often-overlooked organizations, bridging the gap between funders and grassroots changemakers. This tool aims to enable better funding strategies and illuminate the interconnectedness of organizations tackling global challenges.
The conversation also highlights the broader implications for philanthropy, urging funders to take calculated risks on small, locally-led organizations and collaborate more extensively. Lior underscores the necessity of moving beyond traditional funding approaches that prioritize well-established organizations and instead recognizing the transformative potential of small-scale systems changers.
About Lior Ipp
Lior Ipp has served as the CEO of the Roddenberry Foundation (TRF) since 2014 where he provides leadership and strategic direction for all foundation functions. Under Lior’s direction, the foundation has expanded its global reach through a slate of new initiatives, including a global grants program for early-stage ideas, an annual social justice fellowship, a collaborative funding platform, and a biennial competition for crowd-sourced solutions. Under Lior’s leadership TRF has been recognized as one the most innovative companies in the world by Fast Company.
Prior to TRF, served as the CEO of Breakthrough Collaborative, a San Francisco-based educational non-profit with programs in 24 cities across the U.S. At Breakthrough, Lior developed and implemented growth strategies via partnerships with school districts that resulted in new and expanded programming and revenue streams.
Before joining Breakthrough, Lior was the Global Director for Ashoka’s Youth Venture where he guided program development and evaluation, institutional partnerships, and regional staff, in twelve countries. Prior to Ashoka, Lior co-founded and led an educational software company in New York City. As CEO Lior supervised the development of enterprise-wide educational software products, partnerships, and a client base of Fortune 100 companies, museums, and NYC public schools.
Lior’s academic training has included undergraduate and graduate work at the University of Madrid, American University, and Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education where he was awarded the prestigious Leadership in Education Award.