In Conversation: Karen Keating Ansara, founder of the Network of Engaged International Donors and the cofounder of the Ansara Family Fund
In this series, Nick Palahnuk talks with other philanthropic leaders who help to get money moving by addressing systemic barriers to giving. This edition features community-builder, global philanthropist, and writer Karen Keating Ansara, who has mobilized international giving by bringing people together and creating community. Ansara is the founder of the Network of Engaged International Donors and the cofounder of the Ansara Family Fund. For more about Karen Keating Ansara, see the end of this interview.
Nick: The theme of this series is Get Money Moving because we are excited about helping people meet their charitable goals, get inspired, and be intentional and bold in their giving. That’s something you’ve done a lot of in your work by addressing people’s need for community.
You founded the Network of Engaged International Donors (NEID) in 2008 and have served as Board Chair ever since. It’s an incredible network of hundreds of internationally focused donors. When did you first realize that building a community for like-minded donors would help so many people get their money moving internationally?
Karen: Fifteen years ago, when I first heard that only 2 percent of all philanthropic dollars in the US went to solve global problems, I realized we needed to change social norms about global giving. We needed more than annual conferences and white papers. We needed to be inspired to invest in common humanity beyond our psychological and geographical borders.
Social norms are formed in communities where people value each other and build trust through shared pursuits — and so I wanted to build an intentional community where global giving is the norm.
By early 2020, we had about 280 participants — including individual philanthropists, family foundations, multi-staffed institutional grantmakers and philanthropic advisors. When the pandemic hit, we put our programming on Zoom and donors and foundations started tuning in from all over the country and even some foreign countries. Now, our goal is to grow our community to 500 participating members.
Nick: One of the things we think about a lot at PhilanthPro is how to help advisors meet clients’ needs, especially as wealth holders are increasingly interested in philanthropy. Based on your work with NEID members, is there one piece of advice you would give to financial and philanthropic advisors?
Karen: I hate to say it, but too often, advisors don’t know where to start in the global philanthropy space. That’s why our community welcomes philanthropy and wealth advisors — so they can learn and introduce their clients to opportunities and people who can serve as role models for their global philanthropic work.
Advisors should probe what may be holding their clients back. I recommend a study that the National Center for Family Philanthropy just released called “Psychological Barriers to Giving.” Feeling disconnected from issues far away or overwhelmed by the complexity of problems can inhibit giving, according to the study. These findings are of magnified importance for those of us involved in international giving.
Nick: Speaking of different ways to be involved in the international space, let’s talk about your philanthropy. The Ansara Family Fund partners to eradicate poverty, lay the foundation for global health equity and promote community-driven development. How do you balance between emergency work and systemic approaches?
Karen: Funding emergency relief is an act of compassion and is often a gateway to international philanthropy. But emergencies expose social cancers that cannot be cured with band-aids. Finding the right remedy requires listening to people define their own needs and as they take charge of their own recovery. There simply are no quick fixes, especially if you are an outsider.
The 2010 earthquake in Port au Prince, like the 2021 earthquake in Southern Haiti, revealed tremendous social and economic inequality in Haiti. The investment of billions of post-earthquake aid too often ignored this underlying problem. NEID’s mission is to help address deeper problems, like systemic inequality, by listening to local leaders, communities, and development practitioners.
Nick: How do you think about impact – and what has been some of the most important impact of your funding and grantee partners?
Karen: Honestly, I have never liked the term “impact.” It’s a jargony, rather arrogant word that implies something forceful that we do unto others to achieve an objective we want. But I do know that my family’s philanthropy has made a difference. Through my husband’s organization, Build Health International, we have helped fund a new maternal health hospital built by women construction workers in a rural community of Sierra Leone. Through our donor-advised fund, we have supported Protestant and Catholic parishioners in Northern Haiti as they build irrigation canals and peanut coops together. Helping to strengthen communities – both very local communities and larger communities – is where we try to make a difference.
Making a difference on the other side of the world requires falling in love with the people and places where you wish to invest. I have learned to have that kind of devotion from my Haitian colleagues at the Haiti Development Institute, and I will be committed to Haiti for the rest of my life.
Nick: Karen – one thing that we have in common is that we are both studying at Harvard University. Being at Harvard has opened the door to so many experts and resources that have helped me build PhilanthPro. How about you? What made you decide to take this time to study, reflect and write as a 2024 Senior Fellow of the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative?
Karen: After fifteen years as Board Chair of NEID, I felt desperate to reach a wider audience to share the amazing work of global philanthropists I have met. I am writing a book with Maggi Alexander from The Philanthropic Initiative on why donors choose to give globally and how they have overcome common barriers. I can’t wait to tell the stories of people changing the world and themselves with their incredible acts of generosity.
More About Karen Keating Ansara:
Currently a Senior Fellow in the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative, Karen makes grants with her husband to address global health systems, women’s empowerment, and deep poverty, especially in Haiti. To inspire more international philanthropy, in 2008 Karen launched what is now the Network of Engaged International Donors (NEID Global), a network of 350 philanthropists, foundations, advisors and impact investors investing to solve global problems. After the 2010 earthquake, Karen cofounded the Haiti Fund at the Boston Foundation, now the Haiti Development Institute (HDI). In addition to serving as Chair of NEID Global, Karen serves on the boards of MCE Social Capital, Women Moving Millions, Groundswell International, and Build Health International (founded by her husband, Jim), and as Board Chair Emeritus for HDI. Karen is a 20-year member of the Leadership Council of Oxfam America, and a graduate of Wellesley College (Pol. Sci.) and Andover Newton Theological School (MDiv). Karen and Jim live in Essex, MA and have 4 adult children.