GreenLight Fund Announces Detroit Leadership and Additional Founding Funders

GreenLight Fund names Rishi Moudgil founding executive director and announces new investors:
The Kresge Foundation, Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation, DTE Energy Foundation, and McGregor Fund

April 5, 2017 – The national venture philanthropy organization, the GreenLight Fund, has named Rishi Moudgil as the founding executive director for its fifth expansion site, GreenLight Detroit.

Moudgil will partner with community, industry, entrepreneurial, and philanthropic leaders to bring proven programs into Detroit that improve opportunities and outcomes for low-income children and families. GreenLight Fund is also pleased to announce that The Kresge Foundation, Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation, DTE Energy Foundation, and the McGregor Fund have joined GreenLight Detroit as founding investors, bringing the total fund to $3.5 million.

“Engagement at the community level has been a true driver of success in GreenLight’s model across the country,” said David Egner, president & CEO, Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation. “With Rishi’s multi-sector experience and relationships, GreenLight Detroit has a tremendous opportunity to seed and grow several innovative programs to fill key service gaps in our region.”

Moudgil was recently the founder and managing director of the University of Michigan (U-M) Center for Social Impact at the Ross School of Business, leading strategy and creating programming for cross-sector engagement in Detroit. He previously led U-M’s Nonprofit and Public Management Center, grew and funded social enterprises, developed local nonprofit boards, and consulted with multi-billion dollar educational institutions through the Huron Consulting Group.

As a social entrepreneur with deep roots in Detroit and Michigan, Moudgil has led the Great Lakes Entrepreneur’s Quest to launch start-up businesses and founded K-grams Inc., a mentorship nonprofit that has served over 15,000 elementary students. He earned his BBA, MBA, and MA in educational studies all from U-M. Past honors include an American Express Next Gen fellowship with Independent Sector, a venture philanthropy fellowship with the Chicago Public Education Fund, and the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Grand Angel award.

“I’m impressed with GreenLight’s approach to addressing local needs through a rigorous process and deep portfolio, especially with the incredible and diverse coalition of supporters that have rallied around this effort,” said Moudgil. “We’ll work hard to tackle critical gaps facing low-income children and families in order to achieve measurable results.”

GreenLight Detroit will run an annual process along with community members to identify critical gaps and needs; bring in innovative social impact programs that have significant, evidence-based outcomes; launch a new program each year with significant early-stage funding; and galvanize local and national support to achieve sustainability and scale in Detroit. In his new role, Moudgil will build strategic local partnerships, develop accountable measurement systems, and recruit local board and staff leadership.

The Kresge Foundation, Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation, DTE Energy Foundation, and the McGregor Fund all have a deep commitment to Detroit and fighting poverty for children and families. They will help launch GreenLight Detroit by providing funding as well as expertise and input for the annual selection cycle. They join 20 other founding investors including the Skillman Foundation, The Ford Motor Company, Delphi Automotive Foundation, Lear Corporation, Strategic Staffing Solutions (S3), Bank of America, John and Susan Simon, United Way of Southeastern Michigan, Detroit Renewable Energy Corporation, Detroit Medical Center, The Children’s Hospital of Michigan Foundation, MSXI Corporation with additional support from Cooper Standard Corporation, The Brian and Connie Demkowicz Charitable Trust, Lizabeth Ardisana, Joe and Cori Mullany, Rick and Kathy Wagoner, Eric Fornell, the Lisa A Payne Family Fund, and the Pat Greene Family Foundation.

“The team at GreenLight Fund have developed a model that combines proven innovative solutions, local support and rigorous performance measurements to tackle unmet needs in the cities they serve,” said Matt Simoncini, president and CEO of Lear Corporation. “We are pleased to be among the investors in this transformational initiative.”

“As an impact organization, partnerships are critical to our success,” said Herman Gray, president and CEO of United Way for Southeastern Michigan. “With the added benefit of this collective of corporations and nonprofits working together, along with a national partner that’s in it for the long haul, the future looks even brighter for families in this city.”

About GreenLight Fund

The GreenLight Fund is a national venture philanthropy organization that transforms the lives of children, youth and families in high-poverty urban areas by creating local infrastructure and a consistent annual process to identify critical needs and bring in and sustain social impact programs locally. Founded in Boston in 2003, GreenLight has grown to five cities since 2013. GreenLight aims to grow a national network of sites that learn and work collaboratively to find and spread proven social impact solutions that achieve meaningful and measurable impact on critical issues in local communities.

Learn more or sign-up for the GreenLight Detroit newsletter at: www.greenlightfund.org/detroit

Please note: The GreenLight Fund and GreenLight Detroit have no affiliation with the GreenLight Michigan Business Model Competition, which is an early-stage pitch competition.

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