Investing in Evidence-Based Support for Greater Philanthropic Impact - Exponent Philanthropy
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Investing in Evidence-Based Support for Greater Philanthropic Impact

Anne Marie Dougherty

As CEO of the Bob Woodruff Foundation, Anne Marie Dougherty’s approach to philanthropy is entrepreneurial, data-driven, and systems-oriented.

Under Anne Marie’s leadership, the foundation is breaking out of the veteran philanthropy silo and embracing the business world. They’re helping partners understand their contributions as an investment in the well-being of veterans and their families, but also American communities and industry.

As a forward-looking systems thinker, Anne Marie convenes diverse stakeholders to understand and solve intractable problems, discover where a difference can be made, and activate networks to boost collective impact. She’s cultivated a data-driven culture that enables funders to invest in evidence-based support for greater impact.

Anne Marie identifies areas where funds can have the deepest impact, and help turn the tide on systemic problems. A few examples:

  • Forging a $1 million+ partnership to train 650 clinicians, improving access to and quality of mental health care for thousands of veterans
  • Co-founding an initiative that complements fertility services offered by Veterans Affairs to provide support where they are not legally permitted to do so, and act as a safety net for marginalized groups, like same-sex couples and transgender veterans
  • Convening community-based, veteran-serving collaborations in 100+ communities to provide free collective impact training, targeted funding opportunities, and powerful networking connections
  • Helping launch a first-of-its-kind, proprietary data tool to see how communities collaborate in service to veterans
  • Directing research for data-driven projections and recommendations that informed foundation investments during COVID-19
(Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for The Bob Woodruff Foundation )

Anne Marie approaches the toughest challenges our veterans face with grit, compassion, and determination. She sees past messy, complex, systemic problems to a better future, then rolls up her sleeves, assembles a team, and gets to work.

Anne Marie Dougherty is a finalist for Exponent Philanthropy’s 2021 Outsized Impact Award, honoring an individual whose style of philanthropy achieved greater-than-expected results.

 

Read about the other two finalists and vote for the winner of this year’s Outsized Impact Award

 

The winner will be announced at the 2021 Virtual Annual Conference
October 21, 2021   |   4:15 – 4:45 EST

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