Vanessa Kirsch

Vanessa Kirsch is an American social entrepreneur who is the founder and co-CEO of New Profit, a venture philanthropy fund based in Boston, Massachusetts. She also founded and formerly led Public Allies, a national youth service organization, and the Women’s Information Network, Because of dyslexia, Kirsch struggled through school and was told she was not a candidate for her first-choice college, Tufts University. and on the Boards of College Summit and Stand for Children.

Career Kirsch founded the Women’s Information Network (WIN) in 1989 to provide support, training, and political access to young women in Washington, D.C.

In 1992, Kirsch and Katrina Browne founded Public Allies, a federally-funded program that links youth volunteers with nonprofit organizations in their communities. While under Kirsch’s leadership, the organization grew to six cities, including Chicago. The Clinton Administration also recognized Public Allies as an official AmeriCorps national service model. In 2002, Forbes recognized Kirsch as one of 15 innovators who will reinvent the future Ernst & Young named Kirsch 2005 "Entrepreneur of the Year" in the category of Social Entrepreneurship Duke University's Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship recognized Kirsch with the 2010 Leadership in Social Entrepreneurship Award