Jerry Hirsch
Position:
Board of Councilors

Jerry is the founder and Chairman of The Lodestar Foundation, based in Phoenix, Arizona.

Lodestar’s mission is to expand philanthropy through two strategies: to encourage philanthropy, public service and volunteerism; and to encourage nonprofits to collaborate and employ other business practices. Some of Lodestar’s projects include: the Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation (a partnership between Arizona State University, America’s largest university, and the Kellogg Foundation); The Collaboration Prize, a contest to recognize the best nonprofit collaborations in the U.S.; and the Nonprofit Collaboration Database, an online database of more than a thousand nonprofit collaborations, maintained in partnership with The Foundation Center on the Foundation Center website. Besides these and other projects, Lodestar has facilitated the successful implementation of hundreds of nonprofit collaborations both in the U.S. and internationally, has been actively involved in philanthropy development projects in Asia and Central and Eastern Europe and has been instrumental in the development of the Social Venture Partner Global Network and the Ashoka Partner Network (in Europe and Asia). Because of this work, Jerry was recognized in 2010 by Barron’s Magazine as one of the world’s 25 most effective philanthropists and has been offered numerous humanitarian awards.

Beyond his work with Lodestar, Jerry has pursued promoting peace and/or stability in the world. He is an advisor to the Global Leadership Foundation, created by former South African President FW de Klerk, he is on the international board of the US/Middle East Project, Inc., created by the Council on Foreign Relations, and is involved in leadership of several organizations promoting peace in the Middle East.

Jerry holds a BA from Temple University and a JD (magna cum laude) from the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at ASU. Prior to his career in philanthropy, Jerry practiced law and was an entrepreneur in the computer/aerospace industry, the tourist industry and in commercial real estate development.