Ellie Starr

Senior Fellow in Social Innovation

With a great sense of urgency and agency after more than 25 years of leadership at five of Boston’s greatest institutions, Ellie Starr founded and launched Starrs Aligned in the spring of 2020.  A demonstrated builder, leader, fundraiser, communicator, and driver of successful mission-driven teams, Ellie thrives in roles that improve health, education, and opportunity for everyone everywhere. Having led teams of 15 to 50, Ellie and her teams have raised more than a billion dollars collectively for Brandeis University, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Perkins School for the Blind, The Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, and the Museum of Science, Boston. Skilled at engaging Boards, creating donor engagement, and institutional alignment while growing a culture where philanthropy-driven impact and change thrives, Ellie is fiercely optimistic about this moment in time and is currently working with nonprofits in the conservation, youth development, food insecurity, disabilities, and education sectors.

Ellie has worked with some of the most powerful international funders—including creating and vetting complex gifts with Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and corporate funders like MathWorks and Vertex. Ellie has also worked hand-in-hand with some of the nation’s most generous individual donors to help them shape their philanthropy for lasting impact. Ellie values her relationships and the connections she’s made as much as the impact she’s had for the institutions and teams she’s led.

Ellie has also played key volunteer roles, especially at the Lenny Zakim Fund since Lenny founded it in 1995. In 2018, Ellie was appointed by Governor Charlie Baker to serve on the State Rehabilitation Council and the Mass Rehabilitation Council which ensures that people with disabilities are provided with an equal opportunity to receive the programs, services, and supports needed to gain competitive integrated employment.

As the world grapples with devastating health outcomes, overwhelming socio-economic consequences, and a forever-changed global psyche, Ellie sees Starrs Aligned as her platform to address an urgent need for individuals, organizations, philanthropists, and all citizens to act now more than ever with clarity, equality and intention to optimize their available resources and maximize their impact. Ellie’s vision for Starrs Aligned is to creatively connect people, mission, and money for meaningful impact that will forever bend the arc toward justice.