Ellen Martin
Overview
Since 2007, Ellen Martin has worked with private and family foundations, corporations, and nonprofit organizations to increase their impact on social issues, including education, health, and the environment.
Role at FSG
Ellen’s recent work at FSG includes designing and implementing an evaluation of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation's Community Information Challenge; developing a new corporate social responsibility strategy for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the US’s largest K-12 education content publisher; and creating a strategy for collective impact in the central Texas region led by the E3 Alliance. She has also researched and developed strategies for the Marin Community Foundation, the New York City Leadership Academy, the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, and the James Irvine Foundation, among other private and social sector organizations.
Before FSG
Ellen’s previous experience includes managing fund development, cross-sector partnerships, programs, and business planning for social enterprises and educational institutions in the United States, with an emphasis on arts and culture.
Education
- University of California, Berkeley, Walter A. Haas School of Business, MBA
- Education Pioneer Fellow with Citizen Schools
- Yale University, BA in English Language and Literature and Fine Arts
- AmeriCorps Teaching Fellow with Summerbridge (now Breakthrough Collaborative)
Affiliations
- Global Social Venture Competition, the oldest business plan competition that rewards social, environmental and financial impact
- Root Division, a San Francisco-based nonprofit community arts organization
- Office of Letters and Light, organizers of the annual creative writing event and online community, National Novel Writing Month
On Working at FSG
“In my recent work at FSG, I’ve had the privilege of working with our clients to develop movement building strategies and create collective impact. For the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, we are working to understand the role of a thousand community and place-based foundations in meeting today’s media and information needs. For a leading education publisher, we are redefining the role of business to better meet the needs of America’s lowest performing students and improve teacher effectiveness in developing countries. It’s humbling and challenging work. No two days are alike, and I am constantly challenged to do my work better. I know we’ve done our work well when I hear a client talk about a strategy that we’ve developed together with a sense of ownership, conviction and hope. This is the moment that I seek in every engagement because it’s a great indicator that our work will be put into action and take on a life of its own after our engagement ends.”