The Eisner Foundation

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Tell us a little about the Eisner Foundation and your role. How long have you been with Eisner?

I have been the CEO of The Eisner Foundation for 14 years. We are the only foundation in the United States focused exclusively on intergenerational programs.

Where do you fund?

We fund primarily in Los Angeles and New York City. When we do advocacy, education, or research, we will work with organizations in other areas, but all the direct service work we do is in Los Angeles and New York City.

What are your current funding priorities?

We invest in intergenerational programs that unite multiple generations for the enrichment of their communities. This means we fund intergenerational tutoring and mentoring, intergenerational housing, intergenerational arts and music programs, intergenerational workforce development, programs that provide resources for grandparents, initiatives to recruit and retain senior volunteers, and much more, but all of it intergenerational in purpose and focus.

Our GIA Conference will feature the Heart of Los Angeles Eisner Intergenerational Orchestra. How did the Eisner Foundation come to support this important community program?

The Eisner family has long been a supporter of music and the arts, and we are, of course, focused on intergenerational programs. As a result, we worked long and hard to try and create an intergenerational music program in L.A. that would not only look like Los Angeles in its diversity but give young and old amateur musicians an opportunity to come together, learn from each other, and literally make music together, for themselves and for the city. With the organization Heart of LA, we found the perfect partner to make this a reality.

Now for a little insight into some interesting aspects of your life. We're all aging personally, but how did you get involved in aging, professionally?

I got involved in aging professionally when The Eisner Foundation went looking for ways to provide access and opportunity to at-risk kids, and we found that the most efficient and effective ways to do that was by putting older people to work on behalf of those kids. I came to realize that one of the great, under-utilized resources in American society was our older citizens, and we had not only a moral, but a financial responsibility to engage those elder citizens in intergenerational programs that could benefit kids who needed someone on their side.

What about GIA's mission really motivates you?

The part of GIA’s mission that motivates me is the idea that we must value all members of our society. We’re so quick to dispose of people when we decide they can’t help us anymore, and that pains me. Everyone has value, and I feel it’s part of my job to help find that value, especially in older people, and share it with anyone that will listen.

What are you currently reading, binge-watching, or listening to on repeat?

I read mostly detective novels, I watch almost exclusively sports, and I listen to a combination of 70’s outlaw country and 80’s rap. My children are rightfully horrified.

With what character from a cartoon, book or movie do you most identify?

I coached Little League for over 10 years, so I’ll go with Walter Matthau’s Coach Buttermaker from The Bad News Bears. I never drank in the dugout, of course, and I was a little crankier than you’d think, but I loved every minute of it.