As the founder of CharityWorks, Leah Gansler is committed to creating positive change in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. CharityWorks is focused on helping families and children by breaking the cycle of poverty, enhancing education programs, and enabling families to overcome critical health issues.

To accomplish these goals, CharityWorks brings donors, corporate leaders, and volunteers together to help nonprofits transform themselves and the lives they touch.

In conversation, Gansler repeatedly mentions CharityWorks' desire to have a "big impact" and the theory of change the organization applies does just that. Other organizations that have come into contact with Leah and with CharityWorks know this firsthand. 

In less than a decade, CharityWorks has become one of the most respected and valuable institutions on the Washington philanthropic scene. Since 1999, when Gansler and a group of friends came together to find ways they could help area families and children, CharityWorks has distributed more than $6 million in grants and proven that a committed group of volunteers can help change lives and that a simple idea can become a catalyst for change.

Q&A with The Case Foundation

CASE FOUNDATION:  How did you begin CharityWorks, and why?

LEAH GANSLER:  It began, in 1997 and 1998, when I was volunteering for the Women's Center in Northern Virginia and saw what a tremendous need there was in our community. I came away really wanting to do something... Read more.