Ellen Macht

Inspired by a friend, Ellen Macht, a donor with The Community Foundation, retired from the corporate world so that she could pursue her passions – nonprofits. After several conversations with key leaders in the community, she found herself connected with The Clean Air Campaign. Today she provides extensive pro bono consulting for nonprofit organizations as part of her larger focus on giving back to Atlanta.

“I’m much more of a hands-on giver now that I’ve worked in the nonprofit environment and served on nonprofit boards,” says Ellen. “A check is not enough – giving of your time and your abilities only enhances your investment in a nonprofit and is so much more rewarding.”

Ellen became a donor at The Community Foundation because she believed that is was a smart investment in Atlanta. “Because of the learning opportunities the Foundation provides, I’ve grown in my thought process and look to invest in nonprofits that are offering an important service, working efficiently with the funds they are given and providing a reasonable return on my investment.”

Today she sees the underlying challenges in Atlanta’s community as an impediment to long term growth. “We simply have not made the necessary investments in our education system,” says Ellen. “We have wonderful universities and colleges, but the feeder system of our public schools is not where it needs to be. When we have corporations coming to town, those businesses are creating jobs, but we need to be able to provide the talented people to do those jobs.”

Another natural connection to business growth is the challenging issue of transportation. “The Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and the business community have been saying it for a long time – we are going to choke ourselves on traffic if we don’t improve our transportation system,” says Ellen. “If we can continue to improve education and transportation and therefore improve the environment for business, we also then create more potential funding to feed into the nonprofit community to support issues we need to deal with like homelessness, providing a safe environment for our children and supporting the arts.”

As a consultant to nonprofits in the Atlanta region, Ellen considers giving of her time an essential part of her approach to philanthropy, and she sees the potential for others as well. “So many friends and colleagues of mine in the Baby Boomer generation retired early and now have time on their hands,” she says. “And after appreciating the initial weeks, months or years of slowing down and enjoying life, they realize they want to do something more. Now there is a chance to utilize a vast wealth of knowledge and experience that’s not being tapped simply because they’ve never been connected to a place where they could make a difference. That’s an incredible opportunity for our Atlanta region.”