and the Education Funders Strategy Group, National Public Education Support Fund, Education Voters Institute, Alliance for Excellent Education, Schott Foundation for Public Education and the Institute for Student Achievement. They also co-chair the Enfranchisement Foundation (formerly the Sunita and Daniel Leeds Family Foundation), which supported various progressive causes in 2012, according to the organization’s most recent tax filing. Dan Leeds, who is president of Fulcrum Investments and the son of CMP media founders Gerry and Lilo Leeds, also serves as director of the PBS Foundation where he helps raise transformational gifts for “America’s largest classroom.”
Ted and Lynn Leonsis
TED AND LYNN LEONSIS For Ted and Lynn Leonsis, philanthropy seems to be a way of life. Either through their family foundation or Ted Leonsis’ many entrepreneurial projects (Revolution, Groupon and Monumental Sports among them), they give much and often. Over the years, they’ve supported more than 400 char itable groups, most recently CharityWorks, DC Central Kitchen, Fight for Children and The Washington Animal Rescue League — all of which chip away at the couple’s promise to give away at least half of their fortune in their lifetime.
Annette and Ted Lerner
Ann Luskey
Mary Mochary
ANN LUSKEY Interior designer Ann Luskey has philanthropy and conservation in her blood. Her mother, Charlotte Ramsay, was a well-known conservationist who sat on the advisory council of the National Wildlife Foundation and founded the Jordan Conservation and Research Center. Luskey, also a descendant of Boston Globe founder Eben D. Jordan, continues her tireless work to preserve our planet’s oceans supporting the Nature Conservancy in The Bahamas, Dr. Enric Sala’s Pristine Seas Project with National Geographic, The Ocean Health Index with Conservation International, the creation of marine protected areas with The Sylvia Earle Alliance, and the conservation of whales and dolphins with Whaleman Foundation and The Baltimore Aquarium. Hand in hand with her conservation work, she also supports the Plastic Pollution Coalition and Environmental Working Group. Locally, Luskey is also a
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J.W. (Bill) Marriott
TED AND ANNETTE LERNER The billionaire real estate mogul who built his fortune on a $250 loan from his wife in 1952 has given much of his wealth to various causes locally and across state lines over the years. The family foundation’s most recent tax filing shows that the Washington Nationals’ owner and his wife gave $1.7 million in 2012, the bulk of it to Jewish organizations including the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, the Koby Mandell Foundation, Heifetz International Music Institute, Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, the Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse and others. The couple has also given very generously to many children’s and social services organizations, including Mary’s Center, Miracle League of Montgomery County, and Juvenile Diabetes Research.
ALFRED C LIGGINS The oft-quoted phrase, “behind every great man is a great woman” rings particularly true for Alfred C. Liggins, CEO of Radio One. The woman who has always been by his side is his mother, Cathy Hughes. Even though she was only 17 when he was born, she gave him his start in radio by bringing him along to her job at WHUR, Howard University’s radio station, to have dinner and do his homework. When Hughes worked her way up through the broadcasting ranks and purchased her first Washington station, WOLAM, he became the account manager at age 21. Together the duo created a radio empire that led to the creation of Radio One, the seventh largest radio broadcasting company in the U.S., with 66 stations in 22 national markets and nearly $300 million in revenue. Liggins has not forgotten his roots and earlier this year gave $4 million to Howard University’s School of Communications. For the last five years, he has dedicated his free time to numerous organizations advancing the arts, including the Apollo Theater Foundation, Reach Media, the National Association of Broadcasters and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
Richard Marriott
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