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Rachel Miller and Joan Steinberg
Listen to the impact a funder like Morgan Stanley can have on an organization like Closegap, a 501c3, as they work together to address the youth mental health crisis.
Rachel Miller, founder and CEO of Closegap, and Sam Caplan explore how innovation arises in the social impact sector and how it gets funded.
This episode features Rachel Miller, founder and CEO of Closegap, and Joan Steinberg from Morgan Stanley as they paint the picture of an effective grantee/grantor relationship.
In this episode, we cover:
What makes Closegap’s technology so innovative
What motivated this innovation
How this innovation comes through in the application process
What Morgan Stanley’s funding means for Closegap in the long term
Rachel Miller is the Founder & CEO of Closegap, a not-for-profit technology company that makes it simple for schools to support the emotional health of K-12 students through mental health check-ins. Her work has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, Authority Magazine, Edutopia, U.S. News & World Report, and the Associated Press, among others. Closegap was selected to be part of HundrED's 2024 Global Collection, was named to Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies of 2023, and won an Anthem Award for Responsible Technology Products in 2022. Los Angeles Business Journal named Rachel an Emerging Leader of the Year in 2022. Rachel earned her Master of Science in Entrepreneurship at the University of Amsterdam and her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration at USC's Marshall School of Business.
Joan Steinberg is the Global Head of Philanthropy and President of the Morgan Stanley Foundation. She also serves as the CEO of the Morgan Stanley Alliance for Children’s Mental Health, which was established in February 2020 to address the escalating crisis in children’s mental health and has benefited over 25M youth, families, and educators globally to date. As the CEO of the Alliance for Children’s Mental Health, Joan is an expert on the impact the pandemic and social inequity has had on youth mental health. She works with Child Mind Institute, The Jed Foundation, and others to unite cross-generational leaders, advocates, and activists to raise public awareness and bring to life new initiatives to combat the global crisis.
After a decade in the nonprofit sector, Joan joined Morgan Stanley in 1997 and oversees its global philanthropic programs, including strategic planning and execution, employee engagement, and corporate and Foundation grantmaking totaling $100M+ annually. She has more than quadrupled the firm’s giving; created programs for 80,000+ employees; and expanded the philanthropic geographic outreach to serve more communities.
She earned her undergraduate degree in English and Communications and her masters degree in Public Administration from Rutgers University. Joan has also earned certificates in corporate citizenship from Harvard Business School and Boston College. Joan is active in her community, serving currently on the Executive Committee of the board of the Hispanic Federation.
Episode Notes:
Follow Rachel Miller on LinkedIn
Follow Joan Steinberg on LinkedIn
Learn more about Closegap
Read the Closegap case study referenced in the episode
Learn more about the Morgan Stanley Alliance for Children’s Mental Health
Learn more about The Alliance’s Innovation Awards
See the video Morgan Stanley worked with Closegap to produce
2021 Study from the CDC on high school students who felt sad or hopeless
2022 study from the National Library of Medicine on child and adolescent mental health
“Just over half of U.S. public schools offer mental health assessments for students; fewer offer treatment” from the Pew Research Center
Study from Candid on overall foundation investments into mental health causes
Transcript coming soon!
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