Gara LaMarche (born August 26, 1954) is the president of the

Democracy Alliance The Democracy Alliance is a network of progressive donors who coordinate their political donations to groups that the Alliance has endorsed. It has been described by ''Politico'' as "the country's most powerful liberal donor club". Members of th ...

, a network of liberal donors who coordinate their political giving. LaMarche previously served as president and CEO of

The Atlantic Philanthropies The Atlantic Philanthropies (AP) was a private foundation created in 1982 by Irish-American businessman Chuck Feeney. The Atlantic Philanthropies focused its giving on health, social, and politically left-leaning public policy causes in Australia, ...

. Prior to joining the Atlantic Philanthropies, he served as vice president and director of U.S. programs for The Open Society Institute. In his tenure at the Atlantic Philanthropies, LaMarche led the foundation's shift to a

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...

approach to grant-making.

Background

LaMarche attended St. Bernard's, a small all-boys high school in

Uncasville, Connecticut Uncasville is an area in the New England town, town of Montville, Connecticut, Montville, Connecticut, United States. It is a Administrative divisions of Connecticut#Village, neighborhood, section of town, village in southeastern Montville, at the ...

, before enrolling in Columbia College, from which he graduated in 1976. While at Columbia, LaMarche became the youngest member ever to serve on an

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

policy committee.

Professional life

From 1979-1984, LaMarche was the associate director of the ACLU's New York branch and was the executive director of the ACLU of Texas from 1984 to 1988. From 1988 to 1990, LaMarche was director of the Freedom-to-Write Program of the

PEN American Center PEN America (formerly PEN American Center), founded in 1922 and headquartered in New York City, is a nonprofit organization that works to defend and celebrate Freedom of speech, free expression in the United States and worldwide through the ad ...

, when PEN played a leading role in campaigns to lift Iran's fatwa against

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Wes ...

and controversy over arts funding in the United States. From 1990 to 1996, he was director of the Free Expression Project at the

Open Society Institute Open Society Foundations (OSF), formerly the Open Society Institute, is a grantmaking network founded and chaired by business magnate George Soros. Open Society Foundations financially supports civil society groups around the world, with a sta ...

, until he was named the director of U.S. programs. While at the Atlantic Philanthropies, LaMarche was credited with improving communications and transparency at the foundation. The Atlantic Philanthropies have made grants totaling more than $4 billion since 1982, including a $25 million pledge to advocacy groups supporting

U.S. health care reform Healthcare reform in the United States has a long history. Reforms have often been proposed but have rarely been accomplished. In 2010, landmark reform was passed through two federal statutes enacted in 2010: the Patient Protection and Afforda ...

between 2008-2010.

Affiliations and writing

LaMarche is a columnist for

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

and

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...

, as well as a blogger in his own right. He has written a number of articles on human rights and is the editor of the 1996 anthology, ''Speech and Equality: Do We Really Have to Choose?'' LaMarche has taught at The

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

's Wagner School of Public Service and at the

New School University The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...

and

John Jay College The John Jay College of Criminal Justice (John Jay) is a public college focused on criminal justice and located in New York City. It is a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY). John Jay was founded as the only liberal arts co ...

. LaMarche serves on the boards of the

National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) is a progressive advocacy and watchdog group that monitors charitable spending in the United States. It was established in 1976 and is based in Washington, D.C. It advocates for a greater fo ...

StoryCorps StoryCorps is an American non-profit organization whose mission is to record, preserve, and share the stories of Americans from all backgrounds and beliefs. StoryCorps grew out of Sound Portraits Productions as a project founded in 2003 by radio ...

and

The White House Project The White House Project was an American non-profit organization, which worked to increase female representation in American institutions, businesses, and government. Its main programs focused on female leadership and campaign training and the po ...

. He is on the Leadership Council of Hispanics in Philanthropy. He is the winner of the 2010 Hubert H. Humphrey Civil and Human Rights Award from the

Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (The Leadership Conference), formerly called the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, is an umbrella group of American civil rights interest groups. Organizational history The Leadership Con ...

and the Community Change Champion Award from the

Center for Community Change Community Change, formerly the Center for Community Change (CCC), is a progressive community organizing group active in the United States. It was founded in 1968 in response to civil rights concerns of the 1960s and to honor Robert F. Kennedy. Th ...

Personal life

LaMarche has two daughters and lives in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

References

External links

The Atlantic Philanthropies official biography

NYU Robert Wagner Graduate School of Public Service biography

“Gara LaMarche 76’s Job is To Give Away $4 Billion,” Columbia College Today, May/June 2008

Archive at Huffington Post

“The Key Role of Advocacy Funding in the U.S. Health Care Debate”, Keynote, Grantmakers in Health Conference, March 11, 2010.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lamarche, Gara 1954 births Living people People from Washington County, Rhode Island American nonprofit executives Columbia College (New York) alumni American human rights activists American philanthropists HuffPost writers and columnists