Changing the Way We Give: Virginia Clarke at TEDxManhattan

Virginia Clarke is the executive director of the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders (SAFSF), an international network of Grantmakers. SAFSF offers opportunities for shared learning and information exchange, collaboration, and seeks to increase philanthropic awareness of the issues as well as funding needs. She came to SAFSF in January 2003 from the University of California's systemwide office for the Education Abroad Program where she served as a Senior Analyst and Regional Director Assistant for Asia and Africa, coordinating university-level student exchanges.

Previously, Virginia spent five years as a program director with the Salzburg Seminar in Salzburg, Austria where she led programs for emerging world leaders on a wide array of issues including food security, sustainable agriculture, international non-governmental organizations, leadership, and various legal themes. She also coordinated the Seminar's outreach to Latin America. Other learning/employment opportunities over the last thirty years have included a stint at the World Bank; a management reorganization for a private clothing manufacturer in Bolivia; assisting immigrants in their efforts to secure legal residency in the U.S.; and multiple positions within the broad food service and hospitality industry.

Fluent in Spanish, she has a Masters in International Administration from the School for International Training. In addition to her years in Austria, Virginia has lived and worked in Spain, Bolivia, Mexico, and seven states in the U.S. She lives in Santa Barbara, California with her youngest daughter, and daydreams of the Northern Lights and visiting her eldest daughter in Alaska.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)