About us
Board of Directors
Debbie Berger
Kiki Fordham
Richard Graham
Bill Reeves
Hilary Weinstein
Staff
Taryn Higashi
Meg Shoemaker
Will Somerville
Ted Wang
Taryn Higashi, Executive Director
Taryn Higashi is the executive director of Unbound Philanthropy. From 1997 to 2008, Taryn worked at the Ford Foundation where she managed the migrant and refugee rights portfolio and served as deputy director of the human rights unit.
Prior to joining the Ford Foundation, Taryn was a program officer at The New York Community Trust, where she coordinated the Fund for New Citizens. She has also worked as a staff attorney and program coordinator for Safe Horizons in New York City, and as an associate at the law firm O’Melveny & Myers. From 1999 to 2008, Taryn served as a board member of Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees, where she was co-chair from 1999-2005.
Taryn’s own family history informs her passion for justice for immigrants and migrants: “I am a third-generation Japanese American, and my mother’s family was interned during World War II along with 110,000 other Japanese Americans—almost two-thirds of whom were United States citizens. Our history tells us that we cannot take our freedom to move, live, and work in this country for granted.”
Taryn’s work has been widely recognized in her field. Recently, Taryn was a co-recipient with Geri Mannion of the Carnegie Corporation of New York of the Robert V. Scrivner Award for Creative Grantmaking from the Council on Foundations. She has also received a 40th Anniversary Community Change Champion Award from the Center for Community Change, a Human Rights Visionary Award from the Border Network for Human Rights and an award from the National Immigration Law Center for her work to advance immigrants’ rights. Taryn is a highly sought-after speaker on trends and issues in immigration, speaking recently at Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy and Grantmakers for Effective Organizations.
Taryn is a graduate of George Washington University Law School and received her bachelor’s degree from the University of California at San Diego. She resides in New York City with her husband and son.
Meg Shoemaker
Meg Shoemaker is a program officer and grants manager with Unbound Philanthropy. Meg’s grantmaking work is in the United States migration program in the areas of welcoming communities, countering hate, and arts and culture.
Meg says that working with Unbound gives her a perspective on her own hometown that she appreciates: “My parents grew up in Indiana; so did their parents. Our public education work on welcoming communities is relevant to my hometown in Indiana where immigrants are now moving. Immigration is not just about the borders and coasts; it touches all our lives.” Meg is especially interested in art as a tool for promoting social justice in welcoming communities.
Meg came to Unbound Philanthropy after four years with the Four Freedoms Fund, a national United States funding collaborative guided by a long-term vision of immigrants and refugees fully integrated into American civic life. While a program officer at the Four Freedoms Fund, Meg implemented strategic communications initiatives, supported field-building initiatives, and coordinated grants management for the Fund.
Prior to her work at the Four Freedoms Fund, Meg developed traditional and online media campaigns for New York nonprofits while at M+R Strategic Services. She started her professional experience as an Americorps VISTA, developing a volunteer program for Grasstops, a Minneapolis nonprofit.
Meg earned her bachelor’s degree in international studies from Macalester College, Saint Paul, Minnesota. Originally from Evansville, Indiana, Meg now resides in Brooklyn, New York, where she volunteers as treasurer of the Healthy Kids PAC, an advocacy group working toward policies that promote smoke-free kids in New York City.
Will Somerville
Will Somerville is a program consultant to Unbound Philanthropy’s United Kingdom program. Will shares Unbound Philanthropy’s commitment to building civic engagement and developing public awareness on immigration issues. “We need thoughtful reforms around immigration to build a society that is more dynamic and open. To do so, reformers need to change the public discourse and engage more people in the issues.”
In his consulting practice, Will has focused on immigration policy and practice at the international and national levels. He has consulted with foundations including Barrow Cadbury Trust; Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund; and the Open Society Foundations. He has published widely on a range of immigration topics and is the author of Immigration under New Labour, published by Policy Press in 2007. Will served as a policy advisor on migration issues in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown; led work on asylum and immigration at the Commission for Racial Equality; and prior to that managed a series of poverty and employment projects and the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion. Will is a senior policy analyst for the Migration Policy Institute.
Will holds a first class history degree from the University of Leeds and a master’s with distinction in social policy and planning from the London School of Economics. Will is a member of English PEN, a charity that works to promote literature and human rights. He is currently based in Bath in the West of England; during his career he has lived and worked in London, Lisbon, Buenos Aires, and Washington, D.C. He is a British citizen, born in Germany.
Ted Wang
Ted Wang is a program consultant with Unbound Philanthropy’s United States program, providing policy consulting services on immigration and social justice issues. Ted works with Unbound Philanthropy because of its mission to improve public awareness of immigration issues and protect this population from discrimination and abuse.
Ted reflects, “As an immigrant who came to this country shortly after the federal civil rights laws passed in the 1960s, I saw firsthand the challenges that immigrants face in becoming part of their new communities. Given my experience, I appreciate Unbound Philanthropy’s commitment to help immigrants overcome barriers and create conditions that allow them to contribute to and strengthen our country.”
Prior to launching his consulting practice in 2004, Ted worked for 14 years in the civil rights community, holding leadership positions at Chinese for Affirmative Action and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. Ted litigated discrimination and voting rights cases and drafted local and state laws promoting immigrant rights, racial justice, and small business development. He has published widely on immigration and social justice issues, and is the author of Groundswell Meets Groundwork: Recommendations for Building on Immigrant Mobilizations, published by the Four Freedoms Fund and Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees in 2006.
Ted received his bachelor’s degree from Reed College and his law degree from Yale Law School. He has received awards from public and private agencies, including the California Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus’ Legislative Hero Award and the Asian American Bar Association of the Bay Area’s Outstanding Leadership to the Legal Community Award.
Ted is an avid runner and spends much of his time outdoors, a primary reason why he lives in Berkeley, California. Ted is originally from Taipei, Taiwan.