Elissa Leif is the CEO of MiniMatters. She combines expertise in video with over 15 years of nonprofit fund development and programmatic experience.  She has generated millions of dollars in revenue for employers and clients by understanding how messaging, technology, and relationships contribute to successful marketing.

In her most recent position at a nonprofit arts organization, Elissa set up a Salesforce database/CRM and email marketing system used for stakeholder communications.  Her technological innovations and strategy resulted in significant increases in individual donations in the midst of the difficult economy.  She has also recently worked as a fund-raising consultant for The MindFarm, successfully assisting top-tier nonprofit organizations with development strategy and donor communications.

Elissa enhanced her skills in video as well as expertise in health and childhood obesity as the Research Director for a television pilot on cooking and nutrition by experienced producers from Sesame Street. She was also funded as a "Community Fellow" of the Open Society Institute-Baltimore to run a journalism and digital photography program in the low-income Cherry Hill neighborhood.  Children in the program participated in a four-site international video conference that Elissa and a colleague edited into a half-hour program for Maryland cable stations.

In the 1990s, Elissa was involved in many international ventures, including starting up a Children's Express (youth media) bureau in Tokyo, Japan and managing an international assistance program for grassroots literacy projects in developing countries run by a Japanese NGO.  She is a certified producer and technician at Montgomery Community Television and serves as assistant producer for the "Pictures from a Hiroshima Schoolyard" film project which tells the story of artworks created by children in Hiroshima in the aftermath of the atomic bombing.

Elissa holds a Master's Degree in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education where she studied Administration, Planning and Public Policy, and a B.A. in history from Yale University.  She speaks and reads Japanese, enjoys teaching about technology in a positive and user-friendly way, and manages multiple YouTube channels.

Elissa can be reached at 301-339-0339 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Read about Elissa's MiniMatters partner Barbara Haupt.