Sunny Fischer was executive director of The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation from 1992-2013 (part-time till 2000). In that role she developed programs on the built environment, the arts (particularly small arts groups), investigative journalism, and the working poor, among others. From 1983-1992, she served as executive director of The Sophia Fund, the first private women’s foundation in the country devoted exclusively to women’s issues, particularly violence against women reproductive rights, and economic justice. She was a co-founder of The Chicago Foundation for Women, and an early leader in the Women’s Funding Network and Chicago Women in Philanthropy. Before starting her career in philanthropy, she worked as a school librarian, an English teacher, and a social worker.