Jonah Wittkamper is a biologist,[1] technologist, startup founder[2] and social entrepreneur. He is the Co-Founder and President of the NEXUS, a movement to help wealthy families engage in charity and impact investing.[3] In 2020, he founded the Amazon Investor Coalition to advance forest friendly economic development and the rule of law.[4][5][6] In addition, in 2017, he created the Healthy Democracy Coalition, a network of philanthropists dedicated to bridging political divides.

Wittkamper works to unite young social and philanthropic leaders to influence the public sector, including the United Nations,[7][8][9][10] the White House[11][12] and the United States Congress.[13][14][15] Earlier in his career, he co-founded the Global Youth Action Network, a global association of youth organizations that merged with TakingITGlobal and grew to become one of the largest communities of young social change leaders on the internet.[16] In 2007, he joined Distributive Networks and helped to build the text messaging technology of the 2008 Obama campaign[17] and in 2015 he served as an advisor to the Council on Foundations' Evolution of Philanthropy Initiative.[18] He has worked as the United States Director of Search for Common Ground[19] and is the founder and owner of EZinTouch.com, a contact management platform. He is an alumnus of Williams College, Saint Ann's School (Brooklyn) and Camp Rising Sun.

Prior to NEXUS

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Before co-founding NEXUS, Wittkamper served in various roles that focused on impacting and inspiring youth leaders across the world. Beginning in 2000, Wittkamper co-founded the Global Youth Action Network (GYAN).[20] Through the help of Wittkamper, GYAN reinforced the participation of youth in global decision-making. Wittkamper served as the Chief Technology Officer and opened the South American Regional Office, which he ran until 2006.[21] Soon, GYAN merged with TakingITGlobal, as mentioned previously. TakingITGlobal quickly became the largest Internet site dedicated to the empowerment of young leaders, receiving almost 2 million hits every day.

Family

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Jonah Wittkamper is the grandson of Will Wittkamper, a former steward of Koinonia Farm. This is the inter-racial Christian intentional community in Americus, Georgia, that inspired the creation of Habitat for Humanity.[22] The Wittkamper family is profiled in the book Class of 65.[23] Wittkamper is also a grand-nephew of George S. Vest, former Director General of the US Foreign Service.

References

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  1. ^ "Root herbivory: in vitro Interactions between roots and aphids grown in aseptic coculture". In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology - Plant. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  2. ^ "Helping to Launch Those who Launch Companies". Newsday. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  3. ^ "Millennial Investors Unite". Private Wealth Magazine. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  4. ^ "Saving the Amazon One Investment Strategy at a Time". Initiative 20x20. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  5. ^ "Amazon Investor Coalition is investing in forest-friendly economic development across Latin America". LatamList. 8 March 2021. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  6. ^ "Investing in Amazon Rainforest Conservation". Mongabay. 21 April 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  7. ^ "UN Galvanizes Philanthropy". Vanity Fair. 12 August 2011. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  8. ^ "Millennials Transform Charitable Giving Into Philanthropic Action". The Huffington Post. 24 July 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  9. ^ "Young Philanthropists And Social Entrepreneurs From 70 Countries Mobilize At The U.N. To Solve Global Challenges". Forbes.com. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  10. ^ "Nexus: Minds and Money Meet, Pushing the World Forward". The Huffington Post. 24 July 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  11. ^ Johnson, Jamie (18 April 2014). "Including the young and rich - White House hosts 'Next Generation'". New York Times. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  12. ^ "At Nexus, a Peek Into the Minds of Young, Wealthy Donors". Chronicle of Philanthropy. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  13. ^ Killian, Linda (10 December 2014). "Engaging Disaffected Millennials". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  14. ^ Killian, Linda (26 December 2014). "When Will We See A Millennial Congress?". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  15. ^ "Millennials Bring a Bipartisan Message to Congress". Non-Profit Quarterly. 4 December 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  16. ^ Tapscott, Don and Williams, Anothy D. (2006). Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, p. 50. Penguin Books Ltd., London. ISBN 1-59184-138-0.
  17. ^ "Startups get a lift from election '08". Fortune. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  18. ^ "Evolution of American Philanthropy". Council on Foundations. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  19. ^ "Nexus Summit Inspires Next Generation of Billionaires to Give Back". Forbes.com.
  20. ^ "Team". NEXUS. Retrieved 2021-06-20.
  21. ^ "Team". NEXUS. Retrieved 2021-06-20.
  22. ^ "Growing Up at Koinonia". Christianitytoday.com. Christianity Today.
  23. ^ "How a white student stood by his black classmates during the Civil Rights era". Washington Post.