CHRISTY TURLINGTON BURNS
Grand Plan: Make pregnancy and childbirth safe for every mother.
Making Headlines: Her own complications following the birth of her child, combined with the heartbreaking statistic that every two minutes a woman dies from preventable complications of pregnancy or childbirth, motivated the mother of two to found Every Mother Counts in 2010. The nonprofit—which this past Mother's Day debuted the orange rose as a universal symbol for maternal heath— donates every dime raised to programs addressing three critical barriers: lack of education, transportation, and supplies.
SUSAN L. SOLOMON
Grand Plan: Translate cutting-edge stem cell research into clinical breakthroughs.
Making Headlines: Frustrated with the pace of juvenile diabetes research after her son was diagnosed with it, Solomon co-founded the New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Research Institute, spearheading the raising and investing of more than $160 million in "tipping point" research. The payoff: In March, NYSCF-funded scientists generated a new human stem cell that has only one copy of the human genome, a tool that brings us much closer to treatments for diabetes, Alzheimer's, schizophrenia, and cancer.
ANNIE GRIFFITHS
Grand Plan: Expose climate change's devastating impact on women.
Making Headlines: Distressed by statistics (70 percent of those who die in climate disasters are women) and believing that powerful images are the best way to humanize big problems, the National Geographic contributor created Ripple Effect Images, a nonprofit collective of award-winning photographers. In visually depicting global programs that empower, and donating the images to aid organizations, she is shifting the West's view of women in developing countries from victims to survivors.
JESSICA SEINFELD
Grand Plan: Break the cycle of family poverty.
Making Headlines: The cookbook author's 15-year-old nonprofit Good+ Foundation (formerly Baby Buggy) has donated 20 million essential children's and family products and services to programs that either support new mothers or invest in early childhood. Husband Jerry (you may have heard of him) helped spearhead the Fatherhood Initiative to provide resources for new dads and encourage their participation in their kids' lives.
MINDY & JON GRAY
Grand Plan: Wipe out cancers linked to mutations of theBRCA1and2 genes.
Making Headlines: BRCA mutations correlate with a higher risk of breast and ovarian cancer. After losing her sister Faith Basser to the latter, Mindy and husband Jon established the Basser Research Center at the University of Pennsylvania, the first lab in the world devoted to BCRA-related cancers, and have contributed more than $30 million to date. Additionally, in 2015 they gave $40 million to organizations that focus on maximizing access to education, healthcare, and opportunities for low income children, including Harlem Village Academies.
KATHARINA HARF
Grand Plan: Find perfect matches between bone marrow donors and those in need.
Making Headlines: Her father Peter founded Delete Blood Cancer DKMS in Germany in 1991 in a bid to find a match for Katharina's mother. Harf, now the group's global ambassador, led a 2004 expansion to the U.S. and took the donor program nationwide with a glittering roster of celebrity recruiters, including Vera Wang, Rihanna, Coco Rocha, and Bradley Cooper. To date DKMS has registered more than 6 million bone marrow donors worldwide and provided more than 55,000 transplants.
MARIA CUOMO COLE
Grand Plan: Transform the lives of the homeless.
Making Headlines: As the longtime chair of Help USA (founded by her brother, New York governor Andrew Cuomo), she has expanded the nonprofit into a leading builder of innovative supportive housing not just for the homeless but for veterans, victims of domestic violence, and people with HIV/AIDS. Oh, and in her free time the Academy Award–nominated producer has been touring with her documentary, Newtown, which examines gun control laws in the aftermath of Sandy Hook.
SETH ROGEN & LAUREN MILLER ROGEN
Grand Plan: Turn millennials into a generation of Alzheimer's advocates. And tell a few jokes along the way.
Making Headlines: The couple founded Hilarity for Charity in 2012—five years after Lauren's mother was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's—and have since raised more than $5 million through their Los Angeles Variety Shows, featuring BFFs Judd Apatow, Aziz Ansari, and Mindy Kaling.
