President, Goldhirsh FoundationTara Roth
Tara Roth is the president of the Goldhirsh Foundation, a $70 million foundation that supports social innovation via its financial, human, and social capital.
Tara oversees all aspects of the foundation, including sourcing and vetting investments that connect profit with impact to make its endowment 100% mission-aligned. Sustainability and climate efforts have been top of mind in this process. Tara advocated for investments in FAVES, a climate-friendly candy that upcycles fruits and vegetables, thereby diverting them from the landfill. The Goldhirsh Foundation is a limited partner in Lowercarbon Capital, a venture fund focused on slashing CO2 emissions. Additionally, Tara is an advisor to the Shared Future Fund which is focused on deploying resources to early-stage entrepreneurs working to solve the climate crisis.
Tara has worked extensively with local non-profit organizations that are creating a more sustainable Los Angeles. This includes the LA Sustainability Council, formed by former Mayor Eric Garcetti and UCLA Chancellor Gene Block, which was focused on transforming LA into a sustainable megacity. Tara has also engaged with UCLA Grand Challenges initiative which won a grant from the Goldhirsh Foundation for its “Thriving in a Hotter Los Angeles” project. As a judge for the Sustainable LA Grand Challenge in 2020, Tara helped determine which team would take home the top prize. In addition, Tara worked with Caltech to help kickstart a graduate fellowship program at the Caltech Resnick Institute of Sustainability, which worked on more efficient ways to harness solar energy. Caltech also won a Goldhirsh Foundation award for its “Cleantech 2 Edtech” program which helped LAUSD schools track their water and energy efficiency.
Under Tara’s leadership, the Goldhirsh Foundation spearheads LA2050, a community-guided initiative creating a shared vision for LA’s future. The largest activity of LA2050 is the LA2050 Grants Challenge, a $1 million crowd-sourced program that engages Angelenos in a public vote to determine the funding priorities each year. Via LA2050, Tara has secured partnerships with organizations such as the Snap Foundation, Hilton Foundation, Calley Foundation, Citi, and the Annenberg Foundation,,resulting in adding millions of dollars to the Goldhirsh Foundation’s existing prize money in order to support more nonprofits who apply to the grants challenge.
Prior to the Goldhirsh Foundation, Tara began her career in marketing and business development with NBCInternet and Infoseek. She then transitioned into the world of cause marketing as the founding COO of GOOD. Tara managed Choose GOOD, an affinity marketing campaign that served as GOOD’s initial circulation program. She also helped launch the agency GOOD Corps, with its first project, Pepsi Refresh.
Tara received a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and has an MBA from Oxford University where she was awarded a Skoll scholarship in social entrepreneurship. Tara was a founding member of the Lyft City Works Advisory Council and is a member of the L.A. Sustainability Leadership Council, the Instil Product Advisory Council, the 2023 Zócalo Book Prize selection committee, and is a judge of the 2021 and 2022 Anthem Awards. Tara serves on the boards of the Ad Council and UCLA’s School of Arts and Architecture. She previously sat on
the board of Southern California Grantmakers, USC’s Sol Price School of Public Policy, regional advisory boards of Opportunity Fund and 826LA, and was a Senior Fellow at USC’s Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab.