Ruth Ann Harnisch on life as the fairy godmother of newsletters, podcasts, and blogs.

If you had lots of money to give away, what kind of journalism would you fund? City hall reporting? Big-swing investigative projects? Detailed coverage of your favorite sports team? The magazine of every narrative writer’s dreams? 

Over nearly three decades as a professional philanthropist, Ruth Ann Harnisch has funded many kinds of journalism, several of which fit none of those buckets. Deez Links, Delia Cai’s reliably hilarious “culture and online fixation report.” Oldster Magazine, Sari Botton’s excellent newsletter about aging. The Rumpus, the storied literary magazine recently relaunched by Roxane Gay and Debbie Millman. One estimate hassaid Harnisch ashas been a founding supporter of more than a hundred newsletters—the vast majority of them as no-strings-attached gifts, not investments. The common thread? Publications the world would be worse off without, from the serious to the delightfully silly.

I interviewed Harnisch about her road to philanthropy, how she makes her donation decisions, and why more people don’t follow her philosophy of giving. Listen below, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Debbie Millman, “Design Matters: Ruth Ann Harnisch,” PRINT.

“Ruth Ann Harnisch,” IMDb.

“About the Harnisch Foundation.” 

Tracy Gary, Inspired Philanthropy.

Host, Megan Greenwell

Producer, Amanda Darrach