About the Fuse Innovation Fund

The Fuse Innovation Fund is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the work of Fuse Washington and its mission of securing major advances in progressive public policy for Washington State.

Contributions to The Fuse Innovation Fund are used to educate and inform Washington citizens about the issues and policies that impact their lives, connect them to job opportunities and community events and provide a little levity for their political pondering.

The Fuse Innovation Fund Programs

 The Washington State Progressive Job Bank is an online listing of job openings within the progressive advocacy community. It gives those interested in progressive advocacy, politics and public service an opportunity to learn about related job openings before they are posted to more traditional employment posting venues.

The Fuse 5 AM Funny is a colloboration with Uclick.com and provides a daily dose of political humor subscribers as well as the daily Doonesbury comic strip. Each day, the Fuse staff combs the best of the best political comics, online videos and policy commentary to provide a little levity in the name of progress.

The Fuse Community Calendar provides information, contact and location of numerous events within the progressive policy and advocacy community, from events to trainings to rallies. For those looking to stay connected to organizations working for progress in Washington State, the Fuse Communty Calendar is a vital planning tool.

Dr. Scoop, Washington's progressive political information column. Dr. Scoop accepts questions from inquiring members, does the research and talks to the insiders to get the real scoop before reporting back.

The Fuse Innovation Fund Board of Directors

Gregg Small is Executive Director Climate Solutions and brings more than a decade of experience leading non-profit organizations. Prior to coming to Climate Solutions, Gregg served as the Executive Director of the Washington Toxics Coaltion for 7 years and as the Executive Director of the California-based Pesticide Watch for 5 years. He has extensive experience bringing together diverse constituencies working on local, state, and national issues. Gregg was one the primary leaders of the Toxic Free Legacy Coalition. For the past four years, he has been a leader in Priorities for a Healthy Washington, a collaborative of more than twenty of the leading environmental organizations in Washington working together to pass strong statewide environmental policies. Gregg began his professional career as an organizer for Green Corps, working in Washington, DC, Vermont, and California. He received his B.A. in Political Science from Dickinson College.

Matt Lerner is CTO of Front Seat Management, creators of www.walkscore.com. Prior to that, Matt led the team at Microsoft responsible for core parts of the Windows Vista user interface. While at Microsoft, Matt founded www.drivingvotes.org which helped thousands of people plan trips to register Democrats in swing states. Matt co-founded EQuill, which built software for Web development, and sold it to Microsoft in 2001. Matt has a degree in Computer Science from Brown University and was awarded a Fulbright fellowship.

Anna Fahey is communications strategist for Sightline Institute, oversees opinion research, develops and distills best practices in messaging and framing, and builds collaborations with allied organizations to help coordinate effective messaging across issues and campaigns. Growing up, Anna spent her days working on her family’s commercial fishing boats in the Puget Sound and poking around the rocky beaches of the San Juan Islands. She was the art critic for the Seattle Weekly, and, for half a dozen years, headed up communications for the Henry Art Museum. After heading back to grad school and receiving an MA in political communication from the University of Washington, Anna has earned her share of campaign-trail battle scars as a political strategist in central Washington.

Aisling Kerins is s a campaign manager extraordinare, leading the defeat of Tim Eyman's Initiative 1033 in 2009.   Previously, she was the GOTV Director for MoveOn.org Political Action and Associate Director for Futurewise, a statewide non-profit working to build great communities and cities, and protect farmland and open spaces. She served as the Campaign Director for the No On 933 Campaign, has worked on federal and legislative issue campaigns and 4 successful statewide initiatives, including serving as the Field Director for the successful Yes on I-297 campaign to clean up radioactive waste at Hanford - which received the highest winning vote margin in Washington State history. Previously, she was the Field Director for the Washington Public Interest Research Group (WashPIRG). Aisling serves on the board of the Women's Political Caucus of Washington and Environment Washington and is a graduate of EMILY's List Political Opportunity Program.

Kurt Guenther has helped clients reach the audiences they want with the messages they need to get results for more than 20 years. Known for his enthusiasm and openness to new ideas, Kurt combines research with savvy about people in his broadcast, print, Internet, and overall strategy work. Health, education, conservation, women's rights, workers' rights, freedom of speech, national service, new sciences and world relief & development are among issues Kurt has worked with clients to promote, as well as Presidential, Senate and Gubernatorial candidates. Kurt is a founder of doingsomething , an all-volunteer network featured in the national media, two-term member of the Partner Board at his children's public school, chair of communications for the board of the Washington Environmental Council, and a baseball/swimming/soccer dad. Kurt attended Occidental College and Boston University, where he graduated summa cum laude from the School of Public  Communication with graduate work in advocacy. He lives with his wife, two children and a nice dog named Ty in Seattle.

 
Sandeep Kaushik is a political, communications and public affairs consultant. He has worked on multiple political campaigns, including as communications director for the No on I-920 (estate tax repeal) campaign in 2006, the Not Another Elevated Viaduct campaign, as campaign manager for the the King County parks levies campaign in 2007, and more recently as a commincations consultant on the campaigns of Bill Sherman for King County Prosecutor and as a new media commuincations consultant on the Yes on Roads and Transit effort. He currently serves as spokesperson for Darcy Burner's campaign in the 8th Congressional District of Washington and does public affairs work for Nyhus Communications. Between 2005 and April 2007, he worked as deputy communications director for King County Executive Ron Sims, and prior to that as a political columnist/writer for the Stranger and as the Seattle stringer for Time Magazine and the Boston Globe. He has a B.A. in history from Reed College and an M.A. in British history from Princeton University. He lives in Seattle's Phinney Ridge neighborhood with his wife and two children.