A Glimmer of Hope is pleased to announce that Donna Berber will step into the role of president immediately. Building on her role as the founder of Glimmer, Donna brings her passion and instincts for impactful humanitarian work to the day-to-day leadership of the organization’s operations and strategies.

She replaces Brian Cooper, who led the organization for six years during a time of significant growth and transformation. Brian will continue to serve as an active member of the board of directors, and we remain deeply grateful for his contributions.

Donna will lead the organization as we move into a new chapter of our work in Ethiopia. Her priorities will include implementing our integrated approach to lift communities out of extreme poverty in rural Ethiopia through water, education, health care and microfinance projects.

Donna remains committed to most effectively serving the people of Ethiopia and building on the tremendous growth happening across the country since Glimmer’s founding in 2000. As Donna moves into this new role, the Berber family will further commit a minimum of $500,000 annually to projects in Ethiopia. This is in addition to their initial funding of the endowment that covers the organization’s operating costs.

Among our accomplishments to date, Glimmer has invested more than $85 million and built more than 9,000 projects, impacting millions of lives in the most remote, impoverished villages of Ethiopia.