Maine-based Onion Foundation names first executive director
Courtesy / The Onion Foundation
Diana Morris was named the first executive director of the Onion Foundation, which supports natural resources, music and art in Maine.
The Onion Foundation, a charitable organization founded in 2014 by Maine technology entrepreneur Frederick “Fritz” Onion and his wife Susan Onion, has hired its inaugural executive director.
Diana Morris, a nonprofit advisor from Baltimore, will head the Auburn-based foundation as it prepares to expand its support of the state's natural resources, music and arts.
“Diana brings tremendous experience and leadership to our team as we aim to strengthen the arts in Maine and enable more residents, now and in the future, to enjoy the state’s natural resources,” Susan Onion said in a news release Tuesday.
“In the past, Diana has developed initiatives with significant and lasting impact, and we look forward to her applying that creative and strategic approach to our work in Maine.”
Morris previously served as a strategic advisor to the Baltimore-based Nova Institute for Health, which explores the connections among individual, community and planetary health.
She also worked as the director of Open Society Institute-Baltimore, the U.S. field office of the Open Society Foundations, for over two decades. While there, she developed the Open Places Initiative, which built civic capacity in Buffalo, San Diego and Puerto Rico.
Earlier, working internationally and domestically, Morris launched the Refugee and Migrant Rights Program at the Ford Foundation and served as the inaugural executive director of the Blaustein Philanthropic Group.
Before beginning her work in philanthropy, Morris was an attorney-advisor at the U.S. Department of State, focusing on refugee policy and protection. She continues to work in the field by providing pro bono assistance to asylum seekers.
She holds degrees from Smith College and Boston University School of Law. Her ties to Maine come from extended stays with her husband’s parents, who were residents of the midcoast, and from summer camp visits.
Since its start eight years ago, the Onion Foundation has made over 1,000 grants to more than 600 nonprofit organizations. In 2021, the total grant dollars paid out were $3.34 million with an average grant size of $9,000. Including additional support due to COVID-19 response funding, the foundation awarded 378 grants to over 180 nonprofits.
Fritz and Susan Onion, with the Minnesota-based Venn Foundation, also contributed a lead gift of $1.5 million in 2021 to help build an affordable housing complex for seasonal workers near Saddleback Mountain ski resort in Rangeley.
The Onion Foundation, which the couple lead as trustees, employs two staff in addition to Morris. The foundation's estimated assets in 2021 were $76 million.
Fritz Onion co-founded technology training company Pluralsight Inc. (Nasdaq: PS) in 2004. The company is a Utah-based provider of online technology training whose customers include more than half of the Fortune 500.
Fritz and Susan Onion both serve on the advisory board of Pluralsight One, the philanthropic branch of Pluralsight, whose mission is to democratize technology skills worldwide.
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