Feed Two Birds

About me

I'm Jane Fischberg (she/her), a social sector leader with a deep commitment to dismantling systems perpetuating poverty.

From 2009-2020 I served as the President and CEO of Rubicon Programs. Under my leadership, Rubicon evolved into a high performing organization well regarded for its whole-person approach, recognized for its establishment of an unequivocal antiracism stance, and having a strong financial position. I led the organization through several major changes including development of its first theory of change, sharpening its focus on ending poverty, and undertaking the work to dismantle the characteristics of white supremacy. This journey included planning and intentionality around advancing BIPOC leadership and power building.

The more we worked on transforming Rubicon's culture and practices to center racial equity, the more I realized that I needed to focus on developing the conditions for BIPOC leadership success, and then step aside. We needed leadership further along the continuum of lived experience of people we were serving, along with the capacity and conviction to fulfill the promise of Rubicon's potential as an antiracist and antipoverty organization. Without this leadership, we could not progress further in our mission to end poverty. The leader hired by Rubicon's Board of Directors as my successor meets all of these criteria and more.

After a transitional role as Senior Advisor, I left Rubicon to shift my efforts elsewhere in the social sector. Since 2021, I have been working with white-identifying CEOs who are striving to create an environment and practices to advance BIPOC leadership in their organizations and are eager to delve into how their own leadership can best advance these efforts.

I received my BA from Williams College and my MPA from San Francisco State University, with additional training at Stanford Business School and at Harvard Business School’s Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Leadership.

I serve on the Board of Directors of Rising Sun Center for Opportunity.

Outside of work and community involvement, I enjoy exploring the East Bay's hiking paths and staircases, practicing yoga, cooking scrumptious vegetarian food and spending time with beloved friends and family. I live in the East Bay, am kept in line by my high maintence cat, and am proud of my son who never fails to make me laugh.

Why Two Birds

I have used the phrase 'Feed Two Birds with One Seed' for as long as I can recall, as an alternative to the traditional bird metaphor about accomplishing two things at once. Then I realized it is also a metaphor for targeted universalism. As described by Professor jon a. powell and his colleagues at the Othering and Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley, targeted universalism is a policy that moves all groups toward a universal policy goal. It supports the needs of the most marginalized groups, as well as those who are more politically powerful, while reminding everyone that we are all part of the same social fabric. Feeding Two Birds With One Seed is a way of describing targeted universalism: there is more than enough for all.

I acknowledge that I live and work on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Cochenyo Ohlone people.