Allison Fine has been a successful nonprofit entrepreneur at local and national levels for more than 15 years successfully starting new organizations, raising funds, building organizational collaborations and helping to lead a sea of change in the way that nonprofit organizations organize themselves and successfully engage their communities in social change efforts.

She has consistently worked towards her strong belief in the need for reducing barriers to participation in community life. Attempting to unravel the mysteries of how, when and why citizens are involved and engaged in community and governmental affairs continues to be the focus of her work.

In 1992 Allison started a national nonprofit, Innovation Network, Inc. (InnoNet), dedicated to teaching and expanding the use of participatory methods for ongoing learning and improvement by activist organizations. If you are interested in planning and evaluation tools, information and connecting with others wrestling with these issues, go to www.innonet.org.

In 2004, Allison became the C.E.O. of the E-Volve Foundation. E-Volve provides seed grants for online democracy and activism efforts. More recently she has focused on writing and public speaking focused on increasing civic participation by harnessing the power of digital technology.

Allison and her husband Scott have three children, Max, Zack and Jack, who are loud and rambunctious as they should be, and loving and kind as she hoped they would be. They live on the banks of the Hudson River in Irvington, NY.

Visit Allison's website or contact her at: afine@demos.org