Foundation Update: Q1 2025
"Back to School" Again // IIG in NYC // Meet WSB // Spotlight on Sliding Into Finance
Welcome to “almost spring” — and our first NOIP Foundation update of 2025. Below, we cover our January 28 fundraiser and mid-February Invest-in-Girls “Exploring Finance” event. In addition, we present volunteer opportunities at W!se and Greenwood Project — and welcome our fourth partner. We conclude with NOIP member Ari Burstein’s introduction to Sliding into Finance, a financial literacy project started by his two sons. As always, your thoughts, suggestions, and questions are welcome.
“Back to School Night” 2.0
Again this year, 175-ish NOIP members, friends, and colleagues came together for “Back to School Night” on January 28. As with last year, Smokehouse 66 in Manhattan hosted our merry band, and DJ Del brought the noise (and the Madonna).
We were blessed by the generosity of 17 sponsors — BIDS/CBOE, HRT, IntelligentCross, Purestream, Robinhood, XTX Markets, NOIP, Bernstein, Citadel Securities, IEX, Kezar Markets, Liquidnet, MEMX, OneChronos, Piper Sandler, Rosenblatt, and TMX Alpha US — and the night featured a raffle with valuable prizes graciously donated by friends of the Foundation.
We raised roughly $140,000, once again demonstrating the NOIP community’s willingness and ability to deliver in size for a worthy cause. Led by Heidi Fischer, our event committee of Erin Sheehan, Allison Bishop, Jennifer Fagenson, and Lisa Utasi did yeoman’s work, for which we are grateful. We also thank those NOIP members who lent a hand at the door!
Invest-in-Girls in NYC
In another successful repeat, the Foundation sponsored a Council for Economic Education Invest-in-Girls “Exploring Finance” event on February 18, 19, and 20 in Lower Manhattan. Again this year, Liquidnet hosted the first day and IEX rolled out the red carpet for days two and three. Our 34 volunteers — each a NOIP member or connection — contributed 52 hours to inspire 22 high school girls with their expertise and experience. The talented student cohort was engaged throughout — and sacrificed three vacation days to hear from our assembled group of woman leaders.
Upcoming Opportunities: W!se & Greenwood Project
In addition to the Council for Economic Education, our partners Working in Support of Education(“W!se”) and Greenwood Project have been active of late. Both seek volunteers for current initiatives.
The W!se Euro Challenge begins in April, and NOIP members will serve as judges again this year. The Quality of Life Innovations competition is under way, and W!se seeks judges to (virtually) evaluate submissions. Please contact Kate Faraday if interested.
Greenwood Project has created “GP Connect,” an exciting new online platform that connects talented Greenwood Scholars with finance professionals who can inspire and guide Scholars as they start their professional journey. Volunteers will participate in one-on-one virtual meetings with Scholars to discuss career paths, share industry trends, and give advice on essential skills in finance. Each conversation is about 30 minutes—just enough to make a real impact without a huge time commitment.
Volunteers are needed across all functional areas, including operations, investing, sales and traditional corporate roles such as HR, marketing, and technology. If you’d like to learn more, please contact Sandy Chism — or sign up now to build resources before Scholars join in May.
Welcome to Wall Street Bound
We are pleased to announce that the NOIP Foundation Board approved a fourth partner in January: Wall Street Bound. Introduced by NOIP member Jonathan Kellner, we were impressed by founder Troy Prince’s vision to empower underrepresented students via financial education and access to opportunities in our industry. We believe that NOIP members can make meaningful contributions to Wall Street Bound’s initiatives. Please reach out to Kate McAllister to learn more.
Member Spotlight: Ari Burstein
A new financial literacy project —“Sliding into Finance”— has been launched by Joshua Burstein and Zachary Burstein, high school juniors at the Landon School in Bethesda, Maryland (and sons of NOIP member Ari Burstein). The initiative is intended to bring together the financial services and sports industries to provide a voice through which high school students can learn about, and better understand, issues surrounding finance, and to accomplish this in ways that make it interesting and relevant for high school students through interaction with, and hearing from, thought leaders in the financial services and sports industries.
There are several ways for individuals and/or firms to get involved: volunteering time through participating in webinars or mentorships; hosting an educational industry trip; and/or donations and financial support that will assist in providing grants to partners in the financial literacy space as well as scholarships to college-bound high school students interested in business. Various other partnership and media opportunities also are available.
Sliding into Finance is planning a kick-off fundraiser in DC on April 9, the day before the NOIP Spring Conference. More information to come. If you have any questions, please contact Joshua or Zachary.