The 2009 Meyer Foundation Exponent Award winners are featured in The Washington Post.

Lindsey Buss

President
Martha's Table

About Lindsey Buss

Lindsey Buss is the president and CEO of Martha's Table, which fights poverty in short and long term with food, clothing, education, and family programs. Annually, Martha's Table serves more than 500,000 meals and has 18,000 visits to its clothing room. Two-hundred-ninety children and youth, and their parents, participate in its day-care, after school, and summer programs. These programs work with children and youth over a continuum from ages three months through 18 years and beyond, facilitating their achievement of long term success. Buss believes strongly in the power of collaborative efforts and Martha's Table's effectiveness is made possible through partnerships with 100 other non-profits and the invaluable assistance of more than 10,000 volunteers a year.

Buss was an attorney at Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher for seven years before joining Martha's Table in 2000. He is a founder and board member of the D.C. Alliance of Youth Advocates, a coalition of more than 100 local youth service providers. Previously, Buss was a board member and board chair of Rachael's Women's Center, a support center for homeless women, and a fellow with The Institute for New Leaders, New Communities. He was a member of the 2009 Class of Leadership Greater Washington.

Download Martha's Table Quick Facts for 2009 (Adobe PDF, 1.4MB)

Key Accomplishments

Lindsey Buss
President and CEO, Martha's Table
Annual Budget: $5.8 million
Service Area: District of Columbia

Lindsey left a career as an attorney to join the staff of Martha's Table and had been with the organization for four years, first as director of development and then as interim chief of operations.
Martha's Table has provided critical services to low-income and homeless families in the Washington area for 28 years, 365 days/year.
The organization's food program engages more than 9,000 volunteers each year and serves more than 1,200 meals every day at its facility in Columbia Heights and through a mobile soup kitchen.
Martha's Table also offers a robust, year-round program that provides academic assistance and recreation activities for more than 250 children of all ages.
Its child development center—which also assists parents with clothes, diapers, and parenting skills—serves 75 children age 3 months to 4 years; 70 children in after school elementary program; 35 in middle school program and 35 teens in 65 teens in after school teen programs. Other programs include training for teen parents on financial management, housing, and parenting; Martha's Outfitters, a clothing distribution center and thrift store. They also run a full-day summer program.
In 2008, Martha's Table went through a rigorous process to become one of only two organizations in the region to receive accreditation for its after-school programs from the National Afterschool Association.
Lindsey is known as a collaborator and an active and visible leader in the nonprofit community. He is one of the co-founders and a board member of the DC Alliance of Youth Advocates.
Lindsey has been responsible for creating a solid infrastructure, creating financial controls, designing annual performance tools for all 70 of his employees, and improving internal communications.
Impact of economic downturn: Demand for emergency food has almost tripled, as has the need for clothing. Other safety net nonprofits are also referring clients to Martha's Table.
They have instituted a hiring freeze, was force to take out merit increases which he had fought to put in as part of annual review system three years ago.