Avis Richards is the founder and CEO of the Birds Nest Foundation, a New York City-based 501(c)(3) she launched in 2005 that produces television shows, documentaries, and short films at little to no cost for other nonprofits, giving causes that could never afford real media production a genuine broadcast-quality voice. She currently serves alongside KFF’s own Executive Director Cathie Hartnett on the Birds Nest Foundation board.
As a producer and director, Richards has made hundreds of episodes and films for national and local broadcast. Her documentary Lunch: The Film, on the nutritional value of school lunches, won recognition from the Davey, W3, Empixx, and Stevie Awards, and her follow-up series Lunch NYC, produced for NYC Media, was nominated for three New York Emmy Awards. She also produced and co-directed Dylan’s Lunchbox, a food-focused series hosted by a teenage food critic, and launched the Ground Up Campaign, which brought indoor edible gardens to over 100 New York City classrooms in partnership with Grow to Learn NYC and Green Bronx Machine.
Richards has worked with Goldie Hawn, John Legend, Michael Bolton, Joe Torre, and Andre Agassi, among others, and has been recognized with the University of Maryland’s Nonprofit Industry Impact Award (2010) and Distinguished Alumni Award (2012), as well as United Way of New York City’s Women’s Leadership Council honor. A University of Maryland graduate, she lives in New York City with her husband and two children.
