Zach Bronstein

I run operations at Endaoment and build the plumbing behind over $155M in nonprofit impact.

Who I am

When I joined Endaoment, it was one founder and a freshly approved 501(c)(3). I built everything else from scratch: documentation, processes, finance, hiring, internal systems, and the system that gets granted funds to nonprofits. Today I run operations and own the core API the platform runs on.

Before Endaoment I spent five years at Morgan Stanley in Wealth Management Finance, running CCAR balance-sheet consolidations during the E*TRADE acquisition, and administering a $1B non-comp expense budget.

What I like most is taking a fragile manual process apart, step by step, and rebuilding it so it runs the same way every time and fails loudly when it can't.

What I'm working on

  • Running Endaoment's operations and backend, including 70+ automated services in production and the shared code behind them.
  • Building the system that pays out grants end to end, with a full dry run of every batch before any money moves.
  • Automating how donated assets get sold, so there's always cash on hand for grants without anyone placing trades by hand.
  • Writing down how our team builds software with AI agents: the rules they follow, the checks their work must pass, and guides for the humans alongside them.
  • Maintaining validators.endaoment.org, our open-source guide to running an Ethereum validator.

Where I've worked

Download resume (PDF)This is the short version. The PDF has the rest.

  1. 2021 – Current

    Chief Operating Officer

    Giving Tree Technologies & Endaoment.org, Remote

    • Second team member. Joined the founder when the 501(c)(3) was approved and built operations, the tech stack, and every internal system from scratch.
    • Run finance, operations, HR, and legal for both the nonprofit and the tech company behind it, with multi-million-dollar annual budgets across the two.
    • Scaled the operations behind over $155M in nonprofit impact, and took the nonprofit through its largest financial audits.
    • Took the company through its seed round in 2022 (10% raised at a $50M valuation), and hired across every department.
    • Wrote the policy and risk rules for handling digital assets, then built them into the systems: jurisdiction checks at intake, secrets rules enforced in CI, and automated regulatory reporting.
    • Built 70+ production services that sell donated assets, call contracts on Ethereum, Base, and Optimism, and reinvest brokerage dividends, all through one shared transaction pipeline.
    • Built the system that pays out grants end to end, and own the core API the platform runs on.
    • Built the monorepo, shared libraries, and internal developer platform the engineering team works in.
    • Automated the release process across the app repositories, from starting each release candidate to routing review work to the right owners.
    • Set how the team builds software with AI agents: the rules they follow, the memory they keep between sessions, and the checks their work must pass.

  2. Morgan Stanley

    Purchase, NY

    • 2020 – 2021Director, Balance Sheet, Wealth Management (WM) Financial Planning & Analysis
    • 2018 – 2020Director, Field Finance, WM CFO Support
    • 2016 – 2018Associate, Field Finance, WM CFO Support
    • Consolidated the Wealth Management balance sheet under stress scenarios for the Federal Reserve's CCAR runs, four to six times a year.
    • Ran the consolidation of the E*TRADE and Morgan Stanley Wealth Management balance sheets after the acquisition: $650B in assets and liabilities.
    • Administered a $1B non-compensation expense budget for Wealth Management.
    • Designed and ran the weekly Operating Committee deck on revenue, expenses, and custodied assets, and built templates that automated the group's recurring work.

Education

  • 2016Master of Business AdministrationHeller School at Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
  • 2016Master of ArtsNon-Profit ManagementBrandeis University, Waltham, MA
  • 2012Bachelor of ArtsPolitical ScienceGeorge Washington University, Washington, D.C.

Earlier in my career

Roles that feel like a lifetime ago: assorted nonprofit work, education, and marketing. Click any to expand.

  • 2013 – 2014

    Director, Counselor in Training Program

    URJ Eisner Camp, Great Barrington, MA

    education

    Designed the curriculum that turned high schoolers into the next generation of camp staff.

    • Created a rigorous nine-week curriculum for the CIT program with discrete training modules covering child development, group dynamics, and Jewish education.
    • Coordinated with the camp director and department heads to ensure deliberate, growth-oriented placement of CITs across units throughout the summer.
  • 2013 – 2014

    Director, Youth Engagement

    Temple Beth Abraham, Tarrytown, NY

    education
    • Curated weekly curriculum focused on social justice issues for the Juniors and Seniors.
    • Planned, organized, and ran monthly youth group events for all High School students at the temple.
  • 2012 – 2013

    Marketing Consultant, Sales

    Allied Beverage Group, Carlstadt, NJ

    marketing

    Brought in to lead the launch of Wine for Dummies, a new licensed product line.

    • Led marketing efforts during the product launch of a new line of wines, Wine for Dummies.
    • Designed and managed social media presence and partnership relationships with other "For Dummies" branded products.
  • 2012 – 2013

    Educator

    Barnert Temple, Franklin Lakes, NJ

    education
    • Implemented weekly lesson plans for 5th and 6th grade students and analyzed student performance.
    • Fostered a classroom environment conducive to learning and frequent student engagement, regardless of age.
    • Worked individually with students to improve Hebrew reading, writing, and vocabulary skills.
    • Educated students on Jewish stories and culture, focusing on a new Mitzvah each week.
  • 2012 – 2013

    Tutor

    Brainstorm Learning and Arts, Franklin Lakes, NJ

    education
    • Worked with high school students to improve their test scores and study skills while building self-confidence.
    • Subjects: Geometry, Algebra I and II, Trigonometry, Pre-Calculus, Calculus, Statistics, SAT/ACT prep, and Astronomy.
    • Led group study sessions of up to 8 students alongside private tutoring sessions.
    • Acted as a mentor resource to students during off-time, not just in scheduled sessions.
  • Summer 2012

    Unit Head

    URJ Eisner Camp, Great Barrington, MA

    education

    Ran a unit of 120 thirteen-year-old campers and 40 staff at an overnight camp.

    • Supervised 120 overnight 13-year-old campers across the summer.
    • Planned and implemented daily chugim and nightly evening educational programming.
    • Oversaw a full-time staff of 40, ten of whom were CITs requiring additional attention and training.
    • Acted as a tech resource for staff across camp who hit technical difficulties throughout the summer.
  • 2011 – 2012

    Social Networks Intern

    Allied Beverage Group, Carlstadt, NJ

    marketing

    Built a social media program from scratch for a 600-employee beverage distributor; launched a new product line in the process.

    • Planned, designed, executed, and administered the company’s social media outlets to drive consumer interaction, brand recognition, and sales through product news and promotions.
    • Drafted short and long-term marketing plans that strategically leveraged social media to enhance brand recognition and competitive positioning.
    • Collaborated with the Senior VP of Marketing on social media strategy and partnered with the CIO on a mobile application capable of retrieving inventory data for end users.
    • Authored and implemented instructional documents to guide 600 employees on the responsible use of social media.
  • 2010 – 2012

    Program Assistant

    Jews United for Justice, Washington, DC

    nonprofit
    • Performed broad-scope administrative and technical functions for the non-profit including database management, online (website, email) content creation, and arranging executive board meetings.
    • Delivered technical support to the executive management team and program director.

Things I've built

  • Endaoment

    platform

    A donor-advised fund platform: people give crypto, stock, or cash, then recommend grants to the nonprofits they care about. I built and run the operations underneath it.

    • TypeScript
    • GCP
    • Ethereum
    • Base
    • Optimism
    • Terraform

  • Grant payout system

    system

    Moves granted money from a donor's fund to the nonprofit, end to end. Every batch gets a full dry run on each chain before any money moves, and a person signs off at the gates that need one.

    1. Batch the grants
    2. Dry-run every transfer
    3. Human sign-off
    4. Pay the nonprofits
    • TypeScript
    • GCP
    • Tenderly

  • Donated-asset liquidation pipeline

    system

    Sells donated assets and carries each sale through settlement, so there is cash on hand for grants without anyone placing trades by hand. It pages a person only when one has to act. Transactions are signed by a hardware security module.

    1. Asset donated
    2. Gate checks
    3. Sale
    4. Settlement
    5. Cash for grants
    • TypeScript
    • GCP
    • Cloud Functions

  • Internal developer platform

    tool

    What the engineering team builds on: a portal with generated catalogs, deploys that roll themselves back, a mutation-testing program, and one type-check gate across more than 150 projects.

    • TypeScript
    • Nx
    • Stryker

  • How we build with AI agents

    guide

    The rules our AI agents read before they work, the memory they carry between sessions, and the checks their work must pass. A failed check goes straight into a fix.

    1. Agent reads the rules
    2. Agent does the work
    3. Checks run
    4. Failures routed to a fix
    • AI agents
    • Documentation

  • Endaoment Validator Operations Guide

    guide

    Open-source operations guide for running an Ethereum validator: Prysm/Reth setup, upkeep, emergency response, and monitoring. ~100% uptime in production.

    • Ethereum
    • Validator
    • Prysm
    • Reth
    • Open Source

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