The Business of Giving

For more than two decades, Andrew Wolk helped social sector organizations build better strategies, measure their work, and strengthen their impact. But one question kept nagging at him: If so many organizations were reporting success, why weren’t more people’s lives getting better? Across the communities he studied, progress on outcomes like education and housing remained stubbornly slow, and in some places, things were getting worse. Which led him to ask: What if we’ve been optimizing for the wrong things? His answer starts with changing where we begin. Today, through Finding Common Purpose, Andrew is putting that idea into practice, helping communities focus on what would actually make life better for the people who live and work there. It’s Andrew Wolk on The Business of Giving.

Most tech founders don't have to convince anyone that software is a good idea. My guest had to build hers for a sector she describes as twenty years behind everyone else. It did not always go smoothly. Maya Kuppermann co-founded Temelio, the platform that now moves more than a billion dollars a year in grants between foundations and the nonprofits they fund. But in the early days, one of her very first clients had a very different verdict. That client is still with Temelio today, one of a hundred and fifty. We talk about what it took to get there, why the matchmaking between funders and nonprofits is broken, what a bad grant application actually costs a nonprofit in wasted hours, and the "useless" feature she refuses to take out of her own software. It’s Maya Kupperman on The Business of Giving

Every year, four million students graduate from high school in this country. Most are old enough to vote, but too few get the encouragement and support to take that first step. My next guest set out to change that by enlisting students to help their classmates register to vote and have a voice in the decisions that shape their future. Jahnavi Rao founded New Voters while still in high school. It now runs student-led, nonpartisan voter registration drives in 1,300 high schools across 42 states. We talk about the near-peer organizing playbook that got 85 percent of her own senior class registered to vote in three days, the research network she built to study a question almost nobody studies, and why spending her days with teenagers is what keeps her hopeful about the country. It’s Jahnavi Rao on The Business of Giving.

For decades, philanthropy has chased the illusion of certainty, funding polished proposals while starving the quiet, trusted organizations actually doing the work on the ground. My next guest has spent a career trying to rewrite those rules. David Bonbright pioneered Constituent Voice—putting the people closest to a problem directly into the decisions of how to solve it. Now, through Keystone Accountability and DeepFathom, he is proposing something even more radical: shifting the social sector away from claimed outcomes and towards demonstrated capabilities. He even imagines a fictional city called "Humanville," where famous legacy institutions get passed over, and the small, hyper-trusted local groups finally get funded. We talk about the empirical mirror that changes behavior the moment people see their own data, why every honest measure eventually gets gamed, and a hard lesson David learned when he was declared persona non grata by the apartheid government in South Africa decades ago. It’s David Bonbright…

Most philanthropists want to do more good, faster, than they actually do. My next guest has spent twenty-five years inside that gap, watching enormous wealth sit still even as donors say they want it moving. Jeffrey Bradach co-founded The Bridgespan Group and recently wrote an essay called Slow Philanthropy, Why giving by the ultra-wealthy often lags behind their ambitions—and what could help move money faster. What he found were small frictions, quiet allergies to failure and waste, and a strange kind of self-deception running through the whole system. We talk about what a dollar sitting in a bank account actually costs the world, why the ten-year mark brings a reckoning for so many donors, and what MacKenzie Scott understands that almost no one else does. It’s Jeff Bradach of the Bridgespan Group on The Business of Giving.

Most mentoring programs ask for a year, maybe two, and rely on volunteers who come and go. My next guest built something almost radical by comparison: a paid, professional mentor for every child, for at least twelve years, no matter what. Terri Sorensen leads Friends of the Children, which selects some of the most vulnerable four- to six-year-olds in the country—kids facing foster care, homelessness, and deep poverty—and pairs each one with a mentor who stays for their entire childhood, tested now by a twenty-year randomized controlled trial. But ask her what actually makes it work, and she doesn't lead with the data. We talk about keeping that promise for over a decade, scaling from one city to nearly fifty, and the young man who just graduated law school with his Friend still by his side. It’s Terri Sorensen, CEO of Friends of the Children, on the Business of Giving.

Many companies that survive their first year have something working quietly in the background: an early check from a parent or a well-off friend. My guest today leads an organization for founders who never had that check.. Shawna Young is the CEO of Camelback Ventures, a New Orleans accelerator that puts fifty thousand dollars, and a community, behind early-stage founders whom traditional capital routinely overlooks. A chemist by training and a former science teacher, she thinks hard about who gets seen, who gets funded, and why the gap between the two is so wide. And sometimes, the best way to understand who gets overlooked is to look at who had the idea first. It’s Shawna Young, CEO of Camelback Ventures, on The Business of Giving.

There is a strange injustice sitting on pharmacy shelves. Some of the drugs there, already approved, already cheap, may hold real power against cancer. Not after another decade of trials. Now. The evidence often already exists. What doesn’t exist is anyone with a financial reason to bring it forward. My guest built her organization to close that gap. ⁠Dr. Laura Kleiman⁠ ran a data science center at Dana-Farber when her own mother was diagnosed with cancer there, and kept finding promising research on existing drugs that no company had any incentive to pursue. It’s ⁠Dr. Laura Kleiman⁠, Founder and CEO of ⁠Reboot Rx⁠, on The Business of Giving.

Every night the news shows us floods, fires, and wars that force people from their homes. Then the story moves on. But for the people who have been displaced, that is when another story begins: Where do they go, and how do they rebuild their lives? For nearly 50 years, Alight has been working on that question. And its CEO, Jocelyn Wyatt, believes the humanitarian system too often succeeds at keeping people alive without creating a path for them to move forward. Jocelyn came to humanitarian work through design rather than the traditional aid world, and that perspective has shaped how she leads. The people Alight serves aren’t beneficiaries waiting for help. They’re customers with skills, ambitions, families, and futures of their own. We talk about what happens after the emergency, why humanitarian aid can measure the wrong things, and what it really means to give power to the people closest to the problem. It’s Jocelyn Wyatt, CEO of Alight, on The Business of Giving.

We spend almost our entire lives indoors, and we rarely ask what all that time is doing to us. My guest has spent the past year building the case that the rooms we live and work in quietly shape our stress, our focus, even our brain activity, and that philanthropy has a rare chance to act on it. Ishita Das, a molecular biologist, is part of the Milken Institute’s science-philanthropy team, where she helps funders decide where their money can move science fastest. Her year-long investigation gave a scattered field a name: neurospatial design. We talk about the evidence that a room can change your body, why the field stayed invisible so long, and how a donor turns scattered work into something that lasts. It’s Ishita Das on The Business of Giving.

He never wanted to be an administrator. He wanted to be a therapist, and to work in a food pantry. Instead, J. Antonio Fernández has a job that no layman had held in more than a century. He leads Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York. Not one organization, but 82 of them, 9,000 employees, more than 400,000 people served a year. And he still turns up at the food distributions most weeks. Ask him what people get wrong about the work, and he doesn’t hesitate. We talk about the federal money that has disappeared, about being a landlord in a city debating rent freezes, and about the one thing he is certain no technology will ever replace. It’s J. Antonio Fernandez on The Business of Giving.

My guest today came to philanthropy through the lab bench, not the development office. ⁠Melissa Stevens⁠ trained as a biochemist, and for nearly two decades at the ⁠Milken Institute⁠ she has put a scientist’s question to an entire field: what does the evidence actually tell us about where a dollar of high-risk capital does the most good? As Executive Vice President for Strategic Philanthropy, she helps families and foundations give serious money away, and give it away well. And she is watching history arrive in real time. Eighty-four trillion dollars is changing hands, the largest transfer of wealth ever, and the generation receiving it has no intention of inheriting the old model of giving. We get into why big philanthropic dollars stall, and it is rarely for lack of money; the wealth conversation families keep dodging; the $47 trillion women are set to inherit by 2048; and the one belief about this field Melissa has thrown out for good.

A direct cash assistance program used to take months to launch. My guest today turned one on earlier this year in about four hours. The hard part of helping people was never writing the check. It was the system the check had to travel through, a system that for too many people was built to keep them out. Brittany Christenson is the CEO of AidKit, the infrastructure beneath some of the nation’s most effective aid programs. Here is how she describes the work.

When Sarah Bouchie became CEO of Helen Keller International, she led a listening process across the organization and sharpened how they told their story. That preparation proved critical. Within months, a third of the organization’s revenue disappeared. What followed: 300 layoffs, a refusal to close a single country office, and six months later, the Kristof Holiday Impact Prize that raised nearly $13 million. But the reason any of that matters comes down to what this organization actually does. For about a dollar a dose, twice a year, they can save a child’s life. That math hasn’t changed. But the funding landscape has. Here is my conversation with Sarah Bouchie, CEO of Helen Keller International.

Imagine a child, nine years old, who has never once held a pencil or opened a book. Not because she doesn’t want to learn, but because poverty or conflict or displacement slammed the schoolhouse door before she ever reached it. Across Africa, that is the reality for 80 million children. And once they fall behind, most education systems simply move on without them. My next guest refused to accept that. Caitlin Baron built something most education systems never bothered to create — a way back in. One intensive year in which children cover three years of learning and walk into a classroom with kids their own age. The evidence says it works. A new book, The Luminos Method, lays out exactly how. It’s Caitlin Baron on The Business of Giving.

Kyle Clifford took over as CEO of amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, on January 1st of this year. Founded in 1985 and championed by Elizabeth Taylor, amfAR has invested nearly a billion dollars in the fight against HIV and is now expanding its research into cancer, neurocognitive conditions, and immune dysfunction. What makes Kyle’s leadership unlike any in the organization’s history is that he is amfAR’s first CEO who is openly living with HIV. And as he shared with me, his path to leading this organization was anything but planned. It’s Kyle Clifford on The Business of Giving

What if the entire strategy for fixing how we produce meat has been wrong from the start? For fifty years, advocates have tried to convince people to eat less. Yet, consumption has broken a new global record every single year since 1961. Every. Single. Year. So Bruce Friedrich decided to stop fighting human nature and start working with it. Bruce is the founder of The Good Food Institute, a global science think tank, and the author of a new book called Meat: How the Next Agricultural Revolution Will Transform Humanity’s Favorite Food and Our Future. His argument is simple and a little mind-bending: the goal isn’t a world where people sacrifice. It’s a world where they can’t tell the difference. That’s the vision. And in the conversation that follows, Bruce explains exactly how close we actually are to making it real, why companies like Tyson are essential to getting there, and why he puts the odds at 95 percent, but only if one critical thing happens. It’s Bruce Friedrich on The Business of Giving.

Most organizations approaching their 100th anniversary would be looking back and celebrating past achievements. United Way of Rhode Island is doing the opposite. Under Cortney Nicolato’s leadership, they’re taking bigger swings than ever, from meeting a $100 million racial equity commitment ahead of schedule to becoming the go-to source of real-time community data for state policymakers. Cortney returned to her home state after building a national career because she wanted to help the communities that helped her growing up as a latchkey kid in Pawtucket. She transformed United Way from the inside first, rebuilding the board and staff to reflect Rhode Island’s diversity, before asking anyone else to change. And when others began backing away from equity commitments, her response was clear. This is a conversation about what it takes to be both an emergency responder and a long-term systems builder, about earning a seat at the policy table with data instead of survey results, and about building organizational…

From the person who co-founded the first nonprofit software company to tackle social problems at scale, Jim Fruchterman returns to share insights from his new book “𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱: 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗡𝗼𝗻𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝗨𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗼𝗳𝘁𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝘀.” In this conversation, Jim explains why boring plumbing saves more lives than sexy AI moonshots, and introduces the Better Deal for Data - a new framework launching in 2026 to prevent data colonialism in vulnerable communities. He also makes the case that the current tech recession presents the biggest opportunity in years to recruit disillusioned engineers into meaningful work, and shares his vision that by 2050, technology will finally deliver universal access to quality mental health services globally. It’s Jim Fruchterman on The Business of Giving.

Bob Chapman didn’t set out to write a leadership manual when he transformed Barry-Wehmiller from a traditional manufacturing company into what a world peace negotiator would call “the answer to world peace.” He simply started caring for his 12,000 team members the way he’d want his own children cared for if they worked somewhere else. Ten years after publishing “Everybody Matters,” Chapman has added 90 pages to the expanded anniversary edition, not because the original message changed, but because the evidence became overwhelming. Ninety-five percent of feedback from people learning Truly Human Leadership wasn’t about business metrics - it was about how the skills transformed their marriages, their relationships with their children, and their capacity to care for others at home. In this conversation, Chapman explains why listening without judgment is the greatest of all skills, how the Chapman Foundation has taught human skills to 20,000 people across hospitals, police departments, and school districts, and…

Scott Brighton returns to The Business of Giving to discuss Bonterra Que, the first truly agentic AI platform designed specifically for nonprofits. Unlike traditional chatbots, Que can actually perform complete jobs for nonprofit staff, from donor segmentation and campaign creation to grant writing. Through January 31st, Bonterra is offering Que at no cost to its customers during the critical year-end giving season. Scott shares how organizations are already seeing 20 to 40 percent lifts in fundraising results and why now is the time for nonprofits to experiment with this emerging technology.

Hala Hanna is the Executive Director of MIT Solve, a platform connecting social impact innovators with the resources they need to scale solutions that close gaps in equity, learning, health, and climate response. Over the past decade, MIT Solve has selected 600 innovators from around the world, collectively impacting 370 million lives. But what sets this work apart is how they do it. With a 94% five-year survival rate for their entrepreneurs compared to 70% at Y Combinator, they have cracked a code that traditional venture and philanthropy often miss. Hala brings a unique perspective shaped by her childhood in war-torn Lebanon, where she learned to hold joy and injustice in the same breath. In this conversation, she reveals why courage matters more than capital, how AI could either amplify inequality or bend toward justice, and what it takes to unlock the potential of entrepreneurs serving the last mile. It’s Hala Hannah on The Business of Giving.

When Ike Anand flew into Memphis in the summer of 2020—just one of four passengers on an otherwise empty plane, double-masked with a face shield—he was answering what he calls a calling he couldn’t ignore. After 15 years scaling Expedia’s global network in Seattle, Anand left the tech world to become the seventh CEO of ALSAC, the fundraising arm of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Now he’s leading the charge on a $12.9 billion strategic plan while reimagining what it means to be a tech-forward nonprofit in an age of viral content and AI-driven personalization. In this conversation, Anand reveals how speed, data, and culture are reshaping one of America’s most beloved charitable institutions. It’s Ike Anand on The Business of Giving.

Angela Williams has spent decades reading the signs that most of us miss—the hairline fractures in systems we’ve long taken for granted. As President and CEO of United Way Worldwide, she leads a network that touches 35 countries and receives 45,000 calls for help every single day. That vantage point has given her something rare: a real-time view of how chaos is reshaping the landscape leaders must navigate. In her new book, Navigating the Age of Chaos, co-authored with futurists Jamais Cascio and Bob Johansen, Williams introduces us to BANI—a framework for leaders trying to make sense of a world that refuses to follow the old rules. In this conversation, we explore why VUCA no longer serves us, how leaders can bend brittle systems instead of watching them break, and why the path through chaos requires attentiveness, flexibility, and intentional connection. It’s Angela Williams on The Business of Giving.

When Marika Anthony-Shaw was touring with Arcade Fire, the band started adding a single dollar to every concert ticket—sending the proceeds to Partners in Health’s work in Haiti. Night after night, that simple gesture grew from $3,000 to $10,000 per show. Over nine years, they contributed more than $2.5 million without asking anyone for money. The question became: Why isn’t everybody doing this? That question launched PLUS1, an organization that’s now embedded philanthropy into the architecture of live events. Today, Marika leads a movement that has raised over $32 million for more than a thousand nonprofits—not by disrupting the concert experience, but by making generosity a seamless part of it. As she puts it: Join us as Marika shares how PLUS1 is changing the way an entire industry thinks about giving—and how every dollar invested in their model unlocks $21 in grants to communities that need it most. It’s Marika Anthony-Shaw on The Business of Giving.

Plinio Ayala didn’t just leave the South Bronx of the 1970s and ‘80s—he returned to it with a blueprint for economic mobility that’s now reshaping workforce development across America. As President and CEO of Per Scholas, Plinio leads a tech training nonprofit that’s placed over 25,000 graduates into careers earning three times their previous income. But here’s what sets him apart: while most nonprofits shrink from rigorous evaluation, Plinio embraces randomized controlled trials. While foundation funding tightens, he’s building corporate investment as his primary growth engine. And while AI disrupts every sector, he’s racing to future-proof America’s workforce—one 15-week bootcamp at a time. Today, we explore how Per Scholas is creating more of those opportunities—and why Plinio won’t scale without data, won’t compromise performance for growth, and won’t accept that talent development is someone else’s problem—it’s ours to solve together.

Anne Filipic is the CEO of Share Our Strength and leads its No Kid Hungry campaign at a moment when childhood hunger in America has reached alarming new heights. With one in five children—nearly 14 million kids—now facing food insecurity, Anne brings both urgency and strategic clarity to a crisis that touches every community in the country. In this conversation, she reveals how recent policy rollbacks have reversed hard-won progress, why the cancellation of federal hunger data threatens our ability to learn and respond, and what it will take to make federal nutrition programs actually work for the families they’re designed to serve. Join us for a conversation about practical solutions, innovative partnerships, and the political will required to ensure no child in America goes hungry.

Welcome to The Business of Giving. I’m Denver Frederick. Right now, in fields across dozens of countries, there’s an invisible race happening. On one side: curious children wandering into what looks like empty farmland. On the other: teams of specialists working meter by painstaking meter to find what’s buried there first.Today we’re joined by Darren Cormack, CEO of the Mines Advisory Group—an organization born from witnessing the devastating aftermath of conflict in 1980s Afghanistan. MAG has since become a driving force behind the global movement to ban landmines, co-founding the International Campaign that earned the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize. With 80% of landmine casualties being civilians—nearly half of them children—Darren’s teams operate in some of the world’s most dangerous territories. Recently honored with the 2025 Hilton Humanitarian Prize, he brings hard-won insights about innovation, leadership, and what it takes to build hope in the shadow of war. Join us for this compelling conversation about…

Picture this: You’re selling your old phone on eBay when a single click offers you the chance to send wildfire relief to LA. No forms, no guilt trip, no second-guessing—just pure impulse-to-impact conversion. You might do it without thinking twice. If you did, congratulations—you just participated in the $4 billion revolution Nick Aldridge has been quietly building for 18 years. While the nonprofit world obsesses over donor retention rates and capital campaign thermometers, Aldridge placed a different bet: What if generosity could be so frictionless that people do it almost by accident? The gamble paid off spectacularly. PayPal Giving Fund has moved money to 227,000 charities by embedding charitable giving into the mundane moments of digital life—not by creating new donors, but by catching generous impulses before they evaporate. Nick reveals why the gap between wanting to help and actually helping isn’t about money or motivation—it’s about the three extra clicks nobody wants to make. Join us to explore how…

Edgar Sandoval arrived in the United States with just $50 in his pocket, unable to speak English, carrying only his American passport and an unshakeable determination. Today, he leads World Vision, one of the world’s largest humanitarian organizations, serving 100 countries and reaching millions of the most vulnerable children globally. From corporate boardrooms at Procter & Gamble—where he helped transform the meaning of “like a girl” from insult to compliment—to the remote villages of Kenya, Edgar’s journey reveals how divine calling can redirect a comfortable life toward extraordinary purpose. His leadership has revolutionized World Vision’s approach, flipping traditional sponsorship models and launching the organization’s most ambitious campaign yet: reaching 300 million people by 2030. In this conversation, Edgar shares how childhood memories of poverty, corporate innovation lessons, and unwavering faith converge to create massive humanitarian impact. It’s Edgar Sandoval on The Business of Giving.

What if the secret to changing the world isn’t buried in your bank account, but hidden in talents you’ve never fully recognized? Today we welcome John Studzinski—a financier who survived a near-fatal car crash that killed nine others, a philanthropist who’s discovered over 5,000 emerging artists, and author of the revolutionary new book A Talent for Giving: Creating a More Generous Society That Benefits Everyone. For six decades, John has shattered philanthropy’s elitist barriers with a radical truth: every person possesses world-changing abilities, regardless of wealth or status. As founder of the Genesis Foundation, he’s built a movement that rejects checkbook philanthropy for something far more powerful—authentic human connection and hidden talent unleashed. This conversation will revolutionize how you see giving—and yourself. It’s John Studzinski on The Business of Giving.

What started as a solo trek through Nepal’s earthquake-devastated Langtang Valley became a global movement connecting adventure with authentic impact. Today we’re joined by Candice Young, founder of Trek Relief, an organization that transforms travelers into changemakers through community-led projects across the world’s most remote regions. From installing solar panels in Peru to rebuilding schools in Nepal, Trek Relief has completed 28 trips across multiple countries, creating a unique model where participants don’t just witness need—they actively address it alongside local communities. What makes their approach different? Every project emerges from what communities actually request, not what outsiders assume they need. Join us as Candice shares how one moment of witness became a decade of purposeful travel that’s changing lives on both sides of the journey.

Few organizations have redefined what activism looks like in the 21st century more than Global Citizen—a movement that began with three high school friends in Australia and has now mobilized millions of people worldwide, leveraging over $49 billion in commitments that have impacted 1.3 billion lives. At the center of this extraordinary transformation is Hugh Evans, Co-Founder and CEO of Global Citizen. Hugh was inspired by Nelson Mandela’s revolutionary declaration that overcoming poverty “is not a gesture of charity, but it’s an act of justice.” From securing $250 million from Norway’s Prime Minister through a strategic Twitter invasion to pioneering the use of music festivals as diplomatic summits, Global Citizen has cracked the code on making world leaders accountable to the world’s most vulnerable. In today’s conversation, Hugh reveals how technology, focus, and relentless innovation are reshaping the fight against extreme poverty. It’s Hugh Evans on The Business of Giving.

Picture this: You’re sitting in an empty Red Cross blood donation center, knowing that premium streaming content worth millions go unused while nonprofits everywhere struggle to afford basic advertising. That lightbulb moment launched Kris Johns from adtech executive to nonprofit revolutionary, founding AdGood—a 501(c)(3) that’s rewriting the rules of television advertising for organizations changing the world. With partnerships spanning A+E Global Media to LG, AdGood has unlocked access to 1.5 billion monthly impressions across 1,000+ channels, offering nonprofits something unthinkable: premium Connected TV advertising at 70% off market rates. But here’s the kicker—their AI-powered platform can create broadcast-quality 30-second video ads in under four minutes, democratizing professional creative for organizations with $250 budgets. Today, discover why Kris believes this isn’t just about cheaper ads—it’s about fundamentally transforming nonprofit marketing. And now for my conversation with Kris Johns, the…

Picture this: A young lawyer with $3,500 from a church committee and an audacious dream to fix what seemed unfixable—the fact that when development projects failed in low-income communities, they left “a hole in the ground for the next 30 years.” That lawyer was Elyse Cherry, and today she’s the CEO of BlueHub Capital, having turned that modest start into a staggering $20 billion in community transformation across 42 states. But here’s what makes her story remarkable: she’s never forgotten that first lesson about standing “at the intersection of downtown and community.” You’ll hear how BlueHub’s game-changing SUN initiative has prevented nearly 1,250 foreclosures while injecting $67 million back into communities. It’s Elyse Cherry on The Business of Giving.

What happens when you realize your values guide only half a percent of your wealth while the other 99.5% operates by completely different principles? You become what Sharon Schneider calls an “Integrator.” As founder of Integrated Capital Strategies and author of “Handbook for an Integrated Life,” Sharon works with ultra-wealthy families who’ve grown tired of the schizophrenic dance between making money and doing good. Her journey began at Foundation Source, where she helped families perfect their charitable giving while watching their investment portfolios—often 20 times larger—fund the very industries their foundations were fighting against. Today’s hyperconnected world has made this contradiction impossible to ignore. When your phone shows you exactly who made your t-shirt and your coastal property insurance rates explode due to climate disasters, the old two-pocket system stops making sense. Today, she reveals how Integrators are rewriting the rules of wealth. It’s Sharon Schneider on the Business of…

Welcome to The Business of Giving. I’m Denver Frederick, and today we’re joined by Michele Jawando, President of the Omidyar Network. Michele’s journey has taken her from Capitol Hill to Google to one of philanthropy’s most forward-looking technology ventures, giving her a rare perspective as both builder and translator — connecting policymakers, industry leaders, and civil society. At a moment when AI is reshaping work, childhood, and connection itself, she’s leading an ambitious effort to “hardwire humanity into technology,” ensuring that dignity, fairness, and inclusion are embedded in our digital future. We’ll discuss AI companions and children, why 18-year-olds should help design the digital future, and how philanthropy can shift tech’s incentives toward human flourishing. It's Michele Jawando on The Business of Giving.

The nonprofit sector is hemorrhaging talent—10,000 full-time jobs vanished in the first 70 days of 2025. While many leaders wait for the storm to pass, Nancy Murphy, CEO of CSR Communications, has a blunt reality check: the storm isn’t passing. It’s the new weather. Nancy has spent her career helping nonprofits navigate disruption and developed the sector’s first objective measure of board change readiness. Her diagnosis is stark—leaders are clinging to outdated models while the ground shifts beneath their feet. For the past five years or so, we've been living in what a futurist calls the BANI world– brittle, anxious, non-linear, and incomprehensible. And we know that the pace and volume of change will never again be as slow or as small as it is today, if you can believe that. Today, discover why waiting for stability could be fatal—and what change-ready organizations do differently when crisis strikes.

Welcome to The Business of Giving. I’m Denver Frederick, and today we’re joined by Ryan Dewey Smith, founder and leader of Inperium, one of the most expansive nonprofit networks in the country. Operating across 20 states, Inperium has pioneered a revolutionary affiliation model that’s transforming how nonprofits achieve sustainability and scale. Ryan started Inperium nearly a decade ago when he recognized that traditional nonprofit structures were failing organizations serving our most vulnerable populations. Through innovative sole-member affiliations, tax-exempt municipal bond financing, and even nonprofit employee stock ownership programs, Inperium is rewriting the playbook for nonprofit collaboration. This is a conversation about the future of sustainability in the social sector.

What if the key to solving urban poverty isn’t creating new programs, but matching proven solutions with communities that need them most? Ali Knight, CEO of GreenLight Fund, joins us to discuss a revolutionary approach that’s quietly transformed cities across America for two decades. From his journey as a “latchkey kid” in New York City to leading a national organization that’s invested over $40 million in community solutions, Ali reveals how patience and discipline created lasting change. That ambitious vision is attracting mayors, nonprofit leaders, and funders nationwide who are hungry for solutions that actually work—and it’s reshaping how philanthropy approaches urban poverty one city at a time. It’s Ali Knight of the GreenLight Fund on The Business of Giving.

Welcome to The Business of Giving. Today, we’re examining America’s animal welfare crisis with someone who’s been fighting it for over a decade. Cathy Bissell founded the BISSELL Pet Foundation in 2011, evolving from local shelter fundraising into a national force. Their programs have found homes for 17,000 pets in a single event and performed over 120,000 spay and neuter procedures this year alone. But behind these numbers is a deeper crisis—rising costs and housing restrictions leaving shelters overcrowded and families heartbroken. Today, Cathy will share how systematic thinking can solve seemingly impossible problems—and why she believes the time to help animals is right now.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

What happens when you inherit billions to give away, but the weight of that responsibility threatens to define you more than your own dreams? And how do you honor a grandfather who was simultaneously the “father of fracking” and one of America’s most passionate environmentalists? Welcome to The Business of Giving. I’m your host, Denver Frederick. Today we examine next-generation philanthropy with Katherine Lorenz, Executive Director of the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation and co-founder of the Giving Pledge Next Gen initiative. Katherine’s family preserved decades of intimate conversations with her grandparents—a treasure trove of philanthropic wisdom. But her path wasn’t predetermined. Working with indigenous farming communities in the mountains of Oaxaca, she experienced a revelation that would reshape everything. This is a conversation about wrestling with paradox, building authentic peer networks, and discovering that sometimes the most powerful philanthropy comes from embracing life’s…

A child is drowning in a pond. You’re wearing an expensive suit. Do you jump in and save them? Of course you do. But philosopher Peter Singer asks the uncomfortable follow-up: If you’ll ruin a $300 suit to save that child, why won’t you donate that same $300 to save a child dying from malaria in Africa? Welcome to The Business of Giving. I’m Denver Frederick. Today we’re exploring one of the most challenging moral arguments of our time with Peter Singer, whose simple thought experiment has fundamentally changed how we think about our obligations to strangers. Singer’s philosophy forces us to confront an uncomfortable truth: if helping distant strangers is moral obligation, not charity, then most of us might be living fundamentally unethical lives. Peter reveals the Oxford moment that transformed him from graduate student to moral revolutionary, explains how effective altruism survived its biggest scandal, and shares why he believes thinking people can literally change the world. Get ready for a conversation…

Today we’re joined by David Coman-Hidy, who leads The Navigation Fund, a $100 million philanthropic organization tackling some of the world’s most pressing challenges. From his punk rock roots to running a major foundation, David brings a unique do-it-yourself mentality to philanthropy that’s shaking up how we think about creating change. David will share how The Navigation Fund is moving faster than traditional foundations, why they’re funding everything from AI consciousness research to youth justice reform, and what the future of philanthropy might look like when the next generation takes the reins. Let’s get started.

Today I’m thrilled to have Bertina Ceccarelli, CEO of NPower, joining us from their headquarters in Brooklyn, New York. What happens when you combine military-trained problem solvers with cutting-edge cybersecurity skills? Magic. Under Bertina’s leadership since 2016, NPower has scaled from $6 million to $35 million while achieving something remarkable: many of their veteran graduates are earning three to four times their military salaries within months of completing the program. But here’s what makes Bertina’s approach revolutionary - she sees barriers as badges of resilience. Today, we’ll discover how NPower is creating AI-resilient workforces, why their corporate partnerships go far beyond traditional funding, and what happens when you treat students as whole people rather than just future employees. This is a conversation about the future of economic mobility in America. So let’s get started.

What if the secret to fixing America’s democracy isn’t in Washington, but in neighborhood meetings and local organizing? Emma Bloomberg believes that’s exactly where our civic future lies. After seven years at Robin Hood Foundation, Emma saw a critical gap: while philanthropy addressed today’s crises, it couldn’t prevent tomorrow’s. The community organizations working to create systemic change were stuck with yellow legal pads, lacking the data tools they needed. So she founded Murmuration – named after flocks of starlings that move as one while staying individual. Her nonprofit provides cutting-edge civic engagement tools to grassroots organizations across the country, helping neighbors drive change at the block level. Today we’ll explore why Emma believes real systemic change happens between elections, how she’s reimagining philanthropy, and why local conversations might be our path through national polarization. This is democracy from the ground up. Stay with us.

Welcome to The Business of Giving! Today, we’re thrilled to have Dr. Russell James, a trailblazing professor at Texas Tech University, renowned for his groundbreaking work in charitable giving and planned giving. With a Ph.D. in consumer economics, experience as a tax attorney, and a passion for neuroimaging, Russell blends hard data with the art of storytelling to uncover what drives generosity. In this episode, we dive into how stories, not just numbers, ignite major gifts and how fundraisers can tap into donors’ life narratives to inspire impactful philanthropy. Stay tuned for a fascinating conversation that will reshape how you think about giving!

Most nonprofit boards treat technology as an operational afterthought—a cost center to manage rather than a strategic lever for mission achievement. But with AI reshaping everything, that approach isn’t just outdated, it could be existential. My guest today is Alethea Hannemann, Co-founder and CEO of Board.Dev. Working alongside Aaron Hurst, she’s helping nonprofit boards become more tech-fluent and values-aligned by placing senior technology leaders in governance roles and upleveling entire boards around strategic technology decision-making. In our conversation, we explore their Tech 28 framework for sparking the right conversations, how the pandemic exposed technology gaps that AI is now amplifying, and why technology choices are fundamentally about values—not just operations. Alethea also shares practical advice for nonprofit CEOs, tech executives, and funders on what each needs to do differently to build digitally fluent organizations.

When your consulting firm has guided nonprofits through a full century of giving, from the Great Depression to today’s AI revolution, you develop some hard earned wisdom about what actually works. My guest, Doug Stewart, is the CEO of Marts & Lundy, the legendary fundraising consultancy celebrating its 100th anniversary next year. And after working with everyone from Ivy League universities to community arts organizations, Doug has a provocative take that challenges how most nonprofits think about fundraising. That mindset shift, from treating fundraising as a side function to making it central to everything you do, is just the beginning of our conversation.We’ll dig into why Doug is telling clients to move forward with major campaigns despite unprecedented uncertainty. How the most successful nonprofits are sustaining momentum through eight year campaigns. Why he believes the middle of the donor pyramid holds untapped treasure. And his surprisingly skeptical view of AI taking over donor relationships. Plus,…

My guest today is a bold and passionate leader guiding one of the country’s most vital humanitarian organizations. Krish O’Mara Vignarajah is the President and CEO of Global Refuge, formerly known as Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. Under her leadership, the organization has scaled its operations dramatically while reshaping how we think about welcome, dignity, and the extraordinary resilience refugees bring to America. Today, we’ll explore how Krish is transforming the refugee resettlement model, what she sees ahead in the climate migration era, and how Global Refuge is defending the soul of America—one family at a time.