Latest / We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits / 275. Increasing Latinx Representation in Philanthropy + Making Good Famous - Carolina García Jayaram

Transcript

275. Increasing Latinx Representation in Philanthropy + Making Good Famous - Carolina García Jayaram · We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits

• 0:01
  Jonathan McCoy: Today's episode is sponsored by feather feather provides digital marketing tools and strategies for nonprofits of all shapes and sizes, including the Humane Society of North Central Florida. Stick around for the break to hear how feather power their $300 digital ad campaign that raised nearly$6,000 In just one day. Hey, I'm John.
• 0:20
  Unknown: And I'm Becky.
• 0:21
  Jonathan McCoy: And this is the we are for good podcast.
• 0:24
  Becky Endicott: Nonprofits are faced with more challenges to accomplish their missions and the growing pressure to do more, raise more and be more for the causes that improve our world.
• 0:33
  Jonathan McCoy: We're here to learn with you from some of the best in the industry, bringing the most innovative ideas, inspirational stories, all to create an impact uprising.
• 0:42
  Becky Endicott: So welcome to the good community, where Nonprofit Professionals, philanthropist world changers and rabid fans who are striving to bring a little more goodness into the world.
• 0:52
  Jonathan McCoy: So let's get started. Yo, Becky,
• 0:56
  Becky Endicott: Hey, John Manda, we have a powerhouse in at mom's kitchen table today that is
• 1:01
  Jonathan McCoy: all about making good famous, like, you know, this is our person, like we're so excited about this. Totally excited
• 1:07
  Becky Endicott: about it. And, you know, we're a community that really works to equalize. And we believe in making this world something that benefits everybody. And this is an area, we can all lean into the way that we can grab someone's hand pull them up to the table the way if we have our own privilege, how do we step back and make room for others and we have a powerhouse that is going to come into this conversation today. And we're going to be talking about how to increase Latinx representation and philanthropy but we're also going to be talking about the Elevate Prize Foundation. So it is my great joy to introduce Karolina Garcia Jayaram, who is the CEO of the Elevate Prize Foundation. And she's not just the CEO of the Elevate Prize Foundation. She has been CEO and President of so many nonprofit organizations. She's been at the National Arts, I'm sorry, the National Young Arts Foundation.
• 2:04
  Becky Endicott: She's been the president, CEO of the United States artist, and she was the executive director of the Chicago artists coalition where she was also a member of little known name, Mayor Rahm Emanuel's cultural advisory council. So as a daughter of an artist, I am just geeking out on her background. But the thing that we're going to talk to you about today is what's going on at the Elevate Prize Foundation.
• 2:27
  Becky Endicott: And this is a global, purpose driven nonprofit. And they're really serving to amplify social impact, and empower passionate problem solvers, leaders and innovators. Which, hello, that is all of us here in the we're for good community. And I think the thing that I noticed on their website that I love so much is that they really believe that most people want to make the world a better, safer, more nurturing place. We just need to find the inspiration to awaken the hero inside an act. We talk all the time. I know you guys are tired of hearing about it.
• 2:59
  Becky Endicott: But we're an action driven community. We never want the podcast to be a one way conversation between us and our guests. We want to take these principles and activate them out in our communities wherever they are in the world. And just a little bit more about Karolina.
• 3:15
  Becky Endicott: She has her JD from the University of Miami Law School where she is also an adjunct professor. She is of Cuban and Spanish descent and she lives in Miami Beach with her husband and two darling sons. Karolina welcome to the podcast. We are delighted you're here. Can you tell?
• 3:31
  Carolina García Jayaram: Yeah, I'm so happy to be here. And I feel very welcome. So thank you.
• 3:35
  Becky Endicott: Well, we really want to know about this winding path of yours. I mean, certainly there's an equality piece to it.
• 3:43
  Becky Endicott: I love the artists piece. Tell us where you grew up. And what kind of led you to where you are today.
• 3:47
  Carolina García Jayaram: It is a very winding path. It truly is.
• 3:50
  Carolina García Jayaram: And it started I was born in Spain to Cuban parents who were forced to leave Cuba when when Castro came into power. So we were part of a big expat community that was in Cuba in the 60s and 70s. And then my father and mother share the traits of so many immigrants who felt that at that time anyway, there was great opportunity in the US and the early 70s brought the huge waves of migration from all over the world. But in our case, it was to live in Prosper that American dream so we came to the US. Around that time, I was a small child. And we ended up growing up for the most part after a few moves in Central Florida and Orlando, which was a very unusual place for me to grow up having come from Europe, and there were very few Latins in Orlando at the time now it's a huge thriving Latino community, but it wasn't at the time. So that's, you know, where I spent most of my childhood and then left there and went on a very long journey living in different countries and cities for most of my young adulthood.
• 4:46
  Carolina García Jayaram: And like you said, forging a very winding winding but interesting path.
• 4:52
  Jonathan McCoy: Oh my gosh, we just love how our stories just kind of inform how we show up today and I know that just baked into how you lead now with the ELA Prize Foundation, which I mean, the more we learn about the work you're doing, it's just so fascinating and cool, and of this very moment. And so I wonder if you would kind of give us an overview if someone's new to this foundation kind of tell us about what's the DNA and what you're really trying to accomplish, and kind of catch us up on that.
• 5:16
  Carolina García Jayaram: Sure, I mean, our mission is to define and amplify the work of some of the world's most promising social impact leaders. And so by amplify, though, we mean something very specific and unique, and that we're bringing a much needed and potentially transformative visibility to the social impact leaders. And a key byproduct that we hope happens, as a consequence of that disability is that a global fan base will be formed that we're hoping to build, who is made up of individuals who are deeply and greatly inspired by the work of not just our winners, but social heroes all over the world, and inspired to do good, this idea of inspiration to action that you're talking about, and not just this kind of, you know, slacktivism, or armchair activism that we all know about, and hope to sort of evolve in this next iteration of social impact. And so that's really the mission of the organization is largely to, to give uniquely impactful support to these leaders, and then also use them in a way to inspire legions of others to do good themselves. And like Becky said, inspire the hero in all of us.
• 6:21
  Becky Endicott: I love that because it's there's such a ripple to that level of empowerment. And I think the thing that I see when I'm looking at your social channels, and I'm on your website, there is this concept of just seeing the little guy, which we love so much, seeing someone that maybe isn't getting as much attention because they don't have the resources behind them. They don't have the network behind them. But we understand and you see him value, that they have something uniquely interesting that is going to impact the world. And the fact that you wrap this prize around at elevate them with your network is just really aspirational. So I want to talk a little bit about elevate giving, because you have this wonderful partnership with our friends over at philanthropy together.
• 7:04
  Becky Endicott: We've had Kyson bumped along on the podcast before we actually just co hosted a panel with him a couple of weeks ago at the virtuous Summit. And I love the Elevate Prize Foundation is really leveraging giving circles to create a deeper impact. Can you share more about this program and the impact you've witnessed, because we are really geeked out about what is really a burgeoning growing part of philanthropy, in these giving circles that are happening in micro communities.
• 7:34
  Carolina García Jayaram: Sure.
• 7:34
  Carolina García Jayaram: And we're new to giving circles we've been experimenting quite a lot, you know, we're a young foundation. But our founder, Joe Deitch, and I, we love to try out new ideas that we're always iterating along with our team.
• 7:47
  Carolina García Jayaram: And we, you know, we know there needs to be this cultural shift.
• 7:50
  Carolina García Jayaram: This can't just be many times this echo chamber, we're all talking to ourselves in the sector. And a lot of this happens, you know, there's, there's so many reasons for that. But to get to know what turns inspiration to action, and how visibility can transform impact all the things that we're really doing very deeply in the work with the Elevate prize and those winners, we're also looking for ways to to invite those folks who are becoming these fans part of this fan base to start to take action. So we launched elevate giving last year to help demystify philanthropy through this very accessible model of giving circles, right, and this is part of a larger, you use this word earlier, which is one of our core values, which is empowerment and it's it goes to the heart of what our work is for our winners and for the communities that we're trying to engage right and activate. And so giving circles are this experiment that we launched last year with philanthropy together who we love so much. And I don't know if you know that Sarah just did a TED Talk. She's in this year, as we saw, we got to see a lot it amazing, you have to listen to it. She's she's just such a gifted, amazing person, but, you know, really doesn't embody our core value of empowerment. And we were launched and we launched the Elevate prize in March of 2020.
• 9:00
  Carolina García Jayaram: So it was a very interesting time to launch anything as you can imagine, but especially a global impact prize, that was seeking to use ideas like fame and visibility for social good for good, you know, for humanitarian good. And at that time, suddenly with COVID, and Black Lives Matter. And me too, it seems like that very much accelerated our theory of change and and this hunger that people are ready to step up right and use their voice like never before. And after that point of critical mass around these issues. We were also seeing how funders and corporations and media and entertainment have followed suit, right with their investments in their communication. So all of this was telling us that this idea this was the time this was the right time to experiment around democratizing philanthropy and giving people have real access and ways to engage and, and turning the tables on power, you know, and who really had who really had the power and should, like you said, shining a light on those individuals on the ground. who have the real authority and the lived experience to make these decisions. And I think, you know, we've learned so much in a short time, we've done two rounds of giving circles so far.
• 10:10
  Carolina García Jayaram: And we've learned, you know that there's just really a great opportunity to connect people, obviously, who otherwise wouldn't cross paths and give them space to learn and create impact together. And not only are they connecting in normal giving circles in real life, but ours because they're virtual, they're connecting across continents and countries and discovering these really small but powerful organizations they would never have learned about and investing in those leaders that they could have never found on their own. So there's so many huge benefits that come out of giving circles, but we found there a really effective way to deploy resources for these emergent community needs. Will we always do them? I'm not sure they're definitely part of our fabric in some way. But I think we've learned there's elements of it that that we love, and that, you know, we're getting a lot of great feedback about.
• 11:31
  Jonathan McCoy: Well, to me, the the kind of connected pieces between, it's just so beautiful, because we talk a lot about like trying to shift the lens on nonprofit, it's always kind of pigeon holed as scarcity mindset and not leaning into of the moment. And some of that's reserved for the for profit world that y'all are. I mean, you said this, you're using fame to power some of this, you know, I love that you're stepping into this, but also leading people into better deeper conversations. And to me, that's what giving circles does. I mean, when How often can you sit around and talk about values and talk about impact talk about what's happening in the world.
• 12:06
  Jonathan McCoy: And so I just think that you're a conversation starter, like it just comes naturally out of what you're doing. What have you learned about that? Like, what is it learn? Have you learned in? How do you take this amplification? And what does that do for these missions that come through and get the prize?
• 12:21
  Jonathan McCoy: Or just get connected with y'all? What is the power of that?
• 12:24
  Carolina García Jayaram: Well, there's two parts to that the first part that you're asking about, like with the folks who are engaging and what gets them to engage. Now we know this is the reason why elevate giving is an experiment even that even a 90 minute pop up giving circle call. It's a lot in this day and age, we're living through a time where people are just so fatigued, you know, they want to give they want to but the another participant thing to participate in another thing to donate to, we only have so much energy, right and resources in a day. But what we want to say is this is energizing, we're aiming to create content that fuels people, right, that gets them to see these leaders as solutions.
• 12:59
  Carolina García Jayaram: So that in fact, they're not draining, but they're energizing and invigorating. So what are those pathways to getting people on that path? What is that low lift that you can do? There's nothing I mean, you opened the segment about storytelling, there's nothing more energizing than learning the stories and solutions that these people are coming across in their worlds, but then taking that to the next level and getting access to an opportunity to be a part of it.
• 13:25
  Carolina García Jayaram: Right. That's what is exciting to us, because we see this need for this cultural shift that, like I said earlier with, whether BLM or me too, or what have you has already begun in the mainstream, but that our sector, whether its impact or nonprofit, has not fully aligned with or could align with far more completely. And we want to challenge this idea that impact work from these leaders can't themselves be mainstreamed.
• 13:49
  Carolina García Jayaram: Because if they can be think about the potential for not only supporting them and the organizations through the visibility that we spoke about earlier. But also, because of the many more people the legions of people that might materialize because of their proximity to that modeling, right? That that those people represent, whoa, you don't, can't be it without seeing it, right. Like that's it. And so you have to have that representation. We know that from so many sectors and models, how important that representation feels. And part of the reason I think my path was so circuitous and so lost at many times, to be perfectly honest, in my life is because there wasn't a lot of that modeling done for me. And I'm sure you know, most people of my generation. So that's where I think, you know, it's so important and there's so much opportunity with programs like elevate giving, but the more we learn about our audience and what they want to do and how they want to engage, the more resources we can design for them.
• 14:44
  Becky Endicott: Okay, you guys are so smart. And the way that you are leveraging the cars, the representation, the giving circle, the storytelling community, I just think baking it all together is such a secret sauce because one can't live without the other they have got to be completely intertwined.
• 15:07
  Becky Endicott: And I I just think giving circles are so interesting and unique because as we're watching just this digital explosion of social interaction, and we're watching Social Justice, we're watching stop Asian hate. We're watching me to all these things that you've talked about. We're curious about, you know, why do you believe the things that you do? And why do you fight for the things that you do and when you get in a giving circle with people People who are aligned with your values, who believe in the same things, I think it becomes such an accelerant for your momentum because you find like minded friends who are willing to pour what you just said, time, resources, and I would say precious time and precious resources into something that really lights a fire in them. And storytelling is such a way to do that. And I just want to uplift what you said about seeing this cultural shift that needs to happen, because there is really no path to equality, until we really embrace that. And I, I want to pivot a little into that as we talk about our Latino friends.
• 16:12
  Becky Endicott: And and and before I ask this question, I just want to set some tone for our audience. You know, we talked to Ana Marie, our Galapagos, a couple seasons, seasons ago, and she's the CEO of Hispanics, and philanthropy.
• 16:27
  Becky Endicott: And she just threw down some shocking stats that really had been haunting us for a while, and you've included them here.
• 16:33
  Becky Endicott: And I want to I want to share them with our community. Latinos hold just 1% of foundations and nonprofit CEO CEO positions, and under 10% of program officer positions, yet they represent 20% of the US population. And they're the fastest growing population in our country. And so we really need to be looking at ways we can bring voices, those lived experiences that expertise, because there is massive expertise in. So I want you to talk a little bit about why Latinx representation matters. Why do we need to increase it in philanthropy? And why is this an issue for every single person that's listening right now?
• 17:14
  Carolina García Jayaram: Well, that correlation between that 1% of us philanthropic dollars going to Latin X organizations, and then the one whatever point something percent of leadership and foundations being Latinx. I mean, that correlation is everything, right. And I mean, that tells the story in and of itself. And to have that representation at the top takes a generation and probably more of investment and intentional planning, you know, from education, to mentorship, to pathways to higher education and learning to you know, paid internships, not free internships, you know, things that really do open doors for folks who may not have traditionally the access that some people with greater privilege do. And I have great privilege within the latin community, because I'm a white skinned Latina, but I'm a Latina. So I'm also you know, living to edges of that, with both my culture and my gender, that there, I've experienced, you know, many moments of life of being of being misunderstood or put in a box or, you know, somehow shortchanged in that way. But the more important story here is, what my representation means, along with any other Latino leader is that with that lived experience, we can help drive decisions toward communities of people who we have greater understanding of the same way that my friends in the LGBTQ community would have for the community that they represent. It doesn't mean I can't be part of that community of giving. But I need folks from that community to teach me how to do that with the greatest impact and authenticity and authority. Right. So it's, it's a huge opportunity for the United States right now, this is this population has grown so fast. I mean, just in my generation, this has happened.
• 18:54
  Carolina García Jayaram: So it's no wonder that we're catching up. And we're learning as we go. And it's a big learning curve. But if you think about the brands, you know, just if you think about the nearly $2 trillion of consumer purchasing power, that the Latino community now represents the United States, and the brands who are benefiting from that $2 trillion, that's not then translating to even those corporate foundations, giving practices, and it should be. So we need to connect some of these dots in the in the media, the way we tell these stories to say, we already have this power, we just haven't taken action on it. It's not like we're out there asking for it. We can demand it, you know, we can demand this of our brands and of our foundations. But I think as importantly as that is that these Latinos come from countries, as most foreigners do, we're philanthropies very different foundations are different. The state is set up differently to fund certain programs in a community. So there's also a lot of education that has to happen within the Latino community. And I speak of this, you know, coming from Miami, which has just been named the most diverse city in the world and with respect to percentage of foreign born residents, above even Toronto, which is, you know, so, so diverse and, and that opportunity now to speak to Latinos who are here just like elevate giving, who can give $10 Or can give $10 million, you know, you have the whole you have the whole range of Athena was living in this country, you know, so philanthropy is something we have to be discussing within our own community, and how we start stepping into roles of leadership and also giving you know, our own philanthropic dollars to drive the way it's Protecting our community.
• 20:37
  Jonathan McCoy: Hey, friends, this episode is presented by virtuous and they just happened to be one of our favorite companies. Let me tell you why.
• 20:41
  Jonathan McCoy: You know, we believe everyone matters. And we've witnessed the greatest philanthropic movements happen when you see and activate donors at every level. And here's the thing, virtuous created a fundraising platform to help you do just that. It's much more than a nonprofit CRM.
• 20:57
  Jonathan McCoy: Virtuous is committed to helping charities reimagine generosity through responsive fundraising, which is simply putting the donor at the center of fundraising, growing giving through personalized donor journeys, and by helping you respond to the needs of every individual. We love it because this approach builds trust and loyalty through personalized engagement. Sound like virtuous, maybe a fit for your organization? Learn more today and virtuous.org or follow the link in our show notes.
• 21:26
  Becky Endicott: Hey, friends, are you ready to take your digital engagement to the next level, but kind of feel stuck about where to start? Let us introduce you to feather feathers, an amazing tech startup focused on making nonprofit outreach more impactful by connecting you to your audience wherever they are online, from fundraising to program awareness, they've got you covered. And rather than telling you we just wanted to show you for years, the Humane Society of North Central Florida has participated in a local online giving day called the amazing give. It's a competitive landscape for donations. So in 2021, the Humane Society knew they needed to stand out in order to maximize donations for$300 in ad spend their retargeting ads brought 119 visitors to their amazing give donation page and generated nearly $6,000 in donations in just one day. With feather a small amount of ad spend can go a long way, learn more about their solutions for nonprofits@feathered.co. That's feather without the last e.co.
• 22:21
  Becky Endicott: Now let's get back to this amazing conversation.
• 22:29
  Jonathan McCoy: Yeah, I mean, thank you for that. Because I think we have a lot of nonprofit leaders on this, that listen to the community here and plug in here. And I just think we have to start with the base understanding that we all can be part of the solution, no matter what seat we're at, you know, and I just think of the young professionals, there's just such movement, you know, during the Great resignation, and all these kinds of things happening, that people are moving into the sector? How can we really champion for young Hispanic nonprofit leaders that are coming in that are feeling excluded? What are some direct things that you would advise, you know, how can we get involved and amplify, I love that you use the word amplify so much and empower from whatever seat we're at, I would just love some more practical guidance.
• 23:13
  Carolina García Jayaram: It's a good question. I mean, my own experience has been through, you know, being part of associations and part of, of groups, you know, that I align with and who and that matter to me. And if I don't see enough Latino representation, they're starting to involve more Latino representation there. This was true in the arts, you know, I spent 20 years of my career in the art world, and there was not enough Latino representation in major museums and collections.
• 23:40
  Carolina García Jayaram: And I've worked a lot, you know, for example, with the Ford Foundation for many years, with different organizations that I've represented. And when I was with the United States, artists, a great and one of the greatest living American artists that I see the Fernandez was, gave me the opportunity to be part of a Latinx symposium that the Ford Foundation put together, and really helped move the needle on how we were talking about that next culture and artists and empowering them, and they needed to be part of cannon collections. And, you know, we had so much to learn from other groups who were doing this really well within the art world, and but you know, it's really standing up and aligning ourselves with the leaders of those communities, I find, it's much easier, especially when you're young, to reach out to leaders in these communities, they're far more accessible than we think they are get on LinkedIn and direct message to them get on Instagram and direct message them, you'd be shocked with how many people want to be part of this conversation and want to lift up the voices of other people. And nowadays, with the incredible democratization of content, you know, that I can make a movie on the phone that I'm holding in my hand, means that we can self publish our own blogs, we can, we can, you know, start our own podcasts like these things are all possible today. And this content driven economy, this individualized, kind of gig economy, all of these these things are, are I think, complementary to each other and giving folks like Latinos a voice that they've never had before. So I just want to always be that and if your listeners out there think that they have, that there's a way for me to help them in that way.
• 25:10
  Carolina García Jayaram: I'm always out there to do that, because I know there there aren't enough of us Latinos in, you know, positions of running foundations at this point in this country, but hopefully, very soon, there will be more and that goes to the I think the core of what we're doing with the prize too, you know, is saying for each of our leaders, what is the way that by bringing them visibility? They are then lifting up the voices of the folks They represent who are almost always typically underserved with the solutions that they've come up with. So it's, you know, these things all kind of mirror each other, we're not inventing a new pathway and way to do this, but, you know, Latinos, it's, it's a great age in this country to be, but at the same time, there's so much diversity within the Latino community. And that also needs to be understood. You know, if you're coming from Central America, it's very different than, you know, other parts of the Caribbean might be different from you know, these countries are very unique and different in and of themselves as well.
• 26:05
  Becky Endicott: You know, this is a space where we need to lift. And that's what I think is so powerful about what you're doing, not only at Elevate prize, but it just feels like this has been a legacy of yours throughout your career. And I want to thank you for it. And so just for a little bit of practicality, for our listeners, who in this space, is really shining and rising in the field, who we really believe one of our biggest trends for 2022 is we think leaders as thought leaders emerging as a really big trend, who are some of the thought leaders who could impart this knowledge that we could follow whether it's on social media, or we could get on their blogs, who would you recommend for people to go check out?
• 26:47
  Carolina García Jayaram: Well, earlier, you mentioned the hashtag stop Asian hate, and that was partially developed. I think she authored it, but I don't want to misspeak, but I think she authored it. One of our winners, Amanda Wynn, who won in our first year, is just an incredible leader, you know, and founded an organization called rise. And one of the important things if I can speak a little bit about our elevate prize, because it is just, I think it's designed for that, you know, to lift these voices.
• 27:12
  Carolina García Jayaram: And in that case, in that prize, we spend a great deal of the two years that they're with us developing their their voice and giving them really unprecedented and unmatched support around things like communications, and social media and branding, and website marketing. All of these areas that your listeners will know are not places that are easily and usually funded in the foundation world, the nonprofit space. And we're really like the scarcity mindset is very much there, because you just don't have those tools to do that. So Amanda had just gone through our social media boot camp had learned all these really incredible tricks and trade, she already had a strong social media following, but largely because of the training she just gone through, it happened to coincide with the timing of all of this horrible hatred and violence that was being experienced against Asians that are in our country. And she made this video of herself that went completely viral on Instagram, Instagram themselves, posted it to their 400 million followers, she was everywhere. And she I think, for the first time used the hashtag stop Asian hate and what she said, you know, she learned that from what she learned from us, so these are people who we can look to and follow because they're claiming that space, you know, they're they're saying that my lived experience, my story is an inspiration to everyone. And it's not perfect, I don't have all the answers, but I'm out there to show you that in with that vulnerability, we can create, like you said, all hands together, I mean, truly, we are multitudes, right, like nobody is just in that LGBTQ, there might be other Latino, they might also be a woman, they might also have disability, they might also, you know, most of us are entering these these worlds with these multitudes of backgrounds and experiences. And we have to honor that and know that just like you said, Becky, that representation, truly what that means is open dialogue and communication and getting to know each other. So if we're doing our job of shining a light and giving greater visibility to these leaders who are so brave, and coming from the real, true lived experience of the issues that they're representing, then that will then connect with that many more people who feel empowered to do the same, because they understand them.
• 29:24
  Carolina García Jayaram: And just because, you know, you might be from Oklahoma, and you may not have had those the kind of experiences, having that visibility allows you on this very humanistic level to learn that and then represent those people, even if they're not your lived experience.
• 29:41
  Jonathan McCoy: Thank you for circling back and closing the loop on that, because I think that there's just so much that's applicable here. And I mean, y'all have this incredible platform that you have just launched people and equip them and surrounded them and resources. But I think all of us, you know, I think if Tammy Tibbets, she's the first co founder came on the podcast, and she was like, all of this can get active today by putting a link in our profile to the charity that we want to lift, you know, it's like we all can amplify in our own way, and it's going to take that, but okay, the threads of you equipping and giving kind of blueprints to people and walking alongside them, to me is so powerful. We believe strongly in the power of professional development here and pouring into leaders. So I just wanted to kick it to you and talk about, you know, about investing in people and what does that look like to you? What does it mean to you?
• 30:27
  Carolina García Jayaram: I love that question. I've been on both sides of this coin my whole career. You know, I've been both on the know nonprofit writing the grants asking for the money running, the galas, all that stuff. And then I've been on the other side of being of making the decisions of where that funding is going. And even in the middle with things like working for the mayor, and designing, you know, city programs. So it's been a wonderful ride and seeing that full picture. And the through line of all of that has been coming to a place where and now it's called trust based philanthropy, where find it's all about identifying and finding those great leaders, and then largely getting out of their way, right and listening to them. These are a lot of these themes that we're picking up in this conversation, deep listening to them, letting them lead the way we brought in this amazing group called intention to impact to I will gladly plug on the show, because they're so incredible. And they're a young team to women, and they do, you know, measurement and evaluation work. And unlike a lot of my colleagues in the field, we are taking from the very beginning, our lead our leaders, our winners lead in telling us what impact leads to them, what is success, what should we be measuring, what should we be looking at, and that's trust based philanthropy, you know, each of our winners gets$300,000 unrestricted 50,000 of that goes to the individual leader, which I find to be critical, because so many of these leaders are so under resourced and starving themselves, you know, sacrificing to give to the greater good and they that is a direct leader, you know, leader to why there's so much burnout and turnover and leadership in nonprofits. So we really believe in this and that our solution is this expert designed framework that we have for identifying, selecting, and then supporting them. And especially those on the brink leaders, who we believe are people that are going to be remembered by many people for generations to come.
• 32:17
  Carolina García Jayaram: And just, I'm so humbled by the caliber of these winners, now we're up to 20, and five fellows as well, and that amazing life saving and world transforming solutions that they represent.
• 32:29
  Carolina García Jayaram: But I wouldn't be able to truly support them fully if I didn't trust them and really learn from them how to support them, because Dixon, who's with friendship bench in Zimbabwe may have a very different set of needs than Benissa with breeze of hope, and Bolivia. And I can't just use one set of metrics. I mean, this sounds so obvious, but this is how it's always worked right and right, for so long, even though nonprofits have provided this incredibly rich soil within which to plan all these experimental ideas, and, and all this kind of thing and tackling all these huge issues in the world, they're given so little, you know, with which to actually experiment. And so giving them the money, they need to use it the way that they need, is so key, and then adding to that, you know, being able to shine this much needed and deserved light onto them, which we can give them this really unique asset, which is visibility. So you know, these things that we that we're giving them around social media communications, you know, they don't get it anywhere. And you know, this, because of, you know, the way that it's set up that it's considered overhead, and there's so little that they can use for overhead. But I mean, this is the key, we believe the key to so much. I mean, imagine a new brand launching here anywhere in the world without social media, branding, and PR. Like, you can't even imagine lipstick without overhead, it's overhead, it's overhead. So, you know, we just believe, you know, if we can unlock something huge there.
• 33:57
  Carolina García Jayaram: But we also see, you know, we're a key, we're puzzle piece to a much larger puzzle, that's not the silver bullet, but we think that's a wide open space of potential that just hasn't been really tapped. So you know, that trust based philanthropy that putting a lot investing a lot in finding the best leaders we can find, and who are ready for this stage who are ready for that visibility, who want that.
• 34:20
  Carolina García Jayaram: Because as you can imagine, there's also kind of a psychological leap to this for a lot of leaders and nonprofits who were not really trained to be out in front and in the light and feel maybe they shouldn't be, but who truly are the greatest ambassadors for what they're doing. You know, so I think with these tools, we'll see so many incredible things coming out in the years to come.
• 34:41
  Carolina García Jayaram: We've just got, we're just getting started really,
• 34:44
  Jonathan McCoy: holy heck, okay, everything that you've just said, Gosh, so much alignment, and so much after spending 20 years inside the walls, feeling those restrictions, filling that straitjacket of spending and how you move and how you don't move.
• 35:00
  Jonathan McCoy: This is transformational. I mean, this whole concept of trust based philanthropy, it's scary that we've had to go through so much to get to this place, but thank you for championing it. Thank you for giving it a megaphone. Because we've got to move there. And I think you talking about it, starting with the people trust on that level is kind of everything you know, and so, what is centering part of your conversation? I want to give you a chance. I mean, you've bragged on some of your winners, like how can people get involved in this prize? How can you you know, get in connection with this mission because it's just so beautiful. What you're offering
• 35:34
  Carolina García Jayaram: Well, thank you. I mean, our Nominations are open right now for our third round of the prize. We've changed it a little bit up this year that we have, we're developing these pipeline partnerships with about a dozen other wonderful fellowship programs like Ashoka and school and Obama Foundation, and Dr. K and others who are feeding us their alumni. Because we know a lot of people have done this work for us, they have found incredible people, but we know 99% of those people still don't have this particular set of resources and tools that we're giving them. Plus we give them you know, advice and advisement and guidance from Bridgespan.
• 36:11
  Carolina García Jayaram: But most importantly, and more money, you know, they can never get enough money. So that pipeline partnership is really key. But listeners of yours, I'm sure many of them would make incredible nominators, for us, it's very easy. If you go to our website, elevate prize.org, they can find the nominations page there. And I think that should be up for a little while longer.
• 36:29
  Carolina García Jayaram: But applications are open through the summer, I think through the middle of the summer, June or July. And then of course, you can sign up for our newsletter or follow us on social, we have really exciting I mean, elevate giving is a wonderful program, I have a lot of heart for it. But like I said, it's it's the beginning of a lot more that we're going to be offering. And there's going to be a really cool sort of crowdsourcing prize that we're going to be launching soon to Twitter, which is really cool, which is like basically giving little pots of money, but all the time really fast given by people who are following us on Twitter. And again, it's just like this experiment to see what gets people going that are low lifts, but highly impactful and energizing. And, you know, really get people to start playing along with us because we're having a lot of fun. And we just want a lot more people to get part of it.
• 37:15
  Becky Endicott: Make good, famous, that's
• 37:18
  Carolina García Jayaram: right, make good famous, why not?
• 37:20
  Becky Endicott: I am so geeked out about this, I have so much to say about this. I can't because we are a shorter podcast. But I just want to thank you for a couple of things. One, for bringing up the overhead myth. We literally just had an incredibly long Friday conversation and talking about why the overhead myth is so harmful, not only to our missions, to innovation, to scaling, but they are deeply harmful to the nonprofit professional for their ability to make a livable wage, to have balance in their work. Thank you for that. I also want to thank you for giving $50,000 to the nonprofit leader I have never heard that. And I would bet that some of those winners are probably hesitant or even resistant to grab it and take it because of how hardwired we've been in the scarcity model. And I just have to bring it full circle back to what you were saying here because when we had Ana Maria on, she was talking about hips, MacKenzie Scott gift, and she was saying they were having record number of gifts coming in that year. But all of these gifts were restricted. And they were literally having trouble paying the bills, keeping the lights on paying salaries before McKinsey, Scott comes in with this trust based philanthropy and you know the process that she's undergoing to understand what is the cultural makeup, how healthy is the culture, she's looking at the leaders, she's looking at the base level of support of staff and how they're empowered in that is trust based philanthropy and she gives an unrestricted gift that allowed him to scale and Run quickly.
• 39:00
  Becky Endicott: This is what you all are doing Karolina that I cannot put enough. Arsenio Hall hospice pumps, emojis, whatever it is on it, because we need more people thinking like this, we need more people empowering the people who are the creative geniuses with the answers to solve these huge systemic issues when they need empowerment, and they need to feel like they can run. So I am all about making good famous. I mean, you've had the Clooneys have won the award. Can we talk about this in these are amazing humans. So keep going. Thank you for all of this. I have to transition to story because we've talked about this a little bit and you have got to have an incredible story of philanthropy that has stayed with you. Do you have one that you'd be willing to share with our community?
• 39:53
  Carolina García Jayaram: Yes.
• 39:53
  Carolina García Jayaram: You know, in this question, I love this question. I'm going to start asking this question. I think it's a great one. But it has to be for me, meeting and working with Mother Teresa in India. I was there living for a year around India in the mid 90s. And I got to spend a few weeks volunteering for her. In her in Calcutta. She has sort of a set of mission places that she has in Calcutta set up there.
• 40:19
  Carolina García Jayaram: And one of my growth principles has always been deep observation of others. And during those weeks of working in our house where I was working and volunteering was a place called the House of the dying so you can imagine it was a pretty heavy and intense place. Be, but it's there and seeing her operation that I really believe I made my lifelong commitment to service. You know, I had never seen an operation like that it was so well oiled everything that all of her volunteers that came in from all over the world were doing and the nuns that worked for her. But it wasn't just even the operational side of that, and how many lives were being affected with so few resources, but that energy of love and hope that just pervaded everything, and all of the work that was there. And I saw, really, and felt that critical importance of maintaining the spiritual and the practical, right together, in order to reach that level of support, that level of support that you have people from all over the world coming to be a part of that was because of that balance of those things. And I don't think I knew that then I was only 20 years old. But after many, many years of walking this path, and I think finding Joe Daiichi I think was, you know, a such an important part of this path and his vision along with my experience. That's that moment, you know, I can draw it back to moments like that where you know, really was these ideas of enlightenment and the greater good that we can all serve, married with really practical strategies to do that. So I think meeting her obviously was a great a great gift of my life.
• 41:53
  Jonathan McCoy: And what a beautiful picture of Mother Teresa as this person who made good famous in the most humble way, you know, I mean, in her own storagee,
• 42:02
  Unknown: she's totally
• 42:07
  Jonathan McCoy: Oh, my gosh, okay, don't mind me ask this question. Because at this point, we're starting to wind down and we love to, you know, give you a chance to reflect back on one good thing and and you just gave us a one good thing, but what is it a mantra? What's a life hack?
• 42:19
  Jonathan McCoy: What's a principle that you hold deep, you'd want to share with our community today?
• 42:24
  Carolina García Jayaram: I would say for me, it's an abundance mindset, you know, I've come to find that this is that idea of abundance. And so when it really came up a lot in this conversation with scarcity, that it's almost a revolutionary act, you know, to have an abundance mindset in this in this work that we do. That identity of scarcity runs so deep right? In the people that we work with, but I feel that it's led to such that self concept has led to so much burnout and fear of risk and taking the big bets and going for it in this sector in a way that I'm really excited about. And I think that my my maintaining and staying centered, and that idea of abundance fuels me, you know, so I maintain that too, you know, so that I can think about what I need to appreciate what I appreciate, appreciates that idea, you know, that that that keeps going and throwing and focusing my energy on that and that we can all collaborate, I will come from this mindset forever of abundance, because I ran much smaller and scrappy organizations for a long time where I had to collaborate to survive. And now that you know, because, you know, we have a lot, a lot greater resources, because of Joe, in his incredible generosity, I still have that abundance mindset that it's all there, all of the elements and resources needed in the world are there you know, we just have to claim them and make them ours for the right reasons and drive them toward the right goals that we want for the good of all people. So it starts with that idea for me of abundance that it's already there. I don't have to fight. It's already there for us.
• 43:59
  Becky Endicott: What I appreciate appreciates. I mean, that is a beautiful quote. And I just have to piggyback onto that, because we believe so much in abundance mindset. And I will say something that's been really helpful for our little team of three is get an accountability, buddy. On your abundance mindset. I mean, we frequently ask each other, check me real quick, I have a feeling about this. Is this my limiting belief? Or am I moving from a place of scarcity when we want to try something out as a new company before we post something, maybe that's brave or bold for us. And it when you have value aligned people around you who believe in the same things that are fighting for you, they're going to help you shatter through that and give you again back to that empowerment to feel like you can live abundantly and I have to tell you as someone who's live scarcity, I never want to go back ever because over here it feels so much better. I feel like I'm living more vibrantly and I have people around me that are constantly again community uplifting, so find your people live in abundance beautiful one good thing. Okay Karolina How can we connect with you? I know everyone is gonna want to come check out your socials. I want them to come find your team.
• 45:18
  Becky Endicott: Thank you for talking about Joe and I've even looked at your team. You have an incredible team, the Elevate prize I mean just incredible humans. Tell everybody how they can connect with you and with Elevate,
• 45:31
  Carolina García Jayaram: elevate prices we can you can find us Everywhere on social so Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and LinkedIn you can find me personally on those on those spaces too. And as Karolina Garcia jrM and yes, our team was incredible so you should be following them to their their amazing content creators, we have a lot more coming. We've just brought on our new chief marketing officer who has a long experience in impact entertainment. So we're really excited about the kind of content we're going to start putting out in the next year about our winners and other social heroes from documentaries to you know, TV shows all kinds of things. So for sure, keep following us. You'll be able to find us in a lot of places.
• 46:10
  Carolina García Jayaram: We're very excited and working with the Clooneys and another catalyst winners, you know, big things, we're gonna definitely be bringing our winners and putting them at the center center of the universe for sure where they belong.
• 46:23
  Jonathan McCoy: Okay, cup filled, heart filled. This has been amazing. I'm just grateful for your time and the work that you're just pouring in. It is just vibrant, radiating from you. So thank you so much. I
• 46:33
  Carolina García Jayaram: feel the same way. Even filled my cup today. rootin for you. Thank you so much Becky and John