Cause & Purpose – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode of Cause & Purpose, we sit down with the CEO of Native Forward, Angelique Albert. Angelique shares insights from her life growing up on tribal lands in Montana, talks about some of the historical context that shapes the way Native Americans relate to Education, and shares insights from scaling Native Forward to serve more Native American scholars.

In this episode of Cause & Purpose, we sit down with the COO of Elemental Excelerator, Avra van der Zee.

Avra's dedication to combatting climate change has spanned her entire career. From e-bikes, to sustainable pre-fabricated construction materials, to the 150+ startups in Elemental Excelerator's portfolio, Avra has worked, across her career, to help build and scale the innovative climate solutions that will help shape our environment for generations to come.

A litigation attorney turned social entrepreneur, Avra has tons of great insights to share about everything from working with government programs, to storytelling, to climate justice issues, to storytelling, and building performance measurement and evaluation frameworks that empower organizations to maximize their impact.

Join us as we learn a bit about Avra's background, and the way she, and Elemental Excelerator, are tackling global climate change at a massive scale.

In this episode, Matt Scott returns to the podcast for a second time and discusses the importance of having a growth strategy and hiring the right people to execute it in the nonprofit sector. He emphasizes the opportunity to stand out during challenging times, such as the pandemic, by focusing on growth and hiring. The conversation delves into the changes CauseMic has undergone and the challenges they faced during the pandemic. Matt also touches on building brand awareness for small nonprofits, managing organizational growth, and the significance of culture and communication in driving success, as he outlines in his new book, The High Growth Nonprofit. 

Quotes:

“I think that it's actually a moment of opportunity when everyone else is running for the hills. It's a great opportunity to say, hey, here's our growth plan. This is where we're focused on hiring.”

Topics covered:

(00:06:31) The Challenges of Building Brand Awareness for Small Nonprofits

(00:13:13) Rewarding Employees in the Social Sector

(00:19:37) Nonprofit Culture and Incentivizing Employees

(00:25:44) Culture and Growth

(00:31:32) Instilling a Sense of Urgency and Growth Mentality

(00:37:24) Importance of Communication and Growth in Change Management

(00:43:44) Leveraging Systems and Frameworks

(00:49:49) Proud Success Stories

(00:55:58) Fast Forward Program

Links mentioned:

https://www.causemic.com/

The High Growth Non-Profit book

https://altruous.org

Guest links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mscottbba/

In this episode, Mike Spear and Eric Barela discuss the launch of their new project, Altruous, and share pieces of their personal backstories of how they got into this work. They highlight the significance of Altruous in addressing social challenges and amplifying unheard voices. The conversation explores the intersection of social justice and personal background, emphasizing the need to recognize and value diverse perspectives. They discuss expected value calculations, the debate between quantitative and qualitative evaluation, the role of human evaluators in an AI-driven world, and the importance of comprehensive evaluation methods. 

“If we're going to pat ourselves on the back for doing good things, then we should actually be doing good things.”

Topics covered:

(00:07:55) The Intersection of Social Justice and Personal Background

(00:15:06) High EV Calculation

(00:21:48) Quantitative vs Qualitative Evaluation

(00:29:11) The Importance of Qualitative and Quantitative Data

(00:38:01) The Role of Human Evaluators in an AI-Driven World

(00:45:47) Shared Passion for Impact Measurement

(00:53:32) Burning Man's Impact and Integrity

(01:00:25) Measuring Impact and Avoiding Harm

(01:07:30) Marks of Success for Altruist

(01:14:48) Democratizing Monitoring and Evaluation

Links mentioned:

https://altruous.org

Guest links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericbarela/

In this episode Derrick Feldmann discusses the importance of building social movements and engaging individuals in creating meaningful change. He explores the intersection of social issues and generational engagement, highlighting the unique perspectives and characteristics of Millennials and Gen Z. The conversation also delves into personal journeys in civic engagement, the motivations for giving and sustaining involvement, and the need for inclusive activism. 

Quotes:

“The more you do, the more perspective you gain for the issues around you that are often hidden.”

Topics covered:

(00:06:44) Bridging Local and Global Perspectives

(00:13:25) Personal Journey in Civic Engagement

(00:20:16) Enabling Engagement and Action

(00:27:18) Importance of Inclusive Activism

(00:33:43) Social Issues and Generational Engagement

(00:40:25) Motivations for Giving and Sustaining Involvement

(00:47:19) Importance of Milestones in Engaging Supporters

(00:55:07) Corporate Social Mind

(01:01:49) The Future of Corporate Social Responsibility

(01:09:09) Career Path and Cause Areas 

Links mentioned:

https://altruous.org

Guest links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/derrickfeldmann/

In this episode, Jake Wood discusses his journey from being a Marine to co-founding Team Rubicon, a nonprofit organization that provides disaster relief and humanitarian aid. The episode explores the humble beginnings of Team Rubicon after the earthquake in Haiti in 2010 and how they gained traction through viral donations. The conversation also delves into the role of technology in their success, particularly their partnership with Palantir, a big data intelligence platform. The episode highlights the evolution of culture and leadership within Team Rubicon, as well as the importance of measuring impact and prioritizing vulnerable communities. 

In the premiere episode of Cause & Purpose Season 2, Mike Spear and Shalini Vajjhala discuss inefficiencies in the philanthropy space and how to make the most of your philanthropic dollars. From building footbridges to proactive disaster mitigation, we explore how to think about funding and collaboration to achieve the best possible outcomes for communities around the world.

Welcome back to Season 2 of the show!

Nathan Mallipeddi is the Founder and CEO of Myspeech, an international nonprofit, where he leads a team of ~50 members and ~200 volunteers in tackling two of most significant issues in the field of healthcare services in speech therapy—the lack of access to care and unaffordable prices. They are currently building a technology platform to scale therapy and community services to millions of people who stutter around the world. They’ve impacted ~25,000 people in 26 countries, with partnerships in 30 schools. Their partners include Fast Forward, Future Founders, Harvard Innovations Labs, Microsoft, Salesforce, Verizon, the Westly Foundation, Donald A. Strauss Foundation, UCLA SOLE, the World Stuttering Network, and many more. 

Jason Shim is the Director of Digital Strategy and Transformation at Pathways to Education Canada. With over 15 years of experience spanning the nonprofit and academic sectors both as an employee and a consultant, he has consistently helped organizations stay ahead of the technology curve. He loves to help organizations explore the question “How can we harness technology to make a difference in the world?” In 2013, he led Pathways to Education to become the first Canadian charity to issue tax receipts for Bitcoin donations, providing access and awareness to a brand new tech-savvy audience.