With Hands Wide Open

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome. This is Frankly Speaking,a show about nonprofit life. Frankly Speaking
is sponsored by the Salvation Army ofPalm Beach County. The host of Frankly
Speaking is Frank Morangos, the directorof Development and Communication for the Salvation Army
of Palm Beach County. Money islike manure. It's not worth a thing,

(00:21):
and let's us spread around encouraging youngthings to grow. The humorous quote
is from The Matchmaker, a fouract comedy written by the playwright Thornton Wilder
in nineteen fifty five. Due toits success on Broadway, the High Society
satire was adapted in nineteen sixty fouris the highly acclaimed musical Hello Dolly.
The Matchmaker's fundamental comedic storyline centers arounda wealthy widower, Horace van der Gelder,

(00:47):
who enlist the services of a marriagebroker, Dolly Gallagher Levi, to
find a new wife. Pandemonium ensueswhen Dolly, herself a widow, decides
that she wants Horace for herself.Like many theatrical parodies, Wilder's Matchmaker takes
advantage of the socialite enigmas of love, arranged marriages, and money in order
to put its characters into amusing situations. The penny pinching store owner Vandi Gelder,

(01:14):
for example, dupes himself into acceptingan idealized portrait of a much younger
wife who is wealthy and infatuated withhim. Ironically, while he refuses to
let his niece marry an artist ofmodest means, Vande Gelder becomes infatuated with
his bohemian Matchmaker, even though sheis not the sophisticated, transactional mate that

(01:34):
he was initially searching to find.He realizes that what he really wants and
needs is Dolly, who informs theaudience in the play's final act that she
plans to help Vandi Gelder make theworld a better place by and I quote,
spreading his money around like manure.End of quotes. Welcome to frankly
speaking, though weakly radio talk showof the Salvation Army upon Beach County,

(01:56):
and I'm Frank Morangos, the Army'sdirector of Development Communication. While considering what
I would discuss in my monologue thisweek, I thought of the Matchmaker.
As April the seventeenth was Thornton Wilder'sbirthday. Born in eighteen ninety seven,
Wilder was an American novelist and playwrightwho won three Pulitzer Prize awards, and
so today, in honor of Wilder'sbirthday, I want to discuss the topic

(02:19):
of transformational giving, the means bywhich resources can be effectively spread around like
manure, and its implications for nonprofitorganizations. The future philanthropy in America promises
to replace the transactional focused fundraiser withthe high impact, transformational matchmaker. While
pessimists are overly concerned about the negativeconsequences of new federal tax laws, which

(02:42):
they insist no longer provide tax incentives, optimistic fundraising matchmakers see more reason for
hope, believing that we have entereda golden age of giving where donors are
motivated by personal values and direct engagementto make the world a better place by
spreading, to use Wilder's quote,their resources around. In their book High

(03:05):
Impact Philanthropy, How Donors, boards, and nonprofit Organizations Can Transform Communities,
published in two thousand and one,the authors outline four major principles of high
impact altruism. Number one is issues, two is involvement, three is investment,
and four is impact. According tothe authors, transformational philanthropy is a

(03:27):
new phenomenon. I heightened understanding bydonors of the importance of philanthropy in building
communities and institutions in one of themost important milestones in the entire history of
philanthropic growth in this country. Soin today's monologue, frankly speaking, I
want to examine the last two ofthese four important principles of transformational philanthropy,
namely investment and impact. I alsohope to conclude to the brief analysis of

(03:51):
the Giving Pledge, a global foundationcreated by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett for
transformational philanthropists around the world to collectiveare setting a new standard of generosity among
the ultrawealthy. A transformational investment maybe understood as a donor's desire to spread
their sizable resources in a way thatdirectly advances a philanthropic mission and thereby achieves

(04:15):
large scale change. It is avital principle of transformational philanthropy whereby investments are
used to directly advance the aspiration,the project and or the mission based value
that a nonprofit may claim to support. In contrast, while transactional donors typically
provide low level and often one timeor sporadic financial support that is not necessarily

(04:39):
directly connected to a nonprofits mission.Transformational donors are different as strategic mind and
investors who are looking for an impactfulreturn on their initial investment, although the
term is more descriptive of an entrepreneurialmindset rather than the amount of money involved.
The transformational investor typically makes larger financialcommitments that span several years and often

(05:02):
include testamentary legacy bequests. The moreinspirational and credible a nonprofits case for support
appears to the donor, the largerthe potential investment. So if clarity and
honest alignment concerning spending details cannot besimply conveyed, nonprofits will have a very
difficult time maintaining a donor's loyalty.Nothing Now, I want to emphasize that

(05:27):
nothing sours the transformational donors nonprofit relationshipfaster than when they discover that their investments
were not used for the purpose towhich they were directed. In the final
analysis, this is the value ofregular communication and authentic transparency, both of
which differentiate the transactional from the transformationalfocused philanthropic organization. In addition to the

(05:49):
issue of investment, transformational donors areinterested in results not needs. This fourth
and final principle of high impact altruismcannot be over emphasized. High impact philanthropy
is substained when donors treated as partnersobserve how their philanthropic investment provides meaningful impact

(06:12):
on a charitable organization's mission aspirations.Those with the capacity to make such transformational
investments want to be assured that theirdonations are sustainable, scalable, and highly
impactful. Pierre Omidyar, the founderof eBay, is a vocal exponent of
such impact investment. A relatively newform of philanthropy, high impact altruism can

(06:35):
include microfinance, financial resources for peoplein developing world who might otherwise not qualify
for loans from commercial banks like privateequity and or venture capital, that often
generates ten to one hundred times areturn on an initial investment by identifying a
key differentiator, Savvy impact philanthropists seekto achieve explanational results by identifying and applying

(07:02):
solutions to the root cause of unmetsocietal problems. Unlike their transactional counterparts,
transformational donors are often impatient with bureaucracies. Like Omidyar, Bill Gates and Warren
Buffett are transformational donors who are increasinglyimpact oriented. They favor hands on and

(07:24):
long term involvement, a phenomenon oftenreferred to as venture philanthropy. Indeed,
they are not simply donors, butsee themselves as impact investors. They must
be understood and respected if nonprofits honestlyseek to attract them. Transactional giving is
often a reaction to an event,an unexpected entreaty, or a well timed

(07:46):
request. Fundraising research studies can becited that suggests that providing donors with a
photo of a preadolescent, orphan,ailing, or hungry child with general information
can raise money, and yet thedata, however, describes relatively small contributions
when done so. Rational appeals,by contrast, focus on what is called

(08:07):
the return on social investment our OSI. That works better for high level transformational
donors, who are more apt tosupport nonprofit organizations that focus on strategic,
sustainable, and high level philanthropic outcomes. While there are certainly appropriate times and
places for emotional petitions to be used, transformational giving requires a more strategic consideration

(08:31):
that creates synergy and leverages the efforts, energy, and resources of a donor
in organization around a common vision inthe end, Today's donors want to engage
in issues that matter deeply to themand to their communities. They want to
spread their resources to affect perceptible changeand an amounner that will achieve faster results.

(08:54):
Whatever strategies are therefore implemented. Assavvy fundraisers, we should strive to
facilitate the principles and steps that effectivelymake the case for transformational impact investing,
both within and without our respective organizations. Only by advancing a strategic fundraising methodology
that has grounded on mission based issues, donor involvement, and generous investment,

(09:18):
KENNO nonprofit education and faith based organizationshope to achieve trailblazing levels of philanthropic results.
ROBERTA Astor was an American businesswoman whoexemplified the quintessential transformational philanthropists. Roberta
became the chairwoman of the sixty milliondollar Vincent Astor Foundation, which had been

(09:41):
established in nineteen forty eight by herthird husband, Vincent Astor, the great
great grandson of America's first multi millionaire, John Jacob Astor. The foundation's mission
was created and I quote for thealleviation of human suffering end of quotes Roberta
earned international head lines when she diedin two thousand and seven at the age

(10:01):
of one hundred and five, havingdonated nearly two hundred million over a thirty
eight year period. So as aresult of her generosity, Astor was awarded
the Presidential Medal of Freedom in nineteenninety eight. Remarkably, the self declared
motto that inspired her life's prodigious liberalitywas none other than the Matchmaker's aphorism concerning

(10:22):
money and manure. Three years afterRoberta's death, forty of America's wealthiest individuals
joined together in a commitment to spreadmore than one half of their respective financial
manure around the globe. Created byBill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett,
the Giving Pledge was established in twothousand and ten following a series of conversations

(10:43):
with philanthropists around the world but howthey could collectively set a new standard of
generosity among the altar wealthy. LikeAstor, these transformational philanthropists envisioned the Giving
Pledge as a multigenerational global effort tohelp shift the social norm of philanthropy towards
giving more, giving sooner, andgiving smarter. Those who join that Giving

(11:05):
Pledge are invited to write a posta personal letter explaining their decision to engage,
and then to describe the philanthropic causesto which they are devoted. Giving
Pledge donors are united by a sharedcommitment to transformational giving and a desire to
learn from experts about how best toleverage their philanthropy to address some of the

(11:26):
world's biggest challenges and so, intwo thousand and twenty two, The Giving
Pledge included two hundred and thirty sixof the wealthiest individuals in the world,
couples and families from twenty eight differentcountries, totaling over six hundred billion dollars.
Lippmann Hearne, a Chicago based marketingand communications firm that focuses on the

(11:48):
nonprofit sector, has analyzed the lettersof the Giving Pledge ultrawealthy global donors,
and the organization has identified five megadonor archetypes. The first is called the
closure, the second the strategist,the third the enthusiast, the four the
explorer, and number five the worldbuilder. These archetypes are a valuable framework

(12:11):
for philanthropic matchmaking interested in shaping missionbased case narratives that resonate powerfully with the
potential of financial support. The closure, for example, describes a transformational donor
who has an adventuous spirit and iscomfortable making calculated risks. The strategist,
on the other hand, is engagedto have their donation used to develop systemic

(12:33):
and self sustaining solutions, while theexplorer is a true altruist who believes in
the inherent value of doing for othersand is therefore a passionate evangelist for philanthropy.
The explorer, on the other hand, is self consciously new to philanthropy
and is motivated to learn, experiment, and make a difference while avoiding missteps.
The world builder is finally adept atpursuing a vision using every tool available

(12:58):
to actively repel rapid in society widetransformation, often on a global scale.
If we desire to become transformational matchmakers, we should consider Lippmanhearn's five archetypes when
cultivating our own potential donors. Thestrategy, however, is not to niche

(13:18):
a prospect, but to think expansivelyabout the question that we may pose to
the donors to help them identify thevalues and experiences that shape and motivate their
aspirations. For example, we couldask who has inspired their life and whom
do they hope to influence. Howdo they describe their upbringing When they talk
about the source of their wealth,do they attribute it to fate, hard

(13:39):
work, smart choices, or someother combination. What do they consider the
appropriate data that provides that their investmenthave been successfully used? These another questions
should guide and help us match ourdonors to appropriate mission driven philanthropic aspirations.
Philanthropy, so I've mentioned many timeson this show, is Greek word that

(14:00):
means love of mankind, like meaningfulmarriages that are transformational and not transactional.
Successful philanthropic matchmaking is the result ofauthentic partnerships, where in donors and nonprofits
work together to create change. Ifwe want to create effective nonprofit organizations,
we need to learn how to identifyand to speak to a donor's desires,

(14:22):
their values, and motivations, asopposed to simply communicating about our organization's needs.
During his two thousand and fifteen presentationat the National Museum of American History,
Bill Gates eloquently spoke about the powerand impact of giving and philanthropy on
American life. Gates described transformational givingas a I quoteum catalytic approach to philanthropy

(14:46):
that inspires the development of interventions.It makes the biggest different sealing solutions that
work, measuring progress and adjusting thestrategies that encourage a new generation of philanthropists
to think about the most effective wayis to change the world by combining ingenuity
with innovative ideas and of quotes.The wealth of individual billionaires throughout the world

(15:09):
is enormous. According to Forge,the total net worth of the four hundred
richest people in the world is valuedat over four trillion dollars. One can
only imagine what the consequences would beto humanity if such resources were freed up
spread across the global landscape to promotephilanthropic innovation. When we return, I

(15:30):
will be joined by Greg Hazel,the executive director of BOCCA Helping Hands.
I'm certain that he has much toshare about the impact provided by transformational donors
that have affected his noteworthy philanthropic nonprofitinstitution. It's an annual launcheon that is

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not to be missed coming up Tuesday, May sixteenth at the Pelican Clove.
It is the Tide ad Bines.It is a wonderful opportunity for all nonprofits
from across Palm Beach County to cometogether supporting each other along with those who
support nonprofits throughout our community. Thefeatured speaker this year Stephen Mansfield, the

(16:15):
executive director of the Center for GlobalLeadership at Palm Beach Atlantic University and a
New York Times best selling author.For more information and to purchase tickets,
go to Salvation Army, Palm BeachCounty dot org. Thank you, and
may God bless you well. Welcomeback to Frankly speaking, I'm really privileged

(16:41):
to have in the studio with metoday. The executive director of Boca Helping
Hands. His name is Greg Hazel. Welcome to Frankly speaking. Ah,
pleasure to be here, Frank.Nice to see you again too. So
how was the drive coming up fromBoca. The drive was thankfully uneventful.
Yeah, it did take a littlebit of time to find my way.
I think it is the studio itself. You know, things have changed here

(17:03):
since COVID. You know, thisused to be a thriving little a lot
of people here. Now a fewfewer individuals working actually here at the studio,
but it still does its work anddoes its work really well. But
I appreciate you coming and being aguest on the show. So tell us
a little bit about yourself. So, Um, I live in Boca Raton.
I am originally from Jamaica. Alot of people are have difficulty tracing

(17:30):
my accent, but I'm originally fromJamaica but have lived here for pretty much
half my life. My wife andI have two daughters, both of whom
are grown married and have moved away. Do you have grandchildren. I now
have three grandchildren, three, twoboys and a girl. Where do they
live? Two of them, theboys, who are sons of my older

(17:52):
daughter, live in Long Island,and my granddaughter and her mom and her
and their family in Atlanta. InAtlanta, Oh, that's too bad,
they're not all together. You couldget together for Christmas, that would be
great. Well, we still triedto get together, you know. We
A lot of it ends up beingin Florida, either here in Boca where
I live, or in some ofthe resorts that we can get together at.

(18:15):
So you came here, you wentto school, I understand in Miami.
Yes, m I am trained asan engineer, but then I came
to school here to do an MBAin finance after working for four or five
years as an engineer, and thenI moved back to Jamaica after having earned
my MBA and actually went to thesame company for which I was working as

(18:37):
an engineer, but in a differentcapacity in there. And what company was
that this At the time the companywas Alcan Okay it was. It's a
multinational aluminum company that at the timewas headquartered in Montreal, Canada too,
so you traveled quite a bit inthat position. I didn't travel as much.
I do remember a trip to Montrealfrom Jamaia. Um it was in

(19:00):
April um one year, and Istill remember it as being the coldest I've
ever been. That's why we're inFlorida right, exactly exactly. So how
did you go from aluminum to nonprofit? Well after I did my um my

(19:22):
MBA, I obviously switched from beingan engineer to being more in corporate finance.
And so when I, my familyand I migrated to the US,
I ended up in the corporate financedepartment of fpl Our Local Utility and eventually,
um, you know, again,with the combination of engineering know how

(19:45):
and financial knowledge, I ended updeveloping power plans for FPL's unregulated subsidiary UM.
A few Florida residents know that they'rethe parent company of their utility actually
owns a very large portfolio of independentpower plants all over the United States.
I don't know that myself. Yeah, so UM, you know the next

(20:11):
Era, which is now the nameof the company, owns a large portfolio
of renewable energy power plants all overthe United States. So were you working
for them when you were asked tobe on the board of Helping here No.
UM. I had left FBL atthat time, and I had changed
jobs. I was working for whatbecame Semmes okay UM. It was originally

(20:34):
it was originally owned by the Rinkerfamily, which was it's a building materials
company Cement. So you know,I was I was kind of back in
the infrastructure world. So I wasdoing similar things for them, you know,
developing new facilities, port facilities,new quarries, new cement plants.

(20:57):
I was doing similar things for themas I was doing for FPL. When
I left, and the president ofthe board of UM Boca Helping Hands and
I attended the same church in Boca, and for some reason he thought I
would be helpful on his board.So that's how I got introduced to Boca

(21:17):
helping hands and from the board.And from the board. I was on
the board for about four years whenthe then executive director left and who was
a very good friend of mine,Yes, a very good friend of both
of ours. And now he's celebratingbecause he's an arsenal fan. I don't
know if everybody knows that about Jim, but this is his year apparently,

(21:40):
so we'll see. Anyway, whenhe left, the board asked me to
run the organization on what was supposedto be an interim basis, and that's
when I met you, yes,some years back. Yes, this was
about six years ago, so andyou know, I thought, well,
I could handle this for a while, you know, but I wanted to

(22:03):
make sure that they were serious abouttheir search for a permanent replacement. So
I was on the search committee andall of that type of stuff. But
after being in the job for aboutthree or four months, I fell in
love with the idea of doing thatkind of work. I fell in love
with working for a different kind ofstaff, a different kind of person,

(22:26):
a different kind of employee than Ihad seen in the corporate world. You
know, these were people who hada much more idealistic motivation for the work
that they were doing. And soI made myself available for permanent considervation.
And I can see how serendipitous thatwas, how God was working in your
life, because you went from acompany in which you manufacture things, okay,

(22:52):
to a nonprofit that manufactures in asense of trans transforms finances to service
to individuals. And it's and it'sinteresting that I have you here as the
guests because in my monologue today thatwas exactly the topic, is the difference
between a transactional nonprofit and a transformationalnonprofit. And in my experience of BOOKA

(23:15):
Helping Hands, you have really transformedthe work of service in Boca Raton.
I mean, everybody talks about yourorganization as being a sterling, if not
the best nonprofit there. Well that'sthat's good to hear um. And you
know, obviously we've we've grown intosomething that I'm not sure anybody imagined,

(23:36):
you know, when we started asa very humble soup kitchen twenty five years
ago. This is our twenty fifthbirthday, by the way, but your
gratulations, thank you. We've becomea significant service provider in our community have
I mean, people need to comeand visit your your it's not a kitchen,
it's almost like a restaurant exactly.I like that description. I like

(23:57):
that description. It's it's not yourfather's suit kitch. It is not.
It is not. And you offerfood on a regular basis, all right.
So I think the thing that isdistinctive about Boca Helping Hands is the
range of services that we offer.So yes, everybody knows us for our
feeding programs, both our adult feedingprograms and our children feeding programs. For

(24:22):
the adults, we have a pantrybag program where we know distribute pantry bags
in five locations throughout southern Palm BeachCounty, and a hot meal program where
we distribute hot meals to anybody whoneeds a hot meal six days a week
in East Boca or headquarters and onFriday night up in Lake Worth. In

(24:45):
addition, we have a school feedingprogram where we provide weekend meals for kids
in our elementary school program. Inour elementary schools, you know, a
lot of our kids in our elementaryschools qualify for the free lunch program that
Title one schools provide, but onweekends, many of them don't have a

(25:07):
source of nutrition, and so that'swhat our backpack program is designed to alleviate.
We provide somewhere around two thousand kidseach each year with weekend meals during
the SETI and over the summer.That's fantastic, and I know you do
much more than that. Correct.In addition to the feeding programs that I

(25:27):
just mentioned, we have a realfocus of our strategy is our job training
program. You know, we startedout offering job training in the food service.
Now we're offering scholarships for people toget vocational training in eleven different career
areas through you know, accredited schoolpartners that we have throughout Southern Florida.

(25:52):
We also have a number of financialassistance programs. We provide financial assistance to
people who are in crisis. Typicallythe crisis is a job lost, and
so we help people to pay theirrent if they're at risk of losing their
housing, or utility bills if they'reat risk of losing utility services. We
also offer vouchers for people to receivehealthcare in clinics that are operated by our

(26:19):
healthcare partners. So it's a it'sa range of services that you know,
we like to call it a wraparoundapproach here to help people emerge from to
escape the cycle of poverty that usuallyand you do a great job. I
remember meeting your social worker at thetime. I don't know if she's still
there, but very kind individual andwanted, you know, to see how

(26:41):
we could partner. And as Iunderstand it, you've already met with Michelle
Rodriguez, who is now our programdirector down in Boca Raton. So I'm
hoping that the Salvation Army along withBoca Helping Hands can do something together.
Yes, I met with Michelle andwe are definitely you know, we are

(27:02):
in. One of the differences Ithink between the the for profit world and
the nonprofit world is the importance ofcollaboration. Yes, okay, you know,
so we our services I think areleveraged and we can collaborate with as
many partners as possible. So Iam looking forward to working. Yeah,

(27:22):
just be careful of Michelle because beforeyou know it, you're going to be
doing more for her than she's doingfor you. That's not what I'm expecting.
But Greg, I want to thankyou very much for being un frankly
speaking, if people wanted to getin touch with you or to help BOK
Helping Hands. How can they dothat? I think the easiest ways to
go to our website BOKA Helping Handsdot org and they will see a range

(27:45):
of programs, a number of opportunitiesto either volunteer to do food drives for
us, or to contribute financially tothe work that we're doing. Well.
God bless you, and once againI wish you the best. Absolutely,
thank you very much for great Thankyou, thank you for joining me today
on this broadcast of Frankly Speaking,the weekly radio program of the Salvation Army

(28:07):
each week. Before we close,I like to share a select quote from
William Booth or his wife Catherine,who founded the Salvation Army in eighteen sixty
five. Today, I want tooffer a quote about the way he feels
about donations, and I'm quoting him. God help me, he says,
and enable me to cultivate a spiritof self denial and to yield myself a
prisoner of love to the redeemer ofthe world. All gifts matter, but

(28:32):
those made with sacrifice and hope carrywith them more investment of heart and mind.
Let's be sure not to overlook them, nor the precious people who make
them so till next week. Thisis Frank Morango's, the director of Development
of Communications for the Salvation Army ofPalm Beach County, and you've been listening
to Frankly Speaking, a show atthe crossroads of philanthropy, societal need,

(28:52):
and faith. My hope is thatthis in every broadcast of Frankly Speaking,
will inform and help inspire all ofus to become agents of good to those
in need in our Poppies community.