April 17, 2024 • 43 mins
Today we're talking with Evandro Beza, the visionary behind Brazil's first Christian endowment, Fonte. We take a lighthearted dive into the intricacies of Brazilian philanthropy, and Evandro's journey from ministry into the realm of leadership and politics. With his innovative approach, he's pioneering a new way to sustain charitable work in Brazil—through the Fonte Endowment, a beacon of hope and longevity for Christian initiatives.
Understanding the mechanics of philanthropy can sometimes seem like a daunting task. Yet, as we sit down with Evandro, he breaks down the complexities of Christian endowment funds with ease, showing us how they exist in harmony with the principles of faith and financial acumen. We uncover the transformative potential that lies in making organizations self-sufficient, while drawing inspiration from biblical teachings and figures. It's an enlightening exploration of financial stewardship, where generosity meets sustainability in Brazil's charitable sector.
Grappling with a sense of purpose can lead to some of life's most profound realizations—just ask Evandro. He shares his personal odyssey of faith and entrepreneurship, detailing the moments of doubt, epiphany, and the eventual embrace of a vision that seemed larger than life itself. This narrative weaves tales of divine interventions, the support of influencers like Paulo Oliveira, and the growing impact Fonte Endowment is making across Brazil. Prepare to be moved by a story of faith, philanthropy, and the unwavering belief in the power of 'God-sized' ideas.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Heredes (00:10):
I'm excited because today we're going to do a little
portuguese 101 with you, colin.
It's been a dream of mine forthe non-profit renaissance.
Collin (00:18):
Do I have to share your same excitement?
Heredes (00:21):
yes, you do or, if not, I'm going to edit this in.
I put an AI.
Collin (00:25):
Colin Put a smiley face on there.
Heredes (00:26):
Have you learned any Portuguese as we prepared for
today?
Collin (00:29):
Not even a little bit.
Heredes (00:31):
Because our guest is all the way from Brasilia.
Can you say Brasilia, brasilia,close.
Collin (00:37):
Very good, that was great.
What did I do wrong?
Heredes (00:39):
Let's keep going, let's keep going, let's keep going
Overseas.
And so excited We've gotten tomeet and had heard so many great
things about him and the workthat he's doing, and but excited
to have him at the table withus in the flesh here today.
And, colin, you're going topronounce it because it's the
name of an endowment and anorganization, a philanthropic, a
new way to do philanthropy, thefirst Christian endowment in
(01:00):
Brazil.
Wow, and can you pronounce thename, colin?
Ladies and gentlemen, drum roll, please.
Collin (01:05):
Introducing funchy wow bro, we practiced so many times
did I do it no you botched itbro very punchy, punchy, punchy,
okay, phone Fonchi.
So like phone and Like foamcheese Fonchi.
(01:27):
Foam cheese, but without the MFoam cheese.
Heredes (01:31):
Ladies and gentlemen, listeners, please welcome.
He's the founder CEO directorof Fonchi Endowment.
Font Endowment.
Collin (01:39):
See, if you can't do it, you are Brazilian.
Heredes (01:46):
Yes, I know, have I've americanized, probably too long.
But, ladies and gentlemen,ivandro beza, did I pronounce
that correctly?
Yes, close, it is close, reallyclose how would you teach colin
to say your name?
Evandro Besa (01:53):
evandro evandro beza beza beza.
Actually it's not my name, it'smy nickname so yes, my name is
bezerja, but my nickname is bezabecause nobody calls me erudite
, they call me h h.
Collin (02:11):
Which is literally the first moment he met me.
He didn't even try, he justsaid h hey, it's h he.
Just he looked at me and justassumed that I wouldn't be able
to do it.
Evandro Besa (02:20):
So, so bejeza bezeja bezeja, we're done with
the Portuguese.
Collin (02:27):
Yeah, we're done we're done for the Portuguese.
I'm embarrassing myself andgonna get fired.
Heredes (02:31):
But to our listeners, you're in for a treat.
Evandro, thank you for beingwith us, oh guys, thank you very
much.
Evandro Besa (02:35):
You're on a for the opportunity.
Heredes (02:37):
US tour bringing fonti, bringing font endowment to the
to the US.
And what I want to hear aboutis for our listeners, you're in
for a treat.
I want to share a little bitabout the journey Evandro has
been in the ministry space, inthe marketplace, in leadership,
in politics, involved allthroughout Brazil.
Good, bad and the ugly which wecan get into in a second, but
(02:58):
excited because of the journey.
I think you worked with theChick-fil-A organization, life
shape, organizing leadershipdevelopment pipelines, um and
internationally for severalyears and where god's brought
you now in this influentialposition to help organization.
Tell us a little bit for thelistener listening what is
fonchi um and what do?
Evandro Besa (03:18):
you guys do well.
Uh, once again, thank you verymuch for having me here.
It's such a good opportunity toshare a little bit about our
country and specifically aboutFonte Endowment.
Like how can I say I am ateaching pastor in Brazil and
(03:44):
since last Sunday I'm in chargeof a campus too?
Heredes (03:48):
Oh, snap Congratulations.
I think, I think.
Evandro Besa (03:51):
Yeah, yeah, it's such a challenging time in my
life, but God gave us theopportunity to start something
new in Brazil.
I know endowments in the US arepretty popular, but in Brazil
it's something really new.
So, for the good and for thebad, we are the first in Brazil,
(04:16):
so we are kind of creating adifferent kind of culture in our
country, helping peopleunderstand that they can make
kingdom of God moves indifferent ways, like we are not
judging the ways that bring usuntil now, but we believe we can
(04:38):
develop new ways or newstrategies, new technology.
Why not to go in advance?
Heredes (04:49):
Tell me, when I think endowment, I'm thinking
investment, I'm thinkingdonation, but I'm thinking the
use of the profits of the gainsfrom my donations.
Is that right?
Educate us for those listening,because sometimes my mind goes
to fund or a trust fund, or isit just?
Collin (05:05):
wealth management or Right, or just an investment,
just how I would invest mypersonal money for myself later.
Heredes (05:12):
Do I get it back or not yeah.
Educate us.
How's that work?
Evandro Besa (05:15):
Yeah, no, and that's it.
But by the same time it'sdifferent, like it's a fund.
It's an investment fund, butit's a philanthropic investment
fund.
So the biggest difference, inmy point of view, is that we
cannot spend the money that yougive.
(05:37):
You don't invest.
You give money, you make adonation for us.
So as soon as you give themoney to the fund, the money is
not yours anymore and the fundcannot spend the money that you
gave.
We need to invest the money.
We can only use the earnings orwhat it grew growth, and we
(06:04):
return this money to the society.
So we will donate this money tothe Christian projects that are
with us.
So this is the biggestdifference.
Heredes (06:15):
And tell us about that, evandro.
What's the difference?
It's the first Christianendowment in Brazil, in South
America, and what's different?
How are you partnering withyour organizations?
Who are you looking for?
Tell us a little bit about that.
Where do the earnings go?
If I gave you $1,000 and thatraised another $200, so now it's
$1,200.
Those $200, what's that goingto do?
Evandro Besa (06:36):
Nowadays we have a really good governance in our
fund and we have a group ofpeople in charge of this part of
our fund.
So people we are saying that,who is with us right now making
a donation, they can indicateprojects, christian projects,
(07:00):
that we will fund in the future,because nowadays we are growing
.
So our idea is to is two yearsuntil our break.
If so, our idea is to start tofunding projects after two years
.
So if you have some project,you can send it to us, like the
(07:27):
projects can apply, and theseguys will think about it and
will.
How can I say, man, sometimeswe can do a little Portuguese,
we'll do a little translationfor international listeners.
Collin (07:43):
Leave me behind for a second H will help me catch up.
Heredes (07:48):
It's how I'm used to carrying this podcast anyway.
Evandro Besa (07:51):
Yeah, that's it.
This is the idea.
We have a group of people,specialist people, in our fund
that will decide where the moneywill go.
So that's it.
We'll decide where the moneywill go.
So that's it.
For example, we have BrenoVietas.
That is a missionary who usedto work around the world and
(08:14):
have a unique knowledge aboutthis reality.
So he will receive the applies,the submissions, will receive
the applies, the submissions,and we will, with his team,
decide where we should send themoney to fund and it like we can
(08:35):
decide to be with a project forone year.
Like we can ask, hey, how muchis your cost monthly?
And the project will say 500reais or 5,100 reais, and we
would say, okay, we'll give you50% of this for one year.
After one year, we will havesomeone making your
(08:58):
accountability and we willdecide if you'll be with you for
the next year, if you raise thepercentage or if you will keep
the same one.
Heredes (09:09):
You know it's like that the accounting, the accounting.
Yes, thank you.
No, absolutely.
And tell us this it'ssustainable philanthropy, which
I love.
I think it's a term.
We've talked about it before inthe podcast with some of our
fundraising and some of ourexperts.
Tell us about that.
How is it different than whynot just give the money to the
organization directly and donateand call it a day?
Evandro Besa (09:31):
tell me about sustainable philanthropy this is
the idea like uh man, this guythat I mentioned before, his
name is breno vietas and he's avery good friend of mine, and
when we talk about missionorganizations, he always says
hey, man, I want to help my kidsto fish and not give them the
(09:57):
fish you know Teach them how tofish.
Yeah.
I need to teach them how to fish.
I want to buy the cow and notgive the milk.
You know, and I was thinkingabout this like I'm supposed to
go many years before that, butno, I'll keep here.
(10:21):
So, and I was reading Genesis26 and I realized that gave God
gave to Isaac a really specialgift, a really special talent
for his time and for his context.
(10:41):
God gave Isaac the talent tofind wells of water.
So in every place that theirservants used to dig, they find
water Manin.
Can you understand what itmeans for them in that time?
(11:02):
Source of life really.
It's the most important sourceof life by that time, and he did
it a lot.
Read Genesis 26.
Man, I'm doing Bible study heretoday.
Heredes (11:14):
I love it.
I feel like I missed that.
Yeah, I'm doing Bible studyhere today and I love it.
Collin (11:17):
I feel like I missed that yeah it's great, I'm not
investing monetarily, butspiritually as well.
Heck yeah, I like it.
Fonji does it all, and.
Evandro Besa (11:27):
I start to pray in this direction.
I start to pray hey Lord, teachme how to find water.
I don't know the name of thisanimal in English, but there is
an animal who is in Portuguesewe call Corsa, and the Corsa has
a really unique ability.
Outro (11:45):
We're going to be right back after this break this
animal can smell water.
Evandro Besa (11:50):
Can smell water In kilometers, like miles away,
miles away, so when he Cat, Likemiles away, miles away.
Heredes (12:01):
So when he Cat no, no, stop it.
Evandro Besa (12:03):
But look, how is that?
When he smells water, he runsto the water because he needs
the water to survive.
But it's different because whenhe for a to survive, but it's
different because for a longtime without water his smell is
really forte, strong, strong.
(12:27):
So the other animals can smellhim.
So he needs to drink water.
And when he finds waterdifferent of the other animals,
he doesn't drink water like them.
He goes inside the water and hetakes a shower and he drinks
(12:50):
water.
And when he does it it doesn'tLike he changes his smell and
he's not thirsty anymore.
So I start to do the sameprayers.
I start to pray like that heyGod, make me smell water, make
me find waters?
Where should I dig the wells ofwater?
(13:12):
Wells of water, you know, and Iremember jesus saying in john 4
14 I'm this.
Springs of water well into theeternal life.
Collin (13:24):
And I said that's our name, you know well, which is so
great, because I mean, becauseI like it's it's very easy to
draw that line between the nameand what you guys are trying to
do, right?
Because, again, like you say,it's not just the benefit, is
I'm not just giving this amountof money, and so this amount of
money is what this organizationis going to be able to use.
(13:45):
But I'm putting this money, I'minvesting this money, not for
myself, but for somebody else,to watch it grow, to become a
well to become a spring.
That's beautiful.
It's beautiful and it sums upthe heart behind your
organization, who you guys areand what you're trying to do.
So tell me a little bit aboutwhat are the challenges that you
(14:06):
guys are experiencing?
I mean even being the firstendowment in Brazil, but just
even with this model, what aresome of the big challenges that
you guys are facing?
What problems are you having tosolve right now?
Evandro Besa (14:14):
are some of the big challenges that you guys are
facing.
What problems are you having tosolve right now?
Yeah, you know, for good andfor bad, like we are the first,
and as we are the first, uh, weneed to help people to
understand what an endowment is.
Uh, for example, the law thatauthorizes endowments to
(14:36):
function or to work in Brazil isfrom 2019.
Before 2019,.
Collin (14:41):
this was, it was not possible.
Evandro Besa (14:44):
Wow, it was not possible, but endowments exist
in the world.
For a long time, some peopleused to say that it was Platão
or Plato.
Plato, oh, plato.
Heredes (14:56):
I'm sorry.
Or Plato, plato, plato, ohPlato, I'm sorry.
Outro (14:58):
Plato, I knew that.
Yeah, like your kids play with.
Collin (15:02):
I thought it was my Greek counterpart.
Heredes (15:04):
Plato Herodias Socrates no.
Collin (15:06):
Yeah, you're close.
You're close.
It's like you know Plato Hright there, but way back from
ancient Greece and.
Plato.
Evandro Besa (15:16):
But in Brazil, 2019.
So it's not part of our cultureto donate, or at least not to
donate like this.
Of course, our church andpeople participate in our church
in many different ways, but notas a fund.
You know, raising fund to makethe kingdom of God moves in a
(15:40):
different way, so the idea ispretty new.
So many times we need toeducate people, we need to make
them understand that thereexists another way to make
kingdom moves.
It's a new kind of why not tosay technology, as Fontaine
(16:01):
d'Alme has a lot of technologyin our website to receive
donations through credit card,PIX, debit card and things like
that.
Innovation, right.
Heredes (16:12):
Innovation In this space.
Evandro Besa (16:13):
Yes, yes, and I think it is a really good thing
when we talk with people, withmissionaries, because Fount
Endowment is a Christianendowment, so our idea is to
fund Christian projects.
But when we talk with them,they are doing amazing things,
(16:37):
but by the same time, all ofthem have the same problem, and
the problem is funds, money.
So we realized that we don'tneed to create a different
program, a different project.
We need to create something tofund them, to give them money, a
(16:57):
solution because they theyalready was called.
called by god, like uh, the mostimportant thing for someone who
decides to do something to godand with god is to be sure that
he's calling him to do it,because if you are 100%
(17:19):
convinced that you are doingsomething because God called you
, you do with or without money.
So Fonte Endowment doesn'texist to create programs.
Fonte Endowment exists tofunding programs that God called
people to do.
So your job is to run theprogram.
(17:41):
My job is to funding you, is togive you money, is to unite you
to the source of water that youneed to make it run.
Heredes (17:57):
Evandro, I know I love the obviously the
entrepreneurial background andspirit that you have, that God's
given you and the team, BecauseEvandro's been so humble in our
time together meeting andbreaking bread here.
But tell me a little bit aboutthe team that God's put together
for Fonji.
Because it's impressive.
I mean by all standards, butthe mentality that comes with
that.
I love it.
Because it's pretty, it'simpressive, I mean by all
standards, but the mentalitythat comes with that.
I love it.
Because it's maximizing thefinances, it's creating a system
(18:20):
that it's reproducible,scalable you know, sustainable,
but tell me about the team andtell me how that came together.
Evandro Besa (18:25):
Yeah, well, uh like, when I talk about Fonji, I
always need to use a word a lotof times, and the word is
miracle, love.
That Because, for example, thepeople that we have with us in
our team, I would not be able toput together.
(18:50):
God put it together.
The first guy that I talkedwith was Paulo Oliveira.
Paulo Oliveira is the formervice president from Brazilian
Stock Exchange, so he's a reallybig guy.
Collin (19:07):
He knows a thing or two about growing money.
Evandro Besa (19:09):
He knows a lot about growing money and nowadays
he's the president of the newstock exchange in Brazil that he
created.
It's his idea.
It's a blockchain stockexchange.
It's something really new forour reality in Brazil.
So he's a really good guy andbig guy and God said that he
(19:35):
should be with us in thisproject.
Love it.
We have, for example, antônioCabreira.
Antônio Cabreira is a formerBrazilian agriculture minister.
Heredes (19:52):
Agriculture.
Evandro Besa (19:53):
Agriculture.
Thank you, absolutely.
Heredes (19:54):
Thank you.
You said Greek.
I thought I said Greek.
No agriculture, yeah, ministerof Agriculture Brazil you are my
Google translator.
I'm with you, man.
Thank you very much.
It's for Colin.
Mostly I'm trying.
Evandro Besa (20:04):
I appreciate it it's a good bridge between us.
Collin (20:08):
Yes, I'll Pix you later.
Yeah, pix me.
Heredes (20:12):
Pix, by the way, is the Brazilian Zelle slash Venmo
slash.
So this podcast is notsponsored by Pix, but feel free
to Pix us.
Evandro Besa (20:21):
Yeah, we should talk with Central Bank, our
Central Bank in Brazil.
Outro (20:27):
Exactly exactly.
Evandro Besa (20:28):
But we have, like, antonio Cabreira is in charge
of Cabreira Groups too.
I think maybe he is the biggestsoy exporter from Brazil.
Soy, yeah, really.
Outro (20:43):
Yeah.
Evandro Besa (20:43):
That's incredible.
He has farmers in more than 10states in Brazil Amazing.
And he has such a goodreputation for a guy big as he
is.
Can you realize as it isdifficult to have a reputation?
Heredes (21:05):
amount of character, integrity in the space so.
Outro (21:07):
I invited them.
Evandro Besa (21:08):
I invited him to be with us, and he said yes too.
We have Hugo de Alonso too, whois a very good friend of mine.
Heredes (21:17):
I'm going to quiz you on all these names, by the way,
in a second they're locked inhere.
Evandro Besa (21:24):
I have to go he's the president of Brasil Startups
.
I have to go my wife's calling.
He's the president of BrasilStartups and he managed a fund,
a multimillionaire fund to buyand sell startups through Brazil
(21:46):
.
We have Donglei Martins.
Donglei has a fund to buy andsell startups a private fund.
Collin (21:56):
Tiago Aguiar, it's not just like your little brothers
and cousins.
There's some power behind whatwe got.
Evandro Besa (22:05):
I am the smallest one, for sure.
Heredes (22:08):
No man, when I was reading about and visiting the
side and hearing from you knowour producer friend Gustavo,
talking to me about just it wasan incredible cast of you know
godly men, influential men inthe country, and to come
together for a cause like thisit got me excited to see it
develop and it grow.
So it's like, dude, let's talkto them, let's echo your voice
(22:29):
in the US to our listeners andtell me this, because then
here's a misconception withendowment.
I think even in the US,worldwide, when you hear
endowment you think millions andbillions.
I'm not a millionaire.
Outro (22:41):
I'm not a billionaire.
Heredes (22:42):
So that's not for me.
Evandro Besa (22:43):
Yeah.
Heredes (22:44):
Let's talk about that.
Evandro Besa (22:45):
Is that true?
Yes, we are facing this rightnow in Brazil.
Many times, when we start totalk about endowments, people
say, ah, it's not for me, it'sfor wealthy people or for rich
people, and I and I used to say,no, it's for you, it's for
common people like you and me,you and myself, like, and we
(23:17):
think like nowadays, our goalfor 2024 is to have 2,000 people
donating 100 reais per month intheir credit card.
And like, why it's not a bigthing.
In our idea, it's not to be abig thing, it's to be something
that you feel comfortable whenyou see in your credit card.
Collin (23:32):
So just for comparison, what would that amount to here?
Heredes (23:36):
Reais is the Brazilian currency, so 200 reais would be
equal to $40?
.
Evandro Besa (23:42):
I think 100 reais would be, $20.
Collin (23:45):
$20.
$20.
So you'd be like hey, put $20 amonth.
Evandro Besa (23:50):
Yes yes, in your credit card.
Heredes (23:53):
And reoccurring, which is an important piece of the
sustainability piece right.
Evandro Besa (23:58):
Because if we need to come back to the same person
every month and say, hey, doyou want to give again?
We are not able to grow.
Month and say, hey, do you wantto give again?
We are not able to grow.
So we have the same job everymonth to come back, the same
work, to come back and askpeople to donate again.
So our goal is to have 2,000people donating 100 reais per
(24:21):
month in their credit cardbecause we can grow fast car,
because we can grow fast in this.
But if we have this, we'll have200,000 reais per month.
After one year it will be morethan 2 million reais.
So in two years it will bealmost 5 million reais, and
(24:43):
that's why two years is ourbreak-even.
Collin (24:46):
It's when we'll have a good amount of money to be able
to support many projects now isis all of the growth going out
or is some of that growth alsobeing put back in to continue to
grow?
How do you guys this?
Evandro Besa (25:05):
is a very good question.
Many people ask me this now.
The same question nowadays now,uh, for example, right now, all
money that we need to make thefund work, to make fonti work,
paulo oliveira and cabrera aredonating.
So if you donate for Fonteright now, your money will go
(25:34):
directly to what Fonte issupposed to do, like it will not
pay salaries, it will not payadministrative costs, it will go
in this direction.
Heredes (25:42):
So you're fully funded for operational costs allowing
the resources to multiplyinstantly.
Evandro Besa (25:47):
Of course, at some point in the future, after our
break, if the idea is to paysalaries and administrative
costs, but right now, no, weseparate things really well
right now.
Love that.
Heredes (26:01):
Yeah, very cool.
Tell me about the investmentstrategies If you can break down
what the conversation has beenlike.
Are we looking at stock market?
Are we looking at crypto?
Are we looking how are youmaximizing that money?
Is there some transparencythere?
Is there?
What's the strategy there?
Evandro Besa (26:15):
we need to be very careful about this because, uh,
by the same time that we wantto make the money, growth, grow
and grow fast we need to balancerisk.
So I'm not in charge of thispart.
Paulo Oliveira is in charge.
Heredes (26:33):
Makes sense.
Evandro Besa (26:36):
He's in charge of this part because we need to
find the balance between riskand growth, and many times we
grow faster if you take morerisk.
But in our case, we need tofind a really good balance
between this.
So this is expertise that Idon't have, but thank you God,
(27:01):
we have people in our fund thatmade it for their entire lives
and they are doing this rightnow with us.
Heredes (27:10):
Love that.
Collin (27:10):
So, in other words, there's lots of different ways
that you guys are takingadvantage of to be able to
invest and see this money grow.
And you guys are taking a moreconservative approach a little
bit of safer approach that willstill allow you to grow but also
is not going to.
You know, it's a big deal tolose money that people have
donated.
A little bit safer approachthat will still allow you to
grow, but also is not going toyou know, yeah, it's a big deal
to lose money that people havedonated.
Evandro Besa (27:30):
It is Wow, it's a big responsibility.
It's a big responsibility Likeyou are managing other people's
money.
They give to you, but, likeendowments in Brazil are, too
like the law, it's.
Heredes (27:46):
we Brazilians are really good in making lots you
know which, by the way you're,you're gonna turn your lawyer by
the way too right?
Outro (27:53):
no, there's like not a title that he doesn't have.
Evandro Besa (27:55):
Yeah, so just no, but uh, we know how to to make
things difficult when we want,you know for example for example
, if we that's an understatementBrazil, Brazil in a summary
Brazil.
Heredes (28:09):
We can make it tough, For example, if we have one
million and we are supposed togrow.
Evandro Besa (28:16):
But if we take risk and we reduce the money for
example, one million turns900,000, for the next year we
cannot donate the money.
We need to wait until we haveagain 1 million, because we are
(28:38):
just able to donate the growthwe are not able to donate.
So if we take risk and themoney reduce, we are not able to
make any donation for the nextyear.
Wow.
So we need to wait and see theresults again so we can be able
to donate again.
(28:59):
So we are getting that's a bigdeal.
Yes, yes, yes, and it's a safetyfor people who are donating for
the endowments too.
I think it makes all sense, youknow.
Heredes (29:13):
It does.
What sparked this, evandro?
Because you know we talkedmarketplace leader, pastor,
lawyer, what God's done in yourjourney.
What inspired you to startFonchi?
And, just going back, how didthe vision for the fund evolve?
Evandro Besa (29:33):
Man, this is my passion.
I have been praying for myministry the last four years,
since I did a really goodmovement in my ministry career
or professional career.
In my case, both are the same,you know, and I'm not a patient
(29:56):
guy.
I don't know if I look like,but I'm not We'll ask your wife.
Heredes (30:00):
Yeah, she'll confirm.
Evandro Besa (30:05):
So in the last four years I was involved in
three different ministries andvery exciting in the beginning,
but started excited and finishednot so excited.
Why?
Because I realized really soonthat it was not for me and it
was really good ministries, forexample, tela, business and
(30:28):
Mission.
This program works withbusiness guys from all around
Brazil and nowadays we are in 16different states in Brazil.
I'm not the founder, but I helpto founder.
The idea is not mine, but I amto founder.
The idea is not mine but I amone of the founders and it's
(30:52):
such amazing program.
But but it's frustrating when Irealize, okay, it's not for me,
it's for someone else.
But things change when I read abook called Draw the Circle.
It's from a pastor here in theUnited States.
I think his name is Mark.
Outro (31:13):
Batterson yeah, man this book yeah.
Evandro Besa (31:19):
Like it changed my prayer life, love it.
And I changed my prayersbecause I started to pray saying
, hey, god, what are you doingthat?
I can be part of it.
Like it's different, you know,like it was a small difference,
(31:40):
but make made all difference inmy praise and uh, as soon as as
I started to pray in thisdirection.
One day I was running literallyin a gym and the idea came in my
mind endowmentowment.
And I said, whoa, this is anamazing idea.
(32:01):
I thought by myself God, what abig idea.
And I started to think aboutendowments from all perspectives
.
It seems to be a good idea.
But I came back to the Lord andsaid it's very good, but it's
not for me.
Send another person.
Do you know someone in theBible?
Heredes (32:23):
who did the same Almost all of them right.
Evandro Besa (32:26):
You're about to get thrown off a boat, I think.
But it's the same.
Like God is so good, but it'snot my size and I started.
I don't know if I started toremember or if the Holy Spirit
made me remember.
Kept nudging you.
Yeah, like things, basic thingsthat I learned from Chick-fil-A,
(32:49):
from LifeShape, for example,saying that God's vision is
God's size, you know.
And I said, oh sorry, you know.
And I said, okay.
So I decided I fight with Godfor some months until I felt I
should put my feet on the waterand, for my surprise, as soon as
(33:14):
I put my feet on the water, Isaw the water was cut off.
So well, it was different,because in the other projects,
in the other programs, I startedwith 100% excitation.
In this case, 0% of excitation.
But as soon as I walk and assoon as I see God doing things,
(33:45):
as soon as I see miracles, howmy excitation cannot grow you
know Excitement, excitementThank you.
Heredes (33:53):
Yeah.
Outro (33:54):
I'll just make sure the other word works too, but
excitement.
Evandro Besa (33:56):
My translator, thank you.
Heredes (33:58):
Because in the past the excitement level, the buy-in
from people was high.
Outro (34:02):
This one was grassroots, you and God.
And what are you talking?
Heredes (34:06):
about and just seeing God move was the difference.
It's walking by faith.
Love that, 100% Love that.
Well, tell us this, evander,for me even hearing your heart
earlier, right now, how cansomebody get involved If an
organization and say I want totalk to them, we can use some of
the strategy and the funding,or we have some resources, I
(34:29):
like to see my money do more, domore for good things.
How can somebody?
Evandro Besa (34:32):
Like man.
Do you know how difficult it isto talk about Jesus for someone
?
How difficult it is to talkabout Jesus for someone, but do
you know, after that, makesomeone put their hand in their
pockets and give money?
It's the second step.
Outro (34:49):
It's the most difficult.
Evandro Besa (34:54):
So we are in the job of the second step.
Many people that know Jesusdon't give a heart to give yet
Like they convert.
Is it right?
Heredes (35:05):
Yeah.
Outro (35:05):
They are hearts but they didn't convert their finances or
their wallets.
Collin (35:10):
yet so font endowment.
You are speaking the languageof every pastor in America right
now.
Heredes (35:17):
Just got amens all across the listeners.
Evandro Besa (35:20):
They are praying for you even harder now.
So this is part of our job inBrazil with Fonche Endowment.
But I can share with you manymiracles, for example, when I
talked with Paulo Oliveira firsttime and I said, hey, paulo
Oliveiraira, I have a reallygood idea here, and it was one
(35:42):
side that I asked god to see ifit was yeah through him if to
see if it is a good idea or avandro idea.
You know, because I don't wantevandro's idea.
Man, I'm tired about Evandro'sidea.
I don't believe in Evandro, youknow.
I believe in God, you getexcited again.
So I went to Paulo Oliveirabecause I thought he understands
(36:07):
about investments and he's apastor too, so he'll be able he
has authority to tell me.
Evandro, you are crazy.
Should you go to a place andrest a little bit, you know so
when I went to paul edivere andshare with him, uh, the idea, he
told me this is a good idea andI said how good is it?
(36:29):
Are you able, or do you want,to put money in this idea?
Collin (36:34):
how good is it really?
Evandro Besa (36:35):
yeah, because there is a put a dollar amount
here, yeah there is a bigdifference between like uh, uh,
I think this is a good idea.
Oh, this is such a good ideathat I will put money in this
idea in palo verde.
Yes, I can put money.
How much money do you?
are you thinking about it.
And I said, okay, this is theteam, the time for our second
(36:58):
conversation.
And he said, yeah, you are agood guy, smart man, yeah, so
like why I'm saying that Fonchiis a miracle Because, like, I
don't know here in the UnitedStates, but in Brazil I don't
see people giving money likethis, you know.
And Paulo Lever said I'll putmoney.
(37:20):
And when I was talking withCabreira, antônio Cabreira, I
was like just inviting him tocome to the fund because of his
reputation and because I knowhis heart.
But he said, after my pitch, mydeck pitch for him, he said I
(37:41):
want to be with you and what'smy part, what's my financial
contribution for this fund?
And I said, no, I didn't thinkabout it with you.
And he said, no, I will put thesame amount of money that Paulo
Oliveira did.
And I said, well, man, man.
Heredes (37:58):
You got the first match .
Evandro Besa (37:59):
Yeah, like they are sharp guys, they, they are
shark guys too sharp and short.
They don't give money like this, you know, and so yeah, this is
a this is the kind of miraclesthat we are living right now.
For example, nowadays, FonteEndalma, our office is in the
(38:25):
most expensive, maybe the mostexpensive office address in
Brasilia.
Really, yeah, for free.
We are there for free, Like wedon't pay for the coffee that we
drink or to use their fancymeeting room.
Heredes (38:41):
Are you in the president's house?
Evandro Besa (38:42):
No, we are close to them, the Brazilian White
House.
We are really close to them.
I thought that was the mostexpensive.
Heredes (38:52):
That's amazing, though.
That's amazing, and I thinkit's just a testament man, what
God's doing through you, yourheart, your character,
reputation over the years.
I think God's just testamentman.
I do what God's doing throughyou, your heart, your character,
reputation over the years.
I think God's prepared you.
I think that's the God-sizedidea.
So to put these people aroundyou, it's exciting.
It's exciting to hear it's mybirth country, so I was born
there.
It's exciting to see God movein the Brazilian people and the
(39:13):
generosity sparking that and thegiving.
I'm excited.
What's to come?
Tell us FonchiEndowmentcom.
We'll place some links here.
Is that the best place for themto see more, do more?
Evandro Besa (39:25):
and connect.
We have an Instagram profiletoo Fonchi Endowment and Fonchi,
in this case, is font without Eand endowment Sweet All
together together for both ourwebsite and our Instagram
profile.
Even in LinkedIn you can find ustoo over there and you have
(39:51):
many different informations andyou can get in touch with us,
send us a direct or a mail.
And you can get in touch withus, send us a direct, uh, direct
or a mail.
We are here like to to showthat we are thinking in
different things in Brazil, indifferent strategies in Brazil,
(40:13):
to make, uh, god, kingdoms ofGod, moves.
You know.
Heredes (40:17):
I love it, Colin.
Any final questions Before wedismiss and you do some final
Portuguese.
Collin (40:24):
No, I'm still trying to wrap my head around some of the
Portuguese I've already learnedand that you've forced upon me.
No, it's incredible.
It's amazing what you guys aredoing.
Like H mentioned, we'll linksome stuff You'll be able to
find some resources if this issomething you want to look into.
But, man, thanks so much.
Heredes (40:45):
Any final words to family?
I know you got two incrediblekiddos, sons, that you
homeschooled as well.
We had a connection or aclassical conversation earlier
that we both share, in which, bythe way fun fact he helped
expand and grow ClassicalConversations, homeschool
curriculum in Brazil.
That's for another episode,another day, but thank you for
doing that too.
Anything, any final words, anyshout outs?
Evandro Besa (41:06):
Once again, guys, thank you very much for this
time, for this opportunity.
It's such a unique time withyou and I think your audience is
a really high qualifiedaudience Many of them I know
that they have a heart forBrazil.
(41:27):
I'm here, I'm able to talk withthem and to give more
information about Fontes.
Thank you once again for thisspace that you opened for us.
Heredes (41:37):
Our pleasure, it's our heart to help organizations go
further, go faster, grow faster,grow faster.
And I love opportunities likethis because it really aligns
and, if you're listening, god'snudging your heart.
God said something, didsomething today to you.
What an incredible way,innovative way to make your
funds go further, grow faster.
(41:57):
And that's what Fonchi is allabout.
And, evandro, thank you onceagain.
Thank you, my friend Colin.
You want to say bye to our gang.
Collin (42:04):
Yes, sir, to our listeners.
Thank you so much for listeningweek in, week out.
We will be right back here nexttime.
We practiced this, colin Waitwhat?
In Portuguese?
It's ciao.
Heredes (42:14):
We didn't practice that .
Ciao, is that ciao?
Ciao.
That's how you say bye inPortuguese, isn't it?
I put it in the notes, it'sisn't that Italian too, isn't?
It Ciao, falou Ciao.
Evandro Besa (42:23):
Yeah, how would you say bye Falou.
Heredes (42:24):
Ciao.
Collin (42:25):
Falou, ciao Falou.
Evandro Besa (42:26):
Falou, falou, see you.
Collin (42:28):
Falou Ciao.
Evandro Besa (42:29):
Bro do.
Collin (42:30):
Do bro To all of our katas out there To all of our
bros.
Heredes (42:32):
No, when you say it like that, it's offensive.
Oh sorry, thanks for listeningguys.
Till next time, till next time,bye-bye.
Outro (42:47):
Thanks again for listening to the Nonprofit
Renaissance.
We hope it ignites arenaissance in you and helps you
go further and grow faster.
Be sure to share, rate andsubscribe, and if you'd like to
recommend or be a guest on ourshow, send us an email at
podcastatversecreativecom.
I'm excited because today we're going to do a little
portuguese 101 with you, colin.
It's been a dream of mine forthe non-profit renaissance.
Collin (00:18):
Do I have to share your same excitement?
Heredes (00:21):
yes, you do or, if not, I'm going to edit this in.
I put an AI.
Collin (00:25):
Colin Put a smiley face on there.
Heredes (00:26):
Have you learned any Portuguese as we prepared for
today?
Collin (00:29):
Not even a little bit.
Heredes (00:31):
Because our guest is all the way from Brasilia.
Can you say Brasilia, brasilia,close.
Collin (00:37):
Very good, that was great.
What did I do wrong?
Heredes (00:39):
Let's keep going, let's keep going, let's keep going
Overseas.
And so excited We've gotten tomeet and had heard so many great
things about him and the workthat he's doing, and but excited
to have him at the table withus in the flesh here today.
And, colin, you're going topronounce it because it's the
name of an endowment and anorganization, a philanthropic, a
new way to do philanthropy, thefirst Christian endowment in
(01:00):
Brazil.
Wow, and can you pronounce thename, colin?
Ladies and gentlemen, drum roll, please.
Collin (01:05):
Introducing funchy wow bro, we practiced so many times
did I do it no you botched itbro very punchy, punchy, punchy,
okay, phone Fonchi.
So like phone and Like foamcheese Fonchi.
(01:27):
Foam cheese, but without the MFoam cheese.
Heredes (01:31):
Ladies and gentlemen, listeners, please welcome.
He's the founder CEO directorof Fonchi Endowment.
Font Endowment.
Collin (01:39):
See, if you can't do it, you are Brazilian.
Heredes (01:46):
Yes, I know, have I've americanized, probably too long.
But, ladies and gentlemen,ivandro beza, did I pronounce
that correctly?
Yes, close, it is close, reallyclose how would you teach colin
to say your name?
Evandro Besa (01:53):
evandro evandro beza beza beza.
Actually it's not my name, it'smy nickname so yes, my name is
bezerja, but my nickname is bezabecause nobody calls me erudite
, they call me h h.
Collin (02:11):
Which is literally the first moment he met me.
He didn't even try, he justsaid h hey, it's h he.
Just he looked at me and justassumed that I wouldn't be able
to do it.
Evandro Besa (02:20):
So, so bejeza bezeja bezeja, we're done with
the Portuguese.
Collin (02:27):
Yeah, we're done we're done for the Portuguese.
I'm embarrassing myself andgonna get fired.
Heredes (02:31):
But to our listeners, you're in for a treat.
Evandro, thank you for beingwith us, oh guys, thank you very
much.
Evandro Besa (02:35):
You're on a for the opportunity.
Heredes (02:37):
US tour bringing fonti, bringing font endowment to the
to the US.
And what I want to hear aboutis for our listeners, you're in
for a treat.
I want to share a little bitabout the journey Evandro has
been in the ministry space, inthe marketplace, in leadership,
in politics, involved allthroughout Brazil.
Good, bad and the ugly which wecan get into in a second, but
(02:58):
excited because of the journey.
I think you worked with theChick-fil-A organization, life
shape, organizing leadershipdevelopment pipelines, um and
internationally for severalyears and where god's brought
you now in this influentialposition to help organization.
Tell us a little bit for thelistener listening what is
fonchi um and what do?
Evandro Besa (03:18):
you guys do well.
Uh, once again, thank you verymuch for having me here.
It's such a good opportunity toshare a little bit about our
country and specifically aboutFonte Endowment.
Like how can I say I am ateaching pastor in Brazil and
(03:44):
since last Sunday I'm in chargeof a campus too?
Heredes (03:48):
Oh, snap Congratulations.
I think, I think.
Evandro Besa (03:51):
Yeah, yeah, it's such a challenging time in my
life, but God gave us theopportunity to start something
new in Brazil.
I know endowments in the US arepretty popular, but in Brazil
it's something really new.
So, for the good and for thebad, we are the first in Brazil,
(04:16):
so we are kind of creating adifferent kind of culture in our
country, helping peopleunderstand that they can make
kingdom of God moves indifferent ways, like we are not
judging the ways that bring usuntil now, but we believe we can
(04:38):
develop new ways or newstrategies, new technology.
Why not to go in advance?
Heredes (04:49):
Tell me, when I think endowment, I'm thinking
investment, I'm thinkingdonation, but I'm thinking the
use of the profits of the gainsfrom my donations.
Is that right?
Educate us for those listening,because sometimes my mind goes
to fund or a trust fund, or isit just?
Collin (05:05):
wealth management or Right, or just an investment,
just how I would invest mypersonal money for myself later.
Heredes (05:12):
Do I get it back or not yeah.
Educate us.
How's that work?
Evandro Besa (05:15):
Yeah, no, and that's it.
But by the same time it'sdifferent, like it's a fund.
It's an investment fund, butit's a philanthropic investment
fund.
So the biggest difference, inmy point of view, is that we
cannot spend the money that yougive.
(05:37):
You don't invest.
You give money, you make adonation for us.
So as soon as you give themoney to the fund, the money is
not yours anymore and the fundcannot spend the money that you
gave.
We need to invest the money.
We can only use the earnings orwhat it grew growth, and we
(06:04):
return this money to the society.
So we will donate this money tothe Christian projects that are
with us.
So this is the biggestdifference.
Heredes (06:15):
And tell us about that, evandro.
What's the difference?
It's the first Christianendowment in Brazil, in South
America, and what's different?
How are you partnering withyour organizations?
Who are you looking for?
Tell us a little bit about that.
Where do the earnings go?
If I gave you $1,000 and thatraised another $200, so now it's
$1,200.
Those $200, what's that goingto do?
Evandro Besa (06:36):
Nowadays we have a really good governance in our
fund and we have a group ofpeople in charge of this part of
our fund.
So people we are saying that,who is with us right now making
a donation, they can indicateprojects, christian projects,
(07:00):
that we will fund in the future,because nowadays we are growing
.
So our idea is to is two yearsuntil our break.
If so, our idea is to start tofunding projects after two years
.
So if you have some project,you can send it to us, like the
(07:27):
projects can apply, and theseguys will think about it and
will.
How can I say, man, sometimeswe can do a little Portuguese,
we'll do a little translationfor international listeners.
Collin (07:43):
Leave me behind for a second H will help me catch up.
Heredes (07:48):
It's how I'm used to carrying this podcast anyway.
Evandro Besa (07:51):
Yeah, that's it.
This is the idea.
We have a group of people,specialist people, in our fund
that will decide where the moneywill go.
So that's it.
We'll decide where the moneywill go.
So that's it.
For example, we have BrenoVietas.
That is a missionary who usedto work around the world and
(08:14):
have a unique knowledge aboutthis reality.
So he will receive the applies,the submissions, will receive
the applies, the submissions,and we will, with his team,
decide where we should send themoney to fund and it like we can
(08:35):
decide to be with a project forone year.
Like we can ask, hey, how muchis your cost monthly?
And the project will say 500reais or 5,100 reais, and we
would say, okay, we'll give you50% of this for one year.
After one year, we will havesomeone making your
(08:58):
accountability and we willdecide if you'll be with you for
the next year, if you raise thepercentage or if you will keep
the same one.
Heredes (09:09):
You know it's like that the accounting, the accounting.
Yes, thank you.
No, absolutely.
And tell us this it'ssustainable philanthropy, which
I love.
I think it's a term.
We've talked about it before inthe podcast with some of our
fundraising and some of ourexperts.
Tell us about that.
How is it different than whynot just give the money to the
organization directly and donateand call it a day?
Evandro Besa (09:31):
tell me about sustainable philanthropy this is
the idea like uh man, this guythat I mentioned before, his
name is breno vietas and he's avery good friend of mine, and
when we talk about missionorganizations, he always says
hey, man, I want to help my kidsto fish and not give them the
(09:57):
fish you know Teach them how tofish.
Yeah.
I need to teach them how to fish.
I want to buy the cow and notgive the milk.
You know, and I was thinkingabout this like I'm supposed to
go many years before that, butno, I'll keep here.
(10:21):
So, and I was reading Genesis26 and I realized that gave God
gave to Isaac a really specialgift, a really special talent
for his time and for his context.
(10:41):
God gave Isaac the talent tofind wells of water.
So in every place that theirservants used to dig, they find
water Manin.
Can you understand what itmeans for them in that time?
(11:02):
Source of life really.
It's the most important sourceof life by that time, and he did
it a lot.
Read Genesis 26.
Man, I'm doing Bible study heretoday.
Heredes (11:14):
I love it.
I feel like I missed that.
Yeah, I'm doing Bible studyhere today and I love it.
Collin (11:17):
I feel like I missed that yeah it's great, I'm not
investing monetarily, butspiritually as well.
Heck yeah, I like it.
Fonji does it all, and.
Evandro Besa (11:27):
I start to pray in this direction.
I start to pray hey Lord, teachme how to find water.
I don't know the name of thisanimal in English, but there is
an animal who is in Portuguesewe call Corsa, and the Corsa has
a really unique ability.
Outro (11:45):
We're going to be right back after this break this
animal can smell water.
Evandro Besa (11:50):
Can smell water In kilometers, like miles away,
miles away, so when he Cat, Likemiles away, miles away.
Heredes (12:01):
So when he Cat no, no, stop it.
Evandro Besa (12:03):
But look, how is that?
When he smells water, he runsto the water because he needs
the water to survive.
But it's different because whenhe for a to survive, but it's
different because for a longtime without water his smell is
really forte, strong, strong.
(12:27):
So the other animals can smellhim.
So he needs to drink water.
And when he finds waterdifferent of the other animals,
he doesn't drink water like them.
He goes inside the water and hetakes a shower and he drinks
(12:50):
water.
And when he does it it doesn'tLike he changes his smell and
he's not thirsty anymore.
So I start to do the sameprayers.
I start to pray like that heyGod, make me smell water, make
me find waters?
Where should I dig the wells ofwater?
(13:12):
Wells of water, you know, and Iremember jesus saying in john 4
14 I'm this.
Springs of water well into theeternal life.
Collin (13:24):
And I said that's our name, you know well, which is so
great, because I mean, becauseI like it's it's very easy to
draw that line between the nameand what you guys are trying to
do, right?
Because, again, like you say,it's not just the benefit, is
I'm not just giving this amountof money, and so this amount of
money is what this organizationis going to be able to use.
(13:45):
But I'm putting this money, I'minvesting this money, not for
myself, but for somebody else,to watch it grow, to become a
well to become a spring.
That's beautiful.
It's beautiful and it sums upthe heart behind your
organization, who you guys areand what you're trying to do.
So tell me a little bit aboutwhat are the challenges that you
(14:06):
guys are experiencing?
I mean even being the firstendowment in Brazil, but just
even with this model, what aresome of the big challenges that
you guys are facing?
What problems are you having tosolve right now?
Evandro Besa (14:14):
are some of the big challenges that you guys are
facing.
What problems are you having tosolve right now?
Yeah, you know, for good andfor bad, like we are the first,
and as we are the first, uh, weneed to help people to
understand what an endowment is.
Uh, for example, the law thatauthorizes endowments to
(14:36):
function or to work in Brazil isfrom 2019.
Before 2019,.
Collin (14:41):
this was, it was not possible.
Evandro Besa (14:44):
Wow, it was not possible, but endowments exist
in the world.
For a long time, some peopleused to say that it was Platão
or Plato.
Plato, oh, plato.
Heredes (14:56):
I'm sorry.
Or Plato, plato, plato, ohPlato, I'm sorry.
Outro (14:58):
Plato, I knew that.
Yeah, like your kids play with.
Collin (15:02):
I thought it was my Greek counterpart.
Heredes (15:04):
Plato Herodias Socrates no.
Collin (15:06):
Yeah, you're close.
You're close.
It's like you know Plato Hright there, but way back from
ancient Greece and.
Plato.
Evandro Besa (15:16):
But in Brazil, 2019.
So it's not part of our cultureto donate, or at least not to
donate like this.
Of course, our church andpeople participate in our church
in many different ways, but notas a fund.
You know, raising fund to makethe kingdom of God moves in a
(15:40):
different way, so the idea ispretty new.
So many times we need toeducate people, we need to make
them understand that thereexists another way to make
kingdom moves.
It's a new kind of why not tosay technology, as Fontaine
(16:01):
d'Alme has a lot of technologyin our website to receive
donations through credit card,PIX, debit card and things like
that.
Innovation, right.
Heredes (16:12):
Innovation In this space.
Evandro Besa (16:13):
Yes, yes, and I think it is a really good thing
when we talk with people, withmissionaries, because Fount
Endowment is a Christianendowment, so our idea is to
fund Christian projects.
But when we talk with them,they are doing amazing things,
(16:37):
but by the same time, all ofthem have the same problem, and
the problem is funds, money.
So we realized that we don'tneed to create a different
program, a different project.
We need to create something tofund them, to give them money, a
(16:57):
solution because they theyalready was called.
called by god, like uh, the mostimportant thing for someone who
decides to do something to godand with god is to be sure that
he's calling him to do it,because if you are 100%
(17:19):
convinced that you are doingsomething because God called you
, you do with or without money.
So Fonte Endowment doesn'texist to create programs.
Fonte Endowment exists tofunding programs that God called
people to do.
So your job is to run theprogram.
(17:41):
My job is to funding you, is togive you money, is to unite you
to the source of water that youneed to make it run.
Heredes (17:57):
Evandro, I know I love the obviously the
entrepreneurial background andspirit that you have, that God's
given you and the team, BecauseEvandro's been so humble in our
time together meeting andbreaking bread here.
But tell me a little bit aboutthe team that God's put together
for Fonji.
Because it's impressive.
I mean by all standards, butthe mentality that comes with
that.
I love it.
Because it's pretty, it'simpressive, I mean by all
standards, but the mentalitythat comes with that.
I love it.
Because it's maximizing thefinances, it's creating a system
(18:20):
that it's reproducible,scalable you know, sustainable,
but tell me about the team andtell me how that came together.
Evandro Besa (18:25):
Yeah, well, uh like, when I talk about Fonji, I
always need to use a word a lotof times, and the word is
miracle, love.
That Because, for example, thepeople that we have with us in
our team, I would not be able toput together.
(18:50):
God put it together.
The first guy that I talkedwith was Paulo Oliveira.
Paulo Oliveira is the formervice president from Brazilian
Stock Exchange, so he's a reallybig guy.
Collin (19:07):
He knows a thing or two about growing money.
Evandro Besa (19:09):
He knows a lot about growing money and nowadays
he's the president of the newstock exchange in Brazil that he
created.
It's his idea.
It's a blockchain stockexchange.
It's something really new forour reality in Brazil.
So he's a really good guy andbig guy and God said that he
(19:35):
should be with us in thisproject.
Love it.
We have, for example, antônioCabreira.
Antônio Cabreira is a formerBrazilian agriculture minister.
Heredes (19:52):
Agriculture.
Evandro Besa (19:53):
Agriculture.
Thank you, absolutely.
Heredes (19:54):
Thank you.
You said Greek.
I thought I said Greek.
No agriculture, yeah, ministerof Agriculture Brazil you are my
Google translator.
I'm with you, man.
Thank you very much.
It's for Colin.
Mostly I'm trying.
Evandro Besa (20:04):
I appreciate it it's a good bridge between us.
Collin (20:08):
Yes, I'll Pix you later.
Yeah, pix me.
Heredes (20:12):
Pix, by the way, is the Brazilian Zelle slash Venmo
slash.
So this podcast is notsponsored by Pix, but feel free
to Pix us.
Evandro Besa (20:21):
Yeah, we should talk with Central Bank, our
Central Bank in Brazil.
Outro (20:27):
Exactly exactly.
Evandro Besa (20:28):
But we have, like, antonio Cabreira is in charge
of Cabreira Groups too.
I think maybe he is the biggestsoy exporter from Brazil.
Soy, yeah, really.
Outro (20:43):
Yeah.
Evandro Besa (20:43):
That's incredible.
He has farmers in more than 10states in Brazil Amazing.
And he has such a goodreputation for a guy big as he
is.
Can you realize as it isdifficult to have a reputation?
Heredes (21:05):
amount of character, integrity in the space so.
Outro (21:07):
I invited them.
Evandro Besa (21:08):
I invited him to be with us, and he said yes too.
We have Hugo de Alonso too, whois a very good friend of mine.
Heredes (21:17):
I'm going to quiz you on all these names, by the way,
in a second they're locked inhere.
Evandro Besa (21:24):
I have to go he's the president of Brasil Startups
.
I have to go my wife's calling.
He's the president of BrasilStartups and he managed a fund,
a multimillionaire fund to buyand sell startups through Brazil
(21:46):
.
We have Donglei Martins.
Donglei has a fund to buy andsell startups a private fund.
Collin (21:56):
Tiago Aguiar, it's not just like your little brothers
and cousins.
There's some power behind whatwe got.
Evandro Besa (22:05):
I am the smallest one, for sure.
Heredes (22:08):
No man, when I was reading about and visiting the
side and hearing from you knowour producer friend Gustavo,
talking to me about just it wasan incredible cast of you know
godly men, influential men inthe country, and to come
together for a cause like thisit got me excited to see it
develop and it grow.
So it's like, dude, let's talkto them, let's echo your voice
(22:29):
in the US to our listeners andtell me this, because then
here's a misconception withendowment.
I think even in the US,worldwide, when you hear
endowment you think millions andbillions.
I'm not a millionaire.
Outro (22:41):
I'm not a billionaire.
Heredes (22:42):
So that's not for me.
Evandro Besa (22:43):
Yeah.
Heredes (22:44):
Let's talk about that.
Evandro Besa (22:45):
Is that true?
Yes, we are facing this rightnow in Brazil.
Many times, when we start totalk about endowments, people
say, ah, it's not for me, it'sfor wealthy people or for rich
people, and I and I used to say,no, it's for you, it's for
common people like you and me,you and myself, like, and we
(23:17):
think like nowadays, our goalfor 2024 is to have 2,000 people
donating 100 reais per month intheir credit card.
And like, why it's not a bigthing.
In our idea, it's not to be abig thing, it's to be something
that you feel comfortable whenyou see in your credit card.
Collin (23:32):
So just for comparison, what would that amount to here?
Heredes (23:36):
Reais is the Brazilian currency, so 200 reais would be
equal to $40?
.
Evandro Besa (23:42):
I think 100 reais would be, $20.
Collin (23:45):
$20.
$20.
So you'd be like hey, put $20 amonth.
Evandro Besa (23:50):
Yes yes, in your credit card.
Heredes (23:53):
And reoccurring, which is an important piece of the
sustainability piece right.
Evandro Besa (23:58):
Because if we need to come back to the same person
every month and say, hey, doyou want to give again?
We are not able to grow.
Month and say, hey, do you wantto give again?
We are not able to grow.
So we have the same job everymonth to come back, the same
work, to come back and askpeople to donate again.
So our goal is to have 2,000people donating 100 reais per
(24:21):
month in their credit cardbecause we can grow fast car,
because we can grow fast in this.
But if we have this, we'll have200,000 reais per month.
After one year it will be morethan 2 million reais.
So in two years it will bealmost 5 million reais, and
(24:43):
that's why two years is ourbreak-even.
Collin (24:46):
It's when we'll have a good amount of money to be able
to support many projects now isis all of the growth going out
or is some of that growth alsobeing put back in to continue to
grow?
How do you guys this?
Evandro Besa (25:05):
is a very good question.
Many people ask me this now.
The same question nowadays now,uh, for example, right now, all
money that we need to make thefund work, to make fonti work,
paulo oliveira and cabrera aredonating.
So if you donate for Fonteright now, your money will go
(25:34):
directly to what Fonte issupposed to do, like it will not
pay salaries, it will not payadministrative costs, it will go
in this direction.
Heredes (25:42):
So you're fully funded for operational costs allowing
the resources to multiplyinstantly.
Evandro Besa (25:47):
Of course, at some point in the future, after our
break, if the idea is to paysalaries and administrative
costs, but right now, no, weseparate things really well
right now.
Love that.
Heredes (26:01):
Yeah, very cool.
Tell me about the investmentstrategies If you can break down
what the conversation has beenlike.
Are we looking at stock market?
Are we looking at crypto?
Are we looking how are youmaximizing that money?
Is there some transparencythere?
Is there?
What's the strategy there?
Evandro Besa (26:15):
we need to be very careful about this because, uh,
by the same time that we wantto make the money, growth, grow
and grow fast we need to balancerisk.
So I'm not in charge of thispart.
Paulo Oliveira is in charge.
Heredes (26:33):
Makes sense.
Evandro Besa (26:36):
He's in charge of this part because we need to
find the balance between riskand growth, and many times we
grow faster if you take morerisk.
But in our case, we need tofind a really good balance
between this.
So this is expertise that Idon't have, but thank you God,
(27:01):
we have people in our fund thatmade it for their entire lives
and they are doing this rightnow with us.
Heredes (27:10):
Love that.
Collin (27:10):
So, in other words, there's lots of different ways
that you guys are takingadvantage of to be able to
invest and see this money grow.
And you guys are taking a moreconservative approach a little
bit of safer approach that willstill allow you to grow but also
is not going to.
You know, it's a big deal tolose money that people have
donated.
A little bit safer approachthat will still allow you to
grow, but also is not going toyou know, yeah, it's a big deal
to lose money that people havedonated.
Evandro Besa (27:30):
It is Wow, it's a big responsibility.
It's a big responsibility Likeyou are managing other people's
money.
They give to you, but, likeendowments in Brazil are, too
like the law, it's.
Heredes (27:46):
we Brazilians are really good in making lots you
know which, by the way you're,you're gonna turn your lawyer by
the way too right?
Outro (27:53):
no, there's like not a title that he doesn't have.
Evandro Besa (27:55):
Yeah, so just no, but uh, we know how to to make
things difficult when we want,you know for example for example
, if we that's an understatementBrazil, Brazil in a summary
Brazil.
Heredes (28:09):
We can make it tough, For example, if we have one
million and we are supposed togrow.
Evandro Besa (28:16):
But if we take risk and we reduce the money for
example, one million turns900,000, for the next year we
cannot donate the money.
We need to wait until we haveagain 1 million, because we are
(28:38):
just able to donate the growthwe are not able to donate.
So if we take risk and themoney reduce, we are not able to
make any donation for the nextyear.
Wow.
So we need to wait and see theresults again so we can be able
to donate again.
(28:59):
So we are getting that's a bigdeal.
Yes, yes, yes, and it's a safetyfor people who are donating for
the endowments too.
I think it makes all sense, youknow.
Heredes (29:13):
It does.
What sparked this, evandro?
Because you know we talkedmarketplace leader, pastor,
lawyer, what God's done in yourjourney.
What inspired you to startFonchi?
And, just going back, how didthe vision for the fund evolve?
Evandro Besa (29:33):
Man, this is my passion.
I have been praying for myministry the last four years,
since I did a really goodmovement in my ministry career
or professional career.
In my case, both are the same,you know, and I'm not a patient
(29:56):
guy.
I don't know if I look like,but I'm not We'll ask your wife.
Heredes (30:00):
Yeah, she'll confirm.
Evandro Besa (30:05):
So in the last four years I was involved in
three different ministries andvery exciting in the beginning,
but started excited and finishednot so excited.
Why?
Because I realized really soonthat it was not for me and it
was really good ministries, forexample, tela, business and
(30:28):
Mission.
This program works withbusiness guys from all around
Brazil and nowadays we are in 16different states in Brazil.
I'm not the founder, but I helpto founder.
The idea is not mine, but I amto founder.
The idea is not mine but I amone of the founders and it's
(30:52):
such amazing program.
But but it's frustrating when Irealize, okay, it's not for me,
it's for someone else.
But things change when I read abook called Draw the Circle.
It's from a pastor here in theUnited States.
I think his name is Mark.
Outro (31:13):
Batterson yeah, man this book yeah.
Evandro Besa (31:19):
Like it changed my prayer life, love it.
And I changed my prayersbecause I started to pray saying
, hey, god, what are you doingthat?
I can be part of it.
Like it's different, you know,like it was a small difference,
(31:40):
but make made all difference inmy praise and uh, as soon as as
I started to pray in thisdirection.
One day I was running literallyin a gym and the idea came in my
mind endowmentowment.
And I said, whoa, this is anamazing idea.
(32:01):
I thought by myself God, what abig idea.
And I started to think aboutendowments from all perspectives
.
It seems to be a good idea.
But I came back to the Lord andsaid it's very good, but it's
not for me.
Send another person.
Do you know someone in theBible?
Heredes (32:23):
who did the same Almost all of them right.
Evandro Besa (32:26):
You're about to get thrown off a boat, I think.
But it's the same.
Like God is so good, but it'snot my size and I started.
I don't know if I started toremember or if the Holy Spirit
made me remember.
Kept nudging you.
Yeah, like things, basic thingsthat I learned from Chick-fil-A,
(32:49):
from LifeShape, for example,saying that God's vision is
God's size, you know.
And I said, oh sorry, you know.
And I said, okay.
So I decided I fight with Godfor some months until I felt I
should put my feet on the waterand, for my surprise, as soon as
(33:14):
I put my feet on the water, Isaw the water was cut off.
So well, it was different,because in the other projects,
in the other programs, I startedwith 100% excitation.
In this case, 0% of excitation.
But as soon as I walk and assoon as I see God doing things,
(33:45):
as soon as I see miracles, howmy excitation cannot grow you
know Excitement, excitementThank you.
Heredes (33:53):
Yeah.
Outro (33:54):
I'll just make sure the other word works too, but
excitement.
Evandro Besa (33:56):
My translator, thank you.
Heredes (33:58):
Because in the past the excitement level, the buy-in
from people was high.
Outro (34:02):
This one was grassroots, you and God.
And what are you talking?
Heredes (34:06):
about and just seeing God move was the difference.
It's walking by faith.
Love that, 100% Love that.
Well, tell us this, evander,for me even hearing your heart
earlier, right now, how cansomebody get involved If an
organization and say I want totalk to them, we can use some of
the strategy and the funding,or we have some resources, I
(34:29):
like to see my money do more, domore for good things.
How can somebody?
Evandro Besa (34:32):
Like man.
Do you know how difficult it isto talk about Jesus for someone
?
How difficult it is to talkabout Jesus for someone, but do
you know, after that, makesomeone put their hand in their
pockets and give money?
It's the second step.
Outro (34:49):
It's the most difficult.
Evandro Besa (34:54):
So we are in the job of the second step.
Many people that know Jesusdon't give a heart to give yet
Like they convert.
Is it right?
Heredes (35:05):
Yeah.
Outro (35:05):
They are hearts but they didn't convert their finances or
their wallets.
Collin (35:10):
yet so font endowment.
You are speaking the languageof every pastor in America right
now.
Heredes (35:17):
Just got amens all across the listeners.
Evandro Besa (35:20):
They are praying for you even harder now.
So this is part of our job inBrazil with Fonche Endowment.
But I can share with you manymiracles, for example, when I
talked with Paulo Oliveira firsttime and I said, hey, paulo
Oliveiraira, I have a reallygood idea here, and it was one
(35:42):
side that I asked god to see ifit was yeah through him if to
see if it is a good idea or avandro idea.
You know, because I don't wantevandro's idea.
Man, I'm tired about Evandro'sidea.
I don't believe in Evandro, youknow.
I believe in God, you getexcited again.
So I went to Paulo Oliveirabecause I thought he understands
(36:07):
about investments and he's apastor too, so he'll be able he
has authority to tell me.
Evandro, you are crazy.
Should you go to a place andrest a little bit, you know so
when I went to paul edivere andshare with him, uh, the idea, he
told me this is a good idea andI said how good is it?
(36:29):
Are you able, or do you want,to put money in this idea?
Collin (36:34):
how good is it really?
Evandro Besa (36:35):
yeah, because there is a put a dollar amount
here, yeah there is a bigdifference between like uh, uh,
I think this is a good idea.
Oh, this is such a good ideathat I will put money in this
idea in palo verde.
Yes, I can put money.
How much money do you?
are you thinking about it.
And I said, okay, this is theteam, the time for our second
(36:58):
conversation.
And he said, yeah, you are agood guy, smart man, yeah, so
like why I'm saying that Fonchiis a miracle Because, like, I
don't know here in the UnitedStates, but in Brazil I don't
see people giving money likethis, you know.
And Paulo Lever said I'll putmoney.
(37:20):
And when I was talking withCabreira, antônio Cabreira, I
was like just inviting him tocome to the fund because of his
reputation and because I knowhis heart.
But he said, after my pitch, mydeck pitch for him, he said I
(37:41):
want to be with you and what'smy part, what's my financial
contribution for this fund?
And I said, no, I didn't thinkabout it with you.
And he said, no, I will put thesame amount of money that Paulo
Oliveira did.
And I said, well, man, man.
Heredes (37:58):
You got the first match .
Evandro Besa (37:59):
Yeah, like they are sharp guys, they, they are
shark guys too sharp and short.
They don't give money like this, you know, and so yeah, this is
a this is the kind of miraclesthat we are living right now.
For example, nowadays, FonteEndalma, our office is in the
(38:25):
most expensive, maybe the mostexpensive office address in
Brasilia.
Really, yeah, for free.
We are there for free, Like wedon't pay for the coffee that we
drink or to use their fancymeeting room.
Heredes (38:41):
Are you in the president's house?
Evandro Besa (38:42):
No, we are close to them, the Brazilian White
House.
We are really close to them.
I thought that was the mostexpensive.
Heredes (38:52):
That's amazing, though.
That's amazing, and I thinkit's just a testament man, what
God's doing through you, yourheart, your character,
reputation over the years.
I think God's just testamentman.
I do what God's doing throughyou, your heart, your character,
reputation over the years.
I think God's prepared you.
I think that's the God-sizedidea.
So to put these people aroundyou, it's exciting.
It's exciting to hear it's mybirth country, so I was born
there.
It's exciting to see God movein the Brazilian people and the
(39:13):
generosity sparking that and thegiving.
I'm excited.
What's to come?
Tell us FonchiEndowmentcom.
We'll place some links here.
Is that the best place for themto see more, do more?
Evandro Besa (39:25):
and connect.
We have an Instagram profiletoo Fonchi Endowment and Fonchi,
in this case, is font without Eand endowment Sweet All
together together for both ourwebsite and our Instagram
profile.
Even in LinkedIn you can find ustoo over there and you have
(39:51):
many different informations andyou can get in touch with us,
send us a direct or a mail.
And you can get in touch withus, send us a direct, uh, direct
or a mail.
We are here like to to showthat we are thinking in
different things in Brazil, indifferent strategies in Brazil,
(40:13):
to make, uh, god, kingdoms ofGod, moves.
You know.
Heredes (40:17):
I love it, Colin.
Any final questions Before wedismiss and you do some final
Portuguese.
Collin (40:24):
No, I'm still trying to wrap my head around some of the
Portuguese I've already learnedand that you've forced upon me.
No, it's incredible.
It's amazing what you guys aredoing.
Like H mentioned, we'll linksome stuff You'll be able to
find some resources if this issomething you want to look into.
But, man, thanks so much.
Heredes (40:45):
Any final words to family?
I know you got two incrediblekiddos, sons, that you
homeschooled as well.
We had a connection or aclassical conversation earlier
that we both share, in which, bythe way fun fact he helped
expand and grow ClassicalConversations, homeschool
curriculum in Brazil.
That's for another episode,another day, but thank you for
doing that too.
Anything, any final words, anyshout outs?
Evandro Besa (41:06):
Once again, guys, thank you very much for this
time, for this opportunity.
It's such a unique time withyou and I think your audience is
a really high qualifiedaudience Many of them I know
that they have a heart forBrazil.
(41:27):
I'm here, I'm able to talk withthem and to give more
information about Fontes.
Thank you once again for thisspace that you opened for us.
Heredes (41:37):
Our pleasure, it's our heart to help organizations go
further, go faster, grow faster,grow faster.
And I love opportunities likethis because it really aligns
and, if you're listening, god'snudging your heart.
God said something, didsomething today to you.
What an incredible way,innovative way to make your
funds go further, grow faster.
(41:57):
And that's what Fonchi is allabout.
And, evandro, thank you onceagain.
Thank you, my friend Colin.
You want to say bye to our gang.
Collin (42:04):
Yes, sir, to our listeners.
Thank you so much for listeningweek in, week out.
We will be right back here nexttime.
We practiced this, colin Waitwhat?
In Portuguese?
It's ciao.
Heredes (42:14):
We didn't practice that .
Ciao, is that ciao?
Ciao.
That's how you say bye inPortuguese, isn't it?
I put it in the notes, it'sisn't that Italian too, isn't?
It Ciao, falou Ciao.
Evandro Besa (42:23):
Yeah, how would you say bye Falou.
Heredes (42:24):
Ciao.
Collin (42:25):
Falou, ciao Falou.
Evandro Besa (42:26):
Falou, falou, see you.
Collin (42:28):
Falou Ciao.
Evandro Besa (42:29):
Bro do.
Collin (42:30):
Do bro To all of our katas out there To all of our
bros.
Heredes (42:32):
No, when you say it like that, it's offensive.
Oh sorry, thanks for listeningguys.
Till next time, till next time,bye-bye.
Outro (42:47):
Thanks again for listening to the Nonprofit
Renaissance.
We hope it ignites arenaissance in you and helps you
go further and grow faster.
Be sure to share, rate andsubscribe, and if you'd like to
recommend or be a guest on ourshow, send us an email at
podcastatversecreativecom.
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