October 13, 2024 • 47 mins
How can innovation and technology make philanthropy more impactful? Join us as we chat with Brandolon Barnett, a dynamic leader who is reshaping how we think about philanthropy and impact. From his beginnings as a tech-enthusiast child to becoming the Head of Innovation & Philanthropy at Giving Compass and the Founder and CEO of the Regular App, Brandolon’s story is one of passion and innovation. Learn about groundbreaking tools like generative AI that are making philanthropy more effective and accessible, and discover the AI philanthropic advisor from Giving Compass that can transform how you engage with charitable causes.
We also explore the essence of being deliberate about philanthropy and long-term thinking in shaping a better world. Brandolon provides practical advice on participating in giving circles and highlights the significance of consistency in community events for fostering lasting relationships. Reflecting on his own journey, Brandolon emphasizes the importance of meaningful work and fair wages in the nonprofit sector, envisioning a future where social impact is seamlessly integrated into our daily lives. This episode is packed with valuable lessons and inspiring stories that will leave you motivated to make a difference.
Learn more about The Regular: https://theregularapp.com/
Learn more about The Giving Compass: https://givingcompass.org/
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Episode Transcript
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Intro (00:06):
You're listening to.
There's a Lesson in here,Somewhere, a podcast featuring
compelling conversations withexceptional people.
Whether it's an inspirationalachievement, a hardship overcome
or simply a unique perspective,these are stories we can all
learn from.
Here are your hosts, JamieSerino and Carlos Arcila.
Jamie Serino (00:30):
Hello and welcome to.
There's a Lesson in hereSomewhere.
I'm Jamie Serino and I'm heretoday with Brandolon Barnett,
author, head of innovation andphilanthropy with Giving Compass
and the founder and CEO of theRegular App.
Today we're going to talk aboutinnovation in the social impact
space and it'll be a prettybroad conversation that I'm
(00:52):
really looking forward to.
I've known Brandilyn for yearsand we've gone to the same
conferences and we've interactedat the different companies that
we've been at and I've alwayshad an appreciation for his
entrepreneurship and his way ofthinking and his dedication to
philanthropy, and I always sharethis story.
It's kind of funny.
(01:12):
So we were at one conferencetalking about how amazing
another conference was.
And you go to these conferencesand you do get moved, you know,
and you're like, oh, I'm goingto do better, I'm going to do
better, I'm going to do things.
And you know, for me maybe itmeans, okay, you know, I'll
rinse the yogurt cup and I'llrecycle it, you know.
And for Brandilyn it's like,well, I'm going to launch a
(01:34):
company, you know.
So he thinks at a large scale,he does, he puts words to action
and I've always appreciatedthat.
So, brandilyn, welcome andthank you for joining us.
Thank you.
It's a pleasure to be here.
So, Brandilyn, could you give usjust a more complete
introduction?
There's so much about whatyou've done and what you're
(01:56):
doing that I think we could allbenefit from a more complete
introduction.
Brandolon Barnett (02:02):
Yeah, more complete introduction.
Yeah, I do a lot and that isbecause, you know, from a very
young age I was a huge nerd.
That's kind of where I alwaysstart my story.
I loved watching Star Trek,jean-luc Picard and Babylon 5,
and thinking about future worlds.
(02:22):
But at the same time, I grew upwith a single mother in Dallas,
texas, and we struggled a lotand I would at a very early age,
just find myself a little bitconfused as to how we all kind
of looked up to and admiredthese future worlds.
But I'd see my mother crying,you know, because she couldn't
make the rent.
(02:42):
Or I'd see people strugglingjust to get an education, just
to get an opportunity to learn,and that juxtaposition is
something that just really stoodout to me and I wanted to do
work that helped us move towardsthose kinds of worlds that I
love, and it led me on a littlebit of a strange path, where
(03:05):
I've worked in the technologyspace as well as the
philanthropy space.
I was a research manager at theCouncil on Foundations.
I ran a donor advised fundplatform that was funded by the
Gates Foundation, where we wereone of the first to bring the
cost of a donor advised funddown from hundreds or thousands
of dollars to just a dollar,which later the customers of
(03:26):
that ended up being a lot ofgiving circles, and that rolled
over into the grapevine platformthat's been built, and I was at
Salesforceorg for quite a whileas director of product and
product strategy for SalesforcePhilanthropy Cloud, chief
product officer for a couple ofdifferent startups, series A
companies, and all of it, though, for me, is really just about
(03:49):
finding innovative ways to moveresources to people who move
them, who need them.
Rather, so that we can create abetter future.
I just can't stop myself fromthinking about a future that
looks better than today.
And what does that look likeand how?
(04:10):
do we get there in a way thattakes into consideration all of
the different, diverse voicesthat will live in that future.
And so you know, my backgroundreally is all about trying to
accomplish that core mission,and I've tried more over the
years, especially over the pastfew years with the release of my
book Dreams Deferred to tellthat story particularly to
different audiences like peopleof color, who don't know what
philanthropy is, they don't knowwhat social impact technologies
(04:32):
are, they don't know whatimpact investing is and the fact
that there are these amazingcareers and opportunities to not
only build a life for yourselfbut make an impact in the world.
And so that's really what I'mall about yep, there's a lot
there um.
Time management is a problem forme, but um, so maybe we could
(04:55):
start with that.
Jamie Serino (04:56):
You know what you called like a dichotomy and, um,
you know, we have likefuturistic societies, right, but
we have our present society.
And you know when you talkabout, you know the United
States and really around theworld.
But you know, if a country likethe United States is so wealthy
, then why are there so manypeople struggling?
And you know, I wonder if youcould talk a little bit more
(05:17):
about that and about how, whatyou see there and how you feel
like we can change that.
Brandolon Barnett (05:23):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, I actually feel a lot of
hope in sort of the aggregate iswhat I say.
I feel macro hope and a lot ofmicro sadness sometimes about
the state of the world at a sortof macro level, we've got these
really incredible technologieslike generative AI that actually
(05:47):
can, I think, simplifyworkflows, make it easier to
find information that can helpyou engage with the world or
understand it better.
For example, at Giving Compass,we're using generative AI, as
well as a lot of traditionaldata and data sets on small
nonprofits, to build an AIphilanthropic advisor where, if
you go to givingcompassorg today, you can search for charities,
(06:09):
for articles about causes, forfunds, all in one place, just by
saying I want to supportorganizations you know looking
after women and girls, stemeducation in a specific city,
without having to know the EINor the name of the charity.
And so, at a macro level, Ifeel a lot of hope about what we
(06:30):
can achieve.
But at a micro level, it isvery clear, with the level of
sort of fragmentation, that alot of people are feeling left
behind, and I think that's oneof the key issues that we have
to address and you know I canonly speak to the realms in
which I've tried to address thatwhich have there been three,
(06:51):
you know.
One is I was an elected officialhere in DC for a number of
years what's called an advisoryneighborhood commissioner, if DC
were a state which it should beshout out for DC statehood,
then it would be something likethe house of representatives
representing about 2200 of myneighbors in the columbia
heights neighborhood and it'samazing to think about.
(07:12):
You know, I've been at placeslike salesforce we.
We have millions of users andcustomers right and we're able
to dynamically gather theirfeedback and understand them and
connect with them every singleday.
But when I took my elected role, there was no email list of
people to reach out to.
There was no one from the cityactually gave me an orientation
(07:34):
hey, this is welcome to citygovernment, this is your role.
And so, on the macro level, Iwas able to stand up some tools
to gather neighbor feedback insome new and innovative ways,
but at the micro level, therewas no system or infrastructure
set up to actually help peopleconnect.
And so the same if you look atbeing a small business.
(07:55):
So I own a startup here in DC.
We operate in five cities Now.
We do karaoke nights and trivianights and we try to infuse
social impact and giving backinto those experiences.
Working with you know at thispoint, almost 50 venues, bars,
restaurants all over the country.
And while the technology isgreat and the corporate
responsibility movement has beenthis transformative movement
(08:18):
right, we're still having to, ata micro level, go to a bar
owner and say you can do morethan donating a portion of
proceeds once every six months.
And if you think aboutphilanthropy at the macro level,
there's all of this wealth andmoney and all of this individual
giving that people are capableof.
But at a micro level people arefeeling.
(08:40):
If you look at USA Today andother studies, they are feeling
less trust in institutions ofall kinds, including nonprofits,
including philanthropy.
You look at the picture ofwho's making decisions in
philanthropy and where the moneygoes.
It's not a very inclusivepicture.
That's why you've had movementslike collaborative grant making
or participatory grant making,and so at the micro level, where
(09:01):
you know innovation connects topeople, I think that's where
I'm seeing a disconnect, wherethere's all these amazing
technologies and tools that giveme a lot of hope for what we
can build.
I mean, there are things thatwe're in watching a character
like Geordi or Data on Star Trek, the Next Generation.
There are things that they'redoing talking to their computer
or interacting or gathering datathat we can do today talking to
(09:25):
their computer or interactingor gathering data that we can do
today but at a personal levelwe have not decided, I guess, to
build a society with empathy,to sort of prioritize that, and
we have not had leadership thatset out a sort of collective
vision for the future that wecan all connect with as human
beings.
And I think you know that's ahuge challenge that I see just
(09:47):
sort of in thinking about how wemake a better world.
Jamie Serino (09:50):
Yeah, well, you touched upon a few things there,
and one thing that I thinkabout a lot is the.
You know, the fragmentation of,you know, like the media
landscape, let's say, and so youknow it's sounding like it just
becomes more difficult to sortof reach people in a way.
In some ways it's easierbecause everyone can be a
(10:10):
publisher, right, yeah, but insome ways it's, you know,
everyone can be their own sortof media channel, but in some
ways it's more difficult becauseyou know there's not this sort
of like bullhorn effect anymore,right, and so how do you
connect with the individuals andand?
And there's not this sort ofmass communication or like you
were saying, you know you gothired for the or you, you, you,
(10:33):
you were elected to this roleand it was no sort of blueprint
for it, um, and no way to reachpeople.
That was an immediate need thatyou saw, um, so what if you
could talk a little bit aboutthat?
And you know you mentionedgiving compass is maybe a way
where people can sort ofself-direct or, you know, help
themselves to that, and howwould they know about that?
(10:53):
And I'm asking, like so manyquestions in one question, like
wrapping everything up and youhad said something you know
about people of color, like notrealizing about philanthropy and
even just that they can beinvolved with it.
You know so much there, so Iwonder if you could talk a
little bit more about that.
Brandolon Barnett (11:10):
Yeah, it's not just people of color, it's
people in rural communities notunderstanding a lot of these
social impact systems that arenow pretty integral to how our
society functions.
I mean, when we think about thebillions of dollars that move
to charity integral to how oursociety functions I mean when we
think about the billions ofdollars that move to charity,
there are whole institutions,systems of companies and
technology platforms thatactually move that money and get
(11:33):
it from you as a donor to thatcharity, and so there's a whole
set of institutions and a wholeecosystem that I think we need
to do a better job as a whole inthe social impact space of
helping people to understand,which is why moments like this,
opportunities like this, I value.
But I think you know, just sortof taking a step back, where I
(11:56):
would say the opportunity liesfor a lot of this work is really
in democratization.
It's in making people aware,but also involving them in the
process.
And it's sort of a meta point,right, and I'm not a political
(12:17):
scientist, right, but it almoststrikes me as, with all the new
technologies and inputs we have,there is a need for us to
democratize who inputs onbuilding those tools, what they
look like make sure that peopleare educated and understand how
they're built, how they work,the biases that are inherent in
(12:38):
them.
So, for example, one of thethings you mentioned, giving
Compass.
So, giving Compass, we've builtthis AI-assisted search that
also uses a lot of traditionalsearch.
So imagine an AI that you askthe question I'm interested in
supporting a specific cause, orI want to find articles on X, y,
z topics in philanthropy.
That AI is then calling atraditional search.
(12:59):
It's determining, sort of whatyou're asking, what you're
talking about, and then it'scalling and interacting with
traditional search.
So when we think about a toollike that, that's really
valuable because we have acurated data set of nonprofits,
organizations that we've vetted,information, articles that
we've curated and that can betrusted.
But if you just ask a chat GPT,which we actually did this
(13:21):
experiment if you ask a generalAI system, kind of where should
I give?
It's going to say DoctorsWithout Borders, save the
Children, because those are theorganizations that have the most
data represented, right?
Yeah, even though they do goodwork, the system itself isn't
democratized.
A lot of the smaller nonprofitorganizations or causes are not
rising to the fore when peoplesearch, and so that's one of the
(13:42):
core problems that we're tryingto solve with our donor
education tools, but I think itis a microcosm of the sort of
larger need that we have insociety to really think about
democratizing innovation,bringing in a variety of voices
as we build tools and productsand as we deploy them, making
sure that the data sets thatwe're using, that the
(14:03):
information we're offering, isaccurate.
Until we do that, we're goingto sort of be caught in a
situation where there will, Ithink, be declining trust.
And that gets me to anotherpoint of this.
When I think of innovation, Ithink it's kind of unfortunate
that the term innovation haskind of been hijacked by Silicon
Valley, because yes innovationis tender and it's swiping right
(14:28):
.
right.
It's dating apps, it's allsorts of applications, but it's
also just new ways of thinkingof solving problems.
but how to solve problems in oursociety of the challenges we
face, that's going to involvesome technology, but it's not
dependent on that is aroundthird spaces and community and
(14:50):
how we connect with each otherand the world around us, and so
I think there and that's one ofthe things that we do with the
regular we're trying to reallyinnovate in how people find and
engage not just with events butcommunity, and I think that
there's a lot of space in oursociety for us to think about
social innovation as seriouslyas we think about sort of
(15:10):
technology innovation to drive,you know, SAS revenue or
whatever sort of vertical youmight be thinking of.
Jamie Serino (15:16):
Yeah.
Brandolon Barnett (15:18):
So I'm not sure if I really like that.
I think about the broad.
Jamie Serino (15:21):
Yeah, yeah, it's, yeah, it's, it's all good.
Um, I really like that and that.
That is true.
Like everyone thinks innovationand a lot of people's minds go
to technology, but there'sinnovation and process or just
in the ways that we do things,like everything you're talking
about, and a person in you know,let's say, the impact space or
the social impact space, canfeel like they're being
(15:41):
innovative just by trying newthings.
And they should feel like theyshould try new things.
And I like what you were talkingabout there with the Giving
Compass and just in general,because when you mention, like
these bigger nonprofits whichare wonderful Doctors Without
Borders and Red Cross andeverything, they're doing
wonderful things but they, in away, they've sort of been vetted
(16:05):
by someone else, right, andlike not by, let's say, not by
me, not by you, right, and sothen there comes the trust.
And then if those nonprofitsstumble and everyone's allowed
to make mistakes or whatever,but all of a sudden if there's a
loss of trust there, then Imight stop giving to them or I
(16:28):
might question, like why would Ijust give to them?
Like what are my other options?
And that's what I really like,what you're talking about there,
and which one would I believein and which one do I want to
support?
And you can actually maybe feellike you're being even more
meaningful by helping to prop upa smaller organization with
your donation or with your time.
(16:49):
So I really like that and I canappreciate that.
Now you know, as you mentioned,sort of getting people together
in third spaces and stuff.
Then, of course, my mind goesto now we're post COVID, but you
know everyone's at home ontheir phones and no one you know
(17:10):
.
You hear I want to interact,but you hear about people not
wanting to interact, and so howdo you get people up off the
couch and how do you get theminto you know, these, I guess,
third spaces that you're talkingabout?
Brandolon Barnett (17:25):
Yeah, I think the one of the keys we've
discovered in the regular isconsistency.
So knowing that something isthere, even if you don't go to
the trivia night, if youconsistently pass the bar and
they've got the sign up everyTuesday for trivia, it's going
to dramatically increase theodds that you're going to try it
one day, right.
And if you know it's going to bethere next week and you have a
(17:46):
good experience.
You've not only now gone to anevent.
In a sense, you've joined acommunity.
You're going to be seeing someof the same people week in and
week out, and it's really funnybecause that's how we all made
friends and built relationships,right.
Going to school every day atthe same time.
You go to college, you go toclasses, you see the same people
Used to be.
(18:06):
You go to work no-transcriptabout artificial general
(18:38):
intelligence, right which couldsignificantly transform every
aspect of human society.
That involves any digitaltechnology, right.
So we can't have difficultconversations because we're so
stuck on in this model where weare really disconnected from
each other, and so consistencyis key in terms of what we've
(18:59):
found and then being willing totry new things.
So, with the regular, we have,for example, a competitive
karaoke community.
It's like 6,000 people all overthe country.
They come out once a week.
They wear costumes.
There's choreography, theycompete in karaoke.
We've had people gettingmarried, having children.
(19:21):
There's one older woman she'sprobably in her 60s.
Her daughter graduated college.
She and she's on a team andthey're competing with each
other, and so we're trying toalso get creative about the
sorts of experiences that bringpeople out.
And that can mean involvingimpact and community as well,
because one of the things thatyou know is another pillar of
(19:44):
for me and thinking about how webridge these gaps and how we
build community is social impact.
And you know we were talkingabout this before the call
started and I've mentioned thephrase a few times.
But you know social impact Idefine very broadly.
We can get into it, but it doesinclude things like small
nonprofits or smallorganizations in your community
(20:04):
that can help you feel connected.
So you're at that trivia night,can you also learn about a cause
that is in your neighborhood,in your community, where your
help even if it's $20, could beinvaluable to a really small
organization?
And bringing that organizationinto that karaoke night and
having them talk about theirwork, bring some of the people
who are participating from it,or rather who are benefiting
(20:27):
from it, who beneficiaries, andso then we have a situation
where all of that community isconsistently sort of jam-packed
into one one space, and I thinkthat's where all of the all of
the crazy things I do sort offit together right, because
you've got donor education,which is a huge, huge important
thing for me because I spent somuch of my life and my career
(20:50):
trying to build a home in thespace of social impact and
philanthropy, and so there werea lot of things that I had to
learn along the way, that I hadto learn the hard way.
I had no one to ask like whatis a donor advised?
fund.
I didn't know that until I wasalmost 30 years old right, and
it's now.
The largest charities in theworld are donor advised funds,
(21:11):
right, but a lot of people don'teven know what they are.
So there's that aspect of itfor my work.
But then there's bringingpeople together consistently
into these spaces, bringing thatdonor education into that space
, that opportunity to give andconnect to community.
That's where all of it kind ofcomes together for me, which is
what makes my life not entirelyunmanageable, seeing those
(21:34):
connections.
Jamie Serino (21:36):
Yeah, if you can have some overlap, that would
help.
So I did want to circle back tothe donor advised fund.
I wonder, for our viewers andlisteners that don't know what
that is, if you could talk alittle bit about that.
Brandolon Barnett (21:49):
Yeah, donor, advised funds are a vehicle for
giving where you can think ofthem almost like a philanthropic
or nonprofit social impactsavings account where you can
put money in.
There's often a minimum,although there was a time, you
know, when I first started aplatform called Grow Fund, which
I think that's when we, when wefirst met I was with an
(22:09):
organization called GlobalImpact we started a startup to
democratize DAFs and at the timeminimums to open a DAF were
$5,000, $10,000.
Now they've come down to adollar, $10, $100.
And so you start the accountand then, once you've started it
, you're actually able to make acharitable contribution into
(22:30):
your donor advised fund and geta charitable tax deduction if
you want to itemize and claimthat deduction.
But you don't have to give to aspecific charity at that point.
You can then choose, almostlike you have your.
So you have your philanthropicsavings account and then it
almost acts like your ownpersonal foundation where, at
whatever point as that moneybuilds up, you can then make a
(22:51):
grant out to a nonprofitorganization and that donor
advised fund provider of whichthere are many can send that
those funds out to that charity.
And there are now so many donoradvised fund opportunities.
If you have a communityfoundation in your community,
most likely they are offeringdonor advised funds as an option
for you to engage with causesand they have lists of charities
(23:13):
.
We work with several communityfoundations, like Giving,
compass, to help them educatethose donors.
So you might be seeing some ofour technologies and innovations
there.
But also there's now thelargest charity in the world is
Fidelity Charitable overtookUnited Way several years ago and
they distribute billions andbillions and billions of dollars
every year and have billions ofdollars saved.
And donor advised funds havebeen a little bit controversial.
(23:36):
There's been this idea thatbecause you don't have to make
that distribution to a charityand you don't have the same
rules as a private foundation,so private foundations have to
distribute 5% of their totalassets each year at a minimum.
There's no such payout rule fordonor advised funds.
But a lot of new research iscoming out is actually showing
(23:57):
that, which is something Isuspected for many years.
This is an opportunity for alot of social impact
organizations and nonprofitsbecause that money is captive.
Those people who have investedin that donor advised fund can
only send that money to anonprofit.
What's becoming clear is thatas organizations become more
sophisticated about recognizingthose donors, speaking to them,
(24:18):
understanding them, that there'sa huge opportunity for donor
advised funds to transform howfunding gets to people, but
there are a lot of questionsthat we need to ask and there's
some controversy around it, butit really goes back to what I
said earlier around this largersocial impact space.
I think one of the main thingsI try to help people come away
with whenever I have anopportunity to be heard is just
(24:40):
understanding that there are somany ways to give back.
Mm, hmm.
When I was younger I thought, OK, I can give to a charity or I
can work for charity, I canmaybe work for the government
and that's pretty much it Right.
And then later I learned thatmaybe I could join a foundation.
There are now so many ways toget back.
There is impact investing.
(25:02):
If you think about your 401k,there are options where you can
actually choose 401k.
(25:25):
There are options where you canactually choose.
You go into the settings andtalk to your broker to invest in
sustainable companies orcompanies that are not hurting
the world at a minimum, and youcan do that according to your
own worldview and your ownthoughts.
That's the democratization,right.
You are bringing your anopportunity to sit around with
their family and say, hey,everyone in the family we've put
in this collective amount.
Where do we want to make thatdistribution?
Where do we want to give?
Where people come together asgroups with strangers or others
(25:50):
in their communities or friendsand family, and they often use a
donor advised fund or a similarvehicle, and they put pool
money together and once a yearthey find an organization to
grant it out to.
And it's also creating a newthird space, right.
So there's those opportunities.
There's opportunities to workand build new technologies.
That I've been a part of that.
(26:11):
There are many jobs, whetheryou're an engineer or you're in
marketing, where you can helporganizations to get their
message out into the world or toget in front of donors and to
raise more resources for theirmission, and all of these things
are really powerful and, Ithink, something that everyone
needs to keep in mind.
There are so many ways to giveback.
There are not just a few.
(26:31):
I didn't even touch onvolunteering and skilled
volunteering, joining a board.
I think that's one of the mainmessages for me, and donor
advised funds are definitely abig and growing sort of piece to
that puzzle of how you canchoose to give back of how you
can choose to give back.
Jamie Serino (26:48):
Yeah, and I think, you know, with all of that out
there which is amazing, you know, like I was saying earlier,
there's, you know, there's alittle bit of a fragmentation
there and it may seem complex,but really it's just choice and
I think it comes down to aperson actually being able to be
deliberate about what they wantto contribute to in society,
(27:09):
like I want to contribute toenvironmental causes, about what
they want to contribute to insociety, like I want to
contribute to environmentalcauses or I want to contribute
to disease causes and thingslike that.
And I think that that's, youknow, amazing.
It is democratization and thedonor advised fund.
So you're saying you know youlearned about it.
I learned about it, I don'tknow, maybe nine years ago, so,
and at that time there werethose minimums that you were
(27:31):
talking about.
So when you talk about thoseminimums, when you talk about
the captive money maybe that'speople with millions of dollars
in there, but I'm assuming thatyou put the money in the DAF,
you don't get the IRS deductionuntil you donate it, right?
Brandolon Barnett (27:52):
No, that's the innovation for a DAF.
You get the deduction.
You get your tax receipt, ifyou will, that you have made a
charitable deduction when youput that money into the DAF.
Jamie Serino (28:05):
That's where the controversy is, then.
Brandolon Barnett (28:07):
That's where the controversy is.
Jamie Serino (28:08):
Yeah, that's where the controversy is then.
So where the yeah, so that'swhen they yeah, that's where the
controversy is then yeah, so,um, yeah, I guess if people want
to be like that, they can sortof find that loophole.
But you know, for people thatwant to use it for what its
purpose is, and you think abouta person maybe who is gonna like
, who is not a millionaire, whowants to put, you know, a few
hundred or a few thousand inthere, you can be like your own
(28:28):
foundation, like you said, andbe deliberate about where to
give that money and not not feelas stressed about it and not
just be reactive either Like oh,I got this email or I got this
thing in the mail, and those arefine too, reacting to those you
know out, you know outreach, um, methods and stuff.
But uh, it's just really nicethat a person can just sort of
(28:50):
be deliberate and say here's themoney I'm setting aside and
here is I'm going to put itthere, and then I'm going to
distribute it as I want to andas I feel like I need to.
And then now you talked aboutgiving circles, which I'm not as
familiar with.
So this is, this is where.
So can you tell me how peoplewould come together for a giving
(29:11):
circle?
Brandolon Barnett (29:12):
Yeah, so there's a few ways, um.
First, there are a variety ofdifferent platforms and
solutions.
If you search, you know, givingcircle platform online, you'll
find several of them.
Um, but you can do it withfriends and family.
That's very common um, whereyou just say, hey, we're going
to start a giving circle, maybeit's the immediate family
grandparents, aunts and unclesand then maybe during the
(29:35):
holidays or Thanksgiving, aroundGiving Tuesday, everyone has a
vote.
There's some charities thatyou're all selecting from and
then you can make distributionsfrom that giving circle fund,
which often is a donor advisedfund these days, to those
charities.
So that's one way, friends andfamily.
Another is that there are somevery well-known and large and
(29:57):
popular giving circles that havecreated some pretty awesome
communities.
There's one here in DC that Iwas a member of called Black
Benefactors.
If you just search givingcircles, there are thousands of
them now all across the country,of people who are strangers,
who just met through a platformor through a meetup or
(30:17):
networking experience and saidyou know what, I want to join,
and then they're putting in $100, $200, $300 a year.
And all of that adds up to asubstantial amount.
I mean there are smallcharities with $500,000 budget
where you have 100 people giving$300.
That is a lot.
That's a substantial portion oftheir budget.
(30:38):
That could be all of theirmarketing spend for two quarters
right.
So there's that option of justsort of finding some of those
larger established givingcircles.
And then there are someinnovative things, like what
we're trying at the Regular,where if you join a adult social
league like we do a bocceleague, for example, called DC
Bocce you pay a membership, youparticipate and compete in that
(31:02):
adult social league for twomonths, and what we're doing is
actually innovating by makingpart of your payment for that
experience go into a givingcircle and then you have the
right to vote and be a part ofthat community and we're
building experiences and meetupsaround it, and that's what I
call that social innovation,right?
So there's a few ways to do that, but I think the kind of I
really want to go back to thatpoint you made about being
(31:24):
deliberate deliberate and that'sreally at the core of a lot of
what we do at Giving Compass,where we've really said Giving
Compass was founded by Jeff andTricia Rakes and early Microsoft
employees who went on their ownphilanthropic journey, started
the Rakes Foundation, which isbased in Seattle, and then Jeff
Rakes was actually invited to bethe first CEO of the Gates
(31:46):
Foundation and so they went onthis philanthropic journey where
they learned to be moredeliberate about how they give,
and Giving Compass built uptechnology and articles and
content around supporting peopleon that journey.
So now we get 100,000 sitevisits a month, we have 40,000
plus content, and we work to getthat content and that
(32:06):
educational material in front ofpartners like Schwab Charitable
, fidelity Charitable, which Imentioned the largest charity in
the world and it really is allabout being deliberate.
And so what we've built is atool where, yes, you can go and
search for a nonprofit.
You can also, though, searchfor an article about the cause
that that nonprofit is workingon.
You can also ask questions likethe questions we're discussing
(32:30):
now, like what is a givingcircle, what is a donor class,
how does it work, and seesourced answers, and I think
that's a really crucial point.
No matter what decision you'remaking, this better world that I
want to create, it does requireus all to more deliberately
think about the shape of thefuture right.
(32:51):
I think that we've reached apoint and I'm going to sort of
pontificate a little bit, Iguess, but I think we've reached
a point as a species, just sortof at the highest level, where
we have tremendous capabilitieswe can go to other planets.
We could destroy life on thisplanet if we chose to right.
So with that power comes theopportunity as well to think
(33:14):
more long-term.
How do we want the future tolook?
And social impact andphilanthropy that's really
what's at the core of thatmovement.
It's about deliberatelythinking about the shape of the
future, what we want it to looklike, and that requires
educating ourselves and learningand being open-minded and
(33:34):
exploring new topics and tryingnew things.
And so that point that you madeabout being deliberate I just
really wanted to hone in on thatbecause I think that's a really
, really important point for allof this Just being deliberate
about how we interact withcommunity, how we interact with
each other, how we supportcauses and organizations in our
community and making decisionsthat we feel, after being
(33:56):
deliberate, after doing ourresearch, after learning as much
as we can, after checking oursources in an era where we need
to check sources, what's thefuture that we want to look?
Then we democratize everyoneparticipating in that process
beyond just voting right, whereit's a sort of daily thing, and
I'm definitely rambling at thispoint, but I think that's a
(34:18):
really, really powerful pointabout being deliberate.
Jamie Serino (34:22):
Yeah, well, I appreciate that you honed in on
that, and then you raised it upa level, thinking about society.
And then I think, if we takethat point about being
deliberate at that societallevel, we're past the point of
not being deliberate aboutsolving problems.
(34:43):
And I think there are people inour organizations that have
been out there and have beenhard at work at, you know,
deliberately working to solveproblems.
So to pull everyone else alongwith them is, you know, I think
it's a difficult exercise, andso I think, the more that people
(35:03):
can feel like I'm in control ofthis and I believe in something
and I'm going to go support itas opposed to being haphazard
about it or, oh, tax season'scoming up, I better donate my
money.
It's like it needs to be, and Ithink, you know, with younger
people, it is a regular part oftheir lives and they believe in
things and not say the olderpeople don't, but I think it's
(35:26):
becoming more of a core part ofa person's life.
So then to your point.
The democratization, then, isimportant, because I don't want
to just say, all right, it'sgoing to be my elected official
that then has to go to Congressto fight for something for me, I
want to actually just go andput my money somewhere, I want
to go donate my time, I want togo actually contribute to this
movement.
(35:46):
That's happening and so it's allgreat.
And so I see where youroptimism is coming from, because
I think a lot of people may notrealize that there's this
undercurrent happening where allof these things can take place.
They are, and there can be agroundswell around the process
(36:07):
of it, it and the participation,and then the problems will get
solved.
And so, just going back to yourpoint about, in the micro,
there's, you know, some thingsto be upset about, but in the
macro, I'm feeling your optimismbecause I see all these things
happening now.
Um, and it's, it's, it's, it's,it's encouraging and and it
also, again, it's empowering andit's just, you've always been
(36:28):
about democratization and I, youknow, I've always liked that.
So tell me a little bit moreabout your book.
Brandolon Barnett (36:36):
Yeah.
So my book is called Dreams,deferred Recession Struggle and
the Quest for a Better World andit's just, it's about my
experience trying to graduatingfrom college during the great
recession, you know, having allof this hope, not being able to
find work, um, but reallywanting to work in non-profits
and philanthropy.
And then, when I did get a job,it was often, you know, minimum
(36:59):
wage, not being able to supportmy family.
My mother passed away when I,you know, really, really was
powerless to save her.
I went to grad school, livingon the you know tales about
living on the street in SanFrancisco while working at
internship with a social impactorganization there and just that
(37:22):
journey and what I learnedalong the way and some of the
hopelessness that I felt alongthe way.
I talk very frankly in the bookabout a moment where I was very
intent on ending my life becauseI couldn't find a job, I had no
hope, I felt like I had noprospects and I felt like, at
the same time, I was not willingto compromise and do work that
(37:46):
did not make the world a betterplace, and so it was this really
labyrinthine journey of tryingto figure out, like, how can I
do the sort of work thatnonprofits do, that impact
organizations do, but also makeenough money to take care of
myself, to buy a home, to havesupport my family and to just
(38:06):
not feel I grew up very poor, soto not feel that constant
scarcity, which is reallysomething that I think becomes
physically painful, you know,after a while.
it hurts your heart and yourmind and it interferes with your
ability to even to bedeliberate and to be strategic.
And so I really just recountthat journey and talk about what
I went through and my goal inwriting it.
(38:27):
I really had two goals.
The first goal was I wantedanyone out there who had a
similar mindset to me or who wasstruggling especially you know
I wrote a lot of it during theheight of COVID, when a lot of
people were losing their jobsand feeling hopeless, and I
wanted them to see a journeythat maybe would resonate with
them and allow them to say thathey, there's a light at the end
(38:54):
of this tunnel, maybe.
I've applied to 400 jobs, but Ionly need to be worried about
the one that I forget all theothers.
It just takes one right and tohelp them to see that there's
hope.
The other reason I wrote it wasI wanted to start a
conversation in the space ofsocial impact and philanthropy,
much like this conversationwe're having here today, where I
just ask the question why is itso hard for people to
understand this space, forpeople to see how they can get
(39:16):
involved, for people to startcareers in it, for people to
start careers and get paidenough to live in a world where
these organizations sayingthey're making the world a
better place?
You have to be willing, as agrant maker, to give
organizations the money to paytheir staff so that they can
have a living wage, so they cancreate families, so that they
can do better work.
And so I wanted to start and bea part of that conversation in
(39:39):
the space of philanthropy andsocial impact.
But it actually is the first ofa few books that I'm working on.
I'm actually working on sort ofa trilogy.
That book was about my journeyto get involved and find space
for myself within the space ofsocial impact and philanthropy
and to define it, to understandthings like corporate
responsibility and impact,investing and ESG and all of
(40:02):
these different movements thatyou can sort of choose to
interface with or understand asmuch as you like.
But my second book that I'mworking on is actually going to
be highlighting where I landed,which is in this space of
innovation, and so I'm right nowgoing around and talking with
different nonprofits, differenttechnology companies, about the
ways that they're innovating forsocial impact and just to share
(40:24):
their story and to share theirinnovation.
And then the third book that Iwant to write is actually going
to be called I'm tentativelycalling it Impact Anywhere, and
it actually relates to the pointthat you were making earlier
around for younger generations,millennials and Gen Z in
particular this sort of mindsetbecoming part of everyday life.
I believe that you know I wantto write a story.
(40:47):
That's the end where we'rereally.
I'm really asking the questionwhat if we didn't need
philanthropy?
What if we didn't need socialimpact?
No-transcript had somedeliberate aspect to it that
made the world better in waysthat we as a society have sort
of agreed on, and we already seesome of that happening.
(41:07):
Right, you go to the grocerystore.
Now you're checking out, you'reseeing an opportunity to give.
That's an everyday interaction,where you are being asked to
make the world better just bybuying your apples or your
frozen pizza or whatever you'regetting at the grocery store.
And so I think the last piecethat I want to write about is
just that, so that stories orjourneys like mine they're not
(41:31):
necessary.
I would hope that they're notnecessary in 50 years or 100
years, because everyone's doinggood all the time and everyone's
thinking deliberately about howthey're doing good and how the
world around them is affected bytheir actions and how the world
around them is changing or canchange at all times.
And I think that's, for me, isthe sort of the ideal instate
(41:53):
for all of the work that I do,even if I don't sort of get to
see it, I don't really care.
Jamie Serino (41:58):
It's really just about taking one step at a time
toward that future it's reallyjust about you know taking one
step at a time toward thatfuture.
Yep, that's great and I mean Iappreciate that you shared.
You know about your struggleand I think that could be
helpful to a lot of people andnow it's great to see that you
are full of hope now and I thinkyou spread hope as you talk to
people, which is great.
(42:18):
But you know you did mentionsome very real problems and I
think it's good advice abouttrying to work in this industry
and finding ways to help andcontribute.
But can it be at a good enoughsalary to be, able to live and
(42:39):
pay your bills and stuff, andthat might be something for the
industry to have to figure out.
And I remember eight, nineyears ago around when we met,
when there was a bit of a shiftgoing from well, how much of
this dollar that's being donatedto you is being used for the
program?
A shift toward well are youtaking care of overhead, because
(43:01):
otherwise you're going to loseyour staff, and are you going to
grow and people?
You know people are going tohave loam around stuff and so
hopefully that's sort ofcontinuing so that organizations
can build infrastructure there.
And I think that that goes intowhat you're talking about there
, um, and I think just in ingeneral, you know, uh, there, I
(43:26):
I love what you're saying thereabout.
I'm taking it as the sort ofbuilt-in quality.
I think that more and moreproducts and services try to
build things in like built-ininnovation or built in this or
that, and there needs to be likebuilt-in philanthropy, like
you're gonna buy and somecompanies do it you're gonna buy
this product and it means thatwe're going to put this much
money into the environment orwe're going to make sure that
our practices are sustainable.
(43:46):
You're, you're, you're buyingour product, you're investing in
us, we're going to invest inthe future, right, and that
mentality, you know would wouldgo a long way and it kind of
that's a little bit of whatyou're talking about there.
Um, about there Awesome.
So I think people would beangry at me if I didn't ask
(44:07):
about the guitars in thebackground.
Brandolon Barnett (44:09):
What do you like to play?
My mother was an opera singerand so I grew up around music
and it's super important to me.
These days I'm more of akaraoke guy, but in the past I
led a band.
If you, if anyone wants to do alittle sleuthing, there's an
album you can find out on theinternets.
But I generally will play sortof singer, songwriter stuff,
(44:33):
alternative stuff.
I have done live shows wherepeople come up to me and they
say that was great, you shoulddo some of your own originals
and not so many Tracy Chapmansongs and I'm like well, they're
all my songs, but I appreciatethat.
So if you like Tracy Chapman,it's sort of in that vein.
Jamie Serino (44:50):
Great, yeah.
So the Giving Compass, theRegular and the book Dreams
Deferred.
Encourage everyone to checkthose out.
Brandon, do you have anythingelse that you want to add,
Anything that you feel like wedidn't quite cover?
Brandolon Barnett (45:09):
No, I've enjoyed the conversation.
I think the only thing I'd sayis all of these things I'm
talking about, you can go andtry for yourself.
So, if you go togivingcompassorg, try searching
for what is a giving circle,tell me about the overhead myth
or what is a donor advice fund Alot of the questions we've
discussed today and let us knowwhat you think that tool is
there for people to ask thesorts of questions that you're
(45:31):
asking on this podcast and onthis show, and the other thing
is, you know, just as we thinkabout technology, I think one of
the main takeaways I wantpeople to realize is just
reinforcing what I said earlierthat innovation isn't just the
latest app.
We can innovate in ourcommunities just in how we new
ways to gather together andconnect with each other, and so
(45:53):
I just encourage people to dothat.
Check out my book it's onAmazon and find me on LinkedIn.
Otherwise, I'm so glad thatyou're engaging in this podcast
and telling these stories, andit's been a pleasure.
Jamie Serino (46:09):
Yeah, pleasure was all mine, so I think you know.
Last message there is, you know, for people that do want to get
involved and want to help, theywant to do something or start a
career.
It sounds like the GivingCompass could be a good place to
start.
Some people don't even knowwhere to start.
It seems like that's a greatplace to start and just search
stuff and get some information.
It's great.
(46:30):
All right, Brandilyn, thank youvery, very much, and to our
watchers and listeners, thankyou for joining us and we will
see you next time.
Brandolon Barnett (46:39):
Thank you Bye .
You're listening to.
There's a Lesson in here,Somewhere, a podcast featuring
compelling conversations withexceptional people.
Whether it's an inspirationalachievement, a hardship overcome
or simply a unique perspective,these are stories we can all
learn from.
Here are your hosts, JamieSerino and Carlos Arcila.
Jamie Serino (00:30):
Hello and welcome to.
There's a Lesson in hereSomewhere.
I'm Jamie Serino and I'm heretoday with Brandolon Barnett,
author, head of innovation andphilanthropy with Giving Compass
and the founder and CEO of theRegular App.
Today we're going to talk aboutinnovation in the social impact
space and it'll be a prettybroad conversation that I'm
(00:52):
really looking forward to.
I've known Brandilyn for yearsand we've gone to the same
conferences and we've interactedat the different companies that
we've been at and I've alwayshad an appreciation for his
entrepreneurship and his way ofthinking and his dedication to
philanthropy, and I always sharethis story.
It's kind of funny.
(01:12):
So we were at one conferencetalking about how amazing
another conference was.
And you go to these conferencesand you do get moved, you know,
and you're like, oh, I'm goingto do better, I'm going to do
better, I'm going to do things.
And you know, for me maybe itmeans, okay, you know, I'll
rinse the yogurt cup and I'llrecycle it, you know.
And for Brandilyn it's like,well, I'm going to launch a
(01:34):
company, you know.
So he thinks at a large scale,he does, he puts words to action
and I've always appreciatedthat.
So, brandilyn, welcome andthank you for joining us.
Thank you.
It's a pleasure to be here.
So, Brandilyn, could you give usjust a more complete
introduction?
There's so much about whatyou've done and what you're
(01:56):
doing that I think we could allbenefit from a more complete
introduction.
Brandolon Barnett (02:02):
Yeah, more complete introduction.
Yeah, I do a lot and that isbecause, you know, from a very
young age I was a huge nerd.
That's kind of where I alwaysstart my story.
I loved watching Star Trek,jean-luc Picard and Babylon 5,
and thinking about future worlds.
(02:22):
But at the same time, I grew upwith a single mother in Dallas,
texas, and we struggled a lotand I would at a very early age,
just find myself a little bitconfused as to how we all kind
of looked up to and admiredthese future worlds.
But I'd see my mother crying,you know, because she couldn't
make the rent.
(02:42):
Or I'd see people strugglingjust to get an education, just
to get an opportunity to learn,and that juxtaposition is
something that just really stoodout to me and I wanted to do
work that helped us move towardsthose kinds of worlds that I
love, and it led me on a littlebit of a strange path, where
(03:05):
I've worked in the technologyspace as well as the
philanthropy space.
I was a research manager at theCouncil on Foundations.
I ran a donor advised fundplatform that was funded by the
Gates Foundation, where we wereone of the first to bring the
cost of a donor advised funddown from hundreds or thousands
of dollars to just a dollar,which later the customers of
(03:26):
that ended up being a lot ofgiving circles, and that rolled
over into the grapevine platformthat's been built, and I was at
Salesforceorg for quite a whileas director of product and
product strategy for SalesforcePhilanthropy Cloud, chief
product officer for a couple ofdifferent startups, series A
companies, and all of it, though, for me, is really just about
(03:49):
finding innovative ways to moveresources to people who move
them, who need them.
Rather, so that we can create abetter future.
I just can't stop myself fromthinking about a future that
looks better than today.
And what does that look likeand how?
(04:10):
do we get there in a way thattakes into consideration all of
the different, diverse voicesthat will live in that future.
And so you know, my backgroundreally is all about trying to
accomplish that core mission,and I've tried more over the
years, especially over the pastfew years with the release of my
book Dreams Deferred to tellthat story particularly to
different audiences like peopleof color, who don't know what
philanthropy is, they don't knowwhat social impact technologies
(04:32):
are, they don't know whatimpact investing is and the fact
that there are these amazingcareers and opportunities to not
only build a life for yourselfbut make an impact in the world.
And so that's really what I'mall about yep, there's a lot
there um.
Time management is a problem forme, but um, so maybe we could
(04:55):
start with that.
Jamie Serino (04:56):
You know what you called like a dichotomy and, um,
you know, we have likefuturistic societies, right, but
we have our present society.
And you know when you talkabout, you know the United
States and really around theworld.
But you know, if a country likethe United States is so wealthy
, then why are there so manypeople struggling?
And you know, I wonder if youcould talk a little bit more
(05:17):
about that and about how, whatyou see there and how you feel
like we can change that.
Brandolon Barnett (05:23):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, I actually feel a lot of
hope in sort of the aggregate iswhat I say.
I feel macro hope and a lot ofmicro sadness sometimes about
the state of the world at a sortof macro level, we've got these
really incredible technologieslike generative AI that actually
(05:47):
can, I think, simplifyworkflows, make it easier to
find information that can helpyou engage with the world or
understand it better.
For example, at Giving Compass,we're using generative AI, as
well as a lot of traditionaldata and data sets on small
nonprofits, to build an AIphilanthropic advisor where, if
you go to givingcompassorg today, you can search for charities,
(06:09):
for articles about causes, forfunds, all in one place, just by
saying I want to supportorganizations you know looking
after women and girls, stemeducation in a specific city,
without having to know the EINor the name of the charity.
And so, at a macro level, Ifeel a lot of hope about what we
(06:30):
can achieve.
But at a micro level, it isvery clear, with the level of
sort of fragmentation, that alot of people are feeling left
behind, and I think that's oneof the key issues that we have
to address and you know I canonly speak to the realms in
which I've tried to address thatwhich have there been three,
(06:51):
you know.
One is I was an elected officialhere in DC for a number of
years what's called an advisoryneighborhood commissioner, if DC
were a state which it should beshout out for DC statehood,
then it would be something likethe house of representatives
representing about 2200 of myneighbors in the columbia
heights neighborhood and it'samazing to think about.
(07:12):
You know, I've been at placeslike salesforce we.
We have millions of users andcustomers right and we're able
to dynamically gather theirfeedback and understand them and
connect with them every singleday.
But when I took my elected role, there was no email list of
people to reach out to.
There was no one from the cityactually gave me an orientation
(07:34):
hey, this is welcome to citygovernment, this is your role.
And so, on the macro level, Iwas able to stand up some tools
to gather neighbor feedback insome new and innovative ways,
but at the micro level, therewas no system or infrastructure
set up to actually help peopleconnect.
And so the same if you look atbeing a small business.
(07:55):
So I own a startup here in DC.
We operate in five cities Now.
We do karaoke nights and trivianights and we try to infuse
social impact and giving backinto those experiences.
Working with you know at thispoint, almost 50 venues, bars,
restaurants all over the country.
And while the technology isgreat and the corporate
responsibility movement has beenthis transformative movement
(08:18):
right, we're still having to, ata micro level, go to a bar
owner and say you can do morethan donating a portion of
proceeds once every six months.
And if you think aboutphilanthropy at the macro level,
there's all of this wealth andmoney and all of this individual
giving that people are capableof.
But at a micro level people arefeeling.
(08:40):
If you look at USA Today andother studies, they are feeling
less trust in institutions ofall kinds, including nonprofits,
including philanthropy.
You look at the picture ofwho's making decisions in
philanthropy and where the moneygoes.
It's not a very inclusivepicture.
That's why you've had movementslike collaborative grant making
or participatory grant making,and so at the micro level, where
(09:01):
you know innovation connects topeople, I think that's where
I'm seeing a disconnect, wherethere's all these amazing
technologies and tools that giveme a lot of hope for what we
can build.
I mean, there are things thatwe're in watching a character
like Geordi or Data on Star Trek, the Next Generation.
There are things that they'redoing talking to their computer
or interacting or gathering datathat we can do today talking to
(09:25):
their computer or interactingor gathering data that we can do
today but at a personal levelwe have not decided, I guess, to
build a society with empathy,to sort of prioritize that, and
we have not had leadership thatset out a sort of collective
vision for the future that wecan all connect with as human
beings.
And I think you know that's ahuge challenge that I see just
(09:47):
sort of in thinking about how wemake a better world.
Jamie Serino (09:50):
Yeah, well, you touched upon a few things there,
and one thing that I thinkabout a lot is the.
You know, the fragmentation of,you know, like the media
landscape, let's say, and so youknow it's sounding like it just
becomes more difficult to sortof reach people in a way.
In some ways it's easierbecause everyone can be a
(10:10):
publisher, right, yeah, but insome ways it's, you know,
everyone can be their own sortof media channel, but in some
ways it's more difficult becauseyou know there's not this sort
of like bullhorn effect anymore,right, and so how do you
connect with the individuals andand?
And there's not this sort ofmass communication or like you
were saying, you know you gothired for the or you, you, you,
(10:33):
you were elected to this roleand it was no sort of blueprint
for it, um, and no way to reachpeople.
That was an immediate need thatyou saw, um, so what if you
could talk a little bit aboutthat?
And you know you mentionedgiving compass is maybe a way
where people can sort ofself-direct or, you know, help
themselves to that, and howwould they know about that?
(10:53):
And I'm asking, like so manyquestions in one question, like
wrapping everything up and youhad said something you know
about people of color, like notrealizing about philanthropy and
even just that they can beinvolved with it.
You know so much there, so Iwonder if you could talk a
little bit more about that.
Brandolon Barnett (11:10):
Yeah, it's not just people of color, it's
people in rural communities notunderstanding a lot of these
social impact systems that arenow pretty integral to how our
society functions.
I mean, when we think about thebillions of dollars that move
to charity integral to how oursociety functions I mean when we
think about the billions ofdollars that move to charity,
there are whole institutions,systems of companies and
technology platforms thatactually move that money and get
(11:33):
it from you as a donor to thatcharity, and so there's a whole
set of institutions and a wholeecosystem that I think we need
to do a better job as a whole inthe social impact space of
helping people to understand,which is why moments like this,
opportunities like this, I value.
But I think you know, just sortof taking a step back, where I
(11:56):
would say the opportunity liesfor a lot of this work is really
in democratization.
It's in making people aware,but also involving them in the
process.
And it's sort of a meta point,right, and I'm not a political
(12:17):
scientist, right, but it almoststrikes me as, with all the new
technologies and inputs we have,there is a need for us to
democratize who inputs onbuilding those tools, what they
look like make sure that peopleare educated and understand how
they're built, how they work,the biases that are inherent in
(12:38):
them.
So, for example, one of thethings you mentioned, giving
Compass.
So, giving Compass, we've builtthis AI-assisted search that
also uses a lot of traditionalsearch.
So imagine an AI that you askthe question I'm interested in
supporting a specific cause, orI want to find articles on X, y,
z topics in philanthropy.
That AI is then calling atraditional search.
(12:59):
It's determining, sort of whatyou're asking, what you're
talking about, and then it'scalling and interacting with
traditional search.
So when we think about a toollike that, that's really
valuable because we have acurated data set of nonprofits,
organizations that we've vetted,information, articles that
we've curated and that can betrusted.
But if you just ask a chat GPT,which we actually did this
(13:21):
experiment if you ask a generalAI system, kind of where should
I give?
It's going to say DoctorsWithout Borders, save the
Children, because those are theorganizations that have the most
data represented, right?
Yeah, even though they do goodwork, the system itself isn't
democratized.
A lot of the smaller nonprofitorganizations or causes are not
rising to the fore when peoplesearch, and so that's one of the
(13:42):
core problems that we're tryingto solve with our donor
education tools, but I think itis a microcosm of the sort of
larger need that we have insociety to really think about
democratizing innovation,bringing in a variety of voices
as we build tools and productsand as we deploy them, making
sure that the data sets thatwe're using, that the
(14:03):
information we're offering, isaccurate.
Until we do that, we're goingto sort of be caught in a
situation where there will, Ithink, be declining trust.
And that gets me to anotherpoint of this.
When I think of innovation, Ithink it's kind of unfortunate
that the term innovation haskind of been hijacked by Silicon
Valley, because yes innovationis tender and it's swiping right
(14:28):
.
right.
It's dating apps, it's allsorts of applications, but it's
also just new ways of thinkingof solving problems.
but how to solve problems in oursociety of the challenges we
face, that's going to involvesome technology, but it's not
dependent on that is aroundthird spaces and community and
(14:50):
how we connect with each otherand the world around us, and so
I think there and that's one ofthe things that we do with the
regular we're trying to reallyinnovate in how people find and
engage not just with events butcommunity, and I think that
there's a lot of space in oursociety for us to think about
social innovation as seriouslyas we think about sort of
(15:10):
technology innovation to drive,you know, SAS revenue or
whatever sort of vertical youmight be thinking of.
Jamie Serino (15:16):
Yeah.
Brandolon Barnett (15:18):
So I'm not sure if I really like that.
I think about the broad.
Jamie Serino (15:21):
Yeah, yeah, it's, yeah, it's, it's all good.
Um, I really like that and that.
That is true.
Like everyone thinks innovationand a lot of people's minds go
to technology, but there'sinnovation and process or just
in the ways that we do things,like everything you're talking
about, and a person in you know,let's say, the impact space or
the social impact space, canfeel like they're being
(15:41):
innovative just by trying newthings.
And they should feel like theyshould try new things.
And I like what you were talkingabout there with the Giving
Compass and just in general,because when you mention, like
these bigger nonprofits whichare wonderful Doctors Without
Borders and Red Cross andeverything, they're doing
wonderful things but they, in away, they've sort of been vetted
(16:05):
by someone else, right, andlike not by, let's say, not by
me, not by you, right, and sothen there comes the trust.
And then if those nonprofitsstumble and everyone's allowed
to make mistakes or whatever,but all of a sudden if there's a
loss of trust there, then Imight stop giving to them or I
(16:28):
might question, like why would Ijust give to them?
Like what are my other options?
And that's what I really like,what you're talking about there,
and which one would I believein and which one do I want to
support?
And you can actually maybe feellike you're being even more
meaningful by helping to prop upa smaller organization with
your donation or with your time.
(16:49):
So I really like that and I canappreciate that.
Now you know, as you mentioned,sort of getting people together
in third spaces and stuff.
Then, of course, my mind goesto now we're post COVID, but you
know everyone's at home ontheir phones and no one you know
(17:10):
.
You hear I want to interact,but you hear about people not
wanting to interact, and so howdo you get people up off the
couch and how do you get theminto you know, these, I guess,
third spaces that you're talkingabout?
Brandolon Barnett (17:25):
Yeah, I think the one of the keys we've
discovered in the regular isconsistency.
So knowing that something isthere, even if you don't go to
the trivia night, if youconsistently pass the bar and
they've got the sign up everyTuesday for trivia, it's going
to dramatically increase theodds that you're going to try it
one day, right.
And if you know it's going to bethere next week and you have a
(17:46):
good experience.
You've not only now gone to anevent.
In a sense, you've joined acommunity.
You're going to be seeing someof the same people week in and
week out, and it's really funnybecause that's how we all made
friends and built relationships,right.
Going to school every day atthe same time.
You go to college, you go toclasses, you see the same people
Used to be.
(18:06):
You go to work no-transcriptabout artificial general
(18:38):
intelligence, right which couldsignificantly transform every
aspect of human society.
That involves any digitaltechnology, right.
So we can't have difficultconversations because we're so
stuck on in this model where weare really disconnected from
each other, and so consistencyis key in terms of what we've
(18:59):
found and then being willing totry new things.
So, with the regular, we have,for example, a competitive
karaoke community.
It's like 6,000 people all overthe country.
They come out once a week.
They wear costumes.
There's choreography, theycompete in karaoke.
We've had people gettingmarried, having children.
(19:21):
There's one older woman she'sprobably in her 60s.
Her daughter graduated college.
She and she's on a team andthey're competing with each
other, and so we're trying toalso get creative about the
sorts of experiences that bringpeople out.
And that can mean involvingimpact and community as well,
because one of the things thatyou know is another pillar of
(19:44):
for me and thinking about how webridge these gaps and how we
build community is social impact.
And you know we were talkingabout this before the call
started and I've mentioned thephrase a few times.
But you know social impact Idefine very broadly.
We can get into it, but it doesinclude things like small
nonprofits or smallorganizations in your community
(20:04):
that can help you feel connected.
So you're at that trivia night,can you also learn about a cause
that is in your neighborhood,in your community, where your
help even if it's $20, could beinvaluable to a really small
organization?
And bringing that organizationinto that karaoke night and
having them talk about theirwork, bring some of the people
who are participating from it,or rather who are benefiting
(20:27):
from it, who beneficiaries, andso then we have a situation
where all of that community isconsistently sort of jam-packed
into one one space, and I thinkthat's where all of the all of
the crazy things I do sort offit together right, because
you've got donor education,which is a huge, huge important
thing for me because I spent somuch of my life and my career
(20:50):
trying to build a home in thespace of social impact and
philanthropy, and so there werea lot of things that I had to
learn along the way, that I hadto learn the hard way.
I had no one to ask like whatis a donor advised?
fund.
I didn't know that until I wasalmost 30 years old right, and
it's now.
The largest charities in theworld are donor advised funds,
(21:11):
right, but a lot of people don'teven know what they are.
So there's that aspect of itfor my work.
But then there's bringingpeople together consistently
into these spaces, bringing thatdonor education into that space
, that opportunity to give andconnect to community.
That's where all of it kind ofcomes together for me, which is
what makes my life not entirelyunmanageable, seeing those
(21:34):
connections.
Jamie Serino (21:36):
Yeah, if you can have some overlap, that would
help.
So I did want to circle back tothe donor advised fund.
I wonder, for our viewers andlisteners that don't know what
that is, if you could talk alittle bit about that.
Brandolon Barnett (21:49):
Yeah, donor, advised funds are a vehicle for
giving where you can think ofthem almost like a philanthropic
or nonprofit social impactsavings account where you can
put money in.
There's often a minimum,although there was a time, you
know, when I first started aplatform called Grow Fund, which
I think that's when we, when wefirst met I was with an
(22:09):
organization called GlobalImpact we started a startup to
democratize DAFs and at the timeminimums to open a DAF were
$5,000, $10,000.
Now they've come down to adollar, $10, $100.
And so you start the accountand then, once you've started it
, you're actually able to make acharitable contribution into
(22:30):
your donor advised fund and geta charitable tax deduction if
you want to itemize and claimthat deduction.
But you don't have to give to aspecific charity at that point.
You can then choose, almostlike you have your.
So you have your philanthropicsavings account and then it
almost acts like your ownpersonal foundation where, at
whatever point as that moneybuilds up, you can then make a
(22:51):
grant out to a nonprofitorganization and that donor
advised fund provider of whichthere are many can send that
those funds out to that charity.
And there are now so many donoradvised fund opportunities.
If you have a communityfoundation in your community,
most likely they are offeringdonor advised funds as an option
for you to engage with causesand they have lists of charities
(23:13):
.
We work with several communityfoundations, like Giving,
compass, to help them educatethose donors.
So you might be seeing some ofour technologies and innovations
there.
But also there's now thelargest charity in the world is
Fidelity Charitable overtookUnited Way several years ago and
they distribute billions andbillions and billions of dollars
every year and have billions ofdollars saved.
And donor advised funds havebeen a little bit controversial.
(23:36):
There's been this idea thatbecause you don't have to make
that distribution to a charityand you don't have the same
rules as a private foundation,so private foundations have to
distribute 5% of their totalassets each year at a minimum.
There's no such payout rule fordonor advised funds.
But a lot of new research iscoming out is actually showing
(23:57):
that, which is something Isuspected for many years.
This is an opportunity for alot of social impact
organizations and nonprofitsbecause that money is captive.
Those people who have investedin that donor advised fund can
only send that money to anonprofit.
What's becoming clear is thatas organizations become more
sophisticated about recognizingthose donors, speaking to them,
(24:18):
understanding them, that there'sa huge opportunity for donor
advised funds to transform howfunding gets to people, but
there are a lot of questionsthat we need to ask and there's
some controversy around it, butit really goes back to what I
said earlier around this largersocial impact space.
I think one of the main thingsI try to help people come away
with whenever I have anopportunity to be heard is just
(24:40):
understanding that there are somany ways to give back.
Mm, hmm.
When I was younger I thought, OK, I can give to a charity or I
can work for charity, I canmaybe work for the government
and that's pretty much it Right.
And then later I learned thatmaybe I could join a foundation.
There are now so many ways toget back.
There is impact investing.
(25:02):
If you think about your 401k,there are options where you can
actually choose 401k.
(25:25):
There are options where you canactually choose.
You go into the settings andtalk to your broker to invest in
sustainable companies orcompanies that are not hurting
the world at a minimum, and youcan do that according to your
own worldview and your ownthoughts.
That's the democratization,right.
You are bringing your anopportunity to sit around with
their family and say, hey,everyone in the family we've put
in this collective amount.
Where do we want to make thatdistribution?
Where do we want to give?
Where people come together asgroups with strangers or others
(25:50):
in their communities or friendsand family, and they often use a
donor advised fund or a similarvehicle, and they put pool
money together and once a yearthey find an organization to
grant it out to.
And it's also creating a newthird space, right.
So there's those opportunities.
There's opportunities to workand build new technologies.
That I've been a part of that.
(26:11):
There are many jobs, whetheryou're an engineer or you're in
marketing, where you can helporganizations to get their
message out into the world or toget in front of donors and to
raise more resources for theirmission, and all of these things
are really powerful and, Ithink, something that everyone
needs to keep in mind.
There are so many ways to giveback.
There are not just a few.
(26:31):
I didn't even touch onvolunteering and skilled
volunteering, joining a board.
I think that's one of the mainmessages for me, and donor
advised funds are definitely abig and growing sort of piece to
that puzzle of how you canchoose to give back of how you
can choose to give back.
Jamie Serino (26:48):
Yeah, and I think, you know, with all of that out
there which is amazing, you know, like I was saying earlier,
there's, you know, there's alittle bit of a fragmentation
there and it may seem complex,but really it's just choice and
I think it comes down to aperson actually being able to be
deliberate about what they wantto contribute to in society,
(27:09):
like I want to contribute toenvironmental causes, about what
they want to contribute to insociety, like I want to
contribute to environmentalcauses or I want to contribute
to disease causes and thingslike that.
And I think that that's, youknow, amazing.
It is democratization and thedonor advised fund.
So you're saying you know youlearned about it.
I learned about it, I don'tknow, maybe nine years ago, so,
and at that time there werethose minimums that you were
(27:31):
talking about.
So when you talk about thoseminimums, when you talk about
the captive money maybe that'speople with millions of dollars
in there, but I'm assuming thatyou put the money in the DAF,
you don't get the IRS deductionuntil you donate it, right?
Brandolon Barnett (27:52):
No, that's the innovation for a DAF.
You get the deduction.
You get your tax receipt, ifyou will, that you have made a
charitable deduction when youput that money into the DAF.
Jamie Serino (28:05):
That's where the controversy is, then.
Brandolon Barnett (28:07):
That's where the controversy is.
Jamie Serino (28:08):
Yeah, that's where the controversy is then.
So where the yeah, so that'swhen they yeah, that's where the
controversy is then yeah, so,um, yeah, I guess if people want
to be like that, they can sortof find that loophole.
But you know, for people thatwant to use it for what its
purpose is, and you think abouta person maybe who is gonna like
, who is not a millionaire, whowants to put, you know, a few
hundred or a few thousand inthere, you can be like your own
(28:28):
foundation, like you said, andbe deliberate about where to
give that money and not not feelas stressed about it and not
just be reactive either Like oh,I got this email or I got this
thing in the mail, and those arefine too, reacting to those you
know out, you know outreach, um, methods and stuff.
But uh, it's just really nicethat a person can just sort of
(28:50):
be deliberate and say here's themoney I'm setting aside and
here is I'm going to put itthere, and then I'm going to
distribute it as I want to andas I feel like I need to.
And then now you talked aboutgiving circles, which I'm not as
familiar with.
So this is, this is where.
So can you tell me how peoplewould come together for a giving
(29:11):
circle?
Brandolon Barnett (29:12):
Yeah, so there's a few ways, um.
First, there are a variety ofdifferent platforms and
solutions.
If you search, you know, givingcircle platform online, you'll
find several of them.
Um, but you can do it withfriends and family.
That's very common um, whereyou just say, hey, we're going
to start a giving circle, maybeit's the immediate family
grandparents, aunts and unclesand then maybe during the
(29:35):
holidays or Thanksgiving, aroundGiving Tuesday, everyone has a
vote.
There's some charities thatyou're all selecting from and
then you can make distributionsfrom that giving circle fund,
which often is a donor advisedfund these days, to those
charities.
So that's one way, friends andfamily.
Another is that there are somevery well-known and large and
(29:57):
popular giving circles that havecreated some pretty awesome
communities.
There's one here in DC that Iwas a member of called Black
Benefactors.
If you just search givingcircles, there are thousands of
them now all across the country,of people who are strangers,
who just met through a platformor through a meetup or
(30:17):
networking experience and saidyou know what, I want to join,
and then they're putting in $100, $200, $300 a year.
And all of that adds up to asubstantial amount.
I mean there are smallcharities with $500,000 budget
where you have 100 people giving$300.
That is a lot.
That's a substantial portion oftheir budget.
(30:38):
That could be all of theirmarketing spend for two quarters
right.
So there's that option of justsort of finding some of those
larger established givingcircles.
And then there are someinnovative things, like what
we're trying at the Regular,where if you join a adult social
league like we do a bocceleague, for example, called DC
Bocce you pay a membership, youparticipate and compete in that
(31:02):
adult social league for twomonths, and what we're doing is
actually innovating by makingpart of your payment for that
experience go into a givingcircle and then you have the
right to vote and be a part ofthat community and we're
building experiences and meetupsaround it, and that's what I
call that social innovation,right?
So there's a few ways to do that, but I think the kind of I
really want to go back to thatpoint you made about being
(31:24):
deliberate deliberate and that'sreally at the core of a lot of
what we do at Giving Compass,where we've really said Giving
Compass was founded by Jeff andTricia Rakes and early Microsoft
employees who went on their ownphilanthropic journey, started
the Rakes Foundation, which isbased in Seattle, and then Jeff
Rakes was actually invited to bethe first CEO of the Gates
(31:46):
Foundation and so they went onthis philanthropic journey where
they learned to be moredeliberate about how they give,
and Giving Compass built uptechnology and articles and
content around supporting peopleon that journey.
So now we get 100,000 sitevisits a month, we have 40,000
plus content, and we work to getthat content and that
(32:06):
educational material in front ofpartners like Schwab Charitable
, fidelity Charitable, which Imentioned the largest charity in
the world and it really is allabout being deliberate.
And so what we've built is atool where, yes, you can go and
search for a nonprofit.
You can also, though, searchfor an article about the cause
that that nonprofit is workingon.
You can also ask questions likethe questions we're discussing
(32:30):
now, like what is a givingcircle, what is a donor class,
how does it work, and seesourced answers, and I think
that's a really crucial point.
No matter what decision you'remaking, this better world that I
want to create, it does requireus all to more deliberately
think about the shape of thefuture right.
(32:51):
I think that we've reached apoint and I'm going to sort of
pontificate a little bit, Iguess, but I think we've reached
a point as a species, just sortof at the highest level, where
we have tremendous capabilitieswe can go to other planets.
We could destroy life on thisplanet if we chose to right.
So with that power comes theopportunity as well to think
(33:14):
more long-term.
How do we want the future tolook?
And social impact andphilanthropy that's really
what's at the core of thatmovement.
It's about deliberatelythinking about the shape of the
future, what we want it to looklike, and that requires
educating ourselves and learningand being open-minded and
(33:34):
exploring new topics and tryingnew things.
And so that point that you madeabout being deliberate I just
really wanted to hone in on thatbecause I think that's a really
, really important point for allof this Just being deliberate
about how we interact withcommunity, how we interact with
each other, how we supportcauses and organizations in our
community and making decisionsthat we feel, after being
(33:56):
deliberate, after doing ourresearch, after learning as much
as we can, after checking oursources in an era where we need
to check sources, what's thefuture that we want to look?
Then we democratize everyoneparticipating in that process
beyond just voting right, whereit's a sort of daily thing, and
I'm definitely rambling at thispoint, but I think that's a
(34:18):
really, really powerful pointabout being deliberate.
Jamie Serino (34:22):
Yeah, well, I appreciate that you honed in on
that, and then you raised it upa level, thinking about society.
And then I think, if we takethat point about being
deliberate at that societallevel, we're past the point of
not being deliberate aboutsolving problems.
(34:43):
And I think there are people inour organizations that have
been out there and have beenhard at work at, you know,
deliberately working to solveproblems.
So to pull everyone else alongwith them is, you know, I think
it's a difficult exercise, andso I think, the more that people
(35:03):
can feel like I'm in control ofthis and I believe in something
and I'm going to go support itas opposed to being haphazard
about it or, oh, tax season'scoming up, I better donate my
money.
It's like it needs to be, and Ithink, you know, with younger
people, it is a regular part oftheir lives and they believe in
things and not say the olderpeople don't, but I think it's
(35:26):
becoming more of a core part ofa person's life.
So then to your point.
The democratization, then, isimportant, because I don't want
to just say, all right, it'sgoing to be my elected official
that then has to go to Congressto fight for something for me, I
want to actually just go andput my money somewhere, I want
to go donate my time, I want togo actually contribute to this
movement.
(35:46):
That's happening and so it's allgreat.
And so I see where youroptimism is coming from, because
I think a lot of people may notrealize that there's this
undercurrent happening where allof these things can take place.
They are, and there can be agroundswell around the process
(36:07):
of it, it and the participation,and then the problems will get
solved.
And so, just going back to yourpoint about, in the micro,
there's, you know, some thingsto be upset about, but in the
macro, I'm feeling your optimismbecause I see all these things
happening now.
Um, and it's, it's, it's, it's,it's encouraging and and it
also, again, it's empowering andit's just, you've always been
(36:28):
about democratization and I, youknow, I've always liked that.
So tell me a little bit moreabout your book.
Brandolon Barnett (36:36):
Yeah.
So my book is called Dreams,deferred Recession Struggle and
the Quest for a Better World andit's just, it's about my
experience trying to graduatingfrom college during the great
recession, you know, having allof this hope, not being able to
find work, um, but reallywanting to work in non-profits
and philanthropy.
And then, when I did get a job,it was often, you know, minimum
(36:59):
wage, not being able to supportmy family.
My mother passed away when I,you know, really, really was
powerless to save her.
I went to grad school, livingon the you know tales about
living on the street in SanFrancisco while working at
internship with a social impactorganization there and just that
(37:22):
journey and what I learnedalong the way and some of the
hopelessness that I felt alongthe way.
I talk very frankly in the bookabout a moment where I was very
intent on ending my life becauseI couldn't find a job, I had no
hope, I felt like I had noprospects and I felt like, at
the same time, I was not willingto compromise and do work that
(37:46):
did not make the world a betterplace, and so it was this really
labyrinthine journey of tryingto figure out, like, how can I
do the sort of work thatnonprofits do, that impact
organizations do, but also makeenough money to take care of
myself, to buy a home, to havesupport my family and to just
(38:06):
not feel I grew up very poor, soto not feel that constant
scarcity, which is reallysomething that I think becomes
physically painful, you know,after a while.
it hurts your heart and yourmind and it interferes with your
ability to even to bedeliberate and to be strategic.
And so I really just recountthat journey and talk about what
I went through and my goal inwriting it.
(38:27):
I really had two goals.
The first goal was I wantedanyone out there who had a
similar mindset to me or who wasstruggling especially you know
I wrote a lot of it during theheight of COVID, when a lot of
people were losing their jobsand feeling hopeless, and I
wanted them to see a journeythat maybe would resonate with
them and allow them to say thathey, there's a light at the end
(38:54):
of this tunnel, maybe.
I've applied to 400 jobs, but Ionly need to be worried about
the one that I forget all theothers.
It just takes one right and tohelp them to see that there's
hope.
The other reason I wrote it wasI wanted to start a
conversation in the space ofsocial impact and philanthropy,
much like this conversationwe're having here today, where I
just ask the question why is itso hard for people to
understand this space, forpeople to see how they can get
(39:16):
involved, for people to startcareers in it, for people to
start careers and get paidenough to live in a world where
these organizations sayingthey're making the world a
better place?
You have to be willing, as agrant maker, to give
organizations the money to paytheir staff so that they can
have a living wage, so they cancreate families, so that they
can do better work.
And so I wanted to start and bea part of that conversation in
(39:39):
the space of philanthropy andsocial impact.
But it actually is the first ofa few books that I'm working on.
I'm actually working on sort ofa trilogy.
That book was about my journeyto get involved and find space
for myself within the space ofsocial impact and philanthropy
and to define it, to understandthings like corporate
responsibility and impact,investing and ESG and all of
(40:02):
these different movements thatyou can sort of choose to
interface with or understand asmuch as you like.
But my second book that I'mworking on is actually going to
be highlighting where I landed,which is in this space of
innovation, and so I'm right nowgoing around and talking with
different nonprofits, differenttechnology companies, about the
ways that they're innovating forsocial impact and just to share
(40:24):
their story and to share theirinnovation.
And then the third book that Iwant to write is actually going
to be called I'm tentativelycalling it Impact Anywhere, and
it actually relates to the pointthat you were making earlier
around for younger generations,millennials and Gen Z in
particular this sort of mindsetbecoming part of everyday life.
I believe that you know I wantto write a story.
(40:47):
That's the end where we'rereally.
I'm really asking the questionwhat if we didn't need
philanthropy?
What if we didn't need socialimpact?
No-transcript had somedeliberate aspect to it that
made the world better in waysthat we as a society have sort
of agreed on, and we already seesome of that happening.
(41:07):
Right, you go to the grocerystore.
Now you're checking out, you'reseeing an opportunity to give.
That's an everyday interaction,where you are being asked to
make the world better just bybuying your apples or your
frozen pizza or whatever you'regetting at the grocery store.
And so I think the last piecethat I want to write about is
just that, so that stories orjourneys like mine they're not
(41:31):
necessary.
I would hope that they're notnecessary in 50 years or 100
years, because everyone's doinggood all the time and everyone's
thinking deliberately about howthey're doing good and how the
world around them is affected bytheir actions and how the world
around them is changing or canchange at all times.
And I think that's, for me, isthe sort of the ideal instate
(41:53):
for all of the work that I do,even if I don't sort of get to
see it, I don't really care.
Jamie Serino (41:58):
It's really just about taking one step at a time
toward that future it's reallyjust about you know taking one
step at a time toward thatfuture.
Yep, that's great and I mean Iappreciate that you shared.
You know about your struggleand I think that could be
helpful to a lot of people andnow it's great to see that you
are full of hope now and I thinkyou spread hope as you talk to
people, which is great.
(42:18):
But you know you did mentionsome very real problems and I
think it's good advice abouttrying to work in this industry
and finding ways to help andcontribute.
But can it be at a good enoughsalary to be, able to live and
(42:39):
pay your bills and stuff, andthat might be something for the
industry to have to figure out.
And I remember eight, nineyears ago around when we met,
when there was a bit of a shiftgoing from well, how much of
this dollar that's being donatedto you is being used for the
program?
A shift toward well are youtaking care of overhead, because
(43:01):
otherwise you're going to loseyour staff, and are you going to
grow and people?
You know people are going tohave loam around stuff and so
hopefully that's sort ofcontinuing so that organizations
can build infrastructure there.
And I think that that goes intowhat you're talking about there
, um, and I think just in ingeneral, you know, uh, there, I
(43:26):
I love what you're saying thereabout.
I'm taking it as the sort ofbuilt-in quality.
I think that more and moreproducts and services try to
build things in like built-ininnovation or built in this or
that, and there needs to be likebuilt-in philanthropy, like
you're gonna buy and somecompanies do it you're gonna buy
this product and it means thatwe're going to put this much
money into the environment orwe're going to make sure that
our practices are sustainable.
(43:46):
You're, you're, you're buyingour product, you're investing in
us, we're going to invest inthe future, right, and that
mentality, you know would wouldgo a long way and it kind of
that's a little bit of whatyou're talking about there.
Um, about there Awesome.
So I think people would beangry at me if I didn't ask
(44:07):
about the guitars in thebackground.
Brandolon Barnett (44:09):
What do you like to play?
My mother was an opera singerand so I grew up around music
and it's super important to me.
These days I'm more of akaraoke guy, but in the past I
led a band.
If you, if anyone wants to do alittle sleuthing, there's an
album you can find out on theinternets.
But I generally will play sortof singer, songwriter stuff,
(44:33):
alternative stuff.
I have done live shows wherepeople come up to me and they
say that was great, you shoulddo some of your own originals
and not so many Tracy Chapmansongs and I'm like well, they're
all my songs, but I appreciatethat.
So if you like Tracy Chapman,it's sort of in that vein.
Jamie Serino (44:50):
Great, yeah.
So the Giving Compass, theRegular and the book Dreams
Deferred.
Encourage everyone to checkthose out.
Brandon, do you have anythingelse that you want to add,
Anything that you feel like wedidn't quite cover?
Brandolon Barnett (45:09):
No, I've enjoyed the conversation.
I think the only thing I'd sayis all of these things I'm
talking about, you can go andtry for yourself.
So, if you go togivingcompassorg, try searching
for what is a giving circle,tell me about the overhead myth
or what is a donor advice fund Alot of the questions we've
discussed today and let us knowwhat you think that tool is
there for people to ask thesorts of questions that you're
(45:31):
asking on this podcast and onthis show, and the other thing
is, you know, just as we thinkabout technology, I think one of
the main takeaways I wantpeople to realize is just
reinforcing what I said earlierthat innovation isn't just the
latest app.
We can innovate in ourcommunities just in how we new
ways to gather together andconnect with each other, and so
(45:53):
I just encourage people to dothat.
Check out my book it's onAmazon and find me on LinkedIn.
Otherwise, I'm so glad thatyou're engaging in this podcast
and telling these stories, andit's been a pleasure.
Jamie Serino (46:09):
Yeah, pleasure was all mine, so I think you know.
Last message there is, you know, for people that do want to get
involved and want to help, theywant to do something or start a
career.
It sounds like the GivingCompass could be a good place to
start.
Some people don't even knowwhere to start.
It seems like that's a greatplace to start and just search
stuff and get some information.
It's great.
(46:30):
All right, Brandilyn, thank youvery, very much, and to our
watchers and listeners, thankyou for joining us and we will
see you next time.
Brandolon Barnett (46:39):
Thank you Bye .
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