Welcome to pay leave and power week on the weird for good podcast. It's a week of candid conversations for the nonprofit sector. And today is day five. We're talking about the power dynamics and grant making. We're so glad you're here. Hey, I'm John. And I'm Becky. And this is the we are for good podcast.
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So let's get started. Can you just feel the excitement I'm so excited,
we've been saving this interview this conversation, it's been in the making for like nine months right now. And I just want everybody to hold on to your seats, because you are about to meet one of the most incredible Rockstar human beings, social entrepreneurs, and just an amazing mom, and somebody who's really changing up the sector for good. So I am just so geeked out today to introduce our community to Jada paying, and Jada was introduced to us by Jess Campbell out in the boons, who is a serial connector as well. And of all the names she has ever given us. She said, this is the one that you really need to hone in on. And so we're just delighted to introduce Jada, she's the founder and CEO of just fund. And she's a serial entrepreneur, she's just dedicated her life to building social justice infrastructures that are baked in equity, democracy. And I think the thing that I love the most about just fun is they love when money can move quickly. And they have this great phrase where they believe money moves at the speed of trust. And they work to ensure that grantmakers can move these critical resources equitably, transparently and securely. I know every nonprofit out there is cheering, because this is what we need to to get this critical funding unrestricted into our missions. But I want to talk a little bit of just about just fun, because it's a really innovative online portal. And it's connecting funders directly to the organizations to help move these resources while they're facilitating trust, transparency, and accountability and philanthropy. They have 60 funds over 600 funders using the portal. And they're really helping to move about $250 million to historically excluded and chronically underfunded communities around the country. We are so geeked out to have an incredible conversation about power dynamics, equity and philanthropy and where we're moving as a sector. But I want to give just a snippet of Jada's incredible bio. Early in her career, she worked to build this really progressive leadership pipeline called young people for and we're gonna dive into that because as you all know, we have a really big listener base of young professionals, Gen Z millennials, who are really trying to pour into that passion of what is my purpose? And how can I align what I want to do in life with my purpose. She also holds a master's degree from Columbia. And she's an incredible mother, she's an author and on the advisory board also have she the people and girls crushing it. I think we're about to crush this conversation Jada, get in this house and get to know our family. We are so excited you're here.
I'm so happy to be here. I've been looking forward to this conversation as well and love that we we get to talk about equity and, and trust and how we ultimately, you know, shift power to frontline groups doing the hard work.
Oh my gosh, already, the tone setting is fantastic. So we need to back it up a little. And we want to know about little yada. We want to know about where you grew up. We want to know what informed your life that led you to want to chase after this justice work.
You know, so I'm the first person in my family to be born in America. I come from a Chinese father and a Brazilian mom who immigrated from Brazil to Atlanta, Georgia, and I grew up in the South. I was born in Atlanta, I grew up in the South Alabama, Florida, then the Midwest, Missouri, we kind of moved around a bit and my parents came here to make sure that my sister and I could grow up in a democracy much like my dad's parents before him had fled Communist China to go to Brazil to make sure that their kids would grow up in a democracy. And then of course, in the 70s, there was a military dictatorship in Brazil, that kind of changed the tone where my parents were and they they came to the United States. And you know, I'm so grateful that we had a chance to experience democracy and I think that just runs through my bloodstream. You know, and early in my life If I had the blessing of working in college with an incredible Professor Rick Fogle song at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, who taught me about, you know, participatory democracy, and you know, how we actually are in control of what happens in our communities? And how do we build that. And I, I went early on to work at the Kettering foundation to study how to make democracy work as it should, and developed a very early commitment and passion to, you know, with the nonprofit sector and, and see nonprofits is that critical connective tissue between us as individuals and each other, you know, they really fill in the gap where government can't and help us really be a community. So I've dedicated my life to this to the nonprofit sector. And I think I always will. Wow, I
mean, of course, that has been your experience, because the way you showed up is so bold, and so way that sees people, you know, at all levels of not just the organizations with those that you're trying to serve. And I just, I want to give you a chance to kind of tell a little bit of the story of one of your first founding journeys, which was for young people for because this organization to me, gosh, there's so much to learn of what you were doing a decade ago. And so I'd love you to kind of walk you through that before we hop into just fun.
Yeah, that's so sweet that you think I bought young people for a decade ago? I think I was like, 16 years ago, but I'm a lot older somehow. I can't do math is what this means. No, what happens is we're just getting older and we just forget time. Yeah, no, but yes, I was super lucky. Early in my career that I had an incredible mentor in Norman Lear. So I, who we all know is one of the greats. Right? And, and I was actually working on a book, because he and his wife had purchased an original copy of the Declaration of Independence. And he built a nonprofit called Yeah, one of the only the only privately owned copy of the Declaration of Independence. And he wanted to make sure that document got in the hands of citizens around the country. And he built a nonprofit called the Declaration of Independence roadtrip. And that's a mouthful, but his son in law, Daniel Katz, dear friend, mentor, like a brother to me. And I worked on a book called Why freedom matters, which is just up here, always right there on my shelf life, and it matters. It's an anthology. When Norman and I are on our book tour, I was reading the New York Times he's sitting across from me, we're on the book tour for why freedom matters. And I am saying, are you seeing this story about Patrick Henry college, it's this conservative school for conservatives, where they actually take homeschooled evangelical conservatives into Patrick Henry College, and then they put them as aides for congressional leaders. And this is like an intentional pipeline for evangelical homeschool kids going to Patrick Henry College, this was years and years ago, and then feed them directly as congressional aid. So it's like this pipeline for conservatives to get into into power. And I'm like, What are we doing as progressives? We should build what are we doing? He's he looks over his newspaper says we should go build that. And it goes back to his reading. And I'm like, okay, so how do we do that, and that that's how young people for was born. I worked with some amazing, brilliant people, Allison Friedman, whose name you will come across who ran for office and in gosh, I think it's Virginia, a while back, but brilliant woman who helped me kind of shape young people for into this pipeline for progressive leaders to really make sure that we have young people of color in particular, you know, running for office and serving and nonprofits and building this infrastructure for young people to be able to lead. And then one of the the first person I hired to work with me on that team was a brilliant 23 year old city council person from Tallahassee, Florida, who had just graduated from FAMU ran for office and was elected, you know, I think the race cost something like $5,000. But I'm talking, of course, about Andrew Gillum, you know, who went on to have a long term career, you know, and politics and an elective office and has a servant leader leadership. And we built young people for young elected officials, network, frontline Leaders Academy, to get young people, you know, interested in and able to run and when, yeah, so that's my story there with young people for
I just think about the legacy of planting those seeds, with someone who is young and hungry and passionate, and putting them directly in their zone of genius. I think we just had a great conversation with Abby failing over at Global Citizen year and she was having this exact conversation about why do we feel like we have to go exactly to college just because that's what we've always been told. What about pouring in to your passion and getting some lived experience? I just think of the ripples that must be happening from that incredible organization. But we got to talk about your other incredible organization, which is just fun, and I'd love for you to give a kind of an overview to our listeners, because I absolutely love this concept of building a grant making solution where funders just move their money so quickly to grantees, can you share just a little bit about the history and the scope of that work with us?
Yeah, I built, started building just fund back in 2017, when I was at a network called solidaire network, which is a network of individual donors and institutions trying to move money in solidarity with social movements. And the values were there. When I came in there, like most, you know, grant making institutions, I realized, you know, our values are one thing, but our systems aren't in line with our values. You know, so here we were wanting to move money quickly, and in solidarity with social movements, but our fiscal sponsor had a process where they needed 18 attachments took six months to get a grin off the door. And it didn't work to move money seamlessly in a simple, easy way to get money to movements. And then, you know, we realize all of our friends, we all have different application systems. So how much time are we making organizations spent? Just applying for funding? You know, and at solidaire, for example, similar to other grant making institutions we take in 300 proposals, but we only fund 15, I met 285, really extraordinary organizations and their work, all that time would go into the trash can, right, there was nothing we could do for those groups. And I just had a feeling if we could get those two underneath five organizations to our membership base, just that could move more money to movements, right that someone would find a match inside that network beyond what we were able to do through the full fund. And shortly after we started having this idea, we also started the emergent fund. And at that point, we realized, gosh, we control two grant cycles. Now we could do a common app, we could do that common grant application everyone's been talking about but not building and just even if it's just for these two entities, we could save so much time for organizations, especially when we know it takes 40 hours for a group just to apply for funding. What does that mean? You know, it's $5,000 in someone's time and opportunity cost or actual direct costs. And you're probably your likelihood of getting funding is less than 30%. So you're doing that over and over again, who are we actually inviting into the process, someone who has the money, the knowledge and the networks, the expertise to be able to apply for funding. So we were very excited about this common app solution defending the dream Fund, which is a collaborative fund, not Williams health Snowden Foundation was like I'm in I don't know what it is, but we're doing it, you know, let's just do it. Yeah, the three of us just jumped in, we jumped into the common app solution ran our three grant cycles together, meaning a group used one application to apply to all three funds. I think that year removed $200,000, you know, and but we had 800 groups apply, which meant they were like, saving them, each of them add hours and applications to the to other groups, right. And, you know, 120 hours, all told, in application time, just putting that time to mission advancing work, not the burden of applying for funding took them, you know, 20 to 60 minutes to apply and just fund using the common app app solution. And now we're, you know, we've exceeded 150 million, we're on track to hit 250 million. You know, we have 6700 organizations that have used the common app solution, you know, they come in apply to one fund, but then use that common app to apply to others, just like with college. And the really exciting part is also getting the just funders, the individual donors who are sitting on $142 billion in their donor advised funds to help them identify to find and fund groups that are now on this portal, you know, really trying to move money to these chronically underfunded communities.
I love that you just take these big questions and you chase them, you know, you get to the root that seems like so simple on the surface. But we know from being in it, there's just a lot of hands to connect and a lot of things in the background, especially with this app. So the common application that you're talking about, what does it really look like? I mean, you you're talking about the one application, and then you're in this database, what's it what does it look like after that? And what's kind of the future of Philanthropy In light of this in your view?
You know, I think so for the common common app the way we've operationalized it, and there are other folks having more conversations around this common app solution, and have done it like in different cities, like Philadelphia or different you know, yes, seats. And then I know there are other folks trying to talk about a common absolution the way we've operationalized it, it's four questions. So it's your summary. It's about your organization, who's on your team, and what's your financial need. And we identified those four, early on, there was an advisory council, what do you really need to know? To move money? What do you actually really need to know where you really to move money legally need to know the org name? The EIN and the ad, right? That's, that's actually all you need to know. And then you have to decide you want to fund them. So how do you decide you want to fund them? Is it the application or is it the relationship? I fundamentally believe money moves at the speed of trust? I've seen it right. If I trust you, and you're moving money somewhere and you asked me to join you, I'm going to do it If I meet this organization, and I trust that leader, and I trust and believe in their vision, I'm moving money. Right? So we believe that we need to free up time, because that's the biggest enemy of trust building is we don't have the time, you know, our culture doesn't allow it. And these application processes certainly don't allow it. So we need to free up people's time. My favorite class in business school was process flow management. And so when I look at a problem, that was your favorite, I love it. I look at the process flow, and I see where are the bottlenecks? And then how can we take our resources and apply it to those bottlenecks to free up space, and to you know, unlock, get unstuck. The system that's not working, and the biggest bottleneck that I see and have seen in grant making is the admin. You know, it just takes so much time and more than the actual direct time it takes to collect the proposal, the fiber once you through whatever attachments is the opportunity cost of spending time that way, meaning you're not building transformative relationship, you're just doing all this admin. So we've got these brilliant folks and philanthropies spending time on this admin, when really, their time is better spent doing the trust building more. Okay,
on behalf of the 1.8 million nonprofits in the United States, and myself as a recovering major gift officer, I want to thank you, I feel so seen. So valued I am I am going back to the recesses of my brain, thinking of all the grant applications I applied for in my career. I'm thinking of all the legwork when I wasn't even just working on the proposal, but trying to nurture the relationship trying to figure out who are the board members trying to make those connections in the background. I think about on the back end, even after you've gotten the grant just filling out all of these endless, you know, questionnaires proving that you did what you said you were going to do, which I still think has some merit, definite merit but holy smokes, I feel like you have poured the Drano down and unclog your your like the philanthropic drain Oh, that is getting us unclogged. To move more quickly into what we do. And I just keep hearing this season, this theme of trust based philanthropy coming up. And I want everybody to just sit in that for a second. Because these are the ideas that we need to be socializing to our donors to our funders, to our believers, and our people that follow us are rabid fans, if they have trust in us, then we will put the money where we think it'll be best used, then you start to strip away with things like the overhead myth, and you start to strip away at Oh, we don't have enough money for professional development, or for innovation or trying stuff. So do gooders. Yatta is your people, you I feel like we have a warrior on the frontlines really advocating for us, which I think is just a great segue to get into this equity conversation and you have lived working toward equity. I love this story about your dad and democracy and how that has just been a core of your DNA growing up, and I'm gonna guess that your kids probably have some of that baked into them, too. So talk to us a little bit about how philanthropy is shifting, and how what you're seeing right now in in how funders and how we maybe even nonprofits are starting to center equity in their practice and in their work.
Yeah, I mean, firstly, I think you know, out of crisis, sometimes comes opportunities, right breakdowns can lead to breakthroughs. I've seen it happen over and over again. And certainly this major crisis that we continue to live in with our global pandemic brought about certain behavior changes in philanthropy that I hope are lasting, you know, and before that, I think, you know, with the reckoning that the racial reckoning our country has been going through since George Floyd really kind of catapulted us into this space, where, you know, philanthropy wants to fund black and Indigenous and People of Color LED work and starts to, you know, realize, oh, my gosh, less than 1% of my portfolio is funding black and brown people and communities, we've got to fix that. So there's an appetite. And then the with COVID, there, there was an opportunity where the restrictions were just released, right boards voted like we don't, we can just, let's give more money to groups. Let's make it easy, because this is an emergency situation. And so all of these systems that were built, really, that we've inherited over time, over built systems that have been over built were were just stopped, and people could use any system to move money and all of a sudden money was moving more rapidly bigger sums of money over a longer period of times. And what we see now, you know, people are sticking to I mean, there are some really great challenges out there to like the donors of color climate challenge, you know, or they say, Hey, one Point 3% of all of environmental justice, money, environmental money's going to communities of color 1.3%. Let's take the challenge, you know, they issued a challenge to 40 major foundations across the United States saying get to 30%. You know, and so groups are foundation and taking the transparency pledge to share what percent Currently there are funding that are bipoc LED are going to bipoc communities, and how they're going to get to 30%. And it's really, you know, we need, we need more of that. So I think there's, there's equity in that way. And then there's also just recognizing, why are we making groups jump through 100 hoops to get $1,000? Or 10,000? What do we really need, again, for groups, you know, for us to make a decision. If we want to fund a group or not, and why do we all have different systems for playing colleges figured it out, right, with a common app solution, I remember applying for college. And it wasn't easy. You know, now the common app solution facilitates a better system. So for us with a common app, we have those four questions. And we also have a bunch of, you know, tags that groups can add so that funders can find them more easily. And funders can do analysis on who they're funding and who they're not funding more easily through the common app. And then funders can ask just like with college, up to three supplemental questions and take up to three attachments. So there's some level of customization on the common app, but the group the bulk of their applications done once, and then they can answer just the supplemental questions for these additional, you know, funding opportunities they find on just fund you come in to apply to, you know, decolonizing wealth liberated capital fund, but while you're there, hang on, you could apply to emergent fund, Family Foundation, you know, a national foundation during re granting. And by the way, because your proposals inside just fund, there are 1000s of individual donors who are using just fun to do what we call find in fund where you can use those tags and filtering systems to find groups that you you want to fund and just by virtue of being in the database, you're gonna get money flowing, you know, to you from these individual donors, again, you know, kind of just sitting on $142 billion in their donor advised fund, let's start to move money, you know, to historically excluded organizations. And that's what the portal is facilitating.
I mean, it really is shifting power. And like just recognizing the work that's happening on the frontlines as we kind of put more empowerment to putting focused effort there. And so spending all this administrative time, would you talk about this idea of building trust, though, I think, you know, I'm so curious how you would advise nonprofits that are buying into this that want to jump in, how do you build that trust? Like, what's the best way to lean in and build that with funders across the board?
Yeah, I mean, it is a little tricky, John, right. Because people sometimes equate relational philanthropy with trust based philanthropy, all these terms in like these new terms that, you know, wrapping paper for work that's been happening for decades, you know, you think about funding exchange and, you know, different different networks that have been around for decades trying to do this work and, and sometimes the wrapping paper sticks and I think what P Infante and and Brenda Solorzano, and and, you know, others build and trust based philanthropies, you know, all women of color, you know, it's sticking, right, and it works. And, you know, unfortunately, it's also getting co opted by a bunch of folks who are not people of color and saying, We do trust faceplant. And we and they think it's like a set of practices like, oh, well, it can be, but it's not a checklist, right? It's about your culture, inside the organization, your systems, your leadership, and your practice, but it's not just multi year grants. And we're done. You got to change the whole thing. You know, and, and, and really make sure you're centering trust, again, in your culture, and your leadership and your systems and also your grant making practices. But people go to the easiest thing, which is, oh, we're just going to do a multi year grant, you know, once and then we're done. We did it. You know, so there's, I think, a lot of work that I know shotty and pia ChessBase philanthropy and others are trying to do to reconceptualize the even came out more recently with TVP trust based plan three and four D, which talks about those four elements? And what do you really need to do, you know, to be an organization that centers trust, a foundation that centers trust, trust that, to me, that means, you know? So I say that because it's not it's not if we say trust based plan three is about relationships. What does that mean? It means Oh, my gosh, Becky, could you imagine as like that major gifts officer having to be like in meaningful relationship with all of your donor,
you know, who has a proximity issue to because I mean, not everybody's got access to that. Yeah,
you got it, you know, so it's the, you know, there it is the exclusivity of the way our systems have been built, who has access, you said it to relationships and to funders, and who has the capacity to do the prospecting, great prospecting work, you know, Becky, did, you know and building the relationships with folks so I think when it comes to trust, it's really to me I think about the other side is as taking risks. You know, you have to be able to, to trust people. on what they say, and you know, maybe you don't need a bunch of benchmarks. And you know, here's what we're gonna accomplish, because I don't actually know, I'm just trying something new here, guys.
And trying stuff. I mean, that is a hashtag in this community is try stuff. And I just have to tell you like I am truly near tears right now because what you're describing is the world that I want to live in. It's the world I want to I want to work in. And when I think about people listening to this episode, and we go back to those starry eyed dreamers that we are maybe you are, are a starry eyed dreamer, still, as a young person right now, why we went into this work, is because I wanted to chase all of these things that you were talking about. And shifting that power dynamic is is so critical to our success. And this entire week, as we're discussing equity, and how do we fight back to bring more equity into our work, it's just going to require bravery in this, and I'm feeling that so much with you, because it is going against the tide, that has been hardwired, a completely different way. And us and I want to thank you for talking about values and going back to value and culture because all of it is going to flow from something like this. And I'm just curious, for I'm thinking about the tiny nonprofit out there who's listening, and I just want to know what kind of counsel you would give them as they work to educate their funders, their donors about why we need to make this shift, and why it's why it's in the best interest of the mission, why the mission is actually going to thrive and be more vibrant, when we lean into this what kind of counsel which you give to them to start socializing these themes and these ideas?
Yeah, I mean, I think this goes back also to John's question of like, what does trust really mean, it's trusting yourself as a leader, you know, and what you're trying to build. Because oftentimes, we're chasing the dollar. And so we'll bend into a pretzel to get that money. When really we know, it's not what the kind of partnership we need to actually grow, the work we're doing. And so I think it comes down to the fundamental self trust in you as a leader and yourself as a leader in in your team and what you're building. And really being disciplined to seek out the right partners who are going to help you build towards that vision who have that shared vision in your work, it's not chasing $1, it's really building partnerships with folks who, who want to work towards that common vision that you share, and being you know, thoughtful about the money you're taking, you know, really wanting to have those folks are going to hold your hand over the years and being confident in what you're building. So you trust yourself. When you do that, generally, Confidence comes right after. And so that means when you are talking to a funder, you're sharing that vision of what you're trying to build and see if they want to come along, you know, and what does that mean? That means they're gonna need to come along with you and help you, what are we looking at three to five year grant, you know, come walk with me, I'm not going to be able to operationalize this vision in six months. So no, you know, at the six month report, we're not going to see the impact that I'm talking about, I'm going to need three to five years to get there. And I'm going to need you to hold my to walk with me, you bring the money, I'm going to bring the expertise, you bring the resources and connections, I'm going to bring the team and the people who really know how to get the job done. So I think really, this boils down to trusting yourself, you know, surrounding yourself with people you trust, and being disciplined around the kinds of partnerships you're trying to cultivate. And really seeing this as a team effort. You know, you're bringing so much knowledge and expertise and relationships with people in your community that you're serving, and the funders bringing something to money, really, we need resources, connection networks, some, you know, hire some different view, because they're funding so many groups that maybe you can't see, and let's just walk together towards this common vision. I think that's very important. We're not out here with a 10 cup, trying to ask for money. We're trying to build something together. And we need partners who understand that. So really getting clear about what you're trying to do. And trusting yourself to do it, I think is the fundamental step to to make to being able to build something that's sustainable.
Hey, friends, we're taking a quick pause to quite literally invite you into this conversation. We really want to hear from you and hear about your personal experiences. And the topics that we're unpacking this week is part of paid leave and power week. So head on over to we're for good.com/power. And there you're going to find a place where you can share your story confidentially through our secure form that's there. Or you can even leave us an anonymous voice message if you want to add your actual voice to the conversation. You know, we'd love to hear from you either way. That's we're for good.com/power and while you're there, we've also designed the page to lead you into action within your organization. Here you can connect with this week. his guest and get a deep roundup of resources and access to frameworks and scripts to help you get this conversation started. As we begin changing the trajectory of these deeply rooted problems that are plaguing our sector, we hope to see you there. Who needs like a recording of you saying that like on the daily to me, Yatta, that was so good. If I can just thread this together in my head, I mean, I think flexing the power of no is huge. And I think we're taught, like you said, with the 10 Cup to be the receiver always. But we have to come in and claim that power in these situations and know who the partners you want to partner with. And it's happened with us in our business, too, that we've sat across from sponsors that, like, hey, this doesn't feel like value alignment, and it feels so good to not take that money, you know, and to say, No, and there's so much power in that. But I realized we've got to do some work as a sector, I think of the people that are fighting on the frontlines, and you know, in these spaces that are difficult, and they do need the money to equal their mission. Can we talk about shifting that power? I mean, practically, speaking, tactically speaking, how can we really shift and give some strategies for how can you, you know, get philanthropy and shifted to the frontlines where they can really activate without being desperate? I guess, if there's an answer to that,
you know, I think, again, I mean, organizations have to be thoughtful about where they're seeking their their resources, you know, and not just go after the next dollar, you know, you're building relationships, and you're building community for the work that you're doing. And I think a lot of us kind of go after the Oprah Winfrey model, like, let me go over here and see who's gonna give me this like, million dollars, you know, and we're building from our core and our people. That's why you know, nonprofits have the great structure, you've got your team, you've got your board, you've got maybe an advisory council, and you've got other groups that are doing this work. And we need to start to be thoughtful about that network, that we're building that connective tissue that we're building, who are folks who are going to really be invested with us, in terms of what we're accomplishing. So, to me, it's really around understanding that you actually hold most of the power in this partnership with funders. And if you want to talk about funders and organizations, funders have to move their money, they're required by law to move them or they have to move 5% of their money towards their mission. Why not? You, you know, and so really, they need to move the money towards things that are going to work. So you actually are in control here, where you can help that funder or program officer, whomever get to their goals, if you listen enough, and can understand what they're trying to accomplish. And then figure out how your work fits into that overall vision, you know, and kind of find that common through line so you can work together towards one of those objectives.
I just think you're so wise, and I just want to live in Jada's world and the systems that we're building. And I want to compliment you on really leaning into Daffs. And as we're talking about deaths, I want to make sure that everybody goes with this acronym, is donor advised funds, of which I mean, literally hundreds of billions of dollars sitting in our country right now unspent that could go toward any one of our charities. I wonder if you could just talk for a second about moving High Net Worth donors in this 140 $3 billion worth of death funding toward chronically underfunded communities and what you've been able to see as a result of that. Yeah, you
know, I think, a couple things, I think, you know, there's a lot of folks who, you know, when you come into wealth, or you just are committed to giving back, you'll put your money into a donor advised fund. Here's the challenge, when you do that, take that action, you get your tax deduction right away. So you've already moved your money to into a tax sheltered vehicle, you've gotten your tax deduction. So what's your incentive to move beyond that? You really don't have one, right? Because you're the money is also growing. And then maybe in 10 years, you could give out more money. But there's no one forcing you to move that money once you've made that decision. So that money can literally sit there forever, until policy changes. So what is what needs to happen? I mean, there needs to be a way and of course there are philanthropic advisors inside these donor advised fund vehicle trying to help you figure out where you want to move money beyond your alma mater, beyond your your kids schools, and education, you know, but what do you really want to accomplish? And the number one reason why philanthropists say donors say they aren't moving money into bipoc news is because they don't know that. Right? It's not folks in their network. So I think part of what we've been trying to solve adjustment is well, let me show you here's 6700 incredible organizations come find something that feels good to you, you know, that you want to fund and take try. The other solution is really collaborative funds. You know, where I think individual donors who have wealth, you know, are used to a financial advisor who are going to present them with an index fund, right like here, you fund this, this mutual fund or this fund and you know, three years Three businesses are going to do really well two are going to do terrible, some are going to do all right. And collaborative funds really fit that same model for their philanthropic vehicles where you can move money to a collaborative fund, your dollar becomes seven times $7. Right? When you move to a collaborative fund, so I'm joined, we're pooling all of our money. So if I give $10,000 to one organization, that's one thing. But if I give 10,000 to a collaborative fund, and then that collaborative funds, moving a million, all of a sudden, I get to know hundreds of organizations. And maybe that's going to build give me a chance to build a relationship with an organization to bring into my own portfolio, but it does so in a way where I can mitigate risk, I can be a little bit anonymous if I need to be as a new donor, but I can get to a bunch of organizations, and I can really stretch my dollar. So that's become a vehicle that I mean, it's been around for 100 years that that I think New philanthropists are really leaning into in particular, when it comes to equity, we're seeing a lot of participatory grantmaking coming, you know, more, more more into to being an activist led grantmaking, where we actually trust people with direct lived experience, people who are closest to the issues we believe are closest to the solutions, and therefore should be directing where the money goes. So you're seeing that model, I'm seeing that model take shape, you know, mine, 90% of our funds have that decision making body. So that's great, great steps towards equity.
Yeah, it's an exciting time that I mean, this is getting so much more attention and so much more focused resource around it. So as we talk about trust a lot, there's a thread of this conversation, I feel like when you have someone to trust, it just opens you up to a world that you can chase and take risks, take more bold risks. And I think, you know, from being in this sector, so long we we believe deeply that there needs to be a lot more of that happening. And so I wonder what your take is on this? I mean, obviously, there's a lot of money moving into this, what does it look like to take risk with philanthropy? And how are you leaning into that?
Well, I mean, I love Rob Roush and the work that he's done in this space, you know, so I can't take credit for these ideas. But he's really helped shape my thoughts on this where, you know, philanthropy was designed to be society's risk capital, and it's become like the opposite. You know, I mean, there's no reason why philanthropy can't take risks, right? It's not it's money that has to move. And it's supposed to fund innovations that government and private sectors can't invest in, right? So we're going to find a cure for diseases, it's going to be by failing and failing quickly, and getting to the right solution. But philanthropies become the opposite, where it's like, oh, no, I You see my ROI in six months? Let's see. What are you accomplishing here? Where's my money going? Versus Hey, take a bunch of risks fail. And let's get closer to the solution. I remember meeting with a gentleman who funded one, an individual donor who funded one of my projects, he founded a huge online brand. And was telling me his story, who you know, he's a white man, an entrepreneur who said, why I had to fail five times, before I got to this working model, I said, you fail five times. Yep. And I said, you know, who and who continued to invest in you as the same investors. Because they knew the more he failed, the closer he'd get to the winning solution for this problem he was trying to solve. And he did. And meanwhile, philanthropy does, Oh, you didn't get to the solution in six months, sorry, we can't continue to fund you, or we need the next sexy, cool, you know, shiny object to fund as opposed to sticking with someone knowing that it takes time to solve systemic problems. And so we're going to walk with you for 10 years. And, and that, to me, it's the way we need to fund, you know, if we actually want to, if we really want to solve systemic problems in this country, we got to be willing to have that investment, not pay off, right away, it's going to take time let people fail. That's how we get to the best solutions. It's the smartest way to grow, you know, in anything, I always tell my team, let's fail fast. We do an agile business planning at any any place I work, you know, we're agile, we're doing Agile, which is, you know, figure out the problem, come up with a bunch of solutions, and then concentrate on what we think has the highest perceived impact and is the easiest for our team to accomplish. And then we just do that over and over again, fail, fail, fail, learn, learn, learn, repeat, you know, until we get to the Winning Solutions. And we we we don't we don't have the freedom to do that most often in nonprofit culture, where we have to like, especially if you're a person of color, you're gonna have to tap dance your way, here's how I performed here's how amazing I am. And you put on this performance. It's like, well, actually, I failed in a bunch of ways. And it's great because I know what doesn't work, and I'm just gonna help my team get closer to what well,
Wow, can you imagine just having that empowered mindset in your mission of let's fail forward? And I would even say to you to everyone listening, who's who's nodding their heads at this, telling the story of your failure, you is just as important as going after the funding. I mean, we want people to know what we learned in that how well yeah, we didn't get exactly there. But we uncovered another problem, or we found another opportunity. And this is aligns in this way. And I, you know, I can't help but threads story and all that we're doing, because I'm a writer and I. And I think that when you can illustrate and help people visualize how the dream could be bigger, because we tried and experimented and failed and learned, and we're pivoting. I mean, John, I think about our seventh value, it's grow, disrupt, adapt, repeat. That is the seventh value of our company. And it is all about trying stuff failing forward, because this is hard work. These problems are big in their scale, they are deep in the way that they hurt communities, that they've hurt us personally. But there's so much hope and promise in what could be innovated to the next level. So if you're a leader out there, and you're feeling just jazzed by this conversation, I just want to tell you, first of all, go follow Jada, in her incredible thought leadership online, because she will power this into you. But think about how you can infuse this into your culture. How does it start? How do you start socializing this with your board, with your staff in your impact reports. I just think about this conversation we had with Mallory Erickson about the overhead myth. And she says, You know, I tell people, you know, who are proud of their failing to put their put on their website, we're a bronze medalist and Charity Navigator, which is awesome, because it means we're trying stuff. And we're proud to show that we are innovating and scaling. So totally geeked out about all of this love your wisdom. I want to go to the school of paying and learn how to be a really luminary leader. But I love your stories of philanthropy. I love this young people for and what you've done. I mean, all the way with Norman Lear is just such an incredible story. Talk to us about a story of philanthropy that has changed you, it doesn't have to be the biggest gift. Tell us about something that really a moment that hit you and told you why this work was just so deeply important.
I think about one that happened to me, really early in my career by someone I was lucky enough, who really believed in me. And my vision, and I remember I was building on people for and, and Norman didn't give me a penny for that work. He just believed in me and like, was the best mentor for me, because he didn't make it easy. He wasn't like, here's, you know, million dollars or whatever, go build the thing. It was, you're gonna learn how to fundraise, you're gonna learn how to make the case. And I mean, I learned by doing and I am forever grateful to him. For him, he opened every door, you know, but what I learned and building that first, you know, really big, nonprofit, you know, effort was life changing. But I remember there was a woman who, who I knew from building Youth Justice Funding collaborative, who was in my world, who really believed in what I was building and people foreign, she said, I want you to pitch me and I want you to pitch me in front of the Development Director of People for the American Way, who was you know, a lot of white male leadership. And I was like, okay, you know, and she said, um, before you do, how much are you asking for? And I, in my, like, early 20s. Here, I am being like, wow, I mean, like, I don't know, $25,000. And she's like, Honey, you know, I'm gonna give you I'm gonna literally look into my checking account, and I'm just gonna give you whatever's in there. And it was like, $306,000, right? It's an individual donor who had, you know, to get that money, but it taught me of like, Why did I ask her for $25,000? What wasn't in me, that was so thought my vision was so small, you know? And here's this woman who believes in me, right? Who was who taught me you know, how to think about, you know, dog and individual donors. And so from that moment on, I always gave a range. Here's what you could do with 25,000. Here's what you could do with 250,000. Here's what you could do with a million, like, you just never know where people are, what they're willing to give. And so don't aim so small. You know, be bold in what you want to do. If you believe and you trust in what you're building them. What are you doing, ask me for, you know, 2000 5000 dream big here, and someone's going to be there for you. But if you don't ask, you're not going to get it. So, I mean, I, I've changed the way that I asked, you know, like, look, I don't know what you're thinking about spending because we never really know, you know, someone could be moved in that moment. And you give them that low and that medium and that high version and you see what happens.
Okay, I gotta respond to this from a gift officer perspective, because what you just said is really disruptive. Because there's a lot of schools of thought and development that say Don't ever give a range. Because some you're giving somebody an out to go to the floor of that range rather than ceiling. However, what you just said was so brilliant, when you wrap the range around impact, and what you could do at the $25,000 level, the $100,000 level, the million dollar level, it allows someone to come into your dream with you. And I think that is one of the most brilliant major gift officer strategies have ever heard. Brilliant.
I'm applying this in my life personally, thank you for this, it's so good. So Okay, our last question is always what's the one good thing that you would offer us, we define it as you know, a mantra, or maybe it's a secret to your success, just a piece of advice that you would leave our community with.
So my mantra that I would love to leave people with is this quote that has led me in my life, which is it's not the challenges that define us. But how we respond to the challenges, you know, there are going to be a lot of challenges that come thrown your way, as you're building and leading critical work on the frontlines. I mean, so many, you won't even remember the challenges, but what will define you is how you respond. You know, so allow the challenges to come. That's our, that's how we grow. But really, what we can control is how we respond. And that's what defines us as leaders, you know, as organizations and let that be, you know, our way forward to not be completely overwhelmed by these challenges, but let's respond by rising up, you know, and meeting those challenges head on.
That is a completely wonderful one. Good thing. Okay. Yatta? How can people connect with you? How can people connect with just fund? How can they find you? Where are you on socials? Give us all the details?
Yeah, I mean, come on, and join us at just fund.us. You know, fill out a form, let us connect with us, come find us on our social work, just fund everywhere, Instagram, LinkedIn, you know, Facebook or Twitter. And you can find me on LinkedIn to it, you know, yada paying, it's IAR APNG. Come and find me, let's talk, let's connect. You know, we love, we love your stories. We love what you're doing. And it's our job, you know, to move money to groups that are doing the really hard work, of protecting our democracy and fighting for justice at every, you know, at every turn. So we love what you're doing. And we're here to shine a light on your work and hopefully make your work just a little bit easier. As money starts to move, you know, to groups that have been historically excluded and chronically underfunded. So we hope that you start to see the benefit, as philanthropy starts to be reset, you know, and center equity and trust in the way they give what we're here for.
And I don't want this to sound too presumptuous, but I think you are making your mom and your dad so proud with this work that you're doing. This is a legacy that is getting passed down and rippled. I'm just so proud of you. And just so grateful to know you keep going. We are rooting for just fund. Thank you.
Thank you.
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