The Importance of Data Security to Protect our Missions - Ari Schapiro and Peter Wheeler

6:24AM Jan 17, 2022

Speakers:

Julie Confer

Becky Endicott

Jonathan McCoy

Ari Shapiro

Peter Wheeler

Keywords:

nonprofits

organization

people

building

world

peter

social impact

ari

donor

virtuous

company

space

create

friends

started

helping

conflict

teams

entrepreneur

nonprofit professionals

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.

Hey, Becky, what's up, everybody?

We are so excited. Some of our favorite people are here.

I mean, here's the thing, when the tech company is not just the tech company, the tech company is using and leveraging their gifts to change the world to infuse social impact in every crevice of social issues, you know, those people are going to be our friends, right? Yeah, we're talking to Peter Wheeler and ARI SHAPIRO today with auth, zero. And we met our friends, specially Peter and Alex Sloan, several months ago, and we're just the starry eyed little entrepreneur founders, we're still trying to figure out what this company is where we're going to take it. And all of a sudden, we just fall in love with this company, because their heart for doing good in the tech and authentication space is just next level evolved thinking. And so the thing that I just love about them is it's they're not just cybersecurity, their identity and authentication in this matters to us, nonprofit friends. And I honestly can't believe that we have not had this conversation yet. Because the level of detail that we have about our donors, about giving that we have wrapped up in our CRMs. And wherever we're housing this information, it is absolutely vital, that we're using it in a way that's respectful and dignified and secure. But the thing is, is I love this company, because they storytel. And they go in and they find the heart of issues that really speak to them as an organization. And they move into that space with their tech and their innovation. Peter Ari, welcome to the podcast. We're so glad you're here.

Thank you, Vicki. It's a pleasure to be here. I'm Ari Shapiro, not the NPR guy,

right. I literally thought that the first time I heard your name. But

when probably when you heard my accent, you know, you noted that I definitely not the and the reason is because I was born and raised in Argentina. So I actually moved here to the US like three and a half years ago or so I'm originally a software engineer who when going through the usual software engineer, technical path, I started to take and even more action into business really challenges, I actually realized that I was passionate about building things aside from software, right, and helping organizations and teams to evolve and scale. So right now I'm the VP of self service, and also our social impact teams. At see though, and I used to be outsourced Chief of Staff to the CEO for for a couple of years, actually before this before this role. That was like a really, really interesting time, actually, that probably if you go before that I used to work at Microsoft, back there in Argentina. And before that gap, just, you know, a few software companies here and there. I'm really excited to be here. And yeah, looking forward to talk.

Thank you so much. I just we just love having social impact warriors on here. And the fact that you're leveraging your know how in tech and software application is just so great. And you know, I got to introduce Peter, who is probably one of my top five favorite people that I've met in the last year and we just geek out on Marketing and Entrepreneurship. Peter, how's it going, my friend, you are in the marketing fray of all of this and just tell our listeners who you are and you are a proud fail printer. So they're gonna

Yeah, I'm over here in the Hall of giants. And that that's really, it's almost intimidating. On me now in the seat. So I'll do that whole longtime listener first time caller

thing. I think your story is really interesting. Ari's up in Washington. You're over in St. Louis. And yeah, talk to us because I think you're winding path and a nonprofit and social good is really interesting as well.

So like you said, I'm a serial entrepreneur, and I am a proud failed printer. I think there's just as much lesson that comes from undoing it that comes from doing it. I've been a marketer for the past 20 years. I've had some really cool clients and some really cool projects. And I'd say back in 2008, I did some work for a platform Dolby, that did its integration. It's a, it's a product that you don't buy directly. It's something that goes into something else you buy and having worked at, you know, with different retail brands and liquor and spirits and automotive, I just never left my love for that. And I got into software as a service marketing in geospatial in 2016, doing the same thing, not a product that's directly bought, but products that improve the things that you're buying. It's just a really cool space took I took a year off to be a stay at home dad. And it'd be Yeah, hi, Pepe. That year turned into two thanks to COVID. And to keep myself a little bit more occupied and skills fresh and do something wonderful. I started to start doing remote volunteering in a somewhat executive capacity is a fellow over at Nest, build a nest.org. I absolutely love them. They help artisans around the world, get out of factories, and really establish their own identity as entrepreneurs and sell on a global scale. And it's just so cool. It's been amazing working with them, I decided to get back in the workforce. And it was like, Okay, here's this new topic, entrepreneur and residents. That's, that's great, like being a funded background entrepreneur. And in the digging, I found Ari and Alex's job listing for someone to lead marketing for their new Social Impact Program, and to help get in front of nonprofit organizations and for profit social enterprises, which we're starting to call more PVC. So it's public benefit corporations, and help them understand an integrated product that improves the things that they're building for themselves and their stakeholders. As well as, yeah, just spreading the gospel about security in general, whether it be working against phishing attacks, you know, clicking those links and emails that you shouldn't collect, or not plugging your phone into the USB port at the airport, by just simple things. And what I really loved about the organization before I even finished interviewing was that that both that passion and compassion in making sure that people are safe and smart in their in their life.

Well, you know, this is why we love you, Peter. I mean, in Ra, it's so good to have you here today too, because we love when companies, you know, our calling was always to be in the nonprofit space. That's just where we ended up because we wanted to do good. But we are so inspired by people who think entrepreneurially who are solving the world's problems in a real practical sense through business. And then they open up and they lean full force into the philanthropic side of that. And I think it's cool. And today I want to unpack that of like how you live that on both sides of house so well as a model is really admirable. And you know, the power that you'll have through this really successful company that keeps people in businesses safe and is powering things that Becky and I have no clue at the level of, you know, like, oh, I plugged my phone in at the airport last time I was there. I'm like what? We need to double click on that. Yeah, maybe we need to some some tips at the end here. But our listeners are a lot of nonprofit professionals. There are a lot of leaders, aspiring leaders, young professionals, why is data security so important? In our missions, and it's something that we don't talk about, or really know even how to pursue? Can you talk to us about some of those things that need to be core to our business?

You know, when you talk about like cybersecurity or data security, it's so broad. And these stands. So particularly as part of the whole cybersecurity broad umbrella. At Auth0, we focus on essentially, what it's called out integration and authorization. So we are an authentication and authorization service for developers and application teams. So in essence, if you're a developer building an application or or is or a system, there's a high chance that you are going to need to authenticate users. Authenticate means that you validate that the user is who they claim to be. There's there's a whole world of complexities and opportunities there. So we focus on providing that to you if you're mostly a technical person or a developer, so that you can focus on your business on your application without needing to be a cybersecurity expert, essentially. So that's what we do. So one example, for instance, in the in the nonprofit space is Kiva right, the organization that lends yes so there are some they actually use our credo to have the people who actually login to Grant you know, these these loans to people Around the world to actually authenticate and get out authorized, as I, as I mentioned, so yeah, so that's kind of a high level of, of exactly kind of what we

do. I just want to say I'm so glad somebody does this. And that it's not me. Because I mean that truly sincerely, because we have a lot to do in nonprofit work. And we have a lot of tasks that are on our hands. And I guarantee you, most nonprofit professionals are not thinking about this. And the thing is, we don't have the margin right now. And I'm so glad that you all are in this space, locking it down, and we need to authenticate, we do need to authorize at that level. So Peter, go, please piggyback.

So yeah, here's the double click. It's not just about being an engineer and data security and keeping Password Safe. And I'm a former developer and looking at it as a marketer is someone that's worked with nonprofits that's been on boards and volunteering, it was really interesting to double click in all this and unpack the acronyms. And in every industry, there's a nonprofit equivalent. If we look at customer experience, being able to login without a password, that's really cool. Like already said, with multi factor authentication, being it as a user, whether I'm a volunteer or a donor, or subscribe to programs, if I'm going into a system, and putting in my personal information or my payment information. And I know that I have to do two different things to get access to it. I know my stuff safe. And there's a whole bunch of other stuff that I never thought would be part of it. One of my favorite things as a marketer is the permissions based profile enrichment. It's like, okay, great. Now another long term, it's not that when you go to a site, and you're clicking in and you're logging in with your Gmail, or your Facebook account, or your Spotify account, even there's often a prompt that says, we're going to share XYZ information with this organization, sometimes it's just name and email address. But other times it can say, hey, they'd like your birth date to can we do that I know is someone that had a business, it's real hard to get people to just sign up for a birthday club card or provided have a true email address that they'd actually check that's tied to something else. And having all these additional tools that you never think, have anything to do with a login box is really neat. That's that's that next step that's that the the evangelism I'm trying to do for the product is helping people understand it's more than just a log inbox and keeping information safe. It's truly an experience for internal staff members to do their job better, and for external people to have an easier time getting in and managing what they need to manage.

Yeah, and I think, you know, we have to understand our donors are expecting that because if customers are seeing that through all their favorite platforms, it's going to catch up that we don't want to be the last of the table at prioritizing that kind of technology, too. So I think it's a really strong point. Hey, friends, this episode is presented by virtuous and they just happen to be one of our favorite companies. Let me tell you why. You know, we believe everyone matters. And we've witnessed the greatest philanthropic movements happen when you see and activate donors at every level. And here's the thing, virtuous created a fundraising platform to help you do just that. It's much more than nonprofit CRM. Virtuous is committed to helping charities reimagine generosity through responsive fundraising, which is simply putting the donor at the center of fundraising, growing giving through personalized donor journeys, and by helping you respond to the needs of every individual. We love it because this approach builds trust and loyalty through personalized engagement. Sound like virtuous may be a fit for your organization, learn more today@virtuous.org or follow the link in our show notes. Hey, friends, after meeting some of the most visionary leaders and world changers in the nonprofit sector today, we realized they all have one thing in common, they invest in themselves and their teams so they can stay relevant to what's working now to succeed and scale their missions. You know us we believe education for all, and that's when we created we're for good pro Pro is reimagining nonprofit professional development, giving you access to incredible live coaching events with some of the best thought leaders like kushana Palmer Lin Wester and more. Imagine being able to work through your challenges in real time. That's the power of pro. Every week we host a new workshop giving you the playbook and tools to take immediate action, build your confidence and grow your impact. Be the Pro and get started today with a 14 day free trial head over to we're for good pro.com/free Okay, let's get back to this amazing conversation. Can we kind of you know, transition we you know, we've already gushed how much we love the social impact side of the work that y'all do. You know, tell us about the history of it and how you shaped it in the unique way that you have.

So I joined our team in 2017. But I can tell you a little bit what happened before as well. Right. So I'll see you there was founded in 2013. And it was founded by To Argentinians, like me. So similar accent, maybe

love your accent.

So one of them was living in BA in Burnside is in Argentina. And the other one was living near here in Redmond, Washington. So the company started already with a kind of a global mindset or a remote mindset, let's say, but from 2013, at least until 2017, that when I joined the, there was a lot of activities here and there to help the local communities of the different offices that we started opening. In beginning of 2020, at the beginning of the of the pandemic, that's when our CEO, you and your base, he met with someone from pledge 1%. You know, it was like a revelation of like, oh, this is awesome. So that's where I came into play. By September 2020, we launched outsource or the website outlining what we do in terms of the, you know, the main pillars about like giving video or product and so on. And we hire Alex, we got graphene from a sales point of view, then Peter joined, trying to scale and promote what we are doing even further through Peters marketing magic. I just

really like this whole notion of how you think about how your company shows up to impact and serve. And all zero created the safe fund. And it's like this really cool donor advised fund of Tides Foundation. So this is something that you know, of how you show up to support nonprofits. And it really is expanding upon the culture of generosity at your company. So talk about your focus areas, and why you chose to kind of set up your giving in this way. And yeah, if you have any stories around it, we would love to hear those two,

there's three main pillars that that we that we work in from zero or one is about our leaving related to pledge 1%, what we did is essentially we pledged 1% of our equity over 10 years. So that means that the value of the company we take essentially point 1% of the value of the about zero every year for 10 years. And we essentially distribute that and manage that volume through grants that are managed by the that we manage, what are the cohorts of nonprofits organizations that actually receive those funds. And we have a very global and diverse approach in order to choose those cohorts, essentially, to follow where our employees are located. So we even before COVID, out, like 60% of our people were working from their homes. The second pillar is the volunteering pillar or employee engagement, if you if you will. So what can we do? from an employee perspective, as employees in order to help our communities with the endorsement and sponsorship and organization of about Sega, essentially,

it's amazing how this foundation was built, working with Alex, who's a guru in the space, who has been doing this for 20 plus years that that really understands what's going on? Who is really he's changing the vocabulary in the space. That's been awesome. Are you built this with a framework of here are my objectives? Not necessarily, here's what you need to do. Ra really wanted to make sure that he's creating safer social impact organizations and we're safe is coming from like the say fund is we have a tagline secure access for everyone. And the little punch line at the end is not just anyone,

I would just echo you know, every time we've talked to you, Peter, it's just I think that that clarity of the purpose is so true and clear, and just what your mission is, and that you really want to help the individual at the end of the day. And so I wonder if you could even transition and talk about success. What does that look like now? Is there an organization that maybe you've seen some kind of transformation or a story? What's the impact look like today for y'all?

I'm loving talking to every.org. Their team is amazing. They're awesome. They came on with us as part of the startup program, which Ari also oversees, and they transition in the social impact program and what they are, they're helping a lot of nonprofits have access to things that they normally wouldn't have access to, which is awesome, but they have through login through the technology that we've helped them use through their own development through courses. Creating these awesome open source access things for other organizations to take advantage of their product, they've been able to help organizations around the world raise millions of dollars, and one of the coolest parts of it, because there's that account aspect, they've been able to do the recurring donation. And I'm excited that we've been part of their journey in from start to where they are now to watching what they're going to do in the future.

Yeah, that's so critical. And I want to back up into the practical a little because I think that you're wonderful and a brilliant evangelist about this whole concept of building niche digital ecosystems. And I think that that's something that we really believe into, because we believe that community is everything. And we believe that digital global community is the future of not just nonprofit, but of everything and everything we're moving for. But at the same time, people need to know the practical application of how to walk into this world. So I want to go back to him probably, because it's a sense of paranoia for me go back to the airport, plugging in your USB into your phone, like talk about some very basic things that people can be doing, either for themselves or for their nonprofits to take care of their data.

So what Peter actually mentioned, of not plugging your phone, in an airport, or in any public space, actually, you know, a hotel library, you know, think of like any any public space is that it's really easy, depending on you know, your phone, operating system, and so on, to be able to essentially hack or alternate or get into your phone. If you're plugging in any USB port, I'm talking about just a USB port. So when you're offered to charge your phone, it's better to actually plug it into your adapter. And then that adapter, you plug it into the electrical current. So fishing, right? Fishing us noticing, or whatever. Yeah, yes. There's a few like rules that you need to consider when you're receiving any of these emails, are they are you being in a hurry, like, hey, Becky, I need you to make this transfer right now. John, is lost his phone, and he told me to transfer whatever to his account, you know, kind of thing. Like, are they in a hurry, then talking about authentication, it's very important. And so we mentioned about multi factor authentication or or two factor authentication earlier. So if the organization that you are operating with provides you that ability for you to actually create another, an additional factor of authentication, meaning receiving a goal, or generating a both through an app, like a token, or receiving an SMS or something like that, go ahead and use that it creates yet another way of you protecting your, your accounts. Don't use, don't repeat your passwords, don't use known passwords, like 12345, whatever use complex passwords, you can use a password manager, you probably have like, hundreds of different identities with like different services that you use. So using, in this case, a password manager, it just puts your credentials there, and you're good to go. You don't need to remember complex passwords yourself, let's say. So yeah, so those are things that are that should be should be common practice that I share with, you know, with my family here with my wife, and whatever. But it should be basic things that that I think that we should all do to protect ourselves

and don't share accounts and don't write passwords on post it notes and stick them to your monitor.

Well, I just think that people don't know what they don't know, you know, and when you are someone who is you have skill sets. And the skill sets are not in the technical, they're mostly in the human or the strategy, or you're actually on the frontlines of the mission. You just don't make space to think about these things. And these are the things that are really the liabilities that exist within the organization. And I just think if you don't have security measures in place for how you communicate things, when you communicate, how you allow people to come into your house, I'm using air quotes because the house is really digital right now. Whether it's on your website, your social channels, whether it's in your giving platform, you have to think about how are we securing the house, we don't not lock our doors at night, we need to do the same with our digital spaces.

Okay, y'all know we round up all the podcasts with one little bit of wisdom called the one good thing what's something a mantra that's true to your life a secret to success or a hack that y'all can offer the community

seek conflict. So that's something that there's you making

John nervous as the peacemaker seeking conflict.

That's the thing. I think I see conflict As you know, healthy conflict is something that can propel you and teams to actually improve and move fast. Every time that we avoid having a positive, or a healthy conflict is hitting the brakes on innovation, getting people frustrated, getting people so, so that's so embracing healthy conflict and moving on, and don't take things you know, maybe personnel and so on is something that we typically do that it's been, it's been great.

Every time we hit the brakes on conflict, we're stopping innovation. Oh my gosh, that's so genius ra like that is really a really involved thought. And I that appeals to me as a harmonizer. Because I don't necessarily like conflict, but I do like harmony. And so I do think that by addressing and that clear communication, you just have healthier cultures, which is something we're really passionate about where people feel seen and heard. So that was an awesome one. Good thing. Peter, what about you?

I was drop shipping car stereo and laying out catalogs for the largest Philadelphia auction house in the world. Not glamorous stamp collectors, stamp collecting auctions. And now I'm with this amazing Seattle tech company doing corporate social impact i i will say that roads are always long and windy and mostly uphill. But the view is really cool when you look over your shoulder and it's always seems to be a straight line. So yeah, absolutely. Like, just do it one foot in front of the other and never refuse an invitation.

I love that. It makes me think of that movie there. Yes. Movie, right? They always say yes to opportunities. But Okay, y'all, this conversation? I feel like there's so much that I have to learn. And I'm thankful that you all are experts in showing up. Equipping nonprofits we all kind of give us real quick, how can nonprofits connect with y'all on the social impact side? How can we be users to make our lives more secured? Give us all the ways to connect.

So we got out sceeto.org Of course, as the central point, you know, for if you want to know more about our what, what we do for social impact point of view, and what are our offers specifically for nonprofits.

Thanks for the time today. We love just spending time with you understanding this really nice ecosystem that you're building and excited to like bring nonprofits along and shore them up. So keep keep going. We're rooting for you.

Thank you so much for having us. It's it's it's been a pleasure. And yeah, keep rocking.

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