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Oh, my imposter syndrome is raging hard. We have our first Nobel Peace Prize nominee on the podcast today. And it is not what you think. And you buckle up, because we are about to laugh.
It's probably also our first ever stand up comedian in the house. So I'm expecting for him to kind of come after us where a few things were probably So dude, it'd be great. Like, this moment. Yeah. It's a huge honor for us today to introduce you, which you probably already know him. He's probably already in your YouTube queue to Steve Hofstetter. He's just incredible stand up comedian. He's a podcast host. But today we're gonna talk about this really interesting intersection because he's the chairman and founder of Steel City, ATF. And for those not tracking that is Steel City Arts Foundation that has this beautiful, real story behind it. I can't wait to unpack this philanthropy, but I got to give a shout out first to our friend Jeff hare, who is just this incredible PR advisor. We've met as a friend out in LA and he's always like, loves living in the intersection of philanthropy and entertainment and introduced us to Steve story. And we're like, oh my gosh, he's so are people of taking what you know, taking your lived experience taking your passion and pouring it into making the world a better place. And so while you're gonna know, Steve, because he's been doing stand up comedy for almost 20 years, he's been in four movies, he has two top 20 comedy albums. He has 215 million views on YouTube, which I can't even wrap my head around. I think we're passing 1000 on our own. So it's really exciting to hear about your success there. But this I mean, we want to unpack the founding of just this Steel City AF which the mission is artists make the world a better place. Our mission is to make the world a better place for artists. And as your fellow bachelor of fine arts major over here. Thank you for creating that world. Steve, it is a delight to have you in our podcast. Welcome to the We Are For Good podcast.
Well, thanks for thanks for having me. And also, I'm not gonna like comedians aren't just mean to people. Like I'm not gonna go after you guys. Unless you say something stupid, then. That's for existing, you know? No, I appreciate you having me on.
This is gonna be a really fun hour with you. So I mean, hey, would you catch us out? Tell us a little bit about your story. Obviously, we want to talk about your impact. It's still so the arts but like, tell us a little bit about the winding path of how you end up starting this really progressive, interesting nonprofit. And,
yeah, I appreciate asking. Although I guess the podcast would be a little boring if you didn't ask. Be very confusing, but it started. So it started I think it was about eight years ago, I started something much smaller called the Martin foundation. Martin Hofstetter was my father. And he always he was a very charitable guy, but he didn't have money. And the way that worked is that he was charitable with his time, he would always volunteer for things. He was very active in his synagogue. Like if if someone needed, you know, oh, well, we're putting on this fundraiser and we need a bunch of soda. And he would be like, Alright, cool. And he would go and drive and get the soda. And like, so he would he was always involved somehow. And he also really loved stand up. It was something he raised me on, you know, he raised me on old albums of comics, like George Carlin and Dick Gregory. And it was just something that he was really proud of me for doing that as a career. And I had had this vision of, wouldn't it be nice to have a charity for comedians. And I started looking into it. And I realized that there were hundreds of charities by comedians, great things, everything from the enormous things like comic relief to smaller things like laugh for sight, but wonderful organizations, but there was not at the time, there was not a single charity for comedians, just comedians performing at Charity events all the time running their own charities, etc. But no one ever looked inward. And, you know, we are a profession of of people who tend to die young, due to both unhealthy lifestyles, and just the how mentally taxing this business is, and so I wanted to create something. And when my dad passed, I kind of had this moment of like, what am I waiting around for this? You know, life isn't forever, I should do something. And so I created the Martin Foundation, which originally was just a scholarship fund for comedians. I funded it with, you know, a couple donations here and there, but mainly I was just selling shirts at my shows. And originally it was 2000 bucks and the first winner Brett drakh. It's actually how I met him and I've been touring with him ever since. He, he was able with the money, you know, he was at the time he was working as a clerk at Trader Joe's. And with the money, he was able to buy a reliable car, quit his job and hit the road full time. And you know, it was only two grand at the time and it slowly built up. And just before the pandemic, the price had gotten up to 10 grand. And then when the pandemic hit and part of part of it, I know I'm talking a lot right now, but it's a long story. So part of what the qualifications were to win, it was that you couldn't be a professional comedian yet. This was supposed to be the bridge to get you there. And then when the pandemic hit, I realized, Oh, now there are no professional comedians, Now none of us can work. And so we, you know, I changed it from 110 $1,000 Grant, to several $1,000 grants given to you know, originally we thought the pandemic was gonna be a month. So the idea was like, hey, here, this was this will get you across, and doing digital shows, ended up raising a bunch of money, and gave out 30 of those. And from there, I had always wanted to repurpose an old church, it was just this, I saw one in Edinburgh when I did the Fringe Festival, and it was so cool. And I was like, I would like to do something with a building that looks that nice, you know, so many churches have just great bones and aren't used anymore. And so during the pandemic, I realized that, again, what am I waiting around for, you know, life is finite. And there's only so much you can do and stop talking about what you want to do someday and actually do it. And then I found the building in Pittsburgh and pulled the trigger. And here we are.
I mean, let's, let's kick this back. Okay, because we love story here. And you never have to apologize for going too long on an impactful story, because we're here for that. And I just think about the great catalyst for change in what you've been able to do. Started with Martin, being kind, starting with Martin who raised his hand and gave what he could. And you know, we're sitting in this epicenter of a moment where we just feel like everybody can be a philanthropist. And if you're looking at philanthropy as a way of how you can give monetarily, I think that's such a narrow view of what philanthropy is, because it's the love of mankind. And so giving of your time sharing your story, opening your network, those are the very beginnings in the seeds of what we want to say that makes this world so rich, and so great. So it's just I'm sitting here just thinking about your dad, and how he raised you with love and to look for the little guy and the lookout for the little guy and that the fact that you're taking your craft and pouring into other little guys is just the freakin coolest ever. And so, uh, yeah. As someone who was also raised on George Carlin, God love him and God rest his soul, you know, had such a funny way of connecting with humans. It's so great that you are connecting with emerging comedians in this way. So take us there, like, talk to us about what your foundation is doing. Talk about the impact. What's exciting you right now?
Well, first of all, thanks for all that, and you know, and to speak on the idea of everyone can be a philanthropist all the time, we have people apologizing, saying, like, Oh, I wish I could do something for the foundation. But, you know, I just don't have any resources right now. You know, I just lost my job, etc. And I'm like, yeah, absolutely. Do you have a share button on Facebook? Because that does something.
That's it.
So there's so much you can do? Do you know, do you have someone in your life, you can just tell about what we're doing. Because that helps to. So you know, follow some of these comedians on Instagram, whatever it is, every little bit helps in terms of what the foundation actually does. So there's the building itself. You know, the building is located in Pittsburgh, and within it, we have everything from the podcast studio that I'm currently in right now. Those are not mail slots behind me that is acoustic treatment. Often people are like, wow, you can just get a lot of mail. It's like, no, no, no, they are different depths in order to make the acoustics in here perfect. But it is, you know, we have a green screen, we have a broadcast studio where people can do zoom shows. We have a gym. And when I say we have a gym, I don't mean like when a hotel calls seven dumbbells and a broken treadmill, a gym, I mean, like, actually, you know, a dozen circuit training machines because again, you know, comedians don't always emphasize on health. And so we have a lot of, you know, we we also have guest suites where comedians passing through can stay or if one of our members is producing a show, they can bring in a headliner from somewhere else, and not have to worry about that extra 200 bucks for a hotel. So we have all that, but we also have equipment that our members can use everything from sound to cameras to lighting, and most importantly we have mentorship. So all of our members get paired with a Working headliner. We call it the Council of headliners, because we want to be weird in any possible way. And it you know, they get paired with someone who's already been doing this for a while so that they can have advice. And aside from just those pairings, there's also when someone has a resource that they can use for someone else, we do it. One of my favorite stories is we have a member named Asha O'Brien. And he is a he's a trans man who is a screenwriter. And I was talking to him about what he wants to do in this business. And he said that, you know, one of the people he really looks up to is Lily with chelski from the witch ASCII sisters who did the matrix. Oh, and I had one time done this short online political event with Lily. And I was like, Okay, well, let me see if I can maybe connect you which is not what he was asking for. He was just telling me what he was interested in. And I shot Lilia a message and right away, she was like, Here's my email address, have them contact me. And now he gets to talk to a little witch ASCII about screenwriting. And that's the kind of thing that we want to do for people, you know, we want to this business is filled with with predatory Booker's, this business is filled with wrong turns. And we want the we want this generation of comics to be able to learn from other people's mistakes, and not have to make their own. And my philosophy behind the whole thing is, you know, comedy is a solo art form, but there's no reason it can't be a team sport. And Oh, I almost forgot. Another thing that we have is semi permanent housing, where people come from other places, aside from Pittsburgh, and others, a three bedroom house. And so three comics at a time will live there for six to 12 months at a time and be able to concentrate on their art, instead of concentrating on trying to afford rent.
I mean, the fact they're like writing material flipping pancakes in community, I mean, okay, we wanted to have you on the show, because one of our values is community has everything. And we believe that and I'm just like hearing you describe what you've created. And that is exactly it. You saw that opening, and you saw your own journey of what it would look like to have these mentors around you and these periods around you. So thank you for building that. But I know part of selecting Pittsburgh specifically and kind of how y'all show up as neighbors is part of that story of community to you kind of explained to us how it looks from an organizational perspective, how to be a good neighbor, and what that looks like in your community.
Sure, um, well, in terms of selecting Pittsburgh, you know, one of the things I always liked about Pittsburgh was that it's, you know, it's gritty and underrated, which are two words I would use to describe most stand up comedians. It is such a gorgeous city, it is such a physically gorgeous city that is marketed so terribly, I feel like most people is they picture this just this wasteland where everybody's covered in soot, and all the pictures are in black and white, like Pittsburgh, is gorgeous. It's just rivers everywhere, mountains, everywhere, bridges everywhere. It's just such a stunning place. But more so it's centrally located. It's within a short drive of 18 other cities that have a full time comedy club or more. It is within a two and a half hour flight of two thirds of the population of the US and Canada. To be based here as a comedian makes a lot of sense, just from a travel perspective and an affordability perspective. It is I think it is the most real estate wise, it is the most affordable major city in the country. Anytime there's a list of like, oh, most affordable cities, they're like, well, Toledo, Ohio, and I'm like, you're using the word city, a little liberally there. No, Pittsburgh is a place that is big enough to have, you know, three major sports teams. But also the real estate here like you can get a starter home here for 100 for 150,000. Whereas like, you can't get a parking spot in New York for that. So it makes it easier for comedians to simply to live and exist and have the time to work on their art instead of just scrambling to make ends meet. And aside from that, the scene has room to grow. During the pandemic, two of the most important venues for stand up in the Pittsburgh area closed a hand bones which was like really big in the indie scene. And then the Rex, which was a 400 seat theater, both went under during the pandemic. And so there was just a lot of room for Hey, we need to do something about this. And so it it just made sense.
You know what's striking me about your story so much, Steve that has such alignment with what we try to teach people about, you know, building community and telling your story and making connections that lead people to want to activate in some way is you saw your community for exactly who they are? You have this unique lens because you've lived it. But you sat there and you listen and you said, what are the pain points? You know, how how can this be entirely human and helpful. And in its unorthodox, and that's what I think is so great about it in terms of like a traditional nonprofit, and the way that you see people where they are, gives a level of comfort, because I would agree with you, if I would have thought about stand up, I would have thought it being a very isolating and lonely sort of sector, and you have turned that completely on its head. And you've allowed people to come together. And I can imagine the belief and the gratitude that comes out of it. I mean, we call them grateful patients or alums, you know, in the philanthropy world, but you have your own. And it's just such a wonderful thing to see how they rise. And I just want to talk to you about your dreams. What's your long term vision here? You know, what, where do you see Steel City Arts Foundation going? What would be the ultimate for you?
Um, well, I mean, for a moment, you scared me because you're like, I want to talk to you about your dreams. I'm like, I don't want to share those nights the Yeah, I the vision for it. A lot of people have asked have you thought about expanding us in other cities? And no, what I've thought about is other people doing this. What I've thought about is people getting together in Detroit, or in Cleveland or in Omaha or anywhere else and going, Hey, we could treat each other better. And we can do this. Now. Can they necessarily, you know, buy a building and a bunch of equipment? I don't know. But they can start by putting together a group of people who are interested in working together. Some people in this world are joiners, and some people aren't. There are some people who understand that very often the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. And there are some people who think I'm not going to help anyone else, because no one else helped me. And that's an unfortunate view. And for those who believe in the first part, you can do something like this anywhere. And in any field, you can create a collective in any field. You'll need some mentorship, you know, you'll need access to some things like that. It's not just about resources, when it comes to, you know, financial, or connections, but you know, you you need a vision, whatever that vision is, for me the the ultimate success for this, the thing I want to see, and we've already had some pretty cool successes. One of the current grantees that lives at the theater house, it's called the Martin House is learn more Jonesy, he is a comic from a village Chimanimani in Zimbabwe, and he was getting big in Africa. But he wanted to expand I mean, it's a much bigger market here. And so we were we were able to help him come over help him get his visa, and be able to actually work. And now not only did he just perform at the Apollo, but he just won the Boston Comedy Festival, which is huge. So yeah, and it's, it's wonderful. And he actually had to, while he was still getting the ability to work here legally, he had to turn down a television show, because he just legally couldn't do it yet. But now he has his papers. And we're hoping he's able to get that chance again next season. And it's just it's wonderful to see stuff like that. That's the short term successes. The long term success is 10 years from now, when you know, when learn more is a household name. And he is performing at the cellar in New York or at the Laugh Factory in LA or wherever it is. I want one of the new members of Steel City to walk in that room, see him introduce themselves and him say come over, sit down with me. Let's talk. That to me is success.
I mean, that's what this is all about. I mean, this conversation, so like heart filling for me, because that's how we see the world to is just this idea of abundance. And honestly, we're never going to solve any of the bigger social problems until we start breaking down the walls. And you all are doing that in real time with comedians and kind of flowing out from there. So you talked about his story. What is that impact look like in a tangible sense when someone comes in? What are they? What's kind of the wrap around for them? And how do you see them leave the space specifically?
Well, that's a tough question. Because every comedians path is different. And some comedians are all about the stage and the craft and some comedians love doing stand up, but they're also hosting radio shows or they are producing digital content or, you know, or they're writing screenplays or whatever it is. So one of the things that we really try hard to do is not steer someone in a direction just because that's the direction that we took. You know, I can tell someone how to do digital content because that's what I do. But that's not necessarily what they want to do. So part of the success for each person is figuring out what their path is, and helping them along it. But the thing that I can try to teach everyone is that there's always something bigger. When I was when I was in college, I joined a fraternity. And I think that experience was responsible for a lot of this because I understood
that a lot of material probably too. Well, no, it's not that
I think I think that the view of fraternities that a lot of people have from Animal House, like that wasn't a documentary, you know, like, there's, there's a great deal of brotherhood, I learned to do community service for the first time, I never helped anyone before that, because I didn't really understand the impact it could have when you do so in a group. And so one of the big things was, you know, I'm getting involved. And I'm, and I'm learning a lot more. And some of the older guys sent me down. And I had been in the I had been in the chapter for less than a year. And some of the older guys sat me down, elections were coming up, and they asked me if I was thinking of running for anything. And I kind of puffed off my chest all proud. And I was like, Hey, I'm running for vice president. And one of the guys said, Have you considered anything bigger? And at the time, I didn't realize they were showing me that, like, they believed in me enough that I should run for president. But at the time, I said, there isn't anything bigger, because to me, it wasn't possible. To me, I was like, I don't deserve that. That was that's for someone else. I'm smaller than that. And that changed my life so much, because ever since then, anything I do, I think to myself, have you considered anything bigger? And a lot of the comments that come in here, you know, they might think, oh, I want to be, I want to be the go to act in Pittsburgh. And I'm trying to teach them that, like, what about the rest of the world, there's so much more. And if you want to stay here, that's totally cool. And it's great. It's a wonderful city. But you deserve to tour, you deserve to perform everywhere you want to, and not just be the king of the open mic circuit, you deserve to be more so have you considered anything bigger. And to me teaching that is that's that's the path I want people to learn. Aside from that their path is up to them.
You know, I think a lot of people think of founders as a certain type, and you have a formula that you go through, when you build your nonprofit, you leaned entirely on your intuition on what you're good at, on what your community wanted and needed. And that is why I believe your foundation is so vibrant, and why your community is so compelling. And it's personal to you. And I love that you're sharing what you learned along the way, and you're rooting each other on in your own individual journeys. And that is really what we're trying to do with all of our missions, right. And so great job for not taking, taking the old dusty 1960s playbook of how to build a foundation and just organically making it work for you and your community. That's fantastic.
Well, I appreciate that. I mean, part of it is that I haven't read that playbook, and I have no idea what I'm doing. And so this is truly a labor of love. And, you know, I've learned a lot I've been I've been a comic for 20 years. And I've also been on the producer side of things, you know, I EP to television show, I own four comedy clubs, I've done the business side of things as well. And so that does give me perspective on it. But I'm wrong all the time. And I think the key with this foundation is listening to suggestion. One of the things that we have is we have a wall that has a green screen. And the reason for that is because people shoot web content all the time having a green screen helps. And originally we had set up a green screen a it was too small. And B, when we had to move things around, then you've got to set up each time and you go from filming a five minute clip. And that suddenly takes an hour. And so one of the members suggested Hey, why don't we paint a wall and I was like, great idea. Let's do it. Next day we went out we got some green screen paint, we painted a wall. In the studio that I'm in right now. This was designed as a podcast studio where there are four stations for people to sit because it's very rare. The podcast has more than that. And there's a separate desk with a computer and a monitor for producer to sit. Well, that's because I am at the point in my career where I have a bit of privilege and that when I do stuff, I have a producer, not everybody does. So someone suggested someone was like, Well, you know, we can't see the monitor from here. If we're just sitting at the table doing this ourselves. So then we put up a big screen that they can connect to so that they can do it themselves. And so listening to what you got wrong, I think is as important as knowing the right thing to do.
Yeah, like and when you start like pairing those two together of like, what's the next bigger thing you could dream to and just having the humility to be open for that to kind of take shape. I feel like that's where the man just kind of come into life for you. Can we talk about your nomination of the Nobel Prize, I mean, I love what the, with the person who nominated you, it's the most beautiful, really written piece about it. But it just speaks to the joy and the peace and the feeling seen and the ending isolation that was happening in the pandemic, but I want to give you space to talk about that experience, and just the platform that it kind of gave you too, because you definitely took that moment and really ran with it.
Sure. Um, well, I appreciate all that. And it's the way it all kind of happened was, first of all, I canceled my tour early. I was one of the first to accept what was happening, and go alright, we're taking a couple of weeks off. Now at the time, I canceled two weeks of the tour, and then I canceled a month more. But because of that, I was searching earlier than most other people for what now? I, you know, I was about I would say I was about a week ahead of a lot of the other comedians, then. Because I've had experience in the digital world, and this is gonna be a weird reference. But I don't know if you've ever seen the movie, Bloodsport. Of course,
you and Dan,
were very unbranded. Yes, I've never heard of it, Becky.
It was delightfully terrible. But again, something terrible, something with my dad, where we used to watch, you know, old action movies, and it was fun. And so in that movie, the culmination of it, I'm sorry, spoiler alert. But the culmination of it is all of the stuff he's learning from his training comes into play in that final fight. It's, you know, kind of the precursor to Slumdog Millionaire in that way. And so I, you know, I was very lucky to be situated in a place where I had an online following. I had experience with digital shows, I'd been producing VR shows for four years. And so when the pandemic hit, I was no stranger to the tech. I was no stranger to how to make it work, et cetera. And a lot of people, a lot of comedians and various artists, were asking themselves the wrong question, when they started doing digital shows, they were asking themselves, how do we get out to the biggest audience possible? And my question was, how do we get out to the best audience possible. And so I created this online, I guess, chat show with a couple of friends. And you know that this started as one of my friends had this idea that he wanted to do a variety show, and one want to do an online Comedy Club. And I was like, Hayden, I don't know, let's pull this together and create something that would appeal to an audience. But we're not trying to get to everyone we're trying to get to our audience. And then once we started doing that, and we started doing that, before, most people even canceled their tour. And so once we started doing that, then myself and one of the other comedians created an online Comedy Club. And the reason it worked is because we limited how many people could attend to performance. We hired people to, you know, police the crowd, the same way that you have bouncers in real life, why not have them online? Like, why not have someone whose job it is to whether it is kick out, you know, the quote, unquote, bad actors, or also to just teach someone how to mute themselves while they're doing dishes? You know, why not? Like, take all the stuff that works in real life and put it in digital, and then figure out what doesn't work in real life and do a better version of it. So by the time, you know, we were doing, I think the first ticketed show that we did was April 6. So that was That's first. Yeah, we put together the tech, we put together the promotion, and I did three shows that day, keeping timezones in mind. That's another thing that because I was traveling internationally, I understood that like, Hey, if you do a show at 8pm, in New York, you're, that's for not many people. You know, you're losing Europe, you're losing Australia. And not only that, but LA is still working. So figuring out different shows for different demos, depending on where they lived at cetera. You know, it all kind of culminated in this digital community, and also trying to push the narrative of like, Hey, be nice to each other. And everyone's going through something, everyone's just doing their best. And so we started cultivating this community of fans. And for the first time, you know, I probably knew eight of my fans by name before then, because you know, if someone comes to every single show you have in a certain city, you might get to know them after a while, but digitally, you see them on screen and you see their name and they interact in the chat. And they started forming groups around this where they were doing Facebook groups where they were hanging out with each other and they were doing facetimes with each other. In addition to The Show. And because of that, we ended up being able to raise a great deal of money. The comedy club itself produced over a million and a half dollars worth of work for stand up comedians that couldn't work in person. The show like the digital chat show, ended up creating $50,000 worth of work for comedians doing short sets, they were getting paid more to do five minutes on a digital show, than they were to do a 20 minute set at any of the clubs in New York or LA. And well, it's because it was, you know, as micro typic, it's, you know, one person gives them three bucks, and one person gives them 20, and what you know, et cetera. And it all adds up. And so and it was cheaper for people than getting tickets to a comedy club and getting a babysitter and paying for parking and all this other stuff. And so, you know, having to order stale chicken fingers. And it ended up creating this, basically philanthropy community where they would support us and each other. And because of that, I guess that's why one of the fans who was a professor and thus can nominate for the Nobel Prize decided to nominate me.
What a fascinating case study, Steve, I feel like you figured this out, before most of the philanthropic community figured this out. Because truly, if there's an, you know, an application here for nonprofits, I think I feel like we've seen this happen with your fundraising events, you know, something different, there's a different dynamic when you have 500 people in a room eating the rubber chicken, you know, hearing the gala story that they hear every single year, but it's different. If you can even give a hybrid approach to that and allow people at home in their pajamas, who to your point, didn't want to pay for parking, didn't want to get a babysitter, all these things. They're still engaging. But guess what, when you're in the room, you can't you can't talk you can't interface. It's impolite. But when you're digital, you talk the entire time somebody's talking. So if you're listening to this as a nonprofit, and we keep talking about the power of building digital community, and that your fans are not in your rabid fans are not necessarily writing your physical location or your hometown, they could be anywhere. What a beautiful model that Steel City Arts Foundation has created in this, I just think it's fabulous.
I appreciate that. And you know, for the for the nonprofits, I also want to remind them that it's great to get a huge grant, if you can get a huge grant, that's awesome. But as someone who came from the digital world, and you know, I make my money off of ads on videos, and I make my money off of tickets at shows. So I make my money $15 to one penny at a time. The reason I make money off of ads is because it's not one penny, it's 15,000 1 pennies on a video. The reason I make money at shows is because it's not you know, 15 bucks, or you know, Now, thankfully, 25. But it's, you know, it's that times 100 or 200, or 1000. And a lot of nonprofits discount the idea of micro fundraising. And that's something that we do all the time, the way to get in our donor club is to donate $42. That gives you as much access as someone who gave us five grand, because we want everybody to feel like they're part of it. And if they can't afford that, well, we have a Patreon that allows them to give three bucks or whatever it is, because it all adds up. And that's something I think a lot of nonprofits look past because they're busy going for the whale. And they don't realize that most of the ocean is made up of fish.
Steve, thanks for not reading that 60s Dusty playbook that he was referencing.
He needs the new modern one, don't you think?
Absolutely. And I think that's why I really love having this kind of conversation because the majority of your life's work is not been a nonprofit world. But man, if there's not 100 takeaways from this, of how we need to rethink things, and how we just need to shift our focus, even the smaller things towards humanity at the end of the day to just make us more accessible and more connected. So I'm here for this. And I know your story is so informed by philanthropy, I got to watch a video of you even talking about your father and just his imprint on your life. And I wanted you to take us back to a moment of philanthropy in your story that stuck with you. We do this every day on the podcast that never gets old. So I can't wait to hear what you have to say.
I want to go back to what I was talking about about my fraternity. So there was something so I went to Columbia undergrad. And there was a program started when I was an undergrad called Columbia community outreach. And the idea is that various different groups at Columbia sign up and it could be a group of friends or it could be you know, one of the teams or it could be a social club, whatever it is. Sign up for various philanthropy projects around the Unity. And when it started, it was amazing. And I remember the first year that I did it, my fraternity went together. And the guy who started it was was one of my brothers. And so we were very much supporting it. And we went out in the first time and we went to this park for beautification project, and transformed it, we didn't know what we were doing. But there were enough people who were in charge to be like, Okay, here's the paint, here's how you paint a metal fence. Here's how you, you know, strip down the paint that shouldn't be there and then repaint, etcetera, and doing it correctly. And it was great. And then as time went on, by the time I was a senior, it went from let's go help the community to Let's spend two thirds of the day congratulating ourselves for helping the community. And then let's do a project that makes it appear to help the community, the project we did my senior year. And this was not assigned by my fraternity, this is when the university kind of took this over as a, hey, we're getting a ton of great press about this. And we it was so stupid, we spent a day moving one pile of dirt to another place that if they had used the park equipment would have taken them 20 minutes. And instead, you've got 40 Guys spending an entire day doing it, when they should have just done it with the equipment that was sitting there not being used. And they were doing it to make themselves feel better. They were using us to make it appear that they were doing something for the community. And so the reason that stands out to me is two things. One, it was one person's idea to create something that transformed the culture of a university. And then it was a couple of rich people in suits idea to pat themselves on the back for someone else's work, and then destroy the work. And both things happen in the nonprofit world. And I would much rather be a part of that first thing than the second.
Steve, gets it. And I think about through the lens of that story, Steve, what a missed opportunity. It was for all of those 40 boys who could have done something really impactful felt changed by it been affected by it and wanted to chase that high over and over by giving in different ways. And so I agree with you watered down, you know, performative, philanthropy has has no space in this world, because our problems are too big. You know, and there's too much pain and hurt and we got to get together. And I just think that this community that you have built in the unique way that you have, I mean, I just I mean, John, I'm sitting here thinking I can't wait for the day that Steve Hofstetter is getting 250 $500 A ticket, you know, for his stand up and doing the Apollo because all of us know that the more that Steve succeeds, the more Steel City Arts Foundation is going to succeed, the more the comedy circuit is going to succeed. And I think it takes an idea like your Steve, to change the health of a sector to change the mindset of people. And to like, bring out the best in people really is what you've done here. So bravo to you. I just think about your dad and how freakin proud he must be of what you've been able to catalyze. So we end all of our conversations with one good thing. And so wonder what a one good thing would be that you might offer to our community. It could be a piece of advice, a life hack, a quote, you live by what you're one good, thanks, Steve.
So the the reason, the reason our donor club is the $42 thing is because my dad's favorite baseball player was Jackie Robinson, number 42. He was also born in 1942. My dad was not Robinson. And so there's a lot of that that kind of runs through the foundation, there are a lot of references to Jackie Robinson as well as the new early eggs. And there's a quote from him that appears on you know, every year we make it this big piece of art for donors, and there's a quote that's on it every year. And that's a life is not important, except in the impact it has on other lives. And that's a quote from Robinson and ever since I read that when I think I was 13 that stuck with me. And that is what we're trying to do here. It's you know, it's about it's about legacy. And I'm doing my best to increase the importance of my father's life by letting it impact other people.
Man brother, you're doing it and I just this conversation is just filled my heart over here and I just want more people to find and connect with what y'all are doing. And give your point model it and replicate it in cities for whatever their passion or whatever their you know, experience has been. So you point people how can people find you personally, but also still city AF how can people connect with the work that they're doing? Then we don't show up online.
Sure. You know, my, my personal social media is always at, you know, at Steve Hofstetter and Google will correct you on the spelling, don't worry about that. And then, you know, Steel City is at Steel City AF on pretty much everything at Steel City af.com. You know, while there, you can learn more about our members, you can learn more about our mentors, you can, you know, read about the foundation, and you can donate if you'd like,
please donate. And I would say, if we take a lesson from this, you don't just have to donate, like, share something on your social media come like, you know, a YouTube channel, like give him some views give a shout out. I just think there's so many ways we can be a light to others. Steve, you've started that ripple. I mean, let's start casting more stones into it. So thank you, thank you for this incredible story. We absolutely love the way that you are making good accessible and making it just feel good in your corner of the world. We're just rooting for you. Keep going, Steve.
Thank you. And can I also just say, What a cool idea for a podcast because so many of the interviews I've had to do over the years, both as a comic and now as someone to the foundation. You know, I'm fighting against the controversy that people want. And you folks are just like now there's a good thing people like smiling, so let's make them smile. And that's, I wish there were more of that.
Come back, Steve. Yes, I've laid a place out at my Thanksgiving table for you with my family. That is how much I've enjoyed this conversation. Your extraordinary thank grateful
for your time, good to meet you. Thanks so much for being here, friends, and you probably hear it in our voices. But we love connecting you with the most innovative people to help you achieve more for your mission than ever before.
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