Kevin Robert Frost joins Purposely Podcast to share his very personal leadership story in the fight against HIV. Kevin has been the CEO of amfAR, The American Foundation for AIDS Research, since 2007, first joining the organisation in September 1994. Kevin is fully committed to the work he does, and vividly remembers the dark days when people were dying in large numbers from AIDS in New York and other parts of the world. Kevin personally knew some of these men and still remembers the horrible stigma caused by fear and bigotry. Fast forward to today and an HIV diagnosis is less likely to be a death sentence thanks to organisations like amfAR and committed, passionate leaders like Kevin. People diagnosed with HIV are less likely to suffer thanks to combination therapies, preventative medicine, and different attitudes towards sexuality. Kevin does stress, however, that things have not changed for everyone and unfortunately in many countries HIV and homophobia can still mean a death sentence. Kevin talks openly about his own journey and why he decided to do something meaningful to fight AIDS and give hope to people diagnosed with HIV. He also discusses his parent’s reaction to his mission and about coming out as a gay man. We talk about the current Coronavirus pandemic and Kevin’s frustration that lessons learnt from the fight against HIV have not saved the world from more pain and suffering. Kevin’s sense of mission is incredibly strong, and you can hear his passion and commitment for his life’s work over three decades. Kevin’s amazing career includes: - February 2010, appointed by President Obama to the Presidential Advisory Committee on HIV/AIDS (PACHA), which is charged with providing guidance and recommendations to the administration on the U.S. government's domestic and international HIV/AIDS prevention and research programs. - Served as a member of the international advisory committee for the XIV International AIDS Conference in Barcelona, Spain, - Member of the Scientific Committee for the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada, in August 2006. H - Served on the advisory panels for three U.S. Food and Drug Administration hearings on a new drug application for Chiron Corporation’s ganciclovir implant; a new drug application for Gilead’s cidofovir; and a review of the application for fomivirsen sodium. - Published in The Lancet, Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, Journal of AIDS (JAIDS), Journal of Infectious Diseases, and The AIDS Reader. As vice president, clinical research and prevention programs at amfAR and later, vice president, global initiatives, Kevin worked extensively in Asia, where he facilitated the development of amfAR’s TREAT Asia program. This network of more than 50 hospitals, community clinics, NGOs, and healthcare facilities works together with civil society in 17 countries to build the capacity necessary for scaling up treatment efforts in the region.

Becky Endicott and Jonathan McCoy join Purposely Podcast to share their founder story about ‘We Are For Good’ from Oklahoma, USA. This is a special episode for me, I am a massive fan of their podcast and their approach, and I launched Purposely at the same time - sharing similar values to them. Heading into our late-night recording I got to ask questions that I had been sitting on for over a year. We talk about the joy of a successful launch and how deciding to take the leap in the first place was ‘most definitely’ a family decision. We talk about how they decided to reject start-up capital and instead bootstrap the platform using their own time and effort as well as their own money. They have worked as consultants in their spare time to keep money coming in to cover living expenses. The good news is that their launch success will mean they can go fulltime in the New Year. The topic of burnout soon comes up with both giving a very candid and honest assessment of how difficult it is to start and grow something at the same time as prioritising other family commitments. So what is We Are For Good? It is a digital kindness community that is working to revolutionize the nonprofit industry through profound compassion, best-in-class education/training, authentic storytelling and crazy good marketing all leading to an #ImpactUprising.’ Becky and Jonathan launched in 2019, they are long time colleagues and close friends, as well as the proudest Oklahomans you will ever meet – they are also ‘American philanthropy royalty’ who really believe in the power of giving and receiving ‘collective good’. We Are For Good has big dreams to revolutionize the nonprofit industry’s professional development through online training and enhanced storytelling. Their vision is to cultivate an ‘Impact Uprising’ aiming to connect more people to philanthropy. Its podcast of the same name debuted at #1 in the USA in the nonprofit category and is frequented by nonprofit colleagues around the world How did it all start Becky? ‘I stumbled upon this graphic design intern who was in a senior year of college, which is John, and I decided to hire him, we just kind of grew up together in nonprofits! We're both ridiculous idealist and we call ourselves marketers disguised as fundraisers. We just have this optimism for the world!” ‘We just loved working together and we ended up having this amazing experience developing and running a revolutionary employee giving campaign at our health care foundation that raised over a million and really cemented our working relationship. 10 years later it's like that million dollar campaign with 1000s of employee donors all over again, except this time it is our company.’

Kirsty Green–Mann joins Purposely Podcast to share her expertise on responsible business.  Kirsty is Head of Corporate Responsibility at Burges Salmon LLP, a Bristol based independent law firm, that thanks to Kirsty’s leadership skills in the field of CSR, has recently won awards for its innovative and impactful approach to responsible business. This is a great episode for anyone involved in strategy build, Kirsty outlines some wonderful steps to ensure success.  I first met Kirsty when we were judges on a dragon’s den style panel assessing innovative and impactful community change projects, projects created and run by disadvantaged young people in Bristol. I know from this experience that Kirsty is passionate about community empowerment, more specifically helping young people to remove barriers to get on in life and be the best versions of themselves. Kirsty has worked in the corporate sector for 20 plus years with a significant amount of that time focused on sustainability and ensuring better work practices along environmental, social and governance lines. Utilising this vast array of experience Kirsty provides some wonderful insights on how to develop and implement a successful responsible business strategy in a corporate setting. You will learn a lot from Kirsty and be impressed with her ability to engage key stakeholders to make a positive difference. She is a member of the Institute of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability and an associate member of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment. Kirsty has responsibility for framing and driving the responsible business agenda, leading on community engagement and social mobility, addressing business and human rights all in a global context applying the UN Sustainable Development Goals as a guiding framework.

Award winning social entrepreneur Jessica Macpherson joins Purposely Podcast to share her founder story and how she swapped wine selling for life as a social entreprenuer. Jessica has now started a number of successful social enterprises and is best known as the founder of St Kilda Mums, Geelong Mums and Eureka Mums, a much-loved organisation with thousands of volunteers supporting more than 20,000 babies and children each year across Victoria, Australia. Jessica has also inspired and personally supported many other like-minded organisations across Australia and she has received several awards for her community work, including an Order of Australia Medal in 2019. She was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2017, was an award winner in the Pro Bono Australia Impact 25, and the recipient of the coveted Golden Hoodie in 2020. In April 2021 she established Blaze Your Trail she founded Blaze Your Trail was established in 2021 by Jessica Macphersons OAM, founder of St Kilda Mums, Geelong Mums and Eureka Mums. Since 2014 Jessica has personally supported more than 200 skilled migrants to secure their first job in Australia. Blaze your Trail provides practical hands-on learning opportunities, mentoring and support to find pathways to employment for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, who are also often parents trying to return to work, and people looking to change their career to technology roles. Without a level of training and support these people would most likely stay in casual and poor paying positions. Their main partner is SASS company Salesforce who Jessica talks highly of and she reminds everyone that they offer their free to small charities and enterprises. 

Cheryl Spain joined Purposely Podcast to share her story and her expertise on giving and philanthropy. Cheryl is the CEO of The Gift Trust, a New  Zealand based donor advised fund focused on helping generous and wealthy donors to give effectively and ensure better outcomes. Cheryl has spent the majority of professional career in the UK and we discuss the differences between the UK and NZ charity sectors as well as touching on her passion for community action and how her work with Groundwork, a federation of charities, impacted positively on the environment as well as the local people in Hertfordshire.  "I fell in love with the UK, fell in love with my husband, which helped as well, who was a Brit, and ended up staying over there for a very long time, having a couple of kids and then came back to New Zealand." We shine a light on what constitutes 'effective philanthropy' and Cheryl provides some insights as well as examples of how a successful donor advised fund works; "We try and connect the right donors with the right charitable organizations. On the face of it giving should be an easy task but actually once people start giving at quite a high level, people find it's not as easy as they thought it would be in the first place. We exist really to help donors to  give more effectively and have a bigger impact and as easily as possible." Cheryl also talks about the rich history of The Gift Trust; The Gift Trust has been operating since 2009 and started when a generous family who had immigrated from the USA to New Zealand were looking for an independent ‘donor-advised-fund’ in NZ and found that there wasn’t a national version here. They started a conversation with some of their  early trustees and this grew into the development of The Gift Trust. Until January 2015 they operated under the name ‘Prometheus Gift Trust’. The Gift Trust was previously an independent member of the Prometheus family which included Prometheus Finance Ltd – a specialist in social finance, providing Kiwis with ethical and sustainable savings and loan choices.  In 2014, Prometheus closed its doors, but The Gift Trust continues in its own right, now completely independently.

Welcome to episode 62 with Michelle Wright founder and CEO of Cause4 , originally a social enterprise (now a BCorp) that supports charities and philanthropists to develop and raise vital funds. Cause4 is known for its disruptive philanthropy and has so far raised over £50 million for their clients. Michelle talks about how the 2008 financial crisis provided a catalyst to starting Cause 4, 'going out on her own', 'seeing the employees of Lehman Brothers leaving their building with just their belongings', made me realise that if things were changing in the commercial world they would need to change in the charity sector as well'.  Cause 4 was up and running and quickly became the darling of the Third Sector winning awards and attracting attention. While Michelle appreciated the attention, and the work that this brought, she didn't like the fact that they weren't always able to deliver on their promises. Eventually Michelle too the brave decision to re calibrated the business and returned it to the original mission, 'work with nonprofits in a deep way and make a real difference to their work'.  Michelle trained at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and played the violin professionally. A chartered marketer, manager and fundraiser, Michelle founded Cause4 after leaving the London Symphony Orchestra, where her achievements in private sector fundraising led to her being judged the Best Upcoming Fundraiser at the National Fundraising Awards in 2008. Since setting up Cause4 Michelle has undertaken major strategic and business development projects, including campaign developments with a number of national charities and consultancy work for FTSE 100 brands developing their cultural sponsorship programmes. Michelle also specialises in philanthropy, having recently developed a number of major philanthropy projects for charities and corporates, and having set up new philanthropic foundations for sports stars, artists and entrepreneurs.

Bridget Williams joined Purposely Podcast to share her inspirational founder story. Bridget had the courage to leave her career as a lawyer to help solve the world’s biggest problems one colourful bead at a time! In 2019, ‘after two years of sitting on the idea and testing with friends’ Bridget launched social enterprise, Bead & Proceed, which exists to educate people about the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and inspire action towards them through creativity. Her passion for sustainability and using creativity as a tool for innovation drove her to launch the enterprise and has made her a recognised SDGs expert, assisting businesses and organisations with SDG strategic alignment and target reporting. Her efforts have been recognised and endorsed by the Rt. Hon. Helen Clark and the JCI Osaka Outstanding Young Person’s Programme. More than 5,500 participants have attended their SDG workshops or purchased Bead & Proceed Kits. Bead & Proceed has grown to offer tailored SDG workshops and ongoing SDG consulting for businesses interested in growing their impact. They work with all types of businesses from corporates to councils, universities, professional service firms, schools and other leading businesses in agriculture and tourism sectors. Bead & Proceed Kit produce kits, it is their foundational product and kick-started Bead & Proceed. The Kit caters to 7 people and serves as a creative activity to educate participants on the SDGs, each person comes away with a 5-beaded necklace, keyring or bracelet that represents the top 5 SDGs they want to work towards. While users paint and make, they ideate innovative way to achieve their chosen goals and have a tangible tool that anchors their learning. Their Kits are SDG aligned and for every Kit purchased, another is donated to a low decile school or deserving community organisation to help spread SDG awareness.

Episode 60 of Purposely Podcast with Melanie Sharma-Barrow founder of Ludo Consulting which advises individuals and companies on diversity as well as culture and strategy.   'My mission is to help people with their quality of life, mostly in the workplace, but also assisting them in their personal circumstances as well. It's also to facilitate and deliver a message about discrimination to decision makers, calling it out and making a difference to the people who are being discriminated against'. Melanie is an activist and she was introduced to Purposely by a past guest who described her as one of  the bravest people he knew. You will hear that Melanie doesn't mind hitting the headlines,  'as long as something positive comes out of if' for the people she protects and helps. Her activism is direct, she lets people and brands know where they have gone wrong and she demands action. You will hear that she deliberately stays away from online fights, citing Barack Obama for the inspiration to come off twitter and all other forms of social media, 'I don't believe in twitter activism'.   Melanie is also a writer, a guest speaker and a former lawyer born in Britain now residing in Auckland with her kiwi husband and their two children. We talk about local marketing strengths, 'New Zealand markets itself well and is not as egalitarian as it presents itself to the outside world' and we focus on her motivations for leaving the corporate world and a high flying career as a lawyer in London.  We go into her new career as a consultant/activist (and how her welsh upbringing has prepared her for this work).  Melanie takes on companies pointing out the racisim in their communications and advertising... 'most food brands and advertising was riddled with racism.' 'Companies needed to do a better job at educating themselves on the branding and imagery linked to their products'. She encourages consumers to harness the power they have to bring about change and speak up about racism. She talks about the future and what motivates her to keeping going... 'I am hopeful provided I'm able to keep doing the work I do and believing that in 20 or 30 years from now, if things aren't any better, I can turn back and say, well, at least I tried. I'm only hopeful for the future because I hope that everyone else will be hopeful for a better future for their children.' To hear more from Melanie you must check out her fortnightly column Ludology on diversity (as it happens) - 'I will be talking culture, race, gender, migration, in the work place, education, and the street.' 'I have written for the mainstream but I am frustrated with the curated approach to diversity.'

27 year old Steven Zinsli is the founder of Fintech start-up HealthNow, Steven joined Purposely to share his founder story and his vision for the future of his business. A company that combines a focus on making profit alongside purpose and social impact. You could say a new kind of company measuring success in different 'better world' ways.  Steven is incredibly focused, competitive and driven, he is also determined to improve people's health outcomes, he talks about his parents struggling to meet doctors bills when he was young and how access to credit (from the doctor) had played a key role in ensuring the family stayed healthy.  Steven is now using these traits to play active role in creating a world where healthcare is more accessible, more equitable and he is using tech to facilitate this change. He has thrown himself into the tech start-up world which he describes as challenging ... 'dog eat dog'! We also explore how an experience at school transformed his approach to work and life, from a student relying on natural intelligence to scrape through to what he has become... an overachiever hell bent on smashing every opportunity that comes his way. You will hear about his disciplined life sacrificing vices normal for most twenty somethings. Stevens early starts, long days and hours spent in the gym 'focused on his own health'. Don't worry I do push him on this.. 'surely you have some vices?...' 'do you like donuts?!' Steven started his journey in healthcare in 2016 as the first musculoskeletal podiatrist in what was a small New Zealand rehabilitation company, Physio Connect with less than 10 staff. He joined as a partner and over the next 5 years, Steven and a business partner grew the company to 108+ staff and 14 clinics seeing 4 thousand plus patients per week. This tangible experience provided Steven with an array of opportunities to... 'learn, gain scar tissue and meet some amazing people. It also gave me significant insight into customer challenges in the healthcare sector.' Earlier this year Steven secured pre-seed capital from what he describes as committed investors and partners. Steven and his team are now working tirelessly to make healthcare more accessible to the public through a Fintech solution that will move healthcare into the palm of your hand and make healthcare more accessible to more people. https://healthnow.co.nz/

Simon Kitchen joined Purposely Podcast to share his story. Simon is the CEO of Bipolar UK having joined the organisation in 2018 during a difficult time for the charity when they lacked financial stability.  Simon is driven to help transforming the lives of the most vulnerable in society through voluntary action. He has a track record of influencing public policy, strategic development, building alliances to achieve social change and using co-production to drive service improvements. His previous roles include leading one of the largest co-production initiatives in adult social care at Leonard Cheshire Disability and running the social action movement at the Dementia Action Alliance. He has also held a number of policy and research roles in Whitehall and in the regions. He is passionate about peer support and giving people with bipolar greater choice and control over their lives. You will hear that he has a family connection to bipolar and a passion for supporting people who have limited options. 

Christine Langdon joined Purposely Podcast to share her founder story with The Good Registry Christine is a social entrepreneur and communicator with a passion for having a positive impact for people and the planet. Co-founder and Chief of Good at The Good Registry, a community and website that is helping to make giving more simple, sustainable and kind. Christine has also taught yoga in prison and was once seconded to the New York Post to work as a journalist for an eventful time which included covering riots and celebrity gossip. Today she combines work on the registry with consultancy and she also writes a blog tracking her adventure from corporate life to social entrepreneurship at mykinderlife.org What's the vision and mission of the Good Registry? ‘The Good Registry, based in New Zealand, is a gift platform where people give charity donation gifts. In the past it's always been stuff we buy from shops and it hasn't always been stuff that people necessarily want, need or ever use. The Good Registry is about recognising people without having to buy them stuff. Instead the money is helping good causes, stopping waste and saving the environment.’ Was it your idea? How did it come about? ‘It was my inspiration and four years ago (2017) I left my role as Community Manager at Z Energy and while I did not have an exact plan I knew that I wanted to create something that would have a positive social impact. The idea for The Good Registry came super quick and it was because I was doing a bit of decluttering in my house and come across things stashed in a drawer and under the stairs and I was thinking that I couldn't throw these things away because they were gifts and I just wished that I hadn't been given them at all so I didn't have to store them. I then had another birthday and received a few more things that I didn't want or need and at the same time I had been looking for ways that I could give to good causes and enable others to go to good causes as well. So the idea was conceived’ Great ideas don't always become a reality, what gave you the impetus to launch? ‘A walk with one friend, Sue McCabe and lunch with another, Tracey Bridges presented me with my two co-founders as well as the momentum to get the site off the ground. They both loved the idea and were willing to get behind it. We also received a lot of encouragement and support from others and we just kept driving it forward. It was funny because I bumped into someone recently who had the same idea 14 years ago but they didn’t do anything to make it happen. I think we all have great ideas and it just takes someone to do something with the idea. We were also inspired to launch in time for Christmas and we managed to get the whole thing set up and going by November 2017’ It's been a real success, however, have there been any pain points along the way? ‘I don’t regret a day I have given to The Good Registry and it has turned out really well, however, the 70 hour weeks I worked to get it launched were tough at the beginning. The website wasn’t great at the beginning and evolved over time to respond to people’s needs… we didn’t quite nail with the first version and if we'd had time to do more research and maybe some more money to get it perfect. That said… it may have stopped us getting it off the ground and just going for it is a good way to approach life.’

Penny Wilson joined Purposely Podcast to share her story as CEO of Getting On Board a non-profit focused on supporting people from all sectors of society to become charity board trustees, and charities to recruit and retain a diverse range of trustees. Tell me about Getting On Board, what’s its mission? ‘Getting On Board is a really small charity based in Britain working to increase the accessibility and diversity of trustee non-profit boards… which are currently positively ‘victorian’ in their composition right across the sector. Two thirds of trustees are male, two thirds are over 50, 92% white and three quarters of trustees are from households above the national median household income. So as a body, our trustees are wealthier, ‘maler’, whiter, older than wider society and then we've got lots and lots of gaps for example… lived experience, so lived experience of the thing that a particular charity is seeking to tackle and Getting On Board works on that… important work that impacts on every single charity. ‘ Trustees perform vital and important roles right? ‘Charity board members are the most senior leaders in our charities and unfortunately not enough care and attention is given to how we recruit trustees or thought put into who goes onto a board. In fact the most common way of becoming a trustee in the UK is to be asked to be one, however, this does not necessarily ensure the right people are recruited and it does not match how we recruit our employees. In comparison if we need an employee with certain skills we advertise for the person that matches that requirement we don’t just ask friends, family members ex colleagues etc. We need to start doing this when recruiting trustees especially when you consider the level of responsibility they have’ How did the Getting On Board get started? ‘It was started in 2004, by Sarah Hodgkinson who sadly died a couple of years ago. At the time Sarah held a senior role in a big corporate and she recognized that there wasn't an easy path for senior professionals to step into charity board roles and she wanted to do something about it. I’m the CEO and I've been here for five years.  I had met Sarah a few times and heard her talking about trusteeship and I thought that sounds absolutely brilliant. I want a piece of that. So that’s how my voluntary trusteeship career took off and it also led me to taking this role with Getting On Board.’ How is the charity set-up? ‘The first thing to say is that we are microscopically small with an annual income of just over 70,000 pounds but it is fair to say that we really punch above our weight and people are always really shocked when they find out how small we are both in terms of income and the size of the team. We've got three part time core team members. However, we've got like a really wide community of people who just think what we do is important and support us in lots of ways by amplifying our message.’ A core part of what you do is training? What else do you do? ‘We work on both sides of the trustee thing, so we work with people who are potential trustees and then we work with charity leaders who want to know about diversifying their boards and about recruiting trustees professionally, we do this by providing free guidance. That said we primarily focus on training people in what it means to be a trustee, to serve as an effective trustee as well as how to find a role. On the other side of the coin we advise and train charities on how to diversify their boards and how to recruit trustees. It’s fair to say that most charities trustees have to be hands on because there is nobody else to do the work although the medium to larger organisations that have staff again can take more of a governance only approach’

Mike Seawright joined Purposely Podcast to share his founder story with ReliefAid. Mike Seawright started ReliefAid because he was frustrated by the inability of many aid organisations to get staff and resources into conflict zones quickly and effectively. A decade prior Mike had switched careers from corporate consultant to aid worker and following his first experience in Sudan he has specialised in working in conflict situations. ReliefAid has gone on to become a respected international aid organisation that is saving lives and alleviating the suffering of people affected by conflict through independent and impartial humanitarian action. They work closely with other international aid partners including ShelterBox. What is the mission and vision of ReliefAid, the charity you’re founder and CEO of? ‘I'd been working in war zones for a number of years, and I realised from first-hand experience that not enough aid was getting into places like Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Afghanistan, the key conflict hot spots of the world. It was a kind of ‘aha moment’ a realisation that I could help families that no one else could help. Six years later we've supported over 210k people in conflict zones.’ There are 80 million refugees worldwide and 50 million people displaced by conflict or war, can ReliefAid make enough of a difference? ‘The numbers are absolutely staggering and of course you can feel overwhelmed and that not enough can be done. One of the challenges we have when communicating with the New Zealand public and people around the world is stressing that while the numbers are big and the problem is huge, making a positive difference starts with helping one family. We can help people, who through no fault of their own, are forced from their homes by the effects of war and conflict.’ So ReliefAid provides independent and impartial humanitarian action, why is that so important? ‘In a war zone the political parties and warring parties could perceive you to be part of the conflict itself. I have worked in Foreign Affairs as a Diplomat and during that time I could see aid decisions being made based on political and military objectives. We took a lesson from that and when we founded ReliefAid we knew we did not want to be at the mercy of a country's foreign policy. To that end we have had to stay clear of Government money and remain independent and neutral. We don't take sides in the conflict and our focus is on accessing people who need how help and support and the assessments made on the basis of need and not on the basis of political objectives.’ www.reliefaid.org.nz

James Hurman joined Purposely Podcast to share his founder story with Previously Unavailable. A creative agency he launched in 2014 that focuses on delivering success for clients as well as a first class experience for employees. A new kind of workplace that evolves to match the needs of the employees at different life stages and an environment that means the team can be the very best version of themselves. Launching his agency followed a career as a strategic planner at Auckland ad agency Colenso BBDO. He has since led innovation and venture projects across fintech, energy, telecommunications, health, food, beverages, public sector, media, hospitality and professional services. James is also the author of The Case for Creativity, a book about the link between creativity and business success, described as "beautiful words of wisdom’.

John Berry, co-founder of ethical investment company Pathfinder joined Purposely Podcast to share his story. John along with Paul Brownsey set-up Pathfinder Asset Management in 2009 and over the last decade they have marked themselves out as leaders in responsible investment. They launched their first ethical fund in 2010 and have since established a track record for not only delivering great returns, but also doing so responsibly and ethically. Pathfinder is now part of Alvarium Wealth. What's the mission and purpose of Pathfinder? ‘The way we invest our money has real world impacts. Our mission is investing ethically to grow individual wealth and collective well-being, so there's two parts to that. The first part wealth, where we're managing people’s money (as well as organisations) and we want to make them as much money as we possibly can and we're driven by financial purpose of fantastic investment returns. But the wellbeing part is just as important from a personal and a social and environmental well-being perspective. We're trying to generate good outcomes, not just avoid harm, but generate good outcomes through the way we invest.’ Have we reached a time in history when investing ethically no longer means low returns? ‘I think that is an excellent question. Because the biggest hurdle we've had to overcome over the last 10 years is the preconception that if you invest ethically, it will cost you in terms of returns. I think we're now at a point where people now know that you can have both. An example of this is our KiwiSaver ethical fund which has enjoyed stellar returns. We put that down to good investment decisions but also the fact that we're focusing on companies with good environmental and social metrics and these companies tend to be more resilient. So yes, you can have both.’ Does Pathfinder regularly generate funds for good causes? ‘We have taken a social enterprise approach with our KiwiSaver (pension fund) generating awesome returns for investors at the same time as making a positive impact on communities. We’ve both been personally involved in charities, Men's Health Trust for me and Paul’s been involved in Arthritis New Zealand. We understand the main problem for charities, particularly smaller charities, is sourcing consistent funding - long term passive income streams that they can rely on. We were scratching our heads thinking how we can use financial markets to overcome that problem. So, our solution is our KiwiSaver fund where we charge normal fees and give 20% of that to our family of charities. We want to be giving $50,000 a year to each of the 17 charities we support, and we are getting closer to that.’ You have spent a lot of time living abroad? What made you come home to New Zealand? ‘I lived overseas for years through the 90’s and originally I wanted to drive from London to Kathmandu. While we didn't make it, we did get to spend a lot of time in Syria and Jordan which was really interesting. I also worked in London for several great companies including Deutsche Bank. It was a difficult transition coming back, however, it felt like the right time to do it. The decision was based around my family and our kids were about to start school. I had also experienced anxiety issues while I was working and I just knew for my own mental health and for my family that I needed a change. I spent such long hours working through weekends and nights and it was very, very intense. Not the healthiest thing for me or for my family. So, coming back to New Zealand gave me some headspace, an opportunity to reset and eventually launch Pathfinder and it also gave me the opportunity to be really involved in my kids.’

Lisa King joined Purposely Podcast to share her founder story with Eat My Lunch Lisa and her business partner Michael Meredith’s mission started in 2015 with a plan to ensure that no New Zealand school child goes hungry and  this continues to be their mission today. They have just celebrated their 6th birthday and they are proud to have given away over 1.6 million lunches to Kiwi kids in need. Sadly there is still a waiting list with many schools in Auckland and Wellington needing their help. Lisa was inspired by a news article she read outlining the damaging effects of food poverty on children in New Zealand at the same time she reflected on a pair of Toms Shoes she was wearing, where she had bought a pair of Tom’s shoes and she had gifted pair of shoes at the same time. Eat My Lunch was born using the same, buy one gift one model. You will hear how an urgent start-up phase orchestrated from Lisa’s home kitchen was soon followed by a quickly scaled team and operation including a commercial kitchen and urgency to deliver on the need that was evident across New Zealand. In this episode she talks about her previous career as a corporate marketeer and brand expert and how she used this experience and the commercial skills she had gained to start, scale and grow Eat My Lunch. The episode also explores her early years, having been born in Hong Kong her parents moved Lisa and her siblings to New Zealand to start a new life. A new life built on some traditional values and views as well as some exceptional hard work where her family invested their energy into running a successful Chinese restaurant. Lisa expands on growing up on New Zealand as an Asian migrant and how her Hong Kong background and New Zealand experience has shaped who she is today. www.eatmylunch.co.nz 

Philanthropy Advisor Emma Beeston joined Purposely Podcast to share insights into her career, her approach and what it takes to successfully advise people on giving.  Emma advises foundations, grant-makers and families on creating and implementing giving strategies. She facilitates strategy and learning sessions for teams and families. How did you get your job? ‘I worked for a number large foundations, initially giving grants to individuals for things like paying for cookers and writing off debt. I ended up working at BBC Children In Need, and then Lloyds Bank Foundation managing their grant programs and I really enjoy that side of things. You get to visit different charities and it's really interesting work. I left because I wanted to challenge myself and I felt I was getting a little bit too comfortable and I wanted to stretch myself. I decided to go freelance although there wasn't really a plan, you could say there still isn't really a plan.  I'm in a very nice position now of being a consultant philanthropy advisor’ What have been the biggest changes in grant making practice? ‘The changes to grant making practice have really been amplified by events of the last year. For so long now fundraisers have quite rightly been complaining about the hoops they have to jump through and the power imbalance where a funder can ask them to do whatever they need them to do to provide whatever information they require. It's really good to see that shift recently and the changes have gained momentum and increased rapidly over the last. Best practice is much more focused on a partnership approach and trust based philanthropy.  Participatory approaches and models are also coming through and all these changes have had a direct and positive impact on philanthropic decisions.’ Emma co-created the Advising Donors module for the University of Kent’s Masters in Philanthropic Giving, lectures on CASS Business School’s Charity Masters Programme and delivers training for the Association of Charitable Foundation’s Professional Development programme. She is a co-founder of a giving circle, Bath Women’s Fund.

Danny Witter joined Purposely Podcast to share his co-founder story with Work for Good Danny spent 25 years in the City of London, including 17 years at Deutsche Bank where he worked with a range of FTSE100 corporate clients, to being the Chair of the UK Corporate Citizenship Committee to his non-executive directorships including Shakespeare’s Globe, The Microloan Foundation, Shape History and Ivy House Learning. Danny’s philanthropic work has led him to co-found Work for Good and is now on mission to change the face of business giving. Work for Good’s mission is to help charities raise funds from purpose driven small businesses. They enable small businesses to give to good causes at the same time including their giving into their brand story. It can seem overwhelming for businesses researching how to work with a charity and that is where Work For Good comes in, not only do they do the matching they also take care of the legal stuff and facilitate the giving transactions. Danny explain’s how Work for Good is actually the brainchild of Danny’s Co-founder Rupert Pick, who was inspired to give back to the amazing hospital staff who care for his daughter Ottie. Ottie was born 10 weeks premature, weighing less than 3lbs and with two rare genetic conditions that affect both her bones and her heart. When Rupert decided to donate the fees from his next workshop to the Evelina London Children’s Hospital, it made him wonder about all the wonderful things that could happen if only more businesses chose to give through their work. Work for Good was then formed to help businesses give and Danny joined offering seed funding as well as his time and expertise to get the platform built. 5 years on they have engaged thousands of businesses and good causes and on their way to creating a sustainable businesses doing good. https://workforgood.co.uk/

Welcome to episode 49 with Marcus Exall A really nice guy, angel investor, business founder and charity trustee. We talk about how starting and eventually selling a digital agency in London (Blue Barracuda sold to Draftfcb in 2013) changed his life. The conversation starts with his current business helping start-up founders Up and to the right and then he shares hisfounder story, the successful exit, the freedom that brings and some of the investments he has made. This is a good episode for people wanting to understand how an Angel Investor thinks or wants to understand how a quality funding relationship should work. His colleagues describe him as a ‘master networker and if he can’t solve your problems he knows someone who can’ He has played a leading role at stellar start-ups such as Monese and Mendi. He is on a mission to make life easier for founders. ‘I am focused on backing the person first and foremost? Mainly businesses ideas change through the process of building them. Most certainly a large part of it for me when I consider an investment is asking myself the questions, do I want to go on a journey with this person. What are their values? that's always a very important bit to me. ‘I'm constantly surprised about the capabilities, the amazing capabilities of the people that I'm fortunate enough to get involved with and most of what interests me about the business is the people themselves. I'm excited in those first interactions, there's a spark to the conversation and maybe they’re challenging challenging me and my ideas.’ Marcus talks about investing in Clim8 Invest and Fairwill, two exciting companies disrupting their respective industry’s (investment and will writing). Up and 2 the Right - https://u2r.co/ Fairwill - https://farewill.com/ Clim8 Invest - https://clim8invest.com/

Episode #48 with Fairshot Café founder Bianca Tavella In her mid twenties Bianca Tavella has overcome significant barriers including funding, COVID-19 and her age to ensure her dream of a social enterprise café becomes a reality and she is almost there having raised thousands of pounds to help launch her enterprise. Fair Shot Cafe is a unique start-up social enterprise cafe that will bring training and future employment to disabled young adults in West London UK in the setting of a high-end stylish coffee shop. Fair Shot cafes offer Traineeships to help young people transition to Apprenticeships and finally to permanent paid employment. The Fair Shot cafe focuses on 16-24 year olds who have mild to moderate learning disabilities. This group are very capable, needing only a little support and are the most likely to find sustainable employment. 50% of the Fair Shot Cafe workforce have disabilities. ‘I would like for people to see our unique employability model and know that they can replicate it elsewhere to help other people with learning disabilities. They get involved in  food prep, there’s working on the till, customer service and food hygiene… all of these skills quite naturally for them.’ https://www.fairshot.co.uk/

Proud Irishman and Radio Host Takes TEDx Talks To The Bottom of the World Leon Hartnett, founder Greenlight Innovations Proud Irishman Leon Hartnett is the founder of the charity Greenlight Innovations, a volunteer led charity focused on bringing people together and encouraging a sense of belonging and community. Leon is also a radio host and an event organiser responsible for starting a St Patrick’s day festival and popular comic book event for local children. You will also hear how he has taken TEDx Talks to one of the very southern parts of the globe, Invercargill, a city he calls home having moved there from Dublin a decade ago with his wife and young family. So what is the purpose of Greenlight Innovations? ‘In simple terms it's focused on connecting people and bringing smiles to people's face - create happiness, share ideas and strengthen the community. Sometimes it's a fairly simple things, isn't it? You know like enjoying a nice day or having an ice cream or jumping in a bouncy castle. Yeah, just the simple things of gathering people together. We are volunteer led and we organise events all focused on community building’ You are responsible for taking TEDx to your home town in Invercargill? ‘Yes that’s right. TEDx actually stands for technology, education design and as a global charity that uses the tagline of ideas worth sharing. I've watched TED talks for many years and I thought it would be really good for the community once again it's  all about connecting people. It's also about sharing ideas, and it's getting people together to contemplate ideas. So I thought it would be really good to get this down here, you know, in a place like Invercargill’ ‘Incredibly our talks have reached 40,000 people worldwide.’ I understand that it was a medical emergency that actually brought you closer to the local community? ‘Yes when my son Finn was three years of age he developed pneumonia and he got to a viral infection at the same time and experienced massive weight loss. He ended up in intensive care. We were really concerned at the time, but one thing I remember is the reaction of local people and we were amazed that people at my work and in the community were just reaching out to check that we were okay’

‘Philanthropy is love for humankind, it’s not just about money’ Chris Belmont joined Purposely Podcast to share his founder story with Youth Philanthropy New Zealand. Originally from the US, he grew up in Queenstown, where he developed a passion for philanthropy. With some friends, and support from the Wakatipu Community Foundation, they established Youth Philanthropy NZ as well as Generation Give a programme focused on providing young people an education in positive philanthropy. Originally modelled after successful Youth Philanthropy programmes in North America and Europe, Generation Give has evolved to serve a uniquely Kiwi audience since 2019. The programme appoints high school students to a simulated non-profit board, and over the course of 20 weeks, they are guided through essential skills required in the philanthropic process. At the end of the programme, Generation Give students will apply these learned skills in the process of giving at least $10,000 away to worthy causes of their choice in their community How did Youth Philanthropy and Generation Give get started? ‘It all begin with this one after school program at high school where we brought 20 students together to cover 20 topics over 20 weeks. They were guided through essential skills required in the philanthropic process. They became qualified to make philanthropic decisions on behalf of the community around them. We actually ended up raising $10,000 and we said give it away to wherever you want’ How much have you raised and donated? ‘We've facilitated giving over $40,000 in the last in the last two years of the program, but what I always like to say is that's actually only 5% of our impact, or even less! The majority of our impact comes from the students we educate….these young people become philanthropists and they have a positive impact on their communities. Positive impact that they're going to have for the rest of their lives and  what we've done essentially is jump started their philanthropic careers, that's our goal from this programme’ Tell us about your past and what motivated you to get involved in Philanthropy? ‘I'm from the States originally and some would say that modern philanthropy comes from comes from the United States. Obviously, New Zealand has a fantastic spin on a lot of stuff that the US does, but there's still some lessons to be learned from from how the US operates. Anyway, wherever we moved my mum always started a Community Foundation and for that reason alone I was always involved with charities and from a very young age.’ www.ypnz.org 

Sam Stubbs is the founder of non profit KiwiSaver fund Simplicity. A reformed investment banker and stockbroker his career also spans politics, philosophy and technology. His mission is to make the finance industry a force for good as a source of profit which he thinks can be achieved by companies embracing long term thinking, sustainability and full diversity. Sam Stubbs joined Purposely Podcast to share his founder story: What is Simplicity and what is its mission and vision? ‘We're a nonprofit fund manager. If you're overseas you might have heard of Vanguard… the vanguard of New Zealand… wouldn't be too far wrong. Our main aim is to give people dignity in retirement and how we do that is we give them choices. People who have choices in life have dignity. We run as a nonprofit fund manager, which charges the lowest fees and making people richer. Simplicity is a charity, a social enterprise, a nonprofit, a whole lot of things! We give 15% of the fees we do earn to charity. We've been running for almost five years now and we manage about $3 billion on behalf of over 60,000 members, in total we're giving away about $100,000 a month to charity, and making extremely good returns.’ The Kiwisaver scheme was the New Zealand waking up to the fact that its people owed more in debt than they had saved? ‘So it's about 14 years old now and when it started out and they didn't think it was going to be that popular. However it turned out to be wildly popular because the government gave everyone who joined $1,000 straight into their account. The vast majority of the population have now signed up to kiwisaver (voluntary pension scheme). In the first 14 years it's accumulated almost $80 billion, which for New Zealand is a lot of money. It will carry on growing and growing.’ Simplicity appears to run incredibly leanly, tell us about your set-up? ‘Yeah that’s correct, we have what we call a starvation mentality. So we never get used to having very much money because as soon as we are in danger of making money we lower our fees and we keep it really tight. Now that doesn't mean that we go stupid with it but it does mean that we have a really heavy emphasis on technology. So we spend a lot of money on that so we can automate as much as we can. We have 63 volunteers as well, people like lawyers, PR accountants, whole bunch of people who help us out because we're disrupting the financial services industry here. And also, you know, we're giving so much to charity, and we've given away over $2 million in their first five years’

Edward Suttleworth joined Purposely Podcast to share his founder story  With his wife Kate, Ed founded SeeBeyondBorders in 2009. He is committed to providing Cambodian children with access to quality education SeeBeyondBorders’ mission is to help children in Cambodia get to school while improving the teaching and learning that happens there. Their vision is for children in Cambodia to have choices for their future because of a better education and they achieve this by motivating a support base to contribute time, skills and financial resources to initiatives run in collaboration with local communities and with other sponsors. They invite people to see the situation for themselves, participate directly in our programs, and determine how they can continue supporting the people they have visited. Their programs are informed by Millennium Development Goal No 2 and the Royal Cambodian Government's 'Child Friendly Schools' initiative, focusing on accessibility and quality of education. 'Accessibility' considers family needs and school infrastructure, while 'Quality' relates to the continuing professional development of teachers - teacher training and teaching resources. https://www.seebeyondborders.org/

Guillaume Dehan joins Purposely Podcast to share his founder story with fintech for good company, 'Fund A Future'. Guillaume is a French man who lives in New Zealand, from an early age he wanted to explore the world and was not afraid to try new things and exciting places.  This led to a time working in China as well the UK where he worked for almost a decade in asset management. In 2017 he emigrated to New Zealand to be with his children, in this episode he talks about the importance of his culture, ensuring that his children understand their French heritage as well as speaking the language. ‘I refer to my children as friwi’s, they are mixture of French and Kiwi and I make sure we speak French in the home’. In New Zealand he bridged a gap between his asset management career and social entrepreneurship. Guillaume founded 'Fund a Future' in 2019 to help boost generosity globally, he stumbled across the idea while completing an M.A. in Tech (with Tech Futures Lab). ‘Our aim is to increase generosity worldwide. That is the inspiration… we all have in our minds. How far can we go to support organisations and create this long lasting, positive impact’ Utilising tech, 'Fund a Future' is keeping track of individual donations, claiming back any eligable tax rebates. They either provide personal refunds or funnel back the rebate to the individual's chosen charity. Their aim to make this as simple as possible. ‘We could see millions of dollars going unclaimed (from IRD) and in New Zealand we can claim back rebates for the past four years. So quickly we realised the size of the opportunity in front of us… up to a billion dollars of donation tax rebates that have never been claimed.’ ‘So we want to make it as efficient as possible to give an option for these donation tax rebates to go back to the charities in the first place.’ www.fundafuture.co.nz 

Heidi Fisher joined Purposely Podcast to share her founder story with Make An Impact CIC Heidi is a multi-award winning specialist in social enterprise and social impact, she is also a successful podcaster. She received an MBE for Services to Innovation in Social Enterprise and Impact Measurement in the 2020 New Year Honours. Heidi has worked with over 2,100 social enterprises from start-ups to those with over £1 billion of income supporting them to become more sustainable, helping to develop their trading income and to better measure, manage and report their impact. Her vision is a world where all businesses are social enterprises that positively impact people and the planet. Heidi is passionate about leaving a positive legacy for her children and society. What would you change about sector you work in? ‘There's so much confusing language around social enterprise and impact measurement designed to make it sound complicated. However in reality it needs to be brought down to a level where we speak in plain English and we enable people to cut through the complexity and focus on doing things.’ You are highly regarded for your impact measurement work, what is your approach? ‘The common myth is that you need to capture data from everybody and everything. Instead, your data needs to be of a much higher quality and it is best to keep it really simple and focus on just measuring two things and measuring them really well.’ Is there one cause or social enterprise that you are most proud of? ‘I could share hundreds. But I really do I love working with a group of creative women entrepreneurs. I just love them because they are so creative. I know it sounds obvious but they are creating bespoke handbags and hair accessories, clothing, textiles and all these kinds of things. And, and it just boggles my mind how clever and they are in terms of the product ideas that they come up with’ ‘Another one is Social Arcs, they're a charity in London and they work with young people to start up social enterprises. The young people use their lived experience to create their social enterprise. There is also a real value put around that lived experience and they become leaders in their own community.’ Where do you see organisations going wrong on impact measurement? ‘Where I always see organizations going wrong… I use this analogy of a brick wall. If you imagine your charity or social enterprises is a brick wall i.e. business planning, your finances, your marketing, your operational activities, everything sits within that brick wall. What everyone tries to do is build another three layers on the top… that is impact measurement. They make it an additional time consuming process. Instead it needs to go into the existing bricks and be part of everything that already sits there. And if you can integrate it into what you already do, it becomes something that happens much more easily and automatically.’ You are also a successful podcaster, what motivated you to start? ‘It was very much about increasing visibility and raising the profile of Making An Impact. So having a podcast with the most amazing and incredible guests just made a lot of sense. I also like talking as you can probably tell and it just made sense. It has introduced me to so many people that perhaps I would never have had the opportunity to speak to.’ What is your vision for the future? ‘It changes every day but the vision is very much about global growth and doing a huge amount in terms of ever a global network of partners. In terms of not just spreading the social enterprise message, but actually supporting people to have the best and strongest types of social enterprises or charities that they possibly can.’

Guy Ryan, founder and CEO of New Zealand charity Inspiring Stories joined Purposely Podcast to share his founder story Guy talked about the challenges faced by the young people they set out to help: ‘We help young people who have lived with or have overcome significant adversity. They face challenges in their communities including drugs, gangs and violence, sometimes multi- generational welfare dependency. There is also the impacts of colonization and unemployment.’ We also talked about the aims of Inspiring Stories: ‘We set up inspiring stories with a big bold vision to see every young New Zealander unleash their potential to change the world.’ As a young person, I started learning about some of the big social and environmental issues in our world. I found that really confronting. The huge inequality that exists in our world, the challenges around climate change. At the same time, I could see all this incredible creativity, passion potential of young people around me, and I just thought, you know, imagine, if every young New Zealander could unleash their potential to change the world, what would it take to make that happen? ‘To be able to feel like change is possible, more than ever…and having relatable examples of role models and people who are demonstrating incredible leadership and actually driving real change in lots of different circles and then pathways to support them’ Guy Ryan grew up in Granity – a tiny town on the West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island. After finishing High School his passion for adventure and surfing took him to Otago University, where he completed a double degree in Commerce and Design, and then a Masters in Science Communication. It was at University he discovered his passion for entrepreneurship – from trying to build tech company, to creating an adventure festival, to co-founding a film production company and winning international awards for filmmaking. In 2010 he co-directed and produced a film called Carving the Future, a 25-minute documentary about four young New Zealanders taking action on climate change and environmental issues. Building on the lessons of previous ventures and the success of the film Carving the Future, Guy founded Inspiring Stories in 2011, initially winning a ‘World of Difference’ scholarship from the Vodafone New Zealand Foundation. The next few years would become a whirlwind adventure of developing and testing programmes, partnerships, and building the organisation into the phenomenal force it is today. However it wasn’t without it’s challenges: ‘I come from a tiny little rural community, I don't come from any wealth and lacked significant credibility. As a young person with a big bold vision I was trying to knock on doors… it was honestly really challenging. People and organizations wouldn't take me seriously, they wouldn't give us the time of day… not even a chance to share what we were thinking. It took a long time to build street cred, you know, which inevitably can lead to a bit of resourcing and support to make things happen.’ What they do today: Their Festival for the Future attracts 1,200+ people annually. Their Future Leaders programme is changing lives for a diverse range of young people in New Zealand’s rural and provincial communities. Through The Impact Awards, they’ve awarded thiusands to support New Zealand’s most driven and inspiring young social entrepreneurs. https://www.inspiringstories.org.nz/

Muzafar Ali is a former refugee from Afghanistan. He is currently living in Adelaide, where he is a student at the University of South Australia. He is also Program Director at Cisarua Learning. In Afghanistan, Muzafar worked for several United Nations in organisations. His work spanned around disbandment of illegal armed groups and promoting human rights values. It was the nature of his work that took him to remote and unseen parts of Afghanistan, where he saw the authentic beauty, and met villagers where he took most of his photographs. Thus he became one of first generation of you Afghan photographers to show hidden beauty of Afghanistan. His photographs represent vibrance of Afghan people and land. His solo and collaborative photo exhibitions have been organised in Afghanistan, Australia, South Korea, United States, United Kingdom, Indonesia, Canada and Holland. As a refugee, Muzafar co-founded the first refugee-managed school (Cisarua Refugee Learning Centre) in West Java, Indonesia. Muzafar is a passionate refugee advocate. The main area of his work is around 'right and access to education' for refugees. He regularly speaks to Australian communities and institutions, and advocates about refugees and refugee rights. Jolyon has spent much of the last 15 years living and working in Washington DC, Nigeria, Indonesia and Nepal. His latest film, feature documentary 'The Staging Post', helped inspire a refugee-led education revolution in Indonesia and raised over $500,000 to support that community. It was the 13th most successful documentary in Australian cinemas over 2017 and 2018. Other work includes; music videos and a concert film for Thievery Corporation, a one hour documentary for one of the world’s biggest gaming companies, Bethesda Softworks and Aceh - Ten Years After the Tsunami, which is now on permanent display at the Aceh Tsunami Museum. In Nepal, he was on the jury and presented at the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival and Nepal International Film Festival. He is the founder of the Australian Charity, Cisarua Learning. cisarualearning.com lightsoundartfilm.com

Lea Milligan, CEO of MQ Mental Health Research, joined Purposely Podcast to share his story. Lea talks about being appointed CEO during the first COVID-19 UK lockdown, this without the opportunity to meet his Board of Trustees or his team. In fact he still hasn’t met them in person although you will hear how this has him stopped him setting a new and exciting path for the organisation including a new strategy and a new office in New York. Lea, a parent of two young children admits ‘home education looked more like home entertainment in my house during lock-down’. He also draws on the inspiration gets from the Irish and Lion’s rugby international Brian O’Driscoll citing how his hard work, dedication and committment to rugby (his craft) set him apart and made him a world leading player. Lea says ‘it’s all about making the very best of your talents’ and that is something he try’s to do himself. Lea is described as a passionate communicator and collaborator and advocates for a whole mind, body and brain approach to mental health research. His current role sounds like a great fit. He has worked in the charity sector for over 15 years, leading teams and organisations supporting people in the secure estate, community education and prior to joining MQ, served for as the CEO of Mercy Ships UK, an international NGO delivering surgery, medical capacity building and infrastructure development across West Africa. He has overseen multimillion pound fundraising and grants programmes supported by philanthropy and a range of government funding. Notable achievements include launching the Global Surgical Evaluation Centre in partnership with Harvard University, public fundraising campaigns in partnership with the Department for International Development and the publication of a British Medical Journal surgical supplement in support of the Lancet Commission’s findings on the global surgical crisis. https://www.mqmentalhealth.org/home/

Pat Duffy and Alex Wilson joined Purposely Podcast to share their founder story The Giving Block has created a turnkey solution for cryptocurrency donations used by charities around the world. ‘Involved in a nonprofit and want to understand how it could boost your income... or just want to understand cryptocurrency more, this is the perfect episode for you to ’ Mark Longbottom Co founders Pat and Alex first met at University with their friendship developing thanks to their mutual interest in cryptocurrency. Alex was an early adopter while Pat was working in a commercial role for the Lupus Foundation and saw cryptocurrency as a potential earner for his charity. Pat and Alex eventually launched The Giving Block in 2018 after seeing hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin being donated to the few nonprofits that were equipped to accept those donations. With the cryptocurrency bull market of 2017-2018, millions of people around the world made a fortune investing in and trading cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether. Because the American tax authority treats cyptocurrency as property, these investors had a huge tax incentive to donate Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies directly to nonprofits. In short, if donated directly to a nonprofit, they would not be liable for capital gains tax and could write it off on their taxes (similar to a stock donation). The problem? Very few nonprofits knew how to accept cryptocurrency donations or were even thinking about this new pool of donors. So Pat and Alex set out to create the only nonprofit specific solution for accepting cryptocurrency donations, Now, donors have over 200 nonprofits to choose from and it's easier than ever to begin accepting cryptocurrency donations. Alex Wilson has a background in management consulting where he worked with Fortune 500 companies to develop strategies around emerging technologies like AI, IoT, blockchain and cryptocurrency. As he went down the cryptocurrency rabbit hole, he began investing in and advising early stage cryptocurrency startups. Pat Duffy began as a federal consultant for pharmaceutical companies, focused on collaboration with nonprofits. He then shifted to the nonprofit sector, focusing on executive leadership and fundraising. Merging his nonprofit experience and passion for Bitcoin trading. https://www.thegivingblock.com/

Jake Stika founder of Canadia nonprofit Next Gen Men joined Purposely Podcast to share his story. ‘I had a really shitty mental health experience in my early 20s and came to understand that it was a masculine script that was harming me and I have been on a unlearning and learning journey, sharing that with people.’ Jake a former athlete and self-confessed jock, struggled with his own mental health. This experience led to unsafe behaviour and a negative view of himself particularly in relation to his own masculinity. Eventually a period of self-reflection as well as therapy helped Jake to understand himself better and offered him more positive thoughts about what it means to be a man. This journey led him to a life of purpose and co founding the charity Next Gen Men focused on gender-based issues related to the social and emotional development of young men. It focuses on the health and well-being of men where boys and men ‘experience less pain and cause less harm’. ‘I've had an eclectic career. You know, I played Semi Pro basketball, until I was the ripe old age of 24. I then retired and came back to Canada and got a job in oil and gas as a business analyst, which, which was just awful. That is when I made the leap. Initially working as part of a start-up ecosystem leading business development and sales for several start-ups. That was part of the catalyst of Next Gen Men.' 'I had been fundraising for the men’s health charity Movember for five years, and they had a call for proposals out for new ideas to change the face of men's health in Canada. I fancied myself as an entrepreneur and here was an idea and a funding opportunity, so we pitched!  Together with a buddy of mine from University, who had lost his brother to suicide and who was working with at risk youth we pitched this idea and we got the funding, $150,000, to three knuckleheads who've never done anything like this before’ Their youth programs teach boys to question gender stereotypes and assumptions. Their work helps build emotional intelligence, giving youth the skills and resilience they need for healthy relationships and positive mental health. How to practice consent, how to be a good friend, how to live with confidence and empathy, their programs engage youth in the big conversations they need to have. Jake was named one of Avenue Magazine’s Top 40 Under 40, as well as having earned recognition from Ashoka, the British Council, and the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion. He has spoken at the United Nations as part of the Canadian Delegation, and participated in the UN Women Safe Cities Initiative Global Forum. He is also a proud advisor to the Calgary Immigrant Women's Association, Canadian Women & Sport, as well as the Calgary Women's Emergency Shelter.

Steve Wickham joined Purposely to share his founder story with the London based Giving Department. Steve shares details on his ‘carpe diem’ moment, pressing go on his dream company and job despite the uncertainty caused by a global financial crisis and challenges presented by a young family. The ‘for purpose’ agency endures to this day successfully enabling for profit companies to support nonprofit ideals. Steve and his team delight in playing a role in a better society. Prior to this he spent 10 years in the charity sector. As a successful fundraiser Steve worked for a number of charities in senior roles including The Prince’s Trust. Steve shares his passion for the trusts work and details on his funding lunches with Lord Young. Steve is also passionate about helping people to enter the ‘Third Sector’ (nonprofit). These experiences have given Steve a deep understanding of how companies and private funders can best support charities, how effective relationships can be developed, where value can be delivered and how the right support can deliver genuine and long-lasting change. More: Steve founded The Giving Department in 2010 with the clear vision of providing expert independent resource to help companies and philanthropists deliver real social impact and achieve their greatest charitable ambitions. Over the subsequent years Steve has developed the business, working with an increasingly wide portfolio of clients from FTSE100 companies to corporate foundations and private HNW philanthropists. Passionate about the sector, Steve is often called to speak on charitable issues and on occasions provides bespoke mentoring to help individuals build capability and impact.

Emma Turner joined Purposely Podcast to share her story Described by others as the doyenne of philanthropy and an expert wealth therapist Emma shares her views on wealth, philanthropy, giving as well as the wider charity sector.  Emma also talks about her incredible career from Conde Nast and Vogue to corporate giving for a respected American finance company and philanthropy services for a leading UK bank. Emma talks about her own personal battles in her late 20s ‘In my late 20’s I flew pretty close to the sun and I got a little torched’ and how this led her to turning her life around and working for a charity helping people going through the same thing. Director of Philanthropy at Barclays Bank with 30 years experience in the field of Philanthropy, she has learnt a lot about giving from all sides of the room. She understands motivation; aspiration; inspiration and frustration in equal measure “every client teaches me something new, so every day is different. You will hear that she is most passionate about 'Smart Giving', mainly because she doesn’t see enough examples of it herself. Her Smart Giving recipe is something she try’s to pass on to clients to ensure they know what to look for when giving and that they ask the right questions in order to get the answers before they give. Emma also talks about her own very personal experience and approach to philanthropy and she is President of her own private family foundation in the USA.

Nina Rauch is founder of the Pink Week campaign and social impact coordinator for Lemonade https://www.lemonade.com/, an insuretech company When Nina Rauch was 16 she founded her own charity, Pink Week, to raise awareness of breast cancer among young people. It is a cause close to her heart. Her mother, Dina Rabinovitch, the former Guardian columnist, was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was just 10. As she got older she realised that young women were not being targeted by breast cancer charities, despite it being the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women.  “There was silence on the topic at my all-girls’ school and at my university.” In the four years since its launch, the Pink Week campaign has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds  microdonations (some as small as £3). Nina’s belief that charities’ focus on older donors with greater financial resources has led to a growing generation gap in giving. Thirty years ago, people over 60 gave about a third of UK charity donations. But now more than half of all UK donations are from people over 60. “This gap shouldn’t exist. My generation – Gen Z – is on track to become the largest generation of consumers by 2020, with up to $4bn in spending power in the US alone. There needs to be a radical shift in what non-profit organisations see as their target audience. In 2017, Nina founded her second social enterprise, a refugee organization, and moved to Tel Aviv in July, where she runs Social Impact for Lemonade, an insuretech company.

Bryan de Lottinville, Executive Chairperson at Benevity, joined Purposely Podcast to share his founder story Benevity’s corporate purpose platform connects over 650 companies to 2 million causes in 208 countries and nations. Using 20 languages and 13 currencies they are making doing good around the globe fast, easy and cost-effective. Users of the platform can give to the causes that matter to them and then companies can add matching donations and other types of rewards. The software also facilitates grantmaking, volunteering and positive actions, and embeds social action into customer experiences. Bryan is a 'reformed lawyer' who re-evaluated his career when his daughter asked him what he did for a living. He wanted to make the world a better place and make his daughter proud. He was a self-confessed data geek who saw the need for technology to help global enterprises provide better social and business returns. He tells us how the initial iteration of the software was not quite right, and a drastic rethink was required. In fact those early lessons learnt from the start-up phase enabled Benevity to become a world leader in cloud-based software powering purpose-driven business. Impressively, they are doing this for hundreds of leading global brands including Google, Apple, Microsoft, Nike, SAP while facilitating more than $2 billion annually to good causes. Benevity recently reached unicorn status with a valuation of $1.1 billion, welcoming significant new investment from London-based venture capital firm Hg Capital who recently brought in world-leading impact and sustainability funds, The Rise Foundation and Generation Investment Management. Bryan took this opportunity to stand down as CEO and hand the day to day running of the organisation to Kelly Schmitt who was Benevity’s President and CFO.

Rosie Mead joined Purposely Podcast to share her founder story Rosie combined her interest in music and dementia to start a successful social enterprise focused on improving the lives of vulnerable people. She shares her founder story launching UK social enterprise Musica in 2010 and outlines the benefits of listening to and interacting with live music for people with dementia, their carers and their families. She also shares details on her passion for music through her clarinet play and performances as well as her recent discovery of vinyl records at the same time some of the worlds leading artists like Bowie, Coldplay, The Cure and the Eeels. We talk the wonder of playlists also, both for their dementia work and her own personal love for playlists. Rosie talks about the challenge of the pandemic and how that negatively effected both their finances as well as their mission to help people in care homes (the worst hit by the early outbreak of the corona virus). However, she also talks about pivoting their programmes online to help reach people and take their brilliance to an international audience. Rosie is also engaging people online sharing favourite music. Musica’s work is underpinned by extensive research and Rosie describes how she believes more and more care homes will embed music into care plans Rosie is an award winner and has been named a Woman of Inspiration in this year’s top 100 WISE (Women in Social Enterprise) list. WISE 2020, in partnership with NatWest, focussed this year on how these stars of the social enterprise world had adapted to COVID-19 and showed it “who’s boss”. https://musica-music.co.uk

Today we have a role reversal with Mark Longbottom being interviewed about his dual roles as CEO of Heart Kids New Zealand as well as founder and host of Purposely Podcast. The interviewer is the impressive Dhivya O'Connor (charity leader and podcaster) who is based in the UK. Show notes “Less about egos and logos and let’s think more about mission and (those) whose lives we are trying to help and change... People first, mission always.” Mark has 25 years of nonprofit experience both in the UK and New Zealand, leading fundraising, events, service delivery, community engagement, and commercial functions in well known charities such as The Prince's Trust, MS Society, Terrence Higgins Trust, Auckland City Mission, New Zealand Aids Foundation and the Auckland Foundation. Mark is currently Chief Executive of Heart Kids New Zealand, a charity providing lifelong care and support to children, young people and families impacted by childhood heart defects or CHDs. Previous to that, he was Head of the St. James's Place Charitable Foundation for over a decade. The Foundation is the seventh largest corporate foundation in the UK and is the charitable arm of St. James’s Place Wealth Management. Mark is also the Founder of the Purposely Podcast, interviewing inspirational people. Purposely was set up to amplify the stories of founders and leaders of nonprofits, charities, for-purpose businesses, as well as social entrepreneurs. Mark’s hope is that Purposely will inspire other people to make a positive and lasting difference to the lives of people living in our communities and those who need the help the most. https://heartkids.org.nz/ https://www.purposelypodcast.com/ Dhivya O’Connor is a charity leader, who has over 20 years' experience across the charity and commercial sectors. Most recently, Dhivya served as CEO of Children with Cancer UK. She is also a Trustee and Chair of the Development Board of the international development organisation, Book Aid International. Dhivya has deep knowledge of the charity sector, with expertise in fundraising and philanthropy. She has also volunteered with NGOs in India, South Africa and Cambodia. A passionate advocate for the work of charities, she launched The Charity CEO Podcast in August 2020, whilst on Maternity break with her second child. www.thecharityceo.com

Sir Graeme Dingle joins Purposely Podcast to share his founder story In this enlightening episode of Purposely you will hear his theory on family violence and how this has led to poor outcomes for children and young people in New Zealand. Sir Graeme is a renowned outdoor adventurer and mountaineer, He is also known for his writing. Sir Graeme and his wife Jo-Anne Wilkinson (Lady Dingle) formed the Graeme Dingle Foundation which was set-up to improve outcomes for young people. They both pledged to positively impact on New Zealand’s negative youth statistics using the power of self efficacy to help make a positive and lasting difference. This episode explores their founder story with their foundation as well as his own evolution from an unsure and weak child to a confident and celebrated adventurer, businessman, leader, part-time builder and life time teacher and mentor. Sir Graeme also shares a wonderful story about getting things wrong with the late David Lange and his dear friend Sir Edmund Hilary. He also provides insights into Sir Ed’s personality.

Sonia Thursby ONZM joins Purposely Podcast to share her story and why she is motivated to support people with disabilities. "at a very early age, I saw the prejudice, the bullying, and the meanness against someone who was different where she was just my friend Cat. We would hang out, swap beads, play with dolls, but to others she was something to be stared at… I didn't think that was okay.. and that was all the motivation I needed to get into PHAB which in those days was physically handicapped, able bodied. she was the physically disabled one and I was the able bodied one. So yeah, for me, it's about justice." Sonia Thursby has worked in the Youth and Disability sector in New Zealand for over 25 years, with extensive prior experience in the UK. As a trusted ally to the sector, she has been able to put the voice of youth with disabilities at the forefront of every board she has been a part of, including PHO, Health Boards and Council Advisory Groups. Thanks to these vast connections within the sector, and across the public and government sectors, she has been able to provide a safe space for youth with disabilities to come together and co-create opportunities for themselves and their peers. You will hear how she identifies as both a kiwi and a Brit and how she wishes she could pick up all her family in the UK and transport them back to her home in Auckland. You will also hear about the innovation she is leading in the disability sector and how service solutions are being co designed between the agency she runs, Government and those who need the help and support.

‘my brother and his friends' battle with HIV motivated me to want to help’ – Anne Aslett joins Purposely Podcast to share her story Anne Aslett is the Chief Executive Officer of the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF). She has been with the Foundation for almost 20 years having joined from the commercial sector. Initially Anne joined as a volunteer and she is now their Global CEO and responsible for disbursing over $60 million in grants. Anne talks about her brothers fight with HIV and misdiagnosed brain tumour that would eventually take his young life. How his experience along with that of his close friends led her to want to help others going through the same thing. She initially joined HIV charity Terrence Higgins Trust (UK) as a volunteer moving on to help Elton John set up a supporter database for his own AIDS Foundation. You will hear how a bold suggestion to Elton and his manager, interrupting a conversation they were having in the office, led to a popup shop selling Elton’s used clothing and raised significant funds to help their early work. Anne shares the story of the Elton John AIDS Foundation and their mission to end discrimination, HIV infections and AIDS deaths. No matter who or where you are in the world. More specifically Anne talks about the incredible success they have had with a project in South London whereby they switched to automatic HIV testing rather than the traditional opt in test. Anne also talks about working what it is like to work Elton John as well Elton’s husband David Furnish who is the Chairman of the Foundation.  How she travelled with the charity’s celebrity Patron Victoria Beckham to a project affecting girls at risk of HIV and she was up close and personal when President Macron awarded Elton with the Legion d’Honneur and they jointly launched their most successful partnership.

Katy is the co-founder and Managing Director of Skylark Works, a purpose-led consultancy providing practical business support to organisations delivering positive social impact. Support can take many forms, including delivery of practical projects, making pan-sector connections and sharing helpful guidance. Things changed for Katy when she was made redundant from Woodford Investment Management following a turbulent 2019, which saw the company close its doors. ‘Woodford was much more than just a job for me, colleagues were close friends and I’m someone who really cares, so I gave an awful lot to my job. It was a really difficult time, mentally draining and emotionally and physically exhausting as well. As cliched as it sounds, sometimes the hardest things teach you the most and I definitely look back on that period and think about how much I learned’. Katy’s background in delivering strategic growth has enabled her to apply her commercial acumen to her new position, helping other organisations to scale, be sustainable and deliver positive social impact. Katy now places a much greater emphasis on her own wellbeing, after realising that she had been neglecting her health. She can provide great insight for Skylark’s clients, having been heavily involved in the corporate world and understands how businesses need to truly embed social purpose to remain relevant and enact real change for society. Consumers want to be involved with businesses that can really demonstrate a social and ethical compass. ‘People are no longer satisfied with just getting the best product or best financial return, it needs to have positive social impact or positive environmental impact too.' You can find out more about Skylark Works on their website - https://www.skylarkworks.com.'She also had a successful career that led her to time in America, New Zealand, London and Australia. You will hear about Katy’s early years on her family farm, her love for New Zealand and what it is like for an English woman living in Edinburgh.

Dave McKee joins Purposely Podcast to share his unique founder story It all started with a phone call from his daughter Sophie seventeen years ago when she was in Guatemala and he was in Nottingham. Sophie was teaching disadvantaged children English when she discovered the school was on the brink of collapse because they had no funding. A call to her Dad changed both their futures and set them on a new path helping to transform the lives of children living in poverty. Together they set up the UK Charity ‘Education for the Children’ which runs and funds a school in in the Jocotenango region of Guatemala. Over the last two decades they have dramatically raised local education standards and empowered thousands of children living in the region to reach their full potential through access to quality education. With one of the lowest literacy rates in the Western Hemisphere, many people in Jocotenango struggle to find jobs or put food on the table. The charity’s aim is set their students up with jobs and employment opportunities available to those with qualifications in neighbouring Antigua and Guatemala City. Dave is both the founder and Chief Executive while Sophie is an active trustee and they both live in a small town near Valencia, Spain.

Mary Storrie joins Purposely Podcast to tell her inspirational story On the 28th of December 2003 Mary’s world came crashing down. At a Christmas party, Rosie May their only daughter, aged 10 at the time, was brutally murdered by a 17 year old boy she knew. Mary talks about the devastation this caused both to herself, her husband and their two sons. How this violent and senseless act has changed them as a family for ever. In honour of her memory the family dramatically changed the direction of their lives with a focus on helping others. A year after the death of her daughter the family decided to escape the horrific recollections of the Christmas before and go on a family holiday to South East Asia. On Christmas Day, they planted a little palm tree in loving memory of Rosie May. On boxing day, as they stood on the shore of the Indian Ocean the tsunami hit. It claimed more than 230,000 lives across fourteen different countries and was one of the deadliest natural disasters ever recorded. Mary talks about being lucky to survive that disaster, however, she also describes their sense of calm, as her son said succinctly,  ‘we have already faced our worst nightmare’. Mary went back to find the tiny palm tree they had planted, and incredibly it had survive. Mary saw this as a clear sigh that Rosie May was watching over them and had kept them, her brothers and the tiny palm tree safe. This was the inspiration for the Rosie May Foundation. Their personal tragedy gave them the determination to do something extraordinary. To turn tragedy into hope and create a living legacy to the daughter they loved so much. They wanted to give children in crisis the right to a future, one that Rosie May has tragically been denied. Their very first project, the Rosie May Home for girls, was opened for children who had lost parents to the tsunami in Sri Lanka. Today the charity is at the forefront of the deinstitutionalisation (children out of orphanages into smaller loving homes) agenda in Sri Lanka, conducting research driving the process forward, and working with key partners, both in the UK and on the ground. Partners like Hope and Homes for Children (see #16 HHC founder Mark Cook speaks with Purposely Podcast). They also operate in Nepal and their fundraising reach has stretched as far as Australia. Impressively Mary has also been back to University to do a bachelor of arts and a masters in human rights and global citizenship. Mary sees the importance of this later life education to her current role as CEO of an international development charity.  The time spent as an adult student proved therapeutic and she could choose if she wanted to share her story or just be ‘Mary the adult student’. She received several awards for her academic achievements while in Nottingham.

Nic Russell joined Purposely Podcast to share her founder story Nic reflects on the start of Kenzie’s Gift in 2006, founded with the intent of providing appropriate and research-based psychosocial support for children experiencing grief and loss within the family. Nic Russell’s daughter Kenzie was only two years old when she was diagnosed with a paraspinal cancerous tumour.  Although Kenzie won her battle with cancer, the prolonged and aggressive medical treatment was more than her small body could take. Kenzie died on the 29th of December 2005. Through this tragedy came the hope for families that is Kenzie’s Gift. Since the establishment of Kenzie’s Gift, the charity has helped over 200 families through more than 2000 psychotherapy sessions and distributed over a 1,000 copies of their printed resource packs, the My Journey Kit and Memories Are Forever. Nic reflects on Kenzie's life as well as her own health challenges with breast cancer, a degenerative condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy  and parkinsons disease (diagnosed at age 46). Nic also talks about her passion for sport and how she finds swimming and being by the seaside hugely therapeutic. 

‘Millennials Changing the face of Philanthropy’ Laurence Marshbaum joins Purposely Podcast to share his founder story Laurence is Founder and Chairman of 10x10 Philanthropy, a non-profit, millennial based movement that has raised and distributed over $2M to grassroots charities around the world. In 2013 Laurence and a group of close friends started the movement in Sydney, engaging over 10,000 individual donors, 900 core volunteers. Not only is he the founder of an amazing charity enterprise but he also has a top job in finance, playing a key role in Alternative Strategies for Australian based fund Sunsuper. This role has taken him to New York, London and Australasia and has given him some amazing opportunities - but also made him realise how fortunate he was. His Jewish faith grounded him and gave him an appreciation of the power and effectiveness of giving. Laurence is a driven and passionate individual who is only just getting started! He has plans to further scale and grow this innovative nonprofit to more people, cities and countries.  He lays down the challenge to others to join him on the 10x10 Philanthropy Mission. Listen to find out more about the people, podcasts and books that have inspired him throughout his journey. Episode Notes: 1. Winners Take All by Anand Giridharadas https://www.amazon.com.au/Winners-Take-All-Charade-Changing/dp/0451493249 2. Mans Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl - https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl-ebook/dp/B009U9S6FI 3. 10x10 Website – www.10x10philanthropy.com

David Pitcher joins Purposely Podcast to share his founder story David Pitcher utilised a brief volunteer experience in 2014 to reshape his future, from a corporate towards a life of purpose. This seminal moment led him to start the charity Wheely Tots a successful social enterprise helping hundreds of families and children in North London to live healthier lives.  It utilises the process of learning to ride and enjoying cycling to lead people to empowerment, greater confidence and more resilience. David talks about his own passion for riding and how that helped him settle on cycling as programme choice. However, he points to his own families lived experience providing the ‘real’ inspiration to start a charity to help improve people’s lives. His family a blend of English (Yorkshire) and Polish roots had been through some hard times and as he saw that they lacked resilience and confidence but had a drive to work hard.  David explains that Wheely Tots works with a number immigrant families as well people who are struggling to get on life and challenged by the effects of poverty. focus on supporting families and young people in Haringey and North Hackney, London

David Crosweller joins Purposely Podcast to share his founder story Sanitation First provide ecosan toilets to people in India and Africa. Incredibly they have helped to transform the lives of 350,000 people since their launch in 1997.  Their slogan is to ‘tackle poverty one toilet at a time’. David had been running a marketing agency in the UK which collapsed in the 1990 economic crash.  This led him to re-focus his career deciding to help others and live a life of purpose. David started Sanitation First with his friend Andy Barr after a life changing visit to Africa where he saw the devastating effects of disease-ridden water and lack of proper sanitation. David talks about crying for an hour in a hotel room following a visit to a hospital where a third of patients had died from diseases directly related to dirty water. They started to construct eco-toilets in a country that had no toilets for millions of people. In 2005 they developed the first composting toilet which was built in an Indian school, a unit that is still in use to this day. This school, like so many others, now has long-term sustainable sanitation and the impact, especially for girls, is enormous. There has been a 17.5% increase in the number of girls enrolling with almost 100% finishing senior school and approximately half going on to further education. A toilet has a big impact.

Tara Arnold lost her first born son Buddy in July 2017, tragically he was stillborn. Tara joins Purposely Podcast to share her story and how she recovered from her ‘catastrophic trauma’. Her deep grief propelled her to start a social enterprise, helping others who have also lost a baby. Tara has gone on to have a second child, a little girl who is now one year old. Nova Foundation, the charity set up to honour Buddy’s memory, provides support so that other parents do not have to deal with the loss of a baby alone. The lack of therapeutic support she received was a motivator for Tara, she realised how little bereavement or trauma support was available to parents who lose a newborn. Nova educates parents to understand the difference between trauma and bereavement and ensures that traumatised parents receive the support and understanding they need to rehabilitate into their ‘new normal’. Nova Foundation’s vision is a world without babyloss. The mission is to ensure that every parent who experiences babyloss receives immediate comfort, trauma and bereavement support for as long as they need, as well as anxiety and practical support in any subsequent pregnancies.