Community Foundation vs. Private Foundation: What Modern Donors Are Choosing

Okay, Nicole, welcome to the Bespoke Audio Collection.

Thank you so much. It's great to be here and great to be with you.

So at Bespoke, we spend a lot of time thinking about what stewardship looks like in an era of modern wealth. So whether someone is a founder who has built extraordinary value in a single generation or an inheritor navigating the responsibility of wealth that's passed down to them, we are seeing people ask new questions about purpose, impact, and stewardship. Today's conversation is really about.

That evolving relationship with wealth and the role that philanthropy plays in shaping it. as president and CEO of Silicon Valley Community Foundation, you have helped shape one of the country's most influential philanthropic organizations working alongside donors, families, nonprofits, and communities to think deeply about what effective giving looks like. Before that,

You led major foundations, served in higher education, and you began your career as an educator. These are experiences that have given you a uniquely human perspective on leadership, responsibility, and community. So today I'm especially looking forward to exploring how your thinking has evolved over the years, what you've learned from working with families and philanthropists, and how you see the role of philanthropy.

changing in a world where wealth, technology, and societal challenges are all evolving so quickly.

Nicole, thank you for joining us. It is a total pleasure to have you here.

No.

Thank you, Claire. that introduction was wonderful. Thank you.

Okay, I want to start with your journey.

Right.

Nicole, you've worn a lot of different hats throughout your career, your life. So, educator, foundation leader, you've worked at universities, and now you're a CEO. Looking back,

Mm-hmm.

I'm curious is there one lesson or a lesson that stands out in your mind from an earlier chapter that still shapes the way you lead today at Silicon Valley Community Foundation?

Yeah, thank you. Thank you for that. yes, it is from my mother. she was a Jamaican immigrant and we had nothing growing up. And she would always instill this ethos of to whom much is given, much is expected. And even though we had nothing, she said, you know, you have tremendous talents. You can do so much. You can give so much. You can give of yourself to others.

just to make this world a better place. So from a I was a little girl and that's why education is part of my journey. It was she would always say, you need an education. That's what's going to allow you to do things and give back. it s stays with me today. You know, I I feel extremely fortunate to be in the seat that I am in today and the seats that I've been in

Throughout my career, because I've been able to influence, encourage, support individuals, organizations, systems to do better and be better. And that's that's the major, that's the major lesson that sits with me today. You know, I am all about empowering others to be their best selves and ensuring

that institutions and organizations can be the best, the most efficient, the most productive, have the greatest outcomes.

so that they can serve the people they are intended to serve.

it's what I do. It's what I wanna do and it's what I love.

But incredible that you've carried this lesson from your mother

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

through each phase of your career. That's so beautiful. I want to start at a very basic level before we kind of dive into all that is philanthropy.

Mm-hmm.

what is a community foundation and how does it compare to other giving or philanthropic formats?

Yes. few people like actually understand what foundations are, period. And then what if even if they do, they have no idea what a community foundation is. So community foundations are charitable organizations that exist to serve particular geographies, particular regions, particular communities. And there's over eight hundred in the United States and we each serve

a particular usually it's counties or particular region, some ster serve statewide. And for us, we serve Silicon Valley, which technically is two counties in the San Francisco Bay Area. but we also because our anybody who knows the Bay Area, the you know the lines in between counties can be fluid. And the donors that we work with

end up serving and giving to nonprofits all over the all over the the Bay Area and all over the state actually. We there's kind of two sides to the foundation. There's a side where we work with donors, with philanthropists on their philanthropy and primarily through donor advised funds. And we also have a group of staff who work with those donors, philanthropic advisors. And the other side of the house is

Through our own endowments, multiple endowments, we work to serve our direct community and give grants out, work in public policy, convene organizations and leaders and other funders around particular issues. We carry these two parts of the house, if you will, and we always try to bring them together. We always try to bring what's important in the community to our donors and our philanthropists.

So

you're speaking to a system that

Yes.

that is this foundation, this community foundation.

Right.

and I imagine that that system is activated differently depending on a donor's desired outcomes. Can you

Yes. Right. Right.

kind of maybe br I'm sure it's very complex, not easy to be like, hey, can

Right.

you break that down? Cause it looks different, but maybe an example or a way

Clients.

that it's activated the system.

Yeah, so we always start with community at the center of what we do. Our backyards. And we work with our donors to remind them and to encourage them to give to their backyards as well as whatever else they care about. So we always start there. You know, where the reason many donors work with us, many philanthropists work with us is because they live around the areas that we serve and they recognize that they've had a tremendous

economic impact on the region where they've made their wealth or they're running their companies or they're investing in the companies that are in in the region. And so that's that's an important part because that's where we always start in our conversations with donors is, you know, can can you help bridge the gap of need in your backyard. And as importantly, we meet philanthropists where they're at. What do you care about?

Where what kind of impact do you want to have in the world? What kind of legacy do you want to leave? And we start there. And some know exactly what they want to give to. And we help them do that, get the grants to where they want to give. Others know issuaries they care about. And so we bring ideas, we create portfolios with them. We have donor salons on different issue areas, which are really popular with many of our donors.

and others right? It is, it is, and it's it

I love bringing back the salon, the public gathering. Yeah. It and being in public spaces, yeah.

absolutely with each other and with experts. You know, we never just have one person speaking at a salon. There's usually three or four that bring different perspectives on an issue.

You know, that's

That's how we really work with our donors. There are some donors who have their own teams. And oftentimes when that happens, our team works with their team to to understand what their you know, what decisions have been made on the on their side, how we work with them, and how we help them get their work done. It's really helping them get the grants to where they want to be.

It's Silicon Valley. We have many people who come from other places and other countries. So working with the a team, you know, of a donor who wants to give internationally and we have the capability of doing that. So it really does depend on the philanthropist and where they're at. We are flexible and we pivot when we need to based on what the you know what the donors really trying to accomplish.

What are some misconceptions around

Mm.

the philanthropic space? I was gonna ask this question kind of in two parts.

if we're just looking at community foundation, what do you think are something

Mm-hmm.

that surprises a new donor that maybe they didn't know?

One I'm gonna start with something that is just in the air a lot. and it's you know, the role of a donor advised fund in a DAF in giving because it is the fastest growing vehicle that people can use, the fastest growing means to do their charitable giving. And that is you know, majority of our of our assets are in donor advice funds and many people think

Their parking lots or garages. People park the money there and they don't give it out and just sits. And we actually know that it the exact opposite happens. Our donors are extremely active in their giving. Our average payout can be on the low end, 12% of our entire asset base to up to 20% of our asset base in any given year.

So that's kind of the range of giving that our

do, which far exceeds there's a there's a payout require requirement of private foundations, which is five percent, and it was meant to be a minimum, but most people most private foundations use that as the maximum

what they give out. And so what we find is donors will put assets in to their donor advice funds and grant a lot of it out. And then in you know, the end of the year comes and they

kind of they replenish, they restore their donor advice funds, and then there's, you know, months and months and months of giving out grants. And that goes for our ultra high net worth donors who work with us to those who have a you know ten thousand dollar fund, twenty-five thousand dollar fund. So people use it in a in a very active way. That is an assumption that, you know, I want to break.

The people are sitting on their assets, is all you like to say. They're not sitting on their assets, they're giving very actively. And so that's one preconce preconceived notion I want to dispel. the other thing is they don't realize that, you know, there are many different donor advice fund institutions, from national DAF providers to community foundations.

And many people don't realize the role of the community foundation, that yes, we we work with donors, but our mission is really around the communities we serve. And that we actually combine the you know, helping donors give, advise them on what they're giving. We work with exceedingly complex assets. And at the heart of it, why do we do all of this? The goal is to ensure that our community is better.

We're this fascinating type of organization and when people come to you know, work with us I think they find it it's fun. We you know, we

Yeah, I

bring joy to giving.

I can't I I'm thinking about how you when I've listened watched some or or looked at some of your press, just putting the word community back in community foundation and even just

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

like this word of community as it relates to philanthropy, I think there's this outdated idea, you know, when you hear philanthropy, you're picturing like someone's name on a

university building,

Exactly.

something super flashy, and I know that, you know.

For

Bespoke clients who give are completely anonymous and

Mm.

and it's not about the the celebrity of it all.

it's evolving from this idea of like cutting red ribbons and throwing major galas, which who doesn't who doesn't love a party, right? But that it's but that it's yeah,

Right. Who does it? Right.

that there's some actually like on the ground ways to activate your capital.

we're finding more and more of our donors wanna connect with other donors in our community of donors, if you will.

Yeah,

who can they actually connect with who care about the same things? you know, they're not doing it in the workplace. They may, but sometimes it's

Yeah.

awkward. Some people don't really wanna talk about either how much they have or what they're gonna give or

Why and when they can come together in community with people who have shared goals or shared ideas of what impact can look like. It's pretty powerful. It's pretty powerful.

okay, so zeroing in on stewardship, the lens of stewardship. You've

Mm-hmm. Yes.

you've worked alongside so many families who are who genuinely want to make a difference in the world.

For sure.

When you think about either the families, or maybe there's one family or

person that's coming to your mind who

Mm.

really inspires you? what is it that inspires you and maybe it's kind of a commonality among your who

Mm-hmm.

you work with that inspires you.

Yeah, you know, the thing that I think is at the heart of w why I do this work and what inspires me is that the folks who work with us, yes, they get a a better charitable deduction than if they put it in their own private foundation, the the you know, whatever the asset is that they're giving away. but they're also choosing not to set up complicated structures.

Some do, some have a private foundation, an LLC, they have DAFs in multiple places. But when they really want to come and work with us and really understand what we can do and provide for them, they're also choosing a simplified structure to get their charitable giving done, to get their impact done. That that inspires me. Those donors that we work with that they realize that they don't have to

spend the time, energy, and resources.

Why why is that inspiring?

Because they they can focus just on the giving and watching them come to life around the giving versus okay, we have to, you know, get an get a you know a 501c3. We have to you know make sure that you know, so instead of setting up the structures themselves,

they come to us and we are the structure and then we have many other vehicles that we can set up other than donor advised funds.

And then they

wow.

just focus on the giving. And watching yes

So it's a more direct relationship with

with their giving. And it's a faster way to for the for them to start giving and them to see impact and watching them realize, wow, I can just start today. Yeah, you can just start giving today. And

Well.

you can do it with some help and other resources.

And if we don't have the answers or or know about a particular issue, we have a pretty wide network, including, you know, our friends that that run private foundations and other community foundations on other areas. So we can help make make the giving happen. And for those who've not been around a lot of wealth but now find themselves in with wealth, you know, how better to learn about stewarding?

In a great way, how better to learn about how to get the outcomes that you're hoping for than working with

an organization that that's what we do, you know?

Because building

your own, you know, whether you're building yourself kind of like a family office or you're building yourself your own private foundation, like that in itself is the building of a company. So it's like

Right. Exactly. Exactly.

here's this company that you can plug into. And then that makes me think maybe this is more of on the misconception. or maybe not maybe it's not always a misconception, but

Mm-hmm.

I think there's maybe there have been some I don't wanna s it's funny I'm gonna say I don't wanna say bad actors, but then I'm gonna say it anyway. But but

Yeah.

or just examples where

maybe like having a more direct type of giving has led to the capital not being used in a way

Mm-hmm.

I think th the story that, you know, money's not moving and capital's

not moving comes from the fact that you can put funds or whatever asset you have into a donor advice fund and you don't have to give it away right away. So people automatically assume that they're not. And what

Okay.

I see and what inspires me is they put it in and they're ready to go. They're like, Okay

I wanna give it to, you know, environmental causes. Can you help me? Of course we can help you. Right. And one of

our team members actually is an expert in, you know, environmental issues, conservation. And so that then then you see them like, and they're like, Yes. you don't have to go very far. Right in your backyard, we have issues with low lying areas that when sea levels rise, there are a lot of communities that are gonna be in danger. You know, and it's that

If there is somebody

Yeah.

Wow. You know?

can somebody give who's not located in Silicon Valley? Okay. Okay.

Yeah, absolutely. And just like

anybody here can give anywhere in the world. Anybody who lives here we we have the ability to have them give anywhere in the world. Yeah, we

we do have donors who will come to us and many times it's because we can take really complex assets and turn them into charitable dollars. And what you know, so when they do that, they're they may be living in other areas and they're utilizing us because of our expertise in in working with.

complex assets. Pre IPO stock,

restricted stock, many,

many forms of crypto. So as an example. Yeah, LP interest,

Are there any other complete complicated assets you want to rattle off for listeners?

LP interest and venture funds, GP carry, real estate, privately held business interests. Yes. Yes.

Wow, this is very sophisticated giving.

So we often attract because of that,

people who may live other places and will work with us.

how is it possible for a donor to get reports or see what their impact like the actual impact?

Yes. one of the things we love doing is actually connecting the donor with the work that's happening for those who want to be to really see it.

What does that look like?

It's it's we call them site visits. It's we take them to the place where the where the actions actually happen happening. we we did one here locally with

people who are interested in in the environment. And we actually helped plant trees in an urban setting that is a child care center. Because their play area is no cover. There was no cover, which means in hot days, extreme heat, you can imagine these little adorable kids and they're not able to play outside. And so

Planting trees in the canopy actually I know. Saves on energy costs, allow kids to play outside. I mean it's it it and it's something so simple that you wouldn't think it and then actually taking, you know, we had I don't my gosh, I want to say fifteen to twenty donors to the place and knowing that what they were doing would have a direct impact the next day. It I mean, so that's

My god.

like what I know.

And then you see the adorable little ones coming out of the building and they're excited because there's trees now. The teachers exactly.

this is the power of like of of as

you say of doing it in your backyard or you know the power of in-person community is that you literally

Right. Exactly.

get to see it and that is so nourishing and creates a life cycle of its own.

Yes. Yes. So yeah

you know, the other thing is we have donors who are interested in having impact somewhere else just because there's so many needs around the world. And we've been able to connect with you know, I have c colleagues, my peers who are CEOs of large established private foundations who do work globally.

And I had the ability to call on one of those colleagues because this donor really wanted to do some work in Rwanda. And that not our expertise. It was a phone call that a sta you know, and that my my colleague was able to have his team work with this donor. And they ended up going on a site visit to Rwanda and taking him to the places where he was having an impact. And

You know, he still works with us and he you know, he now has this other team that he can tap when he wants to do work in other countries. So that's that is the beauty of the community foundation, right? The other

the other thing we've done is, you know, we have we have relationships with local government, state government folks and the people who make policy. And oftentimes we'll bring them together with donors, with business leaders in the region to th you know

have conversations about how do we solve the housing crisis. And you

know, part of our role in that is helping to make sure that those kind of gatherings can happen, supporting that and ensuring that we have the right people around the table really dealing with complex issues. You know, some of our donors really love rolling up their sleeves and being in the room when that happens.

Can

we talk about ownership versus responsibility?

Mm.

I'm curio the idea and you can take it whichever direction,

Mm-hmm.

whichever direction, but what tells you that a family has made a a family or a person has made a shift from thinking about the wealth purely as ownership towards

Yeah.

something bigger?

Yeah. there is often an a life cycle around stewarding charitable assets. Oftentimes we see it comes because it is part of a financial planning session that an individual will have with their attorney their accountants,

estate planning advisors and we are the means for the tax deduction. Right? So we are one piece of the entire puzzle of of their financial planning. And it's something that they will get to but they may not be able to in the moment because they're building their company or they're building within a company or they're building an ecosystem and they're focused on that. And

You know, so it can take a couple years for the giving to really, really ramp up.

Mm.

And when they have the time, we see that's when the ideas open. That's when the giving really goes from, yes, I'll give a few grants away to things I care about, to, hmm, I actually want to solve this one issue and I'm gonna go all in on it.

they have the time, they have obviously the resources, they have the connections maybe, say in this happens a lot in the sciences. We have many donors who will want to really double down on a particular scientific path. So it it is this life cycle we see. And it's when they they've just finished building something or they've, you know

been able to exit a very successful company and they they have this moment where they're like, Hmm, what can and should I be doing with my life right now? Before jumping in

Yeah, I was gonna say it's like

decades are spent, you know, how do I build something extraordinary and you're laser focused on this phase and then at some point

Exactly. Exactly. Exactly.

that question shifts because you've done it and then you say, Okay, what is all of this for? Yeah, yeah.

Right. Now what? Exactly. Exactly. Right. Now

that that's in your rear view mirror. So we do see that. And we see that especially here in Silicon Valley and folks who are in in the tech at tech sector and in venture and and private equity. We see that.

It often takes some time.

Now that has been the cycle. We're also starting to see those who are younger and frustrated with the planet they're inheriting, that they're making the time while they're building. They wanna see change and big change at scale because that's what they're doing in their day jobs, if you will. And so we are starting to see more of that happening.

Well, this is really exciting, this this piece, and

Mm, it is.

I think and I think hope giving, which is what I want. I

Absolutely.

want the you know, I want the conversations on the bespoke audio collection to do that.

Yes. Yes.

but that that that goes perfectly into the next thing I was gonna talk to you about, which

Mm-hmm.

was the next generation. And so you know, of course there's the passing down of financial capital, but then there's the

Well

the passing down of values and responsibility as well. But

I guess it's it's kind of two prong, right? Because there's the next generation, which are the can also be young builders, but it can o n

Right. Mm-hmm.

next generation can be kind of a confusing term because it can also be those inheriting. But I

Right. Right.

guess to double click on on your point right now, which

No really.

is that you're seeing, I mean, I'm sure I remember you saying even as an educator, you're having students,

Yes.

you know, you're seeing your students now becoming founders and you're seeing

Absolutely.

them build it's like

This this is an incredible insight actually. It's like maybe there's this, maybe this is another kind of misconception where it's like, okay,

Mm-hmm.

the the thing you have to do is you build the company and then after you build the company, you start looking at, you know, your your giving or your then you readdress some some things. And actually maybe there's time to build both of those things together.

Yes, there is. And that's what we're starting to see. And you're right.

So, you know, I was in higher education earlier in my career and the students that I had then are now the ones who are in which it's they're in their twenties and some in their early thirties, which is hard for me to believe how fast time has gone. And when they were when I had them in you know, at as students, they were very active about what they cared about and what they didn't.

They wanted to do things now. They were demonstrating that they knew that there was more out there than just them and what they were gonna achieve personally.

And so those are the folks that we're now seeing coming into wealth you know at a young age and young to me, I should say, age. And I'm excited because that that sense of wanting to make a difference and wanting to be about the change.

I believe is still in them. As I have conversations with them, I hear it. I hear that that spark of, you know, I'm still doing this, but how do I marry the two? How do I think about the technology I'm building, for example, with like what can that do to really help communities?

Hmm.

What can that do to really change?

big issues around science, around disease,

Wow.

you know, around housing, how we develop housing and like name an issue. They're starting to think about wait, I'm doing this in my day job. I'm creating this technology. This new way of being is being created. How do I take that now and do something that's specifically for good, specifically about getting results.

From

your seat at the table, I wonder if you have maybe a theory like why do you think this new next generation of, you know, tech founders, for example, or founders in general in Silicon Valley are are having this more integrated lens?

Yeah, and I I d actually think it's generational more than than what they do in their their day jobs.

And as we think about, you know, the the kind of the first big wave of founders, the Hewlett's and the Packards of the world, is the the example I use. that generation was actually about building community, helping in your backyard as well as global work that they did. But they always

Took the time and investments, you know, and invested in local communities where they were building their companies. Their companies also gave, you know, substantially. And so that was kind of the first big wave of philanthropy. The next wave was the social media wave and the social media wealth. And a different generation. That generation, that's where we saw more of the.

I'm building, I'm building, and I once I'm getting to a point, then I'm gonna work on my philanthropy in in earnest. And that's what we've seen for the last more than a decade,

right? So with this n this new generation,

those in their twenties and early thirties, it's just a completely different generation of humans. And

Hmm.

Yeah, they've had a completely different experience of the world, different external fa yeah. So, wow.

In life. Exactly. And that's why I

think that they are they're I think that's just who they are. And they they want more integrated lives than siloed lives.

And this is my hope, you know. Based on what I saw when they were still in, you know, university, when I think we were still in college, that

Yeah.

is my hope that that still carries through. I know it's in there. I know.

That's well also it's like let's focus on that, right? Because there's

a fa

there's a our attention and our focus has power. And if that's that's something amazing to focus on. I want to talk to you about AI because

Okay. Mm-hmm.

everyone's talking about it.

When everyone's

using it or it's being used around them. They're not

Yeah.

they're not directly using it, it's everywhere. Yes.

Right,

it's it's everywhere.

So obviously technology is a theme that we often discuss at Bespoke, we talk about it through a lens too, that technology can solve many problems,

Mm-hmm.

but not every problem, and that there's a difference between a human being using technology versus a human being used by technology. So

As somebody who has dedicated your career to building stronger communities,

Mm.

and we even kind of touched on, I guess, flavors of this earlier of you know digital communities versus IRL, real life, real life communities.

Yes. Right. Exactly. Exactly.

Where are you seeing AI adding real value to

Mm-hmm.

real in real life communities and community building in real life, right? How is AI adding?

In your life. Mm-hmm.

a real aid there.

and how Silicon Valley Community Foundation is is looking at AI.

where we're at, we're at the intersection of a lot of this, we we actually see people taking many different approaches to AI in how they're using it in real life, right? There's some where it's gonna do everything and be everything, right? And there's others who are like, I just wanna dip my toe in because I don't want it replacing me, right? So

And everything in between. And what we see is the fear as well as curiosity and a feeling of urgency from many in the nonprofit sector about how can we bring humanity and the human experience with AI to help solve whatever issue that is, like housing.

or food insecurity? How do we make sure everybody can actually have food to work workforce development? How do we ensure we are educating current folks who need jobs and those that are, you know, the young folks who are coming up in a way that they're prepared.

The hardest thing that we're seeing is that communities are starting to feel like they're already being left behind and nonprofits really struggling, nonprofits who do service in community are are really struggling to figure out how best to use it beyond writing memos, you know, writing grant applications, you know, all beyond things like that, how to really integrate it into their work. It's still it's still a big question mark.

So one of the things that we're trying to think about is how can we bring the two together? How can we bring the experts together with the the the people who are providing service in community so that they aren't left behind? So that things don't get developed without the human experience in community.

It's having me think about how giving

Mm-hmm.

can also be something other than financial assets.

Yeah, like

money to an entity. Right.

But couldn't it also be knowledge or strategy?

Absolutely. And that is actually what I know. That is actually when when you when you earlier you talked about stewarding, right? Stewarding resources. Some people think of a philanthropy as stewarding resources. That is actually what organizations, nonprofits, community leaders are really wanting is what do we do? How can we use this tool?

before it's used on us. We want to use it for good. How can we

Yeah Yeah how can we use this? Right.

use it? And so, you know, for anybody listening and who has the skills, in this arena, is think about giving your time and your knowledge to the people who are really just trying to keep communities held together.

Yes.

And bringing that to the table is really critical.

And that's something that we're thinking about of like how can we facilitate that more? How can we actually facilitate people being able to use this incredible technology?

Folks who are always like, Hey, we need a fundraising consultant, we're we're trying to raise money, we're built we have to build a building, or you know, there's more people who can't access healthcare, more people who are hungry, more people who aren't able to find

an affordable place to live, so we need to raise money for it. Well even the the the act of raising money, how can this technology help a non profit who doesn't have a lot of resources

so I actually want folks to think about how they can give their time and their knowledge to

Yeah.

organizations that, as I said, are really just holding communities together. Really

trying to hold them together as we enter this next stage. Yes. Yes. Please get involved. Yes,

Love that. This is a call to action for anybody listening. Get involved. get involved.

your ro money is important.

As is your brain and your your knowledge of what you're creating. That can be so helpful.

Yes, yes.

there's a story that has stayed with me, about a Bespoke client who was deeply committed to racial equity and

Mm-hmm.

human trafficking,

Yeah. Yeah.

and

You know, when we stepped back and when we when we looked at her, you know, she had been working with kind of siloed service providers. And then when we kind of took it all and looked at it, across her broader financial life, part of her investment portfolio was investing in pr in the prison system. And so,

you know, sure, there's no malicious in intent, but it's simply that these structures have been built around it by different advisors who are each solving a different problem.

And so, you know, today we've talked about purpose, stewardship, community.

Mm-hmm.

and it just makes me think about how

instead of kind of asking, okay, how much should I give away, I think there is a larger question of how can my values or the world that I want to live in shape all of my my capital.

When you imagine this next generation of stewardship, what do you hope that you know either individuals or families are beginning to see kind of maybe the relationship between their giving and investments and the values they're trying to express?

Right,

right. I'd say two things. One and you hit on it is look at the totality of all that you have.

The physical assets, the brain power and experience that you have, the people in your ecosystem, look at all of it, the investments you're making, all of it, and see if it lines up with your values. You have an opportunity to do that, to step back and and understand what are you already putting out in the world? And if you haven't started.

Putting much out in the world, now's a great time to start. But look at all of it. Look at the, money that you have, you know, you need to give it to charity because it helps on taxes, to the resources that you might have being, you know, the investments that you're making, like the client you talked about, to the people you know, the people you want to know, the people who you think they're doing really good they're really good work with their stewardship.

the second thing is as you look at it, please don't go out alone. Please don't think that you actually have all of the answers. Some people do. They they think they have all of the answers to any issue that's plaguing our communities and plaguing our our neighbors. there are people who've been doing the work a long time.

And have been under-resourced, which is why more outcomes don't happen. And there are people who are really good at helping you strategize in terms of how to use your resources and how to connect to those people who might be under-resourced in what they're doing, but you know, have a really good solution. And you know, when you go it alone, you miss you miss the opportunity to

understand what you don't know and understand how what you know can be put to good work. So that's that's kind of the two things. Look at your whole ecosystem and don't feel that you have to do it by yourself. In fact y

it'll be better if you don't.

Thank you for this thoughtful conversation. You have been so generous with your time and just thank you for the work that not only you but your team and your organization are doing. I know that it's making a a difference in the world. So thank you.

thank

you. Thank you, thank you for having me. I love the conversation.