Some rules are meant to be broken—especially the fake ones! Break Fake Rules is a podcast that brings today’s news and big philanthropic issues into focus, challenging the self-imposed rules that shape the flow of money, power, and resources in America. Join Glen Galaich, CEO of the Stupski Foundation, and a rotating cast of co-hosts as they unpack the news of the day and engage in conversations with principled rulebreakers in philanthropy, nonprofits, government, media, and more. Each episode examines the fake rules holding the systems in place that don’t serve us—and which rules we must break to secure a better future for all. If you have ever questioned why we live by certain rules and wondered what becomes possible when we do things differently, this show is for you.
What changes when we embrace impermanence instead of trying to live forever? In this episode, Glen Galaich sits down with Santhosh Ramdoss, president and CEO of Gary Community Ventures, for a conversation about impermanence and legacy. Guided by Gary’s commitment to move all its assets into the community by 2035, Santhosh debunks the fake rule that philanthropic impact depends on institutional permanence. He invites the sector to imagine a legacy rooted in stronger systems, durable public funding, and the beauty, love, and care we leave behind. In a Break Fake Rules exclusive, Santhosh rolls out a new game, The Philanthropy Challenge, that funders can play to respond to urgent crises and see where philanthropic funds can have the greatest impact. At the heart of the conversation is a more expansive question for wealth holders and foundation leaders: what if ending an institution is not a loss, but a strategic opening? And what becomes possible when philanthropy brings more joy, wonder, and imagination into the work of building a world that can outlast any one foundation? 💡Santhoush Ramdoss: “I think one of the practices that philanthropy does need a lot more of is joy and wonder. I think we've lost our capacity to see what's possible, and sometimes the moment of being in that wondrous possibility of what systems could be is lost.” Learn more about Gary Community Ventures and play The Philanthropy Challenge for yourself! Order your copy of Glen’s book, CONTROL: Why Big Giving Falls Short . Learn about the Stupski Foundation . Host: Glen Galaich Guest: Santhosh Ramdoss Executive Producer: Claire Callahan Production Team: Podfly & Gary Community Ventures Video Editing: Edith Belmont Graphic Design: Middle MGMT
What happens when philanthropy’s sharpest critique comes from inside the sector itself? In this episode, Stupski Foundation CEO Glen Galaich and co-host Eric Brown sit down with Gara LaMarche - longtime philanthropic leader, democracy advocate, and one of the OG fake rule breakers. Gara worked with George Soros at Open Society Institute, and Chuck Feeney at The Atlantic Philanthropies, and famously served as the “prosecutor” where he put philanthropy on trial in a 2011 mock trial before thousands of foundation leaders. Gara takes on the fake rule that people inside philanthropy are not supposed to criticize it, arguing that philanthropy should release its obsession with ego and that foundations should treat their resources as a public trust. Along the way, he digs into investing in power building, questions philanthropy’s instinct to be overly cautious, and calls on foundation leaders to use their influence to support communities, even when it’s uncomfortable or inconvenient. 💡 Gara LaMarche: If you can't speak out about authoritarianism or attacks on the very communities that you're purporting to protect, if not now, when? Learn more about Gara LaMarche and his work advancing philanthropy, democracy, human rights, and social justice. Watch Gara put philanthropy on trial. Order your copy of Glen’s book, CONTROL: Why Big Giving Falls Short . Learn about the Stupski Foundation . Co-Hosts: Eric Brown & Glen Galaich Guest: Gara LaMarche Executive Producer: Claire Callahan Production Team: Podfly Video Editor: Edith Belmont Graphic Design: Middle MGMT
Fake rules tell us funding reparations is too complicated, too controversial, or too distant. So what will it take for us to see that repair is a responsibility we all carry? In this episode, Glen Galaich and co-host Malia Becton-Consuegra, Stupski Foundation’s Bay Area post-secondary success program officer (who also leads reparations work at the foundation), sit down with a visionary leader in the reparations movement, Aria Florant, co-founder and executive director of Liberation Ventures. They discuss repair, narrative power, and what it takes to build a truly multiracial democracy. As the U.S. gears up to celebrate Juneteenth and its 250th anniversary, Aria challenges the fake rule that supporting reparations is politically impossible, unprecedented, or simply too hard. Instead, she invites us to imagine a country where reparations lay the foundation for enduring generational change. Aria shares how Liberation Ventures is investing in heart-and-mind change, with a Beloved Repair campaign to move reparations from the margins to the mainstream. At the center of it all is a bold, hopeful question: What becomes possible when reparations stop feeling radical and become common sense? 💡Aria Florant: “We should be contending for the hearts and minds of everyone. This is not just about Black people, and all people can and should be doing this work, and in particular, doing it in their own communities with their own people, because we know that peer-to-peer organizing is one of the most effective ways to change culture.” Learn more about Liberation Ventures’ work to support Black-led efforts for repair, racial healing, and reparations. Check out their Beloved Repair campaign . Learn about the Stupski Foundation . Co-Hosts: Glen Galaich & Malia Becton Consuegra Guest: Aria Florant Executive Producer: Claire Callahan Production Team: Podfly Video Editing: Edith Belmont Graphic Design: Middle MGMT
There’s a dirty word philanthropy doesn’t like to talk about - politics . But does staying above the political fray actually prevent us from supporting the communities and issues we claim to care about? In this live audience episode, Glen Galaich sits down with Vu Le, author of Reimagining Nonprofits and Philanthropy and the voice behind Nonprofit AF, for a funny, urgent, and table-flipping conversation. With his signature humor and candor, Vu challenges the fake rule that serious work has to be humorless, and pushes the sector to look at what conservative funders have built, what progressive funders keep avoiding, and what it would take to actually fund the future they say they want. Together, Glen and Vu dig into the power dynamics that keep nonprofits begging for crumbs, the limits of donor-centered philanthropy, and the need to make transformative, generational investments to support our democracy today, rather than waiting for it to crumble around us. At the center of it all is Vu’s challenge: philanthropy cannot fight for democracy, equity, justice, and a livable future while staying detached from power. We must harness our imagination and give all our resources like our future depends on it. 💡Vu Le - “We say foundations are not effective, philanthropy is not effective. That's not true. Progressive-leaning philanthropy is not effective because conservative funders have been extremely effective for like four decades now, and we're still here scrambling to do stuff to catch up." Buy your copy of Vu Le’s book, Reimagining Nonprofits and Philanthropy , and read Vu’s latest musings on NonprofitAf.com. Order your copy of Glen’s book, CONTROL: Why Big Giving Falls Short . Learn about the Stupski Foundation . Host: Glen Galaich Guest: Vu Le Executive Producer: Claire Callahan Production Team: Podfly Graphic Design: Middle MGMT
Philanthropy has a mindset problem, and it’s harming the very communities it claims to support. But what if philanthropy shifted its perspectives to see people through their aspirations, contributions, and power instead of their challenges? Co-hosts Glen Galaich and Eric Brown sit down with Trabian Shorters, a leading social entrepreneur, founder of BMe Community, and developer of the award-winning cognitive framework Asset-Framing®. Together, they explore why Asset-Framing is far more than a communications strategy—and how it fundamentally shifts how the brain understands people, problems, and possibilities. Trabian challenges the fake rule that fear is the strongest motivator, making clear that fear may trigger an initial reaction, but it cannot move us toward justice, equity, or lasting change. From there, he reframes what philanthropy can become when it stops treating communities as problems to solve and starts investing in people as the protagonists of their own lives. 💡Trabian Shorters: When you think about folks just based on what is wrong with them, you won't even consider the other half of their life and the types of options that are available. There's more going on in your life than what's wrong with you. So if you can understand it for yourself, then you can understand it for other people. Learn more about Trabian Shorters and his work with BMe Community , where he is helping leaders across philanthropy, journalism, and social impact change how people and communities are understood, funded, and supported. Order your copy of Glen’s book, CONTROL: Why Big Giving Falls Short . Learn about the Stupski Foundation . Co-Hosts: Eric Brown & Glen Galaich Guest: Trabian Shorters Executive Producer: Claire Callahan Production Team: Podfly Graphic Design: Middle MGMT
Nonprofit leaders are ringing alarm bells, but foundations are still deciding whether this moment is different enough to act. In this episode, Stupski Foundation CEO, Glen Galaich, and co-host Eric Brown sit down with Elisha Smith Arrillaga, Ph.D., vice president of research at the Center for Effective Philanthropy, to discuss what CEP’s recent research reveals about the widening gap between how foundations think they are showing up and how nonprofits are experiencing this moment. Together, they dig into the findings in CEP’s latest report, State of Nonprofits 2026 , including rising deficits, CEO burnout, possible mergers, foundation caution, and the risks facing the people who rely on nonprofit services. Elisha challenges one of philanthropy’s most familiar fake rules: that every urgent problem needs a long strategy process before funders can take action. Sometimes the data is already clear. Sometimes the need is immediate. And sometimes the bridge from foundation thinking to nonprofit reality is not another plan, but the courage to move resources now. 💡Elisha Smith Arrillaga: I believe the most important fake rule to break is that we need a strategy to solve every problem...sometimes we get caught up in the need to have a plan. Sometimes it doesn't necessarily require a plan, but requires some action. Learn more about The Center for Effective Philanthropy and its research, including the State of Nonprofits 2026 and A Sector in Crisis: How U.S. Nonprofits and Foundations Are Responding to Threats Order your copy of Glen’s book, CONTROL: Why Big Giving Falls Short . Learn about the Stupski Foundation . Co-Hosts: Eric Brown & Glen Galaich Guest: Elisha Smith Arrillaga, Ph.D. Executive Producer: Claire Callahan Production Team: Podfly Graphic Design: Middle MGMT
What will it take for us to stop treating failure like a private embarrassment and start seeing it as a way to learn, grow, and take better risks? In this episode, Stupski Foundation CEO Glen Galaich sits down with Nwamaka Agbo, CEO of the Kataly Foundation, for a candid conversation about the fake rules that keep philanthropy playing it safe when communities need funders to move with more courage. Together, Glen and Nwamaka explore philanthropy’s complicated relationship with the F word: failure. Nwamaka makes the case that failure is already happening across the sector, but when foundations fail in secret, they miss the chance to learn and help others avoid the same mistakes. She also pushes philanthropy to think beyond what feels legally convenient and toward what is morally necessary in this moment, including moving capital beyond traditional 501(c)(3) structures. The conversation invites funders to lower the wall between investment and grantmaking, question their own risk tolerance, and consider what becomes possible when failure is treated not as a source of shame but as a powerful tool for change. 💡Nwamaka Agbo: If you run a really good experiment, chances are every once in a while that experiment is going to fail, and the failure actually gives you more information, more indication for how to improve your work going forward. And so if we can share our failures with our colleagues in philanthropy, more widely, more broadly, then all of us don't have to fail as frequently, and we don't have to fail alone. Learn more about the Kataly Foundation and how they are challenging philanthropy to move capital with greater accountability, transparency, and courage. Check out their failure series. Order your copy of Glen’s book, CONTROL: Why Big Giving Falls Short . Learn about the Stupski Foundation . Host: Glen Galaich Guest: Nwamaka Agbo | Kataly Foundation Executive Producer: Claire Callahan Production Team: Podfly Graphic Design: Middle MGMT
What happens when philanthropy stops treating women and girls as a side issue and starts seeing them as a powerful lens through which we can better understand the major fights for justice, democracy, safety, and human dignity? In this live episode, recorded at The Giving List Women “Doing It Differently” Summit in Santa Barbara, Glen Galaich, CEO of the Stupski Foundation, and co-host Gwyn Lurie, Co-Founder and CEO of The Giving List Women, sit down with two leaders who have spent their careers challenging the stories, systems, and assumptions that shape our society: Jennifer Siebel Newsom, First Partner of California and award-winning documentary filmmaker behind Miss Representation and the new documentary Miss Representation: Rise Up , and Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw, professor of law at UCLA and Columbia Law School, co-founder and executive director of the African American Policy Forum, host of Intersectionality Matters! , and author of the new book Backtalker . Together, they take on one of the most dangerous fake rules in philanthropy and culture— the idea that women and girls are a “lane” instead of a lens for understanding the defining issues of our time. Drawing on law, media, narrative, movements, and lived experience, they call out the short‑sighted practice of measuring impact in one‑ or two‑year cycles while anti‑democratic backlashes are funded for generations, and challenge funders to abandon outdated frameworks. They make clear that investing in women’s health, safety, financial security, and leadership is central to building a healthier democracy and a more just future. 💡Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw: The old frameworks that we've used to determine how to spend money, where to invest. We've got to throw that out. We’ve got to look at what this war is right now, and it's very, very different from the way we typically think about it. 💡 Jennifer Siebel Newsom: “When we center women, when we invest in women's health, their safety, their financial security, women will be the most transformative leaders in world history.” Learn more about The Giving List Women , created to inspire donors, leaders, and changemakers to apply the lens of women and girls to philanthropic and other forms of investment, and to build partnerships that fuel a more gender-balanced world. Order your copy of Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw’s book, Backtalker . Order your copy of Glen’s book, CONTROL: Why Big Giving Falls Short . Learn about the Stupski Foundation . Co-Hosts: Gwyn Lurie & Glen Galaich Guests: Jennifer Siebel Newsom - The Representation Project | Miss Representation: Rise Up Dr. Kimberlé W. Crenshaw- Backtalker | Intersectionality Matters! Executive Producer: Claire Callahan Video Production Team: SeeBoundless Audio Production Team: Podfly Graphic Design: Middle MGMT
What happens when journalism stops pretending objectivity is the same thing as truth telling? In this episode, Glen Galaich and co-host Dr. Carmen Rojas take Break Fake Rules to Kansas City for another conversation from Common Thread, the national event series from the Marguerite Casey Foundation bringing people together around the issues shaping working-class life in America. They welcome Faiz Shakir, founder of More Perfect Union, the Emmy Award-winning nonprofit newsroom redefining what news can look like when it actually centers working-class people. Together, they explore how More Perfect Union’s reporting has become a powerful tool for policy change and corporate accountability. The conversation takes on one of the media's biggest fake rules: the myth of objectivity. Faiz makes the case for an honest form of advocacy journalism, one that stays grounded in facts while refusing to hide its investment in the lives of working people. As Glen, Carmen, and Faiz talk through the stories that much mainstream media still fails to tell, a bigger idea comes into focus: journalism can do more than describe a rigged economy. It can help people understand the forces shaping their lives, see themselves as actors in that story, and build power to change it. 💡Faiz Shakir: We used to live in an America in which earning a paycheck was the way you got wealth, and was the way you helped take care of your family. Now your labor, your W2 paychecks, are really the source of pain and angst for you, because you can't get by with that. Learn more about More Perfect Union and how they are building power through advocacy journalism. Order your copy of Glen’s book, CONTROL: Why Big Giving Falls Short . Learn about the Stupski Foundation . Co-Hosts: Dr. Carmen Rojas & Glen Galaich Guest: Faiz Shakir | More Perfect Union Executive Producer: Claire Callahan Production Team: Podfly Graphic Design: Middle MGMT
What happens when philanthropy stops assuming young people are not ready to lead and starts trusting them when it matters most? In this episode, co-hosts Glen Galaich and Ralph Lewin, Executive Director of the Peter E. Haas Jr. Family Fund, bust open a fake rule that assumes young people do not know enough to help shape the future of our democracy. Together, they reflect on their own first experiences making grants, what philanthropy misses when it decides what is best for young people without them, and why involving youth in funding decisions can strengthen both grantmaking and democracy. They are joined by Josh Lee, director of the Youth Power Fund, a California collaborative fund where young people do not just advise on funding decisions, they drive them. Josh makes the case for involving young people where it matters most: where resources are allocated. 💡Josh Lee: Contrary to what we might think, young people, in my opinion, are not the leaders of tomorrow. They're leading right now, today. Learn more about Youth Power Fund and how they are working to ensure more young people, the Boldest Among Us , can shape funding decisions, build power, and drive change in their communities. Order your copy of Glen’s book, CONTROL: Why Big Giving Falls Short . Learn about the Stupski Foundation . Co-Hosts: Ralph Lewin & Glen Galaich Guest: Josh Lee | Youth Power Fund Executive Producer: Claire Callahan Production Team: Podfly Graphic Design: Middle MGMT
What happens when one of the most dreaded days on the calendar gets reimagined as a celebration of collective care? In this episode, Stupski Foundation CEO Glen Galaich and co-host Jamie Allison, executive director of the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, use Tax Day to open up a bigger conversation about public responsibility, private wealth, and what taxes make possible. Jamie makes a joyful case for loving Tax Day, not in spite of what it asks of us, but because taxes fund the schools, roads, clean water, and public systems that hold our lives together. Together, she and Glen ask what it would mean to stop treating taxes as something to avoid and start seeing them as an investment in one another, while also asking whether philanthropy is putting its own tax-advantaged dollars to work with that same sense of responsibility. They are joined by Elizabeth Cushing, CEO of Playworks, a national nonprofit that helps nearly 1 million children each year build belonging, resolve conflict, and return to class ready to learn through structured play and recess. Elizabeth lays out the damaging impact of federal education funding cuts and tightening state budgets on kids across the country. She reframes the question of “how can philanthropy possibly backfill federal funding cuts” to “how can philanthropy act as a bridge in this moment to help nonprofits survive the next few hard years instead of forcing nonprofits to go it alone?” 💡Elizabeth Cushing: I'm hopeful that the midterms put some folks in Congress that prioritize children's well being, and I don't care which side of the aisle they're on, that is what our country is responsible for. Learn more about Playworks and how they help kids build belonging, resolve conflict, and experience the power of play every day. Order your copy of Glen’s book, CONTROL: Why Big Giving Falls Short . Learn about the Stupski Foundation . Co-Hosts: Jamie Allison & Glen Galaich Guest: Elizabeth Cushing | Playworks Executive Producer: Claire Callahan Production Team: Podfly Graphic Design: Middle MGMT
What happens when we stop designing philanthropy around preservation, control, and donor comfort, and start asking how to put more capital, trust, and collective action to work? In this episode, Glen Galaich speaks with Renee Kaplan, CEO of Forward Global, in a conversation recorded at the Forward Global Summit in Whistler. They challenge the fake rules that keep philanthropy cautious and exclusive, and explore what opens up when wealth holders, nonprofit leaders, entrepreneurs, and other changemakers come together to solve problems side by side. Renee shares how Forward Global has evolved into a global community and impact platform built to amplify what works, accelerate collective action, and move resources at the pace this moment demands. If you’re ready to replace judgment and rigid boundaries with trust, openness, and a shared belief that no single person can drive lasting change alone, this episode is for you. 💡Renee Kaplan: Are you ready to deploy, or are you only into preservation? Learn more about Forward Global and how you can join their global community. Order your copy of Glen’s book, CONTROL: Why Big Giving Falls Short . Learn about the Stupski Foundation . Guest: Renee Kaplan | Forward Global Executive Producer: Claire Callahan Visual Production Team: SeeBoundless Production Team: Podfly Graphic Design: Middle MGMT
What happens when we stop chasing individual freedom and start asking what it would mean to be free together? In this episode, Stupski Foundation CEO Glen Galaich sits down with Mia Birdsong, founder and executive director of Next River, where she is creating the cultural conditions necessary for a truly free world to emerge. Together, they break the fake rules of individualism, redefine what freedom actually is, and explore how we might pivot from a society organized around separation and scarcity to one rooted in care, connection, and collective well being. 💡Mia Birdsong: I understand the kind of fear and anxiety that has us wanting to grip tightly to what's familiar, because it feels safe, but it's not safe. It's never been safe. 💡Mia Birdsong: If we can find the courage to let go of trying to hold on to this thing, trying to fix this thing, and trust that together, if we are oriented toward our collective care and well being, we can build something better. Learn more about Next River and their work to create the cultural conditions for a truly free world to emerge. Order your copy of Glen’s book, CONTROL: Why Big Giving Falls Short . Learn about the Stupski Foundation . Guest: Mia Birdsong | How We Show Up Executive Producer: Claire Callahan Production Team: Podfly Graphic Design: Middle MGMT
We’re excited to share a special feed swap this week from our friends, Eric Brown and Kirk Brown, on the Let’s Hear It podcast! In this episode, you’ll get to hear directly from Glen Galaich and frequent Break Fake Rules co-host and Let’s Hear It host, Eric Brown, as they talk about Glen’s newly released book, CONTROL: Why Big Giving Falls Short. Order your copy of Glen’s book, CONTROL: Why Big Giving Falls Short . Join Glen on the book tour ! CONTROL: Why Big Giving Falls Short , out now, makes an argument as simple as it is explosive: when a donor takes a tax deduction to give money away, they've made a deal with the public. That money isn't theirs anymore. But the system we've built lets donors park billions in foundations and donor-advised funds indefinitely — dribbling out 5 cents on the dollar while the rest sits on Wall Street going absolutely nowhere. Glen isn't an outside critic. He's a sitting foundation CEO who spent years reinforcing every rule he's now trying to break. Eric read an early draft, argued with him about it, and told him his central framing was too polite. Glen ignored him. They pick up that conversation here. Follow Let's Hear It and leave a rating so more people can find the show. Learn about the Stupski Foundation and Glen Galaich .
This week, the co-hosts of Break Fake Rules are taking control of the show to talk behind Glen Galaich’s back about his new book, CONTROL: Why Big Giving Falls Short , out today! Eric Brown, principal of Brown Bridge Strategies and co-host of Let’s Hear It , locks Glen out of the Break Fake Rules studio to bring you a conversation with all of your favorite co-hosts: Jamie Allison, executive director of the Walter and Elise Haas Fund; Ralph Lewin, executive director of the Peter E. Haas Jr. Family Fund; and Dr. Carmen Rojas, president and CEO of the Marguerite Casey Foundation. Together, they dig into the book— what resonated, where they differed, and what it made them reconsider in their own work. What starts as a conversation about CONTROL opens into something larger: a candid conversation about leadership, power, accountability, and what philanthropy owes the communities it claims to serve. They also make a compelling case for why CONTROL is worth reading. Not because it offers easy agreement, but because it forces harder questions to the surface so we can change Big Giving for good. 💡Jamie Allison: I think what's more important is breaking the fake rule that proximity to resource, proximity to wealth, equals wisdom…wealth does not necessarily equal wisdom. 💡Jamie Allison: I think Control is worth reading because it invites philanthropy to look honestly in the mirror and ask whether our systems are truly serving the communities that we say that they're meant to. 💡Carmen Rojas: I think we need a different operating model and control offers us a different pathway to operate as a society in response to these current crises. 💡Ralph Lewin: The fake rule that stuck out to me from this book is that we spend all our time on 5% of our resources, when 95% of our resources is not necessarily mission aligned. Order your copy of Glen’s book, CONTROL: Why Big Giving Falls Short . Join Glen on the book tour ! Learn about the Stupski Foundation . Co Hosts: Eric Brown , Jamie Allison , Carmen Rojas & Ralph Lewin Executive Producer: Claire Callahan Production Team: Podfly
What happens when philanthropy treats this moment like a true crisis and local organizers refuse to let cruelty become normal? In this episode, Glen Galaich is joined by co-host Dr. Carmen Rojas, President and CEO of the Marguerite Casey Foundation, for a conversation filmed at the first of a series of events called Common Thread, a new initiative designed to bring people together through conversation, culture, and connection. Glen and Carmen talk about how people can get involved and attend future Common Thread events this year, then turn to the urgent realities of immigrant rights and due process as communities confront detention, deportation, and government overreach. Carmen reflects on using her LinkedIn community and platform to humanize the lives affected by disappearances and deportations. She also challenges some of philanthropy’s most entrenched assumptions, including the idea that institutions must hold tightly to wealth even in moments they themselves call a crisis. Then local organizer, Nikki Marín Baena, co-founder and co-director of Siembra NC, joins the conversation to talk about who pays when philanthropy plays it safe on immigrant rights. Nikki shares what organizing for immigrant rights looks like on the ground in North Carolina. From helping neighbors connect, making communities safer, supporting Know Your Rights efforts, building Fourth Amendment workplace trainings, and responding to immigration operations that reshape daily life for workers and families. Together, Nikki, Glen and Carmen uncover the fake rules forming around immigration and mass deportation in America, and call on philanthropy to embrace risk in support of the people doing this work. 💡Nikki Marín Baena: I think that we are taking it for granted that this moment of big hatred that we're in is the way that it has to be. We don't have to accept that there's just widespread hatred. We can find another way. Learn more about Siembra NC and their work to protect immigrant communities and build collective power in North Carolina. Sign up to volunteer! Preorder your copy of Glen’s book, CONTROL: Why Big Giving Falls Short . Learn about the Stupski Foundation . Co-Hosts: Carmen Rojas & Glen Galaich Guest: Nikki Marín Baena - Siembra NC | Defend and Recruit | LinkedIn Executive Producer: Claire Callahan Production Team: Podfly Graphic Design: Middle MGMT
What happens when philanthropy stops treating the people doing the work as an unnecessary expense and starts funding nonprofit partners like it actually wants them to win? In this episode, Stupski Foundation CEO Glen Galaich and returning co-host Jamie Allison, Executive Director of the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, react to a Chronicle of Philanthropy piece on the high cost of low nonprofit salaries and the dangerous backlash nonprofits are facing right now. They are joined by guest Rusty Stahl, president and CEO of Fund the People, a leading advocate for investing in nonprofit workers, to make the case that strengthening the nonprofit workforce is not just a strategic investment, it is crucial to protecting democracy itself. 💡Rusty Stahl: What we're seeing in our research is the more money you put into the staff and the people doing the work, the better the program is, and the greater the impact and results. Learn more about Fund the People and their work to strengthen the nonprofit workforce so organizations can win for their missions. Preorder your copy of Glen’s book, CONTROL: Why Big Giving Falls Short . Learn about the Stupski Foundation . Co-Hosts: Jamie Allison & Glen Galaich Guest: Rusty Stahl: Fund the People | Fund the People Podcast Executive Producer: Claire Callahan Production Team: Podfly Graphic Design: Middle MGMT
What happens when we stop pretending that systems will fix themselves, and ask what it really takes to change them? In this episode, Stupski Foundation CEO Glen Galaich and returning co-host Jamie Allison, Executive Director of the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, first discuss the Endeavor Fund and what it means to back organizations with long-term, trust-based support. Then they sit down with guest Catherine Bracy, founder and CEO of TechEquity and author of World Eaters: How Venture Capital Is Cannibalizing the Economy , to examine how venture capital shapes our everyday lives. Catherine traces how venture capital shifted from funding innovation to driving financialization, and why wealth inequality functions as a strategy as much as an outcome. She breaks down the power law logic that underwrites the entire system, what it extracts from workers and communities, and why it matters when foundations are more invested in venture than the organizations doing the work on the ground. The conversation lands on a challenge that’s hard to ignore: if philanthropy wants different outcomes, it has to question the assumptions behind where its money is parked, and prioritize community benefit over donor comfort. 💡Catherine Bracy: The dirty little secret of venture capital is that it’s organized like a power law itself. The vast majority of these funds do not outperform the S&P 500, so what are you actually getting for that money? Learn more about TechEquity and their work to build a more equitable tech economy. Preorder your copy of Glen’s book, CONTROL: Why Big Giving Falls Short . Learn about the Stupski Foundation . Co-Hosts: Jamie Allison & Glen Galaich Guest: Catherine Bracy | World Eaters: How Venture Capital is Cannibalizing the Economy Executive Producer: Claire Callahan Production Team: Podfly Graphic Design: Middle MGMT
What happens when someone born into a family fortune decides that keeping control of that wealth is the real problem? In this episode, Stupski Foundation CEO Glen Galaich and co-host Eric Brown, principal of Brown Bridge Strategies and co-host of Let’s Hear It , sit down with Austria-based activist Marlene Engelhorn, co-founder of Tax Me Now. Marlene inherited many millions of dollars and chose to give most of it away by creating a Citizens’ Council of 50 everyday Austrians to decide where the money should go. Together, they dig into what it means to institutionalize philanthropy, and what it takes to dismantle it. Glen and Eric start with a jaw-dropping snapshot of the sector from the Center for Effective Philanthropy report: A Sector in Crisis. In it, 40% of surveyed nonprofit leaders say funders are less helpful now, while 20% of foundations believe they have little responsibility to help nonprofits navigate this moment. It’s a stark disconnect: foundations feel secure while nonprofits face existential crises. Against that backdrop, Marlene talks about “rich fragility,” the ways wealth holders defend their privilege, and why she believes any philanthropic approach that keeps people dependent on private goodwill misses the point. 💡 Marlene Engelhorn: I don't want to protect my privilege. I want it gone. I think that's the only genuine approach to philanthropy. It's to basically make sure that it abolishes itself. Learn more about taxmenow and their campaign to challenge inherited wealth and push for democratic tax reform. Explore the Guter Rat (Citizens’ Council) and how the process works. Preorder your copy of Glen’s book, CONTROL: Why Big Giving Falls Short . Learn about the Stupski Foundation . Co-Hosts: Eric Brown & Glen Galaich Guest: Marlene Engelhorn Executive Producer: Claire Callahan Production Team: Podfly Graphic Design: Middle MGMT
This is philanthropy’s rainy day. Across communities, the escalation of ICE activity is terrifying. Families are living in fear. Core pillars of our democracy are under attack. Meanwhile, too many funders are still holding back, waiting for a crisis that’s already here. In this episode, Glen and Ralph Lewin weigh in on why escalating ICE actions should be a wake-up call for philanthropy to step up in real ways to protect our communities. They challenge the persistent myth that philanthropy must conserve resources for a future emergency. Spoiler alert: this is the emergency. Special guest, Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward, joins the conversation to share how ongoing litigation is actively defending our democracy. Skye brings both urgency and hope—reminding us that, despite efforts to flood the zone, the people are winning more than they’re losing. But we will only win if philanthropy fully funds the legal, advocacy, and organizing efforts that make those wins possible. 💡 Skye Perryman: The cost of inaction in this moment is far higher than the cost of taking action. Learn more about Democracy Forward and their initiative, Democracy 250 , and find out how you can support the work of defending democracy Preorder your copy of Glen’s book, CONTROL: Why Big Giving Falls Short . Learn about the Stupski Foundation . Co-Hosts: Ralph Lewin & Glen Galaich Guest: Skye Perryman Executive Producer: Claire Callahan Production Team: Podfly Graphic Design: Middle MGMT
