Givers, Doers, & Thinkers—A Podcast on Philanthropy and Civil Society

This week on Givers, Doers, & Thinkers, Jeremy sits down with his close friend, Erik Twist, to discuss how school leaders can transform America’s K-12 education system.

Erik Twist is the Principal Partner and President of Arcadia Education. From 2008 to 2022, Erik helped build Great Hearts Academies into the largest network of classical schools in the country. He served as president of Great Hearts Arizona from 2017 to 2022. Erik was a member of the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools from 2016 to 2021, as well as a member of the Arizona Charter Schools Association.

Jeremy and Erik start by analyzing Great Heart Academies’ development into the largest provider of classical education in the public sphere. During this new age of ideological monism, classical education is the bright light for many parents and students looking for a sanctuary in education. Erik shares that the best classical school are apolitical. They foster rich discourse where students are challenged to hold an idea and pick it apart. To put it simply, they are learning how to disagree and then play together at recess. The hope is that children fall in love with this type of education and will become better citizens through it.

Erik also shares the advice he’d offer to education entrepreneurs, nothing the importance of systems and guidance on hiring teachers. He points out how the school must curate an environment where adults want to be. So often teachers are stuck doing the arduous work of educating students without proper support from leadership, leading to a host of issues within school faculties. And to close the conversation, Erik offers where he thinks the future of education is going—pointing out where it flickers with hope and where it grows increasingly dim.

Interested to learn more from Erik Twist and Arcadia Education? Join Erik Twist and renowned Shelby Steele about the impact of CRT in our school on Thursday, May 5, from 4:30-6:00 pm MT.

Jeremy also chats with Jason Lloyd, a managing consultant at American Philanthropic. Jason shares three ways to effectively steward donor relationships if you’re a faith-based organization. You might find his call for humility a little hard to swallow.

You can find Givers, Doers, & Thinkers here at Philanthropy Daily, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, Buzzsprout, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

We’d love to hear your thoughts, ideas, questions, and recommendations for the podcast! You can shoot Katie Janus, GDT’s producer, an email anytime!

Center for Civil Society's YouTube Channel

This week on Givers, Doers, & Thinkers, Jeremy sits down with Ismael Hernandez, founder of the Freedom and Virtue Institute, to discuss how civil society can come together to promote or to undermine healthy self-reliance.

Before founding the Freedom and Virtue Institute, Ismael was the executive director of the African Caribbean American Catholic Center (AFCAAM). Ismael frequently lectures at Acton University and the American Enterprise Institute, and he is the author of Not Tragically Colored: Freedom, Personhood, and the Renewal of Black America.

After growing up in a communist household in the 1960s, Ismael was shocked to experience his “lungs filled with the air of freedom” once on American soil. His unique history and experience suffering with the poor, asks the question civil society often forgets to ask: Is it working? Ismael suggests that true charity is both intelligent giving and intelligent withholding. He suggests that we infantilize the poor and see them as victims of circumstances that are outside their control instead of active participants in their own freedom. This compelling conversation will have you questioning more than welfare public policy. You might find that the bigger problem is in fact one’s superficial resolve to do something about it.

You’ll also hear from American Philanthropic consultant, Jake Loel. If you’re a nonprofit looking for new donors—and who isn’t?—you’ll need a few research tools to find the right individual and foundation donors for your organization. Jake shares the three resources he suggests every nonprofit invest in to help identify prospective donors.

Are you a giver? A doer? Maybe a thinker? Join American Philanthropic and the Center for Civil Society on November 17th for a conference on Restoring American Community. You’ll hear from leading philanthropists, scholars, and nonprofit leaders, with ample opportunity for serious discussion of how concerned citizens might strengthen local communities, advance charity, and conserve the natural and cultural goods of our communities and our nation. Sign up by Wednesday, November 10th to secure your seat!

You can find Givers, Doers, & Thinkers here at Philanthropy Daily, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, Buzzsprout, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

Center for Civil Society's YouTube Channel

This week on Givers, Doers, & Thinkers, Jeremy speaks with Brad Wilcox about how civil society affects our marriages and families for better or worse.
Brad Wilcox is the Director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, Professor of Sociology at the University of Virginia, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Family Studies, and a Visiting Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Brad’s research has focused on marriage, fatherhood, and cohabitation—especially on the ways that family structure, civil society, and culture influence the quality and stability of family life in the United States and around the globe.
Are marriages cracking at a higher rate due to COVID-19? Jeremy asks how the pandemic and social and governmental reactions are affecting marriage and family life. Brad shares his prediction that marriages will move away from a soul-mate or individual marriage model of the 1970s and towards a family-first model—and how the two models differ and influence civil society. He also notes that the past year's social and economic dislocations will likely cause young adults to be even more cautious about tying the knot in the future. They also discuss some factors strengthening or weakening marriages today and within culture, including social justice, education, politics, work, faith, socio-economic status, and much more.
You'll also hear from managing consultant and capital campaigns expert Scott Bucko on preparing and knowing whether your organization is ready for a capital campaign. Scott shares the four components that need to be in place for a successful campaign.
You can find Givers, Doers, & Thinkers here at Philanthropy Daily, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, Buzzsprout, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

We’d love to hear your thoughts, ideas, questions, and recommendations for the podcast! You can shoot Katie Janus, GDT’s producer, an email anytime!

Center for Civil Society's YouTube Channel

This week of Giver, Doers, & Thinkers, Jeremy speaks with nonprofit leader Jay Hein about innovative social impact investing, religion and social policy, and what the George W. Bush White House got right.

Jay Hein is the president of Sagamore Institute and serves as managing director of an impact investing platform called Commonwealth. Together, Sagamore and Commonwealth advance game-changing ideas through innovations and investments. Jay also served President George W. Bush as the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives director. In addition, he formerly directed Civil Society Programs at Hudson Institute and served as a welfare policy advisor to then-Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson. Jay is the author of The Quiet Revolution and The New Wisconsin Idea.

To kick off today's conversation, Jay shares about his time working for President George W. Bush's Office of Faith-Based Initiatives and the controversy surrounding its formation. They discuss the weariness of faith-based organizations receiving government support for their programs and whether the concern is legitimate. From there, Jay shares a little more about the Sagamore Institute and Commonwealth and their innovative approach to social investing. What's the future of America's heartland? Jay answers whether the Midwest has "arrived" and, if so, its implications. To close, Jay offers his thoughts on different legislative reforms that have been proposed that could influence the future of philanthropy.

During this week’s practicalities segment, Jeremy chats with Ben Domingue about major-gifts fundraising. Ben addresses two questions that often come up with his clients: How do you know how much to ask for? Where can I find that million-dollar donor? If you’re wrestling with these questions, I’d suggest listening to this somewhat unconventional advice.

You can find Givers, Doers, & Thinkers here at Philanthropy Daily, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, Buzzsprout, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

We’d love to hear your thoughts, ideas, questions, and recommendations for the podcast! You can shoot Katie Janus, GDT’s producer, an email anytime!

Center for Civil Society's YouTube Channel

This week on Givers, Doers, & Thinkers, Jeremy speaks with Oren Cass about the rising cost of thriving, our broken labor movement, alternative visions of the free market, and how to build stronger families and communities.

Oren Cass is the executive director of American Compass, an increasingly influential nonprofit policy organization based in Washington, DC. Oren is the author of The Once and Future Worker: A Vision for the Renewal of Work in America, which was published in 2018, and is a contributing opinion writer for the Financial Times. He writes regularly for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and elsewhere. And this fall, Oren was profiled in New York Magazine as “the nerd trying to turn the GOP populist.”

Jeremy and Oren dive right in by discussing economic dogmas of the past—think Reagan’s response to the 1970s—and how various policies require evolution given the new challenges facing America today. What is America’s economic diagnosis? Is capitalism out? What is the common good? Oren shares his insights on Trump, growing polarization, the middle class, inflation, economic inequality, AI, and what can be done about it all.

You can find Givers, Doers, & Thinkers here at PhilanthropyDaily , and at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Buzzsprout, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

We’d love to hear your thoughts, ideas, questions, and recommendations for the podcast! You can shoot Katie Janus, GDT’s producer, an email anytime!

Center for Civil Society's YouTube Channel