Let’s Hear It

We’ve been doing this show for a while, and every so often the pieces just elegantly slide into place. In thirtyish minutes, Robert Pérez does this for us. Robert is the founder and Chief Exploration Officer of Wonder: Strategies for Good, a network of experts in messaging, storytelling, psychology and public-opinion research that works with foundations, nonprofits, activists, and advocates to advance progressive causes across the country and around the world. Wonder has an incredibly exciting framework for message and strategy, called Heartwired, which helps communicators understand how to connect people’s emotions, values, beliefs, identity, and experiences to help bring about change from the inside out. It helps us understand how the “downstairs brain,” which is emotional and reactive, relates to the “upstairs brain”, which is thoughtful and empathetic.  Instead of telling people what to think, he helps organizations connect with their audiences on a deeper level to make progress on challenging social issues. It is a truly amazing conversation that helps us better understand the deep connections between strategy, narrative, messaging, and movement building. Enjoy!

Societies can’t thrive without sufficient levels of trust – trust in our elected officials, in our major institutions, the value of the dollar bill in our wallet, and even in our belief that our fellow motorists will abide by the traffic laws when we enter an intersection. You know where this is going, don’t you? We have a trust problem that threatens every organization in our country. Kristen Grimm and her colleagues Claire De Leon, Michael Crawford, and Diana Chun at Spitfire Strategies have created a resource called Replenishing Trust: Civil Society’s Guide to Reversing the Trust Deficit™ that is designed to help organizations build trust at a time when it has never been more necessary. Kristen speaks with Eric about why this matters, and more importantly, how to do it. This is another great resource from one of our field’s true visionaries.  

When Chris DeCardy took the reins of the Heinz Endowments last year, he was one of the very few former foundation communications directors to ascend to the lofty heights of president. And Chris has dived in with the energy of a teenager. Indeed, if there is a more energetic – nay, ebullient – foundation president in the land, we haven’t met them. Chris makes an extremely compelling case about how crucial western Pennsylvania is to our national and even international politics, and while he’s at it he reminds us how important intelligent communications strategies will be to build on important victories (like significant advances on climate, for one example). Don’t miss this conversation between Eric and Chris, whose friendship dates back to the twentieth century, as they talk about how Chris’s background in journalism, environmental communications, and foundation leadership have led him to this place – the center of the universe!

Governments have money and foundations can take risks. Shouldn’t these be marriages made in heaven? Amazingly they’re not, but in California, we’re starting to see partnerships that are bucking the trend, which can be spectacularly good examples of how to make great collaborations work. On this episode of Let’s Hear It, Eric speaks with Elena Chavez Quezada, Senior Advisor for Social Innovation in the Office of California Governor Gavin Newsom, and Don Howard, president and CEO of The James Irvine Foundation, who are working together to create government/foundation partnerships that are making a real difference. Don and Elena recently co-authored a piece for the Philanthropy News Digest called “How Philanthropy Can Partner with the Public Sector to Build Equitable Infrastructure,” which sets the stage for this really lively and fun discussion. Check out this conversation that shows how governments and foundations can work together to unlock money, ideas, and energy for social good.

Academy Award season is here, but while the rest of the world may be debating which half of the Barbenheimer phenomenon will take home the most trophies, at Let’s Hear It we’re putting all our chips on Best Documentary Short nominee “The Barber of Little Rock,” co-directed by Christine Turner and our dear friend John Hoffman. Eric and John reunite to talk about the extraordinary film John has co-directed. They appeal to foundations to fund more documentary films, and they marvel at the movie’s amazing protagonist Arlo Washington as he opens a Community Development Financial Institution to create opportunities for members of his community. Take a few minutes to watch this incredible story, produced in partnership with the New Yorker. You can find the 34-minute documentary on the New Yorker website and on YouTube. And if any of you happen to be members the Academy, well…you know what to do. Please enjoy the film and the interview and let us know what you thought of The Barber of Little Rock!

In this episode of Let’s Hear It, our guest is none other than one of Hollywood’s most passionate and entertaining environmentalists – the amazing Ed Begley, Jr. As it happens, Ed and Eric go way, way, back, having worked together in Hollywood in the last millennium. Today, they’re both working in environmental communications, after a fashion, and Ed talks about how he was inspired to become an environmental activist on the first Earth Day in 1970, and how he has used his position as a celebrity to preach a message of sustainability ever since. We also want to give a plug to his terrific new book, “To the Temple of Tranquility, And Step on It!” from Hachette Books. It’s a great story about a great life.    Ed is a funny, committed, optimistic, and incredibly gracious guest, and we can’t wait for you to listen to this episode.  

We are so delighted to present the legendary Anat Shenker-Osorio. Yes, that’s right, that Anat Shenker-Osorio. Maybe you’ve heard her on Ezra Klein, MSNBC, on her excellent podcast Words to Win By, or read her work in the New York Times, the Guardian, and more. On our latest episode of Let’s Hear It, Anat goes deep on how to create messages that will help progressive causes succeed.   Anat is a political strategist and progressive messaging genius. She is founder and Principal of ASO Communications, author of Don’t Buy It: The Trouble with Talking Nonsense about the Economy, and host of the amazingly good podcast Words to Win By. Her work on messaging and strategy across the globe is at once revolutionary and devastatingly simple, and she is using her gift for gab and sharp-as-a-tack snark to change how politicians, nonprofit leaders, foundation CEOs – and really, anyone with a cause – can use communications to achieve their goals. No easy feat, huh? Well, Anat does it so well that you’ll feel slightly dizzy after listening to her speak. Eric certainly was. We know we say this every time, but this is a show that you simply must not miss. Please enjoy and then tell your friends, your colleagues, and your boss (as long as they’re cool with a little salty language).

How many of us in the nonprofit world can track our interest in climate to nightmares we had about natural disasters at age ten? Anyone? Oh, right, just Don Chen, President of the Surdna Foundation, former director of the Cities and States program at the Ford Foundation, former CEO (and founder!) of Smart Growth America, and this week’s guest on Let’s Hear It. Don is a fabulous guest to start our new year and sixth season – he is uncommonly thoughtful, optimistic, and soulful, and his ideas on how to run a foundation will have you filling notebooks. Eric and Don put their heads together to discuss how to combine trust-based and strategic philanthropy without having to find a magic wand, what Don learned from being a CEO at age 30, and lots more. By the way, we are so happy to welcome Don – and you! – to our sixth season of Let’s Hear It. Thank you all, from the bottom of our hearts, for five wonderful years of listening, learning, and building connections in this vast and exciting field. We hope you enjoy this new season, and if you do, please continue to like, follow, and spread the word.

Here is another one of our favorite interviews - Shanelle Matthews, founder of the Radical Communicators Network, former communications director for the Movement for Black Lives, and now Distinguished Lecturer at the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at City College at the City University of New York. Shanelle is simply amazing and we loved this conversation.

Today, we offer another one of our favorite interviews - a blast from the past with the inimitable Jim Canales, President and Trustee of the Barr Foundation. Jim is charming, funny, and one of they absolute nicest people in philanthropy. If you didn't get a chance to hear this conversation the first time, you're in for a treat.

This holiday season we're re-releasing some of our favorite and most popular episodes. Today - Trabian Shorters, one of our leading thinkers on asset framing - defining people by what they're hopes and dreams and what they have to offer. He has been such an important influence on so many of us.

In our latest episode, we offer a fascinating conversation with Alison Smart, the Executive Director of Probable Futures - a nonprofit climate literacy initiative. Alison shares her organization's approach to democratizing climate science, making climate predictions accessible, and providing practical educational resources for anyone, anywhere, for free.   Eric and Alison discuss how we can better tackle the grand challenge of climate change, the role of local governments, and how we have to stop raising awareness already. Alison also reminds us that we can still do well in a changing climate and that our planet is still way better than Mars! Check out this conversation – we learned a ton about how to communicate about climate and we’ll bet that you do too.

When Larry Kramer announced recently that he was leaving the Hewlett Foundation to run the London School of Economics, it marked the end of an extraordinarily productive tenure as the head of one of the world’s largest and most influential charitable foundations. In Larry’s nearly twelve years at Hewlett, he helped lead a new era of climate philanthropy, and launched initiatives in transparency, cybersecurity, democracy, racial justice, and economy and society. The guy’s been busy. He’s also candid, funny, and ridiculously smart. Five years after he last interviewed Larry (for the very first episode of Let’s Hear It) Eric made the pilgrimage to Menlo Park to speak with his former boss about what went right and what went wrong during his time at the foundation, as well as his thoughts on the state of philanthropy, foundation communications, democracy, and, of course, the Beatles. You *seriously* don’t want to miss this episode with one of the field’s most expansive thinkers.

As the new president of the groundbreaking consulting firm Spitfire Strategies, Jen Carnig, who succeeds the legendary Kristen Grimm, might feel a little like whoever takes Megan Rapinoe’s place. It might seem a little daunting and very hard on your hamstrings, but think of the possibilities! Jen may have big shoes to fill, but she’s obviously ready to get busy. A champion strategist in the areas of advocating for police accountability, community safety, human rights, and exposing the perils of artificial intelligence, Jen has big plans for Spitfire. In addition to her impressive resume, she clearly has the people skills for the job. She is uncommonly kind, thoughtful, and deeply committed, and Jen chats with Eric about the power of listening, how communications is really about relationships, and how hard Spitfire works so that its clients can succeed in their work. Please join her and Eric as they go deep on how to use communications for good.

When our guest, Ashwath Narayanan, was 22, he launched Social Currant, a creative agency that is helping nonprofits and issue organizations use social media to reach audiences more effectively. By contrast, when co-host Eric was 22, he was working as a production assistant on low budget horror movies. So there’s that. Ashwath and his team of six fulltime staffers are working with TikTok and Instagram influencers to encourage young people to drive social movements and inspire political campaigns. In his conversation with Eric, he spoke about how Social Currant uses really sophisticated tools to create and test messages and score huge victories in campaigns that are providing young people with a powerful voice and legitimate influence with decision makers on issues like the child tax credit, health, and many more. Eric told Kirk that his conversation with Ashwath wasn’t just one of the most interesting conversations he’s had on the show, but in his life.  If you want learn about how to run a great strategy to reach young people, or if you want to feel better about the kind of talent that is stepping up to make the world better, you really, really, really shouldn’t miss this episode. You may have noticed, also, that we have a brand-spanking-new LinkedIn page! Please give us a follow and use it to learn more about our guests, contact us with questions or feedback, and connect with other listeners.  Oh, and please tell your friends and rate us on whatever podcast platform you use. It really matters!

On our latest episode of Let’s Hear It, we’ve snagged a giant in philanthropy. Our guest this week may well know more about philanthropy than any human walking the planet. Stacy Palmer created the Chronicle of Philanthropy thirty-five years ago, and since then her publication has simultaneously been philanthropy’s watchdog and its cheerleader (as it has served as a dating app of sorts between fundraisers and grantmakers).   Stacy speaks with Eric about what she’s learned over this time, what philanthropy does well, and how it can improve. Eric and Stacy discuss the shifting role of communications at foundations, congressional regulation (or lack thereof), how coverage of the field has changed, and the influence of living donors like Bill and Melinda Gates and MacKenzie Scott on philanthropy, among other topics in this entertaining and wide-ranging conversation.   If you care about raising money, giving it away, or communicating about any of it, don't miss this conversation!

Spending out, spending down, sunsetting – whatever you call it, it’s a tricky business. This year the Kendeda Fund will close its doors, having provided over one billion dollars in funding over the past thirty years. Their causes included girls’ rights, preventing gun violence, environmental sustainability, advancing racial equity, and supporting veterans, among others. Kendeda began as an anonymous grantmaking effort by Diana Blank, who eventually decided to turn the reins over to her daughter Dena Kimball and to allow the foundation to communicate freely about its work. To do this, they turned to David Brotherton, a consultant with a long history in foundations and communications, to help the organization step into the light. Dena and David sit down with Eric in a freewheeling conversation about the decision to go public, spend out, and about what they learned along the way. To learn more about their great work, stay tuned for their updated website and in the meantime check out Kendeda’s new podcast, Stories from the Kendeda Fund.

Going Commando with Nima Shirazi of Spitfire Strategies and Citations Needed This week on Let’s Hear It, cynical-ish and salty-tongued Nima Shirazi of Spitfire Strategies and the hit podcast Citations Needed endures a slightly arduous, minorly torturous time behind the mic with Eric. Nima’s career is full of exciting experiences, including his current job as a vice president at Spitfire Strategies and drumming in rock bands, and especially Citations Needed. Nima and his co-host Adam Johnson set up shop at the intersection of power, politics, propaganda, and the press (pretty peppy party, Pete) – no small feat, as it happens. Nima’s show explores the many ways that media language infiltrates our daily lives and how pernicious those terms can be. For instance, did you know that the term “officer-involved shooting” was created in the 70s by the LAPD to describe officers killing members of the public? Nima uses his experience on the podcast to keep him honest-er in his work and his approach to communications. We wouldn’t call him the biggest optimist in the room, but you’ll appreciate Nima’s thoughts about how progressive organizations can use communications to change dangerous narratives. Listen now to hear how (how now, brown cow? Okay, we’ll stop). 

We have an impactful episode deep-diving into how Tony Proscio, a thought leader in this space, has moved the needle on the innovation of language in nonprofit and foundation work. He and Eric partner to get granular on staying transparent with folks from the donor pipeline to the board room. *record scratch* Just kidding! This week on Let’s Hear It, Eric and legendary former strategic planning consultant and jargon denouncer Tony Proscio sit down to grouch about why foundations and nonprofits can’t just say what they mean. Tony, a personal hero of Eric’s, should be required reading for anyone working in communications. His three books, entitled “In Other Words: A Plea for Plain Speaking in Foundations; When Words Fail: How the Public Interest Becomes Neither Public Nor Interesting; and Bad Words for Good: How Foundations Garble Their Message and Lose Their Audience” decry the current trend toward using jargon when plain words are needed and why this obfuscation has led us to our current gerund pileup. Fear not – the episode isn’t all Eric and Tony doing their best impressions of the two crabby Muppets in the balcony. Tony has some hopeful words to say about how people working in nonprofit and foundation communications can improve, including how technology has brought us closer to clarity and authenticity. Just don’t try to find him online. Enjoy this great discussion, and remember: no empty calorie words. 

As long as there has been art, there have been artists using their creativity to try to transform society for the better. On the latest episode of Let’s Hear It, Eric speaks with Tara Dorabji, Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at the Center for Cultural Power, an organization dedicated to harnessing the power of creativity. Tara Dorabji and her colleagues Erin Potts and Dr. Melanie Meinzer have crafted an extraordinary new report – Building Narratives of Joy: Experimenting with Transformational Narratives – that digs into the intricacies of shifting mindsets and fostering belonging through art. Tara speaks with Eric about how she got kicked out of the farmer’s market for being too political, how she facilitated a conversation with a Japanese anti-nuclear advocate that brought a Livermore Labs PR person to tears, and how the Lego superhero Vax Man helped dramatically increase vaccination rates among Latino youth in California’s Central Valley. Yep, narrative can do all that. Join us for this great conversation.