Perdure

You raise millions. Mobilize a nation. Help fund a vaccine that changes history. Then comes the awkward question: what are you still here for?March of Dimes helped turn spare change into one of America’s great public-health achievements. But success against polio launched a much messier story of reinvention, confused donors, and obligations that didn’t disappear when the vaccine arrived. Going from fighting polio to protecting mothers and babies took far more than a new mission statement.On this episode of Perdure, Revi Sterling and Alissa Stern follow the money, the mission changes, and the difficult choices behind a household name. How much can you change before supporters stop recognizing you? What do you owe the people who still need your old mission? And when does keeping an organization alive become the cause itself?Episode notes: Georgette Baghdady and Joanne M. Maddock, “Marching to a Different Mission,” Stanford Social Innovation Review, Spring 2008.

Darian Rodriguez Heyman has already written the books on how to run a nonprofit and how to fund one. Now he’s taking on the thing that might change both: AI.His new book, AI for Nonprofits, asks a much more useful question than whether AI is good or bad: what are nonprofits actually supposed to do with it?We sat down with Darian to talk about what AI is already changing, where nonprofits are getting it wrong, and why organizations that pride themselves on being human-centered can’t simply sit this revolution out. We get into efficiency versus humanity, responsible adoption versus institutional paralysis, and what happens when technology moving at Silicon Valley speed lands inside organizations that… decidedly do not.Darian has spent decades thinking about how nonprofits work. This time, the operating environment itself is changing.

Pop quiz: What do Heifer International and World Central Kitchen have in common?For decades, Heifer International has let us give Uncle Gary a goat for his birthday — or, if we’re feeling flush, an entire $5,000 Gift Ark. But Heifer itself learned long ago that an animal alone rarely changes a life: lasting impact requires training, veterinary care, functioning markets and a way for farmers to actually earn a living. And there are critics: GiveWell has questioned the economics of the model, while Jane Goodall has called on charities to move away from live-animal gifting altogether. In the latest Perdure, we look at Heifer’s remarkable 80-year evolution and ask: what happens when the simple story that raises the money is no longer big enough to explain the work? Perdue is part of the Devex Podcast Network. We also partner with Alliance Magazine. Alliance Magazine has been covering global philanthropy and civil society since 1996 — Perdure listeners can subscribe with code PERDURE20 for 20% off.

This episode traces its remarkable origin story, from Muir’s devastating loss at Hetch Hetchy to the audacious campaign that stopped two Grand Canyon dams and provoked the IRS. We follow the rise and firing of David Brower, the architect of the modern Sierra Club; uncover the secret gas money behind its campaign against coal; and revisit the immigration battles that exposed both the vulnerability and the power of its member-run democracy.Along the way, we encounter a $101.5 million anonymous gift, a disastrous partnership with Clorox, an attempted board takeover, the birth of Earthjustice, and Beyond Coal’s role in accelerating the retirement of hundreds of U.S. coal plants.It is a story about wilderness, money, power, and the recurring question at the heart of every mission-driven organization: Can democracy survive without disclosure?And after you listen to this, we encourage you to visit one of our favorite podcasts from Devex!

What if everything you've been taught about running a nonprofit is backwards?In this episode of Perdure, we sit down with David Schizer—Dean Emeritus of Columbia Law School, former Executive Vice President and CEO of the century-old global humanitarian organization JDC, and author of How to Save the World in Six (Not So Easy) Steps. Drawing on decades of leading complex institutions, David explores why some organizations endure through funding shocks, political upheaval, and changing times while others don't.From why overhead is a poor measure of success to why nonprofits should be honest about failure, challenge their funders, and stop confusing activity with impact, David dismantles some of the sector's most deeply held assumptions. If you work in, fund, serve on the board of, or simply care about nonprofits, this conversation will challenge how you think about leadership—and what it really takes to save the world.