Um, and so people, what I want people to do is understand that philanthropy in its true sense is the love of humanity. I need you to find what's your love button, what's your passion work, right? And it might be, I use Johnny as an example in everything, um, that I talk about, but no, if Johnny is not a neighbor next door and Johnny needs an apple every day. To go to school and to function, me giving Johnny that apple is a form of philanthropy.

We'll discuss race and how it plays a factor and how we didn't even talk about this topic because we were afraid.

A black executive perspective.

Welcome to a black executive perspective podcast, a safe space where we discuss all matters related to race, especially race in corporate America. I'm your host, Tony Tidbit.

And I'm your co host, Chris P. Reed.

And again, we're at our partners, the University of New Haven Podcast Studio. 88. 7 on the Richter dial. Check them out. We want to thank them for hosting the Black Executive Perspective Podcast. Again, go Chargers.

And we also want to make sure that we shout out CODE M Magazine, our partners, whose mission is saving the Black family by first saving the Black man. Check them out at CODE MMagazine. com with two Ms. CODE MMagazine. com.

Today, we are joined by Iris Ivana Grant, founder and CEO of Genesi Group, to explore philanthropy not just for the act of giving, but as a lifestyle and subculture. Iris will start by defining true philanthropy, the heartfelt desire to improve others welfare through support and donations. In addition, Iris will share practical advice how to incorporate philanthropy into daily life, from getting involved to building impact connections, and how sustained giving can enrich the lives of both the donor

So before we get too deep into this, let me give you guys a little background of the highly energetic Iris Ivana Grant, who is the founder and CEO of Genesi Group, a strategic philanthropy company, crafting solutions that bridge industry, nonprofits and communities. With over 17 years of experience, Iris is known for fostering innovative dial dialogues. That blend entrepreneurship, corporate responsibility and social impact. A TEDx speaker alum and award winning leader. She has profoundly influenced professional training and thought leadership across various sectors. In 2022, she launched Felix. Philanthropy for every generation. A digital platform that integrates the philanthropic lifestyle with industry practices. Iris is celebrated for her role in developing dynamic ecosystems. That revolutionized social impact, investing and funding in both the for profit and nonprofit set Iris invited grant. Welcome to a black executive perspective podcast.

Thank you. Thank you. I'm excited to be here. I love how you read that introduction. That was great. So

let me let me ask you a quick question. So, uh, give me a little bit about yourself. Where are you currently residing? Give me a little bit of your family, you know, what, what, what is, what is you? So of course,

I'm, I'm the oldest child that I act like the oldest child in my family for my siblings. Uh, uh, we'll talk about it and I am a native New Yorker raised in Baltimore, Maryland, very proud for the DMV. And I currently reside in Atlanta, Georgia.

Look at you. Okay. So we got B more in the house. I love it. I love it. And side note, you know, just real quickly, what's your thoughts? On, you know, the, uh, the tanker accident that hit the bridge in Baltimore. You know, tell us a little bit, has that affected your community, your family?

Um, it hasn't like personally impacted my family. The fortunate thing is that it happened at the time that it happened, because that is a major, major, major, um, part of lifestyle of people going to and from work and of industry. Um, it is 1 of the most important ports in this country. And most people don't know that. Um, and so, you know, the text messages started flying early. That morning from my family, that news of the, of the, uh, devastating fall of the bridge. Um, and I think what I was most proud of is that although I'm not a resident of Baltimore right now, I was most proud of leadership, right? The mayor and, um, the governor, every time there was a question posed, They circled it directly back to, but these are families. These are people that construction workers that are missing. This is impacting our family, so, you know, a lot of the news was trying to talk about. Um, well, when do you, when do you start rebuilding? Like, they were going to know that, like, right away. Um, but I loved and was proud that we are a community that stays together. And so that is what was shown and so. Um, my thoughts and prayers immediately. You know, I checked on my people to make sure nobody was coming in late on the bridge. Of course. Right. Cause you know, that happens, right? A little nighttime life. Um, but, um, I'm very proud of how it has been handled and how I'm seeing it handled even from afar. I'm very proud of the community coming together. Cause that's what Baltimore, that's what really Baltimore is. That's what the DMV is all about. It's family.

Well, you should be proud because they did step up and it. It's a tragic accident. Some people lost their lives, which is tragic, but yes, I agree with you. The leadership has been there. They've shown up and they're still there. So question I have for you. Why did you want to come on a black executive perspective podcast to talk about this topic?

Because I think this is a topic that people don't talk about. They don't think about it, um, in terms of their life, their personal life and engagement. And if they do, they really don't know the industry and it is an industry. So I wanted to come on and share that and have those conversations that hopefully empower and change some thought process.

Well, listen, we're excited. We're going to learn a lot. Everybody's going to learn a lot. So Iris, you ready to have this conversation, my friend? Yes, I am. All right, let's talk about it, okay? But before we get into it, Chris talked a little bit about this in your bio. You, you know, are award winning, you know, TEDx speaker, and you talked about this topic, so I want to play something first and then I want to ask you questions about it.

There was a young girl who was born with a great passion and an unwavering, unwavering heart for people. So So much so that she was really quite hypersensitive when it came to people's needs and their emotions. And she gave. Even if it meant that she'd give her last. She loved people. And she grew up to be a young woman in her early twenties and she became associated with organizations and programs that allowed her to visit the incarcerated, feed the homeless, And to share a kind word with those who are seemingly disconnected from society. Now, believe it or not, in her circles of influence, there were some that ostracized her because of this. They felt that her lifestyle and her life experience or the lack thereof disqualified her from being able to have empathy and understand the very needs of the people that she was trying to help. Can you imagine being disqualified to help somebody?

So, let me ask you this. This was you at TEDx in Jacksonville. So, who was that person that you were talking about in that story?

That would be me. That was absolutely me. It's been a minute since I heard that. Uh, that was me. I was that, I was that, that young lady.

So tell us more. I mean, because that was awesome. Right. So tell us a little bit more your background and how you came up with this spirit of giving that unfortunately a lot of people don't grow up with that.

Yeah, you know, um, man, so I'm a PK. Um, for people that may not know that acronym, I'm a preacher's kid. Uh, so I grew up, grew up in church, grew up with very sound Christian values of giving, um, and I was that odd child. I was the child in my household. Again, um, I was the oldest, so between myself and my next sibling. Um, there's six and a half years. So I was a only child for an enjoyable period of my life. Um, uh, but I also was that kid who was the flower child. Um, it was love, puppy, dogs, flowers, and my parents did an amazing job, um, with this creative spirit that I had of. Making sure that I have like these disciplines, but letting me be who I was, right. Um, even though, uh, they needed to protect me because I was, you know, young, extremely naive, extremely pure in heart, but they allowed me to grow into that individual, into that being, um, was a musician and an artist. So y'all can imagine I was just all over the place and it was just love and, um, I came from a very diverse family, so culturally diverse, um, racially diverse, and so there was a lot of acceptance of, in our household, of who you are. Right? Um, I did not realize until I hit about the fourth grade, third or fourth grade, That's not how everybody played in the world. Right. That's not how all the kids came to the park.

No.

Right? That wasn't everyone's story. Um, and so, there was this, there's this bubble. Um, and I always had a very giving spirit. Um, I always, I could cry at a movie to see someone treated a certain way or to ride past someone on the street. I didn't understand why we were riding past them on the street. Um, so my parents allowed me to have that space and it just continued, uh, into my adulthood. And then as an adult, I needed to do something with that, right? Um, even though you go through things and you're treated a certain way with people, I think we all have that story growing up. Um, I just could not find that button to treat them back the same way they treated me. And I didn't know what that was, right? Um, so I needed to kind of find out what, what that opportunity, have an opportunity to figure that out. And so, but I mean, of course, being a PK, there's always opportunities to like, to feed and to help and to be engaged in the community. And as a young adult, I sought to do that, right? I sought to, It's been six months doing this or three months doing this, working with different, um, missions and, and ministries, um, trying to find like my space to, to make the world better and the figure me out. Um, and so that's how I kind of navigated into that into that space of, of going out and, and, um, being curious about people in the world and figuring out what my gift button to give was.

As a young child, uh, you being exposed to that environment, was there ever a time where you, uh, overextended your giving or your parents had to say, wait, wait, wait, we ain't got it like that. Or would you always bring it home? Stray this and stray that. Like, how did that work when you were young? Because sometimes I know for me, uh, growing up, you know, I had a cousin that was like that, that everything was a cause and, and, and he was going, you know, Cape up for everything he could and we just didn't have it. So maybe y'all had it and it was of abundance, but did you always have that situation where they supported it? Or was there a time where they was like, I was not now. Dang.

That was my

dad, my dad was like,

yeah, so I, I, I, you know, I always had like the stray dog or the stray, um, uh, cat and dad was like, yeah, we weren't, you're not bringing another animal in this house. Um, I collected people. So I had at a very young age, a very unusual eclectic group of friends. Like very, uh, yeah. And my parents were like, yeah, we need to watch this. My mom being a native New Yorker, she was very open to things like that. My dad is Baltimore. And so he's very like,

Hmm,

let's check this out first. Let's see what this is. So it was that blend. Um, so yeah, dad put the cache on a whole lot of, uh, extra things and people. But I've always been like that. I've always been very open and welcoming. And when you're a child, you don't realize the dangers that can be onset by that. You don't, you don't see the world like that. We're taught those things by, um, you know, we're nurtured into those things, right, by, by environment or by other people. Um, and, um, I call them boxes, you know, where you figure out what boxes people put you in. Right. And so my life became a space where there were a lot of boxes that I needed to make adjustments to because, um, I just didn't fit in, really didn't fit in,

you know, in your, in your TED talk, as you opened up, um, and you were telling your life, you spoke towards the end there that, you know, you love to give and then you were saying that some of your friends or people in the world were pushing back at you. Talk a little bit about that. The reason I ask is because one of the things that people are afraid to do is be, being taken advantage of, right? And when you're a giver and you just said it a few minutes ago, the world doesn't act the same way as you act, right? And, and, and people become sullied because of that. So tell us a little bit about that aspect of, of your, your journey.

Man, oh, you said a mouthful because I will say honestly, um, I probably did not learn how to really balance that myself. First, personally, probably until about. The early 2000s, right? So maybe 10. 15 years ago, um, professionally. You learn boundaries, but for me, um, it took a while because I'm a giver. I love giving. It's, it's my automatic response. Right. Um. And so I also, I'm a Taurus girl. So we have a long, long, long, long runway with people, which doesn't help because then you keep making excuses. I'm like, well, they didn't mean it, you know, or, well, perhaps, you know, they're going through a lot. We're all going through something and you just keep getting this runway. And so what I found was I gave this runway and a lot of advantages. Um, and so I personally had to work really hard on the purity of my heart. Um, and I, I attribute my family and my faith to that because, you know, you go through things in life that are challenging, um, that can bring on the onset of bitterness and disrupt your life. It can bring anger. And I worked really hard because I'd had the ability as a child, the chance to explore the fact that I'm a giver. And as an adult, I didn't want to make that adjustment to not being a giver. I had to realize that you can't give in every situation, and sometimes the clapback needs to happen immediately, right? You have to learn those things. So you learn to navigate, but, um, I really had to wrestle with the fact of how do you maintain your heart to give? How do you become discerning? Of when to give right? And then also, how do you give without being an enabler? And I did not learn how to do that really until I. Professionally moved into nonprofit work. I personally just kept kept giving and making excuses and the industry itself working in the industry kind of started teaching me how to. Navigate that space and have those, those, those boundaries and those borders. Um, but yeah, I, I, I had a lot of people that I felt were close to me in terms of friends when I would go out, um, I've done. work with homeless. I've gone to prisons. That, that, that was a trial and error. Wow. Um, and so people have to admission work out on the street corners. And so people were like, that's not where you're from. You're, you're from middle class America, right? What do you do? You know, what do you, what do you know? You know, I would go down to the projects in Baltimore like, and be there for Saturday events and community events and doing things. Um, People would be like, well, why'd you go there? You don't know their plight. You don't understand them. You're not from there. Um, and it troubled me tremendously. It caused a lot of, uh, crying days because my intent was, but they're, they're people. I'm trying to help. Um, I never looked at it as a us and a them, you know, and I never looked at a hungry person as a hungry person. Didn't think that there needed to be a distinction between neighborhoods. Hunger is hunger, right? Um, having clothing to wear is having clothing to wear. I didn't know that it had to be, you know, the difference between designer and, you know, consignment. Like, it's clothing. Whether it's first hand, second hand, 25th hand, it's clothing. Um, so I wrestled with things in my mind and in my head and in my spirit versus how people wanted me to be in a box. Because they didn't understand who I was on my journey. And you have to figure out who you are on your journey. Right. And, and giving is a part of our, of all of our journeys. If we really want to be fulfilled as individuals, it's our responsibility.

You said something that was extremely powerful in your Philanthropic pursuits. I go around and do leadership seminars for religious organizations. And what it is, is the business of religion is one of my, my things that I do, because unfortunately, when you get into these, these, these spiritual, uh, situations, uh, one of the tenants of many religions is charity. And so sometimes the taker is going to take a person that's got, that ain't got the rent money, the gas money, the water bill money, this, that, and they want to hit into the, uh, benevolent, you know, fun, they go come back month after month, after month, after month. And I have to talk to these people about business, the business of religion. If you want to keep these doors open for all these folks, you got these primary, you know, actors that keep coming in and draining from the well, so to speak. So you made a transition professionally away from that. And you said you had to make a determination of what is a good investment in my philanthropy. And what is something that I need to make sure that I skirt away from, because I think growing up in that religious home, you had a, you always going to find somebody that's in need. That's just the nature of how this works. And it's how it's supposed to work based on the religion itself being charitable. So how did you, um, Conceive the, the Genesi group and how does it work? And what was the core things that you said? You know what, I'm going to take all of this, this, this, this spirit and all of this energy and coordinate it into something professional. What was the, what was the epiphany that came to you and said, I can do this?

Um, I, you know, I, I went into corporate, I got out of school. I went into corporate and I was in corporate for 10 years and it didn't satisfy me, um, because it was so. Many do's don'ts and roles, right? The hard line and it wasn't really people friendly. I don't believe that capitalism has to be dehumanizing at all. Um, I don't believe good business has to be dehumanizing at all. Um, so I believe in the social good, and I believe in social impact and at those times, those are not words we were using. Right. Um, and so when I left corporate, I really was under this umbrella and this fog of there's, there's got to be something I can do that satisfies. Just me as a person, like, I didn't feel like I fit in. I was actually creating programs and doing the things that I do now without even knowing it's amazing that I think if people look at what they're really good at. An entrepreneur is going to create, even if they're at a corporate office, they're, it's just going to come out of them. Right. So my giving and my entrepreneurism was coming out and I just didn't know what it was. I hadn't identified it because again, I thought that it had to be within a certain box. Right. Um, and when I went to the nonprofit industry, I started at the base. Um, and so one, a really amazing, uh, mentor. Uh, saw me and said, you're different. There's some, you, you remind me of me. Um, and so I started working with her and, and went through the process. Um, and I started noticing the gaps, right? Because I understood the need because I had that upbringing of understanding and seeing people's needs and being able to discern when you need and when you don't need, right? Um, I had corporate, which was all the rules. And all the litigation of everything, um, and then the nonprofit piece. And so I saw the gaps between all 3 of them. And I recognize that I had a gift to be able to see. The gaps and provide a solution, because I had this. Unusual experience in my life of engagement, and out of that was Genesi was born. And so, um, that is what we do is we, we fill the gaps we provide. The strategies and the ecosystems in philanthropy, it's very strategic. There is a science, there is a psychology to it. It is the business of philanthropy. It is the industry of philanthropy, right? Of nonprofit industry. It's, it is, but it is focused on, um, the perspectives of giving and giving in a way that is impactful, which means you don't give Based on your perspective, you actually give in a way that moves and motivates as the community needs, right? So, um, I often talk about the word philanthropy in the original Greek, it's, it's philos and anthropy. So it is the love of humanity, the love of, um, Humankind, we know fellows is love and Anthropos is the man or humanity. Um, and we've gotten away from that. And so at Genesi, everything that we do is with the culture of, because we love humanity. Because we're responsible, it's not my job to try to figure out how many times you've come back to the bucket. Right. It's to make sure that your bucket is filled so that at some point you don't want to come back. You don't have to come back. Right. That we can keep giving and we can keep doing in an effective way

You said something that was very interesting that made me think Um about the nuances between what you provide as a service and what you do in the industry So if you could give me a quick kind of summation of how's it done wrong that you've seen in the industry? Who's who's doing it wrong and how and what do you do this different that makes it a good thing?

I'm not going to point anybody out that they're doing it wrong.

You got to tell them now. You got to tell them what time it is. All right. Don't be afraid. We only going to show this to a hundred million people.

These

bums. Gams blazing, right? Um, I will say this. I do believe in that. And first of all, I, I do not want to hinder anyone from giving how they give, but, Um, I do believe that our corporate fellows and, um, yeah, our corporations, they do it wrong. And, and the reason why I say that, and it's not to, to, to blast how they give or what they do, but they, it's often misunderstood the industry of giving. And nonprofit work, right. At a, at a really, really cruise, get grass grassroots level,

right.

Everything comes from nonprofit. It comes from the bottom up, right. The need, the disruption, everything comes from the bottom up. Cause you're talking about people's lives on this other side. When you bring the rigid profit making perspective, marketing, Branding, campaigning of capitalistic corporation businesses. I'm trying to throw all of those pieces in there. And you bring that, um, to non profit work. You can't just bring it. So you just can't have DEI. You just can't have corporate corporate social responsibility and make the rules up and say, I'm going to give it to you this way. And here's how you need to impact. And here's how you need to give me my return on it. Um, because it doesn't work like that in our industry, right? We're talking about people's lives. We're talking about services that are provided to people, right? Um, Whatever they are right. And so, oftentimes, what we don't do right. Encountering right. Oftentimes, what we do do right in the nonprofit industry is that we do not come with the strategy of engagement to say, here are the here's the boundaries, right? We were talking about the boundaries earlier, right? Understanding your personal boundaries, understanding your business boundaries. Here are the boundaries. Here's what we do. Here's where we want to grow to. Here's why we need to grow. Here's how the changes are happening. Here's what we need collaboratively in partnership with you as a corporation or as a donor, as an individual, right? Or even nonprofit to nonprofit B2B, right? C2B or B2B. We often don't do that because we are so busy trying to chase the funds that we need to do the services. for joining us. And for some reason, people think that nonprofit work also is that everybody should be church mouse, church mouse poor. Right. So they're always looking at like, who's making what and who's, and you always, you always have a seed, a bad seed, right? I'm not talking about that, but being able to pay how the nonprofits are struggling to be able to pay market value for people that are professionally coming in and providing services. Right. So for me. The collaborative space, I know I'm going to get rocks thrown at me, but the collaborative space is really messed up when you have corporations that give and their interest in giving. And I'm not saying corporations and corporation leaders are not interested in really giving back because there are some amazing. Leaders that give and lead their organizations and their companies to give right. Um, but it's not enough collaboration in terms of letting the nonprofits lead. What that giving looks like, right? And how, um, you get from point A to point B, because they're the, there's, they're the true professionals in terms of what's needed, right? And so oftentimes people do not understand the struggles that happen with nonprofit businesses and nonprofit leadership and the struggles that they are overcoming. Chris, you had said earlier, um, um, That it, you know, it's not for the faint of heart. It is not. You're serving people and you're trying to meet service needs. When a program goes down, lives are attached to that, right? And it's not just a paycheck life. It's a life of, do they eat? Did they get an education, right? What's the home life environment like? So I, I, I am somewhat disgruntled sometimes, um, by how we interact collaboratively. Um, and one of the things that I established with Genesi is that because we do build those strategies, we are very sensitive to what the needs of the corporation would be as the giver, um, the individual, because return on investment means something different for everyone and everyone needs a return on investment. We say that phrase, but that means something totally different between corporate and an individual nonprofit. So, what we do is we look at. Here's what you want to give here's what you want to do, or here's what you need. Here's what the collaboration is, whatever the, whatever the, the, the circle looks like, whatever the ecosystem looks like, and then we make sure that we bring to the table. What the return on investment is for each engaging party. So that everybody meets the need. Right of the community and then of their community that's giving. And so you want things to be fulfilling for the giver and for the receiver. Otherwise, you start having retractions and we're and we're seeing that when you're just checking a box. After a while, you stop wanting to check the box. Right. And so we see them a lot of box checking, um, so that the consumer can say, Oh, look at, look at what they're doing. Right. Um, without really being able to see and look and see really what they're doing.

So Iris, you know, and again, I would imagine that most people, so we, you just took giving to steroids on steroids. Okay. Um, but I can imagine once it gets to the corporate level. And now, cause it's a huge industry right now, right? Um, nonprofit, corporate, social responsibility, social impact investment. Um, so you have social entrepreneurs. And one of the things in my experience is, you know, I remember when I was working at the startup and then all of a sudden we got an investment from a private, private equity firm. And all of a sudden, the first board meeting, they're talking, they're saying some stuff that we don't understand and we're trying to explain them how our business works. Okay. In simplistic terms, but there was a language barrier and because there was a language barrier, we struggled because they were looking to hit certain KPIs, right? Where we were talking about how media is bought and run, and it's on a quarterly basis where they were looking for monthly numbers and stuff to that nature. So I can imagine when you talk about giving, but now you, you've taken it to steroids and now you have big donors or, or boards or, you know, people overseeing the business and they're probably trying to look and run it like a business and there could be some language barriers. Cause can you speak to that a little bit?

Yes. Um, we have spent, so Genesi is eight years old. We have spent, um, man, the last four years developing trainings to help nonprofits, um, and, uh, social entrepreneurs, which I would love to see that raised up social entrepreneurs, um, understand that when they come to the table, you do not chase the money. All money is not good money. And so, um, in order to not chase the money, you need to understand the table that you're sitting at on the table that you were inviting people to, um, the table that people are coming and saying, I want to give I want to support you need to understand and have clarity in the language. Right, I did, uh, I did an article with Salesforce global. Um, in 2019, it talked about three main words. That everybody says, and there are a danger to our system because nobody stops and ask. What do you really mean by that? What do you mean by impact? What do you mean by return on investment? What do you really mean? Um, with with a follow up, what does that mean? And those words are different across industry verticals. Right? Um, and so we spend a lot of time helping. Founders and leaders understand that when you come to the table, first of all, you need to come to the table. With your with your organization, and you need to ask the questions. Sometimes we're so busy telling the story. And the narrative that we don't ask the business questions of. What is it that you need in return? What is it that you're looking for? And that's not to knock. Transcribed What anybody's return is, right? That's not, it's, it's just, you know, I'm an apple. You're orange. It's okay. So what does that look like? If we, we put that together, I want to make sure that the apple's happy and I want to make sure that the orange is happy. Right. And we often don't do that. Um, because it's a relationship. Right. And so a lot of times when you bring in certain business perspectives, there's, there is this thing that is happening across, um, Nonprofit boards, um, who, when they bring in, uh, other industry professionals on their board, they all talk about fundraising as being sales, but it's a sell. Tell the story and just sell them. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. There are certain words we do not use. Um, and fundraising, we do not talk about sales. Sales are transaction, right? I'm gonna sell you on something that may or may not work. I'm gonna get your money. And we're done and you may or may not come back as a customer. That's the sales. That's not how we do when you are giving, um, and you're looking to give. You want someone to give from their heart? You want them to really be connected? Whether whatever the entity is, whether it's a business or individual, you want them to be connected because they have a passion for they have a propensity towards that because you want long term sustainability and impact. And so that comes from relationship and cultivation. There's certain words that we use in the industry that are getting muffled and muddled and not really being taken, um, seriously, you know? So if I say to someone, oh, that's not a word that we use, we use the word relationship and they keep saying sales

two different languages.

It's two different languages and you're going to get two different results and somebody's going to be dissatisfied because the nonprofit world is not about sales.

You know, one of the things, and again, you help educate me on this, right? When we, when we look at the philanthropy world, we think it's big donors. We think it's, you know, Bill Gates. Warren Buffett. We think. And which, don't get me wrong, obviously they're, they have their own, uh, platforms and stuff to that nature. One of the things though in your TED talk that you really, uh, uh, uh, enlightened me was that philanthropy is not always about giving money. Speak to that a little bit. Because I think that's where people, when you talk about language, okay, I think that's where sometimes the average layperson misses it. Because I know I did, I'm thinking big donors, I'm thinking the people I talked about. Um, but in your TED talk, you did a really good job. You talking about relationships? You definitely did a good job in terms of educating people about relationships. So talk a little bit about the other things philanthropy is about.

Absolutely. And a lot of people push back on that, right? Because we make philanthropy classation, right? So philanthropy is a word that's used when we talk about high net worth individuals, large gifts, you know, transformative gifts, um, then they're, they're philanthropist. Right. If the middle class is giving their volunteers and giving charitable contributions,

it's a go its a go fund me.

Exactly. So we see how we start bringing class station into things, right. Um, and these power dynamics, and then if it's the poor, then, you know, or if it's, we equate the poor with coming to a church, then it's benevolence or it's charity work. Right. Right. Um, and then, and then it's the poor and the needy. Right, so we build these classes, these walls of class Asian. Um, and and again, I said that this industry, there is a science and a psychology to it. So, like, as soon as we came out of covert, we had that major rush. Right in 2022, the top 50 individuals, that's your top. High network individuals gave about 12Billion dollars. That's amazing. That's, that's, and that's just America, right? 12 billion. But in 2022, that same giving 499 billion went to the philanthropic industry.

Wow.

So if you've got 50 people and you've got 12 billion that's given, That's a whole, that's 50 people, right? Right. And then if you look at, um, out of that 499 billion, you had about 314 billion that were individuals. See how the numbers, the numbers on the individual side are massive.

Nobody talks about that, right? Nobody

talks about that. So you got the difference between the 499 and the 314 that would be private foundations, grantings, and other institutions. This is just America, guys, right? So when you talk about giving and you talk about that being the dollar value assessment, people that are not giving or don't recognize that they are giving, a lot of times they're volunteering. So, if I can't, and that's not to say that everybody that volunteers is doing it and is not giving in a dollar amount, but if you remove the dollar amount and you look at the number of volunteers. The volunteers, the why that is so important is because in a nonprofit organization or a business that's performing social good, has a social good aspect to it, you are eliminating FTE. So, you know, that business would have that expense that it might need, excuse me, 10, 10 employees. But if I've got 10 volunteers coming in, right, you're lifting a weight. If I have a business and I can provide to you some of our product that's needed and that nonprofit doesn't have to purchase that product on top of because people don't think about that. Right? They don't think about they want you to deliver the program, but they don't want you to hire the person to deliver the program because nobody wants to pay for that or the materials that are needed. Right. Um, in 2023, I believe, uh, nonprofits spent a trillion dollars in goods and services. Wow. Like, we're not even counted in the, in the true economy. We're not mentioned in the economy of what we have to do. And so when people volunteer, it is tremendous. If you give a dollar, that dollar is just as needed and appreciated. As the 100Million dollars.

Right.

Right. And so people, what I want people to do is understand that philanthropy in its true sense is the love of humanity. I need you to find what's your love button, what's your passion work. Right and it might be I use Johnny as an example and everything. That I talk about, but, you know, if Johnny is not neighbor next door and Johnny needs an apple every day. To go to school and to function. Me giving Johnny that apple is a form of philanthropy.

I love that.

Right. If Johnny comes home and he needs help with his homework, I may not go to an organization. I may not have the money to get, I may not even recognize that I'm capable of giving in my budget. I may not have, um, all the finances in a row, but I go and I make sure that Johnny can do, I can help him with his math homework every day. That is a form of philanthropy.

Right.

because it's the love of humanity. So it is me enacting my right to give and to give abundantly. I can help him 365 days a year for the next 15 years. I have given tremendously, I've added value and had impact that is, um, life changing. Right, right. Because the whole point is to change people's lives. Right. To help them from wherever they are to get where they are. And there is this misnomer that the poor always want to stay poor. And they always want you to hand them something that they always want to be asked in an ask position. And really, you know, that's capitalism. Like that, that's sales. That's, um, that's me putting something in front of you that I always want to keep you dependent on something. The people in the community that really need. They're looking for that moment of help. And, and I liken it to us because I don't know a human being ever who did not need help in something from someone from somewhere.

Exactly. You know, one of the things that I would love for you. I mean, I could just sit here and listen to y'all day. Okay. Because this is awesome. Talk a little bit about the, um, the, how giving. Right? Is, uh, a universal, there's a universal law when it comes to giving. Because one of the things people struggle with, and you talked about it earlier in your walk, right? Although it didn't stop you. Sometimes you can get taken advantage of. You know, I remember my pastor, my church. I remember, if you don't mind me telling this quick little story. I remember, um, one time I was complaining. You know, I had loaned my family member, uh, loaned my family member some money a few times and never got it back. And you know what he said to me? He said, Tony, You don't loan money, you give money, all right? When you give, you're not expecting it back, all right? So then this way, you ain't got to worry about being mad at them, or a relationship is broke, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, right? I've, that was, I took, I learned that, and that's what I do. However, there's a ton of people that have been taken advantage of. And look, if you're a giver, You're going to get taken advantage of. All right. That's just the way that's part of the, that's also universal law. All right. However, however, some people have stopped even volunteering their time because they think that somebody is trying to get over on them or it's a racket. So can you speak a little bit about how giving not only helps the other person, but also helps the person that gives.

Man, you said so much there. Um, I remember a friend in college. She, um, she used to, it was a PK thing. She, um, she didn't want to go to church anymore because she said the people at the church that she went to was mean. They were mean. And her mom said, well, you know, you don't stop going to the food market because the cashier is having a bad day. It might be rude to you. You still go to the food market, you just change your food market, you know, stop eating because someone's rude. Um, and I think that we do, uh, the giving is a, it's a law. It's a law of attraction. It is attached to the law of attraction, right? We are born with the nature to give. What we do with that in our walk, in our journey is our responsibility where I call that, that's the self actualization button. Right. You have to remember, I was telling you, I struggled with holding on to the innocence of my heart because I was a giver and everybody was at that time. And that space was like, you don't belong here. Um, why are you doing this? And I think people have a responsibility to look at their journey. Everything that happens in your journey is to make you, it's not to break you. And you have to use it to analyze and push through. Right. Um, I think for those who are givers who have felt defeated, um, have felt like, you know, it doesn't come back. I think, I think you have to look at how you're looking at it, how you're viewing it because it doesn't come back the way you put it out. My God, it definitely does not come back the way you put it out, but it comes back. And so you have a responsibility of self growth. So look and say, what is it that I enjoy doing? If, if nobody sees it, if I don't get acknowledgement for it, if I give it and I'm only wanting to get back and I gotta, I gotta have a flash that everybody has to know that I'm doing it. I would ask you to please stop doing it. Because you just need, you just need to be an influencer and I just have like, some, some light. You don't need to really say that you're a giver. Because givers give and they give from their heart. Um, and nobody needs to know about it. They, you do have to be discerning, right? And you get lessons in that. I think we all get lessons in how to be discerning to see, um, when we give and when we don't give. My nieces know that when they're in the car with me, nine times outta 10, I'm gonna stop and. I'm going to give change or whatever. I have something that I have to a person. Cause I can feel it. I've been in this so long, you know, you train yourself. I can, I can feel, man, I need to give that person something. That's, this is my universal connect. Right. And then there's some people I drive past and I'm like, Hmm. No, because it's not, it might be the car behind these, but to do that, but it's not mine. Right. And so there is this element of give and take. Um, I have been blessed in my life because I'm a giver and a lot of times you, you learn how and when to give because you do get taken advantage of it. But, you know, you, you, you have to work out, you know, That mechanism, like everything else, and I would encourage people to stop, stop the wheel to figure out what is their passion. What is it that they love to do that they can support somebody? And how is it that you're connecting with someone else? Right if you know what it's like to be extremely depressed to go through something. Art, you know, it's, it's just a matter of giving as a matter of sitting and having a conversation with somebody, recognizing what you see, cause you know, what you've been there, right? Listening to that inner space that says, how can I help freely without expecting in sales to get a product back for the exchange, right? Um, If you can't afford to give to someone, you know, then, then look at how else you can help them. Right.

So, let me, let me ask you this though, because is it incumbent upon you, your firm or the industry to create a greater sense of visibility? When it comes to the outputs, because 1 of the reasons why people like I give, because I have it to give. Right. But I do know people that are in my similar situation that say, you don't know where that money going. You don't know where that, whatever is going. You don't know where them coaches, them socks, or you dropping off all that stuff, man. You don't know what they're doing. They, they, they selling that somewhere else. And you gotta let that go. Like I'm like, man, they can have this. I don't want it no more. I've emotionally moved on. It's not benefiting me at all. But for us as, as black folks, for real, like, no, we get so, we get so, you know, Oh, caught with tracking the results of it, you know, but is that, is that something when you get from the philanthropic levels where people given 10 percent or 20 percent or they given like a big check, should they have the right to see how that lands or is it a situation where you just let go and let God and you know, Jesus take the wheel and you just, you know, hope the best. How do you feel about that?

So, um, in, in our industry, um, just like doctors take a Hippocratic oath, uh, professional fundraisers do take an oath and it's called the bill of rights for donors. We are responsible to ensure our job is that if we ask, if we are part of that, ask if we're building that strategy, our job is to ensure that the donors, um, investment. Because it is an investment of time. It is an investment of funds, um, a product, whatever it is that we are responsible to manage that responsibly. So, yes, the government does require that the state's laws require that, um, that there is transparency. I fully believe in transparency because it's business. And so we are trained in how to write, uh, a memorandum of agreement, um, uh, gift agreements. There's, there's, there is, as you said, when you took the fundraising class, there's a whole lot of legality that we are trained in and transparency is absolutely. If you, especially if you're giving, if you're giving me 10 million. Yes, absolutely. I need to make sure that your 10 million that we are in agreement. On what is happening, how it's being given when it's being given. We are working on that together. Right when we are, um, in a space that individuals are giving monthly contributions or donating coats or shoes. Absolutely if you ask the organization, they will tell you I don't know. I don't know 1 nonprofit that will not do that. If they don't do that, that might be an organization that I would say, okay, let's take a 2nd look. Right? But traditionally, they're, they're open. They want you to know what the, the impact is. And we do have a responsibility. We take that professional level of giving. Take that very seriously. Now, what you do have is, is, you know, Chris, we talked about there's been, there's a difference when you talk about benevolence, right? Right. So every single faith on the planet has some form of benevolence. It's, it's all different, but there's a form of benevolence. Um, and when it comes to benevolence, if I'm giving socks, I don't care what they're doing with the socks,

right? I'm giving

socks, right? Um, when, when you're talking about people's money, um, and the time invested, and there's an exchange in that. Yes, the transparency should be there, but I often looked at the skeptics. Like, how does this, how does this, that information better your life? How does that make you more fulfilled to be discouraged about giving the socks, right? Right. Why is, why is the hang up on the giving the socks? Typically for me, people that have done that is because they've been hurt or they just aren't a giving person they like to receive, but they're not, they're not trusting you. They're from Missouri. They want you to show them everything. They don't, they're not trusting you in the giving. Right. And typically I find is because people are just, that's just a person that's just not trusting. Um, um, And when we talk about nonprofits of nonprofits that are 501c3s, um, at a church level, we're taught on one space to give freely, right? Because that's good. But then we have all those other situations that come in that make us have this, you know, deniable plausibility of, like, what, what we should or should not. Give and people don't regulate that self actualization because for me, when I give, this is just my personal note. When I give, um, it's, it's not my business to know what you do. You asked me and I discerned that you had a need and I gave. So when Tony talks about the law of attraction, what you do is what you want to attract. What I did was I gave. Because you asked and I had the ability to give

correct

right now, if you come from me, that might be different. Right? But but it's, it's, it's such a personal thing and you give it out of love and out of humanity. Right? Right.

That's a great message for, for people of color. Uh, my question to you specifically, uh, lastly, is with the Genesi group. Is it time, talent and treasure, or is it just treasure that you guys focus on what can I look to your website or look to your group to invest in if I was, if I want it to be newly philanthropic, is it, is it, how does that, how do I make that connection and get my way? So,

so fortunate, so fortunate. I see we are a for profit company. We have a nonprofit arm. Mm-Hmm. Um, our nonprofit arm is our philanthropic perspective. And so what we do is we don't take any contributions in per se for ourself. We, um, we make sure in the ecosystems that we build on the for-profit side, that they are inclusive of all of those mechanisms. That's good. Okay. So it's not just telling a nonprofit or a corporation or individual. Give it this way. We look at, like, what is it that you can do? How is it that you want to do that? And then a lot of times that ecosystem we pair the nonprofit with the corporation with the individual because we also believe very much in nonprofits being having lifetime sustainability. So we work on 1 of my pet peeves is them not being so heavily grant funded. Right we work on what's the relationship and building in that system that okay, you do need individual donors. You do need a corporation to support you. You do need an individual. You do need volunteers. So we build that out on our on our corporate side on our nonprofit side. That is our social good piece. And we spend a lot of time training. Nonprofit leaders as to, um, how to be more independent and assertive and how to look to be able to generate revenue. That helps, um, truly, truly the lift on the fundraising piece so that they can be sustainable. And a lot of times they have. Um, products or services that can be fee based. That can be very supportive to help them so that they are not so committed to just having donations or volunteers, um, or grant funding and the traditional. The traditional formats of granting and fundraising, and that's our give because we know in the industry. That is hard work and so we, we try to lift on both sides.

Cool. So tell us real quickly about, you know, social entrepreneurs. You brought this up earlier. Um, just so everybody's on the same page, what is a social entrepreneur and how are they changing the game?

Social entrepreneurs. I love it because, um, they are neither strict capitalists and they're neither, um, nonprofit leaders. And so they have businesses that they want to perform social good within their businesses, their profit margins speak to them being able to diversify how they give, um, and how they even wrap around their services or their product. Um, but they do not know the nonprofit industry, right? So I'll use Chris's socks as an example. If I'm a sock company. Giving away a 100 pair of socks may not be the best way. To give to the community, but they're giving what they have and and they're they're giving the way they feel. They mean, and social entrepreneurs are very, very interesting because I do believe since we've had. Um, the last three presidential and, and governmental administrations. Um, the pandemic and then the influx of how economies are shifting right now. Um, social entrepreneurs are that new wave of industry, the industrial revolution is over. And so people are looking at life differently. This next generation that's coming up, they talk differently, they socialize differently, they engage differently. Um, we connect with them because we use technology to enhance some of the things that we do, and those social entrepreneurs are looking at business from a very different perspective. They are looking at it with the component of truly, how do I give to my neighbor? How do I give to my community and they're building that into their business model? Right? So, yes, they're going to get a profit. Yes. They any business, anybody. I'm an entrepreneur, right? That's why I have a, uh, incorporated side and a nonprofit side, right? I'm an entrepreneur, but they are. Blending and bleeding together that profit. And that gives. Um, they may not always get it right because when you're starting out, you're doing passion work and you don't know either side entrepreneurs. Don't fit into either world, right? They are a vertical unto themselves. And so they are looking at how to give. And balance it, they understand. That that principle, they understand that universal law of giving. Right. Um, and they understand that if they're giving much, they are required to give much, um, they may not know, always know how right. And so we really are speaking loudly to, um, social entrepreneurs, especially here in Atlanta, um, because culturally, this is, uh, an amazing city when we talk about black entrepreneurs, um, and they're, they're looking to do things differently. And they are not interested in the status quo. Right. So I want them to be as successful as they can be, um, in terms of not just doing the business, but when they're, when they collaborate and they are very collaborative, they are interested in the infrastructure of giving. Um, and that is where we really have been focusing. Conversations and trainings, um, and engagement with,

you know, we're running out of time, but I want to, I want to get your point of view. Um, you know, on, you said something a minute ago. Um, how many people in the industry and you're in, in your industry look like you?

Wow. Um, in Atlanta, a lot, right? Nationally, I would say, wow, maybe a 10 percent globally less than that. And I did serve on a, on a, uh, an inch, a global board international board. Um, and out of the 20 people, there were three of us, two of us from Atlanta, which was really interesting. Um, what you find is you find a lot of unofficial fundraisers. Right in our community on the professional level. We, we, it is not an industry run by. By us, it is it is run typically by our white male counterparts. Um, and it's not an industry that you will find us in a lot. And when you do find us, you usually find us in the same positions you would in corporate.

Got it. So no different than corporate America in terms of representation, but the same, um, how should I say challenges that you would have in corporate America? Is that accurate?

Yes. Yes. It looks, and it looks very different, um, because it is a, uh, the industry is a different animal. Um, I will say you do find us giving. But typically it is community based church, church based, um, and I don't find a lot of people across the board in, in any race. Um, any ethnicity really seeing philanthropy as being their subcultural lifestyle. Right, they're athletes, they're vegans, they're musicians. But we, we go back to that classification that unless I can write a major check. I'm not a philanthropist. I've got, I can volunteer. I can give you a couple of dollars on the offering plate or, you know, I can, I can maybe make a launch or, but professionally and personally, we, we have a lot that we can give and we can do. And as a community, we really should and I believe the times are getting so serious that we should really reconsider. Right. Um, on every level, how we are giving, how we're engaging, where we're putting our dollars, um, how we're investing those dollars, um, in, in the philanthropic space, how we're helping our communities.

So final question for you, cause you just gave a lot to us and our audience today. Okay. Um, how can we, how can BEP help you Iris?

I would love for you all to share the word about Janessa Um, and the reason why is because we, we, we are a little bit of a fish out of

water.

Right. We are bringing, um, a different way of looking at things and thinking about things. And so, um, we are going to be starting. This year, um, in August, I believe here in Atlanta, a series of nonprofit trainings for and social entrepreneur trainings to really help them think strategically and differently. Um, we, although we provide our services for anyone, um, we really do want to be able to take this message to that next generation and help impact them as they start their businesses as they start making that shift. Because it's going to be needed. We have some turbulent, hopefully, I'm turbulent. I hope, but, but I think we have some turbulent times ahead of us in terms of community community need. Right and economics, and we want business owners and young people, we want nonprofits and founders to be prepared. To lead the way in the vertical in the industry of nonprofit work. As to what they mean. But able to be able to build those strategies, right? Not just, not just the ask, but how are you looking at your infrastructure? How are you engaging differently and preparing for the future? Because your communities are going to change, the needs are going to change, and how are you preparing to meet that head on with your partners and, and, and the stakeholders who are investing, um, philanthropically in your organization, whether it's time, talent, or

Well, that's an easy thing to do, Iris. So we're definitely gonna spread the word actually we're gonna spread the word by this podcast going out and you know Everyone being able to hear your voice, you know your message But more importantly your passion and your love for your fellow human being. I mean if Everyone could have that type of passion and love my girl this world would be so different So I am and I know I'm speaking for Chris You We've been blessed today and I'm going to say this and I don't think I need to say it. Just keep going out in the world, my friend, because you're changing hearts. You're helping people and yes, yes, you, your company is great and you're doing a lot of great things, but who you are as a person. Just your presence, just being around that's philanthropy. Okay, just your words, your love. That's, that's what you are right in. And at the end of the day, you came on this planet. God gave you exactly what you need. What you are and you found it and you've been running with it. And guess what? We're so glad for you and a black executive perspective podcast wants to run with you. So thank you again, from the bottom of our hearts of your generosity to come on a black executive perspective podcast to share your perspective.

Thank you. It was my pleasure. You're, you're, uh, uh, your team is amazing and you guys are so fun. And thank you for letting me just be me. I appreciate

that. Oh, well, thank you. Really appreciate it. And now I think it's time for Tony's tidbit. It is Tony's tidbit time. And as you always know, we always give an inspirational quote based on today's episode. And so today's quote is by John Bunyan. And the quote states, you have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you. And if you heard today from Iris Ivana Grant, she did something for us and you today. And I don't know if we can repay her, but what we can do is push her message out and help other individuals. So, thank you again, Ivana. So, I hope today you enjoyed today's episode, The Evolution of Giving, How Philanthropy Shapes Our World, from our guest, fabulous guest, Iris Ivana Grant. Um, I think it's now, Time for us. This is a big thing for us. Our call to action, you know, here at a black executive perspective podcast, we want to change the conversation. We want to bring people together. So we're asking everyone to incorporate our call to action called less. L E S S, and L stands for learn. You want to learn about people that's not, that doesn't look like you. Different cultures. Because when you learn, you enlighten yourself.

And the E is for empathy, to understand diverse perspectives and allow yourself to be philanthropic due to that empathy.

Exactly. And then S stands for share. You want to share what you learned to your other brothers and sisters and friends and family and be philanthropic as well.

And then the last S is for stop, actively work to stop discrimination and foster inclusivity. This will be a better world, a more fair place for us to live. If you just do this every day, every opportunity you get to be the change that you want to see.

Absolutely. So we're looking for everyone to incorporate less. You can control this. This is within your control. Like Chris says, do it on a daily basis. L E S S. So you can find a black executive perspective podcast, wherever you get your podcast, and you can follow us on our socials, on Instagram X, YouTube, Tik TOK, and LinkedIn at a black exec for our giving, loving, loving, loving. Social person, Iris Savannah Grant. We want to thank her for Chris P. Reed, the man with the sound for our fabulous producer, Noel, who's behind the glass and makes all this happening. I'm Tony tidbit. We talked about it. We love you. And we're out

a black executive perspective.