The Business of Giving

Kyle Clifford took over as CEO of amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, on January 1st of this year. Founded in 1985 and championed by Elizabeth Taylor, amfAR has invested nearly a billion dollars in the fight against HIV and is now expanding its research into cancer, neurocognitive conditions, and immune dysfunction. What makes Kyle’s leadership unlike any in the organization’s history is that he is amfAR’s first CEO who is openly living with HIV. And as he shared with me, his path to leading this organization was anything but planned.It’s Kyle Clifford on The Business of Giving

Most organizations approaching their 100th anniversary would be looking back and celebrating past achievements. United Way of Rhode Island is doing the opposite. Under Cortney Nicolato’s leadership, they’re taking bigger swings than ever, from meeting a $100 million racial equity commitment ahead of schedule to becoming the go-to source of real-time community data for state policymakers.Cortney returned to her home state after building a national career because she wanted to help the communities that helped her growing up as a latchkey kid in Pawtucket. She transformed United Way from the inside first, rebuilding the board and staff to reflect Rhode Island’s diversity, before asking anyone else to change.And when others began backing away from equity commitments, her response was clear.This is a conversation about what it takes to be both an emergency responder and a long-term systems builder, about earning a seat at the policy table with data instead of survey results, and about building organizational culture that will outlast any single leader.It’s Cortney Nicolato on The Business of Giving.

Bob Chapman didn’t set out to write a leadership manual when he transformed Barry-Wehmiller from a traditional manufacturing company into what a world peace negotiator would call “the answer to world peace.” He simply started caring for his 12,000 team members the way he’d want his own children cared for if they worked somewhere else.Ten years after publishing “Everybody Matters,” Chapman has added 90 pages to the expanded anniversary edition, not because the original message changed, but because the evidence became overwhelming. Ninety-five percent of feedback from people learning Truly Human Leadership wasn’t about business metrics - it was about how the skills transformed their marriages, their relationships with their children, and their capacity to care for others at home.In this conversation, Chapman explains why listening without judgment is the greatest of all skills, how the Chapman Foundation has taught human skills to 20,000 people across hospitals, police departments, and school districts, and why he believes education must blend academic skills with human skills if we want to heal the brokenness in our society.It’s Bob Chapman on The Business of Giving.

Hala Hanna is the Executive Director of MIT Solve, a platform connecting social impact innovators with the resources they need to scale solutions that close gaps in equity, learning, health, and climate response. Over the past decade, MIT Solve has selected 600 innovators from around the world, collectively impacting 370 million lives. But what sets this work apart is how they do it. With a 94% five-year survival rate for their entrepreneurs compared to 70% at Y Combinator, they have cracked a code that traditional venture and philanthropy often miss. Hala brings a unique perspective shaped by her childhood in war-torn Lebanon, where she learned to hold joy and injustice in the same breath. In this conversation, she reveals why courage matters more than capital, how AI could either amplify inequality or bend toward justice, and what it takes to unlock the potential of entrepreneurs serving the last mile. It’s Hala Hannah on The Business of Giving.

Angela Williams has spent decades reading the signs that most of us miss—the hairline fractures in systems we’ve long taken for granted. As President and CEO of United Way Worldwide, she leads a network that touches 35 countries and receives 45,000 calls for help every single day. That vantage point has given her something rare: a real-time view of how chaos is reshaping the landscape leaders must navigate. In her new book, Navigating the Age of Chaos, co-authored with futurists Jamais Cascio and Bob Johansen, Williams introduces us to BANI—a framework for leaders trying to make sense of a world that refuses to follow the old rules.In this conversation, we explore why VUCA no longer serves us, how leaders can bend brittle systems instead of watching them break, and why the path through chaos requires attentiveness, flexibility, and intentional connection. It’s Angela Williams on The Business of Giving.

Plinio Ayala didn’t just leave the South Bronx of the 1970s and ‘80s—he returned to it with a blueprint for economic mobility that’s now reshaping workforce development across America.As President and CEO of Per Scholas, Plinio leads a tech training nonprofit that’s placed over 25,000 graduates into careers earning three times their previous income. But here’s what sets him apart: while most nonprofits shrink from rigorous evaluation, Plinio embraces randomized controlled trials. While foundation funding tightens, he’s building corporate investment as his primary growth engine. And while AI disrupts every sector, he’s racing to future-proof America’s workforce—one 15-week bootcamp at a time.Today, we explore how Per Scholas is creating more of those opportunities—and why Plinio won’t scale without data, won’t compromise performance for growth, and won’t accept that talent development is someone else’s problem—it’s ours to solve together.

Welcome to The Business of Giving. I’m Denver Frederick.Right now, in fields across dozens of countries, there’s an invisible race happening. On one side: curious children wandering into what looks like empty farmland. On the other: teams of specialists working meter by painstaking meter to find what’s buried there first.Today we’re joined by Darren Cormack, CEO of the Mines Advisory Group—an organization born from witnessing the devastating aftermath of conflict in 1980s Afghanistan. MAG has since become a driving force behind the global movement to ban landmines, co-founding the International Campaign that earned the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize.With 80% of landmine casualties being civilians—nearly half of them children—Darren’s teams operate in some of the world’s most dangerous territories. Recently honored with the 2025 Hilton Humanitarian Prize, he brings hard-won insights about innovation, leadership, and what it takes to build hope in the shadow of war.Join us for this compelling conversation about courage, community, and the delicate art of clearing the path to peace.

Edgar Sandoval arrived in the United States with just $50 in his pocket, unable to speak English, carrying only his American passport and an unshakeable determination. Today, he leads World Vision, one of the world’s largest humanitarian organizations, serving 100 countries and reaching millions of the most vulnerable children globally. From corporate boardrooms at Procter & Gamble—where he helped transform the meaning of “like a girl” from insult to compliment—to the remote villages of Kenya, Edgar’s journey reveals how divine calling can redirect a comfortable life toward extraordinary purpose. His leadership has revolutionized World Vision’s approach, flipping traditional sponsorship models and launching the organization’s most ambitious campaign yet: reaching 300 million people by 2030. In this conversation, Edgar shares how childhood memories of poverty, corporate innovation lessons, and unwavering faith converge to create massive humanitarian impact. It’s Edgar Sandoval on The Business of Giving.

What started as a solo trek through Nepal’s earthquake-devastated Langtang Valley became a global movement connecting adventure with authentic impact. Today we’re joined by Candice Young, founder of Trek Relief, an organization that transforms travelers into changemakers through community-led projects across the world’s most remote regions.From installing solar panels in Peru to rebuilding schools in Nepal, Trek Relief has completed 28 trips across multiple countries, creating a unique model where participants don’t just witness need—they actively address it alongside local communities. What makes their approach different? Every project emerges from what communities actually request, not what outsiders assume they need.Join us as Candice shares how one moment of witness became a decade of purposeful travel that’s changing lives on both sides of the journey.

Picture this: You’re sitting in an empty Red Cross blood donation center, knowing that premium streaming content worth millions go unused while nonprofits everywhere struggle to afford basic advertising. That lightbulb moment launched Kris Johns from adtech executive to nonprofit revolutionary, founding AdGood—a 501(c)(3) that’s rewriting the rules of television advertising for organizations changing the world.With partnerships spanning A+E Global Media to LG, AdGood has unlocked access to 1.5 billion monthly impressions across 1,000+ channels, offering nonprofits something unthinkable: premium Connected TV advertising at 70% off market rates. But here’s the kicker—their AI-powered platform can create broadcast-quality 30-second video ads in under four minutes, democratizing professional creative for organizations with $250 budgets.Today, discover why Kris believes this isn’t just about cheaper ads—it’s about fundamentally transforming nonprofit marketing. And now for my conversation with Kris Johns, the CEO and Founder of AdGood.

What happens when you realize your values guide only half a percent of your wealth while the other 99.5% operates by completely different principles? You become what Sharon Schneider calls an “Integrator.”As founder of Integrated Capital Strategies and author of “Handbook for an Integrated Life,” Sharon works with ultra-wealthy families who’ve grown tired of the schizophrenic dance between making money and doing good. Her journey began at Foundation Source, where she helped families perfect their charitable giving while watching their investment portfolios—often 20 times larger—fund the very industries their foundations were fighting against.Today’s hyperconnected world has made this contradiction impossible to ignore. When your phone shows you exactly who made your t-shirt and your coastal property insurance rates explode due to climate disasters, the old two-pocket system stops making sense.Today, she reveals how Integrators are rewriting the rules of wealth. It’s Sharon Schneider on the Business of Giving.

The nonprofit sector is hemorrhaging talent—10,000 full-time jobs vanished in the first 70 days of 2025. While many leaders wait for the storm to pass, Nancy Murphy, CEO of CSR Communications, has a blunt reality check: the storm isn’t passing. It’s the new weather.Nancy has spent her career helping nonprofits navigate disruption and developed the sector’s first objective measure of board change readiness. Her diagnosis is stark—leaders are clinging to outdated models while the ground shifts beneath their feet.For the past five years or so, we've been living in what a futurist calls the BANI world– brittle, anxious, non-linear, and incomprehensible. And we know that the pace and volume of change will never again be as slow or as small as it is today, if you can believe that.Today, discover why waiting for stability could be fatal—and what change-ready organizations do differently when crisis strikes.