Let’s Hear It

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.

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!