Episodes

As a county supervisor in Santa Cruz County, California, Ryan Coonerty is having to cope with two historic challenges: the national coronavirus pandemic and the catastrophic western wildfires. Both disasters have hit his community hard. In this episode, host Spencer Critchley talks with Ryan about leadership in a time of crisis — or crises. About […]

(more...) about Ryan Coonerty: Facing Historic Wildfires and a Pandemic—at the Same Time

Social marketing uses the persuasion techniques normally used to sell potato chips, fashion, detergent, cars, and endless other consumer products, but for social good campaigns. Listen to the audio podcast version of this episode (#34) on Apple Podcasts or any podcast app. Knowing how to do social marketing right is important to nonprofits, socially responsible […]

(more...) about Video: How to Do Social Impact Marketing That Works

It’s hard to match Brent Colburn’s experience in dealing with high-stakes communication challenges. Brent has led communications for the U.S. Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Emergency Managment Agency, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (where he was Chief of Staff), the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (created by Facebook CEO Mark […]

(more...) about How to Communicate in a Crisis: Lessons from the Pentagon, Homeland Security, FEMA & More

Mark Barker and Jordan Ruden are the co-founders of digital marketing agency Craft & Commerce, and are experts in the use of online media to persuade people, whether to back a cause or vote for a candidate.

They say the Trump campaign’s mastery of that is a big reason why Donald Trump won in 2016 — and why he may win again.

Republicans now seem to get social media, email, and the rest of the online world better than Democrats do, even though Democrats like Howard Dean and Barack Obama were online pioneers.

Mark and Jordan have fascinating insights into how Democrats lost their lead, how Republicans took it over, and what it means for how we all communicate.

(more...) about How Republicans Are Beating Democrats Online, With Mark Barker & Jordan Ruden

Tracy Palandjian has the kind of background that sets a person up for a lucrative career in business or finance. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard with an economics degree, and then graduated with high distinction from Harvard Business School, where she was a Baker Scholar, an honor given to the top five percent of the graduating class.

But she ended up choosing a different path: using the power of money and her financial skills to help solve big social problems. Her nonprofit, Social Finance, has helped direct more than $100 million toward challenges in criminal justice, early childhood education, workforce development, health, and homelessness.

(more...) about Tracy Palandjian: Changing How Change Happens, With Pay for Success

For more than seven years, Jake Harriman was a US Marine. He was deployed in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, and served two combat tours in Iraq. He earned the Bronze Star.

Jake believed wholeheartedly in the mission of fighting terrorism. But in Iraq he started to question how that should be done. He came to see the greater enemy as extreme poverty: while terrorist leaders may be evil or insane, their foot soldiers are often motivated by desperation. That insight led him to create Nuru International, which has the goal of ending extreme poverty in our lifetime.

(more...) about Jake Harriman: Fight Terrorism By Ending Extreme Poverty

We hear so many stories about government spending big money without getting results. Now, many government organizations have embraced a new approach that’s driven by the smart use of data. It has a lot in common with the way coach Billy Beane turned around the Oakland A’s baseball team, as was described in the book “Moneyball,” by Michael Lewis. In fact, it’s is often called “Moneyball for government.”

Spencer’s guest this time is Jennifer Park, who’s with a nonprofit called Results For America. In their conversation, Jenn focuses on What Works Cities, a collaboration with Michael Bloomberg’s Bloomberg Philanthropies and other partners.

(more...) about Jennifer Park: What If Government Just Did What Works?

“We recognise and respect the many challenges facing our oceans, yet too often ‘doom and gloom’ stories are the only kind of ocean news we hear.

“The evidence suggests that if we do not balance the bad news with good, and the problems with solutions, we will not motivate people to act.”

That’s a quote from the website of Ocean Optimism, a movement to inspire action to save the oceans not by highlighting what’s going wrong, but by sharing stories of what’s going right. Our guest this time is Ocean Optimism’s founder, Elin Kelsey.

(more...) about Elin Kelsey: How Optimism Can Help Save the Oceans

Jacob Martinez is the founder of Digital NEST, an incubator for young tech talent in the farming towns of Watsonville and Salinas, California.

Digital NEST graduates graduates have been hired not just by local companies but by multi-nationals like software maker Adobe, and the NEST has attracted donations from major venture capitalists. As we hear in this episode, Jacob thinks the success of Digital NEST can be replicated in small towns up and down California, and maybe even across the country.

(more...) about Jacob Martinez: How Digital NEST Helps Youth Take Flight