People Inspired By Purpose - Purposely Podcast

Welcome to Purposely with Lucas Patchett co-founder and Executive Director of OrangeSky. OrangeSky is a non-profit organisation founded in October 2014 by two friends Lucas and Nicholas Marchesi in Brisbane, Australia. The organisation provides practical support and help to people experiencing homelessness or unstable housing conditions, including showers and laundry services. Their distinctive orange and white vans provide a non-judgmental space for people to talk and connect with others, and they also invite other service providers to give support. OrangeSky has helped over 30,000 "friends" in 9 years and currently has 36 mobile units, run by a blend of professional staff and volunteers. The mission of OrangeSky has evolved from delivering practical support to one focused on connecting communities to people who are homeless or experiencing unstable housing conditions. Lucas stresses that homelessness could happen to anyone and points to the importance of experienced mentors and advisors, including their parents, in the establishment and growth of OrangeSky. He also emphasises the generosity of people in supporting their cause, whether with their time, money, advice, or wisdom. Overall, OrangeSky is a testament to the power of collaboration and the generosity of people in helping those in need. OrangeSky's services go beyond just practical help. They provide a safe and non-judgmental space for people experiencing homelessness to connect with others and access support. The conversations that occur while using the laundry and shower services can lead to valuable connections with other people going through similar experiences or with other service providers who can provide additional support. OrangeSky has been successful in attracting funders who are tired of backing vague and hard-to-measure engagement projects. Lucas outlines the future for OrangeSky, including better use of technology to deliver positive impact and a specific focus on reducing isolation and loneliness. He also has an eye on organizational stability and the future of OrangeSky being less reliant on him and Nicholas on a day-to-day basis. Lucas emphasises that anyone could experience homelessness and that without a support network, it can be easy to fall on tough times. It is truly remarkable to see young people like Lucas and Nic dedicating their time and energy to helping others in such a meaningful way. It takes a lot of courage and determination to step outside of one's own comfort zone and take action to address a pressing social issue like homelessness. Their commitment to providing practical help and creating connections between homeless individuals and support services is truly inspiring. It just goes to show that even a small group of motivated individuals can make a big difference in their community.

Welcome to Purposely Podcast with John McCarthy, John shares his career journey and his approach to giving as the Manager of the Tindall Foundation. The Foundation was set up by Margaret and Stephen Tindall, the founders of the Warehouse Retail Group, and has donated over $200 million to good causes in New Zealand since its inception in 2004. During the podcast, John also shares details from his past, including the tragic loss of his mother, father and sister. Despite these overwhelming challenges, John is quick to refute any idea that we should feel sorry for him, saying that he has been fortunate in many ways. He believes that his past experiences have helped him to be independent and resilient and have given him a deep desire to make a difference. John's career has focused on social services and philanthropy, and he believes that his past experiences have helped him to empathize with other people's life experiences and challenges. As the Manager of the Tindall Foundation, John is responsible for deploying the funds earned on an annual basis from the endowment that was set up using Margaret's shares. The Foundation focuses on strengthening families and communities, as well as the environment, and uses a wide range of approaches to deploy its funds including direct donations, donations through partners and impact investing and lending. ‘The approach that we take is to try and be as collaborative and as responsive as possible. We recognise that we don't have all the answers and we're always learning from the communities and the organisations that we work with.’ John stresses how open and flexible they try to be as a funder, seeing themselves as a partner rather than just a funder. They are also focused on measuring the impact of their work, both in terms of the outputs that they achieve and the longer-term outcomes that they’re seeking to support. ‘Ultimately, our goal is to contribute to a stronger and more equitable New Zealand, and we're committed to working towards that goal in a way that is responsible, transparent, and accountable.’ John began his career as a social worker focused on improving health outcomes, primarily in Auckland but also spending time in London. Throughout his career, John has tackled challenging and sensitive issues, such as drug and alcohol addiction, as well as sexual abuse, with a particular focus on working with perpetrators. Despite the difficult nature of his work, John remains dedicated to making a positive impact in these areas, and his expertise and experience have proven invaluable in improving the lives of those affected by these issues. Overall, John's story is one of resilience, determination, and a deep desire to make a positive impact on the world. His approach to giving is grounded in his own experiences, and he believes that everyone has the power to make a difference, no matter their past or present circumstances. Episode sponsors: Sponsors: Benevity https://bit.ly/3k4FTE2 The Giving Department https://bit.ly/3KdYWWU

Brian Cavanagh joins Purposely to share what it takes to be an impactful and effective trustee on a charity board or a governance committee. Brian has decades of experience leading Boards in the UK and Ireland that helped him write the book, Governing With Purpose: How to lead a brilliant board. His inspiration for the book came when he unsuccessfully tried to find useful resources for existing or prospective trustees. He found lots of books on corporate governance of the private sector but very little for trustees of 'for purpose' organisations and charities. This obvious gap in the market motivated Brian to write this book so that he could help others to be effective and impactful non-profit trustees. Brian outlines what it takes to be a 'brilliant board' as well as an effective trustee and he describes his ethos around governance. Explaining that the Chair of the Board is responsible for the Board while the CEO is responsible for performance and leadership of the organisation. 'Chairs, trustees and CEOs need to understand each other's roles, respect each other's responsibilities and work together towards a common and agreed mission.' He also gives thoughts on where boards and organisations go wrong and rather than being overly concerned about those headline-hitting organisations, he is more concerned about Boards that are detached from the mission or are in 'cruise mode'. Brian points to organisations that stumble along, doing quite good work and because nothing has gone wrong there seems no need to intervene at Board or exec levels. 'It's about ensuring the culture of performance of ambition for the board for itself. I think the danger is we focus on crisis and we actually need to support our boards to do the right thing'. Brian outlines what is most important for charity boards and the people that operate on them. 'It needs to be led by skilled, committed individuals who also good at governing the organisation.' Brian talks about the intangibles and how important the culture and the day-to-day behaviour of the board, the executive team and the employees is in supporting the vision and the purpose of the charity. 'Do board members challenge each other to be better and how often do they contest opinions, how often do they disagree or debate about the purpose, direction and performance of the charity'. Brian also calls out 'bad behaviour', pointing to people not turning up, not reading the Board papers and people not asking questions or challenging decisions. Brian believes that a strong sense of purpose combined with a solid structure will provide an effective antidote that will stop any bad behaviour, or at least ensure it is stamped out quickly. A strong sense of purpose for why the Board exists, why it includes the people it does and what role will it be performing and what responsibilities will it be taking on in the future. 'So it’s imperative trustees ask themselves, why was the charity set up in the first place?, what is trying to achieve and what is the purpose of the Board they have been asked to join?'. Brian also stresses that it is fundamentally important that people join Boards for the right reasons, 'not just as a favour to a friend’, but rather because they believe in the cause, believe they can contribute by utilising their skills and experience and they have the time and space to commit to the meetings and actions. Brian's book Governing with Purpose is an essential resource for people on Boards or those considering joining a Board. Sponsors:  Benevity https://bit.ly/3k4FTE2 The Giving Department https://bit.ly/3KdYWWU

Rhodri (Rhod) Davies joins Purposely Podcast to share his passion and knowledge on philanthropy and how he started the ‘Why Philanthropy Matters’ a free online platform helping to shape the sector. Rhod is a well-known thinker and commentator on philanthropy and civil society as well as an author and host of the popular Philanthropisms podcast. He is also a Pears Research Fellow in the Centre for Philanthropy at the University of Kent, United Kingdom. He was working as an academic researcher when he stumbled across philanthropy, suddenly seeing the sector in a new light full of ‘drama and interest’ and a plausible career option. Since then Rhod has become a defender and advocate of philanthropy and has gone on to play an important role in shaping the movement. ‘One of the things that bugged me is that philanthropy is often written off as if it's some sort of weird, niche concern, even within the wider nonprofit world. To me, it's something that's kind of pretty fundamental to how society works’. One of the things that characterises Rhod’s thought leadership on philanthropy is his skill and willingness to draw on history and what has happened in the past to make sense of the future. ‘History is an endlessly useful resource, when it comes to thinking about philanthropy in the present’. He describes this as a ‘cheap trick’, he uses to try and ensure that people in the sector do not get carried away with one particular approach to giving. He describes how those seemingly, ‘never been thought of before’, ways of doing philanthropy are in fact developed using lessons from the past. One example he points to is the current focus on purpose driven companies, organisations and businesses who are prioritising a combination of purpose, profit and commercial returns. The tendency is that people pass this off as completely new and highly innovative, despite the fact that people have been doing this for centuries. The same can be said for other forms of doing good or delivering impact today. ‘When you look back to history, and how people kind of combined, making money and giving money away, there's all kinds of interesting lessons and useful warnings about things that we might want to make sure that we avoid in the future’. In 2016 Rhod published Public Good by Private Means: How philanthropy shapes Britain, a book tracing the history of philanthropy in Britain and what it tells us about modern generosity. Since then he has been a self-confessed history of philanthropy nerd, and tweets about it far too much at @Philliteracy. A further characteristic of Rhod’s philanthropy thought leadership is his strongly held belief that there is no right or a wrong way of giving and that philanthropists have the ability to draw on different influences as well as their own beliefs and preferences. Rhod is happy to outline his personal preferences and the approach he would take if he had a windfall and was able to be a large scale philanthropist, ‘I would set myself a target of spending it all in 20 years or something like that and I'd make sure I thought about where I invested the money as well as where I gave it. I would also lean towards using a trust based approach that somebody like MacKenzie Scott is taking’. Rhod was formerly Head of Policy at the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), where he created and led the in-house think tank Giving Thought, and also hosted CAF’s popular Giving Thought podcast for over 100 episodes. Rhod graduated from Oxford Uni with a first-class degree in Mathematics and Philosophy. Sponsors: Benevity https://bit.ly/3k4FTE2 The Giving Department https://bit.ly/3KdYWWU

Julia Jackson joins Purposely Podcast to share her career journey and travel experiences that shaped her vision. Time living and working in South America led her to a career focused on sustainability and purpose. Julia also explains her role at Kiwibank and what it means to lead a purpose strategy for a major bank and play a significant role in their B Corp certification. Aged just 22 Julia announced to her parents that she was leaving New Zealand and heading to Latin America to travel and live there. A one-way flight to Buenos Aires was booked and, despite not speaking a word of Spanish, Julia set off on her big adventure. ‘It wasn’t easy, and it was quite hard to make friends. It was quite lonely at times, and I wondered what on earth I was doing there. But it helped to build my resilience and up my tenacity, the experience was absolutely life changing’. Julia talks about the motivations behind the trip, citing her desire to breakout from her bubble and her ‘middle class privilege’ after completing a degree in International Relations at Victoria University in Wellington, NZ. ‘Growing up I had a privileged childhood and I think I was always very conscious of that. My awareness influenced what I studied and my decision to go overseas and travel across Latin America. I wanted to use my privilege to give back and help the community in some way’. Her International Relations degree and the focus on international development was a motivating factor in choosing to travel in Latin America, over the more traditional England and Europe. Her fascination centred on two trends that were developing at the time, the first around environmental sustainability and the second on the self determination of communities, including initiatives like fair trade and the empowerment of people to choose their future direction. ‘I really wanted to see the theory in action, and I could see the potential to revolutionise things for the better’. Julia’s travels coincided with the 2008 global financial crisis, and she found getting employment challenging. After travelling around Chile, Bolivia and Peru she would eventually go on to work in hospitality. However, first she took a volunteer role in Ecuador working in a hostel, initially in the Capital Quito and then in out of the way volcanic regions where they were building a new eco-resort. This was motivated by her desire to put her degree into action particularly the study she had done on sustainability. ‘So, I was building a greenhouse and helping them get the composting systems up and running, and all that sort of stuff. I absolutely loved seeing those systems really come to life’. Julia would eventually move on to Panama and then settle in Guatemala where she met her now husband who immigrated to New Zealand with her in 2011. ‘I met all these amazing indigenous communities that lots of people would never have had the opportunity to meet’ Landing back in New Zealand Julia secured a role working in sales for an insurance company, however, it wasn’t long before she joined a mission focused charity called Sustainable Business Network and she was able to put her studies and her life experiences into action professionally. Julia then joined Kiwibank in 2016 as a corporate social responsibility lead, seven years on she is Head of Purpose and Sustainability. Kiwibank, as far as banks go is in a unique proposition, it is a B Corporation which means it works hard to meet the highest standards of social and environmental impact. ‘It has been amazing to see the number of customers that are choosing Kiwibank because of the (B Corp) certification Sponsors: Benevity https://bit.ly/3k4FTE2 The Giving Department https://bit.ly/3KdYWWU

Alice Montague joins Purposely to share her journey from fundraiser to philanthropy leader. Alice was appointed CEO of the Clare Foundation in May 2022, following three years leading the Nikau Foundation, one of seventeen community foundations based in New Zealand. Founded in 2020 by entrepreneur Anna Stuck, the Clare Foundation will use a ‘spend down’ approach to giving and plans to donate more than $35 million over a ten-year period to charities and initiatives that match their themes and deliver impact. ‘We have four strategic focus areas, amplifying opportunities for women, youth wellbeing, the environment  and oral health. All areas that Anna is particularly passionate about’ Anna chose the name of the Foundation, inspired by women in her family who all share the same name, she wanted the foundation’s name to provide a legacy. While relatively new into the role Alice is clear about the mission and purpose of the foundation, describing their interest in long term transformative change and the ‘complex world of system change’. The challenge for Alice is that the foundation will only exist for 10 years, or at least that’s the plan. They will look to spend down the funds and deliver positive impact as quickly and as effectively as possible. ‘We are looking at that timeframe and the resources we have, trying to work out where that sweet spot is for us and where we can make the greatest change with the resources we have.’ Alice has worked in the charity sector for the last two decades and this wealth of experience is helping to shape her approach and how her team will carry-out their charitable giving. ‘We plan to be a high trust funder and we want to have good relationships with the organisations and people that we fund’ We look back and delve into the reasons why Alice chose the non-profit sector and why a career focused on purpose was always likely. ‘I had a real strong sense of social justice and wanting to contribute.’ Alice also describes herself as an activist and she is constantly looking at how she can do things differently and bring about lasting change. ‘I was always a bit of an activist, and at 17 I remember standing outside of McDonald's in Northridge (UK), handing out flyers to people about the destruction of the rainforest’ We also discuss leadership; she explains her style as collaborative and how she works hard to get the best from her teams. We also discuss how she approaches her relationships with trustees and governance boards of the charities she leads.  Her ‘honesty first’ approach was particularly evident when she interviewed for the role of Executive Director at the Nikau Foundation. ‘I remember them asking me in my interview, one person said… how long do you think you will be here for? and I responded by saying probably about three to four years. One of the Board members looked horrified and another nodded and said that sounds about right. I said look… I will do everything in my power to achieve what you want in this timeframe’ Alice has held a range of high-profile roles with organisations such as the Red Cross, Experience Wellington, Creative New Zealand and most recently in her role as Executive Director at the Nikau Foundation before taking the reins at the Clare Foundation. Episode sponsor: https://benevity.com/ - Powering purpose driven business 

Frances Benge joins Purposely to share her journey from corporate to nonprofit leadership as CEO of Cure Kids. Frances started her career as a nurse then worked for 30 years in the pharmaceutical sector before being appointed as CEO of Cure Kids in 2015. ‘It wasn't an easy transition, there was a perception that I was this big international bigwig that didn't have any fundraising experience, I had to really prove myself to the team before I think they gave me any credibility’. Frances shares her experience moving from corporate to the charity sector and provides a candid account of the challenges she faced in her first months in the role. ‘Everybody believed in what we were doing, and they were passionate about the cause, but underneath the purpose, there was a lot of dysfunction.’ Did she have any doubts about what she had taken on? At first Frances worried that she may lack the necessary fundraising experience or skills to successfully run a charity. She found her lack of experience ended up being a positive and helped her develop a fresh strategy for the charity. She improved income generation and fundraising capacity and reviewed how the charity used their resources - taking this opportunity to cut costs. ‘We were able to carve at least half a million dollars’ worth of costs, which sounds incredibly mercenary, but at this stage, the balance between our income and our expenses needed urgent attention. I couldn't hand on heart go to donors and say this huge percentage of your donation is going towards operating costs.’ While the move was challenging at times, Frances was able to successfully make the changes and set the charity on a path to success. Despite those initial doubts, she always fundamentally believed that she was in the right role. Established in 1971, Cure Kids is a registered charity that invests millions of dollars every year into child health research. They find cures and better treatments for serious illnesses and health conditions that are affecting children in New Zealand, and around the world. Their work has positively impacted health outcomes for hundreds of thousands of people. These include cystic fibrosis at birth, maternal outcomes (like sleeping on your side in pregnancy), and the prevention of sudden unexpected death in infancy. Cure Kids also advocate for children and children’s health, so that greater resources and focus is placed on services and health outcomes. Frances has developed a strong public voice when it comes to children’s health and regularly speaks to the media, to government and at key events. A good example is how she shone a light on children’s health both during and after the global pandemic. For more than a year, an extraordinary public spotlight has been cast upon the incredible work of health scientists, epidemiologists, and vaccinologists in the face of a global pandemic. While Cure Kids and Frances agreed that this level of focus has been necessary, she stressed that we were not doing enough for children and that this was reflected by poor health outcomes for children, especially in New Zealand where we have some of the worse statistics relating to mortality. ‘I would just love to see New Zealand child health stats be turned around so that we aren’t ashamed of the statistics that we've got. I think the only way that we can do that is by really addressing the core issues that prevent our children from having lived healthy lives with bright futures’ Frances is looking forward to leading Cure Kids into the future and she is determined to ensure better outcomes for children.

Bill Murphy joins Purposely to share his founder story starting Purpose Capital. Originally from Boston Massachusetts, he is an American that calls New Zealand home, having moved here in the 1980’s with his wife Rose, a New Zealander. Based in the Bay of Plenty, on New Zealand’s North Island, Purpose Capital is an investment fund on a mission to drive social and environmental change. Having raised $22 million so far it is described as a collaboration between the New Zealand business, investment, and philanthropic sectors, bringing capital and expertise to find social and environmental solutions. Bill talks about his determination to make a positive difference to Society and the Planet, formed by his diverse life journey. A range of experiences shaped him to go on and play an active leadership role in spreading and growing impact investing.  Before he launched his own investment fund Bill started out as an accountant and also founded Enterprise Angels, helping start-up entrepreneurs. He launched Purpose Capital in 2019 and has plans to grow the fund significantly and create a legacy for future generations. Bill shares details of the fund’s investment in renewable energy, as well as funding circular business models that embrace a sharing economy. Some interesting projects include, build to rent housing for long-term tenants, solar farms to provide renewable energy and iwi-led open ocean aquaculture. Bill is a proponent of Degrowth, a recent phenomenon that provides an alternative approach to ‘growth at all costs’ capitalism. Bill explains its potential benefits to Society and the environment. The relentless search for growth comes at the expense of more important things. As economies grow, consumption grows, and the earth’s resources are depleted more rapidly than ever. Degrowth is the planned reduction of resource consumption and energy use until it reaches a point where our resources can sustain everyone. In the podcast Bill looks back at his early years and explains how his background was never going to fully define him or limit his ambition. ‘I'm an Irish Catholic archetype from Boston, my father was a policeman and my father's two brothers were firemen so joining the civil service was strongly encouraged. But early on I knew that this path was not for me. For a start I went to University, I started doing yoga and meditating and I became a vegetarian when I was hitchhiking out to California.’ Inspired by the cultural revolution happening in the 1960’s Bill travelled from the Northeast of the United States to California. This period of his life had a profound effect on him and would lay the foundations of his approach to life and his desire to bring about change. ‘Seeing the failure of the 60s protest movements to affect real change informed me. A realisation that we weren't going to be able to achieve change through purely political protest means, we needed to change hearts and minds.’ This led him to want to use finance to make significant change. Bill is excited about the future of Purpose Capital and the part they will play in a more sustainable future. While he clearly loves doing what he does he is looking for someone to succeed him ‘eventually’, someone with the right skills and experience and strong sense of purpose.

Camille Socquet-Clerc joins Purposely to share her journey from digital marketing executive to green investment entrepreneur. Camille, along with Bertrand Caron, are the founders of BLOOM, an online platform helping Australian investors make a financial return and a positive difference to the environment. Camille and Bertrand are also husband and wife, recently returning home to France to tie the knot following the launch of the company. Launched in 2022, BLOOM provides people access to a diverse range of climate solution investments. These include solar and wind farms, energy storage, plus previously difficult-to-access assets like unlisted alternatives, green bonds, clean energy loans and infrastructure projects. Their vision is to make climate investing easy and accessible to all Australians, so that they can own and benefit from the clean energy transition. 'We're dreaming about a world where a carbon free economy allows both people and the planet to thrive.' Camille started work on BLOOM in her spare time in 2019, predominately a side hustle to start with, she describes the different stages of development. This included coming up with the idea, really falling in love with the problem and carrying out research. She diligently studied reports about climate finance, understanding the potential problems and solutions. They formed a community of would-be investors, people who pledged a total of $3 million purely based on the concept.  Amazingly this all happened in less than six months and gave them the confidence to build the platform and take the first steps to applying for a license. Two years on BLOOM has three full time employees, one part time investment manager, an investment committee as well as advisors and mentors. They have close to 200 customers who have invested over $1.6 million AUD and they are now in the running for several industry awards. ' 'I would read about how clean tech was performing and what companies were driving this new sector. I then started to formulate the solution, I interviewed people and did a lot of customer research.' The launch of BLOOM hasn't been straight forward though, with volatile financial markets and the value of green investments hit by the effects of the pandemic and geopolitical events including the war in Ukraine. Despite the challenging financial situation BLOOM has performed better than their benchmark in the short term. Camille, however, is quick to point out that investing with them is a long-term proposition with investors balancing purpose, positive climate impact as well as making a return on their capital. ‘We state very clearly that our investment horizon is seven years because that's how long we believe it will take for the companies and sectors we invest in to deliver impact and positive change' Incredibly, neither Camille or Bertrand had any prior experience working in investment or finance and they learnt on the job. They moved from France, adjusted to living in a foreign land and learnt a new language and culture. Camille is the CEO of start-up and Bertrand is the technology lead. 'I think Australia is a wonderful country, one of the wealthiest countries in the world and somewhere that can have a significant impact on positive climate action.' Camille and Bertrand have been together for over a decade and Camille points to the benefits of launching a company with someone you love, including their ability to communicate effectively, a deep understanding of each other and real trust. 'Overall it is great to be in business together, however, it raises some questions around boundaries. How do we maintain a healthy relationship outside of work?! How do we make time for us as a couple?! Sometimes we worked too hard, and we didn't have enough boundaries when we started.' Exciting times for these two green entrepreneurs!

End of Year Wrap - Episode 119 ­Taking a break from our normal interview format for the latest episode of Purposely and sharing a few insights from our guests. These include; the power of purpose and defining your personal mission The importance of non-linear careers as well as diverse experiences The great post pandemic re-set, purpose first! In 2022  we published 48 episodes with listeners tuning in from across the globe. The first interview of the year was with the CEO of the Wolfson Foundation Paul Ramsbottom OBE in the UK and the last with philanthropy doyenne Jenny Gill who is on the Boards of Vodafone NZ and MAS foundations as well as Prince’s Trust. Our episodes are published weekly (every Monday) along with a related blog (on www.purposelypodcast.com) and newsletter. Massive thank you for listening and sharing, please do not hesitate to reach out if you know someone who would be a good fit for Purposely and don’t forget to hit subscribe on whatever platform you are listening! All the best from Mark & Jon - Team Purposely Sponsors: Benevity https://bit.ly/3k4FTE2 The Giving Department https://bit.ly/3KdYWWU