Today Jeremy speaks with journalist Teddy Schleifer about how American billionaires practice their philanthropy and why it matters.
This week on Givers, Doers, & Thinkers, Jeremy speaks with journalist Teddy Schleifer about how American billionaires practice their philanthropy and why it matters.
Teddy Schleifer is a reporter and founding partner at Puck, covering the influence of Silicon Valley billionaires. He’s based in the San Francisco Bay Area and writes about the tech fortunes being made and deployed during this extraordinary era of capitalism, diving into topics like campaign finance, big philanthropy, and tax avoidance. He was originally based in Washington and wrote about similar topics for CNN.
Who are the rich and powerful influencing philanthropy in America today? Jeremy and Teddy kick off the discussion by identifying the surprising tendency of the very rich to be risk averse when it comes to philanthropy and taking on innovative initiatives. Teddy shares who he thinks are some of the most interesting up-and-coming philanthropists and some trendy theories and philosophies of giving he finds particularly interesting. They discuss the different approaches by new money and old money philanthropists. And end the conversation with Teddy’s views of big tech’s key figures and influencers.
Looking for book recommendations to help strengthen civil society? We are starting a new segment called "GDT Reader's Guide" to share what other nonprofit leaders are reading and found to be particularly insightful in the work they do. Today's recommendation comes from American Philanthropic's Chief Solutions Officer, Kieran Raval. He shares Peter Thiel's book, Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future. Kieran identifies helpful takeaways like "taking risks is good," "having a bad plan is better than no plan," and "sales and product both matter," and how it applies to nonprofits.
You can find Givers, Doers, & Thinkers here at Philanthropy Daily, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, Buzzsprout, and wherever you listen to podcasts.
We’d love to hear your thoughts, ideas, questions, and recommendations for the podcast! You can shoot Katie Janus, GDT’s producer, an email anytime!
