160. Disruption for Good + The Business of Changing the World - Raj Kumar

Raj Kumar, Devex, We Are For Good Podcast, The Business of Changing the World

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Overview

Meet Raj. He's not just the Founding President & Editor-in-Chief of Devex, he's noticed the little guy ever since he was a boy playing soccer in the streets of India. This former political strategist built Devex, a global news platform, in grad school alongside his friends to inform development professionals and aid workers all over the world. Today we launch Season 4 exploring the new era of global development and how to set zero goals for yourself (we had to have him define that too, but we were LOVING the answer). Tune in🎧

Today’s Guest

Raj Kumar, Founding President and Editor-in-Chief at Devex

“I think that the nonprofit sector is basically going through the same kind of radical disruption that these other industries have gone through. And we better pay attention to it because we can use this opportunity if we pay attention to it well.”

— Raj Kumar, Founding President and Editor-in-Chief at Devex

Episode Transcript

Download Full Episode Transcript Here

Episode Highlights

Raj’s story and journey to where he is today (2:30)
An overview of Devex (5:00)
Leading a global social enterprise in the middle of a time such as this (9:00)
The new era of global development (9:40)
The lens you should use as a funder to identify what organizations to support (10:45)
Raj’s Book: The Business of Changing the World: How Billionaires, Tech Disrupters, and Social Entrepreneurs Are Transforming the Global Aid Industry (17:00)
Embracing this season of innovation and change in the nonprofit sector: shift the focus to zero goals. (21:00)
Evaluate your programs to ensure they are truly doing the most good (24:00)
Fostering a global mindset in your corner of the world (30:00)
A powerful moment of philanthropy in Raj’s life (35:00)
Raj’s One Good Thing: Listen more. Don’t assume that you understand the context of how it all works. Go and talk to the source. (41:00)

Powerful quotes

“These are the most important issues in the world, these are the issues that we shouldn't even have to jazz them up or dress them up.” -Raj

“These are the biggest issues in the world, in my opinion. And yet, as a news organization, we often find, our reporter will be in the room at some UN hearing or some Capitol Hill event, and we're the only journalists there to talk about child poverty.” -Raj

“That's why we do what we do every day, which is to shed light, through journalism, on the most important issues in the world. Climate, poverty, disease, shed light on those issues, let people know what's happening, what's working, and what's not working.” -Raj

“And if you add it all up, it's a huge industry, we think it's like bigger than $200 billion a year that goes into these kinds of global development efforts. What we're trying to do is, document all that, write about it, talk about it, make it clear to people, and really hold us all accountable to actually achieving the sustainable development goals.” -Raj

“Obviously, we're living through a global pandemic, you've got Afghanistan, you got Haiti, which is living with your multiple crises. There's a lot, there's a lot happening. And for us, part of the job is to make sure people are paying attention to those stories.” -Raj

“It's not just about the donation that's important. Funding is important. But then it's about what do you do with that money, and who has a voice in it? Is the local community empowered to actually solve this problem on their own? Are we using the best evidence in the approaches to solve these issues? Do we have data to tell us whether what we're doing is working or not working? All of those things are so critical.” -Raj

“If you look at the history of foreign aid and global development, there's a lot of mistakes. I mean, there's just so many mistakes that have happened over the years. And a lot of good too.” -Raj

“But we feel like the key in a moment like this, when there's so much crisis, there's so many challenges, is to shed more light on it, and to make sure we first do no harm. And at the same time, we get funding and money and voice to the people who really are closest to the problems and can can actually address them.” -Raj

“I think nowadays, what funders are really trying to do is get as local as they can. They want to go to the organization that really lives the issues, and the people who have that lived experience.” -Raj

“The other thing I see is that these big international organizations are themselves trying to become more local.” -Raj"

“The talent and the professionals are out there to do this kind of work. They exist in the countries we're trying to serve.” -Raj

“We're working in the development sector, the nonprofit sector, and it itself is an outgrowth of an unequal history and top down in a lot of ways. And we got to address that right in our own backyard. If we want to address these bigger issues in the communities we're trying to serve.” -Raj

“We can no longer live in a society where we just had people who write checks. It is incumbent upon all of us to figure out what is the issue around me? How do I pour into it from my corner of the world?” -Becky

“It's almost like the script is flipped, and grassroots is starting to become the thing that is creating movements, creating community, and moving issues forward. I love that because the accessibility of that means that anyone can jump in.” -Becky

“There's all these examples where when you don't go local, when you don't actually talk to the people you're trying to serve and say what would be useful to you, you can make really big mistakes.” -Raj

“I think that the nonprofit sector is basically going through the same kind of radical disruption that these other industries have gone through. And we better pay attention to it because we can use this opportunity if we pay attention to it well.” -Raj

“I think the world and the scale of the problems is just demanding more from all of us.” -Raj

“So many of the issues we're talking about really are global. And the first thing to remember is, whatever challenges you see in your own life, or your own neighborhood or community, they're probably pretty similar, you know, the scale might be really different, but people are pretty similar.” -Raj

“We're only as strong as the weakest health system in the world. And that applies to so many other issues.” -Raj

“To get that global mindset is just think about the issues you care about. And you'll quickly see that there's a connection that connects to people everywhere.” -Raj

“It's the it's this nexus of seeing the people we're trying to serve as customers as partners, not as just somebody in need.” -Raj

Connect with raj

LinkedIn / Twitter / Book: The Business of Changing the World

Connect with devex

Website / Twitter / Instagram / YouTube / Newsletters

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