370. Leveraging a Venture Mindset in Philanthropy: Investing in Bold, Unproven Ideas - Rena Greifinger

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Overview

Meet Rena. She’s an award-winning social entrepreneur, philanthropy leader, and advocate for women and girls. She’s the Director of Individual Philanthropy at Population Services International (PSI) and the Managing Director of Maverick Collective by PSI, a community of bold philanthropists advancing health and gender equity. We’re chatting through taking a business approach to saving lives and providing real solutions to complex health problems. Tune in to hear her incredible wisdom on how we can reimagine philanthropic models to create sustainable and scalable solutions.

💡Learn

Maverick Collective’s Unique Philanthropic Model
An overview of the Triple Impact Framework
Advice for nonprofits to move towards sustainability and scalability

Today’s Guest

Rena Greifinger, Director of Individual Philanthropy, Population Services International (PSI) and Managing Director, Maverick Collective by PSI

“We’re conditioned to need to report on and deliver on what we put in that proposal. We often miss impact completely or leave some on the table.”

— Rena Greifinger

Episode Transcript

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Episode Highlights

Rena’s story and journey to where she is today (4:00)
Building authentic and equitable partnerships (17:00)
Leverage a Venture Mindset: Investing in Bold, Unproven Ideas (23:00)
A story of the Triple Impact Framework playing out (30:00)
Advice for nonprofits to move towards sustainability and scalability (39:00)
A powerful moment of philanthropy in Rena’s life (44:00)
Rena’s One Good Thing: Surround yourself with the best people who can make your vision a reality with you. (48:00)
How to connect with Rena and PSI and Maverick Collective (50:00)

Powerful quotes

“Success was defined more by who we were helping and how we were serving the world.” -Rena

“Public health, rights, equity and justice work is in my DNA.” -Rena

“For so long philanthropy has been used to put a bandaid on problems.” -Rena

“The the problems that we're trying to solve in the world are deeply systemic. They're really complex and they require a level of complex solutions in order to solve them.” -Rena

“We go where other funders won’t.” -Rena

“We’re conditioned to need to report on and deliver on what we put in that proposal. We often miss impact completely or leave some on the table.” -Rena

“The conditions are: we are going to learn together, stay brutally and radically honest with how things are going, we’re going to identify where things are failing, we’re going to iterate and try something new, and it is ok to fail as long as we are learning from it. When we start to see success, we’re going to galvanize our networks to take it to scale.” -Rena

“Evolved nonprofits have to invest in this. Cast your bold vision and talk about what you need, not what you think your donor thinks you need.” -Becky

“When I really think about what philanthropy is truly about and what drives me, it is so beyond money.” -Rena

“I’m only shining if they are shining.” -Rena

“None of the big change that happens in the world happens with individuals.” -Rena