Mike Spear is a social entrepreneur, content creator, and social impact strategist. He’s the host and producer of the Cause & Purpose Podcast, founder of Moonshot.co and Altruous.org. Before launching Altruous, Mike was part of the founding team at Classy.org, where he helped raise more than $5 Billion for social impact causes, en route to a successful acquisition by GoFundMe. Before that, he spent several years as a journalist and filmmaker, and holds a master’s degree in journalism from NYU.
One of the biggest problems with large-scale philanthropy - billionaires & family offices, community foundations, and DAFs, etc. - is that the incentives for grants and major gifts are often misaligned with the needs of the impact-generating organizations they’re supposed to support. All of these entities can reap financial and reputational rewards long before their funds are actually deployed to nonprofit organizations, let alone put to work in the field.
Read MoreRevolutionizing Philanthropy. To say that philanthropy has been in flux over the past 20 years is an understatement. Seemingly countless cultural and technological advancements have converged to dramatically transform how philanthropic dollars are exchanged and allocated.
Read MoreAs CEO and Founder of Altruous, I’ve put a lot of thought into keeping this core ideal in active practice and preventing it from fading into a background assumption. Lately, as we’ve explored new ways to introduce our ideas and our product to the public, I’ve been reflecting on what integrity means and how it relates to our stakeholders across the social impact sector.
Read MoreIf we’re serious about impact; if we’re serious about solving problems, and leaving the world better off than we found it, then we have to learn to embrace uncertainty, and invest heavily in the solutions with the highest expected value, regardless of near-term fluctuations. It’s about building great systems and supporting them, while continuing to learn and improve, and being resourceful enough to weather temporary setbacks.
Read MoreI’m one of the lucky ones. I grew up in a stable and loving middle-class household, in the idyllic suburbs of sunny San Diego. Mom was an artist and advertising executive, turned full-time homemaker. Dad was a well-respected lawyer and entrepreneur in his own right. While I sensed that money was (at times) tight, safety was never an issue. My sister and I were well-supported. Safety, security, access to healthy food, education, entertainment, nature, and sports was never an issue. For all intents and purposes, we wanted for nothing. We were the lucky ones...
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