By: David M. Foster, CFP®, CAP®

Hello, listeners, and welcome to the 23rd episode of the Gateway Giving Podcast!

My guest today is Gabe Angieri. Gabe is the Director of Development & Strategy for Arch Grants, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides $50,000 equity-free grants and access to an ecosystem of resources, helping early-stage startups grow and scale in St. Louis.

To be honest, I was somewhat skeptical coming into this interview. Why should an organization that funds for-profit companies be granted nonprofit status? I don’t think many people would argue that giving equity-free grants to early-stage startups and then helping those startups to grow and scale is a bad thing for our region, but just because it’s a good thing doesn’t mean you should get a tax deduction for your donation to an organization that does that.

However, Gabe successfully convinced me that Arch Grants is less venture capital fund and more economic development association. Obviously, the grants they give to these companies are good for the companies and their founders, but it’s also making a positive impact on the economic environment throughout our region, and economic wellbeing is an essential component of overall wellbeing.

As always, if you have any questions, requests, or suggestions for people or organizations for me to interview, you can email me at david@gatewaywealthstl.com. Now, without further ado, here is my interview with Gabe!

Gabe Angieri and Arch Grants are not affiliated with or endorsed by LPL Financial, Gateway Wealth Management, or Cornerstone Wealth Management.

Links

• Homepage
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• 2019 IRS Form 990
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By: David M. Foster, CFP®, CAP®

Hello, listeners, and welcome to the 22nd episode of the Gateway Giving Podcast!

My guest today is Harley Monk. Harley is the Founder and Executive Director of Giving Alpha, a community of like-minded finance professionals that have committed to improving the world by donating to the most evidence-based, impactful interventions.

Although Harley and I do spend some time discussing his organization, today’s episode primarily serves as an introduction to the “Effective Altruism” movement, a movement and a concept that is very near and dear to my heart.

When I first decided a few years ago to devote my financial planning practice to working with philanthropists, one of the catalysts for that shift was a book I read called “The Life You Can Save” by a philosopher named Peter Singer. That book, originally published in 2009, kickstarted what is now known as the “Effective Altruism” movement. That movement makes, essentially, two arguments:

1. If you live in the developed world (The U.S., Canada, Western Europe, Australia, Japan, etc.), then your income is likely at least in the top 10% globally, and very possibly in the top 1%. Therefore, you have a moral obligation to donate some of your income to help others who didn’t have the good fortune of being born into one of those rich countries.
2. You should make your donations based on reason and evidence, not geography and sentiment.

As you can imagine, telling people, particularly Americans, that they’re being selfish by hoarding their money and that when they do give, they’re probably doing it wrong, or at least inefficiently, sparks a visceral reaction among many. To some degree I had that same reaction when I was first introduced to these concepts, but I encourage you to keep an open mind before you dismiss them.

One of the primary reasons people tend to list for either not giving or not giving more money to charity is because they are concerned that their donations won’t have the intended impact. If that describes you, then giving through the lens of “Effective Altruism” can help you to be confident that your good intentions are having real impact.

As always, if you have any questions, requests, or suggestions for people or organizations for me to interview, you can email me at david@gatewaywealthstl.com. Now, without further ado, here is my interview with Harley!

Links

• Giving Alpha Homepage
• An Introduction To Effective Altruism
• Defining Alpha
• The Pledge
• Is There Such A Thing As Bad Charity?

By: David M. Foster, CFP®, CAP®

Hello, listeners, and welcome to the 21st episode of the Gateway Giving Podcast!

Try to imagine, for a moment, that you’re living your life as you have always lived it, and, all of a sudden, in order to save your life and the lives of your family, you must flee to a foreign country with no money, no connections, no housing, and no job. This is the situation that Afghan refugees are facing today. As you are probably aware, the United States’ decision to pull all of our troops out of Afghanistan has caused massive societal upheaval and created tens of thousands of refugees out of the people who had been assisting the U.S. in its fight against the Taliban. The St. Louis area has agreed to take in up to 500 of those individuals.

Luckily for them and for us, the International Institute of St. Louis is prepared to meet the challenge. It is their goal to help these people achieve self-sufficiency as quickly as possible. My guest today is Paul Costigan, the Sr. Vice President for Operations & Missouri Refugee Coordinator for the International Institute of St. Louis. He’ll tell you about how the International Institute works to achieve that goal of self-sufficiency through short term housing assistance, job training, English classes, and job placement, among other things.

If you believe, as I do, that that the U.S. bears most of the responsibility for turning these people into refugees in the first place, and, thus, we are obligated to help them to escape their oppressors, then I think you’ll get a lot out of this interview.

As always, if you have any questions, requests, or suggestions for people or organizations for me to interview, you can email me at david@gatewaywealthstl.com. Now, without further ado, here is my interview with Paul!

Links

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