There's a number treated like gospel in philanthropy: the 5% annual payout private foundations are required to hit. It was written into law as a floor.

Kristin Todd has watched it become a ceiling instead. After nearly two decades at the Daniels Fund, a $1.5 billion private foundation, she now leads the NoCo Foundation in Northern Colorado, where she's more than doubled annual grant-making by refusing to let donor dollars sit still.

Episode Highlights:

[00:01:00] Running a $1.5 billion legacy fund vs. a nimble community foundation
[00:07:00] Why mergers stopped being a taboo word for nonprofits
[00:11:30] How NoCo doubled its grant-making by keeping money in motion
[00:12:30] The 5% floor that became a ceiling
[00:20:30] Stop calling them charities. They're businesses with social impact.
[00:34:00] Punching above your weight locally instead of waiting on Washington

Notable Quotes:

Kristin Todd [00:12:30]: "In the private foundation world, that 5% has become a ceiling, not a floor."

Kristin Todd [00:11:30]: "We do not want to be a sponsor of DAFs that are warehousing dollars, and in fact we are not."

Eric Ressler [00:21:30]: "These are the hardest problems in the world that no one else has solved, and yet they're not getting the same attention as the latest AI startup."

Resources & Links:

• NoCo Foundation — nocofoundation.org
• Daniels Fund — danielsfund.org

Hosted by Eric Ressler, Founder & Creative Director of Cosmic, with co-host Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. New episodes every Tuesday.

→ Subscribe: designingtomorrow.show → Work with Cosmic: designbycosmic.com

Listeners, now you can text us your comments or questions by clicking this link.

*** If you liked this episode, please help spread the word. Share with your friends or co-workers, post it to social media, “follow” or “subscribe” in your podcast app, or write a review on Apple Podcasts. We could not do this without you!

We love hearing feedback from our community, so please email us with your questions or comments — including topics you’d like us to cover in future episodes — at podcast@designbycosmic.com

Thank you for all that you do for your cause and for being part of the movement to move humanity and the planet forward.

Everyone keeps predicting the death of the website. First it was social, now it is AI. But it is still the one channel you actually own and control, which is exactly what makes it your most durable asset. So when a site has gone untouched for five years and a redo runs six figures, the real question is whether it is worth it, and when.

Episode Highlights:

[00:03:00] The identity impact gap, and when a redo is the wrong call
[00:10:30] The 10-second homepage test 90% of nonprofit sites fail
[00:13:00] Brand as coherence: the Apple experience, and your version of it
[00:17:30] What happens the moment a funder leaves your meeting
[00:23:30] What funders actually look for: financials, team bios, clear impact
[00:28:00] The underperforming employee analogy, and the player on your team

Notable Quotes:

Eric Ressler [00:05:20]: "I still believe that your website is your most important and your most durable asset as a brand."

Eric Ressler [00:26:20]: "Your website should be your best fundraiser, not your only fundraiser."

Jonathan Hicken [00:29:10]: "Website is almost the wrong word. It's a player on your team."

Resources & Links:

• Seymour Marine Discovery Center — seymourcenter.ucsc.edu
• Candid — candid.org
• “Are Website's Dead?" — earlier Designing Tomorrow episode.
• Joel Breakstone interview — earlier Designing Tomorrow episode.

Hosted by Eric Ressler, Founder & Creative Director of Cosmic, with co-host Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. New episodes every Tuesday.

→ Subscribe: designingtomorrow.show → Work with Cosmic: designbycosmic.com

Listeners, now you can text us your comments or questions by clicking this link.

*** If you liked this episode, please help spread the word. Share with your friends or co-workers, post it to social media, “follow” or “subscribe” in your podcast app, or write a review on Apple Podcasts. We could not do this without you!

We love hearing feedback from our community, so please email us with your questions or comments — including topics you’d like us to cover in future episodes — at podcast@designbycosmic.com

Thank you for all that you do for your cause and for being part of the movement to move humanity and the planet forward.

For the last 50 years, we've operated under a single dominant idea: the purpose of business is to maximize shareholder value. But what if this whole era of extraction and short-termism isn't the natural order at all? What if it's just a blip? Sarah Gillard, CEO of Blueprint for Better Business, has spent 25 years inside major corporations watching what happens when companies forget what they're actually for, and she makes the case that business has both the power and the obligation to change it.

Episode Highlights:

[00:02:42] Two very different business models: profit maximization vs. employee ownership, from inside the same industry
[00:06:37] The ESG rollback in context: what the data actually shows about corporate commitments
[00:09:03] The forces of gravity that act on companies as they scale, and why purpose needs structural defense
[00:12:17] The 70% problem: why intangible assets dominate organizational value but get ignored
[00:15:27] Rethinking the social contract: why government, business, and civil society can't afford separate swim lanes
[00:27:07] AI as a force for good or fragility: the questions businesses aren't asking but should be
[00:37:58] Blueprint for Better Business's two foundational ideas, and why neither is as radical as it sounds

Notable Quotes:

Eric Ressler [00:25:20]: "We need more in culture imagining what that future could and should be, instead of constantly only warning about what it's looking like it's going to be."

Sarah Gillard [00:38:40]: "Historically we will see these last 50-odd years as an odd blip. How do we take the most powerful shaper of our societies and just go: just focus on the money? Just weird."

Sarah Gillard [00:40:20]: "Good intentions are necessary, but not sufficient. You need legal and governance mechanisms that keep you on track even when there is significant pressure to move."

Resources & Links:

• Blueprint for Better Business — Sarah's organization; the one-page AI framework for boardrooms is available on their website
• John Lewis Partnership — The UK's largest employee-owned business, where Sarah led purpose strategy
• The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
• Dear Alice: Utopian anime yogurt commercial — mentioned by Eric as a rare example of positive future imagery

Hosted by Eric Ressler, Founder & Creative Director of Cosmic, with co-host Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. New episodes every Tuesday.

→ Subscribe: designingtomorrow.show → Work with Cosmic: designbycosmic.com

Listeners, now you can text us your comments or questions by clicking this link.

*** If you liked this episode, please help spread the word. Share with your friends or co-workers, post it to social media, “follow” or “subscribe” in your podcast app, or write a review on Apple Podcasts. We could not do this without you!

We love hearing feedback from our community, so please email us with your questions or comments — including topics you’d like us to cover in future episodes — at podcast@designbycosmic.com

Thank you for all that you do for your cause and for being part of the movement to move humanity and the planet forward.