Laurie James 0:07
Welcome to Confessions of a Freebird podcast. I'm your host, Laurie James, a mother, divorcee, recovering caregiver, the author of Sandwiched A Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go, a Therapy Junkie, Relationship Coach, Somatic Healer, and now podcaster. I'm a free spirit and here to lift you up. On this podcast, I'll share soulful confessions, and empowering conversations with influential experts. So you can learn to spread your wings and make the most of your second half. So pop in those earbuds turn up the volume, and let's get inspired. Because my mission is to help you create your most joyful purpose driven life, one confession at a time.
Laurie James 0:56
Welcome Freebirds. I am thrilled with my guest today. And I couldn't think of a better person to have on. The holidays are here and this is a time when many of us either volunteer our time, or donate our money to those who need a little extra love and support. And my guest I met about six years ago. I was so impressed with what she had created in our community. I knew I needed to be a part of it. And I have to confess she is truly one of the warmest, kindest people I know. And also most forward thinking individual I've ever met, especially when it comes to the world of philanthropy. So I'd love to introduce my guest today, Mindy Freedman. She is the founder of the SAM Initiative, a giving circle compromised of philanthropic women who pool their charitable donation dollars to fund and support programs committed to driving social change, and promoting nonprofit sustainability. Mindy has created the SAM Initiative with the belief that, we have more impact together than we have alone. She was also recently named 2023 Leader of Influence in Nonprofit and Philanthropy by LA Business Journal. So congratulations on that! And Mindy is also a trustee at the Jewish Community Foundation in Los Angeles and has a Master's in Public Administration in International Development and Spanish. And she lives in LA with her hubby and two children. So Mindy, thank you so much for being here. I know you are a very, very busy gal. And juggling many, many things. So I really appreciate you taking the time out today to chat with me.
Mindy Freedman 3:00
Thanks for having me.
Laurie James 3:02
Yeah!
Mindy Freedman 3:02
I am so happy to be here to support all the Free Birds out there.
Laurie James 3:06
Yes. So let's talk a little bit about your background and how you became interested in social change and nonprofit sustainability.
Mindy Freedman 3:20
Well, I think, I think my journey started with like a Mother Teresa complex. When I was young, I really thought that I needed to help the world. And I don't know where it came from or where that seed got planted. But I remember being a young child thinking that I'm supposed to like help people. And I just didn't know how that would manifest, exploring different things as we do in our growing up and trying different hats on and I realized that I really enjoyed helping people. But I really enjoyed helping people help themselves. So I did my thesis work in Latin America, working with micro loans, like helping women start micro businesses, a $50 loan so that they could raise pig, sell the pigs to sustain their families. And when you look at that model, and it's been going on since the 1970s, in Latin America, or actually throughout the developing countries, it started in Bangladesh, actually.
Laurie James 4:26
Oh did it?
Mindy Freedman 4:27
Yeah, called the Grameen Bank. He's my rock star actually. And that model, because in these countries, a lot of the developing countries, they don't have social services like we do here. LA has 60,000 nonprofits, they don't have those kinds of resources. So people have to really find ways to help themselves. And this model made a lot of sense to me, and especially when I was in my 20s, in my late 20s. And when I came back to the United States, and then worked for the government for a little while doing more of this for a few years, and then I decided that it wasn't the easiest thing to work abroad. So I looked back home to see what I can do to help people in this way here. And unfortunately, at that time, it just wasn't a thing. It just wasn't every you know, the nonprofit world is pretty ingrained in our community. And what I've seen over the years is it creates sort of a sense of dependency, and doesn't foster independency and empowerment and sustainability. But I got it, I worked for several nonprofits, I took some time off and for about a few years, and actually was working on myself doing some yoga and meditation and all those wonderful things that I love so much on my free time. And I was then introduced to a giving circle, which is what SAM is basically people pool, their charitable dollars to give it somewhere, you know, they can make a lot more of a difference together than you can alone. And I fell in love with the idea, and this was 11-12 years ago. So I just reached out to friends and family and said, Wouldn't it be fun? If we did this together, and it was really just going to be let's just do this casually, Wouldn't it be kind of fun to do. And it's grown, which I'm very happy and proud of love our members.
Laurie James 6:22
Which I'm a proud member?
Mindy Freedman 6:22
Yes, you're a proud member. And what I was gonna say is what I'm so proud of is the women like you, who have found a voice and their passion and found leadership within SAM. So I love empowering not only helping people help themselves, but even within SAM is like helping women find their voice, their passion, and leadership. As this has been an incredible to watch some of these women really just find their voice. So we are now in our 11th year we've given over $3 million in gifts, $2 million in inspired giving at least 2 million, and we focus on women, children and families. But what we always do try to do and we will talk about this a little later, but towards your sustainability piece is stretch beyond traditional philanthropy to and inspired by those women that I worked with so long ago in Latin America.
Laurie James 7:24
So let's touch on that for a minute. If you don't mind, can you share with our listeners, what social change and nonprofit sustainability means? For those who might not know?
Mindy Freedman 7:39
Well, it can be defined in a lot of different ways. I think the lens that I use is traditional philanthropy is taking a little more risk with your traditional philanthropy to invest it somewhere or give it somewhere in this case, you're giving your philanthropy donating it to organizations that are really striving to do more with their dollars. So for example, last cycle, we invested in what something called a CDFI. And basically, these are developed financial institutions, they're mission driven, and they train individuals and give them funding so that they can start businesses. So the micro lending that I did years ago is now here happening. And so what is a micro loan? it's anything from like 500 to $2,500, sometimes even higher. And for example, a woman a street vendor, she have a little business, she cares for her mother, she cares for her children, she needs a small loan to increase her inventory, and that loan goes to that. Yeah, this kind of woman is not bankable, like she can't actually go to a bank and get a loan. And what happens then what does she do? They go to predatory lending, which is like 40% interest rate.
Laurie James 8:58
They'll never be able to get ahead that way.
Mindy Freedman 9:00
And these loans get paid back. So in this case, this woman, her name is Merced, the one I was thinking of she paid her loan back, she increased her sales, and she was able to get a bigger loan after that. And this is and they have about 99% repayment. And then once those loans are paid back, the funds get recycled. So this was really important to SAM towards for sustainability, because it resonates with us, like I said, we strive to go beyond traditional giving. In the past, we funded things like Downtown Women's Center, which is also a social- we call them social enterprises, where we gave them they help homeless women, one of the only shelters in LA that take women and families but they have different businesses like soap making-
Laurie James 9:48
Candle making-
Mindy Freedman 9:49
Yeah, they have a Resale Boutique now for clothing.
Laurie James 9:52
And you know what else they're doing now if they'd have a whole catering business. Catering side to them as well I received an email from them recently, and I'm thinking about using them for a lunch I'm doing in January.
Mindy Freedman 10:05
Oh, that's amazing. I have no idea.
Laurie James 10:07
Yeah. So they're continuing to expand, which is so beautiful.
Mindy Freedman 10:12
The idea is they are nonprofit, you're giving them your philanthropic dollars, they're using it in a way to pay women a wage to make something to give them skills so that they can go back out into the community, and the revenues that they make go back to help those they serve. So it's like a win-win-win. So what I always say is that it really with your philanthropic dollars, it takes some courage to take a little risk with your philanthropic dollars, but it can really make a difference to organizations towards their sustainability, and to the individuals that they serve.
Laurie James 10:47
Totally agreed. And since we're on that topic, so I have some other questions for you. So if somebody is out there, right now, you know, end of the year, there's tends to be a lot of giving, you know, people are thinking end of the year, if they have extra donation dollars to make, who do they want to give them to? We're already in our giving cycle. So I don't know if SAM's and opportunity, per se, are they? I guess we could be because our final presentations are until December 5. But either SAM or any other organization, what are maybe the top two or three things that you would recommend if somebody isn't doing a giving circle or part of the giving circle who's doing some of that vetting for them? What are top two or three things that you recommend somebody look for in an organization to feel comfortable that that money is going to be used for what they say it's going to be?
Mindy Freedman 11:42
Well, okay so a couple things, the first thing we are SAM is a member base, so all of the pool our dollars, and that goes out. But we do have donors that give because they know that we do a great job of vetting organizations. And we do focus, we do identify organizations that are immediate needs. So this year, we're focusing on mental health, which is really a crisis, we focused on homelessness. And so I would say if you want a well vetted, and you just want it, you can always look on our website and see you can make a donation that will go to our grantmaking. Additionally, we do post a giving guide on our website, which will post to know a week or so that has the list of all the organizations that we have vetted. But to your other your last question, which was how do you know that it's making a difference? If you're gonna give? Well, it's a really tricky question. Because there are 60,000 nonprofits in Los Angeles, it's really hard to know where to give, how much to give. So people tend to give to the organizations they know of the most, or the ones that are associated with their church or their synagogue or their school or so I would say that, of course, Community Foundation's are really helpful and helping you guide you towards the passion. I think we do a pretty great job, all of our women leaders are pretty committed to vetting these organizations. So I feel pretty confident about all of the ones we vet are awesome. And everyone's deserving to an honors. The other thing I was gonna say is that we are slowly moving to more of a trust based philanthropy model, which is, you know, again, is operating a lot of traditional philanthropy, again, we always stretch beyond traditional philanthropy and the SAM does. Traditional philanthropy always wants to fund programs and I want 100% of my dollars to go to programs. And, that is really important. But operations are really important, too. If you don't have good people, people who work in nonprofits in the saying that they sweat dollars, or I know it's, I know, they deserve, they make these they make this happen their businesses. So we like to fund operating, which is can really we'd like to take organizations that take them to the next level,
Laurie James 14:03
Right? Yeah, that seed money to help them take that leap. So that way they can grow.
Mindy Freedman 14:09
Yeah, or just a hiring of somebody like a development person that they can then get more donors
Laurie James 14:16
Or hire that extra therapist so they can serve more individuals that are struggling with mental health issues.
Mindy Freedman 14:22
Exactly! That's all operating, and so if you believe in the organization, and you trust them, I say I'm all for letting go a little over the control and allowing them to use it to their greatest need.
Laurie James 14:35
Yeah, beautifully, beautifully said. So, tell us about how you came up with the name, SAM or The SAM Initiative.
Mindy Freedman 14:47
Well, truth is originally we had a different name.
Laurie James 14:51
Oh, yeah. Okay.
Mindy Freedman 14:52
I don't know you know that.
Laurie James 14:54
I don't think I did.
Mindy Freedman 14:55
Really? It was, you know, at the time when I told you it was just kind of a fun thing. Like, let's think of a name. And everyone voted, and I just let it feel like a democratic process. And we came up with like that Los Angeles Giving Circle, I mean, something very obvious.
Laurie James 15:11
And generic.
Mindy Freedman 15:12
And generic. And then of course, there was another organization, I can't remember exactly how we said it. But there was another organization that was very similar, and they kindly asked us to change our name. So I was sitting with my steering committee, and we were just talking about it, it was hard to think of it. We wanted something different. And because we really strive towards sustainability, thinking about how do you how can we really make a difference and create a shift paradigm shift so that organizations strive to sow more sustainability and, and I kept thinking about that. And jokingly I said, well, let's just call it SAM like that's my you know, and they're like, what's that? Like? That's my coffee name. You know, when I was in graduate school, I'd say Mindy, and they would hear Windy or Cindy and you know with at Starbucks, I write your name. Sam is actually my coffee name. So it was a Sustainability Accountability and Movement is SAM, but it kind of just stuck.
Laurie James 16:15
Yeah, no, it's great. I love the coffee name story that kind of ties into it. And then you were able to take that and create, you know, this great organization. And, you know, and it's a name that really sticks out like you remember it, and it's easy.
Mindy Freedman 16:31
Yeah. Well, except for initiative that's a really hard word to spell actually.
Laurie James 16:40
It actually is, I know. I have misspelled it more than once. At least we're not alone. Right.
Mindy Freedman 16:51
Right. Yeah.
Laurie James 16:54
So can you explain to our listeners, what a giving cycle is? And what's involved through the process?
Mindy Freedman 17:05
Like the whole cycle?
Laurie James 17:06
Yeah, let's go through the whole cycle. I think that would be good.
Mindy Freedman 17:09
Yeah, I don't think your listeners are want to hear that.
Laurie James 17:11
Well, like no big picture, like just the overview.
Mindy Freedman 17:14
Okay. So basically, we have committees, so that every member who wants to be involved in some part of the process can be so we meet members where they're at some members just give their dollars and never show, never come to a meeting, and others come and participate. So we have a nomination committee, we take different ideas from our members of what they're interested in. We do, the Committee will look at the survey, we survey the members, what areas are most interested in, we always try to bring something new. An area that they may not be aware of. I don't know if you were around when we brought trafficking, which is a huge problem in Los Angeles, since we have such a large foster care population. Foster care youth.
Laurie James 17:57
I think that was before my time.
Mindy Freedman 17:58
Yeah, that was a I've never been in a room of women who I think only one knew what problem that is in the city was.
Laurie James 18:07
Yeah, it's bigger than people realize, sadly.
Mindy Freedman 18:10
So we like to kind of look around the community being nimble in our giving, as long as it falls under women, children and families, we want to try to curate, if you will, a really good selection of organizations so that they can learn, so they can be engaged. And so they can make a meaningful gift. After the nomination process, we invite certain organizations to apply in the spirit, again, of trust based philanthropy, we're trying not to be too rigorous in our process, we have an opportunity to speak with them ahead of time, and then we invite them to present and members get to vote, which is really fun and exciting, because you get to learn about different organizations. And those that move forward after the vote, they do a little bit longer application like not much longer. And then we start our due diligence process, which again, has committees, due diligence chairs and leads and they go out on site visits. Yeah. And we have high school students that attend this process, which is great. So we're inspiring givers of tomorrow. And speaking of that, we have members as young as thirty something. I think thirty up to ninety-four is our oldest member.
Laurie James 19:24
Wow!
Mindy Freedman 19:25
Members in almost every decade, which is really nice.
Laurie James 19:28
I love love.
Mindy Freedman 19:30
And then we're coming up on you know, our full length, then those organizations that move, have moved forward, we do site visits, then they get a chance to present like a long presentation to, you know, to really explain what their need is to us and then get funded. So that's pretty much the process. It's exciting.
Laurie James 19:49
It is very exciting. But just to make note of that, I mean, that is probably and tell me if I'm wrong. A six or seven months, maybe even eight month process from the very beginning of when you start looking at new organizations for the next cycle to the actual final presentations and funding, it's that correct?
Mindy Freedman 20:12
Yeah, you're right. It's about six, seven months.
Laurie James 20:14
Yeah.
Mindy Freedman 20:15
You know, we are fiscally sponsored by the California Community Foundation. So we can operate as a nonprofit but our one of our greatest partners is the Jewish Community Foundation, we work with their Center for Design Philanthropy, to help us vet also so that we communicate a lot with our community partners. And it's been really a win-win for everyone. So I know on the site visit the other day, we had some of the foundation's staff were there. So that was exciting to you know, we're we're all exchanging and sharing information, especially for the organization like they don't want to do two site visits, one for us and for the foundation. So we try to collaborate.
Laurie James 21:03
Yeah. And I love that you are bringing them more into the fold into the forefront. I think that's awesome.
Mindy Freedman 21:09
Yeah, they definitely elevate our process and provide a lot of expertise. And I'm looking forward to leaning into them a little bit more in the years to come. So I can be a free bird.
Laurie James 21:21
Yes, exactly.
Mindy Freedman 21:22
Right?
Laurie James 21:23
That's the goal. We're all trying to move more towards. Especially as right, because your youngest your son is a senior.
Mindy Freedman 21:31
He's going to be going to college. Yeah. Yeah. And I, you know, we, as you and I were talking the other night, doing all these things, mother, you know, daughter, sister, wife, friend, leader, trustee volunteer, this and that, you know, it's exhausting. And finding that time, I think that was pretty funny when I called you the other night, huh?
Laurie James 21:55
Yeah, you wanna to share a little bit?
Mindy Freedman 21:58
I'm gived out. I don't want to give any more.
Laurie James 22:01
So when you are gived out, what do you do to refuel yourself? Like you are I mean, you're you founded this incredible organization, and you're out there in the philanthropy world, and you are really becoming the steward within SAM, but also in the greater philanthropic community in LA, you know, you're a wife, you've got two children, you've got an elderly father, and that is a lot like a giver can get gived out. So how do you give back to yourself? In those moments, when you feel tapped out?
Mindy Freedman 22:38
Yeah, I think the first thing is acknowledging that I am tapped out. Sometimes you can run on empty for a while and you're wondering why people are flipping you off, and you just feel irritable and tired. And I think it's just going to stop just everything stop. I am, I need to take a pause. And then I've gotten a little better about doing that, out of daily practice, I wake up, I try to meditate, I exercise, which is really important for my mental health, I get my yaoyaos out because I have a lot of energy in the morning. And I really do enjoy the I'm at the very early so going to bed early is important for me, I'm up. I love, it's a special time for me, but I'm a natural early bird. And so there's a daily maintenance, which sometimes gets pulled fan. And then when there's the moment like I called you the other night, where I was gived out, it was just making some a little shift. Friend of mine always says what you feel is what you think. And I think sometimes it's mindset too. And just sometimes just stopping for a moment and putting my hands on my heart and just breathing.
Laurie James 23:50
Yeah, giving us that opportunity to take a break, whether it's for five minutes, or 10 minutes in the middle of the day. And just like, I'm not going to answer my phone, I'm gonna lay down on the bed or the couch, or whatever it is.
Mindy Freedman 24:03
I don't know if I can do that, okay, in the middle of the day, that's hard.
Laurie James 24:08
Yeah. So you give yourself the time in the morning and then...
Mindy Freedman 24:11
In the morning or at night, or sometimes I'll just take an entire day to myself, you know, it's the little bits but one thing that really helps me shift my mindset a lot is practicing gratitude. You know, we are so incredibly grateful. You have so much to be grateful for. I think about Thanksgiving, but to me it's just this greatest day to you know, Thanksgivings around the corner. Just a family coming in and family getting together. I'm going to come to your Thanksgiving because I prefer what you're serving than what we're serving, non traditional. I don't want turkey.
Laurie James 24:50
You want some salmon?
Mindy Freedman 24:52
Yes, salmon. But, you know, I think that gratitude, connecting with people who are like minded, who also practice gratitude, joy, being around people that make me feel joyful, really been mind- this is a big one, being mindful about the energy that people bring in around me that what kind of energy I'm around and protecting myself, if I'm feeling like my buffer is low, then I may just have to say no. So I know.
Laurie James 25:26
And that's a really great boundary, you know, in honoring ourselves, because we don't do that. And oftentimes, especially in our generation, we haven't been taught necessarily, to honor our own boundaries. It's like, oh, no, go give Uncle Joe a hug. You know, it's like, No, mommy, he gives me the creeps. No, it's okay. He's fine, right. And so we are kind of taught to not listen to our own instincts or our own boundaries. And so I think it's important for us to take that back. And when still, it's like, you know, maybe I'm not going to invite that relative who either drinks too much, or has outbursts at the dinner table, or whatever it is, or, you know, if it's a situation where you can't necessarily do that limit or manage how much exposure you have to that person. I think that that's really important.
Mindy Freedman 26:26
Yeah, that's beautiful what you said. One thing that I do try to listen to is that, that voice that knows those things, because sometimes it's really hard to hear that voice. I think that when you become still, like, just settled out, still take a breath, take a beat. It's the soft voice that tells you it's the intuitive voice, the soft voice when she when she speaks. She's speaking the truth. When it's a loud screaming voice. It's usually not that sure.
Laurie James 26:58
It's usually, yeah. Exactly. And that was a hard one for me to wrap my head around of, okay, when is it my intuition talking? And when is it, you know, my past that is resurfacing or my frustration or my anger? You know, what is this and that took me a long time to figure out but it's you typically the quiet little voice, sometimes that voice has to get louder and louder. And you know, because then it turns into a nudge. And in my case, it turned into a metaphorical two-by-four, it'd be upside down. So the goal is to listen to it, when is that quiet whisper, right? So it doesn't get to that greater force that tells us to wake up and listen to whatever it is we need.
Mindy Freedman 27:47
You just hit on something earlier about our society. And, you know, we're always going and doing and sometimes just acknowledging, like I have today, I have low clouds, you notice, like the weather will pass. But just to be in that space of like, am I feeling great today? It's okay.
Laurie James 28:07
Yeah. And honoring that, I mean, we're human beings, we are supposed to have a range of emotions. We're not always going to be this happy go lucky person, even though I mean, that's, we all enjoy that more. But it's like we have to experience the good and the bad.
Mindy Freedman 28:25
Yeah. And I think also, you and I've talked about this before, but as we sage, you know, you also learn to love yourself a little more and give yourself a little more latitude. A little more forgiving, and not caring as much about what others say.
Laurie James 28:40
Yeah. And there's freedom in that for sure.
Mindy Freedman 28:43
For sure, definitely.
Laurie James 28:46
So I have another question for you. And I love this little side conversation we had because I think it's so important, especially right now, with the holidays, we're going to be in the thick of the holidays, you know, in a nanosecond. In fact, this will probably drop on or around Thanksgiving. So but going back to philanthropy, if you could wave a magic wand, what would your vision be or your wish be for systemic change?
Mindy Freedman 29:16
Thank you for that question. I think about that a lot. I think I touched on it already. Which is to really if everybody could just give a little bit more take a little more risk with their philanthropic dollars, and maybe one more nonprofit wouldn't be formed, but maybe one more business would. People really don't want to stand in line. I think that just taking a little more risk, really moving organizations beyond dependency towards furthering their own sustainability. That's really I think, just to break that paradigm of the control of our giving and, you know, a little more willing to, to take a risk. What I was saying before, Laurie was that people, especially women who care so much care for their families sometimes are their soul, the soul, breadmaker, the domestic person, the reproductive person, they bet that triple role, they would much rather have access to capital so that they could increase their business or do something for themselves or help themselves, then wait in line for a handout. So that would be my magic wish my magic wand wish.
Laurie James 30:28
Beautiful. Let's put that in our thoughts and our wishes this holiday season, right? Because I'm in complete agreement with you on that. So in closing, and I think we already touched on this, but what's one confession that you would like to make to our listeners, and your take on it or your lesson learned from a confession that either we've we've talked about, or maybe one that has come up for you that we haven't discussed yet?
Mindy Freedman 30:57
A confession? I thought I already gave my confessions?
Laurie James 31:00
You see you did that even even a giver, and that's what you did. We talked about it already. As a giver, even a giver gets burnout.
Mindy Freedman 31:10
Yeah, I do. I get it.
Laurie James 31:11
If there's something else you want to share, no pressure.
Mindy Freedman 31:15
Oh, I know. This is something I don't think I shared with you the other day, but you didn't know that about me. I love to pick an Oracle Card from Love Your Inner Goddess, it's like a deck and I find it so inspiring. I know our listeners can't see. But these cards are gorgeous. Like this one. I just just hold right now. Sorry, what does it say? Daughter of the Sacred Heart. I can look it up and see today. We'll see if it fits. But they more often than not.
Laurie James 31:45
It's fitting right?
Mindy Freedman 31:47
Yeah.
Laurie James 31:47
That's beautiful. And so appropriate for our whole conversation today. Yeah. Thank you so much for being here. Mindy with me. And how can people find out about the SAM initiative?
Mindy Freedman 32:03
saminitiative.org if you can spell initiative.
Laurie James 32:09
You can find them, and I'll put the link in the show notes. So if you're listening to this, you can just tap on the show notes on the link and it'll take you straight to the SAM Initiative. So thank you. Thank you so much for being here.
Mindy Freedman 32:23
I really appreciate all of these interviews that you do. I've been listening to them. They're so inspiring, all different women with such incredible stories. And you're such a great questioner and get people to share and it's a lovely thing that you're doing to bring people had to let people find their voice and to share it with others. So thank you for the gift.
Laurie James 32:46
Yeah. Well, thank you. I feel honored to have this time with you and your friendship. And I look forward to continuing that through the years.
Mindy Freedman 32:59
Yeah, giving to each other.
Laurie James 33:01
Giving to each other. Yes.
Mindy Freedman 33:03
Thanks, Laurie.
Laurie James 33:03
Thank you for listening to this episode of Confessions of a Freebird. I'm grateful to be in your ears and hearts. If you're interested in becoming a free bird, I'd love to support you. Please check out my website at laurieejames.com to learn how we can work together or to sign up for my newsletter. So you can receive tips on how to date and relationship differently and ultimately find more freedom and joy in your life. If you found this podcast helpful, please follow or subscribe rate and review and share it with friends so they can find more freedom in their second or third act also. Until next time.