The Giving Done Right Podcast with Phil Buchanan

Latest Episodes:

Lysa Ratliff Wants You to Trust Her Sep 24, 2026

Show notes

As nonprofits face sharply increased demand, deep federal funding cuts, and a fundraising climate unlike anything in recent memory, Lysa Ratliff, CEO of KABOOM!, joins Phil Buchanan for an unusually candid conversation about what it takes to lead right now, and why she refuses to soften the truth to make anyone comfortable.

Ratliff discusses KABOOM!'s new report, State of Our Kids, which finds that 28 million children in the U.S. don't have access to a quality park within a 10-minute walk from their home. She explains why play is the foundation of childhood development, and walks through the report's unflinching look at the mental health crisis facing young people, including the adultification of Black children and the impact of a rise in ICE arrests on Latino families. She also talks candidly about the promise and limits of a landmark, unrestricted MacKenzie Scott gift, why so few other funders have followed that lead, and why she believes donors need to stop nitpicking nonprofits' budgets and start trusting their expertise to solve solvable problems.

In a time defined by uncertainty, Ratliff makes the case for honesty over comfort: "It's not someone's right and someone's wrong. It's how do we, as adults, have really honest conversations that allow us to see very clearly what's going on around us and what we need to do to solve those challenges."

Resources:

KABOOM!

State of Our Kids Report

The 25 in 5 Initiative to End Playspace Inequity

Center for Effective Philanthropy State of Nonprofits 2026: What Donors Need to Know

Youth Truth

Jeff Atwood and Dr. Betsy Burton Are Giving Big and Fast Sep 17, 2026

Show notes

Phil Buchanan sits down with spouses Jeff Atwood, co-founder of Stack Overflow and Discourse, and Dr. Betsy Burton, a scientist who has helped develop cancer therapies, to talk about their commitment to give away $50 million, half their family's wealth, over five years, with the bulk of it going toward guaranteed income programs in rural America.

Jeff and Betsy describe a two-part strategy that began with $1 million, no-strings-attached gifts to eight organizations they trusted to excel with the money, before turning to what they call "fire abatement": tackling the systemic conditions that create so much need in the first place. That work led them to guaranteed income pilots in West Virginia, North Carolina, and Mississippi, run in partnership with GiveDirectly and built on research from Open Research's landmark basic income study. They share what that data actually shows about how people spend unconditional cash — including a drop in substance use and unexpectedly high rates of people sharing their payments with neighbors in need — and push back hard on the assumptions that so often shape how donors think about giving directly to people.

The conversation also gets personal, as Jeff reflects on his father's own path out of generational poverty in West Virginia, and the two discuss raising philanthropically minded kids, their admiration for MacKenzie Scott's trust-based approach, and their frustration with slow-moving giving pledges that lack a real timeline for getting money out the door.

Resources:

Stay Gold, America

"We Have Everything We Need": Jeff Atwood and Betsy Burton's Bold Mission to Guarantee Minimum Income in Rural America - Denver Frederick

Giving Cash to Those in Need with Paul Niehaus of GiveDirectly

Fighting Poverty with Direct Cash Transfers, Featuring Jesús Gerena

UBI Data

SEED Project

Breaking the Mold: The Transformative Effects of MacKenzie Scott’s Big Gifts

Introducing: Season 6 of Giving Done Right Sep 10, 2026

Show notes

Federal policy shifts continue to upend the landscape for domestic nonprofits, civil society, and international aid alike, leaving donors facing urgent questions about where and how to give.

This season on the Giving Done Right podcast, host Phil Buchanan sits down with philanthropic and nonprofit leaders to explore what effective giving looks like in a moment of real strain and real opportunity. Together, these conversations dig into the questions donors are asking today: how to give when trust and partnership matter more than ever, the tension between short-term needs and a long-term view, and what good stewardship really demands of those with the resources to act. Follow along with season six of Giving Done Right for candid, urgent, and ultimately hopeful conversations about how to make your charitable giving as effective, and as meaningful, as it can be.

A Special Goodbye from Grace Aug 27, 2026

Show notes

After 15 years at CEP and more than 50 episodes co-hosting Giving Done Right, Grace Nicolette is stepping away. In this special episode, Phil Buchanan turns the microphone to her. Together they look back on how philanthropy has shifted over the past decade and a half, from the rise of multi-year general operating support to the risks of inaction in a moment of crisis?

Grace shares the guests and stories that have stayed with her, including April Tam Smith, Jeremy Lin, and a give and take with GiveDirectly's Paul Niehaus over effective altruism. She also opens up about the personal threads running through her career: her faith, her parents' own story of generosity, and the family reasons drawing her toward her next chapter. Through it all, one idea keeps surfacing for Grace: in philanthropy, relationships matter most.

Resources:

A Fond Farewell to a Catalyst of CEP’s Growth and Evolution

Relationships Matter: Program Officers, Grantees, and the Keys to Success

We Need Your Help Feb 10, 2026

Show notes

We want to hear from you about how the conversations on this podcast are making a difference in your approach to philanthropy. If our show has helped you, we want to hear about it! Can you take a few moments to send us a voice memo to gdrpodcast@cep.org?

Please include your name, institutional affiliation if you have one, role, and the answer to these questions: What specific ways has Giving Done Right influenced your giving and the way you think about philanthropy? And if it hasn't, what topics would you like to hear that would help?

Share your voice memo with us at gdrpodcast@cep.org. We can’t wait to hear from you! Thanks for listening!

Ezra Klein on Philanthropy’s Role at a Precarious Time Dec 02, 2025

Show notes

As the current federal administration makes sweeping cuts to social safety net programs, political divisions deepen, and the guardrails of American democracy are tested, what is philanthropy’s role in this precarious time?

In the final episode of this season, Phil Buchanan and Grace Nicolette interview New York Times columnist and podcast host Ezra Klein live at CEP’s 2025 conference. Klein contends that America needs to renew a politics of plenty, face up to the failures of liberal governance, and abandon what he calls the chosen scarcities that have deformed American life. But what does this analysis mean for philanthropy, particularly at a moment of so many competing and urgent crises?

Additional Resources:

“Mounting Pressure: U.S. Foundations and Nonprofits on the 2025 Political Climate”

Elisha Smith Arrillaga, Ph.D. on the Giving Done Right podcast

“Abundance,” by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson

Lessons on Disaster Giving With Patty McIlreavy Nov 20, 2025

Show notes

Effective disaster giving often begins before a disaster even occurs. So says Patty McIlreavy, president and CEO of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, in this popular episode from the Giving Done Right archives. In conversation with hosts Phil Buchanan and Grace Nicolette, Patty offers insight into how donors can support disaster prevention by focusing on reducing vulnerabilities as well as support recovery efforts, and the most common pitfalls for donors to consider when responding to disasters. Patty shares her deep expertise on what can make disaster giving successful (or unsuccessful) and the three discuss examples that still hold lessons for donors looking to mitigate disasters — or prevent them — today.

Additional Resources:

Center for Disaster Philanthropy

From Rapid Response to Sustainable Solutions: Disaster Response and Recovery in Post-Earthquake Haiti – Harvard Humanitarian Initiative Report

“Complex Humanitarian Emergencies: Where Crisis, Conflict, Climate, and COVID Meet” – Center for Disaster Philanthropy

Disasters, Dollars And Decisions: Lessons For Nonprofits To Prioritize Where And How To Help – Forbes

Unprecedented Times Call For Unprecedented Actions – Forbes

Asset-Based Framing: Trabian Shorters

Mounting Pressure on Nonprofits: What Donors Need to Know with Elisha Smith Arrillaga Nov 13, 2025

Show notes

Federal funding cuts and increased demand for their services have left nonprofits across the country and issue areas reeling, with many questioning whether they will survive. The consequences are stark, given the vital work nonprofits do in communities across the country. In this episode, CEP Vice President of Research Elisha Smith Arrillaga, Ph.D. shares just-collected data on what nonprofits are experiencing, exploring questions like which nonprofits have been hardest hit and what steps organizations are taking to respond.

She also talks with Phil Buchanan about data on the foundation response to the situation, exploring lessons for individual and institutional donors alike. Smith Arrillaga argues that the existential challenges nonprofits are facing require bold, values-driven responses from donors.

Additional Resources:

New CEP Research: “Mounting Pressure: U.S. Foundations and Nonprofits on the 2025 Political Climate”

CEP’s annual “State of Nonprofits” report for 2025, published May 2025

March 2025 CEP Research snapshot: “Challenging Times”

A compilation of additional resources for funders on responding to the current context on the CEP blog

How to Get Boards to Help With Fundraising, From The Chronicle of Philanthropy Nov 06, 2025

Show notes

This week on Giving Done Right, we’re introducing you to another podcast we love: Nonprofits Now: Leading Today, from The Chronicle of Philanthropy. In this episode, two leaders, Kathleen St. Louis Caliento and Nick Grono, join Chronicle CEO Stacy Palmer to explain how they have engaged their board in financial efforts.

As nonprofits face economic headwinds — including losses in federal funding, rising costs, and the possibility of a global recession — nonprofit boards play an increasingly essential role. Trustees help with strategy and can also be powerful donors and fundraisers. Yet fewer than a quarter of respondents to a Chronicle survey described their board members as enthusiastic fundraisers.

Grono and St. Louis Caliento share their advice on how to inspire boards to champion your mission and share insights from their shared experience of working with trustees to manage unrestricted, multimillion-dollar grants from MacKenzie Scott.

St. Louis Caliento runs Cara Collective, a Chicago nonprofit that helps low-income people find jobs. Grono heads the Freedom Fund, an organization that pools funds from donors who want to fight modern-day slavery. He’s the author of “How to Lead Nonprofits: Turning Purpose into Impact to Change the World,” published in 2024.

Building Better Schools: David McKinney on Why Student Voice Matters Oct 30, 2025

Show notes

What happens when education reform takes place without the input or engagement of the young people who will experience its effects? Conversely, what happens when youth voices lead the way to change? Phil Buchanan and Grace Nicolette sit down with their CEP colleague David McKinney, vice president of YouthTruth — a CEP initiative — to discuss how systematically listening to young people at scale can transform education, both at the school and system level.

David shares not only his own formative experiences facing exclusion as a young person, but draws on data collected from more than 3 million student surveys YouthTruth has administered to offer powerful examples of how schools have used student voice to close achievement gaps, address bullying, improve belonging, and build stronger communities. He also challenges common assumptions that have undergirded education reforms for decades, including top-down approaches and using common metrics of success, like test scores, in isolation.

Additional Resources:

YouthTruth’s “Youth Civic Empowerment” Report

“The Anti-Bullying Report” from YouthTruth

Questions about YouthTruth’s work? Reach out to David at david.mckinney@youthtruth.org