ELEVATE

JL
Thank you both for speaking with us about the critical support you are providing across sectors and across the globe. There’s lots to discuss, so let’s start at the beginning. You two, as Founder and CEO, share an incredible responsibility together, directing resources in a world that is aching for change, and with partners who are ready to fund the work being done in real time. Tell us about the catalyst or “AHA!” moment for the foundation and how you two came to work together.

JD
There were many aha moments! I’m an entrepreneur at heart, and I’m a big believer in entrepreneurial philanthropy. I wanted to leverage my resources, multiply the impact, and then inspire others to problem solve in their own communities. 

The initial premise was simple: find the most incredible social impact leaders—the best in class—and then invest in them to maximize the effect they have on the world. And, in doing so, elevate human consciousness. 

Suffice it to say that having this vision wasn’t enough—I knew I needed an exceptional leader to bring that vision into reality.  After a year-long nationwide search, we found Carolina.

CJ
When I first met with Joe, I was immediately struck by his vision. In so many ways, we’re very similar. It was when he spoke about “elevating human consciousness” that I knew we should work together. In my spiritual practice, we believe that service to humanity and our planet is a key pathway to elevating our consciousness. The idea of bringing visibility to social impact leaders for the purpose of inspiring others towards service spoke to the possibility of uniting the principles of social impact and catalyzing global change. 

After 20 years in the art world, I was most drawn to the artists having social impact, but I was new to this sector. I was drawn to how Joe was and is so willing to take a risk and challenge the status quo. In many ways, I’m a rule breaker by nature, and we have that in common. 

JL
“Making Good Famous” is a damn good tagline. How did this phrase originate and why do you think it so accurately describes the mission and vision for the organization?

JD
As with most good ideas, it was a team effort. The more we explored what we wanted to create, and why, and how, we zeroed in until someone came up with the tagline. But the issue isn’t about fame for fame’s sake. Rather, it’s about inspiration. It’s about creating an ecosystem where we can find, follow, and celebrate social heroes… and be inspired by them. Such systems already exist for other categories. Thus, we can all name dozens of our favorite athletes, musicians, actors. But how many of us can name more than a few social impact leaders? Most of us know Greta and Malala, and Nelson Mandela and the Dali Lama… but that’s usually where it ends. Social impact leaders are some of the most awe-inspiring people on the planet—working around the clock to make our world better. And, yet, we don’t know about them.

Filling that gap is a big part of what we’re here to do. We need to create an ecosystem to learn the stories of these leaders, their world-changing innovations and, perhaps most importantly, discover how we all might be a part of that change. We all need heroes, heroes that inspire us. That’s where the magic happens. That’s how we change the world.

CJ
We all need to be a part of the solution. For me, it’s all about creating a culture shift. These issues, these innovations, these leaders, they should be at the center of the narrative, not off on the sidelines. For so long, the idea of philanthropy and social change lived on the fringe—a nice to have, not a need to have. And it certainly wasn’t a part of the day to day. We need to create space and weave good into the cultural fabric. 

Only when we Make Good Famous, bring visibility to the best changemakers, and create a fanbase for good—whether through content, media, or creators—will we see a profound shift and lasting, meaningful change. Since visibility has never been the goal for social impact investment, most content speaks to the sector and remains in an echo chamber. For a true culture shift, we need to understand and communicate within the mainstream cultural context and for that reason we have a Hollywood-trained CMO and collaborations with YouTube, FastCompany, CNN, and others. 

JL
With so many under-funded visionaries doing awesome work throughout the world, how can you possibly narrow it down? It’s an important challenge that Elevate is—pun intended—rising to. Can you take us through your process of nomination, vetting, and selection?

CJ
It’s an exhaustive process to be sure! With the last cycle, we brought the process entirely in-house, which we are very proud of. We accept public nominations, though most of the nominations come to us through our wonderful Pipeline Partners, who are some of the most credible and respected foundations and nonprofits on the planet such as MacArthur, Ford, Draper Richards Kaplan, and the Obama Foundation to name a few, and from there, applications are by invitation only.

We conduct an intensive due diligence process, ensuring that all of the semi-finalists meet the allotted criteria and have demonstrated an exceptional degree of impact on the communities they serve. Our panel of judges—who in 2022 included Elevate Prize winners Dixon Chibanda and Amanda Nguyen, CNN Young Wonder Tiana Day, and Elevate Prize Catalyst Award recipient Malala Yousafzai—bring a phenomenal amount of experience, expertise, and perspective to the table, narrowing the list of semi-finalists down to 20 finalists who undergo a thorough interview process. Finally,  ten winners are selected. Though, this year, we ultimately selected twelve—there were just too many amazing candidates to choose from!

JD
I love it! There’s nothing more inspiring than learning about and speaking with these leaders. Truly, you can’t help but be blown away. Their potential, their passion, their purpose is unmatched. We’re just honored to play a small role in empowering their journey. 

JL
The Foundation’s goal to “Make Good Famous” is gaining serious traction. Within the last two years we’ve seen the foundation pop up to elevate awardees of other collaborators, from the YouTube Streamy Awards to CNN Heroes. We’ve also seen the foundation award and partner with highly influential changemakers like Malala Yousafzai and the Malala Fund. Are there any new partnerships you’re looking towards? Any new in-house initiatives in the works?

JD
CNN Heroes had long been on my list as far as what inspired me and excited me about this work… and now we’re working together. Collaborations and partnerships are such a critical part of this effort. Like most things in life, you can’t do it alone. For example, we work with Bridgespan and other top tier providers to help augment and elevate all of our work. In addition, our Elevate Prize Catalyst Award winners like Malala Yousafzai and George and Amal Clooney have enormous, wide-reaching platforms that they are choosing to leverage for good. And media brands like the YouTube Streamy Awards and CNN Heroes are beloved and trusted by millions of viewers. 

CJ
By collaborating with these powerful forces, we can reach and inspire the public with the stories of social impact leaders, bring social good out of the fringe and into the limelight, and drive people to take action. GenZ is demanding this from the brands, celebrities, and the platforms that they engage with. Performative philanthropy is not enough. This generation is demanding that we all live our values and they want real results. As with most trends, they largely begin with youth. I think we all see a larger movement of folks seeking purpose and meaning, whether in our jobs or consumer choices, and we believe that Elevate’s theory of change complements this trend.

In May of this year, we are hosting our inaugural Make Good Famous Summit. The theme is around Reimagining Culture to Power Change—and the realization of that vision, in many ways, depends on cultivating unexpected cross-sector partnerships. Content creators should be speaking with the visionaries and activists we work with because their mutual values and ambition can only fuel each other’s objectives. Brands should be partnering with them to shift the culture and build awareness around these monumental issues because their customers are expecting brands to lead systemic changes, whether it’s leading on climate change, racial justice or mental health. 

We are always looking to continue to build out partnerships with like-minded organizations, brands, you name it. Several exciting new opportunities are in the works, and we hope to have more to share soon! 

JL
Who are some of the heroes inspiring both of you? 

CJ
It goes without saying that all of our winners are on that list! Lately, I’d have to say that both Bianca Tylek of Worth Rises and Sana Mustafa of Asylum Access are personal heroes of mine. They are both taking on severely broken, astronomical systems and fighting for vulnerable communities; Bianca is fighting the industrial prison system, while Sana is fighting for the rights of refugees. Both take an enormous amount of courage.

JD
It’s a long, long list. Generally, it’s people who create and accomplish and help. They tend to fall into certain categories, e.g., innovators, artists, activists, and optimists. They make the world better for all of us, through dedication, perseverance, and love (of something or someone).

These days, it’s hard not to be inspired by the entire Ukrainian nation. What they endure on a daily basis is barely imaginable. They have turned that hardship, and love of country and family, into an indomitable force that has galvanized the western world in ways that no politicians ever could.

Personal challenges come in every shape and size. And they are all around us; we merely have to open our eyes… and be inspired. And then rise to the occasion.

JL
Last year, the foundation launched the Elevate Prize GET LOUD Award. Who are the intended recipients of the GET LOUD award? How is Elevate leveraging technology like social media platforms to get the message out? What are you learning about your audience as you continue to grow your digital presence?

JD
In many ways, the success of the Elevate Prize GET LOUD Award has been a delightful surprise! When we first launched it, it was as an experiment. What if we created a prize that lived only on Instagram and the nominations of which were entirely generated by the public? 

CJ
The energy and engagement around GET LOUD has been tremendous. Month over month, we see hundreds—if not thousands—of comments pour in. It has really shown us that people want a tool to take action directly and that these grassroots organizations have an outsized impact on their communities. There is so much love for these organizations;  it’s really been beautiful to see. And, again, so much of that energy comes from GenZ. They continue to live up to their reputation of being the Activist Generation. We also love that the smaller organizations that qualify for GET LOUD (all must have under $1M budgets) tend to have the greatest proximity to the issues they are addressing and play a vital role in their immediate communities’ health. 

JL
Carolina, you traveled to India to visit Dr. Aparna Hegde. Dr. Hegde is the founder of the ARMMAN Organization and a winner of the Elevate Prize. How did visiting Dr. Hegde and seeing her work’s impact firsthand affect you? 

CJ
Such a meaningful and rewarding experience. Dr. Aparna never ceases to amaze me with her devotion to this work and unending generosity in bringing us into her world. While everything we witnessed was astounding, I was perhaps most moved by my visit to the Adivasi tribe. Seeing the Ashas,  frontline workers who essentially operate as nurses for pregnant and postpartum women, care for their patients and their children was so astonishing. 

Seeing Aparna in action made me appreciate her all the more and was a stirring reminder of why I am so grateful for our organization and mission. We have this life to help drive progress toward a loving, safe and equitable world. Because of Elevate’s work, world changers like Aparna and our many winners are thriving. It was humbling, to say the least. Her organization, ARMMAN, has reached over 30M women and babies to date and is on track to reach 75M in the next five years. Bringing awareness to this work directly impacts those numbers and Aparna’s story is one the world would love! Be on the lookout for the truly inspiring content we shot with our crew during that trip. 

JL
What are the main takeaways with regards to advocacy that you hope people learn from the organizations you celebrate?

CJ
I hope that we start to see a real shift in philanthropy: that foundations reexamine their role and embrace a more equitable and partner-based relationship with the organizations they support. By easing restrictions on funding and taking bigger risks, making multi-year grants and investing in visibility to power change, I believe we will see a monumental shift in impact. And I hope with the right stories and accessibility, more people will seek their own pathways to doing more good, a gift to themselves and the world.  

JD
For me, it’s always been about inspiring the world; about inspiration leading to understanding, and then self-realization. Helping people learn—and believe—that they have agency. What then follows is action, collaboration, and a better, happier, world for all of us. 

Investing in these leaders, and others, has an immediate impact on solving problems and growing good. Ultimately, it’s about igniting a global movement for good, and helping people to awaken to their potential to be a part of it. As I like to say, when you make good famous, you take good further. It’s a catalytic effect. And I do believe we’re all waking up, so let’s keep going. 

JL
Thank you both so much for spending time with us and sharing your thoughts. You’re truly an inspiring pair, and we’re excited to see where your organization leads us all toward the next big thing in doing good!