Break Fake Rules: Change Big Giving For Good

“It's only when you show your own courage that the performativeness of being inspired by others moves to allied-ness.” Ludovic Blain returns to Break Fake Rules, this time at a live recording at California Donor Table’s 20th anniversary convening and celebration! Last season, Ludovic delivered a master class in philanthropic giving across tax statuses. Now he’s back to urge us to play offense — by...

Farhad Ebrahimi: “What utility is it for grantmakers to survive this political moment if none of the organizations we believe in survive?” In this episode, Farhad Ebrahimi—Philanthropic Transformation Strategist and co-founder at Solidaire Network—joins Break Fake Rules to deliver a total takedown of philanthropy’s most pernicious fake rules. And he comes with receipts! Hear why Farhad spent down...

💡Ari: “Spending less now only protects institutions. Spending more now protects communities.” 💡Malila: “Foundations in general have the least to lose. This is the time to step up and take on more risk.” What happens when philanthropy stops playing it safe? In this episode, we go behind the scenes at the Stupski Foundation to reveal why we’re speeding up our spend down and putting 76% of our rema...

💡Marc Philpart: “I do have fear, but I refuse to be paralyzed by it. I refuse to not take action. I refuse to shy away from our commitment to our community.” How can we respond amid growing fear and political backlash against racial justice? In this inspiring episode, Marc Philpart, President and CEO of the Black Freedom Fund, discusses the Fund’s unwavering commitment to advancing Black freedom...

💡Richard Tate: “It’s time we recognize that there is an increased level of risk, but it's a risk worth taking.”  What keeps philanthropy from speaking out? And how can funders overcome fear and use our voices to protect communities against forces that seek to silence us? In this episode, Richard Tate from the California Wellness Foundation takes the mic to talk about how his foundation made...

💡Leah Hunt-Hendrix: “The 501(c)(3) is a social construct meant to protect wealth and give wealthy people a tax break for making a charitable contribution. It's not a necessity. You don't have to abide by it. A lot of mutual aid can happen outside of that structure.” Can solidarity heal our fractured democracy?  In this episode, organizer, donor, and writer, Leah Hunt-Hendrix, shares how soli...

Dr. Sulma Gandhi: “This is what I mean by the 'frustrating funder.’ When I was a grantee for all those years, I was always trying to fit my proposal or how I was pitching into the box of the funder who had a particular strategy from some other community, not that of ours.” What does it take to break free from frustrating funding practices? This month, Stupski Foundation’s Hawaiʻi health program of...

In this episode of Break Fake Rules, author and philanthropic rule-breaker Dimple Abichandani joins us at the Global Philanthropy Forum Leaders Summit to spill the tea on her new book, A New Era of Philanthropy .  💡Dimple Abichandani: “Philanthropy is unique because the rule that we need to move towards is that these funds are not meant to be maintained and grown. They're actually meant to b...

Sarah Longwell returns to Break Fake Rules, this time at the Forward Global Summit ! In this episode, Sarah breaks down the state of American democracy and the fractured media landscape in the wake of the election. How can philanthropists play a positive role in the effort to defend democracy and counter misinformation? Listen to Sarah to find out.  💡Sarah Longwell: “What is the point of hav...

In the season two premiere of Break Fake Rules, powerhouse rule-breaking duo Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor, and Heather Kinlaw Lofthouse, Director of Inequality Media join Glen Galaich to explore the challenges of polarity and the corrosive forces of wealth and power on democracy. How we can hold onto hope for a more just future in these challenging times? Tune in to find out. ...

Welcome back to Break Fake Rules with Glen Galaich, CEO of the Stupski Foundation. This season, we're excited to bring you a new slate of inspiring rule-breakers in media, government, philanthropy, and more. Listen to a preview of the new season. Full episodes drop monthly starting February 26, 2025.

Wait, there’s more! Tune into a bonus episode to hear some of our favorite rule-breaking moments from the season. Stay tuned for a special announcement about what’s next for Break Fake Rules. Break Fake Rules is a podcast from the Stupski Foundation that questions philanthropy’s self-imposed rules and explores ways it can better serve communities and contribute to lasting change.  Host: Glen...

“We have to find a way to break down the dynamic of power that has created this gulf between us and who gets funded.” - Julián Castro For the finale of Break Fake Rules, Glen sits down with longtime political rulebreaker, Julián Castro! Filmed in front of a studio audience at the National Forum on Family Philanthropy , hear Glen and Julián discuss the fake rules Julián encountered throughout his c...

“Philanthropy has these ways of carving out money and setting it aside. Is there another way to think about what to do with money that exists in this world? Shouldn’t we be thinking about different ways of activating it now?” - Jennifer Risher Break Fake Rules is a podcast from the Stupski Foundation that questions philanthropy’s self-imposed rules and looks for ways philanthropy can better serve...

“ Spending down enables us to make larger investments in our grantees to take bigger swings at addressing the barriers that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities face when accessing health care .” Break Fake Rules is a podcast from the Stupski Foundation that questions philanthropy’s self-imposed rules and looks for ways philanthropy can better serve communities and contribute to...

It’s time to Break Fake Rules, this time with two remarkable rule breakers who delve into race, philanthropy, and humanity. In this episode, Glen speaks with leading antiracist scholar and award winning author, Dr. Ibram X. Kendi and CEO of Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, Marcus Walton. Which rules must we break to create an antiracist world? Tune in to find out.  ”Racist ideas and b...

“When we're trying to make the change that we want by only using the tools that have tax benefits to the donors, we should be very explicit about that. And that dynamic is a fake rule that we need to interrupt.” Break Fake Rules is a podcast from the Stupski Foundation that questions philanthropy’s self-imposed rules and explores ways it can better serve communities and contribute to lasting chang...

“A.B.C. Always be challenging.” Break Fake Rules is a podcast from the Stupski Foundation that questions philanthropy’s self-imposed rules and explores ways it can better serve communities and contribute to lasting change.  In this episode, Glen talks with Rachel Pritzker, President and Founder of the Pritzker Innovation Fund . Rachel encourages us to lean into humility and curiosity to chall...

“We only see one side of the story, which is the giving of money but not the getting of money.” Break Fake Rules is a podcast from the Stupski Foundation that questions philanthropy’s self-imposed rules and looks for ways philanthropy can better serve communities and contribute to lasting change.  In this episode, Glen talks with Dr. Carmen Rojas, president and CEO of the Marguerite Casey Fou...

“We're stuck in our own infrastructure that we've created and we've bought into it. If we were just to take a pause and just think about that for a moment, what could we do more today to mitigate the problems down the road? I mean, we could solve a lot right now.”  Break Fake Rules is a podcast from the Stupski Foundation that questions philanthropy’s self-imposed rules and looks for ways phi...

“People should go push to liberate themselves. What do they want to do more of?” Break Fake Rules is a podcast from the Stupski Foundation that questions philanthropy’s self-imposed rules and looks for ways philanthropy can better serve communities and contribute to lasting change.  Glen talks with Sarah Longwell, president and CEO of Longwell Partners, founder of The Bulwark , and host of Th...

Break Fake Rules is a podcast from the Stupski Foundation that questions philanthropy’s self-imposed rules and looks for ways philanthropy can better serve communities and contribute to lasting change.  In our first episode of this series, Glen talks with Pia Infante, senior fellow at the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project, about the concept of a spend down, Trust-Based Philanthropy , and tappi...

“There’s all this wealth that’s locked up, that has been taken from the community that needs to be distributed back to the community.”  Break Fake Rules is a podcast from the Stupski Foundation that questions philanthropy’s self-imposed rules and looks for ways philanthropy can better serve communities and contribute to lasting change.  Glen speaks with Jennifer Nguyen , director of post...

Some rules are meant to be broken - especially the fake ones! Join Glen Galaich, CEO of the Stupski Foundation, and guests, as they question philanthropy’s self-imposed rules and look for ways philanthropy can better serve communities and contribute to lasting systems change. New episodes drop monthly starting on January 17. Click here to learn more about the Stupski Foundation.