Do One Better with Alberto Lidji in Philanthropy, Sustainability and Social Entrepreneurship

In this compelling conversation, Inger Ashing, CEO of Save the Children International, offers an unflinching examination of the state of children's rights in a world increasingly defined by conflict, climate disruption, and political fragmentation. She reflects on the historic roots of Save the Children, founded in the aftermath of World War I with a radical vision that children, regardless of nat...

Emma Haddad, Chief Executive of St Mungo’s, provides a clear and thoughtful examination of homelessness in England and the work being done to respond to it. St Mungo’s, established in 1969, supports around 25,000 people each year through outreach, housing, and recovery services. Haddad explains that homelessness is not simply about lacking shelter, but often about a deeper set of issues that requi...

Alison Covington AM, Founder and Managing Director of Good360 Australia, shares the powerful story of how her organization is “matching spare with need”—connecting businesses with surplus brand-new goods to charities and disadvantaged schools across the country. Through a sophisticated tech platform and logistics model, Good360 creates what Covington calls “a circle of good,” ensuring that valuabl...

Naina Batra, CEO of AVPN, offers a forward-looking and strategic view into the evolution of social investment across Asia. With the upcoming launch of ImpactCollab, AVPN is not merely introducing a platform — it is catalyzing an infrastructure for cross-border philanthropy and capital deployment across Asia’s fragmented social impact landscape. AVPN is a social investment network based in Asia and...

Mark Fawcett, Chief Executive Officer of Nest Invest, explores how the UK’s pension system has been transformed to serve a broader and more economically diverse workforce. Nest is the largest multi-employer pension fund in the UK, and it handles the retirement savings for nearly one-third of the UK working population. Nest Invest is the asset manager of Nest.  Fawcett offers a compelling narrative...

Helen Mountford, President and CEO of the ClimateWorks Foundation, provides a clear and structured overview of the current state of climate philanthropy and its role in supporting decarbonization, resilience, and systemic climate solutions. ClimateWorks, founded in 2008, was established to improve coordination among climate funders and to identify high-impact interventions that can be supported at...

Fabio Segura, Co-CEO of the Jacobs Foundation, offers a deep dive into the foundation’s bold and evidence-driven approach to improving learning outcomes in low- and high-resource environments alike. At the heart of the discussion is a new $120 million co-funding initiative in Ghana—an ambitious, multi-stakeholder collaboration bringing together the country’s Ministry of Education, the World Bank,...

Philippa Charles, Director of the DFN Charitable Foundation, leads a conversation on the Foundation’s strategic philanthropic approach and its distinctive commitment to long-term, systems-level impact. With a background in leading one of the UK’s major family foundations and now at the helm of DFN, she offers a compelling look at how deeply personal motivations can shape focused and effective gran...

In this compelling episode, Vishal Sunil, Co-Founder and CTO of Rocket Learning, offers a nuanced and forward-looking perspective on the intersection of artificial intelligence and early childhood education in India. Rocket Learning, a social impact organization working with over 3.2 million students across 10 Indian states, is radically transforming how foundational learning is delivered to under...

This conversation offers an illuminating view into the intersection of entrepreneurship, climate innovation, and ecosystem-building, as seen through the partnership between SparkCharge and the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI). Josh Aviv, Founder and CEO of SparkCharge, and Matt Petersen, President and CEO of LACI, detail the transformative impact of incubator support on the successful deploy...

Shloka Nath, Chief Executive Officer of the India Climate Collaborative (ICC), offers an in-depth look at the launch of the HCL ClimaForce Fund, a new initiative designed to bridge the critical gap between promising climate innovations and wide-scale adoption. The fund marks a notable evolution in Indian philanthropy, particularly in the climate mitigation space — an area that has historically rec...

Nicole Rycroft, Founder and Executive Director of Canopy, shares a comprehensive view of how her organization leverages the global marketplace to catalyze large-scale forest conservation. Founded in 1999, Canopy is a solutions-driven nonprofit dedicated to safeguarding the world’s ancient and endangered forests by working with diverse stakeholders, including key corporate actors to reform supply c...

In this episode, Jordana Barrack, Executive Director of the Mighty Arrow Family Foundation, offers a compelling perspective on how funders can rethink philanthropy by centering empathy, trust, and long-term relationships in their work. The foundation, established by Kim Jordan, co-founder of New Belgium Brewing Company, is a family-led philanthropy focused on climate change, food systems, land and...

Christopher Coritsidis, Founder of the Opus 1 Foundation, presents a vision for how the arts can play a practical and effective role in driving social impact. His work focuses on leveraging the power of creative expression to address real-world challenges such as economic inequality, social injustice, and environmental sustainability. The Opus 1 Foundation brings together a wide-ranging network of...

In a wide-ranging and thought-provoking conversation, Pia Rebello Britto, Global Director of Education and Adolescent Development at UNICEF, unpacks the sobering reality of education in the face of accelerating climate change and systemic inequality. Drawing on her extensive global experience and UNICEF’s latest report, "Learning Interrupted: Global snapshot of climate-related school disruptions i...

In this powerful and urgent conversation, Baroness Joanna Shields offers a compelling account of her work founding and leading the WeProtect Global Alliance—a coalition of over 100 governments and 320 organisations uniting to combat the growing threat of online child sexual abuse and exploitation. A former tech executive and government minister, she bridges sectors to drive systemic change, confro...

In a wide-ranging and deeply personal conversation, Tiffany Yu, CEO and Founder of Diversability, explores the transformational potential of disability advocacy, the importance of representation, and the expansive reach of community-building. As the architect of Diversability—a global community now numbering more than 80,000 individuals—Tiffany has created a platform that empowers disabled individ...

Valeria Scorza, CEO of Fundación Avina, offers a compelling exploration of how philanthropy can act as an orchestrator in addressing some of the most pressing challenges facing Latin America and the broader Global South. With a 30-year legacy of fostering sustainable development, Fundación Avina operates at the intersection of climate action, democratic innovation, and economic transformation, wor...

The opening ceremony of the Special Olympics World Winter Games have just taken place in Turin, Italy on 8th March 2025. Today, we welcome leaders from Special Olympics and The Coca-Cola Company onto this episode of the Do One Better Podcast. Zehra Sayin is the Chief Marketing, Communications and Development Officer at the Special Olympics; and Tim Dignard is Senior Director, Global Sports Partner...

Fay Twersky, President and Director at the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, on Accelerating Giving and Tackling Society’s Biggest Challenges. The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, founded nearly 30 years ago, is committed to accelerating philanthropy and tackling some of the most pressing challenges of our time. Arthur M. Blank co-founded The Home Depot. Under the leadership of Fay Twersky, the...

Doug Griffiths, President of the Oak Foundation, on the power of philanthropy, transforming lives, strengthening communities, and addressing inequities in ways that neither governments nor markets can achieve alone. The Oak Foundation exemplifies this potential, channeling nearly half a billion dollars annually into causes that seek to make the world a safer, fairer, and more sustainable place. Fr...

Mohamed Osman, CEO of Spring Impact, on Scaling Social Innovation. Spring Impact was founded on the belief that social innovation must be scaled strategically and sustainably to meet the sheer magnitude of today’s problems. Rather than focusing solely on organisational growth, Spring Impact works with mission-driven organisations and funders to help them design pathways for scaling impact in ways...

Shamina Singh is the Founder and President of the Center for Inclusive Growth — Mastercard's social impact hub. The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth was founded with the intention of redefining corporate engagement in the social sector, moving beyond traditional philanthropy to leverage the full spectrum of Mastercard’s assets — technology, data, AI, expertise, and capital — in ways that dri...

Danil Mikhailov, Executive Director of Data.org, on AI for Social Impact. Established five years ago by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, Data.org is a nonprofit dedicated to advancing the use of data and AI for social good.  The rapid evolution of AI and data science presents both an unprecedented opportunity and a growing challenge for the social impact s...

Leslie Johnston, CEO of the Laudes Foundation, delivers an insightful exploration into the transformative work her organisation undertakes to combat climate change and foster a just transition to a sustainable and inclusive economy. As the leader of a relatively young foundation founded in 2020, Leslie underscores the urgency of addressing the "polycrisis" of climate change, inequality, and econom...