Synergos Cultivate the Soul: Stories of Purpose-Driven Philanthropy

Listen to hear Ajay’s reflections on love and service, about the importance of being instead of doing, about our inter-connectedness and the power of living the example. Ajay was born into a working-class immigrant family from India. A deep spiritual calling led him to become a monk in his late teens, where he spent almost a decade in service, spiritual practice, and deep reflection on how to real...

Listen to hear how Sister Jayanti and the Brahma Kumaris are spreading love and peace in creative ways and with great global reach. She shares how inner transformation can be a tool of positive change, including on issues like climate change. Sister Jayanti is the Additional Administrative Head of The Brahma Kumaris, the world’s largest spiritual organisation to be led by women. She is a spiritual...

Listen to hear how Farahnaz, based on her field experience from Bosnia to Afghanistan, is transforming her passion to contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through  Insaan Group ’s catalytic capital approach, now scaling through  Impact Footprint . Dr. Farahnaz Karim is founder and CEO of Insaan Group. Insaan works with philanthropists and impact investors to invest in solution...

Listen to hear how Richard is forging a new way of family philanthropy. After 25 years in The Russell Family Foundation and co-Founding the Clementine Fund, Richard shares key learnings. He also shares examples of how they empower their partner communities, activate their values in every area of the business and practice trust-based philanthropy.   Richard Russell is a co-founder of the Clementine...

Listen to hear Bob share his personal story growing up and how this has influenced his view and work in the world. How, through the Fetzer Insitute, they are building a global movement grounded in love, human flourishing and our shared sacred story. Bob Boisture has served as President and CEO of the Fetzer Institute since 2013, and during this time, helped the Institute adopt its current mission...

Listen to hear how Kat and Mowlgi Mentoring are supporting entrepreneurs and leaders to build purposeful connections within themselves and others to better solve local and global challenges. Kat is a global nomad who is driven to eradicate loneliness within and outside of ourselves. She is focused on nurturing connectedness, meaningful relationships and communities that enable people to overcome t...

Listen to hear how Nitya is transforming her passion for public health to create systems change by working with communities academia and philanthropy. Dr Nitya Mohan Khemka is Director of the Nand and Jeet Khemka Foundation, a family foundation that focuses on strategic philanthropy.  She is also Director, Global Alliances at PATH- a global Health think-tank focusing on health equity. Prior to PAT...

Listen to hear how Tracy has transformed personal trauma to help others. How she is using art for healing, for connection and to raise awareness about social justice issues to affect change.   Tracy Ferron is the Founder and Executive Director of Life on Earth Art , a California-based non-profit organization working to heal trauma and division in our society by fusing community art-making, art the...

What I loved about this conversation with Satish is learning how he has taken action his whole life to transform the world into a spiritual place; and how he sees the intersection between spirituality and ecology. He shares his view of philanthropy as moving from me to we, from and ego to eco. Peace-pilgrim, life-long activist, and former monk, Satish Kumar has been inspiring global change for ove...

What I loved about this conversation with Kim is hearing her personal stories and experiences that brought her to dedicate her life to belonging and social connectedness. Kim Samuel is an activist, educator and movement builder. She is the Founder and Chief Belonging Officer of the Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness, named in honour of her late father. She is president of the Samuel Family Fou...

What I love about this conversation with Howard is his passion for using impact investing to address large-scale social problems. He shared his story of personal transformation after facing a crisis, which led him to co-create Gratitude Railroad, working to create deep social and environmental impact through investments. Howard is co-founder and Chief Evangelist of Gratitude Railroad. Gratitude Ra...

What I love about this conversation with Gary is learning how The Saville Foundation is creating genuine partnerships through deep listening and working from the inside out, with people in the center. GARY SHEARER BIO THE SAVILLE FOUNDATION Born and schooled in Johannesburg South Africa, having a rich full-spectrum business experience in the IT wave of the ‘70’s and ‘80’s, including being a foundi...

What I love about this conversation with Hali is how she is working to democratize and diversify the field and practice of philanthropy. Listen to hear highlights from her ground-breaking report  Philanthropy Always Sounds Like Someone Else: A Portrait of High Net Worth Donors of Color , drawn from over 150 individual interviews of BIPOC donors across the US. Hali Lee is delighted to have been co-...

What I loved about this conversation with Katherine is how she and her family are learning together to take action together on sustainability; and how her time working with farmers in Oaxaca laid the groundwork for life’s passion to fight climate change. Katherine Lorenz is President of the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation ( www.cgmf.org ), a grantmaking foundation focusing on environmental...

Pascale Terra Deau is French Caribbean from Martinique, Black American, and Tsistitas (Cheyenne).  She works at the intersection of human development and sustainability. She is the creator of Haumea Ventures, a consulting firm that helps bring to life transformative and sustainable ideas and initiatives. Pascale is also the co-founder of Archery Foundation, an organization that supports...

Ajay Dahiya serves at Synergos in the capacity of Managing Director of Philanthropy.  Born into a working-class immigrant family from India, Ajay quickly internalized a sentiment that would dictate both his personal and professional lives for decades: the real privilege in life is the privilege of service. Growing up in a diverse and disparate environment in the outskirts of London, Ajay real...

Peter A. Seligmann is the CEO and co-founder of Nia Tero, working alongside Indigenous peoples and local communities in securing their rights, cultures, and well-being through agreements that secure the vitality of their oceans and lands. Peter is also the Chairman of the Board, and former CEO, of Conservation International. Listen to hear how from an early age Peter felt a deep connection to natu...

Dr. English Sall is a Board Member of the Sall Family Foundation and is the Co-founder and CEO of Cymantix, a company specializing in discovery and insight generation with unstructured text data. Listen to hear how English’s life was touched in her childhood by a beautiful act of caring and how that inspires her work to help humans reach their full potential. In her work she applies Industri...

Vuslat Doğan Sabancı is a business leader, a philanthropist and a leading voice on human rights, gender equality and freedom of expression both in Turkey and globally. In her 22 years at Hürriyet Publishing, the leading newspaper in Turkey, Ms. Doğan Sabancı served as the CEO between 2004-2008 and as the Chair of the Board of Directors for the following ten years. She left her position i...

Tomas Björkman is an author, social entrepreneur and the founder of Ekskäret Foundation Listen to hear Tomas’ worldview that we are at a time of great transformation with an urgent need to increase our collective consciousness. His aim is to connect inner development to create societal change and he does this by providing safe spaces for individuals and groups to cultivate the...

Suzanne Koepplinger is the Director of the Catalyst Initiative at The Minneapolis Foundation. Listen to hear how Suzanne she came to realize her purpose to help others by supporting their healing and growth. Through the work she is leading at the Catalyst Foundation, new pathways have been created to support culturally meaningful trauma healing practices. Bio &nb...

Steve Killelea is the Executive Chairman and Founder of the Institute for Economics and Peace, using data driven research to show that peace is a positive, tangible and achievable measure of human well-being and development. Listen to hear how Steve has been guided by his sense of adventure, starting from his early childhood exploring the wild near Sydney to visiting some of world’s most con...

Raza Jafar is a co-founder of the Global Sustainability Network (GSN), a platform which brings together leaders from faith, government, business, media, academia, and non-profits to achieve Goal 8 of the Sustainable Development Goals. Listen to hear how Raza is living his life’s purpose fighting modern day slavery by bringing leaders together and creating opportunities for sustainable econom...

Maureen Pelton, Co-Founder, ShiftIt Institute Charlie Hartwell, Managing Director, Bridge Builders Collaborative Listen to hear Maureen and Charlie’s personal stories of transformation that brought them to the work they do in the world. They each use their unique skills and gifts to support a common mission - to be of service to something bigger than themselves and shift systems. They also s...

Marina is co-founder of Generation Pledge, a global community of inheritors who are committed to doing good with the resources they have available, and unlock billions of dollars that can be deployed to fund the most effective solutions to the world’s greatest challenges. Listen to hear how Marina’s childhood experiences influenced her view of the world – others matter. Through h...