Charity Talks

Princess Padmaja Kumari Parmar, the Founder and President of Friends of Mewar, is this episode’s guest.  Padmaja is the daughter of the House of Mewar, which was founded in 734 AD and is the world’s longest, unbroken serving dynasty.  She founded Friends of Mewar to address three pressing problems - women’s empowerment and education, lack of preventive healthcare, and preservation of Mewar’s cultural heritage.  Over the past ten years, Friends of Mewar’s work in these areas has helped so many people in rural and urban Rajasthan, India.  (0:25). 

Website:  https://www.friendsofmewar.org/

Email:  [email protected]

Michael Chuter, the Chief Executive of Pump Aid, joins Charity Talks.  Pump Aid works primarily in Malawi, and its goal is to achieve lasting positive change in the poorest and most disadvantaged communities there by implementing water, sanitation, and hygiene programs. As Michael and Brooke discuss, over the last twenty years, over 10,000 communities and almost 2 million people have been provided with access to safe, clean water thanks to Pump Aid’s programs.  This access has been life-changing for those communities, and Pump Aid intends to continue its work in the most remote regions of the country until every community has the type of basic access to water that most of us take for granted.  (0:32). 

Website:  www.pumpaid.org

Christopher Cassidy, the President and CEO of the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation (“NMOHMF”), is this episode’s guest. Chris attended the U.S. Naval Academy and became a Navy SEAL, before becoming a commander of SEAL units in Afghanistan. After Chris left the SEALs, he joined NASA as an astronaut, flew on the Space Shuttle Endeavor and Russian Soyuz spacecraft, commanded the International Space Station, and eventually rose to NASA’s Chief Astronaut.  In total, Chris has spent the fifth most time of any human being in space.  After leaving the military, Chris was tapped to lead the NMOHMF.  During the podcast, Chris and Brooke discuss how the museum (which recently broke ground in Arlington, Texas) came to be, how it will honor the 3,511 Medal of Honor recipients, and how a monument to be built in Washington, D.C. by the NMOHMF, as well as the Foundation’s Leadership Institute, will share the stories of these incredible heroes with current and future generations.  (0:26).

Website:  https://mohmuseum.org/

Dr. Michael Plant, the Founder and Director of the Happier Lives Institute, joins Charity Talks. While studying for his PhD in moral philosophy at the University of Oxford, Michael realized that there was a pressing need for more research on the most cost-effective, evidence-based ways to improve global happiness. That led him to found the Happier Lives Institute. Michael and Brooke discuss how by drawing on the fields of philosophy, economics and psychology, the Institute goes about focusing on neglected global problems, such as mental health and pain, identifies key interventions, and then evaluates the best organizations to deliver those interventions.  (0:22).

Website:  https://www.happierlivesinstitute.org/

Iqbal Dhaliwal, the Global Executive Director of MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), is this episode’s guest. J-PAL’s mission for the last twenty years has been to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of hundreds of affiliated professors at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts rigorous research to find solutions to the world’s greatest challenges, and then translates its findings into action by promoting a culture of evidence-informed policymaking globally. Its work has been so impactful that its co-founders were awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics for their pioneering approach to alleviating global poverty.  (0:36). 

Website:  https://www.povertyactionlab.org/

Dr. Vicky Bond, the President of The Humane League, joins Charity Talks. As Vicky and Brooke discuss, animals raised for food (including predominantly chickens) suffer from abuses in factory farms at a scale that is shocking. THL exists to end the abuse of these animals. It does so by influencing the policies of the world’s largest food companies, demanding legislation, and empowering others to take action. Through its efforts, THL has already freed millions of chickens from the confines of their cages, and is continuing to advocate for animals around the world.  (0:28).

Website:  https://thehumaneleague.org

Lance Kawaguchi, the CEO of Cure Brain Cancer Foundation, is this episode’s guest. As Lance and Brooke discuss, there has been very little progress made in the treatment of brain cancer in the last few decades, despite the fact that brain cancer has such a terrible impact on the people afflicted with it, including young children. However, Cure Brain Cancer Foundation has started to change that. The Foundation’s strategy is to get treatments to patients faster by funding research across the entire research pathway. In addition, the Foundation provides support to patients and their families who are dealing with this very difficult disease. Great strides are finally being made in the brain cancer treatment field, and Cure Brain Cancer Foundation is at the forefront of them.  (0:26).    Website:  https://www.curebraincancer.org.au/home

Bonnie Carroll, the President and Founder of the Tragedy and Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), joins Charity Talks.  Since 1994, TAPS has offered compassionate care to all those grieving a military loss.  As Bonnie and Brooke discuss, TAPS has a variety of programs that help so many affected families cope with the loss of a loved one, including a peer support network available 24 hours a day and women’s empowerment retreats.  TAPS also provides resources internationally, including in Ukraine, where TAPS has worked for years.  Given its amazing work, it was no surprise that Bonnie received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama in 2015.  (0:21).

Website: www.taps.org

Ellen Agler, the CEO of the END Fund, and Mark Stoleson, the CEO of Legatum, are this episode’s guests. In 2006, Legatum realized that millions of people in Rwanda and Burundi were needlessly suffering from treatable neglected tropical diseases, such as intestinal worms, so it decided to fund programs to address this huge problem. After its work demonstrated the feasibility of scaling these programs, Legatum created the END Fund. As Ellen and Mark discuss, these diseases affect hundreds of millions of people each year in Africa, devastating so many lives, but they are all potentially curable at very little cost per life affected.  To date, the END Fund has already provided over a billion treatments, and it has set the ambitious goal of eliminating these diseases entirely within our lifetimes.  (0:37).

Website:  https://www.end.org/

Siegrid Holler, a partner and founding member at Instiglio, joins Charity Talks. Instiglio is based in Bogota, Columbia, and its mission is to ensure that every dollar spent on social programs in low and middle-income countries has the greatest possible impact. By focusing on three areas — systems strengthening and performance management, outcomes-based and innovative financing, and thought leadership — Instiglio is partnering with nonprofits and governments to make a substantial impact. From improving institutional child education in Peru, to working with the government of Uganda to create an innovative financing strategy to help public sanitation there, Instiglio’s wide-ranging projects are catalyzing more effective public and development spending around the world.  (0:26).

Website:  https://www.instiglio.org/