Special Edition: Great Philanthropists - Azim Premiji; Finding the Trustees of our Communities

Welcome to another edition of “Around with Randall;” Your weekly podcast on making your nonprofit more effective for your community. And here is your host, the CEO and founder of Hallett Philanthropy, Randall Hallett. 

Thanks again for listening in or watching this episode of “Around with Randall”. Today is a special edition, short version, but a continuation of a request about a view of great philanthropists. While there are a number to choose from some who have incredible name recognition, we're looking at some of those that maybe don't get the recognition that they deserve, particularly in the United States, and most importantly, what we can learn from them. Today we want to talk about Azim Premiji and for most, listening to this podcast, watching this podcast, your comment is who in the world is that? This is the greatest philanthropist in the country of India. There is no question historically that the United States has led the world in not only the numbers, not only the direction, not only the nuances and kind of the cutting-edge thought process of philanthropy, but that doesn't make America, the single holder of the idea of helping others. Which is really the essence of the word of philanthropy -- love of humankind, mankind.

Azim Premiji took over his father's company at age 21 in 1968. Originally, the company founded in 1946, as mentioned by his father was an agricultural company, a vegetable oil company to start. At a very young age, at the passing of his father, he was asked to take the mantle of the company. Interestingly enough, in the early 1980s, he sat down with his leaders and said, we're going to make a pretty radical change to our company. We're going to get into technology. I mean, that's kind of staggering thinking about going from agricultural products to saying we're going to go into technology. What's interesting is that there are those who have known him for a long time who have commented they're pretty sure he knew nothing about technology at the time. This was not Mr. Technology like a Bill Gates or a Steve Jobs or a Wozniak who was in their garage doing technology. He could see what the future would be. He changed his entire company and as a result, became one of the wealthiest men in the world. As he's gotten older and he is still living and doing incredible things in India. Starting at the beginning of the century, he was approached by Warren Buffet and Bill Gates to sign the Giving Pledge, which is the challenge for those who have been very fortunate and worked awfully hard in life to give away half of their resources, hopefully before they pass. He was the first person from India to do so. And as such, he began setting his philanthropy in motion, setting up foundations, primarily his emphasis has been in education. 

His Foundation trains, thousands and thousands of teachers with a special emphasis on education of young women, who may in his opinion not get the same shake or opportunity that the men get. Across 40 different districts in the country, the ability to focus on curriculum, to look at making sure kids have books at the capacity development, so those coming into the profession, as well as those in the profession. Capacity development of teachers, so they are at the highest possible levels to educate the youth of the country of India. Recently, he's had a particular bent in the idea of discrimination and prejudice across the country. He has begun to put a great deal of resources behind, particularly the idea of adolescent girls being married too early and dropping out of school and that the consequences of that could be quite significant for that individual, the next-generation family, as well as the society, as a whole. 

This is someone who has in his life seen great change from a technology perspective, and then what he did with his company, to his personal experiences in the wealth. All of that is wonderful and has a good backstory and probably something you've never heard of. I think that the more important thing is what are we going to learn from him. So, as I was doing some reading about him and, and trying to learn more about his philosophy and things that he believed in and things that made sense to him in terms of how he viewed philanthropy, I came across two specific things that I took note of and I printed them out because I wanted to make sure that I got them correctly. They're going to lead to the practical, the tactical things maybe you can take from someone like this. The first thing is he made a controversial statement earlier in 2021 as there was a push across India and for some regard the world, in terms of what's thought of as corporate social responsibility. What is the responsibility of corporations to engage in philanthropy and in social responsibility? And more importantly, there have been conversations at governmental levels in different countries across the world about mandating certain levels of engagement for corporate social responsibility. He came out with a statement and I'll read the statement in a second, but basically said, no, that's not government's role and it shouldn't be mandated. Yet, because of his unbelievable generosity in transitioning billions and billions and billions of dollars in one fell swoop. He gave $7.5 billion of his personal wealth to his foundation as an endowment to help the causes he believes in that puts him in the category of the Warren Buffett’s, the Bill Gates’s, and others that we know so much about. So, he's putting money where his mouth is. His quote was, “I don't think that we should have a legal mandate for companies to do CSR, Corporate Social Responsibility, philanthropy, or charity, or contributions to society must come from within and it cannot be mandated from the outside. That's my personal view. As of now, this is the law and companies must follow it.” And he's speaking of the laws that were being acted in India to cause legal encumbrances upon companies to do that corporate responsibility. 

The other thing that I took from a lot of the comments of those around him and some of his own statements is what were his influences to engage in philanthropy. His first was very close to home. His mother was an integral part of an orthopedic hospital for children who didn't have resources for much of his youth and into his young adult life. He has remarked on many different occasions about how he still marvels at the work his mother did every day without complaint to ensure that children had the kind of care that was required when they had an orthopedic issue.

His second major influence is that of Mahatma Gandhi. He talks about it from the idea of being a trustee of wealth, a trustee of the human experience. I think that's where I want to start transitioning to the tactical. If we do our jobs correctly, in the idea of fundraising and relationship building, we spend a lot of time hopefully listening to what people are trying to accomplish with their fundraising. Yet, we're always trying to tie them to our specific needs. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but I think it misses a step. This is really what I think Azim Premiji is trying to tell us. If we listen, we will become better at connecting the dots of our community and how philanthropy can help that process. Are we looking for people with wealth or are we looking for people who think of themselves as the trustees of our community? Are they wanting to leave that community a better place than when they found it? Those are two entirely different perspectives. One is transactional. I got to get them to give to us. One is transformational. Meaning, I'm going to do something to make my world, however, they classify that description or definition, the world locally, like a local philanthropist or a Bill and Melinda Gates who look at the world much more holistically, as all people.

We miss many times those that want to make that difference as a trustee. The idea of transformational is all based on perspective. Transformational to one person might be a $100,000 gift or a $50,000 gift because that's their ability to engage and to make a difference. Transformational certainly includes those that give $10, 15, 25, 50 million, but I've done a lot of gifts and been engaged with a lot of giving or someone gives $1 million, 2 million, 5 million and it's transactional. Yet, the most important gift I ever was a part of was a $20 gift early, early, early on in my career where a mother gave $5 every month from every month’s grocery money because the school that I represented had given her son a full scholarship. It was transformational in her mind. She saw our organization and her philanthropy as a trustee of her son and his future and of the community. As a gift officer, as a nonprofit, are you looking for the people who are trustees, who believe that they have a responsibility to make sure this community, your community, this world, this country, this state, this county, whatever are better when they leave it than when they found it or when they came into it? If we spent more time thinking about that, we build deeper relationships. That's not to say that there are going to be times where the things we need and want may not match up with what they want to do as philanthropists. But if we do this correctly, if we ask the right questions, why is philanthropy important to you? Why is it you're giving to us? Why is it you give here in this community? What is your vision for this community? 

I have a client who has an amazing donor, advocate, volunteer who talks about this idea of trustee, but he doesn't use that word. What he talks about is I have responsibility because somebody did this before me and somebody is going to have to do it after me. He views himself as the bridge between before and after. Are we listening to things like Azim Premiji are telling us, the idea of being a trustee, of wanting a better life for the people around them for their country, for their community? So, the tactical advice is ask a little bit different question and make sure you're listening for a little bit different answer. You'll find those that want you to help them be that trustee.

Don't forget the website is there -- great blogs, two -- three a week on different things that we see in this community in terms of the nonprofit world, 90-second reads. Hope you check them out at hallettphilanthropy.com. Hope you will subscribe, leave a comment, download, share with a friend if you think this podcast has worth. You can always reach out to me at podcast@hallettphilanthropy.com. Today is a special episode and we'll continue about every once a month or so picking up someone who's making a difference in the world and why they think philanthropy is important. Hopefully, you can apply that to your life and your world and your community and your nonprofit’s ability to take care of those who are in need. That naturally brings me to the way I conclude every show, my favorite saying the old Gaelic words. “Some people make things happen. Some people watch things happen. Then there are those who wondered what happened.” Look for those trustees who want to help people because they want to make things happen for themselves and their community in a way that allows them to be somebody who makes something happen for someone who's wondering what happened. And if you do that, you'll find a lot of people who can be part of your organization's success.

I appreciate you listening today as always. Thank you for your time. Hope this was helpful. We'll look forward to seeing you the next time right here on “Around with Randall” and don't forget, make it a great day.