Episode 80: Jodie Blum

Join Lori and her guest, Jodie Blum, as they talk about strategic philanthropy and social impact marketing. Jodie Blum is the Founder/CEO of The Co-llective Social Impact Agency. Jodie's key strengths lie in maximizing her clients' voices and platforms!

Here are the things to expect in this episode:

• It's essential to constantly explore and employ innovative ways to make a meaningful impact.

• How Jodie's agency supports its clients in the philanthropic space to achieve their charitable objectives.

• Consumer ability to distinguish endorsement from philanthropy is beneficial.

• The potential impact of working with celebrities on a charitable campaign.

• And much more!

Co–llective Social Impact Agency: http://theco-llective.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/collectivesocialimpact/

Connect with Lori Kranczer!

Website: https://www.linkphilanthropic.com 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorikranczer/

Episode Transcript

You're listening to the positive impact philanthropy podcast we will share the journeys of everyday philanthropists as they incorporate laughing to their lives. Philanthropy is a personal journey and through the stories we will share here. We hope that it sparks something in you and how you can make your own philanthropic impact in the world. I'm your host, Lori Kranczer attorney, philanthropic advisor and legacy giving strategist. Together we're going to explore what it looks like to be an everyday philanthropist and make a positive impact in the world. Before we get started, make sure to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss a new episode. So today I'm really excited to have someone who I've known for a bit we were introduced by another colleague appear also in philanthropy. So today is with me, Jodie Blum. She is the founder and CEO of the collective social impact agency, and I'm absolutely thrilled that she's joining me today. Welcome Jodie,

thank you so much. It's great to be here with you. So

Jodie, why don't we just get started and I know about your background, of course, why don't you share with our listeners a bit about yourself? Sure. So

a bit about myself. I always love to start off with, you know, a bit of the balance. I'm a Libra, so it's indicative. I'd like to introduce myself first as a mom having the beautiful journey of being specifically a foster and a foster adoptive mom. That's my purpose and kind of inner weaves into just who I am and what I do. And I'm also as you mentioned, the founder and CEO of the collective social impact agency. And I also embrace being a disrupter. Um, I find that we're in this space to make progress and impact and we shouldn't be afraid to do that in really progressive and innovative ways.

Oh, I love that. Okay. So of course, my next question is going to be was it looked like

it comes in different forms. The Collective is a 360 full service, philanthropic consulting and management agencies. So in in being a disruptor that's really coming in with innovative ideas and really bringing creation to the table in how our clients show up, and how we can maximize their voices and platforms. My career has has been over 25 years in a very unique niche that I started off very early on in my career, working with high profile individuals, celebrities, and really just found my aha moment and my ease in learning how to maximize and harness the power of, you know, high profile individuals voices and platforms, obviously, way before social media. So again, showing up in this space as a disrupter is to come also into organizations that are existing as well as fledgling and really show what progression needs to be. Strategize, laid out and looking at the end game. I feel that there's a lot of times people are kind of just in this mode of as you know, especially in fundraising and development. There's an urgency of making sure that the organization's is sustainable, which is the most important, but how can it be sustainable as well as build the impact and a trajectory of that impact to a much longer evergreen life. And I think that just takes a lot of creative insight and ideas and not being afraid to walk outside the box. And I think there's also a notion historically in philanthropy that things are done a certain way. And now with innovative technology, and especially during the pandemic and having a pivot. It really molds and allows us to be much more creative in how we think about growing organizations.

You know, I agree, um, just a short point to what you're saying to comment that I've worked with some organizations that wanted to maintain like, we talked about building out their case for the future and for legacy and maintaining that means you're just regressing, because you can't maintain where the organization will go nowhere. If you're not projecting and any type of growth for the future, you will just be going backwards essentially, because there's going to be growth around you. So you're not going to be able provide the services programs, whatever it is you're looking to do for your constituents for the future. So it's so true, there always needs to be growth and, and also doing things differently. So that's why I love when you say disruptive, I'd love to hear some examples of what that can look like.

Okay. It can look like a number of different things with the individuals and the clients that I've been fortunate enough to work with. It's utilizing their market ability and their platforms. Again, I work with some of the biggest athletes and artists and brands globally. So it's really exciting but you got to bring your A game you got to understand where they're at in with their own, you know, professional brand, as well as in their career. align that with, you know, the latest and the greatest and the ideas that really haven't been thought out. So, a number of years ago, one example is I was building a social impact CSR department or an online retail outlet that works with a lot of athletes and entertainers as well. And it was it came to me that it could be in also looking at utilizing Alan's time in the most effective way because they have such little time. So we created a sprint social media campaign where we took unique and one of a kind items within their brands. And put those up for what we call, you know, micro donations. And really social media campaigns to not only promote the charity that they have or a cause that they're passionate about, and also really activate that fundraising and development goal for them. So this sprint style campaign was posted on their platforms which, you know, average five plus million followers for two to three days. And they were raising hundreds and 1000s of dollars in those two or three days just by being able to do you know, $10 increments of donations, the win. So that was again a number of years ago, and I felt pretty innovative in that space. It's now been replicated as you can imagine, the song and then another example I think would be is when I get brought in to do strategic planning for organizations that you shared, I have this kind of maintenance mentality, and with no disrespect, but if you want to bring my talents and my expertise, and we're going to look at all the ways that you can grow, and you can progress and you can create a bigger impact. And I think a lot of times leaders in this space. Sometimes might be intimidated because that shakes the tree. It might expose inequities in the organization or underperformance or just simply ways that you can improve to keep it on a positive note. And that oftentimes is unsettling and it's uncomfortable. So I just really tried to lay out the roadmap, the milestones that are achievable and really thinking outside the box when it comes to marketing, especially again, with the clients that I'm working with. It's marketing is such an integral and essential component because they have platforms and voices that reach the masses. So it's really about finding unique ways to you know, harness that.

So interesting. So I want to go more into that but first I want to go back to when you first started this in working in this area, what prompted you or you to go into this area and and also how did you get your start working with celebrities?

That's a great question. And I love sharing about it. So I went to business school in the Bay Area. I came out it was during the.com Boom, kind of dating myself, and I wanted to be in large scale event production. So I have a very entrepreneurial spirit. I started an event production company. I was working with a bunch of the dot coms back in the day and doing these huge events you know Ferris wheels and NASA hangers and multimillion dollar budget and at the end of the day, you know, it's great that their employees had a fantastic time with this experience. But I was left so empty. And I was just all I kept thinking is wow, like what this $10 million could do in the world and the impact it can make. Charity has always been a part of my DNA. I was raised in a very philanthropic family and just giving back and volunteering was just it was just who we were. And so it just left me in a place of like I don't feel good about this, even though it's fun and exciting. So I made an just an organic pivot and I moved more into the large scale event role but specifically for charities. I had my initial start with celebrities in just in a space that I'll eternally be grateful for. I got my first break working for Clint Eastwood and I was working on a lot of his philanthropic events. And I was you know, quite young out of college at the time. And what I realized in that moment and working with him and everybody he was surrounded by especially in the philanthropic you know, studio space was very significant. And I was just very, very comfortable. I wasn't a star seeker, I was the mechanism and my wheels were always turning on like wow, what I could do with this voice or what I could do with him in this space or how we could maximize, you know, the fundraising efforts around and the visibility around what he cares about. And I also felt very comfortable not being the enabler and the yes person amongst those teams. Because I was there to fulfill their personal passion and something they cared about outside of their professional career. And I've always taken that very seriously. I'm always integrated as part of the team but I have a very unique role because my goals with that individual are very different and like I said, they're very personal to them. So I also what I was afforded in that stepping stone is a seat at the table I can never under emphasize the importance of that especially as a young woman at a seat with a you know, much older men of a certain demographic. You know, I think he'd let me have a voice and he made me feel as important as everybody else and it gave me a tremendous amount of confidence at a young age. From there, I moved on and worked with an NFL Hall of Famer in working with his foundation and doing a lot of celebrity integration and really making a big impact in underserved youth programs. From there. One of the events that I was doing a huge celebrity golf tournament every year. I partnered with Live Nation on you know, our talent procurement. And the next step in my career was building and running a foundation for common the artist and actor. He was actually the entertainment at this NFL players event. And we became close and his mom and I build the rapport. And she said, you know, we really want to do this. We want to get into this space. We're not ready yet. So a year later, I got a call and they said we're ready. Will you come work for us? And it was a great transition and a pivot and really, that was the first really starting from scratch, you know, building an identity and really building out a Legacy Foundation for someone of that nature. Did some of the most, you know amazing achievements. Incredible concerts. As you can imagine. I wrote and directed an Emmy Award winning campaign that we partnered on MTV with around aids testing, that actually was one of the highest amount of entries of an MTV contest. That was really exciting. And then, really just again as stepping stones was immersed in the music industry immersed amongst a multitude of people that saw what we were doing. And were looking was looking for, you know, some guidance and consulting. So continued to do that. Life took a turn, as it did unexpectedly. And I took a hiatus. My dad had stage four lung cancer, and I moved back to Florida from the Bay Area to take care of him for his transition of life. And after that, you know, I took some time off to kind of regroup in my own personal journey and went back to the bay and it was perfect timing. I got a call that the Recording Academy otherwise known as the Grammys wanted me to come build out a new division of the academy. That was ultimately called Grammy view. And it was to build a membership division of the Grammys for university students pursuing a career in the music industry. And it was, it was magic. It was so much fun. But besides that, we were really giving unprecedented access to these young people. It's such a pivotal time in their life and we all know that, you know, education is incredibly important and everybody should have access to that. And affordability of that foremost. But it's on the it's some of these industries are so hard to break into so really providing that firsthand experience and those connections and platform to be able to ask questions. So we were doing 200 programs a year nationally, partnered with over 400 schools and universities and a couple years worked with the biggest business executives crafts people, talent Allen in the world. Um, and then it was, you know, it was time for me to go back out on my own. I just, you know, that entrepreneurial notion and drive within myself because we're sometimes having that fire and those ideas as a disrupter can sometimes be minimized when you're in an institution. To put it nicely. So I took my entrepreneurial spirit again and when and started the collective, where we continued working with a multitude of music artists, athletes, entertainers, actors and actresses. And directors and a lot of brands. Um, and it's just, it's incredible. I love who we work with. I love all of the causes that we create an impact around, and I've been very blessed. The past few years, I would say since probably 2019 Right before the pandemic and all through the pandemic to be incredibly immersed with, I think for different clients now in the mental health industry. And it's really become such a passion I wouldn't say passion project that just that's a huge internal passion of mine. And I love working in that space.

Thank you for sharing your journey, because the story is it's clear and it's I can see your path that you took. There are a few things that you have what you were talking about, I think would be very interesting or listeners to hear more about. Number one, when you're working with celebrities, and when they're interested in doing something because you mentioned that a few times that do they select their issue areas or do they have you come in to work with them? They know that they want to do something but they're not really sure what that is and they need help identifying where they can have an impact. Is that the kind of work that you do or do they come with an idea?

That's a great question. I would say 95% of the time they come with the idea and it all is really something that is incredibly personal or has happened in their personal life or they've been introduced to so there's different phases. Some have, you know, a specific moment in time of something that's happened to them or their family, and they you know, really want to dedicate, it could be an environment that they grew up around and really want to get back to specific communities and issues around that. Or once in a while some of these and you know, some of these high profile individuals have been introduced to the philanthropic space by being an ambassador or spokesperson of a cause. And then, you know, have an awareness around that, but really don't know specifically what they want to do within that. But want to have a brand identity of their own or a programmatic namesake. of their own. But again, I would say 95 Plus definitely have something that really um, you know, is something interpersonal with them that they want to contribute back and then we build out the vision, how that programmatically can look and the multitude of ways that they can get involved. When potential clients come to me or clients sign on. There's a pretty deep education process if they're not familiar with the philanthropic world so I don't out of the gate by any means be like okay, sort of foundation. Definitely not. There's really a you know, a deep dive into how they want to activate understanding the investment on financial bandwidth that they really are available to participate in and starting from a place that feels good. Yeah,

I mean, so much of what you just mentioned is a lot of us working with just any one any individual interested in being more strategic in their philanthropy. Whether someone considers himself a celebrity or not, but it's interesting, how is the difference was working with celebrities the potential impact or the brand that they bring that awareness and their followers that they can bring to that cause? That they're interested in supporting?

Yes, I definitely. I mean, there's a very limited amount of time that you have of their attention and you have their platforms. And there's a huge discretion with that. It's understanding that space and being very sensitive to it. And being incredibly creative on how to maximize that. So you might have, you know, a handful at most social posts a year, maybe not even that, you might have an hour or two of their time during offseason or off tour or offset. Um, so you really have to be incredibly creative on how you can utilize their platforms, their fan bases, their voice and also their brand relationships. We do a lot of brand partnerships, as you can imagine. So it's out to integrate new relationships that oftentimes they their team will embrace because it's a win win, win brands get to know celebrities from a philanthropic and charitable way. And see how dedicated to that they are. Oftentimes they will then create brand deals on their profit brand side. So you know, being able to have those case studies over and over really makes a more inclusive theme to embrace their philanthropic efforts. Because it is a team effort when you are working with you know, high profile individuals. And yeah, with those brand partnerships, it's also really becoming inclusive of the ones that they're currently working with from an endorsement level to better educate, inform and bring awareness to what they're doing on the charitable side. So it kind of works, you know, back and forth on that as well. Yeah,

I can imagine also the perception from consumers saying a difference between an endorsement versus a philanthropic initiative is

it is it's quite different. Um, you know, and making sure that, you know, there's awareness around this and this individual and this brand as a human being about what they're doing outside of their professional career, and humanizing them. And that's a really, really important factor, just as you said, when it comes to the consumer perception or fan perception is to build that human persona. Yeah,

absolutely. So one point I wanted to get into because you mentioned something and I think this is really important, especially for our listeners that may be in the same position of getting that seat at the table. So we will talk about that a lot. How important it is also within just, you know, in general but also in philanthropy that that philanthropic advisor has a seat at the table with the other advisors, whether it be Wealth Advisors, cpas business individuals, whatever that looks like at that table. Philanthropy brings a person working with an individual on their philanthropy brings a different viewpoint that's really a very personal one to that person, that donor and is so important when everyone is maybe considering things that could be maybe transactional, to save on taxes, how to grow your wealth, but no, lots of times, no one's really looking at the values of that individual. And so it's so important. So can you talk a little bit about that and how you were able to get that to the table you mentioned at a young age, but I'm sure that you have continued to serve

in that role. Yeah, definitely serve in that role in a continuous effort. And I love what you're saying about that and it's really being able to be an authentic storyteller. As a, you know, an adjacent art of this individual and the brands, you know, in philanthropy, we want to really make every penny count and go as far as it can. On the for profit. Brand side. There's obviously a tremendous amount of a larger budget when it comes to marketing efforts. So I think that seat at the table is incredibly important for a multitude of things. Number one, again, really making sure they understand from the foundation or the charities you know, or the the fund whatever facet it's developed into, but understanding that we don't have the same budget as maybe their brand side that's first and foremost when you're talking to the money people at the table because a lot of them just aren't, you know, they're not aware of the space and how we operate. Number two, again, going back to being able to really communicate the personal mission and the conversion that that lends itself to their transactions. So if we're able to build that storytelling narrative around the human side of this individual, let me show you how with these case studies, that's going to resonate down the road for an evergreen life of your client. Um, so for example, if it's an athlete and they're trying to do a brand deal, we'll that's great. But let's talk to the brand also about how we can potentially work in a major cause marketing campaign that integrates with this, you know, shoe deal or something else, to really bring kind of like a 360 model to this individuals. So they're seeing in a much more dynamic representation. And then also, you know, just really being an advocate for how important this is to the individual, because a lot of people at those tables, you know, frankly, this person's a commodity. And those transactions are very much as they you know, just that but really being that voice of how important this cause is to them. And I will stand up for that. Because I am that, you know, I'm that voice for them. And to really make the people at the table. I'm not see it as just this like you know, oftentimes it's Oh, it's a hobby. That's this fun thing over there. No, this is incredibly important to this person. And this is the roadmap of how we are going to affect this many lives or make the you know, make X, Y and Z, this much more impactful. Yeah,

I love that. All right. God, we could talk about this all day. So many of the questions however, I want to be mindful of our time together. So why don't we go into what your legacy would look like? Yeah,

so I'll keep this short. My legacy is to really leave a blueprint on how to harness the power of voices and create a bigger and more impactful you know, just stamp on the world. I think there's you know, I love mentoring people. I love being the connector of relationships. That's just what we're in this for. So to see relationships grow out of you know, people I've worked with a nose I know is beautiful. And then also one thing that is just so important to me is standing in your truth and walking in integrity. I think if I'm remembered for anything outside of my son it's that

I love that. I am thank you for sharing that so and another point for you to share. So where can people find out more information about you or to connect with you? Yes,

I would love for people to visit our website. My contact information is on there. It's the collective but there's a dash between the SEO so the SEO hyphen, ll e CTI v e.com. And you can find us on social at collective social impact.

Right and we'll have all that information in the show notes. So no one forgets that Hi, friend. And thank you, Jodie for joining us today. And I love your story. I'm so glad you shared it and it's also a very interesting journey and provides inspiration and another point of view of how to work within the space. So thank you for sharing.

Thanks for having me,

Of course and everyone else. Thanks for the listeners for joining us. We hope we provided some more insights and inspiration that you could use for your own philanthropic journey. Until next time, thank you for joining.