By Nicholas Palahnuk
Nick Palahnuk, Founder of PhilanthPro, talks with experts about strategic philanthropy as part of a series with Foundation Magazine. This edition features storyteller and philanthropy activist Jen Risher, cofounder of #HalfMyDAF and author of We Need to Talk: A Memoir about Wealth.
Jen Risher, cofounder of #HalfMyDAF and author of We Need to Talk: A Memoir about Wealth.
Besides her work as an author, Risher is a speaker, philanthropist, and investor on a mission to move money out of the taboo category and help us have much-needed conversations. Her book explores the impact of wealth on identity and relationships. In sharing her story, she aims to validate the emotional complexities of money and help those with wealth move out of guilt, shame, or a desire to keep money hidden and into meaning, joy, and purpose. For more about Risher, see the end of this interview.
Nick: Jen, I’m thrilled to talk about philanthropy with you. One of our core beliefs at PhilanthPro is that we need to talk about the things that are important to us. Dialogue with our colleagues and advisors helps us stay focused on our goals… so let’s jump in!
You are the cofounder of #HalfMyDAF, the matching campaign that has helped mobilize over $80M in giving from Donor Advised Funds (DAFs). What an impressive impact! What inspired you to launch this campaign?
Jen: #HalfMyDAF was an emotional response to COVID. In April 2020, the stock market crashed. People faced so much uncertainty. As my husband and I isolated at home, we asked ourselves how we could help frontline nonprofits. At the time, $120 billion (now $229 billion) was sitting in DAFs in the United States. To unlock some of that money, we came up with the idea of inspiring others to give by using matching grants.
We committed a million dollars in matching grants to spur others’ giving. We created a website, held a webinar for nonprofits, got the word out to funders, and launched in May 2020. That year, #HalfMyDAF was featured in The Washington Post, Bloomberg, and The Chronicle of Philanthropy. We moved $8.6 million from DAFs in just five months.
Nick: Wow, that’s impressive impact! What do you think made #HalfMyDAF so successful?
Jen: DAFs make it easy to give and to do so over time. The problem is that there’s no mechanism to prompt or remind people to actually make those gifts. So, donors put off their giving due to the normal demands of work and life. Some want to give but they want to do a good job with their philanthropy, and they get frozen because they worry about doing it wrong.
#HalfMyDAF injects a sense of urgency into the system. A financial incentive in the form of matching grants really inspires donors and nonprofits. A simple email and submission deadlines also lead to quick action. Twice a year—on June 28th and September 29th in 2024—we alert our network of donors and partners that grants need to be made to be eligible for matches. Donors have told us, “This is the nudge I needed.”
Nick: Yes! I’ve talked with hundreds of donors about this, and I hear the same thing. Our financial systems are set up to help people accumulate wealth, not to give it away. People have good intentions, but they are busy and they want more support. We are working hard so that every person and their advisors can also access planning and modeling tools so they don’t have to be in reaction mode.
I know you’ve thought a lot about your own strategy, Jen. What do you focus on in your own philanthropy?
Jen: I’m using my money and my voice for equity—racial, gender, and economic equity. Women get just 2 percent of venture capital funding, and only 1.8 percent of philanthropic dollars go to organizations specifically focused on women and girls. To change this dynamic, I invest in women as a member of the Women Donors Network and as a board member of Women Moving Millions. I also invest with women-of-color fund managers. It just makes financial and social sense.
Nick: I just picked up your book, We Need to Talk: A Memoir about Wealth. I loved your husband’s online review:
“I’m giving this book five stars not because Jennifer’s my wife (which she is), not because she’s amazing (which she is), and not because I watched her invest 14 years of her life and suffer through countless rejections and revisions (she did, to both.) I’m giving the book five stars because… it shines light on our last taboo subject… the way we deal with wealth.”
Your husband is right! It’s so hard for us to talk about wealth. You were brave to put your own story out there, and it sounds like it wasn’t easy. Why did you decide to tell your story?
Jen: At twenty-five, I got lucky. I joined Microsoft, met my husband, David, and got stock worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. David’s stock was worth millions. Six years later, David took a job at a small, unknown start-up selling books on the internet. He ended up being the 37th employee at Amazon.com. Suddenly, we were in our early thirties, the company went public, and we had more money than we could wrap our heads around.
We are incredibly fortunate. But my identity was at stake. After growing up with middle-class values, saving my pennies, wary of the rich, I wasn’t worried about people liking me for our money. I was worried about them hating me for it. There were no books that shared personal stories about the emotional side of money, so I wrote the book I needed.
Nick: I think that sharing your story that way is an act of generosity, and I’m glad you did. I recently joined Forward Global, a community of people who are committed to strategic giving, and it’s been amazing to learn from others’ stories. Did you get any feedback from your readers?
Jen: Readers are grateful to know they aren’t alone. So many have told me that they felt embarrassed about their wealth and kept it a secret. Some felt awkward and alienated from friends. One woman wrote to tell me that the book helped her, “come out of my shell and pursue actions to help disadvantaged children.”
Each one of us has a money story. Knowing your money story can unlock money for good. When you aren’t aware of your emotions around money – stress, anxiety, pride, excitement, jealousy, fear — you tend to be reactive rather than intentional. But when you examine and understand your relationship with money and don’t just avoid or ignore it, you tend to be more intentional and purposeful, which is often very positive. PhilanthPro is a suite of tools and resources that brings the power of financial planning to philanthropy.
More about Jennifer Risher: She was born in Seattle, Washington, grew up in Oregon, and graduated from Connecticut College. She joined Microsoft in 1991 where she worked as a recruiter and then as a product manager. As an extra-fortunate beneficiary of the dot-com boom, she believes abundance can fuel action and drive change — and has been using her voice and resources to create more economic, gender, and racial equity.
In 2020, Jennifer and her husband, David, launched #HalfMyDAF to inspire more charitable giving. Over the last four years, they’ve contributed millions in matching funds, rallied donors and nonprofits, and created a community that has moved over $50 million to nonprofits. Jennifer has also been investing with women-of-color fund managers with the goal of achieving financial and social returns.
Jennifer and David live in San Francisco, where David is CEO of Lyft. Jennifer loves playing and watching tennis and spending time with her two twenty-something daughters. She is on the board of Women Moving Millions and is a member of Women Donors Network and Solidaire.
Nicholas Palahnuk is Founder of PhilanthPro and can be reached at nicholas.palahnuk@philanthpro.com
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