Mitch Stein, Pond, We Are For Good Podcast

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Overview

Meet Mitch. He left his Wall Street job to pour into something deeply meaningful in the nonprofit world, and thus became the launching pad of Pond, an incredible space pairing nonprofits with the right digital products. Everyone who’s ever hated researching tech solutions 😵‍💫- this episode is for you! Mitch is also a beacon of light addressing gay bias in the nonprofit industry, and sharing his story as a gay man and passionate do gooder in the sector. 🎧Listen in now for tech + heart in this convo celebrating inclusive communities.

Today’s Guest

Mitch Stein, Co-Founder, CEO + Chief Impact Officer, Pond

“So you just tell us your problem. And that’s it, you get back to work. Let us canvas the space of providers.”

— Mitch Stein, Co-Founder, CEO and Chief Impact Officer, Pond

Episode Transcript

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Episode Highlights

Mitch’s story and journey to where he is today (2:00)
An overview of Pond (6:00)
The importance of community and leadership growth (16:00)
Finding the right technology for your organization: key questions to ask during technology demos (20:00)
Make values-based decisions (21:00)
How the nonprofit sector can be more inclusive of the LGBTQIA+ community (24:00)
A powerful moment of philanthropy in Mitch’s life (35:000
Mitch’s One Good Thing: Don’t wait for permission.

Powerful quotes

“As we looked at those four barriers of time, money, expertise, and trust we were like, Okay, well, we're not doing anything to solve those barriers today.” -Mitch

“So you just tell us your problem. And that's it, you get back to work. Let us canvass the space of providers.” -Mitch

“We want to take something off of your plate, and then also pay you for any time you spend on it.” -Mitch

“As a founder, we get together other founders of providers on the platform. We're reinventing the wheel in different places, we could all be working together better.” Mitch

“You want to be focused on finding the thing that does the most important thing for you best.” -Mitch

“Every other week, we have tech company leaders talking to each other about how to better serve this space.” -Mitch

“You're putting power back into the hands of the nonprofit by equipping them with the insight to be able to make smart decisions.” -Jon

“It's not just about where you got the biggest discount or coupon. Right, that's cost-based decision making, as opposed to value-based decision making.” -Mitch

“That's just a reality of like mentally checking, you know, how are you lifting up celebrating?” -Mitch

“If you want to act like everything's great all the time, you're not going to get the help that you need.” -Mitch

“If you're in a position of privilege because I realized that comes with privilege, and a lot of layers, you know, as a white man, not waiting for permission to also open the door for other people to not wait for permission. And that is really what drives me is figuring out ways that I can kind of disrupt or push back the status quo in ways that are opening that door wider for other people that don't have the same level of privilege and access.” -Mitch

Connect with Mitch and pond

LinkedIn / Website / Instagram

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Watch the full Family Reach story mentioned in the midroll below! 🎉