Shows
Organize the Rich RadioWhat's it like to give away $25 million? Interview with Katrina SchafferIn this bonus double length episode, Michael interviews his dear friend and former client, Katrina Schaffer.Katrina is part of the 4th generation of the family that owns the Hallmark corporation. Katrina’s family is quite wealthy. They have a large family office, with close to 30 employees, that manages their money. In her lifetime, Katrina is expected to inherit around 94 million dollars, mostly in yearly distributions of around 1.3 million after taxes.Since 2019, Katrina has moved more than 25 million dollars of her personal wealth to social justice organizing and pow...
2025-11-031h 24
Organize the Rich RadioFrom rural North Carolina to the Times100: Talking about money, class and movement building with Monica SimpsonIn the last episode of this season, hosts Michael Gast and Allison Budschalow sit down with Monica Simpson.Monica is, among many things, the Executive Director of SisterSong, the United States' largest organization dedicated to reproductive justice for women of color, and one of TIME magazine's 100’s most influential people of 2023. She is also a member of the Trust Web, the redistribution project we learned about in our first episode with Elspeth Gilmore. Monica shares her journey from a small rural town in North Carolina to becoming a national leader for...
2025-10-1356 min
Organize the Rich Radio"Whose going to reach my people but me?" Interview with Sharon ChenIn this episode, taped in November of 2024, Michael Gast interviews Sharon Chen, an important U.S. based leader in the work of organizing the rich. Earlier this year, Mike and Sharon's conversation was turned into a Substack post titled, "Who's going to reach my people but me?". Sharon is currently (as of Fall 2025) the Interim Executive Director of Donors of Color Network, the former board chair of Donors of Color Action, board member of Women Donors Network, and emeritus president of the Progress Alliance of Washington [the C4 state donor table for WA]. A daughter of immigrants, s...
2025-09-2948 min
Organize the Rich RadioFrom tenant organizing to running a $135 million foundation: Interview with Lisa OwensMovement Money is back! In this episode, co-hosts Allison Budschalow and Michael Gast interview Lisa Owens, Executive Director of the Hyams Foundation.We explore her journey from leading tenant organizing in Boston to running a $135 million private foundation whose mission is to build working class power in Massachusetts. Starting with her own money story, Lisa talks about her transition from her childhood as a class straddler and young Black girl in a predominantly white suburban world to working-class-led tenant organizing to the owning class institution of philanthropy. Recorded just days after the 2024 election, th...
2025-09-161h 02
Organize the Rich Radio"Organizing is a skill like anything else. You can learn it." Interview with Rajasvini BhansaliThe interview from 2023 that turned into the most popular post on the Organize the Rich Substack so far, "Organizing is a skill like anything else. You can learn it." Michael Gast interviews Rajasvini (Vini) Bhansali, Executive Director at Solidaire Network, an organization that builds relationships between social movements, wealthy people and institutional philanthropy. In our conversation, Vini opens up about how she came to this work, the indignities along the way, and her honest take on what's working and what's not about how we organize the rich today.Listen and subscribe on ...
2025-08-2837 min
Organize the Rich RadioMovement Economics with Linda BurnhamIn this episode, we take a break from Movement Money to join Michael as he interviews social justice movement elder, writer, and strategist Linda Burnham. Their conversation was recorded last year in late October, before the election had been decided. It is one of Michael's favorite interviews from the last year of Organize the Rich.Through her personal story and activist experiences since she was a kid, Linda helps answer big questions like…How were movements funded before the rise of philanthropy and nonprofits? What were the economics of being an activist and organizer before the 90’s? Wh...
2025-08-0737 min
Organize the Rich RadioMovement Money: Elspeth Gilmore and the Trust WebIn this first ever episode of our new podcast Movement Money, Allison Budschalow and Mike talk to their dear friend Elspeth Gilmore. How do Michael and Allison both know Elspeth Gilmore, an heir to the Publishers Clearinghouse fortune and former Executive Director of Resource Generation?How and why did Elspeth decide to give away seven million dollars?What is the Trust Web? And is it just a fancy giving circle?!And— record scratch— why the f#*$ would Elspeth give away millions of dollars in the first place? Especially when...
2025-06-1247 min
Organize the Rich RadioMovement Money TrailerAllison Budschalow is a sorta working-class Mongolian woman from Philly. Michael Gast is a sorta rich white guy, born and raised in San Francisco. We’re two fundraisers who joined forces because we love talking about money. And class. And left movements. On Movement Money, hear real talk, from two insiders in progressive-left movement building, about money stories and mutual interests, fundraising and philanthropy, and what the fuck we do about bringing people together across class to change our world. Join Allison and Mike as we make the taboo subjects of class and money...
2025-05-2803 min
Nonprofit SnapCastAllison Budschalow - Grassroots FundraisingThis week we get to talk with Allison Budschalow. Allison has spent over two decades working in the nonprofit sector, based in Philadelphia from which she hails. For the past 10 years, she has been the development director for community based nonprofit organizations, effectively increasing revenue with particular emphasis on diversifying funding streams and securing grassroots fundraising efforts with individual donors of all sizes. She focuses on how grassroots fundraising can support and sustain community-building.
We welcome your questions and feedback via The Nonprofit Snapshot website or the Wellspring Nonprofit Resource website. The Nonprofit SnapCast records at Strongbox...
2020-01-0718 min