Most nonprofits live inside a glossy annual report — one that looks perfect, tells a tidy story, and tells the funder exactly what they want to hear. The problem, according to Stephen Minix, is that this kind of reporting is not learning. It is validation. And validation, he argues, is quietly doing harm. Stephen is Vice President of Community at UpMetrics, a former PE teacher, athletic director, and basketball coach at Locke High School in Watts, and one of the clearest thinkers I have encountered on why the nonprofit-funder relationship keeps failing — and what a genuinely regenerative alternative looks like. In this conversation, he names the extractive dynamics that most people in the impact space accept as normal, introduces the concept of results-based accountability, and shares what it actually takes to move philanthropy from transactional to relational. We go deep on why data collected from communities should serve those communities rather than flow upward to validate a funder's investment decisions, why the real barrier between funders and nonprofits is trust rather than information, and why community voices need to be in the room — not on the stage at a gala as a sad story that makes people reach for their wallets. Stephen also explains what a family office is for anyone who has wondered but never asked, shares how UpMetrics works in cohort settings to help nonprofits build their own data infrastructure, and offers his most memorable anecdote: asking a room full of funders what data they collected before signing their kids up for after-school programs. The answer — silence — says everything about the gap between how philanthropy evaluates communities and how it trusts its own instincts. Complete Blog with Transcript: https://caremorebebetter.com/reimagining-impact-the-power-of-coalition-building-and-regenerative-thinking-with-stephen-minix CHAPTER MARKERS: 02:00 — Culture-Rich, Not Deficit: What Stephen Saw Teaching in Watts That Data Never Captured 08:29 — Naming the Extraction: How Philanthropy's Reporting System Quietly Does Harm 13:35 — Results-Based Accountability: What Community-Centered Data Practice Actually Looks Like 20:17 — The Point Guard Metaphor: Moving the Ball Where It Needs to Go 28:25 — Who's Missing From the Room — and Why It Always Shows 38:38 — Optimizing the Whole System: From Transactional to Relational Philanthropy 47:54 — How UpMetrics Gets Capital to Communities Faster 50:57 — Not Broken, In Process: Regeneration as It Relates to Youth 53:05 — Perpetual Positivity, Empathy, and What Keeps Stephen Going 57:34 — Closing: Spaceship Earth and the Future We're Building Together BUILD A GREENER FUTURE with CARE MORE BE BETTER Together, we planted 36,044 trees in 2025 through our partnership with ForestPlanet. We screamed past our goal of planting 20,000 trees thanks to subscribers like you! CAUSE PARTNER FOR 2026: If you value open dialogue, sustainability, and social equity, I invite you to support our new cause partner — Prescott College. To learn more about this effort and to support the show, visit: https://caremorebebetter.com/support/ Follow us on social media: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/caremorebebetter TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@caremorebebetter Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caremorebebetter Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CareMoreBeBetter LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/care-more-be-better Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ask this episode

“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

Transcript

Related