The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway
The Future of Nonprofits, Moving to a New City in Your 20s, and Advice for First-Time Managers
Wed, 16 Apr 2025
Scott answers a big-picture question about the future of nonprofits. Then, he speaks to a listener preparing for a big move after college and offers advice on managing loneliness and finding independence. Finally, in our Reddit Hotline segment, Scott shares his take on how to lead effectively as a first-time (and remote) manager. Want to be featured in a future episode? Send a voice recording to [email protected], or drop your question in the r/ScottGalloway subreddit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is the future outlook for the nonprofit sector amid funding challenges?
declining philanthropy overall, shifting foundation priorities, AI disruption, and the increased demand for services to support the most vulnerable among us, many of whom are being targeted by the Trump administration, as you rightly point out. What are your predictions for the nonprofit sector? And what strategic advice do you have for nonprofit leaders to survive and thrive? Thanks again.
Whoa, so I'm not sure I'm the person here. Religion and nonprofits are two of my million Achilles heel, and that is I don't know that much about them. So in January, the Trump administration enacted a funding freeze, which affected roughly $3 trillion of federal grants and loans.
including, I don't know if you've seen, but there's been a lot of money that is not only going to nonprofits, but to educational institutions. Although this freeze was blocked by a judge, the White House has repeatedly threatened future funding for nonprofit working in the fields of LGBTQ plus rights, climate change, immigration, reproductive rights, DEI, and more. Jesus Christ, really?
Additionally, many of the philanthropic sector believe we're going through a generosity crisis as fewer Americans less than ever are making donations. Less than half of American households now give cash to charity. 20 million fewer households donated in 2016 than in 2000. What is going on here?
Because if you look globally, people are globally spending more time helping other people they won't ever meet. That's a nice thing, right? But there's something going on around a lack of philanthropic mindset. Is it because we're going to church less? I don't know what it is.
Is it because people's prosperity is not what they'd hoped and their quality of life is going down because of inflation and they just need to hold on to money? Is it because of social media algorithms pit us against each other so we're less inclined to trust institutions, trust others, and give money away, that we don't have the same common to a man? I don't know.
Where can nonprofits look to fill these gaps? The ultra wealthy. In 2024, billionaire wealth surged by $2 trillion, growing three times faster than the prior year, with nearly four new billionaires minted weekly. There are now 10 times more billionaires than in 1990. Think about that. There's no demographic group. not Latinos, not old people.
In the last 34 years, the number of billionaires has increased tenfold. So I work with a lot of universities and they have very robust development departments. And typically development departments are filled with very high EQ, late 30s, early 40s women who have kids at home and were working in the corporate sector and they need more flexibility. And they go to work in development for university.
And they just try and just a manicure shepherd and develop and mature these relationships with really rich people or specifically really rich alums. And they're very good at what they do, but they invest long-term in these relationships. And generally speaking, they want to get... The reason why they raise small amounts of money... I just participated in the one-day giving thing at NYU Stern.
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Chapter 2: How can nonprofits adapt to declining donations and political funding threats?
you're invested, you're comfortable giving, you're much more likely to make a bigger cash donation sometime in the future. And then where they make their money or how they kind of butter their bread is that they occasionally find a whale who makes a huge gift. And that is kind of everything for nonprofits and these institutions. I'll use Scott Harrison as an example.
Scott, who runs Charity Water, he is so good at establishing relationships with people. One, he's just a people person who's good at it. He was a club promoter. And the guy, I've known the guy for, I think, 25 years. We shared office space together. I always gave him a little bit of money. And he's just always done a really good job curing or manicuring, evolving his personal relationship with me.
And I've given six figures, seven figures to Scott. I don't know. Anyways. And quite frankly, I'm not passionate about bringing potable water to Africa, sub-Saharan Africa. It's just not something... I don't want to say I don't care about it. I think it's wonderful. The reason I do it is I'm invested in Scott.
I know that his nonprofit is so well run and so innovative that those dollars are being put to good use. I don't know if I have a lot of insight here. What I will say is that I appreciate the question. And it's one thing to cut funding to nonprofits because you think that maybe they're not spending it as efficiently as they should be.
What is most depraved about all of this is having a political bent on it, and that is cutting money to nonprofits because of a certain political leaning? I just find that, I don't know. Flag of a better term, gross. Thanks for the question. Question number two.
Hi, Scott. My name's Joe. I'm 21 years old, and I'm a senior in college about to graduate this April with a bachelor's in marketing. I discovered your book, The Algebra of Happiness, in 2023. And ever since then, your content has really helped to change the trajectory of my life. Your career advice helped me land a great internship that turned into a competitive full-time job offer.
You helped motivate me to get in the best physical shape of my life. But most importantly, your advice surrounding relationships with people greatly strengthened my own relationships with my friends and family. While I'm a big fan of your professional and political works, your advocacy for young men is what resonates with me the most.
I'm about to start the next chapter of my life, and I'm fortunate enough to be moving to a big city, but my parents, friends, and girlfriend will go from a quick walk or drive to an expensive plane ride. I'm grateful for my situation, but I'm also slightly terrified.
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Chapter 3: Who are the key donors nonprofits should focus on in 2024?
How did you deal with experiencing true independence for the first time and do you have any advice for maintaining a healthy mental state while dealing with the loneliness that will likely accompany the independence? Please keep advocating for young men. Your message is working and if you're ever in Boston, I'd love to buy you a drink. Thanks.
What a thoughtful question. So Joe from Boston, first off, everyone wants to be you right now. You're 21. It sounds like you're in good shape. You have a girlfriend, good relationship with your parents, and you're starting your professional life. So well done. You should feel really good about where and when you are right now. So just what popped into my mind is
It'll be interesting, it'll be inspiring, but the real world is your first one or two years, you're gonna have a moment where you go, wow, this fucking sucks. Or I didn't realize that this would suck this much or that this is hard. And that's exactly where you're supposed to be.
Chapter 4: What strategies do successful nonprofit fundraisers use to build donor relationships?
And so just realize it's temporary and that's part... Everyone's first job, or not everyone, almost everyone's first job sucks. My first job was at Morgan Stanley in fixed income. And within about 48 hours, I'm like, Jesus Christ, this is awful. And it ended up being good for me. It was like serving in the Marines.
So I don't know, just sort of expect, I don't want to say hate your first job, but have it be not cracked up to what it's supposed to be. In terms of maintaining... A healthy outlook and being mentally fit. It sounds like you got sort of the keys figured out. That is you're exercising. It sounds like you have good relationships. You know what? Call your parents every day.
Stay in close contact with your girlfriend. Find ways to have her come visit or go visit her. I don't know how far away that is. and then just be really open and thoughtful about saying yes to things as much as you can in your new city, such that you establish relationships there. The mistake I made when I first got to New York, you know, I was so immature. I made the kind of the same mistake
I made when I first got to college, I couldn't, New York was too much for me. It was just a playground. There was something to do every night. I'd go out, I'd get fucked up. I'd be totally hung over. I'd wake up at 8.44 to get to work by like 9.15, try and do some work and then try and go find a conference room. No joke.
Cause I was so hung over and I would hide under the conference room table and I'd sleep for an hour. And then I would go get a greasy lunch. And then that, and I think, okay, tonight I'm just going to go home, call my mom, get some sleep and, you know, go to bed really early. Watch 30 something, something like that and go to sleep early.
And then inevitably that mix of grease and Advil would make me feel just reasonable for an hour. And a buddy would call me and say, we're meeting some models downtown at Obart. I'm like, I'm in. And I'd go do the same goddamn thing again. And I was smart enough to know, okay, I can't handle the temptations of New York. And I had an opportunity to go to the LA office of Morgan Stanley.
So I took it. I moved back in with my mom and I kind of stopped drinking. And this is a long parable or way of saying, try and tone down. And I don't know if you're doing this, but I got better at making the requisite commitment to being good. good at my first job, which sucks, and I expect a lot of you at a place like Morgan Stanley. I got good.
I stopped drinking and smoking pot for a while, and I did work out. I went to the YMCA, or the YWCA, YMCA, whatever it was, in downtown Los Angeles, and I worked out not every day, but... And I didn't have a lot of relationships. I had some friends I used to go out with, but my primary relationship was with my mom, who I was living with.
And then I had some friends, but I didn't have any girlfriends. I had a lot of girlfriends in college. I found that a young man right out of college is just not that attractive. that all the women I wanted to date were dating guys in their 30s who were hedge fund managers who could take them to St. Bart's or Aspen or the Hamptons.
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Chapter 5: How can young adults cope with loneliness and independence after moving to a new city?
And again, recognize that when you hit some rough spots and you think, wow, this isn't This isn't what I thought it would be. That's exactly where you're supposed to be. Most people's first job is not fun. And the fact that you're, you know, just make sure your parents are there, call them every day. It's sort of a release valve or every week to tell them what's going on in your life.
Obviously, other things will take over in terms of your desire or your ability to ensure you maintain your relationship with your girlfriend. But again, I don't know, boss. You should be coaching me. I wish I had you to tell me what to do when I was your age. Congrats on everything and best of luck in your first job. We have one quick break.
And when we're back, we're diving into the depths of Reddit. Buckle up.
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Direwolves, not just a thing from Game of Thrones, not just Jon Snow's best friend. Direwolves walked the Americas for millennia, up until about 14,000 years ago when maybe their primary food source dried up or humans hunted them to extinction, no one was taking notes. But we know they were a bit bigger than gray wolves, they ate a lot of meat, and their bite could crush bones.
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Chapter 6: What advice does Scott Galloway offer for maintaining mental health in early adulthood?
And now we know that apparently direwolves are back A startup called Colossal says they've brought these pups back from extinction. They say they've got three of them, but are these direwolves they brought back actually direwolves? And whether they are or aren't, should we be trying to bring direwolves back? Like, why? Join us for answers over at Today Explained.
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They say, hey Scott, I'm a 35 year old who just got his first managerial position. What advice would you give to a first time manager, especially one whose team is remote? That's a good question. So, People often make the mistake of thinking that, okay, I'm nice and I'm smart, which means I'm going to be a good manager. No, being nice and smart doesn't make you a great tennis player.
It doesn't make you great at basketball. Management is its own sport. And It takes a few things. One, I find the great, you know, kind of the best managers have the following attributes in common. One, they are willing to demonstrate excellence and share that excellence. So my partner in the business, Catherine Dillon, has always been what I call a player coach.
And that is rather than managing people, you got to set up an incentive structure that works got to provide feedback. That's really important. But what she does is she helps people do their jobs instead of, in addition to saying, okay, this wasn't great. She will actually, she can do that.
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Chapter 7: What mistakes should people avoid when adjusting to a new city and career?
And she can do that almost as well as, or better, almost everything in the company as well or better than anyone else. And she She doesn't provide just feedback. She provides learning. She sits down. I don't have the patience for that. If I say to someone, when I send feedback, like this edit on this podcast sucked, I don't call them and then say, okay, let's edit it together and let me teach you.
I just say it sucked. That's not that inspiring or that helpful. They demonstrate excellence and they're willing to share that excellence with their team. They take the time to try and teach people and upskill them too. They hold people accountable. And that is they set out definitive goals and benchmarks and they say, okay, we're going to check in and they hold them accountable.
All right, you miss your target. What's up? How can I be helpful? But you missed your target or you exceeded your target. Well done. Let's celebrate that together. They hold people accountable. And the third, good managers demonstrate empathy. And what do I mean by that? I always assumed that everyone just wanted to be like me, rich and awesome. That was my goal.
I want to be super fucking rich and super fucking awesome. And so that means you do as well. Well, what you find out is that for some people, or most people, they don't share exactly your same aspirations. Some people want to manage other people. They get huge reward out of someone reporting to them and figuring out how to manage. Some people want to see their name in lights. Okay, fine.
You're going to manage me. the staff. You're going to manage this group of people. You're going to take on this project. You're going to manage a kind of corporate initiative. Oh, you're going to, when the New York Times calls and asks for a quote, I'm going to turn them over to you as an analyst in that they just light up, right? That's just hugely important to them.
Other people need some flexibility. And it's like, if you can provide that for them, especially as a... I was into remote work kind of a long time before other people. And when I say that, I think it's terrible for young people, but I...
My secret kind of human capital weapon in the 90s was I hired quite a few people who were brand managers out of really iconic companies who left because it wasn't compatible with having kids. They weren't nearly as generous with maternity leave back in the 90s. And I would say, come in two days a week, but you can be home three days a week.
And I found that mothers were really efficient and disciplined because there was no like, they had to leave at a certain time to get home to pick up their kids or whatever. And so I hired a lot of mothers and gave them remote work flexibility, which doesn't sound that progressive now, but it was back in the 90s. Why?
Because I would learn about their situation and think, okay, I'm going to cater my management of you to what is your specific situation. If you can demonstrate to people that, you have a vested interest in their success, that you are fighting for them, they will be loyal to you. And that is a really powerful thing.
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