Leading with purpose
Nick Grono, CEO of The Freedom Fund, on good leadership, how to measure impact, and the power of collaboration
Sunday, 01 September 2024
Find this episode on Apple or Spotify, or search for Shaping Philanthropy wherever you get your podcasts.
The Freedom Fund is the world’s first private donor fund dedicated to tackling slavery around the world. Established a decade ago, it has rewritten the rule book on how to use data and frontline engagement to combat bonded labour and human trafficking, and it has made a new model for collaborative philanthropy.
CEO Nick Grono joins Anissa Punjani for this episode of Shaping Philanthropy to explain what The Freedom Fund does and how, and to talk about his new book “How To Lead Nonprofts: Turning Purpose Into Impact to Change the World”.
Nick has had a long and rich career spanning the public, private and non-profit sectors. A corporate lawyer by training with a spell at an investment bank, Goldman Sachs, he has been chief of staff to the Australian attorney general, spent ten years at International Crisis Group, latterly as deputy president and chief operating officer, and served as a board member or chair of several leading non-profit and advocacy organisations, including Girls Not Brides and Global Witness.
"The things that get you into leadership positions aren't necessarily the things that make you a great leader."
Nick Grono, CEO, The Freedom Fund
In this interview, Nick shares what he has learned – sometimes the hard way – about how to lead teams and organisations. “The things that get you into leadership positions aren't necessarily the things that make you a great leader,” he says, highlighting challenges around managing budgets and responding to Covid-19.
In 2022, The Freedom Fund, a collaboration between the Dubai-based Legatum Foundation, Humanity United, based in the US, and Australia’s Walk Free Foundation, joined a prestigious list of organisations to receive money from MacKenzie Scott.
In the podcast, Nick re-lives the moment he received the phone call telling him the fund would be getting a US$35m grant from Scott, and how the no-strings-attached nature of the money has influenced The Freedom Fund to do more trust-based giving of its own to frontline NGOs.
Nick also talks about impact, how to measure it effectively, and the importance of nonprofit staff recognising their purpose and truly leaning into it.
"It can be really challenging to measure impact, but our work really benefits by having a better understanding of what we're achieving,” he says.
Other topics explored include collaboration, boards and accountability, and how he came to write the book and what he hopes it will achieve.
Photo credit: Filmatory Nepal/The Freedom Fund
