Kent McGuire’s understanding of power began at home in Lansing, Michigan, where his father led a United Auto Workers local and his aunt led the Michigan Education Association. Organizing, he says, was simply “how people shaped the world they lived in.”

As former Education Program Director at the Hewlett Foundation, Kent talks about what it means to hold institutional power responsibly: the limits of money, the leverage of reputation and access, and the discipline of humility. He describes strategy as both necessary and constraining, noting that short philanthropic time horizons make it hard to share power even when funders intend to.

He also explains what makes an encounter meaningful: come prepared to understand who he is and what he cares about. Know his context, his constraints, and how your work connects to them. Alignment, he says, starts with comprehension.

It’s a conversation about trust, leadership, and what it looks like to stay human—and gracious.

Produced by Chris Lawrence and Urbanist Media Cover art by Ben Johnson Theme music by Evan Greer

For more tools, workshops, and resources on building authentic fundraising relationships, visit: aspirationtech.org/htrm

Michelle Shevin’s understanding of power took shape in an unlikely place—a graduate program run by the U.S. military—where she first learned to see how institutions build and justify control.

As a former Senior Program Officer at the Ford Foundation, she talks about wicked problems that can’t be solved, only lived with; the arrogance of solutionism; and the trap funders fall into when they confuse speed and scale with progress. She reflects on how technology both concentrates and exposes power, why relationships—not efficiency—are the real measure of impact, and how humility functions as a discipline, not a personality trait.

It’s a grounded conversation about power, responsibility, and what thoughtful practice inside big institutions can still make possible.

Produced by Chris Lawrence and Urbanist Media Cover art by Ben Johnson Theme music by Evan Greer

For more tools, workshops, and resources on building authentic fundraising relationships, visit: aspirationtech.org/htrm

Sasha Rabkin, Chief of Program Strategy & Innovation for the Advanced Education Research & Development Fund (AERDF), speaks plainly about what it takes to build trust.

He shares what makes early-stage funding possible, why–when he was a fundraiser–he resisted sending a deck, and how power and credibility get negotiated in the early stages of a relationship.

This is a conversation about timing, posture, and what it really means to invest in people—not just projects.

Produced by Chris Lawrence and Urbanist Media Cover art by Ben Johnson Theme music by Evan Greer

For more tools, workshops, and resources on building authentic fundraising relationships, visit: aspirationtech.org/htrm