What if the most generous thing a funder can do is stop giving a little to everyone?

In this episode of Fuel for Female Founders, Andrea interviews Kate Groat, Director of Corporate Philanthropy at Live Oak Bank, the Wilmington, North Carolina lender ranked first in the country for SBA 7(a) lending by dollar volume. Kate is a teacher by trade who spent a few years as what she calls a “pretend banker” before being handed the bank's giving with no playbook. She built it by listening to everyone who would talk to her and found that nonprofits wanted two things: money and data. She went on to help found Cape Fear Collective, a nonprofit that puts data behind the region's hardest problems.

Kate and Andrea trace the thinking behind her work. Kate wants to cure the problem, not just stop the bleeding, even though root causes take longer and cost more. She makes the case for funding nonprofits like the businesses they are, with follow-up and real outcomes, and explains why philanthropy and government money will never be enough on their own. That idea led to The Forward Fund, which she and Meaghan Dennison dreamed up: zero percent loans for short, high-demand training tracks like electrical line work, repaid by graduates so the money moves to the next learner. She also explains why Live Oak supports a shared substitute pool for early childhood centers, because no one can take a better job if their children are not safe and learning.

This conversation goes well beyond grant making. Kate talks about how Live Oak builds giving into its culture, about being the on-call parent in a full-time job, and about the question working mothers still get asked. Her closing advice is to know your yes. Live Oak went from small checks for nearly a hundred organizations to larger grants for fewer than 30, and Kate says the no's got easier once the bank knew what it was for.

This episode is for the woman who wants her time and money to change something that lasts, who is tired of sitting on the sidelines and is ready to act on the cause that is hers.

In This Episode, Listeners Will Hear

• What separates stopping the bleeding from fixing the root cause
• Why nonprofits deserve to be funded like the businesses they are
• How The Forward Fund uses zero percent loans to move people into better jobs
• Why workforce development starts with safe, reliable child care
• Why knowing your yes makes every no easier

Timestamps

(0:00) Intro

(0:38) Meet Kate Groat of Live Oak Bank

(2:30) Treating root causes, not just symptoms

(3:42) Funding nonprofits like the businesses they are

(6:21) Why this is the moment to give

(8:52) How The Forward Fund was born

(13:10) Early childhood care and a shared sub pool

(17:31) Inside Live Oak Bank's mission

(19:24) Working motherhood and the full-time question

(22:23) Know your yes

Resources and Connections

• Kate Groat on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-groat-0766b31a
• Guest Website / Resource: https://www.liveoak.bank/
• Live Oak Bank on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/live-oak-bank
• The Forward Fund: https://theforward.fund/
• Cape Fear Collective: https://capefearcollective.org/
• Fuel for Female Founders: https://www.fuelforfemalefounders.com/
• Andrea L. Johnston on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrealjohnston
• Fuel for Female Founders on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fuel-for-female-founders
• Kate Groat, Women I Want You to Know feature: https://www.fuelforfemalefounders.com/featured-women/kate-groat/

Produced by: UNFLTR