Nonprofit Series | Heifer International

Summary: Heifer is one of the most well-known nonprofits in the US and we're excited to chat with Liz Ellis to learn more about their mission and how it continues to evolve.

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Transcript:

Andy - WeHero: All right, Liz, well, excited to have you on the we hero, learn podcast and excited to learn more about heifer. Obviously we've worked here in the past, but all the people that are watching this, you know, have heard of heifer I'm sure, but are gonna benefit greatly by learning more. So maybe just a great starting point, just an overview of you, your role, your background, and I guess in general, the work at heifer.

Liz Ellis: Sure. Yeah. Thank you. And thanks so much for having me here today. I love talking about heifer and I especially love the idea of talking to my peers through this platform. So it's a pleasure. So my name is Liz. My current title is corporate brand partnerships manager for heifer international. So I've actually been with heifer for 15 years in multiple very different roles. I started with heifer originally, actually as a cook kind of a farm to table cook. We had a learning center up in Massachusetts where all kinds of students and the public would come to learn about our work and to learn sort of about how they can take action, which of course includes food systems and food choices. So that was just a pleasure for me. I did that for many years. I'm still a very big food geek.

Liz Ellis: And my whole life really, honestly, ever since I was a teenager, is it very much revolved around food and agriculture? It's just always been a passion of mine. So, so finding this job with heifer 15 years ago being able to use the skills that I had to integrate into an organization that I already fully loved and believed in tremendously was a true joy and has been ever since. So throughout that I did a, I kind of transitioned more into some outreach and education. And then the past two years I've been in this role, which today is my role is basically to work with companies and corporate partners to find the best ways to solve and reach all of our goals. So I look, do a lot in sort of CSR and ESG and look for alignment with companies and figure out ways that heifer can reach the audiences that they're looking for.

Liz Ellis: And obviously speaking to companies through we hero is my very favorite way to do that because they get to really kind of dig in and some of the ways that we work and really have that conversation with several people at a time, which is amazing. So heifer's mission is to work with communities to end hunger and poverty and to care for the earth. And that's been our mission for quite a long time. Heifer actually was started back in 1944 by a man named Dan west, who is a farmer from Indiana. And he was a very faithful man and a pacifist. And he was giving out food aid to communities in this form of powdered milk, basically for families that had really lost their farms and their livelihoods. And so people would line up each day and at a certain point Dan west had to sort of decide who was gonna get this aid.

Liz Ellis: And he was very concerned about what would happen and when it dried up. And so he had this sort of inspiration of not a cup, but a cow. And what that idea was was that if he could provide and he could provide livestock and sort of agricultural support to families, that they could use that to really rebuild, to have a long term source of nutrition and income. And so that's very much what he's done for all throughout all of these decades. And today, of course our model is, is a little bit more developed and complex, but it's still based on the idea that we know that farmers are really the key small farmers are the key to hunger and poverty.

Andy - WeHero: Yeah. I mean, I think that model really resonates with me and, and the approach of not only immediate need, but long term need as well, and hopefully solving it. And just for a quick overview, how much of your work is done in the us versus abroad and, and where abroad is, is it happening?

Liz Ellis: Yeah, great question. So we've historically he has worked and overhead hundred 25 countries. But in the past several years, decade, at least 15 years that's been focused a lot for a number of reasons. And so today we work in 21 countries and that includes the us. So there's several places in central America, Guatemala, Honduras. We also work in south America, Ecuador in mostly east Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, but also a little bit west Africa and Senegal. We are in Cambodia and Bangladesh and Nepal and India, and I'm sure I'm leaving a couple countries out there. I'm sure I am. And then we do work in the us and specifically I work in the us is focused a little bit in sort of the mid south area, cuz heifer is based in little rock Arkansas and we have a fantastic and beautiful 1200 acre ranch, which is actually where I live right here. It's called heifer ranch in Perryville Arkansas. And the ranch is specifically a regenerative ranch. So they're doing everything they can to rebuild soil sequester carbon preserved by diversity. And to also teach our other farmers how to do that and in a way that they can also learn, earn the best income from what they produce.

Andy - WeHero: Yeah. I, I find that part of your model so fascinating and, and it's, you know, right now, it, it seems like that's focused in the us to have an income increase impact on individuals, but also an environmental impact. You know, when you think about your work in the developing world is so much of that. These people just need food and income to survive that maybe eventually will bring them the regenerative agriculture, or do you try to start the li their livelihood based on the regenerative agriculture in the developing world as well?

Liz Ellis: That's a really great question. Yeah. so I think you could very much say that the work we do abroad is, is regenerative in a, in a broad sense. I think the definition of regenerative agriculture is still a little bit up for debate. There's certain presets that I think tend to come along with it. And for the most part, those are all true. I would, generally we say that our work abroad is all climate smart agriculture. So I mean, you heard in our mission that caring for the earth is right there. I mean, that's half of our mission, right? So everything we do and have done for decades is focused on particularly doing Ahan to the earth, but also to, you know, to practicing agriculture in a way that benefits the ecosystem and the soil. So multiple practices like cover cropping and reforestation and agri forestry and, you know, managing livestock in a way that is not harmful that can actually be very beneficial. That's incorporated into all of our work. I mean, our first goal is to support these farmers. So their livelihoods are first in our mind and always will be. But along with, we truly believe that these two things go hand in hand and that climate agriculture is the key to successful long term development work.

Andy - WeHero: Yeah. Yeah, no, it makes a, makes a ton of sense to me. And, and I think I like that two pronged approach. You know, I guess how, how do you measure your impact? You know, and companies are coming to you asking, Hey, if we donate a million dollars to a heifer, what's the impact of that. And, and how do you measure that across the three different metrics, you know, short term, long term, and I guess the, you know, environmental aspects of it.

Liz Ellis: Yeah. This is a great question. And it's something that historically heifer struggled with for a little while. It wasn't because heifer's been around for so long, our model wasn't necessarily originally designed in a way that was easily measurable. However, over the past, again, 10 to 15 years, it's been quite a, quite a focus. So today we have an extraordinary monitor and evaluation team who measure, who have established baseline metrics and who measure them in multiple areas. So some of the strongest ones and the ones obviously that we share and like to talk about the most store around livelihoods living income is a really, really critical one to what we do helping farmers to get really way beyond that poverty line, whatever that means is, is fundamental to what we do. So for a long time have for like so many organizations with operating sort of using the, a global poverty line, whether it's a dollar 25 or a dollar 90, obviously that changed throughout time.

Liz Ellis: But there was obviously a lot of concern that for the two things, that one that was a little bit arbitrary because every country, every community sort of their economics are different. But also that, that global poverty line wasn't enough to have families get to a point where they were resilient, where they could sustain, you know, the ups and downs of life. And so these days the arm bells, we call them monitoring evaluation learning team had establi, did an incredible work to establish what the living income really was, what an annual income was in each country. We work in that could afford families, obviously diversified nutritional diet safe and, you know, reliable housing clothes that all kids could be sent to school that medical care was available when needed. But also, and this is really important that families could put a little bit aside that there's, that they were earning enough, not just to cover basic expenses, but to be able to save some for two things.

Liz Ellis: I mean, obviously none of us know what is ahead tomorrow could happen. And we all need a little bit of savings to make sure that we can deal with that and hopefully start to rebuild after we've gone through whatever it is, but also so that there might be a little bit to reinvest in their farms and their businesses. We really look at the what our farmers do is these are their small businesses and they need a little bit to grow them in order to continue on that path, even beyond a living income. So that's, that's a huge one that we do. We've worked a lot recently in establishing a gender equity framework. So we've seen for such a long time. It means some of the things that have impacted me most personally, are the store of how women's lives have been so radically changed after he Hector working with heifer.

Liz Ellis: So many stories of women who were, you know, barely able to leave their houses and certainly not necessarily literate all the, all the way to a place where they were traveling around giving advice to others and helping others in, in communities surrounding them. So it's, it's an it's extraordinary work. It's been a huge goal of ours for a long time, but we haven't really been able to quantify the impact of that. And it's a, obviously it's beyond quantifying, but so we've been working a lot very recently with some advisors on establishing a way to measure that, to really track it and to see the actual impact it's having other ways we, we track. So this ranch where I'm at HEPA ranch and Arkansas has just become a, a hub of the savory international network, which is a global organization of farms and ranches that are practicing that regenerative agriculture is a very highest, highest level.

Liz Ellis: And part of becoming a savory hub is learning able to practice ecological outcome verification. So it's a way to measure the impact that this, these farming practices have. So it's one thing to sort of say, I can look out the window and I can see the difference just in how green things are and the diversity of animals and insects, but it's another thing to measure that. And so we measure not only soil health, carbon content but also biodiversity and, you know, water cycles. And there's multiple ways that we do, as you said, short term and long term impact. And that carries true really throughout heifer's work. Yeah, so I mean, impact is, is huge for us and, and measuring that, be able to tell people not only our donors, first of all, because we don't want donors just to give money and, you know, sort of feel like maybe they're involved.

Liz Ellis: We want them to know what their, what they're doing, where their money's going. And so being able to share that particularly over time when people are deeply invested is, is absolutely an ultimate goal of ours. And also, you know, this last 18 months COVID obviously took a toll just, just in about every industry. And unfortunately the Pharmac we work with are, are no different. And a lot of, you know, they took a lot of hits due to supply chain problems and just multiple from multiple directions. And so we are tacking that too, you know, it's not in the trajectory that we wanna see across the board, but we need to know what the impact is so that we can correct for that. And then in the future, we can potentially, you know, do diff things possibly differently and focus even stronger in certain areas to make sure that that doesn't happen again.

Andy - WeHero: Yeah. Well, I love everything you're doing to track the impact that it's such a hard thing to do when it sounds like you're involved in, in such a complex mission and solving so many needs, we're obviously an impact first organization. So, so we love that. And I think I'm personally really excited to see cuz right now you can track the, you know, the one off impact, but doing this for the next 20 years, you'll be able to track, you know, what we call the ripple effect, impact exactly. You know, of that woman empowered, you were able to empower, you know, to leave the house and go act as a mentor to others. What impact did that have? And, and it may, you know, frankly, we think we're often under reporting impact and a lot of nonprofits are right now. Obviously it's safer to do that, but we're excited to see the long term impact be able to really expand. And, you know, know when you donate, you know, maybe in 2040, when someone donates a million dollars to halfer they'll know, Hey, that's not only gonna empower these 10 women historically that's empowered an extra 15 women through the mentorship program. And it's really cool that you guys are starting to track that. And I think I'm sure businesses are asking about that as well.

Liz Ellis: Absolutely. I mean, they want, they wanna just businesses are, are really coming to realize it's the power. I, well, I don't, I can't speak for them, but I think they're even more vocally talking about how they recognize their own power in changing the world and protecting climate and, and in trying to reduce hunger and poverty. And I think, yeah, we want to be able to show them that this is the right investment for them. And I love that you mentioned sort of the further impacts because that's something that's very special to heifer. For as long as I know he, one of the precepts of heifer's work has been something called passing on the gift, which is it's a cornerstone of ours. And it basically in the simplest way, it means that if a family let's say they receive livestock like goats the first, usually female kid goat that's born will be passed on to another family, like completely fear of charge, no strings attached, but it is actual contract that family sign.

Liz Ellis: And it may be to somebody in their village that they know or may be to somebody, you know, a hundred miles away that they've never met the ceremonies of passing on the gift or these incredibly emotional and beautiful experiences, but that passing on the gift, heifer's done studies like learning that, that on average happens up to nine times over and over and can even go like 20 generations. And it's not just animals, it's not just physical inputs, but it's also training and education and micro loans and cooperative support. And so really that multiplier effect that for has, is, I mean, it's literally exponential. And we, I think, you know, I, we've done a, a pretty good job of tracking it, but like you said, you know, it, the impact is actually even really greater than the, the numbers that we put down.

Andy - WeHero: Yeah. And I think that, you know, another reason that I'd love that, that pit forward, you know, model that you have is, you know, as corporate people, dealing with corporate ball volunteers and corporate donors, we believe in, in so much that the individual, the more empathy they feel for these, you know, people they're supporting, the more they're gonna wanna support. And, you know, I can think of no one who has more empathy than someone that's gone through that and knows that they're gonna change someone's life by giving them this code. And, and so not only are you, you're just creating a ton of net promoters of what you're doing in such a strong way. And that, that ripple effects that are incredible.

Liz Ellis: Absolutely. One of one of the things about he that stayed the same is not changed regardless of how we track everything. And, you know, even if our, our model is, is shifted a little bit, is that heifer always operates on a sort of values based development model, meaning that the communities we work with before they even like really start with working with heifer, they have a chance to really focus on what is most important to them, where they wanna see themselves go, what assets they have, you know, it's not just what they don't have, but what do they have and where, where do their dreams lead them? And that is what actually really guides the work in every community. And so I think that that's really true. I mean, this work is being done by the farmers themselves, you know, we're, we're just, we're a facilitator basically. And that's what I really love about it. I mean, it really is teaching a person to fish as we always say, but even more, I mean, these are, these are, these people are heroes and they're doing the hard work. And I think it's great that we get to, there's a wonderful resources on heifer on our blog and our magazine of like real stories of people that just, you know, blow my mind every time. So I fully agree. Thank you for that.

Andy - WeHero: Yeah. Now I grew up thinking of heifer as something my grandmother would give me every year, give, you know, give an animal and you get a certificate. How, how much has, you know, how much of that still drives your organization's funds, first company donations, corporate involvement, I guess. How do you see that transitioning in the future as well?

Liz Ellis: Yeah, that's a really good question. It's something I think about it a lot and heifer think about a lot. So currently I think it's about 80% of our net income is from like individual donations from those catalogs from give a goat or give a hive of honey bees which is huge. And that has been our bread and butter. There's no question those, those families whose tradition it is the, the communities who share that. I mean, that has been, it's just been enormous. I mean, it's been, he has built so much of our work on, on that incredible loyalty and that, that model. However, of course, just like any organization, any company, you know, we realize that we have to diversify that, but you know, you just, you cannot depend on one income source. I mean, we were lucky enough that our donors just came out like crazy, like in droves over COVID to support the word, what we're doing.

Liz Ellis: Cause they, they understand the impact of it. And they're so supportive of it, but you know, whether it's a good times or bad times, you need to have, you need to understand that your funding's coming from multiple sources because we can't let the farmers we work with down. So yeah, we're definitely, we're definitely working very consciously to sort of really broaden our work with corporations, particularly in cause marketing and global partnerships and alliances. We've built an incredibly wonderful impact investing department, you know, we're really focused in, on institutional building. Yeah, looking at looking at really, I mean, these are things we've all, we've always done a little bit, but we're really investing in it now to make sure that we have the most solid foundation possible moving forward.

Andy - WeHero: Yeah. Well I think a lot of people probably wish they had that individual support. Cause I think that's, you know, it's, it's it's really hard to get that much, you know, grassroot support for an organization. And you, yeah, obviously everything's a balance, right. But I think a lot of people wish they had that versus having a few corporate donors. Obviously you want both.

Liz Ellis: Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, and time and time again, I'll say that, you know, my, my joy to, to work with he for 15 years, of course, I've spoken to just thousands and thousands of people and time and time and time again, the, that no, and love Heer the most are those who's, you know, it's been a part of their family and it's a part of their history and really who they are. And that is incredible. And that is something you cannot like build or replicate, you know, that's, that's just, that's in heifer's DNA and, and we are so incredibly grateful for that and proud of that.

Andy - WeHero: Yeah. Yeah. I know. It's awesome. And this obviously little more of a challenging question, but one we always like to ask, you know, how does heifer think about financial transparency you know, with all different stakeholders, with companies, with individual donors, with the people you're supporting, you know, how, how do you, how does your, your, your nonprofit think about that and handle the transparency part of it?

Liz Ellis: Yeah. This is also a really wonderful question. Something we're very proud of actually. So I mentioned our values based development model before, and that's kind of that's designed around what we call our 12 cornerstones of just and sustainable development passing on the gift is one of those, if not, maybe the premier one but one of those cornerstones is accountability. And that goes, that is across the board. That is with our project of participants and our offices and every single department in heifer. And of course, you know, one of the most important parts of that is financial transparency. I mean, we, we never are hiding anything and never have been. And in fact, it's one of our great sources of private. I think we've scored 98, 97 or 98 out of a hundred and charity navigator for our of financial transparency. So, so that's pretty great. That's not,

Andy - WeHero: Not easy to do either.

Liz Ellis: No, yeah. It's I know exactly. It's pretty, it's very rigorous. We, our financial department, I mean, all credit goes to them for, for years historically being, you know, really on the forefront of that and the head of the game. We, you know, we know we, again, we, we rely on our donor, we trust them. We're so grateful for them, individual corporations across the board and you know, what better way to sort of thank them and show, show them that we're the best stewards of their, and to show them exactly where it's going.

Andy - WeHero: Yeah. All right. A few questions to end this it's 2050 still living on the ranch. It's Halloween time, 2050. Okay. How is your mission different and how are you delivering impact in, in, in, how do you think you're gonna be delivering impact at that point?

Liz Ellis: Ooh, good question. I would say our, our mission is not gonna change until hunger and poverty has been eradicated. I would. I mean, that would be amazing if we can say that by 2050, then, then our, if that is true or even it has been greatly lessened, which is certainly something we can, we can work towards. I think that, I think really the climate water, those are gonna be the big things. I mean, that that's with, regardless of what we're gonna be focusing on as well as gender equity and equity across the board, diversity and equity. But basically, you know, we can't, food systems rely on climate. There's no question there's, you know, there's some indoor farming you can do, but we have to be doing this in a way that is holistic and considers the entire planet. And so I think that we, we mission our mission is the same. I think our work will be even more focused on making sure that there's plenty of access to healthy food and water and a safe and decent place to live for everyone.

Andy - WeHero: Yeah. Okay. How, how how about this one? What what is your favorite meal to cook on the ranch?

Liz Ellis: Oh God. Okay. wow. Well you kinda that's, this is my wheelhouse cuz I am. So I actually I don't like to get too person here, but I actually am a vegan myself. I believe deeply in the responsible use of life like agriculture, because I believe it can actually really heal the planet in many ways. However, I have a choice to you know, not to eat meat. And so I love to do that. I like to cook whatever seasonal. So, I mean, I'll just tell you right now what I'm making. I've got a bunch of pumpkins from Halloween that I've some of which I've already roasted and have prepped up and some great greens actually. So in on the ranch here they plant all different kinds of crops for forage, for the cows and, and for the sheep as well.

Liz Ellis: And some of those crops are, well, some of them are mini pumpkins, little Gores, but also some of them are just like wonderful kind of collar type greens. And so I went out the other day and just went into a cow past year. I could you not, I just harvested a bunch of greens. We also have an organic garden here too, but I think it's even funnier to harvest greens out of a cow pasture. So I did that. So I've got those in the fridge tonight. I'm gonna make pumpkin and greens kind of KCS and I have some some Pinto beans and green beans that I'm making on the side. I think so for me, it's just being inspired by what we have. Like I have red are, you know, coming into season now and greens and pumpkin. So I, it always changes. It's like asking me what my favorite band is. You know, it sort of depends on the time and the moment, but anything that's local and fun and, you know, full of veggies and fruits is my favorite.

Andy - WeHero: Okay. Well, I'm gonna get a direct flight from San Francisco airport right now. Cause that sounds amazing. Please

Liz Ellis: Come on out. It'd be awesome. Yeah.

Andy - WeHero: And very impressive about the vegan. I, I have elected not to eat beef, but I think going further to, to be a vegan is a goal. But when you're not as much of an inspirational cook as yourself, it's, it's a little harder to, to make that final question, you know, we're gonna give you a thousand dollars, what nonprofit different than heifer are you gonna donate that money to

Liz Ellis: Different than heifer? I, gosh, that's a really great question. Hmm. Well, I love Kiva. I love investing and reinvesting. I love owners choose because I like just, you know, really reading the stories and having that kind of direct impact. I myself give to also a lot of the humane society and the as PCA because I, I have a great concern for animal welfare. But I also think, you know, the, I think anything Oxfam the UN all of the, I think heifer is together are with an incredible team of nonprofits working to build sustainable food systems to end hunger and poverty. And I think that I would donate to that as well. So I think I would, well, no, that's hard to say, I, I don't know. I have

Andy - WeHero: So many, this is don't, don't worry. This is everybody's answer is actually, like I asked for the one and they're like, I've got nine for you. Yeah.

Liz Ellis: It's a really hard, there's so many and also world wildlife fund and all of the, all of the organizations, amazing organizations out there protecting our, our seeds and the planet are top the top of my heart. So yeah, a lot. There's several out there that I really respect and I'm grateful for the work that they do.

Andy - WeHero: Yeah. This is why everyone in the nonprofit space should just be given a million dollars and that would all just be all right back to amen. An amazing group of, of nonprofits. I hear that. Well, Liz, I appreciate the time today. Is there any last minute words or how can people get in touch with you and get in touch with heifer if they see this and wanna reach out?

Liz Ellis: Yeah. absolutely. Anyone can email me directly. It's just Liz dot Ellis, E L L I S at heifer, H E I fdr.org. Or I'm right on LinkedIn. That's a great way to connect. Please reach out to me directly. I love to have these conversations and to talk about anything related to heifer or just the work that we do or the work that corporations are doing that fits in and just anyone interested. So please do connect and yeah, I just wanna thank you. I wanna thank all of the amazing companies that work with. We hero to engage their employees and the, all the work that all of these nonprofits are doing to make the world a better place. So my gratitude and thanks again for inviting me to talk to y'all.

Andy - WeHero: Yeah, it was our pleasure, Liz. Thank you very much.