Honest conversations about giving, legacy, and impact — captured outside the boardroom and grounded in lived experience.
BEYOND THE BOARDROOM
Distilling Philanthropy is a guest-driven, conversation-led podcast that explores philanthropy through the lived perspectives of the people who engage with it through their own work and lives. Set in a speakeasy, not a boardroom, the podcast dispels convention and leans into the moment.
Each episode features honest conversations with guests who share how they personally view philanthropy. By understanding how they define it, wrestle with it, and experience its impact, they are able to move beyond traditional narratives. The podcast looks at the real opinions, trade-offs, and moments that shape meaningful change.
Distilling Philanthropy creates space for open dialogue around responsibility, generosity, and the complexities that sit at the intersection of impact and intention.
Josh Stamer
Host, Distilling Philanthropy
Josh believes philanthropy is one of the world’s greatest opportunities to solve meaningful problems at scale. He’s built his career as a trusted advisor and steward of charitable capital, approaching each conversation as a student first—focused on building leverage by elevating others. He also believes the BEST conversations happen at the bar.
EPISODE LIBRARY
SEASON 1
Episode 01
THE METRIC PHILANTHROPY ISN’T MEASURING (BUT SHOULD)
In this episode of Distilling Philanthropy, Josh Stamer sits down with Kari Hernandez (SVP of Growth at Ren, Inc.) to challenge how we measure (and practice) modern philanthropy. They dig into donor-advised funds (DAFs), why “assets parked” is the wrong scoreboard, and what it looks like to move from check-writing to problem-solving with real outcomes, momentum, and fulfillment. If you’re a high net worth donor or advisor trying to deploy charitable capital with more clarity and less friction, this conversation delivers a sharper framework for what’s next.
Guest
Kari Hernandez
Senior Vice President, Growth, Ren, Inc. (San Diego, CA)
Kari leads growth strategy across product, partnerships, and market expansion at Ren, a philanthropy-tech company powering charitable giving infrastructure for donor-advised funds, nonprofits, wealth managers, and fintech partners. Her background spans systems engineering and operations, including early work at Disney, leadership roles at McKinsey, and VP positions at Indigo Agriculture and Veho. She holds degrees from USC (BS Industrial & Systems Engineering), MIT (MS Transportation), and Harvard Business School (MBA).
GUESTS
FEB 18, 2026
EP 01
KARI HERNANDEZ
COMING SOON
EP 02
SPECIAL GUEST
COMING SOON
EP 03
SPECIAL GUEST
INTERESTED IN BEING A GUEST?
Distilling Philanthropy features a curated group of voices working across philanthropy, advisory, and nonprofit leadership. If you’re interested in being considered for a future conversation, we’d love to hear from you.
