Guiding Organizations To Create Meaningful Impact With Carolyn Keller

September 23, 2024

In this episode of You Can’t Take it With You, host Jim Dunlop sits down with Carolyn Keller, Founder of Curio412, to discuss how organizations can create meaningful impact. They explore the evolving landscape of social impact, the importance of defining a clear mission, and the challenges of developing effective processes. Carolyn also shares stories of clients like Spectrum Fudge and the Farina Foundation, illustrating the power of taking that first step toward change.

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Carolyn Keller is the Founder of Curio412, a consultancy for businesses that want to engage their communities and need help managing their social impact wit

h measurable results. With a certification in Social Impact Strategies from the National Institute for Social Impact, she provides strategic leadership to nonprofits, foundations, and businesses. Carolyn has been named one of Pittsburgh’s 30 Under 30 by the Pittsburgh Business Times and Leadership and a District 1 Difference Maker by the Allegheny County Council.

Episode Summary:

Many organizations strive to create a meaningful impact in the community, but they often find themselves stuck on how to get started. With so many possibilities, how can businesses take that crucial first step to make a difference?

According to Carolyn Keller, a social impact strategist, there isn’t just one way to give back. She emphasizes that each organization has unique passions and resources, and identifying these is key to creating intentional change. By building structured processes and embracing creativity, businesses can successfully bridge the gap between their goals and their community’s needs. The result is a ripple effect of generosity extending beyond initial efforts, transforming communities, and inspiring others to follow suit.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Special Mentions

Related Episodes

Quotable Moments

“I got to see a lot of generosity in my life and then project that generosity again through my own means and my own gifts.”
“There’s not necessarily one way to give back. There are so many different ways, whether it’s through your time, or your talent, or your efforts.”
“If there’s a space that you want to create, there are so many different ways to do it.”
“There are just a number of ways that people can be so generous, from personal life to their professional life.”
“Embrace new ideas, think outside the box. There are so many ways to make the change that you want to see.”

Action Steps

Identify what you care about: Reflect on your passion and how it can contribute to your community.
Foster collaborative partnerships: Seek like-minded people or organizations to align with; collaboration amplifies impact.
Embrace intentionality: Approach your contributions purposefully, enabling intentional decisions that drive substantial change.
Share your passion: Utilize your enthusiasm to spark generosity in others, creating a ripple effect of kindness.
Explore unconventional ways to give: Don’t limit yourself to traditional forms of philanthropy; innovative approaches can be equally effective.

Sponsor for this episode:

This episode is brought to you by Advent Partners — a financial planning partner dedicated to helping you make informed decisions that simplify your financial journey.

Our seasoned team is committed to guiding you toward your financial goals. We offer tailored solutions based on your specific needs, from standalone financial planning to integrated financial management.

Whether you are planning for the future, investing for growth, or navigating financial hurdles, Advent Partners is here to provide insights, recommendations, and a clear financial roadmap.

To learn more about Advent Partners and how we can guide your financial success, visit AdventPartnersFP.com.

Episode Transcript:

Intro 0:00

Welcome to the You Can’t Take it With You show where we feature stories around generosity designed to inspire and encourage others to do meaningful things in their communities. Now here’s your host, Jim Dunlop.

Jim Dunlop 0:17

Hi. Jim Dunlop here, a wealth advisor and host of this show where I sit down with people who get it when it comes to generosity, I’m excited to have guests who can give us stories on generosity to not only inspire our listeners, but to give practical ideas on ways we can give. Today’s guest is Carolyn Keller. Of course, past guests include Phil Cubeta, Jim Langley, Janet Riggs, just to name a few. But before we get to Carolyn, I want to share that this episode is brought to you by Advent Partners, Ready for Good. Advent is a financial planning team dedicated to helping you make informed decisions that simplify your financial journey, whether you are planning for your future, investing for growth, or navigating financial hurdles. Advent Partners is here to provide insights, recommendations, and a clear financial roadmap. To learn more about Advent Partners and how we can help guide your financial success, visit readyforgood.com. I want to thank Lisa D’Orsaneo, a friend and listener of our show for introducing us to Carolyn and urging us to have this conversation.

So, let me tell you about our guest, Carolyn Keller. Carolyn is the Founder of Curio412, an impact management consultancy for businesses who want to strategically engage their communities and manage their social impact. With over a decade of experience in the social sector, Carolyn has provided strategic leadership to nonprofits, foundations, and businesses, and holds a certification in social impact strategies for the National Institute of Social Impact. She’s been named one of Pittsburgh’s 30 under 30 and is passionate about combining purpose with strategy to leave a lasting impact. Carolyn, welcome and thank you for being with us.

Carolyn Keller 1:56

Great to be here with you, Jim.

Jim Dunlop 1:58

Well, Carolyn, before we get too deep into this. Could you take a minute or two here and give us a little bit of an autobiography on who you are?

Carolyn Keller 2:06

Absolutely. So I was born in Pittsburgh. That’s actually where the 412 comes from. That’s our area code, 412. And as I was growing up, there were a lot of different paths that I looked at, and ultimately, I found that I really loved learning, and so one of the things that I did as a teen was volunteer at our local natural history museum and decided that I could share that learning and the exciting things that were happening with others, and really share that passion with others. So I went to undergrad at Mercyhurst University up in Erie, PA, for Applied Public History, and then I earned my master’s degree from University College London. And although I started out my career in the museum field, I moved a little more broadly into the nonprofit sector. I worked with operations development, and then took a look at what that would look like in a consulting space. And that was when I founded Curio412, as the impact management consultancy that it is now.

Jim Dunlop 2:07

Very good. So I like to ask, tell me, you know, you help organizations think about their impact and what they’re doing in the communities that they serve. And I think inherent in that is a certain generosity, a spirit of generosity, particularly to those communities. What is your generosity origin story? And where did you get started?

Carolyn Keller 3:29

So I think from a young age, I was just around generosity all the time, and I was always observing it. So my dad had his own business. He worked from home with my family and did a lot in our community. My mom was a full-time mom, stayed home with us, but was involved in probably every volunteer position you can imagine, from, you know, the school to our church and everything else that we did. And so I got to see a lot of generosity in my life, and then project that generosity again through, you know, my own means and my own gifts. And so when I think about generosity, one of the experiences that I believe we talked about this before hopping on today is that I had a number of items that were necessary as a high schooler for community engagement, community outreach, and community service, and I found that some of those things didn’t count whenever I looked at some of the things that I was doing in my own volunteer life. And I think one of the things that I learned through that is that there’s not necessarily one way to give back. There are so many different ways, and whether it’s through your time, or your talent, or your efforts, and oftentimes that’s monetary too. There are just a number of ways that people can be so generous, and that’s from personal life to their professional life.

Jim Dunlop 4:54

So it sounds like mom and dad had a pretty positive impact on you. And that it feels like was part of the impetus to start Curio412. Is that fair to say?

Carolyn Keller 5:09

Definitely, definitely, I think, as I was in the nonprofit sector, like I said, I worked in development, I worked in operations, and the one thing that I saw time and time again as I was in those spaces was that we’d have the end of the year come and really have to scramble to find all of the data that we had around the impact that we’d made over the course of the year. And so thinking about, how do we streamline that and create systems in which that data is easily accessible? And at the time, I was thinking through a number of different things, because I had such a strong family situation growing up, we wanted to provide that for our family. And I had been thinking about consulting for a long period of time, and so it just made sense between what we were thinking about for our family at the time and where I wanted to go professionally to move into this space with Curio412, and so it really started as thinking about, what does impact mean? And then it expanded to looking at it more broadly. Not only does that apply to the nonprofit sector that I initially started out in, but it applies to the 80% of businesses that give back every day to their communities too.

Jim Dunlop 6:16

Carolyn, as I was preparing for this show, one of the things that I learned about was a company called Spectrum Fudge. And could you talk to our listeners a little bit and share with them about Spectrum Fudge and why it’s special?

Carolyn Keller 6:33

Absolutely. So we have a number of different clients at Curio412, some of them are in the nonprofit space. Some of them are in the for-profit space, and they’re all doing very exciting things for the community, and Spectrum is one of those clients. They are a for-profit business that was founded, I believe, now, three years, almost four years ago, and their whole impetus for founding their company and moving into this space was their son, who I believe, is 14, now, he has autism, and they were looking at the ways in which he was growing and realized that all of the different skills and abilities that he had even thinking about, even with all those skills and abilities moving into the workforce, there were still so many barriers and challenges. So the owner quit their corporate job, moved into a space where they were able to buy a fudge company that was sort of sunsetting in its way, and return and their company is Spectrum Fudge, which is a confectionary company. They make not only fudge, but a number of different candies, chocolates, popcorn, but the whole purpose of the company is to serve workforce development opportunities for individuals on the autism spectrum and with special needs. So they have, I believe about 50% of their workforce is individuals with special needs, so neurodivergent individuals. But then they also have neurotypical individuals as well, who help with training each year at least current with their current capacity, they’re able to partner with nine different schools in the Pittsburgh area and serve over 60, usually high school or middle school age children, as they are moving into a space of thinking about their next career step. So providing them those tools so that even if they’re not able to work at Spectrum Fudge, they have that job experience that’s going to help them to get to that next level and make them more employable and provide them with the skills that are going to allow them to thrive as they step out onto their own. So it’s a really incredible, incredible company.

Jim Dunlop 8:34

So tell me a little bit about the connection that you guys had and how you help them with their mission and their vision?

Carolyn Keller 8:44

Sure, so their company was looking at, how do we expand? Right? So we’re in this space where we’re three years into our company, and we’re serving not only the people who we employ, but the people who are coming into our space to learn and train with us. And we want to be able to take it to the next level. And so what we explored with them was looking at a number of different paths, from everything from financing to small business grants to advocacy. So we connected a lot with our local officials, and we looked at different ways in which they could streamline operations in their company, and then take those streamlined operations and move them into a space where they were able to not only scale production but create those, and through scale production really, is create those opportunities for individuals. So that’s a broad overview of the work that we’ve done so far. We’re still working with them, and we have just really enjoyed being in that being in that space, and we’ve gotten such great feedback, especially like I said, we were connecting with local officials, and we’re also connecting with other community partners too, who work in the special needs disabilities area, and it’s just incredible to see how those connections come together. And how supportive people really are. I think it’s bringing a lot of people with good ideas together and just that drive to be generous and help.

Jim Dunlop 10:09

I love that, and I love that model that is able to include a lot of people and get them involved and engaged. So I know that on this journey, you’ve had a lot of people that have walked alongside of you and helped you figure this out. Tell me a little bit about Abby Lucostic and the work that you’ve been able to do with Abby.

Carolyn Keller 10:33

So Abby is one of our partners here at Curio412, she’s been such an incredible support over the last few years, and just getting this company not only up and running, but just expanding our capacity to an incredible amount, there’s, I think, no part of this company now that she doesn’t have at least some part in and that is really exciting for us as we continue to grow. So we really, really look forward to seeing where this goes next.

Jim Dunlop 11:04

And I know that you have lots of practical examples of generosity, because you work in this space every day. Is there a story that sticks out to you that might inspire our listeners a little bit on just a practical way to be generous or helpful in their communities.

Carolyn Keller 11:23

So I think that one of the things that I see over and over again is that people have just this passion for helping others, right, and it’s in all different ways. Everyone has something different that they care about at the core of their being, and then it’s thinking about how they use that intentionally right to move forward and make those intentional decisions. So when I think about inspiring others to give back, I think a lot of it is just sharing your own passion and letting that spark that passion in someone else. When you, when one person sees another person give, that just starts that snowball effect, right? So I think really, it’s, it’s just do right and get started on something that you really love.

Jim Dunlop 12:09

And I think, I think that’s, I think that’s a really good explanation. And I run into a lot of people who want to do something and don’t know where to start. And so, you know, part of the reason for this podcast was simply to give ideas to people so that they could be inspired to think about what are practical steps they can take. So I really, I really appreciate what you’re doing. I want to, I want to shift gears again a little bit and talk about Trina Walker and Linda Handley, I know that they are mentors to you. Tell me about the work and that they’re doing and how that’s inspired your work.

Carolyn Keller 12:49

Absolutely. So Trina Walker and Linda Handley are both consultants in the Pittsburgh area, both in the nonprofit space. Trina Walker does a number of projects related to strategic planning, and Linda Handley is in both the development and marketing space. Both of them I was in conversation with before starting my consultancy, and they just encouraged me. I kept holding back and holding back. And both of them were like, no, no, no, just jump in, the water’s great. You’re going to have a great time. And we still collaborate to this day, and I credit both of them for really getting me out into this space, and a lot of the success that we’ve been able to have.

Jim Dunlop 13:28

Oh, good, and last, but certainly not least, Nick Keller has been a really important partner in this journey for you. Tell me about Nick.

Carolyn Keller 13:39

Absolutely. Nick’s my husband, and I think as anyone who’s in kind of either consulting or solopreneur space, it can be a little bit lonely out there sometimes when you’re trying to figure everything out. So he gets to listen to all of my rambles, late night rambles, about what’s going on with the business. But not only that, but we have a one-year-old at home now too, and so we’re able to really make a great environment that we want for our family, and none of that would be possible with me having this consultancy without his support and sort of the way that we work together. So there’s nothing better than having that type of support in relationships. So yeah, we wouldn’t be able to be here without him.

Jim Dunlop 14:20

Carolyn, it feels like there’s a pretty cool legacy here between your mom and dad. Dad had his own business and was around, and mom was able to, that enabled mom to be present for you as well. And now that’s happening a generation later too. I think that’s a pretty, pretty cool pattern and legacy for your family.

Carolyn Keller 14:41

Right. Well, and that’s something too that I think there’s, there’s a lot of different options out there now for people who are making their own world, right? And so I think a lot of it is thinking about what life do we want, not only, you know, down the road, but right now, to create that space. I’m not sure, without having that exposure early on, if that’s something that I would have even considered, and even having someone like my dad to talk through some of these things, we were in completely different sectors. He’s an engineer, so being in that space, but he told me that he just, he quit his job one day and went off on his own. He had nothing ready to go. He was just like, off, which got me thinking about that. Now, if my husband said he wanted to do that, I’d be like, “What are you trying to do?” But it really does show that it’s, you know, if there’s a space that you want to create, there are so many different ways to do it. And just taking help and taking that first step really goes a long way. And there’s lots of things that you could be afraid of, but there’s a lot of opportunities that you shouldn’t be afraid that it’s not going to work out, because there are those opportunities where you just believe, and trust and those things come to you.

Jim Dunlop 15:54

What’s a challenge or pitfall that you’ve come across, that you’ve learned from in this journey that has helped you grow and be able to provide the value you provide to organizations.

Carolyn Keller 16:07

Yeah, so I think stepping out on my own and developing processes, I kept thinking back to, I had a professor in college who told me, “Well, how did you do that, how did you do that?” And kept asking me to describe my process, and I just never had to do that before. I said, “I don’t know, I just do it.” But then all of a sudden, I had to think through what that looked like for each of my clients. You know, how do I take that first step, and how do I create this that’s going to be not only a seamless process, but a really effective and efficient process for my clients as well. So I guess that would be at least the first thing I would say, the other thing is figuring out what language you need to use to speak to others. I think this space of impact management, there’s so many different exciting things that are happening now that aren’t necessarily codified with a universal language around and so it’s learning what types of things are people saying about giving back or generosity within their own spheres of influence? And then how does that relate back to everything that’s available about social impact? So everything from, you know, people think about impact in a way that it used to be, you have a nonprofit or a for profit, but now there’s kind of everything in between. You can be a social impact business like Bombas or Tom’s or Newman’s Own that have been around, you know, for a long time now, and you’re not necessarily limited. And so being able to figure out how to use that space, use that language, was a challenge at first, but learning through it really opened my eyes to feeling out where those different spaces lie, and how to really convey them and bring them out of other organizations in a meaningful way.

Jim Dunlop 17:47

I just, I’m smiling as you’re, and laughing, as you’re saying this a little bit to myself, because I sit here and I’m wearing a pair of Bombas socks, and that I know that both my wife and my daughter have multiple pairs of TOMS Shoes, because they’re around my house, and I see them a lot, and so, you know, those are incredible stories that I think a lot of people are familiar with that have expanded and permeated our lives all across the board. So that’s pretty cool. Any other stories? Or do you have another story that’s worth sharing with our listeners around a place or a person wanting to make an impact or be generous and just taking that first step.

Carolyn Keller 18:31

Sure. So I think I have a number of examples, but I think the one that I’d like to use today is one of my first clients, which was a family foundation called the Farina Foundation. They’re an incredible, incredible foundation in Pittsburgh that works to provide kids the opportunity to have music. So they had a family legacy that had established a scholarship at one of the local high schools where their father had worked as the music director, one of the band directors. And they wanted to do more with the foundation, but they weren’t quite sure where to go. They said, “We want to give money to kids who can’t necessarily access music, but we don’t really know where to do that.” And so what we did when we first started working with them was really defined, who do you want to give to? And what does that look like? They had not only scholarship funding, but they also were collecting instruments that they were able to refurbish and gift to individuals, along with things like music stands or rosin if you were a violinist or, oh gosh, I should probably know something for brass instruments, but I’m blanking right now a mute for your brass instrument, but they would provide all of those things to students. And so we did go through a bit of a process to get them into a position where they had some documentation in place, right, so that they could not only select individuals in an intentional way, but then think about and collect information about their impact in an intentional way that they could report out to others later. And through some of that work. So even though I’m no longer working with them, they’ve been able to take that and move it into different spaces, where now they have a number of different partnerships, including working with, I’m trying to remember what it’s called now, the Education Collaborative, and it’s essentially a space that helps teachers be able to access different resources that they might need throughout the school year. And now musical instruments are a part of that collection through that partnership. So it’s always exciting for me to not only help people take those first steps to figure out where they are, but then see where that goes too. Because I think it only takes a few pieces of structure, a few pieces of intentionality, to really then take that out into the world in a much larger way.

Jim Dunlop 20:39

But I like that. I like a really practical idea around, you know, dad’s a music teacher, and here’s an incredible legacy, and how do we practically honor that in a way that that would be, you know, make him happy, not even make him happy, but that would be along, you know the philosophy that that he spent his life dedicated to, and I like, I like the idea that you’re out there helping people take those first steps to make that a reality. So I think that’s pretty incredible, the work that you’re doing. And I have one final question for you today before we wrap up. But before I ask it, I do want to point our listeners to your website, which is Curio412.com. Curio is Curio numbers 412 .com, and you can find Carolyn on linkedin.com/company/curio412, and on facebook.com/curio412. So Carolyn, as we wrap up today, the question that I like to ask all of our guests is, if you could share some advice or wisdom on a billboard somewhere that would reach a lot of people, what would that message be?

Carolyn Keller 21:58

That message would be, there’s not one way to give back, and because there are so many opportunities now and so many different spaces to move into, embrace new ideas, think outside the box. There are so many things to and ways to make the change that you want to see. So you can figure out what those are and embrace them, then you’re going to make the world a much better place.

Jim Dunlop 22:19

All right. Well again, Carolyn, thank you so much for being with us today. Again. You can find Carolyn at curio412.com thank you for being with us, Carolyn.

Carolyn Keller 22:30

Thank you, Jim. I really enjoyed spending time with you today.

Jim Dunlop 22:33

Thanks.

Outro 22:35

Thanks for joining us to hear stories of generosity that remind us that you can’t take it with you. Visit our site at canttakeitwithyou.com for more details on today’s episode and to subscribe to future shows.

Disclosure 22:53

Neither today’s guests nor their company are affiliated with or endorsed by Thrivent Advisor Network. The views expressed in this presentation by the guest are their own and not necessarily those of Thrivent or its affiliates.

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Guiding Organizations To Create Meaningful Impact With Carolyn Keller

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