Q: Many people know you from your long career at the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation. But how did you originally get started on the path of working in the nonprofit and philanthropic sector?
Terry George: When I was in college, I had an opportunity after my sophomore year to volunteer to teach English to doctors and nurses in the public health system of Indonesia. And so I was dropped into a city of 150,000 at the tender age of 19. The city was carved out of lowland jungle on Sumatra, and I can't tell you what a humbling and inspiring experience it was. Indonesia was facing tremendous poverty. It had an authoritarian government run by a former general, and yet it was investing heavily in primary healthcare and primary education in its rural areas. It was a wonderful opportunity for me to understand what it takes to lift up a community and to think outside of the American frame of reference. After six months, I went back to college and got a degree in International Relations, with the desire to help make the world a better place, but the humility to understand how difficult it is to do that.
Later, after graduate school, I was recruited by the Ford Foundation to run their Human Rights and Governance Program in the Philippines, and I was able to help invest in the building of the next wave of human rights organizations, post-Marcos, those focusing on women’s rights, indigenous people’s rights. It was really rewarding work to see all of these idealistic, smart, committed young people start a new wave of nonprofit organizations and then see them get recruited into key national roles in government. I just loved it.
Q: It must have been a great opportunity to see firsthand what the impact of nonprofits and NGOs can be, in cooperation with other partners.
George: It really was. And to see what a powerful force philanthropy can be. As a funder, we don’t have official authority, we're not the government, but we do have freedom to deploy dollars in a flexible way. If we’re systematic in that, and build cross-sector partnerships, then we can help achieve change at scale. But it takes time, it takes focus, and it takes a network of trusted players, both private and public.
Q: After the Ford Foundation, what eventually brought you back to Hawai'i?
George: I originally moved to Hawai‘i when I was 12, and didn't go anywhere until I went to college when I was 18. I loved Hawai‘i and always wanted to move back, but the international aspect of my career kept intervening for a while. I ended up moving to the Ford Foundation’s largest overseas office, which was in New Delhi, India. I had met my now wife, Julie, when I was still living in India, during a visit to Hawai‘i, and I tried to convince her to move to India with me. But she was teaching at Kamehameha Schools, and didn’t want to leave her school, and so I quit, moved home, and we got married two weeks later. I’ve been really happy to be back here, and we’ve raised a family, and I’ve been back since 1998.
Q: Looking back on your more than two decades with the Castle Foundation, what stands out to you?
George: When I was hired in 2003 to run the foundation, our then-CEO Mitch D’Olier had convinced the board to be less of an assembly line of grant making and to be much more focused around two or three top priority areas. The first priority was to close the achievement gap in public education in Hawai‘i. And then the second big problem that the board wanted the foundation to address was the dramatic decline in abundance in our nearshore fisheries.
One success story stands out. We quickly realized that fighting at the legislature to create no-take marine protected areas was very difficult to do, and we also learned through research that more informal, community-managed marine areas resulted in almost as much biodiversity and fish abundance as did these more formal designations. So we started to support a network called Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo (KUA). We helped to provide the great majority of its funding, and then brought together other partners, such as The Nature Conservancy and Conservation International, to help these long-time fishing families in communities across Hawai‘i to support each other in their efforts to take care of their place and restore the health of the fisheries.
Over time, and it’s taken two decades, that relationship has strengthened dramatically. For the first 15 years that we were doing this work, there were no state authorized designations of community managed marine areas. Now there are seven. By sticking with it and persisting and putting community genius at the forefront, we began to see a sea change in the attitude of government, and they now embrace the community management approach and realize that it results in more fish for those who fish for sustenance and for a living, and also results in better trust between government and community. It’s not perfect, but I would say that it’s one of the things I'm proudest about in my time at the Castle Foundation.
Q: As you prepare to step into this new role as HCF’s CEO and president, what’s top of mind for you?
George: I’m so thrilled to be able to overlap with Micah [Kāne] in my first month to pick his brain as much as possible. And I’m really excited that Michelle [Ka‘uhane] has been promoted and elevated. We've known each other for years, we’re aligned in our thinking about what matters in Hawai‘i, and I can’t wait to work closely with her and learn from her.
The Hawai‘i Community Foundation is, along with Kamehameha Schools, one of the most important philanthropic institutions in our state, and it’s also I would argue one of the most trusted institutions in Hawai‘i. The Community Foundation is this amazingly effective force multiplier of three types of incredibly generous people who have decided they want to help make Hawai‘i a better place: our donors, our nonprofit partners, and our talented staff members.
And so I was very excited to be asked to lead the foundation. Terrified as well, because no one can fill Micah's shoes. He’s done such a fantastic job. I see my role as more of an orchestra conductor, a connector. I’m a collaborative leader, just by nature. I told the HCF Board that, if they wanted a top-down leader who is going to come in and change everything up, I’m just not the person for them. I’m more interested in building on everything that the foundation has already done, embracing the CHANGE Framework, and working with community. I do think I can bring in some of my experience in collaborative effort and systems change, to try to work with, rather than around, our public agencies, to be patient when we need to be, but focused and persistent, to be willing to fail and adapt, and, above all else, to build trust.
Q: With the Trump administration targeting anything that resembles DEI or equity-building, it's a very fraught time right now for nonprofits. What are your thoughts on the role and position that a community foundation can play in this time?
George: Well, I think the community foundation can play a critical role right now, working with donors and other funders to figure out what we can do to pool our limited but flexible resources, and leverage them most effectively. Things right now are highly uncertain, and nonprofits are facing high levels of anxiety for the future. But HCF has stepped up to the plate before, during the great financial recession of 2008, and again during the COVID-19 pandemic, and then after the Maui wildfires. And it will step up again, I have no doubt.
There is so much aloha here in our Islands. Aloha is not a soft thing, it's a powerful muscle. It's a critical driving force that will allow us to get through every rough patch, as long as we are in connection with each other, and working in community. And that's why I'm thrilled and humbled to be able to step into this role for the foundation and for Hawai‘i.