Charles Koch - Believe in People

It was the middle of March. Our country was coming to the realization that the coronavirus was about to upend everything.

When the first restaurants and bars closed, almost overnight, millions of people were out of jobsand it only got worse with each passing day. Families from coast to coast were suddenly facing a new struggle to put food on the table, provide for their kids, and pay the bills.

In Oakland, California, the team at the Family Independence Initiative (FII) watched with dismay. For nearly 20 years, theyd helped families in poverty connect with one another. Through mutual support and with a relatively small amount of financial assistance, the families would work together to rise above the challenges holding them down. Now, as the pandemic rapidly spread, Jess Gerena and his team were beginning to realize that a lot more people would need help.

Jess reached out to Stand Together, a philanthropic community that I founded. Stand Together had been working with FII for the past couple of years and was ready to support a national expansion, phased in over the next two or three years. Jess knew that two to three years was now a lifetime away. It was time for fast action, and thanks to FIIs technology platform, which made it possible to get cash donations directly into a familys bank account, they were in a position to help those hardest hit.

In a matter of daysand over several long nightsthe two groups created a new project called #GiveTogetherNow. They designed it to get cash quickly to families who were struggling because of the coronavirus disruption. Verification takes about 10 minutes, and the money is transferred to their bank accounts within 48 hours.

Not only would this aid the families, it would offer people who wanted to help, but didnt know how, a chance to get engaged. Anyone could go to the website and give a few bucks. The initial goal was to try to rally enough supporters to aid 20,000 families. Nobody knew whether it would work, but it was worth a try.

I still find what happened next thrilling.

About six weeks later, as I write this, roughly 1,300 individuals, philanthropies, city governments, and businesses have donated more than $61 million and counting. They gave this money to an organization most of them had never heard of to help more than 122,000 families they dont know and will never meet.

This cash assistance enabled families most disrupted by the coronavirus to make rent, buy groceries, and generally just take a breath while figuring out what to do next. While FIIs effectiveness ultimately comes from its community-based modelas Ill discuss in depth in chapter sixthe quick support helped people whod been knocked off a beneficial path by the pandemic. On its own, the project wasnt going to solve everything. But it was making a real difference at a vital time.

And this wasnt the only such effort underway.

Stand Together had spent the past four years working with nearly 200 groups like FII, community-based organizations that were helping those struggling with poverty to transform their lives. Once the coronavirus swept in, the work these groups were doing immediately became that much more importantand that much harder. In a world of social distancing and economic hardship, administering programs and raising sufficient funds could seem like impossible tasks.

So the team at Stand Together launched a GoFundMe campaign called Help the Helpers, named after a saying from Mister Rogers Neighborhood. It promised to match, dollar for dollar, the donations that the groups were able to attract from others, up to a total of $1 million. The assumption was that while most people wouldnt be able to focus on helping others when they were worried about their own situation, they might be more likely to chip in if they realized they could double their impact. It was a long shot, and it seemed like the million-dollar match would last a while.

It didnt. The groups maxed out the match in 24 hours. The sudden rush of donations enabled them to get much-needed resources to some of the most vulnerable people affected by the pandemic.

Seeing the swift response, the Help the Helpers campaign doubled downsurely another $1.5 million would keep this thing going. It did for about a day and a half. Within 72 hours, people from all walks of life came together to get nearly $6 million to groups helping people in dire straits. As with FII, the quick action from people all across the country was incredible to see.

Meanwhile, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, someone else was looking at the widening crisis and wondering if there was some way he could pitch in. His name was Tim.

As an IT analyst in one of Koch Industries businesses, Tim enjoyed working with the 3-D printers in his office. One day in March, he was reading a story about using 3-D printers to make face shields. He immediately downloaded a design file and tested it out. It worked.

This gave Tim an idea. He started tinkering with the design to fit several face shields onto a single printing plate. Since his office had five 3-D printers, Tim wanted to commit them all to making face shields. He did so with his managers encouragement, and the company began donating the face shields to hospitals in Tulsa and elsewhere in the region. Tims actions helped shore up the safety of health-care professionals, who were grateful for the sudden support.

Why am I telling these stories? Not to toot my own horn. They all happened spontaneously, with no input or involvement from me.

Instead, I tell these stories because of what they show. In each case, people turned on a dime and used their unique gifts to make a big difference in the lives of others. During the greatest crisis our country has faced in generations, they saw and seized opportunities to help. And they are not the only ones. Countless others across America have done the same, finding the best ways to apply their abilities to improve peoples lives.

Thats what this book is all aboutthe distinct and profound role that each of us can play in making our country a better place for everyone.

I started writing this book five years ago. I never expected to be finishing it in the middle of a pandemic. It has been surreal and deeply saddening to see the pain the coronavirus has caused.

But it has also been inspiring to see how so many people have reacted to help those most affected. Much of what Ive witnessed since this crisis began has reinforced my confidence that the ideas discussed in this book work. It has further strengthened my deep belief in people and my commitment to the idea that all of us have a role to play in transforming society for the better, from the bottom up.

Of course, I wouldnt have felt the need to write this book if this belief in peoples ability to solve problems from the bottom up was already widespread. As youll see in the chapters that follow, a lot of how our society is organized today assumes that most folks arent capable of much. People are often treated as problems to be solved, instead of being empowered to help address Americas biggest challenges. In most cases, the general assumption is that major issueslike the coronaviruscan only be addressed from the top down.