Philanthropy Understood:
Bob Hopkins on the True Meaning of Giving

Bob Hopkins Lecturer and Instructor in Communications and Business

Lecturer and Instructor in Communications and Business

University Professor, Philanthropist and universities and colleges in Mexico and Texas. University Professor, Philanthropist and universities and colleges in Mexico and Texas. 

Changing the World. Making a difference, Role Model, Activist, involved with causes that make a difference.

Human Communication Professor at Eastfield, Tarrant County South and presently at UTA (University of Texas, Arlington, full time, Professor of Business Communications. Completed certification in Social Entrepreneurship, sponsored by US Association of Small Business Entrepreneurs, hosted by NYU, UNT and UMKC.

Founded Philanthropy Inc., Special program was PAVE, Philanthropy And Volunteerism in Education. Changing it to Philanthropy and Volunteerism in Entrepreneurship. Will be teaching elementary kids about starting a business and GIVING Back. Founder Philanthropy World Magazine.

In this episode of The Nonprofit Exchange, I had the pleasure of reconnecting with my dear friend Bob Hopkins, a renowned philanthropist and author, as we celebrated the release of his new book, Philanthropy Understood. This episode serves as a sequel to our previous discussions, reflecting on the evolution of philanthropy over the past nine years since we first began this journey together.

Bob shared his personal story, illustrating how his early experiences with his mother delivering groceries to those in need shaped his understanding of philanthropy. He emphasized that philanthropy is not merely about money; it is fundamentally about people and the love of mankind. His childhood memories of bringing joy to children in a trailer park left a lasting impression on him, igniting a lifelong commitment to doing good.

As we delved into his new book, Bob explained that it aims to redefine philanthropy by showcasing the stories of individuals who have made significant impacts in their communities. He highlighted that the proceeds from this book will benefit scholarships, reinforcing his belief that philanthropy is about giving back and uplifting others.

Throughout our conversation, Bob recounted various inspiring stories, including his encounter with a baby he found in the snow decades ago, who he later reconnected with after 30 years. He also shared his experiences in Mexico, where he witnessed the transformative power of community initiatives led by families dedicated to improving the lives of others.

We discussed the importance of legacy and how individuals can reflect on their lives and contributions. Bob encourages his students to think about their purpose and the impact they want to leave behind, emphasizing that it’s never too early to consider one’s legacy.

As we wrapped up the episode, Bob left us with a powerful message: to pay attention to the world around us and to seek opportunities to make a difference. He urged listeners to break free from the constraints that hold them back and to embrace the potential for change in their lives and communities.

This episode is not just a celebration of Bob’s work but a call to action for all of us to engage in philanthropy in our own unique ways. I encourage everyone to look out for Philanthropy Understood, set to be released in January 2025, and to reflect on how we can contribute to the greater good in our everyday lives.

 

The Interview Transcript

Hugh Ballou:
Welcome to this episode of The Nonprofit Exchange. This is a sequel. We’ve had such good interviews, and it’s been nine years since we started this process, and many people have done more things. And so my guest today is a dear friend we met just before this interview, and he published a book. We’re going to talk about that, but we’re also going to talk about the next book. This is my dear friend, Bob Hopkins, Mr. Philanthropy. Bob, tell people a little bit about you and your background and why philanthropy is so important.

Bob Hopkins:
Thank you, Hugh. I am really glad to be here. Always when Hugh calls, I’m ready to tell him and you anything he wants. And it has to do with my life, I guess. You know, I am an old man. by many standards. But I’m still young at heart, and I’m still writing books, I’m still riding horses, and I’m still playing tennis. I did lose a match yesterday, but the guy was 40 years younger than me. And it gave me an opportunity to tell him, will you buy a case of my books because you beat me? And so he says, yes, I will. But he hadn’t called me back. Well, anyway, maybe that’s in them. So anyway. It’s not. It happens to be the editor of my book that my new book is called Philanthropy Understood. And the reason that it was misunderstood for so long is because I thought and you thought and everybody thought that philanthropy was about money, but it isn’t. It’s about people who do good things for other people. And it’s about love of mankind. And I started out when I was a child going with my mother to the grocery store to get groceries. And then we would go to a trailer park on the other side of the tracks where I was forbidden to go and ride my bicycle to see four people that I had never seen before in a trailer house, which I had never seen before either. And we went in. I was five or six years old and saw a dingy, dirty, dark little house with skinny people kind of fading into the wall, looking a little gray. And children were there, too. And they weren’t laughing. They weren’t smiling. Anyway, my mother started taking groceries out of the sack and I saw the children light up and come closer to the table where we were. And they started kind of smiling and playing with me. And by the time we left, I turned around and I looked at the trailer, but I saw the kids and they were waving at me and they were smiling. And I felt this hand on my shoulder. And it said, you did good today, Bobby. Now, I was a tension deficit child and nobody told me you did good today, Bobby, most of the time. But when I did something good, they’d say you did good today, Bobby. And so I wanted to do good because I like that pat on my back, on my shoulder. Anyway, so I got involved in high school and we did good things. We did car washes. We did all kinds of things. And I went away knowing that I was going to have to do good things because my dad and my mom did. I followed in their footsteps in many respects. And when I was 35 years old, I decided that I had a drinking problem and I quit drinking alcohol. And I decided, what am I going to do with my rest of my life? And I went and volunteered for the National Council on Alcoholism. It got me into the word philanthropy. and that is non-profit management, non-profit organizations, and I learned how to raise money for those organizations. One thing led to another over the years, and I’m kind of now known in Dallas anyway as kind of an expert in non-profit management because I have done it for so many years, raising money for many, many causes in Dallas. And when you do things like that, you end up telling stories, stories of good that people do for others. And he was one of those people that I met because of philanthropy and because of what I did and because of my first book, which is called Philanthropy Misunderstood, because people thought it was about money. And I decided that it wasn’t. It was about love of mankind. It was love. And I was missing out on a whole bunch of people who were doing good, and they really were the philanthropists, because it’s love of mankind, or humankind.

Hugh Ballou:
It is. It involves everybody. So, I’m holding up the first book, and this isn’t a book you put in your pocket. This is a, like a coffee table, major book. It’s big. It’s really, and inside, it’s got glorious pictures and beautiful layout. It’s just not like Another book now, you’ve got a new one. It looks similar and for people watching And if you’re not you can you’re on a podcast you can go to the web page You can see so the new book has the same looking layout. You got my picture on the cover How come you got my picture on the cover Bob?

Bob Hopkins:
because you’re a philanthropist and you give away more than you get and you are live a joyful life and you talk good about people and And you connect people and you do good things for people. You deserve to be in this book and you are there front and center, but you not only are in the book of a hundred people, you got to be on the front cover.

Hugh Ballou:
I’m so honored. And I learned about philanthropy when I met you. You know, my wife was going to Dallas and, and, and I went along and we were introduced by somebody that had on the show before that. And so I said, let’s meet. And so we’ve become dear friends, and you invited me to the unveiling of your book at a celebration. Now, folks, you’re listening to this podcast sometime, not exactly when we’re recording it. while you’re watching the video. This is the end of November in 2024. The book is scheduled to come out the first month, January of 2025. So, if you come back to this page, go to thethenonprofitexchange.org and you’ll find this episode and we’ll have links to where you can get this book. It is a book not only that you want to have on your coffee table, it’s a coffee table kind of book, But it’s a book that you want to open up and look at and share with friends and makes great gifts for any occasion. We wonder what we want to give people. This is something you can be sure they don’t have. So tell us about some of the stories and about some of the lives that have been changed.

Bob Hopkins:
Right. Well, first of all, thank you for selling the book for me. But I want to tell the audience for sure that I am receiving no funds from this book. The book is all going to benefit charities. We have a scholarship fund that I created with the funds of my first book in my hometown, in the name of my debate coach, my speech coach, Dean Nolte, and he’s in the book this time because a whole bunch of us got together and created this scholarship fund together. And I use the proceeds of this book. Anyway, the proceeds of the book will go to scholarships. So don’t think that I get anything out of this except joy. I receive a lot of satisfaction because you know what? I get to showcase the people that are making a difference in the lives of the whole bunch of folks. And the reason I started the book was because I have a lot of stories and I would tell my stories and people would say to me, Bob, you need to write a book. You need to write a book. So finally, I just decided to write a book. And you know what? I had such a good time. And five years later. I’m ready to write a new book because I have gathered so many more people that I had met along the way in the last five years. Plus, I’ve remembered a whole bunch of people that I left out that I forgot for whatever reason. For instance, when I was in high school, we had the foreign exchange student from the AFS program, the American Field Service program, which is a foreign exchange nonprofit organization worldwide that brings students to different countries to study. And when I was in high school, we had Marcelo Huergo from Argentina, and he was with me when I was in school. So, I wanted to recognize that organization and a lot of the organizations that I have been involved with over the years. In the first book, Hugh, you remember this, that my partner and I found a baby in the snow, in a snow bank on the back porch of a house in Kansas City, Missouri. I uncovered this box with a blanket, and there was a note tied around this baby’s neck, and it said, I can’t take care of this baby no more. Please find it a home. So anyway, 30 years passed, and I’d kind of forgotten about the baby, and then I realized, I wonder where the baby is. So I put an ad in the Kansas City Star, because it was in Kansas City, and said, you all remember that I found a baby in the snow, and my partner and I found a baby in the snow? We want to find her, and she’s probably 42 years old by now. And two years ago, I got a call, and it was the brother of the baby, who is now 42 years old. And she said, I think I’m your baby. And so the Kansas City Star called me and said, did you get a call from somebody who claims to be the baby? And I said, yes, I did. And she said, well, don’t do anything about it or tell anybody about it, Bob, because we don’t know if this is a hoax or this is a setup or something like that. Let us find out first. A week later, she calls me, Bob, she’s your baby. So I met the baby, we met the baby, and actually on the Kansas City Star put a whole big story about finding the baby in the snow and then finding the baby 42 years later. That’s in this book. And so I have a lot of stories, Hugh, that I have remembered over the years that I forgot to put in the first book, and so they are going to be in the second. So that’s part of what the read is about. And then I went to Mexico as a visiting professor in 2015, and I met a family there, the Orozco family and the Camarena family, who actually are significant founders of the city of Leon, Mexico. And they created this orchestra of poor children who played fabulous music. And they created a library, and they created a center, and they changed a part of Leon of poverty into middle class. I brought that whole orchestra to Dallas to play for us in Dallas, and I decided I wanted to write the story of the beginning and end of Imagina. which is the orchestra and then everything that the Orozco Camarena family has done to create and change lives in Mexico. And it happens to be 10 pages long, but it’s lots of pictures and lots of stories and lots of people involved in this topic. So that’s in the book. plus a lot of fun things too. You know, philanthropy is not just about doing things for poor people, it’s doing good things for us too. So in Mexico they have the Orchid Show, and so lots of flowers of people who do gardening and who change lives with beauty in non-profit organizations, non-profit management organizations. And so it gets to be fun too, as well as dancers from Dallas, the Bruce Wood Dance Company, and what they have done is a non-profit organization as well. And I knew Bruce Wood when he was alive. He’s not anymore, but his company is still going on and he still has this wonderful legacy of dance and music.

Hugh Ballou:
Legacies are important. One of the things I remember is you teach college-level courses in communications, but you ask people to think about nonprofits and philanthropy. You teach them about that. But you’ve also, I remember you said, write your eulogy. They didn’t know what that was. But it’s interesting. What is it we want people to say we did? Did we contribute to the world? And what good did we bring to the world? So would occur to me that philanthropy ought to be front and center with that eulogy, would it be?

Bob Hopkins:
Well, you know, I have told people I have 15 more years to live because I’m an old man now, but I’m going to get older. And they say, how do you know you’re going to be 15 more years to live? And I say, you know what? I just decided that that would be a good time. However, in 15 years, if I’m healthy and good and playing tennis again, then maybe I’ll say, okay, I’ll be 100. But anyway, for right now, it’s 15 years. I want my students to think, what are they gonna do with their lives? And you know what? Everybody can do whatever they want to with their lives. I want them to unlock the chains that bind them. and let them go free to do whatever it is that’s amazing. And of course, I want them to take helping others as part of that gift that we already have to do for other people in those 15 years or 30 years or 50 years or 60 years, depending on how old you happen to be now. And so it gives us, you know, and when you go to business school, you have to do the five-year business plan. Well, in my class, you do the 30-year life plan of what you might want to do and want to accomplish. So why not?

Hugh Ballou:
Well, you know, I started my job as a musical conductor when I was 18. That was 60 years ago, Bob. So I’m up there in age with you. I’m not quite as much, but I’m close. It’s enough to know that we have experience in many areas that we can share. But when I was 18, I wasn’t thinking about a legacy. So it’s never too early to think about a legacy. And so if philanthropy, I’ve learned so much from you. I guess when we started, you were going to live 20 more years. So it must be, I’ve known you about four years. I don’t know. And so I would think people listening to this, they’re running a nonprofit, they’re on a nonprofit board, they’re participating or running a clergy in some kind of organization, a synagogue or a church or something. So thinking about legacy, thinking about how we influence others, and impact human lives. I had the advantage of being at the unveiling of this book two weeks ago, and the people that came from all over the world, they were a couple from Mexico, somebody from Sweden, somebody from California, Nevada. They weren’t just from Dallas, but they made the trip because they realized that it’s important to share what we’ve done. It’s really not tooting their horn. It’s really sharing what we’ve done. So speak a little bit about legacy, a little bit more about legacy, and how can somebody who’s not thought about the impact they’re going to have, and what is it people are going to say we did in our lives? So adults, those of us who are in the trenches that are working too hard, how do we step back and take a breath and think about my place I play as a philanthropist?

Bob Hopkins:
Well, just like everybody, you wonder, why am I here? And when I was 19, I wondered, why am I here? Why was I born to Patsy and Dan in Garden City, Kansas? Why wasn’t I a Rockefeller and born in New York? Why was I born into poverty? Why was I born upper middle class? And I ran across a woman just recently named Elise Cortez, Dr. Elise Cortez, and she wrote a book called Purpose, Igniting Purpose. And so I’ve gotten to know her, and she’s written two or three books that have to do with purpose. And you know what? I wonder, what is my purpose? And I ask my students, what’s your purpose? And of course, their purpose is to get an education. And I tell them, you don’t need to have another purpose right now. You just need to focus on getting a graduate degree. But then after you finish, what are you going to do with your life, and what is your purpose? That’s what I’ve kind of focused on myself, Hugh, is why am I here? Who am I supposed to meet? Who am I supposed to see? And I’ve gotten crazy with this whole concept, realizing that, Hugh, I had to meet you. I met you. Why? So you could take me on to another level. You could take me into another playing field. You could take me as a piece of a puzzle that’s going to complete somebody else’s life and somebody else’s purpose. So I think that whatever I look around me and go, why am I here? Am I supposed to see somebody? Am I supposed to do something? And you know what? Opportunity comes and opportunity knocks. And I just have to decide, do I open the door or do I not? And usually I open the door to see what it is. And sometimes I close it realizing I don’t have time for that. I don’t want to do that. I’m not crazy about that. But many times I open the door and I walk through. So, you know what? I’m not sure what I’m supposed to be doing except know that I’m not in control. I can make decisions, yes or no, but I’m not in control of opportunity, necessarily so, unless I grasp a hold of it and go in all the way. And that’s kind of the way I am. I’m an addictive person. I get involved in things and I go all the way. I’m going all the way right now with writing books and I’m loving it.

Hugh Ballou:
Well, and let’s talk about the book a minute. Now, I am, I saw your students who are active students and they were at a film about you called Mighty 80 that was premiered in the same weekend. But some of them were at the book unveiling on Friday and they were so engaged. And so they were able to think about things in a different way because you don’t just show up and teach a syllabus, you show up and teach about life. and people who had no understanding of a nonprofit because they didn’t grow up in a culture where people were giving. So you’ve impacted them, but more importantly than that, I saw some previous students, the paper water and philanthropy kids. I have seen over the years people who maybe aren’t as young as they were, but you’ve influenced them over the years, and they in turn are influencing others. So there’s some stories like those in the book, And so I want to encourage people to get the book, to be inspired by stories, and learn something about ourselves, how we can raise the bar on our own performance. So I’ll highlight a couple of the stories of somebody that you influenced many years ago and is in the book again.

Bob Hopkins:
I know. You’ve got to read Paper for Water, a nonprofit organization started by two little girls when they were five and seven years old. Not by themselves. They have a daddy and a mama. and I think parenting is really important, influence children to do something different than do a video game. Not saying that all video games are not good or that video playing is not good. But these two little girls ended up in one of my classes as a young age called, my class was called PAVE, Philanthropy and Volunteerism in Education, and teaching children about sharing and about giving and getting a project going, et cetera, et cetera. And these kids had already started making origamis And with my course, they realized that it wasn’t so different doing something like that because there were other kids in my class who also had projects that they were doing also. It’s just that these little girls and that whole family, the Adams family has gone crazy with it. They raise $5 million to you. They’ve built 170 water wells in 17 countries around the world. Daddy took Mama and Daddy, took them out of class for eight months. They rented their house, they sold their car, and they traveled to see their 17 countries and the 170 water wells. Not all of them, of course, because eight months you can’t do a lot, but they did go to five or six different countries, the children, and saw their water wells. Now, that is going, that’s not what I suggest everybody do, because every family can’t do it. They don’t want to do it. They don’t have that idea. But you know what? You can do a little bit. You can do something. Everything that has to do with nonprofit management and nonprofit organizations was started by somebody. walks and runs and making origamis or just talking to people and being nice to people and extending your hand and calling people up and say, how are you feeling today? And reading to the poor or reading to the old or doing something is philanthropy. And you know what? I have learned that it improves your behavior. It makes you feel more positive. And it makes you live longer. And I do believe that’s why somebody called me Mighty 80. And that was Noman Robin, filmmaker, who made this document on me and my partner about how we help other people and what we do for others. And it’s just an amazing life, Hugh. And that’s why you and I are together is because I want to run around with people like you. In order to run around with people like you, I’ve got to step up to the plate and take the opportunities that you provide me.

Hugh Ballou:
Well, likewise, we have introduced each other to really important people, people that care about making a difference. So every day you get up early. And you taught me, if you got a primary person to talk to about fundraising, you call them seven o’clock in the morning, because you know they’re up and working. You know they’re productive. That’s why they possess some personal wealth. And you get them in the front of their day and say, hey, this is important. So, this is a great project. I want to encourage people to get the book, not only for yourself, because reading the stories, if you found a story a day to read, how would that change your life? And bob is 80 and bob is teaching several college classes and they ask him to come back every year And say the kids really like you and you make a difference That’s one way bob instead of sitting around. I know people our age to just watch tv and they go play Card games and that kind of stuff and they don’t do anything productive So you’re contributing a lot and you know as older people we’ve gained a lot of knowledge that we can share so I encourage people get the book it’s not just your ordinary book, but it’s much higher value, and it will be where you can buy books in the first of 2025, first part of that year, so watch for that announcement. So, Bob, as we’re leaving this, what words of encouragement or what challenge or thought do you want to leave people with? What difference can we make in We’re just ordinary people, but like you talked about, the Adams girls, they made a difference, even when they were very young. So what do you wanna leave people with today?

Bob Hopkins:
Well, I wrote this thing called pay attention. My mother used to say, because I’m attention deficit, she used to say, Bobby, pay attention. And I know what that means now, is that I have to not only watch what I do, but pay attention to things that I’m not watching and seeing if there’s a problem that I can solve. And that will take me maybe into another world. You know, I played of a guy today, yesterday in tennis, and he was from Egypt. You know, I want to go to Egypt. I want to see the world. I want to see cultures. I want to see the way people believe and the way people think and why they talk and the way they do and why they eat the way they do. And why are we having so many problems? And when I do that, I go in wondering, how can I find a space and place here? Of course, I’m always going to come home, but I’d love, love, love to travel and see what there is out there. And one time I wouldn’t travel by myself. Today, I travel by myself because I get to choose where I eat, when I stop, when I start. I don’t have to ask permission. And it’s a lot of fun. So I’m going to leave you all with this. Do something different today. Try to figure out how to break the lock that is keeping you from your greater good. And we can all identify locks. I still have some, and I’m going to change some of them. Maybe this year, next year. I hope so.

Hugh Ballou:
You heard it right here on the nonprofit exchange. Bob Hopkins, philanthropist, high level influencer and dear friend. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom today with our audience.

Bob Hopkins:
Always a pleasure, Hugh. Thank you.