ERP012 - Kevin Crowe w/ Give a Mile

Welcome to Evolve Radio where we explore the evolution of business and technology. Today on the podcast, I'd like to welcome an old friend Kevin Crow. Kevin is the founder of Give a Mile, which is a nonprofit that helps connect family members and loved ones to anyone that is facing a life-threatening illness through crowd sourcing travel miles and loyalty miles. Kevin was inspired to start Give a Mile after losing a very close friend to brain cancer. I wanted to have Kevin on today to talk about how the evolution of technology is enabling the modern nonprofit. We also talk about how entrepreneurs are gravitating towards impact opportunities and not just strictly innovation and commercial monetization. This is a great success story of how technology is creating positive change for the world. I hope you enjoy it. Let's get started. Welcome to the podcast, Kevin. Thanks for joining us. Oh, thanks so much for having me tonight. All right, let's dive straight into it. Uh, you are the founder of Give a Mile, which is a charity that focuses on connecting people with loved ones that are in critical care. Uh, do you want to give us a a quick background on on the charity or the the nonprofit and and how that got started? Yeah, absolutely. You know, uh, several years ago, um, I lost an amazing friend Ryan to brain cancer. It was an incredible heart, uh, breaking, heart growing experience. Um, in the last year of his life, you know, he asked me, he said, Kev, you know, I really could use your support as a friend and, uh, I want you to be beside me and and help me through this experience. And, um, you know, at the time he had a four-year-old son, he was married, he, you know, was in his late 30s, had had a very successful career. Very much in a similar spot as myself and and. It was an incredible experience to see uh his bravery, his courage, uh dealing with that disease. And and understanding, um, and coming to terms with his own death and I can tell you, um, if you spend time with somebody whose time is running out, um, it will change your perspective on how you use time in your life and what's important to you, uh, and how important things are for you. You know, the littlest things, um, I remember, um, just these really powerful moments. Um, where, you know, we realized there was no more treatments, um, that could help him. And they said, what do you want? You know, do you want to go to Disney World, do you want to go to Europe, you know, bucket list, we'll make it happen. And and he said, you know, Kev, the the thing that I want is is time with my loved ones, uh, especially my son and my wife. Um, I just want to hang out with these people, um, and to see him. You know, watching Jungle Book with his son, to see him, um, sharing a beer with a friend and having a very deep conversation. Uh, I realized, you know, how important those moments are. And that's really, that's that's the the essence of life, right? We tend to get focused on these these big moments. Um, you know, I want to go to the Super Bowl or I want to go on this this traveling trip around the world, but the heart of what life is about are those moments. And and then, you know, when Ryan ended up in the hospice in in the last few months of his life. I saw the power of visit as people were coming in to to see him and say goodbye. And, um, also saw a lot of people at the hospice, um, who were saying goodbye via the phone. Um, and saying things like, you know, hey, um, dad totally understands that you can't afford a flight. And, um, you know, it's not a problem. Um, you know, we'll say goodbye via the phone. And then, you know, when Ryan passed away, I I definitely wanted to do something good, um, for his legacy. He was a very positive guy. He had taught me a lot, showed me the power of of how to live a a meaningful life. And and then I heard this crazy stat that there's 10 trillion. That's trillion as in T, um, travel loyalty miles that go unused globally every year. And so I naturally put those these two groups together. There there's these people that are trying to travel to be with loved ones, uh, to say goodbye to them, whether they're in hospice or in in hospital care. Uh, and having that visit to be there to support them. And yet there's this resource sitting on the sidelines that's unused. And, uh, understanding the power of, you know, micro giving and crowdfunding, um, and technology. Um, you know, Give a Mile was born to, uh, allow people to donate those travel miles and get mothers, brothers, sisters, best friends on a plane, uh, to support loved ones. That's really cool. It it sort of exactly what I wanted to talk to you about. Because, you know, I've done some work with nonprofits space and starting to see the level of, uh, uh, integration and and the role that technology plays in that space is really, really huge. And you kind of hit exactly on all of those points that, you know, there's no way that this system. And that the the the nonprofit that you've set up could have existed. You know, 20 years ago. You you think that the kind of how technology can be applied and being able to kind of pull those resources first, you know, that global aspect, I'm sure you guys get donations from of the miles from everywhere and just the fact that those the technology exists to create those those, uh, the sharing program. That has to be a huge component of of what makes this possible to begin with. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, to us there's some real key building blocks, um, that Give a Mile is is built around. And and one of those is is tangible, uh, giving, right? That we want people to be connected to, uh, the specific flights and impact they're making happen. Um, so you can donate to a specific, uh, flight, uh, online, that story is shared with you, you're able to click on that story, you enter a code and those miles, uh, will be used specifically to that story. So you know you've got, you know, that brother on a plane to fly. Uh, from Toronto to Calgary. Um, and we wanted that because we want that to resonate with people. Um, because, you know, the transaction's two ways, not only are these people getting to be there with a loved one. But we all know how it changes your heart when you know you're helping somebody, right? Your your level of compassion increases. Yeah, it's such a huge, it's a huge component of what I see is is is this. Is that tangible aspect. You know, it's whenever there's a disaster, you get inundated with, you know, donate $5 to the Red Cross. And it's kind of just throwing money over the fence and hoping that it ends its way up towards something that that results in a in a positive benefit. And, you know, I'm sure you've looked at the stats and the numbers around the actual dollars that filter through the large bureaucracies. And what lands in in the productivity from the nonprofits in some cases. So I think it's amazing that, you know, people can see a bit of a storybook unfold that they they have a sense that they had a hand in this. And that they made someone's life better. And they can see directly the impact and who that was. Not just sort of a generalized story of. You know, well, we built a well. It's like, great, you know, good for the community, but you can see that you actually connected two people and created, you know, something that that, uh, is a life-changing event for them. Yeah, absolutely. And and it's a 100% donation model, uh, for us, so all miles that are donated, 100% of those are going to flights. And we raise our operational, uh, funds separately with events and and that type of thing. Um, so people don't have to wonder, you know, did my donation, you know, buy a box of Kleenex for the office or, you know, it's it's helping specific people. And the other thing we we see, especially with what we're doing around the flights is, um, people are are connecting or helping people that reflect events that happen in their own life, right? So maybe they lost a loved one to brain cancer. So they're supporting brain cancer flights. Maybe they remember, um, losing their father and having to fly across the country, so they want to do a a flight for a a father and son. Um, and we also do, you know, um, we're just ending up our third year now. We're at, um, over 254 flights as of today. And about 48 of those have been international. And so we have people that, you know, have international family and loved ones. And they're like, I understand how hard it was to get back to the Philippines or to, you know, bring someone from the Philippines to be with a loved one. And so I want to support flight like flights like that. So you you have that connection that we think is really, really important and and that's happened because of the technology. So, how many flights are you guys doing? Uh, like is it a monthly basis or a number a year? Like and how is that grown over the the the the the lifespan of of the nonprofit? Yeah, we're just wrapping up our third year. And, you know, every year we set a flight goal. Uh, this year's flight goal was we wanted to do 120 flights. Um, and right now we're at about 80 this year. Uh, we we also do a specific Christmas campaign, um, where we bring on flight heroes. Um, they help us raise miles for flights through their friends and family. And we want to do 35 Christmas flights, uh, for loved ones, obviously a very special time of the year to connect loved ones that are dealing with these situations. And, you know, last year, I believe we did about 104ish. Uh, flights and the year before, um, we did, uh, our our very first year was kind of 75. So, um, it's growing quite fast. And obviously, um, the demand is there. It's I I think in some ways been an underserved area. Um, you know, palliative illness in general is not something that's talked a lot about or or dealt a lot with, especially in Western society. Um, I hope that's changing. I hope we have some more open conversations around death and mortality. Um, and then the fact that, you know, we have so many people that travel for business and so many people that are collecting loyalty miles. And, um, and they want to do good with them, right? They they're like. You know, we see two camps, people that either they have too few miles, so they're like, I want to give them and make a a flight happen. Or people that travel so much, they're like, I'm never going to use these miles. And, uh, both those groups are able to make something really powerful happen by donating their miles. That's great. That's a lot. You know, that's that's probably more than I would have imagined were were happening. So, you know, congrats on on the success of that. I'm curious the, um, the donation system in collecting those those miles. Do they have to be like a particular type of mile or and how do you? You know, is there any legal restriction around how those miles are utilized? How do you guys manage to kind of cobble together 14 or, you know, five different people and all of their disparate miles and and make a flight happen around that? Yeah, for sure. Uh, Aeroplan has been a major, major partner for us. And I can't say enough about them. Um, and they are the major number one source of miles that are donated to us. Um, and you want to talk about technology and and allowing a not for profit to exist. When we first started the concept of Give a Mile. You know, I had my Aeroplan account and I had people transferring their miles to my account, you know, for the first flight. And there was transfer fees and all kinds of things. And and we got on Twitter and we we tweeted out to Aeroplan that we were trying to do this and this is what our our vision was. And they literally called us 24 hours later and said, you know, we'll set you up as a charity. Uh, we'll allow people to transfer miles to you, um, online, so think of them as the PayPal in the middle of this transaction. And we'll allow people to transfer their miles for $0 transaction fee. Wow. Um, and and so that's been the that was the the huge catalyst in the middle of this that really allowed Give a Mile to start and grow momentum. And, you know, get people donating. And then we do have, you know, other miles such as American Express that can can be verted to Aeroplan. And and, you know, people can donate money and we do accept Bitcoin donations, etcetera. But Aeroplan by far is is the biggest partner we have. Very cool. Yeah. It's incredible to have a a powerful partner that that sort of understands the the idea and the the the basis of of the goal that you're setting. That can but you know, great success story that they were actually to able to to pivot on that and and be able to to partner with you versus, you know, some organizations they may look at as as, you know, you guys are gaming the system and we don't want you to do this. It's uh that's great that they they were able to to support you in that way. Well, we yeah. It's to us, it's just such a win, win, win for everybody, right? It's obviously a win for the loved ones to be able to get on a plane and be there. Um, it's it's a win for people donating their miles because they get this, uh, impact and this feeling of compassion and good that they're creating. And it's a win for a brand like Aeroplan because people are loyal and love what the brand's doing, right? They're making good happen in the world. And they're committed to it. Um, and so we just feel like, what a great scenario to be in where everyone's going to win in in this transaction. So, you know, obviously what you guys deal with is is an absolute smorgas board of emotions. You know, like there's there's an incredible amount of grief and and sorrow of of losing a loved one and then the elation of actually being able to to go visit them. And and to to be able to say some goodbyes and connect. So, you know, and you guys are sort of working on the sidelines and and are sometimes arm in arm with these people. It it must be a little overwhelming to kind of deal with with a with the, you know, the sensitivity of the nature of what you're dealing with and and, you know, sort of facing death, but then also the elation of being able to provide this service for people. Can you talk a bit about the kind of that emotional roller coaster and both for you and for the people you're serving? Yeah, absolutely. And I can tell you there's there's many a day I have cried and laughed and just felt my heart grow bigger. All in about two minutes. Um, and these are incredible stories and incredible people you're getting connected to. And, you know, the the the flights, um, the stories I can tell you, you know, arrange from everything where you have a son who maybe hasn't talked to his dad in 10 years. And has reached out to us and, you know, said, I understand. You know, my dad's in the last few days of his life. And I need to make amends, I need to get on a plane. And I need to say what needs to be said. Uh, we've had, um, fathers reach out to us to say that I disowned my son who's gay and I'm in the last few days of my life and I need to make that right. Um, we've had incredible experiences of, you know. Um, family members flying in, um, where, you know, they were told that their, uh, loved one only had a few days to live. Uh, they're hanging on, they arrive, uh, they spend time with the loved ones and they pass away the next morning. So you just feel like it was destiny to get that person on a plane and be there. You know, the one of the very first flights I gave away always sticks with me. It was a woman, uh, she was trying to get back to the Philippines to say goodbye to her family. Um, she had, uh, stage four, uh, terminal cancer, they had stopped treatment. We had heard that, you know, she was, you know, basically selling some stuff, her furniture, etcetera, to try to get a a plane ticket because this is how important it was to her. And we got connected to her and, um. Uh, had to deliver the the ticket to her personally, uh, because, um, uh, she no longer had a computer. Uh, I showed up with the plane ticket and she gave me this amazing hug. Uh, she hugged me for about two minutes, broke down in my arms and we both had a good cry together. And you could just feel the determination in this woman and and she just said, you know, I have to fly from Canada to Manila. Then I have to take a three-hour train, but I need to say goodbye, um, to my mother and my brothers. And she goes, I just feel I need to do this. She goes, I don't know if I have the strength to, um, make it back, but I know I'm going to make it there. And she, you know, actually made that flight happen, she got to say goodbye to her family and she got back to Canada and passed away a couple weeks later. And I was, um, able to go to her funeral. Um, I met with her family. And un, uh, known to them, I I was in the crowd to the the family that was on Skype that was coming, uh, calling in from the Philippines. And, uh, they didn't know I was in in the room, but they all talked about how powerful it was to have, uh, their sister and their daughter back home to say goodbye one last time. And, uh, I can just tell you it gives me goosebumps just thinking about that, you know, and. Yeah, just the power of that flight. And, you know, just to share one other really powerful story with you is. You know, we had another, um, call and we work with the social workers and palliative care providers and and they get connected to us connected to the people that need flights. And, um, social worker reached out and said, Kev, I have a really big ask. She goes, uh, I need, um, four flights, uh, back to the Philippines on Monday. And this was a Friday. And she goes, I need to fly a mom in her 30s, who's terminal with cancer and her two children and a healthcare provider to get her there. Because she needs to get her children back to the Philippines because she is going to pass away and she has no family in Canada. Wow. She wants to get those children with her brothers and sisters to be raised. And she goes, can you make this happen? I'm like, I I I'm not too sure. I got to reach out to the community of supporters of Give a Mile. And literally 24 hours later, I had, uh, four tickets. And, uh, we were able to get that mom back to the Philippines and, uh, you know, her children are there and being raised by her, uh, siblings. And so to be able to pull that off and obviously there's an incredible Give a Mile team, an incredible community of support around this organization. But it's just extremely powerful moments like that. That's incredible. That's I appreciate you sharing those stories. It's really kind of gives a sense of what's happening and the and the good that you're doing, so appreciate that work. Um, also, I think the other part I wanted to talk about is is how close. Uh, you are to something that I find incredibly fascinating and change in in business is the the gravitation in sort of current business. And especially the younger generation around really wanting to have something that they believe in to work on. And whether or not that's their eight to five job or, you know, working after hours with, uh, with a a group like yourself. And you're pretty active in a in helping to establish entrepreneurship and especially around that nonprofit space. Do you want to talk a bit about kind of what you're seeing around that aspect of kind of this awakening of of social service and and it being married up with that entrepreneurial spirit? Yeah, I think it it's an amazing time. You know, I think growing up, uh, I remember thinking of not for profit or charity in a certain bucket and for profit work in another bucket. And the two shall not meet and in some ways they were opposed. Um, and then we have this amazing generation of entrepreneur, creative people that just don't think like that. Uh, they think, you know, how can I do both? How can I build a sustainable organization that impacts people's lives in a positive way? And allows me, you know, to pay for people's jobs or careers, uh, and maybe sometimes make a profit or maybe sometimes reinvest that in the company. And it's just such a great mindset. And, you know, to bring entrepreneurial power to solve world problems, to me is exactly the right kind of formula. And we're seeing kind of the impact that has. Whether, you know, if you look at the organizations that Give a Mile is definitely been inspired by Kiva. Which is the micro donation or micro loans of entrepreneurs. Um, in the developing world, hugely, hugely powerful, right? Uh, getting people, you know, that, uh, taxi that they need to be a taxi driver, getting people that extra inventory they have for their store that they're opened up. Um, as well as Charity Water, Scott Harrison and his work he's done there has been a big blueprint of, you know, making things tangible and connecting people to the good that's happening. Um, that those models are extremely powerful. And when you have that entrepreneurial spirit. You know, we talk a lot because I work on, you know, in the for-profit side and then I have Give a Mile as this, you know, passion project that's really important to me. But we talk about in Give a Mile that, you know, our profit is impact, right? Like how a for-profit company would be measured around revenue growth and profitability and bottom line. To us, it's the same thing, only we're going to measure ourselves in impact and that impact is number of flights, a number of families you're connecting, that's our success. At the end of the day, that's what we have to be focused on and that's what we have to make happen. And we have to attack that with entrepreneurial spirit. And I can tell you all the, you know, great people and we're 100% volunteer organization. All the great people that are part of Give a Mile, they have that in their DNA and they're they're hustling and they're working hard. And they're thinking of how to use technologies and how to grow the community. Um, and they don't think of it in terms of, you know, how somebody might think of, well, we're a not for profit and we should solve the problem this way. They think of it just as problems to solve. Yeah, yeah, there's, you know, I think there is sort of this natural application of the that same, uh, go-getter hustling attitude and and problem solving that you borrow from that entrepreneurship. And be able to apply it to to creating good in the world. I think that's an amazing, uh, pairing. So, uh. Yeah. Um, you know, you're also a a pretty busy guy, you know, you've, uh, you're you've got your your day job. You know, you you run death races and triathlons. You've you've built this amazing piece of work around Give a Mile. How do you how do you balance all of this? You got you got kids. And and the workplace. And you know, do you ever find yourself kind of at wit's end and feel that that things are are too heavy? Yeah, absolutely. You know, I I would say, you know, the the common phrase I remember is if it's important, you will find a way. And obviously that work and the things, uh, you know, triathlon and, uh, the for-profit work. Um, those are passionate things for me. So, you know, I love, um, the work I do. And and, you know, there's obviously days you get worn down and there's days you get tired out. Um, and, you know, you got to recharge and kind of pull yourself back and and take some breathers. But, you know, what I what I've really found is, um, you know, really structuring your day, uh, and being very deliberate in your day. Um, and being very deliberate in what I'd call micro segments of time. So sometimes people think, you know, I need to find an hour of time to do something. Um, sometimes it's literally just finding 10 minutes to make a phone call. Sometimes it's, you know, literally, you know, two minutes to write a quick email and get it out the door. Um, I'm an early morning person, I love to get up in the morning. I exercise first and then I I tend to have a list of important things that I I need to get done. Uh, before I would call the day starting because, you know, the day obviously involves a lot of meetings and time with people. And and, um, you don't tend to be able to get your hands dirty and get your work done. And so I tend to use the early morning hours to do that. I also have an amazing wife who's very supportive and understands, you know. This is the the DNA and, um. So she's behind me making a lot of things happen, um, that allow that support to happen. So and for instance, I can get out of grocery shopping when I need to to work on things. Um, but yeah, it's it's it's deliberate use of time and understanding what creates impact in your time. You know, I really focus on that 80 20 rule. And, um, eliminating things that aren't creating impact or results. And finding the 20% that continually do create your 80% of your results. And saying, okay, how do I get to do more of that? How do I, you know, delegate or get things off my plate and use my talents where I can get the biggest impacts? Very well said. I'm also a huge believer of the 80 20 rule, the Pareto principle. It's uh it applies to pretty much everything. It's amazing. Yeah. Everything. Everything falls into that bucket. It's a it's awesome. Yeah. It's so universal. It's incredible. Yeah. Well, Kevin, uh, we're getting to the end of the show. And and really want to thank you for what you've, uh, uh, developed with Give a Mile. Obviously, you know, the work that you're doing is is creating amazing experiences for people and and, uh, just a a huge opportunity. For for some families that wouldn't be able to to connect with loved ones in a in a really, really high stress situation. So, really appreciate the work that you're doing. Uh, obviously, where can people find Give a Mile and, uh, support the cause? Yeah, uh, giveamile.org is our website. You can go there and you'll see the active flights, uh, we welcome you to donate to those flights and would love your support. Uh, you can also follow us on Twitter at @giveamile or Instagram @giveamile. All right. So, we'll, uh, we'll end it there. And really appreciate your time, Kevin, and all the best through the course of the year and into the future with Give a Mile. Thanks so much.