Inspiring Good

Alex Strati on Embracing Community & Leadership

• Community Foundation of Elkhart County

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Join us for an enlightening episode of the Inspiring Good Podcast where hosts Kevin Deary and Marshall King sit down with Alex Strati, the new Director of Professional Advisors at the Community Foundation. Alex brings his wealth of experience from a successful banking career to discuss what drives his passion for community service and philanthropy.

This Episode's Highlights:

  • Mentorship and Leadership: Alex shares, "It's learning to be a chameleon, balancing humility and integrity, which are key components in effective leadership."
  • The Role of Donor-Advised Funds: Discover how these funds can "bring the joy back" to philanthropic giving by streamlining processes for families and individuals.

Tune in to explore how intentional leadership and well-managed philanthropy can shape a community’s future. As Alex remarks, "Our community is thriving, and that gives me hope." Don't miss this inspiring conversation guiding you towards "Inspiring Good" in your own community.

00:00 Introduction to the Inspiring Good Podcast
00:27 Meet Alex Strati: New Director of Professional Advisors
01:40 Alex's Journey to the Community Foundation
02:45 The Role and Impact of a Director of Professional Advisors
03:58 Alex's Early Career and Philanthropic Beginnings
06:45 Leadership and Community Involvement
08:18 United Way and Community Leadership
09:36 Mentors and Influences in Alex's Career
11:45 The Importance of Estate Planning and Charitable Giving
16:45 The Power of Donor-Advised Funds
26:18 Closing Thoughts and Reflections

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This show is a production of the Community Foundation of Elkhart County. It is powered by equipment from Sweetwater and recorded in The Riverbend building in Elkhart's River District. Editing is done by the award-winning communication students at Goshen College, home of one of the best college radio stations in the nation. Listen to Globe Radio at 91.1 FM. Learn more about the Community Foundation of Elkhart County at inspiringgood.org You can follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Music is provided by Sensational Sounds. Thanks for listening. We hope you are inspired and inspire good and your community.

Marshall V. King:
Welcome to the Inspiring Good podcast. This podcast is brought to you by the Community foundation of Elkhart County, which serves a vibrant community in Northern Indiana, known for its generosity and strong network of nonprofit organizations. I'm Marshall King, your co host with Kevin Deary, a veteran nonprofit CEO who now coaches others. Our guest today is Alex Str, the newest colleague to join the team at the Community Foundation. Alex is the Director of Professional Advisors. He spent much of his life working in banking and finance and has given time and leadership skills to nonprofits across our region. Alex, we're delighted to have you on the podcast. Welcome. 

Alex Strati:
Thank you, Marshall. I'm happy to be here. 

Kevin Deary:
Alex, so glad to have you here today. Congratulations on joining our team here at the Community Foundation of Elkhart County. Let's start with this before I get too far down the road. What does a Director of Professional Advisors do here? 

Alex Strati:
Isn't that a great question? I'm happy to tell you that I now have my business cards and I just celebrated my one month anniversary. So I'm working on figuring that out with Kerry. But there are a lot of wonderful financial advisors in Elkhart county that are at various stages of understanding what we do here at the foundation. And so Pete and Carrie decided that it was time to have someone that was dedicated to shepherding and working with that group. 

Kevin Deary:
And Carrie being Carrie Berghoff, our Chief Advancement Officer, and Pete being Pete McCown, our chief executive office. For those listeners who don't know who they are, but we are so delighted to have you here on the team. And what drew you to this role? 

Alex Strati:
First, I'd say I get to office right across the hall from you. So that was a big draw. It was a big draw. I think as your career evolves and you have life experiences, there's a point in time when I made the decision to retire from the bank. The pace was fun and exciting, but I was ready for something different. And Pete stayed in touch with me. I took a year off and Pete can be Pete, right? And he was persistent. And I finally said, yes, give it a try. And my wife said to me years ago when, when she first met Pete and as the Community foundation was continuing to grow, we were at a fundraising event and Pete did what Pete does. He came over to the table and said hello to everybody that was there. And she said to me, someday you should probably just quit this banking thing and go to work at the foundation. So that's always been rolling around in the back of my head. And so here I am and I'm looking forward to it. 

Kevin Deary:
And what excites you about this role? 

Alex Strati:
Well, you don't have to be in this building more than 15 minutes to feel the energy. We have some amazing associates at the organization here at the foundation, including you two. And that's what drew me here. Right. There are so many people that are working here on things they're passionate about and that they believe in. And it's real easy to just get caught up in that and be part of that excitement. And not to mention the energy that the community foundation has created and continues to try and create in Elkhart County. So it's very contagious. 

Kevin Deary:
And you've been a wonderful blessing to us, I think, because they sat you across the hall from me. We're now known as detention, like back in high school days. 

Alex Strati:
Absolutely. 

Kevin Deary:
But we have a lot of fun and we know a lot of the same people, which really helps. Now truth be known that Alex and I have worked together over a couple decades helping start my previous job at Boys and Girls Club. Alex is one of the founding board members, ended up being the chairman of our board of directors and I worked directly for him. So it's nice to be in detention with you and we're so glad to have you. You have background in finance and banking. How is that going to help shape this new role for you? 

Alex Strati:
When I first started in banking at Midwest Commerce bank, the whole notion of philanthropy, to be honest, I didn't necessarily heard the phrase right. I knew what it meant. I didn't really know what it looked like. And Terry Brennan and John Armstrong were the president and chairman of Midwest Commerce Bank. And three weeks after I started, we had our United Way kickoff meeting. So it was the first United Way kickoff I had attended as an employee. And the importance of giving was very obvious. But also the whole notion of time, talent and treasure was introduced during this big kickoff over at the what is now the Learner. It was the alco at the time. And it left an impression on me that, okay, this organization is serious about not only financially supporting United Way in this particular case, but they encouraged us to get involved. So it left an impression on me. And the snowball started, I guess then. 

Kevin Deary:
As you grew in Midwest and of course the bank was sold and eventually ended up at Old national bank. And you grew through Old national bank and certainly started growing in community leadership opportunities like Boys and Girls Club, also served on the Beacon board. But tell me about your St. Vincent experience. Tell me a little bit more about that 27 year old first time in leadership. 

Alex Strati:
So my parents were active at St. Vincent's my dad was also active in Little League, helping start the Concord Little League. So watching them balance, raising five children and their jobs and being involved, it was just something that you just did. So I was invited by the pastor at the time to join the parish council at St. Vincent's and it was very interesting, you know, being third generation family that attended St. Vincent's when you go to church, and I'm sure it's true in any church, you don't really understand the behind the scenes and what it takes to run the parish and the school at the time until you sit through a parish council meeting and then ultimately the school board. So I was grateful for that time. I will never forget how awkward I felt in the sense that I didn't feel like I knew anything and how could I possibly add value. And Father Carlos was a wise man and he had confidence and I appreciate that in him. And I met some wonderful people and it was enjoyable to give back and to help an organization that I literally grew up with. 

Kevin Deary:
And that evolved into United Way. Serving on the United Way board, serving with Beacon Boys and Girls Club. Talk about some of those experiences, some of the people, because you were part of those organizations for decades. 

Alex Strati:
No, the United Way was something that admittedly I did because I was asked to do it. You're a young at this. In this particular case, a young banker in the community on the commercial lending side. Being out in the public is very important. And so I joined the allocation panel and I also did handed out packets to businesses locally during the campaign. And you began to learn what the United Way did. And the other benefit of being on the allocation panel for three years was all of a sudden you got to learn what the non for profit organizations in Elkhart county look like. And when you did your interviews. So that was at a very early point in my career. The AHA started to go off on not all non for profit organizations are created equal. Not all CEOs are created equal. Some of the organizations had very strong boards, some didn't. And so it was just my first entree into what would become a not for profit, I guess, career, you would say, trying to help boards and trying to help organizations. So I attribute United Way to some of those early curiosities and passions that it ignited in me. 

Marshall V. King:
Alex, I probably, other than seeing you at United Way, annual celebrations and so on, my first real encounter with you was 10 years ago when Old national bank where you worked did 100 men who cook. And the organization you picked was The Boys and Girls Clubs of Elkhart county, which was Kevin's, under Kevin's leadership. And so you were the chairman of this committee to do this fundraiser in our community. You pulled in the food guy from the newspaper. So I would show up at these early morning meetings and I still. You were organized and poised and professional and you ran these meetings and it wasn't my favorite time of the day but. But it made such an impression on. This is how you, this is how you, this is how you show up for your community. This is how you exert your skills, exercise your skills to give back. And you were so passionate about that. So you talked about learning at United Way and I saw you. It wasn't the end of your career obviously, but it was toward the end and you had gained these skills. You mentioned two names at Midwest Commerce who helped coach you in that. Who were some others, who were some other mentors in this community who you mentioned United Way and it makes me wonder, did Art Dicio twist your arm like I. But I'm curious who some of the others were. 

Alex Strati:
There were and have been many. Thank you for your kind comments, Marshall. I think that plenty of mentors along the way. I think of someone like Pam Hluchota who we worked together for a period of time at Midwest Commerce and Pam's career continued to grow. She stayed in banking for a long time here locally and she's someone that certainly was. She valued board service and she knew how to do it. So I certainly emulated her. There are other. Tom Payne was another person. He was certainly integral in the department that I was in for a long time at Midwest Commerce bank and was involved in many things, including adec. But I think that there's also been folks that I've tried to emulate outside of banking as well that have been involved in boards. You think of someone like Dan Morris, Dan Oakley, gentlemen that have made it their mission to be involved in the community as well as their for profit ventures. And I think that for me, learning how to be an effective board member of a non for profit organization, you have to switch your brain a little bit when you're in the for profit sector, at least in my humble opinion. And for me it's trying to mirror those that have gone before me or that were doing it ahead of me. I'm just trying to be the best version of myself I could be by emulating what they were doing. 

Kevin Deary:
All of us, we all need mentors. We all had mentors in our life who we copied what they did, made sure that we lived to the morals and the values that they bring. One of the things being from the outside of this community that has always kept me very humble is the power of philanthropy and charitable giving. In Elkhart county, some of the most generous people and even companies that they're extremely generous to, the nonprofits sharing leadership, you'll see part of that time. Talent and treasure is so displayed here in Elkhart County. Charitable giving. And when it comes to estate planning, sometimes people don't want to face that someday their time will be over. But how does one get started in charitable giving? No, I'm sorry, not charitable giving, but estate planning. 

Alex Strati:
That's a great question, Kevin. I think just having a conversation, just start having the conversation. There's no question that most of us want to believe or some of us want to believe we're going to live forever and we don't want to face that type of planning. I have always been, when you're in banking and you deal with businesses, sometimes stuff happens, right? Someone might die unexpectedly. And unfortunately, I saw a little bit of that early on. And when you see that when a business owner passes unexpectedly early on, there's no buy, sell agreement, the family is left to try and figure it out. The bank is left to try and figure it out, leaves a lasting impression. So I have always subscribed to the theory that I sleep better at night knowing that there's a plan. And early on for me, the plan was make sure you have a will in place and those kinds of things. Over the years, it's evolved into, we did an estate plan and you think about end of life giving and it actually can feel pretty good because if you can just imagine, look, if something happens and you're gone tomorrow, you want to take care of your kids and your grandkids, but then who else has left an impact? What organizations mean the most to you? And it really can be a very refreshing and a rewarding conversation to have. And it really just can be as simple as that. Starting to have a conversation about what means most to you. And then it's a matter of getting with a professional if you need someone to help you with from the legal standpoint. But oftentimes it can be just as simple as starting the conversation around what's important to you. And what do you want your legacy to be. 

Kevin Deary:
Not just the financial plan, but also the living will. Having those conversations. I'm getting old enough now in my. I'll be 64 in May, and having those conversations with my spouse and with my adult children, talking about what papa wants and what do they want? So those discussions are absolutely the first place to start. So here at the Community foundation, you're here to advise those folks who advise people. So banks, Edward Jones, accountants, lawyers, you're really advising them on how to pull all that together. About right? 

Alex Strati:
That is as I understand it. But yeah, it is really. It's in my role. I'm going to reach out to as many of the advisors as I can in my first year and to just have conversations. I keep coming back to that word, but. And the conversations are going to go a little bit like this. How can we at the Community foundation help you help your clients? And those conversations might be a little bit different when I'm talking with an attorney versus a CPA versus the financial certified financial planners that we have in our community as well. But it all comes back to how can we at the Community foundation help you all do your job better and ultimately take care of your clients. I've had a chance to sit in a few meetings already with Carrie Berghoff and a few others here and it's interesting to me and fascinating to me what the Community foundation is able to do for folks that want to be philanthropic. We can simply make it the process easier. We met a local company, third generation, three brothers. They've been philanthropic every year for a long, long time. Grandpa set it up that way. There's a certain amount of money that needs to be donated to local, not for profits every year. A good problem for them to have is that the size of these donations has grown to the point where they were not looking forward to the month of December at all. It took a lot of time, effort and energy to find worthy non for profits to vet them, to make sure that their money was going to go to work the way they wanted it to. They came to visit us and Carrie took them through the process and I was able to sit and listen and the one brothers turned and looked at both of us and said, you're helping us bring the joy back. And the way we're doing that is they're going to donate that money to the Elkhart County Community Foundation. We're going to put it in a donor advised fund for them. And they then can make decisions quickly or over time on which organizations they want to donate to and when. And to hear them talk about the relief and that they can finally enjoy this process of giving. It was another light bulb moment for me as to why we exist. We really can try and make the process easier. 

Kevin Deary:
People's legacy is important to them. And the donor advised fund, I'd like to have you expand a little bit more on that. That is probably one of the most powerful vehicles for helping people with their legacy because there are so many good nonprofits and they don't want to spend all their time trying to vet them all trying to figure it out. But the community foundation is uniquely positioned to help them talk a little bit more about what is a donor advised fund. 

Alex Strati:
Donor advised fund is something that we have here at the community foundation that gives the family that opens it or the individual that opens it, typically its families, an opportunity to decide what their legacy will be. Which organizations will they donate the money to. And to your point, we do a very good job here at the community foundation of vetting and looking at organizations to make sure that the money is going and being used the way that the donors would like it to be used. And look, as Kevin, you lived in it for a long time. We have a strong not for profit network here in Elkhart County. We are incredibly blessed and we could spend the whole podcast talking about the quality of these organizations. So that's really not a concern. But we have the ability to vet those things if we need to for our donors. But honestly, the donor advice funds provides ultimate flexibility for our donors. 

Kevin Deary:
What are some of the misconceptions people have about planned giving? 

Alex Strati:
I think one of the initial ones is that it's somehow it's so difficult that I just don't want. I don't want to think about doing it. It's too hard. And it's not hard. It really isn't hard. Let's have a conversation and let's talk out what's important to you. And the other thing that I think is important to put out there is there. I think there's a perception in our community that you have to have large dollars in order to be philanthropic and generous when you think about end of life and those kinds of things. And I would just say that we have donor advised funds of all different sizes and shapes. And don't let that be a hindrance or an obstacle to have a conversation. 

Marshall V. King:
I just want to interject. We just got the year end numbers from the community foundation for the calendar year 2024. We're on a fiscal year, but we also do some accounting. At the end of the year we had just over $36 million in grants from the Community Foundation. Last year, $18 million, just like right at 50%, came from donor-advised funds. So half of the giving out of the community foundation was from donor Advised funds. And we had 18, 13 gifts given to us last year from over 1,200 unique donors. And we started 63 new funds. And a lot of those were donor advice funds. We're creating those on a regular basis. 

Kevin Deary:
I get to, it's these numbers just astound me. And Alex, maybe you talked about the conversation with Pete way back and you've talked about a little bit about our role and we're talking about the donor advice funds, but talk about the like the pivotal role that you've seen us playing from the outside and now a little bit from the inside, if you would. 

Alex Strati:
Absolutely. And let me just say about those numbers, those are incredible. And it's a testament to not only the team here led by Pete, but also a testament to our community. We have an immensely generous community. Well, and I think when you're out in the community and you're not inside the community foundation here at Elkhart county, from my eyes, what I've seen is Pete largely being a convener out in the community when there's projects that need to get done or there's work that needs to get done, you think about the Aquatic center, you think about Tolson and the rebuild at Tolson and the beautiful work that's been done there, all the behind the scenes work that happened with the Aquatic center and all that went into that regional cities and some of those initiatives that have been profoundly impactful, not just in Elkhart County, but St. Joe County and Marshall and other places. You know, the community foundation in my view, is uniquely positioned to be, pardon the analogy, but Switzerland in a sense where, listen, we're not trying to compete with any of the not for profits. We are simply trying to bring you together, convene conversations around, are there ways to do certain things better? Are there issues we need to address? How can we help? And I think again, as someone on the outside looking in, I was impressed and have been impressed the way the organization has done that. And now that I'm here, and again, it's only been a month, but as I've understood how some of these things have happened and the additional things that are happening, it's just simply impressive what happens here at the foundation. And I'm excited to continue to try and help in a very small way. 

Kevin Deary:
I'd like to talk a little bit about leadership. I had the privilege of serving with you on a board of directors. And one of the things I realized quickly about you is and we talked a little bit about, we joked when you're young, you have Potential. And then at some point, people stop telling you have potential. And I don't know when that happened, but somehow we reached our potential. Clearly, you are at least one of my favorite board members coming through over all the years. And one of the reasons were your leadership style, your communication style. You didn't get rocked. A crisis is only a crisis if the adults don't know what to do. And you are always the calm voice, always bringing people together who had emotions. And one of the things I really appreciated about was your ability to cross zip codes around our county and talk with Napanee people and Middlebury people and Bristol people and Goshen and Elkhart. But what are some of the distinct leadership skills that you have seen in the nonprofit world? But maybe not so much mentioning people, but things that somebody who's listening today can say. Those are three things I'm going to write down. 

Alex Strati:
Yeah. I tell you, it's an interesting. It's been an interesting journey when the first thing I would say is learning to be a chameleon. And that's not my phrase. That was told to me by a mentor early on in my banking career. And the point was, as a commercial lender, especially a younger commercial lender, still learning. Right. We're going out and we're expected to make calls on business owners in and around Elkhart County. What could you possibly have to add to that conversation? Was certainly one concern that the other thing is business owners largely want you to mirror them. That's typically in leadership books that you read, mirror who you're with. And so I learned at a young age the importance of doing that, being a chameleon. So I would try and do that. Now, my family may take issue with that. I'm calm when things. But that's different. Again, I followed people that I had seen do it ahead of me before me. And there's just certain qualities you try and have. You bring some humility, tell the truth with compassion. I got some great advice from a former CEO. You and I were talking about this a couple weeks ago. That has stayed with me for a long time. And he said to me, alex, when you're thinking about joining a board, and in this case it was his board, he said, I'd like you to think about your position as a board member is keeping your hands on the organization, not in it. And we, we, we ordered another cup of coffee and we talked more about exactly what he was referring to, but how profound that statement was and is from this. It was Daryl Abbott and Daryl Abbott and I And others had lots of coffees. And I learned a lot from Daryl. 

Kevin Deary:
It started CAPS and was considered a legend. He passed away last year, but he's a legend in the nonprofit leadership world. 

Alex Strati:
Absolutely. And that statement has stuck with me. I've used it in board meetings. I've used it with other folks. I've been fortunate enough to be a part of CEO searches. There's a group of us that seemed to and I mentioned a few of their names a few minutes ago, but we seem to have followed each other on CEO searches. We worked through United Way change in leadership and then at the Economic Development Corp. Of Elkhart. There was a leadership change there and then certainly, and most importantly the leadership change at caps. And Candy Yoder, who has been such a big part here at the foundation. But her tenure at CAPS is absolutely legendary, second only to Daryl. And the fact that those two were able to follow each other and do the work that they've done and that the organization continues to thrive is a testament to both of them. 

Kevin Deary:
And it's really set it up for Rebecca Shetler Fast, who's just the next generation of greatness that is coming into CAPS to continue and sustain that, that legacy, those legacies for all the right reasons. 

Alex Strati:
Absolutely. 

Kevin Deary:
When it comes to leadership and you look at your specific leadership, what are the two top traits that you think you bring? 

Alex Strati:
I'd have to admit that it's evolved over the years. You mentioned the 27 year old and then the 60 year old. It's evolved. And it would be interesting to have a conversation with some of the early CEOs that I had the opportunity to work on their boards versus sort of where I'm at today. Balance. You mentioned some kind things about what you observed when I was with you on the trustees and with the trustees of the Boys and Girls Club of Elkhart County. It's balance and it's not getting too excited, not getting too low. Keep the mission. What is the mission? What are the real issues? Is it funding? Is it staff? Our clients? The mission, the kids in this particular case. So just trying not to be the roller coaster, but try to be the steadying influence I guess would be something that, that I learned. Those were not always easy lessons to. 

Kevin Deary:
Learn and always kind. Strength can be kind. And that was something I took away from our years together. Was you clearly one of the strongest, most articulate. But you were incredibly kind to everyone even when they weren't being kind in the meeting to whoever usually me, probably deserved. But you are always kind. And I just think That's a strength for the future leaders that are coming up to be focused, know your craft. Because if you want board members to keep their hands out, they have to know that they trust you, that you know what you're doing, and that they're here to guide you and help you, support you and not micromanage you. But I think one of the. You get that when you gain trust, right? And trust is very important. And I think you get trust. Wisdom is knowledge plus experience equals wisdom. So if you have wisdom, it's because if somebody says you have wisdom, it's because you have a set of knowledge on some particular skill, and you've also had experience. And when you put those together, people will say you're wise. It's rare you see somebody who says, I have wisdom. Usually somebody else tells you you have wisdom. But you're truly one of the wisest board members I've had the privilege of working with. And your ability to translate that now over to plan giving estate planning, to be able to work with advisors and professionals at this stage of your life, such a blessing to us and our community. I'm just really grateful that we've had you here today. 

Alex Strati:
I appreciate it. Thank you, Kevin. You're kind. 

Kevin Deary:
So I've also. You taught me, too, about kindness. Alex. I have a question. Then our usual final closing question. 

Marshall V. King:
Your career took you out of this community for a while. It could have been you. I could compare it perhaps to, like the children of Israel being sent into exile. I'm not sure that you would, but. But that. That also gives you perspective because. Well, it depends on where you stand. But what is it that you love about Elkhart County and the surrounding area? What is it that you see happening that excites you? 

Alex Strati:
Well, that's a great question, Marshall. I think for me, growing up in this community. So there's immense pride in being a part of this community, right? Growing up here, when you have an opportunity for your career to take you to other communities, and in my case, it was in the Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo. Spent a lot of time in Michigan with Old national, and it was incredibly rewarding because it does give you perspective. There's many similarities between the dynamic that we have here with Elkhart and St. Joe County, St. Joe County, Notre Dame, lots of health systems, right? Hospital health system. And Elkhart County manufacturing. Well, in Washtenaw County, where the University of Michigan is and the hospital there, largest employer, you have Lenaway county right next door, heavy manufacturing. So I felt oddly at home with that dynamic. But there's nothing like being at home. And my family was here and is here. And coming back here has been great. And I take the experiences I had in a big university town like the University of Michigan. The food is phenomenal in Ann Arbor, by the way. It is supposedly one of the foodie capitals of the country. And I can confirm that Michelle and I hit many of those wonderful establishments. Beautiful diversity there. We also have diversity here and it was just great to come back here here and I guess I would say finish my career at home. 

Kevin Deary:
That's great. Our closing question what gives you hope? 

Alex Strati:
My three children and their spouses and my four soon to be five grandchildren give me hope because of the energy that they have in life right now. And I think the other thing is I walked into the CAPS breakfast last Thursday here on a very snowy, as you guys recall, snowy morning. Not a great morning at all. The room was packed. And the other thing that I noticed being now one of the older folks in the room is I looked around and all the faces that I didn't know and that's okay that I didn't know them. But what's beautiful about that is the community is continuing to serve itself. There's active people on boards, there's business owners in the room that are interested and it's this community is thriving and that gives me hope. 

Marshall V. King:
This show is a production of the Community foundation of Elkhart County. It is powered by equipment from Sweetwater and recorded at the Community Foundation's offices in Elkhart's River District. Editing is done by the award winning communications students at Goshen College, home of one of the best college radio stations in the nation. Listen to Globe Radio at 91.1 FM. Music is provided by Sensational Sounds. Learn more about the Community foundation of elkhart county@inspiringgood.org you can follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Thanks for listening. We hope you're inspired and inspire good in your community.