713. The Case for Playing the Long Game in Philanthropy - Matthew Oh, FOREFRONT Charity

Matt Oh was an engineer with a stable career and a 9-to-5 when a mission trip to India stopped him in his tracks. He saw something he couldn’t unsee — women and children spending 10 hours a day walking to collect dirty water. In 2015, he founded FOREFRONT Charity with a few college friends and one water well. Today, more than 100,000 people across India, Kenya, and East Africa have been impacted through clean water, education, medical care, and empowerment. 105 water wells drilled. A school built, in which 20% of the students once worked in child labor, that now serves more than 250 first-generation students. A 90% program efficiency rate. Clearly, an engineer is running this. 💡 **In this episode, you'll hear:** - Why “treating symptoms” is a stewardship failure, and how Matt’s five whys framework helps you fund root-cause solutions that create lasting change - What 11 years of local partnerships taught FOREFRONT about trust, and why sustainable change is slow to build, easy to lose, and worth protecting - How FOREFRONT came within $1,000 of shutting its doors twice, and what those struggles taught them Walk away from this conversation with a new lens on donor stewardship, a challenge to stop moving fast when the community you serve needs you to stay, and proof that the long game is worth it. 🩵 **Episode Highlights:** - From Engineering to Purpose: Matt's Origin Story (3:36) - The Five Whys: Applying Engineering Thinking to Nonprofit Impact (9:15) - Root Cause vs. Symptoms: What Real Stewardship Looks Like (10:19) - A Decade of Local Partnerships and What Trust Actually Requires (14:10) - Persevering Through Hard Seasons (18:14) - FOREFRONT Forward: Scaling What Works Globally (19:54) - The School Story: What Grit Really Looks Like (25:09) - One Good Thing: Play the Long Game (31:29) - How to Connect and Support FOREFRONT Charity (33:04) **Episode Show Notes:** www.weareforgood.com/episode/713 // **Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free.** Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com **Say hi 👋** LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Twitter