Your Fed, Your Voice: Tiffany Benjamin

Seema Sheth: Hello, everyone and welcome to Your Fed, Your Voice. I'm your host, Seema Sheth, Regional Executive of the Louisville branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. And today, I'm really excited about the conversation we're going to have. We're going to explore the intersectionality between health equity and the economy, and we're going to do all of that with an amazing guest. Her name is Tiffany Benjamin, and she's the CEO of the Humana Foundation.

Tiffany, thank you so much for making time to talk with us today.

Tiffany Benjamin: Oh, I'm so happy to be here, Seema. Thanks for having me.

Sheth: Anytime. I'm going to roll us into our first question, and that is for you to explain to me a little bit about what the Humana Foundation is.

Benjamin: Yeah. So the Humana Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Humana, the company, the health care consumer company. And what we do is we focus on making a difference for communities. We do that through grant-making. So we're focused on health equity, and we do work where we give grants to nonprofits primarily focused on mental health work, which includes loneliness, social isolation, suicide prevention, substance use disorder. But then we also give grants to focus on food insecurity and nutrition. And we do that work in Florida, Texas, Louisiana and Kentucky, where you and I are sitting.

Sheth: Yeah, we have that in common. So the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis has its mothership, if you will, in St. Louis. But then we have branches in Louisville, Little Rock, Arkansas and Memphis, Tennessee, and then we cover a seven-state region. So I guess, tell me a little bit about how you have impact in that larger footprint given you are HQed here in Louisville.

Benjamin: Yeah. So we are really intentional about picking places where we think we can make an impact, in picking places where-- frankly, Humana has a lot of employees-- and where people know our brand. So if you think about it, what we're doing is we're funding nonprofits who are doing work with seniors or veterans or school-aged kids, whether they're in Florida or Texas or Louisiana and Kentucky, and looking for synergies between the work they're doing, but then also, frankly, listening to each of those individual communities, trying to understand locally what are the individual needs. Because we know all communities are different. And so we're trying to hear-- say, you're in Kentucky-- what are the needs of people who are focused on food and nutrition in Kentucky, and then figuring out solutions that work for Kentuckians.

Sheth: For us, we do monetary policy work. And so not dissimilar, we're trying to figure out what is actually happening in the nation and the economy. And we use a dual approach to do that. We look at anecdotal information, which is what you're talking about. We do a lot of listening. But we also really rely on hard data. We are super nerdy at the Fed, so we want know hey, what are the stories and what are the numbers that are backing up those stories? Is there a way in which you all use data to inform your approach?

Benjamin: Yeah, I really appreciate the question. And I really like being compared to Fed policy in terms of how I think about our philanthropy because I know it's really rigorous and thorough. We actually are very focused on impact. So one of the things about us as a foundation is we have a chief impact officer, and what we do is measure ourselves both quantitatively and qualitatively.

So each year, we look at our investments, and we measure those to see did they drive what we thought they would drive. But then we also hold ourselves accountable by measuring impact of the work. So we know that's not short-term impact. If you're trying to address issues like suicide prevention, you're not going to solve those problems in six months. That's why we measure ourselves using specific tools to make sure that we're accountable.

So an example is we do a lot of work focused on senior social isolation and loneliness, and we use the UCLA Loneliness Index. And so we ask our grantees to use those metrics so we can look across our entire portfolio and say, "Are people feeling less lonely and can I measure that?"

Sheth: So can you share with me a little about what you're hearing as you look at the tea leaves of the economy?

Benjamin: Yeah, and I think what's really important is that health and wealth are tied together. So we know the reality is that if you don't have money to buy groceries, it's hard to stay healthy. We know, on the other side, if you're not feeling well and you're physically limited, it's hard to work. So there's a lot of overlap between issues of financial stability and issues of social determinants of health around your physical health, your mental health, those sorts of things.

What we're really hearing is the needs are high. In particular, in the mental health space, I think, after COVID, everybody started talking about something that had been happening. And so there's a huge appetite to address those issues.

And then we know food insecurity is growing. The data just shows it. And we know that there are kids struggling with it. We know that for seniors, there are mobility challenges, and so your ability to get out and get food is really challenging.

Sheth: Philanthropy is often seen as tangential to the economy and not as a driver of the economy. I would make the argument that that's not necessarily true. It certainly employs a lot of people. It creates a movement in the economy. So can you talk a little bit about how you view philanthropy impacting the economy?

Benjamin: Yeah. First, I just want to touch on your nonprofit point. A huge chunk of people in all of the communities we serve work at nonprofits. People forget that nonprofits are really the fabric of our economic systems. We have people working in them. We have people within our country who are served by those organizations. So I think it's really important to understand that you will find people in your life everywhere who are attached to a nonprofit. So the reality is they are just core to our economy.

Sheth: You were named in the inaugural TIME 100 Most Influential folks in philanthropy in the nation, which is incredible. The names on this list-- you are in rarefied air among-- if any list has Oprah on it and then you're also on it, I feel like you should feel pretty special. But can you tell me-- what does that recognition say to you about the work that you're doing or the role that philanthropy plays in the impact and the success, really, of the economy and of the United States?

Benjamin: Yeah. So I am really of proud of it, but also I got my own-- oh, gosh, I'm not Oprah or David Beckham. But what I will say is we're really proud of our model. And the reality of our model is that we are very transparent about what we do and what we don't do. We have an open application process. So we're actually right now in February, sitting in this open application process, where any nonprofit can find us and submit. You don't have to know me or anybody else in my organization to submit. You just have to have a good idea.

Sheth: So looking forward, if you had your little crystal ball and you were looking at a 2026, what gets you excited? What gives you optimism?

Benjamin: Yeah, I love that question. I am really excited about the ways in which I see people showing up for community. I think what we saw is an article the other day in The Chronicle of Philanthropy-- because I'm a philanthropy nerd, and I read-- about how volunteerism is back up to pre-COVID levels. And why that's exciting is it's about people getting out in community and serving other people. And if we're thinking about economic issues like the Fed thinks about or you're thinking about health issues like I think about, what's really important is understanding that we need everyone to solve all of these challenges. Everybody's got to participate in us driving for change. And so I'm really excited about the opportunities for people to really get engaged in that way.

Sheth: Tiffany, thank you so much for being here. This has been an engaging conversation. I'm walking away with a couple of things. I have now a new frame with which to look at how nonprofits and the philanthropic sector impact the economy. But also I have a better understanding of how you and the Humana Foundation are working to make a positive impact. So thank you so much for not only the work that you do but also for being here to talk with us about it.

Benjamin: Thank you for having me.

Sheth: For those of you that are listening, thank you so much for being a part of Your Fed, Your Voice. Please like and subscribe and share this podcast with a friend if you can. Until next time, my name is Seema Sheth, and this has been Your Fed, Your Voice.

[THEME MUSIC]