Philanthropy Keynote Speakers
Keynote speakers who turn giving into strategy, from nonprofit founders and humanitarian inventors to purpose-driven CEOs who prove doing good is good business.
Philanthropy on a corporate stage is not a charity pitch; it is a case study in what purpose actually builds. The speakers on this page have founded movements, funded water for millions, and built brands where giving is the business model. Scott Harrison turned a nightclub promoter's second act into charity: water, one of the most trusted nonprofits in the world. Magic Johnson pairs a Hall of Fame career with decades of investment and advocacy in underserved communities. Bert Jacobs grew Life is Good from a van into a purpose-first apparel brand, and Mick Ebeling's Not Impossible Labs invents technology for people the market forgot. Whether your room is an association gala, a CSR summit, or a company that wants its values to mean something, the right philanthropy keynote matches the giver's story to the change your audience can make.
Founders of Major Causes
Built movements from scratch: Scott Harrison of charity: water, Jess Ekstrom of Headbands of Hope, and Matthew Emerzian of Every Monday Matters.
Scott Harrison
Founder and CEO of charity: water, which has funded clean water projects for millions of people worldwide, and NYT bestselling author of Thirst. His redemption arc from nightclub promoter to nonprofit pioneer is the definitive keynote on why radical transparency makes people believe in giving again.
Jess Ekstrom
Founded Headbands of Hope in college, donating a headband to a child with illness for every one sold, and wrote Chasing the Bright Side. She shows younger and cause-minded audiences that you do not need money or permission to start giving, just a model that works.
Matthew Emerzian
Founder and CEO of Every Monday Matters, the nonprofit built on the idea that mattering, to yourself and to others, is the root of engagement and generosity. His mattering mindset gives CSR programs and volunteer initiatives an emotional core employees actually adopt.
Jeff Civillico
Las Vegas headliner and founder of Win-Win Entertainment, a charity that connects performers with children in hospitals. He blends a genuinely entertaining stage show with a working model of skills-based giving, ideal for galas that need energy and a reason to open wallets.
Invention for Good
Humanitarians who engineer change: Mick Ebeling of Not Impossible Labs, Kenton Lee of The Shoe That Grows, and filmmaker Mallory Brown.
Mick Ebeling
Founder of Not Impossible Labs and two-time SXSW Innovator of the Year, known for 3D-printed prosthetic arms in Sudan and devices that let paralyzed artists draw again. He gives corporate audiences a repeatable formula for absurd, beautiful impact: help one, then help many.
Kenton Lee
Creator of The Shoe That Grows, an adjustable shoe that expands five sizes so kids in poverty are not sidelined by outgrown footwear, now worn in countries around the world. A humble, practical story of how one simple idea becomes durable, scalable compassion.
Mallory Brown
Humanitarian, documentary filmmaker, and founder of World Clothes Line who has run live crowdfunding campaigns on multiple continents, turning audiences into donors in real time. She teaches rooms how storytelling and human connection convert sympathy into action, a masterclass for any fundraising event.
Purpose-Driven Business Voices
Leaders who prove giving scales: Magic Johnson, Life is Good's Bert Jacobs, and Sseko Designs founder Liz Bohannon.
Magic Johnson
NBA Hall of Famer, billionaire businessman, and humanitarian whose foundation and investments have brought capital, jobs, and health advocacy to underserved communities for three decades. The rare marquee name who can speak to both the boardroom and the ballroom about wealth as a tool for change.
Bert Jacobs
Co-founder and Chief Executive Optimist of Life is Good, the apparel brand that grew from selling t-shirts out of a van and channels a share of profits to kids facing adversity through its Playmaker work. He makes the commercial case that optimism and generosity compound.
Liz Bohannon
Founder of Sseko Designs, the fair-trade fashion brand that employs women in Uganda and helps fund their university educations, and author of Beginner's Pluck. She gives purpose-driven companies a working blueprint for building giving into the supply chain rather than bolting it on.
Service and Resilience
Stories of giving back after the hardest chapters: JR Martinez, Merril Hoge, and Dr. Ivan Joseph on turning adversity into advocacy.
JR Martinez
Army veteran who survived severe burns in Iraq, became a television actor and Dancing with the Stars champion, and wrote the NYT bestseller Full of Heart. He has spent his second act advocating for burn survivors and veterans, showing audiences how service continues long after the uniform.
Merril Hoge
Former NFL running back and longtime ESPN analyst who beat non-Hodgkin lymphoma and wrote Find a Way. His long commitment to children's grief support gives corporate audiences a grounded model of an athlete who turned his hardest fights into decades of quiet, consistent service.
Dr. Ivan Joseph
Award-winning performance coach and leadership expert whose TEDx talk on the skill of self-confidence has reached tens of millions of viewers. He connects purpose to culture, showing organizations that belief in people, invested early and deliberately, is the most durable form of giving an institution can practice.
The range here covers every way an organization meets generosity. Cause founders like Scott Harrison, Jess Ekstrom, and Matthew Emerzian show how a single idea becomes a movement people fund and follow. Humanitarian inventors Mick Ebeling, Kenton Lee, and Mallory Brown prove that creativity, not just capital, changes lives. Purpose-driven business voices Bert Jacobs, Liz Bohannon, and Magic Johnson make the commercial case for doing good, while JR Martinez, Merril Hoge, and Dr. Ivan Joseph connect service to resilience and culture.
These speakers anchor association galas and donor recognition dinners, open CSR and ESG summits, close leadership conferences, and give company all-hands and kickoffs a reason to care beyond the numbers. Rave Speakers handles the entire booking: shortlists matched to your audience and budget, availability checks, contracting, and prep calls so the keynote lands the way you planned it.
Call (310) 614-8653 or email [email protected] to check availability and fees.
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