We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ed Freedman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ed, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Years ago, I attended a conference organized by the Milken Institute. One talk in particular left a strong impression on me—Milken himself explained that his office has two floors full of people who focused on making money, and three floors to give that money away.

That showed me that making money and being a good member of society aren’t mutually exclusive. In fact, they feed each other. Ultimately, the point of making money isn’t to keep it for yourself, but to use it to strengthen the community around you.

Community is at the heart of what I do with Stable Road Foundation. Being a good neighbor, a good citizen, and a good steward of the land are incredibly important to me. This guides our entire mission—we work with people we know and trust to do impactful work on behalf of people who need it.

For example, right now we’re working with my longtime friend Michael Capponi and his disaster relief nonprofit Global Empowerment Mission (GEM) to provide emergency relief to people affected by the Los Angeles wildfires. We launched a similar effort in 2023 when Maui was devastated by fires, and I was so impressed by how quickly and effectively Michael’s team was able to respond.

My motto is “feel the impact,” and it’s much easier to make an impact at scale by collaborating with others. So often, I hear people tell me, “I’m only one person with limited resources, how can I fix all the problems out there? Well, nobody can do it alone. But we’ve all got something that we can give—time, money, support. Sometimes just showing up can have a ripple effect.

By working with trusted partners with a proven track record of success, we’ve been able to make a major impact on the lives of people who need help. And it all comes back to that desire to do good on behalf of the community.

Ed, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I was fortunate to have a very successful career before I started Stable Road Foundation. I set goals and I achieved them—but every time I crossed a professional “finish line,” I found myself searching for something more.

So after I sold my company, I asked myself: “What is my purpose? What do I want my legacy to look like?” And I remembered something my grandfather Morris had told me. He said that while giving back was nice, the way to make a real impact was to inspire others to give back as well.

My purpose today is to give back as much as I can, and to inspire everyone around me to do the same. That’s how I feel the impact, and it creates a virtuous cycle—everyone taking concrete baby steps to make the world a better place, with every action creating a little ripple effect of positivity.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Somebody once said, “If Ed says he’s going to do something, he’s really going to do it. And he’s going to do it well.” That was really meaningful praise to me because it comes from showing up time and again, and following through year after year. People know that if Stable Road Foundation commits to something, we’re going to deliver.

If we’re “in” on a project, then we’re all the way in, and our partners know they can rely on us. They know that we have a passion for maximizing the impact of every dollar, and that we’re happy to share our expertise on executing projects from start to finish. When people say that Stable Road Foundation is a “trusted partner,” they’re saying they can rely on us to do what we promise and do it well.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

We were founded in 2017, and since then we’ve lived through three devastating wildfires in our communities. It takes a toll on you—the danger of the flames around your home, the destruction of the immediate aftermath, the long and arduous process to rebuild once the fires finally go out.

In 2018, the Woolsey fire burned almost 100,000 acres around Malibu. Last year the area burned again, and I had to evacuate with my family. I was feeling this sense of deja vu, because just the year before Maui had been on fire. As I write this, the Los Angeles area is burning. At a certain point, it would be natural to be demoralized. How are people supposed to have the energy to rebuild again?

It might sound strange, but I actually feel energized by the challenge. It’s personal: I want to do anything I can to protect my home, my friends, my community. I have people calling me for advice on how to stay safe, and staying with me if their houses burn down. I certainly never expected to become a fire relief expert, but right now this is what I can do to give back.

I’m inspired by the knowledge that I’m not in this alone. I see my friends and neighbors coming together to support each other and share what they can, and I want to do the same. We’re sticking together and staying connected, and that’s how we’ll get through this.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.stableroadfoundation.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stableroadfoundation/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@StableRoadFoundation