Brian Hooks is Chairman and CEO of Stand Together and the President of the Charles Koch Foundation. He joins The Art of Association podcast to talk with host Daniel Stid about Stand Together’s efforts to advance pluralism and human flourishing through a vibrant, entrepreneurial civil society. They reflect on Brian’s long partnership with Charles Koch and a new edition of their co-authored book, Believe in People: Bottom-Up Solutions for a Top-Down World. The conversation also explores Be the People, a major new initiative that Stand Together is launching with a broad network of partners. Timed to launch during the nation’s 250th anniversary, Be the People will be a ten-year campaign. Its goal is to strengthen and highlight bottom-up civic renewal. Brian also discusses his cross-ideological collaboration with fellow philanthropists on what he calls “Team Liberalism” to defend pluralism and philanthropic freedom from illiberal critics on both the Left and the Right.

Chapters

(0:58): Stand Together’s vision, mission and methods for using philanthropy to empower people

(3:53): How and why Brian came to work at Stand Together

(9:03): Brian’s working relationship with Charles Koch and their principle based approach to management in civil society

(13:28): Why Brian and Charles Koch wanted to bring out a new “America at 250” edition of Believe in People

(21:20): Purpose and plans for the Be the People initiative and problem-solving platform

(31:13): Brian’s spirited defense of philanthropic freedom and pluralism – and the growing threats to them from illiberalism on both the Left and Right

(41:32): Whom Brian has learned from in his work

Additional Resources

Stand Together’s overview of Principle Based Management

Charles Koch and Brian Hooks, Believe in People: Bottom-Up Solutions for a Top-Down World, America’s 250th Anniversary Edition, with a new preface by the authors and a new foreword by Martin Luther King III

Heather Templeton Dill, Kathleen Enright, Sam Gill, Brian Hooks, Darren Walker, and Elise Westhoff, “We Disagree on Many Things, but We Speak with One Voice in Support of Philanthropic Pluralism,” The Chronicle of Philanthropy, April 13, 2023

Brian Hooks, “In Defense of Philanthropic Freedom,” Stanford Social Innovation Review, June 17, 2025

Larry Kramer, “Listening to the People Who Think We Are Wrong,” Hewlett Foundation blog, January 10, 2019