Promote Giving – A New Model for Performance-Driven Giving (EP.496)

In this special episode of Capital Allocators, host Ted Seides sits down with Joel Holsinger, co-head of Aries' $50 billion alternative credit strategy, to discuss Promote Giving—a groundbreaking philanthropic initiative Holsinger launched to institutionalize charitable giving within the alternative investment industry. Inspired by his own journey from a humble upbringing in Idaho to a successful career in finance, Holsinger shares how a transformative trip to India with PATH Global Health solidified his commitment to impact-driven giving. He details how he embedded philanthropy into his professional life by committing 5% of the promote from Aries' Pathfinder fund series to global health and education, a model that has already generated over $50 million in charitable impact. The success of this internal initiative led Holsinger to expand it into Promote Giving, a pledge-based movement encouraging alternative asset managers across private equity, credit, venture, real estate, and hedge funds to commit at least 5% of their fund promote to charity. With 10 signatories and over $35 billion in AUM pledged, the movement is gaining momentum as a scalable, culture-enhancing, and permanently impactful model for performance-driven philanthropy. Holsinger emphasizes that this approach aligns investor returns with social impact without sacrificing financial performance, creating a 'compounding purpose' that benefits both portfolios and communities. The episode highlights real-world impact through projects like a surgical center in Zimbabwe and an education initiative in rural India, demonstrating how modest grants can yield massive outcomes. Holsinger’s personal philosophy—centered on legacy, purpose, and the question of whether his younger self would be proud—resonates throughout. He also shares how even skeptical leaders like Aries’ Tony Ressler eventually embraced the model, recognizing its power to transform organizational culture and philanthropy. The conversation closes with a powerful reflection on life’s true metrics: not wealth, but the depth of relationships, experience, and giving back. The episode serves as both a compelling case study in ethical capitalism and a call to action for the investment community to rethink how success is measured.