People in Fundraising, ep. 135: Dhruv Sogani, Co-Founder and COO, AlmaConnect

I had the great joy of meeting today's guest, Dhruv Sogani, last summer at the Apra PD Conference in Seattle. We had an awesome chat about a variety of professional and life topics, and I am excited to share this continuation of some of those themes in today's episode. Dhruv is my first guest joining us from The Netherlands, where he is the Co-Founder and COO of alumni networking and philanthropy company AlmaConnect.

In our conversation, Dhruv talks about:

* His diverse entrepreneurial career experience (BMW, Bertelsmann Group) and his mechanical engineering education, and how these experiences have influenced where Dhruv now is.

* The range of services offered by AlmaConnect (news scanning on prospects across the world; employment updates; prospecting directories; alumni networking platform) and Dhruv's responsibilities there (operations, sales, customer support and success, finance, and HR - a.k.a. "everything that is non-tech!")

* Dhruv's upbringing in Jaipur, "the Pink City" of India, and why people and impact are two things in life he has always loved. And how Dhruv's professional and personal experiences in various parts of the world have shaped him, and how he and others are seeking to implement some Western fundraising best practices in his native India's philanthropy environment.

* Growing up with a combination of Hinduism and Jainism, and under the influence of his grandfather, whom other people called "a living saint." He modeled the importance of balance in life to Dhruv.

Dhruv concludes our conversation by encouraging our "People in Fundraising" audience to read about two key concepts that have positively impacted his life: Samatvam ("equanimity" and "balance"), and Karma Yoga ("selfless action"), both of which are from the Hindu scripture Bhagavad Gita (translated to English as "The Song of God").

Thank you very much for an outstanding and enlightening conversation, Dhruv! I hope to see you again at PD this summer in Baltimore.