Giving Back To Your Community with Philips McCarty

Philips McCarty and his family first came to Serenbe while searching for a getaway from bustling New York City life - particularly during the height of Covid, when people were longing for a connection to nature and access to open, outdoor spaces had never felt so important. Now the family splits their time between Serenbe and the city, where Philips serves as the Executive Director of the Fashion Institute of Technology’s FIT Foundation, leading initiatives in strategic philanthropy, social impact investment, and alumni affairs and engagement to support the college’s unique and unconventional heritage. He is also the founder of Good Scout, a social impact consultancy that helps companies, nonprofits, and philanthropists achieve their vision. 

In this interview, Steve and Monica chat with Philips about the importance of getting involved in your local community, giving back, access to nature, and his passion for the arts. 

Show Notes

• Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT)
• FIT Foundation
• Good Scout
• The Biophilic Institute
• The Art Farm at Serenbe
• Serenbe Events Calendar

Key Words: Fashion Institute of Technology, FIT, Philanthropy, Social Impact, Art, Nature, Biophilia, Serenbe 

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Serenbe Stories is a podcast about making an impact, building a better life, and the extraordinary power of nature and community. Follow Serenbe on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Transcript

1 (13s):
Phillips McCarthy and his family first came Toby while searching for a getaway from bustling New York City life, particularly during the height of Covid when people were especially looking for a connection to nature and access to open outdoor spaces, which we know is vitally important now the family splits their time between Sarah and the city where Phillips serves as the executive director of the Fashion Institute of Technology Foundation, which is also known as fit, where he leads their initiatives in strategic philanthropy, social impact investing and alumni affairs and engagement to support the college's unique and unconventional heritage. He's also the founder of Good Scout, a social impact consultancy that helps companies, nonprofits, and philanthropists achieve their vision.

1 (54s):
In this interview, Steve and I chat with Phillips about the importance of getting involved in your local community, giving back access to nature and his passion for the arts.

2 (1m 4s):
It's probably one of the easiest places to connect to people and that's what I love about it as well, is that everyone is so open to developing relationships and also just who are our neighbors and what does that look like because it is, it's close knit, it's tight-knit, which I think is really special.

1 (1m 23s):
Hi Phillips, how are you? Welcome to Serenbe Stories.

2 (1m 26s):
Thank you, I'm glad to be here. Looking forward to the conversation this morning.

1 (1m 31s):
We always start off the conversation as Phillips, you know, asking about how did you learn about Cby and come to move here?

2 (1m 40s):
Well, let's see. It was pandemic time and my family and I lived in New York full-time and so we were really starting to look at what should we do, where should we go? Since my boys were both in remote school and I was having a conversation with my nephew who lived in Pensacola, Florida and we were just talking about different areas that we should look at and one of the things that Lori, my wife and I we're also thinking long-term. So we have one in college, one who's the sophomore in high school. And so we started thinking, you know, where do we want to be? Where do we wanna be long-term? So my nephew was throwing out some different options, opportunities then.

2 (2m 21s):
Then he ended his text to me and said, or you could just move to therapy. And I said, what does therapy be? And he said, just go check it out. And so I went online, looked at the website and basically looked at it for probably 30 minutes and then turned to Lori and I said, just so you know where we're moving. And I said so. So anyway, probably about two or three weeks after that we, our family, so we drove down to be able to go and see family, but we came to Theran for the weekend, checked things out. We actually connected with Christie and Jeremy Realty and we started looking at places for that weekend.

2 (3m 5s):
We went to visit our family for a week, came back the next weekend. Christie said, I have one more plate I need to show you because I really think that you all would like it. We walked into it, we said immediately. So that's how we landed in therapy. It, it was actually a pretty quick situation.

3 (3m 24s):
And what's amazing, it wasn't even on your radar.

2 (3m 27s):
It was not on our radar. Now thi I have to tell you kind of a funny story. My sister and brother-in-law came to therapy years ago and really loved it, but they're not the ones who told us about it. It was my nephew, but my sister and brother-in-law, they live in Fear, Alabama, they just bought several years ago, an incredible lead home. It's, it's fabulous. You all would love it, but the front door is inspired by your front door because when they were in fear beat, my sister saw your door with the front door knob in the center of the door and said she had to have that. And so her builders assured her that they would build that door to her specifications and it came from your door.

2 (4m 10s):
And when they came to visit about a year ago, we were going all around the neighborhood trying to figure out where she was inspired by it. And we were at the Blue Eye Daisy book across and we said, oh, it's steep. So anyway, you were a part of my family long before we even knew that this would come to fruition.

3 (4m 26s):
That's fun to hear those stories. So what was on your original checklist that, oh, your nephew was going through?

2 (4m 34s):
Well we were originally looking at places that may be close to water because my oldest is a big surfer and he loves the ocean. And so we were looking at Charleston, we were looking at the possibility of would we want to do something along 38 even though there's not great surf there, but it's still the beach. And then we also were just thinking about more England. We were looking at Asheville as the possibility. We've lived in a number of different places. So of course we're in New York now. We also lived in Santa Monica for several years and we did love that and we thought, you know, we had thought about that as a possibility as well. So really if you think about it, Steve, not many places that necessarily mimic therapy in any sort of way,

3 (5m 20s):
Except the cool thing is the location. You can get to some of these places fairly easily.

2 (5m 25s):
You're exactly right. And that's what we love about it too, is that we're close enough to Atlanta if we want to go into the city. And then of course we can jump in the car and be at any of those places. So easy and and also close to our family in Mississippi and Alabama and all. So it works out well.

3 (5m 39s):
That's great.

1 (5m 41s):
I love that. And all those places are super walkable, so probably that was part of what you loved about them. So you just mentioned New York, so you guys, your family splits time between New York and Seren B and I know your son is out in California in college, but your youngest has a couple more years. So tell us a little bit about the back and forth.

2 (5m 59s):
We try to get to Serenity as much as we can. It's a little challenging with the high schooler, but we are there during the summers. We come for all the holidays and then we make random pop in. So I'll actually be there in in about a week. I'll be there next month for by a village and and we try to do as much back and forth as we can. We have a dog who is just a little too large to fly, so I'm usually driving her back and forth. So I'm her chauffeur back and forth from New York and then everyone else flies, then she and I road trip. So anyway. But yeah, it's great. And then my oldest loved it too. I mean it's kind of funny because we lived in New York for a while, but my oldest claimed Georgia as his home.

2 (6m 42s):
So even when he is in California, when he is, when he went off to college, he told everyone that he is from Georgia, not from New York. So he really fell in love with it early on.

1 (6m 55s):
That's fantastic. I love that. I'll take that. So one of the things that you do up there, really your full-time job is with the Fashion Institute of Technology, you know, so you're running all of their advancement and fundraising and the foundation. Tell us a little bit about the Fashion Institute for people maybe who don't know that's in New York and then the work that you're doing and how long you guys have been there.

2 (7m 17s):
I think that a lot of people like to say that we are the M I T of the fashion industry and I love that, I love that comparison. And people either absolutely no f I t or they have never heard of it before. And funny enough, it's a community college but you wouldn't know that because we have bachelor's programs and then also a graduate school. So we have masters as well. But specializing in the fashion industry, Calvin Klein, Michael Kors, many others are graduates. We have some very prominent individuals who have been a part of F I P for many, many years. But beyond fashion we are also a design school.

2 (7m 57s):
So we have an incredible art and design program. We have everything from interior design to photography to illustration. And then I would probably say that we have the best fashion business management school really in the nation and probably in the world. I mean it is our strongest program and a really phenomenal program for us.

1 (8m 18s):
That's amazing. So how many students are there? Like what's the typical enrollment?

2 (8m 24s):
We have about 8,000 annually. Many of them live on campus but many do not. You know the, in the heart of New York, we're right at 27th and seventh. So really the city is your campus when you go to F I T. So we have a lot of commuters that are part of the programs as well. And I have to say I'm so amazed and encouraged to see the students and this younger generation that's coming in and their passion and their love for sustainability. It's probably one of the biggest areas that we have really developed further over the last few years. Although interestingly enough, we have had a sustainability conference at F I P for almost 15 years now.

2 (9m 9s):
So we were kind of ahead of the game when it comes to fashion and sustainability, which is pretty, pretty incredible. So that's a big push and a big focus for us that along with innovation we have a center for innovation. We have what we call our design and technology lab where we bring students together from all different types of discipline and they really, they are here to solve business issues and business problems. So we have businesses come to us. Tommy Hilfiger several seasons ago was trying to look at what the season needed to look like for them and they actually brought our students together, went through historical information and they helped create a design the new line for that particular season.

2 (9m 51s):
The Girl Scouts came to us and were having issues with the fact that older girl Scouts did not like the uniform, they did not like the way that they looked and so therefore they no longer wanted to be a Girl scout. Oh. So our students actually created an entire line for the Girl Scout uniforms where the Girl Scouts can now go on and select various uniforms that I really would call more fashion books that even have interactive badges and what have you that go along with them. So the really unique things that are coming out of that, which is pretty incredible for us.

1 (10m 26s):
Well and you've told me when we're like on the street, some of the students are working on really interesting materials like using kombucha to make a fabric or thinking about biology and chemistry in the fashion industry. Is there anything fun like that that you wanna share? I just am fascinated by, you know, we should be using more plant-based or more renewable resources. Any fun alumni or student stories like that?

2 (10m 53s):
Yeah, actually two pretty incredible companies that have been born at F IP and are now out there and doing very well. One is called algae net. It started at F I P several years ago Judit and faculty got together and actually were able to create a fiber out of algae. Algae knit is now one of the leading companies in the textiles area. They have received multiple rounds of funding are doing incredibly well. And that was founded here at F I P with Judit to said they're, there has to be a way to do this. So they started looking at seaweed and ALD and the way that we could take that and actually create a fiber that would withstand the entire process, the manufacturing, the whole nine yards and pretty amazing.

2 (11m 39s):
So they're out there now doing very well. Another one is a project called Werewolf, which these students were able to find a way to take a swab of your saliva and actually create a synthetic wool that when compared to a natural wool so far no one has really been able to tell the difference. And so they have found that way to take that DNA and that saliva and actually create this wool synthetic. And so anyway, it's gonna be interesting to see what happens with theirs. Yeah and then that's incredible fun thing. Yeah, we have fun things that happen here. We have a dye garden that is actually on the rooftop, so the student plant and actually harvest from the dye garden and then use those dyes again, textiles and fabrics and everything that they're creating here.

2 (12m 30s):
That's from annual project that we have. We have beehives here at F I T, we have a green group system and everything. So it's part of the fabric, no pun intended of F I t which is really great.

1 (12m 42s):
So amazing. So another thing that you do staying in sort of the nonprofit world is you also are the founder of a amazing group called Good Scout. So consultancy, helping businesses and nonprofits really in a social impact way. Which obviously you're doing a ton of F A T. Tell us more about that.

2 (13m 0s):
Yeah, so I started the consultancy right after I was at Thank you Children's Research Hospital in Memphis that's really, I've been there a number of years and really got my legs and fundraising there I guess I would say. And then Lou from there and started the consultancy, started working with national and international nonprofits originally focusing on building out fundraising campaigns or what we would call a platform campaign. So when I was at St Jude we had the Thanksgiving campaign, which many people know that every holiday season you're bombarded with celebrities telling you about St. Jude and give St. Jude and every, just about every retailer that you walk into you're app if you would like to make a donation.

2 (13m 45s):
It was that type of program that people really started to become very interested in. And so I took that concept and then kind of moved that into a consultancy. And so worked with many nonprofits, American Heart Association, he International, make-A-Wish, a number of others on, on developing these platforms and really helping them learn how to work hand in hand with corporations on building and developing funding. And so that really kind of morphed over the years into looking at more business with brands. So Nationwide Insurance, Brooks Brothers, a number of others that we started to help with their social impact programming and their platforms of where they were focusing for their social impact efforts.

2 (14m 31s):
And now we do quite a bit in organizational development. So you know, I often like to say that fundraising is not the issue. It tends to be that there are other issues surrounding it, therefore your fundraising may not be as successful as it could be. But we really look at organizational development as a whole. How are different areas talking to one another, is your leadership the right type of leadership for an organization? So it's been great. I have a wonderful business partner and she runs business day to day and then I'm still able to consult from time to time. You know I'm fts the full-time job the consultancy though lived on. So it's really great to still be out there and to be able to see what's happening with so many different organizations right now.

1 (15m 15s):
Well the impact like that is so important and trying to sort of bubble up the importance of different groups is hard as a consumer trying to think about where do you place your money beyond say your kid's school or your local nonprofit or church. One of the things that you mentioned earlier we all share passion for is biophilia. You're coming to the Biophilic Leadership Summit. I'm not sure if this will be out before or after that, but this is something that the institute that Steve formed, the Biophilic Institute, gosh how many years ago now is doing its fifth annual conference and not as big as the F I T event. Very intimate around a hundred people. But tell us, when did you first hear about Bio Ophelia and like why is it important?

2 (15m 59s):
So I think I probably have always been fascinated with it but didn't know what it was. I really would say that not until I became familiar with Gandy and learned more about the Biophilic Institute and all that you all are doing and really the concept of Gandy and then other concepts like that was that really did that. That's really how I became familiar with Bio Ophelia. And what is that and what does that look like? I think that I've always had this love and passion for certain aspects of it. For instance, I'm always fascinated with green walls that are inside with they, we have a board member here that's on the FT board and she built an incredible office in Brooklyn and I remember walking into it and here was this phenomenal living wall and I just fell in love with it, you know, but that was even before I was part of Seren V and really understanding and knowing what biophilia really is.

2 (17m 1s):
And so I think that it's been one of those things that I've been fascinated by but not even realize what it truly was or what it truly is. So it's really been interesting to get to know and get to understand that aspect of it. I love the podcast, I love what you are doing there with Biofilic Solutions. I'm gonna put a little plugin on this podcast to listen to that one cause I think it's really such a great way to understand what we're talking about and also just so fascinating to see what people are doing in this space.

1 (17m 37s):
Well it's been a lot of fun too because you've really connected us to F I T and when I say we, meaning like c, b and the Biophilic Institute and we're gonna do a cross collaboration where we're gonna come talk at the F I T T sustainability conference and then one of your professors, Karen, is gonna bring probably an alumni or a material specialist to come talk at the biophilic. So I just think that that's magic of sort of stumbling upon these wonderful people who live here and then thinking about how we can all share information and sort of make the world a better place. One of the things that you've also become involved with is the art farm here. And I don't know if you're on their board or an advisor, but I know you've gotten very connected to talk a little bit about that because the work that you, obviously the background at F I T and obviously your full-time professional but the Good Scout information is so beneficial to an up and coming arts and environmental nonprofit like the Art Farm.

1 (18m 29s):
So talk a little bit about that. You know, why'd you wanna get involved?

2 (18m 33s):
First of all, I think it's so important to get involved wherever you may live. I think that that's just, that's just something that I feel very strongly about. I don't think that people can or should live in a community and not have some kind of touchpoint in that community where they are giving back or they're engaging or they are developing. And that's something that I love about Serenia, that there's so many different ways to do that. Our farm just happened to be something that I really fell in love with early on. I was very intrigued by it. I feel like it's in that position where it is just ready to hit its trajectory and go.

2 (19m 15s):
And I think that there's some exciting leadership taking place with it. What I love is that Art Farm really has something for everyone and I think that the programming that's being developed is fantastic for not only Forster B but for people outside of Ceram B for people that can come in that can enjoy Seren V and also enjoy the arts at the same time. I think what's very exciting is the long-term plan for our farm and seeing what is ahead and what we can develop and what we can do. Again, bringing people in from the outside. Now I will admit, I like for BW a little bit of a secret. I I tell, I I do, I I tell people about it all the time, but then I think to myself, did I want tell that person about it?

2 (20m 3s):
I'm not sure if I did or not. No, I'm kidding. But people, everyone knows anyone who knows me always does, are you going to therapy this month? Are you going? Because I talk about it constantly but, but what I will say is that I really think that we have a very professional master plan overall, but particularly if you look at Art farm and see what it will be in the future and just the opportunity to bring Artan then and to bring people who, who love nature and who love art and kind of combining all that. So it's pretty special. And I have to say there's some very exciting programming that that lined up for the year and I think it's gonna be a very, a really special moment for Cby and also for people coming to and things ceremony.

2 (20m 49s):
But I'm not on the board or anything. I really just love it and so have engaged with them in various ways to the I can help.

3 (20m 57s):
So now remember, you know, it's, it's fun to only share serenity with people you would like to have as neighbors.

2 (21m 3s):
That's exactly right.

3 (21m 5s):
But the beauty is, you know, we've done such a lousy job of developing places for people to live that everyone kind of wants to shut the gate for cool places. But what we're really showing is because of our connection to nature and the way it's designed, that more people are the additive and our, our difficult personality ratio is very low here. And I think it's cuz nature, even if somebody's having a bad day, you know they get out in nature, they, it changes it. So, so just keep telling the cool people.

2 (21m 37s):
That's right. That's right. Yeah, no listen, I, I love it and I have to say that I think it the blessing and the curse of not living there full-time in that we hate that we're not part of the community constantly. But that will change in two years. We have our countdown, you know, I, I check off on my calendar and have that countdown ready to go. But I will say that when we do come back it's so fun because it is like meeting new people constantly cuz we're not there all the time so we don't see everyone and we do, we run into people, we will be out to dinner and we'll be sitting at the bar and we'll have a conversation with someone and start to connect. It's, it's probably one of the easiest places to connect to people and that's what I love about it as well is that you know, everyone is so open to developing relationships and also just who are our neighbors and what does that look like because it is, it's close knit it it's tight-knit, which I, I think is really special.

1 (22m 34s):
I totally agree with you and it's been, we're just recording, this is the early part of spring so it's like everybody's been a little like cold and inside and maybe not as active, you know, everybody's on the street. And so yesterday I went out and I don't know whatever, went to the gym trying to come back on my golf cart, hadn't been charged up well enough and so I'm just inching to like crawl right in front of your house almost at the general store. This is in the Grange neighborhood for listeners. And I was like, ugh, okay, well I'll just like let the general store know that it's dead cuz it's sort of not quite in a space and I'll just go walk down and get my charger and come back. And then there was like our neighbor John Tiernan and he's like, oh I got a strap, I got my golf cart. And so he just like hooked it up and dragged me home.

1 (23m 16s):
And so that's the other thing, right? You know there's always somebody who's like, well and then he came in our backyard and hung out for a little bit, you know, and just chatted. And so those unexpected moments of like not only like kindness to help you limp home on your dead golf cart but then just popping by and hanging out for another 20 minutes. I just think that is so incredible and special and obviously like I'm at like the the major champion but it's so rare today to have those interactions where everybody feels like I wanna help somebody, I feel safe helping somebody. And I think a huge part of it is knowing the people, right? And there's just this openness to get to know everybody no matter who you are. So I love that.

1 (23m 56s):
So one of the things that we like to wrap up on and if there's anything I haven't gone over you wanna chat about with F I T or any of the work you're doing or anything fun, please do share. But we love to know, so when a visitor does come for the day or they're staying for the week or maybe they're renting a couple months just to check it out, what should they go do? What's sort of one of those things that maybe, you know, it's slightly undiscovered or kind of fun maybe we don't wanna tell all the secrets, but what's one of your favorite things to share with guests?

2 (24m 27s):
I will say, and I kind of talked about it a little bit earlier, but I think that I would say try to time a visit around some type of great programming and there is so much so be it Art farm, be it when there may be a dinner at the farmhouse, there are a number of other things also, although we welcome everyone year round when the market open, it's always a fantastic time. So that's always something great to see, but certainly come to relax. But also if you can take in some type of programming, I think you have a special moment for us. So that's what I would say to most people.

1 (25m 6s):
Yes and the market starts in March and runs through usually November. That's the farmer's market on Saturdays, which is, it's like an amazing gathering place of new people and residents and all sorts of visitors. It's really great And I do think that the Art farm's gonna sort of blow people away mostly the second half of the year with this huge under the tent series that they're gonna do. Which I think is gonna be phenomenal. And I think we've been waiting for it, right? We've been cooped up in the house through the pandemic and this'll all be outdoors, it'll be safely under tent. Super cool. New programming. I think it's gonna surprise a lot of people.

2 (25m 42s):
I think so too. I think you're exactly right. It, it's gonna be you indifferent, which I think is gonna be phenomenal for us.

1 (25m 47s):
Phillips can't wait to see you in a couple weeks down here or in New York. And we thank you so much for coming on Sammy Stories.

2 (25m 54s):
Thank you. I loved it and it's great to see you all. I'm looking forward to seeing you in person very soon.

3 (26m 0s):
Enjoy the conversation and thanks all you're doing to really connect, not just coming but really connecting. That's a great experience for you and your family, but also that's what adds to Serenity.

2 (26m 11s):
Definitely. Well thank you Steve, I really appreciate it. Thanks for creating therapy.

3 (26m 18s):
Great fun. Okay, see you soon.

1 (26m 21s):
Bye.