Connecting people with purpose.

Unleashing the potential of philanthropy for all.

#LETGO!!

About

Rena Olsen believes by rallying everyday people to envision themselves as “Uncommon Philanthropists” that abundant love and generosity will flow into our communities and world. 

Rena is the founder, host and creator of Uncommon Philanthropist (UP).  UP is a digital platform featuring the Uncommon Philanthropist podcast, YouTube Channel and social media pages on Instagram and Facebook. 

The goal is to create a movement of generosity through service and increased giving and to provide a platform for nonprofits to connect and tell their stories.

While traditional philanthropy—including the work of foundations and individual donors—plays an important role in civil society, she believes that everyday people have much to give and should also be invited to the table.  Uncommon Philanthropist is that community table—the place we’ve all been hungering for—where we can unite together for the greater good of one another. 

When these Uncommon Philanthropists are connected, informed and inspired to move together toward radical generosity and greater life purpose, tremendous world-wide impact is possible.

 Values

• Our UP community will thrive if we choose neighbor over self, love over hate, unity over division

• We are motivated by the very meaning of philanthropy, “love of humanity”.  We believe we are called to do that—to love one another

• We are world changers informed and mobilized to make our communities and world better in small (personal) and large (collective) ways through our gifts of philanthropy

• We believe in the power and wonder of collective giving and serving

• We are a community—a safe space free from politics or anything controversial that may divide, harm or distract us from our mission of loving one another through our actions to give, serve and love

• We are on a collective mission to love and serve one another

• We love traditional philanthropists and philanthropy and believe that with greater exposure, all will benefit

• The model of servant leadership, brought to earth by Jesus Christ, is amplified and celebrated here

• Money, influence, race, religion, age, gender doesn’t matter here—we are all equal in His eyes

  We love traditional forms of philanthropy and celebrate its immeasurable impact on the world.  We believe that by inviting more people to come to smaller tables we can exponentially create greater philanthropic impact for all

• We believe we all have capacity and margin to do something

• We freely share our philanthropic journeys in a humble way and invite others to the table

• We are boldly creative, strategic and committed to our personal philanthropy journeys

• We serve from the purest place in our hearts:  to love, give and serve others joyfully, not out of obligation, to “toot our own horns” or for personal gain

• Serving should be fun!

• UP is a starting place for people to begin their own personal philanthropic journeys

• If everyone gives a little of themselves, in terms of service and charitable giving, together we can make a big difference in the world, while healing our own hearts at the same time

Beliefs

We believe in the transformative impact of bottom-up “engagement” philanthropy to provide a clear pathway for people to give, serve and love while generating additional support and resources for nonprofits. The benefits are incremental and will impact:

• Nonprofit organizations who will receive funding and engagement from these untapped sources

• The beautiful people and causes served through the work of these nonprofits

• Our community of Uncommon Philanthropists themselves who will find joy and greater meaning in life by experiencing the intrinsic value that comes from giving, serving and loving one another

Bio

Rena Olsen is the founder and creator of Uncommon Philanthropist.  The UP platform is a culmination of her calling to generate significant funding and awareness for important causes while utilizing her skills as a storyteller, connector, creative, inspirer and nonprofit consultant to get it done.

Rena believes in the transformative power of serving others, which benefits both the giver and receiver of the gift.  She also believes that philanthropy, defined as “love of humanity,” is something we are all called to do…to love and serve one another. 

Through her work with the nonprofit Ubora Tanzania, she’s seen first-hand the devastating impact of systemic poverty in Africa and the overwhelming need that exists both here at home and around the world.  While her one-person offering—in terms of time, expertise and financial gifts—was helping, and supporting the tremendous work of Ubora, it was a proverbial drop-in-the-bucket. 

A restlessness brewed in her heart and she knew that she needed to do more.  More people were needed to be informed, encouraged and challenged to engage in charitable works and giving.  More nonprofits needed new ways to share their stories and engage with donors and volunteers. Americans, those with so much potential yet disheartened in so many ways, needed a new narrative and a way to make more of their lives.  Uncommon Philanthropist was born.

Before UP, Rena spent her professional years working in marketing communications, crafting campaigns, messaging and events for both for-profit and nonprofit organizations.

When she’s not sharing stories, connecting people or causes or listening to Tanzanian gospel music, Rena Olsen brings hard yet hope-filled stories to the world on her Relevate Podcast.  She’s a Rotarian (Rotary Club of Alpharetta) and Cowboy (graduate of the University of Wyoming).

Rena is married to her husband and best friend, Bobby.  Together they have raised two exceptional adult children, both now married to their BFFs. Rena and Bobby are hopelessly smitten by their first granddaughter, Janie Grace, and their chocolate goldendoodle, Sister Hazel Rae. 

More About The Dandelion

As children, we were dazzled by the beauty of the little yellow dandelion flowers that grow almost anywhere. We picked them and created tiny bouquet to give our moms. Or we placed the flowers in our hair. We probably did not know that the flowers close out night, only to reopen again with the light of morning or that their stems and leaves have inherent medicinal value. These little flowers would grow infinitely more interesting when they transitioned to a little ball of fluff (the seed head). We were coached to make a wish, take a deep breath, exhale deeply and send our wishes out into the world. Later we would learn that our beloved dandelions were weeds (gasp!). As adults, we try to banish the hardy and persistent species from our yards, to no avail. The dandelion always win.

We’ve chosen the dandelion as our official flower of the Uncommon Philanthropist because of it’s beauty, resilience, ability to nurture and heal, and incredible power to grow and multiply. We believe our army of UPs can do the same thing in our communities and around the world.

According to Dugan & Dame, “For as long as can be remembered dandelion has always symbolized wishes. In Victorian Flower language, dandelion also symbolizes love. In addition it is a symbol for faithfulness, divination, grief, bitterness and the sun.”

“The dandelion represents the bitter herbs of the last supper and are sometimes used to represent the Passion of Christ in theological symbolism, as well as being one of the bitter herbs of Passover.

To read the full article on dandelions by Angela Dungan: click here.