An Interview With Stanley Bronstein
God is not FIRST, God is ALL! (no explanation/example needed) Once I came to this realization, my life changed. This is NOT “advice.” I’m not saying this will change anyone else’s life. It simply changed mine.
As part of my series about “individuals and organizations making an important social impact”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jay Davis, Founder and Executive Manager at The 144K Collective.
Jay Davis is a dynamic and multifaceted executive with over three decades of leadership experience across international trade, healthcare management, economic development, and entrepreneurship. As Founder and Executive Manager of The 144k Collective, LLC, he embodies the organization’s mission of “being in the business of helping people,” leveraging his vast experience to create transformative philanthropic impact with a goal of providing $250 million in aid annually while simultaneously serving as Managing Partner at Equity Guardians where he leverages his expertise in strategic planning, project management, and financial analysis.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
My path to strategic planning and business development began with a spark of innovation during the mid-90s “Windows 95” era when Microsoft was dominating the tech landscape. As an avid music composer with piano training, I discovered a digital sheet music program that transformed how I created music. This experience inspired me to envision how Apple — then struggling against Microsoft’s market dominance — could recapture its relevance by focusing on education and creativity.
My strategy for Apple was multifaceted: establish teachers as brand ambassadors who would showcase PowerPC capabilities at student-targeted summer events, while simultaneously developing a dedicated software division for educational gaming to counter Microsoft’s business-oriented Office suite. I imagined native applications like the music composition software I loved, where students could place notes on digital sheet music and hear them played back in different instrumental voices.
With youthful confidence, I packaged this entire marketing strategy and FedExed it directly to Apple’s CEO. While I received a polite rejection letter (likely never reaching the CEO’s desk), this experience — rather than deterring me — ignited my passion for business strategy. The rejection motivated me to enhance my business acumen through formal education in business and finance.
During my military service, deployments limited my ability to pursue large-scale strategic projects, but I discovered a different opportunity: helping fellow service members leverage our military-acquired skills to launch our own businesses. What began as informal consulting, evolved into VETCAD, a micro-enterprise dedicated to veteran entrepreneurship that eventually received formal endorsement from the Marine Corps Coordinating Council.
This combination of strategic thinking and commitment to helping others ultimately led to my current venture, The 144k Collective. This organization represents the culmination of my journey — merging my business development expertise with my inherent desire to help people through what I believe is the most viable model for socially responsible capitalism developed to date.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?
The most interesting story I can recall actually happened earlier this month. We have fewer than 100 active Partners in the 144k Collective, with the ambitious goal of eventually reaching 144,000. These Partners serve as brand ambassadors, helping to represent the company in the community.
Recently, we hosted a gas giveaway in Austin, Texas, in collaboration with a few of our Partners and some local independent artists. The team was thoroughly briefed on both the expectations and boundaries for conduct and content capture. While the team was given clear instructions, one Partner took a creative approach that did not align with the established guidelines, which ultimately resulted in the team needing to relocate just as CBS arrived to cover the event.
But the story did not end there. We quickly pivoted, moved to a different gas station down the street, and successfully gave away $2,980 in free gas to local patrons.
While it may not seem funny at first glance, I often laugh at the irony: I am preparing to lead 144,000 active Partners, yet already learning valuable lessons with just a few dozen. That said, I am not easily deterred. This experience was a reminder that leadership often means being adaptable, holding people accountable, and treating every misstep as an opportunity to improve. We immediately rolled out a new training to reinforce expectations, and life moved on.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers, and I fully believe that. This moment reinforced my commitment to building a strong foundation of communication, structure and trust, no matter how big we grow.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I would have to say my very biggest mistake was my very first mistake, which was making an attempt to pitch an idea to a multinational corporation, with absolutely no experience or credentials in the field for which I was making the proposal. Additionally, I had no references, nepotism, or any type of leverage that would even remotely give me a chance at getting an audience with Apple, Inc. executives, let alone be taken seriously.
Picture this: There I was, a music-loving sailor with a PowerPC marketing strategy, confidently packaging my unsolicited proposal and shipping it via overnight FedEx, directly to Apple’s CEO. (Talk about youthful audacity!) I genuinely believed my “brilliant” plan for teacher brand ambassadors and educational gaming software would rescue Apple from Microsoft’s dominance during the Windows 95 era. (Ironically, I STILL think it would have worked!)
What makes this particularly amusing from a business perspective is my complete misunderstanding of corporate innovation channels. Major tech companies have structured pathways for external ideas — from formal partnership programs to venture funding initiatives — all designed to filter and evaluate thousands of proposals. My approach bypassed these entirely.
The envelope-sized rejection letter I received was actually a valuable gift. Instead of being discouraged, it taught me the fundamental lesson that passion without proper preparation sets you up for failure, regardless of how innovative your ideas might be. Good ideas need credible messengers and appropriate channels to be taken seriously.
This “failure” ultimately sparked my journey into formal business education, and eventually led me to focus on helping fellow veterans leverage our unique skills through VETCAD and later, Power In Numbers, and ultimately now, The 144k Collective. Sometimes the most embarrassing missteps create the clearest pathways forward — my naive Apple pitch was essentially the awkward first dance move that eventually led to a meaningful career in strategic planning and business development.
Can you describe how you or your organization is making a significant social impact?
The Decentralized Giving Revolution
The 144k Collective is pioneering a unique philanthropic model with an ambitious goal to distribute $250 million annually to Americans from all walks of life. Our approach capitalizes on the concept of small individual contributions creating massive collective impact.
The core of our social impact comes from our innovative membership structure: 144,000 partners (entrepreneurs and community leaders) each contribute just $1 daily, generating over $52 million annually (when all partnership positions are filled). What makes this truly transformative is that 90% of profits from business endeavors are directed back into funding humanitarian and philanthropic projects like debt relief and healthcare access.
The 144k model represents a fascinating mathematical scaling approach to philanthropy. By leveraging the power of small, consistent micro-contributions ($1/day × 144,000 members × 365 days), we’re demonstrating how distributed financial commitment creates exponentially greater impact than traditional donation models. This “dollar-a-day” methodology minimizes individual burden while maximizing collective power — essentially applying distributed computing principles to social impact funding.
For-Profit Social Impact: Reimagining Capitalism
What distinguishes the 144k Collective from traditional philanthropic organizations is our deliberate choice to structure as a for-profit entity. We “develop, launch and facilitate profitable business ventures, reinvesting 90% of the profits from these endeavors to fund our philanthropic work.” This strategic approach to socially responsible capitalism is designed to enable us to reach our $250 million annual distribution goal.
Rather than seeing profit and philanthropy as opposing forces, we’ve created a symbiotic relationship between them. This represents a paradigm shift in how we conceptualize the role of business in addressing social challenges.
Community-Driven Impact Detection System
One of the most innovative aspects of our approach is how we identify opportunities for impact. “The idea behind the 144k Collective is for our members to act as silent watch dogs within our communities, identifying instances where immediate financial assistance can have a direct impact.”
This creates an organic, grassroots intelligence network that can identify needs that might be missed by traditional philanthropic organizations, which often operate with more rigid criteria and bureaucratic processes.
Our community detection system functions as a distributed human sensor network — similar to how distributed computing systems use multiple nodes to process information. By empowering community members to identify needs, we’re essentially crowdsourcing the traditionally centralized process of philanthropic decision-making. This enables real-time response to community needs without the information bottlenecks typical of traditional foundation models.
Merging Entertainment and Philanthropy
The 144k Collective is also making waves by exploring new frontiers in philanthropy engagement. Recently, we challenged YouTube creator, MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson), to a collaborative competition called “144K vs. The Beast,” which aims to redefine philanthropy through “a fusion of viral entertainment and community-driven giving.”
“This isn’t about outdoing each other — it’s about creating a cultural wave where giving becomes a game everyone wants to win.”
This initiative represents a bold attempt to transform how younger generations engage with philanthropy by tapping into elements of competition, entertainment, and community that drive modern digital culture.
Meeting Contemporary Philanthropic Needs
The timing of our approach is particularly significant in today’s philanthropic landscape. The organization recognizes that “younger generations demand transparency and participatory giving,” values that our model emphasizes. While traditional philanthropy often happens behind closed doors with limited transparency, the 144k structure “allows small donors to steer long-term projects,” creating accountability and engagement.
Can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was impacted or helped by your cause?
Otis Clay served as a DART police officer in Dallas, TX until a recent incident resulted in his suspension without pay and eventual termination. He claims that he is a victim of discrimination and has a current lawsuit pending against his former precinct. Struggling with mounting bills and pride, Clay recently confided in one of our Partners, Jacovie Burns, about needing $200 to make ends meet. The 144k Collective gifted him $2000 instead! The exchange was documented on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/VpjdcS00YOw?si=_gpaepkoUoj3uatR&t=941
We are not taking a side in his legal battle. We are totally unconcerned with that aspect of his story (although he wanted to share it with us). He was someone in need, and it came to our awareness at a time when we could facilitate some financial assistance. As we told him, “We’re here to help”.
Are there three things the community/society/politicians can do to help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?
We do not allow politicians to become Partners in our Company, as it may cause conflicts of interest with our vows to unbiased public service. However, we will work with them and government organizations where it makes sense. We make active efforts to reach out into the community to identify ways to implement our philanthropic endeavors, and we are always seeking to connect with individuals who will make great Partners in our Company.
How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?
I am an avid believer in “servant leadership” and “leading by example.” I believe the ultimate leader serves the interests of those in which they lead, and the best example of that leadership lies in our own actions. For me personally, this means “What Would Jesus Do?” And for me, there is no better example that I can reference.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.
- “Fail Forward” — Michael Jordan said, “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” Early in my career I feared failure, but just as Jordan expressed, I found that I learned the most as a result of my failures; far more than from successes.
- Network, Network, Network! — I started out basically by myself on this endeavor (my initial partner passed away less than a year after we began) and once I started venturing out and connecting with others and sharing ideas and resources, opportunities seemed to open, one after the other. It was far more often than me attempting to break through barriers and get around gatekeepers (which I did for years).
- Storytelling beats Salesmanship — I am a HORRIBLE salesperson. It’s probably why my first career was in Nuclear Engineering and not business! I was all “numbers and metrics” when attempting to show value to a prospect. The numbers ARE important, however, what I learned is that telling your story (and the story of your business endeavor) is far more effective at capturing an audience’s attention. Once they are interested, then of course, you’ll need to show them the numbers! If you don’t even have their attention, the numbers won’t even matter.
- Feeling like you want to quit is normal…Just don’t! — I used to feel guilty when I became overwhelmed and considered quitting (although, I never did). One day an associate and unofficial mentor of mine (Mr. Joe Beasley), from the Southern Christian Leadership Group (SCLC), said (something to the effect of…), “If you don’t ever feel like quitting that means it’s not hard. If it’s not hard, then anyone could do it. If anyone could do it, it’s not worth doing. So, it’s ok if you FEEL like quitting. Just don’t! That is what makes you exceptional.” He said that he had a similar conversation with Dr. Martin Luther King! (I never asked if he was giving or receiving that advice). He wasn’t even speaking to ME when he said it. But he was, (without knowing it)!
- God is not FIRST, God is ALL! (no explanation/example needed) Once I came to this realization, my life changed. This is NOT “advice.” I’m not saying this will change anyone else’s life. It simply changed mine.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
I would love to “gamify giving” on a community level. My Power In Numbers framework is actually built on that premise, and the ultimate manifestation of it would be similar to sports franchises. Where awards would be given out at the end of each year for the communities that have “given the most.” The logistical details of tracking and “scoring” is much too in-depth to discuss in this brief interview; however, that would be my ideal vision in regard to a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.” ― Edward Everett Hale
Since I first came across this quote in high school, it has resonated with me and been a part of the foundation upon which I guide my life and actions. It is the “mantra” that I set for “The 144k Collective” in combination with the Power In Numbers motto: “Our Unity is Our Strength…Our Strength is Our Unity!”
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them.
If I could have lunch with anyone in the world right now, it would unquestionably be Jimmy Donaldson — better known to his 375+ million YouTube subscribers as MrBeast!
The fascinating intersection between MrBeast’s viral philanthropy model and our work at the 144k Collective represents one of the most exciting potential partnerships in modern charitable giving. His approach uses entertainment and massive reach to fund initiatives like cataract surgeries, water wells in Africa, and prosthetics for amputees. Meanwhile, our decentralized model at the 144k Collective harnesses the power of 144,000 partners contributing just $1 daily, generating over $52 million annually — with 90% of profits from our business endeavors directed toward humanitarian projects.
I’d love to explore how our complementary models could create what I’ve called “competing to give” as a cultural phenomenon. As I mentioned in my letter to him proposing our “144k Vs. The Beast” collaboration, “This isn’t about outdoing each other, it’s about creating a cultural wave where giving becomes a game everyone wants to win.”
This isn’t just wishful thinking — it’s a strategic vision for transforming philanthropy. With MrBeast’s videos averaging 500 million views and our structure that empowers small donors to steer long-term projects, we could potentially create a movement where philanthropy becomes as exciting and engaging as a viral YouTube challenge.
The timing couldn’t be better, as younger generations increasingly demand transparency and participatory giving, values that both our models emphasize. Who knows? If you could tag him in this article, perhaps that lunch conversation might actually happen sooner rather than later!
How can our readers further follow your work online?
You can find us at: www.144kcollective.org and follow us on YouTube @The144kCollective
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success in your great work!
About the Interviewer: Stanley Bronstein is an attorney, CPA, and author of more than 20 books. However, he doesn’t consider any of those his greatest achievement. His most significant accomplishment was permanently losing 225 pounds and developing the personal growth system that made it possible — The Way of Excellence. As a catalyst for change, he has dedicated his life to helping others maximize their potential, transform their lives, and achieve optimal health. To learn more, you can download a free PDF copy of his latest book, The Way of Excellence Journal, at https://TheWayOfExcellence.com.
Social Impact Heroes: Why & How Jay Davis of The 144K Collective Is Helping To Change Our World was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.