Disrupting philanthropy with BCG alum Charlotte Monico

In our Meet the Member series, we chat with consulting alumni who've transitioned to high-impact roles. This time, we sat down with Charlotte Monico, COO of Founders Pledge, to discuss her journey from seven years at BCG to leading a philanthropic organization that helps tech entrepreneurs maximize their giving.

What drew you to consulting initially?

I didn't have a strong view of what career I wanted to get into. I grew up on a farm, so my parents didn't have corporate backgrounds. After graduating from Cambridge University, consulting was a way to learn skills and learn a lot about different industries, so I imagined that in a couple of years, I would branch out and do something different.

I ended up staying for about seven years because I was learning so much from my colleagues, I enjoyed the work, and– if I am really honest–I  was sponsored for Harvard Business School, which is extremely expensive! I remain very grateful to BCG for giving me the opportunity of going to HBS, and for the variety of work I did (before and after). It has helped me in so many ways.

What led you to leave BCG after those seven years?

I really enjoyed consulting. I really liked BCG, actually. But I was on the brink of that promotion to project leader, and I just saw the long-term path to partner becoming much more sales-heavy. That wasn't the direction that I wanted to follow.

When I went to HBS, I was somewhat naively solely motivated by wanting to learn more about business. I definitely underestimated the networking element. But when I finally decided to move on from BCG, it was really the HBS network that enabled that–I had a friend, a classmate who had transitioned to Google HQ, and she reached out saying she'd taken on a role that was growing globally and needed support.

That sounds quite serendipitous!

A lot of my job searching has been really serendipitous! I actually went to those first Google interviews with the mindset that this was for interview practice. I had no experience in tech whatsoever. This was pre-IPO Google. The more research and interview prep I did, the more I got interested and excited about it. Then it flipped into being, “I am very keen to get this rather strange job at Google!”

What did you learn about yourself during your consulting years?

Loads! I learned I have the capacity to work hard and think big. I also learned a huge amount about teamwork - it’s a cliché, but teamwork is so important for business success. 

I also gained some insights into what I didn't want out of work. I don't know what it is like now, but consulting meant working a lot of hours. It's not that I'm frightened of hard work–I've worked really hard throughout my life–but I wanted more flexibility and ownership. I found the structure of consulting projects really rigid. Once you got on that train and the project was moving, there was very little opportunity for flex.

While I appreciated that and felt like the skills I learned were unparalleled, the thing I was looking for in my next role was just a little bit more autonomy.

What consulting skills have stayed with you to this day?

Something that's held me in incredibly good stead through my entire career, even now that I'm pretty senior and have people who put spreadsheets together for me and write my presentations, is the fact that I can still do it myself, and I know what good looks like. This means I can quickly edit, and I can coach the people who work for me.

Whenever I've hired ex-consultants, you know there will be an attention to detail, a level of rigor, and a level of competence that's just instinctive. You know that those skills will be there if they've made it for any period of time in one of the big consulting companies. It's rare to find that level consistently with people who come from industry because it's just not drilled into you in that same way.

Tell us about your current role at Founders Pledge.

We're a membership organization that exists to help tech entrepreneurs maximize the impact of their charitable giving. A typical journey our members take is that, as a tech entrepreneur building their business, they would sign a binding pledge to give a proportion of their future personal wealth to charity. The minimum is 5%, but our average this year was about 14%, and some members have given away 50% or even 100%.

Once they become a member, they're part of a community - we have over 2,000 members globally. Their journey can then take whatever path works for them. Some engage while still building their businesses; some engage only in post-liquidity events. We provide a one-stop shop service, including donor-advised funds, community events, philanthropic advisory, world-class research, complex international grant-making, and more.

As COO at Founders Pledge, I have unusually broad responsibilities to support the entire organisation in setting and then operationalizing our strategy to achieve our multi-million dollar targets for high-impact giving. I lead our annual strategy process, which evolves weekly with big sprints twice per year. We’re growing fast, so I also focus on supporting the efficient scaling of our operations and the evolution of our product and services.

How did you end up at Founders Pledge?

Maybe I'm the luckiest person when it comes to career moves — this job actually found me.

At the time, I had reached the Director of People Operations level at Google and was feeling a strong pull to move out of the for-profit sector. I knew I wanted to do something purpose-led, but to be honest, I was also a bit terrified of philanthropy and the charity world — and all the stereotypes that come with it.

I’d been the breadwinner at home for 10 years, but after my husband built and sold his business, our financial situation shifted. For the first time, money wasn’t driving my decisions, which gave me the freedom to explore seriously what I truly wanted to do next. I knew I didn’t want the monthly flights to San Francisco, and I wanted to spend more time with my daughters.

I already knew Founders Pledge — my husband and I had become members after his exit — and I had a lot of respect for their mission. I also knew David, the co-founder, and I liked the way he was building the organization. That gave me confidence that I wouldn’t run into the kinds of things that had made me hesitant about the charity sector. So, when the opportunity came up, it felt like the right fit at exactly the right time.

What were those stereotypes you feared?

The stereotypes I was worried about were huge overheads with not so much impact, spending too much on administration versus actual programs, and being slow to adopt new technologies. I was terrified of internal bureaucracy and slow decision-making - big organizations with really overbearing boards where it'd be terribly slow to get anything done or change anything.

I wasn't well-networked in the space, so it wasn't like I could ask a bunch of friends or contacts what it's really like in different organizations. I felt sure that there must be new, innovative, faster-moving, or higher-impact organizations out there. Now that I am nearly 6 years into my role at Founders Pledge, I have had exposure to many other highly innovative and effective organisations, although I’d say they are not always easy to identify as a layperson.  Our research team makes giving recommendations (to our members and shared publicly on our website) which are carefully vetted and monitored for impact and effectiveness.

What advice would you give to consultants looking to move into purpose-led work?

It's almost like looking for the challenger banks in the banking industry - look for the smaller, faster-growing, innovative organizations that are doing things differently. I don't think it always has to be charities - there are values-driven organizations across nonprofits and for-profits that are doing good in the world, and it’s incredibly rewarding to work with like-minded souls.