Impact in your own backyard

In this episode of Worthy for Thirty, I sat down with Sapreet Saluja, Executive Director of New York Cares, to discuss what it really takes to turn compassion into action at scale.

New York Cares is the largest volunteer organization in New York City, and Sapreet leads efforts to connect everyday New Yorkers with urgent community needs across the city, from winter coats and meals to tutoring, tax prep, senior support, and more. What made me think most was not just the size of the impact, but the operating system behind it: a thoughtful, human, and highly organized approach to service that any founder or operator can learn from.

Sapreet’s background spans the private sector, civil rights, education, youth leadership, and community service, and that mix gives her a uniquely useful lens on leadership. We talked about how purpose is not something that belongs only in the nonprofit world. It can show up inside a startup, a brand, a team, or a business model, if you build it intentionally. That idea reminded me of the kind of leadership we’ve seen from entrepreneurs like Yvon Chouinard at Patagonia or Whitney Wolfe Herd at Bumble: leaders who’ve demonstrated that mission and business performance are not mutually exclusive paths. The best organizations, whether for-profit or nonprofit, make it easy for people to participate in something bigger than themselves.

Sapreet also broke down how New York Cares creates meaningful volunteer experiences by removing friction, designing for accessibility, and making sure there is a true fit between the need and the person showing up to help. As a quick reference, Sapreet and her team work with over 400 nonprofits, schools, and city agencies that support these vital causes! That part especially resonated with me because it applies far beyond volunteerism. The same principle is true when building a company, a podcast, or a team: if you want people to engage, you need to make it simple, clear, and emotionally rewarding to do so. In other words, impact is not just about having good intentions; it’s about building the infrastructure that helps those intentions move.

We also discussed what impact measurement really means. It’s easy to count inputs, but much harder to understand outcomes. That’s true in business, too. Are you just tracking activity, or are you actually changing someone’s life, work, or day-to-day reality? Sapreet’s perspective was a compelling reminder that meaningful leadership requires both heart and rigor. If you want to do good while doing well, you have to measure what matters, listen closely to the people you serve, and stay open to learning from the private sector without losing your values.

For me, one of the biggest takeaways was this: people are hungry to feel connected, useful, and part of something larger than themselves. Especially in a world with increased automation, and Ai becomes louder and louder by each passing minute.

That is true in New York City, and it is true in business. Whether you’re building a company, launching a project, or simply trying to be more intentional with your time, you can take a page from New York Cares by making service easier to access, more human, and more joyful. Start small, remove friction, invite others in, and keep asking whether your work is really creating the kind of impact you want to be known for. Or better yet, the world around you is reflective of your values.

“I’m someone who’s on a quest to build the world I want to live in.” - Sapreet Saluja

🔑 Takeaways

* Make your mission easy to understand and easy to join.

* Measure outcomes, not just activity.

* Build for belonging, not just conversion.

* Look for ways your daily work can create real human connections.

* Borrow the best systems from business without losing the heart of your mission.

Daily Application

If you want to apply what Sapreet shared, start with one simple question: What is one way I can make it easier for someone to participate, contribute, or feel seen today? That could mean simplifying a process at work, checking in on someone outside your usual circle, volunteering a few hours, or making your own product or service more accessible. The point is not to do everything, it’s to build or create systems that make an impact on your everyday life.

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