Issue link: https://www.balharbourdigital.com/i/86796
Neilson in their Pacific Palisades home. Trevor and Maggie "Maggie has been the person who has taken the big ideas and turned them into a successful business." —Trevor Neilson domestic educational reform. "He'll give us very insightful notes or recommendations," she says. "Also, celebrities particularly will not do something that's not authentic to them. Every day celebs will turn down some of our ideas because they'll say, 'It's just not me.'" "Maggie has been the person who has taken the big idea and turned them into a successful business," Trevor says. Indeed, as more eyes are on Global Philanthropy, Trevor Neilson has inadvertently become the face of the company. "I think it may be because I'm more vocal at meetings and conferences," he speculates. But it's not a role he's necessarily comfortable with, or one he envisioned when he was growing up in Seattle. "There's nothing flashy about Seattle and especially South Seattle, where I grew up," he says. "It was before the technology boom, and it was a place of middle-class families who cared about their communities. It grounded me, and that has been very helpful for me in working with a diverse group of people, whether they may be philanthropists, billionaires, celebrities or government leaders." No stranger to diversity—he grew up the oldest of three brothers and two sisters, all adopted from Korea—Neilson credits his parents, who still live in Seattle, with giving him an early sense of what it meant to make a difference. "They taught me that each individual can make the world a better place by taking certain actions." Even so, when he headed to Washington State University, he studied literature and had plans to enter politics. In fact, he ran for student body president at his alma mater and lost. His vice-presidential running mate would eventually introduce him to Maggie several years later. "That was the one good thing that came out of my campaign," he says with a laugh. After graduating in 1994, Neilson landed a coveted internship at the White House under the Clinton administration and was later hired to coordinate travel for the president. From there, he held several positions in nonprofit organizations before returning to Seattle to work for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "I learned about philanthropy from the smartest philanthropists in the world," he raves. "There were two big things that Bill and Melinda forever changed: the notion that you should wait until you're old to engage in philanthropy, and to engage Americans philanthropists on global health issues." It was there that he first worked with Bono on the charity that would eventually become the ONE campaign. "Celebrities have the ability to bring a tremendous amount of attention to an issue," he says. Not surprisingly, it's a lesson he's capitalized on in growing Global Philanthropy. But these days, Neilson sees potential not in Hollywood but in South Florida. He spoke at the American Express Luxury Summit conference in Palm Beach earlier this year about luxury brands building deeper customer relationships through philanthropy and returns regularly to Wellington, where he is a co-owner of Gracida Polo. "Miami, Bal Harbour, Wellington and Palm Beach have business leaders, the equestrian community, athletes and artists," he says. "It' s a wonderful combination." Consequently, Global Philanthropy is looking to open an office in the area. "It's about engaging a new generation of philanthropists," Neilson says. "And if they in turn make a huge impact in the world, well, that's success." BH 194 BAL HARBOUR PHOTO BY STEPHANIE DIANI