The Nonprofit Leadership Podcast discusses important issues facing nonprofit leaders in our community and features real stories from real leaders about what strategies and practices have made them successful. Enjoy the show!
What is your personal mission?
Dec 26, 2022
Show notesSteve Creech, President of the Wyland Foundation
Most in the nonprofit sector are passionate about affecting change with a particular issue in the world. Having a singular, focused mission in one’s organization is critical to having sustained impact and to avoid mission drift. Today’s guest, Steve Creech, explains how his nonprofit has been able to establish and maintain a clear focus that has led to sustained growth. Steve says the mission of your organization needs to be the “North Star”, just as many of us have a personal “North Star” that gives us direction.
Rob’s guest, Steve Creech, is the President of the Wyland Foundation. The Wyland Foundation is dedicated to promoting, protecting, and preserving the world’s ocean, waterways, and marine life. The foundation encourages environmental awareness through education programs, public arts projects, and community events.
Steve tells us how the Wyland Foundation started and gives advice on how to create sustainable organizational growth. He explains a common obstacle organizations must overcome and why nonprofits must get others to care about their important mission as well. Steve goes on to share how his nonprofit started a fun competition across the United States that is having a positive impact on environmental change. Steve admits that establishing a clear mission throughout an organization is a long process, but it is worth it. Finally, he explains the best way to establish a brand footprint and how that clarity can positively impact a nonprofit’s finances.
Links to Resources: If you have questions or want to come on the show, email Rob at Nonprofitleadershippodcast@gmail.com To be added to the monthly email update, go to http://nonprofitleadershippodcast.org/ If you have any suggestions for the show, email nonprofitleadershippodcast@gmail.com
How “Smart Tech” is changing the way we lead our nonprofit organizations
Dec 19, 2022
Show notes
Our world continues to change in so many areas, particularly in regards to technology, and specifically, smart tech. Smart tech is not just changing how we use technology, but it’s actually changing the way people make decisions.
Rob’s guests today are Beth Kanter and Allison Fine, co-authors of the upcoming book entitled The Smart Nonprofit. They point out that smart tech and other advanced digital technologies are actually now making decisions for people instead of just being used by people. And that’s why they claim that this is not just a tech evolution, but a revolutionary shift in moving power away from people and towards tech.
Allison Fine, co-author of The Smart NonprofitBeth Kanter, co-author of The Smart Nonprofit
Allison and Beth address what smart tech is and what it is not, and why smart automation is so revolutionary. They discuss how nonprofits can use technology in an ethically responsible way and how to avoid using racist smart tech with embedded bias. They also share why the key message of their book is about being human centered and why nonprofits should use automation and technology to encourage innovative thinking in order to have a bigger impact. They explain how smart tech allows nonprofits to shift from being transactional to being relational and why strong leadership is really the key to implementation. They give tips for finding technology that aligns with your values and why it’s time to turn the page on frantic busyness. Finally, they share some of the most important steps organizations should take today in order to become a smart nonprofit.
#ICYMI #FromTheArchives This episode previously aired.
How to increase the number of women of color in tech leadership
Dec 12, 2022
Show notes
Currently only five percent of the tech industry is made up of women of color. This figure is extremely low, but thankfully there are nonprofits who are trying to change that. Today’s guest, Bertina Ceccarelli, explains how her organization is changing the lives of so many women who are looking to launch promising careers in the tech industry.
Bertina has a Bachelors in Engineering, an MBA from Harvard Business School, and is the CEO of NPower. NPower is a national nonprofit organization that seeks to create pathways to economic prosperity by launching digital careers for women of color, military veterans, and young adults from underserved communities.
Bertina Ceccarelli, CEO of NPower
Bertina shares what led her to working with NPower and how her childhood experience was very similar to the lives of those she serves in the organization. She explains that one of NPower’s main objectives is to double the number of women of color in tech. They are making this possible through partnerships with other passionate leaders in the tech industry. Bertina explains that in order for a nonprofit to be healthy, they must invest in leadership development. She shares two important leadership skills needed for those running nonprofits. Finally, Bertina offers her advice to nonprofit leaders on how they can work through the challenging economic times we are facing.
If you have questions, suggestions or want to come on the show, email Rob at nonprofitleadershippodcast@gmail.com To be added to the monthly email update, go to http://nonprofitleadershippodcast.org/
Is It Possible to Achieve a Healthy Balance Between Work and Home?
Dec 05, 2022
Show notes
When you hear the phrase “healthy work-life balance”, what goes through your mind? That it’s impossible or possibly just a myth? Or perhaps you know first hand how the pain of your work has negatively impacted your marriage, your family or your personal life. This topic is certainly not new, and with our new “work from home, zoom-calls, always online world” that we are living in now, the hard edges between work and home have become even more difficult to define.
Megan Hyatt Miller, Author of Win at Work and Succeed at Life
Rob’s guest today is Megan Hyatt Miller, who has written a book about work-life balance. Her new book is entitled: Win at Work and Succeed at Life: 5 Principles to Free Yourself From the Cult of Overwork. Megan believes understanding the impact of work-life balance is a conversation that both nonprofit and for-profit leaders must continue to have.
Megan describes the innovative way her company introduced a 6-hour workday, the surprising results of this change while debunking the myth that overworking improves productivity. She explains why more leaders need to embrace work-life balance as a performance strategy, not just a philosophical discussion. She also defines what a “double-win” means and why getting clear on non-negotiables for self care, relational priorities, and professional results is mission critical. Finally, Megan talks about how COVID has allowed leaders to view their people more holistically.
#ICYMI #FromThe Archives This episode previously aired.
Why your culture determines your brand
Nov 28, 2022
Show notes
What kind of brand and what kind of culture do you have? Is there a gap between how you see your brand and how your community sees your brand? Rob’s guest, Ted Vaughn, explains why so many nonprofits inadvertently develop a “brand gap” by failing to integrate their culture and brand strategy. He also shares how you can avoid making this mistake.
Ted Vaughn, is the co-author of the recent book, Culture Built My Brand, along with Mark Miller. Ted is also a Brand and Culture Strategist at Historic Agency. Historic Agency helps organizations build a brand that matters through brand strategy and design.
Ted Vaughn, co-author of “Culture Built My Brand” and serves as Brand and Culture Strategist at Historic Agency
Ted explains how many times nonprofits create their brand in a way that is disconnected from their actual culture and performance. He also believes that many nonprofits are not being intentional about their culture, which can lead to creating “mission drift.” Ted points out that clarity and organizational health are the two drivers to an overall healthy culture. Ted discusses the five pillars of a brand, and how nonprofits can create a strategic roadmap. He also shares why a “brand gap” is harmful to your organization and offers ways to fix it. Finally, Ted explains why branding is so important for nonprofits to get right, and offers advice to leaders as to how they can start to develop a brand strategy.
How nonprofits get started
Nov 21, 2022
Show notes
Many nonprofit founders will see a problem in their community and decide to tackle the problem by starting a nonprofit. Today’s guest, Doctor David Nayak, was motivated by a problem and a need in his community to start a foundation to help address this. He explains the reason why he started this foundation and how he is able to maintain balance while wearing multiple hats.
Rob’s guest, Doctor David Nayak, is board certified in allergy, immunology and internal medicine. Nayak is the founder of Strength To Love Foundation. The Strength To Love Foundation passionately believes that all human beings have the universal rights to liberty, food, shelter, clothing, healthcare, education and work. Nayak is also the founder of Nayak Farms, which is tackling food insecurity throughout Illinois and other parts of the Midwest.
Doctor David Nayak, founder of Strength to Love Foundation
David explains the many disparities he witnessed across Illinois, especially concerning health care, food, and gun violence. He decided to make it his mission to help his community by starting both The Strength to Love Foundation and Nayak Farms. Combined, David and his teams are able to provide free asthma and allergy care, free fresh food, and free funeral services to victims of gun violence. David also explains how he is able to focus on his personal life, even as a busy, nonprofit executive director. Finally David shares why he believes mental health is equally as important as physical health.
Links to Resources: If you have questions or want to come on the show, email Rob at nonprofitleadershippodcast@gmail.com To be added to the monthly email update, go to http://nonprofitleadershippodcast.org/ If you have any suggestions for the show, email nonprofitleadershippodcast@gmail.com
How to improve your grant writing
Nov 14, 2022
Show notesGauri Manglik, CEO & Co-founder of Instrumentl
Whether grants generate a large portion or a small portion of your budget, it is important to be efficient in your grant prospecting process. Today’s guest, Gauri Manglik, explains how nonprofits can improve their fundraising and grant prospecting.
Rob’s guest, Gauri Manglik, is the CEO and Co-founder of Instrumentl. Instrumentl is a platform that brings grant prospecting, tracking and management into one place. The platform uses a personalized process to help grant seekers discover, research, and track their grants.
Gauri explains the top 3 reasons why nonprofits are inefficient with their fundraising and grant prospecting. She believes that if you measure things quantitatively, you can avoid these mistakes. Gauri also outlines the 4 things you need to do, in order to be successful with your grant seeking and why focusing on the funder’s perspective is vital to your success. Gauri discusses why funders require a “logic model” for grant applications. She explains exactly what a logic model is and the benefits to this type of framework for your whole organization. She shares the importance of a “win – win” mindset and why you need to be confident before you reach out to funders. Finally, she discusses why nonprofit leaders should consider offering competitive compensation to their staff.
Links to Resources: If you have questions or want to come on the show, email Rob at rob@robharter.com To be added to the monthly email update, go to http://nonprofitleadershippodcast.org/ If you have any suggestions for the show, email nonprofitleadershippodcast@gmail.com
Preparing your organization for the future of giving
Nov 07, 2022
Show notes
When it comes to auditing the donations coming into your nonprofit organization, have you ever thought about where your donations are primarily coming from? Today’s guest, Vance Roush, explains why nonprofits need to offer donors more options especially the option to give from their stocks.
Rob’s guest, Vance Roush, is the founder of Overflow. Overflow makes generosity frictionless by helping nonprofits, churches, and corporations easily accept stock, crypto, and cash donations on a secure donation platform.
Vance Roush, founder of Overflow.
Vance explains that nonprofits should encourage donations from non-cash assets, since 90% of a donor’s wealth is stored in these kinds of holdings. Vance realized the difficulty in accepting non-cash donations and knew he could create a win-win situation for both donors and nonprofits. This is what led him to create Overflow. He explains how the frictionless process of donating through Overflow leads to bigger gifts and how it benefits both the donor and the nonprofit which is receiving the donation. Vance also shares that we will see more donations coming from stock holdings and crypto currency. Finally, he offers advice for anyone who is uncomfortable with crypto currency and how they can think about it differently.
Links to Resources: If you have questions or want to come on the show, email Rob at nonprofitleadershippodcast@gmail.com To be added to the monthly email update, go to http://nonprofitleadershippodcast.org/ If you have any suggestions for the show, email nonprofitleadershippodcast@gmail.com
How Can You Future-Proof Your Fundraising?
Oct 31, 2022
Show notes
2020 skyrocketed the move to online giving for all donors who give to nonprofits. Organizations who already had a clear and robust process for donors to give online really benefited—those who didn’t, really struggled. They struggled to keep their giving on par with previous years. Now, the question for all nonprofits of how to “future-proof” fundraising is constantly on our collective minds. So how does your organization go about doing that? Rob’s guest shares some fascinating data points gleaned from a recent report on the “state of philanthropy” within the nonprofit sector and why an easy and efficient online giving experience for your donors is absolutely essential for your organization’s future success and sustainability.
Elizabeth Pun, Manager of Content at Classy
Rob’s guest today is Elizabeth Pun, Manager of Content at Classy. Classy is a B-Corp that focuses on closing the gap between nonprofit and for-profit businesses and Elizabeth is the primary editor of Classy’s recent report entitled: The State of Modern Philanthropy 2021.
Elizabeth explains how empowering your event attendees to fundraise can organically increase your donations and provide more engagement. She breaks down why recurring giving, subscription services, and donation matching are excellent strategies to drive more funds and donations to your organization. Finally, Elizabeth shares valuable insight about creating a more robust online giving experience, and a powerful reminder that if you want to maximize donations to help safeguard and scale your organization, you must be able and willing to meet donors where they are. (This episode previously aired)
Why are donor advised funds increasingly being used to fund nonprofits?
Oct 24, 2022
Show notes
Despite the market being hit hard as of late, thankfully charitable giving has remained resilient. One particular tool that is fueling philanthropy is Donor Advised Funds (DAF). Today’s guest, Stephen Kump, explains the benefits of this fast growing tool and why so many donors prefer to give through a DAF.
Rob’s guest, Stephen Kump, is the co-founder and CEO of Charityvest. Charityvest is a startup that simplifies the setup and management of a Donor Advised Fund. A DAF is a third-party entity set up to manage the charitable donations of individuals, families, and/or organizations.
Stephen Kump, Co-founder and CEO of Charityvest
Rob and Stephen discuss a recent report from Fidelity Charitable where it is reported that DAFs have helped to sustain philanthropic giving. Stephen explains that while the market cycles may go up and down, it does not affect donor giving. Stephen compares his nonprofit to old DAFs of the past and explains how Charityvest offers a frictionless experience, low fees, and low barriers. Stephen describes the yearly contributions going into Donor Advised Funds and why donors prefer giving to a DAF. Stephen and Rob also discuss why philanthropy is democratizing DAF’s for more people in the future.
If you have questions or want to come on the show, email Rob at nonprofitleadershippodcast@gmail.com To be added to the monthly email update, go to http://nonprofitleadershippodcast.org/ If you have any suggestions for the show, email nonprofitleadershippodcast@gmail.com
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