Connected Philanthropy

Johna Rodgers shares the importance of community and communication she has observed in her 25+ years working with nonprofits.

Johna Rodgers, GPC | Johna Rodgers Consulting, LLC

Johna Rodgers, GPC, has been there and done that. And almost every step of her divergent path included grants. For nearly 30 years, Johna has helped organizations of all types and sizes address their most critical needs—at the federal, state, corporate, and grassroots levels. In 2015, she opened Johna Rodgers Consulting, LLC, a full-service consulting agency. With more than $162 million in grant awards, she has the competitive experience needed to ensure proposals are fundable; as importantly, she has learned to work efficiently with dozens of partners and their conflicting ideas, missions, and concerns. Johna is a Board Member of the Grant Professional Association (GPA), a member of the National Grant Management Association, a national trainer for Grant Writing USA/Grant Management USA, and a GPA Approved Trainer. She is also a former board member and exam administrator for the Grant Professionals Certification Institute (GPCI).

Grant Professionals Association (GPA): https://grantprofessionals.org/

GPC (Grant Professional Certified) https://www.grantcredential.org/

Johna’s webinars and blogs with Foundant:

• Burnout: https://resources.foundant.com/education-webinars-for-nonprofits/you-are-not-alone-burnout-is-real-relevant-and-recoverable-3
• Working with Your Program Team: https://resources.foundant.com/education-webinars-for-nonprofits/program-development-insights-learning-to-juggle-machetes-and-other-necessary-evils-3
• What does a grant writing do: https://resources.foundant.com/blog/what-do-grant-writers-do-12-steps-to-help-you-explain

Contact Info:

• email: Johna Rodgers
• Social: https://twitter.com/JohnaRodgersGPC

Want to see additional resources? Visit resources.foundant.com

Connect with other members of the philanthropic community at Community.foundant.com

Hear ideas and strategies from funders on how they are maintaining human connection in the time of COVID.

Topics:

1. How are you building relationships with Grantees
2. How are you building relationships with Funders
3. How are you building relationships within your Organization

Want to see additional resources? Visit resources.foundant.com

Connect with other members of the philanthropic community at Community.foundant.com

Human error is what will cause you to succumb to a cyber attack, education and caution are our best tools. In this episode, Cory Brester and Tammy Tilzey talk about the simple but important ways you should be protecting yourself and your organization from cyber attacks.

Cory Brester | Director of CRM and Information Systems, Foundant Technologies

Cory supports a fast-growing team focused on maximizing the philanthropic community. As a software solution provider for grantmakers, grantseekers, scholarship providers, and community foundations Foundant is tasked with supporting the infrastructure of philanthropic programs everywhere; in order to be successful at this, Foundant needs a reliable infrastructure of its own. Cory manages Foundant’s internal corporate IT infrastructure and systems as well as leads the company initiatives on cybersecurity. Since starting at Foundant in 2011, Cory has spent much of his efforts planning and developing efficiencies and systems to support Foundant’s growth. His 8-year history with Foundant has allowed him to participate in sales and support - providing the internal experience necessary to provide a framework and continuity to information system processes and data integrity. Outside of his daily management work, Cory also enjoys sharing his cybersecurity knowledge through Foundant education resources, such as blogs and hosted webinars. Cory came to Bozeman from the agricultural community of Laurel, MT to pursue degrees in Finance and Accounting at Montana State University.

Password managers:

• LastPass
• OnePassword
• PassPack

Password analyzer: https://haveibeenpwned.com/.

Examples and information on: Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks 

Blog articles referenced, etc.

• https://resources.foundant.com/blog/cyber-attacks-not-just-for-facebook 
• https://resources.foundant.com/blog/know-thy-passwords-a-guide-to-security 
• https://resources.foundant.com/blog/gone-phishin-what-to-watch-for-and-how-to-keep-from-being-a-big-phish 
• https://resources.foundant.com/education-webinars-for-community-foundations/trick-or-treat-banish-your-cybersecurity-fears-3

Want to see additional resources? Visit resources.foundant.com

Connect with other members of the philanthropic community at Community.foundant.com

Trust-based philanthropy is a hot topic these days, and for good reason. Given unprecedented challenges, organizations and applicants are having to work even harder to serve their constituents. Funders are asking how they can help by reducing applicant burden. Listen as funders discuss the following topics...

Topics:

1. What prompted you as a funder to consider reducing applicant burden?
2. What is required to make these changes?
3. What changes have you already made?

Want to see additional resources? Visit resources.foundant.com

Connect with other members of the philanthropic community at Community.foundant.com

Announcement: This podcast is now "Connected Philanthropy" (formerly known as "Nonprofit Coffee Talks")

Listen to discussions with experts from funding organizations, nonprofits, and all walks of philanthropy to learn about out-of-the-box programs and initiatives that are successfully tackling today’s biggest challenges in the philanthropic sector as a whole.

New episodes will be released every other Monday. This RSS feed will remain the same so if you are already subscribed you will remain subscribed and can continue listening on Apple Podcast, Spotify or foundant.com/podcast/

Connect with other members of the philanthropic community at Community.foundant.com

Sharmila Rao Thakkar, MPH, MPA | SRT Advising & Consulting, LLC

Sharmila is a nonprofit & philanthropy professional with more than 20 years of experience in social services, public health and education. Utilizing expertise in leadership development, program implementation, resource development and evaluation, she coaches and advises clients on operations and administration, board development, grantmaking, next-gen engagement, communications, program development and community outreach activities.

Sharmila specializes in visioning/ planning, grant program development, content development, start-up operations and establishing governance structures for nonprofit and philanthropic endeavors, including foundations and individual donors.

• email: [email protected]
• Social: 
• @SharmilaRT
• https://www.facebook.com/SRTAdvisors/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharmila-rao-thakkar
• Other links: 
• Foundant pieces: https://resources.foundant.com/authors/sharmila-rao-thakkar 
• NCFP pieces: https://www.ncfp.org/people/sharmila-rao-thakkar/ 
• Lessons Learned from the Pandemic—How Funders Can Become More Supportive Community Partners
• The Value of a Borough Disaster Preparedness Coalition in Bridging Gaps

Want to see additional resources? Visit resources.foundant.com

Connect with other members of the philanthropic community at Community.foundant.com

Listen to this Scholarship Coffee Talk where we will discuss how you are getting the word out about your scholarships. 

• Do you need the general community to better understand how you serve the community? 
• Do you need applicants, evaluation committee members, or new donors?
• How do students learn about your scholarship offerings?
• Do you solicit your community for new evaluators to participate? How do you find new evaluation committee members?
• What information is important to communicate to your donors at the start of your scholarship season?

Want to see additional resources? Visit resources.foundant.com

Connect with other members of the philanthropic community at Community.foundant.com

Mandy Pearce, CFRE | Owner | Funding for Good

In 2009, visionary, Mandy Pearce, founded her flagship company, Funding for Good, to equip organizations with all of the skills and tools needed to become successful and sustainable. She continues to enjoy evolving this company to meet the changing demands of the nonprofit world.

For over two decades, Mandy and her team of experts have shared their proficiency in fundraising through executive coaching, strategic and development planning, seminars and specialized consulting programs. Mandy’s dynamic teaching style has brought thousands of people to her presentations at conventions, training workshops and online platforms. Mandy established Funding for Good, Inc. upon the core values of honesty, efficiency, direct communication and bringing sustainable dollars to local communities.

Mandy lives in Hickory with her husband, Ricardo, and their two furbabies, Dalli and Max. She and Ricardo also own and operate a successful landscaping and custom woodworking company, Two Green Thumbs and More (twogreenthumbsandmore.com). On her decompression days, she enjoys working in their garden, sipping sweet tea on their porch swing with a good magazine and cooking gourmet meals for their family and friends.

Marie Palacios | Lead Consultant | Funding for Good

Marie is an expert facilitator, certified by The Institute of Cultural Affairs in the USA, in evidence-based facilitation practices known as the ToP Method. She combines proven facilitation methods and her passion for community to facilitate dynamic and productive meetings. Marie enjoys facilitating community organizing, advocacy, consensus building, and action planning workshops for diverse organizations across the nation. Over the past two decades, Marie has worn every hat imaginable in the nonprofit world: volunteer, board member, program director, executive director, and development consultant.

Her nonprofit specialties include strategic planning facilitation, program design, board development, grant writing, and messaging. Marie is bilingual and uses her Spanish skills to provide language access services for businesses and local government sectors, teach Spanish for Professional Courses, and coordinate missions in Latin America through her consulting company, MP Pro Consult. Marie is a native of Morganton, North Carolina, where she lives with her husband and three children.

Links:

• email: [email protected]
• Other links: https://fundingforgood.org/training/webinar-series/nonprofit-leadership-development/
• Blog article published on Foundant.com, written by Marie: “The Dysfunctional Board: What Nonprofit Boards Need to Know to Improve”
• Contact Info:
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/fundingforgood
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandapearcefundingforgood/

Want to see additional resources? Visit resources.foundant.com

Connect with other members of the philanthropic community at Community.foundant.com

Christian Spearow | Jitasa

Christian is the General Manager, Bookkeeping & Accounting Services, and has been with Jitasa since the summer of 2010. It was his first ‘real job’ and he’s never left. He currently works as the General Manager of Bookkeeping & Accounting Services, overseeing all accountants here at Jitasa. Previously, Christian was the Director of Client Services, supervising a team of accountants that work with our +70 Boy Scouts of America councils and another team dedicated to serving Unions.

In his spare time, Christian enjoys basking in the great outdoors, playing with his horses and dogs on his little piece of land, and indulging in his passion for the drums. He also serves as Treasurer for the Idaho Diaper Bank, which helps provide diapers to families in need at little to no cost.

Links:

• Sector Education Webinar: Your Nonprofit Chart of Accounts: https://info.foundant.com/2021-10-28GSEdWebinar-YourNonprofitChart_RegistrationLP.html 
• Nonprofit Financial Reconciliation Blog: https://www.jitasagroup.com/jitasa_nonprofit_blog/nonprofit-financial-reconciliation/ 
• Contact Info:
• Christian Spearow [email protected]
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jitasa_Group 
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jitasa.group 

Want to see additional resources? Visit resources.foundant.com

Connect with other members of the philanthropic community at Community.foundant.com

Diane H. Leonard, GPC, STSI | dhleonardconsulting.com

Diane is a Grant Professional Certified (GPC) and Approved Trainer of the Grant Professionals Association. Diane has recently become a Certified Virtual Presenter through espeakers.

She is also a Scrum Trainer by Scrum Inc, Scrum Master by Scrum Inc, and Scrum Product Owner by Scrum Inc. credentialed by the Agile Education Program powered by Scrum Inc.™

Since 2006, Diane and her team have secured more than $86 million dollars in competitive grant awards for the clients of DH Leonard Consulting & Grant Writing Services. She is an active member of the Grant Professionals Association. She is a graduate of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, with a Bachelor’s of Science in Industrial and Labor Relations. 

When not working with her team on grant applications for clients, Diane can be found in the 1000 Islands, out for a run, or drinking a strong cup of coffee.

• Webinar on preventing burnout
• Healthy Happy Nonprofits book
• Upcoming Agile Summit
• Agile Blogs from DH Leonard Consulting & Grant Writing Services
• Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time
• Contact Info:
• Twitter: @innonprofits 
• Facebook: Agile in Nonprofits
• Diane’st email: [email protected] 

Want to see additional resources? Visit resources.foundant.com

Connect with other members of the philanthropic community at Community.foundant.com