This week on the Nonprofit Build Up, Nic is speaking with Andrew Schulman. Andrew is the founder and a principal at Schulman Consulting: America’s only consulting and advisory firm exclusively focused on the fiscal sponsorship sector, guiding dozens of clients – fiscal sponsors and sponsored projects, large and small – in overcoming a variety of challenges.

This week on the Nonprofit Build Up®, Nic is talking with Eric Ressler, Founder and Creative Director of Cosmic, a social-impact creative agency with a mission to help organizations that aim to move humanity forward fulfill their goal by refining their approaches towards design and communications. He has substantial experience with brand and digital-based strategies and has worked on projects on a national *and* international scale.

Listen in as Eric shares insight on how to use storytelling and branding to not only communicate your organization's mission, but also connect with those who can work with your organization to help create meaningful impact.

Have you thought about the way technology is impacting your infrastructure? Are you certain that the way your organization views and uses technology is not weakening your infrastructure?

You see, technology is about more than just having the latest app. It's also a critical way to share information and resources with vulnerable communities that need them most. And we cannot close the digital divide (or the wealth and the equity gap) without leveraging it to strengthen our infrastructure.

In this episode, Nic shares 4 key considerations about technology that inform nonprofit needs, practices, and ultimately, culture and policy.

Do you think your nonprofit infrastructure allows you to seamlessly receive and manage significant grants?

We spend a lot of time talking about good grant making, but not as much time talking about good grant "receiving."

This week's episode talks how to receive and manage significant grants with organizational integrity.

Having built infrastructure for nonprofits all over the world to receive and manage significant grants, Nic shares her 3 recommendations to design an infrastructure that allows an organization's values to confidently guide how that organization accepts funding.

How are you managing and receiving grants?

Many for-profit companies are getting involved in supporting change, *especially* throughout the holiday season; and it's something your organization might be interested in!

Do you know which you one(s) should be working with? How to strengthen your partnership(s)? How to remain compliant with nonprofit laws while partnering with a for-profit company?

Having structured many of these partnerships, Nic knows that regardless of the amount of leverage or resources you bring to a partnership, you should control key aspects of the partnership.

In this episode, Nic talks about how to successfully form a corporate partnership; sharing 2 considerations to help guide how you engage with corporate partners.

Strong partnerships can have strong impact and change the narrative and course for so many communities. So, let's make sure they are built well.

What do you think about corporate partnerships?

Do you know what strengthens fundraising and development efforts?

Knowing your organization's infrastructure.

And we have seen organizations with a firm grasp on their organizational infrastructure needs fare considerably better than organizations that are unaware.

Why should you think about building infrastructure when you are fundraising or engaged in development?

In this episode, Nic gives you 3 reasons why you need to pay critical attention to your infrastructure if you want to secure funding; all based on her time as counsel with a fundraising nonprofit and global funders as well as her work as an advisor to nonprofit organizations globally.

How are you using infrastructure in your fundraising and development efforts?

Nic had a fascinating conversation with a nonprofit President & CEO about diversity, equity, and inclusion. Throughout their conversation they talked about indicators that show when nonprofits and philanthropies are serious and intentional about DEI.

In fact, those lingering thoughts are what inspired this episode!

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is a critical component in building a robust infrastructure, especially one that both reflects and aims to support various communities throughout the world. And by having a diverse group of people on your team, equitable governance, and an inclusive framework, actualizing your organizational goals and making an impact becomes much more tangible.

Have you tried incorporating DEI throughout your organizational infrastructure? If not, why?

Nic has listened to and helped nonprofit leaders tell compelling stories for more than a decade. Her work has shown her that there is a strong connection between a nonprofit’s ability to say, “No,” to a grant and compelling storytelling.

In this episode, Nic shares the final indicator of infrastructure strength that is connected to an organization’s ability to say, “No,” to funding – storytelling.

Having structured grants to support communities in nearly every region of the world, Nic knows the power of a compelling story. And she appreciates the connection between storytelling and infrastructure.

Before we start, we encourage you to ask yourself a couple of questions. Does it really matter how you build your infrastructure? Does how you build your infrastructure determine whether you can say, “No,” to a grant?

In this episode, Nic shares the second of three indicators of infrastructure strength that are connected to an organization’s ability to say, “No,” to funding – brave infrastructure building.

When you have the ability to say, “No,” it indicates that you are unapologetically building a strong foundation and infrastructure to support your work, which is what our communities need.

In this episode, Nic explores the connection between infrastructure and the ability to say, “No,” to a grant. She shares the first of 3 indicators of infrastructure strength that are connected to an organization’s ability to say, “No,” to funding – revenue diversification.

Being terrified of even the thought of saying, “No,” to a sizable grant is often an indicator of a weakened infrastructure, namely insufficient revenue diversification. Revenue diversification feeds your sustainability. And your sustainability impacts the way you serve vulnerable communities.

Diversifying your revenue often strengthens both your ability to say, “No,” and your infrastructure.