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In this episode of Nonprofit CEO SPARK, Marcia Beckner sits down with a true industry culture leader, Lorii Rabinowitz, to discuss how nonprofit CEOs can successfully navigate growth without sacrificing team well-being, culture, or mission alignment.

Under Lorii’s leadership, the Denver Scholarship Foundation has grown from 32 to more than 90 team members while maintaining an extraordinary 94%+ retention rate.

Lorii shares how her organization co-created a thriving culture by prioritizing relationships, leadership development, employee voice, professional growth, and shared ownership of the mission. 

The conversation explores practical strategies leaders can apply immediately, including values-based recognition, employee engagement surveys, mentorship programs, cross-functional collaboration, and trusted time off policies.

5 Key Takeaways:

1. Why growing your organization without intentionally focusing on culture leads to burnout, turnover, and instability 
2.  How the Denver Scholarship Foundation built a thriving, mission-centered culture with 94–95% staff retention 
3.  Practical strategies to strengthen retention, reduce silos, and increase collaboration across teams 
4.  How values-based leadership and employee feedback create stronger accountability, trust, and engagement 
5.  Why “clarity is kindness” when leading difficult conversations and developing healthy, high-performing teams

This episode is filled with practical ideas for nonprofit leaders who want to build cultures where people genuinely thrive. 

If this conversation showed you what's possible, the next step is yours to take.

Ready to build a healthy team culture focused on mission growth and expansion?
Culture CARES Accelerator → https://culturecares.com/ceo-ed-mentoring/ 

CONNECT WITH MARCIA

Join 10-Week CEO+ED Mastermind → culturecares.com/mastermind

Free Weekly Leadership Insights → culturecares.com → Click Subscribe 

Follow Marcia on LinkedIn → linkedin.com/in/marciabeckner 

Visit the Culture CARES Website → culturecares.com 

Explore the Podcast → culturecares.com/podcast

ENJOY THE SHOW? If this episode resonated, here's how you can support:

1. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
2. Leave a review (it helps more nonprofit leaders find the show)

Don't forget to share this episode with a CEO or Executive Director who needs to hear it.

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Leading with Confidence Series #4 of 12

It starts to feel like every decision needs everyone’s input…

And instead of moving forward, your team slows down, circles the same conversations, or quietly stalls when there’s disagreement.

On the surface, it looks like collaboration.
 But underneath, something else is happening.

In this episode, we unpack a pattern many nonprofit CEOs and executive directors face when team pushback starts to blur decision-making and weaken leadership clarity.

Through a real scenario, you’ll see how unclear roles, evolving leadership expectations, and “meetings after the meeting” create confusion, misalignment, and second-guessing across the team.

This isn’t about being more persuasive.
 It’s about creating the kind of clarity that allows your team to actually move forward.

If you’ve ever wondered why decisions feel harder than they should…this episode will connect the dots.

Takeaways:

•  When decision ownership is unclear, teams default to consensus—and progress slows down 
•  Re-explaining your role can unintentionally create more doubt, not alignment 
•  Side conversations often create confusion, even when they feel like safety 
•  Leadership clarity isn’t about agreement—it’s about consistency and direction 
•  Teams move faster when they understand who decides, who contributes, and when it’s final 

If this episode resonated with you, join our email community of Executive Directors and nonprofit CEOs who are leading with more confidence, unifying their teams, and transforming their cultures. You’ll be the first to hear about new resources, conversations, and opportunities to support your leadership journey.

Free Weekly Leadership Insights → culturecares.com → Click Subscribe 

🔗 CONNECT WITH MARCIA

Follow Marcia on LinkedIn → linkedin.com/in/marciabeckner 

Visit the Culture CARES Website → culturecares.com 

Explore the Podcast → culturecares.com/podcast

👉 Are you catapulting towards burnout? Schedule a private session: https://culturecares.com/burnout-to-boundaries/

🎙️ ENJOY THE SHOW?

Please share with a peer, and if this episode resonated, here’s how you can support:

1. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
2. Leave a review (it helps more nonprofit leaders find the show)

Send us Fan Mail

Leading with Confidence Series #3 of 12

You walk into a board meeting with a major strategic recommendation that could change the future of your organization…only to be met with hesitation, questions, or direct push-back.

And suddenly, it’s not just about the recommendation anymore.

It’s about relationships. Funding. Trust. Authority.

In this episode, we unpack what actually happens in those high-stakes moments when board disagreement surfaces, and why most nonprofit CEOs unintentionally respond in ways that weaken their leadership.

Through a real-life story involving a major decision at the risk of losing a key donor and supporter, you’ll learn how to navigate tension without backing down or pushing too hard.

If you’ve ever second-guessed yourself in a board conversation or felt pressure to soften your stance to keep alignment, this episode will give you a clearer path forward.

Takeaways:

•  Strong disagreement often signals something deeper that needs to be understood 
•  Your role is to guide the conversation, not collapse your position or override others 
•  The right decisions don’t always preserve every relationship, but they protect the mission long-term

If this episode resonated with you, join our email community of Executive Directors and nonprofit CEOs who are leading with more confidence, unifying their teams, and transforming their cultures. You’ll be the first to hear about new resources, conversations, and opportunities to support your leadership journey.

Free Weekly Leadership Insights → culturecares.com → Click Subscribe 

🔗 CONNECT WITH MARCIA

Follow Marcia on LinkedIn → linkedin.com/in/marciabeckner 

Visit the Culture CARES Website → culturecares.com 

Explore the Podcast → culturecares.com/podcast

👉 Are you catapulting towards burnout? Schedule a private session: https://culturecares.com/burnout-to-boundaries/

🎙️ ENJOY THE SHOW?

Please share with a peer, and if this episode resonated, here’s how you can support:

1. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
2. Leave a review (it helps more nonprofit leaders find the show)

Send us Fan Mail

Leading with Confidence Series #2

What happens when your desire to be a kind, supportive leader starts costing your team more than it helps?

In this episode, we unpack a pattern many executive directors quietly fall into…holding onto the wrong person for too long in the name of being fair, loyal, or “nice.” What starts as good intention can slowly erode trust, morale, and performance across your entire organization.

Through a real client story, you’ll see how one high-performing but disruptive team member created ripple effects that impacted retention, engagement, and leadership credibility, and what finally changed when the CEO stopped protecting the wrong priority.

This isn’t about becoming harsh. It’s about leading with clarity, protecting your team, and making decisions that strengthen your culture over time.

If you’ve ever felt stuck between being liked and being respected…this episode will hit close to home.

Takeaways:

•  One high-performing but misaligned team member can quietly damage your entire culture 
•  Delaying hard decisions often costs your strongest staff the most 
•  Confidence in leadership comes from clarity, not people-pleasing 
•  “Clear is kind” isn’t just a phrase...it’s a leadership standard 
•  Protecting your team matters more than protecting one individual 

If this episode resonated with you, join our email community of Executive Directors and nonprofit CEOs who are leading with more confidence, unifying their teams, and transforming their cultures. You’ll be the first to hear about new resources, conversations, and opportunities to support your leadership journey.

Free Weekly Leadership Insights → culturecares.com → Click Subscribe 

🔗 CONNECT WITH MARCIA

Follow Marcia on LinkedIn → linkedin.com/in/marciabeckner 

Visit the Culture CARES Website → culturecares.com 

Explore the Podcast → culturecares.com/podcast

👉 Are you catapulting towards burnout? Schedule a private session: https://culturecares.com/burnout-to-boundaries/

🎙️ ENJOY THE SHOW?

Please share with a peer, and if this episode resonated, here’s how you can support:

1. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
2. Leave a review (it helps more nonprofit leaders find the show)

Send us Fan Mail

Leading with Confidence Series #1 of 12

Welcome to the Leading with Confidence series where we will dive into the various challenges and opportunities to lead your team with more conviction and clarity. We will talk about executive presence and how to build confidence while navigating your organization each day.

In this first episode, you'll learn the 5 C's framework.

Even strong nonprofit CEOs and executive directors can find themselves quietly second-guessing decisions, replaying conversations, and wondering if they’re getting it right. 

This episode challenges the idea that confidence is something you’re supposed to already have - and instead reveals what truly creates confidence over time.

If you’ve ever felt capable on paper but unsettled in the moment, this will help you see your leadership in a completely different way.

Key Takeaways:

•  Why waiting to feel confident first keeps you stuck 
•  What most leaders misunderstand about courage 
•  How real capability is built (and why it matters more than you think) 
•  The missing piece that helps you hold your ground under pressure 
•  A simple exercise to reconnect you with proof that you can handle more than you think

If this episode resonated with you, join our email community of Executive Directors and nonprofit CEOs who are leading with more confidence, unifying their teams, and transforming their cultures. You’ll be the first to hear about new resources, conversations, and opportunities to support your leadership journey.

Free Weekly Leadership Insights → culturecares.com → Click Subscribe 

🔗 CONNECT WITH MARCIA

Follow Marcia on LinkedIn → linkedin.com/in/marciabeckner 

Visit the Culture CARES Website → culturecares.com 

Explore the Podcast → culturecares.com/podcast

👉 Are you catapulting towards burnout? Schedule a private session: https://culturecares.com/burnout-to-boundaries/

🎙️ ENJOY THE SHOW?

Please share with a peer, and if this episode resonated, here’s how you can support:

1. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
2. Leave a review (it helps more nonprofit leaders find the show)

Send us Fan Mail

Proof beats promises every time. Here it is.

Colorado College's Advancement team was coming out of a pandemic, shrinking staff, leadership transitions, and a culture that had quietly drifted from healthy to unstable. Sound familiar? They didn't ignore it. They decided to fix it by design, not by default.

In this episode Marcia sits down with Kimberly Elahab, Director of Prospect Research at Colorado College, who was inside the Culture CARES process from the beginning and is still leading the work three years later. Kimberly shares what it actually felt like when the culture started shifting, how a peer-led volunteer committee became the engine of sustained change, and why having an external accountability partner made the difference between good intentions and real results.

The numbers tell their own story. After one year of implementation the team hit 94% psychological safety, 86% improvement in trust, and 78% improvement in engagement. Then they hit their $20 million fundraising goal two months ahead of schedule.

This is what culture transformation actually looks like from the inside. Not a workshop. Not a one-time event. A process that keeps working long after the consultant leaves the room.

If this is what you want for your organization, the next step is a 90 minute call with Marcia. No obligation. Just clarity on what's possible.

Timestamps

00:00 Welcome and Recap 

01:03 Meet Kimberly 

04:25 How They Connected 

06:12 Why Culture Work Started 

07:54 Early Culture Shift 

09:11 Listening Tour and Visioning 

10:59 Themes and Roadmap 

14:16 Daily Implementation 

16:12 Process and Data Mindset 

18:29 Culture Drives Fundraising 

19:54 Safety Gains Snapshot 

20:28 Why Mistakes Must Be Safe 21:20 Culture Over Survey Fatigue 

22:25 Kimberly's Culture Why 

23:27 Ripple Effect Engagement 

24:50 Accountability Partner Value 

26:03 Culture Drives Results 

26:54 Advice, Framework and Invitation 

28:10 Closing Thanks and Next Steps

If this conversation showed you what's possible, the next step is yours to take.

Ready to build a culture your team actually feels?
Culture CARES Accelerator → https://culturecares.com/ceo-ed-mentoring/ 

CONNECT WITH MARCIA

Free Weekly Leadership Insights → culturecares.com → Click Subscribe 

Follow Marcia on LinkedIn → linkedin.com/in/marciabeckner 

Visit the Culture CARES Website → culturecares.com 

Explore the Podcast → culturecares.com/podcast

ENJOY THE SHOW? If this episode resonated, here's how you can support:

1. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
2. Leave a review (it helps more nonprofit leaders find the show)

Don't forget to share this episode with a CEO or Executive Director who needs to hear it!

Send us Fan Mail

You didn't become a nonprofit leader to spend your days managing conflict, navigating HR investigations, and losing sleep over staff dynamics. But here you are.

If the culture inside your organization feels like it's running you instead of the other way around, this episode is the one you've been waiting for.

Marcia Beckner breaks down why even the most mission-driven nonprofits quietly unravel from the inside out and what it takes to fix it at the root. Culture problems are never isolated incidents. They're patterns. And when those patterns go unaddressed, turnover costs mount, funders pull back, and the leader carries the weight alone.

In this episode Marcia walks you through the Culture CARES Accelerator, a five month executive mentoring program that stabilizes you as a leader before ever touching the team. You'll hear the full CARES framework in action and how one client went from a team in crisis to no people problems and a $20 million fundraising goal hit two months early.

If this resonates, the next step is a 90 minute call with Marcia. No obligation. Just clarity on what's possible.

Timestamps: 

00:00 Culture Problems Get Complex 

01:31 Why Leaders Reach Out 

03:37 Culture Signals and Costs 

04:57 Culture Is the Growth Engine 

05:56 Introducing the Accelerator 

06:50 Start With the CEO 

09:14 Leader Stabilization Steps 

10:43 Shift to Team Culture 

11:17 CARES Framework Explained 

15:13 Measure and Build Roadmap 

16:37 Client Turnaround Story 

19:55 Next Episode and Closing

In the next episode a real client shares what the Culture CARES process looked like from the inside, including how their team hit a $20 million fundraising goal two months ahead of schedule.

Ready to stop fighting fires and start leading your mission?
Book your 90 minute call with Marcia → https://culturecares.com/burnout-to-boundaries/ 

🔗 CONNECT WITH MARCIA

Free Weekly Leadership Insights → culturecares.com → Click Subscribe 

Follow Marcia on LinkedIn → linkedin.com/in/marciabeckner 

Visit the Culture CARES Website → culturecares.com 

Explore the Podcast → culturecares.com/podcast

ENJOY THE SHOW?
If this episode resonated, here's how you can support:

1. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
2. Leave a review (it helps more nonprofit leaders find the show)

Don't forget to share this episode with a CEO or Executive Director who needs to hear it!

Send us Fan Mail

What if the thing that broke you became the thing that built everything else?

Before Marcia Beckner was a nonprofit culture strategist, she was a nonprofit CEO navigating cancer, divorce, and the crushing weight of leadership with no roadmap and no one to call. She built the framework she wished she'd had. Now she's handing it to you.

In this first episode Marcia shares the story behind Culture CARES and why she dedicated her career to nonprofit leaders specifically. You'll hear how a stage three cancer diagnosis at 27 led her to found My Lifeline Cancer Foundation, scale it nationally, and eventually merge it into the Cancer Support Community. And you'll hear the moment a mentor changed everything for her as a leader, and why that experience is the heartbeat of every client relationship she has today.

This episode isn't just a backstory. It's a mirror. If you've ever felt alone in your role, afraid to make the wrong call, or dangerously close to burnout while still caring deeply about your mission, Marcia was you. And she found a way through.

If this resonates, the next step is a 90 minute call with Marcia. No obligation. Just clarity on what's possible.

Timestamps

00:00 A Leader Asks For Help 
02:16 Meet Marcia Beckner 
02:41 Cancer Changed Everything 
03:52 Founding My Lifeline 
04:51 Learning Nonprofit Leadership 
06:21 The Mentor Who Shifted It 
08:15 Why Leaders Burn Out 
09:54 The Lonely Hourglass Role 
11:23 Why This Podcast Exists 
12:06 What You Will Learn Weekly 
13:18 Subscribe and Final Encouragement

Next week Marcia walks you through the Culture CARES Accelerator, the five month mentoring program that starts by stabilizing you as a leader before ever touching the team.

Ready to stop fighting fires and start leading your mission?
Book your 90 minute call with Marcia → https://culturecares.com/burnout-to-boundaries/

CONNECT WITH MARCIA

Free Weekly Leadership Insights → culturecares.com → Click Subscribe 

Follow Marcia on LinkedIn → linkedin.com/in/marciabeckner 

Visit the Culture CARES Website → culturecares.com 

Explore the Podcast → culturecares.com/podcast

ENJOY THE SHOW? If this episode resonated, here's how you can support:

1. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
2. Leave a review (it helps more nonprofit leaders find the show)

Don't forget to share this episode with a CEO or Executive Director who needs to hear it!

Send us Fan Mail

This is a timely conversation for nonprofit CEOs and executive directors who are thinking about how to strengthen fundraising, lead with more confidence, and position their organizations for sustainable growth.

In this episode, Marcia sits down with Art Taylor, President and CEO of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, to explore what’s actually working across the sector right now and to hear his perspective on the current state of giving and where leaders may be leaving opportunity on the table.

With AFP ICON 2026 happening April 26–28 in San Diego, this conversation offers a real-time lens into how conferences, community, and professional development can directly influence your leadership, your team, and your revenue strategy.

Why This Episode Matters

This episode will help you think differently about how to approach CEO-Executive Director level professional development and sector connection so you can lead (and recruit and retain development staff) with more clarity, stability, and confidence.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn

• How nonprofit CEOs can approach fundraising as a leadership strategy, not just a function
• What’s working across thousands of organizations and where leaders are missing growth opportunities
• Why operationalizing your culture strategy directly impacts fundraising and sustainability
• How to maximize conferences like AFP ICON 2026 beyond just attending
• Why the real value of events comes from what you do after you leave

Special Invitation

Marcia will be live at AFP ICON 2026 in San Diego (April 26–28) with a press pass, gathering insights and connecting with leaders across the sector.

If you’ll be there, email [email protected] to get invited to a listener meetup.

Ready to Go Deeper?

If this conversation resonates, take a look at AFP ICON 2026 and consider whether being in that room is the right next step for you and your team.

👉 Registration link: AFPicon.org

If this episode gave you a new perspective, share it with a colleague or board member who’s thinking about fundraising, growth, and leadership right now.

Send us Fan Mail

When leadership starts to feel unstable, many executive directors quietly wonder if they’re the problem. In this episode, we unpack why that thought shows up—and why it’s often not true. Through Mary’s story, you’ll hear what happens when a leader becomes the system holding everything together, and why that approach eventually breaks down.

This conversation reframes the real issue: it’s not about working harder or communicating better—it’s about building a structure and culture that can hold the organization alongside you. When that shifts, leadership becomes sustainable, teams align, and momentum returns. 

3 Practical Takeaways:

•  Notice where you’re acting as the system instead of leading one. 
•  Identify one pressure you’re absorbing that should be shared or structured. 
•  Take one step toward building team ownership instead of holding everything yourself.

If this episode resonated with you, join our email community of Executive Directors and nonprofit CEOs who are leading with more confidence, unifying their teams, and transforming their cultures. You’ll be the first to hear about new resources, conversations, and opportunities to support your leadership journey.

👉 Are you catapulting towards burnout? Schedule a private session: https://culturecares.com/burnout-to-boundaries/

🔗 CONNECT WITH MARCIA

Free Weekly Leadership Insights → culturecares.com → Click Subscribe 

Follow Marcia on LinkedIn → linkedin.com/in/marciabeckner 

Visit the Culture CARES Website → culturecares.com 

Explore the Podcast → culturecares.com/podcast

💰  JOIN ME IN SAN DIEGO for AFP ICON 2026

The world's No. 1 conference for fundraising professionals, hosted by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, is in sunny San Diego, April 26-28. 

Will you be there? Join me and thousands more fellow nonprofit change-makers for three impactful days of learning, connecting and growth as a fundraiser and nonprofit leader. 

Register today: https://afpglobal.org/afp-icon

🎙️ ENJOY THE SHOW?

Please share with a peer, and if this episode resonated, here’s how you can support:

1. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
2. Leave a review (it helps more nonprofit leaders find the show)