Nonprofit Mastermind Podcast

In this episode, I tackle the all-too-common feeling of overwhelm that comes with leading a small nonprofit. I share a concrete 3-part framework to bring clarity to your decision-making and foster long-term sustainability.

You’ll learn:

• How alignment between three core organizational plans can lay the foundation for sustainable growth.
• How a well-crafted - and condensed - strategic plan serves as the roadmap for everything in your organization, and
• The role of your budget as a storytelling, fundraising, and hiring tool
• How an aligned fundraising strategy, built on your strategic and financial plans, can streamline your efforts and increase your nonprofit's capacity for impact

Other Resources Mentioned

Aligned Anchors Strategy Bundle:  A curated package of trainings and templates that will walk you through each step of the alignment process.

Want to work together?

Apply for the Next Level Nonprofit Mastermind, a high-touch coaching and training accelerator for established organizations with $1M+ budgets that are ready to design for impact sustained at scale.  

Budget under $1M? Join Elevate and get proven step-by-step playbooks + coaching support to build each of the core elements of your nonprofit's operating system - strategic clarity, a fundraising engine, a high-performance team, and an active and engaged board!   

Connect with me!

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• YouTube

In today's episode, I explore one of the most difficult yet critical skills that every leader needs to master: the ability to say "no." While it might seem simple on the surface, saying no is an intricate art that can significantly impact your organization's strategy, efficiency, and relationships. Whether it's juggling multiple programs or being swamped with endless meetings, learn why not being able to say no is costing you more than you think.

Key Themes:

1. The Consequences of Saying 'Yes' Too Often: What happens when your strategic plan looks like a laundry list? Or when your calendar leaves no room for high-leverage work?
2. Real-world Examples: Learn from a case study where saying no was a critical pivot point for an organization's alignment with its strategic objectives.
3. The Importance of Priorities: Discover how setting clear priorities can help you say no to less important tasks without feeling remorse or losing out on opportunities.
4. The Five Crucial Questions: Unveil a simple yet effective framework to help you get clear about what truly matters in any decision-making process.

What You'll Learn:

• Why your inability to say no could be derailing your organization's strategic goals.
• How saying no doesn’t mean you're shutting doors but could be opening new ones.
• The secret technique to choosing between several good options without spreading yourself too thin.
• How to approach any decision-making scenario with a clear framework of questions designed to help you focus on what truly matters.

Want to work together?

Apply for the Next Level Nonprofit Mastermind, a high-touch coaching and training accelerator for established organizations with $1M+ budgets that are ready to design for impact sustained at scale.  

Budget under $1M? Join Elevate and get proven step-by-step playbooks + coaching support to build each of the core elements of your nonprofit's operating system - strategic clarity, a fundraising engine, a high-performance team, and an active and engaged board!   

Connect with me!

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• YouTube

I can't think of a better way to wrap up our August Sharpening Your Ax Series than with this powerful and thought-provoking conversation with Vu Le. 

I originally sat down to talk with Vu, writer,  speaker, former ED of RVC on the West Coast, and author of fantastic Nonprofit AF, to talk about what sustainability in our sector actually means and looks like. 

The conversation,  and his insights, are as relevant now as then. 

Enjoy!

Want to work together?

Apply for the Next Level Nonprofit Mastermind, a high-touch coaching and training accelerator for established organizations with $1M+ budgets that are ready to design for impact sustained at scale.  

Budget under $1M? Join Elevate and get proven step-by-step playbooks + coaching support to build each of the core elements of your nonprofit's operating system - strategic clarity, a fundraising engine, a high-performance team, and an active and engaged board!   

Connect with me!

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• YouTube

Every organization is made up of the same core building blocks. Focused, sustainable growth means making intentional choices about these building blocks. 

This audio training will walk through how to design your organization's building blocks - its structure, culture & processes - to position your org for growth.

Want to work together?

Apply for the Next Level Nonprofit Mastermind, a high-touch coaching and training accelerator for established organizations with $1M+ budgets that are ready to design for impact sustained at scale.  

Budget under $1M? Join Elevate and get proven step-by-step playbooks + coaching support to build each of the core elements of your nonprofit's operating system - strategic clarity, a fundraising engine, a high-performance team, and an active and engaged board!   

Connect with me!

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• YouTube

In order to grow without overwhelm, you need to focus on the right things at the right time: You need to know your stage of growth. 

This audio training will walk through how to know what growth stage your organization is in, and how to use that information to zero in on the right goals and strategies.

Want to work together?

Apply for the Next Level Nonprofit Mastermind, a high-touch coaching and training accelerator for established organizations with $1M+ budgets that are ready to design for impact sustained at scale.  

Budget under $1M? Join Elevate and get proven step-by-step playbooks + coaching support to build each of the core elements of your nonprofit's operating system - strategic clarity, a fundraising engine, a high-performance team, and an active and engaged board!   

Connect with me!

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• YouTube

This episode is very very special to me. It is a tribute to my sister, Darcy Richie, who passed away at the age of 40 in 2021. 

Darcy Richie was the Chief Program and Impact Officer at Generation Citizen.  Last Spring, I invited her to join me to talk about two of her many superpowers: the how and why of communication and team-building.

I called Darcy the communication whisperer.  She was one of those people who can be in any situation, with any group of people, and find her way to the heart of what they are trying to communicate. She had a unique way of making people feel truly seen and heard - which is really what communication is all about. Most critically for her work, she was able to help others do that for one another.

Darcy spent her career building and sustaining high-impact teams, starting when she was the founding principal of a charter school at the age of 25. She built and managed national teams, and remote teams; Small intimate teams and sprawling layered teams…  At the root of it, she was simply excellent at communicating, and at helping build the capacity of those around her to do so effectively as well.

Want to work together?

Apply for the Next Level Nonprofit Mastermind, a high-touch coaching and training accelerator for established organizations with $1M+ budgets that are ready to design for impact sustained at scale.  

Budget under $1M? Join Elevate and get proven step-by-step playbooks + coaching support to build each of the core elements of your nonprofit's operating system - strategic clarity, a fundraising engine, a high-performance team, and an active and engaged board!   

Connect with me!

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• YouTube

This 6-minute strategy episode walks through one of the most powerful secrets for keeping your team aligned and moving in the same direction: standard operating procedures.

Want to work together?

Apply for the Next Level Nonprofit Mastermind, a high-touch coaching and training accelerator for established organizations with $1M+ budgets that are ready to design for impact sustained at scale.  

Budget under $1M? Join Elevate and get proven step-by-step playbooks + coaching support to build each of the core elements of your nonprofit's operating system - strategic clarity, a fundraising engine, a high-performance team, and an active and engaged board!   

Connect with me!

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• YouTube

This 6-minute strategy episode will walk through how to approach hiring to make sure that you’re recruiting and building the right team for your organization’s needs

Want to work together?

Apply for the Next Level Nonprofit Mastermind, a high-touch coaching and training accelerator for established organizations with $1M+ budgets that are ready to design for impact sustained at scale.  

Budget under $1M? Join Elevate and get proven step-by-step playbooks + coaching support to build each of the core elements of your nonprofit's operating system - strategic clarity, a fundraising engine, a high-performance team, and an active and engaged board!   

Connect with me!

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• YouTube

Let’s face it - numbers can be scary. As nonprofit leaders, how often do you hear how important it is to “know your numbers”? But most of you didn’t get into the nonprofit leadership game with a background in accounting. So instead, you make sure you have a bookkeeper, make sure your books get closed and you track your spending, and MAYBE you get monthly financial reports to review. But you’re secretly faking it until you make it -- you don’t really know what it means to build a strong financial infrastructure - who to hire, what to talk to them about, and how to use your finances as a strategic decision-making tool.

Enter Germeen. She’s taken her expertise and passion for accounting and merged it with her passion for social impact organizations and the result is both an incredible company - Virtual Accounting Group (which you’ll hear about) - and a great conversation today.

Germeen talks with us about how to know when to move beyond the bookkeeper, how (and who) to think about hiring, the often unrecognized relationship between fundraising and financial infrastructure - she breaks it all down!

So grab a notebook and pen and settle in with your beverage of choice and enjoy!

Want to work together?

Apply for the Next Level Nonprofit Mastermind, a high-touch coaching and training accelerator for established organizations with $1M+ budgets that are ready to design for impact sustained at scale.  

Budget under $1M? Join Elevate and get proven step-by-step playbooks + coaching support to build each of the core elements of your nonprofit's operating system - strategic clarity, a fundraising engine, a high-performance team, and an active and engaged board!   

Connect with me!

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• YouTube

Whatever your vision for growth and increased impact, there are costs associated with it. This training will walk through how to think about your budget not just as a financial document, but as a storytelling tool to actually help you grow.

Want to work together?

Apply for the Next Level Nonprofit Mastermind, a high-touch coaching and training accelerator for established organizations with $1M+ budgets that are ready to design for impact sustained at scale.  

Budget under $1M? Join Elevate and get proven step-by-step playbooks + coaching support to build each of the core elements of your nonprofit's operating system - strategic clarity, a fundraising engine, a high-performance team, and an active and engaged board!   

Connect with me!

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• YouTube