Nonprofit Utopia Podcast

Generally speaking, when we think of organizational capacity building, we think of activities like board development, strategic planning and program evaluation. One often overlooked method for improving organizational capacity is developing issue advocacy campaigns. Not only do issue advocacy campaigns help develop leadership capacity for staff and stakeholders, but they can effect systems change, creating the environment to produce positive outcomes for your clients, communities and organizations. Valerie F. Leonard, the Founder of Nonprofit Utopia, LLC, will walk you through the process of creating issue advocacy campaigns and engaging community and public officials. Nonprofit Utopia members will have access to handouts to help them implement lessons learned immediately.

Generally speaking, when we think of organizational capacity building, we think of activities like board development, strategic planning and program evaluation. One often overlooked method for improving organizational capacity is developing issue advocacy campaigns. Not only do issue advocacy campaigns help develop leadership capacity for staff and stakeholders, but they can effect systems change, creating the environment to produce positive outcomes for your clients, communities and organizations. Valerie F. Leonard, the Founder of Nonprofit Utopia, LLC, will walk you through the process of creating issue advocacy campaigns and engaging community and public officials. Nonprofit Utopia members will have access to handouts to help them implement lessons learned immediately.

All too often nonprofit leaders are so busy focusing on program development and fundraising that they often overlook policy advocacy as an effective means of capacity building. In this episode we will go over the various forms of advocacy and show you how to develop community action plans to effect systems change where you live.

FBRK Impact House is Chicago’s first dedicated work club focused on serving and supporting the philanthropic sector by providing a place where granting organizations can work together, intentionally sharing ideas and resources, to operate with greater efficiency. Home to 18 philanthropic organizations, the center is working across multiple sectors to develop innovative solutions to some of the most entrenched problems in the state of Illinois.

Join us for a lively discussion with DeJuan Kea, Co-Founder of FBRK Brands, and Revin Fellows, Co-Founder of NBAC to talk about the latest developments at FBRK House and ways real estate development may be used to facilitate comprehensive capacity building for nonprofits and small businesses.

Monique B. Jones, LCSW is the President and CEO of Forefront, Illinois’ statewide association representing both grantmakers and nonprofits, as well as their advisors and allies. She is a visionary leader with an extensive background in mental health, violence prevention, philanthropy, and gender & racial equity.  Join us for a lively discussion as Monique shares lessons learned from her 100-day listening tour and ways she's preparing to lead Forefront to its next level of development.

Regardless of your position in a nonprofit organization, your job is to communicate with the public. This means talking about your programs and services, your impact to the community, upcoming events, etc. We will show you how to develop a solid communications strategy so that you can attract volunteers and funders and arm your board members and employees with strategies they need to attract more resources to the organization.

When you start your nonprofit organization, it is so easy to focus on filing forms to establish your organization, and then start on your application for tax-exempt status. There is a very strong possibility that you didn't know about the other forms you need to fill out so that your organization can start out on strong footing. You are not alone. This is very common for new organizations--and some established organizations.

You would be surprised at how many organizations there are that have been in operation for years without knowing all the forms they need to complete. Sometimes they find out the hard way--by finding out they need to pay payroll taxes or unemployment insurance premiums. In worst case scenarios, their organizations could lose tax-exempt status or be involuntarily dissolved by the state. Join us as we give you an overview of all the forms you need to complete andhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UzX5HfkRYg&t=613s when.

You can also check out the video on YouTube at 

Filing for tax exemption is tedious, time-consuming, and not for the faint of heart. The process often requires applicants to “go back and forth” with the IRS for a number of reasons, including errors, clarification of statements and omission of key information. Clearly, following instructions is critical. Tune in as Valerie F. Leonard talks about some of the most common reasons the IRS rejects applications for tax exemption, and how you can avoid common mistakes.