Nonprofit Utopia Podcast

We have often heard people complain that government should stay out of business and let the markets run their course. What if, instead, we focused on how the power of government may be harnessed to facilitate business growth and promote equitable community development?

Join us as Attorney Marc J. Lane, President of The Law Offices of Marc J. Lane, PLC, shares case studies of how the Cook County Commission on Social Innovation and other government bodies are crafting groundbreaking legislation to create opportunities for for-profit and nonprofit social entrepreneurs.  We will also discuss why you should attend the upcoming Social Enterprise Alliance’s Summit 2019 and join SEA.

Call in live at (347) 884-8121 to join the conversation. You don't need an account to listen. You can also participate in the live chat.  Archived episodes may be found at iTunes, Podcast Chart, Blubrry and Stitcher.

Have you ever experienced deep conflict or trauma and wished you could re-write a chapter in your life? For your community? For your organization? 

Improv for Peace helps organizations, communities and professionals actively resolve miscommunication by facilitating guided improvisations workshops to help participants re-script their past  and provide opportunities for participatory community reconciliation.

Join us as Founder Andrea Hummel Corrella talks about  the healing power of improv and the lessons she’s learned on her journey helping  organizations and municipalities resolve conflict.

Having launched its first 100&Change Competition in 2016, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has announced the launch of a second round, through which a grant of $100 million will be awarded to help address one of the world’s critical social challenges.

Building on the momentum from 100&Change, MacArthur launched Lever for Change, a nonprofit affiliate committed to helping donors put their resources to work to accelerate social change.  In so doing, one of the organizations it is partnering with is the Pritzker Traubert Foundation to launch the Chicago Prize to award $10 million to a single initiative on Chicago’s South and/or West Side that uses physical development and revitalization to catalyze economic opportunities and improve the well-being of residents. 

Cecilia Conrad, MacArthur’s Managing Director of Awards and Fellows Program and CEO of Lever for Change, will discuss lessons learned from the inaugural round of 100&Change and upcoming Lever for Change competitions. She will be joined by Cindy Moelis, President of the Pritzker Traubert Foundation, to discuss the Chicago Prize and how you can assess your organization’s readiness to apply.

Call in live at (347) 884-8121 to join the conversation. You don't need an account to listen. You can also participate in the live chat.  Archived episodes may be found at iTunes, Podcast Chart, Blubrry and Stitcher.

“No man (or organization) is an island”, as they say.  We need partners to help us accomplish our goals with maximum impact.  However, establishing partnerships are not without risks, landmines and pitfalls. The best partnerships can have rewards that far outweigh the risks, and can be sustained over the long haul, if structured and managed correctly.

Join us as Willie C. Cole, Director of STARS Tutoring and Host Valerie F. Leonard talk about best practices and lessons learned as they relate to collaboration on community-based initiatives.  They will talk about balancing the interests of the collaborative and its partners; various partnership models and ways to bring about clarity, focus and accountability.

Call in live at (347) 884-8121 to join the conversation. You don't need an account to listen. You can also participate in the live chat.  Archived episodes may be found at iTunes, Podcast Chart, Blubrry and Stitcher.

You have just been asked to join the board of directors of an organization, and you are weighing the opportunity to share your skills, time, talents and networks.  What should you do before you join?

Join us as host Valerie F. Leonard, shares an overview of the roles and responsibilities of nonprofit boards; the questions you should ask before joining any nonprofit board of directors; some of the common issues you might face as a board member, and strategies you might consider using to address them.

Call in live at (347) 884-8121 to join the conversation. You don't need an account to listen. You can also participate in the live chat.  Archived episodes may be found at iTunes, Podcast Chart, Blubrry and Stitcher.

Have you ever experienced deep conflict or trauma and wished you could re-write a chapter in your life? For your community? For your organization? 

Improv for Peace helps organizations, communities and professionals actively resolve miscommunication by facilitating guided improvisations workshops to help participants re-script their past  and provide opportunities for participatory community reconciliation.

Join us as Founder Andrea Hummel Corrella talks about  the healing power of improv and the lessons she’s learned on her journey helping  organizations and municipalities resolve conflict.

Call in live at (347) 884-8121 to join the conversation. You don't need an account to listen. You can also participate in the live chat.  Archived episodes may be found at iTunes, Podcast Chart, Blubrry and Stitcher.

Before I started Nonprofit Utopia, LLC, I was very engaged in North Lawndale, the Chicago community in which I was born and raised.

As Co-Founder of the Lawndale Alliance, I worked with my neighbors to advocate for tax increment financing district (TIF) policies that would make the program more transparent and be of better benefit to local residents, whose property taxes financed TIF projects.  One of our greatest victories was getting the City of Chicago to remove more than 300 units of occupied housing from the list of properties that could potentially be displaced as a result of implementing the TIF program. This was unheard-of at the time.

Join me as I share some of the lessons we learned over the years, including what to do and what not to do in order to create win-win situations for all parties.

Call in live at (347) 884-8121 to join the conversation. You don't need an account to listen. You can also participate in the live chat.  Archived episodes may be found at iTunes, Podcast Chart, Blubrry and Stitcher.

Every living organism has vital signs, or key indicators of health.  For us humans, these include blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate and temperature.

Likewise, organizations have key indicators of health.Depending on the organization, its goals and objectives, these key performance indicators may vary.  However, regardless of where your organization is in its development, or what it does, you should have a set of financial key performance indicators, or KPI’s, including fundraising, donor retention, return on investment, etc. 

Join us as Dan Doyle, Chief Evangelist of MarketSmart’s Fundraising Report Card, talks about how your organization can use data-driven fundraising as part of your performance management system and growth strategies.

Call in live at (347) 884-8121 to join the conversation. You don't need an account to listen. You can also participate in the live chat.  Archived episodes may be found at iTunes, Podcast Chart, Blubrry and Stitcher.

When Angelique Power was named President of the Field Foundation of Illinois, three questions guided their grant making:

Is racial equity in philanthropy even possible? Can the fallacy of philanthropic expertise fall away to create room for the nonprofit visionary to lead? Can we ask more of ourselves in philanthropy, listen more, talk less, focus on areas that have been disinvested in and lift the powerful organizations that have grown in spite of and in abstraction to that disinvestment?

Join us as Angelique talks about the Foundation’s priorities, approaches to grant making and the impact of their investments in underserved communities throughout Chicago.  

Call in live at (347) 884-8121 to join the conversation. You don't need an account to listen. You can also participate in the live chat.  Archived episodes may be found at iTunes, Podcast Chart, Blubrry and Stitcher.

Forensic nursing is the intersection of medicine, law enforcement, policy and advocacy.  Forensic nurses work with victims of sexual assault, human trafficking and other violent crimes to document their injuries  and provide evidence and expert testimony in court cases. They may also provide expert testimony and advocate for victims rights for the creation of more just laws and public policies.

Kara Breeden, DNP, Founder and CEO of Texas Forensic Nurse Examiners (TXFNE), and Julie Sengstacken, MS-PSL, COO of TXFNE, will join host Valerie F. Leonard to talk about the work of TXNE and the roles forensic nurses and nonprofits can play in combatting violence.

You will learn:

The relationship between the roles of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Operating Officer (COO)How TXFNE ensures that their programs are relevant and impactfulHow forensic nurses work with victims, law enforcement and community stakeholders to fight domestic violence and human traffickingHow to transfer lessons learned from their experiences to your own organization, regardless of where you work

Call in live at (347) 884-8121 to join the conversation. You don't need an account to listen. You can also participate in the live chat.  Archived episodes may be found at http://Valeriefleonard.com/NonprofitUtopia, iTunes, Podcast Chart, Blubrry and Stitcher.