Nonstop Nonprofit

As Nuka Solomon says, "Growth is an interesting word." She's right; depending on who's asking us—our board of directors, partners, or, heck, even a podcast host—we hold that concept of growth to the light and turn it to answer with the most beautiful kaleidoscope possible.

Nuka is a pro when it comes to nonprofit growth: as the CEO of Free Wheelchair Mission, she's taken the organization through the pandemic with flying colors, supporting expansion in finances, reach, and engagement. But she hasn't done it alone; Free Wheelchair Mission's team, from the board to boots on the ground, has a stake in achieving their ever-evolving mission.

Listen in as Nuka and Justin uncover how recent trends toward transparency, donor access and engagement, longevity of content, and deeper relationships have led to a paradigm shift in the way nonprofits define things like impact, growth, and investment.

Sean Goode has a way of clearing up murky waters, idea-wise. Just one conversation with him makes previously sticky concepts seem obvious, possible, and right. As Sean would say, he focuses on possibilities instead of problems.

As the Executive Director of Choose 180, Sean's focus on transforming unjust systems led his organization to make an overdue-yet-unheard-of change in 2021: they moved to an organization-wide living wage policy. You heard that right; every employee at Choose 180 makes a living wage.

But rather than being a one-off problem-and-solution, Sean sees this as part of a larger journey toward justice. In this interview with Justin Wheeler, Funraise CEO and Co-founder, he points out that this step is exactly the type of injustice-busting action that his donors, engagement partners, and community are looking for—and they've stepped up to support Choose 180's choice.

Take a break and truly listen to what Sean is sharing in our conversation today. You'll walk away with clarity around his philosophy, "Philanthropy will follow" and the inspiration necessary to begin your own transformation.

Through Amplify Voices, Sean has a podcast of his own called (what else?) Possibilities Over Problems. Listen in as Sean exposes what success looks like in unorthodox ways.

Why is grant management such a freaking hassle (to put it nicely)?

Well, we don't have the answer for that, but today's guest does. She also has a solution. Ansley Fender, CEO and Founder of Atlas, a grant management platform, is here to light up your various spreadsheets and applications and revenue streams and transactions and explain the uncharted chaos that separate databases is causing your programs.

It's no secret that nonprofits struggle with the grant process, but Ansley's insight gave us a lot of hope for a world with democratized grant funding. Reimagining the funding lifecycle as a two-way street means more money, more support, and more impact—and it may be a reality sooner than we think.

Tune in for the future of grant management and stick around til the end to hear some of the best nonprofit solutions we've heard for grant-loving organizations like yours.

https://www.getatlassolutions.com/

As a nonprofiteer, you know what it means to put your heart into something. Like, you KNOW know. But when it comes to missions of the heart, your board may not see it as clearly as you do.

Today, we'll get both perspectives: Luke Womack is an Executive Director with passion while Pat Mullen is a board chair on a mission. Funraise CEO and Co-founder-slash-nonprofit board member Justin Wheeler is talking to The Go Fund leaders to discover how they found their footing together and uncover their secrets to board efficacy.

And the best part? What Pat and Luke deliver is stuff that every nonprofit can do: you don't need a big board budget to build relationships, ask the tough questions, or recruit the people who have proven their care and interest in your organization. What you need is a board who's willing to show up.

Listen as Luke and Pat channel their inspiration and motivation into no-budget-needed actions designed to take your board from barely breathing to fully functioning.

"Cultivation is the key to connection." The title of today's podcast, and a relatively core fundraising strategy. So why are we talking about it like it's news?

This quote right here: "It's amazing how many nonprofits opt out of communications during the giving season." Nathan Hill, VP of Marketing at NextAfter, isn't talking about being skimpy with the outreach. He's talking about 0 communications. Radio silence. During a month that brings in a third of the year's giving. Nonprofits, whyyyyy?!

So, while it may seem central to fundraising, there are bigger questions at play: Why aren't nonprofits talking to their donors? Which comms cut through the year-end chaos? What would make it a no-brainer for nonprofits to start building relationships? Is there an ace in the hole that makes cultivation a clear-cut tactic?

Listen in as Nathan and Justin Wheeler, Funraise CEO and Co-founder, tackle these tough questions and build a cultivation strategy that will take your nonprofit through the year-end giving season, into the new year, and produce results for year-ends to come.

Listen up! Nonprofit leaders and social entrepreneurs—if you're feeling frustrated because traditional charitable "best practices" aren't moving the needle, if you feel like the odd one out because you're more focused on the people you're helping than your donors, and if your idea of impact skews more transformational than a boring board report, then today's conversation is for you.

Hang in there, friends; you're not alone. We're talking to Evan Feinberg, Executive Director at Stand Together Foundation, a group of disruptors that you maaaaay relate to.

Not sure I'm talking about you? Let me assure you: Stand Together is supporting game-changers just like you! Take The Phoenix, a physical fitness addiction recovery program. The Phoenix's community-based approach results in just 30-50% of the relapse rates that the best clinical programs in the U.S. see—and The Phoenix expects to grow to 1M members by 2026.

So put your great-ideas thinking cap on and listen in as Evan and I break down top-down approaches to impact, venture philanthropy, compensation philosophy, and scratch the surface of measurement methodology. This is a discussion that a disruptor like you can't miss.

After everything that the pandemic has brought, who would have guessed we'd be dealing with this next pandemic outcome: The Great Resignation? Tiffany Keesey, Co-founder of Conscious Culture, joins Justin Wheeler, Funraise CEO and Co-founder, on the  Nonstop Nonprofit podcast with emergency advice to keep your organization from being plagued by this latest crisis.

If you haven't heard the term, The Great Resignation refers to the 4M people quitting their jobs each month in the U.S. since April 2021. There are a lot of reasons so many people are exiting, but one that crops up a lot is company culture.

Tiffany puts it perfectly when she says that perks and policies are not enough to create real change. Justin's a little more blunt, though: "No one's gonna stay for ping pong if they've got a toxic boss." The message here is that you can't plop down a keg and a foosball table and call it culture.

But if it's not happy hour and dogs in the office, what is company culture? Listen in as Tiffany reveals how to tap into your real company culture experts, offers examples of great employer brands, and explains how to stand out in this highly competitive hiring market—especially if you're a smaller nonprofit.

And if you're hiring right now, you're in luck! Nonstop Nonprofit listeners get a discount on Conscious Culture's mini-course Create a Compelling Job Post as well as their free Engagement Survey Guide. Check 'em out!

Confidence is a tricky thing: it's simple to say, to talk about, and to identify, but confidence is difficult to reach, and it's even harder to hold onto. During today's Nonstop Nonprofit, Justin Wheeler, Funraise CEO and Co-founder talks to a fundraiser-turned-executive-coach whose confidence unlocked an almost 4X increase in her nonprofit's revenue. 

Justin's conversation with Mallory Erickson goes back to his time as a fundraiser. For context, while these days it's pretty common to follow loads of skilled specialists on social media, back then many fundraisers learned on the job... they weren't necessarily taught the stuff that Mallory brings to the table, and it's a shame—fundraising is so much easier when you view your nonprofit's value through a funder's lens.

Speaking of value, that's the key to confidence we mentioned earlier. Hearing Mallory lay it out, you'll see that it's all connected: when the value your nonprofit offers aligns with a funder, the dynamics of your conversation are fundamentally shifted.

Listen in as Mallory and Justin discover assets you never knew you had, smash the power dynamics of outdated fundraiser-funder relationships, and try on different lenses to reveal your true confidence as a fundraiser.

P.S. Access Mallory's Power Partners intro course for free today!
 

Today, we're talking in paradoxes: The secret to transparency, why nonprofits are twice the businesses that for-profits are, and the reason nonprofits need to choose donors carefully—instead of the other way around.

And to help shed light on these opposite viewpoints, we've got Melissa Vine in the house! Melissa is an entrepreneur, licensed mental health counselor, JD candidate, and nonprofit ED at Beacon of Life—basically, a changemaker in every sector!

I've long evangelized for nonprofit innovation and transparency—if you've listened to this podcast or read my LinkedIn, I probably sound like a broken record! But this message bears repeating because it's central to the growth of our sector... which means that these topics are the key to infinite nonprofit impact.

Melissa shows that these principles aren't all talk—in her first year as ED of Beacon of Life, she overhauled policies and programming, reduced investment in low-ROI efforts, and nearly doubled donations. And then she put that money back into her team in the form of raised compensation, advanced training, and increased diversity. The result? Donors who know what their donations fund, a strategic, radically transparent team, and clients who've been impacted in significantly expanded ways.

Listen in as Melissa and I discuss method and mindset and turning ideas into action.

Vroom, vroom! Let's rev up your nonprofit's revenue engine!

Today we're talking to a friend, colleague, and nonprofit sparkplug Deborah Barge, the Chief Development Officer at Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, an organization that you maaaay have heard of. 

Deb's track record working with charitable organizations that have a deep history of donor engagement, like March of Dimes and Muscular Dystrophy Association, has given her insight into not just ways to cultivate donors, but also how to fast-track changes internally to achieve maximum buy-in.

And that's not all Deb came to talk about—one of the things that brought Deb to Big Brothers Big Sisters was the pedal-to-the-metal way justice, equity, and inclusion are infused in everything they do, from the CEO on down to the youth they mentor, and how they've shifted gears thanks to COVID.

Hold on tight because this is a wide—and we mean WIDE—ranging conversation that follows its own roadmap from professional topics like nonprofit revenue generation and donor cultivation to Deborah's personal insights on the future of our youth and fundraising as a woman of color.