Our guest on this week’s episode is an entrepreneur who helps nonprofit organizations be their best. Over 13 years, his organization has invested more than $51 Million into Detroit neighborhoods. Please welcome to the show, Author of “Next Level Nonprofit” and Founder and  CEO of Life Remodeled, Chris Lambert!

Chris joins Host Wes Mathews for a discussion on what nonprofits get right, and what they need to improve. Chris shares how he brings together organizations to make the most impact, the lessons nonprofits can learn from for profit businesses, and the importance of providing people with the right opportunities. 

Takeaways:

• Ensuring the right talent is well-placed becomes crucial in forming a cohesive and efficient team. Prioritize building a team that shares a unified vision and invests in their development for sustained success
• In the nonprofit world, you want to be doing things for communities, not to communities. Understanding the true needs, wants, visions, and values of a community is a crucial first step before any work can happen. 
• Solving problems in business is about finding the right who, not the right how. By having a strong understanding of your mission, you can focus on hiring people who align with that vision, rather than just strictly problem solving. 
• Making meaningful change in communities is about giving people access to the opportunities they deserve. By putting pathways in front of people, you give them agency to be involved in their own progress. 
• As a nonprofit, it can be tempting to chase grants to expand your services. While alluring, it’s important to focus on your mission, and allow yourself to prioritize the services that you excel at. 
• One of the biggest challenges facing nonprofits is their internal team structure. Leadership needs to align peoples’ positions with their passions, and provide coaching across the board. 
• While nonprofits differ from for profit organizations, they can borrow much of the same advice. By distilling and translating many of the prominent business knowledge out there, nonprofits can take a page from business books and grow sustainably. 

Quote of the Show:

• “We don't wanna do things to communities or for communities, we only wanna do the work we do with communities.” - Chris Lambert 

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lambertliferemodeled/c 
• Website: https://liferemodeled.org/ 
• Book Link: https://a.co/d/9IgXlXi 

Ways to Tune In:

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2I9O1Du2CFBfhGkvR1Oyem 
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/entrepreneur-intel/id1720785558 
• Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/4d7fcd6e-e68f-4855-bb8a-8f872fc5b799 
• Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/entrepreneur-intel-5556614