The Charity Charge Show - Nonprofit Podcast

John LuxIn Episode 97 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen talks to John Lux, Executive Director of Film Florida, a not-for-profit entertainment production association for Florida's film, TV, production & digital media industry.

Stephen and John Lux talk about John's unique career path, Film Florida's mission to support the film industry in Florida, and the challenges in showing value to individual members in a large membership based organization.

John has been the Executive Director for Film Florida since June 2016 and manages the day-to-day operations of the organization after spending 20 years working in the industry.

John is responsible for Film Florida operations, marketing, membership recruitment and finance. In addition to his other responsibilities for Film Florida, John is a social media enthusiast and has been handling the Film Florida social media strategy and day to day management of the website since 2014.

In previous roles John has been responsible for operations, finance and marketing positions including day-to-day operations (including all project proposals and budgets), finance (POs, APs, ARs, cash flow planning, etc.), and marketing strategies (social media, award submissions, press releases, communication with media, etc.).

John started in operations for the Walt Disney Company and helped Orlando-based IDEAS transition from Disney to an independent corporation and was instrumental in the transformation and growth of the company for 18 years.

After graduating from Purdue University, John worked in the live entertainment industry managing a staff of 300+ for an outdoor music and entertainment venue in the Chicago area before moving to Florida to join Disney where he received Disney’s rare and highly respected Partners In Excellence award.

His strong Chicago roots are reflected in his undying passion for college football, especially his alma mater, the Purdue Boilermakers and his home town teams, Blackhawks, Bears, Bulls, White Sox, Cubs and Northwestern University.

---------------------------

About Charity Charge

Charity Charge is a financial technology company serving the nonprofit sector. From the Charity Charge Nonprofit Credit Card to bookkeeping, gift card disbursements, and state compliance, we help mission-driven organizations streamline operations and stay financially strong. Learn more at charitycharge.com.

In Episode 96 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen talks to Jeff Mazur, Executive Director of LaunchCode, whose mission is offering free tech education and job placement opportunities to bring new people from all backgrounds into the tech field and reshape the way employers think about hiring. Stephen and Jeff Mazur talk about LaunchCode's impact on providing people with the skills to enter a career in tech, creating a sustainable revenue stream to facilitate growth within a nonprofit, and the importance of embracing a learning mindset.

Jeff Mazur is an experienced executive with a proven record of leading nonprofit organizations through growth and strategic change. Presently heading LaunchCode, a high-impact workforce and economic development organization with an acute focus on helping regions flourish via technology education, civic partnership and corporate engagement.

Jeff Mazur on embracing a learning mindset:

What I've learned is that the longer I do this work, the less and less I know, and that that's actually a good thing that I should want to be true. I want to be comfortable with not knowing as a leader, because as we do more, and as we grow, there are new things that I ultimately am responsible for making decisions about that are entirely unexplored in the prior history of the organization and my tenure with it. So I don't know the answers to those new things but that's okay. Learning the answers and coming up with what we think as a team would be the best solutions is the highest order work that I can do in the organization. That was honestly somewhat surprising to discover, because the assumption might be "Well, in the first year, you're going to find some things that you never did before. In the second year, you're going to kind of get it down. Then the third or fourth or fifth year it's all old hat" And But I've found that not to be true. If it were true, it would be a signal to me that I, and we as leaders, weren't pushing the organization to do enough new things or to change itself and evolve or figure out how to test the edges of the space that we work in.

---------------------------

About Charity Charge

Charity Charge is a financial technology company serving the nonprofit sector. From the Charity Charge Nonprofit Credit Card to bookkeeping, gift card disbursements, and state compliance, we help mission-driven organizations streamline operations and stay financially strong. Learn more at charitycharge.com.

In Episode 95 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen talks to Stella Kafka, Executive Director of the American Meteorological Society (AMS), whose mission is to advance the atmospheric and related sciences, technologies, applications, and services for the benefit of society. Stephen and Stella Kafka talk about the pros & cons of switching to a virtual meeting model, joining an organization from an outsiders perspective, and AMS's mission to use science to keep people safe.

As executive director of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO), a non- profit worldwide scientific and educational organization of amateur and professional astronomers, Stella Kafka utilized a combination of talent, skills, and scientific accomplishments that she now brings to her new role as AMS executive director. Kafka obtained her B.S. degree in physics at the University of Athens, Greece, and a master’s and Ph.D. in astronomy, with a double minor in physics and geophysical sciences from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. After completing her Ph.D., Stella held a series of prestigious postdoctoral positions and fellowships, first at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, where she received the National Optical Astronomy Observatory Excellence Award, then at IPAC/Caltech, and finally as a NASA Astrobiology Institute Fellow at the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Stella also brings with her a wealth of managerial experience. In addition to serving as the director of two research and mentorship programs for undergraduates while in Chile, Stella managed editorial, marketing, financial, business development, operations, and production aspects of journals at the American Institute of Physics (AIP). As a journal manager at AIP, Stella successfully oversaw the launch of a new journal and served as a liaison between publishing and research communities. On top of her research and management abilities, Stella brings an international perspective to her work. After growing up in Greece, she obtained a Proficiency Diploma in the French language (she has one in English, too), pursued higher education in the United States, and worked and traveled in South America (including Chile, Argentina, and Brazil). Stella is fluent in Greek and English and speaks Spanish and French. Stella enjoys interacting with people of every age and background and has honed her communication skills through mentoring students, classroom teaching, and lectures to professional and public audiences. And then, like all good communicators, she knows when to stop and listen.

Stella Kafka on in person meetings fueling powerful brainstorm sessions and problem solving:

---------------------------

About Charity Charge

Charity Charge is a financial technology company serving the nonprofit sector. From the Charity Charge Nonprofit Credit Card to bookkeeping, gift card disbursements, and state compliance, we help mission-driven organizations streamline operations and stay financially strong. Learn more at charitycharge.com.

In Episode 94 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen talks to Katie Appold, Executive Director of Do More Good & Nonprofit Hub, whose mission is to create and curate content to help nonprofits do more good. Stephen and Katie Appold talk about Cause Camp (September 14-15, 2023), the struggles nonprofits are facing transitioning to a digital fundraising model, and creating great nonprofit boards.

Katie’s nonprofit career includes a variety of leadership roles for human service, foundation, and publishing-related nonprofits as well as many volunteer roles. Under Katie’s leadership, nonprofit organizations have developed new programs related to free healthcare, affordable and accessible housing and literacy programs for K-12 students. In her first Executive Director role, Katie increased the annual revenue of the organization she led by 300% and received the top grant prize in the nation for affordable housing through the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis. Today, she leads Do More Good, the parent organization of Nonprofit Hub and Cause Camp which collectively serve more than 50,000 nonprofits throughout North America. Her educational background includes an undergraduate degree in business administration and a masters degree in nonprofit leadership. Katie is the past board president of Gracious Grounds, a housing organization serving individuals with disabilities. She is an active member of the Grand Rapids Young Nonprofit Professionals, the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, Cause Network, the Lakeshore Nonprofit Alliance and the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Katie Appold on the struggles nonprofits are facing in transitioning to a digital fundraising model and Cause Camp:

I would say the largest challenge that we're seeing organizations face is a transition to majority digital communication and fundraising. Pre-pandemic in person events like galas, golf outings, and one on one coffee meetings with donors were still happening. Thankfully, those things are coming back, and they're coming back strong, which is wonderful. But over the two years when the pandemic was at its peak, people really had to communicate digitally, and nonprofits had to raise their support digitally. So we're seeing a lot of organizations who are doing the right things, but they need to tweak and perfect and test and learn how to do them better.

Our solution is that we've built this year's Cause Camp's speaker list to address a lot of those issues that we see nonprofits facing. This year we have Dana Snyder, the gal who was the driving force behind Movember, talking about how you can take your mission and make it an online movement. We will also have Nathan Hill talking about how you can communicate to donors why they should give to your mission digitally? Because if you have no other way to connect with a donor other than email, it's crucial to know what you can say and do in that email to 1) make them open it and 2) connect with them in your message. Chris Hammond will also be talking about how nonprofit leaders need a strong personal network to build a strong organization, which I think is something that is often overlooked. Chris is going to talk about how to create that personal network digitally using tools like LinkedIn and connecting with people via text and email to keep relationships strong. Additionally, we have Mark Ostach, who's talking about hybrid work environments for nonprofits and how to make teams thrive.

---------------------------

About Charity Charge

Charity Charge is a financial technology company serving the nonprofit sector. From the Charity Charge Nonprofit Credit Card to bookkeeping, gift card disbursements, and state compliance, we help mission-driven organizations streamline operations and stay financially strong. Learn more at charitycharge.com.

In Episode 93 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen talks to Erin Mote, Executive Director of InnovateEDU, whose mission is to eliminate the opportunity gap by accelerating innovation in standards aligned, next generation learning models and tools that serve, inform, and enhance teaching and learning. Stephen and Erin Mote talk about creating expertise throughout organizations by including diverse leaders in discussions, giving and receiving social capital to uplift others, and finding the 80% that we have in common to move missions forward without getting stuck on trying to agree 100%.

Erin Mote is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of InnovateEDU. In this role, Erin leads the organization and its major projects including technology product development, work on data interoperability and data systems, and an urban education Fellowship for new educators. She leads the organization’s work on creating uncommon alliances to create systems change - in special education, talent development, and data modernization. An enterprise architect, she created, alongside her team, two of InnovateEDU’s signature technology products - Cortex, a next-generation personalized learning platform, and Landing Zone - a cutting-edge infrastructure as a service data product.

Erin is also the co-founder of Brooklyn Laboratory Charter School with her husband Dr. Eric Tucker. She is a recognized leader in technology, mobile, and broadband and has spent much of her career focused on expanding access to technology in the US and abroad. She has led ground-breaking initiatives, including scaling wireless communications to the developing world, developing global and national strategic technology plans, and working with the country’s leading technology companies. Erin has served in an advisory capacity to the White House/OSTP’s US Ignite Initiative, the Obama Administration’s Global Development Innovation Policy, the State Department’s TechCamp program, and the Obama Administration’s intra-agency process for Rio 2.0 and Rio+20. Erin served as the founding Chief of Party for the USAID Global Broadband and Innovations Alliance – a $19.5 million global technology expansion project. Erin has served in senior positions with CHF International and Coulter Companies after starting her career as the Director of External and Strategic Relations for Arizona State University. A recognized leader in alliance building, Erin serves in an advisory capacity for several leading international organizations including Digital Promise, SXSWedu Launch, XPrize, and the Barbara Bush Foundation. She is an Aspen Institute Socrates scholar and a proud alumnus of the University of Michigan.

Erin Mote on creating expertise throughout organizations:

We also believe it's really important to create expertise. Oftentimes one of the things that we'll do is sponsor other leaders to be able to participate in conversations so that it's not always the CEO of an organization that we're inviting to the table. We might invite somebody who's more junior or somebody who hasn't yet had that opportunity to share their voice. This particularly impacts women and people of color. One of the things that we do is stipend folks to participate in some of our projects where we'll be working on large scale infrastructure. We provide a stipend because usually they can only get permission to participate because they're bringing revenue into the organization. It's important for us to always be asking, "how do we expand the social circle we operate in to further increase our alliance building work?"

Interested in listening to the full episode and hearing more from other nonprofits? Check out more episodes here [maxbutton id="3" url="https://www.charitycharge.com/charity-charge-podcasts/" text="Charity Charge Show" ]

---------------------------

About Charity Charge

Charity Charge is a financial technology company serving the nonprofit sector. From the Charity Charge Nonprofit Credit Card to bookkeeping, gift card disbursements, and state compliance, we help mission-driven organizations streamline operations and stay financially strong. Learn more at charitycharge.com.

In Episode 92 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen talks to Terry Beswick, Executive Director of GGBA, whose mission is to champion opportunity, development, and advocacy for our LGBTQ+ & Allied business community. Stephen and Terry Beswick talk about Terry's career in activism and the importance of listening to diverse communities so that strategies are informed by a wide range of lived experiences.

Terry Beswick (he/him) has been executive director of the GGBA since October 15, 2021. At the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in San Francisco, he advocated for HIV/AIDS research and treatment with ACT UP, Project Inform, the Human Rights Campaign and the White House Office of HIV/AIDS Policy. After the advent of effective treatments for HIV, Beswick worked as a journalist for the Bay Area Reporter and other LGBTQ community publications. More recently, he spearheaded a successful campaign to preserve the Castro Country Club for the queer recovery community in San Francisco, co-founded the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District and co-chaired the LGBTQ Cultural Heritage Strategy. Beswick was a Community Grand Marshal for the 50th Anniversary San Francisco LGBTQ Pride Parade and Celebration in 2020 and served as Executive Director of the GLBT Historical Society from 2016 to 2021.

Terry Beswick on creating sustainable change with a diverse community:

If there's anything that I've learned throughout my career, it's that the LGBTQ community is kind of a misnomer. Since we're a collection of different communities and subcultures and what brings us together are our gender and sexuality differences from the "Norm" and the experiences that we've had around that. Therefore, bringing all these different communities and cultures together to have impact on creating change is often a challenge. What I've learned is that listening and collecting people's ideas to navigate the differences of opinion and approach is always important to overcoming the challenge of community organizing. San Francisco is notorious for being extremely divided around the best approach to effecting change and I think that listening allows the space for any new idea to emerge from the people who are most directly affected. That way the affected communities feel ownership over the solution. Directing things from on high has never worked, in terms of creating sustainable change.

Interested in listening to the full episode and hearing more from other nonprofits? Check out more episodes here [maxbutton id="3" url="https://www.charitycharge.com/charity-charge-podcasts/" text="Charity Charge Show" ]

---------------------------

About Charity Charge

Charity Charge is a financial technology company serving the nonprofit sector. From the Charity Charge Nonprofit Credit Card to bookkeeping, gift card disbursements, and state compliance, we help mission-driven organizations streamline operations and stay financially strong. Learn more at charitycharge.com.

In Episode 91 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen talks to David Street, Strategic Director Next Gen Organizing of Bread for the World, whose mission is to be a collective Christian voice urging our nation's leaders to end hunger at home and abroad. Stephen and David Street talk about the mission of Bread for the World, Street's work with adolescence and social media through his nonprofit P.E.N. (Promote, Enrich and Nurture) DMV, and the process of setting up a new nonprofit.

David Street is a native of Washington, D.C. and has over 13 years of grassroots organizing and engagement experience. He also serves as the Strategic Director of Next Gen Leadership for Bread for the World. Outside of his work in the organizing space, Street also serves as the Executive Director for P.E.N. (Promote, Enrich and Nurture) DMV, a non-profit that specializes in mentoring and social media training with high school students and aspiring leaders living in Washington, D.C. Street received his Bachelors in Political Science from North Carolina A & T State University and holds a Masters in Theology from Wesley Theological Seminary.

David Street on starting a nonprofit:

It took me about a year to get my nonprofit off the ground; because I interviewed people who had already set up nonprofits, who were already in a similar space, and I just asked a whole bunch of questions. I did about 8-10 interviews with people who had small to medium sized nonprofits. I've been working in nonprofits all my life so I was able to tap into the vast set of knowledge that my colleagues have. I also did other types of research, along with bringing people together and asking questions. After this year of research, we then filed the paperwork and all the other legal aspects. Since we took the time beforehand we already knew what our mission was going to be and who from that advisory board during the planning process would transfer into the board of directors. In that time we also had acquired seed funding, so it wasn't just like we only existed on paper, we had actually acquired some funding from a couple of local churches. I would advise others to do their homework, reach out to people and don't just jump in there; figure out if you have a niche and if there isn't a niche, create one.

---------------------------

About Charity Charge

Charity Charge is a financial technology company serving the nonprofit sector. From the Charity Charge Nonprofit Credit Card to bookkeeping, gift card disbursements, and state compliance, we help mission-driven organizations streamline operations and stay financially strong. Learn more at charitycharge.com.

In Episode 90 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen talks to Dr. Noeen Malik, CEO & Founder of Scientudio Inc., whose mission is bridging the gaps in Global Welfare program under Endorse Hope, community wellbeing is at the forefront of what they're working towards together. Scientudio believes that a single action can make a difference in society, and collaborative actions can greatly impact the world. Stephen and Dr. Noeen Malik talk about her background and extensive experience working with nonprofits, along with Endorse Hope and Great Lakes Peace Center Global Welfare Campaign to contribute towards girl children's school retention through improved menstrual hygiene and sanitation management.

Dr Noeen Malik is a nuclear medicine scientist (expertise: drug discovery and PET/CT imaging), a published author, a business strategist, the Executive Director of Public Affairs at GIANT (Global Immunization Action Networking Team; with WHO-UN), California, and a Research Scientist in MIPS at Stanford School of Medicine. Recently, she founded a small pharma-consultancy firm, Scientudio Inc. Scientudio launched a hands-on business internship program designed to impart to students and early-career phase scientists the relevant skills-set to thrive in the industrial sector. As an executive director of public affairs and infrastructure committee member of GIANT, she works together with WHO/UN in collaboration with 20 countries globally to bring awareness about immunization/vaccines. The volunteer work she does includes human rights activism with Amnesty International, IRC, and IYC-UN and fundraising for SOS Children’s Village. Besides, her philanthropy venture, "Endorse Hope", which focuses especially on under-developed countries to support their efforts in building up their internal capacity. She is also a cartoonist designing the Science Myths Playing Deck: Concept and artwork, science illustrator & communicator. Being a scientist, her duties revolve around managing bench work to preclinical evaluations to cGMP production of clinical radiopharmaceuticals and facilitating the commercialization of innovations. In her spare time, she loves photography, cartooning, hiking, and kayaking.

Dr. Noeen Malik on Endorse Hope and Great Lakes Peace Center Global Welfare Campaign providing sanitary pads to girl children:

The problem there is that girls who are going to school cannot afford branded sanitary pads that are either reusable or disposable. What they have to do during their menstruation days is stay at home. With needing to stay home each month these girls get far behind in their curriculum. Sometimes schools do support them by providing extra teaching assistance, but of course, the teachers are also working on limited salaries so they cannot provide that much extra assistance. Then what happens is these girls ultimately either drop out of school to earn money or sit at home during their menstruation days and fall further behind in their education. This Global Welfare Campaign supports the Great Lakes Peace Center who actually distributes the sanitation kits from school to school. They teach the girls how to make their own homemade, hygienic reusable sanitary pads and these kits are good for one year, greatly supporting the girl's in their pursuit of education.

Interested in listening to the full episode and hearing more from other nonprofits? Check out more episodes here [maxbutton id="3" url="https://www.charitycharge.com/charity-charge-podcasts/" text="Charity Charge Show" ]

---------------------------

About Charity Charge

Charity Charge is a financial technology company serving the nonprofit sector. From the Charity Charge Nonprofit Credit Card to bookkeeping, gift card disbursements, and state compliance, we help mission-driven organizations streamline operations and stay financially strong. Learn more at charitycharge.com.

In Episode 89 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen talks to Thomas Canavan, Executive Director of National Law Enforcement Museum, whose mission is to honor the role of law enforcement, in service to society, by recognizing the sacrifices and valor of law enforcement, educating the community, and making it safer for those who serve. Stephen and Thomas Canavan talk about the effect of COVID-19 on the National Law Enforcement Museum and how CALEB (Community Alliances and Law Enforcement Bulletin Network) is bringing communities and law enforcement together.

Thomas Canavan is the Executive Director of the National Law Enforcement Museum and beginning in late 2019 began refocusing the Museum into what it is today…a place that honors the history and heroism of law enforcement officers. Thomas leads the Museum’s operations which includes exhibitions, education, outreach, and fostering strategic partnerships, all of which focuses on telling the story of American law enforcement.

Thomas is an accomplished non-profit professional with leadership expertise in developing exhibitions as well as educational and outreach programs that focus on building thriving communities. His experience includes establishing collaborative program environments; development and oversight of innovative educational programming; and cultivating strategic partnerships and alliances between local government, corporate sector, and nonprofit organizations. He holds a Master of Science, Arts Administration from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts, Studio Art from the University of Maryland.

Thomas Canavan on using social media to bring communities and law enforcement together:

After the death of George Floyd, there was a lot of unrest around the country, and the relationship between communities and law enforcement, in certain places, was very strained. In this environment we as an organization we were thinking about our platform, and the connections that we have to the law enforcement community as a whole and wanted to see if it were possible to pull together best practices within that community on a national level. We ended up creating CALEB (Community Alliances and Law Enforcement Bulletin Network) a national bulletin board, where we invited people to post what works in their communities to see if we could make something positive happen. Once we had collected a lot of ideas, we saw that a lot of engagement was happening in other parts of the country. Overall we wanted to create a social media platform that was built and designed so that the law enforcement community and the public could come together to have a dialogue about what's working in their communities. We want to help pull all this information for the benefit of engagement with law enforcement who are really busy, working long hours in long stretches of days in a row. CALEB is a really great project and we're hoping that more people will hear about it and start to participate.

---------------------------

About Charity Charge

Charity Charge is a financial technology company serving the nonprofit sector. From the Charity Charge Nonprofit Credit Card to bookkeeping, gift card disbursements, and state compliance, we help mission-driven organizations streamline operations and stay financially strong. Learn more at charitycharge.com.

In Episode 88 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen talks to Nora Super, Executive Director of the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging, whose mission is to help people build meaningful lives, in which they can experience health and well-being, pursue effective education and gainful employment, and access the resources required to create ever-expanding opportunities for themselves and their broader communities. Stephen and Nora Super talk about the importance of support for our aging population, being an effective leader through vulnerability, and creating policies aligned with the needs of those with lived experiences.

Nora Super is the executive director of the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging. In this role, Super provides strategic direction for two primary focus areas: Healthy Longevity and Financial Wellness. In 2020, Super launched the Milken Institute Alliance to Improve Dementia Care, which seeks to transform and improve the complex health and long-term care systems that people at risk for and living with dementia must navigate. Super is a respected thought leader, frequent speaker, and prolific writer on healthy longevity and the economic and social impact of global population aging. From 2014 to 2016, Super served as the executive director of the White House Conference on Aging, where she received wide recognition for her nationwide efforts to improve the lives of older Americans. She has also held leadership roles at the US Department of Health and Human Services, AARP, Kaiser Permanente, and USAging.

Nora Super on the importance of involving those with lived experiences in policy creation:

---------------------------

About Charity Charge

Charity Charge is a financial technology company serving the nonprofit sector. From the Charity Charge Nonprofit Credit Card to bookkeeping, gift card disbursements, and state compliance, we help mission-driven organizations streamline operations and stay financially strong. Learn more at charitycharge.com.