The ENGAGE Podcast

The last year has brought a lot of change and a lot of new learnings. And from healthcare to poverty to racial justice, social good organizations are looking to find new solutions that meaningfully impact these important issues. However, as with any big social impact initiatives, that will require that organizations embrace learning from the inevitable failures along the way. That’s why today we’re bringing back an episode from August 2019 featuring Kate Robinson, executive director of the documentary film Failing Forward: On the Road to Social Impact.

Kate talked to host Steve MacLaughlin about how nonprofits and other social good organizations can use failure to make a bigger impact. Listen to the episode to hear what Kate Robinson has to say about learning culture, the questions that organizations should be asking to improve programs, and what role funders play in the process of failure and learning.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• The purpose of Kate’s documentary, Failing Forward: On the Road to Social Impact
• The characteristics of a learning culture
• The pressure on nonprofits to appear effective
• Using data as a tool to learn and drive decision making
• Questions that organizations should ask to learn and improve programs
• Overcoming resistance within organizations to “failing fast”
• The dangers of not having a learning culture open to failure
• The role of funders in adjusting perspectives to make learning from failure a bigger part of the equation
• Building trust between funders and grantees to allow for more transparency

Resources:

Kate Robinson

Failing Forward

There’s always something that can throw your organization’s budget off track. Some crises are worse than others – the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, for example, brought completely unforeseen challenges – but even if internal or external factors don’t rise to that level, you can count on some type of shift.

Today’s episode covers how to prepare for budget shifts so you are ready when they come. Listen in to hear Mary Aquino and Melissa Rancour from Blackbaud University talk about how to identify potential causes of budget changes, understanding the legal process for budget shifts, and anticipating and handling fundraising impacts.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• How COVID-19 impacted budgets and how organizations responded
• Causes of budget variance
• The legal obligations that organizations have for using donations
• Education about restricted and endowment funds
• Documenting the budget process
• Questions to ask yourself to get your policy documented

Resources:

Mary Aquino

Melissa Rancour

Webinar: Keep Calm & Carry On: Handling Unplanned Budget Changes

Article: Budget Changes? Keep Calm and Carry On with These Tips!

Article: Annual Planning in an Ever-Changing World

Quotes: 

“When the economy’s up, most of the time donations tend to go up with it. But when the economy’s down, then donations normally decrease too.”

“Sometimes people don’t realize there’s a domino effect that kind of goes on with these shifts.”

“Word of mouth is not a budget update process.”

Relationships are everything. While networking may be a buzzword, intentionally building a community and making deep and meaningful connections can have vast positive professional impacts. But how do you get started?

Today’s guest has answers. Susan McPherson, founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies and author of the new book The Lost Art of Connecting, joins the podcast to talk about how she became such a prolific networker, the differences between networking and connecting, and the steps to take to build a network of meaningful connections.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• How Susan became such a prolific networker
• The differences between networking and meaningful connections
• The key to building a successful network of connections
• Following the gather-ask-do method of building meaningful business connections
• Work that people need to do themselves before they can build deep connections
• How building deep connections can help an organization or company grow
• Where to learn more

Resources:

Susan McPherson

• The Lost Art of Connecting

Quotes: 

“For introverts and shy people, meaningfully connecting is actually a little more tolerable and palatable and doable.”

“If we lead with how we can be helpful to others, the help will come back.”

“Every single one of us has secret sauces.”

For decades, fundraisers have been trying to understand some of the differences in philanthropic giving between men and women. And, while much remains to be studied regarding same-sex families, women in heterosexual households have increasing financial power. It is a crucial element in understanding decision-making about giving across households.

In today’s episode, you’ll learn more about that process as you listen to Jeannie Sager and Jaquie Ackerman of the Women’s Philanthropy Institute, part of the Lilly School of Philanthropy at Indiana University, talk about this year’s Women Give report. They explain what they were hoping to understand from the research, how it compares to previous years, and how the conversations couples have about philanthropy can affect their giving.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• The history of research from the Women’s Philanthropy Institute
• The focus of the Women Give 2021 report
• What the Women’s Philanthropy Institute was hoping to understand from the research
• The changing roles of women’s influence in household financial decisions
• The categories of giving decisions in a household
• Results of their survey
• How current joint and sole decision-making stacks up next to those decision-making choices 15 years ago
• How couples talking about giving affects their giving
• What was surprising in this year’s report

Resources:

Jeannie Sager

Jaquie Ackerman

Women Give 2021: How Households Make Giving Decisions

Women’s Philanthropy Institute

Quotes: 

“Joint giving is still the norm.”

“Most households seem satisfied with the way they make giving decisions.”

“Having robust conversations about giving results in robust giving.”

This episode was originally published in September 2019. 

As a charitable organization, how can you leverage the popularity of live streaming to fundraise? How do you find a live streamer to pair up with? And how can you build and have a successful relationship with live streamers?

Today’s episode features Alyssa Sweetman, the Charity Program Manager at Twitch. Tune in to hear her talk to Roz Lemieux, director of Blackbaud Labs, about how nonprofits and other social good organizations can work with live streamers, also known as content creators, to raise money on live streaming platforms.

Topics Discussed in this Episode:

• What is Twitch?
• Who is a content creator?
• How to get started with partnering with a live streamer, or content creator
• The kind of support or assets organizations should plan to provide content creators to build relationships and aid them in fundraising
• What makes for a good impact statement?
• How live streamers make nonprofit content engaging for viewers
• The most interesting fundraising live stream event Ally has seen
• The different ways content creators raise money on Twitch

Resources:

Twitch Alyssa Sweetman Article: How to Harness the Fundraising Power of Twitch

Today’s guest has a mission, and that mission is to teach the people who are doing good how to get noticed by using their words. Erica Mills Barnhart is the CEO of Claxon Marketing, and she joins the podcast today to discuss what people in the social good community need to be saying in order to get noticed in a good way.

Listen in to hear Erica discuss why a social good organization needs an elevator pitch, the biggest mistakes that she sees, and how nouns and verbs need to be used in a mission statement. You’ll also learn how to craft an effective elevator pitch for your organization.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• Erica’s background and professional focus
• What an elevator pitch is and why social good organizations need one
• The biggest mistakes Erica sees in elevator pitches
• How deep you get into the mission before you get to the how
• The size correlation
• Improving your mission statement
• How to use nouns and verbs in the mission statement
• Where the elevator pitch starts
• Resources for listeners

Resources:

Erica Mills Barnhart

Pitchfalls: Why Bad Pitches Happen to Good People

SSIR Article: Great Mission. Bad Statement. Why the social sector should worry more about words.

Quotes: 

“Think of it like an invitation. When the door opens, what’s the invitation?”

“There is very much an emotional piece for those in the social good space. We care about what we’re doing. Deeply.”

“There’s always two stories being told even if it’s one or two sentences. What you think the story is, what’s coming out of your mouth, and the story that’s heard and received.”

In today’s episode, you’ll hear from Joanne Pasternack, president & chief impact officer at Oliver+Rose and creator of Athletes’ Voices, about her work with athletes who want to engage in philanthropy. Listen in to hear about how Joanne is helping athletes and examples of athlete stories that she is particularly proud of.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• How Joanne helps athletes engage with the causes they care about
• What Athletes’ Voices does
• Examples of athletes’ philanthropic actions that Joanne is really proud of
• How people can find out more about Athletes’ Voices

Resources:

Joanne Paternack

Athletes’ Voices

Athletes’ Voices webinars

Quotes: 

“We are based on the philosophy that athletes could and should and can speak up on any issue that’s of interest to them.”

“In truth, there’s nobody better you could hire than somebody who’s been through everything and has worked over the barriers that have been in their way.”

“You might have kicked the own goal. But, like, what are you going to do next? What’s the next chapter?”

We already relied on technology to communicate before the pandemic, but over the past year we’ve become even more dependent on video and digital communications to live and work. So, how can you make use of the tech you need to navigate the world without succumbing to burnout?

Today’s episode features mindfulness expert Meico Marquette Whitlock in an excerpt from the sgENGAGE Rethinking Change webinar series. Listen in to hear Meico explains how distractions impact us and how to make space for mindfulness and intentionality to avoid burnout.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• How distractions impact our lives
• Spending mental energy bridging the technology gap
• The effects of trying to do multiple things at once
• How the time you’re spending online has changed
• Why slowing down helps
• Mindfully engaging with devices
• Reclaiming our lives

Resources:

Meico Marquette Whitlock

The Mindful Techie

7 Steps for Mastering the Art of Work/Life Balance in a Digital World Starter Kit

Webinar: Why Technology is Ruining Your Love Life (And What You Can Do About It)

Rethinking Change webinar series

Working in a Changing World eBook

Quotes: 

“It’s not lost on me that it’s not your first or your last perhaps of conversations mediated by video like what we’re having today.”

“The science tells us that it is physically impossible to do multiple things simultaneously.”

“One of the first things that slowing down allows us to do is it allows us to get clear about our aim or our intention.”

The last year has taught us that change is the only constant - however, that makes it difficult to stick to a traditional 3-year or 5-year strategic plan. So, how can social good organizations plan in a way that allows for change?

Here to talk about why adaptive strategy is the new strategic plan is Steve Strang, senior consultant and practice director at Spectrum Nonprofit Services. Listen in to hear what Steve has to say about what an adaptive strategy is, what it looks like when organizations implement an adaptive strategy, and how to get started.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• What adaptive strategy is
• Why organizations decide to make the shift from the traditional strategic plan to adaptive strategy
• Benefits of shifting to an adaptive strategy
• How adopting adaptive strategy can better engage board members
• The two steps for implementing adaptive strategy
• What adaptive strategy looks like in action
• How to influence stakeholders to buy in to implementing adaptive strategy
• Steps for getting your organization started on the adaptive strategy journey

Resources:

Steve Strang

How to Implement Adaptive Strategy in Nonprofits

Annual Planning in an Ever-Changing World

2021 Planning & Goals Workbook and Calendar

Quotes: 

“As tough as the last year has been, being adaptive helps your organization get through crisis moments like this.”

“The important piece to not only this but moving into any strategic process is buy-in from all your stakeholders, especially internal stakeholders.”

“Your budget is really a document that shows how you actualize your strategic plan.”

Database administrators (also commonly called database managers, DBAs or DBMs) are often operating behind the scenes, outside of the spotlight. However, DBAs are critical team members and it’s important they promote their value within their organizations.

That’s what today’s host and guests are here to discuss. Listen in as guest host Ashley Sweeney, Technical Solutions Engineer for Blackbaud talks to Sunshine Watson, Donor Database Manager for Valleywise Health Foundation, and Carlene Johnson, Database Administrator for BC High, about how they shine as DBAs and make sure their value is recognized. They also discuss the importance of networking and continuing education.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• How Sunshine and Carlene shine as DBAs
• Helping others understand what you do and how you help them
• Making sure you have a seat at the table
• Tips for showing your value to leadership
• Making the case for professional development to your manager
• The value of networking and user groups

Resources:

Sunshine Watson

Carlene Johnson

Confessions of a Nonprofit Database Administrator

Confessions of a Nonprofit Database Administrator, Part II

Quotes: 

“Just being able to be a fly on the wall sometimes helps me so I can do my job better.” –Sunshine Watson

“When I’m paying attention and listening, I can hear the pain points.” –Carlene Johnson

“Because of networking, I was much more easily able to land a position that had the kinds of things I was looking to work on.” –Carlene Johnson