Nonprofit Lowdown

Retirement is a Race Issue with Chitra Aiyar. What comes up for you when I say retirement? Are old people golfing in Florida? Think again. Join me and my dear friend Chitra Aiyar as we discuss why retirement is a generational/racial wealth gap issue, and what nonprofit employers can do to support workers. Working in the nonprofit sector shouldn't have to mean sacrificing your long-term financial well-being. Who should listen to this podcast: -Employees at nonprofits, particularly if you are young and do not come from generational wealth. -Nonprofit employers who are concerned about the long-term for their employees, especially those who employ folx of color. -Funders and nonprofit associations who are interested in racial justice and equity. In short, everyone. To learn more about the report, check here: https://www.justfutures.co/rrfa-report To connect with Chitra: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chitra-aiyar-3099507/ QUOTE FROM CHITRA:  "All of this cultural competency means nothing if people aren't building wealth, right? So if you actually wanna put your money where your mouth is, we should be subsidizing retirement plans for smaller organizations at a sector-wide level, as opposed to asking every organization to figure it out on their own." If you want the full episode transcript, check here: https://www.rheawong.com/podcast/

When the ED/DoD relationship works it can be a magical thing and set everyone up for success.  When it doesn't...well, it just sucks. What makes the partnership work?  Join me, DeNora Getachew and Jen Moore as we explore what a professional marriage between a CEO and VP of Development looks like. What was the process DeNora went through? How did she make the org appealing to good candidates? What due diligence did Jen do? What did they do on the front end to make it work? Most importantly, who's the hunter and who's the farmer? Connect with DeNora and Jen: DeNora Getachew LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/denora-getachew/ Jen Moore LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennmoore02/ Website: Fueling Young People to Change the World | DoSomething.org If you want the full episode transcript, check here: https://www.rheawong.com/podcast/

When I was an ED, leading my team sometimes felt like fumbling around in the dark looking for the path forward. Enter my friend Dr. Patton McDowell. Patton provides a roadmap and framework for nonprofit leaders. Whether you're a new leader, a leader looking to grow or an experienced leader ready for the next step, this interview will provide insights about the next step. Isn't clarity what we all want? Links below to connect with Patton and to buy his book. Connect with Dr. Patton LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pattonmcdowell/ Website: https://www.pattonmcdowell.com/ Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership Book: https://www.amazon.com/Patton-McDowell/e/B09L5JJXS3%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share Quote from Dr. Patton McDowell: "My definition of leadership is what I've kind of come to at this point, which is the ability to retain, attract, and retain talented people. You need followers to define your leadership If you want the full episode transcript, check here: https://www.rheawong.com/podcast/

Ever wondered what an interim Executive Director actually does? Are they supposed to keep the trains running on time or clean house for the new ED? What is it like to be the Mary Poppins for an organization in transition? Learn the answer to all these and more with my favorite NPO Mary Poppins Diana Breen who is a career interim Executive Director. She manages transitions with calm, skill and grace. Do you have what it takes to be an interim ED? Connect with Diana: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianabreenconsulting/ Website: https://www.dianabreen.com/ Quote from Diana: "Even if you're not driving a lot of change, there is so much change that comes up as a result of the leadership change."

Join me and expert fundraiser Sherry Quam Taylor as we talk about making big ass asks.  We discuss board and staff reluctance to engage personally with donors, how we're mismanaging our board's time and efforts, and where we really need to spend our time with our investment-level donors. This was an insightful conversations and Sherry drops value bombs all over the place. Are you ready to scale up? CONNECT WITH SHERRY LINKEDIN: www.linkedin.com/in/sherryquamtaylor WEBSITE: www.quamtaylor.com ROCKET FUEL BOOK: www.eosworldwide.com/rocket-fuel-book QUOTE FROM SHERRY: "Your major donors need more, your mid-level donors need more need to have one on one conversation that donor experience needs to be exclusive. They need different things. And so I think we fear fundraising because sometimes we're misaligning the fundraising activity to what the donor needs and that's not successful."

Ah, times--they are a-changing. In the last year, the dynamics of leading and being responsive to visibility, equity and social justice have never been higher stakes. We know we want to be equity-centered, anti-racist leaders, but where do we even begin? Join me and my friend Alfonso and Trina as we discuss what it really takes to lead equity-based practices, how to do culture change (like, for reals) and changing power dynamics within an organization. This was a really thought-provoking conversation that helped to move forward on very big and overwhelming changes. To connect with Alfonso: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alfonsowenker/ To connect with Trina: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trina-c-olson-9646303/ Resources Mentioned in the Podcast: Team Dynamics - Team Dynamics Hiring Revolution - A Guide to Disrupt Racism + Sexism in Hiring - HIRING REVOLUTION The Harvard Business School + Accenture study: https://www.hbs.edu/managing-the-future-of-work/Documents/research/hiddenworkers09032021.pdf QUOTES “I was a two-time nonprofit executive director. I spent squarely 20 years in the nonprofit sector. It was a mixture of direct service, public policy, and advocacy… I am white. I am 41. And I'm queer.” - Trina Olson “When Trina and I first started working together in Team Dynamics, it was sort of a side hustle. It was a dream. When we would get together, we would dream and scheme about how we could just think bigger and be more expansive about all of the different skills and tools that we had.” - Alfonso Wenker “Sometimes, people say things like our strategic plan says we're committed to ending racism. And that feels out of reach for folks. It feels nearly impossible.” - Alfonso Wenker “The other thing we're really relentless with is goal setting…” - Alfonso Wenker “Racism and sexism are huge.”  - Alfonso Wenker “A couple of the things we talk about is changing organizational culture, changing workplace culture, changing the culture in the US, is forever work.” - Trina Olson “So we just get in these ruts, and we do things. And we say we want to change while changing nothing about how we behave.” - Alfonso Wenker “So we have this big, audacious goal around race or gender equity. And we talk a lot about what we'll realize, but we don't get in any new practices.” - Alfonso Wenker “Organizations and businesses are not being conscious about how people need their workplace to function from a benefits perspective, from a flexibility perspective, from a technology perspective, in order to bring all of their skills and talent.” - Trina Olson “It's not workers that need to change… its workplaces.” - Alfonso Wenker “We even have to wrestle with the idea and the notion of what is a workplace and what can it be and what should it be.” - Alfonso Wenker “Companies need to change our expectations or the relationships that we have with the workers who choose to work with us.” - Alfonso Wenker “Alfonso and I are really clear about the same kinds of things that need to happen in a hiring process. You need to know who you're looking for, you need to go find them, you need to talk to them, and then you need to decide who you're going to pick.” - Trina Olson

In this episode, we’re going to discuss development 3.0 with my friend, Sarah Danzig Simon, the head of development for Uncommon Schools. Join me and Sarah as she talks about the lessons she has learned in fundraising to inspire those new fundraisers listening out there who want guidance and wisdom from those of us in the nonprofit. You will also learn about what people do, especially those who handle development and program in a nonprofit organization. This is an interesting topic, so tune in! To connect with Sarah: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-danzig-simon-0915063/ You can also follow her on: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/sarah.danzigsimon.1 Resources Mentioned in the Podcast: The Fundraising Accelerator Program https://www.rheawong.com/join-accelerator/ Uncommon Schools https://uncommonschools.org/about-us/ The Boys’ Club of New York https://bcny.org/ —--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- QUOTES “It is my strong belief that it is very hard to be a successful fundraiser at a place where you are not willing to make a gift and are not willing to participate in the program.” - Sarah Danzig Simon “When I do a donor tour, I'm always in classrooms. We're hyper-diligent about making sure that we're not interrupting. And we leave things better than when we started.” - Sarah Danzig Simon “I think, sometimes, fundraisers can forget that they're actually working on behalf of the program staff and that we work for them.” - Rhea Wong “If you are going to pursue a career in fundraising, you must be comfortable saying the words, will you make a gift to this organization of X dollars? And you need to really challenge yourself to say, is that specific task something I'm willing to do?” - Sarah Danzig Simon

Happy Black Philanthropy Month!  In this episode, we talk with Dr. Jackie Copeland who is the founder of Black Philanthropy Month and April Walker, fundraising consultant.  April and Dr. Jackie speak from their lived experiences as Black women in philanthropy.  In this important talk, we discuss how the Black community can fund Black causes, the importance of giving to Black-led grassroot causes and how racial justice cannot exist without economic justice. For more about Black Philanthropy Month: www.blackphilanthropymonth.com To connect with Dr. Jackie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackiecopelandcarsonbio/ To connect with April: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprilcwalker/ Resources Mentioned in the Podcast: Philanthropy for the People - https://philanthropyforthepeople.com/ The Wise Fund - https://thewisefund.org/about-us/ Black Philanthropy Month - https://www.blackphilanthropymonth.com/about —--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- QUOTES “The Black Philanthropy Month comes out of a personal commitment, professional dedication, and actual spiritual orientation.” - Dr. Jackie Bouvier Copeland “I was very perturbed, that I would always hear that black people don't give and don't have philanthropy…”  - Dr. Jackie Bouvier Copeland “The same principle applies to black people. We are consumers of philanthropy and should be respected as such. That means you need 10 years to repair the harm done in our communities, exclusion… so be it. That's just the work of development.”  - Dr. Jackie Bouvier Copeland “I've always dreamt of creating a mutually supportive, global black economy of giving and funding of our nonprofits and businesses.” - Dr. Jackie Bouvier Copeland “People are now asking, where are the black people? It's a fair question. So it's evolving. But that doesn't mean that they're ready to take action because they have to do some unlearning…” - April Walker “There's nothing wrong, of course, with inviting people from different backgrounds to invest. We all have connections to the mission and different stories to tell.” - April Walker

This episode is FIRE.  Join me and my friend Dr. Eugene K Choi to discuss how to manage your mind to avoid burnout, anxiety and panic.  Did you know that your brain is only ever in one of two modes: survival or executive?  Learn about the characteristics of both and how to regulate yourself to stop freaking out, calming down and being effective. Want to know more? https://dreugenekchoi.medium.com/ To connect with Dr. Eugene: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eugenekchoi/ Resources Mentioned in the Podcast: Destiny Hacks - https://destinyhacks.co/ Harvard Business Review - https://hbr.org/ Dr. Eugene’s Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-neurohacking-podcast/id1545882602 —--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- QUOTES FROM Dr. Eugene Choi “The survival state is the state when your brain thinks your life is in danger. It's a mode where you are reacting without thinking.” - Dr. Eugene Choi “Research shows that emotional pain can be just as painful as physical pain. That's how our brain processes it.” - Dr. Eugene Choi “Money is an easy trigger for us to go into a survival state…” - Dr. Eugene Choi “If you want to be a great leader, the number one you need to do is to understand the concept of true ownership.” - Dr. Eugene Choi “It's the loneliness that's causing the burnout. How lonely you feel directly correlates with how burnt out you get.”  - Dr. Eugene Choi “We have to develop the eyes to see what fight-flight-freeze looks like. That actually helps you connect the dots on why we're in this for 70% of our adult life.” - Dr. Eugene Choi “So how do we fight from an emotional survival standpoint? It could be perfectionism, which is to fight to be perfect.” - Dr. Eugene Choi “The fight itself will lead to burnout. I have seen it time and time again, fighting always leads to burnout, it always leads to lack of fulfillment.” - Dr. Eugene Choi TIME STAMPS TOPIC: Talking About the Different States of Your Brain 03:20 - 04:40 TOPIC: Talking About the Significant Source of Burnout 12:14 - 13:20

Most people think that when you merge nonprofits, or you’re making any significant changes in a nonprofit, it means that there’s terribly wrong that has happened. Right? But in this episode, my guest, Jess Cavagnero, a partner of SeaChange Capital Partners, dispels some of these misconceptions. Jess and I will talk about the hows, whys and whats of mergers, acquisitions, and strategic partnerships.  This is a must-listen for leaders who are looking to lead with “strategery” To connect with Jess: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-cavagnero-9b826613b/ Resources Mentioned in the Podcast: SeaChange Website - https://seachangecap.org/ SeaChange LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/seachangecap/ Sustained Collaboration Network - https://www.sustainedcollab.org/ —--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- QUOTES “Over the last 10 years, the trend has really shifted, where nonprofits are pursuing mergers… There's a whole spectrum of partnerships that we should be talking about.” - Jess Cavagnero “So there are best practices from the investment banking side that can be a disservice to nonprofit mergers or collaborations… because they're played out in the wrong moment in time.” - Jess Cavagnero “So there's something called the Sustained Collaboration Network, which if you're a fundraiser listening to this, you should write down because it's a network of all of the funders who actually make grants to support this work.”  - Jess Cavagnero “Nonprofits who came out of this period in the pandemic have so much extra cash because they were able to really shrink down to their essential costs and had so much emergency funding come in… This is a good opportunity to grow.” - Jess Cavagnero “If you're looking to become part of something, what's your offer? What's the value of your program team? Who's on your board?” - Jess Cavagnero “So what's the challenge or the opportunity or the thing that you're trying to solve for? And it's important to know it upfront because you will fill the space that you have.”  - Jess Cavagnero “The analogy that is most often used when people talk about nonprofit mergers is dating and weddings. I think it holds here. You can't go out looking for a long-term partner if you aren't totally solid in who you are…”  - Jess Cavagnero “When two organizations are working together, even if they do the same thing in the same place, and they have overlapping staff, they might put their yogurt in a different place, in the fridge. That is going to create friction that needs to be addressed early and continually.” - Jess Cavagnero TIME STAMPS TOPIC: Talking About the Concept of Mergers and Acquisitions 02:31 - 03:48