How We Run: Tips and Tales of Non-Profit Success

After only eight months in their new facilities, the Cayton Children's Museum faced the pandemic and subsequent reopening. According to their CEO, Jessica Aronoff, "I really did think the challenging part was when we were shut down. And that's not true. Sure, that was an existential challenge for us, for humanity. But from a business standpoint, the time since reopening has been the most challenging." In this episode, Jessica, who has worked as a funder and a non-profit executive, shares tips for talking to funders and how she leads her organization with "confident honesty."

Season 5, Episode 3 of the How We Run podcast has an amazing leader that has built an amazing organization. Our guest is Nichol Whiteman, the CEO of the Dodgers Foundation who shares with us how she led a turnaround to build an organization with a deep understanding of its mission and goals. Nichol shares: "It was very important for us to focus first on youth and families who we know needed us most, who could truly help us drive programming moving forward. We created a grant making program. We knew that it was essential to be supporting nonprofits here on the ground in the Los Angeles community." "In a weird way, I feel like a founder which is really special. We recreated ourselves. We created programs, we redefined our mission. We made it certain that clarity was provided for Dodger fans and for the broader Los Angeles community on who we are and what we're doing and why we're doing these things." Find a transcript here: www.goodwaysinc.com/podcast-s5-e3-dodgers-foundation

We are joined by Liz Forer, CEO Venice Family Clinic, who tells us about the recent successful merger of two nonprofits: Venice Family Clinic and South Bay Family Health Care. Liz talks through how the board started planning and coordinating this merger for almost two years and what she feels makes it successful.

Jenna Hauss started as an intern at ONEgeneration and today she is the President and CEO of this $9 million organization in Southern California. Jenna shares what she's learned about the importance of succession planning and how she views it as a tool for the whole organization, not just executive roles. "Succession planning is also about replacing key staff, not just executive leadership, but our program directors who are truly carrying the programs. Recognizing internal potential candidates that have leadership ability and giving them the tools and resources that they need." "We are very selective when it comes to an individual who wants to potentially be on our board. There's a pretty in-depth process. We want to make sure that we're selecting individuals that are a good representation of the work that we do and of our community." "What we've learned over this past year is that we can only do so much as an organization and the power of collaboration really can create a positive impact."

Since we're giving thanks this week, we thought we'd look back on all the fantastic guests we've had on Season 4 of the How We Run podcast and share what we've learned from them. Leslie Ito of Armory Center for the Arts, Tony Brown from HOLA, Johng Ho Song from KYCC, Roger Castle from the LA Regional Food Bank, and Mollie Marsh-Heine from Earthjustice. For a transcript please visit: https://goodwaysinc.com/season-four-highlights/

Before Leslie Ito was the Executive Director of Armory Center for the Arts, she assumed the leadership at an organization that was struggling. Leslie shares with us how she approached that turnaround and what she learned about leading during a crisis (something that may have come in handy in 2020). Leslie shares with us what she prioritized, how she led the organization to be sustainable, and how she sees her big vision as a series of tiny steps.  Click here for a transcript of this episode

Mollie Marsh-Heine joins us to talk about how and why the fundraising department at Earthjustice has embraced the principles of Community-Centric Fundraising. From conversations on race, inequality, and historic injustice with donors, to examining the ways they work together as a team, Mollie's team has taken a thorough and methodical approach. Although they acknowledge this work will take time, they have seen very positive results from donors, staff, and partners.  (Before you listen, be sure to check out the resources at communitycentricfundraising.org) For a transcript please visit: https://goodwaysinc.com/podcast-Mollie-Marsh-Heine-community-centric-fundraising

David Diaz is the Executive Director of Active San Gabriel Valley who has recently transitioned his organization from fiscal sponsorship to being an independent 501c3. He details how and why his organization made the leap. For him, it's a matter of building the collaborative culture that best serves his community and his staff. "We really try to mirror the approach that we want to see in our communities, that we want to see by government, that we want to see from other places or institutions, and so we really take a collaborative approach to how we do the work." From 32 hour work weeks, flexibility in schedules, and sharing power, learn how Active San Gabriel Valley runs. For a transcript please visit: https://goodwaysinc.com/podcast-David-Diaz-fiscal-sponsor

Never in a million years did Sarah Walzer believe that virtual visits with parents and families would ever yield the same high-quality results at ParentChild+. But in March 2020, the organization was forced to go virtual anyway. Sarah was pleasantly surprised and she shares the organization's secret to success in this interview.   Links and transcript here: https://goodwaysinc.com/podcast-Sarah-Walzer-virtual

"We need to ask ourselves on a monthly basis on a weekly basis, are we making a positive impact?" Johng Ho Song has held nearly every job at KYCC since joining the organization in 1985. Today he is the Executive Director. In this episode, Johng Ho Song talks with Trent Stamp about his decades of leadership and how he's managed to keep his organization responsive to community needs, even if it means changing the name.  For a transcript of this episode please visit: https://goodwaysinc.com/podcast-Johng-Ho-Song-trust

Marc Freedman talks with Trent Stamp about receiving a transformational gift from MacKenzie Scott, “I think for those of us on the team it really felt like a shot in the arm... We didn't want to think of this as a way to have security  so much as the impetus for moving into our next chapter as an organization and really taking more risk.”  Marc also shares how he remains an optimistic leader in an area of the non-profit sector that doesn't often receive a lot of attention and how his team shares leadership responsibilities. For a transcript please visit: https://goodwaysinc.com/podcast-Marc-Freedman-transformational-gifts

In this episode, Trent Stamp and Julie Lacouture are joined by Roger Castle of the LA Regional Food Bank who shares the amazing outpouring of support they received in 2020 - growing from 16,000 donors to over 80,000. Roger shares "I get them a thank you immediately as soon as you can get it to them. Secondly, we send stewardship reports. The higher-end donors get an impact report at the very beginning of the year. And then, with the other donors, we tell really good stories in our e-newsletter that everybody gets." To see a transcript of this episode visit https://goodwaysinc.com/retaining-pandemic-donors/

"We shared the leadership responsibility and we had to develop and tighten up our operational procedures and policies because that was going to help our staff feel more secure." Tony Brown from Heart of Los Angeles shares how sharing vision and responsibility across his leadership team was the key to success in a massive capital campaign. To see a transcript of this episode visit https://goodwaysinc.com/building-leaders-by-letting-go/

"It was definitely a big shift, but it also allowed us, and kind of forced us, to think outside the box." Our guests are Alexis Madrid and Amanda Willms of The Painted Turtle who join us to dive into how they turned a virtual event into one of their biggest fundraisers ever. To get a transcript of this podcast please visit https://goodwaysinc.com/podcast-s4-e1-virtual-fundraising/

Trent Stamp and Julie Lacouture return for Season for of How We Run where we'll look at how non-profit organizations are adapting and moving forward. From virtual services, virtual fundraising, and continuously adapting to challenging circumstances, today's non-profits are taking on the greatest challenges.

Kelly Bruno, CEO of the National Health Foundation, shares tactics her organization uses to be responsive to employee needs including an employee engagement committee, a channel to provide anonymous feedback, and actions all leaders can take around diversity, equity, and inclusion.

In this episode, Mike Lansing, Executive Director of the Boys and Girls Club of Los Angeles Harbor, joins us to talk about how his board, staff, and community adjusted everything in order to create new service lines to serve families and their broader community. From adjusting operations to creating and executing a fundraising plan to pay for it all, Mike walks us through the challenges and successes of pivoting program services.

Alan-Michael Graves is the National Director of National Programs at the Good+Foundation. When the COVID-19 crisis started, his program had to act fast to figure out how to continuing delivering services to their partners. They quickly moved from delivering training and in-kind good to making grants to directly support organizations and families. Alan-Michael shares how the idea evolved, how they pitched it to their funders, and the importance of having relationships and partnerships in the community.

Season 3, Episode 4 of the How We Run podcast is a crash course in social media.In this episode, we’re talking to Nick Carranza, a multi-faceted content producer and senior strategist at UCLA Health. A photographer and art director, Webby Award winner and Emmy nominated; he's now putting all of those experiences to work helping UCLA Health develop content and communications during COVID-19. Nick shares will us how UCLA Health approaches social media strategy, how best to think about using social media, how he thinks about a perfect post, and more.

In this episode were talking to Porter Gilberg, Executive Director of the LGBTQ Center Long Beach about how his organization been able to respond to emerging needs of the community.From technology to enable remote work, to fundraising to support extra services, to restructuring staff check ins, Porter shares how he has strengthened his organization in ever-changing times.

We're joined by Angela LoBue, the COO of the Coalition for Responsible Community Development who takes us through the changes her organization has been through in order to keep serving vulnerable youth in South LA. This episode covers staying on top of new guidelines, keeping staff motivated and informed, and working with funders to release funds for critical projects.

It's unfortunate but true, many fundraising events scheduled for the next few months will not be able to go on, leaving organizations that count on event revenue in a tough situation.But there are options for your organization and your board.In this episode, Trent Stamp and Julie Lacouture talk to Michelle Gilmore of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Darren Diess, a benefit auctioneer, about their advice to organizations faced with canceling a fundraising event. This episode covers moving events online, redirecting donors to your mission, and the right way to message to your guests.

A few months ago Trent said organizations need to be using their 990s as marketing documents. So we followed up with an organization that caught his eye as telling a great financial story. We found much more than just a well written 990; we found an organization that was using every tool available to show the value of its organization. Dr. Kristen Paglia, the CEO of PS Arts, shares how her organization communicates its value using evaluation and data, but also how they use the organization budget and financials to tell that story. Its inspiring to hear how intentional they are about showing people the importance of arts education.

We had so much fun talking about volunteers a few episodes ago we decided to have another conversation about how to be strategic with your volunteers.

Should your organization be thinking about a social enterprise? Vivienne Lee of REDF joins us to talk about the reasons they succeed and the reasons they fail.

How do you find a visionary leader? John Brauer from New Horizons and Allison Fuller of Envision Consulting talk to us about recruiting top non-profit management.

Trent Stamp and Julie Lacouture talk about volunteer experience and managing volunteers. Joel Arquillos from 826LA discusses how his organization creates a sense of community with volunteers from recruiting, training, and retaining (and even getting them involved with fundraising!)

We're back for another season of How We Run. Trent Stamp and Julie Lacouture are aiming to find stories and advice from non-profits that you can put into action at your own organization.

In this episode of the How We Run podcast, Trent and Julie talk about raising money from foundations. Trent shares some of the mistakes non-profits make when applying for funds. Our guest this week is Melissa Khamvongsa, Senior Director of Institutional Giving at PATH (People Assisting the Homeless). Melissa shares how she builds relationships with funders, works with board members, and how, in applications, she answers the dreaded "sustainability" question.

Trent Stamp shares what funders look for on non-profit websites and reveals what worked for him in building an audience for Charity Navigator. The guest this week is Kamy Akhavan, CEO of ProCon.org, who shares his organization's journey from an audience of one to an audience of millions.

In this episode Trent and Julie talk about the issues around growing non-profit organizations and what happens when your vision exceeds the available funding. Our guest is Diane Brigham, the Executive Director of Ryman Arts, who talks about the creative tension between deepening services and serving more people.

Trent and Julie talk about what make a good board of directors and Trent shares what funders look for in a board. Nikky Canter Schulman, Chief of Staff of City Year Los Angeles shares how she manages a 30 person advisory board by making individual plans.

Sonya Passi, Founder and CEO of Free From, shares her journey from having an idea to starting a non-profit organization. Trent Stamp shares why he often counsels people not to start a non-profit.

Trent and Julie talk about how many fundraising events they've been to. Robert Egger of DC Central Kitchen and The LA Kitchen shares how his organization's fundraising event Shared Plates lets people stay home. And we get Trent's advice on better ways to build relationships with foundations.

Welcome to How We Run! Trent Stamp tells us about his career in the non-profit industry from working at Teach for America, founding Charity Navigator, and now running the Eisner Foundation. Nancy Goodhart, COO of EngAGE shares how her organization ensures quality across 40+ program sites, and we end with Trent's views on the state of non-profits today.