Fund the People: A Podcast with Rusty Stahl

Welcome to the Fund the People Podcast and our new special series, “Defend Nonprofits, Defend Democracy.” Why “Defend Nonprofits, Defend Democracy”? Because powerful nonprofits are part of a strong democracy, and a strong democracy benefits from powerful nonprofits. When nonprofits are under attack, democracy is under attack. And when democracy is at risk, nonprofits are at risk. It’s clear that i...

In this episode of the Fund The People Podcast, you’ll get an inside view of one foundation’s journey to investing in healthy nonprofit executive transitions - and helping other funders to do the same.  Host Rusty Stahl sits down with Liz Sak , Executive Director of Cricket Island Foundation , and Hana Sun , a consultant who manages the Foundation’s Leadership Transition Fund. They discuss Cricket...

Arum Lee Lansel , founder of ALL-in 4 Impact, shares her unique career journey from fashion design to international development, philanthropy, and venture capital. Driven by her immigrant family's experience and desire to create more equity, she has developed a deep understanding of how organizations can better support their employees. Her perspective bridges the worlds of venture capital and...

In this episode of the Fund the People podcast, host Rusty Stahl interviews Nneka Payne , Executive Director of Choose 180, a Seattle-area nonprofit that transforms oppressive systems and supports young people's healing and development. Payne shares her personal journey from experiencing the juvenile legal system firsthand to leading an organization that provides alternatives to prosecution an...

In this illuminating episode of the Fund The People podcast, Geoff Green , CEO of the California Association of Nonprofits (CalNonprofits), provides a masterclass on the economic and political power of California's nonprofit sector. Green explains how nonprofits, as the fourth-largest employer in California with 1.2 million workers, are often tasked with addressing the "externalized costs...

When politicians and elected officials try to brand nonprofits as “thugs,” “sleazebags,” and “terror-supporting orgs”, will you freeze? Take flight? Or stand up and fight back? In this episode, you’ll get: Tips on how the incoming Trump Administration may behave toward philanthropy and the nonprofit sector, and some important ways your organization can prepare and respond; An overview of what FTP...

Pay equity is a critical factor in attracting and retaining talent in the nonprofit sector, and organizations need to address pay disparities to ensure their long-term sustainability.    Our guest today is Sally Loftis , Managing Director of Loftis Partners, who discussed pay equity and the importance of investing in staff. We talk about the challenges faced by nonprofits in attracting and retaini...

On this episode of the Fund the People Podcast (S7:E4), you’ll get a bird’s eye view of the threats to nonprofits, civil society, and social movements around the world. And you’ll hear how one global funder has responded. Our guest today is Jamaica Maxwell , the Civil Society and Leadership Director at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.  We discuss the challenges faced by civil society globa...

In this episode, you’ll garner an important perspective on the nonprofit and philanthropic community from a professional coach who helps Black women executive leaders navigate the white spaces of our sector.  Guest Kelli King-Jackson reflects on the impact of racial politics on organizational culture. We discuss the need for nonprofits to adapt to a changing workforce, including generational diffe...

In this episode, you'll get a free-wheeling, big picture view of how organized philanthropy does and does not address issues impacting the nonprofit workforce.  Inside Philanthropy  journalist Dawn Wolfe writes about how funding for living wages and other fundamental matters related to nonprofit staffing. Why should we all be 'following the money'? Why should the hiring crisis not have...

As the nonprofit workforce crisis evolves into 2025, how funders respond to nonprofit burnout, compensation, recruitment, and retention challenges will be more important than ever. After a summer and fall hiatus, we’re back with a brand-new season of Fund the People’s Podcast , featuring insightful guests and valuable resources to help you invest in the nonprofit workforce!  Even though we haven’t...

We're launching Season 7 of Fund the People: A Podcast with Rusty Stahl tomorrow, Wednesday, Nov. 13! Tune in for interviews with knowledgeable guests as we explore nonprofit workforce funding challenges and success stories.

In our Season 6 finale episode, we mark Fund the People's 10th anniversary by launching our new initiative: the Funding that Works Academy . This new professional development platform equips funders, nonprofits, and intermediaries with the ideas and tools needed to provide effective funding solutions that advance good nonprofit jobs, and the wellbeing and sustainability of those working in nonprof...

In this brief episode, Rusty offers our loyal listeners a special sneak-peek into a new program offering being announced shortly from Fund the People! Don’t miss the inside scoop! Rusty also wraps-up Season 6 by comparing and contrasting stories from some of our amazing guests this season, and offers two key “Aha! moments:” First: when funders invest in the grantee workforce, it can be extremely b...

This episode makes clear the need for and value of talent-investing for community foundations and other place-focused funders. Our guest, Elizabeth Kidd of the Community Foundation of the Holland/Zeeland Area, demonstrates how even the most modest dollar amounts used in strategic, responsive talent-investing at key inflection points in the lifecycle of leaders and their institutions, can have expo...

In this episode, you’ll gain important insights into current issues in the nonprofit workforce, and how professional development is evolving in our sector, particularly but not exclusively as it relates to leaders and workers of color. Our guest is Yolanda Coentro of the Institute for Nonprofit Practice, one of the fastest-growing and most exciting professional development providers for nonprofits...

In today's episode, you'll learn strategies and practical tips for creating happy, healthy, nonprofit workers and workplaces. Our guest Beth Kanter is a leading expert on nonprofit technology and she is co-author of the book Happy, Healthy Nonprofit: Strategies for Impact Without Burnout . You'll learn about tangible tools for preventing burnout at the individual and organizational lev...

Dr. Akilah Watkins  is President and CEO of Independent Sector, one of the national organizations that pulls together our sector and represents it in Washington. Dr. Watkins has been on a national listening tour of the nonprofit sector since she took on this leadership role in January 2023. In this episode, she shares what she’s heard about the challenges facing the nonprofit workforce. She also s...

Have you ever thought that funder-sponsored organizational ‘capacity building’ may be detrimental to nonprofit workers and their communities? Today we talk about concrete ways we could improve the framing and practice of capacity building to better support the brilliance and resilience of diverse nonprofit workers and organizations. Today's guests are Melissa DeShields and Marcus Littles from...

This episode offers a powerful example of how funders and nonprofits can collaborate and advocate to reform government contracting, so that it works better for the nonprofit sector and the nonprofit workforce. You’ll learn how Mercedes Elizalde (Board member of the Nonprofit Association of Oregon), Felicita Monteblanco (Northwest Health Foundation) and others teamed up to advocate for state contra...

In this episode, you'll get concrete tips for ensuring that nonprofit workers have access to retirement savings from returning guest  Chitra Aiyar  of Just Futures. Chitra first joined us in  Season 3 Episode 10  in December of 2022, when we discussed what's wrong with nonprofit retirement. Today we'll discuss what's right with retirement.  This episode is focused on practical appr...

In this episode, you’ll hear how a new nonprofit executive can start-up innovative investments in employees from scratch, even in a 60-year-old organization with 200 staff.  Shaheer Mustafa tells his story about his work at HopeWell, a major foster care nonprofit in Massachusetts. When he took management of the $25 million budget with hundreds of staff, there was no internal capacity that you woul...

This episode spotlights how one foundation has made an ongoing commitment to supporting “healing justice” as part of its grantmaking.  We're pleased to speak with Desiree Flores, Executive Director of the General Service Foundation. As they say on the Foundation's website, "Social justice work can be affirming, invigorating, and nourishing. But for leaders in the struggle, the work ca...

Today's episode offers a view into how foundation executives can integrate talent-investing deeply into their philanthropic approach and how they can work with grantees in a practical fashion to ensure that they are motivated, incentivized and have the funding they need to pay appropriate thriving wages. This is the second in our special three-part series based on Fund the People's present...

We’re kicking-off Season 6 with a new 3-part special series, “How Funders Can Support Nonprofit Workers in the Age of Burnout.” It features speakers and topics from a panel discussion hosted by Fund the People at the Center for Effective Philanthropy conference in fall 2023. In this first episode of the series, you'll learn from a foundation executive director who's leading an important ne...