Nonprofit Build Up

Do you know what strengthens fundraising and development efforts? Knowing your organization's infrastructure. And we have seen organizations with a firm grasp on their organizational infrastructure needs fare considerably better than organizations that are unaware. Why should you think about building infrastructure when you are fundraising or engaged in development? In this episode, Nic gives...

Nic had a fascinating conversation with a nonprofit President & CEO about diversity, equity, and inclusion. Throughout their conversation they talked about indicators that show when nonprofits and philanthropies are serious and intentional about DEI. In fact, those lingering thoughts are what inspired this episode! Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is a critical component in building a ro...

Nic has listened to and helped nonprofit leaders tell compelling stories for more than a decade. Her work has shown her that there is a strong connection between a nonprofit’s ability to say, “No,” to a grant and compelling storytelling. In this episode, Nic shares the final indicator of infrastructure strength that is connected to an organization’s ability to say, “No,” to funding – storytelling....

Before we start, we encourage you to ask yourself a couple of questions. Does it really matter how you build your infrastructure? Does how you build your infrastructure determine whether you can say, “No,” to a grant? In this episode, Nic shares the second of three indicators of infrastructure strength that are connected to an organization’s ability to say, “No,” to funding – brave infrastructure...

In this episode, Nic explores the connection between infrastructure and the ability to say, “No,” to a grant. She shares the first of 3 indicators of infrastructure strength that are connected to an organization’s ability to say, “No,” to funding – revenue diversification. Being terrified of even the thought of saying, “No,” to a sizable grant is often an indicator of a weakened infrastructure, na...

When you think of innovation, do you also think about accountability? Do you think you need accountability in your infrastructure in order to innovate? In this episode, Nic shares the second building block about infrastructure and innovation – true innovation requires accountability. Having built organizational infrastructure for years now, Nic sees accountability as the element that heavily contr...

This episode was inspired by Nic’s conversation with a nonprofit CEO where they talked a lot about how nonprofits and philanthropies often focus on innovation as an outcome or a specific point in time. The conversation really made us reflect. In the nonprofit sector, we often hear the word, innovation, but we do not talk as much about how an organization “becomes innovative.” And we struggle with...

This week on the Nonprofit Build Up, we are continuing the grant making discussion, in particular, making grants to individuals. This episode was recorded as an episode from our Fast Build Friday series, a web-series where we quickly build what you know about infrastructure design in the nonprofit sector.     If you are not making grants to individuals because you do not know how or are afraid of...

Over the next two weeks on the Nonprofit Build Up, we are discussing grant making. This week we are focusing on making grants to organizations that are not US public charities. This episode was recorded as an episode from our Fast Build Friday series, a web-series where we quickly build what you know about infrastructure design in the nonprofit sector.    In this episode, you will hear 3 key recom...

This week on the Nonprofit Build Up, we are continuing the discussion on transitioning from concept to public charity. This episode was recorded as an episode from our Fast Build Friday series, a web-series where we quickly build what you know about infrastructure design in the nonprofit sector.  In this episode, Nic shares the second of two key considerations for transitioning to public charity s...

This week on the Nonprofit Build Up, we are discussing transitioning from concept to public charity. This episode was recorded as an episode from our Fast Build Friday series, a web-series where we quickly build what you know about infrastructure design in the nonprofit sector.    In this episode, you will hear the first of two key considerations for transitioning to public charity status. The fir...

This week on the Nonprofit Build Up, Nic is talking with Jeanette Adelson and Earl Thomason, founding Board Co-Chair's of Foundation of Freedom. Foundation of Freedom is a community led 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization focused on addressing the racial wealth gap by volunteering at Black owned businesses, producing educational programming, and economic activism campaigns. Jeanette is the Found...

This week on the Nonprofit Build Up, we are continuing the discussion on infrastructure considerations for nonprofit or social-impact start-ups. This episode was recorded as an episode from our Fast Build Friday® series, a web-series where we quickly build what you know about infrastructure design in the nonprofit sector. Before listening to this episode, we encourage you to ponder a few questions...

This week on the Nonprofit Build Up, we are discussing infrastructure considerations for nonprofit or social-impact start-ups. This episode was recorded as an episode from our Fast Build Friday® series, a web-series where we quickly build what you know about infrastructure design in the nonprofit sector. We think a compelling vision and strategy is at the core of sustainability for nonprofit and s...

This week on the Nonprofit Build Up, we are continuing to share practical recommendations for nonprofits for surviving the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. This second part of the discussion was originally recorded as a webinar in March 2020 to address the difficult questions that surfaced as a result of the crisis. In this episode, Nic shares funding conversation fundamentals that nonprofits can use...

This week on the Nonprofit Build Up, we are sharing practical recommendations for nonprofits for surviving the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. This episode was originally recorded as a webinar in March 2020 to address the difficult questions that surfaced as a result of the crisis. Although a year and a half has passed since the original presentation, we felt that it was pertinent to share this info...

This week on the Nonprofit Build Up, we’re continuing our conversation about general support funding. This episode was originally recorded as a webinar with Angelyn Frazer-Giles, Executive Director at the National Network for Justice . In this episode, Nic gets technical and discusses how to request general support grants and how to structure these awards to nonprofits and social-impact entities....

This week on the Nonprofit Build Up, we are making the case for general support funding. This episode was originally recorded as a webinar with Angelyn Frazer-Giles , Executive Director of the National Network for Justice . Angelyn was previously featured on the Nonprofit Build Up Episode 9- Increasing Access for Grassroots Organizations. You will hear us talk a lot about general support funding o...

This week on the Nonprofit Build Up, we are discussing general support funding. This episode was recorded as the very first episode from our Fast Build Friday series, a web-series where we quickly build what you know about infrastructure design in the nonprofit sector.   You may hear us talk a lot about general support funding or flexible funding on the Nonprofit Build Up podcast. Many leaders in...

This week on the Nonprofit Build Up, Nic is talking with Sarah Shanley Hope. Sarah is the VP of Brand + Partnerships at The Solutions Project following seven years as the organization’s first Executive Director. Under Sarah’s leadership, the organization transformed its mission and culture to center racial and gender equity, launched the field’s first and only award-winning intermediary climate an...

This week on the Nonprofit Build Up, we are defining infrastructure. This episode was recorded as an episode from our Fast Build Friday series, a web-series where we quickly build what you know about infrastructure design in the nonprofit sector. There are so many definitions of infrastructure floating around. And since we use the term ‘infrastructure’ frequently throughout this podcast, we wanted...

This week on the Nonprofit Build Up, Nic is talking with  Shawn Dove . Shawn was the founding Chief Executive Officer of the Campaign for Black Male Achievement or CBMA, a national membership organization committed to improving the life outcomes for Black men and boys. Under Shawn’s leadership, CBMA leveraged more than $212 million in national and local funds for Black Male Achievement, and has gr...

This week on the Nonprofit Build Up, Nic is talking with Shawn Dove . Shawn was the founding Chief Executive Officer of the Campaign for Black Male Achievement or CBMA, a national membership organization committed to improving the life outcomes for Black men and boys. Under Shawn’s leadership, CBMA leveraged more than $212 million in national and local funds for Black Male Achievement, and has gro...

This week on the Nonprofit Build Up, we’re talking Veta Richardson . Veta is President and CEO of the Association of Corporate Counselor (ACC), the world’s largest professional association for in-house counsel. With more than 43,000 members spanning 85 nations and staff located in North America, Asia, Australia, and soon, Europe, ACC offers a global voice and thought leadership for the in-house co...

This week on the Nonprofit Build Up, we’re talking Jim Shelton . Jim is the Chief Impact and Investment Officer at Blue Meridian Partners, a philanthropic vehicle that identifies and scales solutions to the problems trapping youth and their families in poverty. He also serves as a Senior Advisor to KKR Global Impact and is a nonresident Fellow at the Brookings Institute.  Jim was the co-founder of...