Nonprofit Lowdown

This month, as we head into the holiday giving season, we're featuring podcasts about fundraising!  This week, I'm chatting with Crystal Leochko Johnston, Founder of Eclipse Research to talk about how to identify and validate donor prospects.  Do you ever feel like fundraising is trying to find your way in the dark?  Ever hear your board tell you that they don't know anyone wealthy?...

Any ED will tell you that it feels like stress and pressure are part of the job.  Constant worry and panic got you down?  Join me and my buddy Shalini as we talk about strategies and tactics to make the time for self-care, how to use that four-letter word "H-E-L-P" and being responsible for your own energy.  Shalini is, like me, a recovering Executive Director and coach to leaders....

This week, I'm interviewing CEO and Co-founder of New Classrooms Joel Rose.  Joel started his career as a math teacher and created an organization that is re-thinking the classroom experience with technology.  While building New Classrooms, he shares his lessons learned about building an organization, the single most important practice for his team and the importance of being useful over...

Daniel Oscar: educator, nonprofit exec, marathoner.  Listen in to Daniel's gems of wisdom for staying the course in the nonprofit world.  Daniel helped Wendy Kopp build Teach for America and has been in various roles in the nonprofit/education reform sector since then.  He shares his tips on how to run the marathon and not the sprint, how to prioritize self-care and his best advice...

Have you ever walked away from a hard conversation feeling like a bomb went off and you didn't take cover?  Join me and my friend and mentor Jen Mayer, Founder of Becoming Better Together to talk about how to have hard conversations with fierceness and kindness, how to learn how to know thyself and how to be in the world even when it's uncomfortable. Jen is the queen of resources and offers t...

Join me for a chat with master coach and my former Board Chair Ted Federici to discuss the common pitfalls of leaders and the mistakes they make.  The job that we have as leaders is daunting and we sometimes do ourselves a disservice by being our own worst enemies.  Learn how to tame the ego, build trust and have the meeting before the meeting.  Bonus: you'll learn some of my favori...

Happy Birthday to Nonprofit Lowdown!  Thanks, listeners, for hanging with me for a year.  It's been a blast and a JOURNEY! For today's pod, I'm reviewing three books that have really taken my game to the next level.  There's something for everyone.  For organizational design geeks, there's Brave New Work .  For productivity and people who just need to get to work, there's...

We're back with our resident Technologista Emily Hicks-Rotella !  In today's pod, we talking about our favorite tech tools, tips and books for how to wrangle our to-do lists, get to inbox zero and manage our focus.  Too much to do and not enough time?  Join the club.  This is a must-listen if you're trying to get to work and for tech to work for you, not against you.   Som...

You know how there are people in your life who inspire you to level up your game?  Lisette Nieves is one of these people.  She's an educator, a do-er, a coach and an inspiration.  On today's pod we talk about the challenges of managing a board and staff and how to make people feel USEFUL is more important than making them feel happy.  We discuss the dangers of a bored board, wh...

People: your biggest asset and perhaps your biggest pain point.  Join me on today's pod with organizational strategist, human capital and DEI expert Sydney Henriques-Payne to explore some of the obstacles and opportunities with your people.  How do you spark cultural change?  How do you bring on the right level of leader for the maturity of your organization?  How do you put DE...

Humans.  So complicated, amirite? Today I'm talking with Laura Wolff at Ideas42 about the work they do with nonprofits to boost positive behavioral change.  Learn some quick tips and tricks about lowering friction to desired behaviors and how to make teenagers do things.  We discuss simple changes that make a big impact from increasing enrollment to Gifted and Talented programs to d...

This one is for all you Founders out there.  Join me as I chat with my friend and professional coach Paul Thallner as we talk about the pitfalls of leadership.  How does one go from a passionate person with a start-up to an effective organizational leader?  How do you use the power of story-telling and narrative to shape culture and why does being a leader just suck sometimes? &nbsp...

I don't think you're ready for this jelly.   Two of the fiercest Asian-American women I know are with me on today's pod and we're ready to torch the patriarchy. Join me and my buds Seisei and Cosmo as we discuss what it means to be an Asian-American in the social justice space, how we can use our own privilege in service to others and why the Harvard lawsuit is a wedge issue.  Also, for...

What's harder than raising $5M for operating?  How about $34M for a new building?  Join me and my dear friend Amanda Kraus, Founder and CEO of Row NY , to talk about what she's learned about launching a capital campaign for their beautiful new Harlem-based boathouse.  In this convo, we talk about how to know when you're ready, how to avoid cannibalizing your annual fund donors and t...

You're not bossy if you are the boss. Today I'm talking with my friend Tammy Dowley-Blackman about her journey as a leader, the challenges faced by folks of color in the development field and how she went from Executive Director to launching her own consulting firm.  We talk about the strategy of scaling, how to think about the business and why motherhood inspired her to be an entrepreneur. &...

In today's pod, I'm talking with Judy Levine , Executive Director of Cause Effective.  Judy and her team just released an important white paper about the state of fundraisers of color in the nonprofit industry.    Some value bombs: The single most important factor of success for a fundraiser of color is a supportive Executive Director. People who make the transition into senior deve...

This is the original bosslady.  On today's pod, I'm talking with former CEO of iMentor and Executive Coach Caroline Kim Oh.  We're spilling the tea on all the things including being the Only Ones in rooms, how Asian Americans have been misused as the "model minority" and how to start your own biz.  As more EDs are leaving their positions, listen to one former ED's story of how she s...

Happy July 4th!  Free yourself from the tyranny of white supremacist hiring practices!  Join me for a great conversation with consultant Judy Pryor-Ramirez about how to source, hire and retain folks of color.  Some value bombs: 1) how to assess your current practices 2) how to question white supremacist paradigms in hiring 3) what "Real Talk with Judy" means. For more information ab...

So, fun fact: I've always secretly wanted to be a Navy SEAL.  Or a Marine.  Join me on today's pod with my friend retired Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Bill Wroten.   Here's a value bomb for you: You lead people and manage processes.  Once you talk about managing people, you've reduced them to processes and that's why they don't feel ownership. Boom!

How much of a pain point is hiring for you?  Are you looking to diversify your pool, make your process more equitable and inclusive and retain a diverse workforce?  Duh, aren't we all?  Join me as I chat with Anthony Barrows , Managing Director of Ideas42 , as we talk about how they have redesigned their process to mitigate implicit bias.   For NYC-based nonprofits, check out t...

Today we're chatting with my buddy, Morty Ballen , who lived through the go-go days of charter school expansion.  As the CEO and Founder of Explore Schools, Morty oversaw the replication of three schools in an eight year period.  He shares his lessons learned (spoiler alert: it's the people!) and what is on the other side of leaving after 20 years of being the CEO.  Morty is humble,...

Join me on today's pod as I talk with veteran nonprofit leader, Jane Martinez Dowling.  In today's chat, Jane discusses how her experience as a first-gen college-going, Dominican-American woman has influenced her leadership.  She's been in the top job in three different organizations and also touches on how to be a boss and a mom.  Spoiler alert: leave the guilt and judgement behind...

Today, we're speaking with our resident Tech Goddess, Emily Hicks-Rotella about how technology and spirituality are connected.  This conversation is a little more whoo-whoo than others we've had so feel free to skip it if it's not your jam.  We talk about what it means to have a single source of truth, how technology can connect us to our purpose and clarity and how you don't have to go...

So. Many. Truth. Bombs.  This interview with The Ready 's Sam Spurlin.  I reached out to Sam because I'm OBSESSED with the book Brave New Work by Aaron Dignan.  So often in organizations when things aren't working, when communication breaks down, when we're having meetings about meetings--well, it just makes you crazy.  Sam talks about how our approach to organizational change...

Usually, we feature episodes that help nonprofit executives to run their nonprofits better.  Today, we're talking with Clara Chow about her work in creating pathways to financial sustainability and a product that can help low-income Americans from falling prey to payday loans.  I've seen what financial instability and predatory lending practices have done to families.  Take a listen...