The Nonprofit Show

Send us Fan Mail What happens when you stop fishing for board members in the same small pond and start casting into the ocean? According to TD Smyers, CEO and co-founder of BoardBuild.org, you get a board that actually reflects the people you serve and a lot more horsepower where it counts. TD admits he learned the hard way. Traditional recruiting leans almost entirely on the social circles of exe...

Send us Fan Mail When nonprofits tackle a major platform shift, the tech is only half the story. JMT Consulting pros Brady Haslebacher (Director of Program Management) and Dagmar “Dagi” Stanton (Manager of Education Services) map out the human and operational moves that make change stick.  This informative episode breaks down why big projects stall—no top-down buy-in, poor internal communication,...

Send us Fan Mail We sat down with Amos Balongo, keynote speaker and communications coach, to explore a subject rarely discussed in the nonprofit space — personal visibility . Amos challenges the traditional mindset that humility and impact must exist in separate spheres, proposing instead that visibility is both a professional asset and a form of leadership. Speaking from Honolulu, Amos sets the s...

Send us Fan Mail Craig Shelley, CEO of Schultz & Williams, joins Show host Julia Patrick, as they examine how philanthropy and nonprofit leadership are being reshaped under persistent uncertainty. Craig frames the moment succinctly: skepticism toward institutions is rising, which means nonprofits must state their values plainly and show exactly how funds power outcomes. The rubric he uses —“ c...

Send us Fan Mail Joint fundraising: bold idea, complicated feelings. On this Fundraisers Friday, Julia C. Patrick and Tony Beall swap real-world stories and field notes on how small and midsize nonprofits can team up without tripping over turf, lists, or logistics. Julia sets the table with a grin —“They’re super tricky, they’re very interesting, and I think there’s a lot of fear around it ”—then...

Send us Fan Mail The phrase “overhead myth” still haunts the nonprofit world like a stubborn ghost. Host Julia C. Patrick sits down with Adam Holzberg, Partner and CPA at SAX Advisory Group , to teach viewers why judging nonprofits by their administrative expenses misses the point—and how education, transparency, and storytelling can replace outdated thinking with real understanding. Adam defines...

Send us Fan Mail Temporary work isn’t a consolation prize—it’s a lever. In this candid conversation, Staffing Boutique’s Director of Recruitment, Dana Scurlock , reframes the temp path as a smart way to stay employed, sharpen skills, and earn while exploring fit. She traces her roots to a temp desk in 2006 and explains why the market’s realities—shorter tenures, year-end crunches, and staffing ban...

Send us Fan Mail Fundraising folklore says the “one big donor” will save the day! Katie Gaston, Director of Product Marketing at Bloomerang, dismantles that ‘chase’ and replaces it with steady, systems-based fundraising. Katie frames her role in product marketing as disciplined storytelling: know your audience, understand what they care about, and read the landscape by listening, surveying, and re...

Send us Fan Mail Julia C. Patrick and Tony Beall get practical about recruiting fundraising talent when Q4 urgency is peaking. They open with empathy for development teams sprinting toward holiday giving, then move straight into the realities leaders must manage: retention, clarity, and smarter channels for sourcing candidates. Tony reminds us of the data behind turnover—average tenure around 19 m...

Send us Fan Mail Dwyer Workforce Development is rewriting what “possible” looks like for a young, fast-scaling nonprofit. In this compelling conversation, CEO Barb Clapp traces a journey that began with a blank slate in September 2022 and now stands at 10,000 Dwyer Scholars across seven states—with a confident path to 100,000 by 2030. The spark came from founder Jack Dwyer’s twin commitments: expa...

Send us Fan Mail Nonprofits don’t just need more messages—they need messages that move people. In this fast-paced episode we welcome persuasion instructor and longtime marketer Dean Batson to show how science-based communication turns attention into action. Batson traces his path from launching a digital agency to teaching persuasion at Arizona State University, where he studies the shortcuts our...

Send us Fan Mail ROI and culture rarely share the same sentence in nonprofit circles—yet that’s exactly the connection guest Carrie Wright (Wright Consulting) makes with co-hosts Wendy F. Adams and Julia C. Patrick . Carrie argues that retention, performance, and donor experience begin inside the walls: “You will never serve your clients beyond the level of which you serve one another.” If teams a...

Send us Fan Mail When a nonprofit founder steps away, the organization often faces one of the most emotional and uncertain chapters in its history. In this episode, Joan Brown , Chief Operating Officer at Interim Executives Academy, and Catherine Bradshaw , Senior Search Specialist at EOS Transition Partners, discuss the delicate art of following a founder and building stability during leadership...

Send us Fan Mail If you want donors to move, tell them exactly where to go. In this Fundraisers Friday conversation, Julia C. Patrick and Tony Beall turn vague appeals into precise, energizing calls to action (CTA’s)—across giving, events, engagement, volunteering, and advocacy. Tony lays the foundation early : “Start with the call to action. What do I want folks to do?” When you begin with the ou...

Send us Fan Mail Matt Glazer arrives with runner’s grit and a teacher’s patience, asking nonprofit leaders to reconsider what “success” really means when the pace gets punishing and the stakes feel permanent. Blue Sky Partners , he explains, is built on human-centered design—strategy that starts with people, not paperwork—because “things happen with people, not to them.” That simple reframing land...

Send us Fan Mail Cybersecurity isn’t just firewalls and tech jargon—it’s people, habits, and everyday choices. Kicking off National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we bring together two voices who live this every day: Michael Nouguier , Partner, Cybersecurity Services at Richey May, and Tony Rehmer , Senior VP of IT at Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals (CMN Hospitals ). Their message is clear: s...

Send us Fan Mail Boards don’t magically run themselves—and this lively discussion proves it. Strategist and facilitator Mary Kay Delvo of Inspiring Sight lays out a practical path for turning board service from a vague obligation into purposeful leadership. She starts with a truth we all feel: “If they knew better, they’d do better.” Most board members were never taught governance, so we must teac...

Send us Fan Mail Nonprofits talk about programs, fundraising, and boards—but rarely about how to build and lead a modern finance team . JMT Consulting’s Taylor Bost and Samantha Tiso deliver a clear, practical playbook for turning finance from a back-office function into a strategic engine. Samantha reframes the relationship right out of the gate : “We view the finance department as the customer s...

Send us Fan Mail Financial leadership is more than numbers—it’s the heartbeat of nonprofit sustainability. In this Nonprofit Power Week finale of The Nonprofit Show , Regional Director Ellie Hume of Your Part-Time Controller (YPTC) brings clarity and candor to some of the most frequently asked financial questions. With an “Ask and Answer” format, the conversation covers everything from roles and r...

Send us Fan Mail In this Nonprofit Power Week conversation, we sit down with Jen Blasy, Manager at Your Part-Time Controller, to confront a topic many organizations would rather avoid: fraud in the nonprofit sector. Jen is unequivocal about the stakes: “Fraud has been a constant. It may look different, but it’s still happening.” She explains why the sector’s empathy, trust, and lean staffing model...

Send us Fan Mail Nonprofits want the speed of automation and the promise of AI—but Alicia Eastvold, Department Leader for Client Technology Solutions at Your Part-Time Controller (YPTC), explains why many orgs stall at the starting line: messy, bloated, and fragmented data. Her central thesis is simple and powerful: “We can’t speed things up if it’s not organized, and we can’t write simple rules a...

Send us Fan Mail Scenario planning often sounds like a board retreat buzzword, but in this Nonprofit Power Week episode it becomes a practical playbook with receipts. Director Tesa Piccioni of Your Part-Time Controller (YPTC) reframes uncertainty as a routine operating condition, not a meteor strike. Her thesis is disarmingly simple: “ Let’s take the un out of uncertainty and accept that certain t...

Send us Fan Mail A very timely discussion with Derick Dreher of Your Part-Time Controller (YPTC) about what a federal budget stalemate really means for everyday nonprofit operations. Rather than getting lost in D.C. noise, Derick helps translate the process into plain decisions leaders can make right now. He distinguishes the big-picture spending framework from the agency-level appropriations that...

Send us Fan Mail Julia C. Patrick and Tony Beall turn board jitters into momentum with a simple, generous framework: four board roles that make fundraising feel natural, human, and actually fun. Julia sets the tone with a zinger that boards will remember: “This is not a no situation. This is a KNOW situation.” From there, Tony maps the path : “Prospector, cultivator, solicitor, and steward—four ve...

Send us Fan Mail Donor communication isn’t a seasonal chore—it’s the garden you tend all year. In this lively conversation, James Misner, Founder & Owner of The Kipos Group (Greek for “garden”), shows how consistent, human-centered messages keep supporters engaged, confident, and eager to act. His opening frame is memorable: schools send multiple reminders for an early bus drop-off because peo...