Episode 60: Nonprofit Sustainability - Active Leadership
The most successful nonprofits have leaders who actively seek out resources, partnerships, technology, and people to improve their organization. Active leadership is the driver behind a nonprofit’s sustainability. Get tips on how to shift into active mode!
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NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT: CancerCare
Podcast Transcript
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to On Air with Amber Wynn, where nonprofit leaders learned to fuse passion and commitment with proven business strategies to create long-term funding, impact, and sustainability. And now here's your host and resident Philanthrepreneur, Amber Wynn.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Hey, fam, it's Amber back on air again with On Air with Amber Wynn. So excited to be in your space today. Today we are going to talk about active leadership. Active leadership is the foundation of nonprofits sustainability. What does it mean? I'm going to dive in a whole lot deeper when we come back, but let's just say active leadership is you as a nonprofit leader lifting up stones and looking behind doors and just really getting as much information as you can to move your nonprofit forward. Active leadership is the cornerstone of nonprofit sustainability because when you know where the resources are, then you reinforce your nonprofit. I send out a lot of resources to my nonprofit organizations because I know that a lot of time their tunnel vision, right, their head is down to the ground. They're trying to run programs, they're trying to manage the board, and it is a lot to do.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
And here's what I have to say to you. If you are in a space of active leadership, you may see it initially as you know something else to do, but sometimes you dig a little deep up under the surface and you create opportunities, and I'm talking from personal experience, both in my nonprofit world and now as a consultant. I have accessed so many opportunities just by sitting on a webinar, just by signing up for a newsletter. I tell everyone all the time, I am not a grant writer. I am not. But in the last month, I have written three grants because I have received notifications from funding sources about opportunities, and so I've written three grants and it's not because of anything other than me putting out feelers, me putting myself in the space of where can I get information. We're going to talk a little bit more about that when we get back. Today we're talking about active leadership.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
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Speaker 2 (04:00):
Welcome back to On Air with Amber. Today we're talking about active leadership and how it leads to nonprofit sustainability. Listen, there's a difference between leadership and active leadership. Leadership is when you have the ability to lead, influence and guide people or guide your organization, right? Basically, you are aligning your collective direction and executing a strategic plan. That's what a leader does, right? You set the vision, you put infrastructure in place for that vision to then come into fruition. You rally your people, you get your people to move towards a common goal. That is leadership. Active leadership leads to sustainability because it leads to resources. Active leadership is when you seek information, when you seek resources, when you seek opportunities, and you do that by putting yourself in spaces where those opportunities are. What does that look like? That looks like you attending community forums. It's where you participate in webinars.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
It's being placed on newsletters, job postings, things that's going to give you access to information you would otherwise not have. Now, it can get out of control. I am constantly looking for resources for my nonprofits because I know that everybody's not there yet, but I can't be your sole source of information gathering. You need to put yourself in places where you're creating opportunities. For example, let's just say your elected official is hosting a town hall or some type of webinar. Participate, because you may hear something that then you can leverage, right?. So I sit on webinars all the time and I find information and I'll send it to my nonprofit. Hey, as a matter of fact, I got one of my nonprofits, a workforce investment contract. She was doling out $20,000 to get her clinicians trained, and just by me sitting on that webinar, I was able to make that connection.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
That's active leadership. She took that information, she put in the work, and now she has a contract with the Workforce Investment Board, so she gets to save $20,000 of her budget because of that information. That's what you need to do. As I mentioned before we went to the break, I was on a newsletter here in LA they have a lot of money going into alternatives for incarceration, so they want to invest in community-based organizations to reduce the number of people being incarcerated. It is an amazing initiative and there are tons of funding in it, and there are eight categories, and my company qualify for category number eight, which is capacity building, and because I clicked on and signed up for the newsletter, I received notice that says, Hey, here's funding, and typically that funding is specifically for the community based organizations, but I skim through them and here's what you do because I know what you're going to say.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
You're going to say, I don't have time for all of that. I don't need all of that information in my email, but when I tell you it can lead to long-term sustainability, it is worth the investment. Here is what I do. In the morning I put on my glasses because I'm half blind and it's super duper blurry and I take 15 minutes and I read through all of my emails, 15 minutes. I don't go more than that, and I look for resources and I have a folder that says Funding Resources, and I put them in that folder. Then at the end of the day, right? A half hour before I clock out, I read through those resources and if those resources benefit me, then they go into another folder that says, Amber Wynn. If they benefit my nonprofits, then they go into that and then I distribute them so it becomes a practice, and then after four or five emails, if the newsletter isn't presenting itself with valuable information, then unsubscribe.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
I'll do that. I'm like, Ooh, this looks interesting. Let me see if this newsletter can provide me with information for my nonprofits or for my business. After four or five, if I don't see anything that does either one of those, I unsubscribe. Generally speaking, I get tons of information. Hey, join this webinar. This webinar is about this and this, and I'll jump on a webinar. I'll block it off in my calendar because more times than not, I've gotten some type of beneficial information from it, either for my nonprofits or for my business. It is your responsibility as a nonprofit leader to actively grow your organization. The only way you can actively grow your organization is if you're getting resources, is if you're getting information, so keeping yourself in this silo is going to keep your organization small. The more information you get, the more resources you get, the more your organization is going to grow.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Listening to my podcast is active leadership. I hope that once you listen, you get ideas, you get resources, and it's helping to expand your organization, wonderful. Replicate that, duplicate that, triplicate that. Get other resources. There are other nonprofit podcasts out there. There are other organizations that are providing training. I list some of them as sponsors on my organization, I mean on my podcast. You have Nonprofit Ready; they provide training. Go on there and take some of the courses, go on there and look at what other options they provide you so that you can grow yourself as a leader. Then go to some of your elected officials, look on their websites. Maybe they're having a community meeting. Attend the community meeting and listen, you don't have to go every month. Make it a point to go three times a year or twice a year because maybe at that elected official town hall, they're going to announce, Oh, we've got funding coming down the pike, and if you want to apply for it, here's the criteria.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
I can't tell you the number of times I've been in a meeting and I've learned about some resource. Or maybe you're at the meeting and you're talking about what you do and a person says, Hey, I need to connect with you. I can't tell you how many times that's happened to me, bet, here's my business card, let's connect. And then it's turned into something else. For me, I've also put myself in a place of service, so I'm in a space and I'm providing information, just providing information because I have it and because I want my community to be strong, and as a result of being in that space and sharing what I do, I've gotten contracts, I've done webinars, trainings, and people who are on that webinar who are a part of their organization and they see the need, they reach out to me and say, Hey, can you give the same training for my organization?
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Absolutely. But it is me putting myself in that space where I am exposed to other organizations where I'm potentially exposed to funders that makes me active. I'm active and engaged. It's not enough to just be in your organization and lead. You need to put yourself in spaces where you create opportunities and where opportunities exist. That is active leadership and because nonprofit resources come in different ways, it's not always going to be a grant. Sometimes it's meeting a person. You meet a person, you form a relationship. There's some synergy. You may get a subcontract from that, or you could be talking to a person and they'll be like, Oh, I can get this donated because they have connections. You just never know. I've put myself in spaces and I've gotten people say, Oh, come by here and give you, we got this donation from Lady Gaga, this makeup that she's doing.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I'm like, really? Yes. Give me the donation. You just don't know, but if you're not in those spaces, you won't have access to those opportunities. So active leadership is extremely important in nonprofits. It just is. We mentioned on a previous episode that 69% of funding comes from individual donors. How do you get in front of those donors? You get in front of those donors by being in spaces where they are or people who know them are. Someone could say, oh, I know somebody on this board who's a perfect connection with you. You have similar missions you need to meet. You just never know what's going to come from it. So, I am saying to you, having been an executive director, I know that you have a lot on your plate, but you can actually flip the script. So where you're not working so hard, put yourself intentionally in spaces where you have access to opportunities, and what it will do is it will increase your capacity. Because think about it, if you're at this event, somebody introduces you to a funder, you get that grant.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
That's less work you have to do. So how do you go about that? When you're everything and you're doing everything, start off small. Start off with taking webinars or signing up for webinars, and if they have a replay, listen to it while you're folding your laundry, right? Start by signing up for newsletters and doing what I do in the morning. Take 15 minutes, skim through the newsletter, see if there's any resource. Bam. Start by attending one event a month, one event. This month it may be an elected official, next month it may be a funder. The month after that … one event a month. I'm not trying to overwhelm you, but I am trying to get you to get outside of your silo because when you are in other spaces, then you get access to other opportunities. Active leadership, I know you can do it.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
I know you can, and when you do it, you're going to see the benefit and you're going to be like, Oh my gosh, this is amazing. That was my experience as an executive director and I saying this from personal because I was like, I've got grants to write. I've got curriculum to develop. I've got a board. I don't have time. But when my mentor's like You can't afford not to; shifted my whole perspective because I trusted my mentor. And she's like, Just do one a month and I did one a month, and I start seeing all of the resources that came from being in the space where people who know more than what I know or people who have more than I have, and it changed my perspective and I've never looked back. So I am sharing that tidbit with you. Get out there, get active, bring in your resources. If they don't work after four or five, delete them. Unsubscribe. If you go to three or four and you don't see any resources, go to someone else, but try, try. Put yourself in a place where you can access resources. All right, I'm going to jump off my soapbox and we're going to take a break, but when we get back, it's Ask Amber.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
Calling or texting all small business owners and nonprofits. Did you know 95% of text messages are read and responded to within three minutes of being received? Nothing is more direct or immediate, and that's just one reason to add SMS capability to any Constant Contact plan. Another, it's smart marketing, really smart with all of your digital marketing tools in one place, Constant Contact makes sure you are connecting with the right people at the right time in the channels they prefer. So you can reach, engage, and keep more customers. Whether you're promoting a sale, announcing an event, or encouraging donations, adding SMS to your digital marketing strategy just makes sense and a lot of dollars too. Constant Contact.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Welcome back to On Air with Amber. It's your girl, Amber Wynn, Philanthrepreneur, and now we're at the episode where you get to Ask Amber your question. You have a question for me? I have an answer for you. If you have a question, you can reach out to me on any of my socials. You can visit my website. I'm on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and you can email me at amberwynn.net. Today's question comes from my Instagram and it's from Roland, and Roland says, Hi, Amber. My name is Roland reaching out from Detroit. Hey Detroit. My question is about legacy building. I started my nonprofit to make a difference in my community and to pass down my legacy to my children, to build generational wealth. My question is, can I place my nonprofit into a trust to safeguard after I transition so that my children can inherit it? First of all, Roland, kudos to you for thinking about generational wealth.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
I'm all with that. Unfortunately though, no, you cannot. First of all, a nonprofit can never be owned, not by a person, not by a group of people, and because it's a public charity. That is the number one thing that defines it as a public charity. No one person or no group of people can benefit from it, so if you can't own it, you can't benefit from it, and to put an asset into a trust because that's what you're doing. You're putting your assets into a trust. When you put them in your trust, it means then that you benefit from it, right? If you own it, then there's a benefit from it, so that's just not a possibility with the nonprofit. In terms of putting something in a trust, if you want to put a business in a trust, which you absolutely can, I have my business in a trust, then it needs to be a for-profit.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
You can do an LLC, you can do a Corporation because you can generate revenue and you can sell it, and you can pass that on to your children, but you can't do that as a nonprofit. As a matter of fact, I know many nonprofits where the parents started the nonprofit and then they transitioned, and so then their children took over as executive director, and the board decided they wanted to go in a different direction, so they let go of the child, and they can do that even though that parent spent 30 years building up that organization, building up relationships, it doesn't matter because a nonprofit cannot be owned and therefore cannot be passed down to future generations. I'm sorry, but that is truth and it's better that now, so that in the event that you try to set it up, it's not going to happen, okay?.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Roland, that was an absolute amazing question. Thank you so much, and if anyone out there has any other questions for me, feel free to contact me. But now we're going to move on to my favorite portion of the podcast where I get to spotlight a nonprofit, out there doing the amazing work, and this episode we are going to focus on CancerCare. CancerCare was founded in 1944, and it's the leading national organization providing free professional support services and information to help people manage the emotional, practical, and financial challenges of cancer. Let's take a look at CancerCare.
Speaker 5 (20:52):
My name is Trish Goldsmith and I am the chief Executive Officer at CancerCare and have been in the oncology field for over 20 years. CancerCare was founded in 1944. At that time, it was really designed to help individuals financially and psychosocially that had a diagnosis of cancer. The organization has never wavered from its mission of providing help and hope to anyone who's been diagnosed with cancer. So there are many, many unique aspects of CancerCare that are really quite wonderful. First, we are an organization that serves individuals that have been diagnosed with any type of cancer. We don't just serve the cancer patient, we serve anyone who's been impacted. It may be a child, it may be a parent, it may be a grandparent. And our model is particularly unique in that the first point of contact for everyone who's reaching out to CancerCare, no matter what their need is with a master's prepared oncology social worker. The social workers are specifically trained in dealing with individuals that have been impacted by a diagnosis of cancer, and that social worker can help them navigate through things that are going on in their life and match them with the various resources.
Speaker 5 (22:14):
It's somewhat of one-stop shop. CancerCare's contributions to the oncology community are immeasurable, so not only of course the very practical help and hope that last year directly supported 180,000 individuals in 90% of the counties in the United States, but also it's really setting the standard for psychosocial care in oncology and a model that works and a model that certainly is patient-centric. Out of the blue, 10 days before I started my role as CEO at CancerCare, I myself was diagnosed with cancer. It was very difficult. It was very difficult to deal with and look at the treatment options. The side effects. Navigate through getting the treatment that I needed while being able to work. I was very fortunate that I had great insurance and a network of individuals at many of the finest cancer centers across the country. Most people don't have that, so for me, it makes it all the more important each and every day to do what I can to make sure that we're there for anyone who's been impacted by a diagnosis of cancer. Pick up the phone if you think you need to talk to CancerCare. We understand what it's like to be impacted with the diagnosis of cancer, and we are here for you.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Thank you CancerCare. If you need access to this amazing support, if this is an organization that resonates with you and what you're passionate about and you want to donate, reach out to them at www.cancercare.org. All right, and so now it's time for my Mindset Minute. It's where I pause for a minute to share with you my thoughts on something that's just been swirling up inside of my head. Today we've been talking about active leadership. Active leadership as it pertains to nonprofit sustainability. and my question for you is, Are you training your board? Yes, you as the founder or the executive director, you need to be active in accessing resources, but your board is responsible for two things. One, guiding the nonprofit organization and two fundraising. And if your board is not doing either one of those, then they are not being active leaders, and so what I'm going to encourage you to do is to get your board in the space of active leadership.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Your board is supposed to be your brand ambassador. That means they're out there talking about the amazing work that you're doing. That means that they are accessing resources to bring back to the organization to reduce the amount of money that you're spending to increase the amount of revenue that's coming in, and if they're not doing that, they're not doing their job. Here's the thing, there are three phases in a nonprofit board. There's the founding where it's usually your friends and family, and then the second iteration when they start to build infrastructure and separate the board from the day-today, and then there's the institutional board. That's when you have the heavy hitters who come on and they're bringing resources. If you are the founder, I'm just going to keep it real and the executive director, you need to make sure that your board is getting trained.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
If you haven't selected a powerhouse board, meaning the people that you have vetted, that they have board experience, then they need to be trained. And if I can just be honest, even if they have board experience, because you want everybody to get on the same page, this person may have sat on a board where they did things this way, whereas this person may have sat on another board and they did it completely different. You want everybody to be on the same page. So when we talk about active leadership, yes, you as the executive director, as the founder, should be very active, but your board should be just as active. And the way that you get them to do that is by making sure that they are trained. You create a culture, right? You have a nonprofit consultant and come in and tell them what their roles and responsibilities are.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
You have them create a strategy and then you send them out into the world, right? They've attended your events so that they can personally speak about the amazing work that you do. You can't have a board that never attends any of your events. If you have a board that just meets once a month, once a quarter, once a year, and they never attend your activities, then you're never going to have a board that is actively engaged as your ambassadors. They don't know what's going on. A lot of times I have my executive director say, Oh, I report out. That's not enough. They need to be able to speak from personal experience and then when they're out in those spaces, when they're in spaces where funders are or resources are, they can talk personally about their experience with the organization. But you need to get them all on one page, give them the charge and let them know, Hey, you need to be out in these spaces bringing in resources.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
So, today we've been talking about nonprofit sustainability and how active leadership is a huge part of that. I'm going to extend that to say not just for the founder, but also for your board. So look into getting them training so that they can also lean into their active leadership. Well, that's all we have for today. My family, my beautiful people, my people out there doing the work. What I'd like for you to do, if you found anything in this episode helpful and informative, useful, please subscribe and share it with the rest of our community because we want our nonprofits to thrive. This world is in a state of hot messness. I know I made that word up, but it's a hot mess and it needs our nonprofits, so that means we don't need you guys scrambling out there, flailing around not having the resources that you need to do the work that needs to happen in this world, and I'm committed to that, and I am committed to you. So like, subscribe, and share, and we'll see you next week.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Thanks for listening. If you enjoy this episode, subscribe and leave a review on iTunes. Head over to www.amberwynn.net/podcast for the links and resources mentioned in today's podcast. See you next time.
