How to get grants? How to get funding? The foundation of consistent funding is built on your programs. Learn what funders are looking for in your program description that makes them choose your organization over your competitors.

Podcast Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):

Welcome to On Air with Amber Wynn, where nonprofit leaders learn 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 (00:32):

Hey fam, it's Amber and I'm back again with another episode on the nonprofit success path. There's seven stages in this success path. It's the roadmap to nonprofit funding, consistent funding, and sustainability. And today we are talking about stage three, which is develop your programs. I find it interesting a lot of times when well-meaning, well-intentioned founders start their nonprofits and they say, Well, I'm gonna start a nonprofit and I'm gonna tutor young kids, or I'm gonna start a nonprofit and I'm gonna teach people how to weld, whatever the case is. And that's how they start. They go in and they get their three people for the board and they start their nonprofit. And when it comes time for actually completing the grant to get the money, that's usually when they figure out what their programs are. And so we don't want you to do that. We want you to go in powerfully. We want you to go in strong, and that means having really powerful, innovative programs. So today we're gonna talk about developing your programs, but before we do that, we're going to pause for a second and hear from one of our sponsors.

Speaker 3 (02:01):

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Speaker 2 (03:13):

Welcome back. You're on air with Amber, and for those of you just joining, we are talking about stage three of the nonprofit success path, developing your programs. Your programs are the foundation of your organization. Without programs, you have nothing. Funders are not giving money to nonprofits because they have nothing else better to do. They are funding programs that are gonna make a difference in your community. And that's why today, we're gonna talk about the key elements of a successful program. There are four things that your program must have. One, it must have structure. Two, it must yield results. Three, it must be unique. And four, it must be clear to the funders how they're gonna see their ROI, their return on their investment. So that is really talking about impact. What are the essential elements of innovative programs? Because if you're doing the same tutoring program that the other four nonprofit organizations in the afterschool program are doing, then guess what?

Speaker 2 (04:24):

You're not gonna get funded because funders are already funding someone doing that. So being innovative is important. So when we talk about the essential elements of innovative programs, you wanna be able to talk about the change that your programs will produce. If you go in and you start this tutoring program or this etiquette program or whatever you're focusing on, what's the change that this space is gonna see as a result of your intervention? People go in and say, “Oh, we're gonna tutor.” That's great. What are we gonna get after your program is placed into this community? Are we gonna get an increase in graduation rates? Are we gonna get a decrease in dropout rates? Are we gonna get an increase of college admissions? Are we gonna get an increase in GPA? Like what should we see as a direct result of your programs being in this space?

Speaker 2 (05:25):

Right? Last episode we talked about the statement of need where you identified what the need was in this community, and we were talking about teen pregnancy then. So if we go with that with analogy, what would be the change in this space as a result of your being present? Well, we would see a reduction of pregnancies. We'd see an increase of young girls exploring careers doing something meaningful from the time two to six when they're normally getting in trouble. So having a program be clear about what the change is gonna be with the intervention there is key. Secondly, and you're gonna have to fill this out on every request for funds, you need to know the program length, frequency, and duration. What does that mean? Length? Is the program gonna last for 12 weeks? Is it gonna be a six-month program? An annual, meaning a yearly program?

Speaker 2 (06:30):

So how long frequency, how often are you gonna meet? Are you gonna meet with them every day? Is it gonna be once a week? And then finally the duration. How long will you meet with them? If you're meeting with them once a week for 12 weeks, how long will you meet? Is it an hour? Is it a two-hour program? These are the questions that your funders gonna wanna know. These are the questions that your clients are gonna wanna know. So you need to know going in if creating this non-traditional program, how long it's gonna be, cuz that's gonna determine the funding. It's gonna be a difference if you're gonna fund a 12-week program versus a year-long program, right? You're gonna go from $15,000 to $150,000. So that's one reason why you need to know the length in the program. Then the other thing is if you're looking to partner with people, you wanna fill gaps.

Speaker 2 (07:20):

So maybe they don't have a program from the hours of two to six, and you can do that program for an hour once a week or three times a week. But you need to know that so that when you're going into having those conversations, they can say, “Oh, this would fit here.” It's an hour-long program, or we need a three-hour long program. But whatever the case, everyone's gonna need to know the specifics of your program, the most important thing that you need to have in a program are measurable goals, measurable goals and actionable objectives. A goal and objective. What's a measurable goal? So in order for a funder to be able to determine their return on investment, they need to know what the difference is between what is and then after. So when you go into this community here, what is right? We've got 50%, 56% of all young girls under the age of 15 coming up pregnant.

Speaker 2 (08:19):

That's huge. But I'm just saying, right, that's what going to happen after your intervention. And that's how we measure the goals. Our goal is to decrease pregnancy rates by 15% within the year that we're serving them. And the reason why you have to have measurable goals is because as a funder, if I'm giving you money, I need to know at the end of the year, did you do what you say you were gonna do? So it has to be measurable. You can't just go in and say, “Oh yeah, we're gonna tutor kids and they're going to do better in school.” How do you define do better in school? There has to be a baseline. So your goals need to be measurable. Doing better in school, meaning we're going to increase their reading literacy by two grades. That, you can measure. When we say actionable objectives, the goal is the what?

Speaker 2 (09:10):

The objective is the how. So we're going to increase their reading level by two grades. How? We're going to work with them twice a week doing workshops. How are the workshops? We're going to partner them up with mentors. That's the how. So actionable objectives and measurable goals, those are essential. I have people say to me all the time, I don't think that funder likes me. They didn't fund me. I look at their goals and their objectives. I'm like, well, that's not measurable. I'm not gonna give you $250,000 and I can't determine whether or not I'm gonna get a return on my investment. So we tweak it and we make the goals measurable and we make the outcomes. So where it's very clear what's being done, and then this is really huge, especially probably in the last, I'm gonna say seven years, funders are looking for evaluations.

Speaker 2 (10:11):

Back in the nineties when life was good and Clinton was president and the money was flowing to social services, we could do things like narratives. We could say, “I worked with a family and in the beginning, the child was this and blah, blah, blah, blah. Now the child is that she's thriving.” That was acceptable. Now, funders wanna know that when they invest their money that there is a return. So they expect you to do things, like to evaluate the program. Why, you ask? Well, for a number of reasons. If we can evaluate the program, if they really like it and you can demonstrate that there's some success, then they can continue to fund it or they can take what you're doing and they can replicate it in another community that's similar to yours. So having those evaluative measures can help them maximize their money. This worked here.

Speaker 2 (11:03):

Let's take it and let's move it over here, which very well may be an opportunity for you, but at the end of the day, you need to evaluate your programs. Evaluators are not cheap. So what can you do? Well, you can think about doing things like doing a pre and post test. What were the skills of these participants when you first started working with them? Did they know that there was a career potentially in podcasting or being an influencer or whatever social media manager? Did they know about all of the opportunities? Oh my gosh, you can work on the board. You can produce, you can write the scripts. So before, you ask them how many careers are there in this field? And if they say, I don't know, one or two, that's your benchmark. And then after they've gone through your program, you administer the test again and then they'll say, “Oh no, there's 15.”

Speaker 2 (12:03):

You can run the board, You can do the scripts, you can. And so now that proves to the funder that there has been some gain, that there has been some growth, some knowledge, skill, growth. So you wanna always be able to evaluate. And even if it's something as simple as a pre and post test that works. When you start getting more money and your program starts to get a little bit more complicated, then you can afford academic evaluators who can come in and actually look at each part of your organization. But for now, doing pre-tests and post-tests, perfectly fine. You can even have them journal to talk about their experience, but you wanna be able to demonstrate to your funder that there was a difference that was made in your program. Yes, you can talk about the grades, yes, you can talk about those, but you wanna be able to prove it – skills before and skills after.

Speaker 2 (12:54):

You can also do things like provide success stories. You can record some of your clients and have them just talk about what their experience being in the program is like. Nothing is better than hearing it from the horse's mouth. I can say all day long, “Oh yeah, my clients are excited. Oh yeah, we seen growth.” But when someone gets on camera and they say, “I don't know what I would've done without this program, I'm confident I would've been dead, or I'm confident I would've been in jail, or I had no idea that I had these many opportunities for my future and I'm so excited I come alive in front of the camera.” To have that type of testimony is amazing. And it's also emotional. So a funder watching that, that's amazing for them to experience and that lets them know that they're getting a return on their investments.

Speaker 2 (13:47):

But then you can do very basic things too. Make sure you have sign-in sheets because sign-in sheets are documented proof that you're delivering a program. If you start off in the beginning and you had five kids who participated in your program, but by the end of the program you had 25 or 55, that's demonstrated proof that your program number one is growing. Number two, y'all must be doing something right. You keep growing in numbers, so some kids are telling other kids or you're doing really great recruitment. Whatever it is, documentation is the key. So when we talk about the essential elements of an innovative program, you wanna look at what innovative means. If everybody is doing the same thing, then everybody's doing the same thing and it's not innovative. You can look at things like, how can you meet the needs of your community? For example, single moms may have challenges getting their kids to daycare, so maybe you have a service while you pick up the kids and get them to daycare so that the moms can get to work on time. I don't know, I'm just making it up. But it's gotta be something that sets you apart. Innovation is the key. We're going to talk a little bit more about how you can potentially innovate your program. But first, let's stop for a sponsor break. And when we come back, we'll talk about innovation.

Speaker 4 (15:23):

Starting a new career in a new sector with unfamiliar job titles and new jargon can lead to frustration and burnout.

Speaker 4 (15:32):

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Speaker 2 (16:42):

Welcome back to On Air with Amber, and it's your girl Amber Wynn, Philanthrepreneur. And today we're talking about the nonprofit success path. There's seven stages in this roadmap to nonprofit sustainability. And today we're talking about stage three, develop your programs. And at this point in the episode, we are gonna go to Ask Amber, where you ask your most pressing questions and I answer them today we've got a question, “How do I make my programs innovative?” Earlier in the episode we were talking about developing your programs and how to make them stand out. So this is the perfect question. How to make your programs innovative. Well, especially for startups, you come in, you're not sure what to do, you know you wanna help, but you look around and there are other organizations that are doing the same thing. There's several things you can do to make your programs innovative.

Speaker 2 (17:41):

First of all, you can collaborate. People like to think that if someone's doing the same thing that you're doing, that they’re competition, actually they're not. Your experience is different than their experience. Look at what it is that they're offering and see if there's a gap. See if there's a missing. So if I were to partner with someone who's doing nonprofit management, I would look to see if there's a missing. Maybe they can talk from the executive director's perspective, maybe they can talk from the grant writer's perspective. I would come in and say, “How about we partner? And I'll talk about the funder's perspective.” So you look for the tutoring program and you can say you guys are doing etiquette. You guys are doing SAT prep. How about I talk about study skills? So that's one way to make your program innovative.

Speaker 2 (18:29):

Another thing you can do is who's delivering it. Maybe if you had an influencer who was actually coming in and teaching parts of the course or coming in as a guest speaker, that would make it innovative. Everybody else is talking about how to do this career, but you have someone who's actually successful in the career coming in and either teaching the course or being guest speakers. You could also be the subject matter expert. A lot of the times, I resonate with my different audiences because when they hear that I'm from the same community, from the hood and I'm accomplished the things that I've accomplished, they look at me differently. And so having that lived experience makes your programs innovative because you're coming from a place of knowing.

Speaker 2 (19:24):

You could also do things like partner with associations. If you're doing a tutoring program and you're working with math partner with an engineering association, a black engineering association, a Latino engineering association, someone that your youth can look up to and relate to. And if they see black engineers, male engineers, that's gonna inspire them. That makes it innovative cuz it's not just Amber and whoever teaching it. It's people who are actually in the career that they wanna aspire to. So do investigation. Partner with engineers, partner with sororities and fraternities cuz they are in college and they have as a part of their mission, they have to do community service. So it would be great to have them partner with someone who's not so far in age and they're in college. And so they're gonna inspire those youth to actually go to college. What else? How about hands-on learning?

Speaker 2 (20:26):

You're not just in the classroom talking, but you're actually taking them into a studio or you're actually taking them to a plant where they can do little projects and be around people who are doing the work. That's innovative. And then how about traveling? Don't just stay in the room, put 'em on a bus, put 'em on a van, take 'em to a different location. And then how about they create something, right? Have them walk away with a prototype, have them walk away with a portfolio. These things are things that make your programs innovative. And then lastly, how you deliver the program. We know that technology is everything right now, so maybe instead of delivering the program in the classroom, you've created an app where they can do it anywhere, right? You're gonna do your assignments on the app or you're gonna do it online, you're gonna do it on your phone. Or maybe you create a program that you deliver as a game, I don't know. But these are the types of things that you can think about that's gonna make your program look different than the other persons, that's gonna make your program unique, that's gonna make your program innovative. All right, so now is the time of the episode when I get to spotlight the most amazing people in the world, my nonprofits my nonprofit founders and executive directors. Today we are highlighting, spotlighting St. Vincent's Meals on Wheels, which is a staple in LA County.

Speaker 2 (22:01):

And what I have to say about them is I actually visited the site and this is a well-oiled machine. If you ever have the opportunity to visit Meals on Wheels and they show you their kitchen and they show you how they coordinate all of their volunteers, you will be so inspired. But don't let me tell you about it. Let's hear from St. Vincent's Meals on Wheels for Yourself.

Speaker 6 (22:29):

Hello, this is Hal. I'm unable to the at the moment. Please leave your message after the beep. Thank you.

Speaker 7 (22:40):

My name's Harold Rem. I was in Glendale, California 1923 I had a lot of opportunity to get married, but I started to bypass it. I don't know why.

Speaker 8 (22:55):

I'm a volunteer for St. Vincent Meals on Wheels Daily. I'll go out and deliver meals to seniors and to anyone else across Los Angeles who can't feed themselves.

Speaker 7 (23:06):

I'm so handicapped that I can't do anything. I depend a lot on other people to help me.

Speaker 8 (23:18):

Anthem is helping St. Vincent Meals on Wheels to be a constant in these seniors lives.

Speaker 7 (23:24):

Meals on Wheels came at a time when I really needed, it was a life saver.

Speaker 8 (23:32):

A lot of people say that the greatest gift is to give. And when you see the gratitude it makes you want to keep coming back. We call it delivering love.

Speaker 7 (23:41):

Meals on Wheels is a blessing for me. It's taken away a lot of my worries. I used to worry a lot, but not anymore. I'm pretty much taken care of.

Speaker 2 (24:12):

So yeah, please consider donating. Your contributions go a long way to ending food insecurities for seniors who often have to choose between eating a meal and paying for medication. So you can reach them at www.svmow.org, or you can call them at (213) 484-7775. And when I tell you that if you're concerned about where you donate your money, if it's gonna go to a great cause, if your resources will be stewarded, you will not have to worry with this organization. All right, so that's it for our Spotlight for today. And now we're going to actually go into the next segment, which is Mindset Minute. And we're gonna talk a little bit about how to make your programs innovative. We're talking about that, we've been talking about that all episode. And really what it comes down to is doing your research, right? People jump into starting a nonprofit because of a personal experience.

Speaker 2 (25:21):

I've had some say all the time, “Oh, no one's doing what I'm doing.” And right, while they're talking to me, I'll go on to Google, I'll put in the zip code that they're gonna start their nonprofit organization and I'll find like 10 organizations doing the same thing. You have to do your research. And the reason why you have to do your research is because it's tied to funding. If your area that you're planning on working in is saturated with organizations doing the same thing, you won't be competitive, competitive enough to get any type of funding. Funders who have partnered with organizations who are delivering impact in their community, delivering a return on the funder's investment, why would they shift? Why would they change? So I'm saying to you that don't just jump into starting a nonprofit as if the money is sitting there waiting for you.

Speaker 2 (26:09):

Do your research. Know what's in your community, know what the needs are. You may very well be able to do a tutoring program, but maybe not in the community that you're in. Maybe it's in another community that doesn't have the resources. And that way. At the end of the day, what we want for you as a nonprofit is long-term consistent funding. We want sustainability. And that only happens if you understand what it is that you're jumping into. We want you to be competitive. Starting a nonprofit is just that. You're starting another organization, you're jumping into a pot of a whole bunch of competitors who've been doing it longer than you. So in this Mindset Minute, I want you to just shift from thinking that you can start a nonprofit and the money is gonna come from you. I want you to think, I've gotta do my research so that I'm setting myself up powerfully so that I can have the resources that I need to be successful because I want to serve my community.

Speaker 2 (27:11):

And so you may say, “Well, what if the community is saturated? But this is what I wanna do.” We've got some episodes back there on alternatives to starting a nonprofit. So maybe if you're really committed to doing what you wanna do, you can partner with another organization, provide them with the skill set that you have, and enhance what it is that they're doing. Remember, you're not starting a nonprofit because you wanna start your own business because this is something that's gonna be yours. A nonprofit is a charity and you can never own it. So if you're committed to doing that one thing and the community is already saturated with organizations already doing that thing, then you need to think about doing something differently or doing it in another organization. But you'll never know that if you don't do the research. So do the research, find out how many organizations are doing the same thing, and either do it in a different organization or do something differently.

Speaker 2 (28:08):

All right, so that's it for this episode of the Nonprofit Success Path, where we talked about developing your programs. At the end of the day, you wanna make sure that they're solid, that they have the infrastructure that funders are looking for, that they're innovative, that they're different than anybody else. But most of all, you wanna make sure that you can quantify your outcomes, that they're measurable and they show an impact. Thank you for joining me today. I'm looking forward to seeing you next week. I have for you an eBook. It's called Developing the Nonprofit Infrastructure that will help you actually with developing your programs. And it walks you through how to determine what the length, what's the frequency, and what the duration are. So I'm gonna provide that as a link and in the section below, you can check that out. And until next week, you be safe and be happy and I'll see you on the flip side.

Speaker 1 (29:12):

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.