Nonprofit Problem Solver

How much of your day is spent firefighting?  How much time do you spend on things that aren’t urgent or - just as you get to the really important tasks - you get interrupted by colleagues who just want to have a quick word about something.  Today’s guest, Kally Gagnon is a nonprofit coach who helps people create systems and processes that focus on the most important things.  We talk about the causes of chaos, how to tell the difference between positive, constructive chaos and negative, destructive and distracting chaos and some straightforward steps you can take to better manage not just your own time but other people’s too.  Find out more at kevkhayat.com and discover other episodes or register for the live podcasts at yot.me or at NonprofitProblemSolver.com.Expertly produced by Glen Munoz at PodProAudio, https://podproaudio.com/

Nonprofit Problem Solver host Kev Khayat discusses key questions from nonprofit leaders with an expert panel on Talent & Staff Development, looking at recruitment during Covid, making payroll adjustments, leading through furlough and making the best of volunteers. Recorded live April 8, 2020.Find out more at kevkhayat.com and discover other episodes or register for the live Q&A calls at NonprofitProblemSolver.com

Episode 3 is a high energy discussion about Marketing & Fundraising.  We ask where nonprofits should be in their fundraising efforts at this point in the year taking Covid into account, and if you’re behind what can you do about it, and if making your cancelled event virtual is part of the plan, we wonder out loud whether you should be holding it at all. We also tackle the challenge of storytelling on social media.  Find out more at kevkhayat.com and discover other episodes or register for the live Q&A calls at NonprofitProblemSolver.com

Episode 4 covers Board & Strategy.  We ask what strategic planning looks like and whether it’s completely overwhelmed by contingency planning and business continuity and we spend a fair bit of time talking through what it means to be a nonprofit board member right now and how to think about board recruitment, onboarding, engagement and succession planning. Oh and we had a couple of challenges with the audio quality so if you hear any garbling, that’s probably us, not you. Do not adjust your set.Find out more at kevkhayat.com and discover other episodes or register for the live Q&A calls at NonprofitProblemSolver.com

Nonprofit Problem Solver host Kev Khayat discusses key questions from nonprofit leaders with an expert panel on Programs & Services, looking at how to support both staff and the people they serve during Covid-19, metrics during this period, how to communicate them to funders and what might the restarting of suspended services look like? Recorded live April 15, 2020.Find out more at kevkhayat.com and discover other episodes or register for the live Q&A calls at NonprofitProblemSolver.com

In episode 6 host Kev Khayat and the expert panel looks closely at Programs & Services.  We ask how programs are coping at the moment and what plans are emerging for either extended responses to Covid or renewed responses later in the year.  We have a go at redefining success and failure and we look at what nonprofits should do to stay relevant.  And we take a question on the arts & culture space that leads to talk about mergers and consolidation not just for museums but across the sector.  Recorded May 13, 2020.Find out more at kevkhayat.com and discover other episodes or register for the live Q&A calls at NonprofitProblemSolver.com.Produced by Glen Munoz at PodProAudio, https://podproaudio.com/

In episode 5 host Kev Khayat returns to the topic of Talent & Staff Development.  We ask how furloughs are working out for nonprofits hoping to extend their cash reserves and we look at remote working at scale.  What does that mean for staff training? Can you rely on your existing policy for working at home?  We also look at the expectations Covid is placing on newly hired leaders. Recorded May 6, 2020.Find out more at kevkhayat.com and discover other episodes or register for the live Q&A calls at NonprofitProblemSolver.com.Produced by Glen Munoz at PodProAudio, https://podproaudio.com/

We look at Talent & Development through the lens of the current protests in dozens of cities across the US and elsewhere in the wake of the brutal murder by police of George Floyd and far too many others.  We ask how best to support black colleagues, how to respond to the murders and their aftermath both as organizations and as individuals and we consider the implications of Covid’s racial disparities on plans to return to work.  This is an hour of yet more talk but I hope it inspires you to take action, to adopt or strengthen an anti-racist perspective.   Find out more at kevkhayat.com and discover other episodes or register for the live Q&A calls at NonprofitProblemSolver.com.Expertly produced by Glen Munoz at PodProAudio, https://podproaudio.com/

We pick up from last episode’s Marketing & Fundraising conversation with regard to Board members being active in fundraising - how much should they be doing and what should an Exec Director do if the Board refuses to fundraise, especially during Covid?  We get an update on contingency plans and we tackle the thorny subject coming on our radars now about potential merger and closure of programs and organizations. Find out more at kevkhayat.com and discover other episodes or register for the live Q&A calls at NonprofitProblemSolver.com.Expertly produced by Glen Munoz at PodProAudio, https://podproaudio.com/

We start by getting an update from the panel about what’s been working or not working during Covid?   We then move to asking how Exec Directors and Development Directors can encourage and support Board Members to be fully engaged in fundraising.Finally we ask the panel to review how Covid has altered the standard wisdom around those basic development questions such as small versus large gifts, tactics to upgrade one-offs to recurring gifts, segmentation and so on.Find out more at kevkhayat.com and discover other episodes or register for the live Q&A calls at NonprofitProblemSolver.com.Expertly produced by Glen Munoz at PodProAudio, https://podproaudio.com/

We close out our first series of Nonprofit Problem Solver with episode 12, a closer look at Board & Strategy, and we focus on some must do’s and some nice-to-haves in terms of Board succession planning, recruitment and onboarding, and ongoing Board education.  We also get an update from the panel about how 2020 has redefined strategic planning and why, instead of postponing, every Board should be actively planning right now and part of that is taking initial steps to address systemic racism in every one of our organizations.Find out more at kevkhayat.com and discover other episodes or register for the live Q&A calls at NonprofitProblemSolver.com.Expertly produced by Glen Munoz at PodProAudio, https://podproaudio.com/

Here in episode 10, our theme is Programs & Services, and we are flying without our usual panel format today in place of a more interactive group conversation. We take things right back to basics firstly clarifying the confusion and overlap between events, programs and event-based programming.  And of course, it’s 2020, so we cover the pivot to virtual and we pick up on the fact that no matter what your programs and services are or who they serve, we have to address racial equity with intention and that often means bringing your Board closer to your programs.  Take a listen.Find out more at kevkhayat.com and discover other episodes or register for the live Q&A calls at NonprofitProblemSolver.com.Expertly produced by Glen Munoz at PodProAudio, https://podproaudio.com/

In episode 11, we return to Marketing & Development, and we go head first right into the renewed confrontation with race that we’re having in the US right now and what it means for the way nonprofits engage their communities, their staff and colleagues, their partners and donors and the people we serve.   This isn’t the time to be comfortable or cloud our meanings with delicate euphemisms that try to be bold and inoffensive at the same time.  We’re finally entering a more serious and committed period in our conversations about race and equity and everyone on our panel has something to say.Find out more at kevkhayat.com and discover other episodes or register for the live Q&A calls at NonprofitProblemSolver.com.Expertly produced by Glen Munoz at PodProAudio, https://podproaudio.com/

Today we open the Summer Series of Nonprofit Problem Solver which replaces the expert panels with deeper conversations one to one between myself and a single guest.  For Episode 1 I’m joined by Dr. William Clark, an experienced nonprofit leader, author, pastor and podcaster working in Hartford Connecticut.  Our question today is, How much should fundraising cost?Find out more at kevkhayat.com and discover other episodes or register for the live Q&A calls at NonprofitProblemSolver.com.Expertly produced by Glen Munoz at PodProAudio, https://podproaudio.com/

We’re up to episode 8 in the Summer Series of Nonprofit Problem Solver podcast, and I get to spend the next hour talking to Cole Hoover, Director of Moving Worlds Institute all about social enterprises.  Cole has years of experience instructing and guiding social enterprises and part of his job is leading an international fellowship program.  We focus on what drives social entrepreneurs and how they balance the demands for profit while making a social impact and, increasingly, an environmental one.  And of course we try to pull out practical lessons for nonprofits interested in new ways of income generation.Find out more at kevkhayat.com and discover other episodes or register for the live Q&A calls at NonprofitProblemSolver.com.Expertly produced by Glen Munoz at PodProAudio, https://podproaudio.com/

Today on Nonprofit Problem Solver we’re up to Episode 4 in our Summer Series of one-to-one conversations.  I’m thrilled to be speaking with Jeanne Bell, who’s well known as a contributor to Nonprofit Quarterly and has a wide range of deep experience in nonprofit organizational development.  Our topic today is an important one, especially if you’re a nonprofit leader trying to initiate meaningful next steps around race equity.  We’re exploring the Board-Staff disconnect on Race Equity and trying to get as practical as possible about moving from words to action.  Find out more at kevkhayat.com and discover other episodes or register for the live Q&A calls at NonprofitProblemSolver.com.Expertly produced by Glen Munoz at PodProAudio, https://podproaudio.com/

Today’s Nonprofit Problem Solver, Episode 5 in our Summer Series of one-to-one conversations, is with Stephen Garten, founder and CEO of CharityCharge, a public benefit corporation in Austin, Texas with that solves one particular nonprofit problem - access to a credit facility without anyone’s personal guarantee or credit check and for zero fees.  Talk about enterprising - let’s hear how Stephen came up with this idea and how it’s developed over time and listen out for ways his experience applies to program development and fundraising.  Find out more at kevkhayat.com and discover other episodes or register for the live Q&A calls at NonprofitProblemSolver.com.Expertly produced by Glen Munoz at PodProAudio, https://podproaudio.com/

Episode 2 in the Summer Series continues the one-to-one format between me and a guest and also we stick with the theme of fundraising.  My guest today is Rhea Wong, who’s going to tell us How to put the Fun in Fundraising.  Rhea coaches and consults nonprofit leaders and has a regular podcast, Nonprofit Lowdown.Find out more at kevkhayat.com and discover other episodes or register for the live Q&A calls at NonprofitProblemSolver.com.Expertly produced by Glen Munoz at PodProAudio, https://podproaudio.com/

In episode 7 of the Summer Series of Nonprofit Problem Solver, I’m talking to Amy Neumann, an advocate of advances and applications in nonprofit tech.  We cover a range of topics from how to work out if tech can help your nonprofit and how to find the best solution to ways in which artificial intelligence has already found its way into our nonprofit lives and how that seems likely to develop over the coming months and years. Find out more at kevkhayat.com and discover other episodes or register for the live Q&A calls at NonprofitProblemSolver.com.Expertly produced by Glen Munoz at PodProAudio, https://podproaudio.com/

In our third summer series episode, I’m talking to Nick Takemine of Arpeggio Advisors.  Nick has an international nonprofit pedigree with a particular focus on Strategy, so we’re going to get right down to it by asking, from a nonprofit perspective, What is Strategy Anyway?  Find out more at kevkhayat.com and discover other episodes or register for the live Q&A calls at NonprofitProblemSolver.com.Expertly produced by Glen Munoz at PodProAudio, https://podproaudio.com/