The Charity Charge Show

In Episode 102 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen talks to Lisa Van Dusen, Executive Director of Palo Alto Community Fund, whose mission is to focus on the unique needs of our community and channel charitable giving of local donors to effective organizations that improve the quality of life for everyone in Palo Alto, East Palo Alto and Menlo Park. Stephen and Lisa Van Dusen talk about innovating quickly during the COVID-19 pandemic and trust based philanthropy. Van Dusen has dedicated her career to helping build thriving communities through philanthropy, advocacy, entrepreneurship and media, bringing more than 30 years of cross sector experience to the Palo Alto Community Fund. Previous to joining the Palo Alto Community Fund, Van Dusen was Chief Relationship Officer at Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund (SV2) where she led innovation and learning initiatives that deepened awareness, engagement and giving to address social and environmental challenges in Silicon Valley and globally. Her accomplishments include expanding and diversifying SV2’s donor community, introducing field-leading impact investing and spearheading advocacy program offerings. Van Dusen, who has lived in Palo Alto for 35 years, has held a variety of professional and civic leadership positions, including launching two groundbreaking local media ventures—Cable Communications Cooperative of Palo Alto (Cable Co-op) and Palo Alto Online. She revived and co-led Leadership Palo Alto and created and hosted First Person, a video interview series featuring Silicon Valley trailblazers. In addition to her experience as a social entrepreneur, Van Dusen brings expertise in sales, marketing and communications with the Palo Alto Weekly and other organizations. She has served on a variety of nonprofit boards including, Palo Alto Art Center, Planned Parenthood (Golden Gate), WINGS Guatemala and in numerous civic leadership roles. She has been recognized extensively, including as a Silicon Valley Women of Influence, TEDx speaker, Leadership Midpeninsula Senior Fellow and California College of the Arts Leading by Design Fellow. Lisa Van Dusen on trust based philanthropy: In June 2019, our board signed off on a strategic plan that was committing to trust based philanthropy meaning that instead of the dollars that were raised each year going into our endowment that the default would be for the funds to go out the door and pass through grants to nonprofit organizations in our community. Our donors could still specify if they wanted their contribution to go to our endowment but the default would be to get the money out to the organizations making a difference in our community. We believe this would lead to a deeper connection and knowledge exchange with our community, organizations, and other leaders, to connect us with what is going on. I also see it as investing in ourselves as an organization, which I think is really significant. We had great support for this initiative and met our three year plan goal in the first year. Trust base philanthropy is at it's core saying, "here is money, we trust you as an organization to know how to deploy it best." If that is to pay your staff, then that is what you should do, or it's to keep your lights on, use the money for whatever you need. With our strategic plan we are fundamentally choosing, who we who we are betting on as an organization, and trusting them to do what they need.

In Episode 101 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen talks to Georges Benjamin, Executive Director of American Public Health Association (APHA), whose mission is to improve the health of the public and achieve equity in health status. Stephen and Georges Benjamin talk about what APHA learned from the COVID pandemic, APHA's role in shaping American healthcare policy over the past 150 years, and the importance of having financial reserves in place. Georges C. Benjamin is known as one of the nation’s most influential physician leaders because he speaks passionately and eloquently about the health issues having the most impact on our nation today. From his firsthand experience as a physician, he knows what happens when preventive care is not available and when the healthy choice is not the easy choice. As executive director of APHA since 2002, he is leading the Association’s push to make America the healthiest nation. Georges Benjamin, Executive Director of American Public Health Association, on the importance of having financial reserves: We try to be fiscally conservative and have multiple revenue streams and live with in our resources each year. Of course COVID is stressor on those financial goals. That's one of the reasons we have reserves is so that you can go into them when times are hard. The last couple of years, we've had to go into reserves a little bit, because times are hard. But we were able to do that because every year we were able to take any surplus revenues that came in and put them in the bank. Having a good savings account is important. However, I also think it's important that people figure out what's important for you to do and focus your mission - then put your resources behind that focused mission. For us, if it hurts people or kills people, the public health community has a role in it, but we can't solve all the problems. Instead we try to solve the problems that we think are important for us directly and then we partner with others who have the strength to tackle other problems. We don't really care who gets the credit, we care that the mission gets done. We hold ourselves accountable to the mission getting done as our main measure of success.

In Episode 100 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen talks to Grant Trahant, Founder of Causeartist and RefiJobs. His mission is to show that everyone — from shoppers and professionals to entrepreneurs and investors — can change the world by making decisions that benefit the people and places around them. Interested in listening to the full episode and hearing more from other nonprofits? Check out more episodes here. Stephen and Grant Trahant talk about what it takes to build a business or nonprofit from the ground up, reflect on what Stephen's learned from 100 conversations, and the unifying power of listening to and spending time with others. Since 2013, Causeartist has been read in 150+ countries. Over this time Grant has interviewed 700+ social entrepreneurs, impact investors, and impact ventures from around the world. The mission has always been to highlight innovations within ethical fashion, regenerative farming, climate tech, fair trade products, impact investing, and sustainable travel. He also hosts the Disruptors for GOOD podcast and the Investing in Impact podcast. Connect with Grant on Twitter and LinkedIn. Grant on listening to others and seeing what truly unites us: One advantage I get from talking to people around the world is that I experience that no matter where you are, no matter where you live, people still want the same thing for themselves, for their communities, and for their kids. Whatever it may be their level of passion is the same. Whether they're from India, Southeast Asia, Delaware, Toronto, or Mexico City, wherever it may be, everybody's problems are pretty similar. It could be dealing with mental health or dealing with economic issues, although different places approach problems and issues differently there are always people trying to solve them. We're unified in trying to solve problems together on all continents and cities around the world. About Causeartist causeartist – [cause-artist] noun. a person who uses their talents and skills to impact the world. Since 2013, Causeartist has been read in 150+ countries. Over this time I have interviewed 700+ impact entrepreneurs, impact investors, and impact ventures from around the world. Causeartist is a global community of social entrepreneurs, builders, creators, and conscious consumers, who believe business can positively impact the world.

In Episode 99 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen talks to Vicki Burkhart, CEO of The More Than Giving Co., whose mission is to give nonprofits with visionary leaders and compelling missions an affordable, on-demand staffing solution to supplement the bandwidth and skillsets of their volunteer force. Stephen and Vicki Burkhart talk about More Than Giving's work with nonprofits to provide the staffing they need, the importance of a living strategic plan, and the four critical things for nonprofit success. Vicki Burkhart is founder and CEO of the More Than Giving Company. She has 30+ years of experience in the nonprofit arena as an Executive Director, nonprofit executive and consultant. After earning a B.A. and M.Ed. from Penn State, Vicki advanced to hold leadership positions in development and donor relations, including serving as the VP of Advancement at the MCP Hahnemann School of Medicine. At the same time, she was serving several nonprofits as their Executive Director. Collectively, these roles gave her extensive, hands-on experience with major gift cultivation (including personally closing multimillion-dollar gifts), board development and strategic planning, membership development, organizational development, and volunteer management. In 1999, Vicki founded More Than Giving with the goal of delivering innovative solutions to help more volunteer-driven nonprofits achieve sustainability and growth. Vicki on the four critical things for nonprofit success There are four things that I think are critical to a successful nonprofit: A strategic plan - It's usually the first thing I ask for when I engage with a new client. All of the organizations that I lead, as an Executive Director have active strategic plans. By active I don't mean strategic plans that you do and put on the shelf and look at you know once a year. I mean, strategic plans that actually navigate the direction and path for the nonprofit, where you make decisions based on your plan, you look at revenue generation and leadership succession based on your plan. The strategic plan is a document that I think no matter how large or small the nonprofit is, is critical to that success. Finding the right board - I intentionally use the word right because boards that I have worked with evolve, just like the nonprofit evolves. The founding board may be replaced by what I like to call the transition board a few years in, this transition board can then allow you to start separating operations from corporate responsibility. It defines the role of the board and the board's committees a little bit more and that of what staff does. Then the transition board shifts as the organization matures and starts to move into a more corporate board. It's important for nonprofit organizations to spend time finding the right people to sit on each of these boards. For the founders board looks very different than a corporate board. Maintaining and building capacity - It's important that a nonprofit has the people and resources to support the growth of the organization. This gets back to, our paradigm shift in staffing and being able to have the right technology in the right infrastructure needed to support the growth of the organization. Internal support - With the right internal support your professionals and your volunteers can focus on the work that they need to do. That's where you want someone who's sitting on your board making visits to prospective donors and you don't want them sitting in the office just doing light bookkeeping or sending out acknowledgement letters. Organizations really have to look at, if you get this much of volunteer time, how can that best be used?

In Episode 98 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen talks to Nancy Long, Executive Director of 501 Commons, whose mission is to serve nonprofits as experts, innovators, and partners. Their passion is to amplify the strengths of nonprofits—so ALL people and communities flourish. Stephen and Nancy Long talk about the resilience of nonprofits during the COVID-19 pandemic, 501 Commons recent reports regarding nonprofit employee compensation, and common mistake nonprofits make with grants. Nancy Long is the Executive Director of 501 Commons. 501 Commons addresses the national problem of nonprofits having limited access to the expertise they need to optimize their organization. The organization provides consulting, contracted services, and other forms of support. This allows organizations to have the technology, data, management, fundraising, finance, and human resources expertise they need. Before becoming executive director of 501 Commons, Nancy worked in health care as the Vice President of Strategy and Organizational Development at Group Health Cooperative. Nancy was on the health care reform policy staff for the Washington Health Services Commission. She served as the Director of Marketing for the Basic Health Plan. She developed groundbreaking research to promote health insurance to diverse communities and implemented community-based outreach that resulted in unprecedented participation and diverse enrollment. As the Director of Quality for the Washington State Hospital Association, she represented hospitals on regulatory matters and led a quality of care research project with rural hospitals. As the Director of Marketing & Community Services at Pacific Medical, she led the effort to create the Cross-Cultural Health Care Program, which has done breakthrough work on culturally and linguistically accessible health care. Nancy has a BA in social psychology (University of Texas), and a master’s from the Evans School (University of Washington), where she was also a lecturer, teaching nonprofit leadership and management.

John LuxIn Episode 97 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen talks to John Lux, Executive Director of Film Florida, a not-for-profit entertainment production association for Florida's film, TV, production & digital media industry. Stephen and John Lux talk about John's unique career path, Film Florida's mission to support the film industry in Florida, and the challenges in showing value to individual members in a large membership based organization. John has been the Executive Director for Film Florida since June 2016 and manages the day-to-day operations of the organization after spending 20 years working in the industry. John is responsible for Film Florida operations, marketing, membership recruitment and finance. In addition to his other responsibilities for Film Florida, John is a social media enthusiast and has been handling the Film Florida social media strategy and day to day management of the website since 2014. In previous roles John has been responsible for operations, finance and marketing positions including day-to-day operations (including all project proposals and budgets), finance (POs, APs, ARs, cash flow planning, etc.), and marketing strategies (social media, award submissions, press releases, communication with media, etc.). John started in operations for the Walt Disney Company and helped Orlando-based IDEAS transition from Disney to an independent corporation and was instrumental in the transformation and growth of the company for 18 years. After graduating from Purdue University, John worked in the live entertainment industry managing a staff of 300+ for an outdoor music and entertainment venue in the Chicago area before moving to Florida to join Disney where he received Disney’s rare and highly respected Partners In Excellence award. His strong Chicago roots are reflected in his undying passion for college football, especially his alma mater, the Purdue Boilermakers and his home town teams, Blackhawks, Bears, Bulls, White Sox, Cubs and Northwestern University.

In Episode 96 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen talks to Jeff Mazur, Executive Director of LaunchCode, whose mission is offering free tech education and job placement opportunities to bring new people from all backgrounds into the tech field and reshape the way employers think about hiring. Stephen and Jeff Mazur talk about LaunchCode's impact on providing people with the skills to enter a career in tech, creating a sustainable revenue stream to facilitate growth within a nonprofit, and the importance of embracing a learning mindset. Jeff Mazur is an experienced executive with a proven record of leading nonprofit organizations through growth and strategic change. Presently heading LaunchCode, a high-impact workforce and economic development organization with an acute focus on helping regions flourish via technology education, civic partnership and corporate engagement. Jeff Mazur on embracing a learning mindset: What I've learned is that the longer I do this work, the less and less I know, and that that's actually a good thing that I should want to be true. I want to be comfortable with not knowing as a leader, because as we do more, and as we grow, there are new things that I ultimately am responsible for making decisions about that are entirely unexplored in the prior history of the organization and my tenure with it. So I don't know the answers to those new things but that's okay. Learning the answers and coming up with what we think as a team would be the best solutions is the highest order work that I can do in the organization. That was honestly somewhat surprising to discover, because the assumption might be "Well, in the first year, you're going to find some things that you never did before. In the second year, you're going to kind of get it down. Then the third or fourth or fifth year it's all old hat" And But I've found that not to be true. If it were true, it would be a signal to me that I, and we as leaders, weren't pushing the organization to do enough new things or to change itself and evolve or figure out how to test the edges of the space that we work in.

In Episode 95 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen talks to Stella Kafka, Executive Director of the American Meteorological Society (AMS), whose mission is to advance the atmospheric and related sciences, technologies, applications, and services for the benefit of society. Stephen and Stella Kafka talk about the pros & cons of switching to a virtual meeting model, joining an organization from an outsiders perspective, and AMS's mission to use science to keep people safe. As executive director of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO), a non- profit worldwide scientific and educational organization of amateur and professional astronomers, Stella Kafka utilized a combination of talent, skills, and scientific accomplishments that she now brings to her new role as AMS executive director. Kafka obtained her B.S. degree in physics at the University of Athens, Greece, and a master’s and Ph.D. in astronomy, with a double minor in physics and geophysical sciences from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. After completing her Ph.D., Stella held a series of prestigious postdoctoral positions and fellowships, first at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, where she received the National Optical Astronomy Observatory Excellence Award, then at IPAC/Caltech, and finally as a NASA Astrobiology Institute Fellow at the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Stella also brings with her a wealth of managerial experience. In addition to serving as the director of two research and mentorship programs for undergraduates while in Chile, Stella managed editorial, marketing, financial, business development, operations, and production aspects of journals at the American Institute of Physics (AIP). As a journal manager at AIP, Stella successfully oversaw the launch of a new journal and served as a liaison between publishing and research communities. On top of her research and management abilities, Stella brings an international perspective to her work. After growing up in Greece, she obtained a Proficiency Diploma in the French language (she has one in English, too), pursued higher education in the United States, and worked and traveled in South America (including Chile, Argentina, and Brazil). Stella is fluent in Greek and English and speaks Spanish and French. Stella enjoys interacting with people of every age and background and has honed her communication skills through mentoring students, classroom teaching, and lectures to professional and public audiences. And then, like all good communicators, she knows when to stop and listen. Stella Kafka on in person meetings fueling powerful brainstorm sessions and problem solving: At some point in trying to understand a solution to a problem, it requires a little bit of getting out of your comfort zone and discussing aspects of science that maybe you don't know very well. I find that is much easier when speaking in person than it is virtually. I think that COVID made us more efficient and more accessible in terms of utilizing different methods of communication and increasing inclusivity. However, we're still trying to replicate those in depth, in person experiences and online technology is just not there yet. I'm not really sure what the end result will be, maybe we will actually come up with some kind of visors and virtual working places that will bridge the gap we are currently dealing with. That is our challenge. Although we aren't all the way there yet, I really like the increased efficiency and the fact that we can actually do things much faster using virtual technology.

In Episode 94 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen talks to Katie Appold, Executive Director of Do More Good & Nonprofit Hub, whose mission is to create and curate content to help nonprofits do more good. Stephen and Katie Appold talk about Cause Camp (September 14-15, 2023), the struggles nonprofits are facing transitioning to a digital fundraising model, and creating great nonprofit boards. Katie’s nonprofit career includes a variety of leadership roles for human service, foundation, and publishing-related nonprofits as well as many volunteer roles. Under Katie’s leadership, nonprofit organizations have developed new programs related to free healthcare, affordable and accessible housing and literacy programs for K-12 students. In her first Executive Director role, Katie increased the annual revenue of the organization she led by 300% and received the top grant prize in the nation for affordable housing through the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis. Today, she leads Do More Good, the parent organization of Nonprofit Hub and Cause Camp which collectively serve more than 50,000 nonprofits throughout North America. Her educational background includes an undergraduate degree in business administration and a masters degree in nonprofit leadership. Katie is the past board president of Gracious Grounds, a housing organization serving individuals with disabilities. She is an active member of the Grand Rapids Young Nonprofit Professionals, the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, Cause Network, the Lakeshore Nonprofit Alliance and the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Katie Appold on the struggles nonprofits are facing in transitioning to a digital fundraising model and Cause Camp: I would say the largest challenge that we're seeing organizations face is a transition to majority digital communication and fundraising. Pre-pandemic in person events like galas, golf outings, and one on one coffee meetings with donors were still happening. Thankfully, those things are coming back, and they're coming back strong, which is wonderful. But over the two years when the pandemic was at its peak, people really had to communicate digitally, and nonprofits had to raise their support digitally. So we're seeing a lot of organizations who are doing the right things, but they need to tweak and perfect and test and learn how to do them better. Our solution is that we've built this year's Cause Camp's speaker list to address a lot of those issues that we see nonprofits facing. This year we have Dana Snyder, the gal who was the driving force behind Movember, talking about how you can take your mission and make it an online movement. We will also have Nathan Hill talking about how you can communicate to donors why they should give to your mission digitally? Because if you have no other way to connect with a donor other than email, it's crucial to know what you can say and do in that email to 1) make them open it and 2) connect with them in your message. Chris Hammond will also be talking about how nonprofit leaders need a strong personal network to build a strong organization, which I think is something that is often overlooked. Chris is going to talk about how to create that personal network digitally using tools like LinkedIn and connecting with people via text and email to keep relationships strong. Additionally, we have Mark Ostach, who's talking about hybrid work environments for nonprofits and how to make teams thrive.

In Episode 93 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen talks to Erin Mote, Executive Director of InnovateEDU, whose mission is to eliminate the opportunity gap by accelerating innovation in standards aligned, next generation learning models and tools that serve, inform, and enhance teaching and learning. Stephen and Erin Mote talk about creating expertise throughout organizations by including diverse leaders in discussions, giving and receiving social capital to uplift others, and finding the 80% that we have in common to move missions forward without getting stuck on trying to agree 100%. Erin Mote is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of InnovateEDU. In this role, Erin leads the organization and its major projects including technology product development, work on data interoperability and data systems, and an urban education Fellowship for new educators. She leads the organization’s work on creating uncommon alliances to create systems change - in special education, talent development, and data modernization. An enterprise architect, she created, alongside her team, two of InnovateEDU’s signature technology products - Cortex, a next-generation personalized learning platform, and Landing Zone - a cutting-edge infrastructure as a service data product. Erin is also the co-founder of Brooklyn Laboratory Charter School with her husband Dr. Eric Tucker. She is a recognized leader in technology, mobile, and broadband and has spent much of her career focused on expanding access to technology in the US and abroad. She has led ground-breaking initiatives, including scaling wireless communications to the developing world, developing global and national strategic technology plans, and working with the country’s leading technology companies. Erin has served in an advisory capacity to the White House/OSTP’s US Ignite Initiative, the Obama Administration’s Global Development Innovation Policy, the State Department’s TechCamp program, and the Obama Administration’s intra-agency process for Rio 2.0 and Rio+20. Erin served as the founding Chief of Party for the USAID Global Broadband and Innovations Alliance – a $19.5 million global technology expansion project. Erin has served in senior positions with CHF International and Coulter Companies after starting her career as the Director of External and Strategic Relations for Arizona State University. A recognized leader in alliance building, Erin serves in an advisory capacity for several leading international organizations including Digital Promise, SXSWedu Launch, XPrize, and the Barbara Bush Foundation. She is an Aspen Institute Socrates scholar and a proud alumnus of the University of Michigan. Erin Mote on creating expertise throughout organizations: We also believe it's really important to create expertise. Oftentimes one of the things that we'll do is sponsor other leaders to be able to participate in conversations so that it's not always the CEO of an organization that we're inviting to the table. We might invite somebody who's more junior or somebody who hasn't yet had that opportunity to share their voice. This particularly impacts women and people of color. One of the things that we do is stipend folks to participate in some of our projects where we'll be working on large scale infrastructure. We provide a stipend because usually they can only get permission to participate because they're bringing revenue into the organization. It's important for us to always be asking, "how do we expand the social circle we operate in to further increase our alliance building work?" Interested in listening to the full episode and hearing more from other nonprofits? Check out more episodes here [maxbutton id="3" url="https://www.charitycharge.com/charity-charge-podcasts/" text="Charity Charge Show" ]

In Episode 92 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen talks to Terry Beswick, Executive Director of GGBA, whose mission is to champion opportunity, development, and advocacy for our LGBTQ+ & Allied business community. Stephen and Terry Beswick talk about Terry's career in activism and the importance of listening to diverse communities so that strategies are informed by a wide range of lived experiences. Terry Beswick (he/him) has been executive director of the GGBA since October 15, 2021. At the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in San Francisco, he advocated for HIV/AIDS research and treatment with ACT UP, Project Inform, the Human Rights Campaign and the White House Office of HIV/AIDS Policy. After the advent of effective treatments for HIV, Beswick worked as a journalist for the Bay Area Reporter and other LGBTQ community publications. More recently, he spearheaded a successful campaign to preserve the Castro Country Club for the queer recovery community in San Francisco, co-founded the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District and co-chaired the LGBTQ Cultural Heritage Strategy. Beswick was a Community Grand Marshal for the 50th Anniversary San Francisco LGBTQ Pride Parade and Celebration in 2020 and served as Executive Director of the GLBT Historical Society from 2016 to 2021. Terry Beswick on creating sustainable change with a diverse community: If there's anything that I've learned throughout my career, it's that the LGBTQ community is kind of a misnomer. Since we're a collection of different communities and subcultures and what brings us together are our gender and sexuality differences from the "Norm" and the experiences that we've had around that. Therefore, bringing all these different communities and cultures together to have impact on creating change is often a challenge. What I've learned is that listening and collecting people's ideas to navigate the differences of opinion and approach is always important to overcoming the challenge of community organizing. San Francisco is notorious for being extremely divided around the best approach to effecting change and I think that listening allows the space for any new idea to emerge from the people who are most directly affected. That way the affected communities feel ownership over the solution. Directing things from on high has never worked, in terms of creating sustainable change. Interested in listening to the full episode and hearing more from other nonprofits? Check out more episodes here [maxbutton id="3" url="https://www.charitycharge.com/charity-charge-podcasts/" text="Charity Charge Show" ]

In Episode 91 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen talks to David Street, Strategic Director Next Gen Organizing of Bread for the World, whose mission is to be a collective Christian voice urging our nation's leaders to end hunger at home and abroad. Stephen and David Street talk about the mission of Bread for the World, Street's work with adolescence and social media through his nonprofit P.E.N. (Promote, Enrich and Nurture) DMV, and the process of setting up a new nonprofit. David Street is a native of Washington, D.C. and has over 13 years of grassroots organizing and engagement experience. He also serves as the Strategic Director of Next Gen Leadership for Bread for the World. Outside of his work in the organizing space, Street also serves as the Executive Director for P.E.N. (Promote, Enrich and Nurture) DMV, a non-profit that specializes in mentoring and social media training with high school students and aspiring leaders living in Washington, D.C. Street received his Bachelors in Political Science from North Carolina A & T State University and holds a Masters in Theology from Wesley Theological Seminary. David Street on starting a nonprofit: It took me about a year to get my nonprofit off the ground; because I interviewed people who had already set up nonprofits, who were already in a similar space, and I just asked a whole bunch of questions. I did about 8-10 interviews with people who had small to medium sized nonprofits. I've been working in nonprofits all my life so I was able to tap into the vast set of knowledge that my colleagues have. I also did other types of research, along with bringing people together and asking questions. After this year of research, we then filed the paperwork and all the other legal aspects. Since we took the time beforehand we already knew what our mission was going to be and who from that advisory board during the planning process would transfer into the board of directors. In that time we also had acquired seed funding, so it wasn't just like we only existed on paper, we had actually acquired some funding from a couple of local churches. I would advise others to do their homework, reach out to people and don't just jump in there; figure out if you have a niche and if there isn't a niche, create one.

In Episode 90 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen talks to Dr. Noeen Malik, CEO & Founder of Scientudio Inc., whose mission is bridging the gaps in Global Welfare program under Endorse Hope, community wellbeing is at the forefront of what they're working towards together. Scientudio believes that a single action can make a difference in society, and collaborative actions can greatly impact the world. Stephen and Dr. Noeen Malik talk about her background and extensive experience working with nonprofits, along with Endorse Hope and Great Lakes Peace Center Global Welfare Campaign to contribute towards girl children's school retention through improved menstrual hygiene and sanitation management. Dr Noeen Malik is a nuclear medicine scientist (expertise: drug discovery and PET/CT imaging), a published author, a business strategist, the Executive Director of Public Affairs at GIANT (Global Immunization Action Networking Team; with WHO-UN), California, and a Research Scientist in MIPS at Stanford School of Medicine. Recently, she founded a small pharma-consultancy firm, Scientudio Inc. Scientudio launched a hands-on business internship program designed to impart to students and early-career phase scientists the relevant skills-set to thrive in the industrial sector. As an executive director of public affairs and infrastructure committee member of GIANT, she works together with WHO/UN in collaboration with 20 countries globally to bring awareness about immunization/vaccines. The volunteer work she does includes human rights activism with Amnesty International, IRC, and IYC-UN and fundraising for SOS Children’s Village. Besides, her philanthropy venture, "Endorse Hope", which focuses especially on under-developed countries to support their efforts in building up their internal capacity. She is also a cartoonist designing the Science Myths Playing Deck: Concept and artwork, science illustrator & communicator. Being a scientist, her duties revolve around managing bench work to preclinical evaluations to cGMP production of clinical radiopharmaceuticals and facilitating the commercialization of innovations. In her spare time, she loves photography, cartooning, hiking, and kayaking. Dr. Noeen Malik on Endorse Hope and Great Lakes Peace Center Global Welfare Campaign providing sanitary pads to girl children: The problem there is that girls who are going to school cannot afford branded sanitary pads that are either reusable or disposable. What they have to do during their menstruation days is stay at home. With needing to stay home each month these girls get far behind in their curriculum. Sometimes schools do support them by providing extra teaching assistance, but of course, the teachers are also working on limited salaries so they cannot provide that much extra assistance. Then what happens is these girls ultimately either drop out of school to earn money or sit at home during their menstruation days and fall further behind in their education. This Global Welfare Campaign supports the Great Lakes Peace Center who actually distributes the sanitation kits from school to school. They teach the girls how to make their own homemade, hygienic reusable sanitary pads and these kits are good for one year, greatly supporting the girl's in their pursuit of education. Interested in listening to the full episode and hearing more from other nonprofits? Check out more episodes here [maxbutton id="3" url="https://www.charitycharge.com/charity-charge-podcasts/" text="Charity Charge Show" ]

In Episode 89 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen talks to Thomas Canavan, Executive Director of National Law Enforcement Museum, whose mission is to honor the role of law enforcement, in service to society, by recognizing the sacrifices and valor of law enforcement, educating the community, and making it safer for those who serve. Stephen and Thomas Canavan talk about the effect of COVID-19 on the National Law Enforcement Museum and how CALEB (Community Alliances and Law Enforcement Bulletin Network) is bringing communities and law enforcement together. Thomas Canavan is the Executive Director of the National Law Enforcement Museum and beginning in late 2019 began refocusing the Museum into what it is today…a place that honors the history and heroism of law enforcement officers. Thomas leads the Museum’s operations which includes exhibitions, education, outreach, and fostering strategic partnerships, all of which focuses on telling the story of American law enforcement. Thomas is an accomplished non-profit professional with leadership expertise in developing exhibitions as well as educational and outreach programs that focus on building thriving communities. His experience includes establishing collaborative program environments; development and oversight of innovative educational programming; and cultivating strategic partnerships and alliances between local government, corporate sector, and nonprofit organizations. He holds a Master of Science, Arts Administration from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts, Studio Art from the University of Maryland. Thomas Canavan on using social media to bring communities and law enforcement together: After the death of George Floyd, there was a lot of unrest around the country, and the relationship between communities and law enforcement, in certain places, was very strained. In this environment we as an organization we were thinking about our platform, and the connections that we have to the law enforcement community as a whole and wanted to see if it were possible to pull together best practices within that community on a national level. We ended up creating CALEB (Community Alliances and Law Enforcement Bulletin Network) a national bulletin board, where we invited people to post what works in their communities to see if we could make something positive happen. Once we had collected a lot of ideas, we saw that a lot of engagement was happening in other parts of the country. Overall we wanted to create a social media platform that was built and designed so that the law enforcement community and the public could come together to have a dialogue about what's working in their communities. We want to help pull all this information for the benefit of engagement with law enforcement who are really busy, working long hours in long stretches of days in a row. CALEB is a really great project and we're hoping that more people will hear about it and start to participate.

In Episode 88 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen talks to Nora Super, Executive Director of the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging, whose mission is to help people build meaningful lives, in which they can experience health and well-being, pursue effective education and gainful employment, and access the resources required to create ever-expanding opportunities for themselves and their broader communities. Stephen and Nora Super talk about the importance of support for our aging population, being an effective leader through vulnerability, and creating policies aligned with the needs of those with lived experiences. Nora Super is the executive director of the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging. In this role, Super provides strategic direction for two primary focus areas: Healthy Longevity and Financial Wellness. In 2020, Super launched the Milken Institute Alliance to Improve Dementia Care, which seeks to transform and improve the complex health and long-term care systems that people at risk for and living with dementia must navigate. Super is a respected thought leader, frequent speaker, and prolific writer on healthy longevity and the economic and social impact of global population aging. From 2014 to 2016, Super served as the executive director of the White House Conference on Aging, where she received wide recognition for her nationwide efforts to improve the lives of older Americans. She has also held leadership roles at the US Department of Health and Human Services, AARP, Kaiser Permanente, and USAging. Nora Super on the importance of involving those with lived experiences in policy creation: It's important to us to always make sure that we have people with lived experience as part of all the policy decisions we have. We make many policy recommendations and we want to make sure in all those conversations that we have someone who's living with dementia themselves or a caregiver of someone who's living with dementia to give us their real experience and feedback. This input stress tests the policies because sometimes people in government or research institutions think a policy will work on the ground but the people who are living with this may see issues we didn't so they will tell us, this makes a difference to them, or no. We get a lot of good feedback about what's too complicated, what's helpful, what they wish they had known earlier and those comments help drive our work.

In Episode 87 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen talks to Robert Feiri, Executive Director of Gateway Center of Monterey County, whose mission is to serve adults with Developmental Disabilities by fully supporting their individual rights and choices, and empowering them to live full and productive lives with dignity and independence within the community. Stephen and Robert Feiri talk about sustaining motivation through challenging times, breaking old habits to bring future successes, and the importance of a peer support system. Robert Freiri is the Executive Director of Gateway Center of Monterey County. He has been a nonprofit Executive Director for 23 years including seven years as Habitat for Humanity's Executive Director and seven years as the Executive Director of Chamberlain’s Children Center. Robert has also been a Nonprofit Manager for 35 years. Robert Feiri on sustaining motivation in challenging times: I think that what always kept me going is the focus on our mission, to make sure that even if it's been a tough day or we didn't win that day, that we're still on track to succeed at our mission and meet the needs of our clients. For me, when it's been a rough day I make sure that before I leave, I'll walk into the residential facility and spend 20 minutes with one or two of the residents. That always reminds me why I'm here and why we all do the good work that we do. That's what recharges me more than anything so that I can be ready to go and hit the challenges the next day. In the end it's really about the people that you serve and if you're doing a good job with that, your batteries will stay charged.

In Episode 86 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen talks to Jason Watters, CFO of GiveDirectly, whose mission is letting donors send money directly to the world’s poorest households. They believe people living in poverty deserve the dignity to choose for themselves how best to improve their lives — cash enables that choice. Stephen and Jason Watters talk about GiveDirectly's innovations in technology to increase efficiency of donations from donor to recipient, the importance of financial transparency in the nonprofit sector, and being a respectful guest when working with countries, governments, and citizens to develop trust. Jason holds a B.S. in Finance from Georgia State University and an MBA in Finance and Economics from the New York University, and joined GiveDirectly from a long string of Private Equity and Venture Capital backed technology companies, most recently Imbellus, Inc. and has served in a variety of CFO, COO, and Chief Innovation Officer roles. Jason started his career with a short stint at the US Department of the Treasury and a decade at McKinsey & Company. Jason on GiveDirectly's commitment to financial transparency: We make the claim, "90 cents of every dollar you give us goes into the hand of a recipient, unconditionally" and we've done an amazing job historically, providing transparency into that claim. However, about six months ago, in the context of the UN putting a call out to Elon Musk for $6 billion to help with a food program. There was a conversation about transparency, and proving that if Elon was to give $6 billion, it's not going to be run off by middlemen or spent on things other than what it was intended for. Elon Musk coined the term open source accounting which I think is a very good idea. This discourse sparked our team to ask ourselves the question, "Are we as transparent as we could be?" and ultimately, "Is there any reason that we wouldn't give audit rights to all of our stakeholders, donors, recipients, and governments we operate with to let them examine the books the same way that we would an investor?" After discussing internally it took 24 hours for the entire executive team to say, "Yes, we want to put all of our audit papers out publicly. We want to create a system where anybody can explore our transaction data and not only know where the 10% which doesn't go to recipients ends up." Now we're actively working on this open source accounting with our AWS partners to create a data exploration tool where anybody can go and look at how we spend our money, which recipients the money goes to, the salaries of the executive team and our staff, and what vendors we choose to do certain things. Also, should you happen to be a particular donor, we're shooting towards a world in which you can track your specific dollars, all the way through our system, to specific recipients on the other end. For example, we told you your money is going into Rwanda, so we want to show the 230 people that got your money and their stories of what they did with the money. This will also include accountability where we say, 1% of the money was lost to fraud, and one percent is pretty good, but still we didn't run that program perfectly. This will give donors the ability to make an educated choice on whether to give to us again, and whether to trust us with their money.

In Episode 85 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen talks to Holly Wissmann, Director of Philanthropy of Breakthrough Central Texas & President of AFP Greater Austin Chapter, whose mission is to facilitate ethical and effective philanthropy in Central Texas. The members of the Greater Austin Chapter represent a cross-section of professionals who serve the diverse nonprofit organizations of the Austin community. Stephen and Holly Wissmann talk about Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Greater Austin Chapter's Philanthropy Day that is coming up March 24, 2022 along with AFP's commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity, and access (IDEA) locally and globally and the paradigm shift happening in the non-profit sector from donor-centered to community-centered fundraising. Holly Wissmann leads AFP's major gifts program and has helped grow the individual giving program from $500,000 to $3 million annually, serving more than 2,600 students on their path to becoming first-generation college graduates. Having experienced the transformative impact of higher education on her own family, Holly is honored to have the opportunity to pay forward that gift every day, serving on a team dedicated to educational equity and partnering with students and families to realize their college dreams. Prior to joining the Breakthrough family in 2013, Holly served for seven years at ZACH Theatre, where she was on the team responsible for the Topfer Theatre Capital Campaign. A proud graduate of The University of Texas at Austin and Terry Scholar alumna, she holds a B.B.A. in Marketing and B.A. in Dance and serves on the Terry Foundation Alumni Advisory Board. In her 11 years as an active member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Holly has served in a variety of volunteer and leadership roles, including Philanthropy Day Chair and current President of the Greater Austin Chapter. In her personal time, she performs with East Austin-based, AZTLAN Dance Company, her artistic home for 16 years, and loves spending time with her partner, Fabian, and their fur babies, Xochi, Xico, and Ivan.

In Episode 84 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen talks to Janet Torres, CEO of Literacy Coalition of Central Texas, whose mission is to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty through holistic literacy services. Stephen and Janet talk about the importance of connecting with staff members while working remotely and why radical vulnerability is a key leadership skill. Janet Torres works as Chief Executive Officer at The Literacy Coalition of Central Texas, who are celebrating their 20th anniversary. Janet is a proven leader with an outstanding track record of public service, business and programmatic acumen, and the ability to bring people together. With over 20 years of public service as a legislative attorney, policy advisor, she has held various senior management positions in government/community engagement with global nonprofits such as the Wildlife Conservation Society, The New York Botanical Garden, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and most recently as Executive Director of The Kindness Campaign. Torres holds a B.A. in Political Science, Economics and Public Administration from Fordham University, and a J.D. from Boston University School of Law. Janet Torres on why vulnerability is an important leadership skill: I find that as a leader, I think you're always tempted to say, "I'm fine, everything's great." To give this outward impression of strength and that you know what you're doing. Even though sometimes you're really thinking, "I'm terrified. I don't know if I'm making the right decision or I'm just going to make a decision because I'm going to have to make a decision." What I think is important when talking about self care and burnout is that I've started practicing radical vulnerability with my board and my team, where it's okay for me to say, "You know what, I'm feeling burnt out." or "You know what? I may not have all the answers and I get scared too sometimes." That's been a game changer for us. It's scary to do because sometimes I think leaders may be afraid to be vulnerable since they're thinking that doing so will end with people respecting them less because they admit they don't have all the answers. I disagree with that. I've found that radical vulnerability as a leadership skill has actually benefited me and has humanized me to my staff and my board members; which then allows me to empathize and work with them more closely because they're open to being vulnerable in return.

In Episode 83 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen talks to Rebecca Powers, Author of Trust Your Cape & Founder of Impact Austin, whose mission is to cultivate and expand the knowledge, passion, and generosity of their members to make a positive impact by developing strong relationships and leveraging the power of collective giving. Stephen and Rebecca Powers talk about her new book Trust Your Cape that chronicles her journey of starting, building, leading and then letting go of Impact Austin. In 2003, Rebecca Warren Powers lost her brother and, as a result, founded Impact Austin, a collective giving organization that brings women and their financial resources together to make a profound impact in Central Texas. Rebecca has received multiple awards recognizing her leadership and speaks nationally along with mentoring women in cities across the US as they form their own collectives. Rebecca is well-known in Austin, Texas, for her philanthropic passion and empowering women to help others. She graduated from the University of Richmond with a B.S. in Business Administration in 1976 and worked as a sales rep for IBM for 14 years before retiring to raise her children. Rebecca and her husband live in Austin, Texas. They have two grown children, a wonderful son-in-law, and one perfect grandson. Rebecca on what she learned when letting go of Impact Austin: I always said that the day, the pain of running Impact Austin, was more than the joy that I got from it was the day it was time for me to retire because that meant what I loved doing and what I was good at doing was no longer what Impact Austin needed. When I did step down it was time for us to hire someone because no one was going to do what I did as the founder for free and work all those hours which meant that we became a different kind of organization, we had an employee, and that transition was messy. We had several missteps in that and it was hard for me to let go of my baby, but it was never my intention for Impact Austin to be "Rebecca's Impact Austin"; it needed to be the community. However, it was hard for me to let go of it when I didn't feel like it was able to blossom and fly on it's own. In hindsight, I should have let go a little easier than I did. Luckily I always had good people around me who called me to attention, and that's what you need is for people who are tough saying, "This isn't your place anymore. This is what we need, and this is how we're going to move forward." I was grateful for the people who told me that. Now I know Impact Austin is thriving without me because there are members now who are like, "I've heard of Rebecca Powers but I'm not sure I've ever seen her or if I just know the name." Which to me is like, "Yay, I'm not seen as an influence, and keeping my thumb on the organization." But it's hard to let go of your baby, I think it was harder to let go of Impact Austin than to let each of my kids go off to college.