In this episode, you’ll learn about a powerful alternative to restricted, project-based funding: enterprise capital for nonprofits. Guest Andrea Levere, founder and CEO of Capitalize Good, explains why nonprofits—like any enterprise—need multi-year, flexible capital that strengthens their balance sheets, builds reserves, and supports the people and systems that drive impact. Andrea breaks down the basic financial principles that determine nonprofit sustainability, and how enterprise capital enables organizations to innovate, hire essential staff, invest in technology, and create high-quality jobs. She also shares compelling examples—from affordable housing developers to workforce builders—showing how this kind of capital supports everything from salaries and benefits to new program development and strategic growth.

Andrea and Rusty also dig into the relationship between talent-investing and enterprise capital, the pitfalls of scarcity-based philanthropy, and how funders can more effectively match their “sources of funds” to the actual needs of organizations. Andrea shares stories from Capitalize Good’s partnerships with funders like the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation and the Citi Foundation's Community Progress Makers, as well as the emerging work in Arkansas to pilot enterprise capital approaches statewide. Listeners will come away with a clear understanding of how enterprise capital works, why it matters, and how both nonprofits and funders can adopt this transformative approach.

Download an edited transcript of the episode in .PDF format

Links to Resources:

• Gift to Listeners: 6 Months Free Subscription to FTP Podcast Premium on Patreon (up to 50 people). Offer will no longer be available after 12/31/25 at 11:59pm ET.

• Fund the People website

• Long-Haul Grantmaking Report (Fund the People)

  Guest Organization & Initiatives Mentioned

• Capitalize Good website

• Capitalize Good “Blueprint for Enterprise Capital”

• Capitalize Good “Deeper Dive” FAQ section

• Andrea Levere on LinkedIn

• Capitalize Good on LinkedIn

• Yale School of Management

• Nonprofit Finance Fund

• Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation

• Citi Foundation – Community Progress Makers

Just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday, Rusty sits down with consultant and PlayFull Podcast host Kristine Michie for a lively conversation about the role of joy, play, and ice cream in sustaining the nonprofit workforce. Kristine shares how her lifelong roots in activism shaped her worldview, and how her consulting firm, ImpactFull, emerged with a mission to help social-change leaders weave fun, creativity, and moments of levity into the everyday grind of mission-driven work. Together, Rusty and Kristine explore why morale is so fragile in the current climate—and why nurturing hope, agency, and human connection is essential for impact.

Drawing on insights from nearly 200 interviews with changemakers, Kristine describes how play reduces stress, builds community, fuels innovation, and restores the emotional stamina required for nonprofit work. She offers practical strategies for leaders and funders—such as incorporating playful tools into board development, gamifying engagement, and creating small rituals of joy that strengthen team culture. Through stories, laughter, and yes, shared ice cream, the episode highlights a simple but powerful truth: when nonprofits integrate play into their work, they replenish the spirit needed to keep going and keep changing the world.

Related Episodes:

• Happy, Healthy Nonprofit People - with Beth Kanter
• Social Impact Grief: How to Mourn AND Organize in 2025 - with Meico Marquette Whitlock

Links to Resources:

• ImpactFull (Kristine's consulting practice)
• The PlayFull Podcast
• Rusty Stahl: Defending Civil Society in a Time of Political Threats (episode on PlayFull Podcast)
• Durfee Foundation
• Changemaker Camp

Guest Bio:

Kristine Michie is Founder of ImpactFull, Inc., creator of Provocative Joy Retreats, Changemaker Camp, and host of the PlayFull Podcast: Bringing Fun to the Serious Work of Changing the World. Her firm reinvents change-sector strategies with fresh approaches, including Board Development & Delight, Balance & Joy meeting facilitation, and Better Giving coaching for funder collectives. A published author, panelist, and speaker, Kristine brings joy to changemakers worldwide.

This episode explores the stages of foundation responses to the Trump Administration’s War on Charities, through the lens of a place-based funder network. Rusty sits down with Megan Thomas, CEO of Catalyst of San Diego and Imperial Counties. This regional funder association has worked with its members and local nonprofit advisors to build several rounds of collaborative funding, including cash flow assistance loans.

You’ll hear:

• The stages of local funder reaction and response to the Trump Administration's shock-and-awe tactics in their 2025 attacks on nonprofits and philanthropy;

• Why and how local funders began organizing with one another to create collective funding;
• How persistent leadership and courage can spur collective, partnership-based responses;
• The consequences of the Trump Administration’s actions on the local social sector

Megan is a longstanding leader in the philanthropic community, and her organization, Catalyst, is one of Fund the People's partners in the California Talent Justice Initiative.

This episode is part of our biweekly Defend Nonprofits, Defend Democracy Series, as well as our ongoing efforts to feature our California Talent Justice Initiative partners across the Golden State.

Transcript:

• Edited PDF of Episode Transcript with Time Stamps

Related episodes from FTP Podcast:

• Defend Nonprofits, Defend the Social Safety Net - with Edward Hershey, CEO, Home of Guiding Hands (San Diego)

• Nonprofit Staff Resilience and Wellbeing in Turbulent Times - with Loretta Turner, Founder and Strategist, Do Good Leadership Collective

• MacArthur President Chooses Courage, Not Quiet - with John Palfrey, President, MacArthur Foundation

Resources mentioned in the episode:

• Catalyst of San Diego and Imperial Counties

• USD Nonprofit Institute Report (March 2025)

• Coordinated Regional Response Collaborative

• Resilient Response Fund

• Sustained Support Fund

• San Diego Solidarity Network

• Community-Centric Fundraising

Guest bio:

Megan serves as Catalyst’s president & CEO, providing strategic leadership and partnership to the entire Catalyst staff, board, members, and community partners. Megan oversees Catalyst’s facilitation of collaborative efforts among its funder members and other stakeholders; leads the production of philanthropy and impact investing skills-building and issue based learning; and spearheads Catalyst’s work related to championing equity and opportunity. She strengthens Imperial and San Diego County communities through shared learning and pooled and aligned funding strategies, and initiatives fiscally sponsored by Catalyst.

Megan brings 20 years of experience in the nonprofit and philanthropic fields to this role, having most recently served as Executive Director of San Diego Coastkeeper where she built partnerships among the nonprofit, business, and public sectors to advance environmental goals across San Diego County. Megan received her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Georgetown University and her Masters in Business Administration from Yale School of Management. She serves on the board of directors for the United Philanthropy Forum (national) and the Museum of Us (San Diego).

In this episode, you'll get valuable insights from the CEO of one of the few foundations in the US focused on nonprofit people, not nonprofit programs. Our guest is Maria Cabildo, CEO of The Durfee Foundation.

Durfee funds “people and possibilities in Los Angeles county.” Maria served as President and CEO of the East LA Community Corporation for 16 years, where she was the recipient of multiple forms of Durfee support. She has also worked in government and other philanthropic organizations.

We discuss Durfee’s interlocking funding programs: their signature sabbatical award for nonprofit leaders; the Stanton Fellowship (an R&D opportunity to advance new ideas); Springboard (catalytic support for emerging organizations); and the Lark Awards (collective care and renewal for staff at community-based organizations).

Maria also shares insights on why funders should recognize the genius and ingenuity in community-developed solutions to problems; staying grounded in the realities and relationships of grassroots communities as we become powerful professionals; and leading during crisis, and how funders can respond to crises by remaining consistent and stable, while being responsive and stepping-up support for nonprofits.

Guest Bio:

Maria Cabildo (she/her) is a lifelong Angelena. Born and raised in East Los Angeles. She has a long career in public service. She has held positions in the philanthropic, nonprofit, private, and government sectors, including co-founder and CEO of the East LA Community Corporation (ELACC) from 1999 – 2015. She received both a Durfee Foundation Sabbatical and Stanton fellowship while CEO of ELACC. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University, a master’s degree in Urban Planning from UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs, and a Certificate in Advanced Environmental Studies from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. She lives in Eagle Rock with her two adult children and their cats, Milk & Andaluza.

Relevant Episodes:

• Thriving Wages for Community Organizers

• Nonprofit Staff Resilience and Well-Being in Turbulent Times

• Breaking the Silence: Making Leadership Transitions Safe for Nonprofits

Resources Discussed:

• The Durfee Foundation

• Sabbatical Program (Related: Creative Disruption Report on funding nonprofit sabbaticals)

• Stanton Fellowship (Related: What If: Insights from a Decade of Philanthropic R&D)

• Springboard Fund

• Lark Awards

Other organizations discussed:

• East L.A. Community Corporation

• Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative

• Trust-Based Philanthropy Project

In this brief Bonus Episode, Rusty Stahl introduces the concept of Staff Operating Support (S.O.S.) Grants. It's a new type of grant for the new type of existential crisis we face.

• Download our new S.O.S. Grants Concept Paper
• Share this flyer about the S.O.S. Grants Concept Paper

An S.O.S. Grant is restricted for investments in a grantee's people and the systems that support their team. Within that restriction area, an S.O.S. Grant is flexible, responsive, and trust-based. Why? Read our concept paper to find out!

Rusty and our team at Fund the People developed the S.O.S. Grants Concept as a new part of our Funding that Works Framework. It is meant to help funders and fundraisers support nonprofit workers in response to the current crisis, but also in reaction to the chronic deficit of investment in America's nonprofit workforce.

Have feedback? Leave comments in your podcast app, or email rusty@fundthepeople.org.