Hi everybody – this is Rusty Stahl, CEO of Fund the People and host of your Fund the People Podcast. Season 10 starts next Wednesday, September 9th. New episodes will be available every Wednesday throughout the fall.

So I wanted to say a quick hello to get you ready!

As you probably know, Fund the People is the only national organization dedicated entirely to increasing investment in America's nonprofit workforce.

Our podcast equips YOU to invest in the nonprofit workforce! Whatever your role in the sector, we provide you with the ideas, research, tools, and leading voices you need to hear in order to invest in the nonprofit people around you!

Why does this matter? Because there's a chronic deficit of investment in the nonprofit workforce, which has undermined the effectiveness and impact of the sector for decades. But when nonprofits have the funding and incentive to invest in their people, they can dramatically increases the performance, results, and sustainability!

During the current era of political attacks, federal funding cuts; heightened levels of burnout, churn-out, and crisis across the nonprofit sector, investing in nonprofit people is an even more essential strategy to save nonprofit jobs, services, and organizations. Which means it’s time for all of us to learn the art of talent-investing.

Thankfully we’re making that easier than ever.

As we enter our seventh year of podcasting, the show just keeps getting better and better. More incredible guests. More real talk. More hard-hitting coverage of our sector's workforce issues. In fact, our guests are so great that the show is now ranked # EIGHT on the top list of 100 Best Nonprofit Podcasts in the U.S (FeedSpot).

This fall, Season 10 brings you even more wisdom and practical resources from across the sector. So come "find your people" on Fund the People: bee sure to subscribe, listen or watch, and share the show!

As nonprofits navigate the aggressively hostile political and policy environment of the current federal administration, communications strategist Vanessa Wakeman argues that organizations need more than legal and financial preparedness.

In this special summer bonus episode, you’ll learn about “narrative resilience,” - a term and concept developed by Wakeman. Learn how nonprofits – and their funders – can strengthen public trust; counter harmful storylines; and build lasting communications infrastructure that helps defend both the nonprofit sector and democracy itself.

View and download a .pdf transcript of this episode – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_GMmCxBhbrIWcOQ5y5e1YzIk-ARBIe8W/view?usp=sharing

Guest Bio:

An accomplished leader with deep knowledge about the politics of social change and mastery at advancing the efforts of values-driven organizations, Vanessa is a trusted advisor to organizations around the globe. She has been successfully leading initiatives to support communications for nonprofits, socially responsible companies and other stakeholder groups since she founded The Wakeman Agency in 2003.

Vanessa helps clients to build and restore trust with internal and external audiences, to develop ongoing communications that strengthen organizational positioning and amongst key audiences. Vanessa has increasingly been called upon by a host of organizations to help them reimagine their values, culture and operations through the lens of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion. Her approach to communications uses behavioral science practices to shift perceptions and behaviors.

Links

Resources:

The Wakeman Agency – Strategic communications firm serving nonprofits, foundations, and mission-driven organizations. https://www.thewakemanagency.com/

Narrative Resilience Program – Consulting and assessment program for nonprofits, available for individual organizations or cohorts, including foundation-sponsored cohorts. https://www.thewakemanagency.com/expertise/narrative-resilience-program/

The Wakeman Agency Insights – Articles and thought leadership explaining Narrative Resilience and communications strategy. https://www.thewakemanagency.com/insights/

Social Change Diaries podcast - https://www.thewakemanagency.com/the-social-change-diaries/

Social Change Diaries episode with Rusty Stahl – “Rusty Stahl’s Radical Vision for a Transformed Nonprofit World” from November 2018 – https://www.thewakemanagency.com/insights/rusty-stahls-radical-vision-for-a-transformed-nonprofit-workforce-development/

Contact Guest:

Vanessa Wakeman on linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessawakeman

Wakeman Agency on linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-wakeman-agency

Relevant Episodes:
S9 Bonus – Sarah Saadian (National Council of Nonprofits) – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-nonprofits-fight-back-against-todays-biggest-federal/id1531813289?i=1000775935067

S9:E13 – The Value of the Nonprofit Workforce (Part 2) – ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/economy-the-unique-value-of-the-u-s-nonprofit-workforce-2-of-3/id1531813289?i=1000761500707⁠

S9:E18 – Vu Le (Nonprofit AF) – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/anger-hope-funding-and-the-future-of-nonprofits/id1531813289?i=1000768714659

Vu Le is our guest for the Season Nine Finalé, which also serves as an installment of our ongoing Defend Nonprofits, Defend Democracy Series. Recorded with a live zoom audience during our spring webinar series, Vu discusses his burnout, funding instability, philanthropy’s power dynamics, and what it will take to strengthen nonprofits in an era of rising authoritarianism. Vu argues that nonprofits and funders must stop normalizing scarcity, invest deeply in leaders and infrastructure, and organize collectively for long-term change.

Drawing from his new book Reimagining Nonprofits and Philanthropy, Vu challenges conventional assumptions about fundraising, nonprofit leadership, and philanthropy itself. The conversation explores why progressive movements struggle to sustain leaders, how conservative leadership infrastructure has been built strategically over decades, and what nonprofit professionals can do right now to protect democracy and each other.

Download a transcript of the episode

About Our Guest

Vu Le is a prominent writer, speaker, and former executive director of Seattle-based Rainier Valley Corps. Widely recognized for his irreverent, no-nonsense approach to social justice and philanthropy, he authors the viral blog Nonprofit AF, and is a co-founder of the Community-Centric Fundraising movement. Most recently he is author of the book, Reimagining Nonprofits and Philanthropy. In 2020, Vu was our first guest on the Fund the People: A Podcast with Rusty Stahl.

Suggested Links:

Vu Le’s Blog, Nonprofit AF

Reimagining Nonprofits and Philanthropy (Book)

The Sally Covington Report (Moving a Public Policy Agenda: The Strategic Philanthropy of Conservative Foundations)

Community-Centric Fundraising

Nonprofits Are Message with Joan Garry - Episode 251 with Vu

Trust-Based Philanthropy Project

National Council of Nonprofits

Independent Sector

Bolder Advocacy

Rules of the Game Podcast (Note: Rusty misstated the name of the podcast in the recording. The correct name provided here)

Solidaire Network

Fund the People

Fund the People Webinar Series

Related Fund the People Podcast Episodes:

S1:E1 — Vu Le: Treating Nonprofit People Like Batteries - The very first FTP podcast episode, revisited in this conversation, on burnout, scarcity, and nonprofit workforce culture.

In this installment of our Defend Nonprofits Defend Democracy Series, you’ll get a deep dive into one of the least-discussed but most important democracy issues facing nonprofits and philanthropy today: attacks on ballot initiatives and direct democracy. Elizabeth DiLauro of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation joins Rusty Stahl to discuss how ballot measures have become critical tools for advancing health equity and why efforts to restrict citizen-led initiatives threaten both democracy and the nonprofit sector.

Liz shares how RWJF is funding organizations defending ballot access in multiple states, helping other funders understand the legal pathways for engagement, and why funders using their public voice matters as much as their grantmaking right now. The conversation also explores democratic backsliding, gerrymandering, philanthropy’s role in this moment, and why protecting democratic participation is foundational to every social justice mission.

Download the edited transcript as a .pdf

Guest Bio:

Elizabeth DiLauro serves as a Senior Policy Officer with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, where she shapes strategy and grantmaking at the state level to advance long-term change in the social policies that impact our nation’s health and well-being.

Previously, Liz served as the senior director of advocacy at ZERO TO THREE, where she led the organization’s advocacy strategy to advance a policy agenda for young children and families. Earlier in her career, Liz worked with the Pew Charitable Trusts where she crafted state campaigns to increase access to children’s dental care, and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry where she advanced strategies to support children’s mental health policy. She has also worked in federal and state advocacy with Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) USA.

Liz holds a Master of Public Administration from the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University, with a specialization in public and non-profit policy and management.

Links to Resources Mentioned in the Episode

Organizations:

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)

Ballot Initiative Strategy Center Foundation

Fairness Project Education Fund

Bolder Advocacy (program of Alliance for Justice)

Fund the People

Reports, Publications, Events, and Tools:

Rules of the Game Podcast⁠ (Bolder Advocacy, a program of Alliance for Justice)

Foundations on the Hill (policy conference and Capitol Hill visits for the foundations and philanthropy infrastructure organizations)

Answering the Call for a Healthy, Inclusive Democracy - Annual Letter (April 2026) by Dr. Rich Besser, President, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

All By April (a 501c3 campaign hosted by Democracy Fund)