Stephen Cook is a nonprofit operations leader and the founder of Foundations & Horizons, where he helps nonprofit organizations build practical systems that make their work easier to manage and more sustainable. His experience includes nonprofit operations, volunteer program development, organizational systems, leadership, and program growth. He is also the author of Strong Foundations, Higher Horizons, a practical leadership book for nonprofit leaders who want to build stronger organizations without losing sight of the mission.

Host Steve Boland joins to talk about the operational side of nonprofit work. Stephen notes that in his experience, organizations spend much of their time on program management conversations and far less on operations, even though operations determine how well a nonprofit can manage its work. Stephen and Steve discuss the basics every organization needs, including support for human resources, finances, and similar functions, and Stephen shares the self-assessment tools he has developed to help nonprofits look honestly at where they stand. Those tools are available on his website.

Stephen has begun using more AI tools to help streamline operational processes, and recommends that organizations should still double-check with experts in the field rather than relying on AI alone. Throughout, they return to a central point: gaps in basic operational support affect mission outcomes. Staff transitions and other disruptions often trace back to a lack of coordinated systems.

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(This is an encore episode from last year - please enjoy!)

Allison Wagstrom is the Senior Loan Officer for Propel Nonprofits, whose mission “fuels the impact and effectiveness of nonprofits with guidance, expertise, and capital.”

Allison joins host Steve Boland to talk about the risks nonprofits face, and steps and tools they can use to manage that risk. Allison encourages charities to think in terms of revenue mix, program costs, infrastructure, and capital. She and Steve talk about examples in such areas of the emotional labor of program costs (because that is really people in most cases), the new risks where government funding is no longer as secure as it used to be, and how a cashflow projection may not ameliorate all fears but provides a way to examine fears on paper. Allison discusses the role of the board in these times, and both of them caution that now is still a year to consider building cash reserves, because the future may have even more risk on the horizon. Sunsetting, mergers, and acquisitions may be on the table in order to preserve mission impact. Propel Nonprofits manages a Resource Library for charities to use in learning about their own options.

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Laura Hinrichsen is the Senior Vice President of Integrated Media Solutions at AGP, a full-service agency that works exclusively with nonprofits. Its services include direct mail, web, email, and the paid media work that Laura’s team leads, both online and offline.

Laura joins Steve for a primer on paid advertising for small and mid-sized organizations that may assume it’s only for the big nonprofits. She explains why “we tried Facebook and it didn’t work” usually means an organic post rather than paid social. She also makes the case for keeping fundraising asks off your organic page, since low engagement can shrink who sees your posts. Boosted posts and small paid campaigns are an accessible entry point.

The conversation covers how Google Ad Grants and paid search work together. Grant accounts can now run Performance Max campaigns, and Laura discusses how AI search and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) are changing the picture. Laura also explains why your website and landing pages need to be ready before you spend. The conversation also includes programmatic advertising, which buys audiences and behavior rather than specific websites. They also look at audio, video, and streaming placements, low-production authentic video, and affordable influencer endorsements through Cameo for Business. Laura emphasizes the advantage nonprofits already have: first-party data. Your donor profiles, website visitors, and social followers can feed targeted campaigns and lookalike audiences.

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Godni Amir is the Founder and Executive Director of A Free Bird, whose mission is "to empower children affected by cancer to discover their inner artist."

Godni joins host Steve Boland to talk about building and sustaining a nonprofit powered almost entirely by volunteers. After being inspired by his voice teacher's experience with cancer, Godni launched A Free Bird 18 years ago with a single Craigslist post and a free first event at Bloomingdale's, and has since been honored six times by NYC Service for volunteer engagement. He shares how the organization now coordinates 20 to 60 volunteers and interns from around the world across eight departments, using tools like Slack, Salesforce, and Google Workspace (plus a custom community dashboard in progress) to protect volunteers' time so they can focus on relationships. Godni talks about recruiting for passion first, pairing newer volunteers with experienced ones, and holding to clear policies and procedures while treating volunteers like family. He stresses the ideas of offering job references, learning opportunities, and appreciation events long after their service ends.

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Robert J. Bolton Jr. is the President and Executive Director of The Interchurch Center (TIC), whose mission is " to foster interreligious engagement and promote social good, The Interchurch Center remains rooted in traditions of hospitality, community care, and meaningful exchange."

Pastor Belton joins host Steve Boland to talk about the mission of shared-space organizations using The Interchurch Center as an example in the New York City community. Robert shares examples of how providing space for nonprofits (in this case below-market rents) can impact multiple missions. Organizations like Metro World Child is a story of a mission leasing more space for less financial costs. The nature of space-use after the COVID pandemic has changed, and The Interchurch Center has operating largely on earned revenue, but is considering fundraising to expand the mission. They serve nonprofits of all kinds - not necessarily faith-based groups - which come together under the one roof.

Listen now, download the file for later here, or subscribe to the podcast on your phone for automatic updates. Get more details on how to subscribe on our podcast page. Please consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or your platform of choice. Thanks!

Chloe Akers is the Founder and CEO of the Best of Tennessee, "is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering a more representative government because Tennesseans deserve leaders who reflect the priorities and values of the communities they serve."

Chloe joins host Steve Boland to talk about the work of nonprofits to encourage participation in primary elections as a means to impacting government support of nonprofit missions. Chloe shared the history of the Best of Tennessee making the decision to build participation at the primary level because in a post-gerrymander world where districts are now intentionally structured to exclude competitive general elections. Chloe shows how increased participation in primary elections is a more impactful option for charities seeking to engage government partners in their issues.

The Best of Tennessee ran several advertising campaigns (display ads, streaming video, social media) to help potential voters understand the importance of primary campaigns especially compared to the non-competitive gerrymandered general election. The range of messages is part of the strategy. While the Best of Tennessee is a 501 (c) 4 nonprofit, 501 (c) 3 nonprofits are absolutely allowed to encourage people to vote in primary elections, just be aware of prohibitions of advocating for specific candidates or parties.

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Michael Thatcher is the President and CEO of Charity Navigator which “helps millions of people take action and support the causes they care about by connecting them to the best charities that align with their passions and values.”

Charity Navigator has made new changes to the Encompass system to help people understand charities. Encompass has dozens of metrics that fall into four beacons: impact & measurement, accountability & finances, culture & compensation, and leadership & planning. The True Impact partnership is looking to effectiveness assessments, and Charity Navigator is working on how data sharing can be allowed across other platforms with permission.

Hear our podcast about generative engine optimization here. We have more about logic models and evaluation in this podcast. Listeners can also hear the previous episode with Charity Navigator’s Noelani Pearl Hernandez and Carly Bad Heart Bull, the Executive Director of Native Ways Federation,

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Dr. Lindsay Whorton is the President of The Holdsworth Center, whose "mission is to impact, over time, the quality of PreK-12 public education for all Texas students by supporting and developing educational leaders."

Dr. Whorton discusses her work building long-term talent and support in the education world across many school districts in Texas. This involves patience and a process of dealing with creating change over time in larger-scale systems. She talks about the importance of understanding the output and work of the day, Government stakeholders have a different response Different funders have different time horizons. Some challenges also arrives when focus creeps too broadly to keep a mission moving over time.

Host Steve Boland asks Dr. Whorton about systems change issues that are both about program and policy changes which may be needed over the longer term, and she talked about challenging the notion that there is a zero-sum choice in these arenas. The question is about bringing your supporters forward without accepting the idea that others must need to be shut down in order to move forward.

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