This episode is with Mary. An important element of board culture is the agreements board members have about how to hold each other accountable. Most boards haven’t created explicit agreements about accountability. So, when there is a clear need to do something about a disengaged or absent board member what happens? Avoidance, procrastination . . . If you have a disruptive board member having an accountability process you all have agreed on can go a long way to helping you deal with it. Get your ...
Jul 02, 2020•12 min•Season 1Ep. 68
My guest for this episode is Alex Shoor. Alex is a community advocate driven by two interconnected goals: make Silicon Valley more equitable, vibrant, and sustainable, as well as make government as responsive, cost-efficient, and innovative as possible. Alex is the co-founder and Executive Director of Catalyze SV (Silicon Valley), a nonprofit organization striving to better engage the community in the development process in order to get more housing & better development built. Alex co-founde...
Jun 25, 2020•38 min•Season 1Ep. 70
My guest for this episode is Gabe Cooper. Gabe was a fundraiser for over 15 years. He is the Founder and CEO of Virtuous Software, a SaaS CRM and Marketing platform helping charities increase their impact. He is also the founder of Brushfire Interactive and co-founder of Shotzoom Software. Gabe has a true passion for creating market-defining software and helping charities re-imagine generosity. After serving in a leadership role at a large nonprofit in the early 2000's, Gabe went on to help buil...
Jun 18, 2020•38 min•Season 1Ep. 69
My guest for this episode is Jane Garthson. Jane has operated her consulting firm since 1992 from Toronto, Canada, serving Canadian charities, NGOs, professional and industry associations and government agencies, providing a whole array of services relevant for nonprofit leaders of all kinds. Before that, Jane was a senior manager in six ministries of the Ontario government. Jane is dedicated to creating better communities and organizations through values-based leadership and intentional governa...
Jun 11, 2020•34 min•Season 1Ep. 67
My guest for this episode is Lynn Sanders. Lynn is a Story Empowerment Expert and Founder of Difference Makers Media, with a mission to help cause-driven entrepreneurs, authors, speakers and nonprofit leaders tell their stories effectively to build their impact, make a difference and grow their revenue. Lynn has worked with nonprofit organizations for 20 years as a publicity and marketing consultant, a video scriptwriter, an author and fundraising strategist for the nonprofit sector. She provide...
Jun 04, 2020•35 min•Season 1Ep. 66
My guest for this episode is Dr. Victoria Boyd. Dr. Boyd is President and Founder of The Philantrepreneur™ Foundation and has been a driving force in education and non-profit arenas as an author, trainer, administrator and advocate throughout the country. Dr. Boyd recognized early that her passion was educating others and had an extensive career teaching dance for 28 years experiencing extraordinary opportunities and taking her students throughout the US and around the globe. As an educator she ...
May 28, 2020•35 min•Season 1Ep. 64
This is a bonus episode--a moment with Mary. In this episode I share some of what I learned when I studied the board chair/executive director relationship. When executive directors and their board chairs (and board members for that matter) interact on a 1:1 basis, what's really going on? I found there were four different types of interactions. They were sharing facts, ideas, knowledge, or feelings. Those pairs who experienced all four types of interactions has stronger relationships characterize...
May 21, 2020•10 min•Season 1Ep. 65
My guest for this episode is Pastor Kathleen Panning. Kathleen earned her Master of Divinity Degree from Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN. She was ordained as a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 1980. She has served congregations in rural and urban settings, ranging in size from 150 – 6000+ members. Kathleen has trained as a mentor and coach and supervised seminary students for 14 years. After retiring from parish ministry in 2014 she became the first clergy person to become...
May 14, 2020•35 min•Season 1Ep. 63
My guest for this episode is Stephen King. Given Stephen has gone from being a bootstrapped tech found to a billion-dollar executive to a nonprofit fundraiser, it’s safe to say he is not your traditional CPA. Stephen has over 20 years’ experience with nonprofits in fundraising and fund development. His experience at the forefront of technology development and accounting system design spans nearly three decades. In 1995 he founded Virtual Growth, the nation’s first cloud-based accounting service....
May 07, 2020•33 min•Season 1Ep. 61
My guest for this episode is Lindsay Simonds. Lindsay is a nonprofit, fundraising and management professional with over a decade of experience partnering with organizations for transformational change. Having raised over $1 billion cumulatively, she serves nonprofit clients ranging from start-up to multi-billion dollar budgets locally and nationally. Her sector focus areas are Health Care, Education, Arts and Social Justice. Lindsay plays an integral role in expanding and deepening donor relation...
Apr 30, 2020•37 min•Season 1Ep. 61
This is a bonus episode--a moment with Mary. In this episode I respond to an inquiry I received from a board chair asking what her role should be during a crisis. I had some suggestions all of which were prefaced by how important being in partnership with the CEO is for all of them. I discuss supporting the CEO in specific communications with both the staff and the board. Another key tip is to ensure the CEO takes care of herself. Stamina and resilience are so important during a crisis but requi...
Apr 23, 2020•14 min•Season 1Ep. 60
My guest for this episode is Sherry Quam Taylor. Sherry has over 13 years’ experience with nonprofits: as a volunteer, staff, and on boards. Sherry has had her own business helping nonprofits for eight years. She teaches nonprofit leaders how to pivot from small-dollar donations to securing larger, investment-level donations so they can finally fund their missions. The leaders she works with are experts in their field, but when it comes to individual donor fundraising, they’ve simply never been ...
Apr 16, 2020•39 min•Season 1Ep. 59
My guest for this episode is Michelle Mendoza. Michelle’s Human Resources career spans more than 20 years – with large corporations such as Johnson & Johnson, Intuit, Cadence Design Systems and KLA Tenor. Michelle has 15 years of experience working with non-profits, including spending over a year as a HR Manager at a non-profit before starting her own business, Connect to HR. Since 2010, she has focused on HR consulting for companies including Apple and Veritas as well as privately held busi...
Apr 09, 2020•35 min•Season 1Ep. 58
My guest for this episode is John Baird. John’s passion for bringing strong leadership and culture building skills to early stage ventures resulted in the founding (with Ben Tauber) of the Velocity Group in 2015. John is currently the Senior Partner and Board Chair at Velocity. He and Managing Partner Edward Sullivan have positioned Velocity as the “go to” coaching firm for early stage companies beginning to scale. John helps leaders leverage their natural talents and expand their skill sets to ...
Apr 02, 2020•37 min•Season 1Ep. 57
My guest for this episode is Matt Hugg. Over his 30-year career, Matt has held management and fundraising positions at the Boy Scouts of America, Lebanon Valley College, the University of Cincinnati, Ursinus College, and the University of the Arts. Matt teaches fundraising, management, and marketing at a number of graduate programs and corporation, online, and in person in the United States, Africa, Asia and Europe. Matt is founder of Nonprofit.Courses, an on-demand, eLearning resource for nonpr...
Mar 26, 2020•42 min•Season 1Ep. 56
This is one of our bonus episodes – a moment with me. As nonprofit leaders we’ve all had to form a work group of some type. That may be a short-term group, could be a board task force or even an ongoing board committee. It could be your leadership team. I adapted a framework I learned years back that has been helpful to me in thinking about forming small work groups. I’ve shared it with clients over the years to and I know it’s helpful. I just call it the 4 P’s. I share those with you in this ep...
Mar 19, 2020•9 min•Season 1Ep. 55
My guest for this episode is Vivienne Hsu. Vivienne is founder and CEO of LENDonate, a unique marketplace lending and donation platform where nonprofits and supporters leverage their collective power for the greater good. With over 20 years of financial services experience she is considered an expert in her field. She has appeared in numerous interviews on CNBC and Bloomberg TV and is frequently quoted in national publications, including The Wall Street Journal and Kiplinger. Prior to being a so...
Mar 12, 2020•37 min•Season 1Ep. 54
My guest for this episode is Rick Williams. Rick is the former CEO of the Sobrato Family Foundation,(SFF) one of Silicon Valley’s largest philanthropic organizations, with annual charitable investments in excess of $40 million. Prior to joining SFF, Rick founded and was President of Realize Consulting Group, a management consulting firm focused on creating effective and sustainable solutions for philanthropic and nonprofit organizations and the communities they serve. He also served at the Direc...
Mar 05, 2020•35 min•Season 1Ep. 53
My guest for this episode is Aila Malik. Aila is an experienced leader who collaborates with venture-ready organizations to re-imagine their places within the education, correction, and community-based organization sectors. She specializes in launches, expansions, process design and implementation, and development coaching for high-performing executives. Aila has dedicated over 20 years to supporting and educating youth in many contexts including: homeless shelters, mentally disabled homes, juve...
Feb 27, 2020•39 min•Season 1Ep. 52
This is one of our bonus episodes – a moment with me. At one of my workshops recently, a board member asked how to increase the engagement of her fellow board members. I asked her to say more about what their disengagement looked like. She described poor attendance and lack of participation of those who do attend. There can be a lot of reasons for this, but I asked: Do you have an active board executive committee? Aha! It didn’t take long to discover the role the executive committee was playing ...
Feb 20, 2020•10 min•Season 1Ep. 51
My guest for this episode is Caitlin Kerk. Caitlin is a writer and communications strategist who has been writing about health and social issues for more than 25 years. In that time, she has developed communications plans and messaging platforms, conducted media campaigns, and created content for a wide range of communication vehicles, including promotional materials, websites, blogs, public health reports and white papers. Caitlin launched Kerk Communications in 1997 to provide nonprofit agenci...
Feb 13, 2020•35 min•Season 1Ep. 50
My guest for this episode is Andrea Hummel. Andrea is trained in multicultural diversity, mediation and trauma recovery. She holds a Masters in applied anthropology American University (Washington, DC) with additional studies in refugee affairs and linguistics. Andrea holds a Theory certification in TSM psychodrama for post-traumatic growth and presents at conferences both in the US and abroad. In 1991 she founded a consulting firm specializing in cultural diversity and human relations consultin...
Feb 06, 2020•35 min•Season 1Ep. 49
My guest for this episode is Christa Gannon, the founder and CEO of FLY program – Fresh Lifelines for Youth—which was formed as a nonprofit in 2000. FLY began with one staff member and a handful of volunteers serving youth in a few neighborhoods in San Jose. Today, with 55 staff and more than 200 volunteers, FLY serves approximately 2,500 youth annually in 25 cities throughout the Bay Area. The agency and Christa have received numerous local, state, and national awards. Christa is an honors grad...
Jan 30, 2020•35 min•Season 1Ep. 48
This is one of our bonus episodes – a moment with . Mary “When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor. It’s to enjoy each step along the way.” Wayne Dyer The board-executive director relationship is a dance. The whole team is dancing together! One thing that can throw everyone off balance or mess up the cadence is how the board manages (or doesn’t) executive sessions. Mary shares her experience that most executive directors don’t want their boards to meet without t...
Jan 23, 2020•12 min•Season 1Ep. 47
My guest for this episode is Dr. Mary VanHaneghan. Dr. Mary started her career in the human services field two decades ago as a direct service professional. During her tenure she has worked across the country in various capacities: day habilitation; post-secondary education; transitional services; case management; supported employment; behavioral health; and more. Dr. Mary received her doctorate in education from Walden University in 2012, with emphasis in higher education and adult learning,; a...
Jan 16, 2020•36 min•Season 1Ep. 46
My guest for this episode is Carol Hamilton. Carol grew up overseas and learned at an early age that cultures vary and there are few absolutes. Living in the world between her home American culture and European culture, she became a student of history, culture and language. Carol is fascinated with ways to better understand human organizing systems and the cultures that emerge within these systems. Also Carol grew up the younger sister of a brother with special needs. Observing how the world tre...
Jan 09, 2020•37 min•Season 1Ep. 45
My guest for this episode is Jan Berthold. Janice is a Senior Vice President with Heffernan Insurance and one of the few brokers who works with clients on a "Referral Only" basis. Prior to merging her firm with Heffernan, Janice was President and CEO of J. Berthold Insurance Service Inc. and a Principal of All West Insurance Brokers, one of the top five closely held insurance brokerage firms in Silicon Valley. She has over 25 years of commercial insurance experience and holds the insurance desig...
Jan 02, 2020•31 min•Season 1Ep. 44
This is a bonus episode with Mary. Relationships are the most important currency nonprofit leaders attract. You influence the quantity and the quality of the relationships your nonprofit has with the people who care about - or could care about - your mission. Mary has a story to tell and a tip for you. Be sure to subscribe to Inspired Nonprofit Leadership so that you don’t miss a single episode, and while you’re at it, won’t you take a moment to write a short review and rate our show? It would b...
Dec 19, 2019•9 min•Season 1Ep. 43
My guest for this episode is Mindy Berkowitz. Mindy has been Executive Director of Jewish Family Services of Silicon Valley since July 2003. In her tenure as Executive Director, Mindy partnered with the Board of Directors take the agency from a position of near crisis to one of success and growth. Jewish Family Services of Silicon Valley is well-respected in Santa Clara County, and serves thousands more people than ever before with a volunteer base of 700 people of all ages. Mindy has many years...
Dec 12, 2019•37 min•Season 1Ep. 42
My guest for this episode is Josh Selo. Josh is the Executive Director of West Valley Community Services, a Silicon Valley-based human services nonprofit. He is a CFRE certified fundraiser with more than 20 years of experience in nonprofit development, programs, and management. Josh has worked in senior positions for the YMCA of Silicon Valley and the Jewish Community Centers in both Rockland County and Manhattan. Josh has an MBA in Finance from Washington State University, and a Masters Degree ...
Dec 05, 2019•36 min•Season 1Ep. 41
