Nonprofit Mastermind Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

This conversation is with Ana Polanco, international ancestral coach and cultural facilitator.

This month I’m doing a mini-series called Lessons from COVID that are still relevant today. Pulling together collections of conversations that I had with sector leaders called the Next Normal. We were deep in the days of COVID, and heading into a difficult election season, and everything felt fraught and difficult. And no one knew what our organizations and our work and our sector would look like on the other end of it all.

Now, here we are 4 summers later, and we’re starting to see which shifts stuck and which learnings from those difficult times actually reshaped how we operate together and as a sector. We saw that there are some fundamental questions and truths - about community, leadership, partnerships and sustainability - that endure.

I’m bringing you snippets of conversations that illuminate some of those questions and truths.

Lessons from COVID Part 1: Conversations With A Funder: Building Sustainable Organizations: Essential Questions For Leaders

Lessons from COVID Part 2:  Shaking Hierarchies & Building Powerful Communities

Lessons from COVID Part 3: Harnessing The Power of Collaboration 

Want to work together?

Apply for the Next Level Nonprofit Accelerator, a high-touch coaching and training accelerator for established organizations that want a smart, powerful playbook for taking their growing organization to the next level.

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These conversations were with George Suttles, Executive Director of Commonfund Institute at Commonfund.

This month I’m doing a mini-series called Lessons from COVID that are still relevant today. Pulling together collections of conversations that I had with sector leaders called the Next Normal. We were deep in the days of COVID, and heading into a difficult election season, and everything felt fraught and difficult. And no one knew what our organizations and our work and our sector would look like on the other end of it all.

Now, here we are 4 summers later, and we’re starting to see which shifts stuck and which learnings from those difficult times actually reshaped how we operate together and as a sector. We saw that there are some fundamental questions and truths - about community, leadership, partnerships and sustainability - that endure.

I’m bringing you snippets of conversations that illuminate some of those questions and truths.

Lessons from COVID Part 1: Conversations With A Funder: Building Sustainable Organizations: Essential Questions For Leaders

Lessons from COVID Part 2: Shaking Hierarchies & Building Powerful Communities

Want to work together?

Apply for the Next Level Nonprofit Accelerator, a high-touch coaching and training accelerator for established organizations that want a smart, powerful playbook for taking their growing organization to the next level.

Connect with me!

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• YouTube

In today’s episode, I conclude our mini-series on donor cultivation by exploring the crucial fourth dimension: trust. If you missed the earlier episodes, I highly recommend starting there for a comprehensive understanding. Today, we'll discuss how to demonstrate your organization’s impact, strategic planning, and trustworthiness to potential donors.
 

What You'll Learn:

• How to prove your organization's impact with data and stories.
• Strategies for showcasing your clear and strategic planning.
• The importance of social proof and sharing success stories.

Key Takeaways:

1. Use data and impact reports to show the solvability of your mission's problem.
2. Share specific and strategic plans to demonstrate thorough preparation and action.
3. Highlight success stories and case studies to show real impact.
4. Leverage social proof by celebrating your network of supporters and partners.
5. Illustrate the positive changes brought by your work through testimonials and stories.

Steps to Build Donor Trust:

1. Show Impact with Data: Regularly publish impact reports with statistics and evidence of your organization's achievements.
2. Share Strategic Plans: Be transparent about your goals and the strategic decisions behind them.
3. Use Case Studies and Stories: Share real-life examples of how your work has positively affected individuals and communities.
4. Demonstrate Social Proof: Highlight endorsements and support from other donors, partners, and advisory boards.
5. Illustrate Outcomes: Show the tangible improvements your organization has made through testimonials and stories from those impacted by your work.

Resources Mentioned:

• Impact Reports: Regular publications detailing your organization’s achievements and statistical evidence of impact.
• Case Studies: In-depth examples of specific instances where your work has made a significant difference.
• Social Proof Elements: Endorsements from donors, partners, and advisory boards that build credibility.
• Testimonials: Personal stories from individuals and communities positively impacted by your organization’s efforts.

Want to work together?

Apply for the Next Level Nonprofit Accelerator, a high-touch coaching and training accelerator for established organizations that want a smart, powerful playbook for taking their growing organization to the next level.

Connect with me!

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In this week’s episode, I’m continuing my new year series about setting intentions to guide your leadership and growth in the new year. Goals are important, but I argue that intentions are perhaps even more foundational and important. While your goals are a commitment to an outcome, your intentions are a commitment to a process - they are an orientation to your work: How you want to approach your leadership, actions, and decisions. 

The second intention that you should set in 2023 is to leverage your time. 

In this episode, you will learn: 

• What it means to leverage your time
• The definition and importance of of “high leverage” activities 
• Two strategies for finding time for visioning, thought leadership, and relationship building. 

Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts
“This podcast is heaven-sent. Gratefu!!”  <– If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people — just like you — build and lead an organization that brings them joy. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, I invite you to share the podcast with friends! You can share this link: richiebabbage.com/nonprofitmastermindpodcast 

RESOURCES MENTIONED
One Of The Most Powerful (& Underused!) Strategies For Reclaiming Your Time For "Real" Work

How To Actually Operationalize Your Plan For Organizational Growth

Nonprofit Leadership Resource Hub ==> richiebabbage.com/nonprofitresourcehub

Supports for Automation

OTHER WAYS TO ENJOY THIS PODCAST 

Check us out on YouTube! 

Want to work together?

Apply for the Next Level Nonprofit Accelerator, a high-touch coaching and training accelerator for established organizations that want a smart, powerful playbook for taking their growing organization to the next level.

Connect with me!

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In this week’s episode, I’m kicking off my new year series about setting intentions as a way to guide your leadership and growth in the new year. Goals are important, but I argue that intentions are often over looked and in some ways more foundational. 

While your goals are a commitment to an outcome, your intentions are a commitment to a process - they are an orientation to your work: How you want to approach your leadership, actions and decisions. 

One of the most important intentions you can set is to adopt a relationship orientation. 

In this episode, you will learn: 

• What it means to set powerful intentions for your organization, 
• The centrality of relationships and network expansion in fueling your growth, 
• Two strategies for continually expanding your organizational relationships.  

Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts

“This podcast is heaven-sent. Gratefu!!”  <– If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people — just like you — build and lead an organization that brings them joy. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, I invite you to share the podcast with friends! You can share this link: richiebabbage.com/nonprofitmastermindpodcast 

Resources Mentioned

Podcast episode about Leveraged Networks

Access the full toolkit inside the Nonprofit Leadership Resource Hub 

Other Ways To Enjoy This Podcast 

Check us out on YouTube! 

Want to work together?

Apply for the Next Level Nonprofit Accelerator, a high-touch coaching and training accelerator for established organizations that want a smart, powerful playbook for taking their growing organization to the next level.

Connect with me!

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• YouTube

In this week’s episode, I’m wrapping up my short series on the architecture of a powerful annual strategic plan. I’m focusing on goal setting - a simple framework for setting goals that will serve as the powerful link between your vision for impact and what you actually do every month and week and day. 

When you’re bogged down by the messiness of running your organization, managing your team, working with your board, and all of the other things that you need to get done as a nonprofit leader, you want to really know that the activities you’re spending money and time on - the tasks you’re doing, etc. - are directly linked to - and will lead to - the impact you care most about. 

The way to do that is to make sure that your goals are grounded in your priorities. And we talked last time about making sure that the priorities are grounded in your vision. That’s the throughline. 

In this episode, you will learn: 

• The key elements of a well architected annual strategic plan 
• The importance of setting meaningful goals 
• How to define a really effective goal 
• Questions to ask to identify 3 year and 1 year goals for your organization

Links Referenced

Asset Mapping Guide

Fund Your Strategic Vision 

Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts

“This podcast is heaven-sent. Gratefu!!I”  <– If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people — just like you — build and lead an organization that brings them joy. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, I invite you to share the podcast with friends! You can share this link: richiebabbage.com/nonprofitmastermindpodcast 

Other Ways To Enjoy This Podcast 

Check us out on YouTube! 

Want to work together?

Apply for the Next Level Nonprofit Accelerator, a high-touch coaching and training accelerator for established organizations that want a smart, powerful playbook for taking their growing organization to the next level.

Connect with me!

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• YouTube

In this week’s episode, I’m continuing my short series on the architecture of a powerful strategic plan by zeroing in on the why, what, and how of strategic priorities.  
In this episode, you will learn: 

• Why it’s so important that you create strategic priorities to guide your planning process
• What makes priorities strategic 
• How to identify strategic priorities for your own organization 

Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts

“This podcast is heaven-sent. Gratefu!!I”  <– If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people — just like you — build and lead an organization that brings them joy. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, I invite you to share the podcast with friends! You can share this link: richiebabbage.com/nonprofitmastermindpodcast 

Other Ways To Enjoy This Podcast 

Check us out on YouTube! 

Want to work together?

Apply for the Next Level Nonprofit Accelerator, a high-touch coaching and training accelerator for established organizations that want a smart, powerful playbook for taking their growing organization to the next level.

Connect with me!

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• YouTube

In this week’s episode, I’m starting a short series on the architecture of a powerful strategic plan. Why it’s so important to have an effective plan, and how to build that plan from the ground up, starting with having a clear and compelling strategic vision. 

In this episode, you will learn: 

• The elements of an effective strategic plan 
• The difference between vision and strategy 
• The dangers of not having a clear and compelling vision of your organization's future, and how to know if you're holding yourself back from crafting your vision 
• The four sets of questions to ask when creating your vision map   

Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts

“This podcast is heaven-sent. Gratefu!!I”  <– If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people — just like you — build and lead an organization that brings them joy. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, I invite you to share the podcast with friends! You can share this link: richiebabbage.com/nonprofitmastermindpodcast 

Other Ways To Enjoy This Podcast 

Check us out on YouTube! 

Want to work together?

Apply for the Next Level Nonprofit Accelerator, a high-touch coaching and training accelerator for established organizations that want a smart, powerful playbook for taking their growing organization to the next level.

Connect with me!

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• YouTube

In this week’s episode, I talk about a powerful strategy for getting out of the weeds in your organization: The CEO Day (also known as the personal leadership retreat).
So often we label taking time for big-picture thinking as a "nice to have." But it’s actually a must have: We need to make time for our CEO -level work just as we make time for anything else that’s critical if we want the organization to grow and be sustainable. 

In this episode, you will learn: 

• The importance of scheduling CEO Days into your annual calendar 
• How to structure and plan for your CEO Day 
• The 5 questions around which you should organization your CEO Day 

Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts

“This podcast is heaven-sent. Gratefu!!I”  <– If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people — just like you — build and lead an organization that brings them joy. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, I invite you to share the podcast with friends! You can share this link: richiebabbage.com/nonprofitmastermindpodcast 

Links Mentioned
Newsletter: How To Keep Learning As A Leader

A Fun (& Powerful) Cultivation and Network Expansion Activity

How To Create A 2022 Vision Map For Your Organization

Other Ways To Enjoy This Podcast 

Check us out on YouTube! 

Want to work together?

Apply for the Next Level Nonprofit Accelerator, a high-touch coaching and training accelerator for established organizations that want a smart, powerful playbook for taking their growing organization to the next level.

Connect with me!

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• YouTube

In this week’s episode, I’m highlighting one common - and dangerous - challenge that may be hiding in plain sight in your organization. Like a shape-shifting snake in the grass, it can hold us back and we don’t even recognize that it’s happening. So I’m highlighting some of the ways that it shows up so that you can spot the snake and build systems to stop it once and for all. 

In this episode, you will learn: 

• The many variations on a common challenge that may be sneaking into your organization. 
• The importance of calibrating planning and action.
• How to design your organization’s “operating system” to help you keep moving forward in the face of uncertainty. 

Links Mentioned

• Brain Trust Toolkit, inside the Nonprofit Leadership Resource Hub

Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts

“This podcast is heaven-sent. Grateful!!”  <– If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people — just like you — build and lead an organization that brings them joy. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, I invite you to share the podcast with friends! You can share this link: richiebabbage.com/nonprofitmastermindpodcast 

Other Ways To Enjoy This Podcast 

Check us out on YouTube! 

Want to work together?

Apply for the Next Level Nonprofit Accelerator, a high-touch coaching and training accelerator for established organizations that want a smart, powerful playbook for taking their growing organization to the next level.

Connect with me!

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• YouTube