Explore every episode of the podcast Writing Great Grants - A Murdock Trust Podcast

For season three of our podcast, we are taking a moment to reflect on our benefactor, Jack Murdock. We are looking at current industry leaders who focus on and exemplify key areas and traits that were of particular importance and interest to Jack.

In today’s episode, Steve Moore, executive director of the Murdock Trust, speaks with Jeff Carr, the CEO of Albertina Kerr about the current state of mental health services in our community.

For more than 110 years, Albertina Kerr has provided services for children and the families of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities, mental health challenges and other social barriers through a variety of projects and programs. As a fun side note, Albertina Kerr received the first official grant approved by the Murdock Trust in 1975. 

Jeff joined Albertina Kerr in 2016 where he oversees management of the nonprofit. A graduate of Northwest Nazarene University, he has an extensive professional background leading organizations serving vulnerable communities, including the Boys and Girls Club of Metro Los Angeles and the Special Olympics World Games held in Los Angeles in 2015 as well as a wealth of service to community-focused roles, including Chief of Staff to the Mayor of Los Angeles , COO of Sojourners and the Executive Director of the Bresee Foundation.

Steve Moore, executive director of the Murdock Trust, discusses the role faith-based organizations play in serving our community with Jan Elfers, the President of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon.

EMO is a statewide association of Christian denominations, congregations, ecumenical organizations and interfaith partners. Committed to mutual respect and understanding, EMO brings together diverse communities of faith to learn, serve and advocate for justice, peace and the integrity of creation where they serve more than 18,000 individuals throughout the year. 

A graduate of Lewis and Clark College, Jan went on to earn her Master’s at Marylhurst University. Prior to her current position overseeing the statewide nonprofit, she held multiple roles with EMO, starting her career with the organization in 2003. She has received numerous awards for her leadership and service and regularly serves on the board of directors of community-focused organizations.

In today’s episode, Steve Moore, executive director of the Murdock Trust, talks about the value of Mentorship with Greg Sherwood.

Greg is the President/Chief Investment Officer of Quest Investment Management, a Portland based institutional investment advisory founded in 1985. The firm manages pension and non-profit funds around the U.S.

Greg is currently an active parishioner at St. Michael’s in Portland and has been involved with several evangelical ministries serving youth and young adults for over 35 years. He is attending St. Vincent Benedictine Seminary pursuing a Master’s degree in spiritual direction. He serves as the rector at St. Michael’s Alpha program, teaches RCIA and helps as a retreat speaker and mentor for the Catholic Newman Center at Oregon State and Portland State University.

In 2001, he founded Mentors360, a college and young professional ministry serving on 7 college campuses which seeks to connect through mentoring one generation to the next in the areas of professional development, personal growth and spiritual formation.

For season three of our podcast, we are taking a moment to reflect on our benefactor, Jack Murdock. We are looking at current industry leaders who focus on and exemplify key areas and traits that were of particular importance and interest to Jack. 

In today’s episode, Steve Moore, executive director of the Murdock Trust, talks about the value of entrepreneurship with Navin Chaddha, Managing Director at Mayfield Fund, a top-tier venture capital firm with $2.5 billion under management. He has been involved in some notable IPOs of companies including Poshmark, Lyft, SolarCity, and Akamai, as well as acquisitions of CloudGenix by Palo Alto Networks, CloudSimple by Google, Nuvia by Qualcomm, Portworx by Pure Storage, and Volterra by F5 Networks. He is a serial entrepreneur turned venture capitalist who co-founded three successful companies, including VXtreme, a streaming media platform, acquired by Microsoft to become Windows Media. He is an active philanthropist who supports education, diversity, equity, inclusion, and food scarcity groups.  He holds an MS degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University and a B. Tech. degree in electrical engineering from IIT Delhi, where he was honored with the distinguished IIT Alumni Award.

For season three of our podcast, we are taking a moment to reflect on our benefactor, Jack Murdock. We are looking at current industry leaders who focus on and exemplify key areas and traits that were of particular importance and interest to Jack.

In today’s episode, Steve Moore, executive director of the Murdock trust, chats with Dave Blanchard the co-founder and CEO of Praxis about Innovation. Dave is passionate about encouraging Christian-led entrepreneurship that has a positive impact on society. To this end, he co-founded and leads Praxis, which works to motivate, educate, and resource Christians to pursue redemptive entrepreneurship, to renew the spirit of the age. Each year, Praxis runs its flagship accelerator programs, equipping leaders from 24 early-stage businesses and nonprofits, as well as Praxis Academy, an undergraduate initiative that works with over 50 schools. 

In a time of great division and conflict, the secret to success lies not in hate but in love. This is the central argument made by Arthur Brooks, former President of AEI and current professor at Harvard as he seeks to help individuals and communities flourish and thrive.

In today's show, Arthur helps us see the biochemistry behind our emotions, how that impacts the way we move through our day and how that can positively and negatively impact our work and community. He helps show how turning to love creates a more productive society and can help us navigate some of our most complex challenges.

One of the key pillars in building a strong organization is promoting your work, both immediately and in an ongoing, reputational manner.

Michael Kaiser oversees the DeVos Institute of Arts Management’s training and consulting programs, both in the United States and around the world. An expert on nonprofit development and management with a particular emphasis on the arts community, Michael has been a pivotal leader at some of the most prestigious arts organizations around the world, including serving as president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., the Executive Director of the Royal Opera House, the largest performing arts organization in the United Kingdom, Executive Director of American Ballet Theatre and Executive Director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Foundation. 

In today's episode, Michael outlines the importance and value of marketing for nonprofit organizations and offers helpful strategies to best tell your story. He also shares valuable insight into how to lead and grow a successful organization.

http://devosinstitute.umd.edu/

While a primary emphasis in the nonprofit world centers on donations, partnerships and time investments by industry experts and dedicated volunteers can be just as valuable to an organization's mission.

The Murdock Trust Partners in Science program relies heavily on this notion, pairing researchers in labs across the Pacific Northwest with high school educators, providing teachers an opportunity to gain hands on experience in the field.

Kim Newman, program director with the Trust, was a participant in the Partners program for many years before joining the Trust to lead the effort. In today's episode she shares how partnerships can help serve, support and uplift a nonprofit's mission as well as how organizations can help cultivate and nurture these sorts of connections.

The Human Resources (HR) department plays several vital roles in the health and stability of a nonprofit as well as in an organization's ability to grow and flourish. Jerry Calhoun, Senior Fellow with the Murdock Trust, has more than 30 years of experience in the Human Resources sector. In this engaging conversation, Jerry helps outline how organizations should think about the role of HR in their success and what are the primary functions that should live within the HR department.

Nonprofits flourish when they are surrounded by a robust community. The investment of expertise and support through carefully nurtured relationships can mean the difference between a successful organization and one that never fully gets off the ground. 

In this episode, Rudy Carrasco, Program Director with the Murdock Trust, shares his expertise on the value and importance of investing in building community to help your organization thrive.

Emerging professionals can bring unique perspective, vital energy and creative new thinking to an organization. In today's rapidly evolving marketplace, how can leadership effectively address the unique needs of new talent to help an organization flourish?

As a rising star in the philanthropic, nonprofit and educational community, Camille Idedevbo brings unique perspective to this conversation as well as hands on background working with recent grads in a variety of fields. In this robust discussion, she shares insights into how organizations can engage, inspire and excite new talent to help drive success.

Many organizations are created and flourish thanks to the passion and drive of a dedicated founder. However, there comes a day when every founder must transition leadership to new hands.

Megan Bigelow is the founder of PDX Women In Tech, a nonprofit that grew from a small group of participants meeting for happy hour to a thriving organization with thousands of members and a variety of programs and professional development opportunities. After years as the head of this organization, Megan stepped down at the end of 2019. On today's episode she shares her experience as well as tips and advice for other founders on how to make a thoughtful transition.

One of the most effective tools in fundraising and nonprofit growth is telling your story well. Donors and supporters appreciate the value represented by hard data, but they are drawn to stories that help demonstrate how your mission is coming to life to serve real, human needs.

But telling your story well is far from easy. In this episode, we are joined by Drew Dyck, an acquisitions editor at Moody Publishers and a contributing editor at CTPastors.com. Drew is the author of multiple books as well as several pieces at USA Today, CNN.com, The Huffington Post, Christianity Today, Books & Culture, and Relevant Magazine. When he is not writing or editing, Drew helps nonprofits develop and hone their story across a variety of media.

In this episode, Drew dives into real, tangible steps and strategies every organization can put into practice right away to help tell their story in impactful ways.

Managing the growth of an organization is critical. While most nonprofits want to continue to increase their impact, expanding too quickly can lead to service breakdowns. 

In this episode of the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust podcast on Writing Great Grants, we are joined by Brooke Gray, Executive Director at Every Child Oregon and Executive Director of Mobilizing Community at The Contingent. Brooke shares her experience growing two statewide organizations - one over several years and one over a matter of days. Listeners will walk away with tactical strategies that can be implemented today to start growing their organization and work in thoughtful and sustainable ways.

"Everything that matters can be measured, but not everything that can be measured matters."

It is quite common these days for foundations and donors to look for ways in which they can “measure” the success of the grants they have provided. Best practice in both the not-for-profit and the philanthropic sectors calls for robust assessment and fruitful “investment” or stewardship of resources in seeking to fulfill their mission. But it is also easy to fall into the trap of pursuing metrics rather than digging deep to understand the real impact of an investment.

In this episode of the Writing Great Grants podcast, Dana Miller and Steve Moore talk about Assessment, why it's important and how funders and nonprofits can think differently about measurement to deliver ideal results.

For more reading on this: https://murdocktrust.org/2019/10/talking-point-assessment/

Effective financial management is an important characteristic of a healthy nonprofit organization. Being a good steward of resources (fiscal responsibility, appropriate transparency and donor accountability) can also build community support for your organization. Most importantly, sound financial management is vital to achieving mission and sustaining the organization. 

On this episode of the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust podcast on Writing Great Grants, Pauline Fong, Program Director with the Murdock Trust, joins Steve Moore to discuss the key elements and organizational characteristics, behaviors, and practices to consider regarding effective financial management.

Further reading on this topic: https://murdocktrust.org/2019/10/talking-point-financial-management/

Contributed or gifted income is a vital revenue stream that most nonprofits depend on for operations or special projects. In many cases, it is the primary source of income. As a result, a healthy and sustainable fundraising program—known by many other names, including fund development, resource development, and advancement—is central in allowing nonprofits to carry out their missions. 

In this episode of the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust Podcast on Writing Great Grants, Steve Moore sits down with Jill Lemke and John Franklin to discuss successful fundraising strategies and key questions that an organization should be prepared to answer when applying for a grant.

More reading: https://murdocktrust.org/2019/10/talking-point-development-and-fundraising/

When planning a major project for which your organization will pursue grant funding, several factors must be considered, including how that project serves and supports the organization's mission and vision and how it flows from your strategic priorities.

In this episode of the Murdock Trust podcast on Writing Great Grants, Steve Moore sits down with Lorin Dunlop, Program Director with the Murdock Trust, to discuss project planning and how prudent, thoughtful planning can help increase the likelihood that it will receive funding.

Further reading on this topic: https://murdocktrust.org/2019/10/talking-point-project-planning-execution-and-sustainability/

Through the years, the Murdock Trust has learned firsthand that “leadership matters.” While a number of factors play a critical role in the flourishing of individual organizations and the nonprofit sector as a whole, few if any are more important that an effective executive leader and board of directors.

In this episode of the Writing Great Grants podcast, Steve Moore sits down with Jill Lemke and John Franklin, both Murdock Trust Program Directors, to talk about the importance of Organizational Leadership, the factors that best position nonprofits for success and what elements funders look for when evaluating a potential project or program.

Further reading on this subject can be found here: https://murdocktrust.org/2019/10/talking-point-organizational-leadership/

For a nonprofit to flourish and thrive, it must continue to innovate. This does not necessarily mean a constant emphasis on reinvention or change for the sake of change, but rather focusing on how the needs of constituents are evolving and how the organization can help meet those needs in new ways.

On this episode of the Murdock Trust Podcast on Writing Great Grants, Dr. Moses Lee, Senior Program Director for Scientific Research and Enrichment Programs, sits down with Dr. Steve Moore to discuss Innovation in the nonprofit sector and how new ideas and fresh thinking can help serve the common good.

For more reading on this subject: https://murdocktrust.org/2019/10/talking-point-innovation/