Next in Nonprofits

Corporate sponsorships with Brandice Daniel

Brandice Daniel is the founder and CEO of ICON360, "non-profit organization dedicated to dismantling the barriers facing Black designers and fashion programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)."

Brandice joins host Steve Boland to talk about the value of sponsorships and connections to the mission of an organization. Brandice shares ideas on how to begin relationships with larger organizations (including budgeting small amounts to open doors with the first conversation), showing up where the brand managers are meeting (rather than struggling to get individual meetings), the value of intimate moments with brands seeing the impact of your work and more.

Al-Maa'uun with Tyrus Hayes for Podcasthon

Tyrus Hayes is the Director of Strategic Engagement for Al-Maa'uun, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit whose "mission is to alleviate poverty and oppression within black and communities of color in North Minneapolis and surrounding areas through direct service and advocacy."

The Next in Nonprofits Podcast usually focuses on a broad topic of interest to the nonprofit community rather than featuring the story of a single nonprofit. We were approached by Podcasthon to divert from our regular format once a year to lift up the work of a specific mission. We are proud to bring the story of Al-Maa'uun to the podcast!

Tyrus joins host Steve Boland to talk about the mission of Al-Maa'uun to meet the "Neighborly Needs" of the communities in North Minneapolis and beyond. The organization has grown from just a few volunteers to over 25 paid employees cooperating with other groups to meet needs. Al-Maa'uun is a 2Gen organization and uses this framework to help build a community response to this work.

Grants and volatility with Shoshana Grossman-Crist

Shoshana Grossman-Crist is the Founder and CEO of Social Impact Compass, providing support in grants and other support for impact missions. Shoshana joins host Steve Boland to talk about the impact of changes in funding streams in 2025.

Shoshanna shares her insights getting a foot in the door for new support during these transitional times, including a short email, and a concept note format in lieu of a more formal case statement. Some funders are increasing their giving commitment (Shoshana mentions MacArthur Foundation as an example) and others are considering more flexibility right now. Shoshana mentions many resources on her website and elsewhere, but wanted to be sure the Foreign Aid Bridge fund was included in the show notes!

Communications in chaotic times with Jackie Russell

Jackie Russell is President of Teak Media and Communication whose mission is "to increase recognition and revenue for socially responsible companies and nonprofit organizations." Jackie joins host Steve Boland to discuss communications strategies and public relations in a time of rapid, unpredictable change.

Jackie shares her thoughts and experience in prioritizing the work of messaging for nonprofit organizations in 2025. Jackie talks through different audiences and the need to stay in touch during this time. It's important to "start where you are" in this work and not second-guess what could have been done in the past. Jackie talks about growing diversity in media channels, connecting sponsors and influencers to your mission, sharing your good news, and much more.

Evolving Digital Comms with Noah Parrish

Noah Parrish is the Communications Director for Gender Justice, which "envisions a world where everyone can thrive regardless of their gender, gender expression, or sexual orientation" and works to "dismantle legal, structural, and cultural barriers that contribute to gender inequity" in Minnesota and North Dakota. Noah has worked in strategic communications across a variety of sectors: policy organizing, philanthropy, and electoral work.  

Noah chats with host KD Bauer about his experience with crafting compelling messaging and building media relationships to advance human-centered narratives that cut through misinformation and disinformation. From rapid response to long-term strategy, he leads with a data-based approach to maximize audience engagement across a digital landscape. Noah shares ways that small communications teams can focus on what's most important—all while reducing burnout and navigating future challenges.

Board Stewardship with Dick Senese

Dick Senese is the Treasurer of the Board of Directors for LGBTQ Leaders in Higher Education, which "advances effective leadership in the realm of post-secondary education, supports professional development of LGBTQ leaders in that sector, and provides education and advocacy regarding LGBTQ issues within the global academy and for the public at large." Dick has served on nonprofit boards throughout his career, and joins the podcast to discuss stewardship with host Steve Boland.

Dick talks about his experience with volunteer boards, how thanking donors and other supporters for their engagement is an easy "ask" for most board members, how tracking relationships over time can improve outcomes, how getting comfortable with talking about resources is not as scary as some may thing, and much more.

Creative evaluation with Molly O'Connor

Molly C. O'Connor (she/her) is the Owner and Principal Consultant of Coco Canary, a consulting practice which is "cultural workers using evaluation, community engagement, and art to keep organizations grounded in their values and held accountable to their social justice goals."

Molly joins host Steve Boland to talk about creative evaluation. Molly's own background includes quantitative research and has evolved to include qualitative components to better understand impact. Molly shares her thoughts on the importance of stories toward meaning-making, engaging community in the process of evaluation, thinking about evaluation ahead of program launches as well as being ready to shift after a launch, and much more.

Expanding ways to give with Laura Tufano

Laura Tufano is the founder and principle of Tufano Consulting, and is "a Certified Fund Raising Executive and has raised money for social justice, the arts, education, and human services over the course of her 20-year career."

Laura joins host Steve Boland to talk about how nonprofits can be open to all the ways donors may choose to give. One-time cash gifts and recurring donations online are great tools to involve donors, but nonprofits can help donors expand their thinking. Laura talks about the value of picking up the phone and just talking to donors, and then being ready with ideas which may support how they can best give. Laura and Steve talk about gifts of stock, donor advised funds, but also ideas like required minimum distributions from retirement accounts, legacy gifts, and even real property! (Hint on that last one - what does your gift acceptance policy say?)

Next in Nonprofits 190 - Recurring donor segmentation with Sheetal Puri

Sheetal Puri is the Senior Director, Digital Fundraising for the Wikimedia Foundation. "The Wikimedia Foundation is the nonprofit that hosts Wikipedia and our other free knowledge projects." Wikimedia is supported by millions of individual donors, and projects like Wikipedia serve billions and billions of web views every month.

Host Steve Boland asked Sheetal to discuss a project to segment communications between existing donors (about two percent of Wikipedia users) and users who have not yet made a financial contribution. Her team sent an email to recurring donors before a campaign launch providing those donors with an option to avoid seeing on-site messaging related to the campaign. The option to install a cookie provides some technological convenience, but more importantly, a recognition of the relationship with existing donors while reaching out to non-donors.

Sheetal discusses the goals behind this connection to donors, as well as other potential ways for supporters to serve as ambassadors for mission-based organizations.

Donor Management System survey with Karen Graham

Karen Graham is the founder of Karen Graham Consulting, with whose "20+ years experience in nonprofit leadership, consulting, and capacity building earned me a broad knowledge of how people, process, and technology can work together to create impact."

Karen was part of a team with NTEN and Lehman Associates collaborating on a survey of donor management system (DMS) satisfaction in the nonprofit community. The full survey materials are available at Karen Graham Consulting. Karen joins host Steve Boland to discuss the survey and the implications for organizations working with DMS' - which according to the survey is most nonprofits! Karen shares insights on the issues rated with highest and lowest satisfaction, the most commonly used DMS', and investing in the people operating the systems to understand the highest level of return.