Next in Nonprofits

Ample Earth with Harry McAlister

Ample Earth is a cloud-based video production service focused on social good organizations, including charities, social enterprise and cause-marketing organizations. They use a distributed team of professionals to create video messaging, and are transparent about their models and pricing in ways that invite nonprofits to learn more about using video to enhance their messaging.

Harry McAlister, co-founder of Ample Earth, joins host Steve Boland to discuss how Ample Earth works, the power of video messaging, the assumption that there is one perfect video length, and more.

WordPress and nonprofits with Jenna Christensen of Arcstone

Jenna Christensen is a digital strategist with ArcStone, "a full-service digital agency. Marketing, design, and technology professionals sharing a common vision of service, craftsmanship, evolution and happiness since 1997."

ArcStone has published some guidance on "Should you buy or build a custom WordPress theme?" The article provides some key questions, some ideas on potential costs, and opens a bigger conversation about using WordPress as a web publishing platform for nonprofits. Jenna joins host Steve Boland to talk about the issues many charities run into using WordPress as their web framework, using plug-ins in that environment, measuring success and planning for longevity in a dynamic world. ArcStone also has blogs available about the updating privacy policies for 2018, using Divi in Wordpress, and more.

Peer fundraising with Mike Stephenson of ALS Association

Mike Stephenson is the Marketing Director of the ALS Association of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. The chapter "operates under a shared mission. The MN/ND/SD Chapter focuses primarily on providing services to assist people with ALS and their families live with ALS. The National ALS Association focuses primarily on research and advocacy. "

The ALS Association made history with the Ice Bucket Challenge, which changed many charties' perspective on peer-based fundraising. Mike joins the podcast to talk about the impact of the Challenge, and how ALS Association and other charities are moving forward with peer-supported fundraising initiatives. Mike talks about the likelihood of catching lightning in a bottle a second time (spoiler - not great odds) and how to move forward with what individual donors are teaching us when we listen. Mike ends the conversation with the advice about working with individuals: "Stop pushing and start equipping."

2018 Tax Code and Charitable Giving with Russell James

Russell James is a professor at Texas Tech University, where he teaches charitable planning and behavioral economics.

Professor James produced a short YouTube presentation explaining the impact of the changes in the tax code, and how in some case the value of the charitable deduction has increased for filers, and in many cases the changes have no impact at all for the many filers who did not itemize under the old code or the new one. Read more at Planned Giving Design Center.

Russell joins host Steve Boland to first dispel the idea that the changes in tax code means the end of charitable giving, but to go on to talk about the how other changes - such as the loss of deduction for state taxes such as property taxes and state capital gains taxes - can impact the value of charitable giving of such things as appreciated stock.

Bennett's Hierarchy with Al Onkka

Al Onkka is a Principal at Aurora Consulting. Their mission is to "boost the ability of nonprofits to fulfill their missions through a carefully crafted mix of thoughtful evaluation, strategic planning and organizational leadership development."

Al recently shared a blog post about Bennett's Hierarchy, "a type of logic model tailored for programs that provide information or education." The tool brings a unique focus on KASA - Knowledge, Attitude, Skills and Aspirations - as measurable components of change in evaluating the work for charities in community. Al talks about evaluation in the charitable sector, methods nonprofits use to change based on evaluation outcomes, and more. 

#GivingTuesday and New Power with Henry Timms

Henry Timms is the CEO of the 92nd Street Y, which "promotes individual and family development and participation in civic life within the context of Jewish values and American pluralism." Henry founded #GivingTuesday in 2012, a growing global day of giving, and has continued to evolve the ideas and values of #GivingTuesday through a new book co-authored with Jeremy Heimans, New Power. The book - and much of the values behind #GivingTuesday - emphasize a new paradigm of decentralized, shared power, and how movement building can supplant old ideas of centralized control.

Henry talks about the intentional "open sourcing" of #GivingTuesday, how the New Power values add to donor/supporter agency - changing a perhaps more passive role to a more active one. Charities and movements which show a willingness to evolve business models based on a shared (and therefore improved) power dynamic have new opportunities with new tools. Take the New Power Quiz and share your thoughts in your favorite New Power space (Twitter, Facebook, or anywhere else).

Board diversity with Kate Hayes

Kate Hayes is director of Direct Impact, a board leadership program transforming rising stars of the private sector into highly-effective board leaders of the world’s most innovative social enterprises. Direct Impact is a program of Echoing Green.

Kate joins host Steve Boland to talk about the process of creating diverse and inclusive boards for nonprofits organizations and other social good movements. The conversation includes ideas on recruitment, training, getting comfortable with being uncomfortable, and more. Kate's article for the Stanford Social Innovation Review is referenced and helpful material to share.

Boards and Development with Lori Jacobwith

Lori L. Jacobwith is a nationally-recognized master storyteller and fundraising culture change expert who was named one of America’s Top 25 Fundraising Experts. She is the founder of Ignited Fundraising.

Lori joins host Steve Boland to talk about the role of boards of directors in fundraising work for charities, and specifically the challenges and opportunities of board development committees. Lori shares resources available on her website to help think about how creating a fundraising plan and budgeting are critical for any successful board role, and how charities can leverage the strengths of board members to succeed.

2018 Digital Outlook Report with Ryann Miller and Michael Johnston

The 2018 Digital Outlook Report is a trends and strategy research report, which includes a "walk through three areas that may be uncharted terrain for your organization: mobile optimization, tracking web conversion, and email deliverability."

Ryann Miller of Care2 and Michael Johnston of hjc are part of the team that created the report, and join host Steve Boland to discuss the findings. The conversation includes email delivery rates, improving on email with list segmentation, mobile-first strategies in site creation, measuring "conversion" rates once a visitor comes to a charity web site, and much more!

The War for Fundraising Talent with Jason Lewis

Jason Lewis is the Managing Partner at BetterSchools, and author of the book The War for Fundraising Talent. The book "is an honest yet hopeful critique of professional fundraising, intended especially for small shops that find it difficult to consistently achieve their fundraising goals."

Jason talks with host Steve Boland about the changes and challenges in nonprofit fundraising, including a shift in focus from initial gift to more meaningful donations, how staff supports these growth gifts, relinquishing control in some circumstances, and why staff turnover in development has been such a challenge - especially in smaller charities.