If Only They Got Us, They'd Fund Us
Every nonprofit leader has told themselves the same story: if funders just understood us, they'd fund us. Eric and Jonathan make the uncomfortable case that misunderstood impact is usually a you problem, and that what looks like a storytelling gap is almost always an identity gap. Close it, and fun…
Your Difference Is the Superpower
Sandy Gould has spent 36 years studying where people's "superpowers" come from, and his answer is simple: the thing that makes you different is the same thing that lets you create what no one else can. In this conversation with Eric Ressler, the longtime GLAAD advisor and author of the forthcoming …
Learning Isn't What's Slowing Philanthropy Down
Philanthropy takes heat for being slow to move money, and learning usually gets the blame.
Katherine Haugh, founder of the Convive Collective and a learning partner to some of the largest climate-focused philanthropies in the US and Europe, thinks that critique is fair but aimed at the wrong targe…
What to Take and Leave From Design Thinking and the Scientific Method
Social impact teams are happy to experiment. Where they struggle is admitting when the experiment fails. Jonathan and I dig into what design thinking and the scientific method can teach the sector, and why our refusal to name failure may be the thing holding impact back.
Episode Highlights:
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Museums Can Be a Force for Social Change
Plenty of people still picture a museum as a quiet building with art on the walls and a staff whose job is to guard what's inside. Victoria Munro, Executive Director of the Alice Austen House, sees an advantage in that assumption: because museums look harmless from the outside, they have room to do…
Is It Burnout or Lost Motivation?
Executive directors are expected to stay fired up all the time, and almost none of them do. Five years into leading the Seymour Center and fresh off a major milestone, Jonathan has hit a motivation slump. The conversation covers how to tell burnout from a slump, why success makes coasting tempting,…
Your Second Cause Should Be the Facts
Every cause depends on people knowing what's happening around them, and in a growing number of American communities, nobody is reporting it anymore. Matthew Copeland, Chief Executive and Editor of WyoFile, grew Wyoming's nonprofit newsroom from "three guys and a dog" people to sixteen by asking com…
Ambition vs. Fake Urgency
Most urgent fundraising appeals aren't truly urgent, and supporters can feel it. Constant false alarms erode donor trust, burn out teams, and leave nothing in reserve for the moments that really need a response. Ambitious work can move fast without the panic, and organizations that ration their urg…
Your Evidence Has an Expiration Date: Platform Content
"Evidence-based" has become one of the most trusted labels in social services, and the trouble starts when one strong result gets treated as permanent. Caroline Whistler, co-founder of Third Sector, has spent 15 years helping state and local governments deliver more responsive services. She explain…
Do You Really Need a Capital Campaign?
When an organization needs serious money, the reflex is a capital campaign, and I get why: a big number looks serious to a board. It also pushes the first visible result three to five years out. Jonathan is doing it differently at the Seymour Center. He's raising what he can by December 31st, addin…
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