 Welcome to the non-profit show. This is our 900th episode. So we are coming together, Julie and I, for this celebration. Here's our fireworks. So if you're watching, like, phew, phew, phew, phew, right? If you watch Kelly Clarkson, she does that as well on her show. So I'm just channeling Kelly Clarkson. But thrilled to have you here joining us for the non-profit show. Again, 900th episode celebration. I'm Jarrett Ransom. Of course, we have Julia Patrick with us today. The two of us are sharing lessons that we've learned along this journey. So it's been a fun journey, Julia. I know we talked when we first began and it really was a labor of love. But today I see this as a daily ritual, a tradition that I look forward to, to have a high level conversation with a thought leader in our sector and truly across the globe. So it has been a pleasure to be in this journey. Thank you for having me alongside as your co-host and huge thanks goes to our amazing partners that allow us these opportunities to reach such a monumental milestone. So thank you to our friends over at Bloomerang, American Non-profit Academy, fundraising academy at National University, non-profit thought leader, your part-time controller, staffing boutique, non-profit nerd, as well as non-profit tech talk. Julia, I think most of these companies really have been with us from the very beginning in March of 2020 and just so grateful for that. Yeah, they really have. And I mean, I think it was a shock when we started getting phone calls and emails saying, how do we become a sponsor? And we were like, oh yeah, that's right, we can do that. Let me get right back to you. I mean, so it's been amazing. And I think it bears repeating, these folks don't extend any editorial control on what we talk about. I mean, we talk about what we wanna talk about and that's really an amazing thing to think that our sponsors don't do anything to exert that type of pressure that most organizations that are in broadcast have to do. And speaking of broadcast, you can download us on our fabulous new app that our executive producer, Kevin Pace, started for us. You can stream us on so many platforms. And then of course, you can listen to us on podcast. So it really depends on where you are at any moment in your life or your career or your day. Okay, Ms. Jarrett, reflection number one, biggest misconception about the nonprofit sector. Yeah, so before we do that, Julia, I'm gonna share some fun facts because I didn't even tell you this. Okay, so today marks 27,000 minutes on the nonprofit show, 27,000 minutes. That's 450 hours. So we are taking today's opportunity, as you see here, the reflection, we're gonna go through the reflections. But before we do that, 27,000 minutes, okay? Also 23 thought leaders. We've had 23 thought leaders on the thought leader episodes they began in 2021. So a year after we've been broadcasting and then we've also had 12 power weeks. So that's 12 nonprofit power weeks. So far to this day that we've had, shout out to Fundraising Academy because you were the team that said, we're interested in this, you pushed the limits, you challenged us, we challenged you. It's been such a fun journey. So Julia, I wanted to surprise you with those facts because I was crunching some numbers this morning and I thought it was worth mentioning. You know, it's even, that's even more astonishing. And thank you for doing that because, you know, I think we are in, like everyone in the nonprofit sector, we're so into what's going on, fighting the fire at the moment, trying to do what we gotta get done that we don't take time to reflect. And yeah. Or celebrate, right? Yeah, or celebrate. So thank you. I think that's really, that's really powerful. Well, that was my gift too because I wanted to surprise you with that because I know that we always have so much going on and there's a lot of topics that we cover but there have been so many people, so many topics, so many thought leaders, so many minutes dedicated to the sector and all for free here. Thank you to our sponsors. So Julia, let's dive into these reflections. We have five that it's kind of like rapid fire. We're going to have to go through today because our time's not longer. We're still doing a 30 minutes. So, okay, the biggest misconception about the nonprofit sector. For me, Julia, I'm gonna have to shout out that it is the we aren't nimble and we can't work remotely. And that truly has been a misconception, a myth that we have bust through the seams, through the windows. That is clearly where I've seen the greatest success from our nonprofit leaders and the executives, including the board members. Do you remember we had a representative on from the Utah Association of Nonprofits and she was talking about how many of those nonprofits in the state of Utah were going to be forced to close. And it really was because of the organizations that couldn't become nimble, right? Like literally in a switch. And I've seen the greatest success truly from the organizations that have proven to be nimble and proven that this work from home or remote environment is truly possible. I think that's a great comment because we have bemoaned the fact that the sector is so lagging behind innovation in so many ways. And that has been the nail in the coffin for a lot of organizations. My biggest misconception about the nonprofit sector has to really tag onto what you're saying in that this is a business. In the United States, nonprofit status is granted by the IRS, the Internal Revenue Service. It is nothing more than a tax situation or structure, right? So no money, no mission. If you don't operate like a business and be smart and agile, adopt, adapt, be adept at adopting, as they say, you're not gonna be in business. Yeah, so for me, that's a real big one. It really, really... Well, in really putting that profit in a nonprofit, it's a shame that it's called nonprofit because it's right there in the title, right? And I think you were recalling too, I had shared on one of these 900 episodes about a date I went on long time ago. And I shared with my date that I work in the nonprofit sector. And he literally said to me, how do you make money? Do you get a paycheck, right? And so really having that misconception from others that this isn't a sector where you get a paycheck, this isn't a sector where you can make money, that is a huge misconception that we're still working towards debunking. Yeah, exactly. And it's incumbent upon all of us to do that, right? I mean, that's something that we need to keep sharing. And we need to share that internally with our boards and our donors. It's not just, you know, non-folks working in the nonprofit sector, right? Yeah, absolutely. Really interesting. Well, let's move on to reflection number two. And that is the biggest surprise during 900 episodes. Okay, I wanna hear yours first because I think you have a personal surprise you might share. I have a personal surprise and it was a big one. In fact, it was so big that my daughter wrote me a note and it stays in my studio and it goes like this, have a great show, hope your pants stay on. Early in our broadcasting, we were talking away, talking away, all engaged and my pants literally fell down to my ankles. And I don't wear slacks very often, I wear dresses. And it was cold and it was like, they were old. And I guess like the waistband had failed. I don't know what happened, but we were on air and I couldn't like bend over and pull my pants up. Thankfully the shots only, you know. Yeah, no one knew, no one and no one would have ever known but that was a surprise. But really, so that's a fun surprise. You know, for me, whoopsie, the personal surprise is how emotional I get. Like you would think, oh my God, we've heard this all. You and I've been in the nonprofit sector our whole lives basically. Right, right. And you'd think I've heard it all and I would be immune to somebody else's journey. But there are times, Jared, when I literally think, oh my God, hold it together, hold it together, hold it together because I'm so touched by what somebody has to say or what their level of service is. Yeah, it's an amazing sector. You know, we are definitely here to help provide services to others, which, you know, I was just emceeing for an event and I shared the number one reason, the only reason nonprofits exist is to provide a solution to a community problem. And when we hear from these leaders that they are so passionate about providing the solution, it is really hard to keep it together. So one of my biggest surprises during the 900 episodes and I'm, you know, this is still one in my 20 plus years of service in the sector is the overhead myth. We keep, we keep, we keep hearing about how we have to keep the overhead down. And I do not subscribe to that. I know that we are working hard in our sector, in our vernacular with our funders, with our investors, with our founders. You know, it's really about impact. And so I just want to elevate that again, you know, shout it out. It really is about impact. And, you know, we do need to be diligent with our donors' dollars. However, we really need to look at that focus on how are we making an impact with the dollars, right? And not get caught up into that overhead myth and seeing the percentage of, well, we can't go over so and so because we have to keep our overhead myth low. I just believe and subscribe to the mentality that that is archaic and we really, as organizations and as leaders in the sector need to keep proving our impact and focusing on that impact. So that's my soapbox. I know there's a lot going around for that and it's still going around, but I just, I really, it really, you know, irks me when I hear that. Well, and I think that's part and parcel to why we haven't been adept nor adopting technology, right? Because it's expensive. And because people are like, oh man, let's just stick to that spreadsheet or let's just try and keep it all up here because we can't invest in some of these technologies. And so it drives it home. But then we've had people like Tim Locky on, right? A couple of times talk about the human stack and the tech stack as it complements the human stack and we've had Ellen Carseon also talking about, you know, technology and how that can be accessible and adopted. So there's so many opportunities, you know, to that technology, which Julia takes me to the third one and I'm gonna jump right into that because my biggest, you know, reflection when it comes to the concern I have for our sector truly is the lack of adoption into technology, right? So having that fear, if you will, of taking on technology, what could technology do? Four years ago, 900 episodes, AI was not a thing. I mean, it was a thing, but it wasn't a thing we were talking about here on the nonprofit. It was in Hollywood. It was in Hollywood. It was in Hollywood. And now artificial intelligence is right here at our fingertips, right? Sean Olds has come on from Bootle AI to talk to us about technology and AI phenomenal leader in mind. So my biggest concern is the, you know, we're still doing a lot of the same all, same all because that's what we've known and we've become comfortable with. And we haven't taken the time or the ability to really lean into adapting to and adopting that technology. I think you're absolutely right. And you know, to me, I look at this all the way from, you know, how we manage programming, certainly how we manage our donor base, our funding bases and how we communicate, right? I mean, we need to be using this to reach out to our donors and our funders and our communities so people know what we're doing, right? And so I agree with you. I think it's huge. You know, my biggest concern when I think about it is this horrific flush of talent. And it's really a demographic issue. There were so many CEOs and board chairs and C-suite folks that were ready to retire at 2020, right? And then the pandemic came and then, you know, they held back and they said, yeah, we'll stay on and we'll help steward this. Of course, during that time, they weren't stewarding the next step of leadership because that wasn't happening. And so we have this group of people that are just exhausted and they're physically older, mentally aging out of the system, right? And then at the same time, we're not educating enough young people through our university and college system to go into nonprofit management. You know, there are less than a dozen programs really in our country that offer something that's specific that you can go in as a freshman and know this is gonna be your journey. One point of meeting in nonprofits, we need this talent. We need this talent. I'm curious if you're also seeing this from the board side, right? Like when you look at nonprofits and the fiduciary agents of those board members, let's say on average, right? Like seven per non-profit, there's 1.8 million nonprofits registered in the US. Now we both know many nonprofits, they're boards, 20 plus people, right? Like some have way more than seven. What are you seeing as part of your concern, you know, the workforce, also that board service seat? Absolutely, I mean, I would tell you that when I do trainings and public speaking, in fact, I'm gonna be working in Maui next month with a very large, an international financial organization and talking specifically about how folks can garner new talent, younger talent, next generation talent and attract them to their boards because it is not the same old same old. It is not the same situation. And until we understand what that next demographic looks like, what they're interested in, how they're gonna participate, not only are we not gonna get that talent in, but we're gonna have major disruption, right? Major disruption where this next gen talent can't understand how to navigate what the older board members are doing, how they think, how they behave and how they make decisions. So it's a perilous, somewhat perilous trajectory if we don't understand what that's looking like, so. Well, I'm seeing that here in our local community, not just from the board standpoint, I see that, of course we talk about, a lot of board members are seeking treasurers, right? So that financial space, which our partners at your part-time controller have talked about like where are the treasurers? Where are the finance people? But also in that interim space, the interim leadership space, there are so many individuals that, as you said, kind of held onto the reins, right? We're gonna wait for this pandemic to pass, but they're past their retirement age, they're into compassion fatigue, they're exhausted, they're burnt out and really looking for an opportunity to hand the reins over, but no one's been groomed, no one's been identified, which takes me back to the episode I did on succession planning and why succession planning is so critical. I agree, I think it's like a heavy lift for so many of us. You have to be vulnerable, you have to be able to say, yeah, there's gonna be somebody better and stronger and more educated, more able than I, as a leader, how do I do this? How do I leave? How do I pass the reins? I mean, it's a hard, hard thing for many, many people and it's, I think it's a really a big concern. And that's not even mentioning found syndrome. Oh yeah, that is such a great comment. That is such a great comment because you're right. I mean, a lot of parallels, but it is not the same and you are, I love it. No, I love that you brought that up. Let's move on to reflection number four and I think this is a question that's an interesting thing because a lot of times we are putting out fires, as we said earlier in the broadcast, but the question or the reflection is where does opportunity exist for the sector? Like where do you think you can come ahead and not just financially, but just with impact, with service, what do you think about? How do you do that? I'm going back to something I know we've talked about before, you and I are big subscribers of this, but it's collaboration, right? And funders have been asking for collaboration for quite some time now. Organizations have really held to their chest and to their vest, certain information, certain programs, certain opportunities, but I really do believe that there's opportunity to collaborate. Now hear me out on this because I think that there's ways beyond the programming, right? We could collaborate in ways of sharing space. We can collaborate in ways of sharing bookkeepers and people that help in that sustainability structure because what I saw during the height of the pandemic, truly Julia, really is so many organizations struggling with some of the day-to-day tasks that I feel could be shared with other organizations, shared in a co-working environment, really leaning into collaboration and again, not just program to program. That is a wonderful opportunity and again, funders are really inviting that collaborative spirit, but I'm also talking when it comes to some of the administrative functions that your organization needs to survive, to sustain, to be effective and efficient in your processes. And that is something I don't think we've talked a lot about here on the show is how do we collaborate in some of these back-end office opportunities to really elevate the mission and the impact? I love that, Jared. I think that's a brilliant way to go. And we think about the sharing economy. This is such a milestone or a hallmark, really of next-gen leadership and how next-generation think about things from their own way that they do work, right? We used to call it the gig economy, but they're doing a lot of different things. So I think that's a really good, I think that's a good thing. For me, I think, and I've been thinking about this for a long time, but I think it's IP. I think it's intellectual property. And that means how do you sell your programming? How do you sell your technology that maybe you've adapted, training modules, educational modules? You know, how you're programming, like this is how we manage an after-school program and all of the things that go along with that. And I think that there's so many nonprofits that want to do a service that's being done in other parts of the country, but they start from ground zero and they waste years. They waste years as opposed to coming up, spending a little bit of money up front and basically having a manual, you know? It's like a franchise concept to me, Jared. Julia, I love every time you bring this up. You've talked about it just a few times in our 900 episodes, but every time you do, I see this as an immense opportunity that I don't see happening in our sector. No, it's really bold and because it's not happening, it takes a lot of effort. So, you know, when you talk to really successful leaders of programs, they will say, yeah, we have too many people wanting to come to our program and I don't have the bandwidth to give tours and explain what we're doing. And my comment is, you know what? Take six months, figure out what your secret sauce is and package it and then when you get these people from around the world, around the world saying, hey, how do we run a homeless shelter for teens? What's, you know, you seem to get it right. What's the message here? You can say, well, for X amount of money, here it is and it includes some, you know, mentoring or whatever it is because everybody wins that way. But the community that wants to start that program can jump on it and they're not wasting time in making mistakes and learning from those mistakes. They can start up here. Yeah, fast track, right? It really fast tracks them to that success. I would love for us to have a dedicated episode on that and let's get someone in that has done that, that has packaged and, you know, really built out their IP intellectual property for this space. I would love to learn more about that and I really think that's a wonderful opportunity for so many of our, you know, non-profit friends across the nation. I love it. I think you're right. I have some folks in mind and when we're done here, I'm gonna, I'm gonna... Give them a call, yeah. I keep knocking over stuff in my studio. Okay, long as your pants aren't falling off, we're good. I know, isn't that horrible? You gave like such a wonderful, pithy, educated thing because you are the non-profit nerd. Well, I sit. I sit so my pants should not fall off. If they do, we're in a totally different conversation. Okay, reflection five, how do you see the sector in five years? Julia, I love how you just turned the crystal ball on ourselves because we turn the crystal ball on our guests often to say, if you had a crystal ball, right? Like shine it up, what would it say? So how do you see the sector in five years? That is a really, really difficult question. With AI, the advancements of technology, there are so many advancements happening. Literally right now, as we're discussing this question, there's advancements that we are completely unaware of. So I really do see our sector, I really see our sector removing from that overhead myth. I see that in five years, many of us will stand on the soapbox. Many of us will be talking and shifting the paradigm within our community, within our leaders. I also see our sector changing from a grant making standpoint. I've already started to see this, Julia, where grantors have started to say, we have no standard grant application send us. So really that trust based philanthropy, but using it in the proposal opportunity. So moving into a space that isn't so confined, jump through this hoop, hold your breath for 90 minutes. All of these kind of atrocious requirements that some of these submissions and proposals require. And to be honest, Julia, like that is not what nonprofits are for. If we get another request to send in a video, we're not videographers, right? That's not who we are, that's not what we do. And so funders are literally asking us to do things that are, I'm going to say this, asinine to apply for some of this funding. So that's mine. I see some of those restrictions fading and I see that overhead myth just completely shattering. So mine's a little different. And mine, this might be a reflection. And for those of you clutch your pearls moment, I'll clutch my dragonfly. Jared and I are 20 years, almost to the week in age difference. Now I'll let you guess who's older. You're such a good girl, thank you. But so for me, I think the biggest impact to the nonprofit sector is this trajectory of the largest transference of wealth in American history, right? It came close prior to the Civil War, but it's massive. And one of the big things has been this DAF, donor advice funds, and people parking money or moving money to philanthropic, the financial instruments, but they're for philanthropic intent. And it's a little bit of the Wild West. I mean, this piece, I know, pew, pew, pew, pew, this piece and we live in the West so we can do that. That's what happens in the Wild West, all right? Guns, guns are pulled. Guns pulled, guns are blazing. But I think that the federal government is gonna come down on not only nonprofits because they're 1.8 registered, hell of a lot more that aren't registered folks, but those that are registered. And then these DAFs, it's when you look at the Giving USA report, that's been the biggest shift is all this money that's going into these DAFs. They're not really regulated. Nobody really knows who they own them. It used to be two main institutions, financial institutions that manage them. Now the community foundations are in the game. I mean, banks are into the game. It's really, I think, going to be something that causes some heartburn. Great opportunity. I think it's meant well in many, many cases. In other cases, maybe not. Yeah, so for me, that's a big thing. And I don't wanna be a voice of gloom and doom, but I just sense that this is gonna be something we're gonna have to watch. Well, the transference of wealth, we've been talking about this tsunami of money, right? That's being transferred for a couple of years now. I know even you and I have talked about it for a while. So really talking about that and the shift, the shape of our sector, I'm excited. And I would be remiss if I didn't say, right, keep watching the nonprofit show. What we thought was a two week journey might actually continue for another five years. So stay with us, our friends. If you joined us earlier, you heard that we have produced 27,000 minutes. That's 450 hours. Thank you to our amazing partners in this journey. It's truly been amazing. All of these episodes, they are available to you even when we called them the Corona Chronicles, moving into the nonprofit show. Like it's just so much information. So thank you to our partners that allow this information 27,000 minutes, 450 hours, to be free to you and to everyone. So thank you to our partners, Bloomerang American Nonprofit Academy, Fundraising Academy at National University that started Nonprofit Power Week for us. So kudos to those innovators. Also, thank you to Nonprofit Thought Leader, your part-time controller, Staffing Boutique. Staffing Boutique brought to us, truly Julia, she was like frontline information, giving us information from the Northern States before it kind of moved out west to us. Also, thank you to Nonprofit Nerd and Nonprofit Tech Talk. Yeah, these are the folks that are with us day in and day out as we celebrate this 900th episode. It's really been amazing. Jared and I, in the beginning, we were like, we can do this for two weeks because what are we gonna talk about after two weeks? And every day we get off the show, we're like, oh my gosh, we need to do a show about this. We need to talk about that. We haven't addressed this. So it is a changing environment. It's an exciting environment. I mean, our viewers know this because this is where their hearts live and what they breathe and what they believe in. And Jared and I are right there in that space. We are very, very committed to this sector. And it is not easy. It is not easy. But it is really an amazing privilege to be able to do this. You know, Jared- It's an honor. It's truly an honor. It is an honor. And it's an honor to work with you, my friend. I can't think of anyone else I'd rather be on the show with. You're just a brilliant mind and a lot of fun, but you're very, very smart. And so I learned something from you every day. You know, Jared and I at the very beginning because we were in a pandemic, the COVID pandemic, then the two of us really believed we moved into a social justice pandemic and economic pandemic, civil unrest pandemic. And so we created this mantra and it goes like this, to stay well. What, Jared? So you can do well. Thanks everyone for celebrating 900 episodes. Because of you, we will continue.