 Welcome, and thanks for joining us to the nonprofit show. We are so glad to have you joining us today. Again, you might be joining us live or you could be joining us through the recording, but either way, I'm excited for our guest, Mrs. Sarah Ellery, founder of My Hope Bag. And Sarah's gonna have a director's dialogue with me all about My Hope Bag, which is an organization near and dear to her heart. And she's gonna share with us about her origin story and a little bit about the whole process of being a founder and the director of the organization. So Sarah, I'm glad to have you. And before we get started, I also wanna make sure that our viewers and listeners know that who you're seeing and listening to, Julia Patrick is enjoying another day off. So I hope that she's getting some much needed rest. Julia is the CEO of the American Nonprofit Academy. And we have her to thank for these almost 600 episodes now. So the nonprofit show started in March of 2020. She pulled me in and said it's only gonna be two weeks and here we are into our third year, but I'm Jared Ransom, your nonprofit nerd, CEO of the Raven Group. And I'm just honored to serve alongside Julia each and every day, thanks to our sponsors. So again, those of you watching, you can see the logos right in front of you on the screen. Those of you listening, you can, again, I hope that you'll check out our sponsors. I'm gonna give them a shout out. Thank you to Bloomerang American Nonprofit Academy, Fundraising Academy, nonprofit nerd, your part-time controller, staffing boutique and nonprofit thought leader. These companies keep us going and growing. I just mentioned 600 episodes. We are marching fast and furious towards that number. So thanks to all of you and our sponsors that keep us going. If you missed any of our previous episodes and you're thinking, I had no idea there were 600, I wanna go back and binge watch this. We've become the new Netflix binge series. I've heard this. So you can find us on Roku, YouTube, Fire TV and Vimeo. And of course, for all of you podcasters, you can queue us up wherever you stream your podcast. So Sarah, I'm so excited to have you. As you just heard, this episode is going to be spread far and wide. We are still the only nation's nonprofit webcast. So really excited to have you as the founder of My Hope Bag to join us here today. Welcome, Sarah. Thank you, Jared. I am so excited to be here. And as you said, we have known each other for quite a while. And I always learn something every time I talk to you. So I'm very happy to be here. I'm happy to share My Hope Bag with your audience and let's get going. Let's get going. We're gonna start, first of all, with your origin story. So I really do believe where you're sitting is a lot of background on your origin story. So tell us about My Hope Bag and also give us a little idea of what is sitting behind you. Cause I see a beautiful blanket and it looks like it has your logo on it. Kick us off with telling us your story, Sarah. Well, I am a breast cancer survivor of 12 years. And as I was going through my treatments, I realized that at that point, there was so little information for someone going through breast cancer. And of course, I'm sure that's with all cancers, but that was my cancer. And I just felt that there needed to be some way to get information to women and that there should be, I called it the little bag of hope for them. And this was way back. And then soon after, I started talking to my family about beginning an organization where I could go around and share comfort and encouragement with women and also give them resources that they could use so that they didn't feel like they were running around in circles or who do I talk to? Who can I get information from? So about a year later, my oldest daughter and I decided, okay, let's go ahead and do this. And we jumped in with both feet. I ordered the little grocery bags like you see in the grocery store and got a generic logo and put a few items in it like a back scratcher or a little bracelet. I really wanted some bling and a couple of more little comfort items, a heart pillow. And my daughter put a website up and we were in business. And we first started, my husband went with me for my first delivery and the uniqueness about our organization is that we go to the cancer warrior. She doesn't have to meet us anywhere unless she feels more comfortable, but we go to her, we sit and let her tell her story to someone who understands. And then we give her the bag as just a little, kind of a, well, a little gift and something for her to hang on to. And then we tell what we've been through so that she understands that we do in fact know what she's dealing with. And that was the beginning. We then were able to have some fundraisers. We decided to do an expo where we could bring more vendors in to talk to women and they could get all their questions answered and it's just blossomed from there. Yeah. So your thank you for sharing that, Sarah, for all of our viewers and listeners. So your story, your own personal journey of breast cancer really ignited this movement of motivation and inspiration and to be of service. And I adore that because I often hear from many people, I wanna start a nonprofit or I've had something tragically impact me, my family, much like your story, therefore I want to do something about it. I wanna do something positive to help other people. And that's exactly what you've done. And you mentioned your daughters, you mentioned your husband. So this has really become that family community effort. But as you mentioned also in our Green Room Chatter, so many other individuals have joined you and your mission to provide hope in these bags to so many other women. So thank you for that. It's great to hear your origin story and it's really refreshing to hear the action. Like, you had this idea and boom, there's the website. Right. There's the expo. So kudos to you there. And I'm curious if you could talk to us a little bit now about really navigating the market. There's many organizations out there. I talk about 1.8 million nonprofits are registered in the US. So that in and of itself is competition. Now, Sarah, I believe in collaboration and not so much competition, but when we look at the dollars, right, there's only a finite amount of dollars out there from potential donors. How have you, as the director and founder of my Hope Bag, how have you been able to navigate the market with the competition that exists? Well, I look at it a little bit different and that is all of the nonprofit organizations that have anything to do with breast cancer or cancers in general, but mostly breast cancer right now. We are, we should not be in competition. Each of us offers something different for each woman that we're helping. But as far as how are we able to get our funding, I really go in and just talk to people. And I encourage all of our volunteers of which we have in upwards of 50 right now, I encourage all of them to talk to their circle of influence as well as their doctors and any women's groups or any women's centers anywhere where they come in contact with the breast cancer industry or community, if you will. So it's just mostly for me, it's just talking. And in fact, I have been talking to other nonprofits to see if we can't collaborate in some way because what one group offers, we don't. And we offer things that another group doesn't. So I realize that there is competition for the funds, but usually people are not, they're not really set on one group and they will be happy to donate funds to many groups. So. And attend events of many groups. So for breast cancer, many cancers, many other organizations out there, there are some much larger organizations, but I love what you're doing and how you describe this honestly, Sarah, it's about there's so much out there. And what we do is different than another organization. What they do is different from us. And I believe too, not only in abundance, but people admire that relationship that you're building. And I've talked often over COVID, the pandemic, that we really need to start focusing on that return on relationship. And maybe not always the return on investment. So my hope bag is a high touch relationship building opportunity. And for those of you watching and listening, Sarah just shared that they go directly to the woman, they meet her at her home or wherever she's comfortable in living and really have that opportunity to sit and talk with her about what they're going through, allow any questions. And I imagine that this is also a really good resource for their families. Have you seen that impact their families? Like beyond the person, the woman herself, it goes deeper than that? Yes, definitely. We have, we always encourage that a partner, spouse, a child, somebody come and meet with us as well. We want them to know what kind of services we offer, how we can help their loved one. And also, as we all know, when you are stressed and you hear news about what's going on with yourself, you often don't hear everything. So it's always good to have another person there. But we want them to know that they are very welcome in our program. And even the children, they may not understand a lot. And if they are old enough, we invite them as well because we want them to know that we're here to help their mom. And there are many things that they may need and we try to serve every need that we can. I love that, yeah. And that certainly helps you navigate the market and the competition of what's out there is providing this really like high touch relationship to the entire family, not just the woman impacted but truly the entire family that supports her. Well, let's talk about that funding because what I loved that you said, Sarah, was, you simply have conversations. You talk to doctors, you talk to people, you talk to volunteers. And so I've seen you over the last handful, a couple of years, truly have so many successes. But would you be willing to talk to us about, as the founder, how you've been able to overcome some of those early opportunities or early funding challenges and then share with us some of your successes? I would love to hear that. It's hard to ask someone for money. It really is. You need to show them what their money is going to do and you need to, in some cases, like if we're looking for sponsorships, we definitely want to let them know what's in it for them, a large sponsorship. But families are very happy to give and very happy to help promote the organization when they see how much we've helped their loved one. In the early stages, it was very difficult. I wrote a lot of letters, I wrote a lot of emails and I made a lot of calls, but I did find that the best way to talk to someone about funding is face to face. Or, as now we've grown, our volunteers can do that with their said doctors or nurse practitioners and get information and we've been able to get into different hospitals because of patients that talk to their doctors and they said, yes, I really want to know more about this. So that almost always leads to some kind of fundraising and it makes it a lot easier now that we have our volunteers doing it as well. It makes it much more comfortable when we do come together for an event to be able to look at the reason we're there and that we're there to fundraise and not feel funny about asking them for money there. So it has gotten a lot more comfortable and we doubled our income for the last golf tournament last year. So I'm hoping we can double it again this year. Yes, that is fantastic. And to hear this from a founder, because I do know Sarah, like I'm an anomaly. I love asking for money. I absolutely love it. It's not everyone's natural talent, right? And a lot of people really kind of are like, no, no, no, that's the one thing I'm not gonna do. So you have your volunteers engaged in this process. You have your board members, which also are volunteers engaged in this process. And I love that you've given them the empowerment, the confidence to say you too can talk. Like it's a conversation. You talk to your medical team, you talk to your friends and your family and you said that you have events. So congratulations on the golf tournament creating more revenue. I would like to know and the dollar amount might have changed, especially with inflation and everything else going on. But my hope bag literally is a bag of hope as you started this conversation. Now these bags are given at no cost to the woman. Is that still correct? Yes. Okay. And then how much like what would be the value of that bag? So let's say, you know, for your fundraising efforts, if someone were to make a donation of $50, $75, like does that cover the cost essentially for my hope bag to be able to provide that bag of hope to the woman? What is the cost of the bag for you? The value of the bag is $75 and our donation page on our website shows that you can donate $75 for one bag or 150 for two. And it's very clearly, very simply laid out. And also you can donate in memory of or in honor of a loved one. So we've got that all on the donation page. And of course that money would go directly to assembling more bags, but we also will be adding other categories. And you can also just donate for whatever, for a general cause. So what I'm hearing you say really, Sarah, is making the fundraising process as simple as possible is really the key. And I love that your bag is at no cost to the woman, but also to the person that's suggesting or requesting a bag. I know I've done that personally. And I think that many of us, if not all of us, have all known someone or had their own family member touched by breast cancer. So to have that ability to make a donation for a smaller organization, more startup organization, and not the big national organizations that have this huge team. Because talk to us about your team. You mentioned that everyone is fundraising. I love that and you're empowering them to do that. But when we look for advice for nonprofit funders, our founders, sorry, how do we become in that funding space and that conversation? So how have you seen kind of your path and your progress, if you will, Sarah, from the year you started your organization to today, what advice would you give to founders out there? Well, definitely, you will have a heart for whatever your organization is going to be. It's really hard to find someone exactly like you, but that's our goal. So when I'm talking to people, and if I feel from them that they've got a real passion for my hope bag or for breast cancer warriors, and they are saying, I really want to help you with this project or I really want to help you get started on this next one, those are definitely ace people. When you start out, you definitely want to have your team of volunteers because trying to do an organization by yourself is very, very difficult. But those volunteers will definitely grow more into partners and you will then have an opportunity for each of those partners to also have their own little mini group and they can go and take off on different projects. Because we do the bag for women, we have expanded from there to where we also provide mammograms. We provide grocery cards, if they need groceries, we can get them a ride to their treatments. Their treatments are so important and they can't miss them and sometimes they're every day of the week. So if they can't make it or they have a challenge, we do everything we can to get them there or watch their children for a little while so that they can go. There are other things that come up, co-pays for their medical, those sometimes are exorbitant. So we do what we can to help on that. I love that. And I'm gonna ask, I'm gonna ask maybe an uncomfortable question, but I hope you're gonna tell us the truth, Sarah. When I talk to founders, I also hear them say, this has become too much and I simply am ready to close up shop. Like I don't know if I can keep doing that. So I'm curious for those again, advice to founders. Have you found yourself having those moments personally where you're thinking, what am I doing? Can I keep doing this? Or maybe it's best to tie this up in a pretty bow and call it done. Have you had that moment? And if so, what have you done to truly like, get past that moment? Honestly, Jared, I can't imagine anyone having an organization and not thinking that once or twice throughout their career. Because I have my loving family and I have so many wonderful volunteers. I can usually pick the person to call at that moment and they'll say something that I'll think, ah, okay, well, I'm very thankful that we have this going. This started out as such a small little dream for me, but now that I've seen how much we are needed and how many women and families we are able to help and have helped, I can't see myself ever quitting really. Well, I knew you would be honest and I knew that would be your answer because we've talked about it. And again, for advice for founders, this is a heavy, heavy lift. It's not easy, especially for you, Sarah. You have such a bittersweet mission where it might mean that you say goodbye to some of the women that you've served and you've shared that with us. And so there are hard moments and there are times when you think, this has just become too much. But what I heard is you also go back to the successes that you've had, the stories from the families and the women, like seeing their smiles and seeing them interact and having these conversations is perfect advice for founders because there are absolutely going to be times when it feels too much. Right, and I have a drawer full of thank you cards that I have received from women who have received bags and they'll say, I was about to give up and I received your bag or I was just having the worst day and the Hope sister came to deliver the bag and she was wonderful. And I just can kind of sit back and take a deep breath and smile and say, thank you, God, this is what we're here for. Yeah, yeah. I'm curious if you'd be willing to share with us a little bit about how you and your board and your volunteers navigated. And I know we're not out of the woods with COVID-19, but during the pandemic, because you had to shift and be very nimble during this time, especially with individuals that are at high risk, right? Like low immune systems. As the founder, how did you navigate your team through this health crisis? Well, I was really concerned about it. I had talked to a couple of other founders and they were actually talking about quitting or retiring. And I knew I didn't want to do that. I knew that I talked to my friend, Jared, and she gave me some good advice. And we just revamped our business and ran it a little bit different during that time. And we even called some of our former bag recipients or some that were fairly new and let them know we're still here and we can still send you gift cards if you need something or we can still get you the bag and just meet you at your front door instead of coming in. So we were able to just kind of rework things. So, you know, at first you kind of think, well, so the world's in a crazy condition right now, nobody's gonna expect anything, but cancer doesn't stop. And it was very difficult for women having to go into the hospital during that time and not have their family with them. And we wanted to be there to just kind of give them another shoulder of support while they were going through their challenges. You know, so many people, myself included, you know, really had to decide what are we going to do? What are we willing to do? What are we comfortable doing? And again, with your audience, it is already a high-risk audience. And so being the founder of an organization, that is great advice for so many other founders is to, you know, consider, how might you shift things up when you have to? Because that might not have been in your business plan, but guess what? I guarantee you going forward, Sarah, everyone, including yourself, will have this caveat message of like, what do we do if, you know, what do we do when this next health pandemic or what not comes up? I think, you know, it's important to just have those stories before we end. And we still have some time here, but I do wanna honor one of our guests who joins us from the Middle East. And he's a fantastic gentleman, but he writes in to say, Sarah, you are a ray of hope for people who are losing hope. And thanks to Jared for bringing such an inspiring personality. So thank you to our viewer who sent this in, and I couldn't agree more. Sarah is absolutely a ray of hope, what she does and how she manages with her team. As you said, you know, her team includes her family, it includes volunteers, it includes other hope warriors. I'm not sure if I just made that up or if that's what you call those. So for those of you interested or, you know, you're a founder yourself or you're considering starting an organization, Sarah is fantastic. If you wish to reach out to Sarah, if you want to learn more about my hope bag, if you wanna make a donation or send a bag to a woman in need, please, please check out their website. It is just the name of the organization, myhopebag.org. And couldn't say more things, more good things about you, Sarah. You're always fantastic. Again, I'm just, I feel like a proud parent every time I see your success and hear about your events. So for those of you in the Metro Phoenix community, Sarah, you know, is having a couple of events coming up in September. For those of you that are outside of the Phoenix community, I would recommend that you look up what organizations are in your community that might be able to provide hope like myhopebag does for the community in which Sarah has founded this organization. So thank you for all that you do, Sarah. Thank you, Jared. So glad to have you. And for those of you that have joined us, glad that you could join us. I really like having these directors dialogue and I'm so glad that Julia had the foresight to create what she thought then was going to be a two week episode. But, you know, we really are moving into 600. So I'm honored to serve alongside that. And we couldn't do this without our presenting sponsors. So again, those of you watching, you can see their logos, but for those of you that might be listening in podcast form, I'm gonna give an audible shout out to Bloomerang American Nonprofit Academy, fundraising academy, non-profit nerd, your part-time controller, staffing boutique, and the non-profit thought leader. Sarah, I just adore everything that you do. I adore your passion and your commitment and dedication. And again, just so glad to hear more about you. For those of you that want to hear more, again from Sarah, you know, connect with her, follow them on all the social media channels. You can find them from their website, myhopeback.org. Thanks for joining us today, all of you. And I hope that you'll join me back here tomorrow with another amazing guest. And until then, we end every episode with the same mantra, which is please stay well so you can do well. Thanks everyone and I'll see you soon.