 Hi everybody. Thanks for joining today's TechSoupConnect Florida. Luckily, then my name is Aretha Simon, and I'm from Orlando, Florida, and I'm going to be your host today. I love everybody in the chat room to let us know where you're tuning in from. To that for me, you never know that it might be some synergy. If you want to put any information about your nonprofit, feel free to do that. Today's topic is let's get some clarity and charity. That sounds, I don't know. I'm like, what does she mean? So that's why I want to be here. I couldn't wait to hear our speaker today. I do want to remind you that this is being recorded and it will be available. It will be sent to everybody via email on replay. But you can also go to TechSoup's YouTube link and subscribe, and you'll get all the notifications there. So if you've never read a TechSoup, because I know there might be a few people here, I see people from the East Coast, Texas, West Palm Beach, Florida all over. If you've never heard of TechSoup, welcome. It's free to become a member. All you need is to have your 501c3. But TechSoup is a global organization reaching over 100 companies. No, let me back up. Over 200 companies are our partners, but we're in over 100 countries. And what we do is provide hardware, software, training, free webinars like this to nonprofits who need it. So we would love for you to become a member of TechSoup so you can get notifications and not just these webinars, but so much more. So I'm going to get ready to move out of the way and just let you know before I move on that we need your help. Right here at TechSoup Connect, Florida, we would love for you to be a speaker. If you specialize in a topic that you know will be valuable to nonprofits, please contact me at ASymus at TechSoup.org. That's for Auretha Simons at TechSoup.org. We need you to share the event. If you see them come up on your timeline, if your friends with me or some of the other speakers on Instagram or social media, please share them. We need chat room hosts. Like people are typing the chat room. Now we would love to have chat room hosts. Whatever you feel like that you can contribute to TechSoup Connect, Florida, we would love for you to be a part of us. So on to what we get for the main event. Our speaker today is Danita. And I hope when I pronounce your name because I say it all the time, pin me at it. Something like that. Pin me at it. I got it, right? Please tell them I got it. Thumbs up. Love it. Danita is the founder of Care.org, which provides developmental and academic opportunities for youth using science, technology, and engineering. But Danita is so much more than that. She's also one of my favorite people because she's a co-host of TechSoup Connect, Florida, along with Melanie Campbell. Danita, I know we're going to learn more about you and about your organization, but we're very interested in this topic. So I'm going to turn this all over to you because all of yours. Thank you so much, Mr. Rizzo. She's the type of person you want to have when you are running around and just need that extra boost for the day to give you that. So I just want to make sure that you guys are able to see the screen. It says, I know it says audience window in there, but I just want to make sure. Okay. There's never a word sign, but it should be talking. And you have something else up there. Alrighty. So everyone's a learning again. I'm Danita Pinienza. You're very close with Rizzo. Don't worry. And I'm with Care. And we do youth development in central Florida. But I'm going to tell you a little bit more about me in just a moment. So right now, let's just look at some of the things that we could be talking about today. You have all this clarity and clarity. It can be the kitchen and focus and fundraising. And it's just like all these things that go into nonprofits. But we're just going to nibble at it. We're not going to throw into every single thing because obviously you could spend all day doing that. So while I would love to talk to you all day about certain elements, one thing I know for sure is that we have different thought processes when it comes to charity. And so hopefully we can sort of get those together. And maybe yours is in terms of benevolence. Maybe your thought process is great, right? Freedom would be if you have the capacity to do all the things that you want to do in a certain area. It's great. And the thing about charity is that it's not current. It happens whether you're a nonprofit or not. But for me, most is, of course, freedom. Is that cool? You get to go in and really focus on those areas that you most enjoy. But for all of its greatness that charity is, what it's not, it's just a place where people have no expectation of getting to the goal. That would be akin to you continually going back over and over to your donors, your funders, without ever scaring what you've accomplished with their support. Donors and funders want to be made aware. They want to be in the loop. They don't want just the super crystal taking care of the needs that are just immediate. They want to be engaged and involved. And there's weight for you to bring them into the conversation of what's going on with your charity. And they can continue to feel like they're an extension of it. And the fact that the Florida want to bring them along so that at the end of the day, it's not their pockets are empty, but it's that they are empty with all of their ability to do those things that go into your mission and your vision. And hopefully they'll do some great things with you on this journey along the way. So I wanted to get into just a little bit about the need of the nonprofit and how you're serving. And sometimes nonprofits are on an island by themselves, right? They think, oh, we're the ones that are addressing these needs. And oftentimes don't connect with others who are already doing that work or work that needs to be done. But what if you keep with that mindset, then you can't get to the point of full collaboration. And so that's where we are on this journey when it comes to clarity as well. You have to be willing to engage your volunteers, your board members, your donors in helping you look, not only for partnerships that are out there that can be monetarily advantageous, but you're looking for viable, collaborative partners so that you can grow the work that you're doing and engage in further, maybe there's additional focuses that you want to address. You can do that with a broad spectrum of other people who are right on board with you. And that way you can do that business-minded thing of cultivating a sustainable and growth-oriented program organization which outperforms your competition. And then that way you can get a handle, a larger handle on the way that things are working for your community. Remember that business mind frame because when it comes to parodies, yes, it's there with your heart, you love it. This is things that you're in growth in. It's wonderful. There's no harm in thinking about the heart posture of it. But let's look at the numbers because charities, nonprofits, they're businesses. And so part of the focus, it is making sure you're understanding. The broad picture is 5.6% of the GDP come from the nonprofit sector. That's huge. And so the impact that you can make in your organization is huge. There's almost 2 million nonprofits in the United States right now. And I just want to point out, as far as clarity goes, you could potentially have a great number of duplication of efforts with those numbers. So you just want to stand back and say, wait a minute. How can we collaboratively make a larger difference in our community? And we bring in, as nonprofits, we bring in a lot of revenue. It's only $3 trillion. And that statistic was back in the 20s, the key. So it just lets you know that we have this huge impact. And so it doesn't have to be the small scale that a lot of people think that nonprofits are. You, this is a business. And if you govern yourself in a way that operates like a business, not that we have to go after a trillion dollars or anything, but we definitely want to make sure that the economics that we bring in are fully impacted for the community. Let's get away from another thought that nonprofits are not there to make a profit. Nonprofits are a business. They make profits. So it's just how the profits are accounted for going forward within the organization. And you said, what does that look like? What is it? Are we going to state our case by following some of these friends that are out there, these cute selfies, or are we going to do something with the kids on the computer or trying to go viral with your event or your story? The reality of it could be all of those things, but one of the ways that I've learned that most of us to connect with your donors, your volunteers, the community is that is by telling your story. Every which way you can. And I didn't really, I'd advise you to get a few versions of your story. So it would be how down and under just feel, I don't know, long, short, medium, extra long, depending on the type of time that you have. But just be sure that everyone on your team is connecting with the same story. And so what that looks like for us, for example, would be our team talking about the founder in this case, it may, but you'll hear the story of how. Care got started because of the educational impact from my grandmother, one of them was born in 1904, the other born in 1918. And we talk about how we were gifted 24 hours in a day. Got to make some good point while you're in your 24 hours. And then, of course, you have to give for yourself. You must serve your community and educate them. You can educate yourself out of any set of circumstances. Those were, those are life lessons that were taught to us and we were able to frame it just so that if anyone asked, hey, what's the core of what you do? Why are you in this? Hey, we have a real quick feel that we can get out there so people can perhaps connect. And then depending on the type of time that you have, you could go in and you could talk a little bit more about yourself. What brings you to the table? Because if you might be talking about other individuals, you may not have found the organization, you weren't there when they started. So then what brings you to the table? What's your thing? What is it about you and how do you send way into the actual organization and what it needs? And for me, it just means that I take all of the education and those things that my grandmother taught me directly to lead a team. So that we could follow our vision and you're able to make your point and do it your own way. However, this looks for you. This just happens to be an example for what we do here at care. And then one more point about the organization story, especially for those people who may be new to the arena or maybe you've been in it a while and you need a reboot just to give you some full transparency. There's some days that are going to be tough and by you having that connection, writing down that story or repeating the story, just having that information at hand is going to be helpful because remember, you're not always there from the beginning. It helps you to understand and answer the question of, why am I doing this? That's that clarity again. Why are we here? What are we doing? What is it? Are we really impacting? The people that we want to impact, you'll go back to that on your tough days so that you can get through some challenging time because I'm going to pad some challenging time and it just allows you to be able to move forward with continuity. So that's just one more thing that you can add on there to why that story is so important. Now, let's talk about our board. Oh, my goodness, we have to be so good and so bad with regards to our board, the board members that make up how they connect with the organization as a whole. But just take these three steps to really go back in and engage with your board and let's talk about how we can connect outside of the regular board meetings. There is no harm with having your building relationships. You need to know the board members. You need to make sure that you have the right board members on there. Asking them questions up front is something that is as far as what their commitment level is with regard to your organization is very helpful. You don't want somebody on your board who's timed, but they need 40 hours in a day and they're only 24. That's not going to serve you well. So let's look at that. And then let's do some collective board training. Oftentimes people are bombed and told into being on board or they raise their hand and say, still do it, but don't really know what they're doing or what they're getting into. Let's have some training for them so that they can bring them all in line. Everybody's on the same page. Everybody's clear. Everybody's focused. Board members, they have to be engaged and they must be active to set some guidelines. What is the time allotment? What is this going to take off me? And can you get them to be able to say how the organization can impact the community? What would it look like if they are the one speaking? And so what we did is just come up with a sort little portion for even board members, volunteers, what have you to be able to say, hey, here's how you can help our organization to be able to connect with the individuals that we need to. So whether it's fundraising or as an ambassador or as a community partner, we have those opportunities that are available. So I know that's a lot. So let me just go back in and recap because I don't want to take too much of your time today. Let's just look at the fact that, again, non-profits are businesses and we got to be very clear about that. I liken it to the fact that some people say that there is a pot of gold into the rainbow. And the reality is there isn't a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. There is one pot and that's where the funding comes in a lot of cases or maybe two or three pots. And then they get divvied out among the non-profits. I can tell you that there is there's plenty of states, counties, whatever, where there is about 80% of maybe less than 10 non-profits in an area getting all the money. And so then the other non-profits are left to sort of figure out a way to go. But if you have a set up of the business model or have a funder or have something in line, then you're not going to be as successful as you want to be. And so I go back to the, that was just my one aside, but going back to the non-profits and recapping. Randy may not work if you don't want to jump on the bandwagon and just be doing the latest greatest thing. You want to do those things which are so relevant to you and your organization and you do it through collaboration. Now, I know not everybody wants to play well in the same box, but still, if your board members are there and your volunteers and the community at large know that you're committed to collaborative efforts that are really engaging so that we can grow as an entire community collection, then those partnerships are going to be developed, those relationships are going to be developed. And finally, share your story, share your story every single time that you can, because that helps people connect and you have ways that you can bring it home. For us, it looks like we keep doing it and we are a stream of educating and live or you might say that you are helping in the area of breast cancer or childhood debilitation of some sort. So whatever that is, connect it with people so that it's the top of mind. So that is how we get clarity a little bit about how we get clarity about charity and I just want to thank you so very much for your time. That was the way to connect with us. That was awesome, Danita, and I loved how you read your story about your grandmother and just hearing the years they were born. And this is how you read that in there in just 60 seconds. So one of the most powerful things I saw actually hurt, excuse me, is though, why are you doing this? So anybody want to share or have any questions for Danita, feel free to unmute yourself. Go ahead. I just want to say thank you, Danita, for the time that you took to share your story and the points that you share. Definitely took some takeaways from that question and collaboration because I would love to collaborate and connect with people who are working with foster kids. My business plan as far as the financials are still being, I do now have someone who is an accountant that's going to help me put numbers to everything that I've stated. We have our 501c3, we have a bank account and I'm just like, yeah, we're ready to go and then a meeting with fundraising people in the account and they're like, no, you have some more steps. When I'm presenting my organization to other organizations that are already in the field, how important is it for me to have all of those numbers already planned out or should I start forming those relationships now? I want them to take me seriously because we do have a business plan, a business model that's already set. It just doesn't have all the numbers to it. So if you'll just share with me how you feel about that. Well, I'm going to share with you, but then we're going to also tap into the reports amid the refa. So from my perspective, when it comes, I could talk about dealing with kids, foster kids, whatever I get ready to approach someone that I know is doing good work, but I don't have a relationship with them. I don't go first with the business part in mind. I go first with, how can we be a resource to you? And when I know what they're, and I study, I definitely study, they are programming, I study a little case and how would we be able to weave ourselves into this puzzle piece that's all over? So whatever it is, you go in with specific of how you can help, but it's what you can bring to the table in partnership to them, not so much the flip side, which will come how they can help you. Yeah. So what do you do? Oh, and by the way, as a newer nonprofit, don't get caught up with the whole idea of it's got to be big. It's got to be grand. It's got to be the whole thing. We've got to do the whole thing. We've got to take over than they know. Do your small part wherever it is. That's enough. Mr. Rita, I agree. April, why are you doing a business plan? That's my question. Okay. So from the nonprofit meeting zooms like this that I've been a part of research that I've been part of having your one year to your five year plan has been something that's been restated over and over again. What our vision looks like, but then also making sure that we have a budget so that we're going to investors. We are able to offer them what we need from them, why we need it. Okay. Does that help? Did I give a good one profit or nonprofit? It is nonprofit. Okay. I'm going to take a couple of things you said one year, five year, three year plan. I don't know which one you said it in, but in the non-proper world. That never flows. Your plan will change according to the needs of the community, because that's why a nonprofit exists. If you were for a proper business, your products would probably remain the same. You probably be selling shampoo. We're going to, you might change the grievances, but it'll always be shampoo. With the non-proper world, if you start out feeding people that you say, we don't need just food, we need mental health comes and we need housing. So your plan will always change. So may I ask you to switch or recommend you switch from business plan to strategic plan based on the program or projects that you will do. And your strategic plan will probably change every year, but it's not set in stone, because if you have a business plan, it's going to be set in stone. And you're never going to reach those milestones if you focus on that. So with the strategic plan, it can change. It can change in the middle of the year because somebody may say, hey, we rather give you money to do this because this is a greater need in this community, in this demographic. So just food for thought. I'm not making any, no, you can't, but just food for thought. So yeah, that's, that's what I highly recommend that you focus on that. And then your budget will be focused on those programs. You'll have your annual budget for those programs and then you can pull, because you said an investor, a funder is an investor, but they're investing in, they're waiting on a return on investment from what you do in the community. You're not just looking for investors, you're looking for foundations and corporations and partnerships, which you know, but your budget should be focused on, you know, what you're actually doing in the community. All right, thank you. Thoughts from that though, thoughts from that, because I saw you shaking your head, but what are you feeling or what are you thinking after what I just said? It makes more sense to me to be honest with you. And so when I kept hearing business plan and I'm sitting here, but we're a nonprofit and I do have things that we're going, so many things that we're going to be doing with the foster kids and housing and all of that that we're going to be doing. So I do have that, but it does fit more into a strategic plan than it does business. I understand, fully understand, because the scale that we're doing this, because we're not just, we're housing foster teens and then after they graduate high school, helping with housing and actually building tiny houses. So the scale that this is on, we can't do it without major income coming in. So we are looking at a for profit side of it to help fund the nonprofit. So I definitely know that there's a business side, but with what we're doing, we need the foster teens in the house in order for us to get started. So I'm hitting roadblocks because as a nonprofit, it's like what worker you're already doing, whereas our work takes place with the kids in the home. So I am looking for collaborations now, just like you guys stated for us to be able to support what they're doing so that we can at least let people know we're already working towards the goal that we have. I wish you well. Lots of great. Anybody else have any questions, comments from what Danita shared, or even for April or for each other. This is a great topic, getting some clarity in the charity. Ah, Danita hit the nail on the button and then April, you know, what she's sharing is food for thought. Right? For everybody else, anybody else comments, question. Oh, come on. Maybe they have a problem on muting themselves. So Danita asked this question, why are you doing this? Anybody want to share a Myrtle, put a heart out. Anybody want to share your why? How long have you been in this nonprofit world because it is a whole different world and why are you still here? That might share with us some of your clarity into your charity. I'll speak again since I've already opened up and answered my why. My father, his last name is Dosey. That's my maiden name. And he had six daughters and he always told us no matter where we went, no matter what happened, no matter how far we would go, no matter what we've done, we can always come home. And I was in college studying for my business degree and one of the assignments was to find a gap that's needed and fill it. And I always had an interest in youth and in social services. So I said, okay, let me look at foster children. And I saw that the numbers were alarming that they weren't going to college. They were in prison. They were on drugs. Their kids were back in the system. And I'm like, what's going on? Okay, they need a program. And so I started doing research. I said, but there's programs. They have free funding for them to go to college. They have this and so many people want to help foster kids. Why are they taking place? Why are they participating in these programs? And the Lord was just very clear with me and he said, they don't have a home to come home to. When you went off to college on spring break, you could always go home. No matter if you messed up, I got a divorce. I came home for a little bit. Took my divorce. Like whatever happened to me in life, I had something to fall back on. And so for them, it's like, why go to college? Where am I going to be on spring break? That's where the gap is. Providing them a place that is always home. And so that's why we have those in these house that we're building. Always home. They'll always have a place to come to. No matter how big we get, they'll always have a place. That's beautiful. I hope you always share that story when you're speaking because it, I felt it. And it'll probably resonate with a lot of people. The story about what your dad shared and then go on to that. Make that always a part of your story. Make that always part of your strategic plan in your plan. Myrtle is saying yes, because, you know, what we do with storytelling at Greta Wright School. Delina, I hope I'm saying your name right. What a great question. Denita, you want to tackle this or shall I? No, it's fine. Cause this is something that happened to us. It is the fine line with the portion that Miss Aretha was talking about, which says the business and the strategic plan versus the business plan and all that. Okay. The reality though is you cannot exist without money. It's the coffers. It's that coming, that's going, all that. Yes. They don't want to hear. And I love that salary. You tell them that big businesses make money. They're not even helping anybody. What an incredible bonus that what we're doing, if we didn't have make any money, we could not continue to help. I get it. That's right. That's right. That's right. You can read it. I'm sorry. Go ahead. No, no. Good point. So the question is how do you deal with critics who don't understand that nonprofits make money? They nonprofit are not always unprofitable. The nonprofit is simply a status determined by the internal revenue service. That is what you are. You fall into section 501. There are different sections of 501. A3B. So we're C3. If you're a public charity, you have a whole host of nonprofit statuses that you can garner. Nonprofit does not mean no profit. It means that you are either taxed differently or that you are allocating those funds in another manner on an annual basis. So getting that out of the way, you come with the best question because of the fact that this is a conversation that we need to have actually even more of. And what you tell them is simple. As you are stating, you tell them big businesses, they make money. They're not doing anything to help. We're engaging. We're doing this. But you also come with the fact, the fact of what you're doing with the money. I don't think that people have a problem with making money. The making of the money. I believe where it comes is where you hear all the bad things where people have made poor choices. So you want to combat it with the good. Let's talk about your outcome. Let's talk about the percentages of individuals who you're serving in the community. Let's talk about what that impact looks like to a family if you're feeding impoverished individuals or unhoused individuals. What does that look like when you talk, when you combat the accusation of you don't need to make money. That's really bad. No, we do so that we can continue to feed 100,000 heart beats on an annual basis. Or we can do equity, whatever that is for you. You answer people who ask you crazy questions like the live with facts. And if you give them facts, it's very difficult to challenge. That's my take on it. So Delana, how do you deal with it? What do you normally tell them when people will say that to you? We've invited them down. So we help set fire survivors from the fires that happened out west in 2020. And sorry, a lot of them for donations and things were very public because FEMA was brought in and the state was brought in. And so there, they expected that everything should have happened by January. So fire happened in September. These people should have had driveways and they should have had foundations poured back on these homes that burnt. They don't, we just stated the facts. Like you said, okay, cleanup had to happen. Environmental cleanup had to happen. And so that took this long. And then there was this process. We just educated them about the process. And it's funds that were donated specifically for food for these survivors was given to them in food. Funds that were specifically earmarked for wells. We couldn't do wells. We just are starting. It's been almost two years and we're just starting to do wells. So we've tried to educate people, but they, the education has helped some of them in seeing what the timetable is and what it is, but you've got those ones that we've got a couple that have gone to all of our funders and how much did you give them? And so we've done that. And so we started a tour and all this and creating a stir, we call them our social media warriors because they are just ripping us apart on Facebook and anybody that we have helped, their needs, cause some needs are social services. And so we have to turn them over to social services. A lot of the people that lost homes actually. or renting or squatting or like it's just, it's a low economic area, but they're doing what they're doing and we talked to the nonprofit association organization and they were like those people that just keep pulling all these things out and going after funders are bound by certain laws, you're a nonprofit, you don't have to make certain things public and he goes, don't, these people are gonna do what they're gonna do regardless of if you give them information or not, they're on a hunt, which it proved to be because then the next thing that happened in our town with the school board, they've changed their focus and it's sadly, it's only a small handful of people, but those people grew up here and feel entitled to everything and any of the survivors that stepped up and said, listen, this is what they've done for my family, this is what they've done for me, they just shred them, just go after them and they're so vicious. Okay, that's where it's, we did the facts, just wanted to make sure that we were doing what we could do. Would it sound like we did? Yeah, you said something powerful that you educate them, but everything that you just said, I hope everyone else heard you and picked up something from it because if you haven't had this experience, you may have this experience. And so I like the way you handle it, you just move forward and provide transparency and educate them if they don't wanna deal with the education that you provide them, keep moving, but you're gonna have naysayers, you're gonna have people, just imagine these big, large non-profit, some of the things that they go through. So I appreciate you sharing that with us today. And the thing we learned the most is we had people demanding to see every part of our books and you don't have to open all that to them. Yeah, they could just see your 990. Yep, and that's it. It's like here, go to this website. This is for public viewing. It has our public tax return on it, the public portion. You can have all that access. It shows who our funders are. It shows everything. We're not trying to hide anything. We're no, thanks for sharing that. Valerie, I see you're unmuted. Did you have a question or a comment? Sometimes you can't use your mic, so Valerie put a comment in your, I also think that's important to talk about when we advertise our non-profit. We have to do this to get donations. You have to spend money to do this, to get noticed. So true, we are doing ourselves a disservice if we are not advertising correctly to get the donation. We must be open about what we're doing so that people can feel comfortable about giving. This is how we do it. It is being open and giving them knowledge, yeah. And so I'm April Hood at Delana. There's an organization called Housing Our People Everywhere Hope who build homes for the homeless. They are building California. Let me know if you need a connection. Awesome. Denita, you're saying something, but you're muted. No, I'm just saying that was great. If they were passing along the information, that's wonderful. And I also want to circle back on there with Valerie. I agree. We have to do everything that businesses do which is to market. And if you overmarket, it looks like you just have your hand out all the time if there's nothing being accomplished. So the way that you do it is really important. But yes, we do. We have to talk about how we advertise, the manner in which we're communicating our messages, our missions, our vision. We definitely need the dollars in order to do it. And hopefully, but there's over donors our understanding of that. And I just want to circle around that. A lot of times, nonprofits will start with, I got my 501C3 and I just got to go get a grant. I just need a grant. And the reality is when you're looking at expenses, such as this, oftentimes grants don't cover that some do, but a lot double. And so you'll have to get revenue straights from other sources. So we'll definitely have that coverage agent at a later date, but this just pours right into that. So it's always you're doing a good job and earnestly marketing what you do. There's no problem with that. Educate people on what you do. That's a good thing. Excellent. Any other questions or comments? If not, Danita, I'll let you close us out. Listen, I'm gonna have had a dependent state today because I love the conversation. That's all that matters is that we're getting those conversations started. And let's get more clear about where we're going on this journey, on the nonprofit journey. And you could have been here for five minutes, five months, five years, 50 years, doesn't matter. We all have something to contribute. So I hope that you stay connected with me. If you're linked to an email, whatever the case, I would love to just keep the conversation going. And I hope that just as a shameless plug, you continue to log in and tune in for TechSoup's Florida chapters conversations that occur on a monthly basis. Stay on the lookout for those monthly presentations that are coming as well. So thank you so much for having me. I really do hope that you have a blessed day, everyone.