 Well welcome. I'm on my soapbox now. I'm so passionate. I was just telling Julia I've been like feeling wonderful lately and so I think it will come across in my passion and delivery and answering today's ask and answered questions. It is fry yay and so we do have our ask and answer episode every single week on this day. Thank you to our presenting sponsors. You see them in front of you. They are here and they have helped you endure all that we have had to navigate over the last 18 months. And so thank you to our presenting sponsors. We cannot continue to elevate this conversation around our nation to be of service to our community. So thank you so much and thank you to Julia for creating this opportunity. Julia C Patrick is the CEO of the American Nonprofit Academy. And I am just so grateful that you had this grandiose idea talking about not thinking big Missy. You were thinking big. Well you know what I'm not that fabulous because in all reality I was thinking two weeks and I we say this a lot in this show but I really was like wow. Jared Ransom she's such a sharp gal. Let's get her on two weeks. We can chat two weeks and then you know we tell the story all the time. Two weeks turned into four weeks turned six weeks. I mean here we are more than a year later. So if I could not do this without Jared Ransom the nonprofit nerd CEO of Raven Group one of the best minds in our nation about all things nonprofit and that we have her here on the nonprofit show is amazing. Thank you. It's so much fun. You know and again I've said this before the first two weeks it was a little bit of a labor of love. I was feeling the the outside forces of what is going on how do I show up what do I do. But now is a true like I don't know so much gratitude for the show because I start every single day doing an environmental scan in our sector. Yeah right. It's remarkable and boy if you were able to join us on the chitty chat chat one of the things and I would challenge all of our viewers to start looking around. I mean we're noticing a cadence an attitude shift a mindset shift a little bit of aggression almost like excited aggression like I'm embracing this recovery I'm you know embracing change the fear has like kind of started to diminish the excitement going up. It's fascinating to see fascinating fascinating to see. I was just laughing because in the corner you could see me pouring my water so maybe it's Jared's gin. No it's my big water bottle so Lord you see yeah and people are drinking more water so as my mother says that's always good. Okay you ready sister. Yes you're like hello haven't you been listening. Paula from Kansas City Missouri what is the proper verbiage to use in a grant application when a nonprofit is starting up as it concerns finances they have a minimal budget and do not have an audit in fact they can't afford an audit. That's interesting well and I would say Paula you don't need an audit at this time right depending on your financial size that's really not something that you want to do as a startup nonprofit or really in your early years unless you do have the big bucks right like six figures looking into to growth so I think when it comes to the proper verbiage I like to use the word pilot so if you yeah if you have results of a program that you've been doing even before you were a registered 501c3 or tax exempt organization you could still use the verbiage of you know we have launched and seen the success of this pilot program using the initial investment of X amount of dollars and so it shows that one this is a tried and true program you have tested it right in a small sector sector segment and then from that you are forecasting the viability and the scalability improving the resources financial resources that you will need so back to the audit if the organization or the funder rather is is requiring an audit and you don't have that I would call them right you want to have a conversation with them ask them if you could provide something else like a reviewed financial document or something that has a little bit more cashier or weight than your general you know kind of operating budget but I would use this Paula as an opportunity to reach out to the funder have a conversation and see if you might be able to apply given your current finances and maybe other documents that you could submit in lieu of an audit right and I would say that two things to your point Jared maybe the reason why it's so important is to call that funder is that this organization at the point with which they are on the life cycle flow if you want to call that they may not be a candidate because of these things for grant with this organization so better to find that out now this is another reason when when I see this I'm thinking about you know fiscal sponsorship you know as you're getting going that might have helped this organization absolutely to get some of those to get some of that girth underneath their you know their their foundation so we had an episode on um fiscal sponsorship Andrew Shulman is his name so he was a guest on the show and I want to say there's more resources on the American nonprofit academy website yeah yeah there's yeah I think we have quite a bit I mean fiscal sponsorship is one of those untapped gems and it it looks to me like for something that's a startup and I love that you use the word pilot because that's a sexy word everybody loves you know a pilot startup I mean you know that that comes from the tech world and that right now is really positive so yeah interesting okay oh you know how I love name with health yes you do I do this is like the best okay name with health Salt Lake City Utah we are looking to hire a lobbyist on behalf of our organization the truth is we have two separate camps on this issue can you give us some perspective politics and the nonprofit sector don't don't I want you to go because I don't know that I have an answer name with health this is a big issue so you gotta be really I would love to know what the two camps are saying I'm more than just yay or nay this can imperil your 501c3 status because if you lobby or if you are engaged in political activity which I've every right to yeah you just need to have a little bit different of status and how you file and who you file with is critical and it is oftentimes different on a state obviously than a federal level and so this is why it's a big big deal and you will have to declare and be very cautious on how you declare what type of lobbyist situations you're involved in this is why a lot of umbrella groups will have you know an organization like the association of food banks or the association of domestic violence shelters or things of that nature within their states within their regions that then file all that paperwork and have an umbrella lobbyist very rarely have I seen specific nonprofit organizations need a lobbyist I have seen more sectors need a lobbyist right so the difference is ABC you know shelter versus all the shelters in three states or one state or a county big investment big risk can be big reward if you want to go down that rabbit hole and understand what that looks like if your organization is is vastly involved in government contracts probably need to look at this if you do not take federal funds and you don't look at any type of municipal to federal contracting it might not be a value I don't know what do you think ditto I really I'm not versed in no I'm not versed in it so this is when I say you know that's a great question let me see what I can find out so good job Julia this is a big deal I mean this is like you know yeah this is the life that I worked with quite a bit and it's fascinating and the laws are changing and it is expensive work it's expensive work I mean it doesn't just happen you know we had a guest on very early in the in the show just thinking that and I can't recall his name so I can't recall that either and I would say Pam Gaber was another one person that echoed that and it was like come up with how to do a day a visit to your state house your state legislature and what you can do and and those organizations that have gone before their legislators and just done a visit it has been riveting to hear from them and the fear with which you know just enveloped them to go into their capital house and make these appointments and how to do it versus oh my gosh that was fun that was great we shared ideas and the goodwill that it built I think that's a good probably a better place to start and maybe you hire a lobbyist for a short period of time to get that information but you go from there okay Sharon from Boise Idaho you ready yeah should our nonprofit communicate via our communication plan gotta love that how we are doing on our strategic plan for example should we release the strategic plan and then send press releases and post to our media page the scorecard wow okay Sharon talk about disruption yeah no that is interesting so a couple of things I've worked with several organizations that actually share their strategic plan publicly not only when it's asked but they might actually put it up on their website so that's something that again you know they've made it accessible for others to see I just did a workshop I have a question first of all do you what do you think about that I mean do you like that I mean do you advise your clients to do that I don't advise them to do it or not do it but I've seen it done and I like it right so as a sleuth and Tony bell with fundraising academy you know he's shared with us how you can prospect research how you can really see you know some public information and documents that are out there I do like to pull up you know organizations to nine nineties go to their website see what they have on the website if they have the strategic plan great you better believe it that I'm going to open it and see what they're working towards right what are their priorities and so I don't I don't say yay or nay you know but I have seen it in particular with my government clients right because this is something that they really do want to have open to their audience community and and that is something that you know they then want it to be very pretty very you know aesthetically pleasing with some some iconography and images of the community and things like that so that is pretty cool I haven't really seen press releases related to this so I'm curious if the the publishing mind over there on the other side of this camera what you have seen in that I've never seen anyone do that other than this is why I think you need to have that internal media page so if you're if you feel compelled to talk about this and that's great I love what you just said if you are an organization that's engaged in government contracting then yeah it makes sense this is like the perfect post yeah to say this is what we did you know this was who was on the committee we're excited we're you know moving forward you don't have to be specific necessarily but I also kind of like the idea that it could be used in fundraising to say look this is where we want to go and this is where what we need to get there versus just you're buying a building this week it's like no we've been working at buying a building you know what I'm saying so it definitely helps you celebrate and share your story and your accomplishments with your community but it also in in that you know kind of statement that you just shared Julia it also helps the community celebrate the solution to the problem right so if you did buy a building or if you did expand a program or if you did you know accomplish something within your strategic plan there's an opportunity to share that and that's where I think the press release comes in right is that um for instance I'm writing a press release now for one of my clients stating that you know eight students have been identified and forty thousand dollars will be award awarded um those are the kind of accomplishments you know that you want to share but you want to name the eight students and you want to name you know really that impact so um I think the name was Sharon and so if that's something that speaks to you by way of how might you incorporate your accomplishments of your strategic plan into your communications um look at it that way yeah I agree and never you know never look at this without what the multiple uses are so you know have that media page on your site post it to LinkedIn post it to you know link back through your twitter feed make sure that you are pulling this through on your on various social media outlets because otherwise you're doing a one-shot deal that's where I've learned so much from you Julia and you use it really in the kitchen as an analogy it's like don't make hamburgers on Monday without expecting meatloaf on Thursday yeah it's true well we do meatless Mondays in our household but the reality is I've always cooked the meat on Sunday oh interesting I know so it's kind of like a fake meatless Monday but yeah you got to be looking at this like you would running your household or your business how do you do something once but pull it across absolutely we don't have enough help we have to do all this ourselves so yeah we need we need to make things multifaceted okay let's get to Marianne from Bismarck North Dakota that just sounds cold I don't think it's always gold yeah but it sounds cold okay our board has really been successful in moving all meetings to zoom yay team in fact it seems that everyone is super happy about it however we have one board member who only wants to phone in he's not very engaged and I don't know how to remedy this Marianne so I'm curious why that's a problem the phone in right so I'm focused on he's not very engaged so that therein lies the bigger problem that's the issue to me I read this and I don't see the phone in is the issue the lack of engagement is the issue so I would recommend that you ask your board chair to have a one-on-one perhaps phone conversation that's how this person is most most comfortable with the individual to to ask one are they okay right you you the board chair has noticed the lack of engagement so first and foremost return on relationship are you okay is there anything we can do to help we've noticed you haven't been as engaged and just wanted to to have a conversation with you about that I agree first and foremost what you just said is very very important this is the responsibility of the board chair and not the CEO not head of HR or the development officer if those individuals are seeing a problem then they have to go to the board chair and that is what the board chair does so when you have a board chair who doesn't like confrontation or can't carry through on this type of stewardship that becomes another problem I don't see that as confrontation this is what you don't wax right that is direct communication right and so I think in our society so many people are not comfortable with direct communication and is perceived as confrontation so I just wanted to throw that out there no I agree with you sister but the reality is that for a lot of people that's going to be a tough call and and this is one of those things that these board chairs need to understand you know that this yeah these are the things that they do that's their role that's their role and if they're not comfortable serving in that role then perhaps they share they may not consider may not want to consider being the board chair exactly because everything from you know sorry Sally but you're talking too much during the meetings or you know Robert why are you always showing up late I mean it's those things it's the administrative aspect of running a meeting so you had a board liaison what role do they play you know board liaison so that's a great question and thank you for asking that because you know that's like one of my big passions the board liaison should be the one that has to pick up the pieces in terms of instructing or directing or like you know board chair I've been hearing about this a lot I recommend that this happens can you call me or email me when this has been taken care of and then they report back out and they're tracking it but for the board liaison to actually make the call and get engaged in that way no it is the board chair now the board liaison can be that person that says yeah we've had seven meetings in the last eight months and they haven't shown up you know they've only come in by phone whatever they can help document what those pieces are and that is what they should be doing but to actually engage in that and correct that situation no board chair the other thing and this might be quite basic but I think sometimes we do need to go back to basics I was on a board meeting and I are board zoom meeting and I noticed that half of the individuals were showing video half were not right and so I asked the board chair what is their preference and have they communicated that to the board and so the next email that went out in preparation for the board meeting with the agenda in the entire packet said for this meeting we asked that everyone has their video on and for me I prefer video on as opposed to phone because you can see when someone is about to talk and that helps the the talk over one another right like a real and in zoom you get this beautiful green box around you so for that reason alone but again what I'm seeing in this question that we received Julia is not so much the challenge in the phone it's the challenge of the lack of engagement I agree I agree and I think that you know you're we're all wrong in the same direction or at least we're trying to and this is one of those aspects of leadership you've got to be able to face the reality of the situation find out if it's something that it can be corrected or modified or then you have to move on I mean that so speaking of moving on I'm not ready yet I think that I don't want to move on with this yet I also difficult conversations should be done voice to voice so if not face to face voice to voice right so I just wanted to reiterate like this isn't an email opportunity this is a voice to voice opportunity and I'm putting up an old phone I know they look differently these days but yes here's my phone um so I really think it's voice to voice so don't try to bow out and not have a difficult conversation um or have a difficult conversation I think it's what I meant to say via email that's not the platform right thank you for for adding that I absolutely agree okay let's get to David and Topeka Kansas we have a modest give or get policy for our board members we went to open ourselves to more board members with an eye towards diversity have you heard of excluding board members who can't afford this any suggestions thank you David this came up in my conversation last night I presented to a young professionals group and it was all about board service right how do you join a board what you ask and the give or get first of all was new for some individuals and this one young woman she said I'm first generation you know here in my family immigrants um you know first graduate first to really do any kind of community involvement or civic engagement and I didn't know that I had to pay to play essentially and I said that is fascinating and I appreciate you bringing this up because this also David I believe brings up a greater issue of what is their um Jedi you know concern justice equity justice I think I said that's wrong justice equity diversity inclusion so I like to say Jedi um others you'll hear DEI but really when you look to diversify your board you also want to look at diversifying it in a socio-economic way so a way that you might consider this David is your give or get policy instead of identifying a dollar amount you could say something like we are your top we are your top significant gift of your charitable contributions right so like if an individual doesn't give regularly and I was one of those and sometimes and one of those when you look at the board make up but if I am giving you a very significant gift for where I am in my you know life and everything else going on it may not be the same and I'm just going to point on you Julia that of what Julia's capacity is to give give but it does not make it insignificant um depending on the the dollar amount so that's a way that you might want to consider your language when it comes to that give or get okay so I don't I don't I don't ascribe to that I think that it should be very specific but I'm a lot meaner than you also I think that you need to come up with a scholarship program okay and you need to say look we have one scholarship a year we have two scholarships a year and you can fund that through other board members I've been on boards we're actually other board members scholarship in the give or get for other members you know and or it comes out of the board dues because it is something that the board is saying yeah we want to make sure we get this this DEI thing discussed I like how you phrase Jedi I think that's even more brilliant but what it does when you scholarship somebody in is that I think it puts the onus on the other board members to realize that this give or get is somewhat of a sacred part but it's also needs to be managed and we have to educate and structure our boards to know how this works and it also I think for me Jarrett it dovetails into the fact that board members need to be involved in fundraising yes and have to be they have to be involved and just as I shared last night one of the reasons that we want to hunt we nonprofits want 100% financial participation from our board is because many funding opportunities proposals ask that they will point blank ask what percentage of your board also makes a charitable contribution so we want to be able to say 100% exactly exactly and also I think to your point you know you could scholarship 75% of a give or get or 50% or 100% you know you can make it to a level right so that you have some financial piece of this I think this is also a great discussion for having a young board piece so you know really important and thank you David for sharing that hard to believe but our time is up my friend he's really up and I know that we've got a couple of things to share before we wrap up the episode but wow it's been an amazing week thank you so much Julia always agree I think we provide valuable you know experience and insight to these topics and I always come from a place of like you have options right here are your options and I think we do help to provide that so it's always a pleasure to be here thank you well thank you you know it would be a boring world if we all agreed yeah I think so hey you've got four ways to get your questions to us send them on in it's always a lot of fun we want to hear what you're thinking and we will do our darnedest to get the answer if we don't know we know people who do know and so we will track that down we want to thank our presenting sponsors without you you would not we would not be here taking on all these questions thank you to the viewer that just wrote in another great show thank you thank you that's awesome and I have to say I don't think it was a family member in my love language is words of affirmation so you really filled out my cup on a Friday it's very nice I really that's a great way to end the week hey we want to let everybody know that we are going to be launching a new show a second show called funding fundraising events tv we'll be talking about that throughout the month so stay tuned on that another fabulous week next week going to be even bigger and better um so Jared rest up because we have a busy week ahead of us hey julia happy mother's day oh my god thank you that's this weekend so happy mother's day to all of you that are watching um are watching this you know recorded and uh happy mother's day to my mom because I see you she's watching I think that's great well happy mother's day to my mom as well and to all your mothers I mean I think a lot of us are mothers of the nonprofit sector and so it's an incredible thing that you do to serve our communities in our society so we thank you and we want to end you end today with this mantra that we use all the time stay well so you can do well thank you so much jared have a restful weekend we'll see you all back here on monday