 Good morning. Welcome back. I should say good afternoon. Good evening wherever you are coming to us from around the world Welcome back to another episode of the nonprofit show This is a really special episode because we have on the very the youngest guest we've ever had on I want to welcome Arjun Sharda He is a founder and also the executive director of a new nonprofit called to lean and we're gonna get into it About why he started it and how he started it and what it does But this is gonna be a really great conversation in the green room chatter We were talking to lean weren't we about how hard it is to do this work And I I mentioned to you even a lot of adults tell me it's really hard. So Yeah, it's really cool to have you here and I'm just I can't wait to get dive into this But before we do we want to make sure that we introduce you to our new Panel of co-hosts. We are embarking on in our fifth year and we have a new cohort of Co-hosts that come to us from around the world around the country. I should say and So you're gonna be meeting them over the next several weeks again. I'm Julia Patrick I'm just delighted that you are here with us and I also want to give a moment of a shout out to our Amazing presenting sponsors who join us day in and day out They include Bloomerang American nonprofit Academy nonprofit thought leader staffing boutique your part-time controller 180 management group fund raising Academy at National University JMT consulting and nonprofit tech talk These are the folks that really make a difference in our world and I hope you join them Along with me and thanking them. Okay, my new friend Arjun Sharda Founder and executive director at to lean to lean org Where are you coming to us from today? Miss Patrick. I'm coming from Austin, Texas and I am Arjun shared. It's a it's an honor to be on at your show especially You know if I told myself when I was in first grade or second grade that I would be speaking on podcast at 12 I would be like you're I mean I would be saying I'm lying because I wouldn't believe that like this is the honor to be on such a big Show um and I'm really grateful for the opportunity Well, you know, I'm just delighted that you reached out You wrote me a fabulous email and introduced yourself and told me a little bit about what your work is and I was so excited to meet you and to really learn from you to Be reminded of how hard this work is and why we we have this ability to start nonprofits in this country It's such a unique structure and it's something that is really Not available in other parts of the world and so it's really a special treat for me to have you be here and share with us So let's get into it because I have so many questions for you First of all talk to me about to leave and what it means Sure miss Patrick to leave is a nonprofit. We're registered with the IRS as well We are a nonprofit advancing education in tech leadership Entrepreneurship engineering and mathematics We mainly target K-12 as well as adults We also Do this for the economic empowerment of the world and help individuals no matter if they're adults or in K-12 Develop and sharpen their skills. I think it's especially important in this generation That we help people who have a create who have creativity who have a passion and help them empower them Like help empower them to make businesses and to do stuff at an early age because we are called creative people When we are young we're called creative people by adults people we know But how do we express that creativity now? That's the question that Like that got me into making this nonprofit as well because in elementary and middle school We don't have that many resources to follow a real passion or a real career Like I'm tired of just learning scratch or just learning basic material for four years from elementary school It's the same thing. I'm not criticizing the education system. It's great. It's built for educating kids But at the same time, there's no extra curricular way for people like especially in elementary and middle school To start developing these skills at an early age Like I'm thankful that my parents have supported me to the to the point where I can make this nonprofit But imagine the other kids. There's millions of kids around the States and even in the world and They don't have this opportunity and that's what I wanted to do at Selim and change this perspective Amazing now. Give me some background. You are homeschooled, correct? Yes, ma'am So that allows you to have a little bit more flexibility and stretch your your curriculum Towards what Selim is doing and and allows you that I don't want to use the word freedom But maybe that time and that structure. Does that make sense? Yes, ma'am. So I attend virtual school. So I basically do assignments on a pace by pace level um, the reason I chose this especially uh, when I made my nonprofit and I made my nonprofit like unofficially in september 2023 with my teachers and everything um Like I officially filed it on october 29th 2023 But I actually got bullied a ton for my nonprofit. A lot of people thought it was quote-unquote cringe And things like I got physically and mentally bullied for this um to the point where I had to like I had to just I didn't feel like going to physical like in-person school anymore I just felt like it was too much stress for me. Um to be doing this stuff And so unfortunately, um, I had to move to round rock not because of bullying but because of family reasons And so I started to lean I started growing to lean from there. So we were originally a chapter a club We were originally a school club in my school running brushy middle school Um before like before I moved we started helping people So we started helping them with work in tech and many different fields and so The idea the concepts off to limb it comes from my interests personally Um, it was tech. I was of course. I was interested in tech leadership because I admired world leaders and leadership styles um Entrepreneurship because I want to honestly later on also make a possible startup about AI. I want to become the next AI Steve Jobs and Engineering because I took an engineering class in my school And math because I personally found it's interesting when I was at uh, running brushing middle school And one more reason that salim was also named that is because it's similar to the arabic word salim, which means education Um, yeah Interesting. Okay Yes, ma'am I love I love this Arjun and I I want to get into one of the things that we talk a lot about in the non-profit world Is mission and if you had to boil it down And you had to tell somebody Very quickly you just met them or sometimes we say you're riding an elevator down You know and you only have a few moments to share What it is that you want to do to change the world Do you have a mission statement or do you have a phrase that would help explain what salim does? I would simplify um it in I would simplify it in one sentence a non-profit helping Individuals become change makers with their passion Holy cow fabulous. I love it. I you've got this You know for a lot of non-profits There are 1.8 million non-profits registered in this country That's a hard thing. Most non-profits can't do what you just did. So I would say you're off to the races my friend Talk to us a little bit and we're going to switch gears here You you moved to a chapter structure talk to us about this because I found very interesting I found this very interesting on your website that This is not just for you and in your community. You're helping other kids Come up with a team in their community. Is that right? Yes, ma'am Talk to us about that share with us with how you came up with this Sure. So I originally thought like school clubs. They are That there are a lot of them and they're they're they're very famous, especially in the states There's a lot of clubs chess club Star Wars club. There's many clubs. But what about tech club? What about engineering club? Of course, you might see this in high school, but what about in middle and elementary schools? What about these type of places where there's a lack of these clubs because these clubs can serve as a resource A beacon for people to share their passions with other people work on projects Who knows maybe this to lean chapter can help someone become the next elon musk or tony robbins We want to be the powerhouse for that because it's especially important in In this generation, especially with ai coming up people are becoming lazier And I think that there's a need right now that we need to Help people become change makers who are passionate about what they do So in the chapter structure, we have various different Like chapters around the world. We have seven chapters in four countries at the moments We have We have them in Croatia Pakistan India and the states of course we in the states we have one in Austin and one in somerset, new jersey And we are going fast We even have plans to expand some more chapters Very soon We do this to You know help people We have a chapter in Croatia called the Croatian leadership program It aims to teach people about politics. What's the left wing? What's right wing because these people will be the next voters of Croatia in And if you don't know what Croatia did is it's a country in europe in the Balkans So these type of chapters because we need our We need people students or adults to be educated Because like for example, this chapter in Croatia is helping people become educated when voting This is something really important. It's not just about leadership. It's about many different fields and we need to help people because People aren't often knowing what they like about some topics that they want to know about but they don't have the guide They don't have the path We want to pave that path for them I love this. I think it's fascinating now How many you have you said you have seven chapters? And how quickly did you do that? Because you haven't been a nonprofit very long. Is this been something that's been recent or is this just What you thought from the beginning of your structure? It's been recent ma'am. Um, it's been since October we've grown So after moving to Ranjak um, I started hosting the chapter in like my school virtually with my friends And then afterwards I started posting on these forums that hey, we are to leave We're this nonprofit. We want to do this a lot of people started Finding about this we even got featured in the news Um, we started getting this recognition. A lot of people wanted to make chapters. So chapters consist of uh, one executive director three board members and One secretary. So that's our structure. That's the minimum to make a chapter So it can you need three people in total we follow. We're just like the same as Texas when making the nonprofit we're following the same structure um So you need at least three people in total including yourself to make a chapter And that's how it started. So we're we have grown so fast On fact the chapter in Croatia. It was uh, actually it was founded like Just like two weeks ago. So we're growing fast I love it. I think that's really really exciting. Well, let's switch gears a little bit and and talk to me about What are some of your challenges? You know, um Even as an adult there are very few places Even in the american university system very few places where you can go and get a college education It helps you to understand about the nonprofit sector and how to manage a nonprofit and how to Do the work where where you You know finding challenges and then I want to follow that up with how are you finding solutions? Like where are you getting help because this is a big As we say, this is a heavy lift Yes, ma'am. Um, the first thing is a student and nonprofit balance, um as like i'm a student by day and i am a uh executive director by night like You have to do coursework and you also have to stay up to date with nonprofit trends. You have to Uh work with your board. You have to do many many things Um, a lot of people think it's easy, but it's it's really really hard. Um, especially you have to be in compliance with many regulations many many different things That it it seems easy on the outside, but in the inside it's a tough thing to do. Um You have to you have to be the manager in the start when you're an executive director You're managing all your operations. You slowly start getting volunteers members But at the start you're filled with heavy work recruiting Many different things and balancing this with school um, that's something that I found as a challenge And also procrastination. I mean, I admit I do procrastinate on social media youtube shorts I am a victim of this youtube shorts and everything. I watch them. I watch youtube shorts And it's just about finding a balance that I found is the most important like you're able to do anything It's not it's not just that you're in school. You can't do anything It's just about finding a balance in between that that's the most important thing And finding ways to not procrastinate using motivation You know, I have to tell you, um, we've done more than a thousand episodes of the nonprofit show and truly We have a lot of adults people, you know, even older than me Who will talk about this who will talk about how hard it is to have a work life balance and how hard it is to You know, get all the things done that you have to get done on your personal side your business side, you know It's it is a lot and um, so I give you a lot of credit for even identifying it Because as you get older, I think it's going to get even harder as your is your studies become more intense And then also as you grow, I mean it seems to me it's like a blessing, but it's also a curse that It's not just you in your community, but it has, you know more and more people asking, um I guess for your time, right and and so I gotta go to this next question and that is Where do you see yourself in five years? So in five years, you'll be 17, right? Uh, yes, ma'am. I about 18 almost 18 almost 18 So you'll be looking at college and you'll be looking at that next Phase, right of your education. How how does this look to you? What do you think is going to happen? I I think it's I have I have one way to say it A organization people will remember for example, we remember American cancer society I want people in schools who know about to lean about our programs Um, a lot of people don't know about 1.8 million nonprofits. As you said miss patrick There's a lot of nonprofits, but I want to lean to stand out I want to leave to be something that will be able to help people so much that in schools and stuff It would be known as a big nonprofit like we easily know american Like nonprofit like cancer society as a nonprofit. It's it's really big. It's widespread everybody knows about it But I want to do something similar for to lean in the to lean fields I love it, you know, um as you grow your nonprofit and as more people learn about you Where do you go to get answers? Where do you go to get help because even as supportive as maybe your parents are or siblings? If they don't know the world of nonprofit management Where do you find that that advisor? Or that help when you need it or even if you even if you haven't needed it yet Where will you go? Do you have any ideas about that Arjun? Uh, yes, man. I have two words for that. Um, one is analysis Um for nonprofits look at what nonprofits failed for in my industry. Who are my competitors? And what how they failed at what can I look at theirs? And how do I improve from that? And second is youtube now? I look at podcasts too. I watch a lot and I see a lot of mistakes on a lot of nonprofits make and I learn from them as a young person as a young citizen It's importance to learn from these mistakes because we are the next generation. We are the future of America We're going to be the next ceos leaders, etc And it's important that we be educated enough to when we're making these type of things I love it right now as you and I chat What type of help do you need now to to to keep marching forward with Talim? That's a great question. Honestly, I would say it's about Mainly get convincing people marketing is really really important Getting people to sign up for chapters getting people to get interested in our programs. It's it's a start You know every nonprofit every company faces that the first year You you have to find a way to appeal to your audience How do you how do you make something that people can remember? And it will last in their mind like they will keep thinking about it It's that type of thing because it's really important. It's just you're just like a company in a nonprofit You still have to get customers. You still have to get donors You have to get these people who will be interested in your company who could even be longtime donors And that's the most important thing. That's why most nonprofits Don't succeed That's i'm going to be brutally honest. No, you're absolutely right for-profit or non-profit business If you don't make the sale, you don't succeed. And so you're absolutely right Um, what are you doing right now arjun for fundraising? Like what what's your strategy and Um, how do you see that moving forward? Yes, ma'am. So currently we're starting with applying for grants. Um, one of the things we're trying to do is as well as Sharpen our programs first. I don't think that at the moments We need to first make it more appealing much more easier for people to understand like uh, like um, you need to have like a catchphrase that people will like Grants people like the people who give grants will remember because at the moments I'll be brutally honest to leave isn't ready for this type of stuff. We still need to improve Um, we there is it might seem like it's ready right now But there's a lot of things that need to be improved behind the scenes a lot of marketing a lot of You need to improve the way that you market to people your marketing to customers You're marketing to businesses as well as a nonprofits who will be possibly able to invest in your nonprofit and give you grants And I think that we still need to improve a lots on that right now and make it more clear for people to understand Yeah, I think that's brilliant. I think you're very very smart to make that investment upfront To get that going remember when we we started our conversation. It's that that sense of you only have a quick elevator ride They they call it the elevator pitch and how when you leave the top floor and you get down to the ground for How have you been able to communicate? What it is that your mission is and what you're doing and why somebody needs to invest in you It's it's a challenge But I feel like you're well on your way Arjun to really navigating this and understanding it Frankly, I think you understand it a lot more than many adults that I speak with and so this is really exciting It's going to be fun to watch you And see how it goes You know, they're going to probably be some stumbles They'll probably be some days when it's not so easy But you just got to keep going and keep you know committed to it As you said get off those youtube shorts Make your own youtube shorts for to lean Because that could be a great way for you to be marketing yourself don't you think Yes, ma'am a lot of nonprofits So nonprofits like everyone has challenges is just about the motivation that pushes you through You have to remember what's your purpose in life what you're working for that's the most important thing that keeps me running Yeah, I love it. I think it's really really exciting um I know this seems like a long way away for you, but do you have any desire or do you have your eye on any Collegiate programs or you know parts of the country where you might want to try and get your College education or that university experience. What does that look like for you? Sure. I mean honestly, I'm still contemplating that because for years for a degree, um A lot of depths a lot of um years um I still am contemplating that honestly Um, I'm not even sure because it matters more about the quality of education than the name or brand Which so I'm still yet to decide on that I might as well because of getting a network that might be able to get more grants more and maybe even a startup later But I am not sure at the moment. I would just say because of Current things like what I'm doing right now Well, you know what I think it's um, it's never It this is my philosophy. You don't have to Necessarily have that path laid out, but you need to be exploring right you need to be thinking about it So that you're open to the different things that come through right? I mean and that I think is the biggest Um piece of advice I could give you not that you asked for it, but I'm offering it to you Is that you know being open to these things and being open to what the What the opportunities are right? Just like you are with you know, uh, Talim if you have a chapter That you know reaches out to you from las vegas, nevada And they meet the criteria will they be successful and can you help guide them right? I mean, it's it's being open to that journey that you're well on your way um on Really interesting conversation. I have so enjoyed this and we don't have much time left. Um Are there any questions that you might want to ask of me or our viewers? about Helping you find some solutions right now to where you are I wish just um, I would just ask this question as a motivation source What keeps you running as a nonprofit like as a nonprofit? You have to find that a lot of times we procrastinate a lot of times we just Scroll on youtube shorts for two hours a day. I mean, it's normal. What happens to us all is just about What keeps us running? I think that I just wanted to ask your viewers that as a source to Question them and as a source of motivation Yeah, you know, I think that's a I think it's a brilliant question and I think Um, you know, we use the phrase What is your why? You know, why are you doing this? Why are you living the life that you live? Why are you eating the food reading the books watching youtube? Whatever? Why are you doing these things and sometimes? When you step back and you ask yourself that it's hard And sometimes you you have to it changes to right throughout the course of your life, you know, what is your why? Why are you on this planet to do? Whatever it is and I think a lot of folks in the nonprofit sector They dig deep and they ask themselves Because you know burnout is probably one of the most Pressing issues that we have in our nonprofit sector And it happens for a lot of reasons but Predominantly because this is a tough sector. This is a tough business, right? And so you have to do those things that Protect your, you know, your brain and your emotions and your body And your spirit so that you can keep on that journey because it is not easy But I think you're doing great. I think you're gonna be I don't think you're gonna be one of those people that falls by the wayside because you get burnt out it seems to me like You're gonna have those resources to Persevere and and really achieve this has been a delight. I have loved talking with you Arjun Sharda Founder executive director of teleem teleem.org check out their website teleem. Did you build that website yourself? Yes, ma'am completely with uh react typescript and next year Awesome. Awesome. Well, it's it's uh pretty robust There's some areas where you're still working on it, right? But you go to teleem.org Org t l e e m dot org and you can learn how to start your own chapter in your community You can learn about teleem work what has driven him To start this nonprofit and to join with other students Like himself throughout the country It has been an honor to chat with you. You give me inspiration for my country and for my people Thank you very much. I want to invite you back on And maybe we can do this every spring over the next Like I asked you what you're going to be doing in five years. Let's keep let's keep in contact and see what's going on and And to follow your journey because it's really exciting And i'm just so grateful that you reached out to the nonprofit show So that we could learn from you I'm also super grateful for all of the presenting sponsors that we have day in and day out on the nonprofit show They include bloomering american nonprofit academy nonprofit thought leader staffing boutique your part-time controller 180 management group fundraising academy at national university JMT consulting and nonprofit tech talk Okay, you know Arjun we we end every episode Of the nonprofit show with this saying and I I know you've watched some of our episodes But I think it really Is important for you to hear this too Because the message is to stay well So you can do well, I think you're doing very very well my friend and I can't wait to see what's next from you Thank you so much