May 29, 2023 • 39 mins
For this first episode, Jen chats with Doug Hodges, Executive Director of SwingPals in Durham, North Carolina. Learn how he went from $85K to $500K with pure passion for his mission. Doug recalls the pre-COVID introduction with Jen at a Charity Chat in 2020 and how the fundraising fundamentals from that meeting helped to an emboldened relationship with the school system in Durham where he is now leading SwingPals into a groundbreaking $500K capital campaign while featuring cameos from his dog.
(Originally aired 5June23)
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Episode Transcript
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S1 (00:05):
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those
of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect
the views and opinions of Olas Media or its sponsors.
S2 (00:15):
Welcome to From the Nest with Charity Jen. I'm your host,
Jen Newmeyer. On this podcast, we have casual conversations with
folks in the nonprofit field. So listeners get an inside
look on topics like successful fundraising and networking. For this
first episode, we'll chat with Doug Hodges, the executive director
of Swing Pals in Durham, North Carolina. Doug and I
(00:37):
met back in 2020, just before the pandemic. It was
my very first charity chat meetup group where I had
one person show and that person was Doug. So it
gave us the opportunity, just the two of us, to
really dive into his mission and for me to learn
more about his fundraising efforts. And when Covid hit and
there was an emergency need in the community, he was
(00:58):
able to raise more than $70,000. And now three years later,
he's launching a $500,000 capital campaign. So you'll hear more
about that, as well as a brief introduction to Doug's
dog in this episode. So stay with us, this is
From The Nest with Charity Jen.
S3 (01:23):
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S2 (02:00):
Hello, Doug. It is so good to see you. Thank
you for joining us on the podcast.
S4 (02:07):
Jen I've been looking forward to this and yeah, let's go.
Looking forward to this very much.
S2 (02:13):
Well, let's start. I know that our listeners would love
to hear a little bit about you and your background,
so why don't you tell us a little bit about
Doug Hodges and about what you do.
S4 (02:23):
Wow. Okay, So I am Executive Director of Swing Pals
and prior to that I was actually working in New
York City and I became a big brother through Big Brothers,
Big Sisters in my mid 30s, and that drastically changed
(02:44):
the trajectory of my life. And I very quickly decided
after mentoring a young boy, I actually mentored him from
age nine through 17. But after a couple of years
I decided that I needed to change direction. My career
was not aligned with my core values, and so I
quit work when I turned 40, and my mission was
(03:05):
to become a member of the PGA of America and
use the game of golf to help children who are
underserved and face adversity, to help them become, you know,
happy and more joyful in their lives. And fast forward,
I became a big brother a second time in 2003.
And when that match ended in 2010, I decided it
(03:28):
was time to start swing pals. So rather than just
mentoring one child, I could create a program that would
mentor many children. And that's that was the genesis of
Swing Paths. So here I am now.
S2 (03:42):
When we met, it was my I had just launched
a new networking group called Charity Chats, and it was
right before the pandemic and I put out on Meetup
that Charity Chats was launching and we had a couple
of people registered. And I thought to myself, you know,
even if just one person shows up, I will consider
(04:04):
it a success. And you are that one person. And
I remember when we sat down and we talked and
I was so impressed with the work that you were
doing in the community. And then we started to talk
about fundraising.
S4 (04:19):
Well, you certainly, as a small nonprofit, we do not
have a professional, a development person. And so as executive director,
I drive the buses, I vacuum, clean the carpets. And
at that time I was doing most everything. And fundraising
is a challenging space. And that conversation certainly opened up
(04:43):
a lot of opportunity for me as you gave some
terrific guidance and some terrific ideas. So I look forward
to sharing a little bit more about that.
S2 (04:50):
Yeah. Well, I think that I remember after that meeting,
I think I even wrote a blog post about this
executive director that I met that works 70 hours a week.
But I remember I clearly remember you saying I love
every minute of it and I wouldn't have it any differently.
And it was so inspiring to me.
S4 (05:13):
I get I get a little bit I have affect.
When you say that, Jen, I get a little teary
when you say that because the same. The same is true.
Today as it was three years ago when we met,
as it was in 2010 when I started Swing Pals.
You know, I think I think I shared with you,
this is my volunteer work. I, I decided, you know,
(05:35):
when I was a big brother, that my life needed
to be about service and giving back to the community.
And so I am fortunate, blessed every day to be
able to go into work and do do what I
do with such an amazing team. And it's deeply moving work.
It's incredibly challenging work. Sometimes it's it's really it's really
(06:00):
painful to see some of the to see a lot
of the pain that the kids are going through that
we serve. And at the same time, there's tremendous joy because,
you know, you're making a difference and you see the
impact you're having. So that is that is true even
more today. In fact, every day, every single day that
that feeling gets deeper and stronger. There is there is
(06:23):
nothing I would rather be doing short of being with
my family. There's nothing I would rather be doing than
going to work in the morning to help swing powers
become bigger and stronger, to serve more kids. And I couldn't.
I could not be happier. It's pure, absolute joy.
S2 (06:42):
Yeah. Now, what I loved understanding a little bit about
how you are working within the community. You actually are
part of athletic programs at different middle schools. Like that
is how everything got rolling. Is that is that right?
S4 (06:59):
Sort of, yeah. Let me, let me yeah, sort of. So,
so what happened is in 2010, I actually started Swing
Pals in southeast Raleigh initially the model as a golf professional,
the model was to take boys and girls off the
waitlist of Big Brothers, Big Sisters. Obviously, after 15 years
(07:19):
of serving as a big brother, I was very familiar
with the organization. I also served on the board of
Big Brothers, Big Sisters. So when I started Swing Power,
the model was to take boys and girls off the
waitlist of Big Brothers, Big Sisters and match them with
volunteer coaches that I would train and together and together
we would play golf. Terrific model. The only challenge was.
(07:45):
I insist on directing our resources to those children who
are most underserved and marginalized. I will not hang a
sign and just encourage everybody and anybody to come. I
could easily run a junior program which is serving a community. However,
we must target our resources to where the need is
greatest period, full stop. And so the the model wasn't
(08:09):
working because the kids I wanted to serve, once they
went home on the school bus, they couldn't come back
to the facility where I was coaching. And so very
quickly in 2011, I realized that I'd have to take
it into schools in order to get to where the
need is greatest. And so I looked at South Australia
and I looked at Durham, the public schools, and I
(08:31):
had a connection at Neal Middle School in Durham. And
quick research showed me that, that they were close to 100%
free or reduced price lunch. And so I didn't have
the connections in South Australia. So we brought it into
into Neal, into Durham and serve Neal as the first
middle school. I quickly realized that Lowes, Grove, Shepherd and
(08:52):
Brogden were the next three schools with the highest rates
of free or reduced price lunch. And so there was
the model. We would start at Neal Middle School. We
would add Low Grove. In 2014, we would add Shepherd
in 16 and Brogden in 18 when we went into.
So it was a voluntary program. I would go into
the pigeon, into school during sixth grade and health and
(09:15):
the coaches would say, Who wants to do golf with
Coach Hodges? Go into the back gym and I would
take 6 to 8 boys and girls into the back
gym and I would coach golf. And so Neal and
Lois Grove, it was a voluntary program. In 2016, the
principal at Shepherd called me and said, When can you
come to my school? We would like to add we
would like to add Shepherd as your third school. And
(09:38):
so I met with the principal at Shepherd, and we
walked into the gymnasium and I said, Very nice, where
is the auxiliary gym? And he said, We don't have one.
And I said, Well, where do you want me to
do Swing Pals? He said, Well, can you do it outside?
I said, We can, but not when it's cold. He said, Well,
how about the cafeteria? So we'll go to the cafeteria.
And I said, I don't think that's going to work.
(09:59):
And then he said, Then he said, Well, let's go.
Let's go check out the the the theater. There's a
big stage in the theater. So I said, no, that's
not going to work. I'm sorry, I can't do Swing Pass.
And he said, Coach Hodges, you are doing Swing Pals
in my school. You will deliver Swing Pals in the
big gymnasium and my entire sixth grade will go through
(10:19):
your program. And so so it went from voluntary in
2012 and 14 to a mandatory program at Shepherd in
16 second semester 2016. The other two schools followed suit
and the rest is history. Now, every student, when they
end to one of my school, one of the schools
I serve in sixth grade, goes through the Swing Pass program.
(10:41):
And so it's not really part of athletics. It's really
part of P.E. and health. And in 2018, we added
Githens and in 2021, we added Rogers. So we currently
serve five Durham Public Middle Schools and 1,006th graders every year,
go through the 5 to 10 swing power sessions during
(11:03):
health and P.E. And so it's really exciting. Yeah. And
I could share I mean, I could share so much
about the the programming for your listeners. Jen I'm I
know they can't see me, but I look like a
golf professional. I probably sound like a golf professional. I
am a member of the PGA, but our program really
(11:26):
isn't about golf. What it is, is when those kids,
every single one of those thousand kids, when they come
through in groups of 20, they quickly understand that there's
coaches that care about them. And in the gymnasium, if
you can picture 2011 and 12 year olds in a
gymnasium with golf clubs, and when I say golf clubs,
(11:49):
these are plastic golf clubs that you and I can
swing any of your listeners that are golf golfers that
when I say plastic, they're not toys. They're heavy duty
plastic golf clubs. And we hit tennis balls at targets.
But if you can imagine 2011 or 12 year old kids,
boys and girls in a gymnasium with these sticks and
tennis balls, the it sounds like chaos, but it is
(12:12):
not it is not chaos because there are circles, 20
circles on the floor, which is called their play box.
It's their safe space. And in that space is where
the paradigm shift takes place. And when I say the
paradigm shift. Swing powers is a paradigm shift. It shifts.
(12:35):
The way people look at coaching kids and empowers kids
to be able to build a safe space around them mentally,
physically and emotionally such that they are able to make
good choices and decisions when life's adversity comes at them.
And it really is just amazing to see these young
(12:55):
people in the program really come into their own their
own building confidence and self efficacy. So it's absolutely terrific
to see.
S2 (13:07):
Yeah. Yeah. So now you obviously have had to build
a lot of community support in order to be in
all of these schools. And I think we had talked
a little bit about sort of not just the like
the monetary support from the community, but volunteers. You know,
you've rallied interns. I think we had talked about that
(13:30):
support that you get. Tell us a little bit about
how that all comes together.
S4 (13:38):
Well, as I mentioned, what we do is very different.
And so people come to us. The community is starting
to realize that swing. When initially when I started in 2010, 2011, 12,
even through 2015 and 16, people looked at Swing Pals
as a golf organization. What happens now when I have
(14:01):
a conversation with somebody or any of my staff, I
now have four, four full time staff on my team
and I have a part time and I have a
part time driver too. So I have five staff or
full time, one part time. Every single one of my staff.
And every stakeholder in Swing Pals has to understand the
(14:22):
mission and the vision and and needs to understand that
the kids we serve are not broken. They don't need fixing.
Our job is to provide them a space in which
they can develop those social emotional skills, mindfulness skills, leadership
skills that they can develop themselves to live happy, joyful lives.
(14:47):
And when I share that with someone, Jen. The light
bulb kind of goes off because most adults want that
space for themselves.
S2 (14:57):
True.
S4 (14:57):
Yes, most most adults, when I'm talking with my team,
is talking to people about swing powers. I think the
conversation often that's going off for them is, my gosh.
I wish I could do that. Because inevitably adults. The
(15:18):
philosophy is that, you know, as as we grow older,
we tend to take less risk because we try to
control what's happening around us. The real joy in life
and the real success happens when we let go of control.
When we get let go of expectations, when we let
go of fear of outcome. And these are the conversations
(15:40):
that I and my team have in the community. And
so what happens is people come forth because they want
to serve. They want to do good. But they also
understand in the process that it's going to help them
get to their potential, too. And when you share when
we share what we do with golfers and sometimes golfers
(16:00):
are not our best volunteer coaches because they have preconceived
ideas about how to play the game. But oftentimes when
golfers hear what we do and how we do it,
they cannot wait to want to become involved. Now, here's
a problem, because oftentimes those I love all my volunteer
(16:20):
coaches and I love everybody that wants to volunteer their time,
but it takes a very special coach to coach Swing Pals.
It's not easy to do. It is really hard to
be a swing coach. It's hard because oftentimes we see
kids that are really struggling and at the same time
(16:42):
it's very hard because when we coach students, the coaches
have to step back and not try to fix. Now,
when you tell an adult that they're not allowed to
step in and try to fix something, they don't like,
that that's not comfortable. It makes them uncomfortable. And so
the process of becoming a volunteer coach, there's three steps.
(17:05):
There's three orientation, there's an orientation and then two in-person meetings. Oftentimes,
coaches kind of, okay, that's not for me. Yeah. But
those that come through the process are absolutely amazing. To
be able to step back and allow the child the
space to grow, allow the child the space to fail
(17:26):
and make a mistake and not try to fix it.
And so I think I think being consistent, the mission
and the vision and also we have a I don't
know whether you remember this, I probably shared this with
you during our our first meeting at Charity Gen's meetup.
We have eight guiding principles in Swing Pals that underpin
(17:50):
the mission and vision. And everybody has to understand the
eight guiding principles. And number four is vulnerability leads to
learning or growth. And learning comes through vulnerability to celebrate mistakes,
not fix them. To balance acceptance and change the guiding
principles immediately sent to the volunteer coaches in the space
(18:15):
that they need to be. And it's not very comfortable.
But I embrace them, love them, care about them. And
it's just it's a terrific synergy seeing the real the relationship,
a relationship between child and coach. And I often I
just say this, Jen. I walk up to a coach
with four kids and I say, How are they doing, Coach?
(18:38):
And the coach will look at me and start saying
something and I say, I look at the kids. I say, Coach, coaches,
how's he doing? Because we we learn from the kids.
We learn from the students. So so that's a little
bit of a long answer to your question. But recruiting
coaches is a lot of people come to us and
it's a very special process.
S2 (19:00):
Yeah. Well, I love I think this is a good
sort of pivot because I love what you're what you're
saying about taking risk and, you know, the vulnerability, you know,
that that and the experience that comes from that. Because
I think that there is a direct correlation, particularly in
(19:23):
the experience that I have had in fundraising with nonprofits
that are risk averse, don't want, that are afraid to
make changes. And I recall from our meeting that you
were very open and receptive and excited about launching in
(19:46):
to some very what other executive directors. You may be
surprised by this, but it's true. What other executive directors
would actually be very fearful to do to take risk
with launching a large campaign, getting a lot of support
for it, and really sort of diving in to the
(20:08):
community and asking for support. So I almost think that
the just sort of the the whole basis of your organization,
your approach to working with the kids always also carries
over to the way that, you know, I've heard once
before the the way you do one thing is the
way you do everything. And I almost feel like there
(20:31):
is a correlation there for some of that that fundraising
work that you have.
S4 (20:38):
The the I am an amateur fundraiser. I am an
executive director. I, I always used to I served on
the board of Big Brothers, Big Sisters, and I never
enjoyed asking people for money. Now, I absolutely love asking
people for money. And I and I think it obviously
(20:59):
relates to the passion and understanding of the mission and
the vision. That I know where every penny goes. I
know we're very efficient with our money. With our dollars.
And so I absolutely love what I do. I'm still
I'm still an amateur fundraiser. I've never had any training
other than what you gave me. And that is absolute truth.
(21:22):
You are the only coach I've ever had fundraising. When
we sat down three years ago, I think the budget,
I mean, relatively small organization, but I really don't remember.
But you talked about how it's really important to set
a goal and have a timeline on that. You know,
(21:42):
raising X amount by a certain date and hadn't really
thought about that before. However, when Covid came, when door
and public schools closed, I the first thing I did
was go out and spend a thousand bucks of my
money to buy groceries for families that I knew had
no food in the house. But then the next week
(22:05):
I set, I set a goal of raising $25,000 to
feed to feed families over the next ten weeks. And
very quickly, we attained we attained that goal and we
ended up raising $85,000, feeding 277 73 families and 277
public school children for a period of six months where
(22:28):
every day we deliver, every day we delivered food to
families in need. Those first two months, there wasn't a
soul on the road, and I was driving the swing
powered bus delivering food. But that conversation we had was
probably a month before schools closed. And your voice was
resonating in my mind, in my head. And I said
(22:50):
that specific goal of raising $25,000, I reached out to
the community and lo and behold, they responded Clearly, there
was a crisis, and clearly people knew that we had
to we have to do something. So I think that
I think that's really important. I think the other thing
that I have learned, I work really hard at what
(23:13):
I do. I work really, really, really hard to raise
the money we need to serve the kids because I
see the need and I communicate individually with every donor.
I very rarely use Salesforce or constant contact or a
(23:37):
mass email. It's about building relationships. I cannot tell you
the the depth of those connections I have with all
of our donors. Now, that's down to about the $250
mark beneath 250. I can't reach out to everybody individually,
but I think the real the real key is to
(23:57):
passionately share the work that you do and the impact
that you're having. And when you are committed and share
the work that you're doing and the impact you're having.
I think people are very willing to very willing to
support that. And I am deeply moved by every single
one of my donors. So I'm not sure I answered
(24:19):
your question directly, but I think it speaks to the
vulnerability side. We, I and my team do work that
is incredibly powerful in helping these kids build this space.
And the community is understanding the model, what we do,
(24:40):
how we do it and responding. So I am overjoyed
by the success.
S2 (24:47):
Yes. Well, I, I am on your email list and
every time I get one of your impact reports, I
just love seeing it. So you do do a really
good job of sending those out. And I know, you know,
I'm sure you feel like you can do it more often,
but even those sort of touch points of sharing with
your email list, you know, even on a yearly basis
(25:11):
or twice a year or however often you do it,
it's very special. It really means a lot.
S4 (25:17):
Well, thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed that impact report.
It's it is the highlight, one of the highlights of
the year for me. I actually produced that in-house. It's
I actually do that pretty much from start to finish.
And so I, I always am surprised when I come
out with a finished product like, wow, did I do that?
(25:39):
But I absolutely love conveying to you. The benefit of
your support, that that means so much to me. And
in September, October, time to start reviewing what we have
done the previous year and to share the stories and
the and the and the quotes and the kids and
the pictures of the kids and to convey the methodology
(26:01):
and the philosophy in that in that impact report. That's
one of that's one of the highlights of of of
my year. So I appreciate I appreciate you sharing that.
S2 (26:13):
Now you have also haven't you had some of your
students come back and sort of help out with because
there are other things that you do in the community
as well, is that like you take kids out for
other kinds of engagement within the community?
S4 (26:29):
We will do college visits once a year. We'll have
we'll have community outings, whether it be Frisbee golf or
college visits. We we haven't had graduates come back to
be coaches. You know, we lost a lot of the
high schoolers during Covid. But we're we're starting to see
(26:52):
more of the more of the graduates with swing powers
once they're in college and they're coming out of college,
starting to show an interest. So I think that's going
to be a real critical piece when the kids start
to come back who have gone through the six years.
Because I don't know whether you remember this, but when
students come into the program in sixth grade, you know,
we'll work with about 15% of the thousand kids. About
(27:14):
150 kids will go through the sixth grade program. But
when a child enters the seventh grade program, they can
stay for six years. So we actually have kids who
stay in the program for six years. So when they graduate,
you know, to have them come back and then be
coaches for the for the younger, younger folks, I think
that would be really powerful.
S2 (27:34):
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, gosh, that will be amazing. I, I
look forward to seeing that in your Impact report. Your
Future your Future impact reports. Okay. So I know that
we're running. Just do we have a few more minutes?
I really wanted to also touch base with you on
your ABC 11 feature. That's the local news in Durham,
(28:01):
and I was very excited to see the video. I
thought it was just great that you have that coverage,
but you have something even bigger coming up this week. Yes.
S4 (28:12):
Oh, yes. So on Thursday, on Thursday, we'll have the
the PGA of America. Obviously, I'm a member and the
PGA of America have supported us for the last 4
or 5 years through scholarships. They have something called PGA
Junior League. So when a professional coaches a child who
lacks resources, the PGA of America will give that PGA
(28:35):
professional $150. So obviously, I don't take that money for
every child that comes through Swing Pals. The registers for
PGA Junior League, then the PGA of America supports Swing Pals.
And so the program has been very successful. And the
PGA of America have committed to us that we can
(28:56):
not only do PGA Junior League at the golf course
for our after school students, but in September of next year,
they will allow us to run PGA Junior League through
kids during the school day. And so instead of 50
or 100 students going through PGA Junior League at the
golf course, over a thousand Durham Public School children, most
(29:18):
of whom are minorities and free and reduced price lunch,
will have that PGA Junior League experience during the school
day through Swing Pass. And that obviously is going to
bring a tremendous revenue stream to swing pals so we
can add the remaining four Durham Public Middle schools. So
we have got quite a lot of recognition from the
(29:39):
PGA over the last 2 or 3 years as they
have understood the depth of the work that we're doing
in the Durham community, really impacting at the grassroots level,
going into the community where the need is greatest. And
I actually I actually received the North the Carolinas PGA
(29:59):
Section Community Impact Award earlier this year, which was a
huge honor. And now they would like to come in.
They're doing a they're doing a special on CBS, which
will be aired in July. And they're featuring a number
of different PGA professionals around the country who have successful programs.
(30:20):
And so they asked, could they come in to film
swing panels and tell the swing power story as a
part of that special. So it's going to be really exciting.
We've got the PGA, the team, the producers coming in
on Thursday, and it's really cool. We're going to have
we're going to have a 12th grader that's been in
(30:41):
the program for. He is a seventh grader. That's a
seventh grader at at Shepherd Middle School. And then we'll
have about 20 to 25 sixth graders who are in
our afterschool program who are new. So you have these three,
three different ages of students. And it's going to be
really cool to see the tell the story of how
(31:05):
their support of Swing Pass has helped impact the lives
of so many Durham families who are underserved. So I'm
really excited about that. So that's that's going to be
that's going to be a big one.
S2 (31:20):
I am so excited for you. I can I like
I am. I want to cheer. I can't wait for
that to come out. Oh, I bet they're so excited.
I bet the students are so excited for Thursday. I
can't imagine. They're probably excited and nervous. Oh, that is.
I just had a.
S4 (31:37):
Great I just I just had a conversation today with
the communications director for Durham Public Schools because we have
to get releases. We're actually it's going to be really
cool because they're coming to the after school program at
Hillandale Golf Course on the Thursday, this Thursday. And then
Friday morning they want to come into Lowe's Grove Middle
(31:57):
School to film the sixth graders during the school day
in the gymnasium doing Swing Pals. And so you're going
to have this whole story told of how the thousand
kids start, how they go through the sixth, seventh and
eighth grade program and how they end up being a
12th graders. So it'll be a really cool story. Um,
but really the partnership that we have with Durham Public Schools, um,
(32:20):
you know, I had to speak to the Director of
communications about getting the necessary releases. You know, we've been
delivering programming in Durham Public Schools for 11 years. You know,
I've been walking the corridors of the schools for 11
years now, and we have we have that trust with
the Durham Public Schools and the principals that Swing Pals
(32:42):
is delivering programming that is having a huge impact. And
even at the Durham County level, Durham County, Durham Public Schools,
we actually we actually just received a $200,000 grant from
Durham County, which is again. It's a reflection of the
(33:04):
understanding that we're not a golf program. Yeah, right. Looks
like golf smells like golf. I look like a golfer. Yeah,
but the community. The community is starting to understand it's
about giving these young people a safe space, which we
call their play box and then giving them those mindfulness skills,
(33:24):
those social emotional skills, the emotional regulation skills, the self-awareness
skills that everybody needs. When adversity strikes, you need those
mindfulness skills to be able to respond in a healthy way.
And the community is starting to understand that shift, that
(33:44):
paradigm shift that if we give the kids the safe space,
we can actually learn from them and we can empower
them and we can learn from them if we step back.
And I think that that is something that is really
resonating throughout the community. So incredibly proud to. Incredibly proud
(34:09):
to do what I do. I will continue to do
it for as long as I possibly can and at
the same time recognize that I am dispensable and the
organization has to survive. And so I have to step
back and make sure that the organization is sustainable. And
we're at that point, at that point. And I think
without you know, and I'm truly mean this, I never
(34:31):
had anybody talk to me about fundraising until I met you.
S2 (34:34):
Yeah.
S4 (34:35):
That was the first time somebody helped me with fundraising.
And I'll always remember that moment where you talked about
what you have to have a set goal and put
a time limit on it. But now I'm actually, I'm
actually I'll, I'll wrap up with this. I know that
we only have a few more minutes. Yeah, we actually
I'm actually doing a $500,000 capital campaign right now. Um,
(34:59):
I need to. I need to put a building on
Hillandale Golf course that is 2100ft² because we have a
little tiny hub right now where the kids have. And
so I've got this building picked out and designed, but
I have to raise $500,000 to deliver it. And so
I my understanding is that, you know, I did a
(35:22):
lot of digging around for fundraising. And you probably understand
and know that at the state level, there's a lot
of discretionary funds. And so my understanding is, is from
the people I've talked to and the people I am
connected with right now, that if I can raise 250,000,
there's a very good chance I can get a match
from the North Carolina Economic Development Group because there's always
(35:45):
discretionary funding, looking for organizations doing the work that we do,
especially when you're hiring folks and we're rapidly growing and
we're serving a thousand minorities every year in Durham public schools.
So the narrative is solid. The history is there, the
narrative is good. And so I'm I'm almost and this
is so I have to raise 250,000 over and above
(36:07):
my operating budget. And so separate from operating budget. So
I'm right around 210, 220. And so we're close. And again,
it's it's setting those targets. And and, you know, sharing,
sharing the narrative, the methodology, the process. And then asking
(36:32):
for the help and putting putting a time out there
that you need it by. And I will report back
to you in a couple of months, so I'll let
you know. Hopeful that we raise the 500. But I'm
very grateful for everything that you've done for me and
for Swing Pass. So thank you.
S2 (36:48):
Well, thank you, Doug. I think one of the other
really important things that lessons that our audience can take
away from this is that it is the story that
you're telling. That passion will equal support from the community
when they understand how the impact that you're making, the
(37:08):
passion that you have, the community that you're serving, you
know that that is the basis of any campaign that
you're running. So yes, a goal is great and a
deadline is great. But the way that you tell the
story of the impact that you're having is so moving.
So as we as we close, I'm sure there are
(37:30):
many listeners who probably are curious about your organization and
may even want to support it or get in touch.
So how can they do that?
S4 (37:40):
Well, thank you, Jen. Appreciate that. Visiting swing pals.org and
that's swing pals.org and drop me an email. You know
go to the website you can donate through the website
but please drop me an email, ask me some questions,
let me have a conversation with you and I would
like to share. I would like to share the work
(38:02):
that we do, and I'm very grateful for that opportunity.
S5 (38:05):
Yeah.
S2 (38:06):
Well, Doug, thank you so very much. It has been
wonderful to catch up with you to hear how everything
is going. I am so delighted to have you as
a part of this first season of the podcast and
just really appreciate your time because I know you're so
busy and you're running off right now to go to
go to more, go do more things.
S4 (38:26):
Again. It's it's a thank you so much. I really
appreciate the time. It's great to see you. I wish
you the best of luck and connect with you soon.
S2 (38:36):
Sounds good. Thank you, Doug. What a delight to talk
to Doug. His passion is just so contagious. It really
strikes you right at the heart. You know, he he
claims he's not a fundraiser, but that dedication to the
community and to those kids, that's really, really just the
(38:57):
hook for a successful campaign. So I hope you've enjoyed
this episode. If you'd like more nonprofit fundraising resources, visit
my website at charityjen.com. You can sign up for my
monthly newsletter, get access to free guides, and learn more
about my book, The Insider's Guide to Online Fundraising. This
has been from the nest where fundraising takes flight.
UU (39:18):
Thanks for listening.
S1 (39:26):
This episode was produced by Olas Media Network in San Diego, California.
Jessica Garcia serves as general manager. Lina Alvarez is associate producer.
Elia Ramos is creative director. JC Polk is executive producer
and founding partner. And Chad Peace is our president and
founding partner. Thank you for listening.
S6 (39:49):
OLAS media.
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those
of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect
the views and opinions of Olas Media or its sponsors.
S2 (00:15):
Welcome to From the Nest with Charity Jen. I'm your host,
Jen Newmeyer. On this podcast, we have casual conversations with
folks in the nonprofit field. So listeners get an inside
look on topics like successful fundraising and networking. For this
first episode, we'll chat with Doug Hodges, the executive director
of Swing Pals in Durham, North Carolina. Doug and I
(00:37):
met back in 2020, just before the pandemic. It was
my very first charity chat meetup group where I had
one person show and that person was Doug. So it
gave us the opportunity, just the two of us, to
really dive into his mission and for me to learn
more about his fundraising efforts. And when Covid hit and
there was an emergency need in the community, he was
(00:58):
able to raise more than $70,000. And now three years later,
he's launching a $500,000 capital campaign. So you'll hear more
about that, as well as a brief introduction to Doug's
dog in this episode. So stay with us, this is
From The Nest with Charity Jen.
S3 (01:23):
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S2 (02:00):
Hello, Doug. It is so good to see you. Thank
you for joining us on the podcast.
S4 (02:07):
Jen I've been looking forward to this and yeah, let's go.
Looking forward to this very much.
S2 (02:13):
Well, let's start. I know that our listeners would love
to hear a little bit about you and your background,
so why don't you tell us a little bit about
Doug Hodges and about what you do.
S4 (02:23):
Wow. Okay, So I am Executive Director of Swing Pals
and prior to that I was actually working in New
York City and I became a big brother through Big Brothers,
Big Sisters in my mid 30s, and that drastically changed
(02:44):
the trajectory of my life. And I very quickly decided
after mentoring a young boy, I actually mentored him from
age nine through 17. But after a couple of years
I decided that I needed to change direction. My career
was not aligned with my core values, and so I
quit work when I turned 40, and my mission was
(03:05):
to become a member of the PGA of America and
use the game of golf to help children who are
underserved and face adversity, to help them become, you know,
happy and more joyful in their lives. And fast forward,
I became a big brother a second time in 2003.
And when that match ended in 2010, I decided it
(03:28):
was time to start swing pals. So rather than just
mentoring one child, I could create a program that would
mentor many children. And that's that was the genesis of
Swing Paths. So here I am now.
S2 (03:42):
When we met, it was my I had just launched
a new networking group called Charity Chats, and it was
right before the pandemic and I put out on Meetup
that Charity Chats was launching and we had a couple
of people registered. And I thought to myself, you know,
even if just one person shows up, I will consider
(04:04):
it a success. And you are that one person. And
I remember when we sat down and we talked and
I was so impressed with the work that you were
doing in the community. And then we started to talk
about fundraising.
S4 (04:19):
Well, you certainly, as a small nonprofit, we do not
have a professional, a development person. And so as executive director,
I drive the buses, I vacuum, clean the carpets. And
at that time I was doing most everything. And fundraising
is a challenging space. And that conversation certainly opened up
(04:43):
a lot of opportunity for me as you gave some
terrific guidance and some terrific ideas. So I look forward
to sharing a little bit more about that.
S2 (04:50):
Yeah. Well, I think that I remember after that meeting,
I think I even wrote a blog post about this
executive director that I met that works 70 hours a week.
But I remember I clearly remember you saying I love
every minute of it and I wouldn't have it any differently.
And it was so inspiring to me.
S4 (05:13):
I get I get a little bit I have affect.
When you say that, Jen, I get a little teary
when you say that because the same. The same is true.
Today as it was three years ago when we met,
as it was in 2010 when I started Swing Pals.
You know, I think I think I shared with you,
this is my volunteer work. I, I decided, you know,
(05:35):
when I was a big brother, that my life needed
to be about service and giving back to the community.
And so I am fortunate, blessed every day to be
able to go into work and do do what I
do with such an amazing team. And it's deeply moving work.
It's incredibly challenging work. Sometimes it's it's really it's really
(06:00):
painful to see some of the to see a lot
of the pain that the kids are going through that
we serve. And at the same time, there's tremendous joy because,
you know, you're making a difference and you see the
impact you're having. So that is that is true even
more today. In fact, every day, every single day that
that feeling gets deeper and stronger. There is there is
(06:23):
nothing I would rather be doing short of being with
my family. There's nothing I would rather be doing than
going to work in the morning to help swing powers
become bigger and stronger, to serve more kids. And I couldn't.
I could not be happier. It's pure, absolute joy.
S2 (06:42):
Yeah. Now, what I loved understanding a little bit about
how you are working within the community. You actually are
part of athletic programs at different middle schools. Like that
is how everything got rolling. Is that is that right?
S4 (06:59):
Sort of, yeah. Let me, let me yeah, sort of. So,
so what happened is in 2010, I actually started Swing
Pals in southeast Raleigh initially the model as a golf professional,
the model was to take boys and girls off the
waitlist of Big Brothers, Big Sisters. Obviously, after 15 years
(07:19):
of serving as a big brother, I was very familiar
with the organization. I also served on the board of
Big Brothers, Big Sisters. So when I started Swing Power,
the model was to take boys and girls off the
waitlist of Big Brothers, Big Sisters and match them with
volunteer coaches that I would train and together and together
we would play golf. Terrific model. The only challenge was.
(07:45):
I insist on directing our resources to those children who
are most underserved and marginalized. I will not hang a
sign and just encourage everybody and anybody to come. I
could easily run a junior program which is serving a community. However,
we must target our resources to where the need is
greatest period, full stop. And so the the model wasn't
(08:09):
working because the kids I wanted to serve, once they
went home on the school bus, they couldn't come back
to the facility where I was coaching. And so very
quickly in 2011, I realized that I'd have to take
it into schools in order to get to where the
need is greatest. And so I looked at South Australia
and I looked at Durham, the public schools, and I
(08:31):
had a connection at Neal Middle School in Durham. And
quick research showed me that, that they were close to 100%
free or reduced price lunch. And so I didn't have
the connections in South Australia. So we brought it into
into Neal, into Durham and serve Neal as the first
middle school. I quickly realized that Lowes, Grove, Shepherd and
(08:52):
Brogden were the next three schools with the highest rates
of free or reduced price lunch. And so there was
the model. We would start at Neal Middle School. We
would add Low Grove. In 2014, we would add Shepherd
in 16 and Brogden in 18 when we went into.
So it was a voluntary program. I would go into
the pigeon, into school during sixth grade and health and
(09:15):
the coaches would say, Who wants to do golf with
Coach Hodges? Go into the back gym and I would
take 6 to 8 boys and girls into the back
gym and I would coach golf. And so Neal and
Lois Grove, it was a voluntary program. In 2016, the
principal at Shepherd called me and said, When can you
come to my school? We would like to add we
would like to add Shepherd as your third school. And
(09:38):
so I met with the principal at Shepherd, and we
walked into the gymnasium and I said, Very nice, where
is the auxiliary gym? And he said, We don't have one.
And I said, Well, where do you want me to
do Swing Pals? He said, Well, can you do it outside?
I said, We can, but not when it's cold. He said, Well,
how about the cafeteria? So we'll go to the cafeteria.
And I said, I don't think that's going to work.
(09:59):
And then he said, Then he said, Well, let's go.
Let's go check out the the the theater. There's a
big stage in the theater. So I said, no, that's
not going to work. I'm sorry, I can't do Swing Pass.
And he said, Coach Hodges, you are doing Swing Pals
in my school. You will deliver Swing Pals in the
big gymnasium and my entire sixth grade will go through
(10:19):
your program. And so so it went from voluntary in
2012 and 14 to a mandatory program at Shepherd in
16 second semester 2016. The other two schools followed suit
and the rest is history. Now, every student, when they
end to one of my school, one of the schools
I serve in sixth grade, goes through the Swing Pass program.
(10:41):
And so it's not really part of athletics. It's really
part of P.E. and health. And in 2018, we added
Githens and in 2021, we added Rogers. So we currently
serve five Durham Public Middle Schools and 1,006th graders every year,
go through the 5 to 10 swing power sessions during
(11:03):
health and P.E. And so it's really exciting. Yeah. And
I could share I mean, I could share so much
about the the programming for your listeners. Jen I'm I
know they can't see me, but I look like a
golf professional. I probably sound like a golf professional. I
am a member of the PGA, but our program really
(11:26):
isn't about golf. What it is, is when those kids,
every single one of those thousand kids, when they come
through in groups of 20, they quickly understand that there's
coaches that care about them. And in the gymnasium, if
you can picture 2011 and 12 year olds in a
gymnasium with golf clubs, and when I say golf clubs,
(11:49):
these are plastic golf clubs that you and I can
swing any of your listeners that are golf golfers that
when I say plastic, they're not toys. They're heavy duty
plastic golf clubs. And we hit tennis balls at targets.
But if you can imagine 2011 or 12 year old kids,
boys and girls in a gymnasium with these sticks and
tennis balls, the it sounds like chaos, but it is
(12:12):
not it is not chaos because there are circles, 20
circles on the floor, which is called their play box.
It's their safe space. And in that space is where
the paradigm shift takes place. And when I say the
paradigm shift. Swing powers is a paradigm shift. It shifts.
(12:35):
The way people look at coaching kids and empowers kids
to be able to build a safe space around them mentally,
physically and emotionally such that they are able to make
good choices and decisions when life's adversity comes at them.
And it really is just amazing to see these young
(12:55):
people in the program really come into their own their
own building confidence and self efficacy. So it's absolutely terrific
to see.
S2 (13:07):
Yeah. Yeah. So now you obviously have had to build
a lot of community support in order to be in
all of these schools. And I think we had talked
a little bit about sort of not just the like
the monetary support from the community, but volunteers. You know,
you've rallied interns. I think we had talked about that
(13:30):
support that you get. Tell us a little bit about
how that all comes together.
S4 (13:38):
Well, as I mentioned, what we do is very different.
And so people come to us. The community is starting
to realize that swing. When initially when I started in 2010, 2011, 12,
even through 2015 and 16, people looked at Swing Pals
as a golf organization. What happens now when I have
(14:01):
a conversation with somebody or any of my staff, I
now have four, four full time staff on my team
and I have a part time and I have a
part time driver too. So I have five staff or
full time, one part time. Every single one of my staff.
And every stakeholder in Swing Pals has to understand the
(14:22):
mission and the vision and and needs to understand that
the kids we serve are not broken. They don't need fixing.
Our job is to provide them a space in which
they can develop those social emotional skills, mindfulness skills, leadership
skills that they can develop themselves to live happy, joyful lives.
(14:47):
And when I share that with someone, Jen. The light
bulb kind of goes off because most adults want that
space for themselves.
S2 (14:57):
True.
S4 (14:57):
Yes, most most adults, when I'm talking with my team,
is talking to people about swing powers. I think the
conversation often that's going off for them is, my gosh.
I wish I could do that. Because inevitably adults. The
(15:18):
philosophy is that, you know, as as we grow older,
we tend to take less risk because we try to
control what's happening around us. The real joy in life
and the real success happens when we let go of control.
When we get let go of expectations, when we let
go of fear of outcome. And these are the conversations
(15:40):
that I and my team have in the community. And
so what happens is people come forth because they want
to serve. They want to do good. But they also
understand in the process that it's going to help them
get to their potential, too. And when you share when
we share what we do with golfers and sometimes golfers
(16:00):
are not our best volunteer coaches because they have preconceived
ideas about how to play the game. But oftentimes when
golfers hear what we do and how we do it,
they cannot wait to want to become involved. Now, here's
a problem, because oftentimes those I love all my volunteer
(16:20):
coaches and I love everybody that wants to volunteer their time,
but it takes a very special coach to coach Swing Pals.
It's not easy to do. It is really hard to
be a swing coach. It's hard because oftentimes we see
kids that are really struggling and at the same time
(16:42):
it's very hard because when we coach students, the coaches
have to step back and not try to fix. Now,
when you tell an adult that they're not allowed to
step in and try to fix something, they don't like,
that that's not comfortable. It makes them uncomfortable. And so
the process of becoming a volunteer coach, there's three steps.
(17:05):
There's three orientation, there's an orientation and then two in-person meetings. Oftentimes,
coaches kind of, okay, that's not for me. Yeah. But
those that come through the process are absolutely amazing. To
be able to step back and allow the child the
space to grow, allow the child the space to fail
(17:26):
and make a mistake and not try to fix it.
And so I think I think being consistent, the mission
and the vision and also we have a I don't
know whether you remember this, I probably shared this with
you during our our first meeting at Charity Gen's meetup.
We have eight guiding principles in Swing Pals that underpin
(17:50):
the mission and vision. And everybody has to understand the
eight guiding principles. And number four is vulnerability leads to
learning or growth. And learning comes through vulnerability to celebrate mistakes,
not fix them. To balance acceptance and change the guiding
principles immediately sent to the volunteer coaches in the space
(18:15):
that they need to be. And it's not very comfortable.
But I embrace them, love them, care about them. And
it's just it's a terrific synergy seeing the real the relationship,
a relationship between child and coach. And I often I
just say this, Jen. I walk up to a coach
with four kids and I say, How are they doing, Coach?
(18:38):
And the coach will look at me and start saying
something and I say, I look at the kids. I say, Coach, coaches,
how's he doing? Because we we learn from the kids.
We learn from the students. So so that's a little
bit of a long answer to your question. But recruiting
coaches is a lot of people come to us and
it's a very special process.
S2 (19:00):
Yeah. Well, I love I think this is a good
sort of pivot because I love what you're what you're
saying about taking risk and, you know, the vulnerability, you know,
that that and the experience that comes from that. Because
I think that there is a direct correlation, particularly in
(19:23):
the experience that I have had in fundraising with nonprofits
that are risk averse, don't want, that are afraid to
make changes. And I recall from our meeting that you
were very open and receptive and excited about launching in
(19:46):
to some very what other executive directors. You may be
surprised by this, but it's true. What other executive directors
would actually be very fearful to do to take risk
with launching a large campaign, getting a lot of support
for it, and really sort of diving in to the
(20:08):
community and asking for support. So I almost think that
the just sort of the the whole basis of your organization,
your approach to working with the kids always also carries
over to the way that, you know, I've heard once
before the the way you do one thing is the
way you do everything. And I almost feel like there
(20:31):
is a correlation there for some of that that fundraising
work that you have.
S4 (20:38):
The the I am an amateur fundraiser. I am an
executive director. I, I always used to I served on
the board of Big Brothers, Big Sisters, and I never
enjoyed asking people for money. Now, I absolutely love asking
people for money. And I and I think it obviously
(20:59):
relates to the passion and understanding of the mission and
the vision. That I know where every penny goes. I
know we're very efficient with our money. With our dollars.
And so I absolutely love what I do. I'm still
I'm still an amateur fundraiser. I've never had any training
other than what you gave me. And that is absolute truth.
(21:22):
You are the only coach I've ever had fundraising. When
we sat down three years ago, I think the budget,
I mean, relatively small organization, but I really don't remember.
But you talked about how it's really important to set
a goal and have a timeline on that. You know,
(21:42):
raising X amount by a certain date and hadn't really
thought about that before. However, when Covid came, when door
and public schools closed, I the first thing I did
was go out and spend a thousand bucks of my
money to buy groceries for families that I knew had
no food in the house. But then the next week
(22:05):
I set, I set a goal of raising $25,000 to
feed to feed families over the next ten weeks. And
very quickly, we attained we attained that goal and we
ended up raising $85,000, feeding 277 73 families and 277
public school children for a period of six months where
(22:28):
every day we deliver, every day we delivered food to
families in need. Those first two months, there wasn't a
soul on the road, and I was driving the swing
powered bus delivering food. But that conversation we had was
probably a month before schools closed. And your voice was
resonating in my mind, in my head. And I said
(22:50):
that specific goal of raising $25,000, I reached out to
the community and lo and behold, they responded Clearly, there
was a crisis, and clearly people knew that we had
to we have to do something. So I think that
I think that's really important. I think the other thing
that I have learned, I work really hard at what
(23:13):
I do. I work really, really, really hard to raise
the money we need to serve the kids because I
see the need and I communicate individually with every donor.
I very rarely use Salesforce or constant contact or a
(23:37):
mass email. It's about building relationships. I cannot tell you
the the depth of those connections I have with all
of our donors. Now, that's down to about the $250
mark beneath 250. I can't reach out to everybody individually,
but I think the real the real key is to
(23:57):
passionately share the work that you do and the impact
that you're having. And when you are committed and share
the work that you're doing and the impact you're having.
I think people are very willing to very willing to
support that. And I am deeply moved by every single
one of my donors. So I'm not sure I answered
(24:19):
your question directly, but I think it speaks to the
vulnerability side. We, I and my team do work that
is incredibly powerful in helping these kids build this space.
And the community is understanding the model, what we do,
(24:40):
how we do it and responding. So I am overjoyed
by the success.
S2 (24:47):
Yes. Well, I, I am on your email list and
every time I get one of your impact reports, I
just love seeing it. So you do do a really
good job of sending those out. And I know, you know,
I'm sure you feel like you can do it more often,
but even those sort of touch points of sharing with
your email list, you know, even on a yearly basis
(25:11):
or twice a year or however often you do it,
it's very special. It really means a lot.
S4 (25:17):
Well, thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed that impact report.
It's it is the highlight, one of the highlights of
the year for me. I actually produced that in-house. It's
I actually do that pretty much from start to finish.
And so I, I always am surprised when I come
out with a finished product like, wow, did I do that?
(25:39):
But I absolutely love conveying to you. The benefit of
your support, that that means so much to me. And
in September, October, time to start reviewing what we have
done the previous year and to share the stories and
the and the and the quotes and the kids and
the pictures of the kids and to convey the methodology
(26:01):
and the philosophy in that in that impact report. That's
one of that's one of the highlights of of of
my year. So I appreciate I appreciate you sharing that.
S2 (26:13):
Now you have also haven't you had some of your
students come back and sort of help out with because
there are other things that you do in the community
as well, is that like you take kids out for
other kinds of engagement within the community?
S4 (26:29):
We will do college visits once a year. We'll have
we'll have community outings, whether it be Frisbee golf or
college visits. We we haven't had graduates come back to
be coaches. You know, we lost a lot of the
high schoolers during Covid. But we're we're starting to see
(26:52):
more of the more of the graduates with swing powers
once they're in college and they're coming out of college,
starting to show an interest. So I think that's going
to be a real critical piece when the kids start
to come back who have gone through the six years.
Because I don't know whether you remember this, but when
students come into the program in sixth grade, you know,
we'll work with about 15% of the thousand kids. About
(27:14):
150 kids will go through the sixth grade program. But
when a child enters the seventh grade program, they can
stay for six years. So we actually have kids who
stay in the program for six years. So when they graduate,
you know, to have them come back and then be
coaches for the for the younger, younger folks, I think
that would be really powerful.
S2 (27:34):
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, gosh, that will be amazing. I, I
look forward to seeing that in your Impact report. Your
Future your Future impact reports. Okay. So I know that
we're running. Just do we have a few more minutes?
I really wanted to also touch base with you on
your ABC 11 feature. That's the local news in Durham,
(28:01):
and I was very excited to see the video. I
thought it was just great that you have that coverage,
but you have something even bigger coming up this week. Yes.
S4 (28:12):
Oh, yes. So on Thursday, on Thursday, we'll have the
the PGA of America. Obviously, I'm a member and the
PGA of America have supported us for the last 4
or 5 years through scholarships. They have something called PGA
Junior League. So when a professional coaches a child who
lacks resources, the PGA of America will give that PGA
(28:35):
professional $150. So obviously, I don't take that money for
every child that comes through Swing Pals. The registers for
PGA Junior League, then the PGA of America supports Swing Pals.
And so the program has been very successful. And the
PGA of America have committed to us that we can
(28:56):
not only do PGA Junior League at the golf course
for our after school students, but in September of next year,
they will allow us to run PGA Junior League through
kids during the school day. And so instead of 50
or 100 students going through PGA Junior League at the
golf course, over a thousand Durham Public School children, most
(29:18):
of whom are minorities and free and reduced price lunch,
will have that PGA Junior League experience during the school
day through Swing Pass. And that obviously is going to
bring a tremendous revenue stream to swing pals so we
can add the remaining four Durham Public Middle schools. So
we have got quite a lot of recognition from the
(29:39):
PGA over the last 2 or 3 years as they
have understood the depth of the work that we're doing
in the Durham community, really impacting at the grassroots level,
going into the community where the need is greatest. And
I actually I actually received the North the Carolinas PGA
(29:59):
Section Community Impact Award earlier this year, which was a
huge honor. And now they would like to come in.
They're doing a they're doing a special on CBS, which
will be aired in July. And they're featuring a number
of different PGA professionals around the country who have successful programs.
(30:20):
And so they asked, could they come in to film
swing panels and tell the swing power story as a
part of that special. So it's going to be really exciting.
We've got the PGA, the team, the producers coming in
on Thursday, and it's really cool. We're going to have
we're going to have a 12th grader that's been in
(30:41):
the program for. He is a seventh grader. That's a
seventh grader at at Shepherd Middle School. And then we'll
have about 20 to 25 sixth graders who are in
our afterschool program who are new. So you have these three,
three different ages of students. And it's going to be
really cool to see the tell the story of how
(31:05):
their support of Swing Pass has helped impact the lives
of so many Durham families who are underserved. So I'm
really excited about that. So that's that's going to be
that's going to be a big one.
S2 (31:20):
I am so excited for you. I can I like
I am. I want to cheer. I can't wait for
that to come out. Oh, I bet they're so excited.
I bet the students are so excited for Thursday. I
can't imagine. They're probably excited and nervous. Oh, that is.
I just had a.
S4 (31:37):
Great I just I just had a conversation today with
the communications director for Durham Public Schools because we have
to get releases. We're actually it's going to be really
cool because they're coming to the after school program at
Hillandale Golf Course on the Thursday, this Thursday. And then
Friday morning they want to come into Lowe's Grove Middle
(31:57):
School to film the sixth graders during the school day
in the gymnasium doing Swing Pals. And so you're going
to have this whole story told of how the thousand
kids start, how they go through the sixth, seventh and
eighth grade program and how they end up being a
12th graders. So it'll be a really cool story. Um,
but really the partnership that we have with Durham Public Schools, um,
(32:20):
you know, I had to speak to the Director of
communications about getting the necessary releases. You know, we've been
delivering programming in Durham Public Schools for 11 years. You know,
I've been walking the corridors of the schools for 11
years now, and we have we have that trust with
the Durham Public Schools and the principals that Swing Pals
(32:42):
is delivering programming that is having a huge impact. And
even at the Durham County level, Durham County, Durham Public Schools,
we actually we actually just received a $200,000 grant from
Durham County, which is again. It's a reflection of the
(33:04):
understanding that we're not a golf program. Yeah, right. Looks
like golf smells like golf. I look like a golfer. Yeah,
but the community. The community is starting to understand it's
about giving these young people a safe space, which we
call their play box and then giving them those mindfulness skills,
(33:24):
those social emotional skills, the emotional regulation skills, the self-awareness
skills that everybody needs. When adversity strikes, you need those
mindfulness skills to be able to respond in a healthy way.
And the community is starting to understand that shift, that
(33:44):
paradigm shift that if we give the kids the safe space,
we can actually learn from them and we can empower
them and we can learn from them if we step back.
And I think that that is something that is really
resonating throughout the community. So incredibly proud to. Incredibly proud
(34:09):
to do what I do. I will continue to do
it for as long as I possibly can and at
the same time recognize that I am dispensable and the
organization has to survive. And so I have to step
back and make sure that the organization is sustainable. And
we're at that point, at that point. And I think
without you know, and I'm truly mean this, I never
(34:31):
had anybody talk to me about fundraising until I met you.
S2 (34:34):
Yeah.
S4 (34:35):
That was the first time somebody helped me with fundraising.
And I'll always remember that moment where you talked about
what you have to have a set goal and put
a time limit on it. But now I'm actually, I'm
actually I'll, I'll wrap up with this. I know that
we only have a few more minutes. Yeah, we actually
I'm actually doing a $500,000 capital campaign right now. Um,
(34:59):
I need to. I need to put a building on
Hillandale Golf course that is 2100ft² because we have a
little tiny hub right now where the kids have. And
so I've got this building picked out and designed, but
I have to raise $500,000 to deliver it. And so
I my understanding is that, you know, I did a
(35:22):
lot of digging around for fundraising. And you probably understand
and know that at the state level, there's a lot
of discretionary funds. And so my understanding is, is from
the people I've talked to and the people I am
connected with right now, that if I can raise 250,000,
there's a very good chance I can get a match
from the North Carolina Economic Development Group because there's always
(35:45):
discretionary funding, looking for organizations doing the work that we do,
especially when you're hiring folks and we're rapidly growing and
we're serving a thousand minorities every year in Durham public schools.
So the narrative is solid. The history is there, the
narrative is good. And so I'm I'm almost and this
is so I have to raise 250,000 over and above
(36:07):
my operating budget. And so separate from operating budget. So
I'm right around 210, 220. And so we're close. And again,
it's it's setting those targets. And and, you know, sharing,
sharing the narrative, the methodology, the process. And then asking
(36:32):
for the help and putting putting a time out there
that you need it by. And I will report back
to you in a couple of months, so I'll let
you know. Hopeful that we raise the 500. But I'm
very grateful for everything that you've done for me and
for Swing Pass. So thank you.
S2 (36:48):
Well, thank you, Doug. I think one of the other
really important things that lessons that our audience can take
away from this is that it is the story that
you're telling. That passion will equal support from the community
when they understand how the impact that you're making, the
(37:08):
passion that you have, the community that you're serving, you
know that that is the basis of any campaign that
you're running. So yes, a goal is great and a
deadline is great. But the way that you tell the
story of the impact that you're having is so moving.
So as we as we close, I'm sure there are
(37:30):
many listeners who probably are curious about your organization and
may even want to support it or get in touch.
So how can they do that?
S4 (37:40):
Well, thank you, Jen. Appreciate that. Visiting swing pals.org and
that's swing pals.org and drop me an email. You know
go to the website you can donate through the website
but please drop me an email, ask me some questions,
let me have a conversation with you and I would
like to share. I would like to share the work
(38:02):
that we do, and I'm very grateful for that opportunity.
S5 (38:05):
Yeah.
S2 (38:06):
Well, Doug, thank you so very much. It has been
wonderful to catch up with you to hear how everything
is going. I am so delighted to have you as
a part of this first season of the podcast and
just really appreciate your time because I know you're so
busy and you're running off right now to go to
go to more, go do more things.
S4 (38:26):
Again. It's it's a thank you so much. I really
appreciate the time. It's great to see you. I wish
you the best of luck and connect with you soon.
S2 (38:36):
Sounds good. Thank you, Doug. What a delight to talk
to Doug. His passion is just so contagious. It really
strikes you right at the heart. You know, he he
claims he's not a fundraiser, but that dedication to the
community and to those kids, that's really, really just the
(38:57):
hook for a successful campaign. So I hope you've enjoyed
this episode. If you'd like more nonprofit fundraising resources, visit
my website at charityjen.com. You can sign up for my
monthly newsletter, get access to free guides, and learn more
about my book, The Insider's Guide to Online Fundraising. This
has been from the nest where fundraising takes flight.
UU (39:18):
Thanks for listening.
S1 (39:26):
This episode was produced by Olas Media Network in San Diego, California.
Jessica Garcia serves as general manager. Lina Alvarez is associate producer.
Elia Ramos is creative director. JC Polk is executive producer
and founding partner. And Chad Peace is our president and
founding partner. Thank you for listening.
S6 (39:49):
OLAS media.
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