Strategic Planning for Nonprofits with Ricky Chilcott | Nonprofit411

In this episode of Nonprofit411, Sarah Barton is joined by Ricky Chilcott, co-founder of Mission Met, to discuss how nonprofits can transform their approach to strategic planning. Ricky shares insights into building effective strategies, setting measurable goals, and using innovative tools like Kazi to track progress and improve organizational impact.

Drawing from his experience in software development and nonprofit consulting, Ricky highlights the importance of aligning plans with mission and vision while leveraging data to inform decisions. Whether it’s creating process-driven goals or adapting to capacity challenges, this episode equips nonprofits with the tools and mindset to succeed.

 

Resources:

• Mission Met: www.missionmet.com
• Causey Software: www.causey.app
• Grant Writing Proposal Guide: Nonprofit411 Grant Guide

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello and welcome to Nonprofit411, where we dive into resources and strategies that help nonprofits not just survive, but truly thrive.
I'm Sarah Barton, your host and fundraising advocate.
.346938776Each episode, we bring you inspiring conversations with experts in fundraising, sustainability, and best practices to equip you with the tools and confidence you need to make a real impact. 4 00:00:22,687.446938776 --> 00:00:32,207.246938776 Hi, and welcome to Nonprofit 411 Podcast. 5 00:00:32,207.346938776 --> 00:00:36,467.346938776 I'm your host, Sarah Barton, and I'm excited to have you here today. 6 00:00:36,487.346938776 --> 00:00:40,587.346938776 Whether you're here to learn, be inspired, or simply recharge, I'm glad you've joined us. 7 00:00:41,167.346938776 --> 00:00:44,27.345938776 Today, I'm excited to welcome our guest, Ricky Chilcott. 8 00:00:44,497.346938776 --> 00:00:47,707.346938776 From Mission Met and he is one of the founders there. 9 00:00:47,767.346938776 --> 00:00:48,217.346938776 Welcome. 10 00:00:49,387.346938776 --> 00:00:49,447.346938776 Hi. 11 00:00:49,447.346938776 --> 00:00:51,367.346938776 How you doing, Sarah? Good. 12 00:00:51,807.346938776 --> 00:00:53,457.346938776 I'm so excited to have you here. 13 00:00:53,637.346938776 --> 00:01:02,127.346938776 We've been colleagues that have known each other for a couple of years now, so it'll be exciting to have a conversation with you. 14 00:01:02,777.346938776 --> 00:01:05,917.346938776 So before we jump into the, oh, sorry. 15 00:01:06,607.346938776 --> 00:01:06,777.346938776 Yeah. 16 00:01:06,777.346938776 --> 00:01:08,137.346938776 I was gonna say, yeah, thanks for having me. 17 00:01:08,157.346938776 --> 00:01:16,177.344938776 It's been enjoying enjoyable to to meet you in person a few times that nonprofits lead a local conference that's up in Marietta, Ohio. 18 00:01:16,197.345938776 --> 00:01:17,477.344938776 I don't live too far from there. 19 00:01:17,557.344938776 --> 00:01:26,97.343938776 And yeah, I, I really appreciate this last this last year with how much vulnerability you shared about your, your burnout journey and that, that helped me. 20 00:01:26,107.343938776 --> 00:01:31,427.344938776 So thank you for highlighting some of those resources and sharing your story at that conference. 21 00:01:31,567.344938776 --> 00:01:31,767.344938776 Yeah. 22 00:01:32,77.344938776 --> 00:01:32,507.344938776 Thank you. 23 00:01:32,677.344938776 --> 00:01:41,627.34393878 I, yeah, I'm, I'm so grateful to have people who have supported me through that, and I'm glad that I can be able to help others as they also work through that process. 24 00:01:44,542.34493878 --> 00:01:55,942.34493878 So before we dive into our, our full conversation, I like to ask all of my guests, my favorite question ever, which is what is your favorite hobby? Cool. 25 00:01:55,952.34393878 --> 00:01:57,592.34393878 Well, and I'm not going to answer it with one. 26 00:01:57,622.34493878 --> 00:01:59,182.34593878 I would say I. 27 00:02:01,352.34593878 --> 00:02:09,322.34393878 It came to playing soccer kind of later in life and in my late twenties, I learned and learned to play soccer and that's been really great for me. 28 00:02:09,352.34493878 --> 00:02:17,692.34493878 I'm gonna the Athens County in Southeast Ohio has a really vibrant local soccer community of a hundred plus people. 29 00:02:18,497.34493878 --> 00:02:19,247.34493878 Or part of that. 30 00:02:19,807.34493878 --> 00:02:30,557.34393878 And yeah, I went from those first few games pretty much being offsides the entire time and not understanding that rule to you know, each season I score a couple of goals and I mostly play defense. 31 00:02:30,567.34393878 --> 00:02:31,887.34293878 So, and, and wing. 32 00:02:31,897.34393878 --> 00:02:36,677.34293878 So that's kind of, it's odd for a defender or or a winger to score a lot of goals. 33 00:02:36,787.34293878 --> 00:02:40,27.34293878 So, so that's one I also really enjoy mountain biking. 34 00:02:40,27.34293878 --> 00:02:42,907.34243878 And I recently got an e bike and I've got a four year old son. 35 00:02:42,907.34243878 --> 00:02:43,477.34293878 So we. 36 00:02:43,842.34293878 --> 00:02:46,212.34293878 Commute him to and from daycare with that. 37 00:02:46,602.34293878 --> 00:03:01,342.34593878 But I would say probably my most enjoyable hobby is kind of working with my hands as far as like building furniture just this week I'm completing a bed build for my son, a lofted bed in his room, and I really. 38 00:03:02,117.34593878 --> 00:03:12,627.34493878 Because of so much of the work that I do with technology and coaching, consulting people is it's hard to like show tangibly what, you know, the end result of it. 39 00:03:12,647.34593878 --> 00:03:14,647.34493878 And it's like, you have all these meetings, right. 40 00:03:14,687.34593878 --> 00:03:28,107.24593878 Each, each day and what, what was the actual result of that? You can't really point to something you can maybe like explain a feeling or, or kind of talk about those interactions, but you know, It's fleeting. 41 00:03:28,107.24593878 --> 00:03:30,177.24593878 It, you know, it doesn't last very long. 42 00:03:30,527.24593878 --> 00:03:36,847.24593878 And so yeah, building things, even cutting the grass sometimes can be, you know, or, or working on, on the house. 43 00:03:36,877.24593878 --> 00:03:44,332.14593878 That's probably my, my favorite hobby because I can see the, the end result of it for, for longer than just, you know, a feeling can last. 44 00:03:45,2.24593878 --> 00:03:45,892.24593878 Oh, I like that. 45 00:03:46,62.24593878 --> 00:03:50,182.24593878 So I actually read a book this summer and it was about the practice of Sabbath. 46 00:03:50,682.24593878 --> 00:04:07,32.24593878 And in it, he said, you know, one of the things that he mentioned was that, you know, if you work with your, your brain all day long, like a nice practice of Sabbath or rest is to do the opposite, like work with your body or work with your hands. 47 00:04:07,42.24593878 --> 00:04:12,302.24493878 So like what you're saying, like really resonates with that, you know, the idea of that, like, it's really. 48 00:04:12,462.24493878 --> 00:04:22,262.24493878 Different from your, your day to day activity or not day to day necessarily, but your work activity, you enjoy these tangible hands on. 49 00:04:22,292.24493878 --> 00:04:23,292.24493878 Yeah, absolutely. 50 00:04:23,292.24493878 --> 00:04:24,542.24493878 That, that resonates with me. 51 00:04:24,712.24493878 --> 00:04:24,822.24493878 Yeah. 52 00:04:24,822.24493878 --> 00:04:26,862.24543878 I read a book fight, hustle and hurry. 53 00:04:26,922.24443878 --> 00:04:35,162.24543878 And he talked about the practice of Sabbath and, and some of these other it was through a Christian lens, but kind of just everyday practices that, that people. 54 00:04:35,477.24543878 --> 00:04:40,907.24543878 Can kind of fight that, that hustle feeling that, especially as business owners, you and I know that, that tension. 55 00:04:41,627.24543878 --> 00:04:41,947.24543878 Yeah. 56 00:04:42,387.24443878 --> 00:04:42,587.24443878 Yeah. 57 00:04:42,587.24543878 --> 00:04:55,297.24543878 And the other thing that you said is, you know, it's hard to measure the success of what we do, you know, and I have found as I've journaled, you know, we're out, we're recording this in December. 58 00:04:55,297.24543878 --> 00:05:14,357.24543878 It's not going to go live until the new year, but As I've done this work, I've really enjoyed going back into my journals because you like the span of time from when you you know, integrated or did something to when you actually get to see results is a really long time. 59 00:05:14,357.24543878 --> 00:05:19,247.24543878 And so like being able to have the written word remind me like, oh yeah, I did that. 60 00:05:19,632.24543878 --> 00:05:20,732.24543878 Oh my gosh, I did that too. 61 00:05:21,42.24543878 --> 00:05:25,642.24543878 I did like a six month check in probably around June or July. 62 00:05:26,442.24543878 --> 00:05:42,917.24443878 So, you know, six or seven months, it all happens, you know, fluidly, but and when I wrote down all of the things that I had done so far in the year, And I, I went back into my journals and I kind of gleaned, I have to go into my calendar to actually think about like what I actually did. 63 00:05:43,537.24443878 --> 00:05:55,947.24543878 It's so surprising how much has happened and also equally surprising how little I feel that, right? How little I feel all of that. 64 00:05:56,892.24543878 --> 00:06:06,562.24443878 Yeah, I'm sure you've heard the saying like we way overestimate what we can do in a day and way underestimate what we can do in a year or a lifetime. 65 00:06:06,612.24543878 --> 00:06:06,992.24543878 Right. 66 00:06:07,52.24543878 --> 00:06:09,402.24543878 And yeah, we tend to kind of compare. 67 00:06:10,232.24643878 --> 00:06:16,402.24643878 Ourselves and our output to like what we wanted to accomplish versus what we actually did accomplish. 68 00:06:16,502.24643878 --> 00:06:17,932.24643878 It's nice to, to pause. 69 00:06:18,332.24543878 --> 00:06:22,332.24543878 I've never really had a, a, a practice of journaling. 70 00:06:22,332.24543878 --> 00:06:23,172.24543878 I've tried before. 71 00:06:23,192.24543878 --> 00:06:25,292.24543878 I've bought lots of notebooks with that intention. 72 00:06:25,472.24543878 --> 00:06:26,912.24743878 But I've never done that. 73 00:06:26,922.24743878 --> 00:06:27,267.14743878 So yeah. 74 00:06:28,207.24743878 --> 00:06:32,557.24743878 Yeah, I, I, I follow the Bujo method, which is the bullet journal method. 75 00:06:32,937.24743878 --> 00:06:37,497.24643878 And I, I don't think anybody would look at my journals and be like, Oh yeah, that's actually a journal. 76 00:06:37,507.24643878 --> 00:06:43,107.24743878 But it, it just gets me through the day and I record a little bit and it's all in one location. 77 00:06:43,107.24743878 --> 00:06:45,327.24743878 That's really, for me, been a really exciting thing. 78 00:06:45,367.24643878 --> 00:06:49,237.24743878 Like I always know where to reference because it's always in the book. 79 00:06:50,487.24743878 --> 00:06:55,402.14743878 This morning I didn't have my journal on my desk and I had it right beside my desk. 80 00:06:55,722.24743878 --> 00:07:01,902.24743878 Journal, and I wrote in this other workbook, but if I have to reference it, it's not going to be my book. 81 00:07:01,902.24743878 --> 00:07:04,72.24743878 So I'll probably have to rewrite it into my book. 82 00:07:06,22.24743878 --> 00:07:06,562.24743878 Well, yeah. 83 00:07:07,242.24743878 --> 00:07:13,482.24743878 So we've already started chatting and covered some really good things here, actually, but I haven't given you a chance to introduce yourself. 84 00:07:13,482.24743878 --> 00:07:24,27.24743878 So would you like to introduce yourself to the listeners and tell them a little bit about what you you know, what you do, where you are now and how you've gotten here? Yeah. 85 00:07:24,27.24743878 --> 00:07:26,767.24743878 So, it's easier to answer what I do now. 86 00:07:26,807.24743878 --> 00:07:31,847.24743878 But yeah, so I'm, I'm Ricky Chilcott, co founder of a company called Mission Med. 87 00:07:31,927.24743878 --> 00:07:36,267.24643878 Our mission is to make strategic planning simpler and more effective. 88 00:07:36,707.24643878 --> 00:07:37,467.24643878 We. 89 00:07:37,932.24643878 --> 00:07:42,912.24643878 Have built software to capture your strategic plan and then execute on it. 90 00:07:43,42.24643878 --> 00:07:51,22.24743878 And my business partner in this business Eric Ryan has done consulting work for nonprofits for a really long time. 91 00:07:51,452.24743878 --> 00:07:55,712.24743878 And so he does, he leads our consulting efforts and we have a few consultants. 92 00:07:56,12.24743878 --> 00:07:57,72.24743878 So we do consulting. 93 00:07:57,232.24743878 --> 00:08:05,542.24643878 The software and we also developed a course on how to do strategic planning primarily for small and midsize nonprofits. 94 00:08:05,692.24543878 --> 00:08:12,997.24643878 And if you would have told me a decade Plus ago that I would be working with nonprofits and kind of in this sector. 95 00:08:13,377.24643878 --> 00:08:20,597.24743878 I would say, okay, that doesn't sound like what I would do, but my kind of background, my, my undergrad was in audio production. 96 00:08:20,947.24743878 --> 00:08:26,597.24743878 And I wanted to work in the music industry recording, you know, musicians and artists and that sort of thing. 97 00:08:27,7.24743878 --> 00:08:47,807.24843878 But I realized kind of late in college That kind of all of the things all the like kind of market forces of audio equipment and things and, you know, tools of media production that you know, made it possible for me to afford a home studio when I was kind of in late high school and in college. 98 00:08:48,162.24843878 --> 00:08:52,42.24843878 We're also the same reason why it was going to be really hard to make a career out of it. 99 00:08:52,42.24843878 --> 00:08:52,242.24843878 Right. 100 00:08:52,242.24843878 --> 00:08:57,52.24843878 Cause everybody could just buy a few pieces of equipment and call themselves a producer or an engineer. 101 00:08:57,552.24843878 --> 00:09:05,592.24743878 And I also looked at kind of the, the industry and saw a lot of divorce and kind of a lot of just kind of like personal life challenges. 102 00:09:05,592.34743878 --> 00:09:11,352.24743878 And I had met a girl in college and I wanted to marry her and be married to her. 103 00:09:11,712.24743878 --> 00:09:12,322.24743878 For forever. 104 00:09:12,662.24743878 --> 00:09:14,162.24743878 And so far that's happened. 105 00:09:14,232.24743878 --> 00:09:15,982.24743878 We've, we've been married for 15 years. 106 00:09:17,842.24743878 --> 00:09:18,382.24743878 Thank you. 107 00:09:18,752.24643878 --> 00:09:20,922.24543878 But I had also had this software development. 108 00:09:20,972.24643878 --> 00:09:25,102.24543878 I had taught myself some programming kind of in, in middle school. 109 00:09:25,122.24643878 --> 00:09:27,472.24643878 My, my uncle was a software developer. 110 00:09:28,22.24643878 --> 00:09:46,227.14643878 And so I kind of went into this kind of technology space at the university at Ohio university, which is where Athens what, what, Institution Is based in Athens and and worked there for a number of years at the university, but I kinda, I kinda had this entrepreneurial itch and spirit. 111 00:09:46,607.14643878 --> 00:09:51,147.14643878 And so for a couple of years after I left the university, I kind of did freelance web development. 112 00:09:51,597.14743878 --> 00:09:53,537.14893878 But one of my best clients. 113 00:09:53,807.14893878 --> 00:09:58,227.14893878 At the time was this guy, Eric, who you know, is not my business partner in mission met. 114 00:09:58,577.14893878 --> 00:10:13,652.14793878 But you know, he, he had this, this dream of helping more and more organizations and I thought, Hey, maybe we could partner and grow the software and kind of, you know, Productize our consulting offerings and that sort of thing and kind of help more and more organizations. 115 00:10:13,962.14793878 --> 00:10:15,822.14793878 And so that's what we've been doing for a few years. 116 00:10:16,112.14793878 --> 00:10:16,702.14743878 I won't lie. 117 00:10:16,702.14743878 --> 00:10:19,442.14793878 It's been a little bit of a bumpy journey. 118 00:10:19,492.14793878 --> 00:10:24,872.14743878 Every, you know, every You know, projection that I put together was going to be up into the right and that hasn't happened. 119 00:10:24,872.24743878 --> 00:10:42,822.24743878 But, but I've learned a lot of things and it's been incredible to hear from clients who we've been able to help through our planning work how they've been able to raise more dollars, how they've been able to Kind of fix dysfunctional boards and, you know, help grow their teams and that sort of thing because of our strategic planning work. 120 00:10:42,822.24743878 --> 00:10:47,772.24743878 And so, I'm really grateful just to be on that journey with Eric and with all of our clients. 121 00:10:48,832.24743878 --> 00:10:52,142.24743878 Yeah, I think it's, that's so interesting. 122 00:10:52,142.24743878 --> 00:11:04,242.24593878 I didn't know all of that about you and I, I think the, you know, when you look at like the home audio studio, it's so crazy because podcasting has taken off and you're right. 123 00:11:04,242.24593878 --> 00:11:05,192.24643878 Like everybody. 124 00:11:05,557.24643878 --> 00:11:10,637.24643878 Can buy, you know, cheap equipment and they can create shows. 125 00:11:10,667.24643878 --> 00:11:31,467.24543878 And yeah, actually my freshman year at OU I tried to start a podcast with three other friends, my now wife, and then my roommate, Lanny and a good friend, Brian, and I was like, okay, I'm just, I'm just going to put a room or I'm just going to put a mic in the room and we're just going to have a conversation, just talk about college stuff. 126 00:11:32,17.24543878 --> 00:11:34,127.24543878 And they were like, this is the weirdest thing. 127 00:11:34,127.24543878 --> 00:11:35,197.24543878 We're not doing this. 128 00:11:35,277.24543878 --> 00:11:37,247.24543878 This nobody's going to ever listen to this. 129 00:11:37,287.24543878 --> 00:11:42,447.24443878 This is, what are you talking about? These podcasts things? What like what? So yeah, that was in 2000. 130 00:11:43,337.24443878 --> 00:11:43,917.24443878 2004. 131 00:11:44,337.24443878 --> 00:11:50,307.24343878 So 20 years ago I was, you know, starting to listen to podcasts then and, and kind of, I'm happy it took off. 132 00:11:50,317.24443878 --> 00:11:58,667.24493878 I like to say that, you know, early adopter and I predicted that one, but but yeah, sadly I never actually got a podcast on my own off the ground. 133 00:12:00,827.24593878 --> 00:12:06,537.24493878 Yeah, but it's really interesting because you have within you a visionary spirit. 134 00:12:06,677.24593878 --> 00:12:21,307.24493878 You know, you were, so when you talked about your story, you talked about looking at the industry, the you know, the music industry and looking and having a vision of what you wanted for your family and like really pursuing the things that were necessary to be able to make that happen. 135 00:12:21,657.24593878 --> 00:12:27,577.24593878 You know, you had this vision of podcasting, even though that wasn't something that came to fruition. 136 00:12:27,617.24593878 --> 00:12:29,372.14593878 This is clearly like, a thing. 137 00:12:29,372.34593878 --> 00:12:46,512.24593878 A thread that binds you, you know, and your work with mission met, you know, is really also about strategically visioning for the future and being intentional about the work that goes into making that vision come to life. 138 00:12:46,522.24693878 --> 00:12:48,792.24693878 So like, it seems like there's this theme. 139 00:12:49,982.24693878 --> 00:12:51,252.24693878 Yeah, thanks. 140 00:12:51,252.24693878 --> 00:12:53,702.24693878 I didn't even really realize that about myself. 141 00:12:53,732.24693878 --> 00:12:55,992.24593878 So thank you for educating me about my own. 142 00:12:56,252.24693878 --> 00:12:57,692.24693878 Yeah, that is, that is a through line. 143 00:12:57,782.24693878 --> 00:13:07,562.24693878 Yeah, I've always I think, you know, in some ways I'm a dreamer, you know, I, I'm not sort of like a super fan of the, the EOS system. 144 00:13:07,562.24693878 --> 00:13:12,502.24793878 And I think it's mostly for a lack of lack of education on, I have never actually read the traction book. 145 00:13:12,732.24693878 --> 00:13:17,822.24693878 I've read some things here and there, but I, I know that there are people who are more dreamers, right. 146 00:13:17,852.24693878 --> 00:13:21,522.24693878 And then there are people who are implementers and I feel like on my. 147 00:13:21,822.24693878 --> 00:13:48,802.24693878 Unique snowflake and maybe everybody thinks that they're a unique snowflake, but, but I, I really do enjoy like imagining possibilities and kind of like, you know, thinking creatively thinking through the constraints of what are our skills and what are our resources? And maybe if we just like shift and just think just a slightly different way, can we maybe create something from that? And but I'm not afraid to like roll up my sleeves and like, You know, either write code or write process or kind of work through it. 148 00:13:48,982.24693878 --> 00:13:53,92.24693878 I think where I fall down one of my biggest weaknesses is I don't like maintaining things. 149 00:13:53,102.24693878 --> 00:13:54,642.24593878 That's just so boring to me. 150 00:13:54,642.24693878 --> 00:14:02,362.24493878 Like, when I, when I worked at the university I, you know, I liked kind of like solving problems, but. 151 00:14:02,657.24593878 --> 00:14:06,377.24593878 After a while, I was like, these are just mundane and these are not interesting problems. 152 00:14:06,417.24593878 --> 00:14:17,157.24493878 And and I don't know if I can keep just doing this, you know, Monday and thing over and over to me, but like, I think there's lots of people, you know, I had lots of colleagues who just really love. 153 00:14:17,367.24493878 --> 00:14:21,37.24493878 Kind of just maintaining systems and and doing those. 154 00:14:21,37.24493878 --> 00:14:23,567.24493878 And so the world is a better place because they exist too. 155 00:14:24,37.24493878 --> 00:14:36,917.24593878 But yeah this idea of visioning, I actually shortly after I left the university and started to work out on my own I hired a personal coach a friend David Dennison, and I actually just texted him this week to see if he wanted to catch up. 156 00:14:37,337.24593878 --> 00:14:41,347.24593878 But he actually walked me through a curriculum called strategic featuring. 157 00:14:41,357.24593878 --> 00:14:46,657.24593878 And I think there's actually two different two or three different people out on the internet that use that. 158 00:14:46,857.24493878 --> 00:14:49,117.24593878 This is from a company called Genesis. 159 00:14:49,167.24593878 --> 00:14:58,917.24593878 G N S Y S I think And there was a book that was written about like, future belongs to those who dare, I think is the name of it. 160 00:14:59,17.24593878 --> 00:15:11,577.24593878 If you Google something like that, you'll probably find it, but they kind of walk you through a process of kind of, envisioning your future, like what is a random day, 15 years into the future and like kind of transport yourself to that. 161 00:15:12,97.24593878 --> 00:15:18,597.24593878 And You know, what does, what does it feel like to wake up, look around your room, you know, put your feet on the ground. 162 00:15:18,647.24593878 --> 00:15:25,297.24493878 You know, what does the carpet, like, what does the floor feel like? Is it carpet? Is it hardwood? Is it, you know, and just really describe those things. 163 00:15:25,787.24493878 --> 00:15:28,777.24593878 And that was a really impactful experience to, to do that. 164 00:15:28,837.24493878 --> 00:15:32,617.24493878 I wrote, I wrote like a seven or eight page thing. 165 00:15:32,637.24493878 --> 00:15:36,847.24493878 And my coach, David was like, wow, I've done about 10 of these. 166 00:15:36,857.24493878 --> 00:15:40,797.24493878 And this is the longest one I've ever gotten, buddy. 167 00:15:40,827.24393878 --> 00:15:42,187.24493878 Like it's really helpful. 168 00:15:42,197.24393878 --> 00:15:48,337.24493878 Cause if you can like just imagine, and the reality is you'll never experienced that exact thing. 169 00:15:48,367.24493878 --> 00:15:48,737.24493878 Right. 170 00:15:49,97.24493878 --> 00:15:50,157.24493878 But a really kind of. 171 00:15:50,747.24493878 --> 00:16:07,327.24393878 Then you can start to pick it apart and like, well, why did I write that about myself or why did I imagine that that was the kind of future that I want to have or the impact that I want to have, or, you know, you know, why was my day structured in that way? And you can start to learn some things about yourself. 172 00:16:07,577.24493878 --> 00:16:11,167.24593878 And more interestingly, and as it comes to strategic planning. 173 00:16:11,557.24593878 --> 00:16:15,557.24593878 Part of that exercise is actually walking back in five year increments. 174 00:16:15,967.24593878 --> 00:16:43,807.2459388 Like what did you do five years prior to that moment in order to get yourself there? And then what did you do five years before that? And what did you do five years before that? Which happens to be today, right? So what decisions and actions am I going to take to get me closer to that? So anyway, so I did that experience, but my business partner Eric, when Yeah, if we, if we can work with a client in the way that we would really prefer to, because, you know, sometimes there's RFPs and they have a very particular process that they want to lay out and we'll support those, of course. 175 00:16:44,167.2449388 --> 00:17:01,412.2449388 But, you know, our, our version is to really kind of first start with the mission and the vision of the organization, right? Who do we want to serve? How do we want to change their lives? And what does the world look like when we're successful at that, right? If we can answer those three questions, we can come up with their mission and their vision. 176 00:17:02,12.2449388 --> 00:17:09,282.2449388 And then, you know, through some of our assessments and through conversations and looking at past plans and that sort of thing, we can identify. 177 00:17:09,312.2439388 --> 00:17:17,662.2449388 And oftentimes if you ask executive doctor directors, you know, what are two or three or four areas that you really think you should focus on? They know the answer. 178 00:17:17,712.2449388 --> 00:17:18,792.2449388 They don't, they don't need that. 179 00:17:19,407.2449388 --> 00:17:19,947.2449388 Ask the team. 180 00:17:19,947.2449388 --> 00:17:20,797.2449388 They should ask the team. 181 00:17:21,77.2449388 --> 00:17:34,932.2449388 But you know, they kind of know because they're kind of Pulling together all the myriad of conversations and and yeah, assessments and kind of board conversations, you know, all sorts of things to, to really kind of distill that down. 182 00:17:35,562.2439388 --> 00:17:45,352.2439388 But anyway, when you kind of get to those, like, what are those kind of key areas, what we call focus areas on the plan? You're going to focus on oftentimes it's going to be something related to programs. 183 00:17:45,392.2439388 --> 00:17:47,652.2439388 Oftentimes it's gonna be something related to fundraising. 184 00:17:47,992.2439388 --> 00:17:52,222.2439388 Maybe, you know, governance or, or staff or kind of people related things. 185 00:17:52,742.2439388 --> 00:17:56,102.2439388 But then you write a 3 year vision for that. 186 00:17:56,262.2439388 --> 00:18:12,102.2439388 What do we want our programs to look like in 3 years? What do we want our fundraising to look and feel like? Right? So not just how much money are we raising or not how much You know, like how our programs are impacting people, but like, are they run, you know, consistently, are we're not putting out fires, right. 187 00:18:12,102.2439388 --> 00:18:24,92.2439388 You know, is everything documented is, you know, when new team members joined the team, do they have clarity about how to really run this program instead of like making it up again, you know, every single time they go there, right. 188 00:18:24,212.2439388 --> 00:18:28,562.2439388 So getting really clear on what are those look and feel like, and then you come up with some goals. 189 00:18:29,367.2439388 --> 00:18:43,617.2439388 To say what's, what's one, two, three things that we can do to take us closer to that vision, right? And so when you start to break it down that way, you know, there's really hard problems or things that you've never really been able to solve before. 190 00:18:43,717.2439388 --> 00:18:50,727.2439388 You know, and maybe you're not, you're, maybe you're never going to reach that particular vision in three years, but you're going to get, you're going to learn something in that and you're going to work towards it. 191 00:18:51,137.2439388 --> 00:19:02,77.2429388 And so really you know, kind of breaking down strategic planning just into like those kind of core concepts is really impactful for people, for an organization, for a person for a department. 192 00:19:03,17.2429388 --> 00:19:04,677.2429388 So, yeah, yeah. 193 00:19:04,677.2429388 --> 00:19:06,587.2429388 So kind of the working backwards. 194 00:19:06,647.3429388 --> 00:19:10,517.2429388 But, but I Like from, from where you want to be in the, in the future. 195 00:19:11,117.2429388 --> 00:19:21,747.2429388 So that's really interesting that I, cause I do think like that's a great description of how strategic planning can be so impactful and so meaningful. 196 00:19:22,467.2419388 --> 00:19:27,407.2429388 When we're looking at measuring our success in meeting these. 197 00:19:28,117.2429388 --> 00:19:38,667.2419388 So one of the things like I have just often said to people is that, you know, it's, it's easier to see to look how far you've come versus how far you have to go. 198 00:19:39,237.2429388 --> 00:19:53,962.1429388 So when we're looking at metrics for measuring our success, how do we do that in a way that doesn't overwhelm and but still drives and rewards like. 199 00:19:54,572.2429388 --> 00:19:57,462.2429388 Something that drives and rewards us as we go through the process. 200 00:19:58,232.2429388 --> 00:20:00,172.2429388 Yeah, and that's a great question. 201 00:20:00,172.2429388 --> 00:20:07,32.2429388 We we absolutely think that metrics and, and quantitative measures are really valuable to consider. 202 00:20:07,112.2429388 --> 00:20:16,792.2429388 But and I think this is actually, this idea is becoming more popular, but, you know, I think everybody thinks that they need to be data driven. 203 00:20:17,447.2429388 --> 00:20:17,817.2429388 Right. 204 00:20:17,907.2429388 --> 00:20:19,547.2429388 Everybody, you know, imagine that. 205 00:20:19,557.2429388 --> 00:20:22,227.2429388 And in larger organizations, they absolutely are. 206 00:20:22,587.2429388 --> 00:20:32,97.2429388 But the reality for smaller organizations is they don't have enough bandwidth or the tools or the systems to measure all the things that they need to. 207 00:20:32,157.2429388 --> 00:20:33,17.2429388 And so they can't. 208 00:20:33,227.2429388 --> 00:20:39,647.2429388 In some ways be data driven, right? And so I, I, we kind of, that doesn't mean you should just ignore data, right. 209 00:20:39,647.2429388 --> 00:20:41,997.2429388 And never track anything or never, right. 210 00:20:42,317.2429388 --> 00:20:43,947.2429388 And so it's really this kind of continuum. 211 00:20:43,977.2429388 --> 00:20:46,667.2429388 I'm probably going to get this wrong, but I've been thinking about a model. 212 00:20:46,717.2419388 --> 00:20:57,992.2429388 You know, we talked about models before the call started, but you know, there's sort of like, You know, getting organizations from totally a lack of data, maybe to data curious, right. 213 00:20:58,22.2429388 --> 00:21:06,32.2429388 Or they're just asking questions like what could we possibly measure that is going to help us be clear on this over time. 214 00:21:06,132.2429388 --> 00:21:06,542.2429388 Right. 215 00:21:07,242.2419388 --> 00:21:12,232.2429388 So maybe you can be data curious, then you can maybe maybe be data influenced, right. 216 00:21:12,262.2429388 --> 00:21:24,937.2429388 That like data, you know, quantitative measures can influence your decision making, but still you're going to have to make decisions based on, on gut to some extent, based on Your life experience and that sort of thing. 217 00:21:25,437.2429388 --> 00:21:28,597.2429388 And then, you know, all the way to data driven. 218 00:21:28,937.2429388 --> 00:21:35,447.2429388 And I think even when you talk to most organizations, like very few decisions are truly made only based on data. 219 00:21:35,637.2429388 --> 00:21:39,77.2419388 And when they are, people don't really like those decisions. 220 00:21:39,77.2429388 --> 00:21:39,417.2429388 Right. 221 00:21:39,667.2419388 --> 00:21:41,517.2429388 And so it needs to come with a lot of. 222 00:21:42,222.2429388 --> 00:21:45,292.2429388 You know, smoothing over or, or what have you. 223 00:21:45,362.2429388 --> 00:21:48,42.2429388 So, so I think that's a start of the answer. 224 00:21:48,102.2429388 --> 00:22:03,992.2429388 I think just like goal setting, you know, like our perspective, just on, just like goal setting is you got to start somewhere, right? So I would rather have an organization tracking a few things that they have determined are not too onerous. 225 00:22:04,102.2429388 --> 00:22:05,712.2439388 But, but still. 226 00:22:06,77.2439388 --> 00:22:09,97.2439388 Are likely to help them answer questions over time. 227 00:22:09,567.2439388 --> 00:22:13,137.2439388 But just kind of build that, that habit and then kind of layer it on. 228 00:22:13,377.2439388 --> 00:22:23,27.2439388 But I think it is a really hard thing, especially in small organizations, because there are just so many variables that you, you could just imagine, you know, we should, we should be tracking this KPI. 229 00:22:23,407.2439388 --> 00:22:25,817.2439388 And in the end, it actually doesn't mean anything. 230 00:22:25,837.2439388 --> 00:22:27,877.2439388 And so I, I don't have a great answer. 231 00:22:28,87.2439388 --> 00:22:47,386.496161 And, and a very, you know, contextual, but I think, you know, start somewhere refine it over time, maybe have a goal, you know, once a once a year to kind of review, like, are these, are these particular and I think it's really important for us to be able to have a conversation about, you know, what are the best quantitative measures, helping us understand if we're on the right path or not. 232 00:22:47,696.596161 --> 00:22:49,46.596161 And just have those conversations. 233 00:22:49,956.596161 --> 00:22:53,156.596161 Yeah, I think that conversation is really, really important. 234 00:22:53,166.596161 --> 00:22:59,606.595161 Like, is this helping us understand? Because it's really been interesting to me as I've worked with a lot of organizations over the years. 235 00:23:00,36.595161 --> 00:23:02,406.595161 They don't always understand why they're collecting the data. 236 00:23:02,476.595161 --> 00:23:05,906.595161 And so, like, they maybe don't collect it well. 237 00:23:06,66.595161 --> 00:23:15,356.595161 Or they collect it and they do nothing with it, you know, kind of like what you said, but it being really meaningful. 238 00:23:15,356.595161 --> 00:23:26,746.595161 And I love it when I talk to an organization and they're like, well, I was talking to somebody yesterday and they said, well, we, we had been tracking this, but that didn't really tell me what I needed to know. 239 00:23:26,776.595161 --> 00:23:33,626.595161 Like if I track they were tracking like, two different types of clients that they had. 240 00:23:33,946.595161 --> 00:23:39,896.595161 One would be at the beginning of an illness and the other one would be after the first round of treatment for the illness. 241 00:23:39,896.595161 --> 00:23:42,36.594161 And so, but they weren't tracking that yet. 242 00:23:42,996.595161 --> 00:23:57,131.595161 And she said, if I track this and I find out which stage they're at, there's actually different opportunities, you know, for people who are, are just newly diagnosed versus those who are survivors and who have completed. 243 00:23:57,131.595161 --> 00:24:02,591.595161 And I was like, yes, like that's a really meaningful way of looking at your data. 244 00:24:02,631.595161 --> 00:24:08,611.593161 So she wasn't just looking at what numbers are we collecting? She had a reason why she might want to segment it. 245 00:24:08,861.593161 --> 00:24:23,351.593161 And so, you know, kind of, I love your Data curious and data influenced all the way to data driven, because we're not always ready, we're not always ready for for every model that we see out there, you know, to be able to implement it. 246 00:24:23,851.593161 --> 00:24:32,421.593161 And when we are a solopreneur or, well, you know, if we are a solo shop for a nonprofit then we just. 247 00:24:33,291.593161 --> 00:24:37,321.593161 You know, being a solopreneur, I can say like, there's just not the capacity. 248 00:24:37,351.593161 --> 00:24:38,151.593161 I can't do it all. 249 00:24:38,151.593161 --> 00:24:48,841.593161 I can't, you know, I can't offer my programming and always do all of the backend stuff really, really well because there's only one of me and we all have capacity. 250 00:24:50,401.592161 --> 00:24:51,261.593161 Yeah, absolutely. 251 00:24:51,491.592161 --> 00:24:51,651.592161 Yeah. 252 00:24:51,651.592161 --> 00:24:55,641.693161 And in our software, we're starting to we have some metrics tracking. 253 00:24:55,651.693161 --> 00:25:02,641.693161 And one thing that I was going to highlight is that ideally those measures are reported on. 254 00:25:03,46.693161 --> 00:25:08,716.693161 To some extent regularly, you know, with transparency with the staff, if you have it and, and with your board. 255 00:25:08,716.693161 --> 00:25:18,866.693161 So something to keep in mind is, you know, what, what are the things that we can measure, but then also can kind of be, you know, published and, you know, not necessary. 256 00:25:19,26.693161 --> 00:25:27,56.693161 I mean, ideally be held accountable to some extent around it, but also recognizing that there's all these external influences that are going to affect how those things are. 257 00:25:27,426.693161 --> 00:25:31,126.593161 The other thing that we're starting to build and our software is a feature that I'm going to. 258 00:25:31,276.693161 --> 00:25:38,426.693161 Work on the next six months is, is kind of this idea of compound metrics, right? So just because you. 259 00:25:38,996.693161 --> 00:26:06,481.693161 Measure one thing like that number might need to be added to multiply it against something else right in order to really you know, like in the financial world, you know, there's all these different ratios that you can be looking at, you know, your you know your assets versus You know your income right? And so how are you utilizing? Like What impact of the assets that you have, how is that driving revenue? Right. 260 00:26:06,481.693161 --> 00:26:08,271.693161 So just an easy one to talk about. 261 00:26:08,691.693161 --> 00:26:11,81.693161 But there's all these different types of ratios that you can say. 262 00:26:11,81.693161 --> 00:26:13,531.692661 So like just tracking one thing might not be enough. 263 00:26:13,531.692661 --> 00:26:25,171.693161 You might need to be tracking multiple things and kind of doing some equation on there and that starts to get more complicated unless you have the right tools, unless you have the right systems and processes to, to, to track it and measure it and then use it, right. 264 00:26:25,871.693161 --> 00:26:26,221.693161 Yeah. 265 00:26:26,676.693161 --> 00:26:28,696.693161 Yeah, but it is really helpful. 266 00:26:28,856.693161 --> 00:26:46,236.693161 It's really helpful to be able to work with someone who understands some of the cross implications of the data, you know, so that they might be able to recommend ways to utilize the data that you're already collecting in a new way and make it even more meaningful. 267 00:26:46,256.693161 --> 00:26:56,436.693161 You know, when we look at return on investment, return on investment is sometimes very difficult to measure when we're talking about impacting humans. 268 00:26:56,851.693161 --> 00:27:20,41.692161 But there are some other return on investments that are a little bit easier to manage in something that if we have the capacity to, should look a little bit at, right? Like how much per person are we spending or investing, you know, to make this change? Well, you probably have the, the, you have the information about how much you have spent, you know, and how many clients you have. 269 00:27:20,41.693161 --> 00:27:34,676.692661 Like, so just, And it's, it's not a perfect calculation, but if you divide your expenses by the number of people you're able to serve, you can get a rough estimate about the cost per person that's being served. 270 00:27:34,676.692661 --> 00:27:36,316.693161 And you can look at that. 271 00:27:36,576.693161 --> 00:27:51,576.693161 And that's a really helpful metric to be able to say, hey If, if it costs this much per person that we're serving right now, you know, if we want to serve X number of people more, we can guesstimate that it will cost this much more. 272 00:27:51,576.693161 --> 00:27:51,976.693161 Right. 273 00:27:52,396.693161 --> 00:27:55,16.693161 And maybe there's some economies of scale, right. 274 00:27:55,16.693161 --> 00:27:56,276.692161 So it might go down a little bit. 275 00:27:56,806.693161 --> 00:28:15,471.693161 But also if you're tracking that thing over time, and that probably is not that hard to track, right? Yeah, you're already tracking how many how many people you serve and you're already tracking your revenue or expenses You know, is that number going up and down? Right. 276 00:28:15,711.693161 --> 00:28:31,601.693161 And so like, and what, what changes did we make around that? And so some of that, what can be helpful is not only measuring those things, but also kind of going back to the journaling that you talked about on a personal level, you know, making a journal of, we made this decision at this time. 277 00:28:31,611.693161 --> 00:28:42,96.693161 So that way, six months from now, or a year from now, two years from now, when you see this, Dip or the spike, you know, in this chart, why did, why did that happen? I can't remember. 278 00:28:42,126.693161 --> 00:28:50,326.692161 Oh, we can go back to our log of here were some kind of bigger decisions that were made in the organization at this time and hence strategic planning software might be able to help with that. 279 00:28:50,336.693161 --> 00:28:53,536.693161 Cause then you have a log of all the things that were worked on and what you were trying. 280 00:28:53,886.692161 --> 00:28:56,66.692161 But but still that this idea of. 281 00:28:56,516.692161 --> 00:29:07,306.691161 Of just being more, a little more intentional in, in kind of, Logging the quantitative outputs and then the decisions that are happening, you know, at the board and the staff level and see how it changes over time, right. 282 00:29:07,306.692161 --> 00:29:11,756.692661 To better understand your business, better understand how do you, how to serve your communities. 283 00:29:12,466.691661 --> 00:29:12,846.691661 Yeah. 284 00:29:13,116.692661 --> 00:29:15,186.692661 And for the listeners, I have used Qazi. 285 00:29:15,196.691661 --> 00:29:17,936.693661 So I've used the software that Ricky's talking about. 286 00:29:18,276.693661 --> 00:29:26,116.693661 And I think one of the benefits of using something like Qazi is that you have captured, because I think this is the most important piece. 287 00:29:26,656.693661 --> 00:29:32,206.693661 You have captured how you were measuring things and then you're capturing the data. 288 00:29:32,901.693661 --> 00:29:34,401.693661 And using it in that way. 289 00:29:34,411.693661 --> 00:29:55,541.693661 And you can reference back to it because for so many of our small to medium nonprofits, you know, if we experienced turnover that can mean a large portion of our staff, you know, if it's a smaller organization, it could, it could be, if you're a, if you're a staff of three and you turn over one person, that's 33 percent of your organizational memory gone like that. 290 00:29:55,541.693661 --> 00:29:55,871.693661 Right. 291 00:29:57,41.693661 --> 00:29:57,551.693661 And. 292 00:29:58,21.693661 --> 00:30:22,481.694161 So it's really so wonderful when we have captured some of these things so that when the new person refers back to the number or and they ask the question what does this mean They have something to reference and they have something to build from rather than having to really either kind of backfill all of that information. 293 00:30:22,481.694161 --> 00:30:36,801.693661 Cause they're going to have to get the information one way or the other, right? How did we do this? And why are we doing it? And so I think that a COZY is a very, it's a very affordable option for for organizations as a, as a tracking tracking mechanism. 294 00:30:37,271.693661 --> 00:30:51,991.693661 And if If it's not that particular software that they choose Having a software that helps explain the data that you're utilizing is, or having that recorded somewhere institutionally is really vital. 295 00:30:52,761.692661 --> 00:30:53,121.692661 Yeah. 296 00:30:53,391.693661 --> 00:30:53,551.693161 Yeah. 297 00:30:53,551.693161 --> 00:30:57,571.693661 I think just in general, the habit of writing things down, you know, here was our plan. 298 00:30:57,631.692661 --> 00:30:58,941.692661 Here's what we were going to measure. 299 00:30:58,991.692661 --> 00:31:00,251.692661 Here's what we didn't measure. 300 00:31:00,291.693661 --> 00:31:01,591.693661 Here was the impact of that. 301 00:31:02,211.693661 --> 00:31:17,881.692661 It goes a long way when there's, when there's turnover and leadership and staff and boards You know, there's typically a six month to a year long process of a board member, even just kind of kind of just understanding the basics of the organization and really how it operates and that sort of thing. 302 00:31:17,881.693661 --> 00:31:25,841.693661 So if you can speed that up, then they're going to more likely to provide their expertise for their guidance or decision making much faster. 303 00:31:25,851.693661 --> 00:31:26,101.693661 Right. 304 00:31:26,101.693661 --> 00:31:32,471.693661 So if you can point them back to things you know, as appropriate, that can be really helpful even on the governance side. 305 00:31:33,286.693661 --> 00:31:33,646.693661 Yeah. 306 00:31:33,906.693661 --> 00:31:34,746.693661 Yeah, that's true. 307 00:31:34,786.693661 --> 00:31:35,16.693661 Right. 308 00:31:35,26.693661 --> 00:31:37,536.693661 The faster we get up to speed, the quicker we're at speed. 309 00:31:39,86.693661 --> 00:31:46,6.693661 So can you tell our listeners where they can find you and learn more about Mission Met and Kazi? Yeah, absolutely. 310 00:31:46,16.693661 --> 00:31:48,536.693661 So, our company website is mission met. 311 00:31:48,766.693661 --> 00:31:49,236.693661 com. 312 00:31:49,486.693661 --> 00:31:53,946.692661 And if you're, you can get to the causey site from there, but causey. 313 00:31:53,976.693661 --> 00:31:57,396.693661 app it's causey.App. 314 00:31:57,866.693661 --> 00:32:01,6.693661 And not super active on LinkedIn right now. 315 00:32:01,36.693661 --> 00:32:08,636.694661 But I I'm kind of taking a little bit of a social media break in the last quarter of this year, but you can connect with me there. 316 00:32:08,636.694661 --> 00:32:12,136.694661 And I Love, love to chat and see if I can help in any way, shape or form. 317 00:32:13,246.694661 --> 00:32:13,716.694661 Awesome. 318 00:32:14,366.694661 --> 00:32:45,936.695661 And then the last question that I, that every expert gets to answer is what is something, a tip or some type of advice that you'd like to give every nonprofit? So in regards to, this is kind of the most impactful thing that when I, And I, you know, beyond the visioning thing that my business partner shared in our planning process, but it's about, it's about goal setting and you know, a lot of people set goals like I want to lose 10 pounds, or I want to lose. 319 00:32:46,236.695661 --> 00:32:47,106.695661 You know, 15 pounds. 320 00:32:47,106.695661 --> 00:32:50,36.695661 And they might even say, okay, I'm going to be, I'm going to use smart. 321 00:32:50,36.695661 --> 00:32:53,786.695661 So I'm going to be specific, measurable, attainable, all those things. 322 00:32:54,46.695661 --> 00:32:55,176.694661 I probably got one wrong already. 323 00:32:55,416.695661 --> 00:33:06,196.695661 So they're like, okay, by this date, I'm going to have lost this amount of weight and, you know, so the problem with that is it doesn't tell you how you're going to do it right. 324 00:33:06,736.695661 --> 00:33:08,446.695661 And it also doesn't. 325 00:33:08,836.695661 --> 00:33:12,986.695661 You know, for something like weight loss, especially sure. 326 00:33:13,326.695661 --> 00:33:24,6.695161 You probably want to fit into a pair of pants or, or, you know, look different slightly, but digging deeper, you really just want to be healthy, right? You want to be. 327 00:33:24,306.696161 --> 00:33:27,996.696161 At a healthy weight for your body type and, and all those kinds of things. 328 00:33:28,366.696161 --> 00:33:52,66.697161 And so it's better to kind of develop what we call or what other people call a process goals, right? So what is, what is a process? What is a, a system that we're going to put in place so that we are healthy, so that we ultimately lose that weight and keep that weight off, right? And so a better goal might be, I'm going to you know, walk 10, 000 steps. 329 00:33:52,476.697161 --> 00:33:53,526.697161 Four days a week. 330 00:33:53,896.697161 --> 00:34:09,746.697161 Or I'm going to meet with, you know, this friend and this friend you know, weekly to go for a jog or a bike ride, or, you know, to lift weights or what have you, right? So being really intentional about setting more processes and systems in place so that that. 331 00:34:10,456.697161 --> 00:34:27,786.697161 And result comes to fruition and and you can make that even better by having somebody who's kind of a champion with you on that, right? So you can, you have somebody else that you are connected to that also can be on that journey with you, right? Cause we, we do so much better work. 332 00:34:27,886.697161 --> 00:34:31,416.697161 We're much happier when we're, you know, kind of making changes. 333 00:34:31,671.697161 --> 00:34:34,731.697161 With others holding them accountable, them holding us accountable. 334 00:34:35,51.697161 --> 00:34:43,321.697161 And so if you can find, you know, some friends to help you in that, you know, weight loss or getting healthy goal all the better, you're more likely to do it. 335 00:34:43,721.697161 --> 00:34:53,491.696161 And so, you know, in our, in our planning process we often coach organizations to have co champions for goals that two people are working together to develop a process and then implement that process. 336 00:34:55,11.696161 --> 00:34:55,671.696161 Oh, I love that. 337 00:34:55,711.696161 --> 00:34:55,981.696161 Yeah. 338 00:34:56,201.696161 --> 00:34:58,881.696161 We work better in community, right? Yeah, absolutely. 339 00:34:59,441.696161 --> 00:34:59,931.696161 Yeah. 340 00:34:59,941.696161 --> 00:35:07,561.696161 So thank you so much for joining us today and for sharing with our listeners all about strategic planning and goal setting. 341 00:35:07,571.696161 --> 00:35:10,181.696161 This was a great conversation to our listeners. 342 00:35:10,181.696161 --> 00:35:19,801.697161 I hope that you tune in next week and that we'll have more opportunity to learn more about nonprofit work and how to do more, do more work better. 343 00:35:19,801.797161 --> 00:35:20,811.597161 Thanks. 344 00:35:21,91.697161 --> 00:35:22,31.697161 Thanks so much, Sarah. 345 00:35:23,255.0304943 --> 00:35:26,655.0304943 Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of Nonprofit 411. 346 00:35:27,55.0304943 --> 00:35:30,625.0304943 I hope you found today's conversation as insightful and inspiring as I did. 347 00:35:31,215.0304943 --> 00:35:34,585.0294943 Remember, building a healthy nonprofit requires a holistic approach. 348 00:35:34,895.0304943 --> 00:35:41,765.0304943 There are many resources available to support your staff, and we're dedicated to helping your organization access what it needs to thrive. 349 00:35:42,505.0294943 --> 00:35:46,72.1941729 One key to creating a thriving organization is a diverse fundraising strategy. 350 00:35:46,72.1941729 --> 00:35:51,74.9304943 While grants are an important part of that strategy, they're just one piece of the overall puzzle. 351 00:35:51,965.0304943 --> 00:35:57,385.0304943 If you're looking to strengthen your grant writing skills as part of this bigger picture, I've got a resource to help you get started. 352 00:35:57,935.0304943 --> 00:36:06,235.0304943 Download my free grant writing guide packed with practical tips and best practices to help you craft proposals that align with your overall fundraising goals. 353 00:36:06,715.0304943 --> 00:36:08,195.0304943 You'll find the link in the show notes. 354 00:36:08,485.0294943 --> 00:36:14,665.0304943 And as always, if you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with your fellow change makers. 355 00:36:15,255.0304943 --> 00:36:17,855.0304943 Let's work together to build a vibrant nonprofit community. 356 00:36:18,175.0304943 --> 00:36:21,185.0304943 Until next time, keep pushing forward and making a difference. 357 00:36:22,342.8404654 --> 00:36:26,774.2141678 Feeling the pressure of meeting your nonprofit's fundraising goals? You're not alone. 358 00:36:27,294.2141678 --> 00:36:32,384.2131678 Many nonprofits struggle with limited resources, donor fatigue, and a lack of clear strategy. 359 00:36:33,164.2141678 --> 00:36:37,484.2141678 Nonprofit 411 offers personalized coaching to address these challenges head on. 360 00:36:38,14.2131678 --> 00:36:39,774.2141678 Together, we'll tackle your biggest obstacle. 361 00:36:41,219.2141678 --> 00:36:44,969.2141678 Boost your donor relationships and build momentum toward your mission. 362 00:36:45,519.2141678 --> 00:36:47,619.2141678 Don't let obstacles slow you down. 363 00:36:47,779.2141678 --> 00:36:50,989.2141678 Start your coaching journey today at Nonprofit411. 364 00:36:51,319.2131678 --> 00:36:51,689.2131678 org.