Want more information about the podcast? Download our one-sheet.
Fundraising
- Ep 137: Cryptocurrency and the Future of Donor Advised Funds (Robbie Heeger)
- Ep 131: Becoming a Social Prophet (Lynne Twist)
- Ep 128: Making Beautiful Music With Community-Driven Partnerships (Henry Donahue)
- Ep 126: Creating 5-Star Special Events in the Virtual Age (Liz Page and Amanda Harless)
- Ep 124: The 5 Giving Trends That Will Define Online Fundraising (Scot Chisholm)
- Ep 122: How to Use Artificial Intelligence to Improve Donor Retention (Allison Fine and Beth Kanter)
- Ep. 118: The Growing Charitable Movement That’s Raised a Billion Dollars (ara Lomelin)
- Ep 114: What If Fundraising De-Emphasized the Donor? (Vu Le and Michelle Muri)
- Ep 112: What Foundations Are Thinking Right Now (Caryl M. Stern)
- Ep 90: Why People Don’t Donate (and What You Can Do About It) (Phil Buchanan)
- Ep 88: Everything You Wanted to Know About Planned Giving (Judi O’Kelley)
- Ep 73: The Arc of a Successful Capital Campaign (Eric Javier)
- Ep 72: Successful Year End Fundraising (Gail Perry)
- Ep 64: Donors Who Know More, Give More (Roxie Jerde)
- Ep 53: Asking for Money Isn’t Sexy… But Philanthropy Is (Claire Axelrad)
- Ep 45: The Final 60 Days of the Year (Seth Rosen)
- Ep 40: Overcoming Fundraising Mistakes (Jim Bennett)
- Ep 25: Year End In T-Minus 30… (Seth Rosen)
- Ep 24: Corporate Support the Right Way (Julie Hirshey)
- Ep 23: Unlocking the Mystery of Foundation Funding (Molly de Aguiar)
- Ep 22: The Art and Science of Asking for Money (Brian Saber)
- Ep 15: On Direct Response Fundraising (Lisa Maska)
- Ep 10: Successful Fundraising at Small Nonprofits (Pamela Grow)
- Ep 7: Corporate Sponsorships Ain’t What They Used to Be (Nancy Mahon)
- Ep 5: Special Events: It’s Not All About the Centerpieces (Jason Burlingame)
- Ep 1: The Fear of Asking for Money (Seth Rosen)
Board of Directors
- Ep 117: The Hunt for Great Board Members (Robert Acton and Lalita Badinehal)
- Ep 107: The Top 20 Attributes of an Outstanding Board
- Ep 87: True Confessions of a 5-Star Board Chair (Daryl Messinger)
- Ep 76: The 4 Obstacles to a Diverse Board
- Ep 41: What Every New Board Member Needs to Understand
- Ep 37: The Partnership That Drives a Thriving Nonprofit (Kim Freedman and Nick Purrington)
- Ep 35: Stop Asking Your Board to Fundraise (Gail Perry)
- Ep 27: Confessions of a Terrible Board Member (Eileen Opatut)
- Ep 8: A Day in the Life of a Board Chair (Joe Landau)
Team Building
- Ep 121: Creating a 5-Star Board Retreat (Dolph Goldenburg)
- Ep 100: The Professional Interim Executive Director (Margo Amgott)
- Ep 85: Managing Rapid Growth – the Story of charity: water (Lauren Letta)
- Ep 77: Navigating the Tension Between Development and Communications (Steve Ralls)
- Ep 62: Hiring the Perfect Executive Director (Dara Klarfeld)
- Ep 44: The Executive Director With No Staff (Sarah Audet)
- Ep 14: Building a Great Development Team (Seth Rosen)
- Ep 11: Hiring a Great Team (Marilyn Machlowitz)
Marketing / Communications
- Ep 111: Once Upon a Time There Was a Fundraiser Who… (Dan Portnoy)
- Ep 104: Creating a Nonprofit Communications Engine (Sarah Durham)
- Ep 86: An Artful Approach to Social Media (Robin Cembalest)
- Ep 61: How to Build a Smart Communications Plan (Ben Wyskida)
- Ep 58: Is It Time to Leave Facebook? (Julia Campbell)
- Ep 47: How to Engage Millennials (Abra Annes)
- Ep 43: Nonprofits, Storytelling, and ‘This American Life’ (Alex Blumberg)
- Ep 42: What’s With All the Ribbons? (Dan Osheyack)
- Ep 38: What the Heck is Marketing Anyway? (Sarah Durham)
- Ep 19: How to Give a Great Speech (Elaine Bennett)
- Ep 13: Extraordinary Nonprofit Communications (Sean Gibbons)
- Ep 6: It’s All About the Message (Howard Bragman)
Culture, Self-Care, and the Nonprofit Sector
- Ep 136: Who’s Afraid to Return to the Office? (Ellen LaPointe and Nick Turner)
- Ep 125: What Will You Carry Into 2021? (Joan Garry)
- Bonus Episode: Turn Your Impatience to Your Heroic Pursuits
- Ep 116: The Most Important Piece of Diversity Work: Belonging (Neha Sampat)
- Ep 106: Introducing Your Nonprofit Life (Laura Zielke)
- Ep 103: Stronger Together: The Power of Cohort Learning (Darlene Nipper)
- Ep 102: Is Abuse of Power Epidemic in the Nonprofit Sector? (Sarah Beaulieu and Kim Jones)
- Ep 94: Tales From the Trenches (Darian Rodriguez Heyman)
- Ep 92: The Lonely Nonprofit Leader (Glennda Testone)
- Bonus: Nonprofit Workspaces (Joan Garry on Harvard Business Review)
- Ep 82: Helping the Helpers
- Ep 75: What’s Your One Big 2019 Goal? (Members of the Nonprofit Leadership Lab)
- Ep 70: Unicorns, Superheroes and Nonprofit Leaders (Vu Le)
- Ep 68: No, You Can’t Do It All
- Ep 60: Why Nonprofit Journalism Matters (Christa Scharfenberg)
- Ep 57: You Can Do Hard Things
- Ep 49: How to Make 2018 a Whole Lot Better
- Ep 48: Building a Culture of Gratitude (Members of the Nonprofit Leadership Lab)
- Ep 31: Givers and Takers at Nonprofits (Adam Grant)
- Ep 26: Building a Culture of Optimism (Steve Gross)
- Ep 21: The Happy Healthy Nonprofit (Beth Kanter)
- Ep 4: Nonprofits Are Messy AND Funny (Vu Le)
- Ep 138: Joan’s Favorite Books for Nonprofit Leaders
Building Your “Army of the Engaged”
- Ep 99: What Visionaries Do Best (Paul Rice)
- Ep 98: Movements Are Like Relay Races (Frances Kunreuther)
- Ep 95: How Do We Ignite Our Volunteers? (Tobi Johnson)
- Ep 81: How to Grow a Movement and Your “Army of the Engaged” (Rashad Robinson)
- Ep 79: How a Film Festival Impacts Community Building (Evelyn Colbert)
- Ep 69: New Power and the Building of Movements (Henry Timms)
- Ep 39: From Kitchen Volunteer to Board Chair (Sylvia Vogelman)
- Ep 36: The Community Builder Who Became a Philanthropist (Stu McLaren)
- Ep 20: Volunteer If You Want to Live Longer (Pamela Hawley)
- Ep 9: Websites, Social Media and Online Movements (Scott Paley)
Money and Finance
- Ep 71: A Smart Nonprofit Budget Process (Hilda Polanco)
- Ep 67: Busting the Overhead Myth (Dan Pallotta)
- Ep 55: The Nonprofit Sector Has Serious Money Hangups (Belinda Rosenblum)
Founders and Innovation
- Ep 127: Building a Grassroots Movement From Scratch (Donna Dees and Shikha Hamilton)
- Ep 97: The Telltale Signs of Founder Syndrome (Part 2) (Rachael Gibson)
- Ep 96: The Telltale Signs of Founder Syndrome (Part 1) (Rachael Gibson)
- Ep 78: What Nonprofits Can Learn from Tech Start-ups (Ann Mei )
- Ep 65: The Case of the Serial Nonprofit Founder (Robin Steinberg)
- Ep 54: The 15 Year Old Nonprofit Superhero (Kayla and Andrea Abramowitz)
- Ep 30: Nonprofits Are Messy… So What? (Tim Harford)
- Ep 17: How One Founder Avoided “Founder Syndrome” (Kevin Jennings)
- Ep 12: Turning Tragedy Into Legacy (Caroline Samponaro)
Leadership
- Ep 135: Building the Resilience to Withstand a Disaster (Nina Meehan)
- Ep 132: Let’s Make Program Evaluation Simpler (Chari Smith)
- Ep 130: A Powerful Approach to Keeping Remote Staff Motivated (Dr. Paul White)
- Ep 129: Finding the Right Leader For Your Org (Melissa Madzel)
- Ep 123: The Single Best Sign of a Healthy Nonprofit (Carlos de la Rosa & Rosanne Siino)
- Ep 120: Raising the Next Generation of Nonprofit Leaders (Charlotte Alter)
Ep 119: Your First 90 Days as an Executive Director (Michael Watkins) - Ep 113: Taking Nonprofits From Good to Great – Part 1 (Jim Collins)
- Ep 115: Taking Nonprofits From Good to Great – Part 2 (Jim Collins)
- Ep 110: How to Have Difficult Conversations – Part 2 (Sheila Heen)
- Ep 109: How to Have Difficult Conversations – Part 1 (Sheila Heen)
- Ep 108: A New CEO Job Starts in the Heat of a Pandemic (Ellen LaPointe)
- Ep 105: Leadership in the Time of COVID-19
- Ep 101: Managing the Tension of Change (Michael DePass)
- Ep 93: Why Even a Good Executive Director Needs a Coach
- Bonus: Small But Mighty Nonprofits (Laura Zielke)
- Ep 91: The Diversity Problem in Our Sector (Diahann Billings-Burford)
- Ep 84: Passion, Conflict, Diversity, and Leadership (Parisa Parsa)
- Ep 83: You’re Doing Meetings All Wrong (Priya Parker)
- Ep 80: Why is Change So Hard? (Lisa Lahey)
- Ep 74: Good People, Hidden Biases, and Navigating Your Blind Spots (Anthony Greenwald)
- Ep 66: When It’s Time to Leave Your Org (Kate Kendell)
- Ep 56: Anatomy of a Crisis (Emily Klehm)
- Ep 52: Personal Politics vs. Public Responsibilities (Anne Wallestad)
- Ep 51: A Symphony of Shared Leadership (Jim Roe and Bernard Labadie)
- Ep 50: Why Bartenders Make Great Leaders (Helen Rothberg)
- Ep 34: Leading a Small (But Mighty) Nonprofit
- Ep 32: Even Roger Federer Has a Coach (Michael Bungay Stanier)
- Ep 29: Leadership Transitions: How to Avoid the Mess (Don Tebbe)
- Ep 28: Difficult Conversations in Uncertain Times (Parisa Parsa)
- Ep 16: Moving from Corporate to Nonprofit (Bill Abrams)
- Ep 3: My Interview with Alexander Sanger of Planned Parenthood (Alexander Sanger)
- Ep 2: A Day in the Life of an Executive Director (Marea Chaveco, Glennda Testone)
Strategy
- Ep 134: An Alternative to Strategic Planning (Lindsay Hoffman)
- Ep 133: Choosing the Right Nonprofit Business Model (Rinku Sen)
- Ep 89: Nonprofit Partnerships, Mergers and Acquisitions (Wendy Foster)
- Ep 63: How to Think About Mergers and Collaborations (Nadia Shmavonian)
- Ep 59: Scaling Up Your Nonprofit (Kathleen Kelly Janus)
- Ep 46: Strategic Program Design (Lindsay Hoffman)
- Ep 33: Successful Nonprofit Collaborations (Geri Mannion)
- Ep 18: Mission Control and Strategic Planning (Liana Downey)
Here are the answers to some of the questions I’ve already gotten about the podcast…
WHY START A PODCAST?
Great question. After all, I already have this blog. OUR blog.
And it really is OUR blog. Nearly all of the content is reader-driven by the dozens of emails I receive with questions, ideas, and the challenges they face every day.
My team and I spend a lot of time considering how we can better serve the readers of our blog. Sometimes it feels like folks want and need more detail than a blog can offer.
I see the Nonprofits Are Messy podcast as an added value to not just those who know me but others in the nonprofit sector — both board and senior staff. Here’s the value I hope it will add:
- A Deeper Dive. Our first episode, The Fear of Asking for Money, provides an opportunity to dig deep into how to deal with the anxiety and close gifts.
- Up Close And Personal. These podcasts allow you to get a bit more in my head (scary thought perhaps?) and create a level of intimacy between my guest(s) and me. It’s my hope that the Nonprofits Are Messy podcast will offer an even more personal perspective and provide an opportunity to get to know me a little better.
- Meet My Friends. Malcolm Gladwell would call me a “connector.” I know a lot of people. They are smart, funny, and most of them are connected to the nonprofit sector. Their wisdom and insights have enriched me through the years and I wanted my readers (and now listeners) to benefit too. So throughout the series, you will meet my friends, former colleagues, and high-profile folks with connections to the nonprofit sector. They will tell you their stories and you will walk away inspired and with a few nuggets of actionable advice.
- A Different Way To Consume Content. I’d like to join you at the gym, on a car ride, and in all the different places you now consume content. When I began my blog, options were more limited. It’s clearly time for me to provide my tribe with the opportunity to connect with me at different times, different places, and in different ways (and don’t think for a minute we are finished thinking about other options!)
HOW LONG WILL EACH EPISODE BE?
I’m trying to keep them in the 20 – 25 40 – 50 minute range. (I tried to be shorter but my guests are just so interesting!)
HOW OFTEN WILL NEW EPISODES ARRIVE?
Roughly once every two weeks. Make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss them!
IS THERE ANY WAY I CAN HELP?
Yes! If you like the podcast, help us spread the word in the easiest way possible. Leave a rating and a review on iTunes (includes detailed instructions.) The more ratings and reviews, the higher the profile the Nonprofits Are Messy podcast will get, giving us the chance to reach more folks who can benefit.
I HAVE AN IDEA FOR AN EPISODE. CAN I TELL YOU ABOUT IT?
Absolutely! Just like this is OUR blog, it’s also OUR podcast! Just fill out this form.
Enjoy, let us know what you think, and thanks so much for helping us spread the word.
