Next in Nonprofits

Godni Amir is the Founder and Executive Director of A Free Bird, whose mission is "to empower children affected by cancer to discover their inner artist." Godni joins host Steve Boland to talk about building and sustaining a nonprofit powered almost entirely by volunteers. After being inspired by his voice teacher's experience with cancer, Godni launched A Free Bird 18 years ago with a single Craigslist post and a free first event at Bloomingdale's, and has since been honored six times by NYC Service for volunteer engagement. He shares how the organization now coordinates 20 to 60 volunteers and interns from around the world across eight departments, using tools like Slack, Salesforce, and Google Workspace (plus a custom community dashboard in progress) to protect volunteers' time so they can focus on relationships. Godni talks about recruiting for passion first, pairing newer volunteers with experienced ones, and holding to clear policies and procedures while treating volunteers like family. He stresses the ideas of offering job references, learning opportunities, and appreciation events long after their service ends. Listen now by clicking the player above or subscribe to the podcast on your phone for automatic updates. Get more details on how to subscribe on our podcast page. Please consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or your platform of choice. Thanks!

Patrice Davis is the CEO of Grants Works, whose mission is "to help organizations, educational institutions and businesses successfully find, obtain, manage, and comply with federal and other government grants that positively impact people and communities." Patrice first joined the NEXT in Nonprofits podcast in 2021 talking about applying for government grants. Patrice joins host Steve Boland to discuss the importance of time and effort reporting in grants management. Plans for how time and effort will be reported on grants begins with writing the grant, but continues on in post-grant administration using a grant manager (mostly likely different from grant writer) and the right tools for the right job. Patrice discusses best practices and tools - such as integrating grant restraints into a payroll tool to track costs assigned to a grant expenses. Patrice also looks at things that impact costs are allocated, such as how much indirect costs may need to be covered in the grant. Some organizations may choose different strategies surrounding these costs. More information about the federal definitions are available in the Code of Federal Regulations here. Subscribe to the podcast on your phone for automatic updates. Get more details on how to subscribe on our podcast page.

Allison Wagstrom is the Senior Loan Officer for Propel Nonprofits, whose mission "fuels the impact and effectiveness of nonprofits with guidance, expertise, and capital." Allison joins host Steve Boland to talk about the risks nonprofits face in 2025, and steps and tools they can use to manage that risk. Allison encourages charities to think in terms of revenue mix, program costs, infrastructure, and capital. She and Steve talk about examples in such areas of the emotional labor of program costs (because that is really people in most cases), the new risks in 2025 where government funding is no longer as secure as it used to be, and how a cashflow projection may not ameliorate all fears but provides a way to examine fears on paper. Allison discusses the role of the board in these times, and both of them caution that 2025 is still a year to consider building cash reserves, because 2026 and 2027 may have even more risk on the horizon. Sunsetting, mergers, and acquisitions may be on the table in order to preserve mission impact. Propel Nonprofits manages a Resource Library for charities to use in learning about their own options.