About this episode

Cortney Nicolato discusses her leadership at United Way of Rhode Island, focusing on data, equity commitments, and organizational transformation.

Most organizations approaching their 100th anniversary would be looking back and celebrating past achievements. United Way of Rhode Island is doing the opposite. Under Cortney Nicolato ’s leadership, they’re taking bigger swings than ever, from meeting a $100 million racial equity commitment ahead of schedule to becoming the go-to source of real-time community data for state policymakers. Cortney returned to her home state after building a national career because she wanted to help the communities that helped her growing up as a latchkey kid in Pawtucket. She transformed United Way from the inside first, rebuilding the board and staff to reflect Rhode Island’s diversity, before asking anyone else to change. And when others began backing away from equity commitments, her response was clear. This is a conversation about what it takes to be both an emergency responder and a long-term systems builder, about earning a seat at the policy table with data instead of survey results, and about building organizational culture that will outlast any single leader. It’s Cortney Nicolato on The Business of Giving.

People in this episode

Host: The Business of Giving

Guest: Cortney Nicolato

Topics covered

• leadership
• data-driven decision making
• racial equity
• community engagement
• organizational culture

Keywords

• Cortney Nicolato
• United Way
• Rhode Island
• racial equity
• community data
• organizational change
• leadership

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: United Way of Rhode Island

Places: Rhode Island, Pawtucket

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