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Fund the People: A Podcast with Rusty Stahl

Fund the People: A Podcast with Rusty Stahl

By Fund the People

Our unique show offers you a nutritious alternative to the nonprofit starvation cycle. Join host Rusty Stahl, who founded and leads Fund the People, and his guests from foundations, nonprofits, academia, and intermediaries, as we bring to light the value of investing in the 12.5 million people of America's nonprofit workforce.
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Talent Matters Remix, Part II: Building a New Generation of Values-Driven Leaders in the Nonprofit Sector - with Stephen Bauer

Fund the People: A Podcast with Rusty StahlJul 21, 2021

00:00
39:07
Listening to the Nonprofit Workforce
Mar 27, 202445:25
Should We Cancel Capacity-Building?

Should We Cancel Capacity-Building?

Have you ever thought that funder-sponsored organizational ‘capacity building’ may be detrimental to nonprofit workers and their communities? Today we talk about concrete ways we could improve the framing and practice of capacity building to better support the brilliance and resilience of diverse nonprofit workers and organizations.

Today's guests are Melissa DeShields and Marcus Littles from Frontline Solutions, a Black-owned and -led social change consulting firm. We discuss our guests recent Nonprofit Quarterly articles about why the term “capacity building” should be retired, and ways to improve the practice itself under whatever title it goes by.

How can funders think and act differently regarding grantee capacity?And how can nonprofit leaders respond to funders, and/or proactively design their own efforts? Learn more about these questions and more on today’s episode.

Go to our website for a transcript of the episode and links to the resources discussed in the episode. While you’re there, browse our library of amazing guests and conversations from Fund the People - A Podcast with Rusty Stahl at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fundthepeople.org/ftp_podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. You can find the podcast, our blog, free tools, and other resources on our website, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fundthepeople.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Season 6 is sponsored by ⁠⁠⁠⁠Loftis Partners⁠⁠⁠⁠. They've launched the ⁠⁠⁠⁠Pay Equity Collective⁠⁠⁠⁠, a supportive community for nonprofits seeking pathways to pay equity. Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠payequitycollective.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ to learn more! Loftis Partners – Empowering organizations and advancing equity, one collective step at a time!

Mar 20, 202441:57
Reforming How Oregon Funds Nonprofits
Mar 13, 202449:51
Getting Retirement Right – Tips for Nonprofit Employers

Getting Retirement Right – Tips for Nonprofit Employers

In this episode, you'll get concrete tips for ensuring that nonprofit workers have access to retirement savings from returning guest Chitra Aiyar of Just Futures. Chitra first joined us in Season 3 Episode 10 in December of 2022, when we discussed what's wrong with nonprofit retirement. Today we'll discuss what's right with retirement. 

This episode is focused on practical approaches for nonprofit employers to establish or enhance retirement savings for their staff team. We also talk about some of the challenges of implementing retirement savings in nonprofits.

Go to our website for a transcript of this episode and links to the resources discussed in the episode. You can find all the episodes of this podcast plus our blog, toolkit and other resources on our website, ⁠⁠⁠⁠fundthepeople.org⁠⁠⁠⁠. And we invite you to learn from all the amazing past guests of Fund the People - A Podcast with Rusty Stahl at ⁠⁠⁠fundthepeople.org/ftp_podcast⁠⁠⁠.

Season 6 is sponsored by ⁠⁠Loftis Partners⁠⁠. They've launched the ⁠⁠Pay Equity Collective⁠⁠, a peer learning experience that provides capacity building, strategic resources, and a supportive community for nonprofits seeking pathways to pay equity. Visit ⁠⁠payequitycollective.com⁠⁠ to learn more! Loftis Partners – Empowering organizations and advancing equity, one collective step at a time!

Mar 06, 202456:44
Talent-Investing from Scratch in a 60-Year-Old Nonprofit

Talent-Investing from Scratch in a 60-Year-Old Nonprofit

In this episode, you’ll hear how a new nonprofit executive can start-up innovative investments in employees from scratch, even in a 60-year-old organization with 200 staff. 

Shaheer Mustafa tells his story about his work at HopeWell, a major foster care nonprofit in Massachusetts. When he took management of the $25 million budget with hundreds of staff, there was no internal capacity that you would expect from an HR team. Since then, he has leveraged government and philanthropic investments to build-out a sophisticated set of investments in staff, and focused on increasing representation, leadership, and voice of people with lived experience in the foster care system throughout the organization. And he kept it going through the challenges of the pandemic.

Go to our website for a transcript of this episode and links to the resources discussed in the episode. You can find all the episodes of this podcast plus our blog, toolkit and other resources on our website, ⁠⁠⁠fundthepeople.org⁠⁠⁠. And we invite you to learn from all the amazing past guests of Fund the People - A Podcast with Rusty Stahl at ⁠⁠fundthepeople.org/ftp_podcast⁠⁠.

Season 6 is sponsored by ⁠Loftis Partners⁠. They've launched the ⁠Pay Equity Collective⁠, a peer learning experience that provides capacity building, strategic resources, and a supportive community for nonprofits seeking pathways to pay equity. Visit ⁠payequitycollective.com⁠ to learn more! Loftis Partners – Empowering organizations and advancing equity, one collective step at a time!

Feb 28, 202441:58
How Funders Can Support Nonprofit Workers in the Age of Burnout, Part 3

How Funders Can Support Nonprofit Workers in the Age of Burnout, Part 3

This episode spotlights how one foundation has made an ongoing commitment to supporting “healing justice” as part of its grantmaking.  We're pleased to speak with Desiree Flores, Executive Director of the General Service Foundation.

As they say on the Foundation's website, "Social justice work can be affirming, invigorating, and nourishing. But for leaders in the struggle, the work can also be rife with conflict, overwork, isolation, trauma, and oppression...we have heard movement leaders struggling increasingly with burnout and exhaustion. At GSF, we’ve been exploring how we, as funders, can support movements in creating space to cultivate resilience, wholeness, and well-being among the individuals and organizations that comprise our movements."

Toward that end, since 2018 General Service Foundation has funded healing justice work in two ways: 

  • Supporting organizations that offer healing and resilience services and trainings to social justice leaders and organizations, and
  • Supporting the Foundation's grant partners (aka grantees) with healing justice stipends.

This is the third in our three-episode series called "How Funders Can Support Nonprofit Workers in the Age of Burnout."

This episode and the series it's a part of are based on Fund the People's presentation at the Center for Effective Philanthropy Conference in Fall of 2023. Our session focused on how funders can support nonprofit workers in the age of burnout. Thanks again to CEP for including us in the conference.

Go to our website for a transcript of this episode and links to the resources discussed in the episode. You can find all the episodes of this podcast plus our blog, toolkit and other resources on our website, ⁠⁠⁠⁠fundthepeople.org⁠⁠⁠⁠. And we invite you to learn from all the amazing past guests of Fund the People - A Podcast with Rusty Stahl at ⁠⁠⁠fundthepeople.org/ftp_podcast⁠⁠⁠.

Season 6 is sponsored by ⁠⁠Loftis Partners⁠⁠. They've launched the ⁠⁠Pay Equity Collective⁠⁠, a peer learning experience that provides capacity building, strategic resources, and a supportive community for nonprofits seeking pathways to pay equity. Visit ⁠⁠payequitycollective.com⁠⁠ to learn more! Loftis Partners – Empowering organizations and advancing equity, one collective step at a time!

Feb 21, 202452:40
How Funders Can Support Nonprofit Workers in the Age of Burnout, Part 2

How Funders Can Support Nonprofit Workers in the Age of Burnout, Part 2

Today's episode offers a view into how foundation executives can integrate talent-investing deeply into their philanthropic approach and how they can work with grantees in a practical fashion to ensure that they are motivated, incentivized and have the funding they need to pay appropriate thriving wages. This is the second in our special three-part series based on Fund the People's presentation at the Center for Effective Philanthropy Conference in Fall of 2023. Our session focused on how funders can support nonprofit workers in the age of burnout. 

Today, we're talking with Jennifer Roller of The Raymond John Wean Foundation. Each episode in the series documents a unique and important approach to talent-investing.

Go to our website for a transcript of this episode and links to the resources discussed in the episode. You can find all the episodes of this podcast plus our blog, toolkit and other resources on our website, ⁠⁠⁠fundthepeople.org⁠⁠⁠. And we invite you to learn from all the amazing past guests of Fund the People - A Podcast with Rusty Stahl at ⁠⁠fundthepeople.org/ftp_podcast⁠⁠.

Season 6 is sponsored by ⁠Loftis Partners⁠. They've launched the ⁠Pay Equity Collective⁠, a peer learning experience that provides capacity building, strategic resources, and a supportive community for nonprofits seeking pathways to pay equity. Visit ⁠payequitycollective.com⁠ to learn more! Loftis Partners – Empowering organizations and advancing equity, one collective step at a time!

Feb 14, 202457:50
How Funders Can Support Nonprofit Workers in the Age of Burnout, Part 1
Feb 07, 202448:18
Forging a Multigenerational, Multiracial Nonprofit Workforce

Forging a Multigenerational, Multiracial Nonprofit Workforce

Jan 31, 202410:04
It’s not an Either/Or – General Support, Project Support, and Talent-Investing
Jan 24, 202409:27
The Nonprofit Nutrition Cycle

The Nonprofit Nutrition Cycle

In this episode, I'm offering up another one of my Rants and Reflections. Today's topic: The Nonprofit Nutrition Cycle.

Let’s face it: many foundation grants are frozen solid. They are restricted by purpose, program, time, even by line items in the budget. To borrow language from George Overholser’s great article on buying, not building, frozen funds are great for “buying” programs, but are terrible for “building” the very organizations that run the programs.

In a just and effective system, every funder would, at minimum, contribute flexible funding and, at best, intentionally deploy resources to build strong organizations, rather than just selectively buying a piece of one specific program.

Go to our website for a transcript of this episode. You can find all the episodes of this podcast plus our blog, toolkit and other resources on our website, ⁠⁠fundthepeople.org⁠⁠. And we invite you to learn from all the amazing past guests of Fund the People - A Podcast with Rusty Stahl at ⁠fundthepeople.org/ftp_podcast⁠.


Jan 17, 202412:55
The Great Double Standard: What Counts as Program Expenses in Nonprofits
Jan 10, 202407:11
Bridging the Gap: How a Major Consulting Firm (Unintentionally) Misled the Nonprofit Sector

Bridging the Gap: How a Major Consulting Firm (Unintentionally) Misled the Nonprofit Sector

In this episode, we offer a critique of a big idea that has led philanthropy and the nonprofit sector astray since 2006, and has negatively impacted our workforce. And I’m going to tell you how Fund the People has been challenging this idea and reframing the issue.

The Bridgespan Group is a major consulting firm serving foundations and nonprofits that was co-founded in 2000 by two Bain and Company executives. In the early days of 2006, Bridgespan caused a huge stir in the sector when they declared that there is a “deficit of leadership in the nonprofit sector.”

Their research suggested that when long-serving Baby Boomer executive directors retired, there would statistically not be enough Generation X to fill their seats. And, they said, with the number of nonprofits growing each year, the number of seats would keep getting bigger as the population to fill them got smaller.

The study was based on deficit thinking. And while it sought to encourage investment in nonprofit executives, it had all kinds of unintended consequences.

Resources:

This episode is part of our Rusty's Rants and Reflections series. The series offers Rusty's provocative reflections and ideas about investing in the nonprofit workforce. 

Go to our website for a transcript of this episode. You can find all the episodes of this podcast plus our blog, toolkit and other resources on our website, ⁠⁠fundthepeople.org⁠⁠. And we invite you to learn from all the amazing past guests of Fund the People - A Podcast with Rusty Stahl at ⁠fundthepeople.org/ftp_podcast⁠.

Jan 04, 202413:34
No More Mini-Grants for Well-Being

No More Mini-Grants for Well-Being

We appreciate that numerous funders have been trying to support the personal well-being of nonprofit workers during recent years. However, in this episode you’ll hear Rusty’s reflection on why “mini-grants” for wellness is in no way an adequate response to the challenges confronted by the nonprofit workforce. And you’ll learn the concept of turning the funding formula upside down, so staffing issues are treated with the level of attention that they need and deserve.

Resources:

This episode is part of our Rusty's Rants and Reflections series. The series offers Rusty's provocative reflections and ideas about investing in the nonprofit workforce. 

Go to our website for a transcript of this episode and links to the resources discussed in the episode. You can find all the episodes of this podcast plus our blog, toolkit and other resources on our website, ⁠⁠fundthepeople.org⁠⁠. And we invite you to learn from all the amazing past guests of Fund the People - A Podcast with Rusty Stahl at ⁠fundthepeople.org/ftp_podcast⁠.

Dec 20, 202309:08
Funding Beyond Fear - How Doubt on Both Sides Freezes Talent-Investing
Dec 13, 202310:18
The Value of Talent-Investing Can be Evaluated (Part 2)
Dec 06, 202330:40
Why Don’t Funders Invest in Nonprofit Staff? Pushing Back on 4 Myths (Part 1)
Nov 29, 202318:54
Funders, Listen Up! It’s Time to Invest in Nonprofit Workers
Nov 15, 202313:52
Fund the People Podcast Season 5 - Coming Soon!

Fund the People Podcast Season 5 - Coming Soon!

Season 5 of Fund the People Podcast is coming soon! We've got a great season ahead, and we'll be kicking it off with a series of 10 episodes called Rusty's Rants and Reflections - hot takes on where the nonprofit sector has been, where we are now, and what all this means for you. Then we're featuring one-on-one interviews with luminaries in the nonprofit field. Stay tuned!

Nov 14, 202302:60
MacArthur Foundation Makes Changes to End Nonprofit Starvation Cycle - with Kenneth Jones, MacArthur Foundation

MacArthur Foundation Makes Changes to End Nonprofit Starvation Cycle - with Kenneth Jones, MacArthur Foundation

Welcome to a very special final episode of Season Four!

In this episode, you’ll learn how one foundation built the internal political will to make internal reforms so they can provide grants that better serve their grantees and their communities. Host Rusty Stahl sits down with Kenneth Jones, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Equity Officer of one of America’s major foundations, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. They discuss why and how MacArthur Foundation has increased the amount of money in their grants for “indirect costs” from 15% to 29%, nearly double and one of the highest rates we know about.

This is the fourth installment of our special series, Smashing the Overhead Myth Once and for All! Be sure to check out the first installment (S4E3 with Rodney Christopher of BDO), which sets the context, provides the backstory, and defines terms for the entire series. You can binge the whole series in this Spotify playlist or find them spread across Season Four on the podcast page on our website. Go to the ⁠Show Notes Page⁠ on our website for a transcript of this episode, links to the resources discussed in the episode, guest bio, and more. You can find all the episodes of this podcast plus our blog, toolkit and other resources on our website, ⁠fundthepeople.org⁠. And we invite you to learn from all the amazing past guests of Fund the People - A Podcast with Rusty Stahl at fundthepeople.org/ftp_podcast.

We’ll be taking a podcasting break during summer 2023. We will return this fall with Season Five. We’ll amplify more great guests, transformative ideas, and practical tips for investing in the nonprofit workforce.


May 24, 202301:01:18
The Annie E. Casey Foundation Makes Changes to End Nonprofit Starvation Cycle - with Katie Tetrault, The Annie E. Casey Foundation
May 17, 202336:39
Starting a Revolution in Nonprofit Hiring – with Alfonso Wenker and Trina Olson, Team Dynamics

Starting a Revolution in Nonprofit Hiring – with Alfonso Wenker and Trina Olson, Team Dynamics

In this episode, you’ll gain an understanding of how bias commonly plays out in the hiring process, and how organizations can better recruit and retain a powerful, diverse workforce that expands opportunity across lines of race and gender.

Our guests are Trina C. Olson and Alfonso T. Wenker, co-leaders of the consultancy Team Dynamics and co-authors of Hiring Revolution: A Guide to Disrupt Racism and Sexism in Hiring. In this conversation, they share powerful, practical approaches to the hiring process – from preparation through salary negotiation. They also share a plethora of resources that they make available at no cost to the field. Listeners gain ideas for interrupting bias and embedding equity in employment processes, including:

  • Preparation for hiring

  • Recruitment and search

  • The hiring process itself

  • Paying, supporting, and managing employees in today’s nonprofit environment

Alfonso and Trina bring extensive experience in nonprofits and philanthropy. Through their work at Team Dynamics, they’ve gained deep knowledge of how organizations and companies can address diversity and equity in the recruitment, hiring, and retention processes.

Go to the ⁠Show Notes Page⁠ on our website for a transcript of the episode, links to the resources discussed in the episode, guest bio, and more. You can find all the episodes of this podcast plus our blog, toolkit and other resources on our website, ⁠fundthepeople.org⁠. And we invite you to learn from all the amazing past guests of Fund the People - A Podcast with Rusty Stahl at fundthepeople.org/ftp_podcast.


May 03, 202301:07:05
5 Research Findings on Health of Nonprofit Workforce - with Todd Butler and Caitlin Fisher, Causewave Community Partners
Apr 26, 202354:33
6 Practices for Embedding Equity in Nonprofit Compensation - with Mala Nagarajan, Vega Mala Consulting

6 Practices for Embedding Equity in Nonprofit Compensation - with Mala Nagarajan, Vega Mala Consulting

So many nonprofits right now are experiencing challenges with recruitment, burnout, retention, and internal conflict around issues of equity and compensation. Sometimes we don’t know where to start. Sometimes we don’t have a vision for where to go on these issues. So we’ve got an important, helpful, and mind-expanding conversation for you today.

The brilliant consultant and thought-leader Mala Nagarajan returns to our podcast to share six practices that nonprofits can use to de-link privilege (or, on the other side of the coin, marginalization) from salaries, and reconstruct compensation in a way that is more equitable than it has traditionally been in our sector.

These practices are drawn from the Compensation Scale Equity Process and Calculator™ developed by Vega Mala Consulting, of which our guest is Cofounder and Principal. We introduce this resource in the episode, and discuss how nonprofits and other consultants can utilize it. We also discuss what nonprofits can do right away even if they are unable to work with consultants to address equity in their compensation structure.

From Fund the People’s 8 Practices of Talent-Investing, this episode explores Practice #2: Lead with Respect, Practice #3: Build People-Systems, and Practice #4: Advance Talent Justice. To learn about these, and all 8 Practices of Talent-Investing, listen to Season 4 Episode 1.

Go to the Show Notes Page on our website for a transcript of the episode, links to the resources discussed in the episode, guest bio, and more. You can find all the episodes of this podcast plus our blog, toolkit and other resources on our website, fundthepeople.org

To hear Mala’s previous appearance on the show, listen to Season 3 Episode 9, where she discusses what it means for nonprofits to develop a “compensation philosophy.”


Apr 19, 202353:57
Ford Foundation Makes Changes to End Nonprofit Starvation Cycle - with Tiffanie De Gannes and Jim Gallagher, Ford Foundation; Part II of “Smashing the Overhead Myth Once and for All” Series

Ford Foundation Makes Changes to End Nonprofit Starvation Cycle - with Tiffanie De Gannes and Jim Gallagher, Ford Foundation; Part II of “Smashing the Overhead Myth Once and for All” Series

In this second installment of our series, Smashing the Overhead Myth Ones and For All, you’ll get an insider’s view of how things are changing inside the Ford Foundation, one of the largest private funders in the world, as their team seeks to provide more equitable and effective grants to the organizations they support in the U.S. and around the world.

Our guests today are the ones making challenging operational decisions, guiding changes to organizational policy, practice and culture, and executing important internal change management at the Ford Foundation.

Tiffanie De Gannes is Senior Manager of Operations at Ford Foundation. She serves as lead on complex projects and initiatives, as well as bridging the gap between operations and program teams to ensure alignment on organizational priorities.

Jim Gallagher is Director of Grants Management at the Foundation, where he oversees Ford’s grant managers in the US and around the world. Jim has 20+ years of nonprofit and philanthropic management experience and expertise in domestic and international grantmaking, organizational capacity building, financial planning, team building, and systems implementation. 

Tiffanie and Jim were both part of the Ford Foundation team engaged in the Funders for Real Cost, Real Change learning collaborative. We spoke at length about that effort In the first installment of this series, Season 4 Episode 3 with Rodney Christopher. If you want to go in order, pause this episode, listen to Season 4 Episode 3, then start this one again.

This episode touches on the practices of talent-investing related to Respect and Root Causes – Respecting nonprofit workers and addressing the Root Causes of the deficit of investment in the nonprofit workforce. To learn about the Eight Practices of Talent-Investing, listen to Episode One of this season. And we invite you to learn from all the amazing past guests of Fund the People - A Podcast with Rusty Stahl. All resources & links mentioned in the show can be found on our episode show notes page or at fundthepeople.org/ftp_podcast. Find all the episodes of this podcast plus our blog, toolkit and other resources on our website, fundthepeople.org.

Apr 05, 202346:11
Doubling-Down on Wellness in Capacity-Building - with Janet Nami McIntyre and Paula Morris, The Resilience Initiative
Mar 29, 202301:13:15
Funders Confront Reality & Myth of Nonprofit Overhead - with Rodney Christopher, BDO; Part I of “Smashing the Overhead Myth Once and for All” Series

Funders Confront Reality & Myth of Nonprofit Overhead - with Rodney Christopher, BDO; Part I of “Smashing the Overhead Myth Once and for All” Series

Welcome to the first installment of our special series, “Smashing the Overhead Myth – Once and For All.” 

In this episode, we hear the story of Funders for Real Costs, Real Change, a learning collaborative among a dozen funders who sought to better understand how they could do their part to end the nonprofit starvation cycle. These funders examined the realities of overhead and indirect costs in their grants and grantee organizations – and some are making major changes as a result.

Our guest is Rodney Christopher from BDO. With 30 years of consulting and grantmaking experience in the nonprofit and philanthropic community, Rodney was instrumental in facilitating the Funders for Real Costs, Real Change.

Our series, “Smashing the Overhead Myth – Once and For All” will profile major funders who are changing their priorities to enable grantees to cover their actual costs – including the real costs of supporting and developing a staff team. Throughout the series, we’ll explore the Practices of Talent-Investing related to Respect and Root Causes – respecting nonprofit workers, and addressing the root causes of the deficit of investment in the nonprofit workforce.

To learn about the Eight Practices of Talent-Investing, listen to Episode One of this season. And we invite you to learn from all the amazing past guests of Fund the People - A Podcast with Rusty Stahl. All resources & links mentioned in the show can be found on our episode show notes page or at fundthepeople.org/ftp_podcast. Find all the episodes of this podcast plus our blog, toolkit and other resources on our website, fundthepeople.org.

Mar 15, 202301:05:59
Where Government and Nonprofits Interact - with Jan Masaoka, CalNonprofits
Mar 08, 202345:52
The 8 Practices of Talent-Investing - with host Rusty Stahl

The 8 Practices of Talent-Investing - with host Rusty Stahl

Welcome to the first episode of Season 4 of Fund the People - A Podcast with Rusty Stahl!

In this episode, host Rusty Stahl welcomes you back, and sets up the theme for an amazing new season!

Each season of this show has a theme, and together they follow the outline of our Funding that Works Framework.

  • Season 1 explored the problem facing the social sector as a deficit of investment in the nonprofit workforce.
  • Season 2 introduced the concept of Talent-Investing, “the intentional deployment of capital to support and develop nonprofit leaders and workers.”
  • Season 3 explored the 8 Principles of Talent-Investing. These principles offer the values and conceptual architecture upon which the practices of talent-investing can be built.

In Season 4, we’re diving into the 8 Practices of Talent-Investing. In this episode, you get three big ideas that encapsulate and organize the practices, and a synopsis of the 8 practices themselves.

All resources and links mentioned in the show can be found on our episode show notes page or at fundthepeople.org/ftp_podcast. We also invite you to enjoy our catalog of conversations from Seasons 1-3, plus our blog, toolkit, and other resources, on our website at fundthepeople.org.

Mar 01, 202311:42
Season 4 Trailer

Season 4 Trailer

Get a sneak peek at our upcoming season 4, where Rusty and guests dive into the Eight Practices of Talent-Investing.

Feb 22, 202302:27
Dr. King, AmeriCorps, & Nonprofit Work - with Michael Smith, AmeriCorps

Dr. King, AmeriCorps, & Nonprofit Work - with Michael Smith, AmeriCorps

In celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we’re pleased to welcome special guest Michael Smith, the eighth CEO of AmeriCorps, the federal agency for service and volunteering. This special episode explores the role of AmeriCorps as the federal government’s anchor institution, ensuring that MLK National Day of Service is a “day on,” not a “day off.”

Our conversation also examines the role of AmeriCorps as a partnership between the federal government and the nonprofit sector for advancing public service, civic engagement, and social justice. We explore how AmeriCorps (formerly known as the Corporation for National and Community Service) is a major investment in the public service workforce – both in the social sector and in government itself. And Mr. Smith shares AmeriCorps' current efforts to advance equity, and improve the living stipend and education award available to AmeriCorps members.

Jan 11, 202345:46
Season 3 Finale: Staying Principled - with Host Rusty Stahl

Season 3 Finale: Staying Principled - with Host Rusty Stahl

2022 has come to an end, and we’ve also reached the end of Season 3 of the Fund the People Podcast. So we’ve got a nice finale to wrap things up with a bow for you!

In this solo episode, Rusty Stahl recaps the theme of Season 3 – the 8 Principles of Talent-Investing – and summarizes the key ideas covered in his conversations with amazing guests throughout the season. This season finale offers a nice succinct guide to the guests and topics covered this year.

We’ll be back in March with a new season, and we’ll offer even more practical, nutritious alternatives to the nonprofit starvation cycle.

Thank you for listening – we look forward to talking with you in 2023!

Jan 04, 202316:32
How NYC Human Service Workers Won #JustPay - with Michelle Jackson, Human Services Council

How NYC Human Service Workers Won #JustPay - with Michelle Jackson, Human Services Council

This episode is end-of-year inspiration – and it offers a bold new model for increasing investments in America’s nonprofit workforce.

In this episode, you’ll learn how a group of nonprofits showed elected leaders the essential value of the nonprofit human services workforce, and broke through malaise and noise to secure historic state and local government investments in nonprofit workers!

Host Rusty Stahl speaks with Michelle Jackson, Executive Director of Human Services Council of New York to get the story, the struggles, and important lessons-learned for funders, nonprofits, and associations.

We’ll hear the story of the #JustPay Campaign, which was initiated by the Human Services Council. Through this ongoing campaign, social workers and others have built solidarity with one another and flexed their collective power! It has gotten results. Successes include Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) increases in government contracts and other major financial investments in the nonprofit human services workforce.

The HSC has also been part of improving the way New York City government contracts with nonprofits to deliver social services, and how the City pays for “indirect” costs in these contracts. The effort to pay for “indirect” costs was also discussed from the NYC government perspective in Season 2 Episode 12 with Jennifer Geiling.

This final interview of Season 3 explores Talent-Investing Principle #3, “Address the Problem, Not Just the Symptoms.” The historic successes discussed in this episode cut to the heart of how nonprofits can work together to end the starvation cycle and begin a healthy new cycle of talent-investing. And we invite you to learn from all the amazing past guests of Fund the People - A Podcast with Rusty Stahl. All resources & links mentioned in the show can be found on our episode show notes page or at fundthepeople.org/ftp_podcast. Find all the episodes of this podcast plus our blog, toolkit and other resources on our website, fundthepeople.org.

Dec 28, 202248:44
Holiday Wishes from Fund the People

Holiday Wishes from Fund the People

From all of us at Fund the People – Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, and Happy New Year!

You and millions of people in America’s nonprofit workforce are resisting, keeping flames alive, sustaining traditions and values, and rebuilding communities and civic spaces that have been so challenged by the pandemic, political violence, and other crises.

And as you do this work, it is critical that you find ways to take care of yourself and your co-workers, and to ensure that your organization cares for its workforce.

Dec 18, 202202:58
What’s Wrong with Retirement? - with Chitra Aiyar, Just Futures

What’s Wrong with Retirement? - with Chitra Aiyar, Just Futures

We are in the nonprofit sector’s season of giving, but we’re going counter-culture. This episode is all about nonprofit saving. Specifically, nonprofit workers saving for retirement.

In this episode, you'll learn why it's critical for funders, nonprofits, and nonprofit workers alike to invest in retirement savings. You’ll hear the surprising political history of nonprofit retirement; how retirement policies can bolster racial and class inclusion in nonprofit teams; and the four major gaps facing nonprofit retirement.

Rusty speaks with Chitra Aiyar, nonprofit tax expert, consultant, and author of a new report on nonprofit retirement. The report is a publication of Just Futures, a new initiative to provide an all-in-one 401(k) solution tailored for the social justice-minded nonprofit workforce.

This episode explores Talent-Investing Principle #5: Take a Supportive Stance. This principle is all about demonstrating the intention to enable organizations to invest in staff, not to punish them if they are unable to fully support and develop staff. 

To learn about the Eight Principles of Talent-Investing, listen to Episode One of this season. And we invite you to learn from all the amazing past guests of Fund the People - A Podcast with Rusty Stahl. All resources & links mentioned in the show can be found on our episode show notes page or at fundthepeople.org/ftp_podcast. Find all the episodes of this podcast plus our blog, toolkit and other resources on our website, fundthepeople.org.

Dec 07, 202257:42
Compensation Philosophy for Your Nonprofit - with Mala Nagarajan, Vega Mala Consulting
Nov 16, 202240:40
Fair Labor Standards for Community Organizers - with Kinzie Mabon and Kevin Simowitz, All Due Respect

Fair Labor Standards for Community Organizers - with Kinzie Mabon and Kevin Simowitz, All Due Respect

Nov 09, 202246:50
Funding Black Leaders to Prevent Burnout - with Dany Sigwalt, Power Shift Network

Funding Black Leaders to Prevent Burnout - with Dany Sigwalt, Power Shift Network

Burnout is a chronic condition in nonprofits. Right now, it’s at an acute level after the years of trauma we’ve been experiencing. And burnout has a compounding impact on people who are dealing with marginalization. Yet burnout is often something we suffer in isolation, in silence, and in an individual fashion – as if it's not an organizational or collective concern.

In this episode, you'll gain a first-hand perspective on burnout from Dany Sigwalt, the outgoing nonprofit executive director of Power Shift Network, and you’ll get tangible ideas for how to address the burnout crisis in our sector. Dany discusses her experience and ideas, and provides some fundamental suggestions for change.

Dany wrote a refreshing article published in YES Magazine called, “How to Prevent Burnout Among Black Movement Leaders.” It’s a vulnerable, first-person narrative of burnout, as well as an analysis of the current burnout crisis in terms of its organizational, racial, and philanthropic dimensions.

This episode (S3:E7) explores Talent-Investing Principle #4: Advance Talent Justice. Racism, sexism, classism, and other inequities are baked into the deficit of investment in the nonprofit workforce. Thus, the solution must advance intersectional racial equity. To learn about the Eight Guiding Principles of Talent-Investing, listen to Episode One of this season. And we invite you to learn from all the amazing past guests of Fund the People - A Podcast with Rusty Stahl. All resources & links mentioned in the show can be found on our episode show notes page or at fundthepeople.org/ftp_podcast. Find all the episodes of this podcast and other resources on our website, fundthepeople.org.

Nov 02, 202258:08
Talent-Investing is the Best Capacity-Building - with Tom Fuechtmann, Community Memorial Foundation

Talent-Investing is the Best Capacity-Building - with Tom Fuechtmann, Community Memorial Foundation

Nonprofit people create and sustain the organizational capacity of nonprofits. So there’s a natural connection between organizational “capacity-building” and what Fund the People calls “talent-investing” (intentionally deploying capital to support and develop nonprofit workers). In our continuous effort to capture the value that talent-investing offers to nonprofits and their funders, in this episode you'll hear the perspective of a funder who actualized this deep connection between a foundation’s capacity-building efforts and talent-investing.

Rusty sat down with Tom Fuechtmann, Senior Program Officer at Community Memorial Foundation, a health-focused regional funder in the western suburbs of Chicago. Fund the People profiled this foundation in our online Toolkit. You can get this and other Field Stories for free by just providing your name and email address here http://fundthepeople.org/toolkit/field/community-memorial/.

This is the first in-person interview in the history of this podcast (since we began in fall 2020 during the depth of the pandemic). We were at the national conference of Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO) in May 2022 in Chigaco. At the GEO meeting, there was much discussion about burnout, sustainability, and thriving among nonprofit workers. This episode offers an important example of a GEO member who has proactively sought to support and develop grantee staff for many years before and during the current crisis.

This episode (S3:E6) examines Talent-Investing Principle Two: Nonprofit People are Bedrock. Dig beneath outcomes, outputs, activities, organizational capacity – underneath it all, you'll find nonprofit people. People are not “overhead,” they are the bedrock of organizational effectiveness. To learn about the Eight Guiding Principles of Talent-Investing, listen to Episode One of this season. And we invite you to learn from all the amazing past guests of Fund the People - A Podcast with Rusty Stahl. All resources & links mentioned in the show can be found on our episode show notes page or at fundthepeople.org/ftp_podcast. Find all the episodes of this podcast and other resources on our website, fundthepeople.org.

Oct 19, 202224:32
Haunted by Student Debt? Wipe it out by Halloween - with Aoife Delargy Lowe, PSLF Coalition

Haunted by Student Debt? Wipe it out by Halloween - with Aoife Delargy Lowe, PSLF Coalition

Oct 14, 202241:34
Investing in Talent Inside Foundations - with Storme Gray, Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy

Investing in Talent Inside Foundations - with Storme Gray, Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy

Learn why it's critical to invest in the diverse emerging workforce inside foundations, and how such investment helps organized philanthropy be responsive to nonprofits and those who are on the front lines doing the work.

Rusty sits down for a chat with Storme Gray, the inspiring Executive Director of Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy (EPIP), the national network of emerging foundation leaders who are elevating philanthropic practice in order to build a more just, equitable and sustainable world.

Storme discusses the challenges that face young people of color and others in the foundation field, and shares EPIP’s efforts to ensure that emerging grantmakers have an introduction to funding work that is grounded in equity, inclusion, and personal responsibility, regardless of positionality within philanthropic institutions. EPIP recently celebrated its 20th anniversary and Storme shares her vision for the years ahead. She is creating space for diverse emergent leaders to build their voice, sharpen their skills, and develop analysis and critique of the sector. EPIP continues to improve the way philanthropy works with nonprofits in service of communities.

In this episode we explore Talent-Investing Principle #1: Nonprofit people are awesome.  To hear all 8 Principles of Talent-Investing, listen to Season 3 Episode 1. And we invite you to learn from all the amazing past guests of Fund the People - A Podcast with Rusty Stahl. All resources & links mentioned in the show can be found on our show notes page from the episode or at fundthepeople.org/ftp_podcast. Find all the episodes of our podcast and other resources on our website, fundthepeople.org.

Oct 12, 202242:25
Got a Burnout Story? Let's Hear It! - with Betsy Leondar-Wright, Staffing the Mission

Got a Burnout Story? Let's Hear It! - with Betsy Leondar-Wright, Staffing the Mission

In this episode, you'll learn about some easy actions you can take to help researchers address the lack of philanthropic investment in the nonprofit workforce, and the burnout that results from that deficit of investment. Host Rusty Stahl sits down with Betsy Leondar-Wright, Project Director of Staffing the Mission. Launched in 2019, Staffing the Mission works to make life better for diverse nonprofit employees, and is a program of Class Action, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit that “inspires action to end classism and extreme inequality.” Staffing the Mission partners with Fund the People as we both seek to address poor working conditions in the nonprofit sector.

Staffing the Mission has a survey of funders in the field (in partnership with Fund the People) to understand the grantmaker perspective and role in nonprofit workforce issues. They also have an opportunity for nonprofit workers to candidly share their own burnout stories. Betsy discusses both of these important efforts in the episode.

In this episode we explore Talent-Investing Principle #3: Address the Problem, Not Just the Symptoms. To hear all 8 Principles of Talent-Investing, listen to Season 3 Episode 1. And we invite you to learn from all the amazing past guests of Fund the People - A Podcast with Rusty Stahl. All resources, the transcript & links mentioned in the show can be found on our show notes page from the episode or at fundthepeople.org/ftp_podcast. Find all the episodes of this podcast and other resources on our website, fundthepeople.org.

Oct 05, 202220:01
Investing in New Executive Directors, Part 2 - with Jane McDonnell and Irving Washington, Online News Association

Investing in New Executive Directors, Part 2 - with Jane McDonnell and Irving Washington, Online News Association

In this episode, you'll get a rare glimpse into the inside story of two people who have, together, gone through the unique crucible that is an executive transition.

Jane McDonnell is the former Executive Director of the Online News Association and is now an independent consultant. Irving Washington is the current Executive Director of the Online News Association, and a longtime association professional in the journalism field. Jane and Irving went through an executive transition in a thoughtful, proactive, ethical, and effective fashion, with respect for one another, for their colleagues, for their funders, and their organization. We all know that executive transitions are critical inflection points for organizations, and too many funders are not yet proactively investing in healthy transitions, and not supporting outgoing and incoming executive directors to succeed in the transition.

This episode is Part 2 of our mini-series on supporting new executive directors. It’s the companion to Episode 2, the previous episode, which was a conversation with Bipasha Ray and Joey Lee, former and current staff at Open Society Foundations. In that episode, we discussed OSF’s New Executives Fund, a program that supports new executive directors in nonprofits around the world, especially “historic firsts” in their organizations. (Irving participated in the OSF New Executives Fund. A few months after we recorded this interview, Irving announced that 2022 would be his last year with ONA, after six years as CEO and 11 years total of service to the organization.)

Here we explore Talent-Investing Principle #4: Talent justice is essential. This principle says that racism, sexism, classism, and other inequities are baked into the deficit of investment in the nonprofit workforce. Thus, the solution must advance intersectional racial equity. To hear all 8 Principles of Talent-Investing, listen to Season 3 Episode 1. And we invite you to learn from all the amazing past guests of Fund the People - A Podcast with Rusty Stahl. All resources & links mentioned in the show can be found on our show notes page at fundthepeople.org/ftp_podcast.

Sep 21, 202201:01:30
Investing in New Executive Directors, Part I - with Joey Lee and Bipasha Ray of Open Society Foundations

Investing in New Executive Directors, Part I - with Joey Lee and Bipasha Ray of Open Society Foundations

In this episode, you'll gain valuable insights from a major funding institution about why they believe it’s important to invest in the nonprofit workforce by supporting new executive directors. We speak with Joey Lee and Bipasha Ray of Open Society Foundations (OSF). You'll hear about important research on the value of investing in new executives from a new OSF report that draws upon the experiences and voices of hundreds of new E.D.s. This is a resource that you can use with your funders, your board, and others.

The issue of healthy executive transitions was important before 2020, and it's even more important now, as diverse new executives are hired into challenging pandemic workplaces. Executive transitions are a crucial inflection point for new managers, organizations, staff teams, board members, and supporters involved in the process. And, perhaps most importantly, they also impact the communities who rely upon organizations for services.

As more organizations hire “historic firsts” – women, people of color, LGBTQ people – as their top executives, too many of these leaders are unintentionally being "set up to fail", rather than supported to succeed. Funder practices can be part of the solution, or part of the problem. So having a major funder like OSF become part of the solution in a very public way is important progress, and it’s something you can leverage in your own talent-investing efforts!

This episode explores Talent-Investing Principle #4: Talent Justice is Essential. This principle says that racism, sexism, classism, and other inequities are baked into the deficit of investment in the nonprofit workforce. Thus, talent-investing must advance intersectional racial equity in order to be successful. To hear all 8 Principles of Talent-Investing, listen to Season 3 Episode 1. And we invite you to learn from all the amazing past guests of Fund the People - A Podcast with Rusty Stahl. All resources & links mentioned in the show can be found on our show notes page at fundthepeople.org/ftp_podcast.

Sep 14, 202201:15:56
The 8 Principles of Talent-Investing with host Rusty Stahl

The 8 Principles of Talent-Investing with host Rusty Stahl

This episode kicks off the fabulous third season of Fund the People - A Podcast with Rusty Stahl.

To get the season started, Rusty establishes the theme: the 8 Principles of Talent-Investing. He shares guiding principles from “Funding that Works,” the exciting new framework for talent-investing that Fund the People will roll-out in 2023 through our new online Academy. The principles offer the intellectual groundwork upon which effective talent-investing practices can be built.

Sep 07, 202210:03
Coming Soon! New Season of Fund the People Podcast Launches Sept. 7!

Coming Soon! New Season of Fund the People Podcast Launches Sept. 7!

It's been a long, hot summer, and we've been cooking up a delicious menu of alternatives to the nonprofit starvation cycle. We are back with a phenomenal Season 3, serving up episodes based on the 8 Principles of Talent-Investing. Grab your fork, dig in, and enjoy interviews with folks from foundations, nonprofits and intermediaries. Tune in for Season 3 of the Fund the People podcast on Wednesday, Sept. 7, and remember to keep your tank full, take care of yourself, and take care of one another.

Aug 31, 202202:48
Funding That Works Academy

Funding That Works Academy

Announcing a special new program: the Funding That Works Academy! Learn about our talent investing framework via an online course with versions available for all types of nonprofit professionals.

Aug 31, 202201:23
Using Capacity-Building Grants for People-Systems - with Andrea Frye, People’s Action (Bonus Episode)

Using Capacity-Building Grants for People-Systems - with Andrea Frye, People’s Action (Bonus Episode)

During this long dark winter, we have a bright conversation with a colleague who is managing the operations of a national social justice organization, and who can offer us some rays of hope.

Our guest is Andrea Frye. Andrea is the Operations Director of Peoples’ Action, a national network of state & local grassroots power-building organizations united in fighting for justice.

This episode gives you a concrete example of the value created for an organization and its staff when they use capacity-building dollars to build their people-systems – the policies, procedures, and people needed to support the staff. You’ll hear good examples of how an organization that champions worker justice in American society is practicing those values in-house: how they’re building their recruitment and retention systems; how they’re approaching a unionization organizing effort within the staff; and how they’re preparing for a major executive transition.

People’s Action is a grantee of Ford and has received a 5-year capacity-building grant from BUILD initiative, through which they’ve focused on building their people-systems. Andrea also helped to get a peer-learning cohort going among the “COOs” of BUILD grantees. (Fund the People co-designed and co-facilitated the cohort, alongside the Chicago-based consultancy Morton Group.) 

In Season 1 Episode 2 (S1E2) of this podcast, we spoke with Kathy Reich who directs Ford Foundation BUILD. This episode is a companion to that one. (It’s like we’re bringing Kathy and Andrea, a grantmaker and a grantee leader, into conversation with one another virtually across time and space through the magic of podcasting!) We hope you get great value from this bonus episode and hope you’ll check out S1E2 with Kathy. We can’t wait to share more conversations soon in Season 3!

Feb 24, 202256:11
Season 2 Finale! Top Takeaways on Talent-Investing - with host Rusty Stahl and Monisha Kapila, ProInspire
Dec 22, 202139:14
The Gold Standard of Foundation Talent-Investing - with Sidney Hargro, The LeadersTrust

The Gold Standard of Foundation Talent-Investing - with Sidney Hargro, The LeadersTrust

Today’s social justice nonprofit leaders are fighting for communities that have been impacted by trauma, even as the nonprofit leaders are experiencing or organizational and personal trauma themselves. Racial equity and social justice require talent-investing. In this episode, Rusty talks with Sidney Hargro, the inaugural Executive Director at The LeadersTrust, a new multi-funder grantmaking initiative that offers an effective, evaluated approach to talent-investing that has been tested for 20 years with over 120 nonprofits and more than $30 million in investments.

To help advance transformation in the sector, The LeadersTrust was recently created by the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund and other foundations. The LeadersTrust offers the Flexible Leadership Awards, a sophisticated talent-investing model initially developed by Haas Jr. Fund as a strategy to invest in nonprofit staff in order to expand program impact and financial sustainability. Topics discussed include:

  • Sidney’s journey into and through philanthropy, including a recent stint as the head of Philanthropy Network Greater Philadelphia, and his studies in engineering and divinity.
  • The foundations that have come together to form The LeadersTrust.
  • The core components of the Flexible Leadership Awards.
  • The importance of talent-investing layered on top of general operating support.
  • Responding to three common “pushbacks” on talent-investing.

Check out our show notes for links to references and recources mentioned in this episode! 

Nov 03, 202147:36