How can nonprofit leaders build strong organizations?

Farra Trompeter: Welcome to The Smart Communications podcast. This is Farra Trompeter, co-director and worker-owner at Big Duck. Today we are going to ask the question: how can nonprofit leaders build strong organizations? I am delighted to be joined by David Rhode. David uses he/him pronouns and is the author of the soon-to-be-released book Passion Isn’t Enough: A Practical Guide for Nonprofit Leaders. David teaches nonprofit branding and consulting at the University of Pennsylvania and is the deputy director of Penn Pac, an organization that mobilizes pro bono teams of University of Pennsylvania alumni as consultants to strengthen the nonprofit sector. He currently runs a nonprofit consulting company called Dot Dot Org and he previously founded a nonprofit organization called Pitch In for Baseball and Softball. David, welcome to the show.

David Rhode: Farra, thank you so much for having me. Great to see you.

Farra Trompeter: It’s great to see you too. Well, you know when folks start nonprofits or they are in leadership positions at nonprofits or frankly they just work at nonprofits, they have to bring a certain amount of grit, of enthusiasm, of commitment to the mission and really they do bring passion. So I wanna start off with the book title, which you just sort of jump in and say Passion Isn’t Enough, A Practical Guide for Nonprofit Leaders. Now in your book, there are 16 chapters ranging from guidance regarding strategic planning to exit strategy and, of course, there are chapters related to branding and communications. And thank you. I was delighted to be interviewed and included in your book. And so with that joy aside, I just wanna start with: If you can share with our listeners why did you take the time to write this book and what do you hope readers will take from it?

David Rhode: So fundamentally, in my conversations with clients and students and people I would meet at conferences and things of that nature, they were encountering the same problems. I was hearing the same themes over and over again. And this was regardless of the sector of the nonprofit world that they were in, regardless of geography or the size of the organization, it was really the same themes repeating themselves and the same problems. So if my case study, my data set was any indication of what the world existed like, I knew there were a lot of people going through these same challenges and that was really at the forefront of my mind when I decided to take on the challenge of writing my first book.

David Rhode: And in terms of takeaways, you know the book is really meant to be something for a leader. It is something that they can use right now. This is not a book that is theoretical in nature. This is a book that has a lot of very specific next steps and practical solutions. I included my perspective, clearly, from 20 years in the sector, but I also interviewed 22 nonprofit CEOs and subject matter experts and their frameworks and and best practices are embedded throughout the book. So this is a really specific, you-can-use-it-now kind of book. And the feedback I’ve gotten from the folks that have read the book in advance is that they have things that they wanted to do right now as a result of coming going through the process of reading the book. So that’s really encouraging to me.

Farra Trompeter: I deeply appreciate things that are practical and actionable. And you described this book as a guide for nonprofit leaders. Let’s start with that for a moment. Who is this book for? How do you define nonprofit leaders? Who do you hope reads this book? Who did you have in mind as you were crafting it?

David Rhode: I had a very clear idea of who this book was written for. In fact, I kind of had a picture of a few of the folks that I coach and mentor when I was writing it and imagined having a conversation with them, me talking specifically to them. There are about 1.8 million nonprofit organizations in the United States alone. And a staggering 92% of them have budgets of a million dollars or less. And so those organizations are very lean and nonprofit leaders are asked to wear a lot of hats and some of those hats. They have a lot of experience and they’re very comfortable and in other roles, they have, in many cases, really no idea what they’re doing. They’re learning on the job. So this book is intended to kind of mentor them and guide them, maybe strengthen areas where they’re already feeling somewhat comfortable and then give them some comfort as they enter new arenas. So that’s what the book is really, you know, intended for. That’s who it’s intended for. Senior staff, CEOs obviously, but also board members because they have––a lot of times––not a whole lot of onboarding and perspective when they join an organization. And I think it would be really helpful for them to have a more holistic view of what the nonprofit world is and what the CEO is going through on a day-in and day-out basis.

Farra Trompeter: So let’s dive into context. I mentioned some of the chapters a few minutes ago and I’m curious, what led you to select the topics you covered? And as a bonus, I’m curious, what were the easiest and hardest chapters to write?

David Rhode: The content and the outline for the book flowed very naturally in my mind. And the first three chapters, as an example, are on strategic planning, board development, and fundraising. Those three are the areas where almost every nonprofit leader that I’ve engaged with is having a challenge with one or more of those. So we come out of the gates pretty strong in the book and address those head-on. If you can have some general sense for how to engage your board, how to build a smart plan and how to raise money, then you’re gonna be off to a good start as a leader. But we cover a range of things, as you said. If I think about the chapters that were easiest to write, I think about branding and I think about partnership development. Nonprofit branding is something I teach at the University of Pennsylvania for the last eight years. So that’s a conversation I’ve had many times and I really just leaned into that experience and those teaching moments.

Farra Trompeter: And I’m gonna interject the branding one must be your favorite one because of a certain subject matter expert. I’m just teasing.

David Rhode: That’s correct. And then partnership development was the part of leading the organization that I founded where I really had the most experience personally and the most success. And I included my perspective on that. But I also was able to engage Joe Waters and Joe is one of the leading voices in partnership marketing in the nonprofit sector and Joe’s amazing and and so his perspective in that chapter is really important. So those are the chapters that I thought were easiest to write. I would say the chapter that was challenging was the one on using AI. And the sense I have is that it’s such a fluid topic. I wanted to make sure that I wrote the chapter with sort of an understanding that by the time people would read the book that it might be different than what the world is now. So I try to deal with it in more general terms, versus specific terms, even though there are some very specific ways that you could get started with AI and things of that nature. But I was really mindful of the fact that it’s a very fluid topic.

David Rhode: And I also added a chapter that I didn’t see in the initial outline in my mind, which was on crisis communications. I engaged Liz Wainger. Liz is one of the leading crisis communications experts in the nonprofit sector. And she and I were able to have a wonderful conversation, and put together a really specific playbook that nonprofit leaders and boards can use to, kind of, put themselves in a better position so that they’re thinking proactively about crisis response instead of reacting in that very moment if something bad does, you know, come to their doorstep.

Farra Trompeter: Yeah, and we’ve done some podcasts on all of the topics you’ve mentioned and we’ll be sure to link to those in our show notes at bigduck.com/insights. So I appreciate hearing about them and we’re certainly often having conversations around these different issues that nonprofit staff, board members, leaders are dealing with. One of the things that I really enjoyed about the book is that you have actionable steps at the end of every chapter. And, again, that you actually have an entire chapter, the last one on advice for new leaders, folks who are sort of new into that leadership position. And without offering too many spoilers, because we wanna make sure people read the book, can you share one or two hot tips for new leaders?

David Rhode: I asked the same question regardless of the interview guest. The question I asked them is this real issue around advice. What advice would you give to somebody if they were taking on this role for the first time, or they were entering an organization for the first time? And the most common answer was “Go on a listening tour.” So listening tours are where you would sit down one-on-one with donors, with staff, with board members and ask some open-ended questions. And in doing so you can get a really clear sense for what the organization does well, what the culture of the organization is, maybe where some of the pitfalls or landmines are, things you may wanna avoid. But these tours give you a chance to start not only learning about the organization but building relationships that maybe existed with the the previous leader. And so now they’ve transferred over to you. So this gives you a chance to begin to really start connecting with people and learning about what is going on within the organization.

David Rhode: The other thing I would say is one of the themes was that the job can be a bit of a lonely job. And, as such, it’s important for leaders to maybe be intentional about forming a cohort. This could be just a few people that they meet at a conference or somebody that’s closer to them geographically and book time in your calendar on a regular basis to have a coffee, or a virtual coffee, or drinks or whatever and just talk through what you’re going through and they can share what they’re going through. Sometimes realizing that the thing that you think is so desperate and awful is something that they’re going through too and, and that’s really reassuring. Sometimes you could have very good advice for each other, sometimes it’s easier to help somebody else and analyze their challenges than it is to see things in your own world. So I would say the listening tours and just finding a few people you can talk to and build your own little network is something that I would say is some good advice for somebody in the role.

Farra Trompeter: Yeah, I love that. And I would add to the listening tour, if possible, depending on how many stops that listening tour might make to also add partners in. You mentioned partnership development and community members depending on the organization’s mission, whether they’re alumni, current program participants, really trying to get as much of a 360 dimensional view of what’s working with the organization. And I would particularly underscore and appreciate that you mentioned staff because I think a lot of times when folks do listening tours or ask for feedback, they focus externally. And that external perception, whether it’s branding or how the program’s working or anything, what’s needed, what’s not needed in the community, that is obviously critical. But the people who know you best are the people who work in the organization. And I think sometimes those folks are overlooked and I appreciate that you mentioned them.

Farra Trompeter: Now before we sign off, and I was alluding to this earlier and I forgot to ask it, so I wanna ask it now, let’s talk about the title: why isn’t passion enough? Again, you mentioned here in the US there are almost 2 million nonprofits, so lots of people out there. It is a huge employer in the sector and in the community. So many folks work for nonprofits. They do bring that passion. You have to have passion to deal with some of the day-to-day challenges of working at a nonprofit. But why isn’t it enough? Talk about the title and how you got there.

David Rhode: It wasn’t the first title of the book, there were lots of iterations, but when the phrase “passion isn’t enough” came to mind, it felt right. And the reason it felt right was because passion is fuel and passion is necessary, but you could burn through fuel and you could burn through your passion and it may be enough to get you started in the role or help you launch an organization. But these are businesses and businesses need skilled leaders with talent, with perspective, with discipline. And in order to have those things, you need other resources around you so that you can grow the organization and sustain it over time. So passion could be a great thing and it’s maybe necessary, but it’s not sufficient. And so “passion isn’t enough” really captures that, the essence of that in terms of my mind and then in sharing the title with people, I’ve gotten amazing feedback. So like, “I love hearing that because that’s how I feel.” Like “it’s not enough”. And people will always tell me how passionate I was leading my organization and it’s a compliment, but it’s also maybe reflects a lack of understanding that this is a business and that a business needs strong leadership.

Farra Trompeter: Great. Now if you’re out there and you’re curious why passion isn’t enough or you’d like to get some advice on these topics, you can read David’s book. You’ll be able to find it on Amazon starting on November 19th, 2024. You can also connect with David on LinkedIn. We will be sure to link to all of this in our show notes at bigduck.com/insights. Now David, before we sign off, is there any other thoughts you have that you’d like to share about how nonprofit leaders can build strong organizations? We’ll go back to our total theme of the conversation. Anything else you’d like to add that we haven’t discussed yet?

David Rhode: Yeah, I love that question. Sometimes a leader is so wrapped up in leading the organization that they can get disconnected from the work itself. And so I think it’s important to visit your programs on a regular basis for a number of reasons. One is organizations don’t always know if their programs are working and you have people that are between you and the constituents you are serving. So this is an opportunity to see them firsthand, see the programs firsthand, ask some simple questions, learn how this is transforming lives, see what’s working and not working. Maybe there’s an opportunity to also engage your volunteers and ask them some of the same questions. We talked about this being a lonely job and this being challenging. Being in a program environment I found really energizing and really reminded me why I was in the role. Sometimes we can get caught up in all the challenges of the job, but seeing the programs and seeing the people’s lives who are changing fills you with positive energy. And sometimes we need to practice some self-care and make sure we’re giving ourselves some grace. And visiting the programs is a way to kind of fill your own fuel tank, restore your passion in some ways. And so I think getting outta the office and seeing your programs is something that is just smart business because it keeps us in touch with the role of the organization and the meat of what we are doing every day.

Farra Trompeter: Well, wonderful. Again, if you’d like to get David’s book, you can check it out on Amazon. And David, thank you so much, and good luck with the launch of the book.

David Rhode: Farra, thank you. And thank you so much for having me.