Sometimes due to lack of resources, it can be hard for small organizations to refocus on impact. What have you found working with organizations that are some of the challenges that you help them overcome?

The first challenge that I think is absolutely pivotal is the challenge of mindset. Do you as a leader in a sector, a leader within your organization, a leader within a community, do you see yourself as a shaper? Or do you see yourself as a taker?

Let me start by saying today we're going to be talking about direct appeal fundraising and specifically design because design is a really important piece of what we're sending out so can you start by talking about why design is important and what impact it can have if done right versus not right?

Everyone always talks about needing a case for support. And sometimes they confuse it with a pitch deck. And oftentimes, they'll write one without really understanding how to do it well. So today, we're going to pull back the curtain and show people how to do well.

I think there's a lot of kind of inertia around these things. And I've been there myself, it just feels overwhelming. Is it really necessary? Is it really urgent? For small nonprofits, it can feel like it's just another thing to do.

HireNext is a tool that we've designed to help employers get to the best young talent Canada has to offer. As many as 30% of employers struggle to fill their entry level roles. And if they're not struggling to fill them, then they're working hard to keep great talent in the organization.

So today we're talking about introverts. Let's define what it means to be introverted.

Introverts are people who get their energy from time alone. Some people will equate introversion with shyness or social anxiety but those two things while they sometimes might overlap, are very distinct from one another.

So before I dive in, I want to preface all of this with the fact that I'm coming from a place of being a white straight woman. So there's a little bit of privilege behind what I'm saying. And I think that there are others who definitely have more difficult experiences than me. But I think that this is an important conversation to have for all women. I have a one and a half-year-old and a three and a half-year-old and any woman that I've talked to you that's in that time, it's a very intense time for the family experience.

While we all know small charities and nonprofits need help and students are potentially really great sources of that help, it can be overwhelming and difficult to think about how to manage them and how to really create a meaningful experience for both the organization and the students.

We are talking about boards, everyone's favourite topic! But also more specifically how to create a high functioning board. And part of that is understanding what doesn't work with board functionality.

Tune in to our live conversation from Happy You Year as we chat with Simon Scriver, host of Simon Scriver's Amazingly Ultimate Fundraising Superstar Podcast, about Shiny Object Syndrome. Learn about how to confidently (and successfully) say no, how to evaluate whether a trend is right of you and much more!

Networking that way just feels bad. It feels fake and icky and impersonal.

Today’s podcast is all about how to network in a way that feels good. Since those days, I’ve learned how to network in a way that is authentic and that focuses on meaningful connections. My guest today, Paul Nazaerth, has built a career on doing just that, and effectively.

Alignment is about having that opportunity to step back and proactively look at the skeletal system of an organization. It's really important for organizations to be able to look at their systems and their structures, which really are that skeletal system. We try to find ways for organizations to do that where they get to look at not only the soft elements of what they do, but the hard elements as well.

In a culture that is not healthy, your feelings actually really don't matter very much. You feel like you can’t fully express yourself, where there is a lot of insular stuff happening. There's an inner circle and I think you see a ton of turnover.

So our sector really suffers from high turnover and, and that can be a sign of an unhealthy organization.

But if I were to say the one thing is that you would feel as though you are not valued, as though you're not respected, that what you brought to the table didn't really matter.

Kristi Porter is the founder of Signify Solutions and she believes in using her skills, talents, and influence to do good wherever she can. As a self-described #WordNerd, she's often assisting nonprofits and for-profits with a social mission in their marketing and communication communications efforts, primarily through copywriting and marketing strategy consulting.

Christina Sackeyfio is a Canadian certified inclusion professional who has had over 13 years of experience working in social impact and innovation in the nonprofit sector. She's been a change agent and implementation lead for a wide range of diversity, equity and inclusion related initiatives in areas such as youth literacy, financial inclusion and child welfare. As an educator, strategist and community engagement practitioner, she has developed a unique skill set around designing, implementing, and evaluating complex inclusion initiatives and has worked with a range of organizations to build safe and welcoming environments to foster meaningful stakeholder experiences.

Today's guest is Josie Fung the Executive Director of I Think, which is a program based out of the Rotman School of Business at the University of Toronto. I'm really excited to have her on the podcast talking about “playing to win,” which is a framework that helps us think about our strategic planning and aspirations.

Today’s guest is Ryan Collins-Swartz from Tapestry Capital. He helps organizations across Ontario raise community bonds, which are a powerful way for nonprofits and charities to finance capital projects by raising investments from their supporters. They allow citizens to invest locally in meaningful projects.

We love to talk about corporate giving because it literally comes up in every single conversation with every single organization. In this conversation with our friend Heather Nelson, the founder and principal of BridgeRaise, she talks about what it takes to be open for business to corporate giving. Tune in to learn about what kind of corporate ask to make, how to become "open for business" and how to cultivate sustainable relationships with corporations.

This week we’re chatting with Shelley and David from RAMP Communications about the process behind impact stories and how to use them effectively and ethically. They share with us how to empower the communities we serve and help them share their experiences in a way that resonates with your supporters and inspires them to take action.

Whether it’s going on for too long or someone else seems to be dominating the conversation, meetings can feel time-consuming and unproductive. In our conversation with Rebecca Sutherns, founder and principal of Sage Solutions, we discuss how you can have better, more meaningful meetings (and fewer of them!).

In this episode, we’re chatting with Omar Visram, CEO of Enkel Backoffice Solutions about cloud-based bookkeeping and accounting solutions that will save you time and money. Tune in to learn about how to move your organization digitally forward.