Visual Eyes

S2 Ep 12 - How Nonprofits Can Thrive: Cathy Brown on Collaboration & Growth

• Visuals by Momo • Season 2 • Episode 12

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In this episode of the Visual Eyes Podcast, we sit down with Cathy Brown, Director of the Broward Center for Nonprofit Excellence at the Community Foundation of Broward. Cathy shares expert insights on nonprofit success, funding strategies, and the importance of collaboration in the sector.

About Cathy Brown:
Cathy serves as Director of the Broward Center for Nonprofit Excellence at the Community Foundation of Broward, a new program helping community nonprofits, particularly small, grassroots, BIPOC-led or -serving organizations, build capacity and strengthen their core mission work. Prior to joining the Foundation, Cathy spent nearly a decade with The Fund Raising School at Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, serving as lead faculty for many of the face-to-face courses as well as the online courses, and working in curriculum design and faculty management. She co-authored a chapter in Achieving Excellence in Fundraising (5th edition). Cathy also has career experience in nonprofit management, leadership, fundraising, grant proposal writing and grant management, classroom instruction ranging from elementary school through college.

Cathy earned an MS in Education from Indiana University and a BA in Elementary Education from Hanover College. She also completed the Graduate Certificate in Philanthropic Studies from Indiana University and is certified as Associate Professional in Talent Development. She has served on several boards at the local and state levels, including a current role on the executive board of Gilda’s Club of South Florida, and chapter work with the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Grant Professionals Association, Impact 100 Pensacola, and several other state, university, and local groups and organizations.

Key Takeaways: ✔ Why collaboration is essential for nonprofit growth ✔ How nonprofits can secure sustainable funding ✔ The importance of storytelling in donor engagement ✔ Strategies for building strong nonprofit-business partnerships ✔ How organizations can leverage community resources for greater impact

Nonprofit leaders, community advocates, and philanthropic professionals won’t want to miss this powerful discussion on strengthening nonprofit sustainability.

🎧 Listen now and discover actionable strategies to grow your nonprofit!

🔗 Learn more about the Community Foundation of Broward: https://cfbroward.org

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Special Thanks to Stacy Daugherty for the beautiful wall artwork in the background. Socials: @artographybystacy

Chris Baker:

Chris Baker, and each week we'll explore incredible connections between nonprofits, businesses and the community. This is a space where we highlight inspiring partnerships, uncover strategies for creating meaningful impact and share stories that show how working together can make all the difference. Whether you're a nonprofit leader, a business owner or someone just passionate about building connections, this podcast is for you. Welcome back to Visual Eyes. Today, I have the pleasure of having Cathy Brown from the Community Foundation of Broward. Thank you so much for being here. Can you tell us a little bit about the journey and what inspired you to join Community Foundation of Broward and helping the Broward community?

Cathy Brown:

Oh, thanks, chris, I am so happy to be here with you. I know we have talked at various places about the passion we both share in supporting nonprofits and that really is what brought me to the Community Foundation. I started my career as an elementary school teacher and then kind of moved into nonprofit, did some nonprofit program work, then ran a couple of nonprofits, then had the pleasure of getting to join the fundraising school in working and teaching nonprofits around the country, and so it sort of all of those experiences. My career has always been in sort of the education and nonprofit space, almost that I was. If I was being paid to do, say, the education side, then I was volunteering on the nonprofit side and vice versa.

Cathy Brown:

So I've always been in this space. But I happened to come down to Fort Lauderdale to teach a class and they were telling me about this cool new startup program. They had to build the nonprofit center and kind of how that was set up to work and at the same time, conveniently, my husband was taking a job in Hialeah, so we were moving to the area.

Cathy Brown:

And it's so rarely does everything line up so right. But as I put it together and started really thinking about it, it marries everything that I'm passionate about Teaching, learning, education, nonprofit support, building people up, strengthening capacity. It just sort of does all of those things in one place. So when they said, do you want to do this, I said yes, before I even really knew what this was. So that's a little of the journey here.

Chris Baker:

Oh, that's fantastic. I didn't actually know that there was so much backstory that you had on coming down here just in the nonprofit sector. I knew you were big in the nonprofit just because of conversations that I've heard from other people and you being here. We met at Dollars and Cents. We did Over two years ago.

Cathy Brown:

Yeah, yeah. That was the first formal program that the nonprofit center collaborated with other partners to put on. That's fantastic, yeah, yeah.

Chris Baker:

Talk a little bit about that, like how did that um space come together? How did you be able to pull all of these nonprofits together to really do dollars and cents?

Cathy Brown:

Sure, um, as I said, that was our kind of our first big event, um, and and it came out of the whole desire, as we were launching the center, to be seen as a collaborative partner and someone who was working with all of the people in parts and activities that were going on in the community, as opposed to being a competitor or another thing. And so I reached out intentionally in the first couple of months of my time here and met with the folks at the Association of Fundraising Professionals Broward chapter. I met with the nonprofit executive alliance. At that time they were still focused in Broward. Now they've expanded as well.

Cathy Brown:

I met with the United Way. I met with the Children's Services Council. I met with the Children's Services Council. So I met and learned a little bit about what everybody was doing and also, at the same time, was listening to nonprofits, as I met with them, about what the biggest questions were and concerns were, and it really was to understand how do we continue to raise funds? Even two years ago in the environment. Then, yeah, you know, even in two years ago in the environment. Then, um, and coming out of the pandemic, you know where's the strengths, where are the?

Chris Baker:

where are?

Cathy Brown:

the benefits, where are the challenges and how can we start to work together? So you know, it was it kind of we launched under that whole um, let's do this collaboratively, let's do this together.

Chris Baker:

Yeah, I remember it was an amazing panel Like um. I remember Vanessa Seltzer was on it yes. And Tiffany and Eric from.

Cathy Brown:

Children's Harbor were both there.

Chris Baker:

Yes, I'm probably missing a couple more people from the panel, but those are the ones that I'm still in contact with today and I definitely have connected with. So it was amazing to hear like, even as me coming in as a for-profit, I got so much value Like in just understanding what the nonprofits are going through. You know they're having to change out people. How do you get people to stay in your organization? How?

Cathy Brown:

are you?

Chris Baker:

you know, retaining these talent without you know them taking the leave to go to a for-profit or whatever the situation is Exactly yeah. And so I thought it was extremely valuable. And I really hope that you know we have more of those opportunities, because that was an amazing event.

Cathy Brown:

Yeah, thank you. Yeah, we're excited about that and we still. Yeah, we've worked on several different things. We do a funders panel annually in partnership with the AFP.

Chris Baker:

Good.

Cathy Brown:

And that brings funders from around the community and the region together for gosh. I think there are over 100 nonprofits that typically attend and just to hear what are the funders looking for right now. We worked alongside a lot of the business development organizations the Small Business Development Center and others to help organizations understand the business side of the work that we're doing. So we're working again alongside a lot of these partners to make sure that our nonprofit professionals know and have access to you know the great resources that they need to continue to be able to focus on their missions.

Chris Baker:

Yeah. So one of the biggest things that I love about your organization specifically is you're so focused on collaboration. You're really trying to make sure that there's an opportunity, and one of the things I remember having a conversation with you is before somebody starts a new nonprofit, is there a way for you to collaborate with a current nonprofit? It's so important because you're already going after the same donor dollars and if you can find a way to merge together or do something collaboratively, you're actually building a different audience. So do you have any success stories or collaboration stories that you could share that maybe they didn't go down the nonprofit realm and they actually partnered with a current nonprofit?

Cathy Brown:

We've actually had that situation often. I probably get an email or a call almost weekly from someone, and what I love about the folks that start nonprofits is it comes out of a place of passion. There is never a is never a. You know a plan to go in and make the money doing this, that and the other. It's more.

Cathy Brown:

You know there always comes from a passion, but because of that, a lot of times that research isn't necessarily the first thing that they do, or the you know the understanding of what it means to run a business, because at the end of the day, a nonprofit is a business. It just does something different with the profits. That's really the only big difference. Right, and so so we do. I do get that question pretty regularly and I always start out with the same answer is you know? Is you know amazing Love that you've found this, this need? Let's first start with looking at who in the community is doing it, because Broward has over 10,000 organizations registered as nonprofits just in Broward County and you know, and of those, 80% of them are small, grassroots, you know, sort of single, focused, regional or even, you know, zip code based kind of organizations.

Chris Baker:

Oh yeah.

Cathy Brown:

Very valuable but also not always as connected as they could be. So one of the things we did initially is really intentionally reached out to help organizations learn and understand who's working in the space. So the website that we have cfbrowerorg one of the spaces on the nonprofit center is a nonprofit directory so that anyone that's either doing work in the space, looking to fund work in the space or just wants to know who else is out there, can get in and understand who that list. You know who's in that space, so you can sort that list by who's doing work with animal care or who's doing work with AIDS and HIV support or whatever the topic is, and you know you can find the groups that are already doing that work. So routinely again, I get those messages and I have those conversations with organizations and point them to that resource.

Cathy Brown:

Uh, we also have some some um templates and additional resources online that point people to um particular, there's a Candid resource. Candid is a national website but they've got some great training resources, um, and it's how to start a nonprofit and how to know if that's right for you and it's a nice little checklist that says do you have these things in place? Do you know these people. You know, do you have funds for your first three years secured so that you can grow the organization? Because you know many, many funders and even donors want to wait and see you get started beforehand, so so we're able to provide a lot of those resources and and help organizations. You know, I can think of a couple of folks that are in that process that are doing that research now, some that have. I can think of a couple that have really found a niche that others aren't serving and are moving forward and getting started, and then others that have found food delivery, food service, for example. I mean hunger is a huge issue.

Cathy Brown:

It is and there are so many aspects to it. And that's not to say that we can't support all the food pantries that we have in the community. We certainly can, but before we open new ones, let's get in to see where those organizations are working and help them see where those gaps are, versus, you know, just opening up yet another space that we've now got to figure out how we're going to get the food to. So and that's just you know, just just as an example.

Chris Baker:

So yeah, no, that's very. It's very insightful because, honestly, when we're looking at trying to help, you know sometimes, like you said, we're all nonprofits are always looking at the passion first and if they step back, take a look at those resources that are out there and see, oh, this organization is not serving this area, but they could.

Cathy Brown:

Right.

Chris Baker:

And now, if I just added this onto the program, through their organization, I'm still doing the passion, I'm still doing the work.

Cathy Brown:

Absolutely.

Chris Baker:

But you're not having to focus on all those extra pieces of going out and fundraising.

Cathy Brown:

Yeah.

Chris Baker:

Yeah, you know having to try to build a business structure Exactly. You know, sometimes you may actually get an assistant just by having the program through another organization. So not everything's falling on you, yeah, so I think that's very valuable, going back to that resource and that website where they can connect. I mean, obviously you probably don't have all 10,000 nonprofits listed there. We actually do. You have all 10,000.

Cathy Brown:

We do. If they are registered with the IRS, they are listed on the directory. It is a partnership with Candid again that national entity that tracks all of that information.

Cathy Brown:

So any nonprofit that is registered in Broward will be featured there. Now the caveat is the information that's featured there is pulled from their 990 documentation and right now that's about three years old in what the IRS has updated. So nonprofits can go in and claim their profiles and get that straight through our website and then put in updated information so that your current board, your current budget, you know all that kind of information is there and that's really really helpful for donors and funders who are looking and checking out organizations as they learn about them to see, okay, their information is here and it's current.

Cathy Brown:

This looks like an organization that I can trust and I want to work with, so it's a great resource for any organization to be able to go in and claim their profile, and there's even an opportunity to earn badges that you can earn a bronze, a silver, a gold or even a platinum badge. And it just comes from being transparent on the information that you can earn a bronze, a silver, a gold or even a platinum badge, and it just comes from being transparent on the information that you're sharing so that funders and donors can get in and see all that information easily.

Cathy Brown:

So it's an easy way to build trust, to build comfort, to build confidence and to be sure that the information that is portrayed there is accurate. That your address is correct, that your executive director or board chair or whoever is leading the work is accurate, so that people know who to contact.

Chris Baker:

Okay, that's amazing. Yeah, that's extremely important, especially for donors that are looking where do I want to spend my donor money, how do I want to sponsor things? So having that accurate information is crucial.

Cathy Brown:

It really is.

Chris Baker:

Especially if you're trying to do something at a micro level.

Cathy Brown:

Yeah, absolutely Absolutely. And even our grant applications ask for the same information that's found in Candid, and if your profile is up to date, that information will feed our applications so that you don't even have to worry about putting it in there because it just automatically comes over. So it's just another. It can be a time saver, but that also shows the importance and the value of that being accurate and up to date.

Chris Baker:

Right. So I know that you guys are able to assist in multiple different areas and so like education, like an action plan format, meaning the nonprofit participants will work through a program.

Cathy Brown:

Most recently we had a partnership with a company called Resilia and we had a cohort of nonprofits who spent a year with the content on their platform and doing some one-on-one coaching and doing some um, some peer networking, and really just strengthening. They all would pick a few um key goals and work through that for throughout the year. Um, and we not only sponsor their participation at that at no cost to them, but we also then at the end, if they've met a very simple metric, then they're uh, we provide action, action grants so they can take what they've learned and actually put that into play.

Cathy Brown:

So that's a model we're continuing to grow and making them available to our nonprofits who then can attend you know, the more expensive workshops or a conference, or join an affiliated group or you know, an association for a year, so that they can learn and strengthen themselves Again, taking advantage of the organizations and the opportunities that are already out there. So that's a little bit of a stay tuned. We're just getting that launched and we've already had a couple of donors who are really excited about that as a funding stream. So we're excited to be able to grow that as time goes on and as the need continues.

Chris Baker:

Well, I think the need is definitely there.

Cathy Brown:

For sure.

Chris Baker:

So 100% Do you know if that's going to be, hopefully, at the end of 2025 and the future years?

Cathy Brown:

That's our hope is to be able to at least launch the process by the fall.

Chris Baker:

Perfect.

Cathy Brown:

And then ideally award the first professional development grants in the early spring of next year.

Chris Baker:

Okay.

Cathy Brown:

So that's why I said it's stay tuned. Yeah, that's a very stay tuned.

Chris Baker:

But honestly I mean that's very hopeful that a year from now there's going to have this more opportunity to get leadership development dollars out there.

Cathy Brown:

Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, yeah, excited about that.

Chris Baker:

That's very cool. Can you talk about any other collaborations that you've had built or seen over the last, since you've been here with the community foundation, sure?

Cathy Brown:

You know, several different things come to mind at once. We did as an initial partnership with the fundraising school which is part of the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy based out of Indiana University. They're nationally known and recognized and they have a credentialing program and they offer classes in six locations around the country and Fort Lauderdale is one of them and the only one in the southeast. So we have continued to grow that partnership and when they first started the goal was just to have a couple of classes in Fort Lauderdale but fortunately, because I had been working with them and am now here at the foundation, we were able to grow that partnership. So now there are actually two fundraising credentials that you can take part in and participate and gain, and all of the classes are offered here in Broward at the Community Foundation offices.

Cathy Brown:

So that is one of the collaborations, that is really powerful because, other than a certified fundraising executive credential, there's not a lot of other credentials out there for nonprofit professionals. It's a growing field out there for nonprofit professionals. It's a growing field, but the credentials they call it the Certified Fundraising Manager or a CFRM that is the initial credential the fundraising school has been giving for years and you can now fully get that by participating in the classes at the Community Foundation. And then they just launched a certificate in fundraising leadership. So that is a new launch and we are the first location outside of Indiana that will be offering those classes. Oh, awesome. So that's an exciting collaboration. At a bigger level, we also collaborate with an organization called BoardSource to bring know reputable national training on working with your boards of directors. We work with Spectrum Nonprofits, which is an organization out of Milwaukee that does nonprofit finance, education and support.

Cathy Brown:

So we just had some classes there with them recently. So there's some of those types of collaborations that are happening with them recently. So there's some of those types of collaborations that are happening. But then the beauty of pulling our nonprofits together, whether it's virtually in a Zoom space or in person, you know, at the foundation office or offsite, is that the nonprofit collaborations just start to happen naturally as soon as they're sitting around. And I always take the time at the beginning of a class to have everyone introduce themselves and what they do and a little bit of their why, why they're doing the work that they're doing for organizations offer anything from tours of the Museum of Science and Discovery to just to experiential opportunities.

Cathy Brown:

Just again this morning, at an event, I was standing next to an organization who said oh, my kids are looking for service hours as part of their after school program.

Chris Baker:

Yeah.

Cathy Brown:

Speaking to an animal rescue that said we're looking for people to care with and work with our dogs, and so immediately that happened and so, like I said, I could probably talk all day about you know the types of collaborations that happen in that space, but it just we've got to get people the space and the comfort to do that and then, on the funding side, we've got to be able to support those collaborations happening and making that possible and, you know, helping them understand and us understand what that you know what collaborative works look like. You know in the, when it comes to the, you know who's paying the bills and who does the check go to, and those kinds of things. So so it's, it's a space we're all continuing to to learn and grow and strengthen the overall sector and, in particular, the funders sector as we're, as those collaborations are happening.

Chris Baker:

Well, this is amazing, like my brain was just spinning in all these amazing good, different ways. There's so many different things that nonprofits are needing and sometimes, when we actually are working with for-profits, they don't always understand. Can you enlighten you know our listeners are our viewers today specifically more on some of the challenges or lessons that you've learned or seen other nonprofits learn, so that they could actually work with the for-profit or other nonprofits to make it a little bit more stronger?

Cathy Brown:

Yeah, yeah, that is something I mean.

Cathy Brown:

My brain is spinning a million ways too, but the idea of really thinking about what is it that nonprofits need the support to do and then, yeah, what kind of fun lessons have we learned along the way I'm going to go two directions on that, as far as you know in particular, thinking about how can for-profits and even donors really help and support and strengthen the nonprofits to really be able to do the mission work that is so critical for our communities, you know, to be successful and to be amazing places to live, like Broward, is the development of the capacity to do the work, which is the term we use in the nonprofit sector, for it takes money to pay the people to do the work and to buy the computers and to support the vans, and buy the gas and pay the light bill and all of the things that it takes to run a for-profit business.

Cathy Brown:

It takes that same, all those same resources to run a nonprofit business. Correct, right, and but there is such, there's still, although it's getting better, there's still such a um, a concern about oh, we shouldn't support overhead. Um, you know, and you hear that term a lot, and really, if I could leave anybody with any, uh any education left. Um, I it would be that you know that we absolutely should support overhead, that that you know that that is supporting the people that do the work and you want you know if someone's doing an after school child care program. We want well qualified, talented, passionate people to be working with our kids.

Chris Baker:

Oh, yeah, right.

Cathy Brown:

And it's going to take some resources to make that happen. Correct? We hear a lot about the turnover in the sector, and you know, and the wages in the sector and how hard those things are and those are. You know those are real challenges that nonprofits face when they can't get the support you know for some of those core operations. So you know, as far as you know, how can we, you know, as a community, as a collective sort of continue to support nonprofits? I'd say that's a big area. But the other thing that I think is really interesting is how you know just maybe misunderstood or assumed it is that you know today's environment, for example, is new for nonprofits. You know I've been in this space for 37 years. I did the math the other day, yikes.

Cathy Brown:

But you know a really long time and you know you see a lot of things happen, and my colleagues do as well. You know we talk about just many of the ebbs and flows, but at the end of the day, there's so many of the core competencies, core pieces of work that nonprofits are doing and working toward. They stay the same and in fact I was just in a class within the last couple of days and the presenter actually quoted Ruth McCambridge, who is now the editor emeritus of Nonprofit Quarterly, and the quote that she shared that is certainly relevant today is that nonprofits must now function at the edge of the present and the future and that strategies must be fast-moving, flexible and continuously experimental. And the most interesting piece about that is that that was written in 2006. And yet it sounds like you know it's today.

Cathy Brown:

And someone listening to this podcast a year from now is going to have a situation that makes it sound like today as well. So for all of us, I think one of the key lessons to learn and remember is that that is somewhat the nature of the work that we do, that things are changing, and resiliency and flexibility and a true eye for sustainability through and navigating through whatever the next thing is going to be pandemic, you know whatever that's so important to make sure that the organization is positioned well and positioned so that they can be flexible and nimble.

Cathy Brown:

We all had to do it in the pandemic that was probably the biggest, broadest example that most of us, at least recently, can think about, although certainly many, many organizations are facing similar, you know structure challenges and mission challenges today that you know the lesson there is really that positioning your organization well is always going to be important, no matter what we're facing.

Chris Baker:

So really, kind of what I'm hearing, and quote me if I'm wrong, but you know it's really niching down specifically in your mission. Yeah, absolutely, because if you can be different enough from the other organizations that are doing similar work, that's when you can have more collaboration with those other organizations and it's going to help you find those specific donors and sponsors that are like oh, I love this niche approach that they're going to give you that money, versus if you're just kind of broadly doing it. Well, they're like well, I could give it to this one or this one or this one, yeah, and how do I choose?

Cathy Brown:

that's always a big question.

Chris Baker:

We get yeah and honestly, they're going to come to you as a resource to help. Where should I choose to put this money right? And so really niching down to the point where it's like this is our mission, this is our vision, this is what we're trying to accomplish, absolutely. It makes it so much more powerful and it gives them the ability to, like you said, find that donor dollar and that grant money absolutely, and even to build.

Cathy Brown:

You know, kind of back to your area of expertise, but to build, build the story right.

Cathy Brown:

That is so important. It is in the storytelling, when they really understand their mission and they really understand the work that they're doing and the impact that they're making. You know that is such an important component to building those stories and I mean that's the work that you all know and do so well, but that's what they've got to be able to share. That does help a donor truly understand. You know where the right match is and where that true connection can be.

Chris Baker:

Well, and especially in this time right now, where we don't know where grants and funding is going to come from, and it's very a little bit of chaos, because we're all thinking like, oh, is this going to still be here? Is this going to be still here? And I put on an article on LinkedIn specifically about how important storytelling is, now more than ever. Because of that, the uncertainty that we are all facing is where are those donor dollars going to come from? Because if it can't come from grants, where is it going to come from? It has to come from the community.

Chris Baker:

Exactly, and the community is only going to respond to you if you're telling the right story, and so that storytelling is so critical. So one of the things that I actually had mentioned in previous episodes is, specifically, we do a lot of different ways. We'll teach you just how to storytell on your own. Go out and do it, because the more that you can put your story out into the community and have a strategy behind it, exactly, it's more invaluable. So I know what we're partnering right now at the community foundation of Broward specifically, we're going to be specifically, we're going to be teaching storytelling. We're going to be teaching how to actually capture your own material. You need to create this content library that's going to help you constantly be able to tell your story through years to come, through years to come, yeah, and so if you capture the content of an event or you know capturing that testimonial or interview, success story, whatever it is, you can reuse it.

Chris Baker:

You can repurpose it absolutely and it saves more money by just having a space to store all this material and then come back to it yeah oh yep, I need this, I need this, I need to this, um, and so that's extremely important and I can't wait to actually, you know, share some of this knowledge when we actually get to talk with the people that are going to be there.

Cathy Brown:

Oh yeah, we're really excited about that partnership as well and being able to provide those resources and those tools to again strengthen the toolbox that are our nonprofit professionals. I always talk in my grant writing classes about building a pantry and having all the pieces and parts to build the recipes for your success, and that's what we're building our stories on. So helping people have those pieces in the pantry that they can pull out, I think is going to be really, really a great value, so we're excited about that coming up.

Chris Baker:

Yeah, I do have a question and it's a little off topic from my normal list, but it's actually kind of interesting. How many nonprofits do you know that are actually, you know, have videos to tell their story?

Cathy Brown:

Not as many as we would would like, but I. There is some growth in that at least, at least from what we would like. Yeah, but there is some growth in that, at least from what we're seeing, and in fact we even provide the opportunity as a funder in your grant reporting to provide some video opportunities for that.

Chris Baker:

So invaluable yeah.

Cathy Brown:

So, again, and as that trend grows, understanding how to build that story is going to be even that much more important in how to highlight what impact is and looks like, because impact may not just be the number of people that came to a workshop. It's going to be what changed because of that, and so we want to be sure that people are capturing you know all of that kind of information and building that into their stories.

Cathy Brown:

That's going to be so important. But yeah, I mean it is such a need to be able to do that and do that well and to be able to do that concisely. I think that, as we look at the attention for you know, videos. While I can remember when they said, oh, your video should be under 30 minutes, you know now we laugh at that concept.

Chris Baker:

We kind of do yeah right. So you know, just knowing what some of those parameters are how to best get that story out is going to be so important biggest impact that a video can make is if you can actually pull in the right emotion that you're trying to convey to the community and you're trying to convey to your target audience, which are donors, supporters, the general community as a whole and sometimes even the grant funders oh, for sure because now, I mean, even video is so important with your grant application, like it's showcasing the impact, it's showcasing the stories and the changes you're doing.

Chris Baker:

Yes, they need the numbers, but when you connect on a more emotional level, it works so much faster in your favor. So, yeah, it's having that strategy, telling the right story and really kind of looking at it from an outside perspective. I recommend find someone else to take a look, give them all the information and have them look at what your story should be.

Cathy Brown:

Oh, for sure yeah.

Chris Baker:

Because if you are constantly living it day to day and in and out, you're going to have a different perspective. But if you have someone else, look at it from an outside lens, you can see something more possible. And oh, if we took it from this angle and we did it this way or we said you know what, let's just follow this one person and talk about their journey through all of the services that you offer and the what they have come out at the end, and having that up and down like here is the challenge yeah, the whole story arc, the whole story exactly and a lot of us just want to say, well, here's what the facts are, here's what that is.

Chris Baker:

If you're playing those type of videos over and over again, a lot of the times the people you're trying to convince to give you money, they kind of just tune it out. It's like, well, I've already heard this multiple times, yeah, but, oh my God, this could have been my neighbor and they went through this and I didn't understand it. And then you saw this organization step in as the hero of the story.

Chris Baker:

And showcased step by step what they've done and it's not even about the organization as a whole for the story and showcased step by step what they've done. And it's not even about the organization as a whole for the story. It's about this person, their journey, right, but it gives them the best light, right, and it can hopefully get them that extra dollar.

Cathy Brown:

It does, because that's I mean.

Cathy Brown:

You know, I'm not a brain scientist but brain science does you know, in the simplified I said I started as a fourth grade teacher, so in my fourth grade teacher mode brain science, the way that people remember stories is problem solution, action, correct. I mean you know. And so what we want people to leave you know from any story that they're hearing, but certainly you know, in the video stories we've got the real ability to make that impact Is what was the problem? You know that the client, the participant was facing, what challenges were in the way, who was the hero that helped solve it? Usually the organization or the experience you know. And then, and what was the end result? And then, what do we want the donors to do? Right, you know, and so we've got to always remember that piece of it as well.

Chris Baker:

Yeah, yeah.

Cathy Brown:

Excited about this?

Chris Baker:

Yeah, no, it's always great and always make sure you have a call to action.

Cathy Brown:

Excited about this, yeah, no, uh, it's always great and always make sure you have a call to action.

Chris Baker:

What do you want them to do? If it's just as simple as going to your website, that's still a call to action. Yeah, but sometimes it's. You know, volunteer. What is the end result? What do you need?

Chris Baker:

the most of, and so sometimes you have to make several different videos for each of those different calls to action. Yes, it's not always going to be fit into one video, and I think that's what a lot of us do is like, oh, I just need one video. But in the truth, if you captured everything that we've kind of discussed so far, you could make 50 videos exactly, yeah, and one video is not going to be memorable if it's got all of that information in it. It's over it's overkill.

Cathy Brown:

They're not going to be able? Which? Which group was it that had the this and then that and then? Yeah you want. You want the simplified, um, clean stories, uh, and that that is going to be so important, what continues to be, you know well, and even on the spectrum of just kind of look looking at what people are watching now.

Chris Baker:

People are watching more documentaries now than movies and tv shows and if you think about it, it's an individual's story, right, and they're talking about all the different journeys. Maybe they're pulling in this you know company or this non-profit that helped them and got them through this challenging time, or maybe it was just a change of you know, mindset or whatever the case may be, when we actually try to create videos for the nonprofit, we want to go in at that angle and we want to do it as a short you know, maybe three to five minutes long, but in that documentary setting like we want to follow a story of you know, either it's an employee, Either it's, you know, one of the people that got helped by the nonprofit or whatever example that we need to kind of showcase to really help them get their story across.

Cathy Brown:

Yeah, yeah, and again, memorable. You know, brief, that the donor and a funder, a board member, can watch and know and understand. You know, and we hear so much about people's concerns about, oh, you know, I'm not sure my board of directors is, you know, is fundraising for us or they're not sure what they're supposed to be doing. And, man, if you've got stories like that and all they really have to do is say you know, there's this really cool organization I'm part of. You know, we help cancer victims and patients and families do amazing work. And if you'd like to learn more, here's a quick video. Any of us can have a simple story like that to share and that really empowers our board, our volunteers, our other staff members and just people in the community that love the work we do to be able to truly begin to advocate for us. So again, the value of that story is so important.

Chris Baker:

You know, I didn't even think about this until just now as we're talking, but these kind of videos that we're discussing right now is really truly how it's going to help people stay in the nonprofit sector.

Cathy Brown:

Absolutely.

Chris Baker:

Because, honestly, now you're connecting on an even deeper level and if you're trying to get that initial person to apply or get them to change a career path to come to the nonprofit sector, it's these type of stories, if it's done the right way, that are going to be like oh my gosh, you inspired me, you've changed my thought process on this, and one of the other things that you mentioned specifically is a nonprofit is a business, so we need to add those resources to the overhead so that we can hire they can hire these individuals to do better work and more work. It can't like not all nonprofits can run just on volunteers.

Cathy Brown:

Right, right yeah. And it's part of the growth pattern. Correct, you know many organizations start that way. But, yeah, there comes a point when you're at capacity of what volunteers can do and do well. So you know, there'll be a time when staffing is something that the organization's got to consider.

Chris Baker:

Well, and if you're looking at a one-person nonprofit, like they're running the whole entire ship, and Well, and if you're looking at a one-person nonprofit like they're running the whole entire ship, and how many people can they manage for volunteers Right Before, it's like I need help and that help is overhead. Yeah.

Cathy Brown:

Yeah.

Chris Baker:

And so they have to take it into consideration.

Cathy Brown:

Yeah, it really is. That's a key piece of it too, yeah, and and helping people just understand that that means the work gets done and gets done better or, more broadly, serves more people, you know, deepens the engagement, whatever it may be correct yep, wow.

Chris Baker:

And so you mentioned a statistic. Towards the beginning there was like 8 000 are grass oh yeah, 80 percent.

Cathy Brown:

Yeah, so probably 8 000 are grassroot non-profits in broward community alone. Yeah, just in broward county.

Chris Baker:

Yeah, with budgets under 50 000 and that's not a huge amount of money, no like when you actually think about it over a course of year like that's gone yeah, yeah, like if it was a volunteer base.

Cathy Brown:

Yeah, that volunteer base.

Chris Baker:

Yeah, that's not paying anybody, yeah, you can't pay anybody because it's going 100% to programming, yeah, which is very valuable, but how do they expand? Right, yeah, right. So what can you tell or give as a suggestion for all of these grassroots Because honestly, it sounds like I mean with 80% in this sector? How can they utilize the Community Foundation of Broward and the Nonprofit Excellent Program to further get them to a space where they can grow?

Cathy Brown:

Yeah, and I mean they can jump on the website at their own time, you know, and if that's, you know, midnight you know the resources are there so they can look at how do I run my nonprofit.

Cathy Brown:

You know, you can look at their templates for how to strengthen your board and you know how to build a budget and just all of those kinds of things. Those resources exist. You can pull them whenever you have the time to look. We also again offer in-person and virtual classes, so there are a lot of those, and then in-person and virtual classes so there are a lot of those and then we even have some asynchronous classes, in other words, classes that are all sort of prerecorded and you can access them again at midnight, if that's the time that works for you, or whatever time.

Cathy Brown:

So there are some training, but there's also a million things that they could be focused on and that can be really overwhelming, especially for those really small shops. So, picking one or two areas okay, this is what I need to focus on now. Growing my volunteer base, that's a really big piece. Strengthening the board of directors, you know that's a really big piece because that really builds capacity, because those are more people that can help you do the work to meet the mission, to grow to a size where you can start to bring additional staff members in to continue. So it is really helping. The resources are there.

Cathy Brown:

What so many of us don't and I remember this in my days as well is I just didn't know where to start right, it just seemed so is I just didn't know where to start right. It just seemed so overwhelming that I didn't know where to start. And so the creation of the Broward Center for Nonprofit Excellence, in particular, on the website there's a resource hub that is a place to start and it's a place to see those templates. It's a place to read some of those articles. It's a place to see what those classes are. It's also a place to see what can articles. It's a place to see what those classes are.

Cathy Brown:

It's also a place to see what can you know? What are the other entities in the community that can help me? How do I get in touch with the Small Business Development Center? How can I find out what the Children's Services Council is funding right now? You know what is. How do you become a United Way agency? All of those connections are there and I will warn you, you know I mean it is it is a vast resource now and it's continuing to grow almost by the day.

Cathy Brown:

So you know. But but know that those resources are there and we want to see you be successful as a nonprofit at any size, because we know the needs of the community are vast and you know we lean on and rely on the nonprofit sector to meet. Help us meet those needs on and rely on the nonprofit sector to meet, help us meet those needs. And so you know, the better we can equip them and the better equipped they can be to do that work, you know, the more success we all see, and so that's that's the goal. So so it's a starting place. It will continue to grow, but it's it's hopefully, the place to begin.

Chris Baker:

No, I think that's great. So for anybody that's actually a nonprofit that has not been connected to the Community Foundation, is there any fees that they have to worry about? Is it completely free? How does that structure look like?

Cathy Brown:

Yeah, as far as accessing our resources, everything at this point has been completely free and we don't ever anticipate those tools and templates and articles and that kind of stuff. That will always be free resources. Many of our classes and trainings and programs are also at no cost to the nonprofits, Thanks to you know, a lot of the additional funding partners that we have. The Nonprofit Center in particular has a funding partner with the Frederick A DeLuca Foundation, and so thank you to them for being able to provide so many of these tools and resources. As we continue to grow and bring in additional trainings, there may be some that will have some fee associated with them.

Cathy Brown:

The Fundraising Schools Program does have fees associated with it and that's where we then tie back to those professional development dollars that we're working to build and grow. Excellent, so you know. So it is. Again, the goal is to be that starting point and we're not membership based, so anybody can participate as long as you're serving folks in Broward. We, you know we welcome, the more the merrier that's fantastic, yeah, how I know I have a thousand more questions.

Chris Baker:

We could go on for days I think this could be a multi-episode, so I got like just two more questions really quick. So how can specifically for-profit businesses connect or collaborate with, you know, the community foundation a little bit further.

Cathy Brown:

Yeah, Really, we're just sort of developing those partnerships as well. Traditionally, there have been funding opportunities, sponsor opportunities, those kinds of things, as there are with a lot of our nonprofits, but helping to again connect to the for-profit business with particularly those very entrepreneurial, very philanthropic wanting to support the amazing social impact work that's happening in the community. The best place to start really is that directory. You know, what is it that your business wants to support? You know, is it food security? Is it food security in the top five zip codes where your employees live? And if that's the case, they can find those organizations through the foundation. We've got an amazing team. There are 25 people on the community foundation team, so all you've got to do is call the office and somebody will be glad to help out.

Cathy Brown:

But a lot of those resources are available again to start to see where is that impact going to be the big difference. And then, circling back to what we were talking about earlier, don't be afraid, as a for-profit business to support capacity or core mission those are the two terms that are often used in the nonprofit sector to say this is how we pay the people and the light bills and those kinds of things. Because at the end of the day, all of those impact the client served Every last piece, so you know, that all is part of supporting their nonprofits and making sure that work is happening.

Chris Baker:

So and sometimes I want to also throw this out to all the for-profit businesses out there as well Sometimes you know, if it's not money you can give what? If you donated half your day for your workers to go volunteer?

Cathy Brown:

Oh, fabulous yeah.

Chris Baker:

What if you were to offer a couple hours of your service that you offer?

Cathy Brown:

that could be very helpful for that nonprofit to keep the lights on, to do this, whatever the case may be.

Chris Baker:

It's not always about money.

Cathy Brown:

Exactly.

Chris Baker:

Sometimes it's a volunteer, it's services that you can offer, and I'm sure there's a multitude of other different ideas out there that really you know could be valuable, and I want to try to like pull that into this conversation yeah, because sometimes we get so stuck and like, oh, oh, okay, this charity just needs money.

Chris Baker:

And then you kind of like let it go. But if you thought about it, like, okay, wait, let me open my vision, let me open my like, pull these binoculars away from me and just look. Oh, I wonder if this could be valuable to them, because I have an abundant of it.

Cathy Brown:

Right, right Products. Yeah, you're right, Volunteer time and there's research on employee retention that says for companies, that says if they have an opportunity to volunteer on company time supported by the company, that is a retention strategy.

Chris Baker:

It is.

Cathy Brown:

That is a benefit that young professionals are looking for before they are even hired. They want to know what is that policy, what is the social impact that the company is making, and they really want those opportunities. So that's a win-win that helps the nonprofits. It helps the for-profits.

Chris Baker:

Correct.

Cathy Brown:

It helps the employee retention and employee satisfaction. There's a ton that goes into just that aspect of it, whether it's one volunteer that gets two hours a week or a month, or if it's a group of volunteers on a giving day, those you know in your C-suite and your sort of leadership levels to serve board service and you know and to match their giving as part of that organization. There are a lot of different, really interesting ways to make an impact in the sector and for you know, at the end of the day, for your employees and your you know your customers, because customers love to see that as well.

Chris Baker:

So I have to give a shout out to my old employer, Maslin in Minneapolis. That was one thing that they did. They actually were working with Habitat for Humanity and a huge group of us like went out and helped build a home.

Chris Baker:

And that was just part of you know their culture and their giving back, and so for me, that was another step forward. I was like, oh, I get to give back and they recognize it and they're giving. You know, they're actually letting me be there and paying for my day, and I thought that was super important because, honestly, it changes someone's mindset when you're doing something better for the community, and so the companies that do that and they can see that, yeah, I came back the next day with a whole different mindset and by changing that mindset, I probably did 10 times better work. Yeah, so it's not always about like, oh, he's going to be gone from the office for a full day, but it can be so much more powerful, absolutely.

Cathy Brown:

And giving in general. Some of the really fun research that is coming out of the Lilly School and elsewhere around the country is the health benefit of giving not just money but time, energy, you know all of those things and it's showing that there is a. You know, it's dopamine release.

Cathy Brown:

Yes, there you go, it's, you know it's Science, yeah it literally is changing the way people think and the way people feel and the way people behave, and nonprofits are given the opportunity to help people reach those. You know, those amazing experiences, and so, yeah, any way that we can connect people in those experiences benefits everybody.

Chris Baker:

Oh, 100%, 100%. All right. So last question as we wrap up. Thank you for being on with me so long already, but this is great. What is the legacy you, as an individual, hope to leave through your work to future generations?

Cathy Brown:

Oh, and I love that question. It's such a beautiful way to leave through your work to future generations. Oh, and I love that question. It's such a beautiful way to think about the work that we do in the nonprofit space and a special way for me to get to think about it as well.

Cathy Brown:

Yeah, the beauty of the way that the nonprofit center was created in this gift from the Frederick A DeLuca Foundation in partnership with foundation, is that it was endowed, so the center will be in existence in perpetuity, which is amazing because that means you know, nonprofits 10, 15, 30, 100 years from now, meeting needs we don't even can't even fathom, will still have a resource, a place to go. So for me, the personal legacy piece of that in getting to sort of be the starting point for this to help to get to found this, is to lay that groundwork so that there will, in fact, always be a place for nonprofit professionals who are near and dear to my heart can go and learn and strengthen and collaborate and work together and be in the space and be successful toward their missions.

Chris Baker:

That's amazing. That's absolutely amazing. Yeah, I love that you're looking forward, you know, a century not just five years down the road.

Chris Baker:

It's like you know what this is for future generations. So absolutely beautiful, absolutely. Cathy, thank you so much for being on the show today. I hope that everybody has gotten some. This is for future generations. So absolutely beautiful, absolutely beautiful. Thank you, Cathy. Thank you so much for being on the show today. I hope that everybody has gotten some amazing tidbits of knowledge and tips, and if you do need some resources, go to cfbroward. org, get the information there, work with the Community Foundation of Broward and develop your skills, so they have amazing workshops. So, yes, thank you again so much for being on the show.

Cathy Brown:

It was an honor to be with you.

Chris Baker:

Thank you so much thank you for joining me on this episode of Visual Eyes. We hope that the inspiration and practical insights can help you foster stronger connections and meaningful change. Don't forget to subscribe, share the episode and leave us a review. To learn more about Visuals by Momo and how we support collaboration and storytelling, visit visualsbymomo. com. A huge thank you to everyone out there listening. Until next time, remember, collaboration fuels change and your connections can inspire the world.