Fund the People: A Podcast with Rusty Stahl
Our podcast offers you transformative (yet pragmatic) ideas, data, and tools to help you invest in the nonprofit workforce. This unique show invites you into fun, provocative conversations with a diverse network of funders, nonprofit leaders, authors, intermediaries, and government leaders. Our podcast is a program of Fund the People, an organization founded in 2014, led by Rusty Stahl, that advocates for investment in America's nonprofit workforce to advance equity, effectiveness, and endurance.
Recent Episodes
July 22, 2026
Narrative Resilience for the Nonprofit Sector - with Vanessa Wakeman, The Wakeman Agency
As nonprofits navigate the aggressively hostile political and policy environment of the current federal administration, communications strategist Vanessa Wakeman argues that organizations need more than legal and financial preparedness. In this special summer bonus episode, you’ll learn about “narrative resilience,” - a term and concept developed by Wakeman. Learn how nonprofits – and their funders – can strengthen public trust; counter harmful storylines; and build lasting communications infra
July 8, 2026
How Nonprofits Fight Back Against Today's Biggest Federal Threats - with Sarah Saadian, National Council of Nonprofits
Sarah Saadian of the National Council of Nonprofits explains how the Trump Administration policies are reshaping the nonprofit sector through a three-pronged effort to cut-off funding, silence organizations, and erode trust in nonprofits—and why these threats affect every nonprofit, regardless of mission. She shares practical ways nonprofit leaders can take action together to defend civil society, strengthen nonprofit advocacy, and protect the communities they serve. Promo Video for this Episod
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May 20, 2026
Anger, Hope, Funding, and the Future of Nonprofits with Vu Le, Nonprofit AF
Vu Le is our guest for the Season Nine Finalé, which also serves as an installment of our ongoing Defend Nonprofits, Defend Democracy Series. Recorded with a live zoom audience during our spring webinar series, Vu discusses his burnout, funding instability, philanthropy’s power dynamics, and what it will take to strengthen nonprofits in an era of rising authoritarianism. Vu argues that nonprofits and funders must stop normalizing scarcity, invest deeply in leaders and infrastructure, and organiz
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May 13, 2026
Protect Direct Democracy: Ballot Measures, Funders, and Nonprofits - with Liz DiLauro, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
In this installment of our Defend Nonprofits Defend Democracy Series, you’ll get a deep dive into one of the least-discussed but most important democracy issues facing nonprofits and philanthropy today: attacks on ballot initiatives and direct democracy. Elizabeth DiLauro of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation joins Rusty Stahl to discuss how ballot measures have become critical tools for advancing health equity and why efforts to restrict citizen-led initiatives threaten both democracy and the n
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May 6, 2026
From 7% to 107%: Investing in Organizers Supercharges Impact - with Geraldine Alcid (Filipino Advocates for Justice) and Rebecca Gorena (All Due Respect)
S9:E16 -- In this episode, you’ll hear compelling evidence that investing in nonprofit workers isn’t a distraction from program results—it actually supercharges impact! Burnout is widespread in the nonprofit sector, particularly in social justice groups. But it doesn’t have to be. Our guests share their research, experience, and thinking, based on a cohort of Northern California nonprofits working with All Due Respect to improve working conditions for organizers in their ranks. Geraldine and Re
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April 29, 2026
Build Trust, Practice Equity: Funders and The Black Nonprofit Workforce - with Kaci Patterson, Social Good Solutions and Black Equity Collective
What does it take to move from talking about racial equity to practicing it—inside philanthropy and across the nonprofit sector? In this episode, you’ll get visionary and pragmatic guidance on how funders and nonprofits can close the gap between intention and action. Rusty speaks with Kaci Patterson, Founder of Social Good Solutions and the Black Equity Collective. Kaci shares how her work brings funders and Black-led organizations together to build relationships, trust, and unding strategies th
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