Workforce Development Episodes

340: You Should Be Moving at the Speed of Relationships (Will Acuff) SUMMARY Special thanks to TowneBank for bringing these conversations to life and for their ongoing support of Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership and their commitment to strengthening nonprofit organizations. Learn more about how they can help you at TowneBank.com/NonprofitBanking. How can you build stronger community impact without burning out or losing sight of your mission? In episode #340 of Your Path to Nonprofit Leader...

308: 3 Keys to Building a Dynamic Nonprofit Team (Chris Jenkins) SUMMARY This episode is brought to you by our friends at Armstrong McGuire & Associates. Check them out for your next career opportunity OR for help finding an interim executive or your next leader. What makes or breaks a nonprofit team? In episode #308 of Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership, Chris Jenkins shares how he has built a thriving organization by prioritizing trust, mission alignment, and strategic leadership. Disc...

260: The Blueprint for Building Exceptional Nonprofit Teams (Will Sparks) SUMMARY How can you harness the power of organizational culture to drive optimal performance in your nonprofit? In episode 260 of Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership, Dr. Will Sparks, an expert in leadership and organizational culture, delves deep into the dynamics of culture, leadership, and team performance. Drawing from his extensive research and experience, Will unpacks the nuances of leadership influence and the ro...

255: Nurturing Dynamic & High-Performing Teams (Angela Grimes) SUMMARY As a nonprofit leader, what strategies do you need to elevate your team? In episode 255 of Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership, you’ll gain valuable insights from Angela Grimes, the CEO of Born Free USA, to help revolutionize your organization. Angela shares strategies for effective hiring, stressing cultural fit and communication styles for cohesive teams. She discusses the CEO's role in professional development...

243: How Can You Better Maximize the Potential of Your Volunteers? (Karen Knight) SUMMARY As a nonprofit leader, have you struggled to build a strong and sustainable volunteer program? In episode #243 of Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership, volunteer leadership expert Karen Knight discusses what she’s learned over 25 years of providing volunteer recruitment, engagement, and training support for nonprofit organizations. Karen shares the top four trends leaders should know to grow their volunte...

208: Managing People Problems as a Nonprofit Leader (Beth Napleton) SUMMARY How do you manage your toughest people problems? A good leader solves problems. A great one anticipates them. In episode #208 of Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership, Beth Napleton shares why managing and leading people is one of the biggest and most important responsibilities nonprofit leaders have, but it’s also the hardest. She explains why earning trust is an essential component to building an environment where peo...

206: Staffing Your Grants Program: Employee or Consultant? (Holly Rustick) SUMMARY Grant writing is more than just a process, it’s a skill. And like any skill, we must perfect it with time and practice. So how do you evaluate if you should outsource this aspect of your fundraising program or invest internally? In episode #206 of Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership, we speak with funding and grant writing expert Holly Rustick to help determine which is worth more to your organization – the tim...

119: Managing Turnover as a Nonprofit Leader (Bert Armstrong) SUMMARY As turnover affects every level of our nonprofit organizations, leaders are asking themselves “how do I attract and retain the talented people we need?” In episode #191 of Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership, we speak with Bert Armstrong, who has served more than three decades in the philanthropic sector, about navigating turnover. He discusses how to avoid turnover in the first place, the best approach to a search process ...

184: Excelling at Team Development as a Nonprofit Leader (Liz Brigham) SUMMARY Is the synergy of your team firing on all cylinders? Do you make time for an intentional pause, to first look back at what got you to where you are and what it will take to get you to that next level? Liz Brigham of the Jay Hurt Hub for Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Davidson College answers these questions and more in episode #184 of Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership. Liz shares vast experience from her prof...

178: Building a Diverse and Talented Team at Your Nonprofit (Julie Kratz) SUMMARY As a nonprofit leader, are you creating a more inclusive and diverse culture at your organization, especially at the leadership level? In episode #178 of Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership, we talk with an inclusivity expert, Julie Kratz, about developing the framework for building a diverse and talented leadership team. DEI can be a complex topic in the workplace, and Julie introduces the basic terms leaders sho...

152: Building A Pipeline for Emerging Nonprofit Leaders (Nick Azulay) SUMMARY Does your organization attract the next generation of dynamic nonprofit leaders? In episode #152 of Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership, we talk with Nick Azulay, a Fulbright Scholar, who struggled to convert his education and desire for a meaningful career with the practical skills needed to land a job in the nonprofit sector. Nick divulges specific tools he used to navigate his path into the nonprofit sector a...

151: Engaging Volunteers to Make Your Nonprofit Vision A Reality (Diana Zhang) SUMMARY Do you consider your nonprofit leadership a calling? Perhaps you saw individuals on the precipice during the pandemic, and simply had to do something. Like other talented professionals who have joined our ranks as a “lateral entry”, Diana Zhang recognized this crisis as a call to action and left her successful 15-year hedge fund career to co-found the nonprofit organization called NeighborShare. In e...

147: Creating A People First Environment at Your Nonprofit (Stamie Despo & Tom Lafalce) SUMMARY What are you doing to create a people first environment at your nonprofit? More than ever, nonprofit leaders must create a culture that attracts, orients, develops and retains talent. Two leaders in the higher education sector who have traveled varying career paths now find themselves leading together. In episode #147 of Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership, Stamie Despo and Tom Lafalce deli...

136: Maximizing Volunteer Engagement as a Nonprofit Leader (Lauren Kaufman) SUMMARY Are you utilizing the full abilities of your best volunteers? As the leader of an all-volunteer organization that has seen a 40% growth in the past six months, Lauren Kaufman discusses strategic actions to attract, activate, grow, and retain diverse young professional volunteer talent. Connecting the individual volunteer’s skills and experiences with specific organizational roles and committee opportunit...

109: Next Generation Talent: Does Your Nonprofit Have a Plan? (Righteous Keitt) SUMMARY Success as a nonprofit leader does not necessarily require years of experience. Inspiration can occur at any age, and the question simply becomes doing something about it. In episode #109 of the Path Podcast, I was fortunate to speak with exactly the kind of young nonprofit leader that has much to offer our sector, and someone who did not “wait for his turn” to make a difference. Righteous Keitt was ...

64: How Can We Address Compensation Gaps in the Nonprofit Sector? (Sally Loftis) SUMMARY It’s a cliché to say no one gets into nonprofit work to get rich. However, if leaders in our sector do not take steps to address the compensation gaps that exist, all of the important work being done will be further diminished by turnover and burnout. In episode #64 of the Path Podcast, Sally Loftis brings a researcher’s eye and HR expertise to this strategic challenge for nonprofit leaders, and pro...

009: Do You Have A Nonprofit Talent Management Strategy? (Karen Geiger) SUMMARY What is talent management, and why is it important? Dr. Karen Geiger has worked with dozens of organizations and has seen what makes successful ones work, and what individual leaders can do to advance their career and the organizations they lead. Karen is a teacher and trainer at heart and combines personal experiences as well as those she’s had within the corporate, education and nonprofit sectors to offer wise coun...