392: What Funders Are Seeing, Funding & Prioritizing Right Now (Clark Casteel, Hal Cato, Darrin Goss, Sr., Rhett Mabry)

392: What Funders Are Seeing, Funding & Prioritizing Right Now (Clark Casteel, Hal Cato, Darrin Goss, Sr., Rhett Mabry)

Episode Summary

Most nonprofit leaders guess at a funder's real priorities until the rejection letter arrives. Recorded live from the Across State Lines webinar Patton moderated, this episode brings four voices at once: Clark Casteel (Danville Regional Foundation), Hal Cato (Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee), Darrin Goss, Sr. (Coastal Community Foundation), and Rhett Mabry (The Duke Endowment), comparing what they fund, how far they go beyond the grant check, and how they measure impact. Listeners get a clear read on how four foundations actually decide, measure and partner.

Clark Casteel, President and CEO, Danville Regional Foundation

Leads the Dan River Region's 20-year economic transformation effort in Virginia and North Carolina.

• Beyond Grantmaking: Reimagining the Potential of the Community Foundation in Its Second Century
• The SMURF capitals framework
• Philanthropy and Equity: Private Philanthropy and the New Normal — Ambassador James Joseph
• The Cultivation Approach to Place-Based Philanthropy — Doug Easterling
• Collaborative Leadership: How Citizens and Civic Leaders Can Make a Difference and The Collaborative Leadership Fieldbook — David Chrislip
• Collab Lab, a collaboration initiative with Chrislip

Hal Cato, CEO, Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee

Leads Nashville's largest nonprofit, pushing funders from parallel play toward real collaboration.

• A Sector in Crisis: How U.S. Nonprofits and Foundations Are Responding to Threats — Center for Effective Philanthropy

Darrin Goss, Sr., President and CEO, Coastal Community Foundation

Leads the foundation serving nine coastal South Carolina counties, with a growing impact-investing arm.

• Trying Hard Is Not Good Enough — Mark Friedman, on Results-Based Accountability
• Results-Based Accountability overview and implementation guide

Rhett Mabry, President, The Duke Endowment

Leads Carolinas funding for health care, child and family well-being, higher education and rural churches.

• Candid and Foundation Directory Online
• Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management — Harvard Business School
• Blue Meridian Partners

• Thanks to our podcast partner, Inperium
• Join the Spring 2027 Mastermind Leadership Program
• Follow Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership, and please leave a review!
• Learn more about the leadership resources at Armstrong McGuire: ArmstrongMcGuire.com