The Step Most Founders Skip
Starting a nonprofit can feel exciting—but too many founders dive in without understanding the landscape. In this episode, I’ll walk through the rookie mistakes I see over and over again, and how to avoid wasting time, money, and your reputation.
Episode 163 | The Step Most Founders Skip
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🔦 NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT 🙌🏿
Three Hart Connection Pt 3
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🚀 RESOURCES TO HELP YOU RUN A SUCCESSFUL NONPROFIT 🚀
The Nonprofit Mastery Academy
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
So you formed your nonprofit, but are you fundable? Most founders skip the infrastructure step, and it's the one reason why they never are able to get grants. Let's fix that.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to On Air with Amber Wynn, where nonprofit leaders learn to fuse passion and commitment with proven business strategies to create long-term funding, impact, and sustainability. And now here's your host and resident Philanthrepreneur, Amber Wynn.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Hey, fam, it's your girl. And today we're talking about the step that most founders skip. Listen, when people start their nonprofit, they're excited about making a difference in their community, and so they just jump right in, creating programs, trying to get out in the community, recruiting. And they think that just because they have their 501(c)(3) that they can get grants. But I'm here to tell you what the infrastructure does is to powerfully set your organization up for success because it takes more than just a 501 in order for you to get funded. In a previous episode, I shared with you that a nonprofit is a business. It's just a business with a philanthropic purpose. If you are out there competing against other nonprofits that have been around for years, who have demonstrated proof, who have systems in place, who have a qualified board, your organization's going to struggle with securing funding.
(01:36):
And especially when it comes to grants, there's always more applicants than there is money. And so it's easy for a funder to say, "Nope, you don't look the part. You're not qualified and not even give you funding." I have a ton of nonprofit leaders coming to me saying, "I don't understand why I'm not getting funded. I'm doing the work. I'm making a difference. What is the problem?" The problem is your infrastructure. You need to look the part. It's not enough that you're doing the work. Listen, when you submit a grant, a funder doesn't know you from Eve or Adam. All they have is what you put on this piece of paper. And if what you put on this piece of paper does not make them feel comfortable, then you're not going to get funded.
(02:25):
What is going to make them feel comfortable is if you look the part. Is if your budget looks like a funder ready budget. Your budget says a lot about who you are as a nonprofit. Your board says a lot about who you are as a nonprofit. Your measurable goals, your outcomes. They say to a funder whether or not you're a viable nonprofit. How you present yourself on your website says to a funder whether or not you are a viable nonprofit. It is not enough to have passion and commitment. It is not enough to have amazing programs that are making a difference in your community. It's how you show up in front of a funder that determines whether or not you get funded. When we come back, I want to talk to you exactly about what infrastructure means because it's more than just having a 501(c)(3).
(03:17):
So when we come back, I'm going to break down to you exactly what encompasses your nonprofit infrastructure. If your grants aren't getting funded, it could be because the funder can't see how your programs are making an impact in your community. Get the How to Demonstrate Impact Workbook to quantify the work you're doing in your community in a way that a funder can see a potential return on your investment. Funders need proof that your organization will use their grant dollars to improve your community. That proof is called impact, and impact is quantified through measurable outcomes. Leverage my 30 years of program development experience to help increase your chance of securing funding. Order your copy today. Welcome back. Today, we're talking about the step that most founders skip, which is creating a solid infrastructure. What is an infrastructure? I'm glad you asked. It has a couple of things.
(04:09):
Number one, a clear and succinct mission that inspires. Now, I'm just going to keep it real with you. The things that I'm going to list, most founders say, "I have that, but I'm going to tell you and I want you to listen to me closely." If you have that and you're not securing grants, that which you have is not sufficient.That's the nicest way I can put it, right? So you may have a mission statement, but is that mission statement include your program description, your agency background? I have people who have mission statements that are like six, seven, eight, nine, 10 sentences. That is not the purpose of the mission statement. The mission statement should let a funder know who your target audience is, what the problem is, and what's the solution once your intervention is introduced into your community. We don't need to know when the organization was founded.
(05:07):
We don't need to know what it is that you're doing, right? I'll give you an example. Our mission since 1997 has been to support people in becoming the best people that they can be. We do this through education, awareness, outreach, and providing youth with trips to industry professionals where they learn ... That is your program description. That is way too much. The mission statement for Girls Inc is to inspire all girls to be strong, smart, and bold. Who's the target audience? Girls. What is the issue? The issue is that our girls are not strong, smart, and bold. That's it. Your funder just needs to know who your target audience is. What's the problem and what's going to be the solution once your intervention is introduced. Once the intervention is introduced, our girls are going to be strong, smart, and bold. And it's memorable. I can't remember all the things, right?
(06:13):
When you start talking about the how, now you're talking about program descriptions. So mission statement is really important because the first thing that a funder's going to look at is your mission statement to see if what you're doing is in alignment with what we're funding. The second thing you need to have is a funder ready budget. I call it the optimal budget. A lot of times my nonprofit leaders will start and just start delivering programs without having money coming in. And so then they're like, "Oh, well, we can do it for 25,000. We can do it for 10,000. Your funder wants to know how much it costs to run your organization and then how much it costs to run the program because they're not giving you money to run the organization unless it's a government grant." But most funders only want to fund your programs.
(06:59):
So in order for them to know how much it costs to run your programs, they need to know how much it costs to fully fund your nonprofit. Remember, a budget is not how much you have in the bank. A budget is not how much you fundraised for last year, and it's not how much you fundraise for next year. A budget is how much does it cost to fully fund your organization? And then you're going to ask the funder for a portion of that. Okay? So let's recap. So far, it's the mission statement, and secondly is your optimal budget. After that, you want to have what's called your programs, right? Your program descriptions, but not just this vague description. Who are you serving? Who's your target audience? What are the goals and objectives? Are they measurable? If you say the purpose of this program is to create better citizens, what does that look like to me?
(07:56):
And what does that look like to you? And how can I determine that you created better citizens? You can bring people in together and they talk while they're in this space. And then the minute that they leave, they're at each other's throat. How do I know that they're better citizens? You have to create what's called measurable goals and objectives. The fastest way to get money from a funder is to make your goals measurable, right? So mission statement, optimal budget, programs and descriptions. The other thing you want to do is make sure that you have powerful board members. According to the IRS, the entity that actually guides your nonprofit is your board of directors. So if you got Mookie Pookie and Shikenam on your board who know nothing about nonprofits, a funder's going to look at that and say, "This is the leadership team for this organization.
(08:51):
I don't trust it. " It's not your responsibility as the founder or the executive director to guide the organization. It's your board. Whether it's true or not on paper, this is the expectation of the IRS. So if you don't have a powerhouse board, then you may get your grant rejected because I'm giving money expecting the governing entity to guide the organization. And the last thing you need are systems. And I would say to especially a startup nonprofit, systems are probably your most important piece of your infrastructure because the systems are going to allow you to answer the questions from your funder. For example, what's your impact? Your impact come from your systems. When you are enrolling people, your systems will be able to say, "These are the number of people that we served. These are the geographical areas that we provided services to. This is how long the program, all of the data is stored in your system." Systems also collect data for the financial statements.
(09:59):
When the money comes in and the money goes out, that's all tracked and that's what is used to create your financial statements. So systems are the backbone of your organization. If you're tracking things on Excel sheets, if you're not tracking things at all, it's going to be very challenging for you to secure funding because a funder, contrary to popular belief, is not just handing out money, and it's not enough for you to have a 501(c)(3) in order to secure a grant. You have to be able to document that at any time in this grant period, you can show your funder where their money is. If you don't have a payroll system and an accounting system that says, "Hey, from Q1 to Q2, this is how much of your money we spent and this is how much we have left," they're not going to just give you money, that's being irresponsible.
(10:52):
So systems are extremely important in being able to secure funding, right? Well, when we come back, we're going to talk about how a strong infrastructure helps you to retain staff and to secure funding, and then we'll go into the next phase of our episode, which is Ask Amber when we come back. Not sure how to price your programs or how to cover salaries. Are you scared to increase your program fees? If you're struggling to fully cover the cost of running your program, then you need How to Price Your Programs for Profit. This workbook provides step-by-step instructions for how to develop programs funders love to fund, determine the cost to charge for your programs and present salary costs in a way that funders will approve. Learn the secret formula I use as an executive director for how to fully cover program costs. Order your copy today.
(11:47):
Welcome back. You're On Air with Amber Wynn, and today we're talking about the step that most founders skip, which is building out the infrastructure. Listen, when you have an infrastructure, it's not just good for external, it's good for internal because when you have things like your mission statement and your program description with measurable goals and objectives, it helps to guide your team. It helps to guide your board of directors because now they know what they are asking for money for, but it also helps your team. When they're out delivering programs, they're clear about what it is that they're doing. They've got measurable goals and objectives that they're delivering the programs for. So infrastructure is good, not just for external reasons, because your funder needs to know, because the IRS needs to know, but it's also because it's going to help drive your programs. It's going to help drive your fundraising strategy.
(12:47):
Everybody needs to be aware and not just aware. They need to have a good understanding of what the purpose of your organization is for. Sometimes people talk and talk and talk and talk, and you know that they don't really understand what the measurable goals are. So when you have a strong infrastructure, it helps you to support your staff. They know what they're working towards. The funder knows what they're working towards. You have people coming in and saying, "Well, what is the impact that you're making?" A strong infrastructure is going to help them articulate that. Also, when we talk about systems, it's going to help your staff streamline processes. If you have a system by which you collect data, then they're out there with all of these paper sign-in sheets, trying to gather information. If you ask them for, "Give me documentation on the number of people you served over the last three years by zip code." You know how much time that's going to take?
(13:47):
Whereas if you had a CRM system, a client relations management system, you can do what's called a sort and you say, number of clients served from this zip code, click the button, bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, there's your report. Those are the types of things, especially when you can't pay your team market rates, you making their lives easier by having systems in place that's going to help you with retention. You've got staff that's not being paid market rate and you got them doing all of this work and you got them doing compliance and you got, like that's too much. When you make life easier for your staff, then there's a higher likelihood that they're going to remain loyal and stay on your team. You can't be underpaying your people and asking them to give you the world. It just doesn't work like that. So generally speaking, when we talk about building out your infrastructure, it's good, not just for externally because it's required in order for you to qualify for funding, but it's also good internally because it's going to help your staff.
(14:54):
It's going to help you be able to deliver on the requirements that come from your funders. All right? Okay. Now we're going to move into the part of the episode where you get to ask me your question. Today's question comes from Tanya from New Haven, Connecticut. Tanya, what's your question?
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Hi, Amber. My name is Tanya. What's the best way to get people to support? My challenge is that I don't feel comfortable asking. I feel like I'm begging, so I guess my asks aren't as strong and I end up with small donations or nothing at all. I don't know. I mean, I know I have "ask people for money." I honestly just don't feel comfortable. Any suggestions? Oh, sorry. I'm calling from New Haven, Connecticut.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
All right. So there are a lot of ways you can get people to support. Your question is, what's the best way to get people to support? Okay. You may not feel comfortable with asking. So how about you do this? Invite people to your events. Let them see the impact that you're making. What generally happens is people get excited and they come to you and they're like, "Oh my God, this is amazing. How can I support?" Giving people the opportunity to see that transformation is powerful. When I used to do my annual fundraiser at Girls Inc, it was a luncheon. It was for an hour. We got in, we got out and guess who did not speak?
(16:29):
We put our girls as the MC. We put our girls in front of the people who were there to write the checks. We let them tell their stories. Yes, we practiced with them before to make sure it was powerful, to make sure, but they ran that fundraiser. And a part of what we said in our mission is that we wanted to inspire all girls to be strong, smart, and bold. Standing up in front of all of these adults telling the story, moving this program forward, that's bold. That's strong. That's smart. So it was us putting our mission in action. So if you don't feel comfortable with asking, then let your programs do the asking for you. Invite your funders to come out, host an opportunity for them to see your staff and the participants transforming in front of their face. To me, that's the best way that you can get people to support.
(17:24):
If you don't have a robust program, you can come in and record it, but there's nothing like a potential funder to be able to turn to your participant and say, "Oh my gosh, how'd that make you feel?" And they can be like, "This is amazing." That's what you want. All right? So Tanya, I hope that helps. I know everybody's not comfortable with asking. So create a situation where you don't have to ask. Create a situation where your potential funder is going to ask you how they can support. Now we're moving into my favorite part of the episode when I get to shine the light on the most amazing people in the universe, my nonprofit leaders. It's the nonprofit spotlight. And we are on episode three with my conversation with Shanise Hart, the Three Hart Foundation. So let's jump right in. So when we talk about prevention and you're talking about healthy relationships with our teens, what's your stance on the men?
(18:32):
Yes, we're working with the women. Is it like we're going to let the women, I don't know, take control of their lives and therefore that addresses the men? Or do you work with young boys or what's the
Speaker 4 (18:46):
... Yes. I'm so grateful that you asked that question. So working with young boys. Okay. So earlier I referenced our workshop, Project CJ. That's dedicated to a young man. His name was Caleb James. And unfortunately, his life was taken by a gunshot in his teen dating relationship. So we dedicated our programming to him a lot.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Wait, wait, wait. His girlfriend?
Speaker 4 (19:10):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Oh my God, that's horrible.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
It's awful. But his life and his legacy is definitely one that shows ... It dispels the myth that violence only happens to men. Or excuse me, to women.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
That's right. That's right.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
So you know what's really amazing? The cohort that we're having right now for our Junior Thrivers program with our teens. So we have six that have been with us the whole time. Six individuals between the ages of 16 and 24. Well, those who are actually in the class with us are 16 to 20 right now. Five of them are males. And we have one female. When we posted the advertisement, we kind of just assumed people think that DV, we're a DV organization even though we're much more than that. But it's probably going to be a lot of females, right? No. We have five males and one female and working with them ... Yeah, this is our seventh week. So working with them for the past seven weeks, we've really been able to just connect with them. And I think that through them hearing about Caleb James or CJ's story, that we were able to connect even deeper with them and those in the community.
(20:32):
Anytime we go out and we do these workshops and we show his face and we tell his story, people are kind of taken aback and that's like the attention grabber.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Yeah. So are these young men what one would consider aggressors? Are they victims or are they just interested in the program?
Speaker 4 (20:52):
Yeah, they're just interested in the program. Okay. Okay.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
I like it because to me in this society, this whole misogynistic, like this is what a man is and what a ... I think it's important for us to get in front of our young men and to let them see what the impact is and to give them alternative ways of expressing their anger and looking at what dominance is all about. So yeah.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
They've been especially interested to hear thriver stories or to hear from women and men who've experienced domestic violence. In addition to the soft skills and the mentoring and all that, we also have one-on-one sessions with each of them. They select a mentor, we meet with them for 15, 30 minutes, or some of them up to an hour every week. And some of the feedback that we've received from the males is we want to know more about ... We want to hear more testimonies. We want to hear more about those who've experienced that. And then I feel as though we experience breakthrough when people feel comfortable enough to share their own stories, whether they're on one side or the other of the spectrum of abuse. And especially when they share where they've come from, where they saw a parent or a guardian or a family member, a friend, now they have these eyes where they kind of see things a little bit different like, yo, I didn't realize that was-
Speaker 1 (22:24):
What was going on. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. That's amazing. I love it because when you don't know, then you don't know how to respond. But if you are giving them the tools to even, like you said, coach someone through or get them to some resources, we can nip a lot of things at the butt. So tell us a little bit about some of the challenges you've experienced with your nonprofit bringing it to the world.
Speaker 4 (22:51):
Okay. So definitely I would say just being driven and passionate, which those are great things, but that doesn't ...
Speaker 1 (23:02):
And don't pay the rent. That
Speaker 4 (23:03):
Doesn't pay for things. Realizing that a nonprofit is a business.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
And
Speaker 4 (23:09):
It
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Is.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
That you can't self-fund everything. You get good people that come along and we've been blessed in that way to where we've had mostly good people on our team over the five years, but you want to be able to keep people on. You want to be able to retain people. You want to be able to properly train people and- Pay yourself. And pay yourself, of course. Definitely. Okay. Yes. Yes. And learning that has been really eye-opening, especially in the past year, trying to really focus on that back end
Speaker 1 (23:54):
And
Speaker 4 (23:54):
Getting those systems in place. There was a whole lot of just like, "All right, let's go. We're doing this. " Just
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Jump in because the problems are here. Let's just go in.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
The mission, the mission. I'm very mission driven, right? And one thing that coming from the background that I have, being in the military, everything is funded, right?
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Right.
Speaker 4 (24:14):
So now I'm out here trying to drive a mission and nothing's funded.That's a big difference.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Yes, yes, yes,
Speaker 4 (24:21):
Yes. So just learning just through the processes and the nuances and even just language to speak to something without having, speaking from the tone of what is it, outcomes and impact and a lot that I've learned from you, most that I've learned from you, it's a big difference. I think it's been transformational even just in the spaces that we've been in in the past couple of months.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
And we're back. We only have one more episode left where we talk with Shanise. If you are interested in coming on the show and sharing with my community all of the amazing work that you're doing in your community, I'd love to have you. I'd love to shine the light on all the work that you're doing, because let's just keep it real. Nonprofits are the workhorses of our community. We're the ones doing the direct services, and I want you to get all the praise. I want you to get all the flowers while you're alive to get them. But most importantly, I want my funders to see what it is that you're doing. If you've enjoyed watching my conversation with Chinese, you can see the whole episode on my YouTube channel going over and check it out. If not, you can join me next week for our last episode with her.
(25:52):
And as we wrap up, I want you to really think about your infrastructure. It's not enough to just check off a box and say, "I have a mission statement. I have a budget. I have a program description. I have a board." Right? It's not enough. If you are not winning grants, if you are not securing funding, it means that your infrastructure is raggedy. I'm just going to tell you the truth because if it weren't, you would be generating revenue. How do you know if your stuff is raggedy? It's because you're not getting any results. How do you fix it? Guess what? I got you. It's got the Nonprofit Mastery Academy. And in this course, I teach you how to improve your mission statement to make it clear, concise, inspiring. I teach you how to write a measurable goal. A measurable goal is not we're going to increase the number of graduates by 20%.
(26:51):
That doesn't say anything to a funder, right? You need specific ways that a funder can look at your outcomes and know that you accomplish them. And in the Nonprofit Mastery Academy, I'll walk you through all of that. I'm going to drop the link in the bio. Go check it out. I have a breakdown of every topic for the course and you can see yourself how I'm going to support you. I'm going to hold your hand and walk you through building out a strong infrastructure. All right? So that's it for today. If you enjoyed what you heard, be sure to like, subscribe, share it with your network, and we will see you next week. And as always, take care of yourself like you take care of your community. See you next week, people.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe and leave a review on iTunes. Head over to www.amberwynn.net/podcast for the links and resources mentioned in today's podcast. See you next time.
