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Powering Nonprofit Success Through Participatory Processes:

Did you know that organizations prioritizing participatory processes and deliberately decreasing barriers see a significant increase in program effectiveness? This Fall, I’m excited to delve into how this framework powers real-world success through our three-part webinar series, Insights for Impact!

On September 18th, Dr. Inderjit Vicky Basra, President and CEO of the Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center, and Jessica Raymond, former Chief of Staff of the YWCA, joined Sharity Global Expert Anne Miskey to offer real-world examples of ways participatory processes elevated their organizations’ mission and impact. Dr. Basra emphasized the importance of including direct and indirect experts in decision-making conversations. She noted, “…layered communication makes the change.” When those in the community who experience the challenges your organization strives to address work alongside those with academic or professional experience in key areas, your organization can begin to affect systemic change. Jessica added, “When we talk about advocating for people and engaging their voices…here is the mic! You sit at this table, you tell me what you need from us, you make the decision…”

Key takeaways from the conversation included:

  • Write equity into your policies and procedures.
  • Avoid “tokenizing” the community you serve. Ensure that if you ask something of your community members, such as asking them to share their stories, you are developing and strengthening a mutually beneficial relationship with them.
  • Identify ways your organization may connect direct experts, those with lived experience, with donors, elected officials, and other community leaders and influencers.
  • Engaging all voices allows you to review and evaluate the impact of your programming with an open mind and heart.
  • Give credit to all the experts helping you execute your mission. Whenever possible, compensate and recognize direct experts, those with lived experiences, for their work on behalf of your organization, just as you would an indirect expert with academic or professional experience. 

Dr. Basra summed up the importance of engaging all voices when she described the success her organization has had with connecting survivor mentors with the recently rescued. “[Survivor’s] concepts around hope look very different because they’re sitting across from somebody, that at some point, was in the same space that they are in…Their survivor-mentor becomes a beacon of hope!” Anne added, “The little ways you can connect your donors in real ways to people” will bring about transformation.

Watch The Full Video Now

 

How can I transition my nonprofit from being all volunteer-based to paid positions?

Ask Me Anything Summary

How can I transition my nonprofit from being all volunteer-based to paid positions? so this is a really common question, because a lot of nonprofits have been run by volunteers. a lot of times it’s the founder, but they’ve reached a point where they realized they really have to have a paid position, whether that’s a social worker or an executive director or even just an accountant, but they need to start having staff that are paid.

So how do I do that? well, the most important thing is to have a plan in place about how you’re growing your organization. how are you going to take it from the stage that it’s at now to that next stage? how much money is that going to cost? and what are you going to be accomplishing?

And finally stepping back and saying, “okay, how are you going to fund this?” because ultimately, at the end of the day, it can’t be about a one-time donation. it has to be about an ongoing revenue stream for your organization that’s going to sustain those employees and their expenses, so that you aren’t turning over staff when you don’t have the cash flow.

So step back, think your way through that business plan. I know you hear me say that a lot, but that piece of planning and investment of time will make all the difference in helping you scale your organization from all volunteer to a healthy, sustained paid staff that are going to grow your mission. if you need some help, our sharity accelerator is a great place to start or we have lots of free tips and tools and videos in our knowledge center. so head on over to ‘sharityglobal.com‘ or dm us here and we’ll be happy to answer any questions that you have.