THE
NONPROFIT
MASTERMIND
PODCAST

Welcome to the Nonprofit Mastermind Podcast. I’m your host Brooke Richie-Babbage. Each week on the Nonprofit Mastermind Podcast, I’m going to do a deep dive into the strategies and mindset behind launching, scaling, and leading a high-impact nonprofit. Today, I’m happy to present you with a welcome episode to outline more of what’s to come and my personal background.

In this episode, we speak with Robyne Walker Murphy, nationally recognized art and social justice educator and Executive Director of Groundswell, a nonprofit that brings together artists, youth, and community organizations to use art as a tool for social change. Listen in as Robyne explores the possibilities of a post-COVID world, the power of using art to promote social justice, why love drives advocacy, and how to form meaningful partnerships beyond the nonprofit world.

• What You’ll Hear in This Episode:
  
  [0:20] An introduction to Robyne Walker Murphy and Groundswell
• [4:06] Robyne’s thoughts on current challenges and silver linings
• [12:10] Embracing and leaning into hope
• [16:00] Why more people are understanding the need for public art
• [19:04] Beyond words and art: Instituting actual systemic changes
• [28:12] How youth are pushing Black Lives Matter forward
• [31:09] Love drives social justice
• [39:50] Acquiring more funding for small- to mid-sized organizations
• [42:30] The reality about power and how we can tip the scale

• This episode is taken from my video series, The Next Normal: Conversations with leaders in the nonprofit sector about sustainable leadership, strategy, and racial equity in the post-COVID world. Check out more videos here!

In this episode, we speak with Kemi Ilesanmi, Executive Director of The Laundromat Project in Brooklyn. This project invests in artists and neighbors committed to societal change by supporting their artmaking, community building, and leadership development.

Since the start of 2020, the COVID-19 global pandemic has confined many of us to our homes. For Kemi, she has seen the restrictions of time and space disappear. Conversations about equity and race were able to happen virtually and without borders. We discuss how the world has been opened up and how the conversation about equity is being pushed more to the forefront. For Kemi, as long as we make the space to ideate and dream, we can continue the hierarchical shift that has started.

Listen in as Kemi explores the collapse of space and time, the importance of community, and how we can make the right shift into the next normal.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

[2:40] Kemi’s vision for shaping and creating the "next normal"

[7:50] The collapse of space and time: How the pandemic brought down borders

[11:50] The importance of having clarity of vision and setting your intentions

[13:35] Creating the space to have scary conversations

[17:25] The shaking of the hierarchy

[21:15] Are the equity shifts we're beginning to see genuine or fleeting?

[23:09] What "thought leadership" actually means

[26:00] Kemi’s advice for others as we shift to the next normal

Key quotes:
“One of the beautiful things that emerged from this moment is the collapsing of space and time.”

“This is a very hopeful answer because I think it’s slow work, as often the most important work is. Even all the shifts that have happened seemingly at lightning speed, particularly in light of the summer uprising, are because people have laid the groundwork for 7 years of the BLM movement and 400 years of black resistance.”

“What would it look like to make our own terms? Not because all of those terms are things we can set in this moment, but because if we can’t imagine it, we definitely don’t get to have it because we can’t define it.”

“I think this moment has introduced and accelerated … a shaking of hierarchy because some of the strongest voices of this moment are young people.”

“I feel like there are some organizations that will snap back to what they used to be and what they risk is relevancy. At some point there will not be any older rich white people to support you and everybody else won’t think you matter.”

Resources Mentioned:
The Laundromat Project

In this episode, I talk with Tarik Ward, Director of Music Programs for the ELMA Philanthropies Services. Tarik and ELMA also work with Brooklyn Community Foundation, doing amazing work supporting small and emerging arts and youth development organizations.

The sustainability of nonprofits is always a question on the mind of organizations, but 2020 made it an even more pressing one. We discuss maintaining the sustainability of nonprofits in practice as well as how philanthropy can often play an unconscious role in disadvantaging black and brown led organizations. Tarik believes that if philanthropy as a whole can continue to evaluate its relationship with grantees and how success is measured, institutionalized bias can be rooted out and we can move forward towards greater equity.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

 [1:50] About Tarik and ELMA Philanthropies Services

[2:30] The existential threats to nonprofits resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic

[5:37] Is it inherently bad for nonprofits to consider sunsetting?

[8:10] How do we ensure that contraction doesn’t disproportionally affect POC nonprofit leaders?

[10:00] The shifting role of philanthropy in the nonprofit space

[15:09] Where strong nonprofit organizations come from

[17:45] Confronting institutionalized bias

[18:55] The changed role of schools in their communities

[21:40] What leadership needs to look like in the next normal

[24:45] What leaders should ask themselves in terms of operations 

Key quotes:

“In a practical sense, I think there’s going to be a real funding drought in 2021… I think the scary part is that what we’ve seen in 2020 was the easy part.”

“These are problems that have existed and we’ve been able to just float along on them but now it’s been exposed and we are forced to face all these things.”

“Not being there should always be a part of the solution set, just as in any market.”

“All of the data tells us that black and brown led nonprofits are under capitalized, under resourced and under capacity.”

“Traditional markers of success show up differently in different communities and have implicit bias buried into them.”

“No matter how big they become, it’s about how you nurture them.”

“What we’ve seen in COVID so far, and we’ve all seen it in different ways, is that it has exposed a lot of leaders, the good and the bad.”

“You have to be conscious, mindful, and intentional. This hasn’t changed a lot; it’s just magnified the problems.”

Resources Mentioned:

ELMA Philanthropies Services

Brooklyn Community Foundation

In this episode we speak with Katy Rubin, an artist, facilitator, and founder of Theatre of the Oppressed NYC. As a nonprofit, Theatre of the Oppressed NYC partners with communities that face discrimination to spark transformative action through theatre.

For the last decade, Katy has dedicated herself to illuminating the power that disenfranchised communities truly have. As a white leader, Katy has grappled with her position of power and how much space she does, and should be, taking up. We discuss questions of power dynamics, who gets to pose those questions, and how to re-shape systems for the next normal. For Katy, it is a constant evaluation of how you are perceived, how you show up, and how you elevate those around you that can truly change the status quo.

Listen in as Katy explores the challenges of systemic flaws in power balance, re-designing the process to change the outcome, and how we can move towards new narratives.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• [2:23] About Katy, Legislative Theatre and Theatre of the Oppressed.
• [4:35] Shaping power dynamics and what is normal.
• [6:13] Grappling with white privilege, power, and space.
• [8:30] Are we moving forward towards equity or are the changes situational?
• [12:00] Learning to see the systemic flaws over blaming single people.
• [15:18] What is the next step to creating different power narratives?
• [19:00] Changing the design to change the system.
• [22:50] Advice for re-imagining the next normal. 

Key quotes:

“Theatre of the oppressed… is about flipping the dynamic of power in terms of who gets to pose problems, who gets to ask or state what the problems are, who gets to pose questions. Also, who gets to propose solutions and who gets to hold decision makers accountable.”

“I’ve really been thinking about what is the value add I can bring to a process and weighing that against the space that I take up. So, really being thoughtful and really critical of how much space I do need to take up.”

“My dream would be that those leaders … say out loud ‘should I be in this job? Should you be in this job? Should we be taking up this space?’”

‘When we talk about systems, I think that maybe all of those things are wrong, because they are holding up power. Power in one person or few people has no choice to be bad; it has no choice but to be harmful.”

“It doesn’t have to be a theatrical event. Who is in the room? How is the room set up? What’s the design of who’s in the room and what’s the design of the process that will lead us to a differently designed result?”

In this episode, we speak with Wayne Ho, President and CEO of the Chinese-American Planning Council. They aim to promote the social and economic empowerment of Chinese American, immigrant, and low-income communities.

When we look to the next normal, we have to look back to the previous normal and ask ourselves if that is what we want to go back to. Wayne agrees that we must change in order to create true equity in society. Tough conversations need to be had and leaders have to be willing to make them. The pandemic has shown us that in many ways we are all tied together, so why aren’t we treated like it?

Listen in as Wayne explores the necessity of prioritizing racial equity now and in the next normal, how the administration’s response to the pandemic created an unsafe environment for Asian-Americans, and dismantling power structures.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

[2:28] Is the next normal better than returning to the pre-pandemic normal?

[4:47] What can better look like? What should it look like?

[7:01] Rebuilding to prioritize racially equity: Is the current state purely performative?

[10:16] Why leaders need to be willing to have real conversations.

[12:01] Creating safe and brave spaces to facilitate tough conversations.

[13:40] Accountability in the next normal.

[14:24] How the pandemic, and the response to it, negatively impacted the Asian-American community.

[18:09] Creating processes for defining what accountability looks like.

[23:49] Deconstructing power structures.

Key quotes:

“I think the pandemic showed that there’s a lot of inequities and issues in our communities and we don’t want to go back to normal. We want to go to something better.”

“In the simplest core, human services nonprofits are trying to lift up all communities who are in some way marginalized, oppressed or not part of the socio-economic system, or not succeeding educationally or in other institutions. What can we do in human services … to make sure that people are moving towards thriving?”

“Why are we politicizing that a life matters?”

“What type of change can we do during this really hard time, where we’re trying to promote racial justice during this pandemic which is day to day life or death for many individuals?”

“It all starts with education; it starts with learning and it starts with having safe spaces and brave spaces to have these tough conversations.”

“Accountability doesn’t mean we stop doing the good things or the positive things. Accountability means stopping the bad things that are going on.”

“Your protest can be at the table. It doesn’t have to be away from the table.”

“If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that everyone is tied together.”

In this episode, I talk with Dennis Williams, Senior Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility at Warner Media.

In this episode, we talk about what it really means to put resources to work to create a better, more just world;  What is the responsibility of partners outside of the nonprofit sector to push themselves beyond comfortable answers to tough questions about how to create true equity and inclusion, and how the nature of partnerships might need to change and expand to create more space for diverse stories and perspectives - both out in the world, and at decision-making tables. 

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

[2:46] How is social impact work changing and what changes have already occurred?

[5:24] The next step forward for creating inclusivity and breaking down boundaries.

[8:47] Re-thinking sharing power and platforms.

[11:00] What gets in the way of transformative power sharing?

[14:00] Believing in a shared humanity that benefits everyone.

[18:40] Broadening the conversation by looking at the whole eco-system.

[23:58] How the process for content creators partnering with platforms has changed.

Key quotes:

“The toxicity, the divisiveness, all of the things that we were seeing were, quite honestly, the canaries in the mine for so many people. Most of us were not surprised that we got to where we got to because we saw it coming all along.” 

“Are we just throwing the check over the wall instead of breaking the wall down? Instead of looking at the structures that were keeping people marginalized, paralyzed, crippled in the way that they needed to move through the world…Are we part of the solution that we’ve been working towards?”

“What more can we be doing? What can we do that’s different? Have we given this issue the same weight that we give other business priorities? That for us was the transformational question …”

“It’s not simply enough to have the most popular show that has the broadest reach. It’s realizing that after that show ends you are still able to do more with your platform.”

“There is space in this conversation for all of us. We all have a role to play.”

“If you aren’t availing yourself of every resource that your company has, especially when we’re talking about the people that comprise that company, if you’re not availing yourself of all their talents, then shame on you.”

“Part of progress is knowing what you don’t know.”

In this episode, I talk with Tene Howard, Executive Director of the Sadie Nash Leadership Project,  and Zareta Ricks, Executive Director of Opening Act.

Both women stepped into their leadership roles just as the world began to shift. They have both had to navigate getting to know their new roles, their staff, and how the funding landscape works and is shifting, all while navigating a global pandemic and seismic racial unrest.  They have also had to figure out their own leadership style while the way in which we should be leading shifts around them. 

Listen in as Tene and Zareta explore what it means to lead in the next normal with no road map, along with what they have come to understand about the meaning of equitable leadership. 

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

[3:23] Experiencing leadership in a pandemic: How this monumental change has influenced leadership for Tene and Zareta.

[6:50] Carrying the emotional burden of leadership and forging connections in a digital workplace.

[10:20] Is there a distinction between what a leader would do and what you would do?

[12:32] The impact of the unrest during summer 2020.

[22:34] How do you keep going when the world is in upheaval?

[31:22] Wisdom for other leaders navigating into the next normal.

Key quotes:

“It’s been a lot of recalibration trying to get to know folks, especially as a black woman for me ... getting to know people is so core to my leadership.” – Tene

“People are looking to you for answers and so I learned that I had to lead and learn and go and grow at the same time.” – Zareta

“I was taken aback by the magnitude of what it requires to be a leader. The emotional burden.” – Zareta

“The books were not the place I could go to. I had to very quickly learn how to trust myself even more deeply than I ever have before.” – Tene

“In the first 90 days, I had decision paralysis. It’s not that I didn’t trust my gut, but there were so many things happening at the same time that I was questioning ‘is this Zareta, or is this Zareta the Executive Director?’” – Zareta

“I realized this was not a monster, it was a systemic beast.” – Zareta

“I know that it was the chemical mixture of our hearts and minds and words together that enabled us to say what was on our hearts, and that has been a guiding energy for me in the months that followed.” – Tene

“I give myself permission to pause.” – Zareta

“I think that self-talk is really important and evolving it and recognizing that it isn’t going to be there the whole time.” – Tene

“The next normal is really deeply believing in and investing in what I possess and its worth and value in leadership spaces.” – Tene

“Leadership is not a destination ... it is a journey.” - Zareta