Okay, so good news. You've got an organization, and there are tons of people who are interested in the work that you're doing. But how do you organize them? One of the ways that you can do this is with a customer relationship management system. If you've seen tools like Trello or Monday or Asana or Notion, all of them use different variations on this. You've got to have just some way to track all of the people that you're working with, their contact information, and you've got to integrate that with some kind of form. So much of nonprofit organization or organization as a whole is letting people register their exact interest. And that can be especially hard when you have to balance content and ideas across different audiences.

How do you make that balance? Probably the answer is with a lot of difficulty, because the people that you're targeting might not want the kind of information that you have. Sure, you can be targeting in a way that is nice, and you can have nice messaging and interesting events. But ultimately, if somebody subscribes because they're interested in the environment, and you're sending them stuff about unions, they're going to be a little bit less interested.

So a lot of the work of organizing is sketching out what your message is and getting it out to people in a really targeted way. I was able to talk to Vikas at Drive Toward a Cure, and this organization is looking for a cure for Parkinson's disease, bringing together cars and camaraderie.

Listen to this and visit https://www.drivetowardacure.org/ to get more involved.

Once a population elects a politician, they are giving that individual a tremendous amount of leverage. And once they have it, school is out for the summer.

Where are the tools and technologies that can help give large groups of people leverage over their political system?

Rand Strauss is an engineer, and he's worked on this with an engineer's mind. For a long time, he's had a blog called PeopleCount, and he's been developing software to go right alongside it.

So join me as Kennedy and I sit down and we talk about some of the origins of PeopleCount, and we talk about some of the technological hurdles, and we also talk about the hurdles in communication, because obviously for any piece of software like this, it's going to require massive adoption in order to be successful.

The website, by the way, is peoplecount.org. You can join Rand's mailing list, you can get updates, and maybe you can even see the PeopleCount software for yourself and look for ways to integrate it into your community and your advocacy.

Let's imagine you and 10 friends start an organization for a cause you care about. After some paperwork, your first big step is likely hosting an event. Events are crucial for organizations, acting like a mini-version of your entire operation. They test your volunteer and donor relationships, social media, community involvement, and more. Success or failure at an event can reflect your organization's overall strengths and weaknesses.

This approach is essential, whether for civil rights or animal welfare, like the Peninsula Humane Society. This independent society holds events like annual galas and bark and brew fests, critical for their local community focus. They don't rely on national backing but sustain themselves through successful events, especially challenging post-pandemic. Ensuring ticket prices and sponsorships match the value offered is key to keeping people engaged and supportive.

Caring for animals, who often lack a support system, is close to many hearts. The good news is it doesn't take much to provide a loving home and shelter. The Peninsula Humane Society, based in San Mateo County for over 50 years, excels in animal rescue, rehabilitation, and adoption. I spoke with Larkin O'Toole and Brian Probst from the society about managing vital relationships to keep the organization thriving. It's an insightful conversation, so be sure to check it out.

My time with Phil Martinez was one of the high points of my year! One of the things that really warmed my heart as I talked to Phil was that the volunteers there don't keep their work in Colorado when disaster strikes, and this is something that you'll hear when you talk to Red Cross chapters.

In my conversations, people take the Red Cross's work for granted. I see this a lot in legacy organizations.

They have this really large, young demographic of people who have grown up with that organization as an institution, and whether that's the Red Cross or the Boys and Girls Club or the NAACP, it's harder to get younger people to volunteer for organizations like this because they just assume that they've always been around and always will be.

It really takes a lot of proactive messaging to understand that the Red Cross is something that's not just those huge events that you see on the news where there's a telethon and people send a bunch of money in, but small things that happen in communities and neighborhoods that are just like yours.

Tragedy is an inevitable part of life, and everyone has a story of heartache to share. Sometimes, tragedy brings people together, providing motivation and hope. However, some experiences, like those involving rare diseases, are incredibly isolating, making it challenging to find community and connection.

Allison Bones faced this exact challenge when her son, who suffered from congenital asplenia, a rare disease where one is born without a spleen, tragically passed away. Her journey is one of building community from personal loss and advocating for change in a world often unaware of such rare conditions.

Inside, you'll discover:

• Personal Tragedy to Advocacy:
  • Learn how Allison transformed her grief into advocacy for rare diseases after her son Travis, passed away. Understand how personal tragedies can be a powerful driving force for nonprofit work and advocacy.
• Awareness and Diagnosis of Rare Diseases:
  • Discover the challenges of raising awareness and improving diagnosis for rare diseases like congenital asplenia. We'll discuss strategies for nonprofits to work with medical professionals to enhance diagnosis and treatment.
• Online to Offline Engagement:
  • Explore Team for Travis's struggle to turn online support into real-world action. Gain insights into effective strategies for converting social media engagement into active participation in events and initiatives.
• Funding and Resource Allocation:
  • Expanding funding sources beyond family and friends, and how to allocate funds effectively, particularly towards research.
• Engagement with Government and Policy Advocacy:
  • Understand the importance of engaging with state and federal governments, as demonstrated by the Medicaid coverage bill for genome sequencing, and how nonprofits can influence policy for their causes.

And there's so much more. Please enjoy this conversation with Allison - her website is Team4Travis.com.

The music industry is exploitative - but the nonprofit industry can be just as stressful for the people involved. How do you promote a cause without exploiting it or the people most impacted.

At Writers Without Margins they squared this circle by letting the most impacted talk and express themselves, and building a platform that connects them to the public. I talked to Cheryl Buchanan about the complexities and struggles.

Non-Profit Industrial Complex: Exploring the complexities of storytelling within non-profits, with things like ownership, distribution, and ethics. Writers Without Margins’ Approach: Hosting free collaborative workshops in unconventional spaces, aiding communities affected by racism, addiction, poverty, and other social challenges. Publishing And Sharing: Examining how the raw, candid stories from these workshops are published and shared. Creating Sustainability: An organization lives on its stomach, especially one that depends on grants and donations. We talk about how those power relationships are built from scratch.

It's a super exciting show. Be sure to visit intheirshoesfilm.com to see a trailer for "In Their Shoes"!

If you're ever struggled with bringing a creative project like a movie or book into reality, this episode will give you some real insight on how to bring it to life in a community environment. Rock Solomon is an expert community organizer and manager who has helped facilitate dozens of projects in Atlanta with MixDeity. I've ever done a couple projects with him myself with great results.

Inside, you'll hear about:

Common Struggles in Creative Projects: NO matter what you're creating, a lot of the infrastructural problems of getting people involved are the same. Building A Collaborative Environment: How do you balance the creative work vs the business that sustains it, in a way that makes you happy? The Opportunity: We also talk about how much opportunity there is in digital mediums versus something like film. ... & The Grind: There's lots of fun stuff about Rock's road to success - selling CD's for a couple of bucks in the back of a trunk.

We also talk about getting a physical location, fighting an awful landlord, and more.

Brandyn introduces Fireside Chats - a practical show for non-profit leaders with a focus on small businesses, art and community. The conversation shines a spotlight on SwimBrayv, a non-profit dedicated to water safety and drowning prevention, starting conversations and actions to drive change in water safety education and access.

There's mermaids too.

Inside you'll discover:

1. Diversity and Inclusion in Aquatics and Non-Profit Work
2. Communication and Outreach With Volunteers
3. Collaborations and Pool Events:
4. The Future