Latest / Nonprofit411 Podcast / Special Episode: Nonprofits LEAD Capacity Building Conference | Shannan Tschopp

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Special Episode: Nonprofits LEAD Capacity Building Conference | Shannan Tschopp · Nonprofit411 Podcast

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Hello and welcome to the Nonprofit411.
I'm so excited to be with you today, and I'm joined by Shannon Tschopp from Nonprofits LEAD.
Welcome.
Hey, Sarah.
Thanks for having me.
Yes, I'm excited to talk with you today.
Today's a special a special podcast because I don't always focus on things happening where I'm located.
But Nonprofit411 is located in West Virginia and serves the tri-state.
Region.
So we're gonna get to talk a little bit about something that's happening in my neck of the woods.
So thanks for being on that.
But before we get started, my favorite question is what is your favorite hobby? Oh, my favorite hobby? Hmm? Your favorite hobby.
My favorite hobby.
Oh, that's, that's a tough one.
So, hmm.
So probably, I think you might hear this one a lot, but I think my favorite hobby is traveling.
I am such a, an adventurous, creative curious creature.
I think in general, I.
I love going new places.
I love experiencing new things.
I love seeing new places.
And just kind of broadening my horizons a little bit and realizing that there's so much more to the world than what I see on a daily basis.
So I would say, oh, that's good.
Mm-hmm.
Do you like really explore the places and locations that you live? That I live or that I travel to? No, that you live in.
Well, like just the area where we're living, you know, like, it doesn't have to be, you know, but there's a lot of stuff in your town too, right? In any town there's things, experience.
Yeah, so I think that's kind of one of the things that I've learned about the world really being in an environment of higher education is that you learn things, you learn something new every day.
And I live in the town that I grew up in, and so I left for a while and I came back.
I.
But I, I still see something every day that I didn't know, or someone tells me a piece of history about our town, or I meet someone new or I make a new connection.
And so you get to learn that.
But I definitely do get out and about when I'm done with work, I'm going to the park or walking my dog or I am just, I'm learning all the time and it's so much fun.
Yeah.
I love that.
So my, my parents they like, they had a.
I don't know, a plan, I guess, to explore all of the towns within a two hour radius of them.
And Wow.
There's all kinds of places around here that like, I didn't even know existed.
Like there's a marble museum in like West Union, you know, which is not too far from Parkerburg and Yeah.
They go to all of, they went to all of these little places and I was like, wow.
I, now I don't do that well.
Mm-hmm.
But my husband does a lot of travel in his work, so he'll discover little places.
My favorite when like it's to discover like a little mom and pop, like cafe designer, you know? Yes.
Yeah, for my anniversary, actually my husband and I'S anniversary was just a, a couple weeks ago.
And so for our anniversary, he bought us, I think on Etsy probably which is funny for knowing my husband, but he found a giant map of the United States.
And then each state outline, you can put a picture, so as we travel and see new places, we can take a photo or find a favorite photo from visiting.
Plug it into, into that map.
And so eventually when we finally visit all 50 states, which will probably take a while, but we eventually do complete the item off our bucket list.
We'll have plenty of memories and talking pieces in our house for our kids and our grandkids.
So it's a very special piece, but yeah.
Yes.
That's so cool.
So awesome.
Mm-hmm.
Well, can you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself and a little bit about nonprofit sleep? Yeah, absolutely.
So my name is Shannon Tschopp and I'm the program director of Nonprofits Lead, which is housed here at Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio, which is a beautiful little quaint town on the Ohio River.
With some brick streets and just a rich history, especially into the early days of American history.
So if you are into history specifically, like the Pioneer Days, which is the Marita College mascot or even to the Civil War, there's a ton of history in this area, so I encourage you to look that up.
But Nonprofits lead is actually on its 16th year in this, in this college.
It was founded because there was a need to support nonprofits in the area.
And so there was a needs assessment done.
Some research and studying that happened at that point to really understand what nonprofits were doing well and what they might have been struggling with.
And so what they found was there needed to be somebody supporting these nonprofits because they were doing great at their programs, they were serving their clients.
They had all these opportunities, but they weren't successful in the business aspects of what they were doing, right? So they weren't.
Having, they, maybe they had no HR system or they did, but they didn't have a manual or they were still managing all of their finances on an Excel sheet or, or some of those things that if they could improve, some of these processes would just make their nonprofits more sustainable.
And therefore it's, you know, in our communities for years and years to come.
And so the program just kind of grew from there.
So it was a part-time AmeriCorps position and it's grown into a coordinator role, a manager, and now it's full-time program director position that is really very externally facing from the college.
So I'm out and about a lot, seeing nonprofits, meeting with them, listening to the, to their needs and their challenges.
And I come back and I brainstorm and find resources to help them be more sustainable.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Like, I think that you know, capacity building is just a term that seems really nebulous and we, we can't really wrap our minds around it.
So you did a great job describing like it's the pieces of the business that need to be improved.
Right.
And nonprofits are a unique style of business, but still a business and still have really concrete definite fullers that can be worked on, right.
And you know, the thing that I've learned in my time here in this role is capacity looks and feels different for every nonprofit.
And so the capacity of an of a small grassroots food pantry is gonna be different than maybe our larger, more sustainable organizations.
If you'd think like the Red Cross or Habitat for Humanity.
But they still do all have some capacity area that they could work on developing.
Even if it's not the same.
But they still all have some sort of need that they can improve upon to make them more sustainable.
So it's, it's applicable to all nonprofits of any size, any age, any manner.
Yes.
I love that.
And so you guys have an upcoming conference capacity building conference.
So can you tell us a little bit about that? Yeah, so this conference is our, our big signature event when people in the area close to us here think about nonprofits lead, they often think about our conference.
It's our big signature event that we host.
So our conference this year is Wednesday, May 14th here at Marietta College, and it is a full day, it is 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM So it's the entire day and it is packed full of really amazing resources.
Workshops and different networking opportunities to really strengthen the organizations that attend.
So the schedule begins in the morning.
We are actually for the very first time, adding a vendor fair, which we are so, so excited about right now.
This has enabled us to actually have some funding to offset some financial concerns for our nonprofits that want to attend, but maybe have a barrier to that.
So we're able to now provide some additional support in that way.
If, if the.
Registration fee was a barrier to attending, which has been an amazing asset, I will say.
Mm-hmm.
But it's also providing additional resources beyond all of the sessions as well.
So we'll start in the morning.
That will be open for attendees to network.
Meet our vendors and really explore, see different types of resources that might be applicable to their organization.
Then we're opening with a very, very exciting keynote who I'm super excited for everyone to meet.
Her name is Elise Woodworth.
She is a military veteran and served on the board of the Virginia Military Institute and yeah, she's so, she's so fun.
Mm-hmm.
And she is gonna talk about.
How to build a network of advocates for your organization and how to really make them sustainable advocates.
So having a good volunteer, turning them into a donor or just having those different types of relationships.
And then she's going to really launch us into our sessions.
So nonprofits lead has six development focus areas, and that is kind of how our conference is structured.
So we have.
During each session, six options that correspond with our focus areas.
So session one has six different options that you can choose from, and then you'll go to session two.
You'll again have another six.
We'll break for lunch.
You'll come back and you'll have one final session, and then we'll come back for a closing keynote.
But what I love about how this is structured.
Is you could attend a finance workshop, but then you could also see a human resources workshop as well, and then you could end with marketing.
So as nonprofit professionals, we are often wearing multiple hats and doing multiple jobs and doing multiple things.
And so you don't have to just take.
All finance.
This is not just a finance track, this a work or a conference.
This is not just an HR conference.
This is the ability to really find what speaks to you and your role and your needs and take that class.
So it's an amazing opportunity.
Yes.
I love it.
It's actually one of my favorite conferences.
I have presented at it for multiple years.
Mm-hmm.
I served on the Board of nonprofits lead yeah.
Years ago.
And so I am such an advocate for the work that you're doing, because you're right.
You know, every nonprofit.
There's usually an area or two or three where they have some weaknesses.
Mm-hmm.
And they know it.
A lot of times they know that it's a weak area, but they don't know how to get the help that they need.
And sometimes they just need help asking the right questions because I think asking the right questions.
Can really transform the experience of getting the right answers right? Yes.
And that's, I thank you for bringing that up, Sarah.
That's what, and I love so many things about this conference, but that is another one that I really, really feel makes this conference such a great value.
It's affordable and it's local for our attendees.
So the speakers that are coming are people that they can stop in their office and make an appointment and visit.
They're people that they might see at Walmart or at the grocery store.
They're people they might see in their neighborhoods.
So these, it, it really fosters such a network of collaborating because you, you know, we've all gone to conferences where this, this speaker is great and wonderful and you wish you could follow up with them, but.
Maybe they have a, a really expensive fee and you can't afford to, to do that, or they're just too far.
And so logistically it doesn't make sense.
But the speakers that, that attend our conference are local for our attendees.
Making that, just really being able to absorb everything in the conference.
Real life happens while we're here too.
So would you go back to real life? But you still have their contact information, you still have their email and you are still able to really connect and network with them even after the conference has ended.
Yeah.
So tell me about like an amazing transformation that you've seen within a nonprofit.
Who has decided to embark on this capacity building journey? Yeah, so one of the big programs we just wrapped up actually was our first human resources accelerator, which you were a part of.
So thank you so much for being a speaker there.
But one of our participants after the session ended had reached out to me.
And gave me an entire list of things that she had been doing almost maybe incorrectly in her hr.
But she had no HR training, right? She didn't, she wasn't Shar, I'm certified.
She didn't have an HR dedicated person.
I.
She was the one running it.
It was, it was her figuring it out and she was often Googling things or texting a friend and saying, Hey, how do I handle this situation? And so this HR program really gave her the ability to sit down and analyze, okay, this is a weakness for our organization and organizations and nonprofits especially are so, relationship and people centered.
So you have to have a strong HR process, whether it's an HR person or a manual.
And so she went down and, and sent me a list of things that they had adjusted.
She redid some policies in her manual.
We had some sections on compliance, which she realized there were some things that they actually weren't in compliance for, that she was able to, to adjust.
And what, what I think my favorite piece out of everything that she shared with me.
Was that this program gave her friends and a safe space to talk about her challenges and and issues in a place where she wasn't gonna be judged.
She wasn't looked down upon for saying, Hey, I have a question about this, or I'm concerned about this.
And after the.
Program wrapped up.
They have still created this cohort, right? They have, they exchanged phone numbers, they're friends on social media.
You know, they have really formed a group because they're kind of all in this boat together, right? They're all trying to, to make our communities better.
And so it's just the sense of community that was created from that program.
So yes, she, she updated a bunch of HR policies and, and redid some things and that's amazing.
But what I think is most impactful is that she now has a support network too, and that she has people to, to lean on.
Yeah, that's great.
I think that, you know, just to know who else in other organizations.
Are dealing with the same topic, right? Yes.
That's such, such a key.
Mm-hmm.
Because every organization has some either a formally identified individuals in that position or informally identified Yes.
People in this position.
And it's really hard for the informally identified because, because it's really informal and it's just kind of fallen on their plate.
You know.
They do learn as they go.
And while learning as you go is a possible way to be successful, it comes with so much more time, intention, and, you know, it's very time intensive.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
It's also, you have a lot more of mistakes along the way and learning as you go.
Yep.
And when we learn as we go, it's usually because something failed, which Right.
Is not bad in itself.
And so, yeah, so that's great.
I think that's a great tip for any listener listening is that if you are dealing with an issue, contact your local nonprofits that you do network with just on the general and ask them if they have someone who is working in the same area, you know? 'cause together two minds are better than one.
Oh for sure.
And in a lot of areas in the United States, you should have some sort of nonprofit association as well.
So if you're really still like, I don't know where in the world to turn find your local state nonprofit association as well.
They are there to support you and so if you have questions, they could potentially be a good resource as well.
Yeah.
I think something else that I've learned at your conference that I absolutely love is the model that you share about the lifecycle of a nonprofit.
Mm-hmm.
Do you, do you teach that lifecycle? So I'm actually in the intensive consultant training right now.
Oh, wow.
So, yeah, so I wrap that up at the end of May actually, so I will be doing it.
But it's interesting that you mention that because the COO from Nonprofit Lifecycles Institute is actually attending again at the conference this year.
Last year she was our keynote, and this year she's gonna do a session on.
Taking the lifecycle model, but applying that to a governance growth plan.
So for example, if your organization is maybe in a state of growth, that is one of our lifecycle stages, right? But you really wanna be like a mature program.
You wanna have that mature program, that mature governance, the mature processes.
She's gonna talk about ways that you can kind of strengthen those and to develop that plan to grow into where you wanna be on that lifecycle.
So she'll be there as well.
Yeah, that's really good.
I, I love the that lifecycle of a nonprofit because mm-hmm.
It not only speaks about the startups, but it also speaks about the winding down organizations.
Mm-hmm.
And unfortunately, there are a lot of organizations that are in the process of winding down.
Kind of with the new climate of, you know, nonprofit.
But I think being able to do that well too.
Mm-hmm.
It's such a gift to the people that you have served, the people that you have served with, as well as the people that you have served through your services.
Mm-hmm.
And it speaks to the legacy that you did create, because every ripple continues to go out and make a difference.
Right.
Yeah.
And, and the lifecycles model is, is just perfect for that as well, really.
Because we call that term kind of sun setting, right? Mm-hmm.
So it doesn't sound like closing our doors, shutting down, ceasing to exist, right? Those all kind of have a, have a negative feeling right when you hear them, but when you think of sunset, you're like, oh, that's, it's peaceful, right? It doesn't have to be this big traumatic event that's all over the news and, and just catastrophic for everybody involved.
It could be.
Just a peaceful, you know, this was our mission, we accomplished it, you know, it's okay.
And they, they really take the person out of it, right? So it's, it's very.
Position specific or program specific.
So when you're analyzing pieces through this model, it's not about saying, oh, well we're having to close because our CEO didn't do her job.
It's the position wasn't being fulfilled as it needed to be.
And so it takes that person and that that kind of antagonistic almost viewpoint out of it.
So it's a great model to think through and if you're interested in learning more, definitely reach out.
So I do just love it and I it, as you were speaking, it just made me think of it and it's usually something that it's spoken about, you know, at the conference because yes, it's such a model that really nonprofits lead has embraced you, right? Mm-hmm.
You guys do a lot of work with it, so, well, thank you.
So Shana, can you tell our listeners how they can get ahold of you, how they can find out more about the conference and Yes, absolutely.
So there are a number of ways that you can reach out to us, but one of the best places I would suggest would be to go to our website, which is marietta.edu/nonprofits
lead.
And so you can go to our calendar of events and you can see the other programmings that we have open as well.
'Cause we have a couple of really exciting ones coming up this summer and there's some new and very exciting ones.
I'm getting ready to post later for the summer and early fall 25.
You can also check out our Facebook page, which is just nonprofits lead.
That's where a lot of the information is going.
In particular right now, I'm posting some fun sneak peeks as to who the presenters are and some things they're talking about.
So if you haven't seen your posts there, it just went out yesterday.
Oh, I haven't.
Yes, you should go check it out.
Just trying to give people some ideas about what's coming up.
We've got some panels, so it's not all just.
Someone standing up there yapping at you for eight to four.
There's panel opportunities, there's q and a sessions, so it's a variety of experiences too.
So the website, the Facebook page, or you can also email me.
And that's nonprofits lead@marietta.edu.
That's the best place as well to get ahold of me directly if you wanna ask questions.
But the web, the registration links are on our website and are on our Facebook page as well.
Or you can email me and I'm happy to have that conversation.
And as you kind of heard a little bit as well.
If there's a a financial concern to attending, please reach out to me.
We do have some assistance that's able to help, but that is on a first come, first serve basis.
So if that applies to you, don't, don't wait and reach out.
Because once some of that funding is gone, we're not gonna be able to do as much assistance.
So definitely get a hold of me if, if you'd like to have that conversation.
And the last question that I always ask every guest is, what is a piece of advice that you wanna give every nonprofit.
Hmm.
A piece of advice I'd love to give a nonprofit.
Hmm.
So, honestly, I, I would really say that there's, there's no dumb question really.
I always encourage people to ask.
It's, it's better to reach out because I would almost guarantee that somebody else has thought your same question at some point too.
And it's better than you wander just wandering and getting frustrated or.
Spinning your wheels or your time or your energy into something, just reach out, just ask.
And there are, there are resources out there, there are people out there, whether they're consultants or, or programs.
Or organizations.
There's people out there that wanna see you succeed.
And so don't get in your own head.
Don't, don't think that you can't ask that question because you can.
So.
That's great advice actually.
I love that because, you know, all of us in the nonprofit sector actually are in the nonprofit sector because we love helping and we want to Yeah, create a world that is better than what it is.
And I have really never met even an employee at a nonprofit that wasn't willing to be helpful.
I think that that's the great advice.
You could reach out to anyone and I think that you'll find a helping hand in an open ear and you know, it'll come to you if you ask the question.
Yeah.
And even if that person or organization isn't the right fit, they probably know someone who might be.
Yeah.
So, yeah, just don't be afraid to reach out, ever.
Yeah.
That's great.
Thank you so much for joining us.
I hope that some of our listeners get to come to the non nonprofit Leads Con conference and I'm excited.
I'm going to be there.
I'm going to be at the vendor fair as well as presenting on fundraising and so, it'll be exciting.
I love.
Just seeing the vast number of nonprofits that get to attend this day from startups to really mature organizations that have been around for ages.
So I can't wait for it.
Yeah.
Thank you for having me, Sarah.
The last thing I wanna make sure your listeners know is that registration does close on May 2nd.
So you've got some time to get some registrations in or ask those questions if you need to.
But don't delay because May 2nd will be here before you know it and you wanna make sure you have your seat here.
Okay.
And I'll include those links in the show notes so that anyone can see it.
So thank you so much.
Thank you for joining us and to our listeners.
That's a wrap for today's episode of Nonprofit 4 1 1.
I hope our discussion with nonprofit professionals and experts gave you actionable ideas to take your fundraising efforts to the next level.
At Nonprofit411, I partner with leaders like you to develop strategies and guide you through implementation.
Visit nonprofit411.org
to learn more, and let's take the first step together.
See you next time.
Bye.