Using the Whole Whale - A Nonprofit Podcast

178: Homelessness in the Time of COVID-19

We talk with Dan Treglia, Ph.D. in Social Welfare about the impact of COVID-19 on America's 500,000 people experiencing homelessness. Choosing whether to go to a shelter, where social distancing may not be possible is becoming a life and death decision for many Americans. 

Dan discusses the issues many Cities are facing and what the potential policies that could make a difference are. 

 

About

Dan Treglia is a PostDoctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and
Practice who uses quantitative methods to address a range of social policy issues – most notably
homelessness – with a clear focus on policy and programmatic implications.

Dan’s recent work focuses on the use of large administrative data sets to address multi-sector,
seemingly intractable problems. Recent examples include an evaluation of the Supportive Services for
Veteran Families program, a homelessness prevention and rapid re-housing program run by the VA; a
randomized controlled trial of a homelessness prevention program in New York City; the integration of
machine learning algorithms into a VA homelessness screening tool to improve resource targeting; and
forecasting healthcare and nursing home needs and costs among older homeless adults.

He has a PhD in Social Welfare from the School of Social Policy and Practice and a Masters in Public
Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Prior to enrolling at Penn, Dan served as Deputy
Director of Research at New York City’s Department of Homeless Services (DHS). Among other
responsibilities, he led the City’s effort to estimate its unsheltered homeless population using a
methodology recognized for its rigor by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He also
led the evaluation of the Housing Help Program, which prevented eviction in high-poverty areas,
assessments of shelter use and recidivism predictors, and several agency public reporting and policy-
analysis initiatives.

177: The 7 Elements of a Primal Brand (reprise)

We have been seeing elements of the 7 elements of the primal brand everywhere and so we went back to a great episode with Patrick Hanlon the author of Primal Branding and is the CEO and founder of THINKTOPIA, a global brand and strategic innovation practice for Fortune 100 clients.

The seven elements we discuss from his book:

1. Creation Story
2. Creed
3. Icons
4. Rituals
5. Pagans
6. Sacred Words
7. Leader

 

176: 14 Ways to Grow Your Podcast Downloads

In this podcast strategy episode, we talk with Nick Azulay our Digital Marketing Analyst Whaler about 14 ways to increase podcast downloads.  

We have been in the podcast game with our nonprofit focused podcast – Using the Whole Whale for over 5 years. Here are some of our best tactics and ideas that have worked to drive solid download numbers. Even after you build a quality podcast, it can be frustrating to then watch numbers fall flat which is why podcast marketing can be as important as the content. 

If a podcast falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, did it make an impact? 

 

175: COVID-19 College Advising | Making the Shift to Digital

Almost overnight the College Advising Corps (https://advisingcorps.org/) had to pull counselors across the country from Highschools in response to COVID-19. 

Nicole Hurd, the Founder and Chief Executive talks through how CAC has been making the shift to digital support for their students. Our host, Kariesha Martinez walks through the myriad issues facing college-bound students in the time of COVID-19 with stories and data from Nicole's work. 

 

COVID-19 UPDATE from CAC 

In the face of both high school and university closings nationwide, College Advising Corps (CAC) advisers continue to serve their students, moving now to a 100% virtual advising model. Regardless of the challenges that lie ahead, CAC advisers remain committed to ensuring our nation’s low-income, first-generation college-going, and underrepresented high school seniors achieve their dreams for higher education and economic mobility.

174: How to Design an Auction Event

Planning a live fundraising event can take months and even years to plan. This week on the podcast, we talk with Layne, the Auctionista. They specialize in auctioneering, specifically for live fundraising events. Listen as we chat about the 27 steps they take to prepare for a live fundraising event, why there are no small gifts (just small donors), and the future of live fundraising events.

“The Auctionista brings the power of philanthropy, humanity, energy, and entertainment to every event. We are bold and innovative subject matter experts in Event Revenue Strategy, Event Ideation, and Performance. Dedicated to exercising creative instincts and proven strategies that inspire charitable giving, we deliver intuitive and entertaining live fundraising experiences that produce results.”

 https://auctionista.ca/about/

 

173: COVID-19 Trends & Opportunities

This podcast will cover current events and trends that we think social impact leaders should be thinking about. 

On this internal podcast episode George Weiner, Chief Whaler and Kariesha Martinez, Advertising Whaler discuss the trends and opportunities during the COVID-19 crisis. While giving may be declining, there are opportunities to find talent and ways to prepare your organization with digital impact initiatives. 

 

172: Expanding a Business to the EU is Hard - here's why

We interview EU Whalers Michaela Luecke and Luciana Padua about their experience expanding Whole Whale's digital agency services to Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Spain. After over a year of work and a few clients, Whole Whale has decided that the experiment just didn't work. 

There are many hard-earned lessons that we discuss starting companies in Germany and the different financial, legal, and social barriers that exist. This podcast is a must-listen for anyone looking to expand services to these regions.

Too often we only hear stories from the people that take risks and win - feeding the survivor bias in entrepreneurship that it is easy to succeed. We need people more like Luciana and Michaela, people willing to take a risk to start something new with a social purpose in their countries. 

Special thanks to them both for their efforts in pushing this initiative and taking a risk.

171: How are donor emails cultivated in the first 45 days?

How does your organization treat donor emails in the first 45 days? According to research by NextAfter and Classy, 45 days is the threshold of where donors are most likely to upgrade their donation (aside from the 365 day mark). We interview Brady Joseph about their email cultivation study which analyzed 2,500 nonprofit donor emails and where they fail. 

 

Resources

• Get the email cultivation study: cultivatingdonors.com
• Get fundraising research, resources, and training: nextafter.com/institute (use the code PODCAST to save 25%)
• Listen to The Generosity Freakshow: nextafter.com/podcast
• Attend the Nonprofit Innovation & Optimization Summit: https://www.niosummit.com/ (use the code PODCAST to save 25%)
• Connect with Brady on Twitter, @bradyjosephson, or LinkedIn (in/bradyjosephson)

170: The Unashamed Guide To Virtual Management - Author Ben Bisbee

Our country and most of the world shifted to work from home almost overnight, but are we doing it right? This week we talk about the world of remote work with Ben Bisbee, the co-author of The Unashamed Guide To Virtual Management. 

Working remotely is a reality of today's and tomorrow's workforce. With organizations switching from a model of only on-site employees to all WFH employees, managers need guidance on how to address the traditional and not-so-traditional issues that occur when staff is not collocated.

Get the book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Unashamed-Guide-Virtual-Management/dp/1949036553

169: Census in the time of COVID-19

We interview Karthick Ramakrishnan a professor of public policy and political science at the University of California, Riverside, and founding director of its Center for Social Innovation. He is also a Board Member of The California Endowment, Chair of the California Commission on APIA Affairs, and Director of the Inland Empire Census Complete Count Committee. 

The US Census is currently underway during the COVID-19 crisis and many experts are worried that a true count will be made increasingly more difficult. Karthick makes it clear why the Census matters for each state and nonprofit, regardless of industry. 

 

About Karthick

Karthick Ramakrishnan is professor of public policy and political science at the University of California, Riverside, and founding director of its Center for Social Innovation. He has published many articles and 6 books, including most recently, Framing Immigrants (Russell Sage, 2016) and The New Immigration Federalism (Cambridge, 2015), and has written dozens of opeds and appeared in over 1,000 news stories. He was recently named to the Frederick Douglass 200 and is currently finishing a book entitled Citizenship Reconfigured (Cambridge, 2020). He holds a BA in international relations from Brown University and a PhD in politics from Princeton.

Ramakrishnan is also a Board Member of The California Endowment, Chair of the California Commission on APIA Affairs, and Director of the Inland Empire Census Complete Count Committee. Ramakrishnan directs the National Asian American Survey and is founder of AAPIData.com, which publishes demographic data and policy research on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.