Using the Whole Whale - A Nonprofit Podcast

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.   

168: Catching Momentum in a Time of Coronavirus -

We interview  Mike Berland, the founder & CEO of research, data, and analytics firm Decode M who is an expert how people think and behave as consumers, voters, and decision-makers. We talk about His upcoming book "MAXIMUM MOMENTUM: How to Get It, How to Keep It" in the context of the Coronavirus news storm. Mike shares stories and tactics of how we should think about Momentum as both the mass and velocity of a message as it rises in the social consciousness. 

167: Fundraising in a Time of Uncertainty - Martin Leifeld

Interview with Martin Leifeld, Martin Leifeld is an author, consultant, coach and public speaker.  

During his 24 years of professional fundraising, Martin and his teams raised a staggering $500 million dollars. In 2018 Martin was named Outstanding Fundraising Executive by the Association of Fundraising Professional St. Louis Regional Chapter. 

We discuss how to deal with the discomfort of fundraising that especially shows up in times of uncertainty. Martin talks through some of the main themes from his book, "Five Minutes for Fundraising" 

• Overcome anxieties and your fear of failing

• Learn easy and effective ways to ask for money

• Generate significant new funds for your non-profit

• Bridge the gap between your fear of asking and people’s natural desire to give

 

 

166: The Best Way to Contact Congress - advice from Quorum

We interview Alex Wirth, the co-founder of Quorum.us a leading legislative tracking tool. Alex shares what works in getting the valuable attention of elected officials. Should you use phone calls, mail, social? Should you send your messages all at once or overtime? 

Not all mediums are equal in gaining the attention of representatives and their staff, but they are listening.