How One Executive Director Grew A Counseling Nonprofit Through Crisis And Change

Nonprofit leadership longevity is increasingly rare, yet staying the course can be a powerful strategic advantage when coupled with the right management systems. In this episode, Janelle Miller Moravek, Executive Director of Youth and Family Counseling, shares her nearly two-decade journey of leading a community-based mental health nonprofit through various strategic "eras"—from a funding crisis to mission expansion and navigating a global pandemic. The discussion offers a grounded playbook for sustainable nonprofit management, focusing on relationship-driven leadership with clinical professionals, the transition from development director to executive management, and the shift from rigid long-range planning toward guiding principles. Beyond organizational strategy, the conversation dives into the personal habits necessary to prevent executive director burnout, emphasizing boundaries, peer support, and tactical prioritization to protect focus and mission impact.

Transcript

Donor Trends Report Message

SPEAKER_00 0:00

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Welcome And Guest Background

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Welcome back to the Nonprofit Hub Radio Podcast. I'm your host, Megan Speer, joined today by one of my favorite interviews from last year. I'm so excited to have her back. Janelle Miller Morovek is the Executive Director of Youth and Family Counseling in Lake County, Illinois. We had a delightful conversation the last time she was here. So I'm so excited to dig in again. Janelle, welcome in. Hi, Megan. It's good to see you again. I'm excited to continue our conversations. Yeah, absolutely. So tell if someone had not heard your previous episode, tell us a little bit about your background and your career there.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

Um Yeah, so I have I joined Team YFC in 2000 as the development director and grew that role and did that for nine years while I had babies and raised my little family. And then in 2009, when the executive director stepped down, I asked for the chance to step up and fill his shoes. And the board kindly gave it to me. And I have been the executive director ever since. And it has been an amazing adventure. We are a nonprofit counseling center, so we are in the business of delivering clinical services as well as all of the other things that nonprofits do. And it's never a dull moment. Today I'm super proud that we have three sites across Lake County and have grown the budget at YFC from $680,000 to $2.89 million this year.

unknown 1:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

So that's awesome. Yeah. It's exciting. Yeah. Okay. So, but none of that happens without the topic of the day that we're going to be digging into here. Which because I'm um I want to make sure that everyone heard what you said. You've been at YFC since 2000. Yes. But in leadership as executive director since 2009. Yes. And I I personally find so much encouragement in that. Um in an era where I feel like nonprofit burnout is a super high topic and where we're losing leaders right and left, or where we are consistently seeing people chase the next, or you know, jump ship, or whatever the case may be, I think that especially to hear the way that the program has grown, the way that the organization has grown, is such a testament to like what it means to stick to and lean into and stay with the same organization as a leader. And so for anyone out there who is a nonprofit leader, specifically those executive directors, because we know man, it is the phrase it is lonely at the top is a truism. Right? Yeah, it's for real, yeah. Yeah, it's for real. So this episode is for for y'all. Actually, I'm from Pittsburgh. We would generally say yins, but I'm gonna stick with y'all because it's a little a little better for everybody involved. Because I really want to kind of dig into Janelle how you have managed to do that, right? Because I'm sure that there have been seasons where you would have liked to jump ship or were burnt out or all of those things. Yeah. But I feel like that leadership and consistency of leadership is so critical. Yeah. So tell us a little bit about maybe that that process for you and what those eras have looked like as you I mean, 2009 to 2026 is an incredible tenure. What's your secret?

Stepping Up From Fundraising

SPEAKER_01 3:52

Yeah, I don't know what my secret is. Maybe I had really good people around me. You know, when I stepped in, I asked for the job in 2009 because I was frustrated. I was actually had interviewed, was interviewing for other jobs because I was so frustrated by the things that YFC was lacking, which was a strategic plan and a really clear vision for what it was gonna be. And as a fundraiser, I needed those things, right? I needed to have something to sell, and I didn't have it. And so when the executive director left, and I was like, okay, well, I'm I'm gonna go unless you give me this chance because I would I would do this. Well, it wasn't as easy as I thought it was gonna be to split. Stamp ship never is, right? It just happened to know I had a re I had an amazingly supportive board chair. Okay, and I still I talked to her today, I still go to her for advice. She's been an amazing mentor. She got me through that first couple years, and I got like a crash course in leadership, primarily in HR, because that is where so much of this ended up having to go. I had to I had to unite the staff around me, I had to work, I knew the board, but I my relationship with them changed. Uh, it wasn't easy, and it took me a couple of years to find sort of get my feet underneath me and get things settled down, right? And just figure things

Survival Era After Funding Loss

SPEAKER_01 5:32

out. And then in 2012, YFC had been funded. We had three income sources. So we had, you know, whatever fees that we generated from our counseling services. We had a huge United Way grant, and we had special events, you know, some grants, you know, it was kind of a third, a third, a third. Well, the United Way Grant went away. And I was like, yes, this is awesome. This is the crisis I need to pull people together. So with Chicago, we have, you know, Rahm Emanuel, and it was like, never let any good crisis go unused. Sure. So I we did, I pull people together. I'm like, we have to figure this out now. And so we did express planning or strategic planning express. We called it, we did it in six weeks, which is how are we going to survive? And we made boards, staff, everybody came together and we had this plan. And I called that our survival era. And that period lasted about three years. Right. By the time we got to 2015, we were working well together, board, staff, donors, we were making progress. We had replaced the United Way funding by increasing philanthropy and our earned income. And we had the wonderful, truly wonderful opportunity to sit back and say, what do we want to do next? And we took a year and we had lots of conversations. We looked at what were the community needs, who was doing what, where like where were the gaps, what were our strengths, where could we move, like the typical stuff. And we came up with a vision that really expanded the scope of our mission. And that was really exciting. So we went from just being an organization that was focused on making counseling services affordable for the working poor to making them accessible to people from all walks of life. There was a vision, a new vision, there was a mission change, there were new strategies. We had a five-year plan to 2020. And that I call our thriving era because at YFC we say we help people cope heal and thrive. So, right, so

Thriving Era And Bigger Mission

SPEAKER_01 7:52

we had survived and then we were thriving. And it really was like at that point as a leader, I was starting to get invited to the cool kid table at the county level. So people would like those big funders, um health department, you know, and they were starting to include me in county level discussions. It took a long time to get there, five five years to get there. I kept asking, but I kind of proved myself, right? And so then they invited me and and we thrived and and we we expanded our mission. We we went from being, you know, we went over that million-dollar mark into that next sort of size of nonprofit. Sure. And again, we it was a different, it was a different organization. It was different delivery strategies. Uh you know, of course, we'd had some staff turnovers. So it was a different organization. I was doing a strategic plan and a handbook again, but they were different than the strategic plan and handbook we'd had in the previous era. Well, so we're clanking along and and we get to 2020, and we were doing that again. Like, okay, we we've done this. Now what? And we were having these really exciting, really long-term discussions about, you know, where do we want to be in 20 years? Like, what's really what's the big aspirational thing that we are now in a position to tackle when COVID

COVID Era And Rebuilding Systems

SPEAKER_01 9:28

hit?

SPEAKER_00 9:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

Right?

SPEAKER_00 9:30

And that's a new era.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

That was a new era. That's the COVID era. Yeah. Um, and and that knocked us off our knees. I mean, that was really hard. And again, so many things happened, right? All of like delivery changed, organizational infrastructure had to be completely rebuilt. The board, meanwhile, said, uh, we gotta go deal with our own businesses. So just keep going. Like, you've got this, Janelle. Oh, okay. Right. Figured it out, right? Like it was, it was really hard. Yeah. Um, but here we are in 2026, and last year, we were able, well, actually in 2023, I was breathing a little bit easier. It's like, okay, I think we're like, whew. And we start to think about, okay, let's pick this thing back up. Sure. So we don't have a new like five-year plan, but we made what we said were guiding principles. Like our northern star will never change. Not right now, anyway. Our northern stars counseling for all until we get that. Seems a little bit aways away still. Yeah. But, you know, we said, well, we can't really see that far out in the future. I think that's just the way things are now. Things are technology, the world is moving so fast. So we said, we'll have guiding pillars, and we will make decisions every year, two years based on sort of how we're doing and what those guiding principles are are guiding us towards. Yeah. And so that that's been a completely different thing altogether. And we started doing things like adding sites and you know looking at not just micro-level barriers to mental health care, but macro systems level barriers and trying to play a bigger game. And so it's been like this is another era. Like I'm in my fourth era.

Donor Experience Data Break

SPEAKER_00 11:53

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Earning Trust With Clinicians

SPEAKER_00 12:37

I want to go back to a statement you made at towards the beginning. There's a couple, I've been taking notes. Talk about so you the way that you said it was that you took this job in in 2009, and it was not until 2012 that you felt like you had your legs underneath you. Yeah. For some people, I think we put so much pressure on ourselves that we have to be the perfect leader from day one. But again, and I want to point out, right, you came up to that role from the fundraising side of the house. Yeah. Not necessarily from the program side or you know, back office. And so, yeah, things like HR have never crossed your path before, right? Things like any of the, you know, there's so many of those strategic leadership pieces that have don't happen in the fundraising office. Right. So I'm curious, was there a time in that first phase, the first era, if you will, where you where that is where you were tempted to quit? Or did uh did not knowing the HR and having to learn those pieces just make you want to do it more? I didn't want to quit.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

I just wanted to Okay. That's a really good question. And I'm trying to think back. So the I the other thing I will say is at the time I was they allowed me to work part-time because we were a smaller organization. So I was working 22 hours because I had a young family, and so for me that that mix I was highly motivated to make that work. I yeah, I live locally in this town, I work here, right? My kids were little, it was a super flexible job, like super flexible and not at all flexible all at the same time, right? Because you know, yes, I could decide maybe when I tackled a problem, but it had to be me tackling the problem at some point because there was no depth, right? So all the flexibility and no flexibility all at the same time. And I really love a really good problem. And I I was I could see the I could see the problems, but I didn't yet know how to fix them. And that phase lasted a long, a long time as I was built, yeah. I learned how to budget and forecast, had never done it on that scale before, right? Um I learned all about HR. I had really good relationships with the board because I was the fundraiser, but I needed to learn all about how to run a clinical program. I'm not a therapist, right? That that took a really long time and to be respected by them because I don't have letters after my name. And so I really had to, I really had to earn that respect so that they would work with me. And there were two of those clinicians that stayed with me. They just retired a couple of years ago. They they were amazing, and I have to say, like, we we went through a lot together. Like we didn't always agree, sometimes we really didn't agree, but I think we were all able to say they knew I was doing what I thought was best for YFC, and I knew they were doing what they thought was best, they were clinicians for their clients. Sometimes those things are aligned, sometimes they're not. And that was that was really hard. But I think it was at the end, as we I mean, you know, they started doing clinical work eons ago, like right, like in the 80s, 90s, and then with me, they were getting on and doing you know, electronic health record and documenting and using Zoom and like all these things that they're like, I'm not doing that, but they did it, you know, and but we were able to get through because we could we had that relationship, and I don't I think it's the relationships. Like I I was fortunate to walk in with relationships with the board, and I have friendly relationships with staff, right? They were my peers. That's one of the hardest shifts you can make is to go from being here to now being a manager, and and that was that was really hard, especially for a non-clinician managing a bunch of clinicians, right? They do this professionally. I do not um but I think it was the relation like I was able to effectively navigate those relationships to a point where I think everybody got what they were looking for. Which is why I also think development directors make great executive directors, because we're all about the relationship, right? And engaging stakeholders and understanding what motivates them.

SPEAKER_00 17:36

Yeah. So good. Janelle, you have no way to know this, but the sentence that started this section is a fantastic lead-in uh to some really exciting announcements that Nonprofit Hub is going to be making later this year on some training options that are coming up for executive leaders. So this is this is a lovely little teaser of foreshadowing that Janelle has just put out for all of you. Love it.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

That's for real. And in fact, right, so now I sit here in my seat, right, as executive director of an almost $3 million organization with three sites, fairly like rigorous management, and it is my goal that it shouldn't be dependent on like we should be able to switch seats, and it like business should continue going as usual. And so the conversations we're having now is around okay, well, how do we prepare the beginning supervisor for leadership if they want you in I don't know how many years, right? But there are things we can do now to get that ready. That's so great. Right, a career ladder at a mid-sized organization where you could go from intern all the way up to executive leadership, right? Wouldn't that be cool? Yeah, I don't think that would happen, but we'll see.

SPEAKER_00 19:10

Oh, that's so great. If you could give one piece of advice to that girl who took over the executive director spot in 2009.

Burnout Proofing The ED Role

unknown 19:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:23

If you could give her one piece of wisdom or or encouragement or advice, what would that be? Don't take it too seriously.

SPEAKER_01 19:31

And I wonder if it's I my tenure here, my age, right, and my maturity, and and just having done this for so long. It's gonna be okay.

SPEAKER_00 19:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:46

The sun will come up tomorrow. Yeah. It truly will, and it's it is pace yourself. Um leaders do get burned out. You need to have a group of friends who are also executive directors who you can carve out safe space for and share. And I had an amazing, there were two other women. We had all kind of stepped into our organizations at the same time, behavioral health clinics, right? And so we so much of what we were talking about was the same. We met every month for breakfast, and that was a lifesaver, right? Yeah, it's using knowing it's a marathon, not a sprint, take vacation. Like you need to take vacation, you need to not work on the weekends, shut that computer, and go have respite so you can come back on Monday. Sometimes I do my best thinking. Well, I know I do my best thinking Monday morning when I pull open my calendar. I still use paper because I'm 54, but I see my top three goals for the week. And I I am now training myself to not open my emails, but to just sit down and work on those top three priorities that I identified the week before. Because I've had that space in my brain now, and I get more done in a couple hours on Monday morning. So take breaks. It's a like pace yourself, shut that computer. It don't worry, it's gonna be there for you when you come back. Yep, it'll be going anywhere. There is no executive director work fairy that comes in and magically does things, right? Like it'll be lovely. That would be so lovely. Um it'll be there, right? So I also live and die by Eisenhower matrices, like those right efforts impact ones. Effort and impact. Yes. And there are a lot of things that I never get to. Yep. The sudden keeps coming up.

unknown 22:02

Huh.

SPEAKER_00 22:03

Oh, it's so good.

Finding Peer Support And Networking

SPEAKER_00 22:05

I'm curious, how did you connect with I mean that's to be able to have a group of of women who are in the same boat as you literally in very similar organizations all around the same time, how did you find them and connect with them?

SPEAKER_01 22:18

Well if you haven't guessed I love to chit chat and the the the our behavioral health world is small. And it's at the time and still today there are exactly three community mental health centers in Lake County. So I always knew them and then you know you meet them at a meeting and then you're like oh do you want to have breakfast? You know and it turned out uh one of them actually lived in the same town. Like so it was super easy for us. And then like it didn't start out like that but it it ended up being that one thing that we just kept coming back. It was the two of us at the beginning and then we noticed the third organization we didn't really like and connect well with the executive director but then he left and this really cool women came in and we're like oh let's invite her to our breakfasts.

SPEAKER_00 23:16

Yeah yeah so yeah well and I love that even that even that call to be the one who seeks out right instead of waiting for people to come to you oh yeah no but make making the effort to bring other people into that circle with you I think is so important.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

And yes I mean as an executive director I think especially when you're a new executive director you have to be setting up those appointments with your board because even though you work like work with them like what what do I need to know now that I'm executive director the staff you know the you never get that chance again and ask who are the funders I should be talking to and like I looked at referral sources. Who should I be talking to and I believe it or not I really am an introvert. But I don't know if I would buy that but I I go home at night and there's no more talking got it okay but I I do really I get excited about project I'm strengthfinder I'm an input learner which can be a deadly combination so I love to learn and get data but I also like to share it. So I have learned to lean into that and use that as a way because I hate networking of how can I share with somebody else and that gives me a reason to talk to them. So what can I offer them? Yeah um has gotten me through many a cold networking room you know you walk in you don't know anybody and you're the new kid on the block but you get you you want to know everybody so yeah and keep going back even though they don't sit with you. In fact I remember distinctly one community meeting I went to was so excited to finally be invited and I I went in I didn't know a I recognized a few faces and I went up and I like hi it's really good to see you and they did that middle school thing where they looked at me were like oh hi yeah oh that's how this is gonna go oh okay yeah so I just kept sitting there and I came back the next meeting it was like it's good to see you right every time yeah eventually eventually I got invited to be part of the club there you go it took a really long time took five years so yeah so people have to stay for longer than a couple of years in order to get over that hump.

SPEAKER_00 26:01

Yeah absolutely yeah this is a total aside but it will come as no surprise to anybody that my top strength finder is called woo which is winning others over but that like the woo-hoo yay yep people ness of it yes that will come as a surprise to nobody who has ever you're definitely a woo I'm definitely a woo girl all right Janelle this has been again fantastic as always I really appreciate your just your voice of reason of leadership of stay the course and it's gonna be okay I think that's a much needed reminder for a lot of our executive directors in the audience so thank you so much for sharing that wisdom with us of course the we the there executive directors you're amazing like you should feel good give yourself a pat in the back yes and it was a lonely job because most days no one is happy with your performance yes and just that's just a given the board thinks you're not going fast enough and the staff thinks you're going too fast.

SPEAKER_01 27:05

Yes no one no one's gonna be happy about it.

Talent Development Book Pick

SPEAKER_00 27:08

No I do want to ask as a closing question we have kind of here on the podcast dubbed 2026 as the year of learning. So I'm curious if there is a book that you would recommend it can it can certainly have to do with today's topic but it doesn't have to just one that you would recommend maybe that has impacted you as a leader or as a person that you would say yep that needs to get on everybody's to read list what's one that you would suggest to everybody in addition to strengthfinder in yes on top of doing strengthfinder I want to show you because it's on my it's on my bookcase this form. Do you see how thick it is that's I mean that's a massive book you've got there. Tell me a little bit about it.

SPEAKER_01 27:56

It is like a workbook so it's all about how do you bring in how do you manage talent at and grow it in a nonprofit and there's every but it's not just theory like this is so thick because there are examples of job descriptions and then how do you um align how do you set competencies for your job descriptions and how do you assign proficiencies for those competencies and I say that because I think that as you evolve in any role you have a different level of proficiency. And so it's all about right how do you how do you consume whatever you need to get to that next level of proficiency but you have to plan it out it doesn't those things don't happen by accident. Yeah and this is how you it walks you through how to put together that guide so I use it on clinicians I use it for management like we use it. Yeah so good. Give us the title and the author one more time it's the talent development platform putting people first in social change organizations and it's a Jossie bass. Oh perfect you see all my stickies yeah that's great yeah I love it. Janelle you are always so full of wisdom thank you so much for sharing that with us thank you for letting me share it makes my input sing and hum.

Final Thanks And Sign Off

SPEAKER_00 29:27

Yes this has been another episode of the Nonprofit Hub Radio podcast uh again with my uh my guest Janelle Miller Morovek who's the executive director at Youth and Family Counseling in Lake County Illinois Janelle thanks again for being here and to everyone else we'll see you next time