NewsPod Special Series: BDOG #4 Why Supporting Sustainability is Essential for Local Nonprofits.

Ready to transform your understanding of nonprofit sustainability? Join me in conversation with Niva Flor, Chief Impact Officer at the Sacramento Region Community Foundation. Together, we unravel the complexities of what sustainability truly means for nonprofits—beyond just surviving, it's about thriving. Discover how the Foundation's Big Day of Giving is a game-changer, emphasizing the power of unrestricted gifts and trust-based philanthropy. We dive into strategic innovation, collaboration, and the pivotal role of strong governance and leadership in navigating an ever-changing landscape. From financial resilience to operational flexibility, we cover it all.

We also explore the Sacramento Region Community Foundation's Impact Fund's mission to promote health equity through collective efforts. It's not just about financial backing; the Impact Fund is also a hub for training and community engagement, addressing vital regional issues like education access and food insecurity. Just a reminder as well that Big Day of Giving is May 1st. You can get set and prepared by visiting the site links below. 

To contribute visit BIGDAYOFGIVING.

To learn more about the Sacramento Region Community Foundation, visit the website HERE.

Hear Barry Keller's story of support for the Impact Fund HERE.

Thank you so much for listening! We appreciate you. Please visit the website to sign up for our email updates. https://www.nonprofpod.com/ And if you like, leave me a voicemail to comment on the program, leave a question for us to ask in the future or a message for me, Jeff Holden. I may even use your voice mail message in a future episode. https://www.nonprofpod.com/voicemail. Thanks again for your support in listening, commenting and sharing the great work our local nonprofits are accomplishing.

Transcript

00:09 - Jeff Holden (Host)
This nonprofit news pod is the last in a special four-part series being brought to you by the Keller Family Pathway Fund. Each episode features a topic of interest relative to the Sacramento Region Community Foundation's Big Day of Giving coming up May 1st. Region Community Foundation's Big Day of Giving coming up May 1st. I'm talking with Niva Flor, chief Impact Officer of the Community Foundation. Neva welcome. 

00:32 - Niva Flor (Host)
Thank you. Thank you so much. 

00:40 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Pleasure to be here. We're going to be talking about sustainability. You have a unique role, as you see all the passes through the foundation. This final news pod is all about sustainability. That word tends to get interpreted in so many ways, as it relates to nonprofits, by every individual that tries to define it. But let me tee you up with some of those perspectives. We have general financial sustainability of the organization, operational sustainability, programmatic sustainability, environmental and social sustainability. See what I mean, how it's so interpretive to its point of origin. If you would tell us how you view sustainability as the chief impact officer and how you might relate it to the Community Foundation and even Big Day of Giving and how you might relate it to the Community Foundation and even Big Day of Giving. 

01:29 - Niva Flor (Host)
Absolutely Well, nonprofits are businesses and they need to be able to effectively manage their resources and assets to be able to carry out their programs and activities. 

01:41
So sustainability at a nonprofit organization really refers to their ability to both maintain and grow their impact in terms of their mission but also their operations. 

01:53
And in order for them to be able to do that, it means that they have resources and aren't over-relying on short-term funding to be able to do that work into the future. I believe that sustainability is more than just survival, but it's really ensuring that nonprofits have what they need. They have the supports and the resources that they need to really grow and thrive over time. And Big Day of Giving really gives us an opportunity to address this need by focusing on unrestricted gifts. We hear that from local nonprofits that those dollars, dollars that are given that do not have any restrictions, is really critical to that kind of work, and so Big Day of Giving helps to shine a spotlight on unrestricted gifts by providing education both to our local nonprofits throughout the year, but also to our donors and our fund holders and our community members as well to ensure that we're building trust in our local nonprofits, that they are using those resources in the ways that are most impactful. 

03:04 - Jeff Holden (Host)
And that would be what we're calling trust-based philanthropy today, correct? 

03:08 - Niva Flor (Host)
Absolutely. It's really trying to balance the power between organizations and fund holders and donors who give to those organizations so that again those dollars are really being put into the community in the most impactful way again, those dollars are really being put into the community in the most impactful way. 

03:30 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Ultimately, for any organization to be a sustaining resource, it requires proper governance and leadership, wouldn't you agree with that Absolutely. As you assess and analyze organizations internally, what is it you might see in successful nonprofits as it relates to this leadership, Absolutely Well. 

03:45 - Niva Flor (Host)
We have years of big day of giving data, but in addition to that, several years ago we did some additional analysis and research to really understand what our local nonprofits need, and we realized that, despite best intentions, so many of our region's nonprofits are really struggling to deliver on their mission, and that's because they lack a lot of the critical infrastructure to be able to do that work. 

04:15
And so, as a response, we worked with local consultants to be able to examine those needs and those challenges with two goals in mind to really understand what are the long-term capacity building needs of the sector to be able to strengthen our local sector, but also how do we encourage and foster leadership to ensure that organizations are partnering together, collaborating and learning how to work in new and creative ways. What's really important and what comes to mind to me right now is that we're entering a new era of impact, and I think, while it's important to continue to focus on building core competencies around governance and mission and fundraising, what we know is that nonprofits are learning, that they need to evolve and expand, and what might even be even as important to nonprofit performance is strategic leadership and being able to take risks and to be innovative in these very dynamic times, and so, within this context, I think there's a lot of potential to be able to support and grow local leaders and future leaders to be able to innovate and really meet the needs of this dynamic time that we're in. 

05:36 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Well, and it really gives us the ability to say these are businesses, they have to run like businesses and that allows that leadership to now take that risk that you talked about and move forward on some of the ideas and some of the opportunities and programs that they might not have done before because of that risk aversion. 

05:57 - Niva Flor (Host)
Absolutely. What we're hearing is that local leaders are operating from a new playbook, that the old playbook isn't working anymore, that they want to break out of the status quo molds and deliver on their impact in new ways, but need support and education and partnership with our local community to be able to do that. 

06:20 - Jeff Holden (Host)
And you said a key word which teases right up for this next question impact. The Sacramento Region Community Foundation has its own impact fund. Its focus is health equity. Can you tell us a little bit about the fund itself and how it represents sustainability, both within the organization and in its community giving? 

06:41 - Niva Flor (Host)
Absolutely Well. The Sacramento Region Community Impact Fund is really designed to help build and foster a more vibrant and thriving Sacramento region by really doing collective impact work. Unrestricted gifts really help fuel the impact fund. So, as I mentioned earlier, these are dollars these are what we call sticky dollars that can be utilized in ways that really give our local leaders the most flexibility and nimbleness to put those dollars in the ways that make sense to them, and there's a number of ways that individuals can give to the impact fund. 

07:20
The fund really helps to provide and foster flexibility and responsiveness, as I mentioned, to really meet and address immediate need, and it also helps us to foster greater collaboration in the community. One example of that is a program called Cultivate that is currently funded by the impact fund and that really is our local response to national data that showcases that smaller grassroots organizations, often led by leaders of color, are not faring as well as their counterparts, and so by ultimately utilizing those impact dollars, we are able to provide training, executive coaching, leadership training and networking opportunities for those local leaders to be able to grow their impact, learn from one another, innovate together and to grow their resources into the future to be able to sustain their work. So that's really one example of how the Impact Fund helps us shore up our nonprofit ecosystem by providing leaders with the tools and the resources that they need to really grow. 

08:33 - Jeff Holden (Host)
I really like the fact that it's not Just here's some money for operational sustainability. There's training and support behind it, in addition to the actual monetized opportunity that comes as a part of the fund. 

08:48 - Niva Flor (Host)
Absolutely. You know executive leaders and fundraisers you know are often doing work that can feel very lonely and isolating, and just having opportunities to meet with others who are working on very similar issues and learning in real time about how to embrace those new innovative ideas and bring those ideas back to their organizations can be incredibly impactful. 

09:14 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Let's fast forward just a little bit to success. How do you define success and identify it relative to the impact fund? 

09:24 - Niva Flor (Host)
I believe success is really defined in a number of ways. 

09:28
Collaboration is one opportunity for us to bring our partners along with us, to educate our community and to build trust among our community and our donors Again that those dollars that they give are being utilized in the most strategic ways convening, bringing people together and really helping to solve some of our region's most challenging issues, and serving as a funder through grants and getting dollars out in the region in impactful ways. 

10:01
I believe that we work very closely to communicate, as part of our community leadership framework, how we're making impact in the community. So that's by telling stories of impact through organizations that are on the ground doing that work, sharing how the funding is being used and how we're growing those dollars and inspiring philanthropy in the community and creating opportunities for our donors and others to be able to give by reducing barriers for giving. And so one example of that is our impact collaborative, and you know it's a way for us to appeal to our broader community by making giving more accessible, and so someone can join the Impact Collaborative and give anywhere from $275 to $1,000 or more to be able to become a part of a broader community of folks who want to understand what some of the emerging issues are and to be given an opportunity to do something about it. 

11:07 - Jeff Holden (Host)
As you look and try to identify greatest needs, for example with the impact fund and health equity. How did that come to be and what types of organizations might fall under that category? 

11:19 - Niva Flor (Host)
Absolutely so. Several years ago, we did a community assessment. We spoke to over 300 stakeholders nonprofits, community leaders, the business community, our fund holders and donors and others to really learn about how the foundation can serve as a community leader in this region. The foundation can serve as a community leader in this region and, as you can imagine, we heard a lot of things, but what emerged as an area of need is health equity, and what we know that is within our region, where one lives, can often predict what's going to happen and their quality of life in the future, and we know that that isn't right, and so, through our work, we have identified areas of focus to both help and advance health equity in our region. 

12:11
So, whether it's through expanding opportunities for young people to have access to higher education and have the supports that they need to thrive, last year alone, 41% of young people high schoolers reported that they feel chronically sad and isolated and hopeless, and nearly half of those students didn't find the mental health supports and resources that they need to be successful. And so, by bringing together and bridging education and mental health, we're really creating an environment where young people can reach their fullest potential and thrive. Food continues to be an area of need. Surprisingly right, thinking about how agriculturally rich our region is. But in Yolo County one in three households face food insecurity. 

13:05 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Most agriculturally rich area in the region. 

13:09 - Niva Flor (Host)
In the region, in the world right, One might say. 

13:12 - Jeff Holden (Host)
And the same people are the workers in the field where the food is being picked. 

13:18 - Niva Flor (Host)
Absolutely, and the families of those agricultural workers are often one of the highest food insecure in the region, and so these are issues that we know, as a community foundation, we can help tackle with others, and so we took on health equity to do that. 

13:39 - Jeff Holden (Host)
How do interested parties learn more about the Community Foundation's Impact Fund? 

13:44 - Niva Flor (Host)
Well, one way to do that is to visit our website at sacregecforg and to join the Impact Collaborative. You can also give a gift to the Impact Fund, at whatever level you'd like, and join other fellow change makers to be able to build a more vibrant and thriving place and a more equitable place for all. And as a part of that Impact Collaborative, you can enjoy exclusive access to gatherings and trainings and seminars and events that really connect you and put you in conversation with others who are working towards very similar goals in our community. 

14:31 - Jeff Holden (Host)
And what's great about that is that allows people to really impact that health equity or inequity, depending on your perspective and how you're going to approach it. Niva, thank you so much for the work that you guys are doing and taking the time to share it. Big Day of Giving is just around the corner and we want to be sure that everybody's all set to give away on May 1st, and you can find all you need on Big Day of Giving by visiting the Sacramento Region Community Foundation's website, as Neva had mentioned. It's S-A-C-R-E-G-C-F, dot O-R-G. We'll also have the information in the show notes for everybody as well. Neva, thank you again for so much that you're doing, and here's to a really huge day in Sacramento on the 1st of May. 

15:19 - Niva Flor (Host)
Thank you so much. We're excited. We know it'll be another great year. 

15:22 - Jeff Holden (Host)
Yes, I know it will as well. This final episode of our four-part series for Big Day of Giving has been brought to you by the Keller Family Pathway Fund. You can learn more about them by visiting the link in the show notes. Barry and Linda Keller proudly support the Sacramento Region Community Foundation's Big Day of Giving through their Keller Family Pathway Fund. Why they believe giving is an emotional experience, often making the choice of where to give a difficult one. With expertise, experience and deep understanding of the philanthropic environment, the Sacramento Region Community Foundation team is uniquely skilled in vetting organizations their greatest needs and helping local people and businesses give back most effectively. The Kellers trust the Sacramento Region Community Foundation and invest in its impact fund, ensuring their contributions will be used wisely. Thank you, barry and Linda, for your gracious support of the Sacramento Region Community. Invest in its impact fund, ensuring their contributions will be used wisely. Thank you, barry and Linda, for your gracious support of the Sacramento Region Community Foundation's Big Day of Giving.