When Nonprofit Finance Meets Nonprofit Mission: Real Talk from the Frontlines
When finance and mission meet, it’s often a delicate dance—but Terri Sorrentino, Director of Finance and Administration at Friends of Karen, shows that collaboration can be both powerful and transformative. In this candid and compassionate episode, Terri walks us through how her organization supports families of children facing life-threatening illnesses and how operational departments—often hidden from public view—become the engine behind meaningful impact.
FriendsOfKaren.org serves over 1,200 children annually, most battling cancer. What sets them apart? A comprehensive approach that uplifts the entire family—from social workers who visit homes and hospitals to child life specialists focused on siblings, all delivered with empathy and financial relief. Yet behind this emotional mission is a finely tuned financial machine—and a finance leader who sees herself not as a gatekeeper, but a guide.
Terri shares the often unseen tension between program needs and accounting rules, especially in emotionally charged scenarios. “Everyone has their role and every role is important…we’re all trying to get to the same place, which is to help the families,” she shares. Her approach centers on open communication, mutual respect, and ongoing staff education on budgeting and reporting.
Terri also dives into the evolving demands of grant reporting, emphasizing that funders now want more than expense breakdowns. They seek data-driven impact narratives that quantify emotional and advocacy-based work—especially the cost of social workers, a vital but often overlooked pillar of the mission.
This informative dialog explores how organizations can better prepare for audits without compromising compassion, and how relationships between finance, fundraising, and programming must be built on shared goals, not silos. Through storytelling and . . . . . . . . .
Innovation Meets Compassion: The Future of Food Pantries
Drew Moran, Chief Development Officer at Nourishing Hope, joins our cohosts,Julia Patrick and Sherry Quam Taylor, for a conversation that blends visionary thinking with practical strategies. From the moment the discussion begins, you’ll see that this is more than a typical food pantry story. Drew’s journey—from volunteer manager to a leader at a $20 million organization—illustrates how a commitment to innovation and compassion can drive exponential growth. You will be energized by the candid dialogue on marrying development and technology to better serve communities in need.
At the heart of the conversation is the imperative for nonprofits to invest in smart technology. Drew provides data, making a clear point: digital tools are not a luxury but a necessity for modern service delivery. By integrating a CRM, electronic medical records, and online ordering, Nourishing Hope streamlines operations, attracts forward‑thinking funders, and reduces barriers, all while honoring the dignity of the clients it serves.
Nourishing Hope, formerly Lakeview Pantry, has transformed over its 55‑year history, leveraging technology to expand its reach beyond Chicago’s north side. Under Drew’s leadership, the pantry launched the city’s first online market in 2019 and recently celebrated its 100,000th service. Combined with free mental healthcare and social services for over 55,000 individuals, the organization delivers more than 200,000 distinct services each year. This wrap‑around approach ensures every person who walks through its doors receives not just a meal, but respect and the tools needed to thrive.
Sherry and Julia spotlight the importance of a values‑aligned team and trust‑based philanthropy in driving impact. Drew emphasizes that fostering a culture of flexibility and abundance . . . . . . . . .
Spreadsheets Can Be Hell! Automate Your Grant Reporting!
We are joined by Srikar Chinam, CEO of KarmaSuite, for a conversation that flips conventional grant thinking on its head. While most nonprofit leaders pour their energy into winning grants, Srikar urges the sector to focus just as hard—if not more so—on what comes after the win: post-award grant management.
Srikar explains that managing grants isn’t just about compliance; it’s about aligning multiple stakeholders, vocabulary sets, and reporting requirements—all while staying within highly specific timelines and budgetary restrictions. “It’s absolutely a spreadsheet nightmare out there,” he says, describing the all-too-familiar scenario of finance teams scrambling to reconcile expenses manually in donor-specific formats. For organizations juggling five to seven grants or more, the administrative load becomes unsustainable!
The conversation digs into why nonprofits often find themselves underprepared for this reality. “If you leave money on the table, that means the donor has missed their impact goals because of you,” warns Srikar, pointing to how such gaps can erode credibility and diminish future funding opportunities.
From federal grant freezes to the internal silos between development, finance, and programming, the conversation paints a vivid picture of a sector straining under outdated processes. Srikar shares that Karma Suite is designed not to replace accounting systems, but to sit atop them—removing 75% of the manual work currently managed through spreadsheets and late-night email chains.
One of the most impactful observations in the episode? The disconnect in language between departments and between nonprofits and funders. “Programs control the spending, but they’re not finance experts—and finance teams don’t always have the program context,” says Srikar, emphasizing the importance of connective tools . . . . . . . . .
Major Gifts 101: Winning Over High Net Worth Donors
Our cohosts deliver a practical conversation on cultivating relationships with high net worth (HNW) donors. They explore how nonprofit organizations of all sizes can define what “high net worth” means in their context, identify aligned individuals, and thoughtfully steward them toward transformational giving.
Tony Beall opens with a foundational point: “We need to define what high net worth means for our own organization—because it looks different depending on your size, mission, and goals.” This nuance sets the stage for a broader conversation that deconstructs common assumptions about wealth and reminds nonprofit professionals that big gifts are rooted in deep, intentional relationships—not cold outreach.
Rather than chase only new wealth, Tony urges nonprofits to begin by mining existing donor data. “Let’s start with who already cares about our mission. We can often elevate those relationships before even casting a wider net,” he shares. The advice is practical and encouraging, especially for smaller teams with limited capacity.
Julia Patrick and Tony also touch on the human side of fundraising—empathy, trust, and consistency. Julia shares a personal story about securing her first $1 million donation, which came not over a fancy lunch, but at a modest cafeteria. “He told me he had grown up without enough to eat, and seeing all that food reminded him of how far he’d come. For him, that was luxury,” she recounts. It’s a moving reminder that motivations are deeply personal—and often surprising.
From prospecting strategies like leveraging SEC filings, Google Alerts, and local business journals to understanding the long timelines involved in major gift cultivation, the episode offers a balanced blend of emotional intelligence and . . . . . . . . .
Beyond Adoption: Rebuilding Child Welfare Systems
What does it take to reimagine child welfare on a global scale? Caroline Boudreaux, Founder of the Miracle Foundation, shares her extraordinary evolution from corporate life to global changemaker. Her journey began on a spontaneous trip to India where, on Mother’s Day in 2000, she met a group of orphaned children—and one moment changed her forever.
“I put a hungry orphan on a wooden bed and heard her bones hit the wood. I’ve never been the same,” Boudreaux recalls.
Originally launching Miracle Foundation as an international adoption agency, Caroline soon realized that adoption couldn’t scale fast enough to match the need. She pivoted. Then, another revelation: 80% of institutionalized children actually had living family. “We couldn’t just make orphanages better anymore—we had to help children go home,” she shares. That shift required a new model, a bold strategy, and a lot of resilience.
The organization began empowering ‘kinship care’—supporting extended families to take children back in by addressing barriers like housing, education, or income. Then came Thrive Well: a transformative app that puts this care model into the hands of over 30,000 social workers, enabling systems change at scale.
This inspiring discussion adds in the role of healthy board dynamics, founder self-awareness, and breaking through the myth that only “rich people” give. “You’re not looking for donors with money,” Caroline says. “You’re looking for souls who want to do something bigger than themselves.”
Her metaphor? “We’re all jumping into the river to save babies. But someone has to look upstream to stop them from falling in.”
This conversation will challenge your assumptions, ignite your passion for . . . . . . . . .
Calm, Clarity, Cash Flow: Nonprofit Financial Survival Tools for Today
Paul Preziotti, CPA and partner at Johnson Lambert, joins co-hosts Julia Patrick and Meico Marquette Whitlock to provide a grounded, real-time financial snapshot of the nonprofit sector in 2025. As Paul begins, “Each month, it’s like, oh, that happened… now that happened,” capturing the fast-moving nature of today’s funding landscape.
The hosts and guest explore lessons learned from past crises and how nonprofits must evolve their planning models, including annual board and staff financial trainings, contingency-based budgets, and integrating cash flow analysis into strategic decision-making. Paul emphasizes that scenario planning is not a one-time task, but an organizational mindset: “You can’t do this overnight… you need to build in review time at all levels—starting with the board.”
The conversation digs deep into scenario planning—why it’s essential, and how it gives nonprofits a flexible roadmap when the future is uncertain. Gone are the days of assuming government funding is reliable. Preziotti says, “Even if your agency isn’t one of the ones in the news, I think you have to think about a scenario in the future where that funding doesn’t exist.”
The trio also address the communication gap between finance professionals and non-financial staff or board members. Paul and Meico discuss creating a budgeting culture that empowers all roles with the right knowledge and confidence to engage in financial discussions—without fear of judgment—adding that staying calm and building a supportive tone at the top helps organizations weather instability with resilience.
Outsourcing is presented as a flexible and cost-efficient solution, especially for smaller nonprofits. Whether outsourcing payroll, the CFO role, or just the budget process, it’s . . . . . . . . .
Cybersecurity for Nonprofits on a Budget
For many nonprofits, cybersecurity feels like a luxury they simply can’t afford. But according to Michael Nouguier, Partner of Cybersecurity Services at Richey May, ignoring cybersecurity can end up being far more expensive than proactively investing in it.
Michael dismantles the myth that strong digital security comes with an unaffordable price tag. In fact, many nonprofits already have powerful security tools built into systems they’re already using—yet few take advantage of them. “What’s almost as good as free,” Michael explains, “is something that you’ve already been paying for and didn’t know that you could leverage.”
From free services offered by federal agencies like CISA to deeply discounted nonprofit rates from companies like Microsoft and Google, this conversation uncovers a path to digital protection that doesn’t require massive budget increases. Michael urges nonprofits to start by auditing what they already use. Whether it’s Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, most platforms include underutilized features like multi-factor authentication, access control, and data encryption.
These protections aren’t just theoretical—they’re essential. As Michael points out, “You don’t know what to protect if you haven’t actually done an assessment to understand where those risks are.” He encourages leaders to seek out risk assessment tools—many of which are available at no cost—and build a strategy around known vulnerabilities, not guesswork.
The conversation also takes a practical look at automation, which reduces labor costs by removing repetitive security tasks. Many nonprofits mistakenly believe they’re starting from scratch when in reality, they already have a baseline of protections in place—they just need to activate them. Michael shares examples of simple, low-cost ways to . . . . . . . . .
Why Cultural Humility Is a Leader’s Superpower in Nonprofit Work
Dr. Pierre Berastaín, Regional Director at the Centre for Public Impact, invites us into a powerful conversation about leadership, cultural humility, and living with integrity across lines of difference. With warmth and depth, Dr. Berastaín shares how personal identity can be a source of strength in leadership—not something to minimize or check at the door.
“We all lead from a cultural lens, whether we name it or not,” Dr. Berastaín explains. “The danger isn’t bringing your culture into leadership—the danger is bringing it in unconsciously and expecting it to be the norm for everyone.”
Dr. Berastaín’s personal journey fuels his systems change work. His role at CPI—a nonprofit incubated by Boston Consulting Group—blends macro strategy with community-rooted implementation. The goal: reimagine how governments and public institutions serve people, especially those pushed to the margins.
At the heart of this discussion is an honest reckoning with cultural difference and a plea to bring one’s full self into leadership. “Cultural humility isn’t about shrinking yourself,” he shares. “It’s about knowing yourself well enough to make room for others.”
The conversation explores what it means to acknowledge culture without stereotyping, the impact of asking, “What are you?” and how silence—intended to be safe—can sometimes feel like erasure. Dr. Berastaín advocates for “relational warmth before analytical interest,” encouraging listeners to shift from tokenizing curiosity to reciprocal connection.
He also offers practical tools for introspection: therapy, spiritual grounding, and forming a “personal board of directors” who challenge and support growth. These elements, he says, are vital in cultivating not only emotional intelligence but the capacity to lead with vision.
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Who Owns the Donor? Fundraiser vs. Structure Showdown
Bubble blowers, legacy gifts, and neighborly introductions—this session of Fundraisers Friday bubbles over with wit and wisdom from cohosts Julia C. Patrick and Tony Beall. Tackling real-world fundraising dilemmas, the duo dives into sticky questions nonprofits often tiptoe around.
We kick off with a sparkling debate: when a donor grows from a small supporter to a major one, who “owns” the relationship? Tony reminds us, “Relationships come first. Structure comes second.” His point: when a fundraiser elevates a donor’s giving, the organization should also elevate the fundraiser’s role. Julia reflects, “I didn’t think of it that way… they should be elevated—and they haven’t been.”
Next up: corporate crossover. What happens when an individual donor brings their business into the giving picture? Should the relationship transfer to the corporate team? Tony weighs in: “The development professional may not have the skill sets for corporate partnerships. So, invest in training—or consider a strategic handoff.”
Then comes the glitzy question—exclusive events for high-net-worth donors. Are these smart strategies or community-killers? Tony, a champion of inclusivity, says, “Exclusivity has its place… if it leads to planned giving and legacy conversations.” Julia adds in, saying how savvy orgs are shifting these events toward behind-the-scenes access and thought leadership rather than fancy galas.
They wrap with the boardroom. Should fundraisers speak at board meetings? Tony suggests quarterly appearances. “Your board should know the development team—if you see them in the grocery store, you should say hello!” Julia adds, “It’s not about asking for money. It’s about connection, introductions, and understanding.”
Packed with humor, heart, and practical advice, this fast-paced convo gives nonprofit professionals tools they . . . . . . . . .
Fear Isn’t the Enemy—It’s the Catalyst: Emotional EQ for Nonprofit Leaders
In a moment of transformational clarity, life and leadership coach George “Iceberg” Miller addresses what so many in the sector struggle with but rarely name: fear. Hosted by Julia Patrick, this conversation dares nonprofit leaders to face their internal barriers and lead from a place of emotional intelligence.
“We train ourselves out of even feeling anxiety and fear,” George says. But instead of rejecting fear, he challenges us to embrace it as a guide—not a threat. With heartfelt stories and grounded strategies, he redefines fear as a powerful source of data and growth. “What if we change that to—no, this is part of life?”
Together, the duo unpack the burnout crisis plaguing the nonprofit sector, especially among development professionals who rarely stay longer than 19 months. But rather than despair, George offers a hopeful alternative: presence. “All I did was say, ‘I’m angry.’ And it led to the most productive meeting of my career.”
From volunteer teachers who avoid burnout by staying connected to meaningful work, to financial leaders unlocking emotional resilience through micro-interactions, George shows that radical change begins within. His vision is clear: leadership isn’t just about competence—it’s about relational courage.
For anyone navigating budget cuts, burnout, or policy shifts, this episode is a masterclass in transforming fear into fuel. “If I can allow myself to feel that fear, stop criticizing myself for it… then I can create something new.”
Let this dynamic session be your invitation to pause, breathe, and reimagine your leadership—not as something to fix, but as something to feel. Follow the ongoing conversation at #TheNonprofitShow
From One Video to $88 Million in Debt Forgiven: What Hospitals Don’t Tell Us!
Jared Walker, founder of Dollar For, shares how one TikTok video launched a national movement to eliminate medical debt through little-known hospital financial assistance policies. Joined by cohosts Julia Patrick and Sherry Quam Taylor, Jared recounts how a personal family tragedy sparked his commitment to helping others avoid the crushing financial fallout of medical emergencies.
Dollar For educates the public about financial assistance programs that nonprofit hospitals are legally required to offer under the Affordable Care Act. Despite these policies existing for over a decade, most patients—and even medical professionals—remain unaware. “Most people leave the hospital without any knowledge of these programs,” Jared explains. “It’s the best-kept secret in healthcare.”
Jared’s journey from grassroots crowdfunding in Portland coffee shops to leading a national nonprofit began with a single TikTok that received over 30 million views. That exposure helped grow Dollar For from a one-person operation to an 18-person team that’s relieved $88 million in medical debt so far. “We created a Slack channel where every debt relief success story gets posted,” Jared says. “It’s a little mini-party that keeps us grounded in our mission.”
The discussion explains how Dollar For’s first major initiative was building a national database of 8,000 hospital financial policies. This tool lets users instantly check eligibility based on their income and hospital—a game-changing resource in a fragmented system. It also positioned Dollar For as a watchdog, helping policy groups compare hospitals’ generosity and push for improvements.
Despite the impact, Jared remains humble and forward-looking: “I hope Dollar For doesn’t exist in 10 years,” he says. “We’re trying to push for . . . . . . . . .
Dogs Painting Live on Stage? How to Wow Donors!
What if your next fundraising event wasn’t just another rubber chicken gala—but a magnetic, mission-driven experience people couldn’t stop talking about? That’s exactly what Brittany Bedford, Customer Success Manager at Bloomerang, urges nonprofit leaders to imagine.
In this high-energy episode, Brittany dives deep into the art of turning events from forgettable to phenomenal. She shares fresh research, real-world examples, and wildly creative strategies that help nonprofits connect with long-term donors in meaningful, memorable ways.
“We’ve got to shift from the fundraiser’s point of view to the attendee’s,” Brittany emphasizes. “They’re coming to feel connected. This is their chance to be a part of something meaningful.”
Julia Patrick, host, agrees—and doesn’t hold back: “We don’t even sit down and ask, what do our guests need? That’s dreadful. We just copy and paste the last event!”
From gamified donor experiences and staff-led greetings to runway walk-offs and dogs painting art live onstage, Brittany proves that creativity isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s a donor retention superpower. In one standout example, she describes an event where guests interacted with service dogs creating art, then bid on those pieces at auction. “People were laughing, posting, and telling the story for weeks,” she recalls.
She also unpacks Bloomerang’s new research showing that:
· 70% of donors say a fun experience makes them more likely to stay engaged
· 53% say gamification was their most memorable event moment
· Yet only 6% of fundraisers are implementing this!
The takeaway? Nonprofits must ditch the rinse-and-repeat and embrace innovation—starting with the very first hello. Whether you’re planning your first gala or your fiftieth, this episode is a game-changer for how you think . . . . . . . . .