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Chris Rosson CEO United Way Discusses 2023 Initiatives

Chris Rosson | CEO & President

The United Ways mission has always been to mobilize our city’s collective generosity, because we know there’s strength in numbers. They work together with hundreds of nonprofits across our six-county region and help 1 in 3 Kansas Citians gain access to health, education and financial resources. United Way connects those who want to be catalysts for change with causes that change our community for the better. The Waymakers make this possible.

visit them here: https://www.unitedwaygkc.org/

 

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[Transcript]

00:00:00:19 – 00:00:22:18
Ruth Baum Bigus
Welcome to KC Cares. Kansas City’s nonprofit voice were telling the stories of Kansas City nonprofits and the people behind them. KC Cares is the intersection of a profit and nonprofit communities making Kansas City a better place to live, work and play. The segment is brought to you by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. W.W. Kauffman dot org. I’m responding as well.

00:00:23:05 – 00:00:50:19
Ruth Baum Bigus
It was pre-pandemic when we first encountered our dynamic guest today. He was leading Teach for America here in Kansas City, being innovative, bringing equity across the educational environment in the in the entire metro. Then an opportunity came and Chris Ross couldn’t resist. It was come to United Way and we got to talk to Chris. And it was pandemic and it was crazy.

00:00:50:19 – 00:01:07:21
Ruth Baum Bigus
And we were on Zoom and it was just amazing. We could even get connected. But here we are. You’ve been here a little bit of the way for a while. Let’s talk about the Mr. Changemaker and Mr. Innovator. Bring us up to speed on all things United Way.

00:01:08:12 – 00:01:35:14
Chris Rossen
Well, first off, thanks for having me, Ruth. I always love getting the opportunity to talk with you and talk about all things change and possibility in our community. We have been busy. You know, you’re right that I arrived at, I think, a very opportune time as what I would say. You know, I think collectively, the pandemic and the racial reckoning and everything that we saw happening over the last 24 months plus really sort of called upon all of us to recognize that we needed to think about things differently.

00:01:35:14 – 00:01:57:20
Chris Rossen
We need to do things differently, and we need to be more responsive and agile to what we’re now. Community needs that could change on a dime. And I think one thing that became very clear to us was that we needed to find a way to galvanize around community needs issues in a more collaborative way, but also to make resources available and more and more reactive to how community need is changing in real time.

00:01:58:05 – 00:02:20:21
Chris Rossen
And so we’ve done a few things. We have launched our new primary grantmaking channel, which is Impact 100. And so it is a collection of organizations where every year we identify 100 organizations in our community, nonprofit organizations that we believe are driving the highest impact against where community need lives today, right now in real time. And we know that’s ever changing.

00:02:21:03 – 00:02:48:10
Chris Rossen
And so that’s an annual cycle. We publish an annual list, and we take it very seriously. It’s a very rigorous effort on our part, and we believe it’s a really reflective list of of organizations that are driving impact. The second thing is, of course, in two in one, we just during the pandemic, we really found two and one to be that almost like the canary in the coal mine where we were able to see community needs spike in certain areas in particular around housing insecurity and food insecurity.

00:02:48:14 – 00:03:13:18
Chris Rossen
I think the last time we talked, which I shared, that while there were lots of resources and efforts being put into the here and now pandemic response, that I had a real concern and we were monitoring sort of the long tail implication of COVID and what that would do in our community. And that’s certainly something that we’ve been able to leverage two and one to mine for data, to see how those trends are emerging, to see how they change, and to make sure that we’re getting out in front as much as possible in our community.

00:03:14:09 – 00:03:34:08
Chris Rossen
And then with that, you know, we’ve taken on and continued on with a few strategic initiatives, including a very large one around eviction. And so eviction prevention initiative that’s been going on for for for nearly two years now. And again, tied to sort of pandemic related effects that we continue to monitor and make sure that we’re addressing holistically as a community.

00:03:34:23 – 00:03:43:23
Ruth Baum Bigus
Impact 100. Talk about the nuts and bolts of that and how those different nonprofits were chosen and why they were chosen.

00:03:44:12 – 00:04:21:07
Chris Rossen
Well, so we have for quite a while continue to focus on the issues of health, education and income, financial stability, really as key drivers and transforming lives throughout our community. And that has been the case for some time. However, from a grantmaking standpoint, we intended to go toward longer term grants. And I think, again, just looking at the pandemic and looking at how quickly community need changed and shifted overnight, I just felt it was very important for us as an organization to be agile in our response and to be nimble when it came to addressing those needs and to really take a stance of rigor and really in some ways be a bellwether to the

00:04:21:07 – 00:04:40:23
Chris Rossen
community about organizations that are driving impact. It is a big, difficult task. You know, I think we talked before and I had shared that over the last ten years we’ve grown in our region from 500 registered nonprofits to over 10,000 that is a monumental amount of huge continues to to increase. People are finding all sorts of ways to get connected to causes.

00:04:40:23 – 00:05:04:01
Chris Rossen
And people are starting new organizations all the time and I think, you know, for us as an organization became very important to make sure that we were still being that bellwether in our community of organizations that were really high, high, high impact, really rigorous about outcomes and really driving a meaningful, measurable difference against those those those points of data that we look at in those areas of health, education and income.

00:05:04:01 – 00:05:21:21
Chris Rossen
And so it is a it’s a it’s a rigorous process. We accept applications widely. We encourage organizations to apply. If you’re if there’s somebody listening in their organization that would consider applying, they should do so. We we’re about to launch or announce our latest list here in in the spring summer timeframe. And so be on the lookout for that.

00:05:21:21 – 00:05:41:15
Chris Rossen
But it is, I think for us, an ability to not only drive dollars to those organizations, but to draw eyeballs, attention, volunteerism, awareness of some of these organizations. And again, when you look at that list, you will find organizations on that list that are household names that people would know. And you’ll find a whole host of organizations that you never heard of and you had no idea existed.

00:05:41:15 – 00:05:45:01
Chris Rossen
But are really driving incredible outcomes are in our community.

00:05:45:03 – 00:05:50:11
Ruth Baum Bigus
So if you made the impact 100 the first time around, you are not precluded from reapplying.

00:05:50:17 – 00:06:06:13
Chris Rossen
No, not at all. You’re not you’re not you’re not precluded from from applying. You can you can certainly apply again. But but there’s no guarantee that you’ll make it back on that list. Right. It is it is a dynamic list and it is really rooted in and where community need lives at this moment in time.

00:06:07:05 – 00:06:25:13
Ruth Baum Bigus
I know one thing we talked about the first time we had a conversation when you started at the very beginning of United Way, I said to you, there are some organizations that say, Oh, my United Way, Grant, it’s so long. It takes me forever. How have you addressed that? Is have things changed there?

00:06:25:22 – 00:06:54:23
Chris Rossen
Yeah, they have. You know, we really streamlined the application process for funds like Impact 100. We’ve taken a we’ve committed as far as I’m aware, we’re the largest and the first major philanthropic entity here in Kansas City. And a big funder to completely adopt the trust based philanthropy principles. And so, you know, when we part of that is ensuring that we have a low barrier to entry in terms of access, that we’re not making that process extra cumbersome on folks that are already doing great, meaningful work.

00:06:54:23 – 00:07:14:13
Chris Rossen
We want I want I want organizations that are applying for funding and applying to partner with us to spend as much effort as possible driving mission and as little effort as, as as required doing administrative tasks like applying for these sorts of things. And so we do try to make it streamlined and easy, but we do take a high bar in terms of the types of quality of inputs that we get from from that process.

00:07:14:13 – 00:07:25:07
Chris Rossen
But that was definitely a point of feedback that I heard that I wanted to address and something that, you know, as somebody who ran an organization that would have been eligible for funding like that in the past, it was important for me to make sure that that was a streamlined process as well.

00:07:25:19 – 00:07:30:21
Ruth Baum Bigus
Trust based philanthropy. I’m not sure I’ve heard that buzzing out there. How would you define that?

00:07:31:06 – 00:07:58:08
Chris Rossen
Well, I think trust based philanthropy really puts the ownership on the grant maker to take a rigorous stance in looking into what makes an organization tick, what’s driving their mission, and to really be relational, I think more than anything, it is it is acknowledging that there’s an inherent power dynamic at play when there’s somebody holding on to funding and somebody who’s requesting funding, and it’s acknowledging both the complexities and the dynamics of that while simultaneously saying, we’re partners in this.

00:07:58:08 – 00:08:27:02
Chris Rossen
You know, and and the expectations not that the organization’s perfect, the expectations that the organization’s making progress on an ongoing basis, and that we’re really partners in that we’re coaches in that provide feedback, we provide connection, and we provide opportunities to get funding, but not in a way that is punitive or or overly rigorous. It is it’s intended to make the funding accessible and the partnership really a true comprehensive partnership.

00:08:27:07 – 00:08:52:18
Ruth Baum Bigus
That’s see change. That’s really see change. I think for folks who maybe have been in this community and used to the old way of doing things that United Way versus the New Way, collaboration is huge. You’re a collaborator, you’ve got lots of energy. That’s kind of your vision. So how have you been able as your leading United Way, to bring that in and move things forward?

00:08:53:10 – 00:09:10:02
Chris Rossen
Well, you know, it’s in our name, United Way, right? You know, I think about I was at the Chiefs game. You know, we got the we got the the the a lot of excitement around here around the Chiefs. And, you know, I think about the fact that how powerful we are as a as a as a crowd and how involved we get into the game.

00:09:10:02 – 00:09:27:13
Chris Rossen
And we all elevate our voices together. And so collaboration is absolutely critical if you’re trying to move something at scale and with the types of challenges where we’re taking on and really transforming the community by transforming individual lives and the lives of families in our community that that are facing hardship, that takes it that takes a community effort.

00:09:27:13 – 00:09:44:04
Chris Rossen
It really takes a village. And so a lot of our efforts are rooted in not the transactional, just sort of here’s here’s some funding go do with it, but really getting grounded together in the in the challenges, getting grounded together in the solutions and and bringing all perspectives and voices to the table to try to address those.

00:09:44:18 – 00:10:10:11
Ruth Baum Bigus
What you mentioned, the issue of housing, unhoused people who face temporary housing, etc.. How do you how do you do that? It’s such a big challenge and it’s across ages, too. I think that sometimes people don’t realize it’s just, you know, families with children or a single. I’ve now been hearing about terrible issues with older adults who can’t find affordable housing.

00:10:10:21 – 00:10:14:03
Ruth Baum Bigus
So how do you tackle that huge issue?

00:10:14:10 – 00:10:44:10
Chris Rossen
Yeah, it is a huge issue. And it’s and it’s one of those things we talked about the long tail implication of of COVID. It’s one of those things that we were early on just sort of aware of. We were getting an influx of calls and two and one that were and we still today today right now, today, we get over 100 calls a day from families who are facing facing housing insecurity, families who are somewhere in either the eviction process or recognize that they can’t pay their bills and and are in a situation where they really need some support and some help.

00:10:45:16 – 00:11:12:11
Chris Rossen
To this point about collaboration, we’ve taken a collaborative approach to addressing that and a proactive approach addressing that. We worked with a variety of legal aid partners, both at U-M KC Law School, as well as the Heartland Center and as well as of about 30 or so social service agencies throughout the community. And collectively, we’ve been able to advocate for around $25 million in both federal resources, as well as pooling private resources together and taking on what we call the Eviction Prevention Initiative.

00:11:13:04 – 00:11:33:10
Chris Rossen
And it’s really trying to address the issue of homelessness and housing insecurity before a family is facing eviction, before a family being kicked out of their homes and and having to, you know, look to a shelter which are already already facing really constraints. And I’m pleased to say that through that effort, in some cases, we’re paying back rent.

00:11:33:10 – 00:11:57:13
Chris Rossen
In some cases, we’re helping people get up to up to a current on their utility payments. In other cases, we’re really standing with them in the courts process and we’re representing them through legal aid in the in the eviction courts process itself. And I’m proud to say that over that last 24 months, we’ve supported 75,000 people, kept them out of homelessness, 25,000 families, 75,000 individuals in our community.

00:11:57:16 – 00:12:19:13
Chris Rossen
I think, as you said, I think there’s a misnomer and a misperception that folks that are facing that these are folks that are maybe unemployed or or facing other sorts of situations, but know what we’re seeing. But with with with inflation and with other things, we’re seeing that actually about half of the folks that are coming to us from court making those calls, these are folks, working people who are employed, who are really doing the best they can.

00:12:19:13 – 00:12:30:13
Chris Rossen
They’re resilient and they just need some support from their neighbors. And I’m just really glad that, you know, that way we get to be able to provide that support and be that that friendly, helping face whenever that whenever they face that moment of hardship.

00:12:31:11 – 00:12:33:11
Ruth Baum Bigus
How do the municipalities play with you?

00:12:34:05 – 00:12:51:09
Chris Rossen
We work we coordinate with them often both in terms of social service delivery, but also in terms of making sure that funding is getting used and put in the most optimal places. So they are strong partners with us and all that, and that’s really region wide. County by county, the cities, I mean, it’s really a it’s really is a collective effort.

00:12:52:12 – 00:13:02:20
Ruth Baum Bigus
Let’s flip to two, one, one. Been there for a while. Bring us up to speed on what it’s doing and how that really makes a difference in the community to have that.

00:13:03:05 – 00:13:21:14
Chris Rossen
Yeah. So you know two and one for those who aren’t aware, it’s our community’s resource and referral network. It’s, it is really the connective tissue of our nonprofit space is the connective tissue of our social service space really in some ways the connective tissue of our community. We have community resource navigators who stand by the ready on the phones.

00:13:22:02 – 00:13:38:13
Chris Rossen
24 seven 365 over 150 languages spoken. And these are and they really deserve a shout out. Our community resource navigators really deserve a shout out. I’m really grateful to to the support that they provide our community. And these are folks who are answering calls. When somebody in our community falls upon hard times, they don’t know where to turn.

00:13:38:13 – 00:13:57:23
Chris Rossen
They’ve got an unexpected medical bill that they can’t afford. They’ve got they’re facing housing insecurity. They can’t put food on the table and they’re not really sure where to turn in that sea of 10,000 plus nonprofits, two and one becomes that place that they can call, they can speak to a friendly friend, friend who who will walk through, learn about their situation and connect them.

00:13:58:09 – 00:14:17:01
Chris Rossen
We have an over 90% success rate in connecting people with resources they need in the community, and then again, we also now are really doubling down on using it as a way to measure and sort of track emerging community needs. And so that sort of canary in the coal mine kind of approach, we certainly use it as an input to assessing and understanding community need and how it evolves.

00:14:17:17 – 00:14:33:00
Chris Rossen
And I think that it’s one of those resource in our community that needs to be talked about, more needs to be understood. More and more people need to be aware of it. And I will say, when we talk about community and measuring it, you know, since 2018, we’ve seen it over 20% increase in call volume two, two, two, two, one, one.

00:14:33:05 – 00:14:39:14
Chris Rossen
And that’s a real indicator of the fact that we have real significant challenges that we’re facing and need to address in our community.

00:14:40:04 – 00:14:47:08
Ruth Baum Bigus
They’ve got to be nice people with lots of patience. I would imagine, to sit there and, you know, listen to somebody else’s woes, albeit very legitimate.

00:14:48:04 – 00:14:50:17
Chris Rossen
But can I just say that can be any of our woes. And I think.

00:14:50:19 – 00:14:53:09
Ruth Baum Bigus
Absolutely. Absolutely. And you’ve been there?

00:14:53:10 – 00:14:54:22
Chris Rossen
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

00:14:55:07 – 00:15:06:11
Ruth Baum Bigus
How does that how does your own background weigh into what you do here every day? And if you want to give a little recap in case someone missed the last time we talked.

00:15:06:11 – 00:15:28:01
Chris Rossen
Yeah, well, so so by way of background, I grew up here in Kansas City. I grew up in a low income household. I grew up in one of our city’s high violent crime rate neighborhoods. I was the first person in my family graduate high school, first person to go on to graduate college. And that is that that lived experience is something that is a very present thing with me.

00:15:28:01 – 00:15:47:09
Chris Rossen
It’s something that goes with me every and every room and every conversation. And it really does inform every decision that I make here. When we’re making decisions about programs to support, we’re making decisions about resource allocation or we’re making decisions about Asian initiatives to take on. You know, I’m often we talk that we talk about these things that scale.

00:15:47:09 – 00:16:02:13
Chris Rossen
I mean, we’re working I mean, we touch one in three people in the community every year. And so when when that’s the sort of scale that you’re working with, sometimes it can be easy to fall into the fray of just looking at these in terms of numbers. But for me, what I know is that I was that kid on the other side of that equation.

00:16:02:13 – 00:16:19:14
Chris Rossen
I was the person who was receiving those sorts of benefits. I’ve benefited so directly from those things. And so that is a part of of every conversation. And I think one thing that’s important to note, I hear a lot of talk sort of in the community as I go out and about about, you know, which which which sort of solutions better than the others.

00:16:19:14 – 00:16:45:14
Chris Rossen
And when I look at my own life story, you know, I didn’t just need food pantry assistance. I didn’t just needs afterschool programs. I didn’t just need mentoring programs or free health clinics. Of course, I needed all of those things and at different points along my journey. And one of the things I love about the approach we take care at United Way is that it is a comprehensive, holistic approach, community based approach, and a really a collective action approach to addressing to transforming lives.

00:16:45:19 – 00:16:59:22
Chris Rossen
I feel like given my background and given the transformation that I’ve experienced firsthand, I’ve got the best job in the world I get we get to change the world every day, one life at a time. And and that and that is very meaningful and very personal work to me.

00:17:00:22 – 00:17:16:05
Ruth Baum Bigus
You have employees, obviously, teammates, associates, whatever the term is. You want to use that work here with you every day. Let’s talk about lay leadership and the role of the rest of the community. How do they play into what United Way is doing?

00:17:16:13 – 00:17:35:04
Chris Rossen
Well, so that’s really at the core. I think of another role we play, which is to stoke that philanthropic flame. In fact, we often talk about our work now in terms of inspiring and enabling a local movement of change agents, or, as we call them, way makers. Because when I think about my that path that I talked about, those opportunities were made possible.

00:17:35:04 – 00:17:54:05
Chris Rossen
Those other teams made all the difference in the world to me. And they were made possible by strangers who chipped in a dollar where they could, who made an investment when they could, who volunteered their time, who gave of their expertize. And in order to sort of I really believe that the business of changing the world, the business of transforming the community is not any one organization or one individuals responsibility.

00:17:54:05 – 00:18:06:02
Chris Rossen
It’s all of our responsibilities. And so we more and more view our role as helping enable that and helping educate and helping help give people proximity to both the challenges and also the promising solutions that exist here in our community.

00:18:07:04 – 00:18:20:11
Ruth Baum Bigus
So what role is there for a volunteer? If they say, I’m all behind this, I’m all behind what Chris is saying, rah, rah, let’s go. How do they get in, get connected, help make some of those decisions or carry the mission?

00:18:21:01 – 00:18:42:22
Chris Rossen
Yeah. So you can I would say go to our website and follow us on social media. We post volunteer opportunities regularly. We also bank a a resource bank where any nonprofit organization in the community can post volunteer opportunities post needs. And that’s a great place. You know, I would say start anywhere, anywhere, start anywhere is that is the thing to do.

00:18:43:03 – 00:18:58:17
Chris Rossen
And I think it also can be intimidating if you’re new to the space, you don’t and you’re not really sure where to start it. It can be intimidating. We’ve tried to sort of ease that as well. We have a whole host of what we call immersion experiences, bus tours and educational opportunities where folks can go and visit organizations.

00:18:58:17 – 00:19:23:11
Chris Rossen
They can learn about an issue, for instance, you know, homelessness or education or early childhood education. They can learn about what are the issues related to that? They get proximate to some of the organizations making a difference in those spaces. And my hope is that they find their love and they find their passion. But whatever they do, I would just encourage folks to get involved, be an advocate, be educated and and do what you can because we all can do something.

00:19:25:09 – 00:19:42:01
Ruth Baum Bigus
What have you found to be the greatest challenge? Maybe challenges would go with more than one. If there is one, as you’ve you’ve settled in now, you you’ve kind of gotten your team, although we know people go in and out. What’s that challenge and how have you tried to meet it?

00:19:43:00 – 00:20:10:18
Chris Rossen
You know, the, the, the, the best the worst part about this job is that you’re you’re confronted every day with the challenges. You know, we really have significant, significant challenges in our community. And I think that one thing that I find is that increasingly as a society, we feel divided. You know, politics, economics, technology, you know, increasingly puts us further and further in our silos, further and further tucked away from each other.

00:20:11:00 – 00:20:26:18
Chris Rossen
And I yet at the same time, I get so inspired at the best part of the job is I get so inspired. We, we, we see individuals and organizations throughout the community who are stepping up to to address needs, stepping up to make a difference. And, and every day when those folks step up, they support a neighbor in need.

00:20:26:18 – 00:20:41:04
Chris Rossen
They volunteer with an organization who’s looking for help, that they mentor somebody, a young person in their community. Every time those things happen, those are folks who are choosing a brighter future for all of us, choosing a collective future of their choosing, whether they work with us or not. They’re choosing a united way forward for all of us.

00:20:41:11 – 00:20:57:18
Chris Rossen
And those really are the way makers in our community. And so from a from a challenge standpoint, I would just say that that’s keeping people’s attention on these issues. And when it’s not facing you every day, when you’re not growing up in that environment, when you’re not sort of confronted with some of those real challenges, it can be.

00:20:57:18 – 00:21:06:21
Chris Rossen
It can be it can be a challenge to grab people’s attention in such a cluttered world. But what I also see every day is that that’s a challenge is being met, particularly here in Kansas City by our community.

00:21:07:11 – 00:21:14:03
Ruth Baum Bigus
You’ve got some new things, share intel. You’ve got the Food Pantry initiative, talk a little bit about that. Yeah.

00:21:14:03 – 00:21:37:13
Chris Rossen
So I’m pleased to share that we just recently we know we’re just really again closely monitoring community need with what we know about inflation is that that’s putting a pinch on everybody and particularly organizations like women’s shelters and and organizations, Head Start centers and organizations who are supporting youth. The new American populations, particularly vulnerable populations accessing certain needs and supports.

00:21:38:20 – 00:21:59:19
Chris Rossen
And so in order to address that, we’ve partnered together with a few of our philanthropic partners. We pooled community resources that have been donated to United Way. And I’m and I’m grateful to say that we’ve just recently awarded nearly $400,000 in additional food pantry assistance to about 30 organizations here in town who are providing food pantry assistance to folks in order to bolster up what they have.

00:21:59:19 – 00:22:15:03
Chris Rossen
And what we’ve seen and heard from them is that they’re seeing a 20% increase just because of inflation, a 20% increase in demand. And those are again, many of them are working families. These are folks who are doing everything they can. They’re pinching pennies. They’re living paycheck to paycheck. And they just need a little extra support from our community.

00:22:15:12 – 00:22:21:17
Ruth Baum Bigus
Right. And in the bio arena, you’ve got another new initiative here, this catalyst program. You were telling.

00:22:21:17 – 00:22:38:18
Chris Rossen
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Yeah. I’m also, you know, really excited to share that we’ve we’ve partnered with the Kauffman Foundation and we’ve created, in addition to the impact, 100 and other sort of grant initiatives that we have, we have an opportunity for a catalyst fund that is about about two and a half to $3 million over the next three years.

00:22:38:18 – 00:23:06:14
Chris Rossen
That collectively United Way and the Coffin Foundation have committed to creating a catalyst fund to support Bipoc, Black, Indigenous and people of color led or primarily serving organizations in our community. In particular, we’re looking at small nonprofits, organizations that may not have the the the time history or have had the access to capital or have had the access to networks that have been able to reach a certain degree of impact scale to be competitive for something like Impact 100.

00:23:06:14 – 00:23:18:13
Chris Rossen
But we want to make sure that they have access to funds and resources that are fully dedicated and set aside to, again, catalyze the next generation of important nonprofits and community rooted nonprofits in our community.

00:23:19:07 – 00:23:34:21
Ruth Baum Bigus
Probably the elephant in the room. How are contributions going? What have you seen? I mean, we were in the heat of the pandemic. We’re now in what, pandemic? Two or whatever you want to call this new phase. How have you watched that happen and how are you addressing it?

00:23:35:15 – 00:24:01:09
Chris Rossen
Well, our community continues to be incredibly generous with time, talent and treasure. They continue to be generous. And we’ve certainly seen that, you know, companies are facing, as you said, through pandemic and other things, all sorts of disruptions in terms of workforce, workforce. And and yet at the same time, I am just emboldened by the fact that our largest companies, individuals throughout our community, step up again year after year and understand that there are these real needs in our community that need be addressed.

00:24:01:09 – 00:24:24:15
Chris Rossen
And they continue to trust United Way with that. And so fundraising efforts have been strong, you know, as as is as you know, it can always be stronger. We can always, always use more. But what I what what I what I see though is that a real resiliency in the funding community as well, even in spaces where the same challenges that we talk about food insecurity, inflation, some of these sorts of things, they affect all of us.

00:24:24:22 – 00:24:32:21
Chris Rossen
And yet we still find folks who continue year after year to make giving and investing back in the community. And a big part of what they a big part of.

00:24:33:01 – 00:24:45:21
Ruth Baum Bigus
And stepping is stepping up when when it’s needed. All right. So let’s take Chris’s crystal ball now. Where do you envision United Way, let’s say, in five years from now? What do you see.

00:24:46:01 – 00:25:06:12
Chris Rossen
One five years from now? I hope that we continue to just be really resilient and agile in terms of how we’re addressing community need. I, I hope that that as a community we continue to build smarter and more sustainable solutions to addressing these challenges. You know, I one of the things that that gets asked of me often in public forums is, well, you guys have been in operation for 100 years.

00:25:06:12 – 00:25:24:13
Chris Rossen
You know, how, you know, why have we solved homelessness or why have we solved educational inequity? And I often sort of think about the weather, right? We still have hurricanes. We still have earthquakes. We still have these sorts of things. I can’t think of any point in time in our history that we’ve not had issues of inequity, issues of haves and have nots.

00:25:24:13 – 00:25:40:05
Chris Rossen
We’ve not had issues of isms and tribal isms and all these sorts of things that happen. And yet we have to be smarter and more sophisticated in the solutions set that we that we address those with and some of the evolutions that we’ve talked about even today, are our efforts to make sure that we are continuing to stay relevant.

00:25:40:05 – 00:26:01:00
Chris Rossen
We’re continuing to stay ahead of the curve in terms of addressing those things and in the same way with the weather. Right. We’ve got more sophisticated technology. We’re not just ducking under a wall. We’re sort of doing all sorts of things and it’s the same sort of thing in this space. And so I really view in many ways what we do at United Way, where we’re sort of a a crowdfunded solutions engine for the community.

00:26:01:00 – 00:26:08:18
Chris Rossen
Right. And we need to be constantly sort of in the aggregate, working together to build smarter and more sustainable solutions to these these really pressing issues.

00:26:09:11 – 00:26:12:02
Ruth Baum Bigus
You’ve got five girls, pretty young.

00:26:12:04 – 00:26:12:14
Chris Rossen
Yes.

00:26:13:23 – 00:26:31:04
Ruth Baum Bigus
How do you bring in the next generation? I’m not saying the 5 to 10 year olds, little young, but the millennial, the Gen Z, the whatever you want to call it, seems like that’s always a challenge for nonprofits. So how are you all going about trying to get that buy in and their involvement?

00:26:31:16 – 00:26:40:21
Chris Rossen
Well, we you know, we have a well, I’ve just one thing I will say on that, though, is that the younger generation of which I still like to think I’m.

00:26:41:10 – 00:26:45:17
Ruth Baum Bigus
You’re there some of us are in a little more mature generation.

00:26:45:17 – 00:27:05:14
Chris Rossen
The younger generation are incredibly idea focused. They’re incredibly issue focused. We are we are the issues that we take on and we get involved with. We’re very serious about. And I think they really lead with their heart in a lot of ways. And so we see that they are actively engaged and they want to continue to be engaged.

00:27:05:20 – 00:27:22:09
Chris Rossen
We, of course, try to provide opportunities through those those immersive experience that I talked about to make sure it’s accessible to folks and also fun, you know, I’m a big believer that you should have fun doing serious work. And I think that that is part of what we see that we continue to try to infuse. And we get together for volunteer gatherings.

00:27:22:09 – 00:27:42:01
Chris Rossen
We get together for donor gatherings, and when we go on service experiences that we try to ensure that it’s also a fun experience. And I haven’t met somebody, a younger person anywhere that’s not interested in having a good time. I wanted to tell. Yeah. And I would just say that they’re also very, you know, there there are a million ways that folks can get over a million ways to be united, million ways to to get involved.

00:27:42:01 – 00:27:58:15
Chris Rossen
And and that that that young people are really creative in terms of how they find ways to get involved. And a lot of the growth that we talked about, the nonprofit sector is being driven by young people who are saying, you know what, I think I have a I think I have a different solution set that we can bring to the table, a different way of looking at that problem.

00:27:59:04 – 00:28:02:22
Chris Rossen
And I think that’s what gets me really excited and optimistic about the future.

00:28:02:22 – 00:28:10:03
Ruth Baum Bigus
Do you ever get any pushback from those folks that, well, this is the way we’ve always done it, or I have the wisdom because I’ve been here longer than you.

00:28:10:11 – 00:28:11:01
Chris Rossen
Of course.

00:28:11:11 – 00:28:14:17
Ruth Baum Bigus
Of course. So how do you do that? You tap dance right now.

00:28:14:17 – 00:28:37:08
Chris Rossen
We say, hey, tell us what you think and let’s talk about it. Right. And I also think that, you know, I heard the other day that everyone’s called everyone collectively smarter than anyone individually. And I think that any we want all ideas, all ideas at the table. I’m aware when we’re doing that. You just you did mention something that I want to I want to bring up, which was that we talked about my little kiddos.

00:28:37:10 – 00:28:54:12
Chris Rossen
Right. And ensuring that they’re getting involved. That’s something that I think it’s never too young to get involved. And actually, we see we see young kids, you know, go to go to a go to an elementary school and check out their food drive. Go to an elementary school and talk about and really the things that young people do.

00:28:54:12 – 00:29:02:05
Chris Rossen
They’re thinking creatively. They have a different perspective to bring to the table. And I don’t think it’s ever too young to get folks involved in and in shaping the community for the better.

00:29:02:19 – 00:29:06:20
Ruth Baum Bigus
Plus, they can learn the right way to do things instead of all the mistakes that we go through, right?

00:29:06:20 – 00:29:10:07
Chris Rossen
That’s right. Build up, build, build and iterate off of the mistakes of the past for sure.

00:29:10:08 – 00:29:21:22
Ruth Baum Bigus
Chris, it’s been great to sit down with you. Thank you for bringing us up to speed. We expect great things moving forward and fun things moving forward. Right. And everybody should check out United Way. Go ahead and give the plug on your website. If you want.

00:29:21:23 – 00:29:28:09
Chris Rossen
To check out United Way’s our website, follow us on social. That’s the best way to get to get in touch with us and stay up to date on all things in our community.

00:29:29:06 – 00:29:48:03
Ruth Baum Bigus
Thank you for tuning in to KC Cares, Kansas City’s nonprofit voice. We are glad to be sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Don’t forget, you can catch us Saturday mornings on ESPN 1510 and 94.5 FM. Thanks for joining us on KC CARES.

 

Nonprofit Engagement with Miles Sandler Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation

ASK THE EXPERT: NONPROFIT ENGAGEMENT

Miles Sandler|Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation

To help individuals attain economic independence by advancing educational achievement and entrepreneurial success, consistent with the aspirations of our founder, Ewing Marion Kauffman.

visit them here: www.kauffman.org

 

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[Transcript]

00:00:00:13 – 00:00:24:07
Ruth
Welcome to KC Care’s Kansas City nonprofit voice. We’re telling the stories of Kansas City nonprofits and the people behind them. KC Cares is the intersection of the nonprofit and profit communities making Kansas City a better place to live, work and play? This KC Care segment is brought to you by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. W w w dot Kaufman dot org.

00:00:25:04 – 00:00:55:16
Ruth
Nonprofits are busy organizations, whether staffed with one volunteer leader or dozens of paid team members. It’s often challenging to find time to listen, learn and grow because time is so precious to get the work done. The practice of engagement. It’s the short end of the stick. As part of our Ask the Expert series, Myles Sandler, director of policy and engagement at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, joins us today to shed some light on engagement and its importance.

00:00:55:24 – 00:00:58:25
Ruth
Welcome, Myles. It’s so great to have you with us.

00:00:59:08 – 00:01:00:04
Miles Sandler
Great to be here.

00:01:01:05 – 00:01:07:04
Ruth
Well, maybe the best place to start with this whole thing is let’s define what engagement is.

00:01:08:00 – 00:01:43:14
Miles Sandler
Yes, absolutely. You know, I think that oftentimes when folks think about engagement, they really just think about, you know, how do I kind of connect or build relationship with a particular group? And that’s absolutely true. I think that’s the big base of engagement. But I think when we’re talking about, you know, in our nonprofit world, kind of the deeper level of engagement, it’s really about how do you build that empathy for the folks ultimately that you either serve or that you’re in collaboration with.

00:01:44:03 – 00:02:05:24
Miles Sandler
And then how do you actually learn and listen and incorporate that back into, you know, the work that you do. And so ultimately, I think engagement is truly a two way street conversation. And then from that conversation, you’re able to build in a new pathway that improves your work what’s.

00:02:05:24 – 00:02:15:04
Ruth
Your experience, your or maybe anecdotal knowledge of nonprofits in their attention to engagement.

00:02:16:16 – 00:03:00:07
Miles Sandler
Yeah, I mean, I my whole career has been a nonprofit, this, you know, role. And where I’m at now is the first time I’ve been at a private foundation. I have the blessing of being at the foundation now for five years. But previous to that, I’ve always worked in nonprofits and began my career in community based organizations very much, you know, smaller, financially scrappy organizations And so, you know, my experience through that perspective was, you know, ultimately we were extremely passionate about, you know, the audience that we were servicing, the folks that we wanted to support.

00:03:00:08 – 00:03:37:09
Miles Sandler
I’ve been in predominantly youth development organizations and that was always really important, but oftentimes was a challenge to, you know, have the capacity, the resources the time just to really be able to learn. And so from my perspective, just being in those experiences, it’s been about how do you make sure that engagement doesn’t get lost, but that it’s actually weaved into your every day in small ways and then building in that necessary time to actually use that learning for adjustment and for improvement.

00:03:39:09 – 00:04:03:20
Ruth
I want to dove down into engagement and what that means. I when I’ve encountered it working in nonprofits, it seems like it sits a lot of the time over in development in the fundraising aspect. But I wanted to touch back for a moment on why does the Kauffman Foundation feel this is important and have someone like you there to help guide organizations.

00:04:04:11 – 00:04:56:03
Miles Sandler
Yeah, absolutely. So for the Kauffman Foundation, this is really essential. You know, our mission is to ensure that folks have the ability to have all the opportunities they deserve. And that they can have economic mobility, stability and eventually potentially prosperity, whether that’s through the workforce or whether that’s through being an entrepreneur. And if we don’t have an intimate understanding of what does an entrepreneur go through, particularly ones that have been marginalized or not able to have the same access to resources and funding as others, and if we don’t intimately understand someone that is really striving to build a career or for a young person that is, you know, looking at their future and trying to

00:04:56:03 – 00:05:32:20
Miles Sandler
understand what their career pathway is and we don’t have an entire understanding of those constituents. There’s really not a great way that we can build into our grantmaking. What’s going to be an effective solution? Because we’re going to miss things. We’re going to miss the nuances of the challenges that those individuals face. And then we’re not going to fund accordingly to really ensure that we’re finding organizations that are going to address those needs, that we’re building out strategy We’re building out, you know, a policy agenda that’s going to address those needs.

00:05:32:29 – 00:05:49:11
Miles Sandler
So the engagement piece is really the almost essential to us actually making an impact. Otherwise, you know, we’re just going to be a one sided conversation and providing resources, but without the knowledge to really make sure that they are going to hit the mark.

00:05:51:09 – 00:06:04:12
Ruth
Big a problem is this for nonprofits that you’re dealing with, you’ve worked in them, you’re dealing with them, is this a big issue? And if so, how do we correct the not, so to speak?

00:06:05:00 – 00:06:42:09
Miles Sandler
Yeah, I think it ranges so I think that, you know, there’s obviously some nonprofits that are really good at this, you know, and they and they may be excellent at engagement, but more challenged with some of the technical aspects, like really getting into their systems and data and what have you. But we also note the opposite in actually some of the larger nonprofits, some of the ones that may have really good sophistication in some of their process CS and in even their, you know, kind of financial savvy.

00:06:42:18 – 00:07:09:27
Miles Sandler
But then they lack the authenticity to have real relationships and sometimes therefore, again, their work is not as impactful as it needs to be. So I think that there’s a a range for nonprofits, but I honestly think that it’s an opportune nity for nonprofits to learn from each other and to recognize sometimes that there may be certain groups that are really great at engaging and connecting with their constituents.

00:07:10:05 – 00:07:31:22
Miles Sandler
How are they informing the general field and then how are they also being resourced? And this is a bit of a call out to foundations or other philanthropic partners, right? We have to support engagement is essential that that is a part of the grantmaking and it’s a part of the way that we support nonprofits.

00:07:34:06 – 00:07:42:16
Ruth
A thought that pops into my mind when you talk about engagement is is engagement networking or is networking part of engagement?

00:07:43:24 – 00:08:11:24
Miles Sandler
Yeah. So I think there is a lots of different tactics, right? Networking may be a tactic, but the challenge with networking, it’s is again, often kind of one sided. So you’re going out and yes, you’re meeting people and you’re you know, oftentimes from a development standpoint, nonprofits need to get out there and get their name out there and make connections so they can potentially have, you know, more funding to support their mission.

00:08:12:00 – 00:08:54:06
Miles Sandler
And all that’s essential. But it doesn’t have much to do oftentimes with learning. Right. And to me, when I define engagement and why it’s so important, it is truly about how are you learning from the folks that you, again, ultimately are either impacting or that you’re collaborate with to get something done. And if that learning is not a part of the process intentionally, and then you’re bringing them back in and using it in the way that you’re doing your strategic planning, in the way that you are actually building out your programing and the way that you’re launching maybe your new initiative, then it’s truly not a back and forth conversation.

00:08:54:18 – 00:09:19:08
Miles Sandler
The last piece to is oftentimes again, networking will be maybe a short term but it doesn’t have that feedback loop, right? So if you’re gaining a lot of information, let’s say do a survey to focus groups, whatever the mechanism you’re using, who the constituency group that you’re interested in, what’s that feedback loop? How are you getting information back out to those groups?

00:09:19:18 – 00:09:36:29
Miles Sandler
And if you’re not able to do that, how are you being transparent about that from the get go that this is not something we have the mechanism for? And so when you’re asking people for their information or you’re trying to learn from that group, that you’re transparent about the expectations for yourself and for that group.

00:09:39:09 – 00:09:49:23
Ruth
A few moments ago, you also mentioned there’s really two tracks of engagement. Let’s go let’s go there. Tell us about those tracks and why each is important.

00:09:51:10 – 00:10:22:17
Miles Sandler
Yeah, I mean, I again, I think that kind of the two tracks that I see is there’s one around, you know, relationship building. And, you know, sometimes that sits in that networking space and, you know, really connecting for development sake for getting your name out there. But then again, that other track is really to me about learning. And, you know, there can be very formalized learning processes in like surveys, focus groups, kind of learning interviews.

00:10:23:22 – 00:10:52:01
Miles Sandler
Those can take place and there can be a, you know, very specific hard way to gather that information, make sure that you’re weaving it into your next steps in your planning process. But there’s also less formalized ways of engagement, you know, by doing an event celebration and neighborhood gathering. And you can still lead and learning into that so you can have a simple exit survey.

00:10:52:15 – 00:11:08:11
Miles Sandler
You can have interactive boards where people can actually record their experience or thoughts, live polling A lot of these are actually very inexpensive, easy to do. And they’re, again, great ways to capture learning in a may be less formalized process.

00:11:10:27 – 00:11:22:14
Ruth
How do you go about having your team learn how to do engagement? I mean, I think we sometimes make an assumption that people know. Yes.

00:11:23:01 – 00:11:47:04
Miles Sandler
I do think we make an assumption often that people know. And if it’s not your orientation, you probably don’t. And so some of the ways that I got my team is first and foremost, don’t engage just for engagement sake. Have a North Star, have a purpose. So, you know, you need to have a learning question that is very clear.

00:11:47:04 – 00:12:13:02
Miles Sandler
And aligned with your goals. You need to ensure that you have a goal that you’re actually trying to learn so that you can improve your processes or improve your planning or your strategy. And this may weave into a design process. It may even to you know, you want to build some initiative or coalition. But whatever the thing is, make sure that you’re clear on what you’re trying to achieve.

00:12:13:15 – 00:12:40:27
Miles Sandler
And then the other thing that I really emphasize with my team is be transparent. You need to make sure that you’re clear on what your goals are and that you communicate that well to the folks that you’re engaging, particularly if it’s a more formalized kind of engagement process, like a survey or focus groups or what have you or you’re convening people kind of to gain information from them.

00:12:41:06 – 00:13:17:01
Miles Sandler
You want to make sure that you’re really being upfront of like, are you able to get that information back out to them? Will there be a summary of kind of results? What’s the timeline for that? What are you going to be used this information for? What is it intending to inform? And so as much as you can have transparency and even if that transparency is, you know, we won’t have the capacity get back to you letting people know that upfront so that when they’re coming into that process, they’re making a choice and they’re comfortable with that choice.

00:13:18:03 – 00:13:28:22
Miles Sandler
Too many times we provide expectations to folks that, you know, is not actually going to line up with what really happens.

00:13:30:20 – 00:13:40:25
Ruth
I think there’s nothing worse than somebody asking you for your opinion because they’re wanting it for some reason and then you never know Mm hmm.

00:13:41:19 – 00:14:16:27
Miles Sandler
Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, and if, you know, the best practice is compensation. So if you’re going to ask someone to provide you that kind of formalized information through engagement, you know that they’re compensated for their time and effort. We know that that’s not always possible for all nonprofits. But even something sometimes as simple as making sure that there’s food provided, making sure that there is some type of acknowledgment that they’ve taken out time from their schedules, from their day, from their lives to support your work.

00:14:16:27 – 00:14:30:12
Miles Sandler
And sometimes it’s even just, you know, folks are willing to do it because they believe in your mission, too. But you have to make sure that that’s been articulated, that this is what this is for so that folks can make clear choices of how they want to engage.

00:14:32:03 – 00:15:01:12
Ruth
Is there a fear factor? And maybe I should explain that a little more I’m in an organization and I know what we need to do. Our team is on board and we’re going down this path but we’re going to do a survey so that we can hear from our clients and stakeholders and we get feedback that says, oh, no, don’t open a third location of your food pantry.

00:15:01:15 – 00:15:15:17
Ruth
I have a mobile vehicle. I’ve made that whole scenario up. But first I mean, I could see staff kind of going, We’re already down this path now. Now what?

00:15:16:07 – 00:15:50:25
Miles Sandler
Absolutely know there’s absolutely a fear factor. I’ve experienced it in organizations I’ve worked at where, you know, sometimes there’s decisions that have been made, sometimes not even because of the staff, but because that’s what a donor has decided that they will pay for or that’s what leadership or a board member has been advocating for. And all of a sudden, you do engagement work and you realize that that’s actually not what the community wants or whoever that you serve wants.

00:15:51:13 – 00:16:19:22
Miles Sandler
It’s actually not going to address the core issue. So that’s a very scary factor. You know, there’s there’s two things I think that nonprofits can do. First and foremost, again, we’ve engage judgment early. Right. So you should be having on a regular basis some kind of mechanism to hear from your constituency groups. Right. So that you don’t get that far down the line.

00:16:20:02 – 00:16:43:21
Miles Sandler
You know that you understand what people need. And qualitative data is super, super important. Sometimes one of the biases I think that nonprofits can have is we can have a lot of data. Right. Qualitative data is not there. So we have a lot of quantitative data. We have even sometimes surveys or we have, you know, what the numbers say.

00:16:43:21 – 00:17:07:27
Miles Sandler
Here’s what the stats say. But without that qualitative data, you’re often missing nuances. So I’ll give a quick example. I used to work for an organization in D.C. called D.C. Promised Neighborhood Initiative, and we were really trying to figure out how do we ensure that more families have access to healthy food in the neighborhood that we were focused on?

00:17:07:27 – 00:17:33:24
Miles Sandler
Because we know that when young people have better access to food, they do better academically. We’d already bear that out. We also knew the level of kind of food insecurity in our community, so on and so forth. So we started going down a path with a lot of different options. And then, thank goodness, we pause and said, OK, let’s actually like talk to our constituents.

00:17:34:08 – 00:17:56:02
Miles Sandler
And so we did a bunch of interviews. We had some focus groups. And what we really found out from that, excuse me, was that not only we already knew that we were in a bit of a food desert, but what the access points that actually made sense for families is originally where we were thinking about kind of putting a farmers market, what have you in it.

00:17:56:02 – 00:18:21:24
Miles Sandler
It just really not making sense for the community. But once we listened, we realized we can actually do this whole monthly food drive right in the school, and we can link it to some of the parent conference things that the teachers wanted to do. So we ended up getting just this really great synergy, a great pour out from the community, and it just was much better alignment.

00:18:22:18 – 00:18:29:23
Miles Sandler
So that constant just continuous learning through qualitative is really important.

00:18:31:14 – 00:19:00:00
Ruth
We’re talking with Miles Sandler. She’s director of policy and engagement at the Kauffman Foundation. We’re talking about engagement. So you’ve mentioned a number of tools. Are these things that folks can come to the Kauffman Foundation for Resource Help? How can you guide us? And I am thinking of you know, those nonprofits that are under a $500,000 budget. I can see leaders going, Yeah, I want to do this.

00:19:00:00 – 00:19:02:24
Ruth
But money.

00:19:03:18 – 00:19:30:07
Miles Sandler
Yeah. I mean, that is not something that we have at the foundation as a great resource. I know we have a very active conversation internally about how do we build and support more capacity for nonprofits. But I do think that there are great organizations across our community and nonprofit Connect and others that really are sources to think about how to support all aspects of your nonprofit.

00:19:30:26 – 00:20:08:13
Miles Sandler
I also think that there are some really interesting learnings that can be taken from honestly organizing. So there’s a tons of research that’s been done around kind of good organizing skills. And in all the, you know, a nonprofit may not be doing traditional organizing, right. Which is we often think about for more political reasons or what have you, but the skill set is very much a part of how you think about how do you gain trust, how do you build relationships, how do you connect people around common goals?

00:20:09:02 – 00:20:27:21
Miles Sandler
How do you understand the the challenges that a group is dealing with and then elevate those as a part of your agenda? So I think that’s a really good learning tool. And there’s tons of, you know, kind of resources around that. And then the second one, too, that I have learned a ton from is really learning the design process.

00:20:28:05 – 00:20:57:29
Miles Sandler
So, you know, getting a training on how do you do really good design work. You know, this comes out of oftentimes industry and people creating products, but it really starts with an empathy lens. Right. How do you really understand your customer? How do you understand how they think their motivations and their way of kind of reacting to the world?

00:20:58:07 – 00:21:19:22
Miles Sandler
And then from there, how do you then step through that design process to actually create a project, product or service, what have you? And so I think those processes are very helpful. And there’s just so many options right now for that type of training that it’s it’s very much, I think, available. And there’s a lot of free resources to online.

00:21:21:09 – 00:21:56:21
Ruth
I think it’s interesting you keep talking about clients are constituents and the need to to listen to them, to not make assumptions is that you, the organization, know the right way to meet them, but to get feedback from them kind of in a continuous loop Yes. That what your work is doing is meeting their need. Yeah. How will how important is engagement with in the organization itself and listening?

00:21:57:09 – 00:22:00:27
Ruth
You know, when you’ve that group, you know, things grow and grow and grow and grow.

00:22:02:12 – 00:22:43:06
Miles Sandler
Yeah, that’s a great question. So that’s actually something we do quite a bit at the foundation. And I’m very thankful for that level of culture here where we have a annual a associate survey. And so that is one piece. But then what we do with that survey is we really kind of break it out by department and each department really looks at that data and then identifies two or three goals from that data that they want to support or develop within their department to improve support one another better, what have you.

00:22:43:20 – 00:23:10:23
Miles Sandler
And that survey really has to do with a few different indicators. So we look at trust, we look at, you know, in how associates are trusting each other kind of work environment in general. We also look at, you know, racial equity and how what are people’s perceptions of our inclusion and diversity and racial equity work and how are they how is that resonating with them as individuals?

00:23:11:12 – 00:23:57:27
Miles Sandler
So that is a been a central tool. Honestly, it’s, you know, coming to the foundation was one of the first times that I experienced the level of robust kind of interpersonal associate work that we have here. And that learning is continuous, you know, and it really helps to improve and make us better. What I would say for smaller organizations that may not, again, time, capacity, resources may be thinner, you know, that you really carve in some of that process time with your team when you’re kind of in those moments where you know you’re going to have to come together.

00:23:58:07 – 00:24:24:20
Miles Sandler
So there’s always kind of budget planning time that happened in the year that you have to carve out time for. You just know it because it’s essential to the operating of your organization. Well, there’s nothing wrong with also building into that time that you have some intentional reflection opportunities for your teammates to really, you know, look at what can we do internally to improve and support one another.

00:24:24:29 – 00:24:37:14
Miles Sandler
And again, that transparency piece is super important to that. So don’t forget that. And having establishing, what are your goals even among your internal team that Northstar is essential to that process as well.

00:24:39:23 – 00:25:04:23
Ruth
I got to bring in the big P word, although it’s shifted the pandemic, I just wonder quickly, as we’re nearing the end of our time together, have you seen the engagement or the the looking at engagement? Has that shifted at all because of the craziness of the pandemic? Are we better at it or do we need to come back and focus on it?

00:25:06:04 – 00:25:28:15
Miles Sandler
That’s a great question, and I think it’s a challenging one. Because I think we don’t know exactly yet on one end, you know, I think that we saw some really creative aspects of humanity during the pandemic right. Folks recognizing that, yeah, we have to use these virtual mechanisms, but that doesn’t mean that it has to be flat. Right.

00:25:28:18 – 00:25:52:25
Miles Sandler
That the same concept of how do you make something engaging, interactive, how do you make sure that people can really communicate in lots of different ways You know, one thing I’ll just elevate is that I think for a lot of introverts who sometimes get silenced in meetings, having a chat option was revolutionary. You know, to be able to communicate in a different way.

00:25:53:07 – 00:26:15:10
Miles Sandler
And we need to keep that even in in-person meetings and having mechanisms that are very clear for different learners and for different types of communicators. So on one end, I think that we, you know, learned some things and we were able to you know, make sure that we kept connecting. On the flip side, and I think that this is even more evident in our children.

00:26:15:19 – 00:26:42:06
Miles Sandler
Honestly, I think if you talk to most teachers this year of coming back into the classroom was challenging, not for all the obvious reasons, but also for the reasons that for a lot of those children, they haven’t learned how to socialize in the same way for two years. And it is a skill set. And I think for adults, it’s similar to with we have a little bit of a quicker turnaround, but socialization is a skill set.

00:26:42:07 – 00:26:51:18
Miles Sandler
We have to remind each other how to be kind to one another. And how to give each other grace. And that is something we’ll just keep having to remind each other of.

00:26:52:29 – 00:27:15:08
Ruth
That’s so interesting that you bring it up. I’ve heard other parents say, particularly with really young children. You know, if they go into a preschool classroom, let’s say, and they haven’t been there, what a lesson on learning how to engage. And all they’ve seen are masked faces, you know, in person, you know, what does a real person look like with a smile on their face?

00:27:15:16 – 00:27:36:08
Ruth
You given us just great, great advice. I hope our our audience will will take heed and we’ll put this on our Facebook. But, you know, those those four critical points of best practice, you know, having a North Star have a process. Just don’t throw it out there. Think about how you’re going to do it. Being transparent I love that.

00:27:36:19 – 00:27:56:17
Ruth
You know, it opens you up to, oops, did I make a mistake? But better to learn it now than to be down the path. And, you know, creating connection, those are just really, really wonderful. And how lucky we are to have you at the Kauffman Foundation as a resource and somebody to call and say, well, can you give me some advice?

00:27:56:17 – 00:27:58:02
Ruth
I need some help with this.

00:27:59:11 – 00:28:25:29
Miles Sandler
Well, this is a passion area of mine. You know, again, I think creating connection with people is one of the most important things we can do, whether that’s telling our story, telling our organization story, or inviting someone to tell us their story. We are I think, as humans, just connected by stories. And so, yes, I’m always excited to help anyone and provide suggestions, but also to hear what they’re doing and learn from them.

00:28:26:28 – 00:28:28:06
Ruth
And the importance of listening.

00:28:28:20 – 00:28:29:01
Miles Sandler
Yeah.

00:28:29:24 – 00:28:35:05
Ruth
That’s great. Miles, thank you so much. We really appreciate your time. And your expertize.

00:28:35:19 – 00:28:39:08
Miles Sandler
Absolutely. Thank you so much, Ruth. And thank you for everything that you’re doing.

00:28:40:06 – 00:29:00:11
Ruth
Thank you for joining us for KC Cares, Kansas City’s nonprofit voice we’re produced by Charitable Communications, also a nonprofit. This KC Cares segment was brought to you by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, w w w dot Kauffman dot org to be a guest on KC Cares are underwriting opportunities to support the work we’re doing. Please visit our website.

00:29:00:11 – 00:29:22:20
Ruth
KC Care’s Online Dot org and spread the love. You can find us on Facebook and Twitter at KC Cares Radio and Instagram at KC Cares online and catch us on Saturday mornings at 8 a.m. on ESPN. 15, 10 a.m. and 94.5 FM. Thank you for joining us and KC Cares.

 

Brothers Liberating Our Community African American Engagement in Kansas City

BROTHERS LIBERATING OUR COMMUNITY (B.L.OC.)

Cornell Ellis| Founder

The BLOC (Brothers Liberating Our Communities) is a professional network of Black men working in education to uplift our communities through this important work.
Armed with a focus on the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, The BLOC is dedicated to advancing the connecting, development, and engagement of Black men working in education.

visit them here: theblockc.org

 

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Take risks. Own success. Be Uncommon.

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MRI Global Discusses Nonprofit Efforts in Kansas City Community

MRI GLOBAL

Dean Gray| VP Defense & Health

MRIGlobal’s focus is translating new technologies that support better health outcomes for humans, animals, and our environment. We apply our diverse and cutting-edge technical capabilities and expertise to provide smart, collaborative solutions that solve our customers’ precise needs. We deliver global technology-based research in national security and defense, energy and environment, life and animal sciences, agriculture and food safety, and transportation.

https://www.mriglobal.org

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Produced by Charitable Communications 

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Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation

Take risks. Own success. Be Uncommon.

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United Way of Greater Kansas City Discusses Community Involvement

United Way of Greater Kansas City

Chris Rossen| Executive Director

United Way’s mission is to improve lives by mobilizing Greater Kansas City’s collective generosity for the greatest good. … We are Kansas City taking care of its own.

www.unitedwaygkc.org

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KC Cares, Kansas City’s nonprofit voice, tells the stories of Kansas City nonprofits and connects them with the community.  

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Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation

Take risks. Own success. Be Uncommon.

TW: @kauffmanfdn FB: @kauffmanfdn IG: @kauffmanfdn