Agency for Change : A Podcast from KidGlov

Changemakers Krista Berry of Candid and Danette O'Connell of Nonprofit Cooperative

• KidGlov • Season 1 • Episode 250

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Finding the support your nonprofit needs shouldn't break the bank or burn out your team. This enlightening conversation brings together two remarkable changemakers who are revolutionizing how nonprofits access vital resources.

Danette O'Connell, founder of the Nonprofit Cooperative serving nearly 7,700 organizations, joins forces with Krista Berry from Candid (the powerhouse created when Foundation Center and GuideStar merged) to reveal their game-changing partnership. Together, they're tackling the biggest challenges facing nonprofits today—from government funding cuts to donor retention—with practical, accessible solutions.

Whether you're leading a small community organization or a large foundation, this conversation offers practical strategies to strengthen your mission without depleting your resources. Join us to discover how strategic partnerships, thoughtful branding, and free tools can help your nonprofit not just survive but thrive in today's challenging landscape.

Welcome to the Agency for Change podcast.

Connect with Krista and Danette at: 

·       Nonprofit Cooperative Website: https://www.thenonprofitcooperative.org/

·       Candid Website: https://candid.org/

Connect with Krista and Danette at: 

·       Nonprofit Cooperative Website: https://www.thenonprofitcooperative.org/

·       Candid Website: https://candid.org/

Krista Berry: 0:01

Take care of yourself so you can continue to care for others.

Danette O'Connell: 0:06

Treat other people the way that you want to be treated and be kind.

Announcer: 0:13

Welcome to Agency for Change, a podcast from KidGlov that brings you the stories of changemakers who are actively working to improve our communities. In every episode, we'll meet with people who are making a lasting impact in the places we call home.

Lyn Wineman: 0:36

Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Agency for Change podcast. This is Lyn Wineman, president and Chief Strategist of KidGlov. If you have ever wondered how nonprofits can get the support that they need to thrive without burning out or breaking the bank, this episode is going to be for you. I am talking with two incredible change makers Danette O'Connell she's the founder of the nonprofit cooperative and Krista Berry, the equitable access strategy manager at Candid. Now Candid is the powerhouse that's been created when the Foundation Center and GuideStar joined forces six years ago. Together, they're building bridges, sharing resources and empowering nonprofits to do more good. Plus, we'll talk about branding strategy and how one clear message can cut through the noise and amplify your mission.

Stick with us. You will most likely walk away with inspiration, some practical tips and maybe even a new favorite quote. Let's dive in. Danette and Krista. Welcome to the podcast. Let's start by letting the audience hear your voices, with a question for each of you and Danette, I'm going to start with you. I'm going to welcome you back because you were on the podcast earlier this year, but for those that may have missed that episode, I'd love to have you give us a quick overview of the Nonprofit Cooperative and the work that you're doing to support nonprofits.

Danette O'Connell: 2:15

Well, thank you for having me back. I really greatly appreciate it. And the Nonprofit Cooperative is a membership organization where we provide free resources to nonprofits. Everything we do is free. We've helped them with social entrepreneurship, trainings, collaboration and vetted resources. So that's what we do, and we are up to almost 7,700 nonprofits that we serve.

Lyn Wineman: 2:41

Wow, Danette, I am going to tell everybody I'm very proud to be a board member of the Nonprofit Cooperative. Every time I talk to you, which is like about every 10 days, it seems like you've added three, four, 500 new members. So that is really fantastic. And, Krista, I'm so glad to meet you and be talking to you. You hold a really fascinating role at Candid. Can you share more about your work and how it helps build capacity for nonprofits?

Krista Berry: 3:15

Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. Well, Candid is a big organization and we do a lot of amazing things. Really, our focus is to get you the information to do good and I'm speaking to my nonprofit peeps out there and also all of the other folks that make up our sector, like you and a membership organization and funders and foundations. So, while we have a lot of resources and tools, my focus on the Equitable Access team is using my expertise in nonprofits and fundraising to help our most marginalized nonprofits have equitable access to our resources and tools. So we love what the Nonprofit Collaborative is doing around talking about free stuff, and I get the opportunity to talk about all of our free stuff today as well.

Lyn Wineman: 4:04

Wow, you know what I love here. Your two organizations are just so perfectly matched to do this work together, and I know that you're joining forces. I just love to hear what brought this partnership together and what do you hope it will achieve, and who would like to start with that.

Danette O'Connell: 4:26

I'll go ahead and start with that. So I actually am so excited about this partnership between the nonprofit cooperative and Candid. You know this is like a match made in heaven. We're always looking for collaboration. We encourage collaboration with our nonprofits, and we are doing that ourselves right now.

So being able to bring forth the Candid platform to our nonprofits is just been a wish come true, for me at least. That the nonprofits may not have access to and teaching them how to use that resource to their advantage and how to get grants through Candid and how to search that. We actually have an event on July 22nd where we will be teaching them how to use Candid and we will be having Krista there.

So you know, keep adding levels of partnerships to our organization is what we're all about. We can't do everything, so being able to bring strong partnerships like Candid into our umbrella has been, you know, unbelievable.

Krista Berry: 5:41

Yeah, Danette, we feel the same way about partnership unbelievable. We know that we can't reach all of the nonprofits doing amazing work around the country and the world every day, and so in order to us, for us to meet our goals around equitable access, we have to look at collaboration and partnerships, and so we're so grateful to be able to launch this, to be able to bring our tools and resources to your audience and to really share a lot of that kind of mission alignment to help us further reach our goals and ultimately, it's, the end of the day, helping nonprofits be successful in their work, and when we all align with that, it feels really good.

Lyn Wineman: 6:17

It absolutely feels really good. I love that. So, Krista, for those who may not be familiar with Candid's history, can you explain how Foundation Center and GuideStar came together to form Candid and what that transformation really means for the industry?

Krista Berry: 6:34

Yes, thank you for that, because I'm like, if you're not sure who Candid is, you've probably already heard of us and you said those two real legacy names that most folks would know about of us. 

So, with over 30, plus years of experience with those two organizations data, information, resources, tools from the GuideStar side of the house, which is really all the data on the nonprofits themselves, and information and then from foundation directory and foundation center, where we had a lot of our educational programs but also information on the historic ways that foundations give. So now together we can really continue this work to bring a lot of those tools and resources. A lot of exciting things coming, and we've actually already been around as Candid for six years, so a lot going on. We have research, we have our training and education team and we have a lot of amazing partnerships in the sector, but our job really every day is to help those nonprofits raise the funds that they need to do their work.

Lyn Wineman: 7:35

That’s fantastic. That’s what they really all need, and I’ve heard you both use that keyword free several times. I know you provide a lot of great resources to nonprofits and, honestly, they need them right now more than ever. I'd love to hear more about this training that's coming up. Can you tell us again the date for that training, Danette. 

Danette O'Connell: 7:59

It is July 22nd, from 1 to 2.

Lyn Wineman: 8:01

And will our listeners, if we drop a link into the show notes, would they be able to register for the training if they wanted? 

Danette O'Connell: 8:04

They would be able to. 

Lyn Wineman: 8:06

Fantastic, and what are some of the things they might learn at that training?

Krista Berry: 8:25

It is and I know where you're going to continue to talk about some of the real benefits that Candid and this partnership has, and that's one of the things that we're going to get into in the training. But one of the ways that we really help promote organizations is we have a free Candid profile. So if you haven't heard of that, that might have been called GuideStar or it might be called Profile. But basically, if you don't know that you have this free thing that you can go update and tell us all about your organization, then that's what we're going to dive a little deeper into on how to earn that, basically claim that profile and earn different seals of transparency. That helps tell your story.

Lyn Wineman: 9:03

Yep, you know a lot of nonprofits. I talk to talk a lot about being findable. You know having their SEO in place and, because of the history and the legacy and the technology behind your site, having that free profile on Candid can be a huge benefit to that nonprofit being findable with some good, solid, credible information out there as well. So now I know you both spend a ton of time, if not all of your time, supporting nonprofits. I'd love to just ask you a question from your perspective, what are some of the biggest opportunities or challenges nonprofits are facing right now? And, Krista, I see you nodding. You want to go first in that one.

Krista Berry: 9:54

Yeah, I think it's another topic that we're going to have to discuss at this training coming up because it's so present and it is our current situation. While I feel so privileged and honored to have this role, I also am hearing a lot of the tough stories every day which I know a lot of us are around losing government funding. It’s a big topic right now. That's affecting a lot of organizations. We have a dashboard available. It's affecting a lot of organizations. We have a dashboard available. We've analyzed that from our research perspective and been able to kind of look at what impact that's going to make, not only on losing funding but also the job force.

And so we're seeing layoffs as a kind of factor that's going to continue to happen in our sector. And then, ultimately, what does that mean for our communities if we don't have the funds and the people to do the work? And it's getting more and more difficult to feel motivated, I think, in our sector to show up. So I'm talking to a lot of leaders that are stressed and overwhelmed. So the hope that I like to bring to everything is you know, some of my tips, I guess would be come to our training, because we're going to talk about also ways that you can fundraise and sustain yourself in these uncertain times, and that's around diversifying your funding, getting ahead of it sooner, as soon as you can. Now is the time right, and your messaging, which I think will you know, will continue to talk about around what that means for organizations and why it's so important right now.

Lyn Wineman: 11:22

Yeah, fantastic, great advice, Danette. I know you two are talking to nonprofits every day. What advice are you giving to people right now?

Danette O'Connell: 11:31

So this is a perfect time and a segue into talking with nonprofits about collaboration and really collaborating with other nonprofits that are alike or complement what they do, because going out after funding as a small nonprofit is difficult in itself, and when you do a program with another nonprofit you could possibly get funding for both right.

And so I mean we promote collaboration, collaboration, collaboration, right. If you're, if you are in bad times or not, you know there's a lot of nonprofits doing the same thing in the same community and if you collaborate together then you're stronger, and so this is the perfect timing to do things like that. I always say go slow, you know, do a program together, offer a grant together, you know, and then grow. You know my background is non-profit mergers and so you know, sometimes, that's you know, when it comes to we never, ever want to see nonprofits close right. Everybody does such wonderful work, so starting out with collaboration is always key. So we've been doing some social entrepreneurship programming also just teaching them how to be strong leaders and to be able to collaborate with other strong leaders.

Lyn Wineman: 12:50

Yeah, I think that's a popular misconception that nonprofits aren't businesses. But nonprofits have to make payroll, they have to keep the lights on, they have to do all the things in addition to going out there and raising money in a non-traditional way. So I think the advice from both of you was really good there, so thank you for that.

Danette O'Connell: 13:13

I always say that nonprofits are businesses. Non is a tax status and you have to run nonprofits like a business to be successful. And so that's why we teach our social entrepreneurship, because that's what you are. You are an entrepreneur, you're just a social entrepreneur, and nonprofits have to be run with efficiency and like a program, with a strategic plan and where are we going to go. So you know. It's really important to recognize that.

Lyn Wineman: 13:44

That's fantastic. I have heard you say that before too, Danette, and it is a really, really important point, and I think, once again, that's why the two programs go together. That's why what you're doing is so important right now. What you're doing is so important right now If you can get information from the best, learn from the best, and it's free, why wouldn't you go after it, right? So thank you on behalf of nonprofits for all of that work that you're doing. Krista, you mentioned messaging and KidGlov’s a branding and advertising agency. That's something that's near and dear to my heart, and I'd actually like to ask you both a branding question, because at KidGlov, we really believe that brand clarity is important to nonprofit success. It's why we wrote our book Untangling Spaghetti, A Branding Fable. But I'd love to hear from your experience how does a strong brand or lack there of impact a nonprofit's ability to grow and fulfill its needs?

Krista Berry: 14:48

Yeah, it's a great question and I love this topic as well. For me, while I'm not a marketing expert like you are, I've been doing fundraising for 20 plus years and branding is really about visibility and your kind of competitive edge, and so I don't think, with your help, maybe others can refresh their look. I don't think it needs to be a major investment, but it needs to be a priority, and so I'm speaking to like my smaller nonprofits. That's a lot of our work on the Equitable Access team is to really help those small nonprofits, so you don't have to think about branding as like an expense, but a priority, and so a lot of that is about standing out. Again, we've got this free profile that we really encourage. We use it with a lot of partners to get the word out.

Krista Berry: 15:34

Funders are looking at you and researching through this visibility. This is where you get to showcase your brand, your story, your outcomes and impact to your work, and so it's really important, and I keep hearing more and more stories and we're actually doing a little more research to even prove like how great this profile is for your fundraising. There's shareable links out there, but when we see DAFs, donor advised funds growing, the new report from USA Giving just came out, growing that giving area. Individuals are continuing to grow their giving and corporations are continuing to give more, right now that folks can find you before you find them as a way to get unsolicited gifts. And so it happens, people will fill out their profile, share all of their information and all of a sudden get unsolicited gifts from anonymous donor advised funds. And they're like it had to be because of this amazing Candid profile. And so it's working basically. But that's another way. It's one tool that we have, but also why it's so key to make sure that your brand and your visibility is a top priority.

Lyn Wineman: 16:46

I love that. Yeah, getting that, though unsolicited gift. It's a little bit like a surprise birthday present, isn't it?

Krista Berry: 16:53

You can't plan for it. You can prioritize that brand, marketing initiatives, fundraising campaigns. My only other tip right now is that, because the current environment is so uncertain and changing, you need to update your messaging.

You need to be able to talk about why. Now, what the impact is if you don't do your work. What is that going to you know, what's going to be harmed or what's going to, you know, hurt your community Again, with the messaging plus your brand, which is part of your brand, you know why you're so important. And if you can put in a nonprofit collaboration, like Danette is suggesting on why a homeless collaborative in your community is working together to solve this problem, then even better.

Lyn Wineman: 17:43

Yeah, you know what I appreciate about what you just said, Krista, and your focus on marginalized nonprofits. I bet I get a phone call at least once a week from a nonprofit that knows they need branding and messaging support but they don't have the resources for a full agency engagement. So you know that's why we wrote the book for $14. You can have access to our system that we use at KidGlov or, if you want to go further, we've got the Brand Impact Accelerator, which is a 10-week course, or I send them straight to Danette at the Nonprofit Cooperative for Resources, and now I know that through the Nonprofit Cooperative they'll also get to Candid as well. So I think that's great, Danette, any thoughts from you on the importance of a strong brand for nonprofits?

Danette O'Connell: 18:36

I totally agree with what Krista said. Storytelling of what you do is key, and to do it in a very precise way. Also, you know people's attention spans are they're very busy people. They want to read it quickly and move on. So being able to capture your story very quickly, it's just as important.

Lyn Wineman: 18:59

Yep, you want to know something that I just I've been studying. Storytelling increases the oxytocin in your brain. Oxytocin is the trust hormone, right? And what do we need for fundraising and to build donor relationships? Trust, right. And so having that good, succinct, strategic, branded story can be a real asset.

Danette O'Connell: 19:28

You know one of the things. I just want to say one more thing don't be afraid to change your mission or, as you grow, your organization. You may redefine your mission and it's okay to do that. We're in the process of doing this right now on the foundation side, and making sure that it's very precise and that you can hit all of the points very quickly and if that's bullet point, that's okay. People think that they have to have two pages of their story. No, people are not going to read two pages of your story. Be very quick, precise, what you do, how you're doing it and the impact that you're making.

Lyn Wineman: 20:08

I love it. I think you are 100% right there. As fast as people's media usage habits are changing right now, so many things are changing so quickly that if we're not constantly evaluating your message, your brand, your story that was designed even two years ago may not be appropriate for right now. So continually, we're not advocating for, you're not going to change your logo every two years, but that messaging, the visual identity, how you communicate, always needs to be looked at. All right, I want to completely switch gears. I'm going to ask you my favorite question because I love talking to inspiring people like the two of you, Krista and Danette. On every podcast, I've always asked for an inspiring original quote to inspire our listeners. And, Danette, I don't know if you remember your quote from the first time we talked.

Danette O'Connell: 21:17

It's not new and I'm sure people have heard it before, but I always just like to hone in and say this to people. Treat other people the way that you want to be treated and be kind.

Lyn Wineman: 21:32

I love it. Treat other people the way you want to be treated and be kind. I love it, Krista. What do you think? Do you have a quote for us? Yes, do you have a quote for us?

Krista Berry: 21:43

Yes, my vibe today is take care of yourself so you can continue to care for others.

Lyn Wineman: 21:51

Both of you, those are very nice. One of my habits, or my habits, my hobbies, is to be on nonprofit boards. I love and I serve several nonprofit boards, and one of the roles I feel like I have on a nonprofit board is to advocate for the mental health of the executive team of that organization, because nonprofit work is hard work and I think the last five years have been particularly difficult with everything we've gone through in the world. So take care of yourself. Put on your oxygen mask first before you help others. I think that's great and as a bonus, Danette, I did look up the quote you gave us in February, because it's also a good one, and what you said then is when we lift each other up, we all rise higher, and I think that that really speaks to the collaboration between your two organizations and the work that you're doing as well. So for people who've been listening, that want to know more about both organizations, where can they find out more and connect with you and Krista, let's start with you.

Krista Berry: 23:04

Well, I would start with a nonprofit cooperative.

Lyn Wineman: 23:07

Oh, I love. It All. Right, you guys are partners.

Krista Berry: 23:11

Get on the website, send this podcast out. Nice. There's going to be more communications coming via Danette if they haven't already. And, of course, if you're interested in any things that aren't connected to our partnership, you can always go to Candid.org Perfect.

Lyn Wineman: 23:27

And Danette, should we have them go to the website?

Danette O'Connell: 23:31

Correct. Go to www.thenonprofitcooperative.org.

Lyn Wineman: 23:36

That's beautiful. We'll have both of those links in the show notes on the KidGlov website as well. All right, we're down to our last question. This has been so fun and I think it's gone really fast, but I love to end by asking what's the most important thing you'd like our listeners to remember about the work that you're doing and who'd like to go first.

Danette O'Connell: 24:02

I'll go first. So the most important thing that I always like to convey to our nonprofits is everything we do is free.When you sign up at the nonprofit cooperative website and there's a application process that we go through, we have to verify that you're a nonprofit. It is 100% free. There's nothing we're not going to charge you later down the road. It's always 100% free.

Lyn Wineman: 24:29

It's not a trick where, once I've made 12 links you're going to charge me. No, everything's free. That's awesome, Krista. What would you like people to remember about the work that you're doing?

Krista Berry: 24:41

Wow. Well, yes to what Danette's doing, because that's amazing.

And I'm really focused on self-care for our organizations right now, because we need you to keep doing the work that you're doing to keep our communities strong. So thank you is my final message. Thank you for doing the work that you're doing on the grounds in your communities. Thank you to folks like Danette that are a convener and bringing folks together. Thank you to Lyn and everyone that's on boards that are contributing to wellness, like you said, and the success of these organizations going to work right now, even though it feels exhausting some days, and so more gratitude for this work and for what this sector does, I think is really important as a message, and we can start by doing that with each other.

Danette O'Connell: 25:35

That is perfect, Krista. That was wonderful. It was wonderful and we appreciate all the work that you do and Candid, and to be able to provide a database of grants for nonprofits is absolutely wonderful and because they need a place to go and be able to get reliable resources.

Lyn Wineman: 25:59

Danette and Krista. I can't wait to see all the good that comes out of the partnership between the Nonprofit Cooperative and Candid. And I'm just going to say I believe the world needs more people like the two of you, more organizations like your organizations doing the good work. I really appreciate you taking time out to talk with us today.

Danette O'Connell: 26:23

Thank you very much for having me and Krista and talking about our partnership.

Lyn Wineman: 26:30

Absolutely. It's good work and people need to hear about it. 

Danette O'Connell: 26:36

Stronger together.

Announcer: 26:37

We hope you enjoyed today's Agency for Change podcast. To hear all our interviews with those who are making a positive change in our communities or to nominate a changemaker you'd love to hear from. Visit KidGlov.com at K-I-D-G-L-O-V.com to get in touch, as always. If you like what you've heard today, be sure to rate, review, subscribe and share. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next time.