Changemaker Danette O'Connell, Founder and Executive Director, The Nonprofit Cooperative

Nonprofits are built by people who care deeply, and the best ones pair that mission with serious business discipline.

In this episode of Agency for Change, Lyn welcomes back friend of the podcast, Danette O'Connell from The Nonprofit Cooperative, who joins us to share how understanding that "nonprofit" is simply a tax status is actually the key that unlocks your organization's full potential.

Danette digs into what social entrepreneurship really looks like for founders, executive directors, and development teams, covering everything from diversifying funding and building one-year strategic plans that actually get used, to free resources, deep-dive trainings, and a collaborative network where nonprofits lift each other up.

Connect with Danette and the Nonprofit Cooperative at:

·       Website – https://www.thenonprofitcooperative.org

·       Contact – info@thenonprofitcooperative.org

·       Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/thenonprofitcooperative

·       Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/thenonprofitcooperative

·       LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-nonprofit-cooperative

Transcript

Nonprofits Are Businesses

Danette O'Connell 0:00

Nonprofits are businesses. The word nonprofit is a tax status.

Announcer 0:10

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

Lyn Wineman 0:37

This is Lyn Wineman, president and chief strategist of Kid Glov. On this episode, we are joined once again by Danette O'Connell of The Nonprofit Cooperative. We're diving into social entrepreneurship. We're going to talk about what it really means, why it matters, and how innovative leaders are using it to drive real impact. Danette, you have been a regular here. Welcome back to the podcast.

Danette O'Connell 1:08

I know. It is wonderful to be here once again.

Lyn Wineman 1:13

I love it. So, Danette, even though you have joined us on the podcast several times, I know most of our listeners have heard one or more of your episodes. For our newer listeners, I'd love for you to tell us more about The Nonprofit Cooperative.

Danette O'Connell 1:33

Okay, wonderful. So The Nonprofit Cooperative is a membership organization where we provide free resources to nonprofits. And that comes into the form of training, collaboration, networking. We match you to mentors and mentees. We also vet for-profits that serve the nonprofits. They're called vetted members, as you are one, and we vet them so that nonprofits don't have to. So we vet for free. Their services are not. So, but we try to do everything that we can for nonprofits, and it doesn't make a difference what size you are. You could be just starting out, you could be over a hundred million in revenue. We serve all nonprofits across the United States and beyond, and we are happy to serve them.

Lyn Wineman 2:24

I love that. Danette, I just want to make sure people didn't miss that. You used, I think, everybody's favorite four-letter word, which was F-R-E-E. Everything you do is free. That's fantastic. Everything we do is free. To nonprofits. To nonprofits. That's 100% true. That's true. For us for-profits, we expect to pay something in return for what we get. So, Danette, you also, just before we jumped on, told me some exciting news about The Nonprofit Cooperative. You want to highlight how many members you are serving now?

Fundraising Summit Growth And Momentum

Danette O'Connell 3:04

We are serving over 9,000 nonprofit associates across the United States and beyond. So, majority, like 95%, are here in the United States, but we do have a few that are abroad, and we are happy to serve all of them. We just came off of the nonprofit fundraising summit. So we always have some good growth after those. So it's very, very exciting. We ended up getting over 12,000 registrants at the summit. I hope all of you or some of you had the opportunity to join it. If not, don't worry, we have one in the fall.

Lyn Wineman 3:45

I love it. I love it. Danette, I even sat in on, well, I got to you invited me and I got to speak on a panel, which I loved. But I too, during the two days of the summit, there were some fantastic speakers, some great information. So all of the nonprofit listeners, and I know we have a lot of nonprofit leaders in our audience. Go check out The Nonprofit Cooperative and look for their boot camp that's coming in the fall, right?

Danette O'Connell 4:15

We do. So we have the summit in September and we move this boot camp to the fall. So the boot camp will be deep dives. So a lot of what you get at summits and even our trainings, they're one-hour trainings. But the boot camps are gonna be two-hour deep dives into each topic. And it's not gonna be just fundraising, it's gonna be, we're gonna talk about HR, we're gonna talk about fundraising, technology, AI. So we will have all different topics, but we'll give you something to do. And you know, like, so we're gonna teach you not only just how to do a high-level budget, but we're gonna teach you that dive into that budget. We also have finance and teach you how to do it. And where do you pull the information and where do you get that? And how do you present it to your board? And how do you do the reporting to the board? So we're gonna have all of that in two hours. And so it's gonna be a mini crash course. You know, two hours is a long time to really learn something, but we don't want to, we didn't want to make it high level. We interviewed or we surveyed our nonprofits, and that's what they were requesting. We had this last year, they loved it, but we didn't go as deep as we're going this year. They said that was great, but go deeper. Yeah, like, okay, yeah, we don't want to make them three hours, so we figured we'd do two and a half hours, but we have two breaks in there, so it'll be a little over two hours. And and Lyn, we had talked about this. You also do one like that, a deep dive into the topics. You can learn so much more by doing that.

SVP New York Updates And Events

Lyn Wineman 5:59

A hundred percent. I love when you have what's great about two hours is it gives you a chance not only from a speaker's standpoint, it gives you a chance not only to share how-tos, but to take a little bit of time at least to let people jump in and try it, right? Like, hey, here's here's how I like to set up a brand strategy. Here's how I like to set up a target audience persona, and you can start filling out the tool and start using the tool. Because sometimes, I don't know if you've ever done this, but I have done this where I've gone to a seminar, I've learned the things, I've nodded my head and said, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. But then when I actually get into it, I have questions. And I think that's where you get the value of the longer sessions and the deep dive. You realize kind of where your questions are as you go while you still have access to somebody you can ask. So, well, with great programming like that, I know you're gonna blow into the 10,000 number of members before we know it. And you know, as I'm reflecting on this, Danette, when you think about every nonprofit you serve is making an impact with their group of people. And when they impact the people they serve, that then impacts the people that are around the people they serve. And then when you multiply that by 9,000, soon to be 10,000. I mean, you've got to feel pretty good about this organization that you founded, The Nonprofit Cooperative, and the impact it's making across the country and beyond. So congratulations and thank you to you, Danette, for all of that hard work. Now, on top of that, if as if throwing summits and boot camps and organizing members and growing the membership weren't enough already, last year we had you on to talk about The Cooperative joining forces with SVP New York. Can you bring us up to date on that relationship and some fun things that are going on?

Danette O'Connell 8:16

Yeah, so SVP New York City is growing very rapidly, as fast as The Cooperative, the SVP is growing just as fast. And we have an in-person event. So if you are in New York City, we do have a social on April 13th at Idealist. All you have to do is, and we'll have my contact information, is reach out to me, and I can get you the link to register for that. So I think it's on our website too. So we're very, very excited about that event. We will be having them quarterly, so we have some in-person events. We just finished up, Wednesday is our board meeting. So we will finalize our grants for spring.

Lyn Wineman 9:05

Wow.

Danette O'Connell 9:06

So and hopefully we will have one in the summer. So we we're trying to get three a year, so that's my target for this year is to have two rounds. So, but we have a lot of new partnerships that is making that possible too. So we will be having an open call in June for a partner of ours that's giving $200,000 away.

Lyn Wineman 9:35

Wow, $200,000. Okay, I'm sure you have just perked up some people's ears.

Danette O'Connell 9:43

All unrestricted funds.

How Their Grant Cycles Work

Lyn Wineman 9:46

Fantastic. So tell us more about this grant cycle and or if there is a link, we will make sure to get it into the show notes for this episode of the podcast.

Danette O'Connell 9:58

So the wonderful thing about being part of The Nonprofit Cooperative is that you will only hear about our grant openings if you are a nonprofit associate. Again, it is free to join because we do not broadcast our open grants to the public. We only broadcast them to our nonprofits under The Nonprofit Cooperative. So we have a partnership with two or with the two organizations. So we have them register so that we can vet them just to make sure that everyone's nonprofits. And then when there's an available grant, I put it out there, and then you have 10 days. We only keep our grant cycle open for 10 days just because we get a lot of applications in those 10 days. So last time we got 469 applications, so you can see that it's very competitive, but we we are getting more and more and more grants. So this one in June will be a lot of grants that we'll be giving.

Lyn Wineman 11:00

That's amazing. That's amazing. Congratulations on that, Danette. And once again, we will get those links into the show notes. So, Danette, I want to switch gears a little bit because I know one topic that you are really passionate about is social entrepreneurship. And-

Danette O'Connell 11:18

Absolutely.

Lyn Wineman 11:18

Yep. I think I think a lot of us hear that term, and it's a term that's being used more and more lately. But we may all kind of have a different idea or thought of what it means. I'd love to hear how you define that term social entrepreneurship.

Danette O'Connell 11:36

So, you know, I always talk to the nonprofits and let them, you know, just to express to them that they are running a business. If you have a for-profit, they're called entrepreneurs. For nonprofits, they're called social entrepreneurs.

Lyn Wineman 11:51

Got it.

Danette O'Connell 11:52

But one of the things that a lot of people, especially when they're starting out, they don't understand that nonprofits are businesses, they're just a different type of business. That's why you have to file your taxes every year. You know, we're just more regulated than the for-profits are. So, and I always say, which is my quote of the day, Lynn.

Lyn Wineman 12:12

Oh, you're giving it to us early, but we'll come, we'll come back to it, Danette. You know I'm gonna ask you this question.

Danette O'Connell 12:21

So I always say nonprofits are a business. The nonprofit is a tax status.

Lyn Wineman 12:29

Yeah. I mean, all of my friends who I know that are leaders of nonprofits, they still have to make payroll. They still have to provide training, they still have to have office supplies and insurance. Sometimes they have to have more insurance than some of us for-profits, right? So all of those things have to balance out. But I'm thinking of a recent podcast episode we had on the Agency for Change, which was Charlie Wesche from Neighbor Works of Lincoln, Nebraska. And he is working to form a land trust. He's combining with the energy suppliers in the community. He's doing all kinds of things that are entrepreneurial things, new innovative things. And he, in my mind, is someone I've talked to recently that I would say is definitely a social entrepreneur. I would also say, Danette, you are a social entrepreneur, right? Like you have built this nonprofit cooperative from scratch. I mean, you truly are a founder, just like any other startup founder, and yet you are doing it with the nonprofit status for nonprofits, which I think is really cool. So, so talk to me about then why is social entrepreneurship or this nonprofit entrepreneurship so important right now?

Danette O'Connell 14:04

So, one of the things that we always I always like to express to nonprofits is diversify your funding.

Lyn Wineman 14:12

Yeah.

Danette O'Connell 14:13

And so when you have a business, you could be selling one gadget, two gadget, three gadget. That's because they diversify their funding. And so I teach a social entrepreneur class, and that's one of the things that we really talk about for sustainability of nonprofits is to diversify your funding.

Danette O'Connell 14:33

And also something that's very dear to my heart, and I cannot express more, is have a plan. So I always say to nonprofits, would you drive across the United States without your Google Maps? And people are like, no way.

Lyn Wineman 14:50

That would be a bad idea.

Danette O'Connell 14:52

It would be crazy to do that. Well, running a nonprofit without a plan is just as crazy. You have to know where you are now, where you want to go, and how you're gonna get there. Right. So you may not have Google Maps to tell you how to get there. So you have to create the plan on how to get there. You can call it a strategic plan, you can call it a growth plan, you can call it a marketing plan, you can call it whatever you want. Just so that it measures where you are now, where you're gonna go, and how you're gonna get there. And what that plan on how you're gonna get there includes your how am I gonna fundraise? How am I gonna market? How am I gonna be on social media? Who am I targeting? Who do I want to serve? What kind of impact am I going to make? Whatever gets measured gets done. So you have to measure it. So, you know, I can't express that more to us more to nonprofits because it's really, really important to do that. And diversifying your funding, you know, in today's day and age, as we all know, for the people who lost federal funding, and by the way, federal funding is back. But for the ones who lost it, a lot of nonprofits were lost because of that, because they did not diversify their funding. They all depended on, you know, they were getting plenty of money from the government.

Lyn Wineman 16:14

Right.

Danette O'Connell 16:15

So when the government said no more, they lost their nonprofit, which is so sad that that happened. But that's the importance of diversifying.

Lyn Wineman 16:24

Yeah.

Danette O'Connell 16:25

So don't put all your eggs in one basket. It's really, really important for that.

Lyn Wineman 16:30

Danette, I want to tie back to also the idea of having a plan. There's a project that Kid Glov and The Nonprofit Cooperative are partnering on, and that is our end-of-year performance research for end-of-year fundraising efforts. And I just peeked at the data yesterday, and one of the key threads, well, I haven't even had a chance to tell you here, so you're hearing it, you're all hearing it here first.

Danette O'Connell 17:00

For the first time, but live. Here we go.

Lyn Wineman 17:03

One of the key threads for those who had a 20% or more increase in what they raised in 2025 over 2024, one of the common threads was having a plan, right? And and there were so many people who said, you know, we just ran out of time, so we just updated the thing we did last year and sent it again. Or, and those who actually planned it out did better. And so the old adage proved itself true once again. You can either, what is it, fail to plan and you will plan to fail, right? And so having a plan, regardless of what aspect of your business or nonprofit is really important. So, so all right, I'd like to tie social entrepreneurship then back to things you're working on with both The Nonprofit Cooperative and SVP New York. I know you have the grant program, and I know you have the boot camps coming up. You just did the summit, but what are some of the other things you're working on to help propel social entrepreneurship forward?

Danette O'Connell 18:19

So we are going to have a series of training sessions and workshops, as we call them. But these are just going to be focused on social entrepreneurs. So, how to create a plan. And in the boot camp, we're also going to have a two-hour session on how to create your plan. And it doesn't have to be long. You know, people say, Wow, I don't want to create a three-year plan. Then don't because they're fairy tales, right? Let's concentrate the next 12 months, right? And that is all. Take baby steps because you know, plans can be a little overwhelming, and I totally get that. So create a small one, create a one-year plan, right? But just know where you're going and how are you gonna fundraise? What is your plan to do? What is your marketing plan? What is your story that you're gonna tell? What is your outreach going to be? So, like all of that goes into those plans. So, we're gonna teach that. We're also going to be teaching budgeting because a lot of people still don't understand how to do budgeting. And if they do, they don't understand how to report out to their board. That's what we're finding. I'm not saying that everybody is like this. So we want to make sure that we take a deeper dive into that. So it's all, and we're gonna talk about the threats to entrepreneurs. So that is insurance. You have to have D&O insurance for your board. It's really, really, really important. If you buy no other insurance, buy that one. But make sure that you are well protected if you are going to do an event. It's really important that you have insurance for that. Because, you know, just like a for-profit, an insurance claim or a lawsuit against you will put you out. And so you have to make sure that you are protected just like you know, any other. And then the other threat that I want to go over is cybersecurity. Some nonprofits think because, oh, well, we're small or we're not big enough to get, you know, a threat. Look, organizations that have $50,000 can be threatened. They don't know what you have, they just want to go and take it away from you.

Lyn Wineman 20:36

Right.

Danette O'Connell 20:37

Right. And you don't have to be over a hundred million dollars. And you and some people say, well, why would they target nonprofits? They target everybody who is incorporated, they may not even know that you're a nonprofit. So I want to make sure I'm gonna leave that up to the experts, but I want to make sure that we cover those topics.

AI Trust Problems In Plans

Lyn Wineman 20:58

You know, it occurs to me too that if if you were starting up a for-profit and you were in a startup program or an incubator or a college of business accelerator program, those are exactly the things you would learn, but they would be skewed for for-profits. So, what I love about this is you're doing all of this training for social entrepreneurs through that nonprofit lens with people who are experienced and have done this work with nonprofits because I think that's one thing today, too. And I am a big, I am a big user of AI tools and large language models. And every once in a while I'll hear somebody say, I had AI create my plan. And I always think that is not the place. That is not the place to use AI. You can find lots of inexpensive tools there, but go to the experts who have done this before when you're thinking about something so important as you're overarching plan. So I love that.

Danette O'Connell 22:03

Yeah. And you have to make sure that you know, I mean, if you're used, if you've used AI for years and years and years and it really knows you, you might get away with that. But please, everyone, don't ever create a document in AI without going through it word for word for word. Because somebody's gonna read that word for word. And if they know that it was written by AI and not you, they may not believe it as much. Because look, we're we're in a day and age where people are really doubting AI. I mean, you go on Facebook, you don't know if those videos are real or not. Right. You don't know if the stories are real or are not real. I mean, they make stuff up just to make it up so that they get clicks, right? So, you know, people are really questioning AI authenticity.

Lyn Wineman 22:59

Yeah.

Danette O'Connell 22:59

So just make sure that you read over it really, really well if you're going to use it. But you have to use AI for years for it to get to understand.

Lyn Wineman 23:08

Once you lose that trust, it's hard, if not impossible, to get it back.

Danette O'Connell 23:14

And look, if you put if you're creating a plan or you're creating a grant, this is even more for grants, they think that your AI wrote it. Guess who's not getting a grant? You're out. You're out. That's why we have video applications. So you can't fake them.

Keep Plans Alive With Accountability

Lyn Wineman 23:32

Oh, nice, impressive. That's a really good idea. So, Danette, I'd love to hear a story about a social entrepreneur you've worked with who really embodies this work.

Danette O'Connell 23:42

Yeah, well, we actually have several of them who have come through our past training and has come back and said, I can't believe I never had a plan. And just to make sure, and I teach this also, when you create that plan, do not put it on your shelf. Report out to your board, hold your board responsible to it, hold yourself responsible to it. And so they did that. They created a plan where they report out to their board, like we do on a quarterly basis, and they and that's held them accountable to make sure that they keep up with everything that they're doing, their timeline, everything. And then when your board is holding you responsible to it, because you're reporting out to them, it's a good way not to put a plan on the shelf to collect dust, because that's the problem with some plans is people create them and then they go on the shelf. They're working documents. So this nonprofit came back to me. We gave them all the tools, and after a year, they're like, we love it, our board loves it, because and they have been able to grow because of that, because what gets measured gets done. Because then you're holding yourself responsible. We want to raise this much, you know, in the first quarter. And these are the all the different ways that we're going to do it, right? This is our messaging, this is our branding, this is how we're going to do it. And then it gets done that way, you know. And so having those plans are I can't express how important they are. And if you're not familiar with how to do them, there's plenty of people within our ecosystem that can help you create them, or you can just come to one of our trainings, and I'd be more than happy to teach you how to do it.

Collaboration And Joining As A Business

Lyn Wineman 25:32

That's fantastic. Danette, I have to say that since you brought that up, Kid Glov is obviously a member of The Nonprofit Cooperative. And I am very proud to serve on the board. But one of my favorite aspects of The Cooperative is meeting the other members and working with the other members who serve the nonprofits. I'd have to say I've formed some very strong relationships and learned quite a bit from the member organizations who are in do other aspects of the work than I do. And that's just such a great community to be a part of. I'd love to actually talk a little bit about how does, if we have a for-profit listening, which I'm sure we do, that is serving the nonprofit sector, how do they become involved in The Nonprofit Cooperative?

Danette O'Connell 26:27

All they have to do is reach out to me. The first step of vetting is talking to me first, and then we'll talk through what you do, how you do it, are you a fit for The Cooperative? And then if you are a fit, then I'll send you information and links on how to get started with us. So it is very easy to do. But I want to mention, you know, as it's really important for businesses to network, it's just as important for nonprofits to network.

Lyn Wineman 26:58

Yes.

Danette O'Connell 26:58

And not only network with the for-profits, but network with each other. Collaboration is key in the nonprofit community. Nobody has competitors out there, right? We're all out there trying to make an impact on the world. So, regardless of what that impact is, you know, collaboration is a perfect way of growth. And you can go ahead and partner with another nonprofit that does the same thing or complements what you do.

Lyn Wineman 27:29

Yes.

Danette O'Connell 27:30

Just the same way it is in the for-profit. So you can collaborate with them, create an event, just like we do in the for-profit. Like Lyn's talking about, you know, she's met some great people through The Cooperative and other members, and they don't look at each other as competitors. No, we really don't. Each other as let you complement what I do. Even if we have two fundraisers, everybody does something a little bit different. That's right. So if you're out there saving puppies, you may be doing it just a little bit different than your neighbors.

Lyn Wineman 28:04

Yeah.

Danette O'Connell 28:05

And why not collaborate together and save more puppies, right? Like I always use puppies as an example.

Lyn Wineman 28:11

Puppies are a great example. Everybody loves puppies.

Danette O'Connell 28:14

Everybody loves puppies. I actually love kitties. I don't know why I don't use kitties. I love puppies too, don't get me wrong. But I always have kitties. I love it.

Hard Advice For New Founders

Lyn Wineman 28:23

I love it, Danette. All right. So that actually ties right into my next question because that was a great piece of advice. And I wanted to ask you, what advice would you have for somebody who's listening who has maybe been thinking about getting into the nonprofit space, is thinking about exploring social entrepreneurship. What advice can you give them?

Danette O'Connell 28:49

Do your homework and come to our trainings to make sure this is something that you want to take on. And I understand that most nonprofits are started out of passion of something that someone went through. And that is wonderful. But if you have never run a business before, you may want to think that again and volunteer at an organization that does something very similar to what you are feeling, right? Entrepreneurship is not easy in the for-profit or the nonprofit. I've created many businesses in the for-profit and the nonprofit. None of them are easy. And you will work tons and tons of hours. So just make sure that you know what you're getting yourself into. And understand that.

Lyn Wineman 29:40

Danette, I have talked to a few nonprofits recently that were, just as you said, founded by someone with passion who had been through an experience, who was an expert in their field, but they themselves are solely funding their nonprofits out of their personal income. Or maybe they've received one grant, but now they've used that grant. And that is not just like a business that is not a sustainable model. You need to have a plan and a diversified plan for where those funds come from.

Danette O'Connell 30:14

So in the in the for-profit world, the highest turnover in businesses is the restaurant business. Right. And-

Lyn Wineman 30:24

I t's a tough business, highly competitive. Yeah.

Danette O'Connell 30:29

Nonprofits have a higher failure rate than that. They have a very high failure rate because people don't understand how hard they are. You may start out and you may get some grants off the bat, but getting them continuously and to be able to sustain your nonprofit through that is a lot of work. And if you want to work 40 to 60 hours, then maybe it is for you, but that's what you're going to put in. And people say, well, you know, I'll have flexible hours. Yeah, flexible 80 hours a week. If not 80 hours, you want to work because that's what you're going to want to work. That's what you're going to have to do.

Lyn Wineman 31:09

It's a startup.

Danette O'Connell 31:10

And yeah, it's a startup. And it takes a lot of time and effort to do it. And people are like, I can't find grants, I can't find funding. And it's a problem, right? And just because just because you are passionate about it doesn't mean the rest of the world is. And your friends and family may be, you know, supportive in the beginning, but they only have so many funds, also. So then that dries out, and you have to know where to go get it. How do I get grants? How do I find donors? Like all of that. You have to know all of that before you start a nonprofit. That's a lot of work.

How To Connect Final Quote

Lyn Wineman 31:48

That's great advice. Alright. This is a good place for me to say. I've been saying we're going to put all your information in the links in the show notes, but this is where I'm going to ask you where they are. What is the best way for people to connect with you, Danette?

Danette O'Connell 32:03

Through the nonprofitcooperative.org. It's spelled out the nonprofitcooperative.org. Or you can email me at info@thenonprofitcooperative.org.

Lyn Wineman 32:19

Perfect. That seems easy enough for us all to figure out. And you've got a great website that's full of resources. So check it out, become a member, tap in and connect with Danette. All right, Danette, I'm going to ask you your least favorite, your least favorite question. It's my favorite question. You've already given us some insight into what your answer is on, but our listeners know I love quotes. And I know you've been on several times, so I've made you do this several times, but I'd love another Danette O'Connell original quote to inspire our listeners.

Danette O'Connell 33:00

Nonprofits are businesses. The word nonprofit is a tax status.

Lyn Wineman 33:07

I love it. Nonprofits are businesses. The word nonprofit is a tax status. So if you start that nonprofit, be prepared.

Danette O'Connell 33:18

Know it's a business.

Lyn Wineman 33:19

Yeah, that's right. Exactly.

Danette O'Connell 33:21

You need revenue, you're gonna have expenses, and you have a nonprofit. Like it's all the same. We just call people different. So director of development is really a salesperson, right?

Lyn Wineman 33:34

Yeah, right.

Danette O'Connell 33:34

That's exactly right.

Lyn Wineman 33:38

Except for it's a little it is a little bit different because if you are selling something, people receive something in return. I would even challenge you to the fact that being a director of development may be one step harder because you are, you know, asking somebody to fund a cause, right? They may never see the benefit of their donation. It may come 20 years later or 40 years later, or the impact will happen probably to someone else, not themselves within their community. It will definitely help, but it is an important role that is very similar. The skill set is very similar, I think, to sales. So, Danette, as we wrap up this great conversation today, I always love talking to you. What is the most important thing you would like our listeners to remember about the work that you're doing?

Danette O'Connell 34:35

Everything we do is free for nonprofits.

Lyn Wineman 34:38

I love it. So check it out if you're a nonprofit and you're not one of the 9,000 members that are currently enrolled.

Danette O'Connell 34:46

And even if you are, come to events, come and learn. You know, I always say every training that I go to, if I learn one thing, I'm ahead of the game.

Lyn Wineman 34:56

Yeah, 100%.

Danette O'Connell 34:58

If you come and you only learn one thing, hopefully you learn a lot more than that. But if you do, hey, you're better off than you were the hour before that.

Lyn Wineman 35:07

I love it. Danette, thanks so much for coming back. And we'll look forward to the next time that you're on. You're doing important work, helping nonprofits build their impact and make a positive impact on the world.

Danette O'Connell 35:25

Yes. Well, thank you so much for having me. I always love coming here and talking things out and letting the nonprofits know what's out there in the world.

Announcer 35:37

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 change maker you'd love to hear from, visit KidGlov.com to get in touch. As always, if you like what you've heard today, be sure to rate, review, subscribe and share.