How did you come to work in the nonprofit sector? What was a big challenge you overcame? If you knew then what you know now, what would you tell your less-experienced self? These are just a few of the questions that Laura Zielke, Director of Member Experience for the Nonprofit Leadership Lab, will ask leaders from across the nonprofit sector.
In addition to learning about the big difference small nonprofits are making in local communities, each episode is designed to help you feel less alone in your work and inspire you to keep on keepin’ on.
Laura’s specialty is culling out golden nuggets of wisdom from every conversation yielding inspiration for the journey and actionable tips you can put into practice right away.
Discover how so many nonprofit leaders are taking their nonprofits from messy to thriving without burning out in the process.
The Your Nonprofit Life Podcast is produced by the
Learn more about the Nonprofit Leadership Lab and
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Website: https://nonprofitleadershiplab.com
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8 Comments
Tishylinda Mary Bunk
I Love this… so valid!!! So Laura…Authentic!!!
Laura
Thanks, Tishy!
Kim Goodwin
I enjoyed listening to the podcast. The sound and quality were excellent. Love Laura”s excitement and passion for the non-profit organizations. It’s a great asset to learn more about one another’s ups & downs. Thumbs Up!
Laura
Thanks, Kim!
Robert Adler
“In it for the long haul” is a great description for folks who discover at any age their own personal “mitzvah.” As in bar/bat mitzvah. Mitzvah is traditionally translated from Hebrew as a “commandment” (presumably from your God). For me, an alternative translation from the Hebrew has resonated for the long haul — as an “Imperative.” Why? Because an imperative seems to come from a personal internal source as well as from an external one, while a commandment seems to mean that it comes from an external source. Finding and acting on mitzvahs seems to me to be rooted on a feeling in your body and soul that this is a challenge from which you personally cannot turn away. You truly feel it. I have witnessed such. humble yet resolute commitment to act purposefully in partnership with your God (or without for confirmed atheists) to repair your piece of a broken world/universe/community. Doing such “tikkun olam” (“repairing) is often challenging and yet somehow unavoidable for nonprofit leaders (with or without a title). Such leaders-by-example come from many different faiths or are skeptical agnostics or even resolute atheists.. Every leader it has been my honor to know all seem to feel an imperative rooted in core values akin to the golden rule. I write this rambling comment two weeks into the necessarily disruptive COVID-19 public health directives being instituted across the US to save lives. This is a time when each nonprofit leader sees that the critical demand for your organization’s services is rising at the very time many of your steadfast donors are seeing their income and their assets plummeting. We will get through this because doing so is an imperative we feel and from which we know we cannot turn away. Thanks, Laura, who I know only “virtually” at the Nonprofit Leadership Lab. Be well, everyone. Give yourself permission to wonder/worry whether you are up to the daunting challenges. Then work together with folks who share your mitzvahs — the imperatives that you chose and that chose you. Thanks to the NLL team for supporting so many leaders of small nonprofits. Laura and everyone else at the NLL has joined and complemented Joan Garry’s mitzvah at NLL over the past few years. Each of you doing your chosen mitzvahs empower us for our own mitzvahs. Okay. This is nearly the end of my meandering outreach this morning in response to two weeks of “social distancing,” which is actually only physical distancing. Why? Because we are able to be buoyed by having access to communications tools that allow us to be “there” together for each other when we cannot be there together with each other. Now, I gotta get back to doing my mitzvahs, so that ECLAA (www.eclaanj.org) can continue to do the repair work we have done for 100 years here in one NJ county. Clearly, our 100th anniversary on May 21 will need to be celebrated remotely for whatever we mean these days when we say “foreseeable future.” Last but not least, go wash your hands.
Laura
Bob. You nailed it! This is my mitzvah. Thank you for putting the perfect word to my definition. I’ve done a lot of reflection over the past few years, and it’s so clear to me that God has been preparing me for this my entire life. I only wish I had realized it sooner as I would not have been such a whiny baby about what felt like continuous delays. The delays were learning opportunities preparing me for what would come next. Plus, technology wasn’t there yet. Let’s just say I’ve repented of my impatience, and when I say things like “I’m just happy to be here” and “It’s my honor and privilege to serve you,” you can know that it’s absolutely sincere and from the heart. Thank you for your kind words. You touched my soul this morning.
Colleen Bennett
This is wonderful! Can’t wait to listen to the next one! Thank you for all you do Laura!
Laura
Thanks, Colleen! I hope you find them encouraging and informative. 😊