Nonprofit Nation with Julia Campbell

How to Create Impactful Corporate Partnerships with Tammy Charles

January 19, 2022 Julia Campbell Season 1 Episode 22
Nonprofit Nation with Julia Campbell
How to Create Impactful Corporate Partnerships with Tammy Charles
Show Notes Transcript

You may think the first step in building a corporate relations program is prospecting and calling businesses. But what about truly understanding the problem that you are solving, and the community that you serve? Creating effective corporate relationships is more than just a financial transaction. Many corporations seek to build holistic relationships with nonprofits to pursue social change. 

Tammy Charles, a self-proclaimed "social change geek" (love that!) is on a mission to help nonprofits initiate, develop, and sustain their corporate relationships by producing strategic alliances that not only drive revenue but innovation and social impact.  She has raised over $10 million in financial and nonfinancial capital in her career in nonprofit and consulting through building cross-sector partnerships, creating innovative business models, and helping organizations develop and craft clear strategies and goals. 

Here are some of the topics we discussed:

  • Ways in which you can build authentic relationships with the people and communities that you serve
  • How to position your organization for major corporate investments and partnerships
  • How to start building your corporate relations strategy 
  • Why nonprofits have to pivot away from events and galas into more innovative strategies

A Tammy quotable:  "Be willing to build relationships with the people that you're serving, Build authentic relationships. Have coffee with these amazing people. Take the time to get to know them and their stories. And when you do, you'll realize that the the solutions lie within them."

Connect with Tammy:
https://twitter.com/tamcharlie
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tammycharles/
https://www.instagram.com/tammcharlie/
Website: www.iamtammy.com

Do me a favor? Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts (or your podcast player of choice) - it helps this podcast get seen by more people that would enjoy it!

About Julia Campbell, the host of the Nonprofit Nation podcast:

Named as a top thought leader by Forbes and BizTech Magazine, Julia Campbell (she/hers) is an author, coach, and speaker on a mission to make the digital world a better place.

She wrote her book, Storytelling in the Digital Age: A Guide for Nonprofits, as a roadmap for social change agents who want to build movements using engaging digital storytelling techniques. Her second book, How to Build and Mobilize a Social Media Community for Your Nonprofit, was published in 2020 as a call-to-arms for mission-driven organizations to use the power of social media to build movements. Julia’s online courses, webinars, and talks have helped hundreds of nonprofits make the shift to digital thinking and raise more money online. 

Clients include Mastercard, Facebook, GoFundMe Charity, Meals on Wheels America, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. 

Take my free masterclass: 3 Must-Have Elements of Social Media Content that Converts

Julia Campbell:

Hello, and welcome to nonprofit nation. I'm your host, Julia Campbell. And I'm going to sit down with nonprofit industry experts, fundraisers, marketers, and everyone in between to get real and discuss what it takes to build that movement that you've been dreaming of. I created the nonprofit nation podcast to share practical wisdom and strategies to help you confidently find your voice. definitively grow your audience and effectively build your movement. If you're a nonprofit newbie, or an experienced professional, who's looking to get more visibility, reach more people and create even more impact than you're in the right place. Let's get started. Hi, everyone. Thanks so much for tuning in again to another episode of nonprofit nation. I'm your host, Julia Campbell, and today I have a special guest. My friend and colleague Tammy Charles. She is a self proclaimed social change geek, which I love that description. With her academic and consulting background. She bridges theory and practice to help nonprofits, social enterprises and corporations create and implement tools to address the world's most pressing problems such as poverty, economic inequity and social injustice. Tammy has raised over $10 million in financial and non financial capital in her career in nonprofit consulting through building cross sector partnerships, which we will talk about today, creating innovative business models and helping organizations develop and craft clear strategies and goals. You can follow her work at probably one of my favorite URLs. I am tami.com. Thanks so much for being here, Tammy. Oh, thank you, Julia. You're just amazing. And I'm just so honored to be on your podcast, you totally flatter me. But I was trying to figure out how we met. And I think we met on one of Kev coyotes, Facebook Lives and then through cars camp, and there's just been some various things. Now I've been in person though. That's our next step. Right here, come to Tampa, apparently the hotbed of nonprofit thought leadership.

Tammy Charles:

Yeah, right. We're killing out here. Tampa is on the map. We've been always been on the map. And I think we're a little bit bigger. It's a bigger dot. It's really funny.

Julia Campbell:

I know, it's so many cool people there. So I want to start with how you kind of got involved with nonprofit work and how how you got involved with the work that you're doing today?

Tammy Charles:

Yeah, so I always like to, you know, share, like my story, I you know, we all have these like pivotal moments in our lives, that that really inspire us to, to really pursue our calling. So I was in grad school, seven years ago, however long it was with the pandemic, you just never know anymore. But like seven years ago, and I took a trip to Haiti, which is actually where my parents are from when my ancestors are from. And so I went there a year after the earthquake to Lail gone, which is the epicenter of the earthquake. And it was very hard to see my people, my country suffer, and we're still suffering till this day. And so it was the first time I went to Haiti as an adult. And I remember when we were driving from the airport to the village, and every time I share the story, it's so vivid, the tent cities, the children plane and dirty, murky water. Yeah, all of those pieces. And I remember just saying to myself, like, how in the world, am I allowed, are we allowing this to happen, and I think I was in grad school. So I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do. And it was in that moment that I realize, I want to do work, that helps kind of like change the trajectory of those living in poverty. And so when I came back to the States, I still continued to do work in Haiti, really supporting the leaders there. And then I started working at a homeless shelter. And that's where I started my career, I got my MBA, not to go through that corporate, you know, trajectory, I knew that I wanted to use my business skills to you know, really transform the landscape. And there's still so much that I want to do and need to do and desire to do that I want to hold myself accountable to but that's really why I'm in this space, because there's so much going on in our world. And it could be you know, especially for those of us who are really passionate, just like usually who's really passionate about transforming the world, it can weigh heavy on our shoulders. But I have to remind myself every day that as long as I am tuning myself into my god and what I'm doing, I can at least play a little bit of a role in shaping, you know, solutions to our world's most pressing problems. So that's kind of like where I started and why I'm here today.

Julia Campbell:

So you might not know this about me. Did you know that I was in the Peace Corps. I lived in Senegal. Yeah. And I had that exact same drive from the airport experience. Absolutely. Yes. So we landed in Dakar, which is the it's pretty cosmopolitan city, you know, in Senegal, in West Africa, but the drive from the airport, I will never forget it. And we, you know, we were all together as volunteers driving to the center where we were going to be doing our training. And I had never in my life seen poverty like that I had never in my life seen like you were just seeing children in the street. And it was a pivotal moment. So thank you for sharing that. I want to hear more about what you what you do right now. So how do you work with your clients? What are some of the challenges that you're helping them? them face?

Tammy Charles:

Yeah, so connected back to that Haiti story is changing the narrative. So one of the things that's very important is I remember, we took like a really fun airplane ride around Haiti. And the pilot said, you know, Haiti is not the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. It's actually the riches, but it's poorly managed. And that was a quote that stayed with me even till up until this day, because that has become my philosophy of my work. When I work with my clients, I really tried to get us all to remember that, you know, you don't call someone a poor person, you call someone, a person who's dealing with poverty, because we don't want their situation to identify who they are. And so my work my core philosophy is around, how can we first of all, you know, shaped the way we view our beneficiary. So I really, so every time I client, whether it's strategic planning, corporate relations, board development, innovation, cross sector, conscious capitalism, like all of these things, always start with who we're serving, because they, they're at the core in the heart of our work. And then we develop strategies and tools and solutions based on who exactly we're serving, and how do we put them at the center, because we have a tendency to put sometimes ourselves at the center, sometimes our ego money is at the center, sometimes our donors, our donor at the center. And I know that I know, for some time, the whole thing about compensation. But the reality is we do our work, because we want people to know that because even though you're in a homeless shelter, you're not homeless. It's just a situation that you're in. And how can we leverage partnerships, innovation, funding policy, in order to shape the trajectory of the people that we're serving? and other thing, too, is how can we co create with our beneficiaries? Because it's one thing to say, Oh, yes, we're out here serving the homeless, but they know they just like in Haiti, like Haitians know the answer to their problems. Our goal is to co create, and partner with our fellow Haitian brothers and sisters, with our fellow homeless brothers and sisters, wherever we are in and so on, in order to develop long term solutions. So that's kind of like my philosophy. And how I do that, through my consulting practice, is through, you know, really fundamentally strategic planning, board relations, board development, corporate relations work, fundraising is core of my work, too. And then some of the other pieces around innovation, cross sector policy, and so on, because everything like it's a cross sector, it takes systems change, work to new to transform society. And I will say it is hard, like, these are things that keep me up at night, when I help my clients. I'm always thinking like, did we cover all bases? We probably haven't. But let's just continue to push over. But I'm reeling the elephant. It's like, yeah, how do we just

Julia Campbell:

exactly I, I love what you said, because I feel like just even bringing it back to the Peace Corps, it was very much white savior complex, I think a lot of the volunteers had, and I think I had a little bit, you know, just to be completely honest, but what you do when you get there is you pretty much have to do a year of just listening and learning. And you could come in and say, I'm going to, you know, call home and raise $10,000 and build a well. But if there's not actual investment from the community, and if it's not something that they want, they'll take a well, because a well is very needed. But if it's not going to address the systemic problems that are occurring, I mean, I I firmly think that this experience, that experience really taught me to, like you said, Listen to the community, you have to co create it with the community. So what are some ways that nonprofits can really implement that into their work?

Tammy Charles:

So there's, you know, there's a local foundation here who they have listening sessions, and I absolutely love that. I think the idea of you know, if you think about like public forums, right, so creating a space for people to really share, and then also create an inclusive environment, I think I think a lot of it is just, you know, first of all, when it comes to beneficiaries and the people that we're serving, and that we're co creating these solutions with, you have to build trust and relationship, just like you would build a relationship with a donor or investor, we have to treat our beneficiaries with that same regard guard with that same love and kindness and compassion. So, you know, even for me, when I think about, like, you know, you know, I work with, you know, funding authorities and government officials, and they'll talk about like, you know, how do we like, build economic stability in this community? And we'll talk about all these different strategies, and I'm like, wait a minute, wait a minute, let's just stop, stop, stop. We really need to start with going into the community. Yeah,

Julia Campbell:

we're not going to put

Tammy Charles:

that on that horse, right? And then, in an ask, what do you need and desire? What is your vision? What is your hope for yourself, your family, your neighborhood, because this, they have it in their hearts, they have in their minds, they're just looking for people to listen not to come in and just say, Oh, yeah, I got this degree in this Master's in this,

Julia Campbell:

we know better than you do. Right.

Tammy Charles:

So I think it takes a heart of humility. And I'll tell you, like, I think guilty of that, you know, even in Haiti, I'm guilty of that, as a Haitian American, I know, I have my privileges to even as a black woman, I recognize, I have privileges. And I still need to remind myself like, this is not about me. This is about you know, what I think we have to ask ourselves is what is our posture? When we're addressing social problems? Are we again, going back to what we just talked about? Do we see ourselves at the center? Do we see beneficiaries, it's a center. But to take this more at this granular level, is be willing to build relationships with the people that you're serving, build authentic relationships, have coffee, with, you know, these amazing people, you know, take the time to get to know them and their stories. And when you do, you'll realize that the the solutions lie within them. Exactly. So that's what I would say is the first step is building relationships.

Julia Campbell:

I love that well to actually piggyback on that, because when I heard your presentation at cause camp, I mean, you're an expert in creating powerful corporate partnerships as well. So not just creating funding relationships, relationships with clients. So I'd love to talk a lot about that. I'm just not an expert in that. And I think that most of my listeners, most of my clients, most of my students, they feel really challenged when approaching corporations or businesses, they don't know how to position themselves. So what are some tips you can give them to create those relationships to position their organizations for major corporate investments?

Tammy Charles:

Right, I think that's a great question. And same thing with my clients. I'm coaching a few clients around building a corporate relations strategy. And it goes back to what I mentioned first, like, Who are you serving? What is the social problem that you're serving, and then really looking within first, so we have a tendency to say, you know, okay, we want to build our corporate relationships, let's just start searching for dollars. And that's not a long term, you know, kind of like solution or strategy, you really want to begin thinking about what is the my strategic plan? What are our goals? And how do our How do corporate partners fit into our long term strategic goals? So you're looking at your programs, you're looking at your packages, and you're determining where do we want to connect corporate partners to within our organization? And then you building a plan from there. So you're determining how do we engage our corporate partners? Actually, before we even do that? How do we qualify these corporate partner? qualification? Right? Not everybody

Julia Campbell:

with a pulse is a good fit.

Tammy Charles:

Yes, yes. So you want to prospect and qualify. And it's a really simple way of doing that, especially for your larger corporations. So we'll start there is your Coca Cola is your bank of america is your Starbucks of the world, they have it on their website, what they fund, who they like to fund and so on. So if you go on their website, you go to Starbucks Foundation, and they say, you know, I don't know what they're so for example, their mission is around sustainability and your organization's missions around sustainability. That gives you an excuse to send an email to Starbucks Foundation, say, Hey, I was on your website, you did your research, you know, some mutual passions between our organizations, and I couldn't help us send you this email to let you know, we're doing this work. And we would love to set up a time to talk more about how we can. So you're prospecting and qualifying at the same time. And then as you're doing that, as an organization, what's going to be really important is you want to proactively, this is something that I say all the time, is, as you're building those relationships on the back end, think about what are some ways I can engage and sustain these relationships so there was a study done by I want to say was PwC was back in like 2019. And I think it was like upwards towards 70%, or 80% of the corporations that they kind of like connected with said or surveyed, said that they want to partner. They want long term partnerships with nonprofits. And they're looking for nonprofits who are able to sustain and engage. So what that means is they're looking on us, it's on us. So how can you create within your organization and engagement plan a communications plan, so that you're proactively thinking through those steps that leads to a long term partnership, but also obviously a financial partnership, and so on. But it really starts with doing your research, making those calls prospecting, qualifying, and then engaging those partners within your organization's mission. Hey, there,

Julia Campbell:

I'm interrupting this episode to share an absolutely free training that I created that's getting nonprofits of all sizes, big results. Sure, you've been spending hours on social media, but what can you actually show for it? With all this posting, and instagramming and tick talking? Does it really translate into action? In my free training, I'll show you exactly how to take people from passive fans to passionate supporters. And I'll give you specific steps to create social media content that actually converts head on over to nonprofits, that convert.com. Again, that's nonprofits that convert.com and start building a thriving social media community, for your nonprofit right now, without a big team, lots of tech overwhelm, or getting stuck on the question, What do I do next? Let me show you how it's done. I can't wait to see what you create. Now, when we're talking about creating these partnerships, do you feel like their incentives are important? Because that's where I think a lot of nonprofits start. They say, okay, we're gonna have a walk, and you are going to be getting five social media posts, six mentions in our emails and a picture in our brochure. So what what else? Should we be considering beyond that? And does that work? You know, I'm interested?

Tammy Charles:

That's a really good question. And so this is where my little bit of my bias comes in. Right. And I honestly, the research shows this too. So I'm grateful that the my bias is backed by research.

Julia Campbell:

I'm always grateful when that happens,

Tammy Charles:

to be honest, because that, so the reason why we mentioned, you know, this idea of cross sector partnerships, there was another, I do a lot of research in this area. And there was another great article by Stanford social innovation, I can't call the author, I can't remember his name right now, but

Julia Campbell:

find it, we'll put it in the show notes.

Tammy Charles:

Because it's so good. He talks about how all the social problems that we're solving are so complex and multi dimensional, that is going to take multi dimensional responses, yes, a cross into partnerships and policy, and for all of us, as stakeholders, to galvanize, and come together to solve those social problems. So why nonprofits, our core competency, is that we're within the community, we have a heart for a problem, we're engaging with it every day, where corporations bring to the equations, they have the innovation, they have the money, they have the infrastructure, when you put these two partners together, it is a force to be reckoned with. So the reason why I mentioned that is because yes, a corporate sponsorship is a good place to start. But you want to make sure that you're strategically thinking about how can I just like we're co creating solutions with beneficiaries? How can I partner with my corporate partner to co create solutions to like you think about like, you know, an example of this is like McKinsey and Company. And they they put a lot of reports around how do we address this issue of black wealth in America and how it's like negatives, and by 2025, or whatever, right? And so they're publishing these reports, but they also recognize we need a partner with organizations that's doing this work. Like we can't do this by ourselves. We are looking for the people who are the hands and feet everyday doing this work. How do we work together to solve this specific economic injustice? So I would say for those organizations, sponsorships is kind of like the first port of entry for for a lot of our relationships. But you This is why I said proactively think about how you want to grow your partnership so that you're having these conversations, so that by the time you're done with that event, what are some other ways can we deepen those partnerships? So it creates social value.

Julia Campbell:

I love that and you work with entrepreneurs, you work with a lot of different corporations, businesses, nonprofits, in your work at Tampa Bay Spark, yes. Can you tell me about that? What you do there? Because I know you've been wearing so many hats?

Tammy Charles:

Yeah, there's a lot a lot of stuff. I'm really I mean, I'm passionate about a lot of things, entrepreneurship, again, you know, understanding knowing thyself, right. I do believe that entrepreneurship, and even just leveraging innovation, even if you're not wanting to be an entrepreneur, but you want to work for a corporation or leverage innovation, I just truly believe that entrepreneurship, innovation, job creation, is really what's going to level the playing field for all like creating an inclusive economy. So spark was really birthed out of that spark was actually birthed out of Haiti again. So I went to a Haiti Tech Summit. Shout out to Christine Sue, for I always want to give her a shout out because her Tech Summit transformed my whole life. Wow.

Julia Campbell:

Is it always in Haiti?

Tammy Charles:

It's always in Haiti, actually. It's in a beautiful, quote, a bouquet. I think it's called in Haiti, but it's a beautiful resort to camera resort. And so she talked about like, how can we leverage innovation technology to really empower Haitian people. And I was like, This is bomb

Julia Campbell:

calm, bring it back to America, we got to do it.

Tammy Charles:

So get back to Tampa started Spark. And our really our mission and philosophy was around how can we leverage tech and innovation to level the economic playing field for all? So we hosted events? We had an event that talked about di as a competitive advantage? Yes. How can we look at diversity, not just as something we check, but actually, when you had different minds in a room, it shapes it transforms a world transforms your community? And so we've hosted events, we've kind of really focused on economic justice. But yeah, that's kind of like some of the work that we do in the Tampa Bay Community.

Julia Campbell:

And I started a podcast.

Tammy Charles:

And I'm just kidding. But they also record now. Yeah, and something that is a great idea. Yeah, cuz we do a lot of content like we didn't, we did an event around black men and mental health, which was a huge hit. We didn't want around the state of mental health in the black community. We're, you know, we were planning on economic justice series. So we're very content heavy, because our goal is to really inspire commerce smart conversations, that was 14. That's like our goal.

Julia Campbell:

so incredible. What's the future hold?

Tammy Charles:

Yeah, that's a really great question. I think at the end of the day, and you know, one thing, I'm sure everyone who's listening to this podcast, and one thing we all learn is like, you can pivot how you do work. But the end result should always be your focus. Like for us. Even though we put on webinars, we recognize, like, at the end of the day, whatever we do, as long as it sparks, like conversations around waste, and equity, inclusion, and loving our neighbors, and so on, it doesn't really matter how we do it, it's making sure that the end remains the same. It's kind of like not focused on the means to the end, but focus on the end result. So if the podcast is it, then that would be great.

Julia Campbell:

I love that. I think that that is the message that anyone listening can take away. So always have that envision in mind, but know that the GPS could take you off, as we all know, as has happened in the last year and a half. Yeah, right. We all kind of gone off track.

Tammy Charles:

Right? We welcome it, I think for me, and it's so interesting that you mentioned that because I've done a couple of events, speaking where, you know, a lot of organizations are like, Oh, my gosh, we're so used to doing these galleries and fundraisers with our corporate partner. What do I do with those sponsorships? We lost so much money. And, you know, one of the things I had to make sure I did was speak to these non these amazing, you know, leaders and nonprofit and say, No, no, like, pivot that relationship. At the end of the day, if your goal is to, you know, address, I don't know, you know, you know, empowering people with disabilities, for example, at the end of the day, that event was meant to do that. So you can't do it through an event. So what are some other ways? Can you take those same dollars and repurpose it for that same mission and work and obviously talk to your corporate partner, ask them if they're willing to do that, but be open to constantly pivoting? We're in a dynamic environment, we're dealing with trends that we have no control over. So in a really good example, is I had a client who they used to put out a conference every year, they had all these sponsorships, obviously, because of COVID. They can't do it. Right. So we I actually helped her put together a proposal because she wanted to build a brand new communications plan. So she actually got her corporate partners who would fund a conference to fund the this renewal of our corporate partner her her communications plan. And I love that so much because it's like, okay, we don't have an events. But what are some other needs? We have an organization where we strategically This is why I mentioned earlier about our strategic plan, where are we trying to go and how can we repurpose and pivot in order to get To that end, if it's addressing people with disabilities, is it providing them, you know, with support and empowering them? Is it you know, helping women who are dealing with domestic violence, your mission remains the same, your mission is your target, but the way you get there may change and that's fine.

Julia Campbell:

Your North Star Star. So I'm a huge fan of Simon Sinek. I don't know if you've read his book, or seen his TED Talk, start with why. So every time I start a client engagement, I start with why because just like you said, if the corporate partner or the potential prospect is not on board with the why they're not going to care about the what, they're not going to care if you're doing a virtual event, or race or an email blast, or whatever it is you're doing, if they are not on board with why you're doing it. So I think that's an incredibly important takeaway and message for people is that we get so hung up on the what and the how, like, what are we doing? How are we going to do it, but we don't focus enough on conveying the why, which is really what's going to keep people investing in us and keep our corporate, corporate or other partners engaged. So I mean, I think that's really important. So thank you for sharing that. Yeah. So another big question. You talk to leaders a lot. You are a leader. What do we see what are what are some implications for the sector for leaders as we enter this weird next normal, where we might not be able to have Gallas, we might be able to have Gallas and everything is so uncertain. How do we deal with this uncertainty? Oh, that's a that's a tough one. Julie, that's a tough it's a tough one. I still I ask every guest this question because I, I need to know the answer for myself.

Tammy Charles:

Right. I mean, that's a question, you know, as a consultant, as someone who works within organizational context, I'm asking that question, as well. I recently did a talk at a summit and I talked about how, so my background is in management, and there's this analysis before you create any plan, you actually should do a market analysis like, please, please, please do it. And there's this analysis, I'm gonna get a little bit technical. I'm gonna pull it back. Yes, there's this analysis, call a pestel. Analysis, II s TL E, political, economic, socio cultural, technological, legal, and environmental. And so that's an acronym. That's an acronym that's a management acronym for people who are like, What in the world pestle analysis, I

Julia Campbell:

will put it in the show notes.

Tammy Charles:

Please, please, please. So the reason why it's very important to do a pestel analysis is because like a really good example of this, the reason why blockbuster cease to cease to exist is because Netflix understood that there was this thing coming in, called streaming. And blockbuster, you know, they had like $100 earnings per share, they're doing really great or like, and Netflix was like, hey, this trend that you have no control over is coming regardless if you like it or not, and block was like, yeah, we'll be fine. And then within less than a year of blockbuster went to Smith's Netflix has now has taken over, you know everything when it comes to media. But the reason why I share that example is because, you know, as nonprofit leaders, we have to constantly scan our environment, what is happening so environmentally, this pandemic, has really shaken us, all of us, every industry, every sector has been impacted. But what we need to put into practice on a regular basis is we need to constantly scan our environment and proactively think of ways to respond. We don't have control. So you know, good example, maybe for nonprofits is okay, for this pandemic, even for for profits and nonprofits. We had no idea this was going to happen. But what are some ways can we look at our strategy to become more agile? Maybe when it comes to technology? Like right now for fundraisers, one of the things that we're seeing a lot in the fundraising space is new tools, in order to really engage clients and customers and donors. So how can we leverage some of these new technological trends in order for us to compete more effectively? So I really want us so I say all this to say, I do implore us as leaders, including myself to think big, to constantly survey the environment, do your market research, look at the trends and do a SWOT analysis? What are we good at? What are where are some areas that we haven't been good at that we've been scared to address? How can corporate relationships help us actually strengthen our weaknesses? Right? How can corporate partnerships Help Help us, you know, engage opportunities to minimize threats like, I think my kind of call to action when we think about everything that's going on is we do need to put into practice. environmental analysis looking at our environment, determining how can we can respond or even be proactive, and leverage corporate partners, policy partners and so on, to respond to that ever changing environment that we're facing. So I know that's probably like highly technical. But I really believe that that's where it starts. Because that's how we can create greater strategic plan greater financial plans, and compete better in this really competitive economy that we're in working for dollars and so much. So we have to figure out how do we stay relevant? Oh,

Julia Campbell:

how do we stay relevant? I love two things I wanted to pull out of that, that I really love. One is being proactive. That is something I teach I talk about I preach every day of my life, how can nonprofit stop just being so reactive and spinning their wheels and throwing up spaghetti and coming in on Monday and not knowing what their plan is for the week? How can we be more proactive and get ahead of some of these things. And then also just being able like not being a solution, looking for a problem. So not being creating an organization saying, Oh, I want to create this organization that gives away coats to children, when there's 10 other organizations that already do it, and probably have the infrastructure and the community relationships built up in the, you know, in the region or in the city? So not being a solution looking for a problem. But really focusing on what can we do best? And how can we sort of best do it. And I know that it's a crazy time, I don't even know when people are listening to this podcast, I'm sure it is. I'm sure that it is an uncertain time, that is just the new normal that we're living in. We don't know what is going to be happening in the next week, the next two weeks or next month. So having that Northstar of your why and then being able to pivot the how and the what that was really I think that's a really important point. So thank you so much for being here, Tammy. Okay. How can people find you? How can they connect with you? Where do you spend your time online?

Tammy Charles:

Yes, definitely. LinkedIn is I'm always on LinkedIn, love my LinkedIn community. So definitely look for me there. And then my website. as Julie mentioned earlier, I am Tammy calm. Yes, the verbal. I love it, you kind of get to see some of my work. And definitely there's kind of a contact button. So feel free to reach out. I love talking to leaders all around the world. So definitely, I'm an open book. I'm happy to chat.

Julia Campbell:

Yay. Well, thanks so much. I appreciate it. I know you're busy. And there's a lot of balls in the air. A lot going on. But thanks so much for sharing your wisdom, your expertise with us. Thank you. Thank you. You're awesome. Well, hey there, I wanted to say thank you for tuning in to my show, and for listening all the way to the end. If you really enjoyed today's conversation, make sure to subscribe to the show in your favorite podcast app, and you'll get new episodes downloaded as soon as they come out. I would love if you left me a rating or review because this tells other people that my podcast is worth listening to. And then me and my guests can reach even more earbuds and create even more impact. So that's pretty much it. I'll be back soon with a brand new episode. But until then, you can find me on Instagram at Julia Campbell seven, seven. keep changing the world. Nonprofit unicorn