Transforming Communities: The Nonprofit Experience Explored

Rich Bennett 0:00
I want to thank everybody for joining the conversation. So I decided I wanted to do a roundtable podcast on the nonprofit world because I get a lot of people that want to start a nonprofit and don't know how You get a lot of pop. A lot of people that are in the nonprofit world that are having troubles, raising funds and so forth. So I have some people here that have either started or worked at a nonprofit and the whole idea is we want you listeners to be able to get something out of this. Whether you want to start one or what. So when we go around to my left and have everybody introduce themselves, see what nonprofit they're from. And of course, one voice you'll recognize right? 

Erica Waskey 0:50
Hi, I'm Erica Laski. I'm representing perverted Willow Community. We are a5a1c3 nonprofit organization. We serve the communities of Hartford County, Baltimore County, and Southern P.A.. We are a Parenthood's support network, and we really bring education, empowerment and community to the parents and families in our area. 

Rich Bennett 1:15
Now, you're did you start it yourself? 

Erica Waskey 1:17
Yes. So I'm one of the co-founders. The other co-founder is Sarah Houck. She is a a Dula and educational professional. So she we do it together. Yeah. So and my exact role as deputy director. So I am the number two. 

Rich Bennett 1:35
And I'm sorry. You should recognize all these voices because they've all been on the podcast before. But the next one. 

Wendy Beck 1:42
Hi. I'm Wendy Beck, the founder and executive director of Rage Against Addiction, and I also co-host with Rich Often and 

my nonprofit is again, Rage Against Addiction. We provide awareness and support to anyone that struggles from drug and or alcohol abuse, including the families. And we have three sober living houses for women in early recovery, along with a couple other programs that support those that are struggling. 

Rich Bennett 2:17
And I think you and Miss Lorna are going to take over my position 

because she actually hopefully everybody remembers you, Sherry. But I think I think your daughter stole that show. 

Shari Bailey 2:33
I was just on the sideline and it's okay. 

Wendy Beck 2:35
So what's up? 

Rich Bennett 2:38
Oh, sorry. 

Shari Bailey 2:39
No worries. My name is Sherry Bailey. I am founder and executive director of Layla's Gift, which is inspired by one of my twin daughters named Layla. Very, very, very long story short, Layla was not supposed to live past two years old due to her very rare syndrome, which ended up being Hopkins first case study back in 2014. There are only about 100 cases in the world of the syndrome, and that could not tell me much. But they did know that a lot of kids do not make it past the age of two. Fast forward, Alana and Layla are both nine years old now and our organization advocates for supports and celebrates children with special needs and disabilities. Part of our core program is to throw free birthday parties and milestone celebrations for children with special needs and disabilities, recognizing that each year is not just another year around the sun, it involves a lot of challenges, triumphs, and all the above. 

Wendy Beck 3:33
Beautiful. Fantastic. 

Rich Bennett 3:35
Then my mentor. 

How are you doing? I'm doing good. Good. 

Greg Derwart 3:41
Checking things off the list. 

Rich Bennett 3:42
Yes, I am. 

Greg Derwart 3:43
All right, good. My name is Gregor Award and I am a life coach and business consultant. But my background is in non-profit operations. I've served in various roles, places like the Arc of Baltimore, supporting folks with developmental disabilities in Baltimore City, in Baltimore County Code for the Baltimore Office of Promotion in the Arts, which is the city's Arts Council and film office, and runs all of their festivals like Artscape and the book Festival. And then early in my career, I was head of administration for the Maryland State Bar Association, which is ac6. And we can get into that, you know, the differences between ac3 and ac6. 

Rich Bennett 4:25
But isn't there ac92? 

Wendy Beck 4:27
There's a lot. Yeah. 

Greg Derwart 4:28
There's you see for a lot of syntax are often C force. 

Rich Bennett 4:32
Majeure All 501c3. Let's swing into that. What is the difference? 

Greg Derwart 4:39
Well, ac3 is a charitable organization. And so if I, if I donate to your C three, that's tax deductible. 

ac651c6 is usually designated as a membership association. So like a Chamber of commerce Alliance club, you know, state bar association, you know, professional associations are usually C sixes. 

Wendy Beck 5:02
I have a question. So, you know. 

Rich Bennett 5:04
You don't have to raise your. 

Wendy Beck 5:05
Game to. See a C4 is a is different than ac3 and it allows you to lobby. Yes that's correct. 

Greg Derwart 5:14
That's why I said PACs political action committees are often C fours. 

Wendy Beck 5:18
Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 5:19
Well, what's ac9? Because I've heard the term lot two. Or maybe I'm thinking maybe I'm thinking of ac4. What are churches? 

Greg Derwart 5:27
Churches are non-profits, but they're not C threes or C six is. They don't need that designation. 

Rich Bennett 5:32
Okay? 

Greg Derwart 5:33
They don't need any. So like, I'm active, you know, a leader at my church and it's nonprofit, but it doesn't need that any federal C three or C six designation. 

Rich Bennett 5:45
Okay. Okay. Now, as far as nonprofit, I guess, how long did you start? You were there. 

Erica Waskey 5:52
Officially? 18 months. We have our nonprofit status and then we've been running our programs for two years. 

Rich Bennett 6:01
Okay. So when do you've had yours the longest? 

Wendy Beck 6:04
Yeah. Rachel B, ten years old in June. 

Rich Bennett 6:08
All right. Let's start with you. What was the hardest part about starting a nonprofit? Because you're going back ten years ago to where Sherry's got the newest one and Erika's like in between? 

Wendy Beck 6:21
Well, I mean, I actually like obviously, the reason that I did it was because I wanted better services for people at my daughter who were struggling. And there were some nonprofits out there, but I just really wasn't aware of them at the time. And the services that she was getting, I felt could be better. And so I wanted to do that. So personally, I like was a paralegal and that was my original career. I worked as a paralegal for a corporation for 23 years, and so I worked with attorneys. And so I just literally printed out the application and walked around to each one of them and asked questions. And so I kind of like compiled it together and, you know, like just kind of like, Hey, can I ask you this? And hey, can I ask you that? And they were great. And so then I just I filed for it. It wasn't really that difficult for me at the time. I don't know how it is now, but and maybe because I had that help, I don't know. I mean, I literally printed off the checklist of online the application and just filled it out, talked I, I did talk to a woman that was friends with my sister that had a nonprofit organization, and she was doing some fundraising for like the fire for like firefighters and stuff like that. So, you know, I just compiled all my information and then just kind of started fundraising, you know, and it was ten years ago. But our oldest house is going to be five years old in November. So it took me like it took me about five years to get to that goal. Right. But we did do other smaller programs during that time and just kind of like came up with the plan. So that was kind of how I started. 

Greg Derwart 8:07
Now, do each of your organizations have boards? 

Wendy Beck 8:10
Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 8:12
Erika, was that easy for you? 

Erica Waskey 8:15
So we were already running our after Baby club program. So support groups for like new moms or moms with young babies for about, oh, probably like six or eight months before we kind of had that pivotal moment where we were like, these are free support groups. And yeah, we're getting I was getting paid cause I was working for another non-profit at the time doing community outreach, and then Sarah was just doing her doula business. So we were essentially just kind of giving our time and energy to this and we were like, We're going to start charging people to come to a support group. Are we going to or like, what are our other options? And so I think I was the one who brought up. I was like, why don't we just start a non-profit? And she's like, You're crazy. But okay. 

Wendy Beck 9:00
So you talked about it for. 

Erica Waskey 9:03
Probably three or four months and really did like the research on it, because there are two different forms. There's like the easy form and like making it easy for filing taxes. It really is. There's a lot there's a lot. 

Wendy Beck 9:16
Of money. Stuff that goes on. 

Erica Waskey 9:19
And then there's more of like elaborated form. And it's really just based on how much money you were already like. I think it's about like your budget and how much money you're already bringing in. And we were new. We weren't bringing any money in, so we just did the easy form and it's like it probably took us 15 minutes of Panera. 

Wendy Beck 9:35
Just like typing. 

Erica Waskey 9:36
Stuff. 

Wendy Beck 9:36
In. 

Erica Waskey 9:38
And then it's just the waiting game. And I think we heard that probably in three months. 

Rich Bennett 9:41
Really? 

Wendy Beck 9:42
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 9:43
Now, what about for you, Sherry? 

Shari Bailey 9:45
I think very similar story. I heard a lot of nightmares around the filing process, the timelines. I mean, I heard people say it took. 

Wendy Beck 9:54
Me two years. 

Shari Bailey 9:55
To hear back and that kind of intimidated me, to be honest. But the it was flawless. So we filed in January and got it in April. 

Rich Bennett 10:07
And I've heard that a lot. Hear a lot of people say it just takes too long. And I think the ones that I. 

Wendy Beck 10:12
Know why. 

Rich Bennett 10:13
I think people don't stay on top. 

Erica Waskey 10:15
Of it, Right. I think. 

Rich Bennett 10:16
They forget. 

Shari Bailey 10:17
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 10:18
You know, because we I've seen that with a lot of the Lions Clubs. You know, Lions Clubs aren't the 523. So we start our own foundation, which is 523. But a lot of the clubs said they filed years ago and haven't heard anything back. Yeah. Yes. They don't. 

Wendy Beck 10:35
Have. 

Erica Waskey 10:36
They're like user error though. 

Rich Bennett 10:38
I think a lot of people do try to do it themselves. A lot of times, if, you know, I guess if you don't know the legal terms. Right, it could be. Yeah. I mean. 

Wendy Beck 10:50
There's a lot on there that, you know, like I had to ask questions and stuff like that. Yeah. You know, thankfully, like it went through and that was just, you know, easy for me. But I feel like the challenge is actually day to day stuff. And the bigger that we the bigger we get. You know, as you all know, we're wearing so many hats, like literally, like now I have employees and, you know, you've got like, oh, gosh, payroll and h.r. And now, you know, evaluation ends and reviews and it's like, wait a minute, this isn't even like, I don't even feel like I'm on the mission somedays. I'm just in. Like, a busy day. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 11:33
And I'm glad you said that because a lot of people, a lot of people think when I see a lot of people, people that aren't in the non-profit world think that a nonprofit is not a business. 

Wendy Beck 11:45
It's absolutely 100% business. 

Greg Derwart 11:48
And but the the journey you just explained is is important for folks to realize, you know, when when someone has an idea to start a nonprofit is because of some mission or purpose, you know, purpose that resonates with you, you know, And that's, you know, like the at that point, you're the you're the visionary, you know, And as you grow, you know, the the role of a board becomes the strategic big picture visionary. And then it's the staff that is the tactical implementer of the vision. 

Wendy Beck 12:28
Right? 

Yes, absolutely. But I feel like the you know, at this point in this the stage of the game for for rage, I mean, we're growing and we're adding on all of this stuff. And it's a it's a learning process all the way through. Thankfully, I had a background working in an office and supervising people and and, you know, doing billing and all this kind of stuff. But when you're all of a sudden your mission turns into a business, which is awesome. It has, you know, and I mean and you're doing it, you, you kind of have to learn as you go. And that's a lot of work. And it's countless hours like everyone here knows, like you don't stop at 5:00. You know, you don't you like. 

Erica Waskey 13:09
You think about it all the time. 

Wendy Beck 13:10
Yeah, well, when we. 

Rich Bennett 13:12
First met, you were still working. 

Wendy Beck 13:14
Yeah, I. I loved. Four. 

Rich Bennett 13:16
Hours out the wazoo between your job and the nonprofit. 

Wendy Beck 13:19
Yeah, I worked full time, and then I left my job after 23 years last August. So it's been a little over a year thing. 

Rich Bennett 13:28
You listen. 

Shari Bailey 13:28
Gradually. 

Wendy Beck 13:29
I know. And. And that was really hard. And we talked about it because, I mean, you're like, just do it. Just do it. And I'm like, Oh. I'm scared, you know? But like. Well, because, you know, I have to live. I need a paycheck. And so, you know, you're you're the creator of what you're doing and it doesn't stop. 

Shari Bailey 13:48
Mm hmm. Well, I think it's a good problem to have and is probably a harsh word. Right. But it's a good problem to have to have a staff, because earlier in nonprofit entrepreneurship, it's all volunteer basis. Right. And like, if you look at myself, I have a full time job and my full time job is not just, you know, an easy job. I'm a VP of a company, right? So there's a lot of balance that it takes. But I think you said it best where there's a purpose behind it, and when you're driven by that purpose, you'll work countless hours to make the mission come to life. And all of us want to achieve the moment where you've reached, which is having a staff and having paid employees to help drive some of these objectives versus depending on volunteers that may or may not be able to drive work. Exactly. 

Wendy Beck 14:40
Well, and I noticed with our mission, we have people that want to volunteer because they're in the thick of of their family member or struggling or they lost a loved one and then they kind of recover. And and I'm not saying like permanently recover, but they're ready to move on with their life. So then you have to have like a whole new group of volunteers here to train and nurture. And so you're constantly like. 

Erica Waskey 15:07
So time consuming is like, yeah, we just actually we just finished up a training cohort for new volunteers for well, Oh, good for you. Yeah. So we just spent the last like three, four months doing it. And the only reason we did it is because we got a grant from United Way to pay us. 

Wendy Beck 15:26
Mm. Yeah. 

Erica Waskey 15:28
You're over there. 

Wendy Beck 15:28
Too. I remember. 

Erica Waskey 15:30
That. We also got the grant. 

Shari Bailey 15:31
Had routed Willow. It clicked for me, and I was going to talk to you after, but I was like, Yes, you were one of the award recipients. 

Erica Waskey 15:38
And so it's kind of like validating, you know, just to have other people, a very established other people give you money and funds and just being like, we believe in your work. And so it's not just us two random people trying to save the world, one mom at a time. It's, you know, united Way being like, we like, like that, like keep doing it. So we're going to keep doing it. 

Greg Derwart 16:00
Yeah. When you guys talk about needing volunteers, what expectations do you put on your board in terms of. 

Shari Bailey 16:07
Oh, that's a whole topic in itself? 

Wendy Beck 16:09
Well, we can talk about that. 

Shari Bailey 16:11
This is a whole topic in itself because board engagement is so critical. Yeah, absolutely. Unfortunately, board members do not get paid, so they have to be driven by a similar purpose. Yeah, exactly. And most of them are not. They don't have the same intimate connection as like for for example, my organization's based on my daughter. They don't have a special needs daughter, most of them right? So those that don't maybe want to help, but they're not fully connected with the mission in that perspective. 

Greg Derwart 16:42
Well, and you can you can be mindful of that when you're recruiting board members. 

Shari Bailey 16:46
Exactly right. 

Greg Derwart 16:47
You know, you need to make sure that, number one, they know the mission resonates with them. But it doesn't hurt to have a lawyer, a CPA, a someone that's good at asking for money, you know, in fundraising, you know, and create that, you know, diverse board that can be strategic, you know, in all those disciplines. Exactly. But also be willing to get their hands dirty and, you know, step up to the plate and help. 

Shari Bailey 17:09
It's so true. And I don't know if you can resonate to this, but most new nonprofits, their board members, are people that believe in the mission, right? Because you typically can't go and say, hey, I'm hiring for board members and people don't know who you are, and they're going to be excited about joining that. That's very seldom that that will happen, right? 

Greg Derwart 17:30
It often starts with family and friends that you know. 

Shari Bailey 17:33
Exactly where they're. 

Greg Derwart 17:34
Walking alongside you, whatever, you know, you were, you know, going through whatever caused you to create the nonprofit in the first place? 

Shari Bailey 17:41
Absolutely. And then when you start getting the momentum and you start seeing the growth and you start seeing the opportunities, you you really realize the importance of the board and to be strategic and to help with the fundraising, with the strategic objectives and all of these things where maybe earlier on you weren't thinking of that. You were thinking, let me create my board to help with with creating an organization. But as you progress and this is where I am now in my organization, in less than two years, it's been a phenomenal jump in progress, which is amazing. But we also are ready to take it to the next level, right? So that's wow. 

Greg Derwart 18:23
So so it's good to be mindful of, you know, using your bylaws and making sure that, you know, there's language there that talks about, you know, board roles and staggered terms and term limits. And you said that you're getting that mix of institutional knowledge and new ideas come in, coming in and having that blend. 

Shari Bailey 18:44
You know, I've had people ask me, what are things that you're looking for out of a board member? And my response has always been the same board members will give you time. You don't have resources and connections, you don't have connections to and financial support. Those are the three things. If the board members do that right, you will catapult year after year to different levels. And when you start seeing that your board members and I'm not saying I'm going through this, but this is advice I give when you start seeing that your board members are not putting in the time or are not creating the connections and are not helping with the fundraising, then it's probably time to refresh your board. 

Rich Bennett 19:26
Right. 

Shari Bailey 19:27
And that's what we. 

Greg Derwart 19:27
Need to have in the bylaws, like term limits so that it's an excuse to not renew them. 

Wendy Beck 19:35
You know? 

Rich Bennett 19:36
And the other thing is, too, with the term limits, it doesn't mean that a board member, once our term limit comes up, that they're still not going to be around to help. 

Shari Bailey 19:45
Exactly. 

Rich Bennett 19:46
Because if they believe in the mission. 

Greg Derwart 19:48
They'll still volunteer. 

Rich Bennett 19:49
Exactly. Exactly. 

Wendy Beck 19:51
And I'm 

pretty, you know, lucky because I had a very small and mighty board from the very beginning. Everybody was affected in some way. And I, you know, basically I'm just now adding to it because I'm like, okay, now we need to level up. We need to kind of like because I was just very focused on what I was doing, like I was also in a in a period of grief. There was also a lot going on, you know, just establishing the programs and stuff like that. So but now, now that we've got some time under our belt, it is time to level up and and I can stay where we are right now. And I would be very satisfied with what we've accomplished. But I feel like there's still such a need that to benefit the organization is to add these people that are going to bring these things that you guys are talking about and and my board's great actually. Like, I love them so much, you know, And they just, you know, they're always supportive. They come to the events, they show up, they do whatever they need to do. And I've been very lucky with that. So I'm going to be honest, I'm very timid in bringing in new people because I don't want to I don't want to mess up like a good thing. So but I also know, like you said, you know, the fundraising and the connections and all of that kind of stuff are really important. So it's kind of like a balance. And and if bridge grew to a point where, you know, it was beyond me and like, you know, maybe I'm not doing it anymore or something like that, I wouldn't really care. But since it's like my baby and my pain and my all that, I kind of feel like I feel like it's my family. And so, you know, I think that there's a difference, like someplace like the United Way that's like huge or the YMCA or something like that. But when you have these community based organizations that are serving the immediate community, it's because there's a need. And we started it for a reason. Absolutely. Yeah. 

Greg Derwart 21:50
Yeah. That's one thing I was going to mention. Some of these nonprofits that I've worked for over the years are larger and the role of the board is more hear the term an advisory board and is solely providing that strategic direction. But to your point, these smaller community nonprofits, you know, you need those board members that are going to roll their sleeves up and actually, you know. 

Wendy Beck 22:12
Show up at the events, you know, out to sponsor letters or, you know, just just be the voice of the mission, be able to say the mission statement, you know, the bridge to mission statement. 

Rich Bennett 22:24
Through I'm. 

Wendy Beck 22:25
Sorry 

to hear the statement. That it's. 

Rich Bennett 22:30
Not the right word. 

Wendy Beck 22:31
It's the elevator pitch. So, yeah. And you need to have those people that can that can do that. And, you. 

Shari Bailey 22:37
Know. 

Greg Derwart 22:37
Well, that's the other thing. Board members should be ambassadors and cheerleaders in the community for you as well. So in the organization. 

Wendy Beck 22:45
Yes. Right. Yeah. This is a good conversation. And not only being someone that, you know, started a nonprofit, I recently joined a board. I was asked to be on a board, and I'm learning a lot that way. Like stuff that like there are bigger they do, you know, similar. But I'm kind of like, again, in that whole level of kind of like mindset right now, just because, you know, and it's like we're. 

Erica Waskey 23:10
Really different jobs to like starting like an organization and being that like board to start something and then being something that's like this thing has been established for decades and like we're just kind of running it, right? Those are just completely separate jobs. Yeah. So yeah, that's probably like my biggest advice is for anybody who wants to start a nonprofit, just know that like you are the one doing everything and pretty much every day. Yeah, exactly. Cause like I'm also on the board or other co-founder is on the board and then our other two board members are the ones who run our programs. So, like, we're just constantly doing stuff. 

Wendy Beck 23:46
And you're kind of set up the way Bridge has been set up where I call it a working board, because we're we're the ones who, you know, we started it. We've been there from the ground and now I have having my board members that are employees and then I'm got like kind of push them aside and be like, okay, you can't be both, but I'm still going to be on the board. And if I have to vote on something that's, you know, something that the board isn't doesn't want to be a part of in the vote, I step out, right? So like, you know, there's it's a lot. Yeah, it is a lot. 

Rich Bennett 24:17
What are some of the biggest struggles you guys are having now 

for anybody. 

Wendy Beck 24:24
To see through the speakers? 

Rich Bennett 24:26
And Eric is like. 

Wendy Beck 24:27
Money, money, money. 

Rich Bennett 24:28
Money, money. All right. So I Eric we did you guys do it to raise funds. 

Erica Waskey 24:33
Writing all of the grants? Yeah. We've written a lot of grants over the last couple of months and I think we've really only gotten one, which I feel like is not terrible. That's apparently a thing. And like the grant writing world, you write 100 and you get maybe two. And so if you're lucky, Yeah, if you're lucky, yeah. And so it just really thankfully we have a background in grant writing and we both are very like passionate writers and so we can get that like mission statement translated. But there are some people, you know, if you don't know what you're doing and you can't like, write all like grants are very complicated. Very complicated. Yes. Because there's like a whole narrative portion. There's so many questions, there's the budget portion, There's like it's a lot for somebody who has never had that background before. So, you know, I mean, well. 

Greg Derwart 25:25
After you get the grant, there's often a lot of reporting requirements, you know, following up afterwards, you know. 

Erica Waskey 25:31
Yeah. And so just kind of finding that continuous like, you know, we want to do work and we are doing great work, but then we also do want to get compensated because, you know, you have to pay your bills and you have to eat. 

Wendy Beck 25:42
Yeah. 

Erica Waskey 25:42
And yes, they're trying to figure that out because, I mean, you know, we do like the grassroots fundraising stuff and like, ask our members to, you know, give like 20 bucks at a time, that kind of thing. But it's really got to really take you from the next level is like the the big chunks of change, which I don't know which are harder to get. 

Wendy Beck 26:00
I mean, we actually are, you know, put together to opportunities over the past month and neither one is going to fizzle out. So now we're like off to the next, you know what I mean? But then we got like a small one from, you know, another community organization. And so, you know, it's just kind of like trial and error. And also and I'm sure you know, this that it's competitive. Very it's extremely competitive. And you're you know, you're competing with people just like yourself who, you know, have a passion. But then you're also competing with the larger nonprofits that, you know, like for us, like hospitals and stuff like that that don't necessarily need it as bad as we do. Well, we're the boots on the ground, right? So the boots on the ground, you know, are actually in the trenches doing the work, but they're not getting the recognition and they don't have those grant writers. They don't have that, you know, larger, you know, I guess, umbrella of resources. 

Rich Bennett 26:58
What is well, and correct me if I'm wrong and there's, what, over 700 nonprofits just in Harford County probably. 

Wendy Beck 27:04
Yeah. Oh, wow. 

Rich Bennett 27:05
And list. Oh, that's ridiculous. 

Greg Derwart 27:07
Well, that's the other thing in terms of competition, you know, if you're a small community nonprofit, you know, in Harford County, you know, you're competing against, you know, not only all these other nonprofits, but there's only so many folks. And, you know, we're we have 260,000 residents, right, from county and the old 8020 rule, it's usually like 20% of of the of your group does 80% of the work, you know, so they're the ones that are donating to each other's boards and serving on each other's boards and all that. 

Rich Bennett 27:43
And some of these grants that you're doing may not be strictly county based either, right? So you're where you may be competing against 700 nonprofits here. You're also competing to multiply that. Yeah. By the ones throughout the state, sometimes throughout the country. Yeah. Yeah. You know, So what's your the biggest challenge is. 

Shari Bailey 28:00
Your I won't echo the same sentiments because I think that's a given. I will give it a different twist, which is I think, the misconception that nonprofits or nonprofit founders have this vault that they can go in and grab money for printing money for. 

Wendy Beck 28:17
Investing money. 

Shari Bailey 28:19
For material, and it does not work that way. So similar to what you said earlier, which it is a business and there are startup costs that you don't have a magic bullet to pay for. And it's not just the money that's necessary to keep the operations going. It's the money necessary to build the brand, to market, to build your reach, to do the programming of vending and all of these things that comes with it. So I think that's the biggest misconception and frankly has been the largest challenge for me, because we're not just the you know, when it comes to Leila's gift, it's it's tied to my daughter. Right. Right. So it's not just I'm not going to put a flyer out there that I don't agree with how it looks or it's not branded in the way that I want it to be and whatnot. So because of those extra perks that I like, it costs money. That and mom was paying for that, right? Because it's said I'm not dipping into the Leila's gift funding to pay for that because donors want to pay for the celebration. So what ends up happening is mama pays to make it look the way that I want it to look. And I want my daughter presented it. And I want the community to recognize Leila's gift to be So I think that's the biggest misconception for nonprofits. 

Rich Bennett 29:31
But I love your logo, too. I love the fact that all the gifts you do the same way. 

Wendy Beck 29:37
Yes. 

Rich Bennett 29:38
You know, which is awesome. 

Shari Bailey 29:39
It's funny, I had someone recently ask me, Do you think you can design like a smaller box? So we know. 

Wendy Beck 29:44
Right? 

No, no, I have one. 

Shari Bailey 29:50
When you see that, you know it's Layla's gift. I don't want it to be in variations and whatnot. No, this is Layla's gift. It's part of the branding. 

Rich Bennett 29:57
Another problem you were having we talked before was find in the building. Have you had any luck with that yet? 

Shari Bailey 30:05
Crossing my fingers. I'm hoping. But again, it goes back to the funding. It's another investment, right? You don't typically have people waiting to give you a building, but I think that's I think that's the beauty of our journey to is you start it with an idea and then you bring it to fruition. And then being able to have people on board and appreciate your mission makes it all worthwhile. And I think we're right under two years and what we have done we should be very proud of really. Let's get them we are very proud of. But imagine five, ten years from now when we are in the same position as great for addiction and we have employees and we have a building and we have community members that are giving us recurring donations and all of these things, it will get there. Yeah, and it's about patients, but I think it's about continuing to to be resilient, knowing that you're not going to get every grant. And that doesn't mean that your mission is a failure. It means that it just competed with someone else, that for whatever reason the funding organization decided to go for. But that doesn't mean quit. Right. And I think that's a big part. Two of the the resilience piece of nonprofits is don't take it personal. And because it's a personal mission, sometimes you often do. 

Wendy Beck 31:21
Take it personal. It is. Well, I think the biggest challenge for me is just, you know, competing for some of those larger grants that, you know, we haven't necessarily got yet in order to kind of get to the next level. Like, how do I how do I do that? Because we're sustaining and we're we're helping people and we have, you know, data to support that now. So I felt like it's taken this long to get the data, to get the grants because I can't like a day one. No one's going to know who's that like you. What what have you done now? We're like, now we house 20 women. We have, you know, an alumni group that comes back into the houses and does, you know, meetings and shows up for our events and just all that kind of stuff, I think takes time to get the recognition and, you know, and that you have to build it. 

Greg Derwart 32:13
And that's an important thing to mention. Just creating baseline performance metrics and then showing progress, you know, because that's all going to be in a grant application as well. 

Wendy Beck 32:24
You know. 

Greg Derwart 32:25
So just think about that from the beginning. Just think about what the performance metric should be, you know, what's the definition of success and then track it, you know, with data. 

Shari Bailey 32:35
Absolutely right. And it's just like any business, right within the first three years and you can read this all the time, businesses can fumble. So that's why people that are awarding grants and such, they really don't take seriously any organizations under three years because they're like, I'm going to give you time to grow up your book. 

Wendy Beck 32:54
And I people think this. 

Greg Derwart 32:55
Is when you need. 

Wendy Beck 32:56
The money the most. I read about I had a. We had one recently and this was just like last week that we don't we don't give money to first year operations because it's something that we were going to, you know, maybe add on. So, you know, it was kind of like, well, we're not really a first year operation, but maybe this program would be. So it's like, you know, it's it's all on who your audience is. And, you know, rage has been very successful because of the community, because of the people that we have helped. And at the time, you know, ten years ago, addiction was looked at very differently than it is today, because now there's a lot more resources, there's a lot more, you know, treatment plans and all paths and all kinds of stuff. We're just. 

Greg Derwart 33:42
Understanding that. 

Wendy Beck 33:43
It's an education. But I felt like it's taken ten years to get there. We're not anywhere near where we need to be. So again, that's like, you know, you kind of have to like get that reputation and be able to say, Look, okay, now this is what we're doing. Can you please give us money? Please, please. 

Erica Waskey 34:00
Please, please. 

Shari Bailey 34:00
Please. And you have to be a pioneer. 

Wendy Beck 34:02
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 34:03
So you ten years to to build that reputation. And your road rage against addiction is now known. What? I guess you can say internationally. 

Wendy Beck 34:12
Yeah. We've had, you know, 

supporters because we have a very large Facebook following as well. That's national. And so, you know, we we have followers in Canada and everywhere. So that's great. 

Shari Bailey 34:28
That's wonderful. 

Wendy Beck 34:29
But but then again, there's people in this county that may never even have heard of us. Right? And so, you know, you just you just don't know. 

Rich Bennett 34:35
Which in a way that could be a good thing. Yes. We can also. 

Wendy Beck 34:38
Be affected. By it, right? 

Rich Bennett 34:40
Yeah. And speaking of which, how how are you guys? Well, let's stay on the raise of money first, because we've talked about grants, But what about as far as fundraisers? What have you done or want to do there? Areas like. 

Erica Waskey 34:55
You know, we've done a lot, but it's more of like 

community, family based stuff. So it's a lot of like Chipotle fundraisers, checking cheese fundraisers. 

Wendy Beck 35:06
Okay. You know, that's like a. 

Erica Waskey 35:07
Couple maybe like 100, a couple hundred bucks here and there. But we don't have like the back end funds to throw galas right now and like, throw these gigantic parties and crab feasts and whatever, because, like, it takes money. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 35:24
There's sometimes sometimes those will not bring in the right. 

Erica Waskey 35:28
Yeah. 

Greg Derwart 35:28
So what do you guys all have a good database of supporters email addresses. That's key. Are you using constant contact or some type of system? Because you know, Thanksgiving's coming up giving Tuesday is after that. And that's an easy way of just, you know, just reminding folks, we're still here. We're still here helping the community and we still need your help. And so just from a from a branding standpoint and just touches just there's a there's a 

method to like consistent touches just to keep. 

Wendy Beck 36:02
Folks and. They say keep. You front of mind. Who donates once is more likely to donate again. Yeah yeah. Then you know a repeat donor and we have a newsletter so we have a newsletter and we kind of pick a topic and we just kind of showcase whatever is happening or whatever we've done. And we, we do have a database. I mean, it's not super large, but it's enough. And, you know, so and it's growing. 

Rich Bennett 36:29
Yeah. 

Wendy Beck 36:29
Yeah. What did you. See them Did are you signed up for the newsletter? Yeah, it's. 

Did you see the this, this one. Yeah. Okay. Good. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 36:40
And my favorite because when I opened up the newsletter, the first thing that went into my mind and I didn't do it I need to do it is to share the newsletter. 

Wendy Beck 36:48
Oh, okay. 

Rich Bennett 36:49
Which is going to help build up your database. 

Shari Bailey 36:52
And you bring up a good point because it should not be on the nonprofit's solely to spread the word. And this is where building the connections with your supporters and your donors is key because you get those emails all the time. Are you taking the time to forward it and pass it along and encouraging your friends and family to do the same? Right, Because that's. 

Greg Derwart 37:13
And that's where social media can be helpful too. So opposed to your newsletter on your Facebook page and encourage all of everybody that's following you on social media to to share to their network and just compounds. 

Rich Bennett 37:24
Yeah. And that's one of the thing when I you know a half came over when we feature the nonprofit of the week, that's one of the first things I look for. Do they have a newsletter? Because that's one of the things I always recommend subscribe to the newsletter, which is why are you looking to that? 

Erica Waskey 37:39
It's a 2024 goal for us. 

Rich Bennett 37:41
All right. You don't. 

Wendy Beck 37:43
Know. We don't ever need. 

Rich Bennett 37:44
At the scene, but I like. 

Wendy Beck 37:47
This book. You have a book. 

Erica Waskey 37:50
Okay. We're going to have a plug. 

Rich Bennett 37:52
On goal setting. 

Wendy Beck 37:53
Nice. 

Erica Waskey 37:54
2024 goal. 

Wendy Beck 37:55
All right. 

Rich Bennett 37:56
Hemingway, how how long? Your accountability partner, how old do you guys look? Five, 23 now. 

Erica Waskey 38:01
18 months. 

Rich Bennett 38:02
18. 

Erica Waskey 38:03
We're busy doing the work. Okay sitting with women who are struggling with postpartum depression and non supportive partners. And they have a baby on one arm and a toddler on another arm and they're just crying. 

Wendy Beck 38:15
I hope. 

Erica Waskey 38:15
These women I don't. 

Wendy Beck 38:16
Have time to read the news. Yeah, 

she's cute, too, and she's. On the ground right now. So like when when I first opened the first house for my daughter's house, I was the one who, you know, hired the not hired but had the house manager come in, like, interviewed her and set her up and had the house and everything. And then it got to a point where I was able to hire someone to be the program director. And now we have three houses, and I'm not the one sitting there in front of them bringing them into the house, you know, checking their, their, their, their stuff when they come in. And I have someone to do that. So then my role has changed into that business role, which isn't really like, you know, warm and fuzzy all the time. You know, you don't, you know. So, you know, it's kind of like now I'm in a different kind of like position than I was when I first started. And you'll have to make some of those decisions because I you know, I'm not in recovery, but the program director is and she does a fabulous job and that's a better role for her. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 39:24
With you, Erica, and certainly two of you so far. 

Erica Waskey 39:26
So two of us that are really like day to day stuff. Okay. And then the other two women on our board also, like, run our programs, but like, we set them up to kind of just run themselves like a Facebook group and then a blog. So it's not. 

Rich Bennett 39:41
So have you thought do you guys get well, I guess you really don't do anything really volunteers, do you? 

Erica Waskey 39:47
Well, we just had a volunteer training program. 

Rich Bennett 39:50
Okay. 

Erica Waskey 39:50
We are now growing our team by 11 new people. 

Rich Bennett 39:55
Have you thought about Because, you know, honestly, I think a newsletter is very important. 

Wendy Beck 40:00
Very for especially. 

Rich Bennett 40:01
For what you're doing. If you're. 

Wendy Beck 40:02
Doing a blog, you just do all cut and. Paste. Yeah, you know what I mean? 

Rich Bennett 40:06
Email, as we talked. 

Greg Derwart 40:07
About, you know, grooming volunteers and identifying strategic roles for board members, find someone who's in communications. 

Wendy Beck 40:15
Yeah, that's what we're here for. 

Rich Bennett 40:17
Community college interns. Yeah. 

Erica Waskey 40:20
I would love to be an intern. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 40:23
All right. 

Erica Waskey 40:23
So you call me. 

Greg Derwart 40:24
So let's add that to the list for 20. 

Rich Bennett 40:26
Yeah. 

Wendy Beck 40:26
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 40:27
It hasn't been. Seriously. 

Erica Waskey 40:28
I mean, we have these plans, but it's like, about tempered growth, because if you exhaust yourself and you burn yourself out, then you're no good. 

Shari Bailey 40:35
So. 

Wendy Beck 40:35
Yeah. 

Erica Waskey 40:36
And then what? Then I quit. 

Wendy Beck 40:37
Why do you need an intern? 

Rich Bennett 40:39
So you don't burn yourself. 

Wendy Beck 40:41
Out and I get it. 

Rich Bennett 40:43
Or even a virtual assistant. 

Wendy Beck 40:45
Mm hmm. Costs money. 

Rich Bennett 40:47
What an intern doesn't do. 

Wendy Beck 40:49
Yeah. Yeah. 

Erica Waskey 40:50
Okay, So HCC. 

Rich Bennett 40:52
Okay. Yeah. I mean. 

Wendy Beck 40:53
I think. 

Rich Bennett 40:53
About it. What? I've. I've actually been thinking about it for this, but it's. I just love doing. 

Wendy Beck 40:59
It, so. 

Rich Bennett 41:02
I don't. 

Shari Bailey 41:02
Know. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 41:04
Although once Wendy leaves me, then I'm like, Hey, I'm not. 

Wendy Beck 41:07
Leaving. 

Greg Derwart 41:09
All right, So let me ask you guys, when you started out at the beginning, did you did you create a business plan? 

Shari Bailey 41:15
Yes. 

Erica Waskey 41:16
Per year. 

Greg Derwart 41:17
Okay. And within that business plan, did it include a financial plan, a marketing plan, operations plan? 

Shari Bailey 41:26
It was more operational. 

Greg Derwart 41:27
Okay. 

Erica Waskey 41:28
Definitely operational budget marketing. I mean, there's like ideas and stuff and it's kind of like. 

Greg Derwart 41:35
Because that that can in turn grow into your annual goals, you know, incrementally. 

Shari Bailey 41:45
And I think it's it's good to start with that baseline. I think in the beginning you don't know what you don't know and you don't know what you want and where you want to go. So, yeah, you have the idea operationally, this is what I want to do. But I think going back to the board members, this is where your board meetings are really powerful because you should be reviewing that operations plan and building upon it to add those elements in terms of financials and marketing. 

Greg Derwart 42:07
It Reminds me of Simon Sinek. Begin with why, you know, most organizations can tell you what they do. Some can tell you how they do it, but not many can tell you why they do it. Nonprofits start with the why, which is what we're all supposed to do. And then, you know, the operational stuff is is the how and what. 

Shari Bailey 42:33
That's so true. 

Rich Bennett 42:35
Yeah. With that, with the business plan because I think you need you should have a business plan for everything. 

Greg Derwart 42:42
And it doesn't have to be 20 pages now. 

Rich Bennett 42:45
But I think we're a and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think we're a lot of people mess up even if it's 20 years down the road, they never look at that business plan again. And a business plan changes throughout the year. 

Greg Derwart 42:57
It should. It should. 

Rich Bennett 42:58
I mean. 

Greg Derwart 42:59
Because as you grow, think about here's another book I'll throw out 

Traction and Rocket Fuel by Gina Wickman, who talks about and he's looking at it from the private sector. But just think about 

an entrepreneur who's doing everything themselves first, right? 

Rich Bennett 43:20
You know, this is what you guys. 

Greg Derwart 43:21
Correlate that to what you guys are doing and then you grow to a point where you can't do it all yourself and you need to you're hiring staff and you need to separate that visionary CEO role from the into integrator or implementer operational role, you know, And so that's where the business plan changes, you know, because you're adding roles and functions and stuff. Absolutely. 

Wendy Beck 43:45
Well, I mean, I think initially for me, because I was working a full time job pretty much up to a year ago, so I was just basically, you know, doing whatever I could to just keep everything going. And then when I said, okay, if I if I do this, what are my goals? And like my goal for year one was to network because I didn't have the opportunity to network because I was stuck behind desk working for someone. And so in that year of networking, that's why now I'm leveling up because I have had the opportunity to do things a little differently. 

Erica Waskey 44:25
You know. 

Shari Bailey 44:25
The bandwidth, the. 

Wendy Beck 44:28
Yes. 

Greg Derwart 44:29
More bit. 

Wendy Beck 44:30
More of. 

Shari Bailey 44:33
Start taking on more things. So you ask yourself that. I really. Exactly. 

Wendy Beck 44:36
And then you get to the point where we I think we were like you mentioned, you know, getting people to help you, you have to be able to have time to explain how they can help you. And I feel like that's a challenge as well. 

Rich Bennett 44:50
You mentioned networking and I know you are. Have you two thought about joining the chamber? 

Erica Waskey 44:59
Somebody mentioned that to me before and I didn't actually know nonprofits can. 

Wendy Beck 45:02
Join the chamber. Oh, yeah, sure. I haven't it. Yeah, we were we were a part of the Downtown Alliance one year and then again, that was prior to me being full time. And I just didn't really have the time to dedicate to more. So yeah. 

Rich Bennett 45:20
Well, and I think, I think the chamber is a great idea. Again, I think it's for a lot of people myself, like you just joined the Hartford County Chamber of Commerce and I think we're a lot of businesses and even nonprofits, they feel like it's too expensive, like with ours, with our for for anyone that fee covers everybody in your organization. So if you can't make an event, you send somebody else. Do you need to make all the events? Yeah, I make one of the year and. 

Shari Bailey 45:51
They are. 

Wendy Beck 45:52
Valuable. 

Rich Bennett 45:52
Because I play Hello. But I just I'm so busy I haven't had the time. 

Greg Derwart 45:56
Well, it gets your name in there directory. And so, you know. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 45:59
Advertising. Yeah. Free advertising. 

Shari Bailey 46:02
I mean, I was just at the chamber event today for Hartford County. They have the coffee and connection. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yes. And dozens and dozens of local businesses are there. And it's all in the spirit of networking, sharing your cards, your mission. 

Rich Bennett 46:16
Your vision. 

Shari Bailey 46:17
Whether it's a nonprofit or for profit, and the connections alone that you built. I walked away with like four follow ups regarding some things that we need to do for Lila's gift and people that want to partner and special abilities notes and blah, blah, blah, all these things. And this is how you keep that going and you get your name in front of people. I'll tell you in the beginning, when I would tell people about Lila's gift, they'd be like, Oh, tell me about Lila's gift now. And I say this very humbly. They're like, You're Lila's gift, right? Or if I'm, like, passing out the flier, like, I heard about you. I follow you. 

Wendy Beck 46:51
Oh, I've been meaning to. 

Shari Bailey 46:52
Connect with you. And it's amazing because that they'll sweat those those sleepless nights and the sweat, blood and tears and all those moments make it all worthwhile. Where you're like, This is why I'm running myself to the ground. I'm working in the daytime and I'm putting all my effort here in the evening and the weekends. Because of this moment, because Lila is not just recognized for her specialness, but she's making an impact in the community and people are supporting it. 

Rich Bennett 47:22
And the other thing is two of the chamber's two big things you're going to get out of that 

donors and volunteers. 

Shari Bailey 47:30
Yeah, And sponsors. 

Rich Bennett 47:32
Yeah. Because you see, you know. Jo Taylor Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Very big in the chamber. And I forgive how many different boards she sits on, But you, she taught you out there everywhere you sponsor and everything you see. I think Sean will, you know, show an the lead starting to lead power now. 

Wendy Beck 47:51
Not personally. 

Rich Bennett 47:52
But that you're starting to see them. You know, all these different organizations are starting to do that and it's it's through the chambers. 

Wendy Beck 48:01
And. We have to be creative every day. It's you know, we're creating something from nothing. And it's like we don't have a marketing team. We're the marketing. Yeah, because we're the marketing team, which I love. I'll be honest with you, We're the social media people. You know, we, you know, live and breathe what we do because if we don't do it, it's going to stop. It's going. And that's I think that's what has to keep you going. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 48:26
Well, speaking of marketing and getting the word out there, how many of you do these public service announcements or even press releases? 

Erica Waskey 48:36
We do wait define a PSA. 

Rich Bennett 48:40
Public service announcement. 

Erica Waskey 48:42
Okay. All right. 

Wendy Beck 48:43
All right. 

Rich Bennett 48:44
Sorry. So back in the day, right? I don't know. Radio is still like this or not. It should be. And even television nonprofits, if you had an event going on, I know half hour TV, does it 

actually serious even going into publicity, if you put together a press release or a public service announcement, they will advertise it for you for free. 

Shari Bailey 49:10
It's not as often as it used to be. So we were able to do one last year with Radio One. 

Rich Bennett 49:15
Like, Oh, really? Yeah. 

Shari Bailey 49:16
And that was covered because we were a nonprofit. But more recently, radio stations are charging underwriting fees, which you're still covered as a nonprofit. But it's a creative way of saying, Pay me and I'll get it done right. So it's not as maybe beneficial as we've. 

Wendy Beck 49:38
Done it for events where we've actually for the E just we'll send a press release or we did pay a radio station one time. And, you know, I didn't even really know if there was much value in that, You know what I'm saying? Like, like I just I don't know. About any. Feedback. You know, I couldn't tell you if our money went towards, you know, getting us more people to come to our event. And so, you know, I don't necessarily do that. We do a lot of stuff just on our own through our newsletter and social media and the community. And we because, you know, we have a connection and a partnership with the Office of Drug Control Policy and stuff like that. When I first founded Rage, 

we did some pieces that the county ran in the movie theaters. So that was yeah, and it was like a lot of my family members that were that were, you know, on the screen talking about it. But we haven't done anything since. Oh. Wow, that's cool. 

Shari Bailey 50:38
And you also have to think about what is the the large platform now podcast, right? 

Rich Bennett 50:44
Radio is actually bigger than radio, TV and print media. 

Shari Bailey 50:48
Exactly. So you have to think about what's leading and then leverage that. Yeah, because times are changing. 

Greg Derwart 50:54
And so. 

Rich Bennett 50:55
Yeah, that's very true. 

Wendy Beck 50:57
And they'll continue to change. So you have to kind of be able to. 

Greg Derwart 51:00
Go get stuff. 

Wendy Beck 51:00
To go with it. Yeah. I like. 

Rich Bennett 51:03
That. 

Wendy Beck 51:03
Stepping in as a sure, you 

know. 

Rich Bennett 51:11
What do we if we started talking about but we never finish it. Wendy you just did one which I thought was great. Oh, fundraising because you guys just did basket bingo. 

Wendy Beck 51:20
We did. The bingo. 

Rich Bennett 51:21
Which I thought was. 

Wendy Beck 51:21
Awesome. Yeah, I actually wasn't there, but that was the first event that I. We noticed that I just in ten years and I was like having like, Oh, but yeah, so and I, for, for one thing, not every fundraiser is going to be like this huge amount of money, but for rage, it's about getting into the community. And just even if you're having Chick-Fil-A or, you know, Rita's ice or whatever, people are coming and you're meeting people in the community. And that's that's like the best way to to connect. And you might not be having like some bull rose that, you know, brings in a whole lot of money. But those little ones make a big difference in getting your name out there. 

Rich Bennett 52:09
You guys sold out. That was fun, even though. 

Wendy Beck 52:12
Yeah, it was the first bingo that we had done, but the very first fundraiser that we ever did, someone told us about the Moose Lodge doing a quarter auction and we raised 1400 dollars. And I was like. You know, it's like, amazing. That was like, awesome. Big money. Yeah, I mean it. But it was like all we. Had to do was come up with six baskets and they ran the whole thing. And this year we did the bingo, which is definitely a little bit more work. But it wasn't horrible. It really wasn't. I mean, it's just getting your sponsor owner out there and getting your people to get these baskets in and, you know, and then just do it. And it was very fun. I heard it was fun. Yeah, I heard it. 

Shari Bailey 52:52
But you said the right word. Creative. Our first year, it was kind of our breakout year. So we did the big gala. It was like 100 something, a ticket and all open bar and blah, blah, blah. And we had sponsors, which was great, but we still paid out of pocket for a lot of things. Now granted, we made $20,000, but it took a lot of effort. And I think fast forward our and our annual fundraiser this year is a much smaller scale, but still looking to get the same bang for our buck. And it's about being creative. It's how do you get musicians there without pay? How do you. 

Wendy Beck 53:30
Get you get better? 

Shari Bailey 53:31
Yeah, how do you get centerpieces without pay, Right? And and what you do and I'll tell you, I've been kind of on a nonprofit or not just to show my support, but also to learn. 

Rich Bennett 53:42
Yeah. 

Shari Bailey 53:42
Yeah, absolutely. So like, I just joined well, I was just at one last week a mission that I appreciate, but it's not like connected to me per se, but it's still a mission. I appreciate that I learned so much. I mean, just the centerpieces alone, they're like donated by blah, blah, blah. And every little thing they're calling out who who donated it and who sponsored it. And I'm like, this is remarkable. This is powerful. Right. And these are things that you didn't know. You don't know because you care about the mission. Yeah. And you don't have someone again in your vault that you're pulling. 

Wendy Beck 54:15
Out that they. 

Shari Bailey 54:16
Help me put together an event. Yeah. So you learn these things and it's all about process of, you know, learning. 

Rich Bennett 54:23
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's and the thing is, I think many try to do this. They see somebody doing one fundraiser and they try to do mimic. Yeah, yeah. You got to be creative, you got to come up. 

Wendy Beck 54:35
With you have. 

Rich Bennett 54:36
Different ideas whether it be like you guys do the memory walk and. 

Wendy Beck 54:43
It's it's not it's not the ten years for the run but it's the ten years for the organization. I think we did it maybe in year two and we started out we had 300 people show up and before COVID we had over a thousand. And so it we covered, we took it virtual. So now we do virtual and in-person. So we keep the the for the entire month of April, we walk and. 

Rich Bennett 55:08
I can run virtually. 

Wendy Beck 55:13
And, you know, it's. It's. Taking a little bit, you know, to get back up to where we were because of the COVID situation. Yeah yeah. You know, and do you get better at it? And, you know. 

Rich Bennett 55:24
It just I think the first year I did it was when you did the virtual thing because you guys said from here to Ocean City and back virtually. 

Wendy Beck 55:33
Yeah. So I think it was just it just. 

Rich Bennett 55:35
It was just. 

Wendy Beck 55:36
So you can see the map and you can map out your miles. If you're a runner, you can go in and one of the board, my board of directors. 

Rich Bennett 55:42
Got me in because I didn't make it. 

Wendy Beck 55:44
All. The chairman of my board is a runner. So she's like, you know, the first one to sign up and run and, you know, all that kind of stuff. And we have teams. You can have teams, you know, I have Team Kelsey for my daughter and and stuff like that. So it's been good. Not being a runner myself when they when she said, let's do a run, I'm like, Well, no, I don't. What does that mean? I have to run. Yeah, but no. You know, I mean, so but that's been that is our biggest fundraiser of the year. And then we do like little stuff, you know, you can do like I'm telling you, do like tastefully, simple, Pampered Chef. Someone contacted me and Pampered Chef in August was doubling the donations. So, you know, I got a check for 300 and some dollars, and all I had to do was get people to buy spices. Yeah. 

Greg Derwart 56:35
Actually, that's what I mean. That's actually how I started running. I'm on the Alaska Scholarship Fund board and we can use we started the Susquehanna River running Festival as a fundraiser for us in the year I was presents huge now. Yeah we had we got rained out this year but we sold out at 1800 runners. Yeah it was going to be great. But the year I was president, my fellow board members were saying, Greg, you're president, you get a run in the race, got 

But I'm not one to back down from a challenge. So I trained for two months and ran the ten 10-K. 

Shari Bailey 57:09
All right well which is how. 

Wendy Beck 57:10
I'm not the government process. 

Yeah, 

you know. 

Rich Bennett 57:16
What? 

Greg Derwart 57:17
But now I got the bug I've been running ever since. That was two and a half years ago. 

Shari Bailey 57:20
Look at that. 

Rich Bennett 57:21
See? And Eric, I'm going to pick on you now because this is perfect for your organization for running. 

Wendy Beck 57:29
No, this is. 

Rich Bennett 57:32
But doing, you know, like a walk and involve the baby's a carriage walk. 

Erica Waskey 57:37
We actually used to do that last year. We would have like mom, you know. 

Wendy Beck 57:41
But we did it with my daughter. It's not like that, though. 

Erica Waskey 57:44
Like how? Like, that would be kind of cute. Imagine like moms like stroller sponsor me. 

Greg Derwart 57:50
Like how, you know, like. 

Wendy Beck 57:51
Do you know what I. 

Greg Derwart 57:52
Mean? Like donations per mile or something like that? 

Shari Bailey 57:55
Maybe like a Halloween. Like like, like yes, I like this dress. Like. 

Wendy Beck 57:59
Yeah, that's the color is a good idea. Interesting. I kind of, like, wheeled out. Yeah. 

Shari Bailey 58:04
It's kind of like the wheelchair costumes. 

Wendy Beck 58:07
Race stroller. $10 to enter. And there's a gift. I mean, there's a prize. Yeah. 

Erica Waskey 58:14
We threw. We threw a fundraiser back in the spring to celebrate our one year. We threw ourselves a birthday party, essentially. Great. And, I mean, we have, I don't know, maybe like, 30 people come. We got, like, the the place donated because it was a friend of ours and we did, like, solicit, you know, like grocery stores and stuff for, for like donations. So, I mean, like we do it, it's just kind of like one of those. 

Wendy Beck 58:39
I mean. 

Erica Waskey 58:40
There's just so many things are the. 

Wendy Beck 58:41
Bingo, you know, flavor cupcakes. They donate cool. And so just, you know, yeah, check them. They're awesome. But the mini cupcakes for the bingo and yeah, like you said, you don't know until people are like oh try this for that. 

Shari Bailey 58:56
Exactly. Now. 

Rich Bennett 58:58
I do know that cause as a volunteer to your thing you. 

Wendy Beck 59:01
Didn't you told me that. 

Rich Bennett 59:02
Yeah. Calls cause you can contact calls and they'll send you so many volunteers. Oh, and I think they even even give you money for it, too. And I think I might be wrong. And I'm not 100% sure. I think friends that you pretty might be doing that now because. Well, a. 

Shari Bailey 59:20
Lot of Biji does. 

Rich Bennett 59:21
It. 

Shari Bailey 59:21
Okay. So, like, they have a calendar of volunteering events and like their employees and they love it because it's an easy day for them. Yeah. So the employees sign up. And what also happens is BGI will contribute X amount of dollars right to charity. So it's finding out programs. Yeah, I didn't know about Cool. So I'm drawing this stuff. 

Rich Bennett 59:40
Yeah. So I'll look into that because I'm thinking of you now. If the kids what's something Oh, I know in December that kids love things. 

Wendy Beck 59:50
Know this guy? 

Rich Bennett 59:53
I mean, whether it's a pizza, we're seeing a cookies you've seen or something like that. 

Erica Waskey 59:57
So you're telling me if we arrange this, you can be the center? 

Rich Bennett 1:00:01
It depends on the date. If I'm not available, I know other guys. I could do it. But no, seriously, something like that is for the Lions Club. That was a big fundraiser for us. We used to do a breakfast for Santa every year and we raffle off like a big screen TV when before everybody had them. Then another year we did, I think it was a Kindle Fire. So you guys see what's trending. Yeah. They raffle that all. Yep. Interesting bringing you know $1,000. But the hardest part is making the food I don't know is that's where you get volunteers. 

Wendy Beck 1:00:37
Huh. I don't think. 

Erica Waskey 1:00:39
So. Yeah. What? 

Shari Bailey 1:00:41
Like you said, this is trending. Yeah. Virtual reality. 

Rich Bennett 1:00:44
Oh, yeah. 

Wendy Beck 1:00:45
Oh, yeah. And like, for example. 

Rich Bennett 1:00:47
Oh, yeah, We're scared the hell out of here. 

Wendy Beck 1:00:52
We got two kids program rates club. And so it was kids that have been affected by addiction. And we had like a free, like outing. We went to like a farm for equine therapy and we did like a scavenger hunt at a local trail. I forget what it's called. I'm sorry, forget what it's called. But then we had a Christmas party for the kids and like we would have it at Bon Tempo Brothers and it was free to go upstairs. And then we just bought pizza so you could do you know, you can do that. There's things that you can do for free and then you just like, add your sponsorship stuff. Exactly. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:01:25
Yeah. I guess businesses would be happy to sponsor even little things like that. 

Wendy Beck 1:01:30
Yeah. Which yeah. And then what we did is again, we coming full circle. We had the Christmas loss, you know, rage bought the, the pizza, the location was free and then we had like bingo and, and the kids would get prizes and then, you know, they'd do a craft. Yeah. And so it was like 2 hours. So is it kind of like a birthday party kind of thing? But it was just to kind of like, be the end of year get together for that. Right? 

Rich Bennett 1:01:58
And plus there's things where you don't even need to do anything. There's companies where and I think a lot of your restaurants will do it where you don't have to do any work. Just hand out a florist like that, like 10% or half of it. 

Erica Waskey 1:02:14
Yeah, that's kind of what we're trying to do it. Yeah. Once we get the volunteers kind of settled into their role, then it's going to be like, Go do X, Y, and Z, please. And they can do it right. You know, kind of like creating like a little mini you's just going out and doing your work. 

Wendy Beck 1:02:28
MM That is the goal. 

Greg Derwart 1:02:29
Mean Minions, 

I mean. 

Wendy Beck 1:02:36
And it's crazy getting volunteers. It's not, it's really not people like lose interest or their personal life changes, you know, so you're constantly trying to reinvent, you know, you're. 

Rich Bennett 1:02:49
All right for you guys looking for volunteers. I mentioned code, I think freedom. 

Erica Waskey 1:02:54
Got it. 

Rich Bennett 1:02:55
Contact your Lions Clubs, too. Okay. They are service. 

Greg Derwart 1:02:58
Organizations and Rotary still. 

Rich Bennett 1:03:00
Yeah, they will. They will volunteer. 

Wendy Beck 1:03:04
We've given presentations at the Lions Club and at the Rotary Club. You know, it's been a while. We go to hard for community college and we have a table that we set up there and participate and stuff like that. 

Greg Derwart 1:03:16
So beautiful. 

Rich Bennett 1:03:17
And actually. Well, I know you do, I think. Sure, I believe you do. Do as well. I don't know if you have. Do you guys go out and talk to other organizations? 

Wendy Beck 1:03:25
Yes. 

Erica Waskey 1:03:27
Yes, I do. A lot of online networking now. 

Shari Bailey 1:03:31
You're talking. 

Erica Waskey 1:03:31
In person. 

Shari Bailey 1:03:32
Yeah. 

Erica Waskey 1:03:33
Yeah. Just I mean, we I have two little kids, so it's kind of like trying to figure out. 

Wendy Beck 1:03:38
Let's make you it's it's the process. 

Rich Bennett 1:03:41
Yeah, absolutely. Say your mommy's promo material. 

Wendy Beck 1:03:45
But yeah. 

Greg Derwart 1:03:46
I'll invite you to come speak at the Bel-Air Rotary Club. We meet the second and fourth Wednesdays. 

Wendy Beck 1:03:53
Of the. 

Greg Derwart 1:03:53
Month, and I'll get you on the speaker list. 

Erica Waskey 1:03:57
With or without. 

Wendy Beck 1:03:57
Kids. 

Greg Derwart 1:03:58
Whatever works. 

Rich Bennett 1:04:00
Yeah, you'd be surprised. We need. 

Greg Derwart 1:04:01
Does beer hall so. 

Rich Bennett 1:04:04
Kids can have. 

Wendy Beck 1:04:04
Beer. 

Rich Bennett 1:04:05
But still. 

Greg Derwart 1:04:06
They have to bring their own beer. 

Erica Waskey 1:04:10
From, like, a little. I think that. 

Wendy Beck 1:04:11
We, you know, we're learning a lot that, you know, it's it's a mission. And but it's also there's a lot of challenges. Yeah. And when these challenges I feel like it's taken me a really long time to get a network of other nonprofits to learn from. Like you said, you were doing this and like, that is your biggest asset because you just do not know what you don't know. 

Shari Bailey 1:04:37
Absolutely. 

Rich Bennett 1:04:38
Connect and connect with other nonprofit not just other nonprofits, but even businesses in the community and work with them because that's where you're going to find your volunteers. 

Shari Bailey 1:04:48
So I commend you for this. Rich, because this is an important step, right, for for nonprofits like ours. And also, I think the biggest myth is if you approach a nonprofit, they're going to say, stay away because you're trying to take my funding or what have you. Right? And I think that's the biggest myth. There's actually a lot of power in. 

Erica Waskey 1:05:10
Collaboration and. 

Shari Bailey 1:05:12
A lot of the work that we do 100% can now maybe dwindle down to 80% because of nonprofits picking up the tea and whatnot and when you advertise each other, especially if it's a like mission, right? Yeah, if it's about children or if it's about family members lost or if it's about scholarships or whatever it is, If it's a like mission, you can really find power. 

Wendy Beck 1:05:34
And and we've we've experienced that recently. Where we it was was very felt very single singular. And now the other nonprofits because of of a lot of reasons we had a podcast about some just like you know issues with getting money and just like you know that those kinds of struggles that we have. But now we're working as in partnership with each other. We're like, now we're supporting each other at each other's events and doing all of these things where it's not so, Oh, you're my competition. It's like now you're my partner. And having. 

Shari Bailey 1:06:09
That. 

Wendy Beck 1:06:09
Right. And I love. 

Shari Bailey 1:06:10
That. Exactly. 

Rich Bennett 1:06:11
It's important. 

Wendy Beck 1:06:13
In the beginning it wasn't like that, though. It's taken ten years to get there where everyone was like, Oh, I'm not going to tell you my trade secrets or I'm not going to share like some of the stuff we're talking today. There's always going to be enough money to go around. 

Rich Bennett 1:06:25
We've seen that for years with the Lions Clubs. It's like for some reason each club thought they were competition with each other and it shouldn't be that way. Work together. That's how you're going to grow. 

Shari Bailey 1:06:36
Absolutely. 

Rich Bennett 1:06:37
You know, work together, support each other. Yeah. You have to, um, to close it off, go round and ask each one of you. Do you want me to let you go last this time? Okay, so I'll. My first. Anybody that wants to start a nonprofit or anybody that is running a nonprofit now that needs new ideas, what would you say to them? 

Greg Derwart 1:06:59
Draft a business plan and get started. Don't wait. Just. Just start walking. 

Rich Bennett 1:07:04
Just do it. Yep. Sounds like a plan. 

Greg Derwart 1:07:06
Yeah, we should. You should use. 

Wendy Beck 1:07:08
That. You should use that 

on it. 

Rich Bennett 1:07:12
I'll call you later on. 

Wendy Beck 1:07:14
Yeah. 

Shari Bailey 1:07:16
It's working. Branding. 

Wendy Beck 1:07:19
Okay. Okay. This must. 

Shari Bailey 1:07:23
Be authentic. Don't do it. Because it's the thing to do. Don't do it because you think it's successful. Don't do it because you've seen other people do it. Do it because it's what you want to do. 

Rich Bennett 1:07:33
Rage. I mean, Wendy, for me. 

Wendy Beck 1:07:35
I just I say, keep your head down. Stay in your own lane, and don't try to compete like that. 

Rich Bennett 1:07:42
All right, Willow. I mean, Erica. 

Wendy Beck 1:07:47
Probably my biggest. 

Erica Waskey 1:07:47
Thing is just don't forget the why of what you're doing, because you can get caught up in so much of the paperwork in, the everything else, the financials. And just remember that like the stuff that like, lights you up, the stuff that, like, really like, actually it would make you cry. Like, that's what keeps me going every day. So don't lose that also. 

Rich Bennett 1:08:09
So all of you listening, if you have any questions, definitely get in touch with me. And if we got, we'll be doing more of these because when it comes to the nonprofit world, we maybe the next one we do is like Ms. and of the nonprofit world, because there's a lot of that. But I want to thank you all. 

Wendy Beck 1:08:32
Thank you for having.