135: Sharpening Your Vision as a Nonprofit Leader (Pat Millen)

135: Sharpening Your Vision as a Nonprofit Leader (Pat Millen)

SUMMARY

Most well-intentioned ideas never become a viable nonprofit organization. But after Pat Millen’s daughter Franny raised the issue of the digital divide after school one day, the family decided to do something about it. Less than 10 years later, one family’s inspiration has evolved into E2D (Eliminate the Digital Divide), and Pat has elevated the organization to state and national prominence. Not only is his story fascinating, but his thoughtful reflection about the efforts to start and grow a nonprofit are full of valuable advice for any nonprofit leader. In episode 135 of Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership, Pat and I discuss the strategic focus necessary to achieve organizational expansion, the critical importance of community research, and the discipline necessary to network strategically.

ABOUT PAT

In 2012, Pat Millen Co-Founded E2D with his family to address societal imbalances associated with digital exclusion affecting low-income families and students. In 2017, he founded the Re-Image CLT Labs, of which he is now the executive director. Prior to his work at E2D, he was the Founder, President, and CEO of Integrity Sport Marketing, Media, and Management, from 1993 to 2014. IS3M was a sports management agency specializing in the creation, marketing and execution of strategic initiatives for companies and organizations with an emphasis on soccer and the convergence of sports and education. From 1990 to 1993, Pat worked as the Director of Athletics Marketing at his alma mater, Davidson College. He graduated from Davidson in 1986 with a BA in History. Over the course of his career, he has received the Davidson College Omicron Delta Kappa Service Award and, most recently, the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award. He has been named one of the “25 Most Influential People in American Soccer” by Soccer America Magazine in 1996 and a “Gamechanger” by Davidson College in honor of his social justice work in 2018. He is a member of the Charlotte Digital Inclusion Alliance, NC Digital Equity and Inclusion Collaborative and the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, the Charlotte Council of Agency Executives, the Ne Ultra Society/Founders Roundtable at Davidson College and the Charlotte Rotary Club. Pat lives in Davidson, NC with his wife Eileen Keeley and his children, Paddy, Franny and Sam.

EPISODE TOPICS & RESOURCES