96: Getting a Grip on Uncertainty as a Nonprofit Leader (Gail Bower)

96: Getting a Grip on Uncertainty as a Nonprofit Leader (Gail Bower)  

SUMMARY

Still feeling a bit paralyzed in your strategic planning given the uncertainty that surrounds us?  This is a perfect time to utilize the talents of a futurist, and that’s exactly the skill Gail Bower brings to episode #96 of the Path Podcast. Gail provides a clear framework to activate your nonprofit’s strategic planning in a way that’s both practical and engaging for staff and board volunteers.  Equally important to your strategic planning effort is Gail’s advice about generating greater value for your corporate sponsors (and more revenue for you), and her reminders about the fundamental marketing plan that your nonprofit may be lacking.

ABOUT GAIL

Gail Bower is the founder and president of Bower & Co. Consulting LLC, a revenue strategy firm that works with mission- or purpose-driven organizations to uncover and develop reliable sources of revenue that also drive their social or environmental missions. Gail launched Bower & Co. in 2005, but she has been focused on revenue generation and enhancement, working with organizations of all sizes and scope, for over 30 years. She’s worked with companies like AT&T, Coca-Cola, Coors, Essence Magazine, Gibson Guitar, Sunoco, Mercedes-Benz., Folger Shakespeare Library, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, the Newport Jazz Festival, the Social Enterprise Alliance, and the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council. Trained as a futurist, Gail studies where society is headed, what trends are on the horizon, and how these trends impact her clients’ businesses. Gail has been interviewed about her work by Marketplace, the New York Times, the Wall St. Journal, Time magazine, U.S. News & World Report,  and as a writer, she created the guidebook How to Jump-start Your Sponsorship Strategy in Tough Times. She’s working on new book, entitled Money + Mission: The New Partnership to Engage Employees, Customers and Communities While Driving Business Growth. As a speaker, she presents frequently at regional and national conferences and events and has led executive leadership workshops at Temple University and Bryn Mawr College. 

EPISODE TOPICS & RESOURCES

• Check out Gail’s blog SponsorshipStrategist.com
• Get your free copy of Gail’s tool: Must Attend Virtual Events in 7 Steps
• Gail’s Sustainability Quotient blog post with a link to the assessment
• The Sponsorship Seeker’s Toolkit by Kim Skildum-Reid
• Pema Chodron’s book When Things Fall Apart
• Check out Ben Mohler’s episode #92 4 Stages of Nonprofit Leadership
• Apply to join one of PMA’s Mastermind Programs!