NPO 047: Redefining How We Measure Success (Joan Garry, Nonprofit Leadership Lab)

Today's Guest: Joan Garry
Joan Garry began her career in 1981 as part of the management team that launched MTV. She followed this successful eight-year tenure with another successful run as an executive at Showtime Networks. Then, in 1997 while either having a midlife crisis or avoiding one, Garry was named the executive director of GLAAD, one of the largest gay rights organizations in the U.S.

She joined GLAAD to find an organization in deep financial crisis (18 staff and yes, $360 in the bank), led it out of the depths to a place of prominence focusing on the power of the media to change hearts and minds. From the accurate coverage of the murder of Matthew Shepard to the successful lobbying of The New York Times to include gay and lesbian couples on its wedding pages, Garry’s strategy was clear:  keep GLAAD focused on the media because the road to acceptance begins with visibility and understanding.

After her eight year run at GLAAD, Garry built on this expertise and became a successful political fundraiser, then consultant and executive coach. Joan’s blog for board and staff leaders of nonprofits reaches 100,000 unique leaders monthly from over 150 countries and her podcast Nonprofits Are Messy is frequently the #1 nonprofit / government podcast on iTunes. Lastly, she is the founder of The Nonprofit Leadership Lab, a monthly online membership site for board and staff leaders of small nonprofits who can afford neither coaching nor consulting.  Through a vast array of content and a community moderated by experts, Joan is reaching over 2,000 board and staff leaders worldwide.

For a more thorough bio, visit: https://blog.joangarry.com/about-joan-garry/

Lessons Learned:
In this episode, Joan shares from her experiences of working with small nonprofit leaders within the Nonprofit Leadership Lab, along with her own years as a nonprofit leader, board member, and donor. Her lessons learned included:

  • Learning to prioritize:

    • Not everything is a 5-alarm fire.

    • It’s so easy to get pulled in many directions.

    • Identify what’s important (and possible) for you to focus on and stick to that!

  • Identify Activities that Fuel You and Activities that Deplete You:

  • How do we define success and impact?

    • How many people do you serve? What is the quality of that service?

    • Based on 2020 and 2021 pandemic responses, we know that nonprofits CAN be nimble and can try new things. Nonprofit boards are often risk-averse, but this is an area for growth. Pilot, test, and try new things… this is often the missing ingredient in nonprofit DNA. This is also the path to scaling.

    • Many small nonprofits have an over-reliance on specific revenue streams and lack reserves. Another metric for a strong nonprofit is to ensure that there are multiple revenue streams.

      • Gala-dependent orgs may have faced significant challenges during these last two years when so many in-person events were cancelled.

      • When you rely on one or two significant funders, your mission could be in jeopardy if one of those funders doesn’t donate in a specific year.

      • What do you have in reserves? (This is centric to your mission, as it allows you to confidently go forward long-term to keep doing the work.)

  • What lessons can we take away from our pandemic work-arounds?

    • Let’s not return to “normal.” Let’s create a better normal moving forward by making changes.

    • Rethinking Annual Galas and Other In-Person Events

      • People forget that being involved as a donor for your organization is meaningful or fulfilling for those people.

    • How do we invite donors and volunteers to learn more about the organization?

    • How do we invite others to have a sense of meaning and purpose by joining our work?

    • Can you say, “We’re doing this amazing thing, would you like to know more?”

Find Joan Garry and the Nonprofit Leadership Lab online:

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41-60Molly MacCreadyFundraising, USA, Self-Care, Board management, EvaluationComment