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Inspired Nonprofit Leadership: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Sarah Olivieri
This podcast is a place for nonprofit leaders to gain insights, tips, inspiration, and encouragement to unleash their potential.
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The most recent episodes — sign up to get AI-powered summaries of each one.
- Yesterday32 min
471: How to Show the Real Impact of Your Volunteers with Houston Goodwin
Show Notes Volunteers do about a third of nonprofit work, yet less than a quarter of a percent of funding supports them. The work is already happening. What's missing is making that impact visible to leadership and the board. In this episode, Sarah talks with Houston Goodwin, CEO and Co-Chairman of Better Impact, about what he's learned from executives and volunteer coordinators and how to remove the friction that keeps people from getting involved. In This Episode, You'll Learn The gap between how much work volunteers do and how little funding supports them. How to weigh the time and talent spent on spreadsheets and paper sign-ups against the cost of software. Why busy, working-age adults need easier ways to sign up, like a QR code or a mobile app. How one email filled 75 empty volunteer spots in about 45 minutes after a corporate partner backed out. Who This Episode Is For • Executive Directors who want their leadership team and board to see what volunteers actually contribute. • Leaders who want to recruit volunteers beyond college students and retirees. • Volunteer leaders who want to spend less time on scheduling and more time on the mission. • Development teams who want better volunteer stories to share with donors. Links from this episode • Inspired Nonprofit Leadership Newsletter: weekly tips for leading your nonprofit. • Better Impact • Houston Goodwin on LinkedIn • Better Impact 2026 Volunteer Management Hybrid Conference • Better Impact Webinar Library: free recorded sessions for people who lead volunteers. • <a class= "reset interactable cursor-pointer decoration-1 underline-offset-1 text-super-primary hover:underline" h
- 4 days ago9 min
470: Should Your Nonprofit Use Volunteers? with Sarah Olivieri
Show Notes Volunteers can add a lot to a nonprofit. They can also drain your time when they're brought in to fill a role that really needs a paid person, or when nobody has the time to lead them. In this solo episode, Sarah takes on the question that comes before volunteer management: should your organization be using volunteers at all, and for what? She explains why a volunteer is both a donor and an unpaid member of your team, why that relationship needs care, and the two mistakes she sees most often. In This Episode, You'll Learn Why a volunteer is both a donor giving time and expertise, and an unpaid team member who needs to be a good fit How to tell when a role needs a paid person, especially when the job has to be someone's top priority What a board that seems disengaged can tell you about staffing and funding How your size and goals change the answer, from a local sailing club to a food pantry facing unmet need What happens when onboarding, guidance, and coordination for volunteers and interns get under-resourced Who This Episode Is For Executive Directors deciding whether volunteers can cover work they can't afford to pay for yet Leaders who want volunteers to stay, do the work that's needed, and bring others along with them Executive Directors who wish the board would carry more of the load and want to understand what's really going on Links from this episode Join the Inspired Nonprofit Leadership Newsletter for weekly nonprofit leadership tips How to Show the Real Impact of Your Volunteers with Houston Goodwin, the next episode. Sarah Oliv
- 1 weeks ago35 min
469: How to Build a Culture of Excellence at Your Nonprofit with Dr. Rachel Pappert Docekal
Show Notes Free or low-cost services often get treated as if they can't also be the best. That belief shows up in worn-out buildings, stretched staff, and people walking in the door feeling like they don't deserve better. Leaders who refuse that tradeoff make excellence the standard for everyone they serve, and they fund it on purpose. Sarah sat down with Dr. Rachel Pappert Docekal, CEO of Hanley Foundation, one of the largest behavioral health continuums in the country, to talk about how she builds and protects that culture. Hanley Center has 83 beds and about 270 staff on a 14-acre campus in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Rachel walks through what excellence looks like day to day, from the flower beds to the night shift. In This Episode, You'll Learn How Rachel keeps her focus on "generational decisions" instead of getting pulled into the ditch. Why Rachel believes culture makes or breaks an organization. How Hanley puts every extra dollar back into staff, facilities, and scholarships. Hanley's two-part approach to hiring: a standardized team interview process and "growing our own." What a late-night pizza visit taught Rachel about listening to the night shift. How a new board member's question led to Hanley's first board orientation. Who This Episode Is For • Executive Directors who want their programs to be the best in their field. • Leaders who want to spend less time putting out fires and more time on long-term decisions. • Executive Directors who want to hire and keep great staff. • Leaders who want their team to feel seen and appreciated. Links from this episode Inspired Nonprofit Leadership Newsletter: weekly tips for leading your nonprofit. Hanley Foundation Dr. Rachel Pappert Docekal on LinkedIn Dr. Rachel Pappert Docekal on Instagram Dr. Rachel
- 1 weeks ago14 min
Episode 468: Too Busy Running Your Nonprofit to Think About Where It's Going? with Sarah Olivieri
When your calendar is full, a walk through the building or an afternoon with a book can feel like something you'll get to someday. Executive Directors who keep their organizations headed in the right direction treat that time as part of the job. Sarah goes solo to work through why unstructured time to observe, read, and think is some of the most important work an Executive Director or CEO does, drawing on the chart of core organizational functions she uses with clients in the Impact Method®. In This Episode, You'll Learn What a CEO walkabout looks like, from coffee in hand to sitting in on programs Why setting direction is the function an Executive Director typically owns How direction and pace pull against each other, and why larger organizations split them What a sample week looks like with walkabouts, thinking time, team meetings, and donor time How Sarah thinks about noticing the opportunities that are already around you Who This Episode Is For • Executive Directors who want real time to think about where the organization is going • Leaders who laugh at the idea of an unscheduled hour because the week is already too full • CEOs of growing organizations who want to focus on vision while someone else keeps operations on pace Links from this episode • Join the Inspired Nonprofit Leadership Newsletter for weekly nonprofit leadership tips • Talk with Sarah about operations and strategy support so you can focus on direction • Sarah Olivieri's Substack publication About Your Host, Sarah Olivieri Bold, strategic, and refreshingly human… Sarah Olivieri is the go-to expert for conversations on aligned leadership, outcome delegation, and sustainable growth.She brings wit, warmth, and real-world wisdom to mission-driven founders, visionary CEOs, and change-makers who want more clarity, more joy, and more results. Most leaders hit a wall when su
- 2 weeks ago42 min
467: How to Get Follow-Through Without Micromanaging with Gina Cotner
Show Notes When you delegate work and it doesn't get done, a lot of nonprofit leaders either let it slide or take it back and do it themselves. The leaders who get real follow-through hand over full ownership, let people set their own deadlines, and check in with curiosity instead of blame. Sarah invited Gina Cotner, founder and CEO of Athena Executive Services, whose team of executive assistants takes ownership of key processes and projects for busy leaders, to unpack how nonprofit leaders can get staff and volunteers to follow through on what they promised without hovering over them or doing the work themselves. In This Episode, You'll Learn How Gina now runs her firm working 10 to 15 hours a week. What Gina says right after handing off a project so the other person owns it. How letting people set their own deadline leads to better follow-through. What to do first when a deadline passes and the work isn't there. How Gina holds volunteers to the same standards as paid staff. Who This Episode Is For • Executive directors who end up doing the work themselves. • Leaders who want follow-through without constant reminders. • Anyone who skips follow-up to avoid a confrontation. • Executive directors who want their time back. Links from this episode • Inspired Nonprofit Leadership Newsletter: weekly tips for leading your nonprofit. • Athena Executive Services • Gina Cotner on LinkedIn • Athena Executive Services on Instagram • Athena Executive Services on Facebook • Schedule a free call with Athena's client advisor • <a class= "reset interactable cursor-pointer decoration-1 underline-offset-1 text-super-primary hover:underline" href="https://www.athenaexecutiveservices.com/speaking"
- 2 weeks ago13 min
466: Three Things to Say When You Delegate with Sarah Olivieri
Show Notes You hand off a task. It comes back half done, or not at all, and now you're redoing the work and wondering why you bothered. Delegating well does give you time back, though sometimes not the first time. It also builds your team's skills, trust, and confidence along the way. In this bonus episode, Sarah Olivieri shares the DAD method, a simple way to remember the three things to communicate every time you delegate: Desired Result, Available Resources, and Delegated Decisions. She walks through a grant application example, explains why she sometimes names herself as the known obstacle, and closes with the difference between delegating a task and distributing leadership decisions across your organization. In This Episode, You'll Learn Why the first round of delegating may not save you time, and why it still pays off. How to describe what done looks like, including critical elements and known obstacles. Which resources to name, from a budget limit to an old spreadsheet in the shared drive, and when to say you are not available. How to decide which decisions to hand off and which to keep, using a grant application as the example. How delegating a task differs from distributing leadership decisions. Who This Episode Is For Executive Directors who want to hand off work without having to redo it. Leaders who want their team to become more skilled and independent. Anyone who has delegated a task and gotten back something different from what they pictured. Links from this episode Join the Inspired Nonprofit Leadership Newsletter for weekly nonprofit leadership tips. How to Get Follow-Through Without Micromanaging with Gina Cotner. Schedule a call with Sarah about distributing leadership decisions. Sarah Olivieri's Substack publication <div class="sc-c
- 3 weeks ago45 min
465: Founders Syndrome with Luke John Mickelson
Founders who build a nonprofit from the ground up often find that their identity and the organization have become the same thing. The founders who handle growth well learn to name what they are feeling when they hand off roles, and they choose a new role on purpose. Sarah invited Luke John Mickelson, who built one bunk bed in his garage in 2012 and grew it into Sleep in Heavenly Peace, a nonprofit with more than 400 chapters across 47 states and four countries, to unpack what founder syndrome feels like from the inside and how founders and the people around them can move through it. In This Episode, You'll Learn How one bunk bed for a six-year-old named Haley became a national movement. Why each role a founder hands off can feel like losing part of themselves. What Luke means by a relevance wound, and the comment that nearly made him quit. How Luke's five steps help founders pause, name a new role, and plan their legacy. What boards and executive directors can do to give a founder grace during a transition. Who This Episode Is For Nonprofit founders who want to hand off roles without feeling pushed out. Executive directors who took over from a founder and want to keep that relationship strong. Board members who want to support a founder through a leadership transition. Founders of any organization who are stepping back and want to stay connected to what they started. Links from this episode Inspired Nonprofit Leadership Newsletter: weekly tips for leading your nonprofit. Sleep in Heavenly Peace Luke Mickelson's website Luke Mickelson on LinkedIn Luke Mickelson on Instagram Free founder syndrome assessment at <a href="http://
- 3 weeks ago8 min
464: Why Outgrowing Your Founder Is a Sign of Success with Sarah Olivieri
Founder syndrome usually gets talked about as a problem, and the founder often gets the blame. Sarah sees it differently: if your organization is outgrowing the person who started it, you probably did something right, and that transition deserves a real plan. Sarah goes solo to share how founders, boards, and the leaders who follow a founder can plan a healthier transition, drawing on her conversation with Luke John Mickelson, her years as a nonprofit executive director, and a sailing saying about easing the sails. In This Episode, You'll Learn Why Sarah thinks every successful nonprofit will eventually outgrow its founder What empty nest feelings can teach us about a founder's transition How a founder can honor the loss and name what they gained Why the founder transition belongs as a goal in your strategic plan How boards and successors can keep founders involved as ambassadors and storytellers Who This Episode Is For • Founders who feel a sense of loss as their organization needs them less • Executive directors who followed a founder and want a strong working relationship • Board members planning for a founder who is still involved • Teams who want the founder transition to feel like a celebration Links from this episode • Inspired Nonprofit Leadership Newsletter: weekly tips for leading your nonprofit. • Founders Syndrome with Luke John Mickelson • Luke Mickelson on LinkedIn • Sarah Olivieri's website • Sarah Olivieri's Substack publication About Your Host, Sarah Olivieri <div id="text-f4a4135f" class=
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