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Carol Hamilton - Grace Social Sector Consulting
151 Plays3 years ago
Carol Hamilton is an organization effectiveness consultant who helps nonprofits become more strategic and innovative for greater mission impact. She facilitates strategic planning, (online and in-person), helps organizations prepare for executive transitions, and provides training.
A strategic thinker, Carol works with teams and organizations to envision and frame their future strategic direction. Practical in her approach, she helps organizations think through who is key to creating their future, how to gather insights from these stakeholders, consider the big picture, imagine new possibilities, come to an agreement on their future goals, and create an initial action plan to get started. She takes a human-centered and appreciative approach in her work. Carol has more than 25 years of experience in the nonprofit and association sectors working with organizations with a range of missions.
Carol trains frequently on leadership, strategy, and innovation topics and is the host of the Mission: Impact podcast. She graduated from Swarthmore College and has her Masters in Organization Development from American University. She is a nonprofit Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultant and trained with BoardSource. She is also part of a consultant collective focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion, All In Consulting.
Where to Find Carol: www.gracesocialsector.com
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Transcript
Introduction and Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
The End
00:00:12
Speaker
Welcome to another fabulous episode of the fabulous fuckery podcast. I'm joined today with Ms. Carol Hamilton of Grace Social Sector Consulting. Carol is a organization effectiveness consultant who helps nonprofits become more strategic and innovative for greater mission impact. She facilitates strategic planning,
00:00:34
Speaker
Online and in person helps organizations to prepare for executive transitions and provides training. A strategic thinker, Carol works with teams and organizations to envision and frame their future strategic direction. Practical in her approach, she helps organizations to think through who is key to creating their future, how to gather insights from the stakeholders, and to consider the big picture. Along with imagining new possibilities,
00:01:02
Speaker
and coming to agreement on their future goals while creating an initial action plan to get started. She takes a human-centered approach in her work. Carol has more than 25 years of experience in the nonprofit and association sectors working with organizations with a range of missions. She also frequently trains on leadership, strategy, and innovation, and is the host of the Mission Impact podcast.
00:01:28
Speaker
She graduated from Swarthmore College and has her master's degree in organization development from American University. She is a nonprofit standards for excellence license consultant and trained with board source. She's also a part of a consultant collective focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion called all in consulting. So thank you, Carol. Thank you for joining today.
00:01:53
Speaker
Thank you so much for having me on your podcast. So I want to just say this is an impressive bio. How can I explain this in layman's terms to someone not familiar with the nonprofit sector?
Understanding Nonprofits and Their Impact
00:02:08
Speaker
So nonprofits are organizations that typically are helping someone out. That's mostly what people think of when they think of nonprofits. It might be your local food bank, a homeless shelter, but it also includes most universities, many hospitals.
00:02:26
Speaker
So there's a, and trade associations. So the American Manufacturing Association is a nonprofit, but there are different types. So it really ranges in terms of it's a whole, probably, I don't know.
00:02:39
Speaker
10%, 20% of our economy is in the nonprofit sector. And the range of organizations is just huge. So with, I mean, you have all these different types of organizations, what do you find is the most necessary training that a nonprofit needs to be successful?
00:03:00
Speaker
Well, I work primarily with helping organizations design their futures. So, you know, there's a lot of different training that is available for folks in the nonprofit sector. And a lot of times folks will start out with, you know, the
00:03:16
Speaker
In order to have a mission, you also need money. So they're going to start with that fundraising side of things. And that isn't what I necessarily do, but it's certainly very critical. I think another really critical thing is for people to understand what makes a nonprofit different from a for-profit business and what the role of the board of directors is in that nonprofit. So it's not just about
00:03:38
Speaker
one person founding something, it's bringing together a group of people to work on an issue. And I think what's key also is to realize that there are no owners in a nonprofit. The mission, the purpose of the organization has to be for the public good in someone.
00:03:53
Speaker
Ooh, so for you to say that, so a lot of people here that nonprofits tend to be in the news for doing bad things and you're saying they're for the public good.
Challenges in Nonprofit Sector: Integrity and Diversity
00:04:03
Speaker
So you're helping when they shaping their business to make sure that they're holding their mission statement and doing what they said they were going to do when they incorporated as a nonprofit, no matter what that type of entity is.
00:04:16
Speaker
Yeah, and when I'm working with groups, I'll often have them do a vision A exercise of, you know, what would the cover story be if we really were doing well? And obviously, I always have to have a caveat of we want to be in the newspaper for the right reasons. And your treasurer embezzling funds from your nonprofit is not the kind of reason you want to be in the paper. You want to be in the paper because you've helped a huge number of people. You've done something innovative that's moved a policy issue forward or
00:04:46
Speaker
You know, made some well, I agree. I think that when we're creating these organizations, we need to create it to first serve. How can I serve you first before? And that's all businesses. I think corporations as well need to do a better job of saying, Hey, how can I serve the public versus how do I align my pocket? So it's good to know that you're providing those services.
00:05:08
Speaker
Since, because I mean in the last year and a half during the pandemic, it's been very tense as far as diversity and inclusion efforts. Have you found in the nonprofit industry that you're having the same sort of diversity and inclusion issues as private sector, as, you know, the general public?
00:05:30
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think there's been a real wake up call in the sector. Certainly, I think there have been many organizations that have been out front in terms of those issues years ago. But I think there's also been the same trends of Hold True in the nonprofit sector that the larger the business, the higher the salaries, the wider the organization.
00:05:57
Speaker
And oftentimes, even with organizations that are serving the community, the leadership will tend to be white and the frontline workers who are providing direct service may be people of color. So there's been a real disconnect between what the mission of the organization is and who's actually in the seats and who's making the decisions. And then also, especially, board source has done a lot of research around the makeup of boards. And while there's been a lot of
00:06:26
Speaker
You know, it's there's been those statements about we want to do better. There hasn't actually been a lot of movement in terms of diversifying boards and having those boards really reflect. That is kind of scary. So what recommendations would you make to someone thinking about creating a nonprofit in today's political climate?
Advice for Aspiring Nonprofit Founders
00:06:51
Speaker
I would actually probably try to talk them out of it. And the reason would be first for them to before their first instinct is to go create their own organization. My advice to them would be take some time to do an inventory in your own community about who's already working on that issue.
00:07:11
Speaker
whatever the issue is that you wanna move forward, who's already doing work and how can you partner with them? The sector is full of about 75% of the sector is made up of organizations that have very, very small budgets with fewer, no staff. And so that's a lot of organizations competing for individual donor dollars, grant dollars, et cetera. So my first step would be,
00:07:42
Speaker
What research have you already done about who's already working on this issue and how might you be able to join their efforts? Could you volunteer? Could you get on their board? Before creating a whole separate organization that requires all of the backend that any organization does in terms of
00:08:01
Speaker
Managing your systems making sure you've got bylaws
Carol's Journey into Nonprofit Consulting
00:08:04
Speaker
recruiting. That's so interesting So wait, how did you end up in this field? What about nonprofit strategic marketing? attracted you
00:08:17
Speaker
Well, I started out, I kind of stumbled into my very first job. I happened to be able to write and so I managed to get, I started working for a small privately owned company, that small business that helps people get on talk shows.
00:08:33
Speaker
This was way back in the day when it was mostly radio as it is now, probably not podcasts at that point because that was the 90s. But we were working as a for-profit business with any all-comers. And so there were many people that I was promoting whose ideas and perspectives I really supported. But then there were the few that I had to kind of hold my nose and
00:08:57
Speaker
give them the same kind of service that I gave anyone else. And I found that I was pretty good at that. And so when I moved back to Washington, DC, which is really nonprofit central, I thought in terms of my next step in my career, if I'm going to be promoting people, if I'm going to be
00:09:14
Speaker
doing marketing communications, which is where I started out. Let me do that for causes that I believe in. Nice. Now, next question for you is, what was your fucking moment where you just said, I can't do this for other people anymore. I want to work for myself. Well, you know, that grew for a long time, but then there was the moment where you had to actually make the decision. So I, as I was working in the sector, I've worked for lots of organizations where
00:09:44
Speaker
Unfortunately, I saw there was a disconnect between the really important, impressive missions that they were in, the change that they were trying to make in the world, and then how they were actually operating inside, how they were treating people inside, and there was a real disconnect between those two. So that brought me to organization development, which is basically the study of how people work together, groups, how organizations can be more effective, how can you be more strategic, et cetera.
00:10:14
Speaker
So I wanted to go out on my own, but it took me a long time to actually make the leap. And it was really, I was taking care of my dad as he was declining a couple of years before he died a couple of years ago. And just sitting with him as he's kind of reminiscing about his life, you know, in his wheelchair in his 90s. And I'm thinking, if I'm sitting there in my wheelchair in my 90s, and hopefully I'll get there,
00:10:43
Speaker
what am I gonna, what am I gonna be looking back at? What am I gonna regret if I haven't done it? And so that was really where I was like, you know, it's time for me to stop just reading books and listening to podcasts about having a business and it's time to actually do it. So that's really what- Well, I'm sorry, it's the loss of your father.
00:11:01
Speaker
But I'm happy that he motivated you to think about what your life looks like. I mean, that's a great story because, you know, I don't think we think about what stories we're going to tell our grandkids or our kids at the end of our lives.
00:11:18
Speaker
you know, thank you for going
Podcasting and Nonprofit Leadership
00:11:20
Speaker
for it. For our listeners today, I actually met Carol in our ASSA Collective program. We took a podcasting academy course for the greater part of the summer. So we all spent a little bit of time together getting to learn with each other and learn new tactics and techniques to improve our podcasting. And you actually host a podcast. How long have you been doing that now?
00:11:45
Speaker
I just met my, or I just celebrated my one-year pod-a-versary. So I've been doing it for one year now. I actually started recording interviews just as the pandemic started. So it's been a pandemic project, but I talked to other people who work with nonprofits across a lot of different functions, whether they're also strategic planning consultants or they help
00:12:21
Speaker
Oh, I'm sorry. And the name of it is The Mission Impact. And it's the podcast for progressive nonprofit leaders who want to do good in the world. See, there you go. You got to listen. We're here. Plug your podcast. Thank you. Yes. No, we have to make sure that we are amplifying each other's voices and making sure people find there's someone listening who's like, oh, I don't care about anything else she's doing. But she's got a nonprofit podcast on it. Let's learn about that.
00:12:33
Speaker
organizations do it with executive transitions, marketing.
00:12:48
Speaker
Your niche is there. Someone said the other day your riches are in your niches. And I believe we could do that.
Balancing Self-Care in Nonprofit Work
00:12:55
Speaker
So I'm happy you're here. I do want to talk about with all of the competing priorities you have going on, what do you do to take care of yourself? Well, that's part of the tagline for the podcast because in the nonprofit sector, it's way too easy for people to just
00:13:14
Speaker
You know, always work one more hour, always, you know, completely dedicate themselves to the cause, to the point of allowing themselves to be burnt out. And it's something that I really see too much of. And so trying to help people think about how they can set some boundaries. So for me, the summertime is always great because I am near a outdoor pool where I can go and swim laps every morning. So I love that. And then.
00:13:38
Speaker
I just, foundational for me has, I don't know, especially as a get older is just getting enough sleep. And also when you work for yourself, I don't know about you, but I find as I'm producing this podcast, I'm the editor, I'm the graphic designer, I'm the marketer, you know, I'm wearing all these hats. And then in addition to my day job, like I have a day job. So, you know, you have other pursuits and I just think it's so important for us to find balance.
00:14:04
Speaker
while we're trying to grow our dreams because it's only one of us. And if you burn out, the dream burns out with you. So I think it's wonderful that you are helping people. You gave some guidance on how people can think about maybe not starting a nonprofit and going to help nonprofits that already exist.
00:14:25
Speaker
I'm shocked you said that, like, as a consultant, like, give me your money. You're like, nah, I'm ethical. Like, let's do this. Let's find you another way to do this. As far as women owned, or I'm sorry, well, women controlled nonprofits, do you see a lot of that in the DC area or nationwide?
00:14:46
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, there are, especially in the human services sector, there are many, many nonprofits that are probably entirely staffed by women, women in leadership. Unfortunately, again, though, as the budgets get larger for the organization, they tend, they're more often going to be led by men.
Gender Dynamics and Leadership in Nonprofits
00:15:11
Speaker
So, you know, your Harvard universities and your, your huge, or even
00:15:16
Speaker
I'd have to look up to see, I shouldn't name a name because I don't actually know who is the CEO of, for example, the American Red Cross or some very large organization. But the overall, the tendency is for smaller organizations to be led by women, but it can be also a very women dominated sector in certain pockets, especially if it has to do with- Well, thank you. I'm learning quite a bit today. I did not, I'll be honest with you coming into this. I did not know a lot about nonprofits
00:15:45
Speaker
I know people who run them. I know people who are on the boards, but I've never actually heard about the inner workings. For, you know, I'm sitting here thinking we have, you're doing all the things that you're doing. Would you consider doing the type of the consulting that you do for corporate or for small businesses or only nonprofit is your niche?
00:16:07
Speaker
Yeah, I work, I work really mostly with, with nonprofits and associations. So I feel like, you know, that, that's been my background. That's my experience. That's my frame of reference. And I think that always helps when you're, you know, each organization is, is unique, but there are unique things about how nonprofits are set up. Well, I want one, thank you for being brave enough to come on here with the crazy lady from
00:16:30
Speaker
You're podcasting Academy. I appreciate you. I think you're a wonderful human. And I want to thank you for sharing these tips with my listeners. And I hope that you guys will go and check out Carol's podcast and check out her consulting services if you are running a nonprofit.
Engagement and Contact Information
00:16:48
Speaker
Additionally, Carol, where can people find you online?
00:16:54
Speaker
So you can find me at graysocialsector.com. You can find me on LinkedIn, Carol Hamilton, or you can look up Mission Impact. Okay y'all, so y'all go follow her, listen, and rate and subscribe. Give her some likes, give her some five stars. If you're not gonna get five stars, don't do it.
00:17:10
Speaker
But I want to thank you so much for your time today. And everyone, thank you for tuning into this episode of Fabulous Fuckery. I'm your host, Baroness Brie. Please like, share it, and subscribe this episode. And I will talk to you soon. Have a good night. Thank you.