Through The Noise

  How do you teach play writing? Young Playwrights Theater is teaching just that too students. Learn more about how they are helping bring to the arts to young students today. As the Communications Associate for Young Playwrights' Theater, Jeff Gilliland spends his days promoting events, writing blog posts and designing materials to share the work of YPT and its students with the larger community. He can often be found staring off into space, wondering how to say, "Common Core-aligned, arts-integrated creative writing program" in a hashtag. Young Playwrights’ Theater inspires young people to realize the power of their own voices, teaching English Language Arts, critical thinking and creative expression to public and public charter school students in Greater Washington through the art of playwriting.

Are you a non profit without a brick and morter office? Learn how an association management company can provide back office support with event planning, program management and more. Carol Montoya, CAE is the principal officer of Potomac Management Resources (PMR), where she is responsible for client service, business development, and human resources. Carol brings her expertise in nonprofit management and operations, communications, strategic planning, and event management to clients in wide range of industries, from attorneys to general contractors to communications professionals. PMR provides full service association management—administrative services, board support, communications, meeting and event planning, program management, membership services, and financial management—to nonprofit organizations. PMR currently has 17 clients on its roster, ranging from less than 100 members to over 11,000. PMR is committed to providing the tools, skills, and expertise that volunteer leaders need to bring their strat

Sometimes you need someone to help with RFP's. This can be a long and difficult process. That's is where Professional Services Council can help. Stan Soloway is president and CEO of the Professional Services Council. Soloway assumed the presidency in January 2001. PSC has a membership of nearly 380 companies of all sizes, performing services of all kinds for virtually every agency of the government. The Professional Services Council is the national trade association of the government professional and technical services industry.

We had a conversation about how effective is the use of social media and PR for nonprofits. Anne gave us insights into her community engagement efforts, Blake wasn't sure what PR professionals do, and Ernesto pondered how difficult it is to create and manage a nonprofit. One thing we all did agree on is that a nonoprofit is a business and nothing about that is easy.  Anne O'Dell is currently a Candidate for a Masters in Fine Arts in Arts Management at the University of Oregon where her work focusing on cultural planning and arts administration is informed by her experience as a vocal artist living in the US. This past summer, she interned with an Arlington County organization and was able to see up close and personal how continued professional development impacts effective leadership skills and community engagement and despite the sarcasm in this podcast, yes, she is a feminist.

This advocacy organization represents women in the world that live in extreme poverty (under a $1.25 a day). Through partnerships and coalitions, they work on Capitol Hill to make sure the U.S. government helps create the conditions for economic opportunity and supporting quality education for all. While their work is focused on policy, they make sure the message is delivered through stories. Lauren Supina is Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships at Women Thrive Worldwide including philanthropic outreach to corporations, foundations and private sector partners. She has worked, lived and traveled extensively around the globe. Appointed by President Clinton as Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Women’s Initiatives and Outreach at the White House, Lauren reported to the President on issues important to women and families, and represented the United States on international delegations. Women Thrive Worldwide is a non-profit organization working on behalf o

Content management systems can help you to keep control of your site and ward off trolls. Laurence is here with us to teach us about what a content management system can do for a project. Laurence helps organizations develop and implement their Content Management and Information Governance strategies. He has led a wide range of projects including content digitization, Records Management, BPM, and Collaboration for both the commercial and public sectors. Today Laurence is a free agent, working with people and organizations on the best direction that they and the industry can take to finally make Content Management an easy challenge.

We have all attended some fundraising event for charity before in our past.  But have you ever really stopped to think about what those fundraising events were able to accomplish?  Here is a little bit about the good causes behind fundraising. Currently the Director of Development & Organizational Advancement at Cornerstone Montgomery, Heidi is a career development professional who brings an extensive network of contacts and wealth of knowledge about fundraising, non-profits, and board engagement. Previously at the National Center for Children and Families (NCCF), Heidi led a successful $7.2 million capital campaign, grew the donor database by an average of 30% a year for over 5 years. Charities LIKE NCCF thrive under Ms. Webb’s leadership advice and coaching, which ultimately results in strong, effective, and collaborative development departments. In addition to her work, Ms. Webb volunteers extensively. She is a Rotarian, and has served on benefit committees for multi-million dollar fundraising events f

Diego Torres Coló tells us about the freelancing and independent business opportunities in a tourist town such as Playa del Carmen. We talked about the importance of creating a community of entrepreneurs with the objective of creating a healthier economy and having a better lifestyle. With over 12 years of international experience in different sections of the corporate, tourism and leadership industries, Diego has been living in the Caribbean for over 4 years and is now the founder and Networking Director of Independent Playa. Inspired by the drive and passion of freelancers in the area, Independent Playa is the most reliable and trustworthy directory of Independent Business owners and it has become a consulting agency for this very special niche.

If you have an idea to help your community but don't want to go through the process of incorporating a charity, there is hope. As Executive Director of United Charitable Programs, Jan does whatever it takes to keep her organization in top condition, to keep up on the latest laws and regulations, to keep her staff and Board happy and humming, and most importantly, to keep pushing for better ways to make doing charitable work easy and make giving fun and rewarding. UCP’s mission is to make philanthropy accessible to everyone by providing the infrastructure required to efficiently and effectively run charitable programs through the management of Fiscally Sponsored Programs and Donor Advised Foundations.

Managing money can be difficult especially in these last 6 years.  For non profits, this challenge exists as well. Brad Hawkins is a Financial Advisor and Vice President with Bernstein Global Wealth Management. He advises nonprofits and individuals on a variety of investment strategies. Since 1967 Bernstein has focused squarely on providing research and investment management services to institutions and individuals. Bernstein currently manages assets for over 3,000 endowments, foundations, charities and trade associations.

Need to get the right group together or put pressure on a hot topic?  Or do you need something not to become a hot topic? Digital content may be the way to go.  Simon Owens is the Director of Digital Content at LEVICK. A longtime journalist, Simon built out the social media presences for US News & World Report and has written for The Atlantic, Harvard's Nieman Lab, US News & World Report, and others. LEVICK is a communication firm specializing in crisis PR, public affairs, lobbying, and grassroots mobilization.

PR and marketing should not be done for the sake of getting it done. It needs to have results. And not everyone is a marketer or PR person. On this episode, get real advice from Greg who gives you the truth about PR and marketing. Greg is an award-winning creative director, digital strategist, writer and motion graphics artist. He serves as the Vice President on the board of the DC Ad Club, and also speaks at colleges in the D.C. area about DC Ad Club. Carousel 30 is a digital agency that helps brands translate business objectives into strategies that incorporate tactics such as advertising and marketing campaigns, websites, mobile apps and more.

Want technology to do your work? That’s what Hossein does when he is not playing soccer (or football) for nonprofits with his software solution CharityEngine. Hossein Noshirvani is the President of CharityEngine overseeing the sales and marketing teams. Prior to joining CharityEngine, Hossein was founder of gym management software company, Motionsoft. Along with his brother, they grew the company to over $30,000,000 in annual revenue with a staff of 125 people. He currently resides in Potomac Maryland with his wife, and tiny dog, Miso. In his spare time he enjoys biking, gardening, fishing and playing soccer. CharityEngine’s “One Platform. One CRM. One Support Team.” solution gives nonprofits more control over the technology behind their online fundraising, communications, events & donor management.

Since 1905, the YWCA has been advocating for women. Between running adult education and youth development programs for women, the YWCA works hard to provide comfortable environments for personal growth and development. LeAnn gives us a behind-the-scenes look at how communications works for this busy nonprofit. LeAnn Harley is the Manager of Marketing and Advocacy Communications at the YWCA National Capital Area in Washington DC. She joined the YWCA in 2010 and handles all communications and branding to support the youth development, adult education, and advocacy programs.  The YWCA is one of the oldest women's organization in the nation and the National Capital Area aims to provide a majority of women and girls of color in high need communities across the national capital area with the resources and support necessary to achieve personal, educational and professional success.

Getting an award is great recognition for hard work, but how often do we think about how contests are managed? Here's a hint, if you have more than fifty submissions on a spreadsheet, there's a better way. We brought in Tim Spell and Tim Herchenroeder of OpenWater to talk about online awards management. Timothy Spell, CEO of OpenWater, possesses an innate ability to translate and break down complex technical information to non-technical people. While focused on the marketing and sales side of the business, Tim is also an avid rower and competes across the country with Potomac Boat Club. Tim Herchenroeder, Director of Business Development. Colleagues call him as "Tim H" to avoid confusion with Tim Spell, one of the Co-Founders. Tim H's approach to business development is simple: Nuturing interactions with prospects. The philosophy is, "We'll either find value in working together or we'll decide to 'call it quits'." OpenWater is a software platform that automates awards, abstracts, conferences, events and mo

What do digital political strategists do? Probably a better question to ask is, what don't they do? From helping political candidates get elected, to helping organizations and their activists engage those politicians who got elected, Alan and his team at turn4D have a busy schedule developing online strategies.  Alan Rosenblatt, Ph.D. is partner and Director of Digital Strategy at turner4D. He is a pioneer and thought-leader at the intersection of digital & social media with politics, advocacy & media. A columnist at SocialMediaToday.com and CQ-Roll Call's Connectivity, Alan is the host of the Internet Advocacy Roundatble (@IARoundtable) and a digital political strategy professor at Johns Hopkins and American Universities. He can be found across social media at @DrDigiPol. turner4D was founded in 2000 as Turner Strategies by refugees from large communications agencies and progressive organizations frustrated by the focus on the bottom line at the sacrifice of true societal change.

Alison Serota's unique job is to coordinate events and communication efforts around man's greatest invention: ice cream. As a franchise catering warehouse, Alison's job is to make sure there's plenty of ice cream to get around Washington DC area for special events; from employer appreciation days, to Blue Angle flyovers, weddings and school fundraising events. Alison is the Director of Marketing & Events for Ben & Jerry’s in the DC Metropolitan Area. She oversees marketing efforts, catering and event management, and branding efforts for the largest Ben & Jerry’s Franchise. Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream started in 1978 in Burlington, Vermont.

Ron Barrett sat down with Ernesto Gluecksmann and Blake Althen to give a sobering view of the challenges that nonprofits face when they solicit charitable contributions across state lines (or country borders). That "donate now" button on an organization's website has a lot of regulatory implications that nonprofits must carefully understand to avoid running afoul with the IRS or state regulators. Fortunately, there's help. Ron Barrett is the Vice President of Nonprofit Services at National Corporate Research, Ltd., where he developed a comprehensive suite of nonprofit services, including corporate filings, charitable solicitation registrations, compliance filings, and sales tax exemption management. He is the co-author of Nonprofit Fundraising Registration: The 50-State Guide (Nolo, 2nd Ed., Nov. 2012), has authored numerous articles, and has presented public and in-house CLE seminars on state charitable registration requirements around the country. National Corporate Research is a professional registered

Ashwin Jayaram brings us in on what it's like to be a boutique agency for brands like Google and Adobe as well as agencies of the federal government. It starts with understanding what is the strategy is behind everything they do for their clients and for themselves as a business.  Ashwin is the Chief Strategy Officer at Insomniac Design responsible for driving organization strategy and delivery. In addition to overseeing the firm's growth and expansion in domestic and international markets, Ashwin leads large scale projects including strategy consulting, global campaigns, web and mobile projects, data visualization, and enterprise applications. Insomniac Design is an award winning full service creative agency with a strong commitment to making a lasting impact on brands, people, and communities.  

Lisa Iannarino talks about how her communications team supports fundraising for ongoing research and treatments for those affected by blood cancers. From tracking leads, participants, and conversions, to setting up workshops to train their runners in the fundraising process, LLS's success has helped it grow from a $30,000 annual event to a billion dollar organization over the last 20 years. Iannarino is the Director of Marketing & Communications for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) National Capital Area Chapter, overseeing communications, marketing and branding for the organization’s second largest chapter. A long-time volunteer for LLS, Iannarino joined the LLS staff in 2010, and contributes to major campaigns including Team In Training, Light The Night, the Leukemia Ball and LLS’s national branding campaign “Someday is Today”. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is the nation’s largest voluntary health organization dedicated to finding blood cancer cures and improving the quality of lif