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Most small nonprofits don’t have an endowment, and many that think they do are actually holding something else. In this episode, Dr. Dan Freeman sits down with Jocelyn A. Bishop and Valerie R. Sussman, co-founders and managing partners of Jova Law, to cover the legal and financial side of endowments. They explain when an organization is ready to start one (and when a rainy day fund or a CD is the smarter move), who should oversee the money, why your investment advisor needs to understand nonprofits, and the three policies every organization needs: spending, investment, and gift acceptance.

They also take on the questions boards avoid: Is that “endowment” really a board-restricted quasi-endowment? What happens to a restricted gift when its original purpose can no longer be met? How do donor conversations, administrative releases, and cy pres work under UPMIFA? With nearly 40 years of combined experience advising charities, foundations, and philanthropists, Jocelyn and Valerie leave listeners with two takeaways: donors should balance control with trust, and no organization should take on an endowment alone.

Jova Law Website: https://jovalaw.com/

Jova Law LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/jovalaw/

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Why don't the classic change models (ADKAR, Kotter, Lewin) quite fit nonprofits? Dr. Tristan Moore, a change leader and board member with ACMP Texas, set out to answer that question in his doctoral research, which looked at roughly 100 nonprofits and about 800 board members across the San Antonio metro area. In this episode, Tristan and Dr. Dan Freeman dig into what he expected to find versus what the data showed. Not a single board member in the sample held a change management designation, and only 3.8% of the organizations reported a programmatic change on their Form 990. That second finding raises a question every nonprofit leader should think about: is change actually that rare, or is it simply going unreported?

Tristan also shares one of his most surprising findings: a composite measure of board "business acumen" showed no significant relationship to change, and in further analysis even trended negative. That challenges how many organizations recruit board members. Using a food bank's shift to a drive-through model, he shows how volunteers, donors, and relationships create change resistance that corporate models don't anticipate. The episode closes with practical advice for new executive directors on assessing an existing board: identify the key stakeholders who can become change agents, have real one-on-one conversations, and ask board members to put the mission in their own words to reveal where alignment is drifting.

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What do you do when someone slides a blank check across your desk and asks you to fix a grade? For Dr. Fay Niewiadomski, a former university dean, founder and CEO of ICTN since 1993, and an international award-winning change management strategist, that wasn't a hypothetical. In this episode, Fay joins Dr. Dan Freeman to talk about ethics as the everyday standards we set for ourselves, and how those standards get tested when pressure, power, and context shift. She explains why she starts with a culture's proverbs to understand how people were raised to respond to conflict, money, and authority, and why a clear sense of identity matters more than any rulebook when you have seconds to decide.

The conversation then moves into the traps leaders and consultants fall into. Fay explains why accepting the label of "expert" can set you up as a scapegoat, and how to reframe the relationship as a partnership built around shared outcomes. She also covers how to interview a client as carefully as they interview you, and when compromise, resignation, or speaking up is the right move. She makes the case for building a "productive symbiosis" while you create alternatives, and why resigning in anger rarely changes anything. The episode closes with her approach to silence as one of the most underused tools in leadership communication.

Social Media
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fayniewiadomski/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fayniewiadomski/
Substack: https://substack.com/@fayniewiadomski
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ICTNLLPUK
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ICTNonline
Blog: https://www.ictn.com/blog/

The Cost of Poor Judgement..., her Group Coaching session that is available as a course on YouTube.

https://costofpoorjudgement.manus.space/

Her website is https://www.ictn.com/

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📝 If you're reading this and you're in the higher ed, collegiate athletics, or general nonprofit field, I'd love for you to take my survey.

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In this episode of the Executive Thought Partner Podcast, Dr. Daniel Freeman sits down with Bradley Harris, a strategic advisor whose career took him from a high-ranking government role at a Secretary of State's office to leading communications for a private utility, and eventually into his own advisory practice. Bradley shares candid, behind-the-scenes stories from years spent operating inside high-pressure news cycles and boardrooms, and unpacks why stakeholder engagement — what he calls "relationship management" long before you need it — separates reactive leaders from prepared ones. He also draws a sharp distinction between vision, mission, positioning, and messaging, arguing that most organizations skip the hard internal work of alignment before ever touching their external message.

The conversation moves through practical, hard-won lessons: the value of focus groups and honest feedback even when it stings, the difference between chasing consensus and building real alignment, and why media training matters for leaders who rarely think they need it. Bradley closes with a challenge for anyone stepping into a bigger leadership identity — you have to live into who you're becoming before the title or the confidence catches up. It's a grounded, story-driven conversation for executives, communicators, and anyone responsible for how their organization shows up to the people who matter most.

Website: thebradleyharris.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bradley-harris-a4649360

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61591662461833

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Available for Speaking I'm available for keynotes, leadership retreats, roundtable discussions, and executive panels on fundraising, decision-making, organizational culture, and philanthropic advising. If you're building a lineup for your next event, I'd love to be in that conversation.

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In Episode 14, Dan breaks down his Three R's framework—Reach, Revenue, and Relationships—and makes the case that it's not a strategy, but a diagnostic. Most leaders unconsciously over-index on just one of the three, and that imbalance is what quietly costs them mission alignment. Dan walks through how to recognize which "R" is actually driving your decisions in a given meeting, why leading with relationship-building (rather than transactional reach or revenue goals) tends to outperform in first encounters, and how this plays out differently once real trust has been established.

The heart of the episode is a story from Dan's own fundraising career: a donor relationship built entirely over email and phone, sparked by a grammar critique and ultimately leading to a named scholarship and a recurring gift to a student food pantry, all without ever meeting in person. Dan uses the story to illustrate how authenticity, patience, and genuine curiosity about a person's story can uncover connections that no spreadsheet or prospect research ever could. He closes with practical takeaways for leaders, entrepreneurs, and nonprofit executives alike: where you're over-indexing, how the Three R's map to campaign design and donor stewardship, and why reach and trust are inseparable.

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In this episode of The Executive Thought Partner Podcast, Daniel sits down with his good friend Trip Smith — pastor, founder of a new church expression launching south of Charlotte, and team member at Impact Partners, a nonprofit that equips faith-based organizations to achieve their mission. Trip's path ran through UNC Chapel Hill, corporate marketing, divinity school, and local church ministry before landing him at the intersection of nonprofit strategy and pastoral care — a vantage point that gives him a rare, grounded read on why so many mission-driven leaders burn out.

The conversation goes deep on the trap of performance culture in the nonprofit world: the hyper-competent leader who gets rewarded for grinding themselves down "for the mission" until their identity and their toil become indistinguishable. Daniel and Trip unpack the difference between leading from your title and leading from your calling, why grace can only be given once it's been received, and the shift from "I have to go to work" to "I get to go to work." If you've ever felt like your job started running you instead of the other way around, this one's for you.

Support the show

📝 If you're reading this and you're wanting to know if you're Philanthropy Ready, you can take my assessment here.

Available for Speaking I'm available for keynotes, leadership retreats, roundtable discussions, and executive panels on fundraising, decision-making, organizational culture, and philanthropic advising. If you're building a lineup for your next event, I'd love to be in that conversation.

If you made it this far, I'd love to schedule time to connect with you.

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After two decades as a faculty member and senior higher ed leader, Dr. Kevin Sanders launched Cornerstone Leadership Group in 2023 with one mission: building the leaders who build the campus. In this episode of The Executive Thought Partner Podcast, host Dr. Dan Freeman sits down with Kevin — a classically trained tubist turned academic administrator turned executive coach — to unpack why leadership development remains one of the most under-invested areas on college campuses, even though it's the highest-leverage move an institution can make. They dig into why so many leaders are promoted into the role without ever being taught how to lead themselves, and why the payoff of that investment is often invisible: healthier culture, fewer friction points, and departments that simply run better.

The conversation moves from theory into the real, everyday mechanics of leadership: letting go of the tasks that made you successful at the last level so you can grow into the next one, the psychology behind why an "open door policy" quietly kills your ability to focus, and how weekly reflection — even just 15 to 30 minutes — builds the self-awareness to protect your time before it protects itself. Kevin and Dan also trade notes on control, alignment, and how grand visions die in the gap between the plan and the people carrying it out. Whether you're a department chair, dean, VP, or anyone managing up, down, or sideways, this episode offers a grounded, practitioner's look at what it actually takes to lead well — and lead yourself well — under pressure.

Email: hello@kevinsanders.me

Website: kevinsanders.me

Newsletter: The Academic Leader's Playbook (kevinsanders.me/newsletter)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinsanders-me/

Speaking: represented nationally by APB Speakers Bureau

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📝 If you're reading this and you're in the higher ed, collegiate athletics, or general nonprofit field, I'd love for you to take my survey.

Available for Speaking I'm available for keynotes, leadership retreats, roundtable discussions, and executive panels on fundraising, decision-making, organizational culture, and philanthropic advising. If you're building a lineup for your next event, I'd love to be in that conversation.

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What if your nonprofit's biggest branding problem isn't your logo, your colors, or your tagline — but something no one on your team has actually named?

In this episode of the Executive Thought Partner Podcast, Dr. Dan Freeman sits down with Gianni Masciopinto, founder of BaBump Branding, to unpack the hidden gaps that quietly stall nonprofit growth. They dig into clarity as the non-negotiable starting point for any brand, why "being desirable" is a far higher bar than "being interesting," and how organizations chase attention while forgetting that the real challenge is keeping it.

The conversation hits on alignment — the piece most leaders skip entirely. Gianni shares a candid story about a client who upgraded their visual identity while ignoring the deeper cultural and operational issues underneath, and explains why a beautiful brand brief means nothing if it lives in a forgotten file instead of your team's daily habits. Whether you're leading a nonprofit, a business, or just trying to get clear on your own personal brand, this episode offers a practical, no-fluff framework for making sure your outside message actually matches what's happening on the inside.

Website: https://babump.co/

Webinar: https://www.babump.co/offer/6-hidden-brand-gaps

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hellogianni/

Support the show

📝 If you're reading this and you're in the higher ed, collegiate athletics, or general nonprofit field, I'd love for you to take my survey.

Available for Speaking I'm available for keynotes, leadership retreats, roundtable discussions, and executive panels on fundraising, decision-making, organizational culture, and philanthropic advising. If you're building a lineup for your next event, I'd love to be in that conversation.

→ Reach out at dan@fsgventures.biz or schedule here

If you made it this far, I'd love to schedule time to connect with you.

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