It is hard to express in one blog my entire week-long experience with nonprofit leaders from Japan, Syria, Uganda, Nigeria and different parts of the United States at the American Express Leadership Academy 2.0 at the Aspen Institute.

This fellowship, which brings together 15 next-generation leaders each year, has made a profound impact on me and my work, beyond our readings and discussions about Aristotle, Hobbes, Chimamanda, Confucius, Frederick Douglass, Hayek, Soto, Machiavelli, Guha, Plato and Martin Luther King. 

I learned that while one person may be inspired by the UN Declaration of Universal Human Rights, another may be angered by it. While one may be proud of the Declaration of Independence, another may be ashamed of it. This is all because of our various personal experiences and social perspectives.

There is not one single story. It is only through time and interactions that we come to see and understand the whole story and connect with one another to make greater social impact.

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Arizona State University began its fall semester last Thursday, while Public Allies Arizona will kick off its 14th year next week. The PAAZ team reached out to someone who can speak about both: Class 13 Public Ally Magdelena “Maggie” Saucedo, who joined the program after graduating from ASU with a bachelor’s degree in Nonprofit Leadership and Management and earning the Certified Nonprofit Professional credential from the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance. She served as the president of ASU’s Nonprofit Leadership Alliance Student Association during her final year in the program. With Public Allies, she is placed at Maryvale Revitalization Corporation and completes the program later this year.

PAAZ: What did you intend to use your degree(s) for?

Maggie: To empower people to leverage their voices in building capacity within not only themselves, but also their communities.  

PAAZ: Have you used your education thus far?

Maggie: Yes, every day.

PAAZ: How did you choose your major? (and minors or certificates too…

What is risk culture? 

“...staff at every level appropriately manage risk as an intrinsic part of their day-to-day work. Such a culture supports an open discussion about uncertainties and opportunities, encourages staff to express concerns, and maintains processes to elevate concerns to appropriate levels.” 

– Australian Government Department of Finance

The nonprofit sector is in a delicate and unique position compared to the for-profit sector. Amazon took over 14 years to turn a profit with many of those first years spent entirely in the red. Can you imagine if nonprofit organizations were able to operate this way? Can you imagine pitching to donors that “Yes, we will create social change, but it’ll take a few years to get there. When can you write a check?” Needless to say, the nonprofit sector doesn’t operate that way. In fact, the nonprofit sector has been guilty of leaving the topic of risk out of necessary and influential conversations. There’s a hush-hush culture regarding risk and failure. Sure, it may never be able to operate in a manner that allows for 14 years without some kind of profit. However, changing the…

New technology is consistently emerging and transforming how we interact with the world. Whether it be social media, digital media, data analytics, information technology or virtual volunteerism, nonprofits have a multitude of pathways to integrate technology into their organizations to improve and advance their social missions. Technology in the nonprofit sector is historically integrated more slowly than in other sectors, which stems from many nonprofit organizations having restrictive budgets and a more traditional or conservative mindset. However, if these organizations invest in technology adoption, they will reap the financial, operational and innovative rewards.

Employee benefits

By integrating technology to automate and take over a variety of organizational responsibilities such as administrative tasks, a nonprofit and its employees can focus on the mission. When individuals are not bogged down with minuscule tasks, they can channel energy into the goals of the organization, creating a better work-life balance and overall morale. The turnover rate in nonprofits is higher than that of the public sector due to the lower pay and high hours worked, so finding ways that technology can alleviate some of that work for employees will in turn lower hours and keep people mission-oriented. 

Social media, digital media and data analytics

Social media, websites,…

Strategic planning is essential if nonprofits are to achieve desired results and identify goals. Programs within a nonprofit can then use these goals to create individualized action plans that help serve the needs of the program while focusing on the global mission and vision of the organization. Having a strategic plan can help increase an organization’s focus to move the mission and vision forward while also helping the nonprofit to evaluate its progress, strengths and needs. Programs can evaluate areas they need to improve, ways they want to enhance the services they currently provide or discover areas where services can be added.

An organization’s strategic plan acts as a blueprint, a plan and a focus of what direction the agency will move. “It generates an explicit understanding of an organization’s mission, strategy and organizational values among staff, board members and external constituencies,” according to Michael Allison and Jude Kaye, authors of “Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations.”

Whether it is a new organization in its infant stages, an organization trying to rebuild…