The Nonprofit CEO Podcast

028 Teach Me to Care and Not to Care | Biola University President Barry Corey

Barry Corey is starting his twentieth year as president of Biola University. He says he is on his third presidency at the same institution. Early on, he hired a senior l

027 Weather the Storm? Or Walk Away? | Growing Hope Globally President and CEO Kaitlyn Slate

Kaitlyn Slate stepped into her first CEO role knowing she was very different from her predecessor.  The board wanted her to diversify revenue. The staff wanted her to un

026 Do We Pull the Plug on a 50-Year Program? | Jews for Jesus CEO Aaron Abramson

Jews for Jesus had been sending staff to present to churches for 50 years, more than 1000/year. Pastors invited them in. Churches put them on the schedule. People started

025 He Got a $60 Million Gift. Then He Left | Freedom Fund CEO Nick Grono

He got the largest gift in his organization's history. Then he left anyway. Nick Grono had been employee number one at the Freedom Fund since 2014, the only leader

024 Treating Complaints as Gifts | World Renew Executive Director Carol Bremer-Bennett

Carol Bremer-Bennett sensed there were meetings before the meeting and meetings after the meeting.  The initiatives she was pushing kept stalling, and she couldn't

023 Did I Just Completely Mess That Up? | Abara Executive Director Sami DiPasquale

Sami DiPasquale put three border properties under contract in the same week. Abara had received its 501c3 status the month before. He had no money, but he moved anyway.

022 Ending Our Only Recurring Revenue | World Hope International President & CEO Jenn Peterson

World Hope had run a child sponsorship program for 30 years. Jenn Petersen was one year into her CEO tenure.  The program was declining, the administrative lift was high

021 Am I Too Far Ahead? | The Gathering CEO Josh Kwan

Josh Kwan leads The Gathering, a national community of philanthropists and impact investors who span the full political and theological spectrum. His only real currency

020 Turning Down Money You Need | Flourish Fund Founder & CEO Dan Vogel

Dan Vogel spent months building a partnership with a large institutional funder. Flourish Fund was barely a year old, still in startup mode, without a stable base of fund

019 The Mud Floor Test | Mennonite Central Committee U.S. Exec. Dir. Ann Graber Hershberger

Ann Graber Hershberger spent nearly four decades connected to Mennonite Central Committee before she led it: first as a worker in Nicaragua and El Salvador, then through

018 Pulling the Plug on a $22 Million Program | Missio Nexus President and CEO Ted Esler

Ted Esler launched a partially self-funded health insurance program for the staff of Missio Nexus member organizations. It grew from zero to $22 million in about 18 month

017 Speaking Calmly While Holding a Powder Keg | Alliance to End Hunger President Eric Mitchell

A member publicly demanded to know where the Alliance to End Hunger stood on the Gaza conflict. Half of Eric Mitchell's coalition supported one side. Half supported

016 Should I Take This Shortcut? | Center for Christianity and Public Life Founder, President & CEO Michael Wear

Michael Wear had a clear vision for the Center for Christianity and Public Life: deep formation work, deep investment in cohorts of twelve to sixteen fellows, commitments

015 The Path of Humiliation | Harrison Center for the Arts Exec. Director Joanna Taft

Joanna Taft proposed starting a charter high school out of the arts nonprofit she was leading. She had no background in education.  Her artists were leaving Indianapolis

014 The Decision After the Decision | World Relief President & CEO Myal Greene

Myal Greene inherited an organization with a mission statement that everyone loved. World Relief had run on that mission statement for fifteen years. Internal staff admir

013 Please Don't Let Me Break This! | Christianity Today President & CEO Nicole Martin

Nicole Martin is five and a half months into leading Christianity Today. The prayer she keeps coming back to: "God, please don't let me break this!" She began leadi

012 Deciding Before You Know | Wheaton College President Philip Ryken

Phil Ryken had believed for years that Wheaton College's signature orientation program should be required for every new student. The research was there, and he saw w

011 Prophetic or Pragmatic? | Bread for the World President & CEO Eugene Cho

Eugene Cho started at Bread for the World two days before the COVID lockdown. In his first week, a tweet of his went viral, landing in the Washington Post. He had to figu

010 Telling Donors You Got It Wrong | HOPE International President & CEO Peter Greer

Everything was up and to the right. Hope International had just received an award for innovating in a post-conflict setting. Peter Greer the biggest champion of more. Th

009 Are We Going Bankrupt? | Christian Leadership Alliance President and CEO Tami Heim

On March 12, 2020, Tami Heim learned the governor had shut down public gatherings in Texas. The Outcomes Conference was weeks away. And she was facing the possibility tha