[Music] hello hello hello this is Tama Peters
president and CEO of grow your nonprofit will we help startup small and stagnant nonprofits grow
through fundraising strategy strategic planning and so much more guys today you're H you're in for
a special treat I have have my special guest here Dale he is with Warrior homes of Coler he share
with you why he founded his nonprofit and how he is growing it but before we get started I'd like
to thank the sponsors of my podcast Trinity life Foundati
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guys like I said my special guest here G Dale how are you doing Dale I'm fine Tama how are
you doday very good very good so thank you for trekking all the way from the beautiful Coler
County to uh come on to grow your nonprofit podcast well thank you for having me up here much
thank you so much so I recently uh reached out to you on LinkedIn because you received a a really
n
ice uh donation from a new company in town and I congratulated you and I said you know what Dale
would be a really great um person to come on the podcast cuz I researched your nonprofit that you
founded over uh 10 years ago and saw the growth and the recent growth with your addition of the
Delta home a 10 unit uh apartment building that houses 20 people 20 veterans I must say yes and
uh how you were able to raise 30% down and I mean it's just a really amazing work that you're doing
but befo
re we get into all of that please share with our audience a little bit about yourself
and why you founded this nonprofit well first of all um I'm a Vietnam veteran and um back about 14
years ago I uh was seeing what was happening with veterans returning home from today's Wars and
was really troubled by the fact that they were experienced a lot of mental health and physical
damage and it uh started reminding me of my days when I came back from Vietnam uh a number of years
ago I'm not going t
o get into many years ago that was but 10 years ago just 10 years ago 10 years
ago and I came back from V Vietnam and um and I was very troubled by it and I did not think that
at that time that uh America really understood uh the needs of these veterans today what they
were experiencing what they had experienced and I thought I knew but I really didn't until I
really got into it because I was thinking in terms of what it was like during my lifetime and when I
came back and the issues that w
e were faced with but it was nothing like um this generation and
every generation is different and I think that's the main thing but when I saw what was happening I
felt like there was a need to um get on board and do something and I thought that I would um the
way I was going to deal with this was to do a fundraiser A oneand done fundraiser uh with a golf
event and uh I contacted a National Organization which was the W Warrior Project researched that
organization they were at that time doi
ng a lot of advertising on TV uh the work that they were
done on the PTSD and traumatic brain injury and I thought I would uh just see um check them out
and maybe do a fundraiser bundle the money up and send it back to U the W Warrior Project and that's
what we did uh that first year we had a golf event and we raised $37,000 that's at that event which
we thought was quite a bit of money yeah and um and the outpoint of that event and the um the U
I think uh the return that we got in terms of
the community saying are we going to do it again are
we going to do it again um really made me stop and think well should I do this again and so the
owner of the golf course golf club that I belong to uh asked me um hey if you want to do it again
uh I'm willing to donate the golf course and uh so being someone who uh likes to give back I
thought well why not if he's willing to give the golf course to us for the day uh I should be
willing to raise the money and we did did that for a number
of years and we were what you call a
pass through organization you know checks are made out to the Wonder Warrior Project we'd bundle them
up and we would send the money to the Wonder Boyer project and we were raising about between $ 175 to
$200,000 a year um raising money for I know they let I know they love that that's every nonprofit's
dream for another organization to raise the money and just send it exactly dream come true right yes
yes um and then um what started happening was as we s
till as we tried to grow it more and more we
found out that um we need to have a bank account cuz we had to be able to invest in the charity
to be able to grow the charity yes and uh the only way you're going to do that was to become a
501c3 so um we had to go to attorney pro bono who offered their the time and services and we started
our own 501c3 and uh and when we started with our own 501c3 um it's like starting the business right
that's right we had that discussion it's like starting th
e business you got to have covenants
and you got to have rules and regulations and board members and a variety of other things that
um I was surprised because I I had come from uh the private sector uh for-profit business and uh
was never involved with you know helping to run or on the board with a nonprofit so this was all
learning for me yeah uh but what I did learn that we spoke about earlier is it's a business and I
came to this uh nonprofit uh as a businessman that had a lot of busines
s experience and understanding
pnls profit Marketing sales and all that kind of stuff and because of all of that MH you know it
it it it all played into launching this charity uh and at that time we called ourselves warriors
uh W Warriors of CER County and for for a while um we really had no brand branding The Branding
we had was the W Warrior Project brand and while we continued to raise money for them it became
over time less and less for them and more for what we could do for veterans in
our community
right that's very important okay and that's how and that's basically how we got started uh there
wasn't a business plan to start with there wasn't investors to start with it was just somebody
with a passion to do something something and I and I don't know how many nonprofits start
that way do you well they all start that way but but your nonprofit is unique because number
one you bring the business AC Acumen so before we dive into a little deeper in that what was your
busine
ss that you were in I was uh work for a Fortune 500 company I was in uh International uh
transportation and Logistics okay and so um I had set up a lot of small business operations around
the world okay basically from nothing and uh and getting distribution channels set up so I just was
aware of operations uh financials marketing return on investment so I had that and that helped
yeah that that's so that's very important so getting your start how did you first how did you
find your board me
mbers in order to help you get give and leverage your nonprofit well before we
come a became a nonprofit for 4 years we were just we were just raising money as a fundraiser
and I had people reach out business people reach out and people that were interested veterans
say hey I'd like to I'd like to help and so from that early on uh fundraising that we started
before become a nonprofit we created was that's where our board members came from basically from
there and uh and we were and that's y
ou know you were we didn't I really didn't recruit anybody
uhhuh just people wanting to volunteer some of them were friends some of them just called me on
the phone wow and said I'd like to participate or came to one of our golf events or dinner events
which we started later we added that uh and just wanted to volunteer so it wasn't a recruiting
a finding people that had a lot of money had a lot of experience with with nonprofits um it was
just real talk about organic yeah it just was an or
ganic charity that started from nothing you
you know that that's that's that's really very interesting because I always see on LinkedIn I
always see these fairs where people are begging looking for volunteers and board members so you
you had friends and you had people who reach out to you however you had to have a system in place
to engage them because you're the leader so in order to be a leader you have people have to
want to follow you so what was your strategy to once you got them invol
ved how did you get them
engaged and and be able to retain them and help you fulfill your mission because your organization
is very successful today which a lot of nonprofits today are still struggling because a they haven't
figured out that you you have a business and you need to run it like a business well you had to
start a you'd had to have a business strategy okay and and with that strategy we developed uh
a threeyear business strategy okay uh and had a mission statement and so that re
ally drives the
agenda and so we were able to get board members some of the early on board members we had to
replace because the needs were different as the charity grows needs are different grows I like
that um and you go from just fundraising to a variety of other sources of funding um I learned
early on that uh just having fundraisers are not enough no it's to generate revenue and to uh drive
your agenda so you started having to find other sources of income okay okay let's talk about the
the sources of income because a a lot of people think okay um I I I I have a nonprofit let's
have events events as we know events are the most expensive way to raise money and they very
timec consuming so how did you transition from cuz I know you still have about three Signature Events
um so how did you when you had that mindset shift and it was like uhhuh in order to be sustainable
we have to have more than fundraising events because I I know just added to your um uh to your
your nonpro
fit the Delta house but you also have other single family homes about three yes we do
about three single family homes so that you have to have more than events to make that happen so so
let's touch on those other uh multiple streams of income if you will to to become a sustainable
nonprofit well uh first of all you you've got to have a strong balance sheet okay and you've
got to be able to show um that you're that to to uh companies philanthropic organizations like
Community Foundation CER
Schulz Foundation these larger foundations you have to be able to show
them an income screen right and you also have to be able to show them that where the money's
going yeah everybody wants to know where's the money going who's getting paid and who's not
getting paid and how you are managing your um your income and uh and that's a good question cuz
nobody wants to invest and something that um that is not for for real um and it's just um you know
what I'm saying and I don't want to but but
that the money is really going for the cost and and the
relationships start becoming really important in terms of your overhead and admin uh people don't
like to see uh a lot of admin expenses they want to see more of their dollar going to programs
and and services to provide the person that they're donated money for so our Target was to uh
keep at at least 90% of our um and have about 10% overhead and so um you got to then start working
with your uh accountants and your financial people th
en to start making sure that you have the
right tax documents in place because any of these organizations that are going to fund you
want to see your your 990 right your income tax and uh and so you got to have that clean and then
to be able to produce to them because that's where uh people with sizable donations I want to make
sure there's some accountability and so with that you then you target companies or organizations
or philanthropic organizations or foundations or grants that uh you
can start filing with but
you need tax information to support those filings for for for income for Grants and that's what we
started doing right right uh and then working on some personal relationships uh in that sort of
thing to uh the fundraise so it's a it becomes a multifaceted prong approach uh once you start
growing your charity to uh a level that will fund your strategies right exactly and and I like
that you keep mentioning the word investors that's something you hear in the busines
s world and you
don't hear that in the nonprofit world so I love that you're you're putting that word out that's
right guys investors your donors are investing in your organiz a the Community Foundation they
are all investors like Dale said looking at your profit and loss statement looking at your 990
which is your tax returns for your nonprofit that all has to make sense it all has to show that
you know what you're doing you're running your nonprofit like a business and that when they're
giving you this grant or this funding this is not to start up something that's not sustainable that
you can't continue on so when they they look at your your Grant application and it's not all it's
not funded sometime they don't always tell you but they're looking to see okay what percentage
of this program are refunding because it it shouldn't be 100% it should be something that you
can carry on because we made this investment but you should be able to continue being self-
sustainable yeah
and they want in the bigger investors or or companies that these foundations
want to get to also know more about your charity want to know who's behind your charity uh who
your who your uh owners are who your investors are as I said as well as uh your board members
because if they're starting to make some sizable Investments right uh they want to know what's
what's what what your organization is all about and that becomes and and the word I'm want to use
is transparency you got to be trans
parent you have to be transparent and and and I I come across a
lot of Founders and people who run nonprofits they say well why they need this well because you're a
public charity that's why you have your nonprofit status it's you don't own it it's a nonprofit
and if if really anyone wants to see your 990 they can go and get that on the irs's website and
other sites because it's a nonprofit so with that said it should be current it should be current
cuz some some aren't no and I found where
some I've I've actually wanted to check out some people
who are interested in our charity and you go check them out and they're they may not have filed a
990 for 2 or 3 years I don't know if you've ever seen that well well if they haven't filed in 3
years they get automatically revoked but um Co did put the IRS back so some you'll see up to
20 maybe 2021 they're just starting to catch up that's why it's not current on the irs's website
but you should if you reach out to the nonprofit by la
w they're supposed to provide it to you
yes exactly you're 100% correct so that's why you got to be transparent you got to be Cur put on
yoursite well you got to be current and you need to make sure your financials are current right
exactly exactly so before we wrap up I told you the time goes by so fast what advice can you give
a nonprofit that just started up and one that's still small and they're struggling they just can't
seem to get their footing with with running their nonprofit raisi
ng money finding the right board
members well I I think um there really has to be you really have to have a a real demand out there
for whatever your you're trying to promote or whatever you have an advocacy for there really has
to be a demand for it and and and not because it's something you want but is there a need out there a
true need that in the community that you're trying to serve and and somebody I think some work folks
uh that takes you start up these nonprofits it's about what the
y want what they think the community
wants and they really don't find out what the need is couple of things because of my business
experience that that that I did I I ran some focus groups o okay my own focus group so we were
helping veterans so I set up focus groups with veterans and their family members independently
uh had Roundtable discussions with people in the community that I thought that we needed to be
interacting with as collaborating with within the community because there isn't
one nonprofit
that can operate by independently you need the help of the community not only investors but also
other community partners partners that's right and so you really need to understand that and and
and get away from thinking well I am it's all about me it's only about my charity you got you
got to work within the community and find areas that and you can find them that are like-minded
and have the same kind of similar Mission just take the word hung for Hunger yeah there there
a
re people even what we do uh helping veterans we help feed veterans and as you know there's a
lot of organizations around town that feed people whether they're veterans or non veterans same
thing with housing you know you can go on and on and on clothing mental health it goes on and on
you know so so so how does one get out of their own way because I I think sometimes we are Our Own
Worst Enemy how do we get out of Our Own Way well don't make it about you don't make it about you be
selfless
service above self yes yes and you got to have and and and the passion is is so important
that you have to be passionate truly passionate about what you're doing then being able to sell
the mission sell what the need is and also be able to show folks that you are making a difference
you got to be able to publish information publish reports or get some of the folks that you're
helping in front of donors yeah yeah that's people know people can see and want to feel touch
and talk to people th
at you are helping or see the results M mhm you can't hide them no you can't
hide them Dale um you have to come back you're a wealth of knowledge I that's why I love talking
to people interviewing people because I learned so much I like your approach with the focus
groups and the round taes that that took me back to my government days whenever we were building a
roadway expansion of 75 a sidewalk that's what we did it was called our our our public information
meeting or or I forget what we
called it but but that is I I I love your mindset I love your way
of thinking like a business and getting people together getting out of your way and know why cuz
a lot of nonprofits they want to do it their way like you said uh and and it's really a duplication
of services so um which the the funders don't like especially the community foundations they don't
like that exactly you don't they don't want to fund people doing the same thing you need to
find your Niche you need to find out what
's needed and what's not being served and and then
you can then it'll pull you uh you don't have to push it it will pull you it it will it will so
so Dale if somebody wanted to donate a million dollar to the um Warrior homes of Coler how would
they reach you your your number your your website it'll appear on the screen yeah you can go to wwc
uh.org and that's ww not www you know I wanted to ask you that when I saw that how did you how
did you get a ww how did you get a worldwide you didn't
get a worldwide web you got a worldwide
just ww.org how did you how did you do that I don't know talk to the folks that I you know the
marketing people that that I work with you see but see dale dale has um a lot of a lot of skill
cuz that's the first time I've ever seen that in my entire life a ww that's so cool so and you you
gave them your information I I don't remember did you gave them give them your telephone number I
know you gave them your website No I gave them our website and uh t
hey can also contact us at uh info
ww call.org those are the best two ways to contact us and uh someone will respond immediately and
uh we're here in caller and we also involved in in in Lee County as well okay that's good to know
some extent that's good to know well thank you so much Dale for your time um I hope our audience
learned from you because I surely did and that it it could help make our nonprofit world a better
place thank you very much thank you guys you heard it here another no
nprofit in the community just 10
years old doing amazing work purchasing a a 10un apartment complex housing 20 veterans eradicating
homelessness in colier County partnering with organizations such as um the the veterans
association um St Paul uh St Matthew's house and just making an impact in the community running
their nonprofit like a business that's right guys like a business through their uh focus groups
round taes and knowing what their investors are looking for I learned so much from
this interview
with Dale today I hope you did too don't forget to like And subscribe to our YouTube channel and
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