Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership

Patton McDowell
  • 5.0 (120)
  • Non-Profit
  • Weekly

Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership is a weekly conversation with the leaders who run, fund and advise nonprofits. Host Dr. Patton McDowell, a nonprofit consultant with more than 30 years in the sector, helps emerging, mid-career and senior leaders build their careers, strengthen their boards, raise more money and lead with clarity. Each week, Patton talks with executive directors, CEOs, foundation leaders, board members and sector experts about the decisions that shape a nonprofit career: stepping into your first leadership role, leading through change, building a strong board, raising money, and developing the people around you. He is also the author of the book Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership. Listeners tune in from more than 130 countries for practical, honest stories they can apply the next week. Topics include nonprofit career development, executive transitions, board governance, fundraising and philanthropy, philanthropic leadership, strategic planning, and organizational culture. Whether you are an emerging leader, a mid-career professional preparing for what’s next, or a seasoned executive, you’ll leave each episode with something you can use. Hosted by Dr. Patton McDowell, MBA, CFRE, Senior Director of Leadership Initiatives at Armstrong McGuire and Director of the Institute for Philanthropic Leadership. Learn more and apply to be a guest at armstrongmcguire.com/podcasts.

  1. 3d ago

    394: How to Lead When the World Is Watching (Deona Smith)

    Episode #394: How to Lead When the World Is Watching Episode Summary Many capital campaigns treat the ribbon cutting as the finish line, but Deona Smith, Executive Director of the Emanuel Nine Memorial Foundation in Charleston, South Carolina, learned that the harder fundraising conversation starts after the building is funded. Smith is closing the final stretch of a $25 million campaign, $20 million of it construction, to open the Emanuel Nine Memorial on November 14, honoring the nine killed and five survivors of the 2015 shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church. She explains why donors who gave readily to construction were surprised programming needed funding too, how her fifteen member board, co-chaired by the church's sitting pastor and a longtime Charleston developer, works its own networks rather than simply overseeing from a distance, and how the Crossroads program's four pillars, acknowledgement, reconciliation, forgiveness and empowerment, now shape every dollar raised. Listeners will walk away with a sharper way to shift a campaign's narrative from remembering what happened to explaining how the organization is responding, and a board recruiting lens that favors heart and talent over convenient friendships. About Deona Deona Smith is Executive Director of the Emanuel Nine Memorial Foundation in Charleston, South Carolina, which is building the Emanuel Nine Memorial to honor the nine people killed and five survivors of the June 2015 shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church. Before the role, she spent years in corporate America in the brewing industry approving sponsorship requests from nonprofits, then started her own nonprofit and became known as a fundraiser in her own right. About three years ago she joined the Memorial's team to help close a fundraising gap and was later asked to become executive director, a decision she doubted until the project's architect, Michael Arad, who also designed the 9/11 Memorial in New York, told her she was the right person to lead it. She now draws on lessons from the 9/11 Memorial and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice as Charleston builds its own model for turning tragedy into programming the whole country can learn from. Resources Thanks to our podcast partner, InperiumDeona's LinkedIn | Emanuel Nine Memorial FoundationThe Emanuel Nine Memorial opens in Charleston on November 14, two days after this episode airsBook recommendation: Mother Emanuel by Kevin Sack (Pulitzer Prize finalist)Celebrate Nonprofit Awareness Month with the NC Center for Nonprofits!Follow Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership, and please leave a review!Learn more about the leadership resources at Armstrong McGuire: ArmstrongMcGuire.comYour Path to Nonprofit Leadership | ArmstrongMcGuire.com Hosted by Dr. Patton McDowell, MBA, CFRE, Senior Director of Leadership Initiatives, Armstrong McGuire & Associates, and Director of the Institute for Philanthropic Leadership

  2. Nov 5

    393: What Surprised Me Most as a New Nonprofit CEO (Sarah Norris)

    Episode 393: What Surprised Me Most as a New Nonprofit CEO (Sarah Norris) Episode Summary Plenty of capable people rule themselves out of the corner office because they are introverted, never planned to lead, or assume the job demands a personality they do not have. Sarah Norris, Chief Executive Officer of Crossnore Communities for Children in Crossnore, North Carolina, never set out to be a CEO, yet she has just completed her first year leading a century-old child welfare and mental health agency. She shares what surprised her most, from the loneliness of the seat, even within a co-leadership structure with Brett Loftis, to the fiscal-year goal she set of building a one-on-one relationship with every board member. Norris explains why she prunes the tree regularly instead of waiting to chop it in half, why personality assessments should guide you rather than label you, and how she protects her energy with morning deep work and a firm limit on evening events. Listeners will walk away with permission to lead as themselves and practical habits for a strong first year in the chair. About Sarah Sarah Norris, EdD, MBA, is Chief Executive Officer of Crossnore Communities for Children, a century-old agency in Crossnore, NC that helps children and families find hope and healing through child welfare and mental health services in schools, communities, and homes. A social worker by training, she began in direct service, discovered she loved coaching staff, and moved steadily into leadership. She joined Crossnore in 2018 as Child Welfare Division Director, became Chief Program Officer in 2020, and stepped into the CEO role in 2025, where she co-leads with Brett Loftis. She credits mentors, and the communication training she took with Lou Solomon, for helping her lead authentically as an introvert. Away from work, she keeps her weekends for creativity, including art and journaling, and she is a self-taught artist whose art is featured in Crossnore’s fine arts gallery. Resources Thanks to our podcast partner, InperiumSarah’s LinkedIn | Crossnore Communities for ChildrenInteract Studio, Lou Solomon’s authentic communication training that Sarah recommendsBook recommendation: Rest by Alex Soojung-Kim PangCelebrate Nonprofit Awareness Month with the NC Center for Nonprofits!Follow Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership, and please leave a review!Learn more about the leadership resources at Armstrong McGuire: ArmstrongMcGuire.comYour Path to Nonprofit Leadership | ArmstrongMcGuire.com Hosted by Dr. Patton McDowell, MBA, CFRE, Senior Director of Leadership Initiatives, Armstrong McGuire & Associates, and Director of the Institute for Philanthropic Leadership

  3. Oct 29

    392: What Funders Are Seeing, Funding & Prioritizing Right Now (Clark Casteel, Hal Cato, Darrin Goss, Sr., Rhett Mabry)

    392: What Funders Are Seeing, Funding & Prioritizing Right Now (Clark Casteel, Hal Cato, Darrin Goss, Sr., Rhett Mabry) Episode Summary Most nonprofit leaders guess at a funder's real priorities until the rejection letter arrives. Recorded live from the Across State Lines webinar Patton moderated, this episode brings four voices at once: Clark Casteel (Danville Regional Foundation), Hal Cato (Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee), Darrin Goss, Sr. (Coastal Community Foundation), and Rhett Mabry (The Duke Endowment), comparing what they fund, how far they go beyond the grant check, and how they measure impact. Listeners get a clear read on how four foundations actually decide, measure and partner. Clark Casteel, President and CEO, Danville Regional Foundation Leads the Dan River Region's 20-year economic transformation effort in Virginia and North Carolina. Beyond Grantmaking: Reimagining the Potential of the Community Foundation in Its Second CenturyThe SMURF capitals frameworkPhilanthropy and Equity: Private Philanthropy and the New Normal — Ambassador James JosephThe Cultivation Approach to Place-Based Philanthropy — Doug EasterlingCollaborative Leadership: How Citizens and Civic Leaders Can Make a Difference and The Collaborative Leadership Fieldbook — David ChrislipCollab Lab, a collaboration initiative with Chrislip Hal Cato, CEO, Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee Leads Nashville's largest nonprofit, pushing funders from parallel play toward real collaboration. A Sector in Crisis: How U.S. Nonprofits and Foundations Are Responding to Threats — Center for Effective Philanthropy Darrin Goss, Sr., President and CEO, Coastal Community Foundation Leads the foundation serving nine coastal South Carolina counties, with a growing impact-investing arm. Trying Hard Is Not Good Enough — Mark Friedman, on Results-Based AccountabilityResults-Based Accountability overview and implementation guide Rhett Mabry, President, The Duke Endowment Leads Carolinas funding for health care, child and family well-being, higher education and rural churches. Candid and Foundation Directory OnlineStrategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management — Harvard Business SchoolBlue Meridian Partners Thanks to our podcast partner, InperiumJoin the Spring 2027 Mastermind Leadership ProgramFollow Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership, and please leave a review!Learn more about the leadership resources at Armstrong McGuire: ArmstrongMcGuire.com

  4. Oct 22

    391: Deeper, Not Bigger: How to Make the Case for Capacity (Jimmy McQuilkin)

    Episode 391: Deeper, Not Bigger: How to Make the Case for Capacity (Jimmy McQuilkin) Episode Summary Most capital campaigns fund something new, a building, a wing, more seats. Jimmy McQuilkin, Founder and Executive Director of UrbanPromise Charlotte, built a six-million-dollar campaign to fund something nonprofit leaders rarely ask for: getting better. McQuilkin traces his path from a Teach For America classroom to a summer running UrbanPromise Honduras, and the 2013 leap that became UrbanPromise Charlotte’s twenty-year model of reaching, raising, and restoring through its Street Leader program. He walks through the strategic planning process that surfaced three tensions, pandemic-strained families, an overloaded team, and infrastructure that hadn’t kept pace, and how that became the Rooted for Restoration campaign, now past six million dollars, with Armstrong McGuire’s feasibility study and an early gift that funded staff salary increases before public fundraising even began. Listeners will walk away with a model for asking donors to invest in quality and people, not just capacity for more. About Jimmy Jimmy McQuilkin is Founder and Executive Director of UrbanPromise Charlotte, which has grown from one site to four across the city, serving nearly 700 children, youth, and young adults through a twenty-year model built around its Street Leader program, where high schoolers are employed and mentored to lead the younger students coming up behind them. A Spanish and economics double major at Wake Forest University, he came to Charlotte through Teach For America, teaching Spanish and coaching basketball for four years at Philip O. Berry High School, before a summer running UrbanPromise Honduras convinced him to found UrbanPromise Charlotte in 2013. Thirteen years in, he now leads the organization’s six-million-dollar-plus Rooted for Restoration campaign. He also walked on to Wake Forest’s basketball team as a student manager, something he describes, self-deprecatingly, as his own version of Rudy. Resources Thanks to our podcast partner, InperiumJimmy’s LinkedIn | UrbanPromise CharlotteBook recommendation: Tattoos on the Heart by Father Greg Boyle, founder of Homeboy IndustriesJoin the Spring 2027 Mastermind!Follow Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership, and please leave a review!Learn more about the leadership resources at Armstrong McGuire: ArmstrongMcGuire.comYour Path to Nonprofit Leadership | ArmstrongMcGuire.com

  5. Oct 15

    390: How People Work: 4 Things Every Nonprofit Leader Should Know (Nancy Bacon)

    Episode 390: How People Work: 4 Things Every Nonprofit Leader Should Know (Nancy Bacon) Episode Summary Most nonprofit leaders assume that passion is enough, that a motivated team is simply a team that cares, and that a performance problem is a training problem. Nancy Bacon, Founder of Nancy Bacon Consulting and co-founder of the Nonprofit Learning Center in Seattle, spent this conversation taking that apart, one piece of research at a time. She walks through self-determination theory’s three levers for real motivation (autonomy, competence and relatedness), the difference between busy and engaged (illustrated by a parent who dropped crumbs around the house just to get his kids vacuuming instead of picking up Legos), and why she rebranded a dreaded finance training as “Finance Unlocked for Nonprofits,” using Jonathan Haidt’s rider-and-elephant metaphor to show why emotion, not information, drives most decisions. She closes on the knowing-doing gap, why telling someone something once rarely changes what they do next. Listeners will walk away with a sharper diagnostic for the vague complaint “my board isn’t engaged,” and a reminder that curiosity, not another training, is usually the fix. About Nancy Nancy Bacon is Founder of Nancy Bacon Consulting and co-founder of the Nonprofit Learning Center in Seattle, where she designs performance-based learning for nonprofit leaders and teaches other trainers how to teach well. She also leads the Whitworth University Nonprofit Certificate Program. Her path to the sector was not a straight line. She started college as a double major in economics and German literature, intent on a career in international business in Germany, before running an ESL school, teaching in the Philippines, and eventually founding an international education program at Seattle’s World Affairs Council, building it from nothing to a staff of six. She later spent eight years with Washington state’s nonprofit association. Along the way she received the Golden Apple Award, and her recent work includes a Nonprofit Management Certificate for rural leaders with the Innovia Foundation and Whitworth University. Twenty-five years in, she still calls herself a student of how people actually learn. Resources Thanks to our podcast partner, InperiumNancy’s LinkedIn | Nancy Bacon ConsultingBook recommendation: Julie Dirksen’s Design for How People Learn and her newer Talk to the Elephant: Design Learning for Behavior ChangeJoin the Spring 2027 Mastermind!Follow Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership, and please leave a review!Learn more about the leadership resources at Armstrong McGuire: ArmstrongMcGuire.comYour Path to Nonprofit Leadership | ArmstrongMcGuire.com

  6. Oct 8

    389: How to Stop Being the Invisible Sector (Dr. Mariane Asad Doyle)

    Episode 389: How to Stop Being the Invisible Sector (Dr. Mariane Asad Doyle) Episode Summary Ask a nonprofit leader about advocacy and you will usually hear one of two things: there is no time for it, or it is lobbying and therefore off limits. Dr. Mariane Asad Doyle, Executive Director of the Center for Nonprofit Excellence in Charlottesville, Virginia, takes both apart. Advocacy, she argues, is simply legislative education, and the line that actually matters is a bill. If you are pushing a specific piece of legislation you are lobbying, which you are still permitted to do so long as you track it, report it and keep it proportionate to your mission. Everything short of that is relationship building, and her argument is that the sector's real problem is not legal exposure but invisibility. Doyle also talks about following a fifteen-year executive director, chairing her regional chamber of commerce, and why she treats collaboration as a competency rather than a personality trait. Listeners will walk away knowing what they are actually allowed to do, and where to start on Monday. About Mariane Dr. Mariane Asad Doyle is Executive Director of the Center for Nonprofit Excellence, the Virginia association that serves as a learning partner, advisor and legislative voice for nonprofits across the Commonwealth, and which marks its twentieth anniversary this year. She stepped into the role in 2024, following a predecessor who had led the organization for fifteen years. Her background is education. She has taught in higher education for roughly twenty-five years, and her doctoral research examined the career pathways of women in K-12 administration, where she found that women tend to take a meandering road to end up exactly where they need to be. She has been nonprofit adjacent her whole career, starting as a volunteer at the Braille Institute in Southern California. She also chairs the Charlottesville Regional Chamber, a habit she traces to a childhood spent tagging along to Chamber after-hours events with her father. Resources Thanks to our podcast partner, InperiumMariane's LinkedIn | Center for Nonprofit ExcellenceMariane's appearance #358, What Nonprofit Leaders Need Now: Guidance from Four Sector ExpertsNational Council of Nonprofits, to find the state association where you areCNE's 20th Anniversary Philanthropy Day Luncheon, Wednesday, October 28 in Keswick, VACo-Intelligence by Ethan Mollick, and his new Co-Existence: The Next Phase of AI, out October 20Follow Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership, and please leave a review!Learn more about the leadership resources at Armstrong McGuire

  7. Oct 1

    388: Why Half of Your Week Isn't in Your Job Description (Cyril Jefferson)

    Episode 388: Why Half of Your Week Isn't in Your Job Description (Cyril Jefferson) Episode Summary Most nonprofit leaders can feel that the week has gotten away from them, but very few can prove it, which makes the conversation with a board sound like complaining rather than evidence. Cyril Jefferson, Mayor of High Point, North Carolina, spent years on the other side of that problem as a consultant, and his fix is a four-week time audit: log every task in a spreadsheet as you do it, add a row each time something new appears, and at the end of 160 hours read what the sheet says. One leader discovered she was spending 40 percent of her time on her actual job description. He pairs it with an accountability chart that routinely shows a CEO carrying 70 functions while the program director carries 20. Jefferson also traces his own path from a Communities In Schools student to a site coordinator to City Hall, and makes the case for why the nonprofit sector sits where neither business nor government can operate. Listeners will walk away with a way to turn the feeling of overload into data somebody can act on. About Cyril Cyril Jefferson is Mayor of High Point, North Carolina, elected in November 2023 and sworn in at 31, and he serves as Industry Practice Director at Stratagon, where he leads the agency's higher education practice. He came to that role when Stratagon acquired Change Often, the social innovation firm he founded to work on social and economic challenges. His path ran through Communities In Schools, first as a High Point student the local affiliate served and later as a site coordinator splitting his employment between the nonprofit and the school district, where a student who fell through the cracks became the reason he ran for office. He was elected to City Council in 2019, and he is currently the Democratic nominee for North Carolina's Sixth Congressional District. His wife is a nonprofit executive director, he is a self-described spreadsheet guy who loves a good SUMIF, and he once officiated the wedding of a former student. Resources Thanks to our podcast partner, InperiumCyril's LinkedIn | City of High PointCommunities In Schools, the national dropout prevention network that served him as a studentStratagonBook recommendation: The Audacity of Hope by Barack ObamaConference for NC Nonprofits, October 20-21, 2026 in Concord. Use code PATH26 for discount, or PATHMEM for $100 off through October 19 if you're already a member!Follow Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership, and please leave a review!Learn more about the leadership resources at Armstrong McGuire

  8. Sep 24

    387: How to Build Something That Keeps Giving (William McNeely)

    Episode 387: How to Build Something That Keeps Giving Episode Summary Most leaders build as though time is unlimited, and the idea that would matter most sits in a notebook waiting on money that never arrives. William McNeely, Founder and CEO of Do Greater Charlotte, stopped thinking that way in 2017, and six weeks after a double lung transplant, with no money and no staff, he was on a stage pitching an organization built around one sentence he had written himself: commit to doing something greater that will keep giving when you are no longer able to give. He tells the story of driving around Charlotte until he found a trashed step van, buying it for $1,500, and turning it into a mobile technology lab that taught kids in cul-de-sacs. That truck proved the concept behind an 8,000 square foot creative lab on the west side, then Sparkhouse Uptown, a $5 million renovation of Harvey Gantt's old architecture office. Listeners will walk away with a way to move an idea into action before the resources show up, and a filter for which ideas deserve to survive. About William William McNeely is Founder and CEO of Do Greater Charlotte, which moves youth and young adults from idea to income through programs in entrepreneurship, AI and innovation, and the creative trades. He spent more than twenty years in corporate technology, most of it with Apple in educational technology, and also taught school and coached youth football before a health crisis ended that career and turned him back toward the west Charlotte neighborhoods he grew up in. He launched Do Greater during COVID with a renovated step van, grew it into an 8,000 square foot creative lab inside an underused church, and in 2026 opened Sparkhouse Uptown, a 20,000 square foot hub at 500 North Tryon with a coffee shop, co-working space, screen printing press and full digital studio. Charlotte Magazine named him one of its 2025 Charlotteans of the Year. His wife of 35 years is part of the team and is, by his own account, the original pushback on every idea he brings home. Resources Thanks to our podcast partner, InperiumWilliam's LinkedIn | Do Greater CharlotteRaj Chetty's economic mobility researchBook recommendations: Originals and Hidden Potential, both by Adam GrantConference for NC Nonprofits, October 20-21, 2026 in Concord, where William is a featured speaker. Use code PATH26 for discount, or PATHMEM for $100 off through October 19 if you're already a member!Follow Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership, and please leave a review!Learn more about the leadership resources at Armstrong McGuire

See All (394)

Trailer

5
out of 5
120 Ratings

About

Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership is a weekly conversation with the leaders who run, fund and advise nonprofits. Host Dr. Patton McDowell, a nonprofit consultant with more than 30 years in the sector, helps emerging, mid-career and senior leaders build their careers, strengthen their boards, raise more money and lead with clarity. Each week, Patton talks with executive directors, CEOs, foundation leaders, board members and sector experts about the decisions that shape a nonprofit career: stepping into your first leadership role, leading through change, building a strong board, raising money, and developing the people around you. He is also the author of the book Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership. Listeners tune in from more than 130 countries for practical, honest stories they can apply the next week. Topics include nonprofit career development, executive transitions, board governance, fundraising and philanthropy, philanthropic leadership, strategic planning, and organizational culture. Whether you are an emerging leader, a mid-career professional preparing for what’s next, or a seasoned executive, you’ll leave each episode with something you can use. Hosted by Dr. Patton McDowell, MBA, CFRE, Senior Director of Leadership Initiatives at Armstrong McGuire and Director of the Institute for Philanthropic Leadership. Learn more and apply to be a guest at armstrongmcguire.com/podcasts.

Information

  • Creator
    Patton McDowell
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    394
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership
  • Show Website
    Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership

You Might Also Like