A Modern Nonprofit Podcast The Charity CFO, LLC

Good morning from a Modern Nonprofit Podcast! Today we have a financial professional & co-founder of Fairlight Advisors, Maya Tussing.Maya and her team specialize in investing for nonprofit organizations. So, naturally our conversation today will include many topics from the viewpoint of the financial statements, those within the organization that Maya is working with directly, and so much more. Stay tuned for the conversations because you never know what you may need to hear! Organizational Roles When the conversation of finance comes about, many people pass over the topic because of its complexities. To make it simple, let’s begin with the ‘who?’ Who are Maya and her team working with directly within the 501c3 organization?When Fairlight Advisors are brought into the conversation, they will typically see a large amount of cash sitting around, maybe in a bank account here or CD there. Common practice is for an organization to have a Director of Finance who oversees the financial health of the organization. Maya also sees this individual within the organization partnered with the board member who is over the finance committee. In essence, the director and board chair work hand in hand to assure the best steps are taken when considering the nonprofit’s finances. This can also many times be a great partnership because it allows for the board to be involved in the process, instead of hearing about it at the monthly/quarterly meetings. The expectation of these two roles, whether separate people, (or one person in smaller organizations) is to be able to communicate the financial health of the organization quickly and effectively while in a presentation or board meeting. Simply put, it's important to know where everything is. Many organizations have relationships within the community, and because of this they decide to put a few dollars with a bank to maintain a relationship or have an outstanding dollar amount hiding elsewhere for a rainy day. The job of the Director of Finance, Treasurer, whatever title is given, is to be informed on what is going on in the organization financially and capable of speaking on it. On the flip side, if someone is asked to join the board of directors and potentially has financial experience, they may be asked to oversee the finance committee. This is wonderful! But, if that person’s job includes reading the financial statement that is given to them ever so often, they aren’t being used to their full capacity. Both the job of the Director and Board member are to dig deep into the finances of the organization in order to make a collective decision on how to move forward with the resources that are available. Asking the Right QuestionsMoving right along, Tosha seeks out another great talking point with Maya. She inquires with Maya, ‘What are questions a treasurer should be asking executive leadership, or those running the organization?’ For more resources from Maya and her team, you can visit their website, Fairlight Advisors.com. Here you can also find free resources from blogs, a guide to start your endowment and high level information you may need to know. Please be sure to engage with the interview. Whether you enjoy listening to it, reading about it, or watching us on YouTube, make sure you review, share, and engage with A Modern Nonprofit Podcast. You can find Tosha and the Charity CFO team on Youtube or our website, thecharitycfo.com!

John Mark Vanderpool, co-founder of Social Impact Solutions joins the podcast today. With a focus in fundraising strategies, Tosha & John Mark settle here for the conversation as this is John Mark’s speciality. 



It is no surprise that clients have struggled in the final quarter of 2023. Year end giving wasn’t as projected and not to mention the conversations about inflation and rising costs has yet to settle, the non-profit space faces many challenges entering into 2024. 

John Mark is on the other end of the phone for others who are seeking help in operational efficiencies and fundraising effectiveness.  

As Tosha mentions, a survey produced by BDO stated that 45% of nonprofits are going to combat inflation through fundraising efficiencies. But what does that really mean? 

Thanks to John Mark & Tosha’s conversation, we identified the answer to this question. Starting with simplifying what the question is asking, when in a high inflationary environment, John Mark shares that non-profit organizations must  address two things: 


Raising more dollars
Cutting Costs



You can find Social Impact Solutions online or take their fundraising quiz here. You can also find them on LinkedIn & X. 

Please be sure to engage with the interview. Whether you enjoy listening to it, reading about it, or watching us on YouTube, make sure you review, share, and engage with A Modern Nonprofit Podcast. You can find Tosha and the Charity CFO team on Youtube or our website, thecharitycfo.com!

On today’s episode of A Modern Nonprofit Podcast, our special guest is the one and only Tosha Anderson, our very own founder and CEO. 

The conversation today has a very simple focus, 5 red flags that your accounting needs improvement, even when it may not be recognized.  

Whether the business is accrual or cash basis, it does not matter. Reconciliation is necessary and the bare minimum for successful completion of the accounting role. 

The accountant must post all transactions that filter through the bank account. Once these have been transferred into the accounting system, QuickBooks for example, reconciliation is the next step. 

This is how businesses prove that all transactions that enter the bank account are included in the accounting system. 

Consider it like an internal audit and a necessity. We’re talking ground floor here when it comes to expectations for the accountant. Executive Directors should be checking off on this task, signing off, however they want to approach it, to assure that it is being completed. 

If this is not being done, then it’s time to recognize the huge red flag in business’ processes. 

Not only should this be completed in general, but completed consistently. Infrequent completions of this should also indicate trouble in paradise. 



Red Flag #1: Bank Account Reconciliation Red Flag #2: Lack of Financial Reports Red Flag #3: Timely Revenue Streams Red Flag #4: Auditor FeedbackRed Flag #5: Book Closing Turnarounds 

Please be sure to engage with the interview. Whether you enjoy listening to it, reading about it, or watching us on YouTube, make sure you review, share, and engage with A Modern Nonprofit Podcast. You can find Tosha and the Charity CFO team on Youtube or our website, thecharitycfo.com!

‘Being a human is messy; serving humanity is messier.’ These are the words of Dimple Dhabalia, our guest on today’s episode and founder of Roots in the Clouds (RITC). Dimple’s career started in Denver where she worked on abuse and neglect cases within the Department of Human Services.



Story after story, testimony after testimony began to take a toll on our guest. A phrase that came to her over and again was the phrase, vicarious trauma. This is defined as an occupational challenge for people working and volunteering in the fields of victim services, law enforcement, emergency medical services, fire services, and other allied professions, due to their continuous exposure to victims of trauma and violence by the Office for Victims of Crime.



The hardships of those Dimple was helping, also created hardships in her own life as well. In our society today, mental health is a rising issue and a topic not covered enough. Many deal with mental health concerns, but feel as if they have no one to talk to, or a lack of understanding of the help that is available to them. Of that many, Dimple was one of them, so she decided to bring awareness to health and well-being in the workplace.



Her story took off when she recognized that many ‘solutions’ to the mental health problem, especially in the workplace, revolved around an individual and their own efforts. She felt as if organizations needed a deeper look at each person in order to help them effectively.



Dimple is the author of Tell Me My Story – Challenging the Narrative of Service Before Self. A book written to ‘help the helpers’ as one reviewer writes, Dimple’s story is written from the perspective of a leader in the humanitarian field that addresses the issues of burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma. In alignment with her book (and previously mentioned), she is the founder of RITC.

An organization that seeks to illustrate this thought: Imagine what might be possible if you could serve others without sacrificing your own mental health and well-being in the process. Examples of Mission Driven Occupational Trauma The most common term recognized when it comes to occupational trauma is burnout.

Unfortunately, many other occupational trauma terms also get lumped together under the ‘burnout umbrella’. Dimple shares that burnout is a very specific type of occupational trauma. She defines it as, ‘a prolonged physical and psychological exhaustion that is specifically related to the work that individuals do.’

Although burnout is very real and in nearly every industry, Dimple likes to also focus on the areas that are specific to humanitarian work. Or those in the business of alleviating pain and suffering in the world. On top of burnout, these folks can also experience vicarious trauma and secondary traumatic stress.

The two terms, used interchangeably, can have very diverse meanings. We mentioned vicarious trauma previously, and it’s important to understand that it is built up and happens over time. Secondary traumatic stress on the other hand, can occur from a single incident. Another example is compassion fatigue.

Finally, moral injury is the result of when an individual's values don’t align with the organization’s values. Or an individual may be asked to go against their own deeply held morals and beliefs. Something Dimple says is very prominent in the world and culture today.

If you enjoyed Dimple & Tosha’s conversation be sure to look at Dimple’s website, Roots in the Clouds (RITC) or her book releasing in February of 2024, Tell Me My Story – Challenging the Narrative of Service Before Self. Please be sure to engage with the interview. Whether you enjoy listening to it, reading about it, or watching us on YouTube, make sure you review, share, and engage with A Modern Nonprofit Podcast. You can find Tosha and the Charity CFO team on Youtube or our website, thecharitycfo.com!

John Renouard is the founder and executive director of the nonprofit organization, WHOlives. Like many nonprofit entrepreneurs, John’s career path wasn’t centered around becoming a 501c(3) director. For him, the journey truly started after he became curious about his son’s humanitarian and missionary work in Africa. The curiosity drove him and his wife to travel extensively through Mexico, Central America, and South America before diving deeper into exploration with a  trip to Africa. 



Through their previous trips, John had witnessed impoverished communities, but nothing comparable to the realities of 4am wake up calls to walk 3-4 miles for, not clean, but dirty water. When he imagined his children experiencing this problem, this struck a chord and he wanted to do something about it. 

His thought was simple, if only they could problem solve and fix the water crisis, then they would ultimately eliminate existing healthcare problems because of the lack of water. Inturn, this would create more opportunities for the individuals in Africa to go to work, experience community engagement, and much much more. Can you imagine walking miles every morning, just to get water? 

John couldn’t either and so WHOlives was created. 

WHOlives’ operations model is a piece of their business that truly sets them apart. This really begins with John’s ‘why’. He didn’t want to only put a band-aid on the problems he witnessed, but he wanted to solve them. What began as serving and volunteering his time, changed to wanting to create a difference and sticking to it.



John and his team have developed one of the most unique formats of a nonprofit that exist today, yet their operations are extremely effective. Aside from their operational structure or the actual ‘how to’ of what they do, we can also learn from the strategies they have implemented. 


Involving people in the problem-solving process gives them a sense of purpose, ownership and empowerment. 


Giving away things can create dependency, while creating ownership opportunities invites independence and growth. 


Economic empowerment and principles create future opportunities and equal opportunities 



To learn more about what John and his team achieve, visit their website WHOlives.org 

If you’re enjoying a Modern Nonprofit Podcast, please engage with us! Content is found through engagement and our podcast exists to create resources and share new and innovative, modern ways of running a nonprofit organization. Please share, like, and engage with our conversations. You can find Tosha and the Charity CFO team on Youtube or our website, thecharitycfo.com!

As a young college student in the ROTC program, Alisa recognized a hardship for her Australian Shepherd, JD. With Alisa’s husband deployed and as she herself was heading to training for the Marine Corps, JD had nowhere to go. 

After a cross country trip from CA to VA, a temporary home was found for JD while Alisa and Shawn were deployed. Then the question came: ‘How many military families struggle with the same issues?’ 

Alas, Dogs on Deployment (DoD) was then created. The nonprofit exists today to provide a central network for America’s Heroes to find volunteers willing to board their pets during times of service or hardship. 

DoD’s Mission is to give America’s Heroes peace of mind concerning their pets during service or hardship through connection, compassion and care.