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Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership

Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership

Patton McDowell 383 Episodes Sep 17, 2026

Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership is a podcast for current and aspiring nonprofit leaders, hosted by Dr. Patton McDowell. It is powered by Armstrong McGuire and draws on McDowell's 30+ years of nonprofit leadership and consulting experience. Each week, the show features insights from experienced executives, fundraisers, board leaders, and consultants. The podcast has published more than 366 episodes and is ranked among top nonprofit leadership podcasts. Listeners in over 130 countries use it to learn practical best practices for individual and organizational success.

Episodes

386: How to Build on Your Community Capital as a Nonprofit Leader (Dan Bevels)
386: How to Build on Your Community Capital as a Nonprofit Leader (Dan Bevels) Sep 17, 2026 2646 Episode 386: How to Build on Your Community Capital as a Nonprofit Leader (Dan Bevels)Episode SummaryPlenty of nonprofit professionals talk themselves out of executive roles because their resume does not show years of philanthropic experience. Dan Bevels, President of the Atrium Health Floyd-Polk Foundation in Rome, Georgia, nearly did exactly that, and applied only after his wife and a mentor pus
385: No Margin, No Mission: Building Nonprofits That Last (Cecilia Haag)
385: No Margin, No Mission: Building Nonprofits That Last (Cecilia Haag) Sep 10, 2026 2789 385: No Margin, No Mission: Building Nonprofits That Last (Cecilia Haag)Episode SummaryNonprofit leaders are told that the urgency of the mission will carry the organization, and that financial and operational discipline is something the corporate world worries about. Cecilia Haag, President of Thompson Impact Consulting, came out of that corporate world, joining the 140-year-old human services or
384: How to Launch a Planned Giving Program in One Week (Tony Martignetti)
384: How to Launch a Planned Giving Program in One Week (Tony Martignetti) Sep 3, 2026 2658 Episode 384: How to Launch a Planned Giving Program in One Week (Tony Martignetti)Episode SummarySmall and mid-sized nonprofits routinely tell themselves that planned giving belongs to hospitals and universities, that it takes a lawyer and a brochure to begin, and that raising it with a donor means starting a conversation about death. Tony Martignetti, founder of Planned Giving Accelerator and hos
383: What Nonprofit Leaders Get Wrong About Growing Fast (Steve Isom)
383: What Nonprofit Leaders Get Wrong About Growing Fast (Steve Isom) Aug 27, 2026 2325 383: What Nonprofit Leaders Get Wrong About Growing Fast (Steve Isom)Episode SummaryNonprofit professionals often come to the sector craving mission, not metrics, and the discomfort that creates around money, growth, and hard numbers can quietly limit how far an organization goes. Steve Isom, Chief Operating and Financial Officer at Bloomerang, has spent nearly six years professionalizing the fina
382: From Shoe Drive to Global Movement (Andrew Lovedale)
382: From Shoe Drive to Global Movement (Andrew Lovedale) Aug 20, 2026 3026 Episode 382: From Shoe Drive to Global Movement  (Andrew Lovedale)Episode SummaryToo many nonprofit founders assume that the people who love them will automatically support the mission they've built, and few learn how costly that assumption is until donors who cheer from the sidelines never actually give. Andrew Lovedale, Founder and Executive Director of Access to Success (A2S), learned that
381: What Leaders Must Know to Build Cross-Sector Power (Karen Riordan)
381: What Leaders Must Know to Build Cross-Sector Power (Karen Riordan) Aug 13, 2026 2783 Episode 381: What Leaders Must Know to Build Cross-Sector Power (Karen Riordan)Episode SummaryNonprofit leaders often assume advocacy, cross-sector partnerships, and funding diversification are someone else's job — but Karen Riordan, President & CEO of Together SC in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, argues that building real power for the sector starts with everyday relationship-building. Dr
380: Relationships Shape Everything: What Leaders Must Know to Build Community (David “Dae-Lee” Arrington)
380: Relationships Shape Everything: What Leaders Must Know to Build Community (David “Dae-Lee” Arrington) Aug 6, 2026 2978 #380: Relationships Shape Everything: What Leaders Must Know to Build Community (David “Dae-Lee” Arrington)Episode SummaryMany nonprofit leaders believe they've built real community and trust within their organizations — but David “Dae-Lee” Arrington argues that what looks like connection is often just proximity, and that gap is costing leaders more than they realize. Founder and CEO of Bridg
379: How to Treat Every Donor Like a Major Donor (Derric Bakker)
379: How to Treat Every Donor Like a Major Donor (Derric Bakker) Jul 30, 2026 3266 379: How to Treat Every Donor Like a Major Donor (Derric Bakker) Episode SummaryNonprofit leaders and fundraisers are exhausted, and the instinct when results slip is to simply work harder. In this episode of Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership, Derric Bakker, Founder & CEO of DickersonBakker, argues that today’s struggle is not a down cycle teams can out-hustle but a structural shift in how peo
378: The Money Myths Holding Your Nonprofit Back (Sean Hale)
378: The Money Myths Holding Your Nonprofit Back (Sean Hale) Jul 23, 2026 3248 378: The Money Myths Holding Your Nonprofit Back (Sean Hale)Episode SummaryToo many nonprofit leaders quietly avoid their own finances, trusting that a clean audit or a capable CPA means everything is handled, and that blind spot can put a mission at real risk. In this episode, Patton talks with Sean Hale, founder of Nonprofit CFOs, who busts five money myths that hold organizations back: that the
377: Stop Pushing Harder: How Great Nonprofits Build Momentum (Suzanne Smith)
377: Stop Pushing Harder: How Great Nonprofits Build Momentum (Suzanne Smith) Jul 16, 2026 2926 377: Stop Pushing Harder: How Great Nonprofits Build Momentum (Suzanne Smith)Episode SummaryNonprofit leaders are exhausted, pushing harder and still feeling stuck. Suzanne Smith, Founder and CEO of Social Impact Architects, offers a different path. Drawing on sixteen years of consulting and her forthcoming book, The Nonprofit Flywheel, she reframes Jim Collins’s flywheel for the social sector: tr
376: Who Should Be Part of Your Strategic Planning Process? (Renee Rubin Ross)
376: Who Should Be Part of Your Strategic Planning Process? (Renee Rubin Ross) Jul 9, 2026 2665 Episode 376: Who Should Be Part of Your Strategic Planning Process? (Renee Rubin Ross)Episode SummaryToo many strategic plans end up gathering dust on a shelf, or worse, frustrating the very people who were left out of building them. In this episode, Renee Rubin Ross, Ph.D., Founder of The Ross Collective and author of the new book Inclusive Strategic Planning, makes the case that who you involve
375: Outrageous Kindness: A Framework for Unlocking Philanthropic Potential (Kristina Joy Carlson)
375: Outrageous Kindness: A Framework for Unlocking Philanthropic Potential (Kristina Joy Carlson) Jul 2, 2026 2739 375: Outrageous Kindness: A Framework for Unlocking Philanthropic Potential (Kristina Joy Carlson)Episode SummaryWhen disruption hits, many nonprofit leaders go quiet and wait for conditions to settle before they act, and that pause quietly signals to donors and communities that the mission can wait too. In Episode 375, Kristina Joy Carlson, CFRE, Founder and CEO of Outrageous Kindness, makes the

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