Focus is your superpower. Here’s proof

Lee Wochner:
Today’s guest is Nikki Beasley, Executive Director of Richmond Neighborhood Housing Services here in California, and someone I greatly admire. She and her organization are tackling California’s greatest challenge, which is affordable housing. In the neighborhoods they serve, what could seem like an insurmountable crisis is one they’re actively solving by re-examining the problem, breaking it down, and approaching it in new ways with new solutions.

Nikki and her organization have done all this while navigating a rapidly shifting funding and political landscape, the sort of which we’re all familiar with, building sustainable programs and staying focused on their mission. She also speaks candidly here about the difference between carrying an organization and truly leading it, and about her own forthcoming exit. There are urgently relevant lessons here. But first,

If you’re enjoying the podcast, I’d like to ask you to please take a moment to tap the follow or like button on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you’re listening in from. It helps other nonprofit leaders find this information and it helps you get a reminder whenever we have a new episode. So thank you for that, and thanks for joining us for this episode of How to Market Your Nonprofit.

Jaclyn Uloth:
Welcome to How to Market Your Nonprofit, the Counterintuity podcast featuring interviews with experts in marketing, fundraising, strategy, and leadership who offer how-tos and inspiration about how you can help your nonprofit succeed and grow during a time of chaos and change. Bringing his 25 plus years of experience in marketing, strategy, and nonprofit management, here’s our host, Lee Wochner.

Lee Wochner:
Nikki, thank you for joining us today. It’s really nice to spend some time with you.

Nikki Beasley:
Well, thanks for the invite.

Lee Wochner:
I’m very impressed with what you do and we’re gonna spend a little time educating some people about this enormous issue that you and your organization are tackling. And people in California are well aware of this. I don’t know if people elsewhere in the country are well aware, but the absolute biggest problem in California is affordable housing. So I’m eager to dig into that issue with you and how you’re working the problem.

You’ve shown some impressive results and boy is that not an easy thing to go after. So let’s start with Richmond Neighborhood Housing Services. What does Richmond Neighborhood Housing Services do?

Nikki Beasley:
So our organization was founded back in 1981 by local residents that were addressing the redlining issues of the day. It has transitioned to be an affordable housing organization where we’re property managers, owners of real estate between the cities of Richmond and Oakland, keeping low income families housed with our affordable housing units. We are a program manager at HUD.

Certified counseling agency which supports individuals that are looking to become homeowners. Those are at risk of losing their homes or individuals that just need support in, you know, the day to day management of money and credit. We also run an emerging developers program that was founded in 2019 supporting developers of color who have interest in the development, especially in infield small site spaces.

And we’re also ourselves in-field small site developers where we are acquiring rehabbing property to make available to first time home buyers that are deemed affordable.

Lee Wochner:
That’s an amazing mission. So my family always owned homes. My father was a general contractor. He built roads and bridges, parts of, I’m from New Jersey, parts of the Garden State Parkway, schools, gas stations. And he built a house for my grandmother. And what happens when you own a home is you build generational wealth.

So the work that you’re doing, I would imagine it transforms people’s lives because they start to accrue generational wealth.

Nikki Beasley:
Well, that’s the intent. When I came on board in 2016, the organization, I would say, was dormant. It was just collecting rents of its real estate. And I quickly learned that us being a HUD counseling agency could be an immediate way of getting back into community. And then I learned that many of the folks we were serving didn’t realize they didn’t need a 700 credit score or 20% down to purchase a home. And then looking at us being a high-cost area, understanding that many people, if they were paying rent, they actually should be looking at ownership. And when you look at the statistics, really the only way that you can close that wealth gap as it’s known is through real estate and ownership. So really it was our mission to one, have people look at it, even if they didn’t believe it was an option, letting them know that it could be. And that’s where we started our changing the narrative of home ownership.

And then they could decide and if home ownership was something that they wanted to pursue, we’ve over the course of years put things in place to help them get there.

Lee Wochner:
And then again, just to help people understand the extent of the challenge, you are operating in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, which is among the highest, most expensive real estate market in the country.

Nikki Beasley:
That’s correct. So we sit in the city of Richmond, but we support three counties, Alameda, Contra Costa, Solano County. Out of those three counties, Alameda is probably the most expensive, then you get to Contra Costa County and then Solano County. So yeah, we’re right in the heart of the nine Bay Area counties.

Lee Wochner:
And help people understand, please, what is redlining?

Nikki Beasley:
Well, back in the day, the government created maps to say where there was opportunity and where people were less desirable in those areas that were considered less desirable were people of color. And what they did was outline those areas on maps and told lenders and those that were providing mortgage loans that if they lended in those areas that they would not be able to sell them on the secondary market like the GSEs, the government sponsored entities. So that was an institutionalized and systematic way to keep people outside of home ownership. And a funny, well, not a funny story, but an enlightening story. It wasn’t until I got into this work that I started piecing things together, connecting dots, much like you shared your understanding of what it meant to be a homeowner as you grew up.

My grandparents, and they didn’t talk about it, so many Black families don’t understand the history of how their families got to where they are. So it wasn’t until I got into this work that I realized that my grandparents were a part of the great migration to the Bay Area. They came from Texas on the way through Louisiana. And I didn’t pay attention when I was a young woman when my grandfather shared that he had to have his white friend help him buy his home.

So they too were impacted by redlining because the old black folks just didn’t have the same opportunities to purchase even though they were hardworking, they could qualify, they had the down payment. So redlining was a way to keep people of color, black people at the time outside of the ability to own their homes and also small business and everything else that could contribute to their wealth.

Lee Wochner:
And just terrible, terrible for so many reasons. And you know, all the research shows when you lift people up, when you help people into the economy, everybody benefits from people having a greater success in the economy. Keeping people down is just stupid and wrong. Okay, and how long have you been there, Nikki?

Nikki Beasley:
I just celebrated my 10 year anniversary in May, May 2nd of 2026. I walked into the doors at the time we were operating out of one of our homes. So it’s been 10 years.

Lee Wochner:
Awesome. And so we certainly know lots of executive directors, but generally the roles vary a little bit. What does your role entail where you are?

Nikki Beasley:
Well, it has definitely transformed over the years. So when I walked into the doors, we had 1.5 staff members. Primary, our income was coming from our rental properties. Being a retired banker, I knew the language, so we quickly got our HUD certification back in order so that we could do the work of homeownership. So I started working with banks to help support us with the funding. So I was there doing the grant making, doing all the relationship building, getting the funds to help support our initiatives. And then 2019, 2020 happened where we all were impacted by COVID and then the murder of George Floyd was really a pivotal moment. If you are a black leader, you at that time had more money, more opportunity than you knew what to do with it and definitely was living building the plane as we were trying to fly it because of all of the opportunities and the sensitivities that people had with the social unrest of wanting to give back. So during that time, it was really working hard to stabilize, create the programs where I mentioned before, our emerging developers program was lifted. We started another program called Keys to Equity, supporting black homeowners in the city of Oakland.

To build accessory dwelling units. We started to look at ways that we could support the portfolio challenges of having affordable home ownership opportunities by becoming a developer ourselves when we acquired land in West Oakland. So during that time, it was just trying to put all the pieces together that people, our institutions were actively looking to support us on.

And then in the last couple of years, it’s been an opportunity to stabilize to where now it is managing those relationships, getting more thoughtful and strategic about what the next few years ahead of us look like because what was working for us in the past, I don’t anticipate them working for us now, especially around the dependency of philanthropy and foundational support because with the demise of DEI and the limitation of having interest in the black BIPOC communities, which really we were able to anchor and doing it before it’s popular, it has really required us to take a different look. So now it’s more about strategists of what’s to come and how can the organization be positioned. It is a matter of maintaining relationships. And I think for me, which was unique, that maybe not for others, but for me, really being a voice in communities where we didn’t intend to show up. Because I would say in 2016 when I joined, we talked a little bit about it in the opening, the crisis of home ownership, excuse me, the crisis of affordable housing has always been geared toward rental units. And really I was the only one at many tables saying that ownership also needed to be a part of the housing solutions. And so just now we’re starting to see those things bubble up, giving opportunities for organizations like mine and others to be able to get into that part of the work of stabilizing affordable units that people can own.

Lee Wochner:
When you go to neighborhoods around the country, you can visibly see where people own their homes. They’re more invested in the neighborhood. I’ve seen it in Baltimore. I’ve seen it in Brooklyn. You can just see it. It just, again, it lifts everybody up. So.

Since 1981, and if I got these numbers wrong, you can correct me, okay? But we’ll see. Richmond Neighborhood Housing Services has empowered more than 15,000 families. And then more recently, if I got this right, you’ve helped more than 400 first-time home buyers, which in California is quite the accomplishment. More than 400 first-time home buyers. I mean, just imagine the wealth that you’re helping to create there. Help people understand, please, and help me understand. Why do home buyers need help in the area you serve?

Nikki Beasley:
Like I said earlier, they don’t believe it’s a possibility because they hear the headlines. It’s something for others, not for themselves. They’re not familiar with the different down payment assistance and subsidies and support. Again, to say you don’t need a 700 credit score to get into a home, you don’t need 20% down. So it requires them to be educated and not just understand that it’s possible, but giving them the confidence and us working as advocates on their behalf because the people we serve, I were to guesstimate our demographics is around 35, the ages are 35 to about 50. They’re black women and the statistics also show black women are leading black men in home ownership, especially if it’s not family oriented and really giving them the confidence that they can do it because again, it’s been something that they haven’t seen done. A lot of times they’re the first generation of homeowners or they were impacted by 08, 09 and fearful of getting into that type of transaction or media and other things aren’t sharing that is something that is possible.

Lee Wochner:
Okay. And so I did a little research to find out, and there are whole books written on this, of course, why California has such a housing crisis. And the numbers vary, but the shortage right now is estimated at around three million units. We are under in three million units in California and throughout. I mean, here in my neighborhood in Southern California, I know we have a big accessory dwelling unit movement going on where people build an extra unit in the back, what used to be called a mother-in-law, right? So you get married and mother-in-law gets older and so she needs a place to be and she lives behind you. But it’s like, it’s hard to build in California, it seems as part of the problem. New construction is difficult. And then there’s the funding gap that I think you’re addressing and then, you know, whom are we going to fund and how that looks a little differently. But if I understand you correctly, what you said early on was if you’re paying a certain level of rent, which people are in California, you should be a homeowner.

Nikki Beasley:
Well, I don’t force that idea. I just say that you should highly consider it, understand the pros and cons and have an option. That has always been my stance in these housing conversations. As housing practitioners, we should not be telling people how they should be housed. We should be very clear about what their needs and desires are, and it is our responsibility to create those options. So if you want to be a homeowner and that is the work that we do, we’re going to find every way to make that happen. If you don’t want to be a homeowner, there’s no value judgment there, then having stabilized rents to where you can continue to afford it, but you definitely should be given the option to consider it.

Lee Wochner:
So to give people a sense of the value of home ownership, I think they probably know, but just to throw it out here, when your elder dies, the money goes to the beneficiaries, the heirs. So when my mother left this mortal plane a couple of years ago at age 98, the executor, my sister, sold the house. And so my mother’s children, my parents’ children, received some money from that.

When I sell this house that I live in, which by the way, was purchased in 1996 for $185,000 and is now valued at $1.7 million, there will certainly be some sort of welfare that gets turned over at some point to my kids. Unless I go on a spending spree in my remaining years.

And so you do build generational, multi-generational wealth and you give people more options in life. And sure, people who wanna pay rent should pay rent. And that’s part of the economy as well, to your point. But when you…

Nikki Beasley:
Yeah, but that’s only if it’s done rightly because a lot of folks in our community don’t understand estate planning, don’t get the living trust. A lot of times properties go into probate and they’re not adequately planning for that transfer, which stimulated another initiative that we started, Protect Your Legacy, where we support in the three counties, Alameda, Contra Costa, Solano County. If you are a senior that’s considering low income or actually paying for those living trusts to be completed. Because we understand it’s one thing to get a house, but it’s a whole nother thing to keep it and make sure that it transfers in the ways in which you intended.

Lee Wochner:
Well, I’m really glad you said that. I really am. Because probate can be a nightmare. But the other thing is, the point we’re trying to convey here is, you and your organization are making a huge impact in people’s lives where you are. And it’s not just an impact for today, it’s an impact that’s gonna go on for generations. And it really shows what a committed nonprofit can achieve. If you’ve got a mission that really, that you know how to work and can really succeed with, you can make an enormous impact in people’s lives. I’m sorry, what were you gonna say?

Nikki Beasley:
No, I was just going to say I agree. And I think my approach has always been a holistic one. I came into this work solving problems. So when realizing that people could get qualified, but they couldn’t afford to buy, I was a lot younger then and bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Let’s go build it. And learned a lot of lessons why we now have the Emerging Developers Program. When we realized that we could get people into homes, we wanted to properly make sure that those homes stayed in families. Why we created the, you know, Protect Your Legacy. So everything that we’ve done has been really a holistic approach, solving the problems of the people that we see every day.

Lee Wochner:
Okay, great. So let’s talk for a little bit about the emerging developers program. And I think you’re now into your seventh or eighth cohort. Is that right? Something like that.

Nikki Beasley:
Actually, we just started our ninth cohort earlier this month.

Lee Wochner:
Wow. OK, so what does this program do?

Nikki Beasley:
So the emerging developers program was my answer to making sure that if anyone else like me wanted to get into development, didn’t have the same pains that I experienced when we acquired land in West Oakland known as our Field of Promise project. So it has turned into a nine week program. There’s low barrier, no barrier to entry other than you making the time commitment over nine weeks you go through different modules of understanding. I say it really is the opportunity to have the door open. You’re not going to walk out being a developer, but it should give you some confidence and understanding of what it really means to be a developer. Because I think in these days with social media and other avenues of information, you get the little sound bites of what it means to be a landlord or what it means to be a developer, but you don’t really get the opportunity to really learn what it really means. So it’s nine weeks. If you complete 80% of the courses, you become an alumni. And by becoming an alumni opens up other opportunities, access to our network. We pay the first year to a number of trade associations that I think is valuable to a developer. They may also have the opportunity to participate in some of our projects, which we identified two of our alumni for our Lost Delta project where we’re rehabbing four duplexes, splitting them into eight single family homes. And we identified two of our alumni to support us in that project. And the hope is that it opens their eyes and they can continue to learn and attach to other programs that can assist in their growth.

Lee Wochner:
So, wow, so they’re learning a lot about the business of development. Do you have any numbers on, have any of them actually become developers?

Nikki Beasley:
Yes, they have. So over the eight cohorts, we have supported over 100 alumni. Off the top of my head, I can say about seven to nine are actively developers. And the interesting thing about our program is we get people from all aspects of development. Right now in our cohort, I just taught a class last night. We have people that are active in a development and trying to figure it out as they go. We have people in real estate that see the opportunity. We have people that are community members and want to do good. So because of the different ways that people access our programs, yes, people are doing development. But like I said, about seven to nine are actively in development.

Lee Wochner:
So this is, you really looked at a problem from the other end. Like if people aren’t developing enough housing, how can we help people develop more housing? How did that solution occur to you?

Nikki Beasley:
It really was about us trying to solve the problem for affordable home ownership and also lifting up in-field small site development because those are typically projects that traditional developers don’t have interest in. It’s not big enough. It doesn’t scale. It’s not profitable. All the things that we hear. But a lot of the disadvantaged communities that were impacted by redlining disinvestment, you can go city blocks and see lots that are just empty. The lot that I mentioned earlier, the Filbert Promise is a 17,500 square foot lot that could, you know, the original project was about nine single family homes with junior accessory dwelling units, which would have supported 18 units of housing. That typically is not ideal for developers. So if you have community-based developers who want to develop in communities and neighborhoods that they are engaged in or attached to, that could also stimulate the activities to get people housed. And if people really understood from my vantage point, the life cycle of housing, rental, your first apartment, once you get a family, you transition to a home that opens up a unit for the next group of folks. So this is just another way to hopefully add to the lifeline of housing while maximizing land that people tend to.

Lee Wochner:
So what I like about this is you’re looking at the same underlying problem, which is housing, and you keep looking at it from different angles, different perspectives to figure out how to solve it. And I applaud you for that. And also when you said, well, these things used to work this way, and now they’re not going to work that way moving forward. I spend a lot of my day talking to nonprofit leaders to help them unearth what has changed that they need to adapt to. And I’ll tell you, I frequently find, in terms of marketing, I frequently find people and organizations that are still marketing as though it were 2019. And things have changed radically since 2019. And there seems to be a sense of, oh, it’ll go back to normal, quote unquote, normal. And I’m like, 2019’s not coming back.

Nikki Beasley:
No, it’s not. And every day we’re reminded of that and it’s getting very blatant in regards to who will be under attack. And like they say, especially, and I can only speak from a black perspective, because that’s who I am. They say, you know, others get a cold, we get a flu. So those that are disadvantaged and already below the marker of, you know, accessibility to success, it will be devastating and it’s not going away anytime soon. And I would say these midterm elections will also put a pin in where we can see ourselves going in the next few years.

Lee Wochner:
And then so there’s the political change, which you’re referencing. And then there’s the socioeconomic cultural changes. And then there’s the technological changes. There’s just a lot. And so, you know, I was an unhappy board member decades ago on a nonprofit. I just wanted to do things and I didn’t think that organization was doing anything that it should have been. It was a long time ago.

Finally, they asked me if I would go run it and I did it as a consultant for a while and I fell in love with the job and I stayed for three years. But there was a person there who would say to me every day, well, that’s not how we used to do it. Whatever idea I had, that’s not how we used to do it. As though that was the mantra, that was the hill to die on. And finally I said to her, that’s not how we did it in the past. And finally, one day I said, one thing we know for sure about the past is no one lives there anymore. Things had to change. She was a good person. She just wasn’t up for any change. And so she left and we put in place some radical change. And the nonprofits that are succeeding the best right now, and I think you’re one of them, are aware that things have changed and are adapting to succeed in the new territory.

Nikki Beasley:
I would agree. And you know, change is inevitable. And the bank that I worked at for over 20 years, you know, and I’m sure it’s not, wasn’t unique to them, but you know, C is change, you know. And I do think it’s inevitably important that leaders are thinking about it differently. And I think also as leaders, it’s important for us to think through how can we make this role look more inviting because there’s not a healthy pipeline that says I want your job. And then also for those of us that were inundated by all that was occurring from 2019 to now, being able to say, you know, maybe it’s time. Because I’m sometimes I think leaders hold on too long because they’re unwilling to make the changes. And then sometimes people just get plain exhausted and tired to where they can deliver as they once did. So I definitely agree. And I think change should be something that we’re excited about, that we can think about redefining what innovation looks like and leveraging technology to the degree that it makes sense, because it will require something different to continue to do the type of work that we’d like to see happen.

Lee Wochner:
We’re gonna take a short break here, but when we come back, Nikki and I are gonna dig into advice for non-profit leaders during this period of epic change and much more. Stick around.

Jaclyn Uloth:
Modern nonprofit marketing requires expertise in web, digital advertising, email, social media, design, and storytelling. Finding one person who is good at all of that is, as any hiring manager will tell you, like finding a unicorn. And yet most nonprofits keep looking for that unicorn. There are alternatives to this. We break down the options, including a hybrid approach most nonprofits haven’t considered, in Counterintelligence, Counterintuity’s insider resource for nonprofit leaders. Read the full article and get your briefing at counterintuity.com.

Lee Wochner:
And we are back with Nikki Beasley, executive director of the Richmond Neighborhood Housing Services in Richmond, California and serving a larger area even than Richmond, California. So let me ask you some marketing and development questions because people always want to hear these things and bear with me. So in addition to those other things we talked about, you offer an incredible amount of assistance and resources, including, here we go.

Housing assistance, financial education and assistance, legal assistance, resources for disabled folks, veterans and seniors, homelessness resources, food services, domestic violence, employment, business development, tax resources. And then you reminded me that not everybody would have legacy planning. I mean, you are truly making an impact in people’s lives. How are these programs funded? What’s the funding mechanism for these?

Nikki Beasley:
Well, I do want to bring clarity. All those resources are on our website and are partners of ours. We don’t do that work directly, but we do work on being a resource because we tend to be a hub where people call when they can’t find the support that they need. So we’ve been very diligent as we attach ourselves to partnerships that that is a place that people can go. For our core work that I mentioned earlier, it has been supported through philanthropy, through bank foundation, through community foundations, through broader partnerships and collaboration, through our rental portfolio. So that has been the way. And now with our in-field small site development work, as we are rehabbing and getting on the market these affordable home ownership projects, that will also now be a stream of income for us.

Lee Wochner:
So the connecting organizations are really important too. I mean, years ago, I was on the board of an organization called the Association of Performing Arts Service Organizations. So the service organizations would each represent, performing arts service organizations would each represent dozens or hundreds of performing arts organizations. And so essentially we were connectors. And just as you say, if you don’t know where to find the resources, a connecting nonprofit can hook you up. And so whether you directly or indirectly provide these things, it’s really important to the people who need them.

Nikki Beasley:
Yeah, and I would say in our class last night with the emerging developers, I made it a strong point. And I think it’s relative to this conversation as a nonprofit leader, as a nonprofit, you gotta be really clear what you do. I’ve been very clear. This is our lane. We are home ownership. So that’s what I know what I can do. And that’s what I’m passionate about because I think sometimes nonprofits can get excited about the opportunity or the dollars and start cultivating different aspects of themselves. And I’m not to say that you stay in a box, but everything that we do is integrally attached. We’re not selling ice cream at the same time that we’re trying to find homeowners. So I think it’s important that there’s real clarity of knowing what you do well and digging deep to where you become the subject matter expert in that area or the go-to for other, you know, community or outliers to say you do it well, because I don’t think we can do everything, even though, you know, we see a lot of need. So to your point, being attached to others and being okay to say, we don’t do it, but here’s a list of other resources that can help.

Lee Wochner:
I see a lot of the dynamic that you’re referencing there. So when we start to work with a new client, a nonprofit, I’ll ask them what their mission is because it’s good to have a niche and you can become known as an expert at that. Unless you’re really location-based, you are the place that every senior in the neighborhood goes for everything, unless it’s that sort of situation. It’s better to have a niche. It’s better to have expertise and to be the go-to person. Better for the marketing, better for the fundraising, for the granting, for all of it.

Nikki Beasley:
Absolutely, absolutely. And I think it also then provides how you can be a community asset in community and helps with the general public to know when they come to you, they can be really clear what they can expect to receive.

Lee Wochner:
How do you spread the word about Richmond Neighborhood Housing Services and what you guys do? How do people find out about it?

Nikki Beasley:
So we’ve been blessed that because of the type of work we do, a lot of it is referral-based, a lot of it is word of mouth, a lot of it is relationship-based. So we’ve talked a lot about our emerging developers program. I’ll probably say over 70% of our cohort participants has been word of mouth, like, hey, I was just in this course, you need to go there too.

The same with our home ownership and our pre-purchase workshops. Typically we’ve served friends and families and others. But outside of that, we have our constant contact, which is now over about 7,500, actually maybe closer to 10,000 different contacts every time that we’re doing something, we’re using constant contact. We do leverage social media like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, our website. And thanks to you and your team really has helped make it more robust. So I would say, you know, we’re doing what everyone else is doing, but I think we’ve been really fortunate that a lot of our success has come from word of mouth and referral.

Lee Wochner:
Social and email can work with word of mouth, right? Remind people and reach out to people. They reach out. Your website is people reaching in. What’s the value of your website to the organization?

Nikki Beasley:
My goal and intent has been let that be the hub of information. So if someone’s coming in saying, you know, I like to attend your workshop, asking the team to use the website event page so that they may be looking to go to one workshop, but they see everything. We use it as an anchor where we put our interest forms. So like our Loss Delta project in order to let us know that you have interest in that project, you have to go to our website, complete an interest form. We have all of our programming information there. So really being the filter of all information so that way information is consistent. We’re not having to download individual flyers. Just hopefully be more streamlined and efficient.

Lee Wochner:
Plus it’s important that people can access it from their smartphone, because that’s where you’ll get most of your traffic.

Nikki Beasley:
Yes, and you probably know the statistics better than I and just me being a user, I probably do more on my phone than I do at a desktop. So to have it be fully functional has been a plus.

Lee Wochner:
So, absolutely right. I’d like to spend a couple more minutes, we have a few more minutes talking about change because you are such an agent of change. How do you assess the landscape and determine what needs to change and how to make change?

Nikki Beasley:
Now that’s a good question. I think for me, doing my best to see the whole picture and not just our picture and how one thing impacts the next. Doing the best I can to be educated in what’s going on with the government, not being inundated by it, but being educated because those things are going to impact us and will impact the bottom line.

Always listening, paying attention. You know, if I’m out and about, what is community saying? What are other leaders saying? Really being a sponge and doing my best to be reflective. I don’t always do this well, but I think the value add is when you can be proactive versus reactive, seeing things before it actually appears so that you have the time to navigate and make the change so that it’s not abruptive.

And, you know, going to what I said earlier about leadership, I’m making my transition January of 2027 where I’m leaving the organization, but I had the conversation with the board and my team December of 2025. So that everyone could work together to where my leaving would not be destructive. And hopefully everybody would have time to navigate to get to where the organization needs to be.

And then also talking about from a leadership change, knowing when it’s time. You know, three to five years ago, the organization was very attached to my ego because all the things that we talked about, I did. But now I’m open to say I’ve done the best that I can do here. Now it is time for someone to see another vision, be thoughtful and aspirational of what the organization can do for the next five, 10, 20 years based on the needs of the community. So I think change is best implemented when you can agree change is needed and change needs to happen.

Lee Wochner:
Wow, there’s a lot there. So I’ve also seen the places where the nonprofit leader knows it’s time to go. And maybe still be helpful in some way, not sit at the head of the table. And then I’ve seen ones where people hang around too long. And it can be difficult. What I really admire about what you just said was the ego-less way you said it used to be attached to my ego, but now it’s okay. That’s refreshingly honest.

Nikki Beasley:
Yeah, I recently went to a retreat for executives that were going through transition and the number of individuals that were really struggling with making the decision that it was time. Ego played a part and I don’t say ego to be, you know, individualized, but just this is who they are. That’s what they know. The organization is them. They are the organization and the struggle people were having. What will happen to the organization if I leave? What will I do? I don’t know. I don’t have an identity outside of this. And I have to be honest that if I had been in that meeting two years ago, that probably would have been me. But by the time I got there, I had come to terms with that I was ready. So I saw it a lot differently, but it is a struggle because you’re in social service. You tend to be the one solving the problems for the communities that you’ve been embedded in. It becomes so much of who you are that it’s hard for people to take a step back and think about who am I outside of this, especially when you consider it your life’s work.

Lee Wochner:
It’s so true. One of the things you talked about, like the ways that you evaluate change, you have lots of different inputs, which I think is important. It’s important to get lots of information from lots of different sources. It’s like the old parable of the three blind men describing the elephant. Right. And they feel different parts and they have different conclusions as to what an elephant is because they don’t compare notes. Again, that board that I was on years ago. We had a meeting and one of the leaders wanted to talk about how to handle sabbaticals because he felt everybody needed a sabbatical and they’ve been there so long. I said, you know, most of us will have turned over in this position in three years because I had done a little research because people generally stayed in that seat about three years. He didn’t realize it because he had then been serving in that seat for 16 years.

So the only input he had was his own. And so he figured it was a natural that everybody would need this new sabbatical program. And I said, no one will be here long enough to get it. He hadn’t taken the input and it’s valuable to ask around. And I try to read things I know I disagree with and talk to people I will probably disagree with, just to see what’s going on over there because it’s good to be informed.

Nikki Beasley:
Yeah, well, I have to say I’m not as good as you. It’s hard for me to be in places and spaces where there’s clearly a detachment of perspective. But I do want to go back to the sabbatical and even my decision

Nikki Beasley:
And lifting this conversation up to your listeners.

Excuse me, so when I say this, I’m speaking to the black leaders out there, the leaders of color out there, that no one has recognized we haven’t had a break since COVID. We went from COVID to George Floyd’s murder, to social unrest, to this two-term president. And no one is looking around to say, how are you? How are you doing?

Have you been able to take a breath, not only inhale, but exhale? Because there has not been a moment of time in the last, maybe now going on six years, where you’ve had some reprieve. And the reason for my rationale of leaving, it’s not because I’m tired of the work. I’m choosing to take some time off, but I’m not independently wealthy. I’m not retiring. I will like to see how I do this work differently.

But too many of my peers are sick. They’re unhealthy. A few of them, when they finally did retire, died. And I’m of age to say I have fewer summers in front of me than I have behind me. And I have to be really mindful of how I spend that time. So for those that are listening, whether they are the leader, please take the time to check in with yourself. To see if it’s time for you to start thinking seriously about how you can do the work differently, especially if you’re not attached. If you’re funders, if you’re others that are supporting that organization, check in with them. Because it’s getting harder, it’s not getting easier. You asked me earlier about how we’re funded. Well, with the attention shifting, the number to raise is getting higher and higher every year, and that’s not sustainable because the grant making and the opportunity to receive grants are being reduced. So this is a pivotal time for leaders in the nonprofit field. You have some that are going to be able to anchor down and continue to push through. You’re going to have others, not that they’re tapping out saying that they’re done or quitting, but they’re realizing that they no longer have the energy or ability to move it through and want to open it up for someone to take it to the next level. So check in on your leaders because it’s hard out here.

Lee Wochner:
That is, you know, that’s very well said. One of the things that my situation is very different from yours, although I have even fewer summers ahead of me than you do, I’m sure. One of the things that keeps me animated is that with marketing, you’re always doing something new. And with helping nonprofit organizations with their marketing, you’re doing something good. And because they are solving different problems, you’re always doing something new and different that is creating something good. And I’ll tell you, Nikki, I understand what you just said. I cannot fully relate, of course, but I do understand what you just said. I have been there with my nonprofit service at various times.

I remember how that felt. But at the moment, the challenges, some of the challenges are so great that I’m a squirrely guy who jumps out of bed ready to tackle those because I spent 10 years as a political delegate in this state. And after 10 years, I thought I’ve done my service. Somebody else needs to fill that seat. But I know what I’m opposed to. I know what I’m in favor of. And I get to work on those things a little bit every day. And it keeps me going. It excites me. I think you’ve done enormous things. And if you feel you need a break, I’m glad to know that you are taking it. And I have no doubt you will show up somewhere else in some way.

Nikki Beasley:
Thank you for that. Thank you.

Lee Wochner:
So we’ve only got a couple of minutes left. Let me ask you, you have any further advice you’d like to share with listeners? The people who listen are nonprofit executive directors, president and CEOs, development officers, marketing people at nonprofits. Do you have any advice for them?

Nikki Beasley:
Yeah, I’ll share. For me, probably in the last couple of years, I looked up to say, well, Nikki, what is it that you like to do? I’ve been so entrenched in what I was doing that I had kind of forgotten the things that brought me joy. So definitely analyze what can you do outside of the work? I’ve started writing. I’ve started painting. I’ve started doing more things on the creative side to help release so I’m not so inundated in the work.

I would also offer, and I had to learn lessons hard, do what’s right for the organization. Yes, the people matter but in this time do what’s right for the organization. The last thing I’ll share and I just heard this and it’s really resonated. Carrying something is not caring. Meaning that oftentimes as leaders you feel you have to carry everything and by carrying it means you care. But there’s also roles and responsibilities and accountabilities for the people that have been there to support you. Whether it’s the board, whether it’s your staff or whomever, everyone has an accountability and should be taking the accountability to do the work and not waiting on you to carry it all. And if you choose to let some things fall, doesn’t mean that you don’t care. It means that now you’re making others accountable and responsible for the part and role that they play in making sure that your mission, vision, and purpose can move forward.

Lee Wochner:
I’m glad you said that and I would reinforce that. That includes volunteers. If people volunteered to do it, they are accountable to do it. We need our volunteers, but they need to fulfill.

Nikki Beasley:
Absolutely.

Lee Wochner:
Nikki, if people want to reach out to you, what’s the best way they can get ahold of you?

Nikki Beasley:
You can always visit our website richmondnhs.org or you can reach me at info at eastbay, E-A-S-T-B-A-Y-N-H-S.org or you can follow me on Instagram, The Nikki Beasley. T-H-E-E Nikki Beasley.

Lee Wochner:
Thank you for joining us today and thank you for the enormous positive contribution you and your organization are making to people’s lives. It’s a real pleasure.

Nikki Beasley:
Well, thank you for the invite, Lee. I’ve enjoyed our conversation.

Lee Wochner:
Me too.

Jaclyn Uloth:
Thanks for listening. How to Market Your Nonprofit is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. Please like and follow the show. Visit counterintuity.com to learn more.