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The Unfiltered Non-Profit: Leaders Share It All

The Unfiltered Non-Profit: Leaders Share It All

Auteur(s): Cherry Chan
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 Dive into the real world of non-profit leadership. Hear inspiring stories and experiences of leaders, with a focus on examining their operations. Get a candid look at the challenges they face in managing successful non-profits. This podcast is all about the unfiltered journey of leading a non-profit and making a difference. Développement commercial et entrepreneuriat Entrepreneurship Gestion et leadership Économie
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  • Leading a Nonprofit Without Having All the Answers

    Leading a Nonprofit Without Having All the Answers
    Jan 22 2026

    In this episode, we sit down with Claude-Paul Boivin to talk honestly about the path into nonprofit leadership — and what it really takes to lead well once you're there.

    Claude-Paul shares how his career didn't follow a straight line, and how early exposure to public service helped shape his understanding of impact, responsibility, and decision-making. As the conversation unfolds, he reflects on the moment he realized that strong governance, financial clarity, and internal systems aren't "behind-the-scenes" work — they're what make meaningful mission work possible.

    We dig into the realities of stepping into senior leadership, including the pressure to have all the answers, the isolation that can come with the role, and the importance of learning to ask better questions instead of trying to do everything alone. Claude-Paul speaks candidly about how leadership shifts when you move from doing the work to creating the conditions for others to succeed.

    The conversation also tackles the role of finances in nonprofit sustainability. Claude-Paul explains why understanding your numbers — even at a high level — leads to better decisions, stronger board conversations, and less reactive leadership.

    This episode is a grounded, practical listen for nonprofit leaders at any stage — especially those navigating growth, responsibility, and the quieter challenges that come with leading purpose-driven organizations.

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    33 min
  • The Hidden Risk Nonprofit Boards Keep Missing

    The Hidden Risk Nonprofit Boards Keep Missing
    Jan 8 2026
    In this episode of the Unfiltered Nonprofit Podcast, our conversation with Angela Fenton, former board Chair of Pleo, went well beyond board mechanics. What really surfaced was the hidden cost of instability — not just to organizations, but to the people leading them. Angela spoke candidly about Executive Directors living in a constant cycle of "we have funding / we don't have funding," and how that emotional whiplash becomes a health risk, not just a leadership challenge. That framing matters. When boards delay decisions around sustainability, they aren't just managing cash — they're transferring pressure directly onto one person. Another underappreciated insight was how boards often misjudge risk. Angela described situations where boards hesitated to spend reserves on a fractional fundraiser because of fear — fear of depleting cash, fear it wouldn't work, fear of being wrong. But she reframed the real question: what is the risk of not investing? Staying understaffed, relying on an already stretched ED, and hoping the funding picture improves on its own isn't neutral — it's a decision with consequences. In this case, the board accepted short-term discomfort to create long-term capacity, giving leadership space to plan instead of constantly react. The episode also highlighted something boards rarely formalize: who carries the thinking load. Angela described how, without intentional support, EDs become the default strategist, fundraiser, operator, and emotional shock absorber. Her board made deliberate choices — allocating professional development funds, embedding future-focused conversations into performance reviews, and involving finance partners early — to redistribute that load. Not because it was generous, but because it was necessary for sustainability. The real insight here is this: good governance isn't about control, and it isn't about caution. It's about absorbing risk at the board level so it doesn't collapse onto staff, and making investments before burnout or crisis forces your hand. For boards and leaders reading this, the harder question isn't "Can we afford to do this?" It's "Who is paying the price if we don't?"
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    26 min
  • Turning $1 Into $3: How OCHF Builds Real Community Impact

    Turning $1 Into $3: How OCHF Builds Real Community Impact
    Dec 4 2025
    This episode of The Unfiltered Nonprofit Podcast features an honest, open conversation with Traci Spour-Lafrance, Executive Director of the Ottawa Community Housing Foundation — the team supporting 33,000 people across 155 communities, including 12,000 kids and youth. Traci walks us through what it really looks like to keep programs running at that scale, especially when funding shifts and the needs in the community keep growing. A few years ago, their biggest programs were funded by government grants that suddenly disappeared. Instead of cutting back, Traci and her team rebuilt their whole model. Now they stretch every donated dollar into $3 of programming by stacking subsidies, partnering with local recreation providers, and working with corporate groups who actually build the bikes, pack the backpacks, and help fund the programs they're supporting. Their leadership program brings in 150 youth a year, and their recreation program gets kids into activities they never thought they'd access. Traci also shares a moment many nonprofit leaders will relate to — realizing not enough people even knew the Foundation existed. That pushed her to join AFP Ottawa, start showing up at events, and talk about their work one conversation at a time. The result? Their fundraising revenue has more than doubled, their donor base is stronger, and the team has grown from "fundraising on the side of a desk" to a full resource development crew. We wrap the interview with a very real conversation about balance: leading a busy nonprofit, raising two kids, and finding routines that keep her grounded. It's a down-to-earth look at what nonprofit impact really takes when the need is huge, the dollars are tight, and you decide to keep going anyway.
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    31 min
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