Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Nonprofit CEO SPARK, Marcia Beckner talks with Dr. Patton McDowell about one of the biggest challenges nonprofit leaders face today: how to lead with confidence when everyone has an opinion, meetings take over the calendar, and decision-making starts to stall. With more than 35 years of nonprofit leadership experience, Patton shares practical strategies for reducing overwhelm, improving team meetings, managing pushback, and making decisions without waiting ...
Jun 23
34 min
Send us Fan Mail What does it take to lead with confidence when the world feels increasingly uncertain? In this episode of Nonprofit CEO SPARK, Marcia Beckner shares key insights from the 2026 AFP ICON Conference in San Diego, where she attended as press and interviewed more than two dozen nonprofit leaders, fundraisers, speakers, exhibitors, and technology partners. From AI and donor behavior to leadership resilience and the future of fundraising, one theme emerged again and again: nonprofit...
Jun 16
16 min
Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Nonprofit CEO SPARK, Marcia Beckner sits down with a true industry culture leader, Lorii Rabinowitz, to discuss how nonprofit CEOs can successfully navigate growth without sacrificing team well-being, culture, or mission alignment. Under Lorii’s leadership, the Denver Scholarship Foundation has grown from 32 to more than 90 team members while maintaining an extraordinary 94%+ retention rate. Lorii shares how her organization co-created a thriving culture by...
Jun 9
42 min
Send us Fan Mail Leading with Confidence Series #4 of 12 It starts to feel like every decision needs everyone’s input… And instead of moving forward, your team slows down, circles the same conversations, or quietly stalls when there’s disagreement. On the surface, it looks like collaboration. But underneath, something else is happening. In this episode, we unpack a pattern many nonprofit CEOs and executive directors face when team pushback starts to blur decision-making and weaken leade...
May 19
8 min
Send us Fan Mail Leading with Confidence Series #3 of 12 You walk into a board meeting with a major strategic recommendation that could change the future of your organization…only to be met with hesitation, questions, or direct push-back. And suddenly, it’s not just about the recommendation anymore. It’s about relationships. Funding. Trust. Authority. In this episode, we unpack what actually happens in those high-stakes moments when board disagreement surfaces, and why most nonprofit CEOs uni...
May 12
12 min
Send us Fan Mail Leading with Confidence Series #2 What happens when your desire to be a kind, supportive leader starts costing your team more than it helps? In this episode, we unpack a pattern many executive directors quietly fall into…holding onto the wrong person for too long in the name of being fair, loyal, or “nice.” What starts as good intention can slowly erode trust, morale, and performance across your entire organization. Through a real client story, you’ll see how one high-perform...
May 5
11 min
Send us Fan Mail Leading with Confidence Series #1 of 12 Welcome to the Leading with Confidence series where we will dive into the various challenges and opportunities to lead your team with more conviction and clarity. We will talk about executive presence and how to build confidence while navigating your organization each day. In this first episode, you'll learn the 5 C's framework. Even strong nonprofit CEOs and executive directors can find themselves quietly second-guessing decisions, rep...
Apr 28
13 min
Send us Fan Mail What if the thing that broke you became the thing that built everything else? Before Marcia Beckner was a nonprofit culture strategist, she was a nonprofit CEO navigating cancer, divorce, and the crushing weight of leadership with no roadmap and no one to call. She built the framework she wished she'd had. Now she's handing it to you. In this first episode Marcia shares the story behind Culture CARES and why she dedicated her career to nonprofit leaders specifically. You'll h...
Apr 23
14 min
Send us Fan Mail You didn't become a nonprofit leader to spend your days managing conflict, navigating HR investigations, and losing sleep over staff dynamics. But here you are. If the culture inside your organization feels like it's running you instead of the other way around, this episode is the one you've been waiting for. Marcia Beckner breaks down why even the most mission-driven nonprofits quietly unravel from the inside out and what it takes to fix it at the root. Culture problems are ...
Apr 23
21 min
Send us Fan Mail Proof beats promises every time. Here it is. Colorado College's Advancement team was coming out of a pandemic, shrinking staff, leadership transitions, and a culture that had quietly drifted from healthy to unstable. Sound familiar? They didn't ignore it. They decided to fix it by design, not by default. In this episode Marcia sits down with Kimberly Elahab, Director of Prospect Research at Colorado College, who was inside the Culture CARES process from the beginning and is s...
Apr 23
29 min
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