55. Podcastathon: Running a Nonprofit as a Mom, Wife, and CEO with Brindley Brooks

What does running a nonprofit look like when you’re also a mom navigating your daughter’s surgery, managing a growing team, chasing pharma sponsorships, and trying to remember the last time you took a day off? This week on The Rich Nonprofit, my client Brindley Brooks, founder and CEO of HS Connect, is pulling back the curtain on all of it.HS Connect is a nonprofit raising awareness for Hidradenitis Suppurativa (HS), a chronic skin condition that affects 1 in 100 people and is rarely talked about. Brindley went from working a full-time job while building her nonprofit on the side to running a global organization, pulling off a runway show on the largest billboard in Times Square in 60 days, and closing in on $1.75 million in funding. She treats her nonprofit like a business because it is one. And she learned that lesson the hard way.This conversation covers nonprofit funding strategy, what nonprofit founder burnout looks like when no one sees what’s happening behind the scenes, how to pivot your nonprofit strategy without losing your mission, building a team and letting go of your ego, going global, and the advice Brindley would give any woman thinking about starting a nonprofit. If you’re running a nonprofit or sitting on an idea for one, this is the episode you need to hear.Main Topics Covered in this Episode:- How Brindley started a nonprofit while working a full-time job- The Times Square billboard and runway show (and pulling it off in 60 days)- Nonprofit funding strategy: the chicken-or-the-egg budget problem every founder faces- How to pivot your nonprofit strategy midstream without losing your mission- Nonprofit founder burnout: the invisible cost of leading as a mom, wife, and CEO- Why your nonprofit is a business and should be treated like one from day one- How chronic illness steals everyday experiences and how HS Connect gives them backConnect with Lisa Avila:- Join Built for Bigger FREE Telegram Community: https://poppygrovellc.myflodesk.com/built-for-bigger- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisamavila/- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisathestrategist/More About The Rich Nonprofit Podcast:The Rich Nonprofit is for mission-driven women who are starting or scaling nonprofits. Each week, Lisa Avila delivers straight talk on nonprofit strategy, funding, leadership, and legacy.