How to Build a Nonprofit
by Jordan Thierry, Dream Chase Media LLC
How to Build a Nonprofit isn’t your typical “thought leader” podcast. It’s real talk with real people who’ve dared to start something meaningful—and managed to keep it going (most days).Each episode dives into the messy, inspiring, behind-the-scenes stories of nonprofit founders and builders. We talk about the stuff people don’t usually put on grant reports—burnout, bad board decisions, flopped fundraisers, surprising wins, and the little pivots that made a big difference.If you’re starting a nonprofit, scaling one, or just wondering if you’re the only one making it up as you go… you’re in the right place. This show is here to remind you: you’re not alone, you’re not crazy, and yes—this work is still worth doing.
Episodes
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Helping Youth Gain XP to Careers in Gaming and Tech
He started with the idea of leveraging the growing gaming industry as a pathway out of poverty and towards a creative, meaningful career for youth, and, with Game Heads, has achieved extraordinary success. In this episode, host Jordan Thierry interviews the visionary behind GameHeads, Damon...
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Growing a Grassroots Group on the Outskirts of Portland
When we talk about racial justice organizing, I think we often imagine this work happening in major urban centers with storied movement histories, like Chicago, Oakland, and Jackson, Mississippi. But as cities have changed over the last two decades due to gentrification and shifting job markets,...
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Putting Baltimore Youth on a Plane to Explore the World | Bianca Nelson
Travel can be more than indulging in plain wanderlust. It can open your eyes to a foreign reality, to see yourself in a different light, and to recognize place-based social constructs that may have been unknowingly influencing your thoughts and beliefs. For Bianca Nelson, it’s these travel…
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Helping Women of Color Build a Law Career and Fight Injustice | Rachel Johnson-Farias - Esq. Apprentice
Rachel Johnson-Farias has dedicated her legal career to making the law more accessible to low-income people and communities of color. Rachel graduated with honors from Occidental College and obtained a B.A. in Critical Theory and Social Justice. She went on to earn her Juris Doctor degree from…
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Ask a Development Director! | Jackson Cooper (Part 2)
Jackson Cooper is making his mark on the world of fundraising and philanthropy. He has been a fundraiser throughout his entire career, starting by sealing mail envelopes with donor acknowledgement letters inside as a volunteer for an organization he loved. Today, he is a well-established leader…
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Ask a Development Director! | Jackson Cooper (Part 1)
Jackson Cooper is making his mark on the world of fundraising and philanthropy. He has been a fundraiser throughout his entire career, starting by sealing mail envelopes with donor acknowledgement letters inside as a volunteer for an organization he loved. Today, he is a well-established leader…
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Africa's Youth Land Movement | Innocent Antoine HOUEDJI, Youth Initiative for Land in Africa
Meet the man who is leading Africa’s youth movement for land access. Young people and women are often excluded from accessing land in Africa. This is a huge problem - and an opportunity - for its future, as 60% of Africa’s population is under the age of 25. Innocent Antoine HOUEDJI attended a...
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One Man's Journey Through Accountability | Devon Gaster, Men Creating Peace
Devon has dedicated his career to helping men who have been controlling and abusive. Finding himself in the San Francisco County Jail many years ago, facing six months of incarceration and multiple charges, he knew he needed to make a change -- and if he didn’t, he could lose everything. And so...
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Fighting for Immigrant Rights in the Conservative South | Mireya Reith, Arkansas United
MIireya Reith is a force to be reckoned with. Her astounding accomplishments throughout her still-young career are only a hint of the profound devotion she has for upholding immigrant rights, dignity, and inclusion. In this episode, she shares with Jordan how Arkansas United became a movement…
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What About Your About Friends? | Chandler Hoffman, Tribe One
Dr. Chandler Hoffman is new to the nonprofit game. As a psychologist, he’s spent over three decades helping families, children, and separating parents navigate the changes in their lives and find health and healing along the way. But he knows that difficult times such as these can’t be dealt with...
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"From Financial Failure to Community Transformation | Patricia Ashanti, Delta Circles, Inc.
Patricia Ashanti has a vision that won't quit. After a financial mistake at McDonald's opened her eyes to the economic exploitation happening in her community, she spent over a decade building something powerful in the Arkansas Delta. Since founding Delta Circles in 2013, she's taught financial...
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On a Mission to Free My Sisters | Stacey Borden, New Beginnings Reentry Services
Stacey Borden has a lot to say. After years stuck in a cycle of addiction and incarceration as a result of unaddressed childhood trauma, she’s making up for lost time. Since she began on this pathway in 2008, she’s helped people from her community overturn wrongful convictions through…
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2nd Act Impact in New Jersey - Pastor Keith Davis, Camden Dream Center
Pastor Keith Davis is a man of many passions and talents who just can’t let himself stop working. In this interview, he shares with Jordan some of the early influences that sparked his fascination with technology, his profound faith, and his dedication to social justice. He also reveals the...
About this show
How to Build a Nonprofit isn’t your typical “thought leader” podcast. It’s real talk with real people who’ve dared to start something meaningful—and managed to keep it going (most days).Each episode dives into the messy, inspiring, behind-the-scenes stories of nonprofit founders and builders. We talk about the stuff people don’t usually put on grant reports—burnout, bad board decisions, flopped fundraisers, surprising wins, and the little pivots that made a big difference.If you’re starting a nonprofit, scaling one, or just wondering if you’re the only one making it up as you go… you’re in the right place. This show is here to remind you: you’re not alone, you’re not crazy, and yes—this work is still worth doing.
Hosted by
Jordan Thierry, Dream Chase Media LLC
Categories