PODCAST · business
NGO Soul + Strategy
by Tosca Bruno-van Vijfeijken
Welcome to my podcast NGO Soul + Strategy – a podcast for leaders of NGOs and other philanthropic organizations who are not satisfied with the status quo, are ready to look change right in the eye and who see themselves as leader-as-learner.
Episodes
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096: Leading Change at Scale: Oxfam International’s Journey with Amitabh Behar
Summary In this final episode of NGO Soul + Strategy, Tosca Bruno-van Vijfeijken sits down with Amitabh Behar, Executive Director of Oxfam International—one of the most recognized and influential global NGOs. Together, they explore what it means to lead transformative change inside a large…
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095: Time and Talent: Navigating the Nonprofit Sector’s Greatest Strategic Assets with Doug Trout
Summary In this episode, I am joined by Doug Trout, CEO of DRi Waterstone Human Capital, to explore how nonprofit organizations can better invest in, manage, and retain their people. From executive recruitment to culture-building and burnout, this conversation takes a deep dive into what it…
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094. Breaking the Barriers to Innovation: Carlos Simon on Organizational Culture & Change in NGOs
Summary Innovation is often treated as a buzzword—but few nonprofit leaders take a hard look at the cultural, structural, and leadership obstacles that keep it from taking root. In this episode, Tosca talks with Carlos Simon, an innovation strategist and longtime leader at World Vision, about…
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093. Feminist Leadership in Action: A Conversation with Jayanta Bora
Summary: What does it really mean to lead through a feminist lens? In this episode of NGO Soul + Strategy, I sit down with Jayanta Bora, a seasoned People & Culture expert who has helped shape leadership practices across major NGOs. Drawing from his own matrilinear upbringing and decades of...
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092. How Culture Is Reality: Rethinking NGO Safeguarding with Andrew Henck
In this episode, I speak with Andrew Henck, a scholar-practitioner whose recent PhD research offers a nuanced take on organizational culture in humanitarian NGOs. Together, we explore how culture goes far beyond shared values—it is a lens through which organizations make sense of their reality....
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091. “$10M Landed in Our Account”—What Nonprofits Must Know About Transformational Gifts and Sudden Growth with Michael Randel
What happens when your nonprofit receives a transformational gift—seemingly out of the blue? In this episode, change management expert Michael Randel joins Tosca Bruno-van Vijfeijken to explore what nonprofits can learn from the MacKenzie Scott giving wave. Together, they discuss how to prepare…
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090. Technology, Land Rights, and Leadership: A Conversation with Amy Coughenour Betancourt, CEO of Cadasta
Show Notes Summary Land rights are at the heart of building a sustainable and equitable future. Yet securing these rights—especially for marginalized communities—remains a profound global challenge. In this episode of NGO Soul + Strategy, I sit down with Amy Coughenour Betancourt, President and…
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089: "I AM A CHANGE MAN”: How Arnold Dix Applied An Iconoclastic Leadership Approach at the International Tunnelling Association
Summary The International Tunnelling Association (ITA) plays a critical role in global infrastructure, ensuring clean water, sewage systems, and transport for millions while contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). But behind the technical achievements lies a deeper...
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088. When You Have to Wind Down Your Nonprofit: How to do It Well, with Amy Miller-Taylor
Summary What does it take to lead an organization through a responsible and strategic closure? In this episode, I speak with Amy Miller-Taylor, former Executive Director of Global Integrity, about her experience navigating the complex decision to wind down an organization while ensuring its…
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087. Coaching Leaders Through An African Lens: Nankhonde Kasonde-Van Den Broek
Western coaching models weren’t built for African leaders. So Nankhonde Kasonde, a Zambian international development as well as a leadership development specialist and certified coach, created something that was. Nankhonde's Bio: Nankhonde Kasonde is a Zambian international development…
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086: The Modern Development Leader, How to Manage Change and All That: Torrey and Tosca in Conversation Part 2
Summary: What are the attributes of the modern humanitarian and development leader? Why modern? In what ways? How does one become one? Torrey’s Bio: As a certified coach with twelve years’ experience in international development Torrey Peace facilitates rising and established leaders in the...
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085: The Modern Development Leader, How to Manage Change and All That: Torrey and Tosca in Conversation Part 1
Summary: This is part one of a two-part conversation between two podcast hosts: Torrey Peace and myself. Torrey’s podcast is The Modern Humanitarian and Development Leader. Torrey and I tackle two broad topics: in this first part of our conversation, Torrey interviews me: How do people in...
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084: Towards Ubuntu 2.0? A Wide-Ranging Leadership Conversation with Martin Kalungu-Banda
Summary What does the concept of Ubuntu teach us about leadership, community, and the well-being of people in organizations? How can African leadership models inform and enhance global approaches to management and organizational development? How do we navigate the challenges of avoiding...
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083: African Solutions for African Problems: Consulting Strategies with Faye Ekong @ RavelWorks
Summary How does an African management consulting company that expressly sets itself up to offer African solutions to African problems communicate its identity? What are some key differences in organizational development needs and cultural norms between development agencies in the Global South…
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082: Human Emotions in a Poly-Crisis: How To Get To More Effective NGO Campaigning with Diya Deb @ MindWorks
Summary How can nonprofit organizations leverage human emotions to enhance the impact of their campaigns? What can NGOs learn from cognitive science to create more effective, empathetic communication strategies during a time of poly-crisis? How can organizations shift from traditional advocacy...
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081. Leadership Lessons From African Cultures, With Albert Momo
Summary What are the key principles of African leadership that nonprofit leaders globally could benefit from adopting? How does the African concept of Ubuntu translate into practical leadership strategies for nonprofit organizations? How does African leadership balance individual and collective...
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080. Avoid These Leadership Mistakes When Managing Organizational Change With Michael Randel
Summary Is it that people resist change? That they fear change? Or rather that people fear loss? As a change management consultant, what is the most difficult or frustrating while supporting clients with change management efforts? What is one word most alive right now in the world of change...
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079. Leadership in Africa Redefined With Taaka Awori of Busara Africa
Summary What does it Busara's tagline mean: 'transformational leadership, from the inside out'? To what extent are there truly different global south-normed leadership models? Does personality still play an important role as well, in addition to national or regional cultural differences in...
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078. Which INGO Roles Are Still Legitimate, Relevant, and Needed (and Which No Longer): Dylan Mathews @ Peace Direct
Summary How should INGOs discern what roles are still relevant, legitimate, and needed, at this moment in civil society history? And which roles they therefore should *stop* playing? Is there more here, over and beyond stopping service delivery? (Which on its own is quite the shift) In this NGO...
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077. Let’s Work Through This: Conflict Mediation in Social Sector Organizations With Nathalie Thompson
Summary Conflict management and mediation are skills that come up frequently as a weak area in many of our social sector organizations. And these days, more than ever conflict is on the rise within our organizations. So how can we work through our conflicts more skillfully and effectively?…
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076. Trends in Direct Fundraising: Keeping It Real With Erica Waasdorp
Summary What constitutes a culture of philanthropy within nonprofits and NGOs? It's a term easily bandied around, but how do I see when it's in place? How has the field of direct giving by small donors, and monthly giving as one donor practice in particular changed in the last 10-20 years? Are...
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075. What Happens When a Start-Up Nurtures an Evidence-Based Culture: The Taimaka Project
Summary What does the name Taimaka mean? To what extent are there challenges, as an organization, when you aim for evidence-based decision-making? What kind of culture is needed to truly live the aspiration of being evidence-based? In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview Dr. Umar...
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074. Can Nonprofit Program Evaluation Truly Be Made Easy? Chari Smith
Summary Quite a few smaller size social sector organizations assume that program evaluation is too complex or demanding an undertaking for them. Is that the case, though? If we want to introduce program evaluation to staff, leadership, and boards who have not yet been inducted into the importance...
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073. From a Hub and Spoke to a Horizontal Network Model: Anu Kumar @ Ipas
Summary What are the main benefits of a network structure, where power, authority, and leadership are dispersed and shared across regions, from an effectiveness perspective? What are the most important enabling habits, practices and behaviors that go with that, as a change leader? And what are…
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072. When Nonprofits Deal With Internal Strife: Conflict Mediation to the Rescue With Daniel Genberg
Summary Conflict within our organizations: we often don't really want to face them, but they are very much there. The result? Plenty of passive aggression to go around. What are the implications of such forms of conflict avoidance? In other NGOs on the other hand -- especially in the last few…
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071. Onward With Reimagining INGO Models: Charles Kojo Vandyck @ RINGO/WACSI
Summary What are some structural things that are wrong in development aid and in civil society? Which mindsets most need to be decolonized when it comes to the relationship between global South civil society organizations (CSOs) and INGOs? Global North-founded INGOs need to be reimagined. How, in...
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070. Mastering a graceful AND effective leadership exodus: Ignacio Saiz
Summary Leadership transitions are tricky -- and potentially risky -- moments in a nonprofit's life. What are the most common pitfalls or aspects that get overlooked when nonprofits -- and outgoing leaders themselves -- tackle such leadership transitions? What key strategies and tactics are...
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069. Navigating Organizational Politics: A Team Coach’s Guide - with Alexander Caillet @ Corentus
Summary What should I imagine, practically, when a team coach starts to support my team? What does a well-known team coach find the most rewarding about working with nonprofit teams? Can a team coach detect any differences in team behaviors or tendencies between their for-profit and nonprofit...
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067. DEI trends in US development agencies, by the numbers – Shiro Gnanaselvam @ Social Impact
Summary What is the state of DEI in US-founded international development organisations (both for-profit and nonprofit), and how has this state changed since 2021? What has been the action, as compared to the professed intentions for action? In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview...
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067. Life after leadership: Sam Worthington, former President and CEO @ InterAction
Summary What is life after leadership like? What happens to you as a person when you leave a high-powered, highly visible role in civil society? What happens with your sense of identity? Does this also perhaps touch on ego as well? What offers new meaning and purpose, when we live our...
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066. How to navigate the big scaling quandary: Amy Ragsdale @ Spring Impact
Summary What is scaling? And how is it different from growing? What’s the role of partner strategies or multiplier strategies in scaling? What are the implications of scaling in an era of decolonizing aid, localizing development, and shifting roles of nonprofits and NGOs, shifting power…
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065. How you should transition into a new role as a leader: Adama Coulibaly @ Oxfam
Summary What are the vital steps a senior leader have to take as they step into a new leadership role? What to do and what to expect when you are transitioning into that new role? And, separately, to what extent are African leadership models and frameworks different from global North ones? Most...
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064. Positive power for organizational integrity: Bhavika Patel + Alex Cole-Hamilton
Summary What should we think of when we consider organization integrity issues? How do you distinguish between positive and negative forms of power? How do we nurture power for organizational integrity? These are the fairly complex questions that we address in the podcast today. In this NGO...
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063. Decolonizing think tanks, policy research organizations and consulting agencies: Ajoy Datta
Summary How can the feelings of people who work in organizations both facilitate and suppress change? What makes people attach reputation and credibility to another person? And how does this relate to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, and these may work out in practice? What's the problem...
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062. Nonprofit operations CAN be a driver of transformation: Kim Kucinskas @ Humentum
Summary How should we think about the ‘collective journey to equitable development’ of Northern-founded NGOs, national NGOs and their funders? What obstacles stand in the way of continuing on that journey? Why does Humentum argue that NGO operating models need to enable ERA (Equitable, Resilient,...
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061. Between high profile civic disobedience and building broad public support: A youth activist
Summary How does a climate change activist movement such as Extinction Rebellion (XR) chose among strategies and tactics on the spectrum between more 'radical' actions such as civic agitation, (nonviolent) disobedience, high-profile stunts that may lead to arrests and more 'mainstream' actions…
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060. Should climate activists pivot their campaigning strategies from agitation to broadening public support? Aseem Prakash
Summary Environmental activism, environmental justice and equity concerns: what, if anything, is challenging about holding all of these three concerns at the same time? Can a better integration or balance be achieved between these 3 concerns? To what extent is radical activism cyclical in nature...
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059. Potential and peril when NGOs aspire to use a network structure: Doris Bäsler, formerly @ Oxfam
Summary What are the strengths of a confederated nonprofit organizational structure and what are its inherent weaknesses and limitations? What is a ‘diversified network’ type of organizational structure? To what extent does having a confederated organizational structure, as well as the aspiration...
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058. Can civil society get better at anticipating futures? Heather Hutchings, Danny Vannucchi and the International CS Centre
Summary What is the difference between forecasting and foresight, as a skill and an area of work? What are the pitfalls when international civil society organizations (ICSOs) apply crisis frameworks to trends that are actually longer-term, intersecting, and systemic? Decolonization and diversity:...
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057. From transnational advocacy networks to transscalar activism: Beth Bloodgood & Chris Pallas
Summary What is ‘transscalar activism’ in a nutshell? And how is it different from what academics call the 'Boomerang' model of international advocacy NGO networks? When did international NGO advocacy begin attracting the attention of academics, and why? What had shifted at that point, what had...
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056. Philanthropy that’s less colonial in mindset and practices: John Hecklinger @ Global Fund for Children
Summary What’s problematic about philanthropy in the ways the sector has practiced it for many decades? Are there limits to trust-based philanthropy? How do boards of grant-making philanthropies such as the Global Fund for Children have to change their composition, mindset, and oversight…
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055. Digital advocacy NGOs: a necessary, complementary force: Nina Hall
Summary What are the characteristics of 'digitally native' campaigning organizations? How do digital NGO campaigning organizations compare and contrast with traditional, 'brick and mortar' NGOs? Do digitally native civil society organizations and traditional NGOs sufficiently seek to complement...
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054. NGO scandals: causes, consequences and prevention + recovery strategies: Cassandra Chapman
Summary INGOs have been rocked by scandals and allegations of abuse of power, discrimination etc. in the last 5-10 years. What kind of different types of scandals can we distinguish in our sector? Which factors that affect nonprofit scandals remain understudied? What's the distinction between...
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053. Change is not a project: Hazem Fahmy on CARE Egypt’s Country Office transition towards full membership
Summary A number of NGOs have aimed to strengthen their global legitimacy by adding more global South members/affiliates. Is this truly a valuable strategy? Does it help with legitimacy to be more 'globally balanced'? What are the hard lessons learned about how to manage this process? And how do...
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052. Influence and power in complex NGOs: leadership insights from John Samuel @ Oxfam
Summary What is most difficult or challenging about operating as a leader in a place like Oxfam? What does it take to lead from a political frame in NGOs? Rational persuasion: is it overrated? In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview John Samuel, Oxfam Asia Regional Director on...
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051. Charity Navigator's changing expectations and its impacts on US nonprofit behaviors: Michael Thatcher, Charity Navigator's CEO
Charity Navigator is a free online resource for US-based donors, an intermediary rating agency with 11 million unique users per year. It currently rates just about 200.000 US-registered nonprofits, both domestic and internationally operating ones, and is quite influential in driving the behavior…
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050. Innovation in social change organizations: shepherds or adopters? Emma Proud
Summary Welcome to our 50th podcast episode! In this episode, we continue to zero in on what it takes to adopt and shepherd innovation through social change organizations. I interview Emma Proud, head of Learning and Adapting at Brink, an agency that coaches and consults on behavioral innovation...
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049. Women and positional power in faith based NGOs: Martha Holley Newsome @ Medical Teams Int.
Summary What are the strengths of faith-based organizations that secular NGOs may have reason to covet? On the other hand, what weaknesses or potential blind spots may faith-based organizations face? And is there anything specific, or ‘typical’ about being a woman top leader in a faith-based NGO?...
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048. How to kindle innovation in large development agencies: Soren Vester Haldrup @ UNDP
Summary Do you work in a large NGO or UN agency, and wonder how the heck you are supposed to stimulate innovations in such a sizable, potentially quite bureaucratic organization? Do you assume that organization size and structure matter when it comes to creating a good climate for innovation? And...
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047. Crisis leadership skills during war: Pact's Alyona Gerasimova in Ukraine
Summary Leadership in crisis contexts. Many NGOs regularly work in contexts of crisis, or war. The war in Ukraine was one of those contexts, and it led quite a few NGOs to reallocate programming resources toward the Ukrainian population. PACT is a US-founded NGO which has worked in Ukraine for…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Welcome to my podcast NGO Soul + Strategy – a podcast for leaders of NGOs and other philanthropic organizations who are not satisfied with the status quo, are ready to look change right in the eye and who see themselves as leader-as-learner.
HOSTED BY
Tosca Bruno-van Vijfeijken
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How many episodes does NGO Soul + Strategy have?
NGO Soul + Strategy currently has 97 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is NGO Soul + Strategy about?
Welcome to my podcast NGO Soul + Strategy – a podcast for leaders of NGOs and other philanthropic organizations who are not satisfied with the status quo, are ready to look change right in the eye and who see themselves as leader-as-learner.
How often does NGO Soul + Strategy release new episodes?
NGO Soul + Strategy has 97 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to NGO Soul + Strategy?
You can listen to NGO Soul + Strategy on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts NGO Soul + Strategy?
NGO Soul + Strategy is created and hosted by Tosca Bruno-van Vijfeijken.
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