Mark Lillis: Your Strategic Partnerships
Local nonprofits, companies, government officials and agencies, business leaders, and others can improve your outcomes in ways you cannot imagine. Taking the time to build relationships with potential partners—before you need them—makes a smart investment in your mission and programs. Mark Lillis from Leaven Kids shares his experience and wisdom around savvy partnerships.
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Welcome to Tony Martignetti Nonprofit Radio. Big nonprofit ideas for the other 95%. I’m your aptly named host and the pod father of your favorite abdominal podcast. Oh, I’m glad you’re with us. I’d be thrown into a cor if you wounded me with the idea that you missed this week’s show. Here’s our associate producer, Kate with what’s up this week? Hey, Tony, I’m on it. Your strategic partnerships, local nonprofits, companies, government officials and agencies, business leaders and others can improve your outcomes in ways you cannot imagine taking the time to build relationships with potential partners before you need them. Makes a smart investment in your mission and programs. Mark Liis from loving kids shares his experience and wisdom around savvy partnerships on Tony Ste Two Tales from the gym. A MRS blood and soil update were sponsored by donor box, outdated donation forms blocking your supporters, generosity, donor box, fast, flexible and friendly fundraising forms for your nonprofit donor box.org. Here is your strategic partnerships. It’s a pleasure to welcome Mark Lillis to the show. He is the executive director of the le providing after school and summer tutoring for Children living in underdeveloped communities in Fairfield, California and beyond California. We’ll talk about that. The Levin’s achievements are extraordinary and much of that is attributed to the partnerships Mark has developed. That’s what we’re here to talk about. 11 is at 11 kids.org. And you’ll find Mark Lillis on linkedin Mark. Welcome to nonprofit radio. Hey, thanks Tony. Thanks for inviting me, pleasure to be here on the show with all your great loyal listeners. Uh We do have a lot and uh they’re anxious to learn about partnerships, partnerships. Um What, what, what first brought this to your, to your fore? Like maybe you had been doing it for a long time. But what, what did you see as you know, the value uh coming coming from strategic partnerships, whether local state, maybe even broader, where, where, where’s the value here? What brought this to your attention? Yeah, I think where I, where I really saw this is I was an aide to the mayor and city council in Santa Barbara. Uh When I graduated from college, I had the opportunity to be the uh assistant to the mayor and city council in the city of Santa Barbara. And I really saw um AAA community that got together, came together and that had strong local partnerships and I saw what they were able to do and I saw how they were able to do it. And so that kind of training or that kind of, I guess instance of seeing that come forth and come to light. Uh it really paid off in how I approached uh the job that I’m in right now as CEO of loving kids and being a part of a community based uh organization, a nonprofit um that uh that serves out into the communities and into the neighborhoods. Uh And I will just say that there’s a, another gentleman mayor, Harry, the former mayor Harry T Price who just really, um he was the mayor of the city of Fairfield. And I’ll tell you, he just emboldened this idea and he once told me, he said, you know, Mark, never ever, ever underestimate the power of a thank you note and not just one that’s kind of generated from a, you know, from an A I but one in which you handwrite, you never underestimate that and make sure you think often and make sure that you think. Uh Well, and so, um so those things just kind of understanding, getting out into community, being out and being, being seen leading by example, if you can’t see it, you can’t, if you can’t see it, you can’t be an example of it. So, um so being out in the community and just really enjoying the communities in which we serve. It’s, it’s really, it’s really a lot of fun. You struck right to my heart with uh it, it sounds like the, the, the man the, the former mayor of Fairfield was a mentor of sorts to you and you struck right to my heart with handwrit notes. They, they are so rare and therefore so appreciated. They, they do stand out that, you know, put yourself away from word. It doesn’t have to be lengthy, right. A little card, a card or a half a page. You can be genuine, sincere heartfelt and that you took the time to handwrite something. It, it, it stands out. It, it absolutely, I, I couldn’t agree more with, uh, with that gentleman. Yeah, absolutely. No, I send, I send hundreds a month, um, and it’s just something that, uh, yeah, I love it. They are worth the time. People are grateful. And do you get, do you get some handwrit notes back? Um, I guess, you know what, I, I get emails back saying, hey, I got your handwrit note. Thank you so very much. I understand my work is in Planned Giving. So I work with a lot of folks in their seventies, eighties, nineties. And, uh, when I write handwrit notes, it’s not uncommon, not every time, but it’s not uncommon to get handwrit note back because that’s what those folks grew up with. They grew up in handwriting. So they do their cursive, you know, which I learned, we don’t even teach in schools, you know, they, they, so, uh, that, that’s why I, I get, I get a fair amount of handwrit notes back. But yeah, I, I, so we’re in a rabbit hole on handwrit notes. But for the, for the record I do listen notes, I love them. You do get some. Yeah. All right. And you, you know, so, you know how it feels to get them. Um, I spent a little time in San Barbara because I was, uh, for four months I was stationed at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Yeah, I was learning the missile business. Uh, I ended up doing it at Whiteman Air Force Base. This, we’re talking about the 19, late 19 eighties. Uh I end up stationed in Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. But you learn the Minuteman weapons system at uh at Vandenberg. So we would take occasional weekends to uh to Santa Barbara, beautiful uh waterfront, really lovely town. Incredible. It really is a very tight knit, very close knit community. It’s, uh, it’s a, it’s kind of a big town but it has a small town feel, that’s for sure. Oh, excellent. All right. Well, that and so partnerships, partnerships become that much easier when, if it has a small town feel. Um So in your work, whether as uh uh assist you were, you were assistant to the, to the city council. Is that right? I was, yeah, I was, I was an assistant to the uh to the mayor of city council. Um Primarily the, the, the vice mayor is where I spent a lot of time with the former vice mayor, Rusty Fairley. Uh Just a, a fantastic individual baseball coach. Um, I always find that, uh, that the coaches have a certain way about them. So, yeah. Um, just, just really learned a lot under his tutelage coaches. Absolutely. Do they understand teamwork? And we’re, we’re here talking about partnerships. Another word for partnership is teamwork. Just build your team, whether it’s a team of nine or 12 or it’s a team of dozens, uh, in the partner in the community and beyond. So, what are we, what are we looking for? I mean, II, I would think part of what we’re looking for is like we’re, we’re, we’re short or we, what we don’t do what we don’t do. Well, you know, we wanna maybe partner with folks who do are essential to our work are essential to those we’re helping, but we don’t do it also all that well and they do. But that’s just me. Uh, you know, you’re the expert here. What, what are we looking for in potential partners? Yeah. Well, I think what you’re looking for is you’re, you’re looking for, you know, sort of do an assessment a bit of where your strengths are, where your weaknesses are and then be able to, you know, um, uh sh shore up your weaknesses by bringing other people in uh that are fantastic uh partners and do it really well. For example, during COVID, we knew that we had to go to an online uh learning platform, um where we, we do after school tutoring and mentoring. And we didn’t understand the online business very well, quite honestly. But I will tell you that the scientists at Genentech, they really understood it, they understood Zoom, they understood code, they understood developing um that kind of platform. So they developed our entire, you know, online uh platform for us with zoom and with other types of of medians that really helped us to be able to serve Children in the midst of the pandemic. So, yeah, you gotta look at kind of where your weaknesses are and then how you’re going to be able to, to uh to, to shore it up. So it’s, it’s really knowing yourself or assessing yourself. Um But it’s also kind of getting out of your own getting from behind the desk. There’s a, there’s a lot of, there’s sometimes there’s so much to do, I’ll, I’ll just say as an, as an administrator of a nonprofit, the CEO executive director, um there’s a lot that can tie you down in doing things at the desk and so you got to be able to move outside the desk and go think about your organization, think about yourself. Um And then be able to go out into the community and in integrate with those folks who, who, who, who are gonna be stronger than you are. And um and you know, I remember 11 particular CEO saying, hey, I can go about a project uh by myself and go really slow or I can do it with others and move lightning fast and it’s so true. So, yeah, that’s, um, it’s kind of kind of it in a nutshell and, and it, so it sounds, uh, consistent with what we should be doing as individuals, you know, some, some introspection, some assessment, you know. What, what do I know very well? Uh, let me focus on that. What do I not know? So, well, let me hire somebody partner with somebody, bring somebody in uh who, who, who does that, who, who, who, who does that better fills, fills the gaps that I have. But being honest with yourself. And also, and, and you know, as you’re suggesting at the organizational level, being honest, you know, we just don’t, we’re, we’re, we’re just not the best at online online platform. Not only, not the best, sounds like you didn’t, you never had to do it because kids were coming, 11 kids were coming to you, right? They were coming to you in your after school program. So we don’t know anything about this, you know, but just honest, I think honest introspection on the individual level as well as the organizational. Absolutely. That’s, and, and we, and quite honestly, we couldn’t afford it. I mean, we, it, it, those are, those are pricey, pricey services. So, you know, being able to hire somebody who does coding, it’s costly. So we saved ourselves not only time, but also resources and money. And I think we, we stewarded um those resources very, very well by partnering with somebody like Gentech. Now, you’re fortunate, Gentech has a big presence in, in our, in our area. Fairfield area, the area. So let, let’s drill down. How do you make the approach? Now, the gen and tech, let’s assume they didn’t know about 11 kids. How do you, how do you make that, what, what’s the first phone call like? Or what’s the first? Maybe it’s not a phone call but what’s the first uh outreach like? What does it say? How do you do it? Yeah. Well, I think it’s that it’s a, it’s a mindset. So it’s getting from behind the desk, it’s understanding that, hey, you know, it’s tough to lead an organization from behind the desk. So you have to go out into the community. So we go to a lot of chamber events, we go to a lot of, you know, ribbon cuttings, we go to a lot of um businesses that open. Um And so rotary when we see and so you end up seeing a lot of business people and community leaders at these kinds of functions and then it’s um and then it’s doing something that is very important to do and that’s working in a room. Um which, which, you know, I know it, it, it, it, it’s an art. I will just say this. I saw, yeah, I saw the late I saw again, one of the, one of our, our fantastic uh government officials, the late um mayor Miller from the city of Santa Barbara, that woman could work a room like no other. And I saw how she did it. She went through, she, she didn’t spend a lot of time with one person. She just kind of worked through the room and then she sat at the rear door or when everybody left and she made sure that she, she shook everybody’s hand as they took off. Um I mean, it was just brilliant, but you gotta be able to do that. So in those kinds of work, the room and having those conversations, you’re going to hear things, you’re going to meet people. Um, people are going to say, hey, you know what I do coding or I set up zoom systems or, um, you know, hey, we know we’re, you’re going, we’re in a pandemic. So somebody give us a call and say, hey, we know, we know we’re in a pandemic and what are you guys doing? Um, well, we’re trying to set up a online uh program and process for our students and they’ll say, hey, how can we help? So it’s, it’s developing that relationship beforehand. I guess my, one of my points are is that if you wait until you’re really in a problem, um, maybe you’ve waited too long. So you wanna set that work up ahead of time, you want to set the foundation up ahead of time, you wanna be able to be known in the community, you want to be able to have a good reputation, um, because that’s, and you want to be able to do what you say you’re going to do and do it really, really well. And so when you’re known for that, um, you’ll, you’ll just kind of have these things, not, they’re not magically open, the doors don’t magically open, but a lot of doors do open when you take the time and you invest the time to make those kinds of relationships. Absolutely. Relationships. It’s, it’s identical to fundraising. You know, you don’t, you don’t come to people only when it’s end of year. And, you know, you’re, you’re trying to make your, you’re trying to make your fundraising numbers for the, for the fourth quarter. Now you keep relationships open before you need someone’s help and maybe you never will. I in, in terms of the community, not, not in terms of fundraising, but in terms of the community, you know, you, but you, you don’t go into a relationship, uh looking at what you can get out of it from the outset. You just look at relationships as, as, as valuable uh humane civil, right? This is how we conduct ourselves. We’re, we’re social beings have relationships and then you never know what might come from them. So, yeah, so, so you see value in like it sounds like local chamber membership Chamber of Commerce, you mentioned rotary. You have, you have memberships in those. Well, we, we have memberships in, you know, we’re in, we’re in, in nine different cities. So we don’t have memberships in every, in every city, but we have it in our, where our hub is where our headquarters are. Um And then we make sure that we show up that we attend, you know, um 90% of life is just showing up. So we make sure we show up. Um when we get invited, we show up if we get invited to speak at one of those uh one of those venues, we make sure that we show up and, and speak um that we have a presentation that it’s a presentation. I, I, I’ll tell you, uh you’ll maybe appreciate this, Tony. So the first time we entered into the city of Valeo, um we were invited to the Rotary group. Wait a minute, what’s the name of the city, city of Vallejo, Vallejo, California, Valeo. Yeah, sorry. Vallejo, California. So, uh we were invited to come to the Rotary group. And, um and, and so I was, I was sort of new at kind of doing this whole executive director CEO thing. So I go in with our presentation with our powerpoint and uh and the president of Rotary kind of pulls me aside and he says, hey, we’re gonna know if this is good within about the first two minutes. And I said, I said, I said, what do you mean the first two minutes? No pressure, no pressure. Yeah. Yeah, we know this is, this is kind of like one of my first ones that I’ve done like this. And, uh, and I said, what do you mean by the first two minutes? He goes, yeah, he goes because if, if you’re tanking, he goes, people will just start talking and you won’t ever get the room back. And I went, right. So, yeah, so um so my point being have a good presentation, make it memorable. In that particular case, we actually did make it very memorable and we uh we, we, we had a, we had a great response but make it memorable. No, people were giving up their time and give them something that uh that they could feel really, really good about. So, yeah, we go and make, make presentations uh to these organizations uh quite frequently and then we, and then we just go before, sometimes before the city councils or before um our local government bodies and we just give them updates of how we’re doing and what we’re up to. So, um so those, those types of engagements are really important. It’s time for a break. Imagine a fundraising partner that not only helps you raise more money, but also supports you in retaining your donors, a partner that helps you raise funds, both online and on location. So you can grow your impact faster. That’s donor box, a comprehensive suite of tools, services and resources that gives fundraisers, just like you a custom solution to tackle your unique challenges, helping you achieve the growth and sustainability your organization needs, helping you help others visit Donor box.org to learn more. Now, back to your strategic partnerships. So we’ve talked about uh like sort of corporate potential partnerships. Um So now you’re mentioning go and, and, and civic organizations like rotary sounds like Rotary can be a tough uh tough audience. They give you two minutes to make a, make a break. Otherwise we’re gonna start talking to the person next to me. So you’re, who’s the guy on the, who’s the guy with the mic? Cut him off? Could be? All right. All right. Rotary is a tough one. All right. But uh civic, civic organizations um government. So, you know, you’re not just looking like for government grants, I mean, you may be doing that but it’s, it’s not a transactional again, relationship, it’s not transactional where I come in for a city grant every, every year or 18 months or something. You know, let’s renew you, you have relationships with local government officials. Not surprising because you were, once you saw the value, talk more about local government. Yeah, local government, it’s important, you know, to understand that there is a process that occurs within local government and to really respect that particular process. If you’re meeting with, you could be meeting with. Well, you need to know first who you’re meeting with um within the the city. So if I’m at an event, for example, and I see the director of public works or I see the police chief, I know who they are and hopefully they know who I am. Um if they don’t, then you need to make sure that you have and I hate the word but people use the elevator pitch. Yeah, I don’t, I don’t use the elevator pitch. This is what I use. So we won the Chick Fil a national award twice and I went back to Atlanta. Uh and I was speaking to some of their, their marketing folks and they said, start off with your, why, why you got involved with whatever you’re doing? It’s far more interesting than just kind of going through the mundane elevator pitch of telling people what you do, how many people you serve so forth and so on. So I always start off with the, why, why we started? And so I’ll tell them kind of the, the why we started this organization. Um What inspired us, uh what got people motivated ar around it and then, um and then you’ll, you’ll, you’ll understand kind of, hey, is this person a uh uh a department head, is this person the city manager or am I potentially speaking to one of the council members? Uh one of the city council members or to the mayor and and you have to also understand that these folks have got a lot, I mean, it’s a, these are big cities that we serve in. So there’s hundreds of thousands of people that are involved in these organizations and in these cities. And so there’s a lot that’s on their mind and you gotta sort of make it punchy and quick and then hopefully memorable and then leave them with something if and then ask them, hey, is there any particular way that we can further serve you? Is there any particular way that we can help? Um Is there anything that we’re doing that we could do more of? So we always come from a perspective of, hey, we, we love to serve our communities. We don’t want to be a burden upon them. Uh You know, we don’t want to just come and ask for money, but we want to know how we can help solve some of their headache and some of their problems. So we ask that question and typically we get a, yeah, you know, have you thought about this or this organization is doing that? Have you thought about partnering with them? So it’s just uh it’s just really insightful when you have those types, when you come with that type of mindset and that type of heart. And you, you ask, hey, you know, how is it that we can further help serve into this community? Now, be careful about what they might say, because you gotta be prepared, you gotta be prepared, you gotta be prepared for something that might be a heavy lift or you gotta be prepared for something that might not be a heavy lift more than definitely not. But uh and then follow up, you know, make sure that you do some follow up. Make sure if they say, hey, we’d like to have you think about a partnership with this particular organization or to serve in this particular area of the community, then follow up and then get back to them and let them know, hey, you know what I contacted this person or we’re looking at doing XY and Z. So, again, not transactional relationship, you know, how can I help you? How can I help you? You know, how can we help the community? And it’s a hard of what it’s, it’s what the nonprofit sector, why they’re so important because that’s what we can do. Um is that we can go out and provide great help for a community and for residents and, and members. So, yeah, 11 kids is not only in California now, right? Texas also. We are, yeah, we’re, yeah, we um so we started off in Fairfield, California, which is in Solano County. And uh we started with one learning center and our, you know, kind of our, our promise to that community was, hey, we are going to do what we say we’re gonna do and we’re gonna do it really well. And if, if we just had one that would be fantastic. Um, but if we had many, then that would be great as well. Just wanna be able to have the resources to do it. Well, good news traveled fast. And after we opened up our first one, it was sold out. And so we were asked to do another one and now we have 20 in California and then we started one in San Antonio, Texas. And, and I’ll just say, so we brought uh General Marianne Miller who was a four star general um was also the Commander of Air Mobility Command and she joined our board as a, as a vice president. And one of the things just absolutely understands relationships. And so we met in San Antonio, Texas for three years with different leaders, organizations, civic leaders uh before we even opened up one of our learning centers. And that was just so important to do, to try to understand the community, try to understand what its needs were, try to understand, you know, what people were talking about. Um And then trying to get a really good flavor of San Antonio. So we did that for three years and um we found out a whole bunch of information and I would just say that, hey, before anybody goes to start a project, make sure that you really understand. Don’t just take, we just didn’t want to take something from California and plant it into Texas. So we really wanted to be able to understand and then we created an advisory committee, a strategic advisory committee in that community so that they could really have and grow up with some great roots from San Antonio. How did you choose San Antonio, Texas from uh from the Fairfield, California area? Yeah, that’s a good question. So there was some similarities to uh to Fairfield. Fairfield was home to Travis Air Force Base, which is the largest air mobility command base. Uh I think in the, in the nation, uh maybe the world. And so we have a lot of military connection and San Antonio is really a retirement community for military. So, uh and it is also the home to Lackland Air Force Base, which is sort of the gateway of where most Air Force uh members go in which to uh to, to be trained in them to serve. So it just had a lot of similarity. And then when we met with the mayor of the city of San Antonio, uh Mayor Nuremberg, uh he said, hey, you know what, we could really use this in our communities. And so we just knew there was a, there was a, there was a red carpet and an open door and if there wasn’t, that would have been fine, we don’t want to go to a place where there’s already typical or similar services. So, but uh but he said, hey, we, we don’t have really anything like this. This is unique and we want to have more. It’s time for Tony’s take two. Thank you, Kate. We’re back to the gym. Tales from the gym, uh, for a week because I have a, uh, Mrs Blood and soil update. I hope you’ll remember her. She was, uh, she was our original Tale from the gym that remember my very first class. She fought over her turf that I was, I put my stuff down near her space and she didn’t like that. Uh uh I want you to know, you know, you’d be reassured to know that Mrs Blood and Soil is still in her exact same space back behind me. Third row, third row, second from the end on the right side as uh from my perspective, facing the front of the room, she’s always back there, always routinely and, and I would say, and other people are not like that way. Uh She’s, she’s probably the only one who is just always in that special spot of hers. That’s, you know, so aptly named uh Mrs Blood and Soil. So we had some complaints from Mrs Blood and Soil. This week, the, the gymnasium floor is gonna be redone at the community center. Now, we don’t have our class in the gymnasium. We have in a fitness center, fitness fitness room. Um, you’re just open with good wood flooring, but the gymnasium flooring thing is gonna move classes into our space And so, so the schedule is gonna be uh changed around for like six weeks in November and this was announced and some of these classes are gonna be shorter 45 minutes instead of an hour, you know, to accommodate more classes in this, in this one space because we’re losing the gym space. Uh Mrs Blood and soil doesn’t like this. Why do the classes have to be only 45 minutes? So, you know, and we’re having this conversation while we’re doing, uh you know, while we’re, while we’re exercising. So while we’re doing steps and we’re running in place and uh you know, it’s hard to describe all the, you know, but you can imagine all the aerobic stuff that we’re doing so with weights and sometimes not weights and the planks and et cetera. So while, you know, while the instructor is, while this woman is running the class, Mrs Blood and soil, how come only 45 minutes I paid in advance for all the classes. There’s supposed to be an hour. Oh my God, Mrs Blood and soil to give it up. You know, we’re redoing the gym. Try to try to understand we got to accommodate some other classes in our space here. So, uh so Mrs Blood and soil still in place and uh very upset. Very ranting. Oh, and the class time may change too. Oh, it may have to be, it may have to be an 815 or an 830 class instead of 8 a.m. Oh, it’s gonna throw off for a whole day. She was like, no, I can’t. I like, uh, I was like, what’s the difference? A half hour? So I didn’t want to get into a skirmish with MRS blood and soil because I would certainly lose. She’s, uh, she’s heavily armed and, and, uh, battle hardened. This is blood and soil. All right. Whew, next week, uh, we’ll be, uh, back to, uh, tales from the plane. I got some nice, uh, good stories from the plane and that is Tony’s take two Kate. He sounds like such the character. She’s a, she’s a piece of work. You know, she’s, uh, she’s firm in her opinions, uh, and in her location, say that she’s a, she’s a firm person. So I have something to tell you. This is a few weeks ago. You talked about how people should reach out to their old buddies, old friends, maybe old schoolmates and, you know, reconnect because it’s important to just have people to surround yourself with and not be lonely. Right. You remember that? Yeah, because I was planning a trip, uh, which I just did, uh, earlier this month I was planning a trip to multiple states to see old air force friends. Yes. And I was encouraging you to, to my friend. So I did it. I reached out to the, um, we’ve known each other since elementary school. Um, but then we lost contact after I moved to New York. So now that I’m back at home, I saw she’s a hairdresser now and she posts a lot of hairdressing videos online and she’s like, hey, I work here if anyone wants like their hair cut colored, you know, and I was like, oh my God, this would be a great, you know, segment to get myself in there and be like, hey, so I obviously dammed her and I was like, hey, I would love to get my hair done by you and maybe catch up. So that’s what we did. Outstanding. Did you have it? You already had it. You, you met her? Yeah. So it was just a consultation but the whole entire time we were just going over what we like, she moved out, you know, she’s out at her own apartment, she has a cat now, she’s doing great and it’s all these things like you could never figure out just by like, you know, scrolling through Instagram. Of course not. You can’t, of course not you, you can’t, you can’t be, be acquainted with the depth of someone’s life through freaking social media. Of course not. All right. So how, how did it feel while you were with her? How did it feel? Honestly, it felt like the same exact person who like I got to know in elementary school, but she was just now more mature, more graceful and she had this air of confidence, which is really cool to see. Um, because that’s something that you gain through maturity and we’re like 21 years old. So you’re 21 you, you, you’re too young to have old friends, but this is how you get to have old friends when you’re 51 and 61 more than twice where you are now by keeping in touch with people. So, congratulations. I admire that. You reached out next time. You can reach out to somebody when you don’t see them. And uh and some social post, you just think about somebody and you say, you know, I haven’t talked to him or her for a long time and we were really close. I think I’m gonna, I gotta send a text, I got their phone number or I’m gonna try to find them maybe through another friend or something. So, yes, but congratulations. I’m glad I admire that you reached out to an old friend because that’s how you keep friends through the decades, which is a joy and that’s what, that’s what I had originally been talking about. So. Good for you. Very good. Well, we’ve got book who loads more time. Here’s the rest of your strategic partnerships with Mark Lillis listening, you know, especially listening to is there a need but listening to the community creating the community advisory board, which I’m sure was made up of local people, right? They’re your community advi yeah, to date myself from the air Force, uh air mobility command when I was in was called, I think it was called military Airlift command. Ma I, I believe I was not in, I was in the strategic Air command sack, but it was Mac. And then there was t a, it was a tactical air command. I think that was the fighters. But yeah, that’s, uh, we’re going back 40 years. Thankfully, things have advanced. Were you, were you on active duty? Were you in the Air force? I was not. No, I was not. No, I, um, I actually had an opportunity to. Well, Fairfield is my hometown, so I’ve known of Travis Air Force Base ever since. Uh, I was born and, uh, my dad was in the military, um, really appreciated his service and, um, and then I had an opportunity to watch the Thunderbirds. Uh, one year the gate at Travis Air Force Base and my dad absolutely loved to watch the Thunderbirds. He like, really liked any, any, any aircraft. Um, he, he wanted to be a pilot but he couldn’t because of his, of his eyes. But, um, but so I watched the Thunderbirds from behind the gate and then the next year mayor Price nominated me to be the hometown hero for the Thunderbirds. And I actually got to fly with the Thunderbirds. So, uh, you were flying while you were flying, while they, while they were performing, I flew the day before they, they have a so flew with the Thunderbirds for, uh, for three minutes. It was incredible. I did a, I did a 9.59 0.2 G turn and I’ll tell you one thing, it, it’ll remove your hair and then put it back again. Did, did everything stay in your stomach? Ok. Yes, it did. You get to fly with the Thunderbirds? Wow. That’s, that’s fantastic. It was, it was incredible. It was incredible. And then I went off to be an honorary commander with Travis Air Force Base and a civic leader for Air Mobility Command. And uh now I proudly serve as a golden bear at Travis Air Force. So have really been able on the civic side, be able to see the fantastic mission of our airmen and how they, you know, provide the blanket of protection for us each and every day and night. It’s just incredible. So, um yeah, it’s been a, been a, been a great partnership. So with Air Mobility Command, you must have a lot of big planes flying around C seventeens, right. The big, the big cargo, the big cargo planes that can fit 20 whatever, 20 tanks or whatever, you know. Right. Isn’t this, I think isn’t the C 17? Is that our largest cargo? You’re a golden bear. Well, first of all, what is a golden bear? What does that mean? I, I was five years in an, on an air force base. I didn’t, I didn’t know any Golden Bears, I got you. Yeah. So golden golden Bears particular to Travis Air Force Base and basically specific leaders that uh that really interact uh with the, the base and also with the community. So it’s so it’s, it’s an offset but it’s really in relation to the, I believe the C 14 one that used to be the Golden Bear. Um So that’s, that’s kind of, that’s kind of what it’s named after. But the biggest one, the biggest uh uh aircraft out at Travis’s C five. and then the uh the C 17 and then they just got the KC 46 which was the tanker. Um the new tanker just came in. So I remember the KC, I remember the KC 130 fives. So the C so the C five is bigger than the C 17. 0, ok. I had that back. I had it wrong. OK. The C five is our largest um uh Yeah, mobility command because the biggest, those are enormous. I mean, they’re like tunnels. They just, they’re incredible, they’re incredible. They, they, they, they, they move satellites, I mean tanks, you name it. Yeah, it’s, yeah, but this, but to your point, Tony, this is, this is kind of what you get to learn and have a, when you do this really, really well um is that it takes you off into spirals into all different areas of a community. And so, you know, I was, you asked the question. Have you ever been in the military? No, I never had been, uh, had an opportunity to serve but I do in this role, um, indirectly by, uh, by being a civic leader and it’s only because of getting out and having a real heart for community partnerships, I guess, to tie it all around. Yeah, you’re spot on. And you said you’re an honorary commander, I mean, commander of Travis is probably, what, two or three star general? It’s a colonel. Oh, it’s a colonel. Oh, really? Oh, I thought it would be a general. Ok. Well, you’re an honorary, like you’re an honorary honorary colonel. I hope that comes with a pension. I hope you get a nice, nice Air Force pension when you retire as a, from your Golden Bear position. All right. I completely volunteer and I appreciate being able to serve. Yeah, of course. I, I admire it. Congratulations. Um, all right, let’s talk about II, I feel like we, we, we’ve covered, you know, sort of who are the potential partners, how to approach, um, how to, how to keep these relationships going, these partnerships, you know, uh, the, they are relationships, uh, they’re just, you know, they’re strategic. Although again, you don’t go into a relationship looking for what you can get out of it. But, but how do we nurture these, uh, what’s your advice around that? Keeping these going strong? Yeah, it’s, it’s so important to do. I mean, you do need to nurture it. You do need to understand that it’s not transactional, just like what you mentioned. Um You have to understand that, hey, it’s as much as what you can give as much as what you can also glean and learn. So, um so I would say continue to, to just make those um introductions and continue to be out into community. I think if you’re, if you’re bored is having to tell you to do it, you have sort of lost the, you sort of lost the mantra. Um You wanna be able to, to be out there in front of, you want to be able to be out there nurturing the relationships, you wanna be out there um having your organization and particularly your name known um amongst the community. And then you wanna be able to, you know, I would say not call, you know, every month, but at least every quarter to be able to, to give an update, a short update, not any, not anything really long but a short update of how it’s going, uh what’s happening. Uh What are some new things you’re thinking about? And then, um and then again, that part of, hey, is there anything we can do? That’s more? Um So I would just, uh I would just say continue to um to be out into the community, continue to make phone calls. And um and then again, just taking it from Mayor Harry Price don’t ever for get the power of that handwrit note, just send a note to somebody um or send or if you can’t, if you don’t have time to send a note, send a text saying, hey, you know what, I was sure thinking about you today. Um and just wanted to uh to let you know that hey, we at loving kids um are thinking and praying for you um and just something very, very quick, but lets people know that they’re being thought about and they do come to your mind. I mean, when you hear about their story, when you hear about what they’re doing, when you understand, hey, the pressures that they have in leadership um and in serving particularly our mayors and our, and our, and our community leaders, you just go, wow, you know, I want to be able to lighten their load as much as you possibly can. So, yeah, I’d say continue just to keep up that uh that, that cycle. And um and that’s how you kind of nurture it along. Um Be careful if you s oh just one other point, just be careful if you, if you say no to something and you will possibly have to say no to something, but be careful that uh that you give some explanation and that you’re thoughtful in how you decline. Um or that you try to find a surrogate of some kind that you try to find somebody else like either somebody else on the team, a board member or whatever it might be because if you end up saying no, too many times, um, then you kind of won’t be invited to. People are gonna stop and do it again to do it very much. Yeah. What about for a corporate partnership? Like a gen and tech, you know, uh How do you, how do you keep that strategic partnership strong, strong. Um So we have a lot of them thankfully. So we have not only Genentech but Kaiser Permanente, um Jelly Belly Candy Company, um QTS. Um You know, we, we have, we have several of these and, and again, it’s, it’s, it’s making sure, you know, if you receive funds from any of those organizations, uh I’m amazed at how often in the sector that we miss deadlines like grant reports and things of that nature don’t do that, don’t miss those important deadlines because somebody is having to talk about you to their boss or bosses. So make sure that you, you just again, do your due diligence. Um But then also be able to talk about the impact that you’re making and not anything really big and not anything that sounds like you’re pounding your chest, but just want just, just let them know, hey, you know what um we, we’re in Xy and Z community and um and we found this, this child who really needed help. Um And this is how we help them or send them a video, we oftentimes text videos because we do a lot of videos. So we’ll text a testimonial from a child, something of that nature that really helps, that helps them to understand more of the story. But I think more importantly how they’re able to enter into the story. Um and really be the hero because that’s what we, that’s what they are. Um You know, they, they fund the work, uh They help us, they inspire us. Uh We learn a lot, um, you know, with Chick Fil a for example, we go back every year and we learn as a nonprofit, you know, different things that they use in business that can really help us in the nonprofit world. So, um so yeah, so nurture those relationships, understand that their time is valuable for sure. Maybe they won’t respond back right away and that’s fine or maybe they won’t respond back at all but keep on doing it. Um Keep on, keep on doing that. I’d say, you know, every, every quarter. Um just kind of continue and just make sure, make sure, make sure you fill out the grant reports if you have one, if you get funding. Yeah, it’s, it’s so important. What about when there are problems, you know, every, every partnership, every relationship has ups and downs, you know, that you might have done something incorrect or come up a little short or just, there’s something that neither party anticipated, you know, whatever the, whatever the, whatever the difficulty in the relationship might be, how do you, how do you overcome that be, be honest and, and still, you know, maintain the, the strong partnership? Yeah. Well, I think it’s, I think it’s important to, to understand that. Yeah. You know, there are going to be, there are going to be problems. Um, I think you have a good plan and a good strategy for how you’re going to overcome those problems before it, before it happens. Um But uh but then just be able to be open, be able to be um authentic and transparent, uh be able to say, hey, if, if it was, if it was on our side, uh be able to, to take um some type of ownership and then um and then find out what type of clear communication you need to have in which to, to uh to solve and, and be a better partner. Usually, I, I appreciate when there’s those kinds of challenges because it really helps us to be a stronger and a better partner uh with any organization. So, um so those are, those are kind of some things that, that I think through, I always, I always try to have a strategy and a plan for how do we overcome any challenges that may come up and kind of think through from our rolodex of what those challenges have been in the past so that we can have a way to, um, to push through them and, uh, create a stronger partnership and a, um, and a better tomorrow based on everything you’re saying, Mark, I’m sure that trust is important in these, in all these relationships, establishing trust. Can you, can you flush that out a bit? Yeah, I think it’s, it’s, it’s very early on, uh, we received a grant from Kaiser Permanente and, um, we were at a point that in our, in our, in our organization where um where we were very, very young, we’re just applying for grants and Cynthia Verret who was the community benefit officer. Um called me up and uh and she ii I, I’ll just kind of say what she actually said and then I’ll, I’ll paraphrase of what I think was going through her mind. So I think what’s going through her mind was saying, hey, you know what? You guys are young funks, what are you guys doing? Uh You have, you, you know, you’re too young to be doing this. You don’t have the sustainability, you don’t have, you know, much of a plan. You got one, you got one successful project under your belt. So I’m gonna take a risk kid. Um And uh and that is that I’m going to uh I’m gonna, we’re gonna give you this grant, but I’m gonna ask you to do two things and this is the part that she actually said, I’m gonna ask you to do what you say you’re gonna do and do it very, very well. And so, you know, that became our corporate promise that when we go into a community, we’re gonna do what we say we’re gonna do. We’re gonna show up each and every day. Uh We’re going to provide after school tutoring and mentoring uh to Children. Um We do it through kindergarten through, through fifth grade and then we’re going to excel, we’re going to do it really, really well to the best of our ability. And um and that piece is so important because um the opposite of that sometimes occurs. So we have, you know, sometimes services that are sporadic um or for whatever reason and then, you know, it gets out into the community that hey, you know, these guys are really kind of doing this sort of halfway or whatever. Um But we really wanted to make sure that we had a, a strong commitment and a strong process um operationally that we can fulfill the promises that we were making to the organizations that funded us and gave the reputation. But then also to uh to the community in which we are serving. Very important. Yeah, and trust, trust is everything. Yeah, that’s the only thing that, you know, that’s very, very difficult to gain back. Um And it’s the, the piece that you can give away very easy. It’s easy to lose. It takes, it takes time, it takes time to gain it, you, you could lose it in a, in a couple of hours. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. And so when you see it sliding, I say, get in front of it rather than behind it. Um, so if you sense that, hey, somebody has lost their trust in, uh, in, in you or the organization for whatever reason, try to get in front of it rather than responding behind it. So, um, you have to, that’s the part of kind of knowing, um, and be able to get out from behind the desk, do an assessment and really have a clear mind. Um, and then, uh, own what you need to own and, um, and then, uh, strengthen yourselves and be ready for the, for the next day tomorrow. Hey, let’s talk. I think, I think we’ve got, we’ve got an issue between us. I mean, let’s let me come over, let’s talk, you know, face to face, right is the best way. Uh, even if you got to fly somewhere, you know, if the relationship is important, uh, it’s, it’s worth, it’s worth taking the time to, to be there in person. Yeah. And I’ll just also add, sometimes it’s not repairable. So if that’s the case, then don’t impress it, uh, don’t, don’t push somebody to repair something that they’re not ready to repair. And so, you know, be patient, um, like, for instance, if they won’t take the meeting, if they, if they won’t talk to me you’re right. We have issues but I don’t, I don’t, I don’t see we have a basis to, to have a conversation. There you go. That’s a hard one. That’s a hard one. That’s a hard to hear. That’s a hard, it’s hard to hear but you know what you have to, you have to, you have to own and go ok and then you can’t push somebody to reconcile. Um you have to, you have to then go. Alright, this is what I’m coming, I’m comfortable with with hey, yeah, we’re gonna take some ownership here the other the uh you know conflict is always a two way street. Um but then you just have to kind of let it sit and often times what I find is that it comes around and and then you go oh and then you look at it later on with the person and they go well it wasn’t really that big of a of a deal. It was more me than the. Yeah and so yes, reconciliation has to be mutual has to be mutual. It can’t be one person chasing it can’t be can’t be as much as we want to, as much as we want to make it as much as we want, as much as we oftentimes we’re we’re we’re big people, pleasers in this business but you know what, you have to be able to sit with some conflict and just go. All right. Well, I’ll, I’ll learn from it and um and then we’ll, we’ll, we’ll reconcile this if not now. Uh We’ll wait for a delayed response and, and do it later. Yeah. What’s that Chick Fil? A award that you, you said you won two years in a row? What is that about? Eat more chicken? So, yeah, so we were um so we were, we were nominated by one of the two of the operators. One in uh in Fairfield, another one in Ontario down in Southern California where we have a center and uh we were nominated for their true inspiration award. And um the first time we didn’t win the um the award. But um but we were patient and we applied again and then the second time we won it in the owner’s uh the owner’s name, um the founder’s name, uh Truitt Kathy. And it was so incredible um to and such an honor to win an award in the name of a, of a man who basically took serving people and created something that was just an incredible franchise. Um But uh Truitt just had such a, such a fantastic heart for people um for understanding how to serve um serve people out of a, out of a, out of a small um restaurant. And um and then kind of grew it to a mall location and then uh from there, it became the Chick Fil a story. So uh we won it, we’re one of the few organizations that’s won that twice. So we won but, uh, uh, once and then we won it, uh, again, uh, two years ago, so huge honor. Um, and, uh, really appreciate, uh, Chick Fil A for recognizing, uh, the work that we’re doing and the excellence and then being able to learn, uh, from their great successes. Congratulations. And especially for being a second time, second time winner. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it was really, really unique. Um, but we’re, we’re, we’re grateful to win it. Chick Fil A has those brilliant billboards on the side of the highway with the cows. The cows eat more chicken chikin. Yeah, I don’t eat a lot of, I don’t eat a lot of fast food, but I do, I do, uh chuckle at their, their billboards, cows, sometimes the cows are stacked on top of this one cow and another cows. I don’t know, shoulders or whatever they, you know, and, and he’s got a piece of chalk in his mouth or something. He’s eat more chicken. Yeah, it’s brilliant. I know. It’s just simple and smart and funny. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Um, let’s talk about uh celebrating successes. So we talked about, you know, there might be some downside, there will be any, any relationship, we call it a partnership or not. It’s gonna have downsides. But the, uh the success is the achievements, you know, how do you, how do you recognize those? Make sure all the, all the stakeholders that are involved, feel ownership for the, for the achievement and it doesn’t even have to be a big achievement, I’m imagining. Right. Yeah, just, you know, recognizing, giving high fives, uh recognizing with the team, hey, when things really come together, uh and just uh being able to, uh to, to celebrate that we spend quite a bit of time, you know, talking as an organization and really understanding where those successes are. Um and then be able to, to have that with our board, be able to have it with our uh staff, being able to have it with uh with other key partners. So if we like when we won the Chick Fil A award, we let them know that, hey, we won this award. Um You don’t wanna surprise a, a really strong partner. So we always try to keep them out in front of the news that we have. So if we’re opening, like we’re gonna be opening up a second center in Santa Neil, we’ll let our key partners know that we’re opening up that center because we don’t want to have them hear it in the news and go huh? I had no idea what was going on. Um So, so, so um so we want them to be able to uh to hear it from us first. Um And particularly from uh from the, from the leadership. So we make sure that we uh that we, we celebrate in those ways to let them know that, hey, you know what we’re, we’re thinking about this idea or this idea that we’ve been thinking about for several years has now come to fruition. Um and be able to really kind of give them some uh some news and be able to celebrate directly or indirectly with them. You mentioned celebrating internally too, right? Achievements. And again, they don’t have to be big, right? It’s, it’s monumental. Just, you know, we’ve, we’ve surpassed something. We, we’ve done something that we were out to do and we did it and we did it very well. Yes, absolutely. And then, and, and document those things. We have, you know, not just in an annual report but, but document them in a, in A I, you know, I, I journal a lot so I document them because let me tell you the times are gonna get hard and uh you can go back and look at those successes. It really helps you when you come across some trouble water. Um So, you know, it reminds you about, you know, the, the times in which you, you came across something and, and you were successful. And um you know, in our particular case with being a faith based organization, you know, God really helped us here or whatever it might, whatever it might be. But um you know, celebrate and understand and document and scribe those successes that’s so important. What else do you want listeners to know? Mark that, that I haven’t asked you about, we haven’t talked about yet in terms of the, the, anything about these, these strategic partnerships. Yeah. Um, well, I think we hit upon a lot. I would, I would just say that, you know, to reiterate to the listeners, hey, you know, make sure that you, that you’re, it’s, you, I just want to recognize to them and I’ve listened to AAA lot of podcasts. I listened a bit to yours as well and they’ve been so informative but, but go and, and, and I know you spend a lot of time um in the day to day stuff and everything in this business feels like an emergency. It really does because you’re dealing with people’s lives and to, to the folks that we serve, it is an emergency to them. Um So we always end up, you know, feeling like there’s a fire somewhere. Um But really take time to move yourself away and really be able to, to look and do a, a fair assessment of your organization, do a fair assessment of yourself, of where your strengths and where your weaknesses are and then be able to move outside the desk, move outside the office and really meet people, meet people in the communities. Um just uh just be, be interested um be interesting and, um, and then have, have fun. Um It’s a lot of fun. I, I love it. I mean, I mean, it, that’s great. So have fun, have fun doing it. Um, and you’ll, you’ll learn something new, um, guaranteed, uh, you’ll learn something about your organization. Uh, you’ll, somebody will come up and go, hey, golly, you know, you’ll be like, I’ll be wearing a lo kids shirt and, uh, somebody that’s over at the parts store will go, hey, you know what, my, my son went through that program and let me tell you a little bit about the great experience he had and I’ll go no way. Your, your son did. Wow. And I’ll find out more about what he, what he does and he’s the manager of the parts store. Um Hey, why did your son like that? And so you’ll hear a lot more about your organization than just what you’ll get off some data sheets. So, yeah, so, um, have fun at it. It’s, it’s a great adventure. I’ll never forget mayor, uh Harry T Price going whenever we had an adventure to go on to. He said, you know what? Mark we’re up for a new adventure. And so, uh, so he would, he would, he would, he would grab the saddle when we go. Um, but, uh, yeah, um, go out, have a great time. You’ll never, you’ll never guess who you’ll meet. I mean, I have met some incredible, incredible individuals. Um And, uh, so you’ll, you’ll never ever, it’ll always surprise you. Um, everyone from, not only just the chick fil A but Doctor Phil we met, um you know, we’ve met people just along the way that have been so inspiring. Um And uh and so, yeah, go out and do it. You’ll have a great time, Mark Lillis, executive director of the 11. You’ll find them at 11 kids.org. You can connect with Mark on linkedin. Mark. Thank you so much for sharing this wisdom. It’s valuable. Thank you, Tony. Thank you. Great interview. Sure, appreciate you, appreciate your listeners and what you’re doing. It’s, it’s, it’s monumental for the, for the sector. Thank you. Next week, Veronica La Finna with your one page strategic plan enough with her with the Veronica La Finna already. I’m getting tired. How many weeks have we promised Veronica La Finna? Uh uh This time, you know, she got sick. We were supposed to record earlier this week. She got sick uh and lost her voice partially. That’s the, that’s the second guy Russell James. He had lost his voice too. We were supposed to, we promised him and he lost his. I don’t know there’s something going around anyway. She swears we’re gonna do it next week and she’ll be on, she’ll be on enough already if you missed any part of this week’s show, I beseech you. I’m, I’m exasperated now. I beseech you find it at Tony martignetti.com were sponsored by donor box, outdated donation forms blocking your supporters, generosity, donor box, fast, flexible and friendly fundraising forms for your nonprofit donor. Box.org our creative producer is Claire Meyerhoff. I’m your associate producer, Kate Martinetti. The show’s social media is by Susan Chavez. Mark Silverman is our web guide and this music is by Scott Stein. Thank you for that affirmation. Scotty be with us next week for nonprofit radio. Big nonprofit ideas for the other 95% go out and be great.
