How Danielle Sanders Scaled an 83-Year-Old Nonprofit Without a Dollar of Government Funding

[0:00]  I always say I don't hire people for their skills. I can teach skills. What I can't teach is heart and compassion and dedication. So, I'm always looking for those like emotionally intelligent human beings that have that empathy and and you know, and so there's not like kind of like you said, there's just not a huge population of people out there and it's not a skill you can train. So, as long as I keep focused on the mission and like what is going to benefit the organizations, those difficult decisions actually come quite easily. Um, if you are in the right mindset, I think, and if you have good intentions and you do want to develop your people and make sure that people are being taken care of, welcome back to another episode here

[0:55]  on the Hard and Hustle podcast. You ever met someone who could have chosen the easy road, the safe gig, the comfy title, but said, "Nah, I've got a mission." That's today's guest, Danielle Sanders. Didn't just survive hard times. She actually turned him into fuel. So, let's get into it. Miss Danielle, welcome. Thank you for having me today.

[1:15]  I love it, man. This is going to be a great conversation as it was when we first actually got to chat a little bit. But if you could kind of just take us back before the titles, before the accolades, um, when did you first feel like life, you wasn't just about you, but it was about making an impact?

[1:32]  Um, I guess I've always kind of been a helper. I don't know. Oh, I mean I'm a cancer in the ast in the astrology world and so um I guess I've always like felt compelled to be part of a larger community and um you know just there's I think I don't know I feel this like responsibility to contribute and to use my purpose in this world to help other people and you know we all struggle with hard times and trying to have somebody there for you is really important and most people don't they just run from discomfort you ran towards it like towards that purpose. What was that that switch? What was it that flipped in your mind that said, "You know what? I uh I need to really dig deeper into my purpose." Yeah. I mean, I'm a big fan of

[2:19]  the universe and I'm a big fan of like a spirit guide, whatever that may be. And so, I prayed a lot and I just kind of said, you know, what can I do to contribute? What can I do to add to this meaningful world? Like, what am I here for? And how can I best, you know, serve? And it all kind of started uh when I was serving my undergrad. I worked as a volunteer firefighter and um an EMT. And I really learned in that moment that there are people out there desperate for service whether it's an emergency or whether it's just their livelihood. And that for me really created a passion for service and it never left.

[2:55]  I I I remember you talking about last time that you experienced something most CEOs never really talk about which is near homelessness living with a disability. How did that really shape how you lead today? Such such an amazing thing when you were telling me this last time. Yeah. Well, I mean um for me having a disability was huge. I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2020. And you know, I think for me, housing and homelessness is a big deal because we're all like one houseire away from being homeless. We're all, you know, one step, one diagnosis away from being disabled, one car accident away from our whole life changing. And so, you know, really, it's it's just been really powerful for me to serve a

[3:43]  population that is so vulnerable. Um, and it's kind of personal. You know, we serve veterans as well. And we, you know, my dad was in the Air Force and I remember the struggle as a um as a family member who was going through having a deployed parent, but I also can't imagine what my dad was going through and let alone people who serve their country coming home and not having a place to live. And, you know, it just it's personal. And I think again, like it was really more just like fuel for the fire to be of service and to really help other people. and um knowing that it could happen to anyone at any moment in time. My dad, me, my family, my friends, um my co-workers, colleagues, people I care about. Yeah. Yeah. Are you a risk taker? Do you say that you're a risk taker? I think so. Yeah, it's fair to say that. Yeah, I do too cuz I was

[4:31]  about to say if you're not, you definitely took a risk during the pandemic. Like you you've made a jump. Yeah. From that higher ed and government space. what what was what made you leap into this instead of really wait especially during the pandemic where people didn't know what was next? Yeah, I mean well the jump from higher ed to um government was kind of cool because I was working in campus services at Boise State University and that was a whole different realm for me. Um, but I was able to kind of take an interest in sustainability, which led to proposing a $2.5 million cost-saving project and actually led me to my MBA. And then it also led me and a team of my uh students to Australia to pitch for a million dollars and it was awesome. And then, you know, that's sort of when it was

[5:18]  like um, you know, I could be of service to people if we were able to get the seed money in terms of sustainability. Um, but it was, you know, higher education and I kind of wanted to do something more. So, I got a job in state government doing drug overdose and suicide prevention and that was amazing. But I really, after diving into the data recognized that um, a lot of substance misuse, mental health conditions, um, unhealthy people that were dying of opiates and other things, you know, it was directly correlated to their housing model. And so clearly during the pandemic there were so many people that couldn't work, couldn't pay their bills, were losing their housing, were turning to substance misuse. Like it was just a really big thing for me. And so when the opportunity to contribute in a really

[6:06]  much more meaningful way knowing that I was kind of putting a band-aid on not to say that like substance misuse and opioid use isn't a huge problem in the US but I believe that if we can help people find housing and settle in in that respect um and really secure a safe place to live they are more inclined to have the opportunity to you know get sober or pursue something greater in their life. But when you have the unstability of housing, there's not much else you can think about. And turning to drugs and alcohol and other things that are harmful is a pretty easy thing to do.

[6:43]  I love that. I'm going to throw you completely a curveball right here. I'm looking at the background. I see there's a plant. The first question is, is it a real plant? It is. Yes. Yes. I didn't want to call you out if it was a fake. I was going to call you out. I don't have any of them. I uh It's funny. I always make fun of him because he always has these fake plants. Him and and one of my partners, Dante, and I always called him out on these fake plants. I got like over 50 plants. So, anytime I see a plant in the background, I'm like, "Please don't let it be fake."

[7:11]  Actually, what you can't see is like I have little seedlings and grow lights down on the ground over here. So, I'm a big fan of growing um you know, I food especially. I love um I I haven't tapped into the the the vegetables or the fruits yet, but with 50 plants throughout my house, I was like, "Okay, it's time to really kind of dive in a little bit." So, I'm trying to get a planters box so that I can start to grow some of these things and start to, you know, kind of dive into it. Yeah. Yeah.

[7:37]  Especially with kids, you know, vegetables cost a lot and we're buying fruits and vegetables all the time for the little ones. So, you know how expensive that can actually get. Absolutely. I ask you another question about your background. There's so many things that I can imagine have been very um pretty dope accomplishments for yourself, right? When you think about who you were, maybe where you were in what point in your life and that wall, what is that biggest accomplishment behind you? I see books. I see degrees.

[8:03]  Yeah. I mean, I have a fair share of success in my life, which I'm so grateful for. But I would say the greatest accomplishment on that wall are the two children that I have that I'm so blessed to have. They are the hardest project and the most rewarding and the greatest teachers out of everything in my life back there. Um, it's definitely like the best, most greatest accomplishment in my life is the privilege of raising those two. So, I love it. Yes. I'm I'm hoping you share this part with your kids so they can see it. How old are the kids? Um, I have a six-year-old and a 10-year-old. Oh, they Did they get any better? I got a four-year-old that she's talking to me like she's like 14. Um, I would like to say it kind of es and flows, you know? I think Oh, lord. Three was rough. Four gets better. um five, six, seven, eight, nine. They're pretty pretty amazing.

[8:53]  They start to really advocate for themselves. You start to see their personality and creative sides and skills. Um but I will say that my 10-year-old is a little more sassy than I'd like him to be, but it also just kind of contributes to like raising strong, independent um children who aren't afraid to speak their mind. You know, mine sure don't. My I have a four-year-old daughter and a one-year-old son. So, my son, you know, he's he's kind of still getting in there, but my daughter is the most sassiest thing that I know, okay? And the way that and sometimes, look at what it was yesterday. I think I was putting her down to bed and and I was just laughing because she would just say the darnest things, man, while she's when it's supposed to be bedtime. And I I'm just laughing like go to bed. She is so funny. But anyway, back to you. We could talk about kids. Kids are great. Like you mentioned, it is truly an honor to just be a parent um and to break cycles.

[9:42]  Yeah, absolutely. I think that's the the biggest thing is to break cycles. 100%. I want to get into this nonprofit space. A lot of people think they have this misconception that it's easy. Nonprofit is easy. What What is the misconception you wish people would stop believing? I wish people would stop believing that it's easy. In fact, I think one of the most important parts that I didn't realize um moving from like corporate to state government to higher ed to nonprofit um I've actually spent most of my career in the nonprofit space, but as a leader in the nonprofit space, it was really interesting to see how there was this misconception. One of the things I learned was that um when you have the title of executive director um somehow when you're working with corporations or um business entities, they seem to think that you know if they're a CEO that

[10:30]  somehow an executive director is not on the same level as them. Um so there's this big push right now to change um the title executive director to CEO. So that's what my current title is. And um part of that is really just letting corporations, other entities, uh foundations, people in that nonprofit space to know that we have the same level of education and the same experience. However, um in the nonprofit world, it's a little bit more challenging because you cannot predict your revenue streams, you cannot predict your expenses, you cannot predict, you know, nothing is really predictable. So, I'm constantly innovating and trying to find, you know, I throw stuff on the wall all the time and try to just see what sticks. And that is really um the challenge is like if you don't have an

[11:17]  innovative mindset, you're probably not built for nonprofit. And that's not to say that people in business don't have innovative mindsets, but it's just like a whole new level of challenges when you can't forecast your projected growth or revenue streams. I mean to you can to some extent but it's not there's not a a larger level of certainty in that space.

[11:38]  So I like the creative space that you said throw anything at the wall. I'm in the nonprofit space myself and I I was just listening to another leader earlier and he said he was they were doing a big one of their biggest yet possibly and they were doing a I think it was a play for Rocky Horror film and that's going to bring in $100,000. I'm like, "Wow."

[11:57]  Right? Like I said, tell me about that. Like when I think of when you think outside the box and how do we get money uh you know those fundings, that's really becomes the hard part. And when it comes to the funds, we're now in a space where I believe uh government funds are being limited. Um maybe there's no federal funds. It just really depends what location, state funds, all these different things. But that's like trying to run a restaurant with no no stove. How do you actually stay creative under the pressure like that where you see funds are actually being cut back?

[12:24]  Yeah. Well, one of the things that is really cool about my nonprofit is that we avoid what's called the starvation cycle in nonprofit. And so that is not establishing a consistent revenue stream, even if it is viable and and flexes. Most nonprofits that have a consistent revenue stream are going to be successful, especially during times like COVID. Um, but for us and our nonprofit organization, knowing that our political environment is always changing, it's really challenging to um for us to ensure or base our nonprofit revenue off of state or federal or city funding. So, we actually don't take any government funds in our model. And that's not because we wouldn't want to.

[13:05]  Um it's because we just under our housing model, we don't qualify um per the housing and urban development standards because our model is so unique and amazing. I just want to throw that out there. Um but like it's so unique in such a way that it's not actually recognized as um something that would be housing like for HUD standards. We just don't meet the qualifications. Yeah. So now that's good. That's good. It keeps you in a safe space as well. Yeah. Um because look what's happening to some a lot of these nonprofits, right? They were expecting these these fundings and now being cut back. It's like, oh, I actually spoke to one leader. They had to um start cutting I think they cut their grant writer or they cut someone which it's a big part of the business, right? And if that's what you're relying on, then that's what happens. So, I love that you're away from that. It's not

[13:52]  even a an issue for you. And what I also like is that you tal we talked about the for-profit those in the for-profit space that understand business maybe at a different level because they have been in it. So you brought that business structure into a mission space. Was there push back from the old guard when you started doing things a little bit differently? I can only imagine there probably was. Yeah, absolutely. So our nonprofit has been around for 83 years which is phenomenal. Um but you know when they hired this I was I had a big vision when I started and I really was like getting into the data at first. So like year one I sort of sat back and was like observing why do we do what we do?

[14:28]  Why do they do it this way and trying to really understand without coming in and making a huge ruffle or like a ripple in the in the pond so to speak. But by year two I had um you know researched enough data that said that our community was growing, homelessness is growing. there's this huge need in our country and our state and our city that really needed um solutions like ours, which I truly wholeheartedly believe is the solution to homelessness in America. Um but you know, having people come in and um I forgot where I was going with this actually. Where what was your question?

[15:04]  Exactly. See, I thought it was going to happen, right? I thought it was going to happen. We were just talking about the structure that you bring into the company and did people look at you a little differently when you started? Yeah. So, um, my board of directors was a little bit of a challenge because when I started to do the data, I realized that with the growth, um, there is a greater need in our community. And so, if we were really truly serving the mission um, of expanding housing to low-income individuals, and we're talking people on a fixed income that make $1,300 a month, and we are able to provide housing for $500 a month, and that includes all utilities, all meals.

[15:39]  Um, you know, it's a very inclusive space. And so for me this model is phenomenal and I wanted to expand it because with the need expanding so should we. And so bringing in um that innovative side of like how do we develop more funding? Where are we going to get the capital to expand? How do we um provide services in a way that are meaningful for our residents? Meaning um connecting them to social services, healthc care um resources that could support them. That was so critical because I felt like you know we while we were serving the mission we weren't doing everything we possibly could and you know the board initially was a little bit reluctant. Um but we actually created a space where new board members were welcomed on and those that had

[16:25]  served their term limits but were still holding on so that we could make quorum had stepped down and we have established a powerhouse of a board. We have some really strong vocal people in our community that are now sitting with us and they their support means the world to me because we've actually been able to like get things done and start moving in the right direction. And there's still challenges, but having that business acumen has really been helpful, you know, in terms of like project management and implementing new policies and procedures and making sure we're taking care of our employees and have adequate healthcare for them. um getting the resources to our residents like everything that you would do in a business really does apply to nonprofit space but in a more inconsistent and challenging

[17:12]  approach I would say personally that's just my opinion but I and my experience so um hey real quick if you enjoying the podcast we first want to say thank you and we also just want to give you a little insight of what we're up to at Francis some don't even realize that we're working with organizations to help them use AI to create that real human communication experiences whether that's actually supporting your your families, those patients or the entire community.

[17:39]  We're actually creating tech that connects. Check it out. Francis.ai. Well, I'm you know, I'm listening to you and I'm like currently in a space where the the board that I sit on as the president lot of been there for years. It's been the same ran the same for a couple of years and I I do feel like I get the push back. First of all, I'm a young person and a probably a very kind of old board. Um, so that's already kind of challenging cuz it's like what do you know? We've been doing this forever, right? However, very talented. I've opened up business and all these different things. But I'm sitting in a place where I am getting push back and I don't know if everyone's just as motivated as I am. So, you talk about creating kind of that new table um with people that are just like-minded, that are fully energized. One of the first things I did when we had our meeting is I wanted to I wanted people

[18:26]  to ask themselves why why am I still doing this and and a lot of times people can't even answer that they're just there as you said kind of holding a seat u just because we kind of need it. So, I love what you said. You kind of motivated me. Okay, I got to make some changes myself, you know, whatever that may look like. Uh, but I'm really what I'm really eager to hear what you think about this. I was talking to a leader and she stated that when it comes to just um receiving any funds from donors, it's kind of harder when you're a female because it's just dominated by by males for some reason and they rather give to organizations that are ran by males. Are you experiencing that? And if so, like how do you continue to just hold your ground? Yeah. Well, knowing all this, yeah, I would say being a female in

[19:14]  general is hard, especially in Idaho when you're in the workforce. I mean, we in Idaho, every female makes 72 cents to the dollar compared to males, specifically in Idaho. So, and that's also true on a national average. It's just not as bad as in Idaho. I think it's 82 cents to every dollar. So there's that battle right there where, you know, if we could empower women with equal pay to begin with, then we would probably see um more nonprofits being funded because I do believe that there's, you know, that space for um emotional side of women that like men don't necessarily carry, not as much anyway, not not indefinitely, but um but I do think it's a challenge to kind of not like convince um business owners or men specifically to be a part of our

[20:00]  nonprofit because Mhm. You know, it it really does sell itself when I explain to them that every unhoused individual costs taxpayers on average, and this is old data. This is from 2016, but in Idaho, and specifically in the Treasure Valley where I live, you know, every unhoused individual costs about $55,000 to taxpayers, and that's through judicial systems, emergency services.

[20:22]  Um, and we house 45. So, that alone, if you do the math, is $2.5 million savings to taxpayers and businesses and other entities. And so when you can do the math on that, it's really simple because the the organization and the mission like it sells itself because it's not really applicable to like males or females. It's really just about helping the greater community. And a lot of times it's it's a lot easier to explain to people the same thing I said earlier, which is we're all one house fire, one car accident, one diagnosis away from being homeless and being on a fixed income. And that is motivational because you know a lot of people that we are like our target demographic that are the biggest funders are in this space where their parents are aging and they're trying to come up with plans to support

[21:10]  their families and long-term care and and really it's this space where we you know we provide a community. We provide three meals a day all the utilities and housing and it cost them $500 a month 550 on average. So, when you put the math out there, whether you're in the nonprofit space, male, female, business space, whatever your your niche is, like it's it's a really easy sell um to people, female or male, but I would say definitely in Idaho, we have challenges for females in general. So, love it.

[21:42]  Yeah, it's a space that I I wanted to tap into because I I we just need people to understand it's happening, right? A lot of times people don't even know it's happening until they hear it for the first time. So, I'm happy that you were just able to kind of talk on it. Another thing that I I feel that you may have encountered at some point, it had to be burnout, right? You took over organization. I'm pretty sure you had a lot of those hell no moments and you wanted to leave. Uh, but you you were burnt out. I could only imagine sometimes when you if you were on the edge, I don't want to just kind of put this on you because maybe you didn't, but if you were on the edge, what really pulled you back to make sure that you stood with this organization long term?

[22:15]  I mean, to see success the way that you're seeing it all these years later. Yeah. Well, I mean, I have definitely experienced burnout, but for me, you know, even when I tried, there was a moment where I was like, I've had enough. I'm going to go apply for other jobs. And I had gotten an interview with another nonprofit that was in the startup phase. And I remember um by my third interview, I thought for sure I had landed the job. And they actually told me, they said, "We recognize given all the questions that you asked us, like we are nowhere near ready to have an executive director, CEO, or launch this nonprofit." So essentially I had talked myself out of the job which is kind of nice but kind of also um not great. So I actually ended up was pivoting and saying hey I'll act as a consultant and help you get you know your feet on the ground which was cool but um you know when it comes to burnout and then not being able to get the other

[23:03]  jobs I was pursuing that I was really passionate about. Um, I kind of, like I said earlier, like I just prayed on it and I talked to the universe and I listened for signs. I listen for understanding and you know, it just kind of came to me in the sense of like I'm right where I'm supposed to be and my work here is not done. And so that kind of settled in to be like, okay, yeah, you're burned out. Yeah, you're tired, but how do you just like regroup, reframe what figure out your why? Like why do you get out of bed every day? Why do you, you know, why are you pursuing this? And for me it was like, okay, it's not really about you and your feelings, although they are important. It's more about like the greater good of the community. What makes me feel good?

[23:42]  Getting out of bed every day knowing I'm helping other people is a great way to live life. And also, you know, I come home every day from work and I see these people that I'm helping that are struggling in their lives. And selfishly, like it makes me feel so grateful for everything I have in my life. And I feel this like obligation to share and to be kind and to to really support people no matter where they're at in life. And I'm a helper. Like I can't help myself sometimes to just, you know, want to be in that space. I like you how you said selfishly, right? A lot of the times we do things and we're like even this it's like a very selfish thing of me because I'm learning so much. But what a good thing it is as well. Like it's not a bad selfish. It's actually really good selfish. You know, you could be in corporate, you know, maybe helping

[24:30]  people get food or whatever that may look like, but you're in a space where you're really making a bigger impact. We're not worrying about what this person's buying to wear tomorrow. We're talking about what can this we could do today so that we can actually change the world a year from now, 5, 10 years. So, yeah, definitely. That's what I love about nonprofits and I and I hope that we can get some more leaders that are in that for-profit space to make to jump ship. I think there's so many creatives.

[24:53]  We do need that business mindset to come into the nonprofits because in reality a nonprofit is a business. One has stakeholders, one has, you know, board members, you know. So, ideally, it's the same. If you're really good at uh sales, then you could probably get some money for the nonprofit, right? Because you're selling the story, you're selling the mission. I ask you, is there any like leadership decision that you made maybe kind of hurt in the moment, but you knew that it was kind of necessary for the mission and for long-term success? Have you had any of those moments? Um, I did have a I had a moment with a staff member, and this may or may not be like relevant, but kind of like when I started and I was in that phase of year one, watching my staff trying to figure out why they do what they do and where I could

[25:39]  improve um, you know, processes and things of that nature. I do remember um I've had an employee who's been there for 13 years and I said to her one day I am completely changing your job description and your role and she was like I'm sorry what you know and I said just trust me and and see if you like it and I mean man she fought me and complained to me for months and then I think well I would say probably about the third month she came to me one day and she was like I absolutely love my job. I love everything about what I'm doing. How did you know? And so I think it's just like really important to make sure that you're focusing on the strengths of people and like they may not see the things that you see, but I know that she would be phenomenal in this role. I knew that we were, you

[26:27]  know, using her strengths to help her grow. And so making the decisions to completely uproot someone's career is really hard, but at the same time, I feel like you need to trust that there may be people in your life that see your strengths in a way that you don't. Um, so in terms of like really hard business decisions, I think it's just more of, you know, making sure that you have this like emotionally emotional intelligence and like a safe space for everyone, whether that is changing your policies, changing job roles, changing whatever your decisions are in front of you. It's it's easy when you look at it and say like, is this for the greater good um of the organizations? And, you know, I've had to let people go. I've had to say, you know, I don't I always say I don't hire people for their skills. I can teach skills. What I can't teach is

[27:15]  heart and compassion and dedication. So, I'm always looking for those like emotionally intelligent human beings that have that empathy and and you know, and so there's not like kind of like you said, there's just not a huge population of people out there and it's not a skill you can train. So as long as I keep focused on the mission and like what is going to benefit the organizations those difficult decisions actually come quite easily um if you are in the right mindset I think and if you have good intentions and you do want to develop your people and make sure that people are being taken care of. So, see when when we here at Heart and Hustle wanted to talk to good leaders, that was really good leader move to be quite frank. You know, you see where someone may do better in doing something else, right?

[28:00]  Maybe they're just not happy where they're at. Maybe it's just a title, maybe it's the line of work. Very good people, very passionate, just wrong roles, right? May maybe the title wasn't good enough. So, I actually like that you thought about that. Like, hey, I I like her. I just don't know she's doing what she should be doing. You know, maybe she's better somewhere else. So, no, that was definitely a good leadership. It was definitely one of those like it's she's not gonna like it because she's got to get uncomfortable.

[28:22]  But when she got comfortable again, she's like, "Oh, wait a minute. How did you know?" And it made her fear of seen and probably heard. Yeah. Which is so huge. Right now she's probably probably one of the top people because she felt that you seen and heard her at some point. So I think that's major as well.

[28:36]  Yeah. And like really I think it's so critical to validate when she's coming to me and she's saying like I don't like this. I am not happy with this. You know to sit and empathize and validate and really make her feel hurt is huge. But like there's that empathy component of like yeah I hear you and this is going to be hard and I you know you can always come to me you can always talk to me I have an open door like I want you to overcome these challenges and like validating that her like she's scared or whatever emotions she shares is you know I tell people all the time especially during employee evaluations I've noticed it comes out a lot but I would say you know 5% of my job is getting the work done and the other 95% is emotional intellig igence, meeting people where they're at, making it a safe space to communicate, and that is like to me what truly guides the organization in the

[29:25]  right direction. I love that. You're also doing something very bold that I don't think a lot of leaders are doing in at least in the nonprofit space, which is blending that AI with that heart-c centered work that you're doing. What made you say, you know what, I'm going to try this. I know you you mentioned it earlier, you like to just throw things that stick. Was that it? You just wanted to try something different? Well, I mean AI is like everywhere, right? It's everywhere now. And if you're not utilizing AI, you are doing a true disservice for yourself. Um I use AI for everything. So that includes like everything from I'll be like write me a job description or um here's the policies I have. What am I missing? Or you know um type me some questions I should consider for an employee evaluation.

[30:09]  Help me with my grant. Like here's my mission. here's my uh vision, here's my organization details, and how does it apply to this specific grant? Or even if I write the grant without AI, it's like I'll post it into AI and be like, what am I missing? What am I not thinking of? Or what should I include? Um it's such a powerful tool and I I just I can't imagine not utilizing it for any role.

[30:36]  So I agree. No, I I've been using AI so much now. like it's played lawyer for me, it's played accountant for me. Like it's it's played these roles like you said. I could take a screenshot of something. Hey, what's wrong with this? And it would find out. And that it's got me out of some situations where I've saved money. You know, I talked to you about actually I didn't say this, but when I took over the nonprofit that I'm in now, they had no 501c3. They had just lost it. And um Okay. So, step one, get the 501c3 status back. Oh, yeah. So, I I spoke to a CPA and they charged me $5,000, which was still extremely a lot of money, but I I needed it done. I said, "Okay, cool. Let's do it." By the end of it, it now it's costing me $8,000. And I I can imagine that it's because um we had the person that was kind of in charge of that, dragging her feet a little bit and XYZ. So, I can

[31:24]  only imagine it was very spiteful in his end. And I was like, "Wait a minute." And this took like a whole month cuz he he was adamant that, you know, this you have to pay this much money. And then it happens to be that um his best friend that put us in contact with him was also a vice president. So now we have this conflict of interest. Right? So now he's like, "No, I think we should definitely pay him the money." And I'm like, "Bro, we went from $5 to $8,000. Like, what do what do you mean? It doesn't make sense." So as they're sending me these invoices, right, the first invoices. And I said, "Hey, can you kind of um I told Chat GP or I actually messaged them, can you make this make sense? I'm not understanding where this is at. why is this fee different than here? So, they sent me an email with other invoices now updated. Um, some of the words were different. It was actually a discrepancy in pricing like $200. I'm putting all this into chatbt.

[32:13]  The conversation that I'm having, I'm talking to Chad GPT. I'm putting in the emails. I'm putting in the screenshots and Chad GPT is just calling out every single thing that was wrong on this. That's awesome. And helping me create these emails to continue to pass on to the point it became very aggressive. I said, "Okay, this is really aggressive."

[32:30]  Like, I I see where you're going with, but can you turn tone down a little bit? And you know, you change it. And for people to say that AI scary is taking over jobs, wherever it is, people don't realize that they've been using AI text predicting on their phone for forever in a day. They just didn't call it that, right? Um I like to say AI is a tool in my toolbox, not, you know, another person. So, I love how you're incorporating and that grant writing. I think you were one of the first people that told me that and I pass it along to all the leaders to know that yeah you're impacting before I even know you're impacting. Absolutely. And then like you know what am I missing because like here's my mission and here's what we're trying to do and then it'll be like well you've you know this grant is for food service so you should really highlight your needs in the kitchen or you know what and it's like oh my gosh I was so consumed with this that I didn't even

[33:16]  think about that. And so, yeah, I think it's a really powerful tool. And actually, kind of to your point when you were like, you know, the the emails are getting aggressive. There are emails that I have wanted to send that were a little spicy. And I will throw them in the chat, GPT, and be like, make this nicer. Like, how do I sound kinder and get the point across? Like, that's exactly we need that. See, exactly. We need that because sometimes we're in a room by ourselves and we just got, can you look at this? We don't have that next person, but chat tpt definitely. If you can actually have that virtual AI, whether it's like a website, um something on the website or just something internally, what role would you love a virtual AI to play within your organization?

[33:59]  I think this tool is out there already, but I have not found I haven't done my due diligence to research it. But I swear having like um like an automated AI system that would support me like look at my calendar, help me make sure that I have my meeting notes written out or my agendas planned and remind me of what time it is, remind me who's on that meeting, remind me what we're covering, and then like send me the updates, have the agenda prepared. remember like the followup um action items from the previous m like if I almost like a personal assistant that yeah helps me make sure that I'm on track you know instead of being like oh I didn't write that agenda and it's in an hour like ah and now I have to put down what I'm doing and I just feel like that would be such a cool tool. So if anyone out there

[34:47]  knows of anything send me send me a message. I'm actually I'm I'm working right now in TTPT because um posting these clips like I I have as a coach as a you know president just show many different things that we got to do and we just like you said need an assistant that maybe we just don't pay for an assistant whatever that may look like.

[35:05]  So, I'm I'm creating a GPT now that now every time I post something into my Google Drive on the back end, mind you, I'm still figuring this out. It's been two days. That when it goes into my Google Drive, it would actually take it, it would take the transcript, it would upload it back, it would give me the caption, the hook, everything. All I did was drop it into the Google Drive and it would give me the finished product so that I all I got to do is just copy and paste. Like, but it's work. I was gonna say it's so much fun. Um, make sure that you like patent that first of all and then second of all, hook a sister up.

[35:39]  Okay, I got you. Listen, as soon as I figured this out, I was like, "Oh, this is definitely scalable. Like, how do we scale this?" Because now I'm trying to do it do so many different things because like leaders, man, we have so many different things we want to do. Yes, we're leaders, but we're still, you know, we're mom, we're moms, we're dads.

[35:57]  I love plants, I love podcasting, I love all these different things. is how do we kind of automate? I'm trying to automate my life as much as possible. So, when I do get an assistant, hey, this is where you're taking over. So, if you're not using AI, what are you doing, man? What are you doing? I agree. I totally agree.

[36:11]  I love it. Yeah. Um I can't believe how long we've been already talking. 35 minutes. This has gone truly fast. So, I'm going to go ahead and get kind of get you to the end of it all before we get to that blind question. You didn't just leave, you rebuilt. What was broken when you arrived? And where did you even start?

[36:28]  Oh my goodness. Okay, so again, our organization is 83 years old and when I started, I didn't even think to ask in an interview like will my staff be computer literate because the answer would have been no. Um oh my god, I I I walked in, I had uh 16 employees, I had um everything was pen and paper and I mean everything. And so a huge challenge was like getting um our policies, procedures, documentation, employee evaluations, legal entities. I mean, everything needed to be digitized. Um I needed to train my staff quickly. I needed to hire people who could help. Um that was definitely one of the biggest hurdles.

[37:15]  And then also, you know, our employee handbooks, our um procedures, they were so dated, you know, when it was like write a check to so and so and you're like, we pay online. Like that's we're not writing checks, like we don't do this anymore. And they had never, you know, received an audit in the last 80 uh 81 years because now we uh annually receive audits, but you know, it was like these are barriers we're facing to grant applications. these are barriers we're facing to liability with employees. Um, you know, if this is dated, you can't hold, you know, they can hold you accountable to that. And so that was huge. And I just it was such a huge challenge, but at the end of the day, I think what I'm the most grateful for is that I had the opportunity to I didn't step into like a welloiled

[38:04]  machine, which I kind of was under the impression I would be. Yeah. But instead, I got to be able to like really truly understand the ins and outs of what needs to be done in order to have a successful nonprofit and really getting the organization to where it needed to be with board members with I mean every single detail was basically touched and is still evolving to some extent. But it was such a cool experience to be able to say like not that I built it from the ground up because I would not claim that at all, but to walk from maybe a hole into baseline to now a stair a staircase has been such a cool experience. So yeah, I feel like yeah, it was hard, but it was awesome. Kudos to you. And I'm pretty sure you learned a lot as a as a leader, as a person, right? That you're like, man, I didn't even know I had this

[38:50]  in me. And that's what's always cool about being in those situations that even though it may look challenging by the out end of it, right? You were ready to leave at some point. You're like, "What the hell am I doing? I could have just go somewhere else." But you stuck it out and it's like, man, I become a better leader just because I stayed and I and I was willing to take the risk.

[39:08]  100%. Like could not have said it better myself. Yeah, I like that. Um, as a leader, how do you even balance being visionary while still getting your hands dirty? because I know you're still getting your hands dirty every single day. Yeah. I mean, well, a lot of it is just having the grind, you know, like having the grit to stay with something that you truly feel passionate about is so important. Like if you're showing up, going to work, don't love your job, like that's that's going to be hurtful to your health, your mind, your body, like it's just not cool. And so for me, like a lot of it is grit, a lot of it is determination, resiliency, and balancing work and life. So, you know, I'm going on a vacation with my kids next week.

[39:47]  gets their spring break and that's huge. I'm like, don't email me, don't call me, don't, you know, having that boundary of, you know, empowering someone else to take control for a little while um is so cool. And I also think it's worth mentioning like, you know, people always say work life balance, but I don't believe in such a thing because when you go to work, you're thinking about stuff at home. When you're at home, you're thinking about stuff at work. And so really, it's just, you know, making the time and space to address all of the things that are important to you in your life. I'm a big like list person where I'm like where are my priorities? Um, but I think, you know, it's just it's determination, it's grit, it's it's selflessness, it's making sure you're putting your family first, putting yourself first, putting your job. Um, after that, you know, I I tell my employees all the time, family first, 100% family first, then your education if you're in school, then your job. This

[40:36]  is just a job. You know, it's it's not your life. And how about if someone is in that space where Danielle was at some point? uh listeners are listening and they're thinking like I'm burnt out, but they still believe in the mission, right? You believed in the mission. You were just burnt out maybe at some point. What would you say to them right now in a quick one sentence?

[40:59]  Find your why and do what makes you passionate and healthy and happy. Okay, I like it. I like it. And how can people support or connect with the work that you're doing at um your within your organization? Oh, whether that's donations or resources, collaborations, uh, we absolutely, like I said earlier, we don't rely on government funding. So, we rely completely on foundations, corporations that are socially responsible and also um, you know, volunteers, partnerships, donors, all of that really is so important to our organization, especially as we're trying to grow and expand. Um, so I would say any of those areas that you can contribute, please feel free to like reach out to me, reach out to our website, and you know, if you guys, a lot of corporations want to volunteer,

[41:46]  um, or have a chunk of money for socially respons responsible initiatives. Like again, we save millions of dollars in taxpayer money without costing a dime from taxpayers. We don't take anything from from our organization and our community. We only contribute to it. So, I would say if you can't do that, if you can't volunteer, I would just say share the mission, share what we do. Um, and even like call me if you want to implement it in your community because again, this 100% I believe wholeheartedly is the solution to reducing the unhoused population in America. I love it. And I also want to share with people because I was actually talking to my neighbor about this yesterday. We work out together, so I'm always telling him about these conversations I'm having. And uh one of the things he he brought up, which he's in a for-profit world, he's like he finds a lot of friends that are still

[42:33]  just paying that tax bill at the end of the year, but in reality, you can actually give to an organization and have a tax write off, right? You can literally give to something that you're very passionate about. And I don't know if people know that part, right? You want to cut back a little bit on your tax, you know, bills at the end of the year, give to the organization. There's they're give you a receipt that you can implement, you know, as well. That's that could be very helpful. Think about that long term. You know, I I love what I heard one time. We're the extension of what um the government can't do because there's a lot, you know, we're just that extension. So, yeah, you're still kind of giving back to the government, but in a place where you're making a bigger impact versus, you know, just kind of paying the government. But, all right.

[43:13]  Cool. Cool. Ready for the blind question? Yeah, I guess so. All right. So, we always end with this wild card. No prep, no pressure. If you can go back and sit with 10-year-old Danielle for 60 seconds, what would you say to her? Oh my gosh. I would say something along the lines of like it's going to be okay and life is going to be hard, but I truly believe that you are here to learn life lessons and be open-minded to learning them. And also just know that it's like such a privilege and a blessing to be able to feel the extent of human emotion, whether that is like rage or sadness or joy, um, happiness, gratitude, like feeling those things is something that

[44:00]  is the privilege to be human. So, I would just tell sweet little adorable Danielle like you're safe. It's going to be hard, but it's going to be okay because you're strong and you're beautiful and you're powerful and you are smart and capable and people need you and people like you to make that impact and to change the world and have a greater purpose than yourself. So, I love it. Thank you so much, Danielle.

[44:26]  All right, before we head off, just because I want to plug this in if it's actually a thing, uh, woman of the year, what was that that award you got in the back? Yeah, top 50 women in business for the state of Idaho. um from the Idaho Business Review. It was awesome. That was so cool. Even uh you know they you have to be nominated by someone in the community. It was anonymous who nominated me and that I just was so like I had so much gratitude for even being acknowledged and recognized because I worked so hard and I didn't think it was a big deal. So it was awesome to be nominated and then to be awarded was even more mind-blowing. I I was just like overwhelmed and full of gratitude.

[45:04]  And also like when even when you're at that point of burnout, it's like, oh, someone is paying attention and thinks that what you're doing is really cool. So that was awesome. Well, Danielle, thank you so much. Continue the amazing work that you're doing. It was definitely a pleasure to have what 45 minutes of just us going and talking about you, but it also just goes to show on the true leadership. Like these awards are not just giving to anybody.

[45:23]  It was giving to those that really truly make a difference in the community. And someone seen that within you. And and I'm just honored to have this platform to share stories like yours and hope that people are listening. If you guys are still watching, make sure that you guys are sharing, you're subscribing. That's the only way we make difference that people have to hear the messages that are being told. So guys, this has been the Heart and Hustle podcast. My name is Ephrain Danielle. Thank you so much. I am so thankful that you had me on the show. Thank you.