Nonprofit Leadership Is Business with Heart: Jill Evenocheck on Scaling Without Burnout

[0:00]  I would say the more people you can talk to the be the better so uh and people want to give you know they just need to be asked and everybody wants to put their heart into something that means something to them you know you you don't know it all although you know my 16-year-old thinks he may know it all but we always realize we don't know it all and I just love that there is uh expertise out there and people who can offer a different Viewpoint I would say that one of the key traits I think to being a good CEO of a nonprofit or for-profit is flexible thinking so try to look all the way around the problem obviously your experience will send you down uh a path but we live in complex times and I think you need to step back

[0:47]  and think through things because the answer that you get immediately may be exactly the opposite you know the next day welcome back to another episode here on the heart and hustle podcast we have no other than the CEO and president of the Ronald McDonald's house in the midwest is that correct yes Upper Midwest love it the Upper Midwest and and what an opportunity it is to really just be in that beautiful space where you're just making so many changing lives you know one life at a time and it's it's it's kind of a mix because it could be a

[1:34]  happy place and sometimes even a sad place so I ask you Joe when you look back at your career from dreaming of being a sports BR broadcaster to actually leading a life-changing nonprofit what's that one moment that made you say this is exactly where I want to be oh that's a really good question I think you know when it's articulated that you know what we do is we try to add quantity and quality of life to people who are going through the worst of it and ultimately I think that is um one of the more honorable things one can do with their life is really helping people at the worst possible moments and so when that was articulated I said you know what I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be I love it I love it and and and I'm pretty sure you'd have

[2:22]  no regrets at this moment you're still so far in and you're like I'm thankful for it any person that gets to say I've never experienced a nonprofit I said if you only do it to change your life and Joe I can only imagine that has done that um for you is that correct oh yeah and you know every experience leads you to where you're supposed to be and I've always thought of it as just follow the path of fun the things that light you up inside and make getting up easy not that work is always easy you know that's why they call it work but you know you're in your groove when you really enjoy what you're doing and so regardless of of money or time or location follow the path that's fun and that'll lead you right to where you need to be do you remember that moment um in your career in the nonprofit world that it was just

[3:09]  like the oh wow this is actually my calling yeah you know it really stemmed from I worked for the Minneapolis downtown Council doing Special Events and we were an office of six and the only way that I could do these large outdoor events you know concerts car shows Ribfest all these kinds of things was if I had volunteers we need more more than the other five people in the office to help staff you know beer boost and get the stage ready and all of that so the moment that I tapped into the volunteer world of people who wanted to give back to something that meant something to them I just saw that um you know the the ceiling for nonprofit and what you can accomplish there there is none because of all the people that you can bring to your table to really help

[3:56]  you do your job and push the mission forward I love this and and and I know that running a nonprofit because we spoke about it on a previous call that running a nonprofit is just like running a for-profit business it's not just a it's not that you're just um running a mission you know that you're just pushing this Mission you actually have a business size to these things as well so you're you're talking about keeping the lights on you're talking about funding programs and making sure that you continue the mission forward how do you even balance the heart of the mission with the business side of things well I think that the the right people with for this job it's head and it's heart right you have your head and heart and it kind of meets in the middle and I always say we may not have stockholders but we certainly have stakeholders and the business practices of a nonprofit are the same business practices of of a good

[4:45]  business and you know I receiv received my training on that from uh the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation who has done an incredible job with coming up with treatments for people with CF to you double their life expect Y and more so um it really is about good Sound business practices in every element in every department so that you can make sure that you're doing the work that you're supposed to be doing now I'm really going to make you think a little bit here you spent over a decade at the Ronald McDonald's house yeah in that time has there been a family story that still sticks with you today oh you know it is such an honor to be with these families on their journey I uh the grace that they hold them M El together with is um something that I have never

[5:33]  experienced I think one of the stories is uh at one of our locations we had uh two parent two sets of parents each had a young daughter who was going through uh organ transplant and well one daughter received her organ transplant the other was waiting and the mother of the daughter that received her organ transplant said if you need a kidney I want to give I want to give her a kidney so the mom of a very sick girl who was able to get her liver transplant said to the mom of the daughter that needed the kidney transplant I'm going to do this for you and of course the mom said you can't do this for me and she said I'm doing it and what happened is they um put

[6:20]  together you know what is called a kidney chain so if you donate a kidney it may not go directly to that person but it goes to somebody else to somebody else to free up so this young girl who had been sitting on the transplant list for a long time and critically ill received a kidney from a Ronald McDonald House mother wow wow wow wow yeah I could definitely see why that's stuck with you and I and and and listening to it it's it's very it's emotional to listen to some of these stories and even just to what you just said there's some emotion to it as well how do your team really stay emotionally balanced and strong in the face um of something you know of this caliber that's happening almost on a daily with you guys yeah it is it is a I would just want to say that ragd house is a happy place and there are times

[7:07]  where we are confronted with kids whose Journeys do not end the way that we have hoped however all of us agree that being here on the campus of the University of Minnesota in the state of Minnesota at Children's Hospital in Minneapolis Gillette children's um and a sent of Health up in duth that these kids are getting the best care in the world hands down best care and um if things don't go in the way that we would like them to go we at least know that they got the best care possible and we are so grateful to get to know these uh parents and these kids on this really difficult Journey yeah and it all and all continues with that leadership that you have and how you continue to drive the ship forward and

[7:56]  some nonprofits live and die by their leadership and their board what's one thing that you actually wish more nonprofit leaders understood about governance I I think the board of directors is the key to a fully functional successful organization and within that board of directors the governance committee that recruits uh and um vets potential board members is absolutely critical um I think sometimes leaders in our position just want to get the job just done ourselves but really really what we need are wonderful people around me around you who have a skill set that you don't have and when I talk about the ceiling that means there is no ceiling because you can invite anybody to your table who has contacts that you

[8:43]  don't connections that you don't professional experience that you don't and bring that into the fold and that is uh that is what you have to realize is that you have to get people engaged and have them do have them do the work yeah I found myself actually um recently taken over a board and as you mentioned you you just want to do it all right first of all you exhaust yourself then it doesn't become fun anymore however you have to remember that you are in a leadership role uh you have to make sure you delegate the work and it's not saying don't work alongside them but a lot of times you got to just let them do it as well because you want them to feel just as good or or feel involved in what that mission actually looks like and I think a lot of people think that nonprofits run on Good Intentions only which is completely 100% false um but you know we treat this like a business

[9:30]  because it is a business ideally what's one lesson from the for-profit world that actually that nonprofits should steal I think um that you really take care of your staff and uh it there used to always be a thing where well we don't pay as much because we're nonprofit I think in this environment you need to be competitive with your pay and with the benefits that you offer and the kind of culture that you provide I think that is no different I think a for-profit can steal our people just as much as nonprofit can and so you want to move forward Without Regrets and putting the best team together and trying to keep them as long as possible as long as we are fulfilling our goals each year I love it when somebody tells me that they

[10:18]  want to retire from here that's a good day for me it is so I think you have to you really have to provide people the right kind of you know living and wage and all of that otherwise they're going to leave and um you know what we do is really important and um there's a price for that so that means you have to have good fundraisers it means that you have to run this like a business and make sure that your revenues outpace your expenses and do you have any advices for those that actually want to lead or even start their own nonprofit after all the experience that you've had in this space I would say the more people you can talk to the be the better so uh and people want to give you know they just need to be asked and everybody wants to put their heart into something that means

[11:04]  something to them you know you you don't know it all although you know my 16-year-old thinks he may know it all but we always realize we don't know it all and I just love that there is uh expertise out there and people who can offer a different Viewpoint I would say that one of the key traits I think to being a good CEO of a nonprofit or for-profit is flexible thinking so try to look all the way around the problem obviously your experience will send you down uh a path but we live in complex times and I think you need to step back and think through things because the answer that you get immediately may be exactly the opposite you know the next day I just love that we're having this

[11:52]  conversation because so many people may drive by Ronald McDonald's house and not really understand what's going on in the inside and this is really the the Insight of what's happening in the inside of um these organizations I told you I have one close by where I used to just bring bread you know because I used to work at a subway we used to have all this bread or meat that we had to get rid of and I'm like well Ronald McDonald's house I don't know how I can help but maybe this could be of help but you're also um talking about how people can get involved if you can kind of tell me more ways that people can can contribute to such a organization like yours yes so uh Ron McDonald houses all across the country all across the world uh we take care of families who kids are hospitalized for being critically injured or ill um and here at R McDonald House Supper Midwest we provide lodging

[12:40]  uh overnight lodging three meals a day plus snacks plus anything else that you need uh and all is free of charge we also have a k through2 School some of our patients that come here are going to be here for a while so what happens is the whole family moves here and we have lodging that works for them uh and they disenroll from their school at home enroll in our school and they're able to continue their education and be with their family um in addition to that they get to be around other kids whose families are going through the same thing so that sense of a community becomes very important um so we um we raise about s and A5 million dollars a year uh we get a lot of in kind as you say which is super important to us uh and we really

[13:29]  directly say what we need and um because we're feeding families three meals a day and we had 6,000 families we served in 20124 food becomes a big part of what we do wow so um we we're lucky we live in the Bread Basket here in the of the US and so we have companies that are willing to donate products and we have a whole meal team that puts together things and as for volunteering we need people to put these meals together to volunteer to serve it we need people to help cook and clean sit at the desk ask mail out things um take part at our events help us put together auctions really the the list is endless of things that people could come in and contribute I love this I'm going to go pivot just a little bit because I know last time that we spoke we also talk about innovation in the nonprofit space and and let's really kind of be honest

[14:17]  that when you talk about AI it is everyone's buzzing word but nonprofits are usually kind of a little slower to even adopt technology um how do you see AI playing a role in what you do especially when you think about chat Bots that could ideally be on a website it can help with Community Partners can help with your patients can help with volunteers is that something that you feel should be implemented in nonprofits where you are when it where are you when it comes to the AI space and putting technology within Ronald McDonald's house absolutely and we want we actually have a internal committee right now that is assessing all the ways that we can utilize AI um and just some of our initial findings are that uh within data entry uh we we see ourselves you you get a check from somebody and you you copy that and enter that and all of that and

[15:06]  we think that there are ways that that duplication can be eliminated um we also from uh orientation for our families who are utilizing our services we think that there are ways we can be more efficient it's not to say that we hand them an iPad and a computer voice tells them what to do but it's really maybe maybe one day yeah but it's really about um efficiency and yeah the chatbot that we could use on our website to quickly answer questions I think it's an interesting World obviously it can be a little scary and you know we do have patient privacy and all of that but even uh taking minutes for all the many meetings we have of our subcommittees and our committees and our board I think is a great use of uh AI yeah you just kind of talked about uh a uh it security um or

[15:56]  just data in security but I remember you mentioned that you actually invested in it security people don't always think about that data privacy when it comes to um to Charities yeah but you're really dealing with sensitive donor and patient info what does it actually look like behind the scenes so um we uh have steadily um Turned the volume up on cyber security you know there isn't a week that goes by that somebody on my staff doesn't get an email from me not me that says to go out and buy buy gift cards or you know my checking account has changed or whatever it is that kind of fishing stuff and it just takes one bad click that your whole system can be infected so we uh because we we now have 70 employees who have access to our our

[16:45]  internet and computers and all of that we invested um about the same amount of dollars $70,000 um to make sure that we are doing all the right things to make that we don't get ransomware and um don't get hacked and all of that so um we have started that procedure and we just needed we just needed some outside help and I could go find an IT person for probably cost me more than that um but we did find a company that does specialize in nonprofits and um it's going to be our Watchdog on something that is uh very very important to us Yeah you mentioned the rantom where especially now ai as good as it is it's also kind of on the opposite side could be dangerous right um so having that that privacy and that the it security is

[17:35]  definitely going to be beneficial for not just for nonprofits I think businesses in general and I'm happy that you guys already kind of implemented it I would ask you this question if you had an unlimited budget any as much money as you needed to really innovate and add things tech-wise into the Ronald McDonald's house what's one big change that you would actually make tomorrow well um gosh that's a good question I think about Safety and Security uh I think we do a good job with that but uh you know upgrades to maybe facial recognition that kind of thing it's you know our um our sites are within cities and urban areas and we do have people who come from outstate in small towns and trying to make sure that they feel comfortable um so I would probably hone

[18:24]  in on that the most that's good I love that I love that answer and we I really got a this is a good question right here Jill so when we think about um our volunteers I think a lot of times they may not receive their flowers as much as they should all right and last time you spoke you said everyone has value in the nonprofit space yeah so what's one thing or story that you felt that volunteer really brought value to maybe an event or to what you guys are doing at the r MDD house in particular oh I love volunteers you know it's a gateway to an organization I always say that every department is important I say that to all my department heads that secretly I think the volunteer department is the most

[19:12]  because you get people AC cross your threshold and one way or another engage in your nonprofit and pretty soon you know they come to an event and become a donor or they expand their level of volunteering I'll tell you the pandemic did incredible things for our organization and very positive ways uh when we um at a time could not have the amount of volunteers that we usually have we we changed it up and we said if you're going to volunteer with us um you need to volunteer at least one day a week and at least a six-h hour shift and um prior to that we've said if you want to come in for 30 minutes that's fine and they'd have to go through all the training and all the paperwork and all of that but we couldn't do that anymore so during this time we Rec

[19:59]  recruited uh a couple of volunteers since that time who've been coming every Tuesday for 6 hours and making food that we utilize at our sites and these are people who are incredible Cooks uh and they are just dedicated and they are more like my co-workers than my volunteers and so because they more like my co-workers than my volunteers they get RMH merch you know holiday gifts um and special Rec nition but at this point they're like you know I don't need all of that I just like coming in here doing what I do meet the families you know the mission is right right in their face and I I just can't that's just Priceless so the ability of people to commit over a long period of time uh has made a huge

[20:48]  impact yeah do I love how you said volunteers I looked at them as just my my co-workers because in reality as you mentioned there's six hours every week that's actually a lot of time you know and and valuing them because one thing I I realize even when I speak to my board is that we all give our time especially when some of us are not getting paid on on on a on a board right but we give our time and our time is valuable just like our volunteers time is valuable so you want to show them that they're appreciated yeah they're there for the mission but at times if they're not treating well they're not being treated well by the leader like yourself then they can go anywhere else and do the same exact thing you know but you made it special for them because of the leadership skills that you you bring to the table and and I'm going to kind of now talk about the fundraising aspect of this whole nonprofit we talked about volunteers we talked about the the it

[21:35]  space but fundraising definitely something that could be tough and I know firsthand it's not an easy thing to do but what's been the most creative or maybe even unexpected way someone has uh raised money for the cause well there are um you know what I love about what we do in addition to having our Signature Events and regular ways to raise money we have something called our community fundraising Department which is made of two people and different programs have these but essentially it's people who want to do a garage sale and give the proceeds to us or had a kid who stayed in a hospital and he wants to do a lemonade stand so it's these kinds of events and normally the way that they are handled at other nonprofits is that well just send me the check just send me

[22:21]  the check and what we decided to do instead of that is to sort of engage have templates ready so they could make signs um ask them if they need anything so for example if somebody was doing a backyard party for us we would ask um do they want to do a silent auction because we have X number of items that we could give them uh to turn into a silent auction and turn into revenue for the event so they say great we'll take that and then their event instead of making $500 makes $3,000 and um one of us will go to the event and whether it's a staff member or a volunteer to show that we appreciate it and what happens then instead of either not doing it the next year they want to do it the next year and then they don't want to pick a different charity they want to pick us because we have given them all the support which is

[23:09]  really easy we have it in little buckets how we can give them the support and um so we've had events like a h a 5k event that is now uh uh what is it it is a uh half marathon uh 10 Mile 8 Mile 5K 3 Mile event that occurs in downtown neapolis that raises $150,000 a year that started out as a little Community fundraiser so um we have a pickleball tournament that started in a small town in Mano that is now raising I think it raised $160,000 last year and it's just really supporting these people who want to give back and uh I love it I do it is it is so cool when the community especially when the community can come together and

[23:56]  see the vision and help with the mission like it's truly especially in a time where we just come out of politics right and every everything is so divided but in reality when you think about the community and how people come together it doesn't matter you know your your your political party doesn't matter if you're male or female doesn't matter if you're white or black that you can come together and realize that it's so much for the bigger cause and as I I Grew Older and I realized that now I'm an adult it's not even about us anymore Jill you know and that's what we remember it's it's about these young kids such as you're talking about and how can we really Inspire them and and let them know that they're not alone and that we talked about that they they have value and they're worthy and that they're loved and you guys do that just listen you live too far from you I'll come visit let me get on the play but right now lot with playing so you know wa on that but I would love to just kind

[24:43]  of see and feel it because just you talking I can imagine what's happening inside the Ronald McDonald's house it's really inspiring to to hear do do you have a a lesson about leadership that's true whether you're running a nonprofit or a business or just leading a community you know I go back to that phrase that everybody counts every single person counts every single person has something that they can um bring to the table if they're engaged in in in the cause um and it doesn't matter they're demographic it doesn't matter if they have a college degree or not it doesn't matter if they're from a big town or a small town it doesn't matter what their ages you know we have a kid up in uh Superior Wisconsin who's collected I don't know 10,000 pounds of we call them pop tabs aluminum tabs

[25:31]  fromp sodas you know and which is amazing that this kid can do obviously gets a little help from his parents but it's his thing and um and it all matters and we all matter and I think you know we always treat anybody who comes into our place who calls us who emails us with the utmost respect and that's just our moral cultural values here but the other thing is you never know who that one person is going to be who's going to change the direction of your organization for the better you don't and so um again that's kind of the I what I love about all of this you know there's no cap on the good we can do when you talk about the the the pop Taps for soda cans because actually when I was uh I remember years ago when I was

[26:18]  working at airline industry in the break room they had these little houses on each table and you know when everyone drinks soda what a perfect place to put it so is for people that are listening that maybe don't think it adds value how much value it actually adds to the organization well it's um you know the 30% of the weight of the can is in that Tab and that's how it started with r McDonald house but we um we get enough of those tabs uh through uh our different um uh patrons um to fully fund a development position so you know that's a lot yeah and U let me tell you there are a lot of pop tabs beard toab up in northern Wisconsin listen I you just think about it you know from the bars like downtown

[27:08]  areas people don't know about it you know so I think that's a a good space to educate someone because how many times someone Dr a Coke a Diet Coke or Coke on a daily basis you know a case of Coke and no one saved those tabs but you're talking about how really impactful it could be I I now I got to say I don't really drink soda but next time I see a soda can I'm GNA think about it well it's such a good marketing thing for us too and an easy thing for a kid to do and so you know every time somebody does that puts it in the house they're thinking of us and that's invaluable yeah and I love how I'm guessing it's all all over the place but the house itself just looks PR pretty neat you know and The Branding on it and I I truly do love it and just to think that it's just a little house you know you just put it in there and just keep walking um as we continue to close here I I know we can definitely talk for

[27:54]  another 30 minutes if you allow me to but I do want to respect your time last thing I want before we get to the blind question that's the fun part but the last thing before we get to that blind question is how can people actually support the Ronald McDonald's house um whether it's their time whether it's their money or something else is it the website is it uh people are listening and they want to give back especially after hearing you and and how amazing you are if you can just tell a little more how we can get involved yes so you can look up your local raw McDonald House uh and see where where that is and I would say Reach Out uh to the CEO that's what I would say and say that you are interested in being involved and so and set up a quick meeting with them to figure out what that is and if that is volunteering on a one-off basis on a regular basis if it

[28:42]  means um wanting to come to an event or sponsor an event or be a participant um what does that look like if it um we love people who have access to things that we need like everything that you need in your house we need times a million so think about you know Ziploc bags and bleach and all of those things there's lots of different ways to get involved and even if you're a good cook and you want to come in and do a meal for for our families so that's what I would suggest reach out to the executive director or CEO and say that you want to you want to look at opportunities to participate love it Jo are you ready for the hot seek question I'm ready all right I know you've had a long journey in the nonprofit leadership but let's really flip the script what's one thing

[29:29]  people assume about your job that couldn't be further from the truth uh good one love this question for our last leader yeah what what the consider about my job that could be furthest from the truth oh uh that it is uh very mundane and it's the same thing every day uh and it is exactly the opposite because we don't know what it's going to happen each day and what I love about nonprofit I call it all the spinning plates you know Myriad of them and so you're you're always juggling that um today was a great day because we just got done with a a special event uh that we called Brew love North last week and so we got everybody together uh near in my office and had a little

[30:16]  celebration and a little bit of lunch and um I also went and met with one of our McDonald's owner operators to talk about the Roundup campaign today and that was wonderful and tomorrow it's a whole Litany of completely different things so it is uh uh it is not boring it is not mundane and I can't wait till tomorrow and then look look what you're doing now you're on a podcast and I'm on a podcast you're having a conversation you're talking about the mission you're still talking about the mission so no matter what it is that you're doing it's always still the Ronald McDonald's house and that's what's so cool about it so Jill we asked you the blind question now it's time for you to ask the next leader that we interview here the hard and hustle podcast for um their question what does that question sound like um I

[31:04]  think the I think the question is what's the best job you've ever had and what did you learn from it that brought you to where you are today I love that one I love that one J I can't wait to ask ask that on the next one so thank you so much Jill it has truly been a pleasure like I mentioned I know we can continue on and on but I want to respect full part times here thank you so much for allowing us to get to know more about the Ronald McDonald's house as you mentioned it's something that so many people actually drive by and may not even understand what's actually happening the inside or how to help an organization like the Ronald McDonald's house so it's always been a pleasure if you're still watching make sure you guys do subscribe and share if you guys love the mission tell a friend to tell a friend and remember you can help in so many ways Jill it has been a pleasure for you guys watching my name is ephra

[31:51]  we'll catch you guys on the next episode