2386 - Stirring Corporate Talent into Nonprofit Board Service with Cause Strategy Partners’ Whitley Richards

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0:38I'm Josh Elledge. Let's get into it. With us right now, Whitley Richards. Whitley, you are the CEO of Cause Strategy Partners. You're found on the web at causestrategypartners.com. I love what you do. I'm so excited to have our conversation because what you do is just so aligned with why I started this podcast many, many, many years ago. But Whitley, before we start talking, before we talk about the work that you're doing, you always love just kind of first off, thank you for being here. Thank you for having me, Josh. It is such a pleasure to have this conversation with you. Absolutely. You know, one thing I love doing before we kind of get into your superpowers and the impact and the work that you're having in the world is I love hearing, you know, maybe more of the trivial things that you might be geeking out on outside of work.

1:30I always love hearing what high-level leaders do for fun or kind of just really into when they're not thinking and, you know, dealing with work. What do you do when you're not at work that you're kind of like really into right now? Really into, yeah. Well, I love cooking. it is absolutely a passion of mine it's a stress relief I cook almost every day after work and something I'm really into these days is pulling things from the very back of my pantry or the very strange vegetable that I see at the grocery store that I've never seen before figuring out how to make it how do we make a meal out of this the test is usually for how well I've done is usually whether my one-year-old will eat it.

2:11And so far I can report that he's tried and enjoyed most of the food that I've tested on him. Wow. Did you find, like, was there some time ago that you really started, like, you were like, okay, I'm really going to get into this? The pandemic. You know, we were all locked in. We were locked down. Yeah. There were places in my pantry that I had never been before, but that I, you know, because I didn't want to bundle up in 18 layers of clothing over my feet and to head to the grocery store, I figured I'm going to have to figure out how to make black eyed peas and how to make that taste good with this quinoa I see in the back of the, of the pantry.

2:50So yeah, it started then and I've had fun experimenting since. Speaking of black eyed peas, so, so your journey is, it mirrors exactly what, what I did. I started with the food delivery boxes for a little bit of time. And then I kind of outgrew that. I'm like, no, I can, I want to explore. I'm going to share privately. I'm going to send you a DM. So, and to our friends that are listening right now, I created a custom GPT. I am a longtime fan of Alton Brown. And so I created a custom GPT that has the, that personifies all of the energy beliefs and rules and all that sort of thing of Alton Brown.

3:30You can search it to our friend that's listening. If you go in the custom GPT store, I don't make any money of this. And I probably, it might not be there for very long, just in case Alan Brown happens to get wind of this. But it's really cool because I loaded it up with all of his transcripts and stuff like that of all the content I could find online. So it's pretty accurate. But if you just search called Alton GPT, I'll share the link privately with you in the DM after our conversation. because I do. So what I'll do is that exact same thing is I was like, oh, I got to use up these ingredients.

4:03I'll take the picture with the AI and, and almost always, you know, it's like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. So as much as I wish I were as creative and imaginative as you, I'm cheating. Well, no, I'm cheating too. My dad gets a number of phone calls every month asking, how do I make this and how do I make it taste better? Well, then that's a nice bonding thing. Don't use my GPT, stick with that. But speaking of black eyed peas, I actually had that January. I don't know if you do like a Southern January 1st meal, but we did that for the first time. Collard greens, black eyed peas, cornbread and pork and all those other.

4:40That was the first time. And that was, I got to make that proper kind of first of the year Southern meal. I've been living in Florida for 18 years now. Finally got around to it. But speaking of that, that was like, and that was so good. So, so, so, so good. But collards, I've never made before. And so it's like when I can find something that I've never made, it's like, it is, it's like art. It's like, ooh, new experiences. And you're right. It's like that challenge is now, ooh, help me find something new that I've never made before. Exactly. I'm so sorry. I want to make the whole episode about this, but I also so much want to talk about Cause Strategy Partners.

5:17Your website, causestrategypartners.com. Please share what you do. Absolutely. Cause Strategy Partners is a technology-powered nonprofit board placement and governance training provider. We partner with executives and employees from the world's largest companies and connect them to nonprofit organizations that are driving real impact in their communities. We specifically focus on connecting leaders to board service opportunities because we know the power that boards have. And we believe in the important work that nonprofits do and the incredible wealth of resources that exist in the private sector.

6:02And so we're so privileged to connect the two. Well, you've worked with companies like PwC, JP Morgan Chase, Allstate, BlackRock, MasterCard, some really big organizations, the Bill Melinda Gates Foundation, United Google. I mean, I could go on and on and on. So tell me what, when you're engaging, and I'm sure you work with SMBs as well, so when you work with or inspire these organizations, these companies, what does that actually look like? Well, it's interesting because Cause Strategy Partners was founded on the idea that there are people out there who have a wealth of experience. They've built their careers.

6:46They've built some real skills. And they also have passions that they want to pursue. And maybe they're not their day jobs, but they're nonprofit organizations doing this work. And they just don't know how to connect with them. And so when we connect with companies like Google or Adobe or PwC, the conversation isn't, How do we convince your people to support nonprofit organizations or serve in board service opportunities? It's really how do we tap the interest that's already there, equip professionals with the skills that they need, and help them identify organizations that are at the center of their passions where they can apply their skills.

7:31So obviously, the impact that you can have with these organizations on its own is a huge net positive. Whitley, obviously, what I want to ask you about is the impact within the company itself. You know, what is the, you know, and if you want, you know, even just like, what is the business justification? The, you know, the very, you know, you know, if we're looking for growth, if we're looking for culture improvements that lead to everything that we want, you know, that make this a no brainer for a leader other than just like, it's the right thing to do. Absolutely. I'm sure you've got great data on that.

8:09Three things. The first is the modern professional wants purpose. They want purpose to be a part of what they do, and they want their employer to help them find opportunities to really build purpose into their job. And board service is a no-brainer. It automatically gives them the opportunity to really apply their skills in a way that makes them feel like they're doing something better for the world, because they are. The second thing is employees have the opportunity to build new and different skills and practice their skills in a different environment when they are operating as board members.

8:52And so any company today, and I think I can pretty safely say that most companies today are looking to help their employees build what is sometimes referred to as human skills or power skills, or those skills that are really complementary to the tech skills that, of course, they also need to be successful in today's world. Skills like persuasion, emotional intelligence, the ability to collaborate and find consensus across groups. The nonprofit boardroom, that's what board members are doing all the time. It's an incredible practicing ground for that skill building. And the third thing is companies want to have a positive impact on the community.

9:36And what better way than by putting their people in the community as representatives of their organization and leveraging everything that that company has at its disposal to address a serious social issue? Wow. Well, Whitley, how did you get this job? I ask myself that often. We are operating in a very special place, sitting between the nonprofit and private sectors. And it's still a space that's kind of emerging. And so it's a real treat to be here. I started at Cause Strategy Partners as a graduate fellow. I was studying at NYU Wagner, pursuing an MPA and focused on international policy and management.

10:23And one of the things that I kept coming back to was the role that business has always played in sustainable development. And I wanted to explore what it looked like to work for a company that recognized the role that business plays in society while also serving the incredibly critical nonprofit organizations that were actually delivering services that were supporting kids who needed the extra support to graduate high school or rescuing animals or building new community health centers. I wanted to kind of operate. I wanted to see what it was like to be between those two worlds and cause strategy partners was the perfect opportunity.

11:06So I started as a graduate fellow and eight and a half years later, I am now CEO and I'm actually just in my second week, having just started this role a couple of weeks ago. So a really, really great growth opportunity. Well, all right. So at what level, Whitley? So I just want to, to our friend that's listening right now, they might be an SMB founder. They may not be at the level that they can directly engage with you. But let's give some next steps for our friends that are listening, regardless of what level they may be at, so that they too can be inspired by your work and do good in the world.

11:45Yeah, well, we are really passionate about helping individuals connect to their causes. And so any one of us can first start with a reflection on what exactly is it that we are passionate about. We've developed a tool called My Cause Finder that supports folks in actually identifying not just what kind of issues out there am I passionate about, but how do I want to serve and what type of organization might I be interested in. And then the next step is actually identifying those organizations doing work in those areas in your community, getting involved, volunteering, attending events by those organizations, and building a relationship with the community.

12:28I think one of the things that we've found with our partners and our liaisons at some of our larger clients is that they themselves are deeply involved in their communities. they're serving on boards. And I would say that that's probably the best way to get started as you think about bringing service opportunities to your organization. Yeah. And I suppose you have great resources. So I'm on your website right now, causestrategypartners.com. What do our friends do from here? I'm on your resources page. Yeah. So our resources page includes a number of pieces that we've written that detail how to identify a board, if you're currently serving, what it looks like to serve with excellence.

13:11You can also be in touch with our team about any potential opportunities that there might be for us to collaborate with you as you think about board service opportunities personally or bringing those to your organization. We are really happy to have those conversations. We do have, outside of our corporate partnership model, the opportunity to welcome individuals to participate in some of our board placement programming and identify a board service opportunity that way. So we'd encourage you to be in touch with us directly. Whitley Richards, causestrategypartners.com. Thank you so much for the conversation to our friend that's listening.

13:52Just pull it up on your website, causestrategypartners.com. Please share this episode or the website with your friend too that you know definitely has the skills and the talent to bring to board opportunities with great nonprofits and organizations around the world so that collectively as leaders, we can do what I think we all want to do. Willie, great conversation. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me, Josh.

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