E2: A New Approach to Fundraising And Resource Gathering with Zoot Velasco, Executive Director of The Friends of Fullerton College Foundation

Lead with Heart | Philanthropy, Nonprofit Leadership, Nonprofit Management & Fundraising

As a certified fundraising executive, I’m very excited to bring Zoot Velasco to the Lead with Heart Podcast today to talk more about his strategy when it comes to social impact organizations, fundraising, resource gathering, and strategic partnerships.

Zoot is the executive director of the Friends of Fullerton College Foundation, and director of the Gianneschi Center for Nonprofit Research at California State University Fullerton's College of Business & Economics. He's also a professor of Nonprofit Management and Leadership at Cal State Fullerton at California Polytechnic University Institute Pomona, and the host of the nationally-ranked 501(C)(3)(B)(S) Podcast.
In this episode, you’ll learn:

• [02:20] Zoot’s career path and how he got to where he is today
• [04:04] Zoot’s approach to fundraising and resource gathering
• [14:00] How can non-profits collaborate and work together
• [18:46] How non-profits can access resources to power their mission
• [22:33] Moving from non-profit to social impact model
• [25:10] The most effective way to tell the stories so more opportunities come
• [28:55] Why social impact is important right now

RESOURCES

Get Zoot’s newest book – small to LARGE: Growing Social Impact Organizations Against All Odds — at Kendall Hunt

NOTEWORTHY QUOTES

“Social enterprise is basically taking a business standpoint in how you run your organization – with the bottom line being not necessarily profit, but the bottom line being purpose and your mission, and doing it in a sustainable way.”

“When I did the research for the research project that ended up becoming the book, I asked people what it was that helped them grow. And the first thing everyone said was strategic partnerships.”

“If you're a social enterprise organization or a social impact organization, your mission is to do something that nobody else is doing, or there's no reason for you to exist. So if you're not partnering with everybody else who can help you, then you're really not doing your job.”

“Everything is about mindset.”

“It's not about looking down on people, ‘these poor people.’ It's about, how can I serve this communi

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CONNECT WITH HALEY
Haley is a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE), Certified Stress Management Coach, and Certified EmC train the trainer. She is the Founder of The Savvy Fundraiser, a nonprofit consulting and coaching business. She has worked in both small and large nonprofit teams in the human services, homelessness, and youth sectors; and she specializes in the EmC process, nonprofit leadership, board development, and fundraising. Haley is a passionate, impact-driven, experienced nonprofit professional whose mission is to empower, elevate and engage nonprofit leaders to build healthy, thriving organizations.
Instagram: @thesavvyfundraiser
LinkedIn: Haley Cooper, CFRE
Website: thesavvyfundraiser.com