Cargill Associates’ Post

Why do we believe connection, growth, and service are important? Keeping these as the foundation of what we do allows us to make lasting relationships with individuals, align with likeminded organizations, and work together to create change within the Veteran community and beyond. As human beings, it's not rocket science. We are wired to thrive when we have supportive communities, can meet challenging situations with a growth mindset, and live serving a higher purpose than just ourselves. Big Fish Foundation seeks to create opportunities where we can shake up Veterans' status quos so that they may be able to reassess and take control of their narratives and lives. If you are a service member or Veteran and wonder, "Do these events apply to me? There are other people who probably need it more than I do," then here is your sign that it IS for you, no matter your background or what season of life you're in. Attending an event, being in community with incredible human beings and opening your mind and heart can only add value to your life. We welcome you to join us. Big Fish Foundation #veterans #supportveterans #corporategiving #donate #makeadifference #Veterannonprofit #ittakesavillage

In this interview, Bral Spight, Senior Consultant, speaks with Ashley Greenley, Advancement Director of FishWise, about the organization’s growth journey. FishWise, a nonprofit sustainable seafood consultancy, engaged La Piana for expertise in developing a #businessplan and #growthstrategy. #LaPianaConsulting #strategy #strategicplanning #businessplanning #nonprofit #socialsector

Ever heard of the "Starfish Story"? 🌟I heard it first when our family decided to adopt a teenager from Eastern Europe - and in that context, it still gets me choked up thinking about it. It goes something like this: A man walks along a beach, filled with thousands of stranded starfish after a storm. As he throws one back into the ocean, someone asks him, "Why bother? You can't save them all." He responds by throwing another one into the sea and says, "I made a difference for that one." Now, think about it: what if we all took that approach in our lives and work? It's a powerful idea, and it ties perfectly into our next Straight Path principle. Principle #14: We give back – Straight Path will never dictate how we give back. However, a Straight Path person invests in others. Be it SQL community sharing, non-profit work, ministry work, etc. We find the time to help others. We invest in people and our world. -- Sure, I'm running a company. Sure, we have a bottom line. But people attracted to the culture, values, and principles want to give back. The team wants to support giving back. And everyone does to a degree. We want to be there when someone wants to throw a starfish back to the sea - whatever that starfish is to them. I don't ever want to retire as I see things now - I couldn't leave the team, culture, and group we have - but if this principle ever went away, I'd be out. How do you encourage your team to give back? How do you support it? What's your starfish story? #GivingBack

In this episode of Philanthropic Masterminds, Karen explores how you can unleash your not-so-secret power in 2024 and garner awesome results! CEOs, Development and Advancement leaders and officers, board members, and volunteer leaders will find this conversation inspiring. https://lnkd.in/gSsTYiRu

💯 Super great day with 🩵The Nonprofit Council & 100+ friends today. We heard a powerful panel discussion on Corporate Responsibility with 3 💥dynamic leaders in our community. *Leo Gomez - CEO, Brooks SA *Seymour Battle - Senior VP of Communications, PR, Valero Energy *Bryant Ambelang - CEO, Silver Ventures 📖 ✍🏻 One very simple take away is keep your eye on your mission & vision. As a funder… #1 you must know your own mission, #2 if your mission is NOT what you are doing or what drives your agency then you & your board should modify it to meet your initiatives and match your funding requests.

I made a mistake this week. It wasn’t huge. I am not in jail. My family and friends still love me. But for me, mistakes of any size eat at me longer than they should. I can remember to this day where I was and what I was doing when a former boss let me know of a specific mistake I had made. Part of making mistakes is admitting them and learning from them. Earlier this week, I posted here about stewardship and cultivation. I am relatively new to posting content on LinkedIn, but I am certainly not new to philanthropy. I was called out on the post by a highly regarded professional I admire and respect. I realized after rereading my post that I was not clear in what I was saying. There was missing context, and I didn’t clearly communicate my thoughts. I want to correct that mistake succinctly and clearly. This situation brought me back to a conference I attended decades ago when I thought I knew it all. I remember telling a fellow attendee that stewardship is cultivation for the next gift. Stewardship is critical in philanthropy. We must tell our partners the impact they have made through their gift of time, talent, or treasure. What I don’t like and was trying to state in the previous post is that we can sometimes get into paralysis by analysis and do less than or none at all if we get too caught up in stewardship vs. cultivation. If you are taking over an organization that hasn’t had a stewardship program in 30-plus years - start. Don’t overanalyze. Thank them today. If you tag it as cultivation or stewardship in your database, it is up to you, but don’t let that system and process decision hold you back. Thank your partners. Share the impact with visuals and heartfelt stories. #philanthropy #leadership #strategy #stewardship #nonprofits

I am curious as to what makes RowCal special considering how they managed my community. They charged us over $8,000 for project coordination and nobody knows what it was we got for that money. I wouldn't think that they would treat their employee's much better than they do the communities they manage but I can only speak for my community. Here what others are saying: https://lnkd.in/gSFM62dC You can't make this stuff up. One reply I found from Rowcal I found particularly amusing was their social media policy which I find bothersome coming from an industry that customer service is priority. "We understand your frustration, ***** and assure you we take all resident feedback seriously. However, it's important to clarify our social media policy. While we encourage open communication, we do not allow non-productive, negative comments that do not offer specific details about an issue that can be addressed. This allows us to focus on remedying genuine concerns and keeps our social media pages a positive space for all residents." I do not believe RowCal understand this person's frustration or cares about it for that matter. Most people do not get online and complain unless they have a good reason to. By the way RowCal people have the right to speak out about how poorly they are treated by your company. RowCal does not have any right to hide it from people and turn homeowners into the problem when in reality, they are the problem.

Did you know it's the 50th Anniversary of #NationalVolunteerWeek? Congratulations, Points of Light! 🎂 How are you showing gratitude to your nonprofit's volunteers? If you need some inspo, this guide can help ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/eJSypnQE #Stewardship #DonorStewardship #NonprofitLeadership

Did you know that only 2% of philanthropic dollars go toward addressing climate change? This is despite the fact that nearly all foundation leaders (97%) and nonprofit leaders (94%) agree that climate change is an urgent issue. There's a clear disconnect between what companies say is important to their philanthropy goals, and what actually is happening on the funding side. In my latest article for Submittable, we deep dive into why this disconnect exists, and what corporate funders should do to bridge this gap. Link below, if you'd like to give it a read! Spoiler: It comes down to making climate action a core part of your CSR strategy, not an afterthought. I love working on important thought leadership style pieces like this one that challenge the status quo of how things are done. Big shout out to the Submittable team (Laura Steele and Eric Thompson) for the opportunity and comprehensive brief/outline! 😊