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Have you ever been curious to know what it takes to start a mentoring non-profit? Ron Hadley joins Zach this week to discuss what it takes to start, build, and operate a non-profit to reach kids from hard places.
Show Notes
Have you ever been curious to know what it takes to start a mentoring non-profit? Ron Hadley joins Zach this week to discuss what it takes to start, build, and operate a non-profit to reach kids from hard places.
Reach out to Ron Hadley:
https://whererugoing.com
Purchase the You Can Mentor book:
You Can Mentor: How to Impact Your Community, Fulfill the Great Commission, and Break Generational Curses
youcanmentor.com
Reach out to Ron Hadley:
https://whererugoing.com
Purchase the You Can Mentor book:
You Can Mentor: How to Impact Your Community, Fulfill the Great Commission, and Break Generational Curses
youcanmentor.com
Creators and Guests
What is You Can Mentor: A Christian Youth Mentoring Podcast?
You Can Mentor is a network that equips and encourages mentors and mentoring leaders through resources and relationships to love God, love others, and make disciples in their own community. We want to see Christian mentors thrive.
We want to hear from you! Send any mentoring questions to hello@youcanmentor.com, and we'll answer them on our podcast. We want to help you become the best possible mentor you can be. Also, if you are a mentoring organization, church, or non-profit, connect with us to join our mentoring network or to be spotlighted on our show.
Please find out more at www.youcanmentor.com or find us on social media. You will find more resources on our website to help equip and encourage mentors. We have downloadable resources, cohort opportunities, and an opportunity to build relationships with other Christian mentoring leaders.
You can mentor is a podcast about the power of building relationships with kids from hard places in the name of Jesus. Every episode will help you overcome common mentoring obstacles and give you the confidence you need to invest in the lives of others. You can mentor.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the You Can Mentor podcast. Zach Garza is here with my friend, Ron Hadley. Ron, say hey.
Speaker 3:Hey, Zach and everybody.
Speaker 2:Today, Ron and I are going to talk about operating and leading a mentoring program. So for the next couple of weeks, we're doing a series on what it looks like to operate and to lead a successful mentoring program. For those of you guys who don't know, I am Zach Garza, and I started and I have been the executive director for the last 10 years of 4 Runner Mentoring Program here in the great city of Dallas, Texas. And Ron also has extensive, experience with operating and leading a mentoring program. So, Ron, why don't you share with the folks just about you and your background and why you're here today?
Speaker 3:Well, thank you, Zach. Yeah. My entire career has been in youth development. It's been about 15 years with Big Brothers Big Sisters right here in Texas, Dallas, Fort Worth, Abilene, and Houston. The last 10 years of that tenure was as market president.
Speaker 3:So I've been able to lead the organization and lead a team completely focused on 1 to 1 mentoring. We were the largest Big Brothers Big Sisters agency in the nation, serving over 10,000 kids a year, which as a one to one mentoring organization, that meant we had 10,000 volunteers in a given year.
Speaker 2:That's a lot of volunteers.
Speaker 3:Yes. It was. Now that spanned a a large geography as well. That was from Houston through DFW on out to Abilene and even up to Wichita Falls. But it's still a lot of volunteers, a lot of impact, a lot of, kids being served in relationship based mentoring, and, in a great team that we worked with.
Speaker 3:I left Big Brothers Big Sisters about 5 years ago and was with a youth development organization, education organization called the Commit Partnership based here in Dallas, but has statewide impact as well. More focused specifically on student outcomes. So, certainly, mentoring and relationship building was a a a contributing factor to student outcomes, but we went even broader than that on how do we impact actual academic and and life pathways for young people. I left that organization as managing director and started my own organization called where are you going dot com. And now I do strategic planning and team training and leadership coaching primarily for organizations that are helping other people.
Speaker 3:So nonprofits that, are are engaged in youth development or I've I've worked with multiple world hunger organizations. Wherever there's a a group of people, an organization, a leader that's committed to helping other people in their very real needs. We do strategic planning and and coaching and training for them.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. Yeah. So I I connected with Ron a couple years ago, and just from the very get go, I was just really impressed with just his wisdom and his experience. And whenever Steven and I were talking about creating a series about how to best lead a mentoring organization, the first person who I thought of was Ron. So so Ron and I sat down last month, and we just kinda started to talk about the series.
Speaker 2:And one thing that you said, Ron, that really stood out to me was you make the greatest impact on a child's life when your organization is run well.
Speaker 3:Can you
Speaker 2:just kinda speak a tad bit more about that statement?
Speaker 3:Yeah. You know, there's a there's a lot buried into that statement, but passion for helping people is core and and oh, so important. But I I have found that to have the greatest depth of impact and the greatest scalability of impact, impact and the greatest scalability of impact is when you can organize that passion with a group of people, a a a team that is well run, that is clearly focused on a common goal, that is moving forward toward what they envision for a greater tomorrow. But it's gotta be more than the passion. It's it's got to be well run.
Speaker 3:It it it's one of the things I I most enjoyed, or perhaps I shouldn't say most, but, greatly enjoyed about Big Brothers Big Sisters Lone Star, in particular, the group I was with here locally, is it was run like a business because that's what it is. It might be a nonprofit. It might be passion based. You might wanna help and serve other people. All of that is true, but it's gotta be run like a business.
Speaker 3:You you you still have to make yourself sustainable beyond today, and that includes financially, that includes having internal team of people in the right positions. It's it it means having a a large base of external partners and supporters and stakeholders who are who are helping you to move forward and share your vision and wanting to expand those that are engaged with you. It's having good governance on a board. There's a there's a whole realm that that goes well beyond well intended people with a good passion and a focus. That's where it starts, but you need a well run organization and a well put together team and a well led vision.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And I know for for me specifically, and this will be something that we talk about here in this podcast is whenever I first started, you know, I was all about passion. The only thing that I wanted to do is help kids, and that was really all that I had to have at the very first. But then as we started to mentor, you know, 2 kids, 4 kids, 8 kids, 12 kids, I started to figure out real quickly that if I didn't know what I was doing in regards to donor relations or safety or engaging, volunteer base, then my passion could only take us so far. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so those are the kinds of things that we're gonna be talking about over, the next coming weeks. So you guys be sure to tune in because I am really excited about this series. For today, we're talking about what we have titled the building phase. And so for this first episode, we're talking about starting your mentoring organization the very first season. It's launching, it's leaning, or it's joining a mentoring org.
Speaker 2:We're gonna talk about starting with the why. We're gonna talk about the what's and the how's, and then we're gonna talk about why it's so vital to do your research to figure out exactly what your vision and your part of this greater story is. So, Ron, why don't you talk about starting with the why and why is the why so important?
Speaker 3:Yeah. The why really defines who you are, and it it gives you the basis on which to build your vision, to build your program, to build your team, and it's also the sustaining energy day to day. If you know what a better tomorrow looks like from where you're sitting, that becomes your why on why you're doing what you're doing, on why you're building a team you're building, on why you make it to tomorrow to continue another day. Bringing that back to a mentoring organization, I I greatly believe, and I don't even know any other option. Part of the why has to be a belief in relationships.
Speaker 3:Mhmm. That's what sets mentoring apart. Yes. You wanna help people. Yes.
Speaker 3:You wanna be a part of youth development. Yes. You want to be investing in others, but there's a lot of ways to do that. What sets mentoring apart is the belief that relationships are the key factor. Yeah.
Speaker 3:It's it's a it's a, great belief of mine, a strong driving life factor that there is no greater change agent than a relationship. You can put kids or or people through any kind of curriculum or any kind of program, and all of that can plant seeds and and help put people on a different trajectory in life. But if you really wanna change a life for the long haul, something sustainable, it's relationships. All of us can fill in that blank on on a relationship in our life, whether it's a mentor, whether it's a parent, a family member, a spouse, a child, it's the relationships in life that really change our our personal lives. Yeah.
Speaker 3:So that's from my opinion, that's the why for somebody who wants to get involved in a mentoring organization, who wants to lead a mentoring organization, wants to launch a mentoring organization, it's because you believe in the power of relationships. It is the most common, most powerful denominator for any mentoring organization is that you believe in the power of relationships.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And I know for me I mean, it is at times, it can be very difficult to enter into a mentoring relationship. There can be a lot of different obstacles Trying to join a mentoring organization or trying to run 1, trying to lead 1, at times can you can kinda feel like you don't have any idea what you're doing. But at the end of the day, if you can come back to that why, hey. I am doing this because I believe fill in the blank, then that really can sustain you through those hard times.
Speaker 3:That that's exactly right. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So, Ron, why don't if you don't mind getting a little bit personal here, like, tell us your why. Tell us why you got involved and why you've continued to stay involved with serving our youth and just to kinda give us an example of what that looks like.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And and it greatly relates to what we've been talking about already. It's a combination, I would suggest, of of 2 primary factors. 1 is wanting to be a part of other people's lives and their development. My entire career has been in youth development because my passion really is helping people in their early stages of life figure out their life.
Speaker 3:1 of my one of my the authors that I enjoy the most, Bob Goff, has been known to say that we are all just a rough draft of our future selves. And that's true throughout our life. I think all of us who have have lived even, you know, a greater number of decades perhaps, we know that we're changing daily. But the there's no more formative time in life than adolescence. And my entire career and and passion has been driven by wanting to help people in those early stages of figuring out out who they are, being comfortable with themselves, developing a greater sense of of being and confidence, and then figuring out, you know, where their life can go and and plotting out the direction.
Speaker 3:So one has been the passion to help. But but a second why has been the relationship component. I I saw in my own life through, certainly, family members, I I was fortunate and blessed to grow up in a very supportive and loving family. But we all need relationships even beyond our core family, and I had a youth pastor who relationships even beyond our core family. And I had a youth pastor who invested in my life and really helped to open up my eyes to what was possible.
Speaker 3:And I felt seen and and heard by him, and that he wanted to spend time and get to know me that he wanted to spend time and get to know me and my story. And when you have that kind of investment from somebody even outside of your family that, oh, you know, wait, this person doesn't have to spend time with me. This person doesn't have to carry about care about what I'm thinking or what's important to me, but he does. I experienced in my own life how that opened up not only a better understanding and confidence in myself, but it it broadened my perspective of the world around me and and what I wanted to be and who I wanted to become. So I I have that passion of wanting to help others in their in their shaping of their life, and I have that strong belief that from my own experience, that relationship is the most effective change agent.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And I think so often, Ron, like, I I kinda experience there's 2 types of people who really get passionate about mentoring organization or being a part of it, and that's people whose lives have been impacted by a mentor, you know, kinda like you. And then there's people like me who who know what it's like to not have that. Mhmm. And then I mean, for those of you guys who remember my own story, I mean, I I grew up in a home where I didn't feel seen, and I didn't feel heard, and I was lost.
Speaker 2:I was making a bunch of, you know, pretty poor choices until my early twenties whenever I received my first mentor. And it was like I was headed down this, you know, path of darkness, then I received a mentor. He started to spend time with me, and the Lord used that relationship to take me off this path of darkness and put me on a path of light. And so now, you know, I'm sitting here, and my why each and every day is I want kids to experience what I experienced, and that is the love and support and unconditional presence of a mentor who is there for you no matter what and then seeing the power that that has. I mean, that truly does have the power to transform lives.
Speaker 2:And so and so as you guys join or as you start, mentoring organization, it is absolutely foundational that you figure out your why and that you take time to be able to explain that. I know for me, I have a story, and I have a story that lasts one minute. I have a story that lasts 2 to 3 minutes, and I have a story that lasts, you know, 5 to 7 minutes. And I'm able to articulate that why in a way that other people can understand that.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So without jumping too far ahead, tell can you tell me, tell us, how did you make that next step? So you you know, you've got your why, but but you've started 4 Runner Mhmm. That is a well run and scalable and making great life impact. How'd you make that leap from your why to starting it up?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. So that's a great story, Ron. And, honestly, I I wish I could sit here and say, you know, back in 2009, I've had this strategic plan, and I had it all planned out. And I was gonna do step 1, execute step 2, step 3, and so on.
Speaker 2:But, honestly, I just started with a passion to help kids who were just like me experience what I experienced. And I I just kinda stumbled into the next season and the next season and the next season. And it was, you know, it was vital for me to surround myself with people who had done what I wanted to do. And so listening to podcasts, reading books, going and talking to the guy who started a mentoring org in a different part of our city, picking up the phone, sending an email. Hey.
Speaker 2:I've got this dream. I've got this hope, but I have no idea what I'm doing. And so that's that is just kinda how I started started to figure it out. And then I I was fortunate enough to surround myself with, you know, an awesome board. I was fortunate enough to be put in a community that really understood what I was trying to do and but besides all that, Ron, I think the most important thing was I just felt like God was calling me to this.
Speaker 2:And someone once told me this phrase, Zach, you you can become what you never had, and the Lord can actually use your pain and turn it into your passion. And I think that those two things really are kinda part of my why. You know, I I desperately want my kids and the kids that we mentor, their kids, to not experience what it looks like to grow up in a home without a father figure present.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I I want that feeling that I had whenever I was 12, whenever I was 15, that feeling of loss, that feeling like no no one loves me, that feeling like no one's supporting me. And I I wanna channel that in a positive way to truly make this community or this kid's life just a tad bit just a tad bit better each and every day.
Speaker 3:I love that.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And and and so why the why did I wanna do this is I mean, just from a simple answer, it's I just saw a need. I saw a ton of kids who had a ton of potential, and no one was making that potential turn into a, you know, turn into a reality. Yeah. And so so yeah.
Speaker 3:I I I love what you said about the research you did too, asking around and figuring out what the need is and who wants to be involved and what you should should be thinking about. And to me, that that kinda helps lead into almost that next layer of this important conversation of, you know, what do people, potential mentoring leaders, need to be asking themselves? What what are some of those steps for if you want to you know, if you agree, if you if you've discovered that your why is a belief in relationships and wanting to help other people of whatever age. I think in our cases, we're talking about young people. And and you begin to ask people around you and organizations that are doing and doing your research, but what are those specific questions?
Speaker 3:And a couple that I would throw out there is really getting into that that operational level because it's important. You gotta dig into that after you know your why and your passion and you're driven by that. But, you know, when it comes to mentoring, this could be too broad of an application. But I think, as a starting point, there there's 2 models to to think about which one you might want to pursue. Sure.
Speaker 3:1 is 1 to 1. Mhmm. Do you wanna be an organization where you are primarily, if not exclusively, focused on putting 1 volunteer in the life of 1 per young person Mhmm. And just helping to facilitate not only that relationship development and the impact, but the safety of that relationship. And we can talk more, I'm sure, throughout this whole series about what that would look like.
Speaker 3:But that's one model. 1 to 1 mentoring. You believe that you gotta put 1 volunteer with 1 one student. Another very legitimate, very effective mentoring model is group mentoring.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And that would be, you know, 1 volunteer or a small number of volunteers, 1 or 2 people, leading a small group of young people. One one story I I think I'd shared with you and I even said I didn't want to share it on the podcast, but I will just to maybe emphasize that point. At Big Brothers Big Sisters, we would we are all about 1 to 1. That's it. A volunteer cannot even have a second little if they asked because they believe that much that you need to focus on that one life.
Speaker 3:Well but when we would do public presentations, most often, we would start with the anecdote to kinda help pull the audience into our story. We would say, you know, we all have had a mentor in our life, whether it be a coach or a teacher or a youth pastor. Well, that's what we do, we would say. But in actuality, that is not what Big Brothers Big Sisters does. They only do 1 to 1.
Speaker 3:Yeah. That other model of a youth pastor to a youth group or a teacher to a classroom or a coach to a team, that is mentoring.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:But that's group mentoring. Right. Equally as effective, I would suggest. Mhmm. But they're 2 different models, and you've got to decide what what it is you would want out of your organization if you're looking to either launch an organization or you're looking to join an organization.
Speaker 3:Another question to ask is do you want it to be primarily Oregon exclusively in person Mhmm. Where the the volunteer and the student or the volunteer and the group meet together in in a physical space or go out and and just kinda walk through life together? Or is it a virtual? In today's world, it can be very effective and it's equally viable to have a virtual program.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 3:At Big Brothers Big Sisters, again, just to give that example, it was probably about 10 years ago that we began to talk about and launch a little over 10 years ago now, the idea of virtual mentoring. It was very difficult for many of our leaders around the the the country to even have that conversation because we were all about in person.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 3:But what I would tell them is in reality, relationships are being built virtually. Like it or not, relationships are being built and and and grown and sustained via text messaging, via social media, via email, nowadays through Zoom and FaceTime. And if mentoring professionals can't figure out how to harness that technology for positive impact and for good, I don't know who is going to. Yeah. So it is very viable to have a mentoring organization that's virtual too.
Speaker 3:Figure out how to do that. It also expands your ability to to scale impact because the volunteer and the student don't have to even be in the same community. There's there's benefits to both, in person and and virtual. But but, again, the point being, that's one question to ask yourself if you're looking to join an organization or to launch your own and lead. Do you want it to be exclusively in person or virtual or some blend thereof?
Speaker 3:The third and last one that I would mention is I I've I've I've I've said a couple times and I I don't know that I can overemphasize it, but the common thread is relationships. But but it can and should go beyond that. There are life factors and life needs of young people that that maybe you wanna focus on, some kind of intervention. You know, do you want to help kids coming from a single parent home? Is that your focus?
Speaker 3:Do you want to help kids that are are struggling academically or have addiction issues? There could be a specific need in in a young life that you want your mentoring organization to really focus on that profile of a young person, and then therefore, even have some added layers of training for your volunteers or added added, focus of your recruitment of volunteers that they have a skill set in addressing this particular intervention. But regardless of any whatever answer you give to any of those questions, is it one to 1 or group? Is it in person, or is it is it virtual? Is it focused on some kind of particular intervention?
Speaker 3:The common thread always will be relationships are the the the primary change agent.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And, man, Ron, Ron, all of that's so good. And I know for us here, I mean, we we really love 1 to 1 mentoring. I mean, that is for us, that has shown to be extremely impactful. But just as impactful is our after school after school program.
Speaker 2:And at first, we just started an after school program because our kids didn't really have any, you know, positive place to go. We wanted to help them out with some homework. The kids needed to have a snack after school. But after we've been facilitating this, you know, for, you know, for quite a while now, what what we've learned is by putting a coach, that's that is what we like to call the people who work for us. In a classroom with 10 to 12 kids, that's mentoring.
Speaker 2:Yep. And for some of our kids, they're gonna connect greater with their coach than they do their 1 on 1 mentor. And so our whole philosophy is how can we get as many positive adults in the lives of these kids? I don't care if it's 1 on 1 mentoring. I don't care if it's, online.
Speaker 2:I don't care if it is in our after school programming. It's just for some of our kids, they have very few positive adults in their lives. And if we truly believe that relationships change lives, then it's our job to, no matter how we do it, figure out a way to introduce them to people who can guide them and shepherd them. And there's just so many awesome avenues to build relationships.
Speaker 3:And, you know, something you said, I I I would want to add to or just underscore because I know you all do it. But not every after school program is a mentoring program. Mhmm. Just because you have a a coach or whatever an organization might call it, leading an an after school program of a group of young people doesn't mean that there's mentoring happening. And and that's okay.
Speaker 3:If it's an after school program that's focused on tutoring or focused on some kind of a skill development, there's value in that. Mhmm. When it becomes a mentoring program is if there's intentionality about getting to know the individuals in that group, to know their story, for them to know that they are being heard and seen. You gotta move beyond the intervention or the curriculum or the program goal and get into the individual relationship level, then it becomes mentoring. And I know that's what happens here at 4 Runner, but I think that's an important distinction.
Speaker 3:If if if a person or an organization were to launch an after school program does not mean they're launching a mentoring organization. Yeah. They've gotta go beyond their curriculum or their programmatic at goals and have those teachers, those coaches, who whoever the group lead is, intentionally be getting to know the individual Yeah. Kids.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, Ron. Yeah. Like, I don't know if there's a more if there's a better word to describe mentoring than intentional. Yeah. I mean, it's just it is absolutely key.
Speaker 2:Also think, Ron, like, I think one thing that you have to ask yourself, and this kinda comes back to what kind of program, you know, you are trying to, start or you're trying to join is, is there a need? So is there someone in your community who's doing what you wanna do? And if there is and if they are doing that in a good way, right, then instead of starting your own thing, you know, maybe see if you can hop on with them, see if you can support them, or you might need to change and fulfill a need that no one else is focusing in on. So, like, if if there was a 1 on 1 mentoring organization in this community that was intentionally pouring into kids, that was sharing, you know, with these kids about how to succeed in faith, how to succeed in school, then I I wouldn't need to start one. But it's super important for you to assess your community, to get to know the people who are trying to invest into it, and to focus in on an area where no one has had an opportunity to to invest into it yet.
Speaker 2:Right?
Speaker 3:Yeah. That's exactly right. I I I oftentimes do think that the nonprofit world is saturated. There are a lot of nonprofit organizations out there doing good work and needed work. And and so I think a very fair question is and I I don't have the answer to it.
Speaker 3:I think the answer is different each time, but it's fair and needed to ask, is one more nonprofit needed? Right. And the answer might be yes. Because to your point, identify what the need is, and is it being filled or not? And if it's not, then there's an opportunity there to to fill it.
Speaker 3:And and that need can be defined many, many ways. It could be geographical. Mhmm. It could be that, you know, this particular neighborhood, this particular ZIP code doesn't have the the mentoring focus that it needs. It could be a demographic answer that not not enough of this community of demographics is is being addressed.
Speaker 3:It could be a gender question. Maybe, you know, just know what it is you want to affect. And then to your point, ask is that being met or not? And if it's not, then there's an opening there for you to fill that gap because there are if if you answer the question, nobody's meeting the need, and that means there are needs out there that need you. Yeah.
Speaker 3:So so get at it. If there is a group doing it, then find a way if there's a way to join them, maybe to be a part of that movement.
Speaker 2:Well and okay. So let's say you take a look at your community. You assess it and you see that, you know, there is a need for the type of mentoring org that, you know, you have on your heart to start, and then you've got to ask yourself this question. Okay? 1, Lord, are you calling me to this?
Speaker 2:God, is it me, or do I need to go find someone to make this vision to take my passion and to turn it into something real? Yeah. And then the second question is, do you have capacity? So it doesn't matter if you have a heart, if you have a desire, if you have a vision, if you don't have time
Speaker 3:Yep.
Speaker 2:And if you don't have the bandwidth. And so there are there are so many different kinds of things that you need to ask yourself to make sure that you're starting this org out on the best foot possible. I mean, is there a need? Are you passionate? What's your why?
Speaker 2:Do you have capacity? Is this coming out of your flesh, or is this from, you know, is this a call?
Speaker 3:We've not rehearsed this. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:If I put you on the spot No. No. Please. Tell me. But can you translate that into your story?
Speaker 3:I mean, almost on the level of what were your learnings Mhmm. Because you you may have answered all of those questions in the affirmative. There was a need. You do have a calling. You do have the time, but then you get into it, and the answers might have changed.
Speaker 3:Like, I didn't realize it was this much time or this much of a need. And what was that journey like for you? What kind of stumbles and hurdles did you have as you applied your answers to those questions?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah, Ron. So so how we started, what we're doing here is I was a 8th grade football coach in a in a title 1 school, which is, you know, low income school, school, and I was a football coach. And there were about 45 kids on our team. And as I was starting to coach and as I was starting to get to know all of our kids, the Lord in my own personal life was really doing a work on my own heart.
Speaker 2:I mean, I was going through how growing up without a father, you know, turned turned turned turned me into who I am today. I was dealing with forgiving, you know, my father dealing with my past, and I had really kinda stumbled upon this fact that I am here today, and I am who I am because of relationships, specifically because of mentors. And so here I am, and I'm going through all this stuff in my own personal life. And every day, my profession is hanging out with kids who were once just like me. And one day, I asked my football team.
Speaker 2:I said, hey, guys. Who in here is growing up in a home without a father figure around? And out of our 45 kids, you know, about 35 of those kids' hands popped up. And I saw that, Ron, and I saw the need, and I saw 35 kids who were exactly like me. And I knew how the Lord changed my life.
Speaker 2:And I just felt like the Lord said, Zach, those kids are just like you. Now I changed your life through mentoring. Now here's an opportunity for you to do the same thing for these kids. And that right there, Ron, was my call. That right there is the Lord took my pain, and he turned it into my passion.
Speaker 2:The lord took my story and said, if I can change your life through mentoring, then I can change these kids' lives. And then it just happened to be that I was 27. I I was single. I didn't have anything going on. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And I had a ton of time, and I had a ton of bandwidth. And so I just started to pursue these kids. You know, I had an opportunity to get to know these kids and to spend time with them because of, you know, my profession as a coach. Had an had an end with them. And then I just started to find men in our community who I could kinda cast this vision to.
Speaker 2:Hey. There's kids who are going to school with your kids, and these kids don't have a dad around. So who's teaching them how to become a godly man? Well, if the answer is no one, then you can be the solution to that issue. So I would find these kids.
Speaker 2:I would find these men, and just super simple. Hey. Here's a kid who doesn't have a man in their life. You're a godly man. Y'all start spending time together.
Speaker 2:And then just, you know, started out with 1 pair, started out with 2, started out with 4, started out with 8. And then that's that's kinda as we grew, as we kinda just started as we started to see some fruit, that's whenever we started to ask ourselves some of the hard questions. Okay. What kind of, mentoring relationship are we gonna focus in on? How are we gonna do this?
Speaker 2:How are we gonna connect with the mentors? How are we gonna set them up for success? How how are we gonna do this in a safe way? Right? Because whenever you introduce a mentor to a kid, you're basically saying, hey, here's a total stranger That's right.
Speaker 2:And he's spending time with a kid. I mean, that's a that's a pretty dangerous spot to be in, and so we had to figure out how to do that in the in the best way possible. We had to figure out what we were gonna do for background checks, you know, what we're gonna do for safety training, what we were gonna do for abuse training. We had to figure out how to match. Right?
Speaker 2:Like
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay. What what kind of mentor would be best for this kid? You know? Here's a kid who loves math, who loves basketball, who loves science. What kind of mentor would support him best?
Speaker 2:And then we had to figure out how to support the men the mentor. Right? Okay. What can we do to make sure that they don't get discouraged? What can we do to best equip them?
Speaker 2:And then we had to figure out things like, okay. What do we do if the kid moves? You know? Yeah. What do we do if the kid, gets in trouble at school?
Speaker 2:What do we do? And we had to figure out what our philosophy was for just anything that could happen. And that's just the mentor and, you know, the mentee. From a running an organization perspective, we had to figure out how to fundraise. We had figure out how to hire.
Speaker 2:We had to figure out, I mean, just how to run a business. Because whenever I first started to mentor, I had no clue what a 501c3 was. The only thing that I wanted to do was to help kids, but I had to figure it out. Had to figure out how to start a board. I had to figure out how to ask people for money.
Speaker 2:I had to figure out how to hire, how to manage a staff, how to do strategic plans, how to set goals, you know, how to create a culture. I mean, all of these things and just you know, I had to figure that out just one step at a time, Ron.
Speaker 3:Well, Zach, I I love that, and I know from our conversations that the series you're putting together is going to walk through much of that for the the folks that tune in to your podcast. And I I love the application of your personal story because the the calling from your own very real life experience is so clear of how your pain was turned into your passion and into purpose and then how you multiplied yourself by pulling in other people with the shared interest and vision to help mentor young people. And then 3rd and final, you got to that stage where, you know, without sounding too sterile, you needed to figure out how to operationalize it.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So you went beyond multiplying and it was exponential scalable growth so that you could have sustainable impact well beyond you and your inner circle and really build that movement through an organization. And you touch upon all all of all of those key points that that can become a little burdensome over time when you're trying to figure out how to make this sustainable and scalable and operationalized. But that goes right back to your opening comments and question about a well run organization. Mhmm. Yes.
Speaker 3:Have your calling, have your passion, have your vision, have your impact. But if you really want to go big and be around for the long haul, you've got to figure out how to operationalize and become a well run organization, well run 501c3.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And I know, Ron, for me, I want my nonprofit to outlive me.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Right? And I figured out early on that unless I got good at the things that I didn't wanna do, that that wouldn't happen. And this is what I love about mentoring, right, is I mean, it's it's incredible that God can take my story. Right? But what I also love is God can take anyone's story.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And he can impart to them a passion. You know? There's an there's a nonprofit called, called the 4 11 House, and they started by a person, and her name's Kim. And Kim is from a part of Dallas that is pretty wealthy. Right?
Speaker 2:And for all intents and purposes, Kim had everything that she, could ask for as, you know, she was as she was grown up. She had supportive parents. She had an awesome education. But then her and her husband, they moved to this little city in Central Texas called Temple. And Kim started to build relationships with kids in this specific apartment complex.
Speaker 2:And fast forward over the next 2 to 3 years, Kim has started a nonprofit. She has developed volunteers. She's developed a strategic plan, and they're influencing and impacting and building relationships with, you know, 40 to 50 kids each and every week. And my story couldn't be any different than Kim's. But God is using Kim's heart.
Speaker 2:God put in Kim a vision to see this need, and he created in her this desire just to help out. This desire to build relationships. And she's doing it in a totally different way than how I did it, but that doesn't mean that it isn't just as impactful. And so our heart behind this series, Ron, is if you have a have a burden for kids, if you have a have a burden for kids, if you have a have a kids, if you have a vision to impact kids through relationships, then we wanna give you everything that we know on how to lead, how to start, how to operate a well run mentoring organization because we think that in communities all across America, there are kids who don't have an opportunity to be mentored, and there's kids who need to be mentored. And we wanna see mentoring orgs pop up all across America because there's a need.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I think the answer to that need is people who love Jesus. The answer to that need is, you know, the local church. I believe that there's a discipleship movement that is going to happen in America through mentoring, but someone has to start these organizations. Someone has to lead these and not just lead them, but they have to they have to operate them well, Ron, so that they do last a long time.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I I love that, Zach. And, you know, what I hear I agree. Having a mentoring movement and organizations pop up all across our country. I don't know that there's any greater opportunity for change than to have more and more people not only invest through relationships but exponentially invest by starting programs if it's right.
Speaker 3:And what I hear also from you when you talk about your story and Kim's story and I factor in my story anybody can do it. Right. But not everyone should do it And you've got to be asking yourselves these questions about your why and know what is it that's motivating you and potentially sustaining you. And then do you have it in yourself to lead all of the operational and team needs that are going to be required. And that's what not only your vision flushes out, but as you've said, I I have great confidence this upcoming podcast series is going to help walk people through.
Speaker 2:Well and here's what's so awesome about Kim, Ron, is Kim started this thing. Right? And then she looked back about 6 months ago and said, I don't have the bandwidth. I can't do this. I am a mom of 2 kids.
Speaker 2:I've got all of these other things, and I can't run this thing. And so what she did was she partnered with some people, partnered with her community, partnered with her board, and they went out and they fundraised, and they found an executive an executive director to run the 4 one one house. I think that that's so great. You know? If if God can use Kim, and then if God can give Kim the perspective of, hey, I might have started this, but I can't run this.
Speaker 2:Then, I mean, he can do that with any of us
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Which is which is so great.
Speaker 3:Zach, I'm gonna be tuning in to the podcast each time Well because I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 2:Ron, why don't we talk about doing your research? We talked about starting with the why. We talked about the what's and the hows. The is it gonna be a 1 on 1 or group or in person or after school? But let's talk about why doing your research before you start is so vital.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And you you touched upon this earlier as well, but, you know, there's there's a number of benefits. One is just to know what's out there. Mhmm. And we've talked about that a little bit.
Speaker 3:Another is to learn and know what can go well or what can go not so well up front. You need to learn what your options are. There's a number of ways to do that. I mean, you can, you know, talk talk to organizations that are out there doing mentoring and youth development and and and find out from them what works and why they're doing what they're doing and where they're doing it and and and all of that. Just go and visit the organizations.
Speaker 3:You know, I'm never one to to to to shy away from a cold call Yeah. If I have a purpose. I'm not a salesperson. But if I wanna learn from somebody, there are not very many people that won't take that phone call.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:If they're in a position that they can, share their knowledge or their experience and somebody's asking them to learn from that, especially in the in the youth development or or mentoring organization realm, people want to share that. So, you know, pick up pick up the phone and and call, even a cold call to an executive at an organization and and ask them those questions. You know, you and I have talked about some of these different points too, but reading books
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Can be very helpful both in terms of what is your passion, what is your why, to understanding how to act upon it, to how to lead an organization, how to be a leader of a team. All of those components are important, But but the the books out there, whether they're business books or or or self help books or or, you know, life journey books, they're they're out there. Couple of my favorite authors, especially on developing yourself or your passion or your vision or even developing teams certainly in leaders. John Maxwell has has a number of books that are out there. I mentioned him earlier, but when it comes to understanding I say understanding, but when it comes to just insightfulness on relationships and motivation for appreciating the uniqueness of of individuality.
Speaker 3:Bob Goff, his book Love Does and he's he's got another one that is escaping my my my mind right now. But Bob Goff is so good about helping to really bring relationships down to an individual appreciation level of of how what makes us different. So reading books. You you gotta do your research. Most definitely.
Speaker 3:Organizations, cold call leaders, re read books. I I'm gonna borrow a term I've heard you say before because I I love it, is godly stealing. I've heard you say that many, many times. But that whole idea of you don't have to reinvent the wheel. Right.
Speaker 3:Get good ideas. Get get seeds of potential from other people and build upon it or just just simply adopt it. If it works, then why not replicate it? That that there's few better forms of flattery than to adopt somebody's good idea or or or or good activity. So the whole idea of godly stealing.
Speaker 3:But but doing your research, you you know, you gotta know your your your why, your passion. You gotta understand all the intricacies that's gonna be needed from you on the operational side, but you're not in this alone.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:And it's that research component that helps you realize not only what's out there and what works and what you can adapt and adopt, but also that you're not alone. That there are people doing this that can not only help you in that exploratory stage, but they're gonna be there throughout your journey too as you're building your organization or or leading it a mentoring organization. You've built relationships from your your research or you've got books you can go back to and and and and, you know, mine from again in the future.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Ron. Like, I I got the idea for forerunner from a book by this guy named Paul Tough called Whatever It Takes. And so god really used that book to to kind of birth this in my heart. And so it's like, you never know when you invest in yourself through podcasts or through books what the Lord's gonna do in that. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Man, it's powerful. I mean, everything that we do here is because of something that I heard on a podcast, something that I picked up in a book, or something that I got by building relationships with other people. I mean, find out who's running good nonprofits in your area and just call them.
Speaker 3:Yep.
Speaker 2:Send them an email, pursue them, and just take them out to lunch. And before you go out to lunch, just prepare a little bit. And, hey, tell me tell me how you support your volunteers. Tell me how you fundraise. Hey.
Speaker 2:If if you had to go back and do it over again, tell me what you would change.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Right? And just seek their advice, seek their wisdom. And I I find whoever's doing good nonprofit work in my city, and I call them and I text them and I build a friendship with them, and I take them out to lunch every 6 months, every year. And I can tell you that I learned so much from those meetings, and that there's no way that we would be where we are today if it wasn't for that. I mean, we do 1 on 1 mentoring.
Speaker 2:Right? And I stole that from a nonprofit called Mercy Street down in West Dallas. We do after school programming. I stole that from, Voice of Hope down in South Dallas.
Speaker 3:Correct.
Speaker 2:We do single moms. I stole that from Hope Farm in Fort Worth. Mhmm. Right? How I run my meetings, I stole from a book called Eth by Meetings by Patrick Encione.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Our
Speaker 2:how I set our culture. I stole from culture of honor by Annie Silk. I mean, the advantage by Patrick Encioni. That's how I learned how to do a strategic plan. I mean, there are there are so many resources out there.
Speaker 2:And if you just take some time just to kinda invest into yourself and to learn, then you'd be amazed.
Speaker 3:Agreed completely. So And couple things I wanna highlight, if I may, from what you said, because I I agree completely, is when you are reaching out and talking to other leaders or other passionate professionals in in in mentoring in particular, yes, you know, ask them about what they do and why and kind of learn from their journey. But zeroing in on that question you said, if you had to do it over again, what would you do differently? That can really dig into the challenges that we all need to be aware of when we start a new journey or new life trajectory. And that that's a very key question.
Speaker 3:The other thing I would add too is I'm a I'm I'm a big believer in dreaming out loud. It's a fairly common term, you know, dream big and and that's good, but I'm not as interested in how big you dream. But I think there is great impact on dreaming out loud because when you share with other people a vision that has yet to transpire, it helps you refine and it helps spread the energy and the excitement. So it kind of goes right into that research component especially when you're talking to other leaders and people who share a common vision or passion. Don't be afraid to dream out loud.
Speaker 3:No matter how how different or or or an, you know, an unheard of it might be what what you're thinking, dream out loud and let that dream take seed or let it be reshaped or refined through the interaction with other people who share a common common vision.
Speaker 2:Well, that reminds me, Ron, of one of my one of my favorite verses. Habakkuk 2 23. And the Lord answered me, write the vision. Make it plain on tablets so he may run who reads it.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And it's like, okay. I've got this vision. This is crazy. This is this can't happen, but I'm gonna share it anyways. And not only am I gonna share it, but I'm I'm gonna put it on the wall.
Speaker 2:So every time I walk in, I am gonna see that vision, and I'm gonna be reminded of what God has for me.
Speaker 3:That's right.
Speaker 2:Even if it sounds crazy. And then here is the next part. For still the vision awaits its appointed time. So that might not happen yet, but just put it up there and just see what happens. It hastens to the end.
Speaker 2:It will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it. It will surely come. It will not delay.
Speaker 3:Zach, I love that.
Speaker 2:I just love that. Like, hey. I've got this crazy vision that I want every young man who doesn't have a father in our community to have a mentor. That's my vision. And it might not happen tomorrow.
Speaker 2:It might not happen next week. It might not happen next year. But, eventually, if I just keep at it, I believe that the Lord's gonna do something crazy. And then here's the next part. Behold, his soul is puffed up.
Speaker 2:It is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith. And so if I'm sitting here, like, I think God has given me this vision, and he who calls you is faithful. Right? God wants these kids to be loved more than you do. God wants these kids to be in relationship more than we do.
Speaker 2:He is for us. He isn't against us. So if if God gives you this vision and if you're humble enough to submit to him and to wait on his timing and to make it not about you, but all about him, then eventually, it's gonna happen. So
Speaker 3:Yeah. There's another favorite quote of mine that I think I've shared with you before too. But George Varna who's well known in the church world as well. He has said, if you want to have a lasting influence upon the world you must invest in people's lives. And if you want to maximize that investment then you must invest in those people while they're young.
Speaker 3:And that's what forerunner does and that's what so many of the organizations you and I are talking about today are doing and that's what to your your comment earlier there's a vision of a mentoring movement that more and more of those organizations pop up around the country to invest in people while they're young. I've heard it said many times and I I repeat it. There's no better way to invest your time than into another person.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, Ron. Alright, guys. Hey. So today we talked about how to start a nonprofit, how to build 1, how to operate, how to lead 1. Next up, we're gonna be talking about how to build a team.
Speaker 2:So if you guys tuned in today and you didn't take anything away from this podcast, take this one thing away. You can mentor. God can use you. You can, join. You can start.
Speaker 2:You can lead a mentoring program. You can invest into the life of a kid. God can and will use you to transform a life. You can mental.