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Leader Dogs for the Blind empowers people who are blind or visually impaired with the tools for safe and independent daily travel. Our goal is to educate, advocate, and share real life experiences of those with blindness. Come learn, laugh, and grow with us.
Christina: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Taking the Lead podcast where we empower people to be unstoppable. I'm Christina Hepner with my co-host Leslie Haskins in Timothy Kuo. Okay. We can't complain too much anymore because. It's warmer. It's happening. It's nicer. We're coming up on a holiday in
Leslie: a few weeks. I know. The warm weather feels so good.
Yeah, so good. It's just good for the soul. It really is. That vitamin D, you know, I just need the sun. Yeah. The sun and we know you haven't seen any. No, no. Tiffany and I, yeah. Leslie has not us. Oh, you're in Georgia. Knock it off. Right.
Christina: Okay. Tiffany's like, I go out every day in the winter and the sun is
Leslie: shining.
He's like, it's weird not to have sun.
Timothy: I went on that cruise in February, so yeah, I got
Katherine: sunburg, remember?
Christina: Oh yeah. And I was up here freezer burnt, remember? Yeah, freezer
Katherine: [00:01:00] burnt.
Christina: Do you know how many people they have? Like in my family said that to me and Johnny says it like, Every day. I swear, anytime he can find to say something or he pulls something out of the freezer, it's so annoying.
I
Leslie: think it's great. I love it. Sometimes
Christina: I'm like, why do
Leslie: I say the things I say? That was all around the same time that he won the, uh, the 5k. He did not win the 5k. Oh, he just beat you. If you guys
Christina: are new to listening, Johnny is my boyfriend and we did a 5K for Lit Dog in January and he, Christina, he did not beat me.
He just walked into the firehouse before I did. Well
Leslie: we didn't tell Christina, but that was the official finish line. Yeah. Okay.
Christina: But until lighter note, because we're not in winner. Yes it is. Beautiful album. Yeah, it's May. It's great.
Leslie: What are, okay, so we know Memorial day's coming up. What's everybody doing?
What do we, what do we got going on? Big plan. I
Christina: don't know. I know I'm going
Leslie: out of town. Oh my goodness. She's just beaming. She's got a big old smile on her face right now. I know my dog.
Christina: I [00:02:00] know my dog. Duke can come with, but I don't know where or what. Okay. Who's
Leslie: surprising you? Johnny. Okay. And we don't know, like did he give you clues?
Like what to pack? Are you gonna go be gone weekend?
Christina: He's gonna, yeah. So I took Friday off of work. Oh my gosh, you guys, I took a day off work outta you. Um, and then we're coming back Monday, so, um, yeah, I am being told like items I need to pack, such as,
Leslie: I dunno. Let's try to guess.
Christina: Um, I'm gonna get some warm weather clothes.
I'm gonna guess a jacket for the
Leslie: evenings. Do you have to wear, like bring like a dressy outfit or is it super cash? I
Christina: don't know. Well, I don't really know.
Katherine: Hmm. Okay.
Leslie: Your passport, we'll be intrigued. We'll be checking it. Oh, do you need your passport? No. If Duke's coming. Okay. That's a good point. The dog, the dog's coming.
Yeah. So it's gotta be drivable
Christina: distance. Yeah, but there's a lot of places in drivable distance, so, oh
Leslie: my goodness, Timothy, look, we're gonna be on the edge of our [00:03:00] seats. I know. So
Christina: excited. You're gonna have to wait even longer. I have to wait so long. Oh, I've known about
Leslie: this for like, Two months. And how have you not told us?
That's surprising. I don't know. You know, there's, she's keeping secrets. Timothy, I'm not keeping secret. I know that's not fair. This hurts. I'm trying not to
Christina: think about it because I don't know what's happening. I did tell no. I was like, I really am gonna need to know what to pack because like if I am not prepared.
I'm not gonna be happy.
Leslie: Christina's gonna have 10 suitcases.
Katherine: I don't how you sleep at tonight. I
Leslie: already don't. Right. What about you, Timothy? Any exciting mystery plans for you? Uh, no.
Timothy: Memorial Day we are headed to the lake and I will be camping by a lake for the entire week. Nice.
Leslie: Oh, oh that is nice.
Katherine: That is
Timothy: bla will get the play in the lake and I'll.
Put on my bathing suit, get outta the lake and float on there and drink me a cold Pepsi or something like that. And just have a good time and get
Katherine: sunburn some more.
Leslie: So that sounds [00:04:00] relaxing. Sounds lovely. Yeah. I'll be heading to Holland, Michigan. Maybe I'll see you there, Christina. No. Yeah, who knows? Might be there.
Uh, my cousin is getting married. Aww. Yeah, I'm super excited and my dad is officiating, which always makes it really fun. Yay. Um, but I love seeing my cousins. Brad and Span. Yeah. I'm super excited. I can't wait. And, uh, it's so fun. It's a kid free weekend too. Oh, that's
Katherine: super bummed. It always
Christina: nice. Oh wow.
Yeah. Always nice when you can get the family together and see people you haven't seen in a while and you don't have
Leslie: to chase around your kids. No, I'm delighted. It'll be a lot of fun. And I'm, I'm super excited for their wedding. They're a lovely couple. Very happy for them. Well, congratulations.
Christina: Yes. Early.
Leslie: Congratulations. Yes, the Caroline Wedding. Oh, it's like the Catalina wine mixer. So it's funny enough, real quick. I know we need to get moving, but, uh, my parents host like a big party every summer and we call it the Catalina mixer. There you go. There's like a sign and everything. It's a whole thing. I'll have to talk about that another [00:05:00] day.
But, uh, yeah, we do have a, a Catalina mixer, so. Anyways, enough about us. Uh, we'll keep everybody updated on all these life events happening, but we are super excited today because our guest is a leader, dog team member, and one personally I'm super excited to learn more about. Yes,
Christina: Katherine Tuck is the Director of Foundation giving.
She joined Leader Dogs for the Blind in 2011, and throughout her career, she has won numerous, numerous awards, including Oakland County Executive Elite 40, under 40, and named NextGen Fellow by Exponent. Phil.
Timothy: Welcome to the podcast, Catherine, and let's just jump right into the pool. What brought you to Leader Dog?
Katherine: Thank you for having me here. Uh, I'll tell you Timothy, it was not intentional. I had moved. I had moved and, and, and this is, you know, anybody who applies to Leader Dog has met someone or was a previous volunteer or worked in another capacity of our organization. I had actually just moved back from DC working as a grant maker for the State [00:06:00] Justice Institute.
Uh, we gave out about 3 million in pursuit. Of our mission in operations, and it was a quasi confederal, which meant we were funded through appropriations, but we were our own nonprofit organization. Um, so when I moved back here, my husband was in the midst of having back surgery that was gonna just be life-changing for him.
And uh, I looked at this job description for Leader Dogs for the Blind, and I said, I. All of these things, which would not normally be my, my way of a fight. Yeah. I would normally say I can do three of 10, I'm good to go. Um, but it was interesting because I mentioned it to my dad and my dad was born in 1938, lived most of his life in Troy before he met my mother.
And uh, he said, I remember leader dog growing up, up. And so I thought it was the most interesting thing, and as I was going through the interview and, and they were bringing Sue in, and it was Karen Bracy and Melissa was, and I was, I thought, oh, maybe this is getting more serious than I actually thought.[00:07:00]
Um, but I will tell you, I was hired Timothy as a. Full-time remote employee. Uh, so they didn't really have expectations of how often I would come into the office. Um, so I've been doing this whole work from home since the very beginning, and it's just a real lifestyle match for me, a philosophical match for me, and I'm so excited to be doing what I do here.
That's insane.
Leslie: I love hearing how people get involved with Leader Dog. Yeah. Cuz it's always so interesting and never what you expect, I feel like. Um, but can you tell us a a little bit more about your role? What specifically do you do? Because I'm fascinated by it. I feel like you guys use so many big words.
You work with so many different like constituents and it's. It's overwhelming. A little bit maybe. Yeah. But I would love to hear, you know, a small breakdown with small words for us, small words. Sure. I'm just always so impressed by everything Catherine does. Honestly, her whole team. It's
Katherine: incredible. I love hearing that my, my team is impressive to me too.
Yeah. So that's really [00:08:00] important, Leslie. Um, we are data heavy and we aren't gonna employ those skills for this chat today that Thank you. That is not necessary. Uh, so foundation giving really works within, in, in the Leader dog. Landscape, which is different maybe than other organizations. But here at Leader Dog we work with foundations, funds, and trusts.
There's several different types of foundations. There's several different types of trusts, and then there's also many different types of foundations, oh my God, that, that are, have their own fund. Uh, so community foundations have several different funds under them. Some are donor-advised funds, some are permanent endowed funds.
Um, and we run the gamut of all of those different, uh, sources of funding. But at its. And I, I think this is really important. It's a relational task. Um, so when you're navigating, uh, I think the grant application process, it can, it can feel very much like, how is my writing going? Do I have enough data? Is this business case or this proposal, uh, succinct [00:09:00] enough or in depth enough?
But really it's a relational task and, and you're, you're engaging a donor. Finding the perfect match, right? Mm-hmm. So if any of us watch reality television, um, we know that matching up between two people is going to make the couple go further. Yeah. And that's the same, the same thing for the foundation and the nonprofit.
It really is, you have to find that match. Are you helping that foundation accomplish in the real world exactly what they set out with these funds to do? Yeah. Uh, and that is why a lot of times people will ask me, Who's your biggest donor? And, and that's not a really relevant question to us because I can't name you many foundations that a lot of other people have heard about.
Yeah. We'll talk about one a little bit later on. Um, but the vast majority of our, we don't get the Google money Melinda Gates. Their foundation is not supporting Leader Dog. Mm-hmm. Um, what's most important is that we're a really good match for the foundations that [00:10:00] we, we engage with. And I think that should be probably true of everything you've heard from my colleagues when you've talked about donors.
Right? Uh, I is, is this the thing that speaks to that donor the most?
Christina: Yeah. That is so, Interesting. I love that. It's such a good way to explain it. Um, and kind of bring it down to our level of our
Leslie: understanding. Hit the nail on the head with the reality tv. Yes. Literally
Christina: Eyes beam. She's get it. Oh, okay. So it's like love is blind.
Yeah.
Leslie: It's more Than Love
Katherine: is blind than Mary. At first, I wanna say that I feel like all of the a. That can come to bear, still won't prove you're a good match for them. That's,
Leslie: I'm done. Well, and I
Christina: guess my question is, how do you find these foundations that are a good match? Do they come to us? Do you go to them?
How does that all work?
Katherine: So that's really interesting that you would ask that because, uh, we do, we have both. We're always prospecting and we prospect within our book of business. That means foundations that maybe made a casual donation [00:11:00] to us, um, or a donation just because they received a mailer, uh, from us.
So we're always looking at those foundations and saying, do they have greater interest? Is their mission very similar to us or was this a one-off gift? And then we're looking at foundations from a research and data perspective. So we have a number of databases that we use, uh, that help us know some statistics and some information.
Uh, they help us really pinpoint that. But then do foundations just walk in our door and they absolutely. They absolutely do. And a really great example of this is the, the DOL Halleran Foundation, uh, Mary p dol, Halleran. Uh, so her foundation is one where they had a local representative, uh, Tom Quinn called me up, said, I represent this foundation in this community.
I am not in a west. Based, and I do have a story about how I, I'm related to this person in a, in a way, and [00:12:00] I have a career change doc. I think there's more we could do together, and that is exactly how he walked through my door and I introduced him to Rod Handline. I think he was. Sold at that point. Cause you know how Rod is, right?
Every, everybody who's on the call probably knows Rod. Um, but maybe our listeners don't. He's just genuinely one of the most engaging people. And he wrote one of our first grants, uh, for the Leader dog organization way, way, way back in the day. I didn't know that. Yeah, he did. And so he can. Speak their language too, which was really important as a partnership to have on the programs and services side for me here.
And so he, he came in and they s they've supported a number of things. They've been integral with our college bound program, and they were looking for something different. And they just love that you guys do this podcast. It's a great way to, to kind of, I think what their focus was because Mary is a very accomplished mathematician.
Mm. She taught, I mean, just generations of [00:13:00] people, how to teach math at the, at the secondary level, um, and beyond. And in chances are good if you were, uh, high school or, uh, you know, pre-high school, maybe junior high, uh, algebra student in the 1980s or nineties. You actually learned math through one of her texts.
Um, so That's crazy. They hear, yeah. They hear a lot about getting this word out, um, about engaging new learners. What better way than our podcast to engage people in what we do as a mission, and
Christina: we are so thankful that they are sponsoring the season Yes. Of the podcast. It's awesome to hear why, um, people do what they do, why they sponsor, why they donate.
It's, I love hearing those stories and,
Katherine: and I love bringing them to you. Well, Catherine, I hope I can
Timothy: ask, ask this question, but how many foundations support leader.
Katherine: That's a really good question. So I'll, I'll speak to my book of business because there are some other foundations that have, uh, reaches into [00:14:00] lions because they're lions specific.
Um, or a major donor uses their personal foundation to, to give money. So I'll speak to our book. This book of business is, uh, relies on about 60 to 80 foundations every year to make our one to 1.5 million goal. Uh, so it. There are some hefty gifts out there if you do the math on all of that. Uh, because we have some foundations that give as much as they can, and that's a thousand dollars.
Mm-hmm. And then we have foundations out there giving us 3 50, 300. Uh, so it, it's just really, uh, a vibrant book. Built on a lot of relationships that aren't, um, they aren't just one note, they're calibrated to exactly, uh, where that donor is, what they need from us. Um, not just on the proposal side, but once the proposal is funded, do they need a lot of information?
Are they looking for one report annually? Are they the kind who need to come on site and visit [00:15:00] campus? Which is a real challenge for us during Covid, but at the same time, we've seen a lot of people. Successfully engaged with remote opportunities and now they've already visited campus. They're more interested in chatting with a puppy razor or those kinds of things.
So, so we're really looking Timothy to, to find those foundations, um, within that pool that, that can do something for us each year, even if it's not the same amount. Now we do. Foundations within that group, uh, that only grant every 18 months or every two years, and we just try to keep them on cycle with what speaks to them.
That is
Christina: awesome hear and I know there's a foundation that I've worked personally very close with, uh, Catherine, and they've had a lot to do with our puppy raising the Gary Sinisa Foundation. I know a lot of our constituents see it all over our social media as well. Can you tell us kind of how that came to be?
Gary Sinis is [00:16:00] such a big name. Um, if you have not seen Forest Gump, Is it Lieutenant Dan in that movie? So, um, how did that relationship happen? Um, and they are sponsoring seven of our future leader dogs, which is super cool.
Katherine: Yeah, Gary Sice is just very obviously inspired by helping first responders and, uh, our veterans, um, live life fully and independently, which has a lot of multipliers to the work that we do.
Mm-hmm. And is kind of just a natural fit when you think about it, but this is one of those really good opportunities. For us to say that when you're thinking about, am I a philanthropist? Um, introducing people and having connections and ties is one of the least valued aspects of philanthropy, but it's one of the most critical, and it was actually Melissa, we, who introduced us as an organization leader, dogs for the Blind, to the Gary Sinise Foundation through a contact that she had.
And I always say that [00:17:00] Melissa is probably one of the most relational people I've ever met, and this is just one of those prime examples. I love that they're raising chief for us. Uh, so they, they must be natural dog lovers. Out there is probably one person who's listening to the podcast saying, but I also love cats, and that's fine.
We love cats too. Uh, When you're looking at, um, how we can change and, and kind of actually deliver on what it is they set out to do because they, they are not just a foundation that gives out, they fundraise for their donor dollars too. Yeah. Um, so that's a unique model in, in foundations as well. Not all foundations do that.
A lot of them are perpetuity or spend down, uh, or are community based donor advice spots. So, um, we have a relationship that I. Helps bring to the forefront exactly what it's like to be a first responder or a veteran, uh, who at some point in time maybe [00:18:00] became low vision or lost their their sight, uh, but now are navigating through with a dog, with a cane, whatever the implement is, however it works for them.
Um, and those are not always services that are covered through other systems of care, which I think is another thing. Spoke to the Gary Sinese Foundation, but, uh, in a lot of ways they just make good sense for us. Uh, Gary is obviously well known and well liked. Um, we are a clean brand and uh, that's something that not all nonprofits can say.
So, um, it's, it's good to have it out there and, and be familiar with who it is, your funding, if you're a philanthropist, um, or even just a donor. Uh, so we look at our charity navigator, we, you know, we have good ratings as America's best charity. Um, and all of those things speak to our donors too.
Leslie: Yeah. And I love too, like this connection, you know, between us and the Gary Sin Foundation is really helping both, right.
Like it's a win-win. Like you [00:19:00] had mentioned. Finding your match and what they, what speaks to them so that it's equally beneficial. And this really has been one of those relationships where we're broadening our audiences on both sides. Um, so I'm really curious because I, I think this is all so fascinating and interesting.
So, you know, you made this, um, connection or met, you know, with the relationship that Melissa Weiss kind of introduced you. So what happens then? Like, how do we apply for a foundation? What is it? Asking for and how do we produce that, I guess.
Katherine: Yeah. And I wish there was one canned response. Good answer.
Wouldn't that be simple? Um, but there is not. So every, every foundation that we worked with funder trust, um, they all have their own application deadlines and procedures. And some of those look like once a year and some of those look monthly and others are quarterly. Uh, so we have to first look at what they need in terms of details.
I will tell you, Gary Sneeze, their [00:20:00] foundation, uh, said that we put in one of the most comprehensive applications and they just really were used to that kind of level. That's a wonderful pat on my back. Yeah. And my team's back. I. Hearing that, but at the same time, I know that what we're doing, um, really needs to, to meet where that donor is.
And sometimes that donor is that I want a letter, I want you to request from me this amount of money, or the amount of money you need for this project. And then I wanna know exactly when you're gonna report to me. And so sometimes that's an application. Hmm. Uh, other times applications are, I'm telling you, Put in 75 page applications, uh, for a $25,000 grant.
Happy to do it. But they want every detail. They wanna know who's on our board. They want our bylaws, they want our 5 0 1 designation letter. Uh, so each application can look a little bit different. In the Gary Sinise Foundation case, we went back and forth over what they needed. Mm-hmm. And what they wanted, um, and what was just simply too much [00:21:00] or unnecessary.
Uh, and then we agreed on an amount in the deliver. And Christina was so, so wonderful to be part of that first part. Uh, and now we're carrying forward with all of those, uh, puppies that we're raising on behalf of the Gary Smith Foundation. So it's just not one fit. If you looked at five foundations, you'd probably find four different application models.
And, um, they have done a number of work nationally and within Michigan to do a combined application, um, or a simplified model. And it never gains traction. It really just doesn't, uh, because everybody wants to ask a different question. Yeah. And that's just human nature, right.
Leslie: Yeah, that makes sense though, right?
Because they're looking specifically for what is gonna match best with them. And so your team, can you tell us a little bit about your team? Because you have an extraordinary team and you guys are all kind of working together on these, or does everybody take their own kind of, [00:22:00] um, foundation or grant and things and work on those specifically, or, or is it kind of like a group project most times?
Katherine: Yeah, we're a scrappy little team of three people. These are killing it. Two and a half employees, I guess technically if you were doing the part-time, full-time equivalencies. Right. Uh, but yeah, we all do have assignments within the book. Uh, so Rebecca, we haskin, she is our grant manager. She has natural port.
Folio. Some of those are transitioned over from me. Some of those are new recruits on her part. Uh, some of those are assigned because they hadn't had touches recently or they had, and they needed a lot more. Uh, and she's new to our organization, but she has a long history of working within grantsmanship.
Uh, specifically with, um, populations that were older, and as you know, we have a low incidence population. It, it's different the way you speak about people, um, at different points in their life. Uh, I'll be honest with you, foundations, uh, [00:23:00] do often fund what they see is, is very pressing, and so that can be disaster.
Um, that can be community buildup. Youth youth are obviously highly prized as a, as a way to, um, tr direct your funds that have a trajectory to improve that person's life. But sometimes we don't think about different, um, Diseases or, or facets of life, like being an older American. Uh, and so she came to us with a ready set skill.
Uh, and she was, she was just eager and is still eager, which I love about her. And then we have Connie, and Connie has been with me. For, oh, better part of a decade. Uh, which is it, it's just wonderful because Connie and I think we, uh, come from two totally different worldviews, but we work so very well together.
She had a, a long history of working, um, with the automotive and with Grantsmanship, uh, on a couple of different sides, and she's highly [00:24:00] educated, but she's also in that kind of phase of like retirement employment. So even when I was pregnant, Now Connie twice, she refused to take on more hours. She's like, no, we can have someone else do that.
I'm good with my set of set boundaries, responsibilities. Yeah. Hey, you know what? I applaud that. I applaud you saying these are my boundaries. Yeah. And you're stuck into 'em. Um, but the one thing she. Is, is so flexible and you have to be in this environment because you just don't know when a donor is gonna call you up for the first time and say, I just heard about your organization from my friend.
They're a puppy razor. I run a foundation, I sit on the board and our grant deadline is next Friday. Can you get us an application? I mean, this stuff does happen and Connie is the boots on the ground. It makes so much sense to me, um, that she's like this very diligent, caring person because if there's anything you need, go to Connie.
I, I, I'm telling [00:25:00] you, um, she knows it all and, and she knows where to find it if she doesn't, which is, I mean, just the greatest trait you can have in this business because people are constantly asking us for things you wouldn't think about. Just wouldn't even think about it. I think that's
Leslie: great and you guys do such a good job of always wanting to learn more.
I feel like I see the three of you in every aspect or. Reaching out to inquire about something and ask questions and get the stats and whatnot when you're applying for these different foundations and grants. And I think that's amazing and you've built great relationships within the organization. Um, so real quick, cuz I, we're already at the end, I have a million more questions, but I'm just curious, like, what would your advice be for anybody who's kind of starting out in this career?
Um, there's, it seems like there's so much to learn and, and like you said, those relationships to build. What would your biggest advice be, I guess.
Katherine: I would say to lead with, with the belief aspect, especially if you wanna be a nonprofit, um, or work with philanthropy, [00:26:00] I just have this deep down belief that we're all connected.
Whether or not we like each other, that's a totally different thing. Um, we're all connected and if something is good or empowers another person and it's in our ability to. Do it. Uh, that, that philosophy has taken me quite far in my career, and I think it would help another person, um, because most of the time you're never gonna get rich being in nonprofit work.
Mm-hmm. And, and especially, um, working with high net worth individuals, if you are the least bit jealous of, of the opportunities that someone else has been afforded, or if you could have been an mba. Excited to go get your msw and now you're wondering what life is like on the other side. You're going to run into, um, that aspect.
So, uh, definitely have this as your calling. I love
Leslie: that. And I think that's so true for so many nonprofits. In other words, like you have to believe in it, right? You have to have that passion. It just helps and it makes things so much easier. Yes. Yes. For sure. [00:27:00] Well, thank you Catherine, for joining us today.
We truly appreciate it and I have learned
Katherine: so much. I'm glad I, I hope it was enlightening and I hope I didn't use any words that now we're going to the s for No,
Leslie: no, I think you broke it down very nicely and I certainly appreciate that cuz there, there's just so many pieces to it and I'm always a little overwhelmed, but I think it's so beautiful, nice and concise.
Christina: Yeah, and usually I'm overwhelmed with Leslie's words. So simple the better for me over here.
Katherine: Thank you for having me today. Yeah. Greatly appreciate it.
Leslie: Yes, and thank you so much to our listeners for listening to the Taking the Lead podcast. I'm Leslie Hoskins with host Timothy cuo and Christina Heppner.
We hope you enjoyed learning about Catherine and all of the work her and her team are doing for Leader Dog. Please join us next week as we continue to dive into the world of blind. If you'd like to
Christina: learn more about applying to wear free services at Leader Dog, you can head to leader dog.org or call us at (888) 777-5332.[00:28:00]
And don't forget, you can reach us at taking the lead@leaderdog.org with any questions or ideas. If you'd like today's podcast, make sure to hit subscribe and check us out wherever podcast. This season of the Taking the Lead podcast is brought to you by a longtime supporter of Leader Dog, the Mary p DOL Halleran Foundation.
Leslie: As you may know, generous donors like this one make it possible to achieve our mission. The
Christina: Mary p Dani Halleran Foundation supports the study of mathematics and mathematics
Leslie: education. For more information about our generous sponsor, visit their website at www dot dol chi halloran foundation dot.