Megan: Thank you guys so much for tuning in today. I’m super pumped about this particular interview and I have not told you this by the way. So we are joined with Melissa Thompson, who is the CEO and president of the Community Foundation. Truly a pillar and backbone of our community in so many ways. But I’m blown away that you and I are so much in the same circles.
Megan: And we only just met just a few months ago and I was so glad that I sat next to you Eight Street community dinner, phenomenal event. Great organization. I love that organization. But you are someone, as I was telling you offline before, who I was like, I need to get to know her.
Megan: And I’ve just admired you so much from afar and have. I’ve heard so many amazing things about the Community Foundation from so many people. And you have been such a catalyst behind the scenes, just running point on things. So I am so glad that we are having this conversation. Me too, because I,
Melissa: Kind of the same thing. I’ve been admiring the sidelines. So, love what you guys are doing.
Megan: Thank you so much. Yes. It’s a lot of fun. And the She Boss, in particular, is a really great avenue for us. just to take a slightly different approach to showcasing just amazing women in our community. And anytime we can use our company as a vehicle for that, like all about it.
Megan: Yes. All about it. So let’s just talk a little bit about you. I have obviously done a lot of research on you and I appreciate you giving us all of your feedback and through just initial. You know the survey and things like that, but I was fascinated to learn that you are you went to law school And you’re actually a lawyer by trade and graduated like top 10 percent of your class. Which is I can only imagine the skills that has equipped you for in the role that you play now
Melissa: So it’s definitely one of those things. I you know, I don’t practice law currently, but that kind of background has just been so helpful for us as we deal with donors. And so it’s one of those kind of weird stories a little bit.
Melissa: I grew up and I said, I’m going to be a lawyer. I had no lawyers in the family. I didn’t know, I didn’t know lawyers firsthand. So I just decided though, I was going to do this. And then, which is weird. It could have gone so many other ways, but,
Megan: Is it because maybe you were the oldest of seven?
Melissa: And in fact, my my mom had told me, because I was always in charge of babysitting, and so my mom had told me one time, she said, your sister, and my brothers called me Missy growing up, and they were like, she’s Missy’s in charge if I’m not around, and I ate that up.
Melissa: And whenever I first got married, my husband said, don’t. Just for the record, I am not one of your brothers. I don’t have to obey you. And
Megan: Let’s just set some ground rules, right? Exactly. It was fun. That is fun. What was it like growing up with six siblings?
Melissa: It was good. It was bad.
Melissa: It was hard. It was lovely. My mom very much family. And our family had Some circumstances as all families do where things weren’t always easy. There was a spell for when my dad had left home. My mom was a single mom at that point raising four kids and so she took on three jobs literally.
Melissa: So I had a strong woman, role model in my life. And so I just, I did what I needed to do to help the family out. And so I think it was probably during those periods of my life that sort of catalyzed this. I needed to make sure I was able to take care of myself should I ever need to.
Melissa: I love that. What
Megan: were, is your mom still around
Melissa: today? She is not. She actually, she was a school teacher for 50 years and literally, unfortunately the day after she retired, she had surgery for cancer and never really. Enjoyed her retirement. So lessons learned on don’t wait, don’t put off the important things in life.
Melissa: And as my friend John Allen says, never assume the luxury of time. And I think my mom modeled that in a, not so much a good way, but she wanted to hit that 50 year mark.
Megan: Yeah, that’s it.
Melissa: That is amazing. It was amazing. Just the impact that she had on so many generations of students, future teachers.
Melissa: It just, her legacy was amazing. Yeah. Was that in Georgia? It was. That’s where she retired. Okay. Yeah, so it was, our family was just fun, it sounds like it. Lots of people. And then I married an only child, which was different. That’s why he’s setting the
Megan: ground
Melissa: rules.
Melissa: He’s let’s just
Megan: get this straight right off the bat. Yeah. Exactly. That’s too funny. I come from two, both my mom and my dad. I’ve got six and five on both sides. So our family get togethers are just so many people. I was going to say you get a huge, right? And like Christmas time and holidays, you’re up talking all night long with every, and yeah.
Megan: when you, and I previously not now, but previously was married to someone who that was, it was like polar opposite of that. And so I, it was like a bull in a China shop, where you’re just like, you’re just not, when you’re not used to that family dynamic, it can be a little bit of an adjustment, but in fun
Melissa: ways, my parents were both one of seven.
Melissa: So when all the cousins get together, it was just. It’s chaos. And so I just remember, this is my best time, so we’re at my grandparents house getting a pallet, which anyone in a big family knows what that is, it’s, you just put a blanket on the floor and call it, you’re sleeping here. And so it’s the details didn’t matter and I think that was, That’s what was important to me, like the family was what mattered.
Megan: Yeah. I
Melissa: love that.
Megan: And that’s, I think sometimes that can get lost these days. It absolutely can. Whether it be just through social distraction or peer pressure or just societal changes that have unfolded. Not to get cheesy, but it’s you yearn for some of those traditional times when some of these things are not the priority anymore, it’s hard to get that through to your kids sometimes, but, anyways, yeah, that’s interesting. That is fun. Yeah. So you and your husband met and blind date, yes, which I love so much. And did you know on day one that he was the one? So we just
Melissa: were so comfortable with each other. This is just a funny because my, my.
Melissa: Grandmother was definitely old school. My grandmother, my dad’s side, and she knew I was going to go to law school and she told my dad, she said, this is a bad idea because she will never met, meet a husband. So I don’t know. I think she just thought I was going to get, into my twenties and not be married.
Melissa: And yeah, so I think the whole family was looking out for me cause I was just. I just was doing my own thing. I wasn’t really that worried about dating and that sort of thing. And so I think that was part of it too. And so my aunt set us up on a blind date. It was my dad’s sister. I was like, okay, I’m going to intervene in this situation.
Melissa: And so my husband was at Georgia Tech at the time. And so we lived way out Northeast Atlanta, which seemed like a long way back then. Now it’s nothing. And so we met and just really got along well. And so just continue to talk and just. I think that all of us enjoyed each others company.
Melissa: We’re more alike than different and just had fun. I don’t know that it, I don’t think either of us would have said right then was like the one. But it was comfortable from day one.
Megan: Yeah,
Melissa: and
Megan: that’s super important. My mom always told me that you, the person that you marry, you want them to be your best friend first before they become your, that because eventually certain things will run out within a marriage and if you can’t be, in that uncomfortable silence for an extended period of time without, That’s going to surface in some other ways down the road, so I think that’s so important.
Melissa: So 36 years later, we are, yeah, we’re doing 36 years. Congratulations!
Megan: That’s awesome. Any big plans for your 40th? Oh, no.
Melissa: We have certain places we love. We lived in Arizona for a while. We try to get back to Sedona once a year and Hilton Head is our favorite East Coast place. So probably something like that.
Megan: Yeah, that’s fun. That sounds fun. And you guys have one son, Sam. One son, Sam. Who so I was blown away to learn about him and he sounds like, Such a, an impressive young man, but holds a Guinness World Record for it, which I was like, it was so random. But it’s so cool. So he is like a mathematician. He loves math.
Megan: He’s good at
Melissa: math. And so in eighth grade, he was on this And so that took us to Washington, D. C. For the competition. And it was just fun to be around other kids who loved math. And then it was Raytheon Math Counts. And so they ended up doing this Guinness World Record. It’s a human Pascal’s Triangle.
Melissa: And they hit the record time. Again, so random, but it’s awesome. So he was part of that and you would get a number and you had to place yourself in the Pascal’s triangle. So it had many layers and anyway, so it’s fun to watch. They got the record. They had the little Guinness guy with his timer and all it was just so and I looked and it’s like still holding because who else is going to do this?
Melissa: I don’t know.
Megan: That is so awesome though. And I have an 11 year old son and the girls know he’s a little bit of a Renaissance man. Every day is some new business thing. He’s so today I’m gonna, do it anyways. And he just cracks me up. And so we were talking about this over breakfast this morning about what the Pascal’s triangle was.
Megan: And I am not a numbers person. I’m not a math person, but it was pretty fascinating. And he was like, and he goes to mathnasium and does math tutoring. And so he’s, Fortunately, he started to find this love of math, which I really appreciate and, sometimes that just gets lost on some kids, so I just, I love to hear that and just love to hear what, so what’s he, any idea what he wants to do?
Megan: He’s he’s
Melissa: an analyst. in town. So he’s 26 years old. He works for a local defense contractor. And so he’s able to put those math skills in action now. And it’s just fun to watch our kids blossom. And I think that was one of the things I’m glad I did early on. He had an interest in math.
Melissa: And so my husband and I were both kind of part of math teams and encouraged that. And just to be able to figure out like what’s important to him was important to us. And and then now to be able to see him. Using that for a career path that he really loves and my husband I both he told us one time He said, mom because my husband’s got like a PhD I’ve got a law degree goes, it’s hard to be your kid And so I’m like big shoes to fill and so but I think we you know But he also recognizes that we’ve tried to let him live his own life.
Melissa: Yeah, and not put our Superimpose our thing on him. And so I think that’s one thing we’ve done pretty well. Wow.
Megan: That’s awesome. That is awesome. And it’s great that he’s here too. He is. He’s left
Melissa: behind his own house. And we’re moving to his own house next year. That’s exciting. That is so exciting. our
Megan: kids grow up.
Megan: Yeah. And what a great place for them to do it’s such a great community here. It is. It is. You have had this beautiful career. And, and then when you guys moved to Huntsville, you Got engaged with the community foundation. I
Melissa: did. And
Megan: what a, and for those that don’t know what the community foundation is, I’m sure most people do, but just talk a little bit about it.
Megan: Of
Melissa: course I love to, I just love the work we get to do every day. We are unapologetically donor focused. So lots of donors, people who have resources, they get bombarded sometimes with all of this great opportunities to invest in our community, but not many people are sitting on the side of the donor to say, what do you want to do?
Melissa: What difference do you want to make with your? financial resources and that’s where we come in and so we really help donors with their generosity plans whether it’s personally or with their families or being able to help them navigate what can sometimes be Overwhelming amount of choices and so we try to make it easy for donors to be generous And so our mission is to mobilize generosity and so We’re about 16 years old as an organization.
Melissa: And in that amount of time, we’ve raised over 125 million in charitable contributions. So it’s just, we get to work with the most amazing people in this community and just really helping them with their generosity. And so what was the,
Megan: If you don’t mind me asking, what was the inception to start the community foundation?
Megan: Like what was started with
Melissa: an idea? and some donors. And so it, it grew out of some conversations. We had someone who was part of the early phase of the Community Foundation who came and said, They have this in other communities. Why don’t we have this in Huntsville? Interestingly enough, Huntsville was behind the curve, and we never hear that.
Melissa: In this particular area. So we were the 13th Community Foundation in the state of Alabama. And but, so some folks came up with an idea and then they approached Joe and Pam Alexander, who are our founding benefactors, to say, Hey, we’ve got this idea, but we need some resources to provide staff so someone can wake up every day and think about this.
Melissa: And so they made an initial donation and they were able to hire part time staff. And that was 16 years ago. And it’s just snowballed. It’s crazy the amount of Good that’s been able to happen as a result of that initial investment. So it’s a reminder too that sometimes It takes that pioneer who’s willing to put the money in and get things started.
Melissa: This would not have happened without their initiative, without their initial
Megan: investment. That’s amazing. And I, you’ve been here since 2004, I’ve been here since 2005, and just seeing the amount of growth and maturity and development and economic. just explosion that has unfolded, how has the Community Foundation aligned the needs that you guys meet with the growing needs of the community?
Melissa: So I think that’s one of the things that makes our community so unique is most of us didn’t come from here. And so there’s over 50 percent of us were born outside of the state of Alabama. So we came here, we fell in love with this community, and now we want to pay it forward. And so that’s a lot of the folks that we deal with is.
Melissa: This community has been part of their own success story, so then they now feel this need, this desire to give back. And a lot of our folks are just, they see it, this is a pay it forward. And that’s how they’re investing back in the community. There’s just so many stories about people who have been successful here.
Melissa: And then who now turn around and use their resources to support others.
Megan: Yeah. What are some of the big just shifts that you’ve seen in our community that you guys have had to adapt to over time? Yeah,
Melissa: I think, common stories of local companies that grow up here. Are successful and then sometimes they’ll sell to another company or they’ll merge or some so that’s created some interesting Dynamics where you know, it’s shifting in this community I was talking to one of our donors who was talking about, you know There’s this first phase of community growth and then now we’re on 2.
Melissa: 0 on some of these Smaller companies who are now growing and who are going to be the next torch Dynetics some of those kind of local success stories and so But I love the fact that it just continues to, step up into that next level.
Megan: Yeah. Yeah. And the non profits that, talk a little bit about the organizations that you guys support and a little bit how that is structured.
Megan: A lot of folks
Melissa: don’t realize how many non profits are in this community doing good work roots on the ground. There’s so many. So many.
Megan: So many. And
Melissa: so our five county area is Jackson, Limestone, Madison, Marshall, and Morgan counties. So it’s basically Madison County and the adjacent Alabama counties.
Melissa: There are over 3, 000 non profits. In that five county footprint. Oh
Megan: my
Melissa: goodness. It’s people don’t understand quite how much good it is. Wow, spanning everything. Everything. And so I think that’s one of the things that makes the Community Foundation different too, is that we are not necessarily one specific issue, we are the whole community.
Melissa: Community quality of life. So basic needs, education, economic opportunity, environment, health and wellness, arts and culture, recreation, neighborhoods and communities. It’s all of it. And so whenever someone works with us, they can support any of the causes that we care about. So last year we had we raised like over 20 million just last year alone, and we supported over 600 different nonprofits with grants from our donors.
Melissa: It’s just, really good things that are happening, and it’s really the whole gamut.
Megan: Yeah, so how do you determine out of those 3, 000 that those 600 are going to receive grants? Like, how do you, what’s that selection process look like? Yeah, so a
Melissa: lot of it, about half of our funds are donor advised funds, which means the donor is going to advise the grants.
Melissa: So they’re going to give to their churches or their favorite causes. Any number of things. The non profits who are sending out mailings this time of year in December that say, hey, these are the things we want to accomplish. Our donors are receiving those. And our donors have been turning around and using their funds that are at the Community Foundation as ready resource dollars.
Melissa: to push out to these non profits. But then we also have grants that we’re managing where it’s, we’re, it’s the difference we’re trying to make in the world. So it could be education, and we’re going to solicit grant applications. And we have grants committees of community leaders who are making those decisions.
Melissa: Oh, gotcha. And then sometimes it’s, a donor who says, Hey, I want you to make this decision on our behalf. And so it’ll be like neighborhoods are historic. Preservation or whatever and so we’ll get grants specific to that and then our grants committees are going to say Who’s best aligned to solve this thing that our donors wanted to do.
Melissa: Gotcha. So
Megan: that is fascinating. It’s fun
Melissa: Yeah, I bet it’s fun Give you an example is last week was giving tuesday And so a lot of folks are used to giving tuesday as a way of soliciting urine donations But we flip giving tuesday on its head. So instead of raising money we Celebrate that our corporate community and the corporate donors who are part of our corporate giving network and the good that they’re doing so we announced almost 2.
Melissa: 7 million dollars of grants last Tuesday So we had 26 different funders who were announcing grants 189 different nonprofits Received grants or through our corporate partners So again, it was just Bringing everybody together in one room to celebrate the generosity that’s already happening. And so that is insane.
Melissa: We have an incredible community. Yeah,
Megan: that is, I have so many That’s just awesome. And I think I saw that on LinkedIn and I was like, I’m sorry, is there an extra zero there like that? It’s just, it, the impact, it is mind blowing. It is mind blowing. And and there’s, anyone who knows anything about Huntsville, there’s a lot of ingenuity and innovation.
Megan: Yes. And and oftentimes with that comes the ability. To give back and to donate, so talk a little bit about the corporate giving aspect of things. Yeah. Because there, there are so many companies here. How does one get involved with the community foundation if they’re not already?
Melissa: So for companies, we just, we talk about simplifying and amplifying generosity. Generosity is the core of what we do. And so for. Our corporate partners, it may be we give them a vehicle where they can raise money as a company, we align them with other companies who are in the same space and they can say, okay, how did you do this?
Melissa: How do you get your employees to donate? We take care of all the back office. So it’s, the tax receipts and the grants, making sure that it’s going to, nonprofit organizations that are in good standing with the IRS, all the legal, we’re taking care of that and the companies get together and they can make their decisions.
Melissa: Sometimes we do. provide extra services. So like our friends at Mazda Toyota they’re incredibly generous company and they’re like We want to lean in on the Community Foundation and get you to help us do what you do best. So we kind of design, custom design, the grants program for them. And it’s their money, their decisions, but we’re going to help them figure out what it is.
Melissa: And they got, I think it was like over 80 grant applications in the first time they were doing their grant process, which is a lot to review. And we kind of service their interface for that. And then, They make the decisions. So they actually had this last fall, this past fall, they did a grants competition.
Melissa: It was like a shark tank pitch competition. And so they had about 20 different non profits who they had down selected from all who had submitted applications, and they came and pitched to their team. And their team was You know, probably, I don’t know, 25 different team members who came in and listened to these various pitches, and then they got to decide what difference they wanted to make in the world.
Melissa: And so that’s where we’re just going to get them, set them up for success. That’s our role.
Megan: That’s awesome.
Melissa: And so it’s everything from the companies just. Taking it and they just use us for their processing and they’re going to do everything from start to finish to something like a Mazda Toyota, who’s going to engage us a little bit along the way.
Megan: That’s fantastic. And I love how localized it is too. Very much. And it’s not something where and there’s a lot of amazing national organizations, but these are, making that impact right in your backyard. Correct. As opposed to potentially donating to a much larger organization. And you guys have a couple of unique initiatives within the Community Foundation the Racial Equity Fund, and the Women’s, Philanthropic Society.
Megan: So talk a little bit about a couple of those things that you’ve been able to launch.
Melissa: And we talk about helping donors be generous, however it looks to them. And so sometimes our donors, We find other like minded donors who want to do something different. And several years ago, Lita Demiribus came and she’s just, one of my just role models just sweet friend.
Melissa: And she said, Melissa, I really think there’s the power of women coming together to help other women and families. I just sense that we just want to help each other. And the Women’s Philanthropy Society was born. When Like minded women came together and they said we want to leave a legacy of love for this community.
Melissa: And so that’s how it started. And so women coming together, putting their money together to make a difference. And so it’s what we call one of our now and later funds, which means one half of all of the contributions support this year’s grants. And one half are endowed to support this work forever.
Melissa: Oh, fascinating. So that was one of our little innovative things that the Community Foundation did. And since then, it’s just unbelievable. Women coming together to help other women. And this past year, one of the issues that was identified in our community conversation in the area of health and wellness was mental health support.
Melissa: for young women. And so our Women’s Philanthropy Society has awarded 100, 000 of grants this year. 50, 000 went to Wellstone in to help outfit a classroom because they realize that the kids who are in a mental health crisis, the last thing they need is to get behind in school. To add additional stress.
Melissa: So our Women’s Philanthropy Society was helping to sponsor a classroom. That’s awesome. So that, just as a way of supporting it. And the other was empower her a program through the Boys and Girls Club, specifically for mental health services for young girls, to be able to help them. Have a flourishing life.
Melissa: Yeah, I love that so much. So that’s our Women’s Philanthropy Society. And then in 2020 with the death of George Floyd, we were in the middle of emergency relief and raising and deploying about over 800, 000 of funding for that in response to COVID. Exactly. And so in the midst of all that was the death of George Floyd and people wanted to do something.
Melissa: And so one of the things we were seeing, I, my inbox was flooded with folks who are, just making a statement about what do we believe about, the ability of people to get along and justice and equity. And so we were thinking about what’s our response and we decided to do what we do best and that’s mobilize generosity.
Melissa: So instead of just talking about a problem, we decided to be part of the solution. So over the course of three weeks, we had 60 donors who stood up and said count me in and I’m going to make a gift or pledge of 5, 000 to be part of this new racial equity fund. And so it’s about using funding to address equity gaps based on race.
Melissa: And that was at the end of June. By July 1st, we’re advertising the grants. And by August, we had already deployed 85, 000 in grants. Right away to be able to help address equity gaps. And so some folks have said I don’t understand. What does that look like? Give you an example of one of our first grants that has been funded since.
Melissa: And it was Boys and Girls Club. Boys and Girls Clubs came and they said, 80 percent of all the folks in prison, their first run in with the law was a driving offense. And so if we can interrupt that path for the driving offense, maybe we can have better outcomes down the road. And so they said for us, a lot of the kids who come to Boys and Girls Club may not have access.
Melissa: to Driver’s Ed because there’s a conflict in high school, they’ve got another class that they need to take at the same time. They may not have transportation to get to Driver’s Ed in the summer and their families may not be able to afford private instruction. What if instead we brought Driver’s Ed to the Boys and Girls Club?
Melissa: And so they said, let’s apply for a grant. So I think we gave them like 15, 000 to hire a driving instructor to come to the Boys and Girls Club and do Driver’s Ed there. Where the kids were.
Megan: That’s awesome. And
Melissa: And since then, I think they’re pushing close to a hundred different students who’ve now gotten their driver’s license through the Boys and Girls Club Driving Academy.
Melissa: Whoa. And and that’s just since 2020. And so now though, like Huntsville does, is that’s become a model. And so other Boys and Girls Clubs around the country are saying, how do we do this? Wow. And so it started as a racial equity fund grant. People who wanted to make a difference and to do more than talk about a problem.
Melissa: They wanted to be part of the solution. So that’s when we are doing what we do best, and that’s mobilizing
Megan: generosity. To think about the and we’ve, we talk about this a lot on this show. particular podcast, Generational Impact, and you think about the rippling effects that has, not only in your community, but far beyond that and, looking at the statistics, especially with incarceration and the rates and, and that’s something we could.
Megan: That’s a whole other conversation, right? But it’s mind blowing when you look at, okay, where can we interject and be able to have a stop gap and just reroute someone, and again, like history, if nothing else, it teaches us what not to repeat, right? And so I love that you guys are doing that.
Megan: And it’s amazing that’s now being modeled in other communities too, which is Awesome. So how do you share some of those good news stories that happen here with other communities? Is there, but imagine you’ve got a platform for that or something.
Melissa: We do. Sometimes we’re so in the midst of just doing the work that we have to pause and like intentionally share the stories.
Melissa: Yeah. Wow. Because it is just, that’s for me, I have to remind myself like, okay, it’s okay to pause and celebrate because there’s so many good stories that are out there. And I always say I have the very best job in the world because I get to work with donors who are being generous. And most of the time when people are being generous, they’re thinking of others, they’re thinking outward, they’re thinking of community and they’re like truly the most amazing
Megan: people that
Melissa: I get to work
Megan: with.
Megan: That is so great. What are some of the, are there any particular moments throughout your career with the Community Foundation that stand out in relation to, I love that example of the Boys and Girls Club, but have there been instances where you’ve seen such an impact? Oh my goodness. And I’m sure there’s hundreds of
Melissa: them.
Melissa: How to narrow it down. I know, I’m sure there’s so many. that was just. And I, don’t want to get emotional even telling it, but it’s just the trust that our community has in our organization is truly overwhelming to me sometimes. And so I’ve told this story To others before, but in 2020, March 13th was that first day of COVID that was announced in the state of Alabama.
Melissa: And so we all knew something was coming down the pike, but none of us had any idea at that moment of what was happening. But, that particular day, we, my family was going to be going on a vacation. We’re like, that’s not happening. Just cancel. But then my mind shifted to what, how is our community going to need the community foundation right now?
Melissa: Yeah. I came in on Monday morning, we talked about it as a team, and we said we need to be who our community needs us to be right now. So we sent out an email that day, the 16th, and said two things. To our community donors, we’re going to be part of the solution. If you want to join us, you can support by creating this emergent, we’ve created this emergency response fund.
Melissa: Help us. And then to the nonprofit community we said, what do you think you’re going to need in the area of basic needs and health and wellness? Look around. What do you think is coming down the pike? What do we need? And so we can just put it out there and so the nonprofit community responded quickly and they said here’s we think We’re gonna need and so they submitted grants of about 60, 000 and the donors came in and they said hey we’re going to help, but they were still trying to get their bearings too on what’s going to happen.
Melissa: So initially we had 7, 000 of funding and 60, 000 of requests. And but what we knew is our donors would step in to fill the gap. So our grants committee met. We had a grants committee of 12 different community leaders said, Okay, we’re going to look at these first grants and of the 60, we could endorse 30, 000 right now.
Melissa: And so we said, Okay, we’re going to place this money and then I, on a Friday afternoon, I sent a note out to all of our donors individually. Here are the needs. Here’s the funding. Here are the gaps. Will you help? Monday morning at 8 o 3 a. m. I get this phone call from one of our donors So Melissa, my wife and I saw your email and we want to help.
Melissa: Okay, that’s great and I had never talked to this donor before just he come before I really was part of the organization and he said we’re gonna send you a stock gift come to find out was over a hundred thousand dollars And we were off and running. Oh
Megan: my goodness.
Melissa: And I walked out of my office with tears to my team and just said, I can’t believe they trust us like this.
Melissa: And we have worked so hard to continue to earn that trust and to do what we needed to do for our community. And as a result of that, we were able to deploy over 800, 000. Oh
Megan: my
Melissa: goodness. Wow.
Megan: When such a critical time. Absolutely. And not only are those, the non profits just completely baffled and the unknowns, but your donors are also put, everyone was put in a position of unknown, but
Melissa: success.
Melissa: And I think that’s what’s still so humbling to me is success follows success, but it’s always someone making the right decision at the right time. And then just. Yeah. Thank you. Amazing things are happening and, our team is so humbled to be part of this. And so we joke this time of year, it’s this rarefied air we breathe, because just the most amazing people who are allowing us.
Melissa: To be part of their family’s generosity story is so humbling. That’s
Megan: amazing. And being in such a phenomenal community, it’s like it’s there. You feel really good about where those resources are going. And the nonprofit community here is something that is just, it’s just, I just love it.
Megan: I love it so much. Absolutely. I just love it. That is amazing. It’s just so fun. So you guys, not only are you meeting, corporations and individual donors where they are, but you’re also. And I’m going to be talking about how to be a huge resource to the non profits outside of just funding by doing a lot of your events.
Megan: And Navigate has been such a phenomenal event. It’s so fun. I look forward to it. It’s one of my
Melissa: favorite days of the year. Yeah,
Megan: and so many people love it. I have to say, Navigate is a conference that’s, correct me if I’m wrong, but designed for non profits to help them understand how to grow and how to do marketing and how to do grant writing and really get them connected with a lot of other individuals here.
Megan: But talk a little bit about that program. Okay. I would love to hear, I think that’s in May? It is, May 6th. Yeah, so what do you guys have going on with the program for this year? It’s already
Melissa: Queuing up and we’re very excited about it. Navigate is our nonprofit networking conference. And so it’s the nonprofit community coming together from, whether you’re employed by a community by a nonprofit organization, you’re on a board or you’re a volunteer.
Melissa: It’s just how did we better our craft as nonprofit leaders? And so we have 10 concurrent tracks of training, but we’re actually looking at adding two more, maybe even going as many as 12 this year. And so it’s a full day event where nonprofit. come together and really build their own capacity to serve our community better.
Melissa: And so even though we’re a very donor focused organization, we know that when our non profit community is operating at their highest and best, that our donor dollars go farther. And so that’s how it ties together. So this year, a lot of different Non profits and community at large are talking about AI and what does that look like so our keynote is going to be about AI and how That works for the non profit community.
Melissa: How can that amplify our? more limited budgets and that sort of thing so excited about what that’s going to look like because I just have this passion for our Non profit community to know that they are truly the boots on the ground that are solving our communities most Difficult problems, the things that can’t just be solved by a business plan.
Melissa: And there are some very human factors at play and they work so hard or nonprofit leaders do. And so how can we support them better? And how do we let them operate? In the same, with the same sort of resources that our business communities operate at. So
Megan: I love that so much and it’s affordable and it’s not a huge investment, but what they, the value that is gained from navigate, I think is just, it just gives ideas and connections and so many different resources that they thanks to leaders
Melissa: like you that will come and help.
Melissa: Present at these sessions to be able to, offer your resources to this nonprofit community. It is such a collaborative, conference because we have track sponsors who are giving their time. We have speakers who are giving their time and just together. We’re just building one another up and there’s just so much energy that day.
Melissa: And that’s why it’s a really. It’s a fun event. It is fun. It’s like super fun. It is. People love getting together and it’s just focused on non profits. Yeah. You just don’t really have that. Most non profits are doing their own thing. They’ll have their own event for their own cause, but this is the day
Megan: that’s focused just on them.
Megan: I love that so much. I love that. And so I would imagine, you did not ask me to say this in any capacity, but you’re probably looking for some sponsors for the event. And yeah, it’s a
Melissa: great way for sponsors who like love the whole non profit ecosystem to really support that. And so we have about 550 non profit leaders on hand that day.
Melissa: And so it’s a way to touch all of them. That’s amazing.
Megan: And I think you hit on this, Melissa, too. Our community is, Huntsville in North Alabama would not be what it is without the non profits in our community who are busting their butt and helping those day to day stories that are so easy to just, out of sight, out of mind.
Megan: But, there’s a reason why. This community wins so many awards, and there’s a reason why we have such great school systems. And but underneath it all, we still have a lot of challenges, right? As our community grows, so do the challenges that we have. But there’s so many people here that want to go out of their way to invest which I just, I love that.
Megan: I’m such a huge cheerleader for Huntsville and City of Madison where we live today. And it’s just such a great community. But it’s. It’s organizations like the Community Foundation that are allowing a lot of that to happen and really connecting the dots between corporate donors and these organizations that just throw, need that so desperately.
Melissa: I’ve joked that, my business card officially says CEO and President, but I really want to get the cool card that says I’m just a charitable matchmaker. Yeah. Because that’s what I love doing. And I like that. It would give me many more cool points than I’ve really earned. And but it really is about.
Melissa: I know. Finding donors, helping them identify their passion, putting the pieces together. I love that so much.
Megan: You made me think earlier when you were talking about just the process that you guys go through. I was visually thinking of like you just with this massive puzzle and just putting it all together.
Megan: And it’s very much sounds like so fun.
Melissa: It is well. And so one of my colleagues and Kavach, who is our programs director of programs, and she’s the one who helps deploy all the grants and all. We’ve known each other for a long time, back to PTA days, in fact, and so she’ll say, Oh, no, I see it when Melissa’s head starts, because it’s just so fun to hear the donors say, What I really want to do is, and then us be able to say, who do we know who can make something happen?
Melissa: Yeah. That’s
Megan: amazing.
Melissa: You do.
Megan: And it’s fun. And you hear these beautiful stories, gosh, it’s so awesome. I truly have the best job in the world. I think that you do. I do. I would have to agree with you. No, I would have to agree. My, my career started off in non-profit. So it has been near and dear to my heart and the girls know we, we try to use Flourish as a vehicle to help non profits as much as we can and underneath it all that’s what I will be doing probably for the entirety of my life in some form or fashion, whether it’s volunteering or just something and I think you do have the best job because you get to it.
Megan: You get to, I don’t know, just really hear the needs and work with organizations in such a way that a lot of people don’t get exposure to. But then as you mentioned, really taking some of these successful companies and individuals who want to give back, but maybe don’t know where to start and and just, making this again, the generational impact and change that is going to live so far beyond, what most people will see, which is just amazing.
Megan: It is so fun. It is. It is awesome. It is awesome. That’s awesome. Thank you so much for all that you do and not just you and the Community Foundation, but you as an individual. I love your spirit and your drive and what you bring to this community. It’s such the epitome of just an amazing woman doing fabulous things and so honored to have you sitting here and just joining us.
Melissa: Standing on the shoulders of giants, who’ve come before us. I think that’s all of our story, isn’t it? It’s who’s come before me, who paved the way that I could do what I do, get to do today. Yeah, that’s
Megan: Amazing. We’re going to be constantly cheering you guys on from the sidelines.
Megan: Yeah. Thank you. We’ll jump in. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. We’ll definitely take part in Navigate for sure. That’s an event that I look forward to every year. Honestly, it’s been I just love that event, but thank you for what you guys were doing in our community and for joining us. And this has been awesome.
Megan: And I’m so glad that we finally had a chance to connect the way that we needed to. So awesome. Thank you guys. Have a good one. Thank you.