Nonprofits are faced with more challenges to accomplish their missions, and the growing pressure to do more, raise more and be more for the causes that improve our world.
We're here to learn with you from some of the best in the industry, bringing the most innovative ideas, inspirational stories all to create an impact uprising.
So welcome to the good community. We're nonprofit professionals, philanthropists, world changers and rabid fans who are striving to bring a little more goodness into the world.
So let's get started. Becky, OKC in the house.
OKC in the house. And Jon, I know that you and I both believe when the universe sends us signs like it is incumbent upon us to take those signs and put them into the universe. And today's guest literally hit me over the head with so many signs from people in their community, saying, hey, you need to tell this story. So I got to give a shout out to Julie Scott, to Jessica Gilmore in the community, both of whom, on the exact same week said this is an incredible story that's worth telling. So welcome community to an incredible conversation where we are going to talk about how to have trauma informed, strength based, hope centered fundraising. We have talked a lot on this podcast about trauma informed storytelling, but today we are aligning it at the highest possible level for connection, not just for the story, not just for the fundraising, but the way that we authentically connect. So it's my great joy to introduce you to Sarah Rahhal and Angie Doss, and I'm going to do a two for we're going to do Sarah, we're going to do your intro first, and I'm only going to share a little bit because we want you to share your stories as well. But Sarah is the Chief Executive Officer at Sunbeam Family Services here in Oklahoma City, and Angie Doss is the Chief Development and Marketing Officer at Sunbeam. And y'all, I have had a heart for this nonprofit for years, and I am so excited to introduce them to you. Sarah is the CEO, and she is also a licensed clinical social worker, and Sunbeam's mission is to build brighter futures with all children and families, which really kind of describes Sarah's entire career. She spent more than 30 years serving in her community and working together with various nonprofits to improve the quality of life for others. She has gotten about a bazillion awards for all of her mental health advocacy on behalf of families and children, and just does such incredible things, speaking at the local, state and national levels on all kinds of topics, on leadership, mental health and trauma, informed care. And I also have to shout out that Sarah's husband is my psychiatrist, Dr. Rahhal, thank you for also pouring in to my mental health. So now I got to introduce you to the incomparable Angie Doss I already mentioned. She's the Chief Development Officer and Marketing Officer at Sunbeam. She's got nearly 20 years of marketing experience and 16 years in fundraising. She was recently honored, last week, I got to be there for this. She got was awarded AFP Oklahoma's 2024, Oklahoma City Outstanding Professional. She believes in putting the fun in fundraising and emphasizing that philanthropy is for everyone. She speaks and presents all the time. We're so excited that you all are going to be presenting a case study on this at AFP national. And ladies, we are so exciting you're in the house. Welcome to the We Are For Good Podcast.
Thank you.
Well, we're both so excited to be here that we both want to talk at the same time.
You know, Sarah, I'll start with you. We would love to just hear a little bit of your background story. Love that you're a social worker like connect the dots, from going into that working to where you are at Sunbeam, and then we'll kick it to Angie.
Well, thank you so much. I just want to say again, thank you for having us and giving us this opportunity. I was thinking a lot about this question, I haven't answered it very often. And I grew up in a little town in Wisconsin, little farming town, and we just really, I think our town felt like a nonprofit. We were the typical little town that the neighbors take care of the community. And I really felt like my mom and dad had an open door if anyone was hungry, needed a place to stop by and talk at the kitchen table. And I heard two things constantly throughout my childhood from my mom, even though we would be facing our own family adversity, was be more like Thumper from Bambi. And if you don't have anything nice to say about anybody, don't say anything at all. And second was, every day you can try harder to be more like Mother Teresa. And so those were the things I heard all the time, and I think led me to becoming a therapist and all that training and experience of how can I really lean in and help others, and then moving that into more community and making a bigger impact with leading others to do that work. So I think that's a little bit about where it comes from for me, of also seeking to understand myself as we all do when we seek our own therapy or become a therapist, and how do we make this world a safer and more inclusive place for everyone?
Let us start and Mother Teresa and Thumper, the two greats like Angie. What about your story?
Okay, so I would say mine is very different from Sarah's. I was a lost college student trying to figure out what to do with my life. And my sister said, you're good with people, so maybe you should do public relations, which, by the way, when you get into college and you're in your first PR class, they're like, the reason you're not in public relations is because you like people. And I was uh oh.
100%, that happened to me. I'm not even kidding, first day of media and society, and I was the fool that raised my hand and said that. So, Totally identify.
Yes, okay. Well, that also makes me feel better, because I went to school in San Diego, and you went to a different school, so apparently that's what the professors talk about.
Universal.
So I did PR, and I worked at the food bank here for 10 years. And what happened is I actually saw this job that I have now posted from the person the previous position on Facebook, and I did that thing where I looked at it and I was like, Oh my gosh, check, check, check, check, yes. And then there were two things that I was like, I don't know if I know how to do that. And so then the next day, I had read an article about, sorry, Jon, but how men you guys have so much confidence when it comes to trying something new and seeing something like a job. And you're like, you know, I don't have that one thing, but I'm gonna learn it. And I was like, husband, hold my baby. I'm gonna make this job happen. And so I researched all about Sunbeam. But for me, I have to say there were two, like, big moments for me. One is that I had actually volunteered at Sunbeam 10 years previous in Educare, Oklahoma City. Yeah, through the Junior League, it was, like my favorite volunteer opportunity. So I was like, 100% committed to the mission. And then the other thing is that I really had, like, a light bulb moment where I was a marketing person, just like you guys, like an accidental fundraiser. And talking to one of my mentors, she was like, Angie, you been doing fundraising the entire time at the food bank. You've been doing cause marketing. You have been doing special events or working with the team. And I realized, like, oh, you know what? Just because I wasn't on a fundraising team doesn't mean I haven't been a fundraiser. And so that was kind of like my path, a little bit different than Sarah's, but I definitely had some some moments of clarity, I would say, along the way.
Gosh, I love both y'all stories, your energy, your love for this mission, just like shine so bright, even a call out to the volunteers out there and creating space for meaningful volunteer engagement, I think is so huge in nonprofits. So Angie, I would love for you to paint a picture, because I feel like the context of this conversation will make a lot more sense if people understand what Sunbeam really is for the community, and you know, a little bit of the history and the programs that you'll offer, just to set tone.
Oh yeah, absolutely. So Sunbeam, we were founded in 1907 there was a lady called Lizzie Swisher. She was in Kansas City. We're in Oklahoma City, but she read about children who were on the streets and didn't have a home. So she took the train out here and she started the Sunbeam Home. So she went around and asked for donations from the community to help support the children, and our nonprofit has really grown and evolved to support our community since then. Foster care started in the 1930s, our mental health services started in the 1940s and we were the only community based mental health organization in Oklahoma City at the time, we also started our grandparents raising grandchildren and Early Head Start programs in the early 2000s and so today, we still have those programs. So we're providing high quality early care and education through Head Start and Early Head Start. And we love Head Start. Head Start really
Head Start's great.
Yeah, it builds brighter futures, because what it does is it's a two step model, so it's supporting babies and toddlers, children up to actually age four, who are learning and growing and thriving at our centers. They're learning everything from how to lift their head, how to crawl, how to use a pencil correctly, social emotional skills, they're using our conscious discipline. So what that means is that babies and toddlers, children are learning how to regulate their emotions, and this is preparing them for school, because when they get into kindergarten, they're gonna know, okay, I need to calm down. I either need to go to the safe space in my classroom, or I need to, I need to do something that makes me feel better, and they recognize that. So we're helping the children get ready for school, and we're doing wrap around support for their parents. And I love that part so much. So we our families, have a family advocate. They sit down with them. They map out, what are your goals? What do you want to do, and how do you get there? I'm going to walk alongside you and connect you, connect you with the resources to make sure that you get there. And by the way, what do you want to do with your life? Your life is important. You are important. And so our services that wrap around support for families is so strong, we also, of course, they'll help children who are in foster care. So if someone's listening right now and you're thinking, I might want to be a foster parent, please connect with us. We also help grandparents raising their grandchildren, connecting with resources, with support, whatever they need. And we even have a care navigator that sits down with them, just like the family advocate and is like, what do you need? I'm going to help you get there. I'm going to help you get through this online system. I'm going to walk with you step by step until you have everything that you need, and when you need more, give us a call. And then we also do mental health services, which we know is so important, especially with the pandemic, the number of people who are in need of additional services has risen. I'll say I love mental health services. Sunbeam has a great employee assistance program. I've used it. So
God bless the EAP. I'm with you. Totally.
EAP really does change lives. It helped me when I needed it, and I know that our Sunbeam services support so many people in our community when they need it to so that's a lot, but that is what we do here at Sunbeam. One other thing is we have some great parenting classes that supports the parents of the children, and like our Early Head Start, and also our community at large.
When I just think about having a mental health division of your nonprofit in the 1940s is something I mean, even I remember growing up in the 80s, we barely talked about it in the 80s, I think about 40 years before that, I mean, Sunbeam really has been this pioneer to like, hold families hands, and that's What I love so much about what you do. And you know, when I was talking with your team last week, we had this really interesting conversation, and I want to lift this to you, Sarah, because I think words matter. And as a writer, I believe the right words can profoundly impact our lives and the way that we connect with each other. And so, like we talked about your mission and this one preposition, Jon, can we say that? Jon loves prepositions.
I love prepositions.
He can make the longest sentence forever. It will go on and on. But you did something really interesting with this preposition, which is your mission. You said, building brighter futures with all children and families, not for all children and families. And I want you to talk about how this shift from building and co-building, which is going to go into this conversation we're talking about and really through a trauma informed lens, what does it mean to come alongside your families instead of serving them like Sarah, can you talk about that?
Yes, this came about when we were doing strategic planning. It was about three years ago when we started that process, and we really wanted to do a thorough look at our mission, our brand, our vision, our values and where was going. Where was the direction we wanted to go. And we got down to this. This is a mission statement, and I'll never forget, we were standing in this room with all of us, and we do a lot of if you stand up, you think you can move around, and we were stuck on it just didn't feel right. It just didn't feel right. And using the for and it was actually our facilitator who said, Well, look at that word. What if you change that word? And we put with in there, and we all went, That's it. That's it, because it really aligned with what we believe, and you mentioned it already with trauma informed and hope centered care that we are walking alongside of people. We're not their expert. We don't know more than they do about what their goals are, what they want. The families come to us with so many strengths, with their unique stories, with their culture, with their values, and how do we say, All right, we want to do this with you, and so I agree Becky, our words just so matter that it's with and conveying that message. And once in a while, all of us will still slip up and say for and we're like, wait, really pay attention. Why did I say that? Am I saying that because I'm frustrated with something and I just want to make a rule versus really understanding well, our families might need us to change the way we do things. This doesn't work for them. This doesn't work for the younger generation of parents. This so how do we keep learning and growing. So what we offer and the expertise we have, they feel that it's valuable and that we really see them.
Finger snaps for the learning and growth, and just like the y'all have a beautiful history, but that you can show up and still be evolving and meeting the moment and meeting your community, I just think this conversation deeply matters, and it's not lost on me that y'all walk alongside some really hard, challenging issues and challenges that families are facing in our community. So I would just love to kind of lean into this topic of trauma informed care, and specifically trauma informed storytelling. Will you walk us through some of the principles of your care, and how are you incorporating them into Sunbeam?
Yes, sure, trauma, informed care. What's so interesting? It's been around since the 1990s but I think it's only been about the last five to six years that people are really thinking about it, not just at an organizational level, but in community and not just with mental health, but all social services and even a bank in Ardmore is working to be trauma informed. The principles come from saying, instead of what's wrong with somebody, really what has happened to them, that what would happen if we just had those words mind shift, that when somebody is upset or maybe doesn't like what we're doing, instead of us being like, what's wrong with that person? We're we're, our instinct is instead to say what has happened to them, what is their story? Did they have early childhood trauma that shaped the way their brain works? So when they are faced with stressors, they're going to fight or flight, rather than somebody who didn't have early childhood stressors won't respond, you know, out of their most primitive part of their brain. So trauma informed says, I'm going to seek to understand each person, rather than react and create a scenario where we're not ever accomplishing something. We're just defending our place. So the principles are safety, trust, choice, collaboration and empowerment. So I always like to say safety is the utmost importance, and especially here at Sunbeam, we know that safety means not only is somebody in a physically safe environment, but is there emotional safety? Meaning, can I have a bad day and somebody not spend their time in the break room talking about me and my bad day instead, is their first instinct to come and ask me, how could they support me today? What would be most helpful for me in managing my stress today? Because we don't come into the workplace, leaving all of our fear, anxiety, worries at the door. Often, they come with us, and so as an as a staff, how do we create that safety for each other? Trust is always going to be second that. How do I build trusting relationships? That, do I say? Do I do what I say I'm going to do? Do I follow through? Do I really listen? Trust is a back and forth process for quite some time. It just doesn't happen in the first encounter. So it really matters. Am I focused on that relationship and building trust and really getting to learn that other person. So the principles are wonderful in the way they really talk about in addition to safety and trust, choice. Do we give our clients choice when would be the best time to pick up their child? What works for them? How can we do a parent teacher conference that matches their work schedule, rather than we're going to do it at this time. Are we collaborating with them on their goals, and are we empowering them to use their voice, their experience, in order to really make their family the best they want it to be? So it's really trauma informed care for those we serve and for each other, and then how do we take that to the community?
I really want to compliment you all on these two through lines that I feel like I keep hearing, and what you're describing, which is your humanity and your equity. And I don't know how many times I felt like in my nonprofit career that I was coming in and being taken care of. I don't know that I ever felt that way. I felt like that was kind of on, on me to create a space of safety for myself. And of course, I had great leaders who did some of that. But when you bake it in as a core value, and you bake it in as the most cultural underpinning thing that you can do, everything is a magnet to that. And so just being human and knowing what it means to show up in this work, because, you know, we can talk about your history, but every single one of those clients that comes in the door through Sunbeam or through any organization that any one of our listeners are working on behalf of, these are really difficult stories to manage and to do it in a co building space is really beautiful, and so Angie, I want to talk to you about how you sort of use this trauma informed, strength based approach to fundraising. I would really love for you to break down how this shows up when you start to fundraise. And then if you want to take a two for on that, I would love to hear how you extrapolated in your storytelling, too. So take the development side and the marketing side. That'd be great.
Yeah. So I would say the first thing is that Sarah Rahhal coming to Sunbeam has been amazing and truly has changed so many fantastic things about our organization in terms of enhancing it. And I just remember we were looking at a direct mail piece, and Sarah was going line by line with me and really sharing, like, why we're changing certain words because of trauma informed care. And I was like, what is trauma informed care? And so I got to learn from from her, why we say words, why we don't say certain things, what that means to the person whose story we have the privilege of sharing who they have trust with us, and they opened up and and so that is the first thing is just really understanding Sunbeam does trauma informed care. And so thinking like a brand, right? I like to think if Sunbeam was a person, Sunbeam would be trauma informed Sunbeam would talk like this, the brand, the color, that's what Sunbeam looks like. And Sunbeam is here for everyone, for all children and families, and so I had to change my perspective from the development and fundraising side of really putting on the different lenses and looking at different audiences of who is looking at our materials, it's not just your donors. It is the mom who is looking for care for her children, who wants the very best for them. And she's picking up our brochure, and it says, at risk children can come to our school, basically. And it's, it's saying language that isn't warm and inviting. It's, it's not treating our families with the respect that I want them to have. And so at first, I just want to say it was a total, total revision of all of the language that we did for fundraising and marketing, because now when that mom picks up our brochure, it's your child and family deserve the best, and we're here for you, and we have the best, high quality services for you. So I did want to say that first off is it has been a complete 180 of who we are as a brand in terms of interfacing with external communities and internal so what I learned from Sarah, of course, is that people are brave sharing their story, and we want to be very intentional in the language that we Share, making sure that we're not re-traumatizing them, that they have that safety, and they feel it with us still, and they feel comfortable sharing their stories with us. And so for me, it's a lot of research, a lot of being curious, a lot of asking questions. There are definitely some words that even before I understood what trauma informed means, I was kind of redlining. But now I know why I don't like it. I mean, so there are lots of words that we replace. So I just wanted to go over some of them, in case you're listening and you've ever had that, you know, gut feeling so poor, at risk, working poor. They're people. So we replace any time you want to say those words, say people, children, families, individuals, clients. Also looking at changing words like disadvantaged, less fortunate, unskilled labor, under resourced communities, communities with high poverty rates. I see a lot of you know brochures, I was kind of referencing, like how maybe our brochure would have been before trauma, informed care. And for me, when I think of language and visuals and mission statements, I kind of imagine if Sunbeam had a bus, and our mission statement was on that bus, and you see the toddlers walking up there, getting on the bus, and then you've got the mom who's looking at the bus and reading that, and she's reading building brighter futures with all children and families. And how does that make her feel? And so I agree with you all, language words matter so much. Some other ones, is Sarah talks about, I think, diagnosis as well. So like, for example, I struggle with anxiety. I have anxiety medicine, yeah, but sharing about that one on a personal level with mental health, and you know, something that that helps, because people shared with me, so that's why I say it. But I'm not depressed, I'm not anxious. It's not who I am. And so that language is also really important. Something we learned, actually from the school system here is we have a partnership with them through Head Start and Early Head Start, parenting teens, parenting students. Those are words that we use. We don't say teen parents. And I know it sounds silly, but ChatGPT or co pilot, depending, you know, which one you use is my best friend, and I will act, yeah. I'm like, not only look, make sure this is sixth grade reading level. Can you also make sure it's trauma informed and so AI, my AI knows me very well now. And is like, here's your trauma informed version, or are there? Is there other words I should be saying? And then I read it from the perspective of the parent who just shared their story with me, and how would it make me feel if I was them? And I think my go to is really, if you you wouldn't say it to their face. Why are you putting it in your direct mail? Why are you putting it on social? Why are you sharing that part of the story that would make them feel less than when we're here to empower and support and so I think that's like my key thing when it comes to trauma, informed fundraising. And I do like to tell myself a little bit, because I was not perfect at this. I'm still learning as well. Really, Sarah coming to Sunbeam opened my eyes to trauma informed and why we should be really trauma informed in our fundraising and marketing. But I think about we have a wonderful mom, Vanessa, and she was at our center, and I kind of think of like, how would I tell her story before knowing about trauma informed care. So I might say something like, Vanessa was pregnant at 16 years old with her daughter at 17, she had triplets, she lived in poverty and was suicidal. She was wondering how to make it through the day, and then she came to Sunbeam. Your donation saves families like Vanessa, but working with Sarah and our mental health team and everyone at Sunbeam who cares so deeply about parents, now it's your support helps provide hope. Vanessa is a caring mom who wants the best for her children. When we first met her, she was struggling with postpartum depression, and then we have Vanessa share her story. Vanessa said, I feel like I was in a dark place. I worked hard to get out of it, and I have hope. And then we talk about the services, but the language is very different, and we're not talking about why Vanessa is there. We're talking about the empowerment and the hope Vanessa has, and so that's really a big difference in, you know, how we're storytelling and how our fundraising is different.
Yeah, I just think it all matters, y'all, you know, I think we've kind of coined the phrase around like marketing is mission, because we're marketers disguised as fundraisers. And I just think, when you zoom out, like the transformation that you're trying to provide to the community, like it starts with the language we use so we can get our community bought into the same idea. And some of that's going to be retraining, but at least modeling the type of community we're actually trying to build. It's like long game. It's all threaded together. I just love total long game, the vulnerability. Thanks for the share too, Angie of just like the transformation that you're going through too, and your own journey. Okay, y'all tease this, but we got to double click on this, the culture of wellness that just reverberates from Sunbeam and hearing y'all talk about this, I think this is really close to our heart. You know, we just came out of ImpactUp focused on the pause and on mental health. We're in this series with Lindsey Fuller, talking a lot about how we build cultures we don't have to heal from. And I see that you're living your mission, not just in words and practice, but also like in how you care for your team. You talk about that like, what have you implemented, and what's some of the impacts that you've seen across your org?
Yeah, I, Jon, this is such sometimes for me, a I don't know, I think about it a lot. I think taking care of staff is probably what will keep me up the most. I always say nonprofit work is is full of passion. We have big hearts, yet we have to be a business. And how do you do both? So that staff feel cared for, yet we also will have Sunbeam here for the next 100 years, long after I'm gone and we've done a lot of work in the last couple years focusing on our staff benefits, knowing that if our staff salaries aren't high enough, they if you have financial stress, the impact on your mental health is is really tough. There's eight dimensions of wellness that I think about a lot, and there's financial, spiritual, emotional, intellectual, occupational that if we really try to touch those and all of our benefits, our policies, our practices, and every year, something new comes mostly from staff. I love our staff suggestions, like we had, used to have three days of bereavement and a staff said, you know, many of us live out of state. What about five days? Researched it, took it to the board, okay, we can do that. Then we just added part time bereavement for part time staff. We didn't have that in place. We had more of the typical things like EAP, but we started to look at our paid family medical leave. Could we be one of the first nonprofits to put that in place? And we did. We increased our holidays. We now have 20 paid holidays, and knowing that it's real important to nonprofit work for the whole place to shut down, because when you take a day off and things keep going, you don't always feel like that's a day off, but when we close a week at Christmas and a week at Spring Break, staff can you just feel the agency breathe now, it's really hectic up to that point, but then everyone knows we're going to take, I don't know we're going to let let down. We can set work aside. So I think really looking at how we also train our supervisors in supporting staff. They are being trained in reflective supervision. How do they recognize secondary trauma? Becky, you mentioned that that our staff face hearing stories, spending nine hours a day with children with behavioral struggles. It's exhausting working in mental health, knowing that the issues of domestic violence and addiction are they're really hard to hear. So how do we talk about staff wellness and are we do water challenges and sleep challenges? And because if you don't really pour into yourself, you can't pour into others. And if I come to work depleted, and it happens to be a day, three of the children are really acting out in the classroom, I'm really going to struggle. So really emphasizing, what can we do in the workplace? But then also, how can we help you think about your personal life outside of that by doing like we did a walking challenge, and one team walk. My gosh, I think they walked 20 football fields a day. But how is movement so good for us, and how do we help each other co-regulate and deep breathe? I could go on and on, but I think there are. I always feel like I can't do enough, because everybody has unique needs, but if we strive to continuously evaluate all that we do and add and change and strengthen where we can, I think that's so crucial to any nonprofit or for profit.
How many people out there are wishing that Sarah Rahhal was their nonprofit CEO? Like I have to tell you all, I'm getting very emotional hearing you say these things Sarah, and making them sound so normal, and making them sound as if, why aren't we doing this? The fact that you started with pay, thank you. That is a tremendous stressor. I feel like you have taken so many of the things that we just chuck on the chin as being a part of this sector and saying, no, actually quite the opposite. We need more time off. We mean more intentionality. We need more grief, you know, training and breaks, and we need nervous system regulation and understanding that all of it matters, and all of it creates the humanity of which we show up in our work with. And I want to give a couple people, if this is resonating with you, I want to give, like some other episodes that I want you to try out. I mean, we had a great conversation with Kim O'Neill about finding ways that you can grow your revenue and build inclusive narratives at the. Same time, and that is episode 207 and we also talked with Mike Turner with the Rocky Mountain Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. And he talked about, how do you care for your team, and we talked about, how do you foster grief informed teams at work. And that's episode 108 which feels like 100 years ago, by the way, as we're like in getting close to the six hundreds. But I just what I'm saying is, one, I think it makes a difference. When you have a mental health professional as your nonprofit CEO, it's going to set the tone in a different way. Two, anyone can do this when you see people, when you listen, when you have this culture of care, and the fact that you did it, not just for your external community, but you started internally. Says everything about the incredible organization that you are, and I'm just so proud that you're in my city. And we want to ask you both about a moment of philanthropy or generosity in your life that really just stayed with you. And Angie, I would love to kick it to you first.
Okay, so I don't know if you guys know, but we have this thing called a pandemic.
I think I've heard about it.
Yes, it was kind of a big deal. You know, no one really knew what was gonna happen. And so I remember the day the pandemic was, like, actually called a pandemic. I was going to get coffee with Sarah on my team, and we just kind of looked at each other. I was like, I think we should bring our laptops home like no one knew, right? And the next week, we had a board committee meeting, and before that, she and I had a call with a donor, and we had no idea what that landscape would look like. So unfortunately, at that time, the donor, who we did have budgeted, and, you know, was not able to give, and you know, was really going to support pandemic needs, which is wonderful, right? But for us, we're like, oh my gosh, is this how it's going to be? The entire time, we didn't know the outlook. We had no idea what was going to happen. And I'm I wouldn't be lying if I said that maybe I cried a little and ate some pizza on the Zoom call with my camera off for the board committee meeting. You know, just like very stressed, yes, and we mentioned it in the committee meeting, and then, within 24 hours, we had a long time donor say, you all do great work. We don't know what's gonna happen, but here's $50,000 and you don't have to do anything. We just know that you do good work, and we want it to continue. And then I cried again, but it was, it wasn't hope. It was different tears. It was hope. It was, you know, for a little bit I was really, I had despair. I didn't know, no one knew. And then that that act, that huge act, right, 50,000 was amazing. It gave me hope that we could fundraise, that we could continue our services, that we would be there for the children and the families and we were. And really, that one donation will stick with me forever, because it was the hope I needed honestly.
Sarah, what about you?
I think for me, it's when our community came together in 2010 with the thought that we have to make a difference for the female incarceration in the state of Oklahoma, we're number one, we're number one in the world. We're number one in the country. And philanthropy came to the table and 25 other leaders, I was fortunate to be one of them, and said, what are we going to do different? Is there a collective impact model, what can we learn? And I, I, for me, it was so profound, it still will probably make me teary today that I had worked so long in mental health and addiction, and so much of the time people were blamed, especially those with addiction. And this was philanthropy saying we want to put our money to help moms get a second chance, and we'll sit at the table and listen to how you think it should be done. And we took a year planning that together, a full year, and it was Inasmuch Foundation and United Way, said, We want to convene. We'll support this. How do we do this? And for me and my career, that was the very first time that philanthropy did that in this city to such a big degree, without blame, without shame. And said, we have so much to learn, teach us. And then next they did it with Palomar, and then now they're doing it with Key to Home. It's just, I think that walking alongside for me was really felt during that year. There was, of course, challenges and things we had to wrestle with. But it was really saying we want to believe, we do believe that moms want to be the best moms they can be. They just might need help getting there. So that's my stand out. And then a Sunbeam one was as Andy talks about the pandemic we took over Edwards Elementary School, OKCPS closed that school, and we had the opportunity to renovate it and open it up as an early education and Hope Center. And we had to raise over $3 million to do that. I I cried a lot and and then I met with a donor who said, well, what do you need? And I said, Well, I know you probably you've supported other people with some of this hope centered funding and not us yet. And I really challenged him that early education was the way to be it doesn't. Education doesn't start at pre K, it starts in pregnancy. We're here for that 90% of the brain is developed by the time a child is five, and within 24 hours, we had a million dollars.
Whoa.
Wow.
And for me, I was so scared. I went in Angie's office I said, I'm freaked out. I'm freaked out about this meeting. And she's like, You got this? She's the best hype woman ever. So anyway, wonderful philanthropies.
We're so excited and joy filled alongside you, not because it's just our community, but because we want this kind of health and connectivity and collaboration in every community. Bravo.
Is it lost on me that that of course, I'm gonna go to the prepositions? I feel like those stories are, like, with, not for, like, that's what philanthropy. We're on the same side of the table. We're not, we're on the same team. That's when it's so beautiful. You know, when generosity shines like that?
You're very on brand, Jon, I love that.
I mean, y'all, I don't want this conversation to end, this has been so good, so rich. What's a one good thing? You know, we wrap up all of our conversations saying what's a piece of advice or a habit, or maybe something that's lifted for you? Angie, I'll start with you. What's your one good thing you'd leave with our audience?
Okay, so as a fundraiser, we have a relationship with money, and I would say getting curious about your own relationship with money and your upbringing. And how do you talk about money? How do you feel about it? So I know that you all were talking about, you know, signs from the universe and things were telling you to have us on and thank you for me, I kind of look at that too. Of you know what happened in my past with money, and was there anything I had to unlearn, and did I have to build a new relationship with money? Because money is out there I believe in, not the scarcity mindset. And so for me, it was thinking about, Do I need to realign anything? Because I am asking people to support this amazing mission that I believe in but how do I feel about money? So I would just, you know, encourage people, if you haven't been curious about your own relationship and past, that's something to explore, and maybe you'll find, wow, I have a great relationship. Bring it on. Or maybe it's, you know, I think I might need to dive a little further into it.
So good. Sarah, what would you share with us?
I think for me, it's I continue to work on listening that in building relationships with clients, with staff, with philanthropy, with community, that I was really good and trained with listening to understand, but learning to really listen to be influenced and changed. And when I especially, I think about that now with our staff, who are in 19,20, 21, 22 and how do I listen and set aside my experience, set aside my beliefs, to really hear what they're telling me in order for me to move the needle for them. And so I think listening is work and always something to really hone in and pay. Am I listening to just understand, am I listening to fix sometimes my role is, well, I gotta listen. I gotta fix this, but fixing it, if I would take more time and listen to really learn and be influenced, I make better decisions down the road. So that's something I've been working on lately.
Two incredible one good things from a posture of humility, from a posture of community and self reflection. I just I agree with you both, and I just think that you are true treasures, not just in the sector, but in this state and in this community. We're so grateful for you. Please tell people where they can connect with Sunbeam and where they can connect with each of you and where you hang out online. Give us all the details.
Please connect with us on social at SunbeamOKC, sunbeamfamilyservices.org, you can find me on LinkedIn, Angie Doss and also on Instagram, @fundraisingbestie.
Ooh way to grab that handle.
I know, right? And then, of course, you can see Sarah and I, if you're going to the AFP conference, we would love to meet up with you in the springtime.
Well, I just want to say thank you both, just for the light that you've brought into this space, for the light that you continue to bring in to your clients in this community. And I really hope that there are others who are out there, and whether you're in this line of work or whether it relates personally or professionally, I think there's so much to be gleaned from this conversation. Thank you for the love and the hope and the care that you are literally demonstrating every single day when you talk, when you move through this world. It all matters. Thank you, friends.
