Melanie Lambert with Just Write Grants, CPA Glenda Hicks and Major League Baseball Pitcher Reggie McClain

Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta. It’s time for Charitable Georgia. Brought to you by B’s Charitable Pursuits and Resources. We put the fun in fund raising. For more information, go to B’s Charitable Pursuits dot com. That’s B’s Charitable Pursuits dot com. Now here’s your host, Brian Pruett.

Brian Pruett: [00:00:45] Good, fabulous Friday. It’s another fabulous Friday. And I’ve got three more fabulous guests. First piece of business, though, I have to wish my mother a very happy birthday. Today is her birthday, so I won’t tell you how young she is because she might get upset, but she’s still working full time. So anyway, as I mentioned, this is Charitable Georgia and we got three more great guests. If you first time listening, Charitable Georgia is about all positive things happening in your community. And our first guest this morning is Miss Melanie Lambert from Just Write Grants. Melanie, thanks for being here this morning.

Melanie Lambert : [00:01:13] Thank you Brian. Thank you for having me so much.

Brian Pruett: [00:01:15] So you and I spent some time talking on the phone. We well, I think all of us in the room have kind of the same passion. But you have a passion for nonprofits like I do, and you’ve made a business on working with them on writing grants. But if you don’t mind, first sharing your story a little bit, and then we’ll talk about what you do.

Melanie Lambert : [00:01:30] Sure. I live in Cartersville, Georgia, and I have spent my entire career in nonprofit fundraising, had the opportunity to work for lots of social service organizations and higher education institutions throughout Metro Atlanta. And then in 2017, I had what at the time felt like the worst professional experience ever, and I got laid off. There were some statewide layoffs and just things, you know, felt like it was just the bottom for me. My husband really encouraged me to take advantage of that opportunity and to take the skills and talents that I had learned throughout my career, helping nonprofits with all the different fundraising revenue streams and to turn that into a business. We had a one year old at home at the time, and so that was very appealing to me to be able to be home with him and to continue to serve nonprofits. So I took the opportunity and started the company in 2017 and really wanted to help nonprofits that were either new to grant writing or didn’t have the capacity to manage grant writing. Because during my career I’d really noticed that grant writing can be a sort of backburner project, right? It can be something that. The the individuals and the fundraising team know that they need to be pursuing grants. They they know that it’s something that can really be a game changing amount of money for a nonprofit, but they might be wearing lots of hats.

Melanie Lambert : [00:02:58] And so it’s easy to let grant writing sort of fall to the wayside because you’re out meeting donors, you’re out going to Chamber of Commerce breakfast, you’re out, you know, interacting with people and grants can sort of chain you to your desk. You’ve got to be there drafting that content, putting together those budgets. And so it can be easy to either just not do it at all or kind of do a rush job for it. So having experienced that in several organizations that I worked for, I wanted to bridge that gap for nonprofits because there’s so much money out there. But it’s kind of like the lottery, right? If you’re not submitting a grant application or you’re not buying a lottery ticket, you’re not going to win. So I wanted to help nonprofits that either didn’t have the time to do it themselves, the resources to hire somebody full time or the expertise on staff to be able to get a portion of all that money that’s out there. And to do that in a way that was really affordable and streamlined. So it didn’t create more work for them. And that’s that’s how just Write grants was born. We’re a little different and to intentionally to serve that need for nonprofits.

Brian Pruett: [00:04:05] So explain a little bit how you do work because it’s an interesting concept the way you’ve made the the business and how the grant writing is. Can you explain how you do it? Sure.

Melanie Lambert : [00:04:14] So a lot of grant writing consultants will charge by the hour or by the project. There’s nothing wrong with that. But in my experience, in some cases, having worked with consultants when I was in working for nonprofits directly, you’d get a quote from the consultant that would be one rate. And then when you got your invoice a month or two later, it could look very different. Just because it’s hard sometimes to anticipate what the time investment is going to be. For some projects, particularly with things like federal grants or state grants that can get really out of control time wise really fast. So I wanted to create a format that helped nonprofits feel confident in investing in a grant writing consultant. So we are set up with annual subscriptions for our nonprofit clients, where we charge a set rate every month. Nonprofits come on board and make a 12 month commitment with us, and they are charged the same amount every month based on how many applications we submit over the course of that 12 month engagement. So what we’ve done is taken all of the deliverables all of the time, investment that goes into submitting that certain amount of grant applications and just prorated it over 12 months so that nonprofits can plan effectively for the cost. For that, they know what their invoice is going to be every month. They know what they can expect from us.

Melanie Lambert : [00:05:35] They have a grant calendar that shows the applications that we’re going to be submitting, the activity that’s going to happen for each one of those and sort of some some estimates of what they may be able to expect as far as a return on investment goes. So that’s been a process that we’ve fine tuned over the last six years of doing this to where we can make some estimates so that nonprofits feel like, yes, you know, I understand the grant writing process. I understand that it’s a time investment as well as resources, investment to build those relationships with those funders. But. That it’s done affordably, it’s done intentionally streamlined, so that I’m not taking them away from what they need to be doing. Otherwise, those things that prevented them from submitting grants in the first place. But they know that the grant writing is happening sort of behind the scenes as much or as little as they want to be involved. But it’s always happening for them and they know that their nonprofit is part of that revenue generating, streamline, you know, revenue stream because we’re there for them and they can go out and truly be a director of development or an executive officer or whatever their role happens to be at the nonprofit without having to say, Well, now I’ve got to spend the next eight hours in the office writing this grant application.

Brian Pruett: [00:06:53] So you said you’re based in Cartersville, but you actually work all over the country, correct?

Melanie Lambert : [00:06:57] Yes. So we serve nonprofits of every budget size, every mission across the country. So us based nonprofits that are 500 and 1C3 registered, we have access to multiple databases to search for grant opportunities for them and can really fine tune that research to really any any nonprofit in the United States.

Brian Pruett: [00:07:18] All right. So if somebody is listening and they have a maybe a startup that’s a nonprofit or they’re a very small where it’s like one, maybe two people and they’re hearing you talk and they’re thinking, man, I can’t afford something monthly. Give them just a little bit of hope that they can talk to you and work with you.

Melanie Lambert : [00:07:34] Yeah, So absolutely. We usually recommend that a nonprofit that’s just in the start up phase gets a year or so under their belt just to be competitive with grant writing that gives you the data that you need to be able to fill out an application. Essentially, that’s the cutting down to the chase, because if you’re really, really new, you just don’t have that content yet. So investing in grant writing when you maybe a year or less than two years old, there may be some opportunities out there for you for what we call capacity building, where the grants are intentionally designed to help you grow. But a lot of times for those really, you know, those those typical grants that can really take your organization from one point to the next, they’re going to want to see that you’ve got some history there with data and stories and engagement with your clients. But there’s certainly some things that you can be doing in those early years while you’re still sort of bootstrapping it yourself. You can certainly explore other revenue streams, events, individual donations, social media donations, things like that that will help boost your sort of what I call credit worthiness with grantmakers where they can see, okay, you’ve had some other money coming in, you’ve managed that well. Oh, you’ve got this donor associated with what you’re doing. So that kind of gives you that credibility. You need to make the funders feel confident in investing in you. So just some groundwork. We’ve got a lot of that stuff on our website to help organizations prepare to be grant ready. But certainly, you know, I’m always happy to talk to new nonprofits to see if there’s things that we could explore as far as capacity building goes or provide those resources to say, hey, if you you here’s a list of things that you can do right now in the beginning of your organization’s history to really make sure that at year two or year three, you are really competitive and you start to see some return on that investment with whether it’s your time invested in submitting grant applications or working with a consultant.

Brian Pruett: [00:09:33] So when you’re working with these nonprofits, I’m assuming there are tons of different kinds of grants out there. How do you go about finding the best grant and can you explain a little bit, maybe a little bit about what the differences are with the grants? Yeah.

Melanie Lambert : [00:09:46] So there’s a few different types of grants. So you have federal grants, which obviously are from the federal government. Those are a beast in most cases. They’re rather large and are going to require that the nonprofit have a lot of history and data that that they’re really competitive. If you think about it, you’re competing with organizations across the country can be a game changing amount of money for your organization if it’s a right fit. Typically, federal grants are looking for organizations that are meeting a very specific need to a very specific population of people and sometimes even in a very specific area of the country. State grants are similar just on a smaller scale in your state. But then we have private and corporate grants which tend to blur the lines a little bit, but they’re usually set up by individuals in memory or in honor of somebody or of a cause that’s near and dear to a family’s heart. And they set up the organizations in order to truly be philanthropic, to meet a need in the community that they’re passionate about. And they may not necessarily be doing the work themselves, but they want to help fund that. They want to bridge the gap for the nonprofits that are doing that work. So we find those organizations through online research.

Melanie Lambert : [00:11:06] There’s several online platforms available for nonprofits to do that research. And it kind of comes over time where you develop. It can at first feel like a different language when you get out there trying to figure it out. And of course every platform is a little different. So you’ve got to learn the nuances. But utilizing keywords that are associated with your mission, oftentimes grants are geographically restricted, so you’d want to make sure that the funder is looking to support organizations where you are or where you serve. We work with some nonprofits that are based in the United States, but they serve internationally. So that gets a little bit of gray area there as well. But there are certainly grants available for that. And then, you know, you may be looking at the population that you serve as well as as a keyword essentially to narrow down those research results. And then it just takes time, you know, to kind of comb through those. And if you’re using a good platform, it’ll help you do that where you’re just reviewing them. You can also look, some of most of the online databases are paid, and that’s something that’s included in all of our subscriptions. But if you are a nonprofit that wants to do some research on your own, you can get some free trials with some of those, but then you can also do some digging.

Melanie Lambert : [00:12:23] It’s a little bit more of a time investment, but you can review funders, IRS form 990. So every foundation in the United States is required to submit a 990 to the IRS, which is basically their financial statement. But they list things like how to submit a grant application, who to send it to. Hopefully, in most cases, they’re also listing those requirements. And then in some cases they may actually list at the end of that form 990 the organizations that they supported that year, a breakdown of how much they gave to each one and what they were intending to support. So that’s really helpful information and that’s all accessible, free from the IRS. And it’s helpful because you can look at that and you can say, Oh, okay, well, you know, this organization is similar to mine. This is the grant amount that they gave them. So I might be able to assume that they would support our organization as well with a grant amount in that same range. So there’s a few ways to go about getting that information. And it’s really about how much time and resources you want to invest in the different options.

Brian Pruett: [00:13:29] So I know a lot of people lately have been asking around for grant writers, but they’re not nonprofits. You don’t work with any others who are not nonprofits, correct?

Melanie Lambert : [00:13:38] It is just not my expertise. There are some grants. There’s there’s kind of this misconception in the world that there are these or at least in the United States, I don’t say the whole world, but there’s this misconception that there’s so much government money out there for individuals and it’s just waiting for the taking. And I don’t really know where that came from. There are some grants available for for profit businesses. I always recommend that people look to a local bank, connect with an SBA representative, a small Business Administration representative in your community, or to a banker at your local bank that might be able to direct you better for loans and grants for small business. As far as individuals, we get contacted, sometimes individuals that are looking for personal needs, and I always try to redirect them to United Way in their community that might be able to connect them with a nonprofit that actually meets that need. But we we exclusively work with 500 and 1C3 registered nonprofit organizations just because that’s where we have access to those those research results and the expertise. And it’s truly philanthropic money at that point. As soon as you get into individuals and small businesses, it changes that contribution from an IRS perspective. And so that gets a little challenging. But that’s my recommendation for individuals that are looking or if you’re looking to get funds for a small business, it’s fewer and further between than people think for those funds, unless again, you’re meeting a very specific needs. For example, you know, there’s funding available for certain agriculture businesses that are starting in certain parts of the country because the government wants to invest in that. But just as far as if you’re you’re starting a shop in your little downtown area, that’s that’s more so. Probably going to be loans and grants.

Brian Pruett: [00:15:26] So are you are your business is not a 501. C three.

Melanie Lambert : [00:15:30] Correct. Correct. No, we are a for profit business.

Brian Pruett: [00:15:32] So people get confused. I’m the same way. I’m a for profit helping non profit. That’s the way we kind of all are. But all right, if somebody is listening to you and thinking, man, I’d like to be a grant writer, can you walk them through that process?

Melanie Lambert : [00:15:44] It is an art and a science, and it is something that has been, you know, that that comes with experience. But absolutely, it’s if you’ve got writing talent and you like that sort of competitive drive to see if something that you can craft with your words is compelling enough to inspire somebody to pull out a checkbook. That’s what drives me. Can I do something with that skill that I have that makes someone like someone’s passion enough about an organization that they’re going to invest? Because I know what that takes for me as Melanie, the individual, to make a donation because there’s so many nonprofits in the world and so I know what that takes for me. So I’m like, Can I inspire that in somebody else? So if that’s something that you are interested in, you know, I always love talking to people that are interested in getting into grant writing and and it allows you that opportunity to work remotely. Everything about grant writing can be done virtually. There’s nothing that requires a grant writer to be in a nonprofit’s office to do. Grant writing fundraising effectively. And that’s where we can streamline things really well and be affordable because you’re not having to invest in that overhead That requires a full time employee. But that’s not what you asked me. So we are actually going to launch here in the next few weeks a grant writing boot camp. So this will be an on demand series of informational sessions that will help a grant writer or an aspiring grant writer learn the nuances of grant writing to understand the language that it can be, to learn how to sort of read between the lines.

Melanie Lambert : [00:17:18] When you’re doing that research, how to craft a really effective and compelling grant application or a narrative, how to craft budgets. Budgets are one of those things that Glenda can can chime in on this. But budgets are one of those things that nonprofits hate and typically do last. And sometimes we’ll do a rush job and it can really be the make or break of a grant application. So we’ll go over how to do that, as well as how to have grant writing be part of your overall fundraising strategy. So it’s designed the grant writing boot camp is designed for aspiring grant writers who would like to do it excuse me remotely or work like I do as a consultant for many nonprofit organizations or who may have been recently charged with grant writing in their full time role at a nonprofit, or maybe doing it volunteer and maybe just want a little bit of expertise and backup. So as part of those on On Demand sessions, we’ll also include a private Facebook group where everyone that’s involved in the boot camp can ask questions, answer questions, get feedback on on content, and just kind of create a camaraderie of folks that are all doing the same thing for the greater good, trying to make the world a better place through nonprofit grant writing, as well as some consulting from me and some grant writers on our team. You’ll have access to that as well to help you kind of get over that hump of feeling like a fish out of water with grant writing, to really feeling confident in knowing where to find grants, how to cultivate those relationships, because that’s a huge step in the process that nonprofits that are individuals at nonprofits that are really busy can overlook that step of reaching out to the organization and building a relationship with them that can, you know, be something when you’re in a hurry, throwing together an application that you just skip that part.

Melanie Lambert : [00:19:06] But it can really be effective in building that relationship so that if you do get that grant, it’s not a one and done, you’re building that relationship so that next year it’s easier. You know, you just call that individual back up and say, Hey, we’re going to apply again. It’s a lot less work cultivating those relationships, drafting that content where you feel really confident in what you’ve done, submitting it, and then knowing what needs to happen on the back end as well. It’s not just to submit and you know, and you’re done. There’s there’s elements to grant writing that happen after that application has been submitted as well. So that’s all going to be part of that grant writing boot camp. I’m excited to, to share it with, with folks that just write grants may not be the solution for you right now as far as working with a consultant, but the grant writing boot camp may be an option to help you do it yourself and feel more confident and be more effective and win grants ultimately.

Brian Pruett: [00:19:56] That’s awesome. Are you ready for that? Let me know so I can help you promote that and get you some some folks for that. So do you have to be any kind of certification to be a grant writer?

Melanie Lambert : [00:20:04] You don’t. There are certifications available, but I don’t have a certification. I’ve just been doing it for a really long time. There’s one there’s not even really a whole lot of qualifying determinants for grant writing. There are some things that I like to caution nonprofits to be aware of in the grant writing world. As far as when you are working with a consultant, I’ll share a little tidbit with you that usually catches people off guard. Actually, I’ll ask you now get your you may know Brian, because you’re so involved in nonprofits, but if you were to guess the success rate for grant writers, a percentage of grants that they submit that are awarded, what would you guess.

Brian Pruett: [00:20:48] 15%.

Melanie Lambert : [00:20:50] You’re you’re pretty close Most people guess in the 80 to 90% range that grant writers get 80 to 90% of the grants that they submit the real average. And there’s no again, there’s no qualifier that’s out there like surveying grant writers. But if you ask grant writers and there’s been some people that have done a little bit of surveying and researching, but nothing official. But if you ask grant writers, it’s typically in the 20% range. So for every ten you submit, you get two. That goes back again to the competitiveness of it. Just write grants. In 2022, we had a 32% success rate, so I’m very proud of that. But there’s there’s a lot of non grant writers, consultant grant writers who will come back and tell you, I’ve got 100% success rate or I’ve got a 90% success rate. I always caution nonprofits that are engaging with them be cautious. 100% success rate might mean that they’ve submitted one grant and they got it. That may not be the experience level that you want. And an 80 to 90% success rate always gives me a little hiccup because I know I’ve been doing this for so long and I know how hard it is and there are so many things outside of the control of the grant writer that influence whether or not you get the award. So that’s one thing that I caution people that will promise you the moon and the stars because they know that you may be in a desperate situation to get funding for your nonprofit.

Melanie Lambert : [00:22:12] Be cautious approaching that as well. Do your homework, get get references. Call other nonprofits that have worked with that individual. Just make sure that what they’re telling you, you know, what they’re telling you is accurate as well as be very cautious moving forward. If you are a new nonprofit, particularly notice that new nonprofits tend to fall into this grant. Writers should never be paid a commission. They should never be paid a percentage of your grant award. It is unethical, according to the Association of Fundraising Professionals, which is kind of our overarching, not kind of it is our overarching kind of body of jurisdiction for fundraising professionals, and it can jeopardize both your award and your 501. C three status. So it’s not ever worth it. You should be paying a grant writer just like any other employee should be paid. And but there are grant writers out there who will say, you know, I’ll get you $1 million and I’ll take 10%. That’s not something that is going to work out well in the long run and can end up costing you a lot more money if you go that route with a grant writer than it would with a grant writer who’s following those ethics and those standards set up by AFP.

Brian Pruett: [00:23:24] So you mentioned just a little bit ago that there are a lot of nonprofits just within the United States. Do you know how many there are in Bartow County? I don’t know if you know this.

Melanie Lambert : [00:23:32] I don’t. Do you?

Brian Pruett: [00:23:33] Yes, I heard this the other day and it blew my mind because you know how big Bartow County is.

Melanie Lambert : [00:23:38] Well, we have 150,000 residents. Right. So how many nonprofits?

Brian Pruett: [00:23:41] Over 800 nonprofits in Bartow County alone. Wow, that’s. That blew me away. Yeah. All right. So I have to ask how to just write Grant’s name come about.

Melanie Lambert : [00:23:50] So we were previously turnkey writing solutions. So when I started the organization in 2017, I wanted to I love to write. I’ve always wanted to be a writer. If you’d asked me when I was six years old, What do you want to be when you grow up? My answer was a writer, and so fundraising kind of gave me the ability to make money doing that. So I, I started out wanting to just write all different types of content for nonprofits, direct mail solicitations, e newsletters, you know, everything you can think of that a nonprofit may need written for them. It was a lot to wrap your arms around. And the turnkey name came from, you know, I want to provide you with this package of content that you can just use, and it’s turnkey and it’s, you know, it’s it’s ready for you. And then I as I said, it was hard to get my arms around that and to promote it. It was hard to explain. I just had a hard time explaining it to you now. So I. Shifted gears and focused exclusively on grants. Because I knew that need. I knew that that would be a significant portion of fundraising that nonprofits would need help for. And, you know, a direct mail solicitation, you can kind of reuse, tweak it from year to year and you can do it on the fly. And, you know, it’s not something that you maybe want to pay a consultant an hourly rate for.

Melanie Lambert : [00:25:05] So. Grant So we shifted exclusively to grant writing, and then I spent the next, oh, maybe four years trying to figure out a new name. And it’s not easy. And I worked with marketing companies to do it. And I, you know, had a focus group trying to come up with a name and nothing stuck. And I promise you one day I just woke up and thought, just write grants with write w-r-i-t-e. And I was like, That’s it. Took me four years for my brain to come up with it. But I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback out of it. I really wanted to make sure that the name portrayed what we what we do, and that’s what we do. We just write grants. Let’s, let’s, let’s do this. Let’s get them out there. Let’s build relationships with organizations so that you can, you know, effectively manage your nonprofit, serve your clients. And I know it sounds cheesy, but it’s all over my website, Change the World. I really, truly believe that the change that we want to see in the world can be instigated by non profit organizations and what they do. And if my company and my skills and talents and the skills and talents of the grant writers that I work with can help be a part of that. That’s, you know, the dream come true for me.

Brian Pruett: [00:26:17] We’ll talk to you in a second. But Glenda, as I’m sure the exact same way and that’s why I started my business. Right. And the reason I started this show. Um, so I wanted to ask you and I’ll ask you the same thing too, when I get to you, Glenda But I was asked just the other day by a business attorney if I registered for the Georgia charitable solicitation law. Do you know anything about that?

Melanie Lambert : [00:26:38] Yes. From having worked for organizations. Well, I think I’m thinking of the right thing where you have to register as an organization that. So the business is. Yes. Yes.

Brian Pruett: [00:26:47] So, I mean, I was thinking my idea because I do you guys know I do a monthly. Well, you may not know, but I do a monthly trivia show rotating the charities in Bartow County. And I’m helping some other nonprofits throw events, but they’re paying me. So after looking at the wording, it seemed like I’d be that guy that’s calling you. This is the Atlanta Police Fund. That sounds what that law is. So I was just kind of curious if you knew anything about that. So, all right. So if somebody is listening to you and wants to talk to you about your services, learn more about your boot camp, whatever, how can they get Ahold of you?

Melanie Lambert : [00:27:17] So the first place to go is just right. Grants.com. And again, the right is w-r-i-t-e. Excuse me. So just write grants.com or you can email me at any time. My name is Melanie. Melanie at just write grants.com or if it’s easier to remember info at just write grants.com or if you prefer phone it’s 18667 grants.

Brian Pruett: [00:27:39] Awesome. One last question. Well actually not because you’re going to be but if somebody listening also wants to think about starting a nonprofit, give them some advice.

Melanie Lambert : [00:27:48] So if you’d like to start a nonprofit, I would connect with me because I have another resource who’s an expert in that. Starting nonprofits is not my expertise, but I do have a resource that it is his expertise, so I’m always happy to pass that along. One more thing as far as connecting as well, we are we are on all the social media platforms. Just started a new series called Coffee with a consultant. We’re once a month. I do a live stream on Facebook and it also goes to YouTube as well, where I’m just discussing just a little short, maybe 10 to 12 minutes about a certain aspect of grant writing live. So I’ll take questions and eventually I’d like to just be there live and people ask me questions. We’re still getting some some traction on those, but we’ve got another one coming up July 11th. And it’s, you know, no pressure. You just tune in and watch. And if you’ve got a question, you ask it. If not, you might learn a little tidbit about how to how to write grants effectively.

Brian Pruett: [00:28:42] Awesome. Well, Melanie, thank you for coming and sharing. Like I said, don’t go anywhere. We’re not done technically. So we are now moving over to Glenda Hicks. Now, Stone, I said last week that we we were getting people from around the state, right? I have people from Gwinnett County, Gordon County, Bartow County, Cobb Cherokee. We’ve made it to Rockdale County now. So thanks for driving from Conyers this morning, Glenda.

Glenda Hicks: [00:29:02] Absolutely. It’s my pleasure to be here. Thank you for having me.

Brian Pruett: [00:29:05] Glenda and I is actually known each other for, I guess, over a decade. Yes, you were in Kennesaw, but then you decided to go out that way. Yes. But you two have a heart for nonprofits and numbers because you’re a CPA and help nonprofits with the numbers. And you train nonprofits, you help them do with boards. So please share a little bit about your background and why you’re so passionate of what you’re doing.

Glenda Hicks: [00:29:28] Absolutely. Thank you so much, Brian. So, yes, I was in Cobb County for about 17 years and during the pandemic in 2020, we moved a little further east. But it’s always nice to come back over here and have an opportunity to meet folks in person and talk about my passion, which is building capacity for nonprofits. So you mentioned that I am a CPA and I started with Public Accounting Coopers and Lybrand many years ago on the audit side of things. And in that capacity it gave me an opportunity to work with both for profit and nonprofit organizations. But being on the audit side, I also got to see infrastructure and policy and procedure as opposed to the tax side. And so I really believe that was the foundation for my my company today. And when I left Coopers, I felt like I had to do more. I needed to give more. And there was something tugging me. And I went to a client, which was a nonprofit University of Miami, and worked there for a while, but still something after several years was tugging. You need to give more, you need to do more. And I went to a local not for profit HIV Aids organization and was in more still in the accounting function, but making an even greater impact through that organization. And then we were expecting our first child. So I said, I’ll stay home the first year and that lasted one year.

Glenda Hicks: [00:30:51] And I said, I’ve got to get back to work. My brain. I can’t. I have to think more deeply about some things. But I realized I think I can do this on my own. And that’s when I started my practice, which was in 1999, and I didn’t intentionally go into the nonprofit space. I just was hanging out my shingle. Glenda with CPA. But every referral I received was from a nonprofit organization, and eventually I thought, okay, God, I hear you. This is this is my my divine calling. And then I began to intentionally serve and seek out nonprofit organizations. And of course, being an accountant, I helped them in their fiscal operations. But doing that again, I got to see everything. We have a little bit of a selfish mantra in that. We feel the finance department is the hub of the organization and it’s really about the service you’re giving to the community. But at some point, everything’s coming through finance in some way. You’re hiring folks, you’re paying vendors, you’re writing grants and having to do the accountability back to them. And so it gave us a perspective and an opportunity to see the whole organization. And in providing those services, I began getting requests to do other things from from organizations. And eventually I wanted to have a greater impact with their capacity. And from my observations, it was emanating from the board. The board of directors was setting the tone and if they didn’t understand what they were supposed to do, then it trickled down to the entire organization.

Glenda Hicks: [00:32:25] So I then began offering training and workshops to help boards understand what their roles and responsibilities are and how to best execute those. And things just evolved for me. I was talking to someone recently and he was saying, you know, he never says no to an opportunity. And I’ve always had that same mindset that I’ll listen and I’ll explore, and from that I continue to grow myself so that I can continue to serve the organization so that it can make an impact in the community. And in doing that, I said, Well, let me get more governance acumen because people know me as a CPA, but they don’t know that I do these other things. And that’s when I sought out certification in nonprofit board governance, which I received through Boardsource. And it gave me more tools and resources to bring to nonprofit organizations and help them in that capacity. And I continue to do that in various ways with consulting, assessment, coaching and training are my four main areas of providing services to nonprofits so we can assess how they’re performing and come up with ideas and plans to make improvements there, train them on how to do that. Still having my toe in the accounting side in terms of policy procedure and infrastructure, but none of the number crunching stuff anymore. Well.

Brian Pruett: [00:33:46] I can see a powerful tag team right here.

Glenda Hicks: [00:33:48] Indeed, Indeed. Indeed.

Brian Pruett: [00:33:50] I connected you.

Glenda Hicks: [00:33:50] Yes, I was excited when you connected me to Melanie because I do receive calls often around grant writing. And the thing is, you know, when you have various skills, you do have to focus. Like you were saying, you can you may be able to do a lot of things, but you want to do where you’re you want to perform in your area of sweet spot. And so, you know, folks will ask me to write grants. Yes, I can, but that’s not where my focus is. Let me connect you with someone who does that. Similar to Melanie. No, I don’t start nonprofits. But, you know, let me connect you to someone who does that, and then I can kind of stay in my lane, so to speak.

Brian Pruett: [00:34:26] So you talked about help training the boards. Walk me through that and how does that look?

Glenda Hicks: [00:34:31] Absolutely. So a lot of times organizations come to me, usually the executive director slash CEO, because of pain points, their board members are not following through. They don’t maybe show up to meetings regularly. They’re not engaged in the meeting when it’s taking place. They don’t follow through on what they signed up to do or they’re not volunteering to serve on a committee or to chair a committee. And all of that means it falls back on the executive to fill in the gap, and they become overwhelmed. And they’re already wearing a lot of hats and they’re already managing a lot of things. And so to have to fill in the gap for the board is one more responsibility. That can be frustrating, quite honestly. And it’s really the board’s responsibility to do that for themselves. And the chair of the board is that senior person who’s to steward that whole process and really ensure that everyone’s doing what they need to do and getting the training they need. So it’s either the board chair or the executive director who may reach out to me and ask, Can you come in and train us on what we signed up for? Because it’s very prestigious to serve on a board and it’s a way for people to give back. It’s a way for them to share their time, talent and treasure. But if you don’t properly inform them of what their legal responsibilities are and then equip them with how to execute that effectively, then you’re really setting your agency up for failure.

Glenda Hicks: [00:35:59] And they go through this continuous cycle of board members turning over or staying in the seat and not performing. One of the things we like to say is you have to get the right people on the bus and the right seats before you know where to go. And so there’s really this ongoing process where you need to assess continuously whether each board member individually understands what they’re doing, is equipped to do it accurately and effectively and still enjoys doing it, or that it’s an appropriate time still for them to do it and help them to communicate, to say things have changed for me. And this is no longer a fit because of dynamics at my job or in my household or physically. We’re moving and you want to encourage them to be able to step forward and speak and say that rather than just stop showing up or sitting quietly at the meeting. So I’ll come in and conduct training in various ways, either, you know, half day, a couple of hours, one hour or whatever it looks like in person, virtually, whatever that looks like. Deep dive into the ten universally accepted responsibilities of board members and what that looks like and really take it from where they are, meet them where they are and work with them to get to where they want to be.

Brian Pruett: [00:37:17] So two questions on the board, because this I have a reason for asking this two different nonprofits I’m thinking of. But would you recommend I think I know the answer to this, but would you recommend the person when they’re putting together a board asking people that are their close friends? And then the second part of the question is, if you have a board that people are just sitting there doing nothing, how do you handle that?

Glenda Hicks: [00:37:40] Great questions. Thank you. So the first one is that’s what we see most often, is when you start a nonprofit, you need, you know, for the IRS tax exemption, three folks on the board. And so they tend people tend to ask their friends and family to be those people so that they can get their exemption. And it makes sense. They’re the ones who see your vision and they love and support you and they want to help you through that endeavor, and that’s fantastic. The problem is when they are not necessarily informed or equipped to do what you need them to truly do. And when you’re a founding board member, it’s an even greater responsibility because you’re the first ones through the gate. So you need to lay the foundation for the future and you need to put in a lot of processes and policies and procedures, and you’re probably more hands on in the day to day than you are later in the life cycle of the nonprofit where you’re in a true governance mode. So I won’t say no, don’t put those people on because that’s who you’re able to find. However, accept the responsibility to know that now that I’ve put them on, I need to make sure they understand what they’re getting involved in, what I need them to do and how to do it, and let them know, excuse me, how long they’ll be serving.

Glenda Hicks: [00:39:00] So we encourage boards to have term limits for a variety of reasons, which includes giving folks a break so they’re not on there for a lifetime, but also so that you can bring in new ideas, new energy, new connections by rotating those folks every 3 to 5 years, 3 to 6 years if you allow them to serve two consecutive terms. So that’s the first one, be more intentional and thoughtful in that process, because what I find is I do come in and help with a lot of organizations, and right now I am doing that in terms of them helping them transition from that founding board to the next board and what that looks like. So that leads into the next question about moving people off the bus. Right? And it’s about your bylaws. You know, one of the responsibilities of a board member is duty of obedience. And that means following your laws, whether they’re federal, state, local, but also your internal laws, which would be your bylaws. When you’re when you organize your nonprofit, you should define various things in those bylaws.

Glenda Hicks: [00:40:03] And one of them is how do we handle absenteeism or what is the frequency that will meet? How many meetings do you need to attend? And if you’re not, how do we remove you? So most of the time they’ll read generically. We can remove you for any reason, with or without cause. But the thing is, organizations don’t exercise that because they want to maintain a relationship with that person. They don’t want to ruffle any feathers, they don’t like conflict. And all of those are valid. But there’s ways to handle that. It’s about, you know, sometimes I say, and I did not originate this, but in fact, I think it was from Joyce Meyer, You know, when you grow up, you become an adult, but you don’t necessarily mature. So we’re hopeful that these adults who are serving on these boards are mature enough to have these adult conversations directly, respectfully and timely around their behavior. And if their behavior is indicating that they’re not serving effectively. Let’s talk about that. Let’s not ignore the elephant in the room. So sometimes I’m brought in to help facilitate those conversations, to help them communicate and regain that respect for one another so that they can do the business of the nonprofit.

Brian Pruett: [00:41:26] If it comes to that point. And they need to ask somebody to leave the bus. So that’s the best way to do that.

Glenda Hicks: [00:41:32] The chair of the board ultimately has the responsibility. We. Encourage organizations to have a governance committee, which is a committee that stewards the board’s performance. They would be tasked with ensuring board members are performing individually and holistically as a full board. That training is happening, that they’re recruiting new board members and throughout the year and also having those kinds of conversations. So if you have a governance committee, then the chair could be the one that approaches that individual and has the conversation. If you don’t, then it’s definitely the board chair or it may be the two of them in tandem speaking to this individual and saying, you know, let’s have an open conversation. And part of that is predicated on having accountability measures. So we encourage folks to have an attendance roster where you’re tracking how many meetings you’ve had for the year when those meetings occurred, who was in attendance, which is going to be in your minutes? And then looking at the trend in the pattern and likely you’ll have a number of excused absences that are allowed in your bylaws and so you want to be mindful of how that’s occurring for each person. And so you’ll see it coming. It’s the point. And once you see it developing, then you start having that conversation. So that’s about leadership. That’s about maturity, that’s about what you do in your day job at the office.

Glenda Hicks: [00:42:54] And that’s why we brought you to this board to contribute that talent and that treasure that you have in your day job. A lot of individuals, they look at nonprofits as an extracurricular activity, sometimes in terms of their commitment. And so they will think that I can easily miss that meeting and go to something else because I didn’t prioritize it as a real thing, because I don’t think of the fact that I’m a legal fiduciary of this organization and I’m in a position to set the direction for the organization. And then the executive director, along with his or her staff, executes that and fulfills it. So understanding that and being more intentional on the front end and really explaining to folks what they’re about to embark on and understanding that every organization is different. So oftentimes we’ll say, if you’ve served on one nonprofit board, then you’ve served on one nonprofit board because they’re of different sizes. They have paid staff or non paid staff. They’re new, they’ve been around 20 years. And all of these things are present no matter how long they’ve been around. So I’ve worked with organizations that are newer in their infancy and those that have been around for years, and they all have the same issues that bubble up.

Brian Pruett: [00:44:11] So explain the difference between a board and a committee.

Glenda Hicks: [00:44:14] Well, the board is the legal governing entity, but the board gets its work done through committees, so you should have the necessary committees in order to affect change, which doesn’t mean that you have ten and it doesn’t mean that you keep those ten. It means that your bylaws speak to the minimum. You should have an executive committee. You should have a governance committee, you should have a finance committee. Those are probably your three core committees. Everything else can be ad hoc, if you will, and created by a charter that defines why you’re going to create this committee. What’s its purpose and when will it finish? When will it disband? And so it could be something that is ongoing or it could be something that is short term. But and there’s some organizations that I have not encountered them personally, but I know they exist where every year they reassess what committees do we need. And that way you don’t find yourself trying to stretch people too thin by having all these committees that don’t really do anything. And it’s in these committees where they’re having the substantive conversations and they’re doing the research and they’re getting the information that’s necessary to bring back to the board for them to then have a motion that they then discuss. So the board takes actions, the board moves them, makes a motion, you know, seconds, it has discussion and then votes it up or down or asks for more information. But the committees are doing all the work. But ideally.

Brian Pruett: [00:45:52] Right. But not everybody on the committee is sitting on the board is usually just the chair of that committee. Correct.

Glenda Hicks: [00:45:56] That varies as well. Some organizations will allow the will require a board member to be the chair and at least maybe one other board member on that committee. But some will allow community members to serve on that committee as well. And that’s so one. One reason is it allows you to have more folks involved if you have a small board, because if you’re a board of, say, 5 or 7 folks, you may not feel like you have enough people to staff a committee. But if your bylaws are written in a way that non board members can serve on your committee, it’s a way to get that additional expertise. It’s also a way to vet potential future board members. So you start to date and see if there’s. Is a good relationship. And then they can also find out if they like this culture and determine if they may want to serve on the board and have a legal liability in the future. So it depends on how your bylaws are written.

Brian Pruett: [00:46:50] So when you talk about the training you talked about, you do with the board and you help talk about through their finances a little bit, is there any more training that you offer nonprofits?

Glenda Hicks: [00:46:59] Absolutely. So it varies depending on the calendar. The the one I provide the most is board governance roles and responsibilities training. And then I will do finance workshops as well. I’ve done financial boot camps to help them understand nonprofit finances, which is another big area that tends to be a second pain point is not understanding how to read the numbers, not how not understanding how to identify trends and interpret the numbers and use it to make decisions. Because that’s what you’re trying to do is make decisions for the organization’s future. And with the Finance Committee, they’re getting into the nitty gritty and they’re working closely with the executive or the chief financial officer, whomever that might be in your organization, making sure the numbers are accurate. But then they’re bringing ideally summarized information to the board that’s critical for them to make decisions. And that’s, you know, either you love numbers or you hate them. I, of course love them. And so I break that down into a way for them to understand how to use that information in layman’s terms, if you will, which is another area. I actually thought I was going to be a teacher when I was growing up because my mom is a retired school teacher and I knew I wasn’t going into the Air Force at the time. I didn’t think I was fit enough, which had been following in my father’s footsteps.

Glenda Hicks: [00:48:23] But that teaching passion has been there since I was in the third grade, and I used to simulate teaching to empty desks in my mother’s classroom. And I think that’s really why training has become so natural for me and that I love it so much. Because if whatever I know and learn it does no good If I haven’t shared it with someone else and sharing it with others helps them to then make the community ultimately better for itself. So the training is a big component and I create training based on needs that I see. So there’s training on actually recruiting board members as well. I have a training where nonprofits come in and they learn the proper way for recruiting, identifying training, orienting, onboarding folks to serve on their board and treating it as a year round process. And then there’s training for individuals who want to serve on boards or who are currently serving, but maybe never received that type of orientation and need to shore up their skills. So it varies. And then depending on the organization, I may do specific workshops on succession planning. As far as the succession of the board in terms of officership or succession of the Ed, which is a board responsibility to hire, supervise and evaluate the executive director. So lots of different topic areas.

Brian Pruett: [00:49:53] So I’m assuming you kind of like you’re like Melanie, you can do virtual, you can do work cross country.

Glenda Hicks: [00:49:58] Absolutely. As far north as North Dakota, so far south is Florida and Texas, far west is California and East Carolina. All over the country. Yes, through Zoom. Zoom was a platform I had just discovered a year before the pandemic, and it has served me well. And then, of course, you know, being in person, there’s always a different experience and a greater experience, a richer experience, if you will, when you have the opportunity to to be in person. Yeah. So it’s really just being mindful of what the organization needs and listening to what their pain points are and then being responsive to that. And I will add, as a consequence of that, I created a board game which I think I shared with you, and I put that under a separate company. We were talking about names earlier, and I can definitely relate to Melanie because it took me forever to come up with the name of the other company, which is 501 C impact. And it was kind of, you know, no brainer with Glenda with CPA. But 501. C impact was to let folks know that this experiential learning platform allows you to use it with any 501. C I typically work with C threes, but there’s a litany of other C’s which represent like chambers of commerce and other entities out there in the environmental organizations and the like. But it’s, you know, there’s lots of nonprofit consultants out there doing the same work and we’re carrying the same message. But for some reason, these problems persist. And for. Me it was a question of maybe it’s because we’re telling them all the time, we’re lecturing at them and we’re not allowing them to experience the consequence of their inaction or action. And so this board game was my solution that I developed and then put under another company and then expanded the services that I can offer to nonprofits through that company as well.

Brian Pruett: [00:52:00] So want to share about how board game works.

Glenda Hicks: [00:52:04] Absolutely. So first of all, it was because I loved playing board games as a kid and but I always lost. And when I trialed this game with my family, I lost again. And I thought, how is that possible? I created the game. But anyway, where there are four teams, each representing a nonprofit organization, and they go around the board and they’re making decisions on behalf of that organization. So they simulate serving as a board, but also as the Ed because it’s a combination. And it actually morphed into this a combination of managing a nonprofit but also stewarding it as a board member. And through that combination, they have to hire the executive director. They have different life cycle events that happen to a nonprofit that they have to respond to and react to. They engage in strategic planning, which is another big service that I offer to organizations, is facilitating strategic planning. And so they have to do that throughout the game making decisions, and it allows them to network with each other because one of the things that I encountered is just board members not really knowing each other. And when you don’t know someone and you don’t care about them personally, then you’re not necessarily going to follow through because you don’t care that you didn’t.

Glenda Hicks: [00:53:23] You don’t really connect with them. And so a lot of what I do is in a way that board members begin to connect with each other in a social setting, and this game affords that opportunity as well. We simulate and assessment so they understand the benefit of evaluating their own performance. A lot of times what I find is board members become frustrated with the ID and they may demonstrate that in their evaluation. But the question is when did you last evaluate yourself as a board? So we recommend as a best practice that you evaluate the board every 2 to 3 years to see how they are performing and fulfilling their responsibilities. So all these different aspects are incorporated into this game. It takes about a half a day. You know, it’s kind of like Monopoly. Yes, yes. It’s a long endeavor and there’s a lot of teaching involved, but it’s all interactive, experiential, engaging conversation that allows them to even address issues that they maybe haven’t addressed in a board meeting because it’s coming out within the game and we’ll pause and we’ll address that.

Brian Pruett: [00:54:28] So is that a game that somebody can purchase or is that you come in with the game and do that? Or how does that work?

Glenda Hicks: [00:54:33] A couple of different ways. Initially, the idea was to sell it to consultants and have them add it as an additional tool to their toolbox. And then Covid hit and I had to retool and I came up with an online version and I began facilitating the game myself through the online version. And then I also offer it to other capacity building entities where they have consultants of their own and they go through a two day certification program. They receive the game to use in their institution, such as another nonprofit, and their consultants then can run the game within the context of their curriculum as they train nonprofit organizations. So right now I haven’t brought the game back to the market individually. It’s either as a part of that certification program that a university or another capacity builder would use, or I use it within my work that I do with organizations and individuals, but I may have to roll it back out as an individual board game, but it’s not going to be in a big box store. It’s a little more expensive than that.

Brian Pruett: [00:55:42] Well, it’s not the same price.

Glenda Hicks: [00:55:43] Line as Monopoly, right?

Brian Pruett: [00:55:45] Right. No, it’d be worth it, though, for the for the folks, I’m sure. So if somebody is listening and I’m going to ask you the same thing as Melanie, thinking about doing a nonprofit, give them some advice before they start one or as they’re starting to start one.

Glenda Hicks: [00:55:58] Yes. Thank you for that question. Nonprofits are vital to the community. They fill in the gap for so many people, for so many things. And when someone sees that something is lacking, they have this spark of I want to start a nonprofit. And the first thing that we like to say as consultants is look around and see who is doing that already. Because there are. You talk about how many are in Bartow. Nationally, there’s over 1.5 million nonprofits, and they’re growing daily because you have an idea. You start a nonprofit and you can’t take that away because we have an idea and we start a for profit, right? And we’re all in competition, you know, And you go to a corner and there’s a Burger King, a McDonald’s, a Wendy’s, and, you know, they’re all there. But the difference is it’s much harder to garner the funds. And so as Melanie was saying, that’s a lot of work to fundraise and to write grant applications and to go after corporate sponsors and to develop relationships with donors so they’ll give and create an infrastructure internally where you’re running it. And we hate to say this in the nonprofit space, but it is so true where you’re running it like a business because you first are a corporation within your state. You have to apply to be a corporation. Then you go to the IRS and apply to be tax exempt. So you have to have that infrastructure in place. And it’s it’s a lot to to create and build and you’re funding it. What I find is the founders fund them themselves with their own bank account. And you start thinking, oh my gosh, I can’t keep putting all my money into this nonprofit.

Glenda Hicks: [00:57:39] I need some funding. So we say, if you want to start a nonprofit first, look around and see who’s doing it and see if there is an alignment that you can bring your idea to that agency. And this might be something they were looking to do as an expansion of their service or as a new program. And you may be able to become the employee if that’s what you want to do or the director or the consultant or whatever that looks like. The other thing is, on the flip side, it may be that what you’re trying to start exists, but it’s not convenient to your community. So in order for your community to access those services, they may have to drive an hour, hour and a half, two hours. And so it makes sense for you to start your nonprofit because there’s no one else in close proximity to serve the folks you’re reaching. So there’s different reasons. And the the issue is explore and do your research. The Georgia Center for Nonprofits, the pro bono partnership of Atlanta candidate org. All three have pieces on their website that are great reads for folks who think they want to start a nonprofit. And it asks a lot of questions about your of you that allow you to be introspective and see is this really what I’m ready to embark upon? Is this really what the community needs? And is it something that’s not out there right now that I’ve just got to bring it to fruition? And those things can help you determine if you really should should launch.

Brian Pruett: [00:59:08] That’s a good point because again, like a lot of people, you said, I want to do this and then they just go out and do it. And a lot of times they fail. One thing for both of you to think about is that one thing that I’m considering and I’ve kind of offered this, but not in a full way, is fundraising consulting, because I’m finding out people that I’m talking to don’t even know how to get sponsors. So I’m I may talk to you guys about doing some kind of workshop, you know, bring you guys in to do that and we can talk about that. So if somebody wants to get a hold of you for your services or learn about the game or whatever, how can they do that?

Glenda Hicks: [00:59:41] A couple of different ways. The the consulting practice is G Hicks, cpa.com. The game company is 501. C impact 501. C Impact.com. Phone numbers. What are my number? 67887210036788721003. Or (770) 865-0979. So two websites two phone numbers should be able to find me there or LinkedIn. Yeah.

Brian Pruett: [01:00:16] So awesome. So thanks again for coming and sharing. And again don’t go anywhere because we’re not really done. But I’m like a kid in the candy store for my next guest. Every time I meet one of these gentlemen that played professional sports, I am a kid in a candy store. And then when I get their number and they call me about stuff, I’m like, Oh, man, check it. And hey, man, what’s up? Reggie McClain, thanks for being here this morning.

Reggie McClain: [01:00:37] No problem. Thanks for having me.

Brian Pruett: [01:00:38] Reggie, if you don’t know, played Major League Baseball for a couple of years and he’s now passionate about helping youth. So you’re from the Johns Creek area, correct?

Reggie McClain: [01:00:47] Correct.

Brian Pruett: [01:00:48] So share a little bit about your story. Share a little about your your baseball story, and then we’ll talk about what you’re doing.

Reggie McClain: [01:00:53] Gotcha. Yeah, We born here, born in Kansas City, moved down here when I was one years old, Johns Creek area. Been there ever since. So. Long time native here. About my baseball career, I got to play seven years professional with the Yankees, Phillies and Mariners organization. Just getting to be around, you know, in that atmosphere. You see, you know, how the clubhouse looks where a lot of these guys come from, you know, especially from the ones from Latin America. They you know, it’s a different it’s a different ball game for them. It’s it’s coming into a different country and playing a different in a sport with the circumstances that they had to kind of endure. The that’s not the reason I got passionate about getting these sports but just opening my eyes and seeing, you know, people that, you know, come from different experiences because I didn’t have that in Johns Creek. You know, I had bats waiting for me when I was going to, you know, parents never had to worry about equipment or anything. So that’s the, you know, the passionate side got to finish up, you know, playing an and now dipping my hand into the nonprofit space. And I wish I would have listened to you guys before I started my nonprofit because I was sitting here just learning from you guys, just talking about the nonprofits.

Reggie McClain: [01:02:14] But no, we I was I recently worked for a nonprofit. We we definitely hit some struggling points where we I wish we would have known some of the things that you guys have been saying. So it’s awesome to be able to listen and learn from you guys in that retrospect. But no, I’m passionate about getting these kids, you know, shape or shaping their lives in the sporting field. Definitely been something that’s never I’ve never took for granted where I was at, especially on the baseball field. And having a kid who, you know, necessarily doesn’t have the resources or have the accessibility to play expensive sport like baseball, travel ball equipment, getting here to there, that’s what really fueled me because, you know, I don’t want the sport that provided me so much in my life to be, you know, limited for somebody else around the, you know, around the globe. So we will be back in a very specific capacity, but I definitely probably will get in contact with you, too, after right after this show. And we will definitely, definitely be starting something back up again.

Brian Pruett: [01:03:19] So we’ll talk about the organization that you’re going to be with here in just a minute. But I got a few questions for you because I guess, first of all, when people talk about, you know, playing professional sports of any kind, right, it’s just not handed to you. You got to work for it. And kind of like you were just talking about at Johns Creek, though, you had things waiting for you, but you quickly learned after getting through college and then getting the major leagues, you were on the road a lot. You had to work your way up. Tell us just walk us through that process.

Reggie McClain: [01:03:46] A lot of you know, at that point, it’s the lifestyle. A lot of people, when you’re outside of it looking in, it looks a lot different. But when you’re in it, I mean, you’re you’re pretty much with that’s your family on the road, your team. You’re doing everything together. You know, just the long bus rides here to there. I mean, every night, 140 games a season, every night you’re in the stadium. So that really becomes your little your little safe haven. You got to love to be around the guys you’re around because that becomes your family at that point. But now just in the same breath, just meet some incredible people. You know, the stuff I remember about my baseball career is mostly off the field. The people I met, the conversations I had with people, you know, nobody was nobody’s going to be bad on you because you had a good game, especially in your teammates. Like those are your guys that you know you always can rely on. So no, just the whole minor league experience. It’s competitive. People don’t realize the there’s a lot of talent in baseball around the world and you know just even. Being blessed. I even got the opportunity to play Major League Baseball. It’s something I aspired when I was a kid and to be able to say that I lived out that dream is incredible because not a lot of, you know, I understand a lot. Not a lot of people get there.

Brian Pruett: [01:05:05] Talk about, though, there are many levels of minor leagues. Can you talk about what what that looks like?

Reggie McClain: [01:05:10] Yeah, Well, there’s about seven different every every major league team has about seven different farm teams. I think they might have cut them down to five after Covid, I’m not sure. But I know that there’s about five, six, seven teams under each professional team.

Brian Pruett: [01:05:27] So that’s each a different level, right?

Reggie McClain: [01:05:29] It’s a different level. Triple A double, a high low, a short season rookie ball. It goes down the whole list, different levels. That’s every different tier. You graduate from one that’s like graduating from elementary school to middle school. It’s like the same process. You get to go to the next level. You made it, right.

Brian Pruett: [01:05:46] So. And you’re a pitcher, correct?

Reggie McClain: [01:05:48] Yes, I am.

Brian Pruett: [01:05:49] Is there any kind of different conditioning that a pitcher would go through versus a position player?

Reggie McClain: [01:05:54] Yeah, I’d say that I ran a lot more than position players tend to do, but they got to play the field. So that’s, you know, they get to reap the benefit of that. But now the conditioning was I definitely always ran. I always made sure I was in good cardio shape. That definitely works better on the mound when you’re in that shape.

Brian Pruett: [01:06:16] So you’ve heard of the Savannah Bananas? Oh, yeah, right. I call them now. They’re Harlem Globetrotters of baseball. I’m curious, have you been to a game yet?

Reggie McClain: [01:06:25] I have not. I have a buddy who played against them, though. Really? Yes. Dwight Smith Jr. I think he’s in Columbus right now. He played against their team and he said it is impossible to focus when you play the Savannah bananas. He’s like, I don’t know how I’m going to get a hit. This is too much. Well, just.

Brian Pruett: [01:06:42] Seeing some of their videos, I mean, just out of nowhere, the umpire will start dancing, right? It’s crazy. And then a guy walks out on stilts to bat. I mean, it’s insane. I’d like to go to a game, but I understand it’s almost like Augusta. You have to be on a waiting list to get tickets.

Reggie McClain: [01:06:54] Yeah, they’re getting they’re popular and they’re making baseball like, a really exciting product to watch, especially going to those games. Right.

Brian Pruett: [01:07:01] So I have to ask, in your time in the major leagues, first of all, who was the batter you hated to face the most and who was the one you wanted to face the most?

Reggie McClain: [01:07:12] Oh, man. The batter that I hated facing the most, I would have to say, was. I’ll have to say it was Altuve. Only because the strike zone is so small. But he can hit anything around the plate. So it’s like he works it to his advantage. He’s he’s he’s he’s hard to get out. I’ll say that. Very hard out. The guy who I would have liked to pitched against probably probably Shohei he’s I mean he’s the best player on the planet right now. Yeah I wish I had one one matchup with him. See what happens. See if I can tell my grandkids something cool. I struck out the best best player ever in baseball. There you go.

Brian Pruett: [01:07:55] So your starter reliever, reliever, reliever is there. So somebody who may not be a baseball aficionado. I said a word. Big word, Stone. Uh, just tell a difference between a starter and reliever. Obviously, it’s in the name, but.

Reggie McClain: [01:08:11] Okay, so I mean, a starters starter just starts your game out. I mean, he pitches once every five days. He knows when he’s going to pitch. That’s his day when he pitches a starter. It’s like, okay, we got him the day that stays constant. Relievers, we are kind of, you know, we’re in that bullpen. We’re kind of just like the picking of the litter, just like, all right, which one’s going today? And it could be the same guy two times in a row. Three times in a row. It just depends on the game. But we just got to be ready at all times. Being a reliever, just being the back end of the game, it definitely could get a little dicey, but you just don’t never know. You’re on your toes every game. When that phone rings, it could be you.

Brian Pruett: [01:08:51] I noticed, though, they have started determining some of the relievers are not available because I guess they pitched so much up to a certain point. Um, how many pitches did you have?

Reggie McClain: [01:09:03] I had three pitches, a very basic fastball, changeup, breaking ball. That’s all I really needed. But I was. I got really good at those three.

Brian Pruett: [01:09:15] All right. All right. So now let’s talk about the organization. Where you going to be working with youth. Tell us about that.

Reggie McClain: [01:09:20] Yeah, we’re working out a turning point. I have a baseball academy that I’m starting up over there and we you know, we’re I’m putting my focus back into, you know, the youth. I want to be able to put my imprint on a kid to see him flourish in his, you know, his desire to play baseball. I know what it takes to get there. And I can help a kid out that wants to be in that light and work hard to get there. So that’s why I’m starting up youth, a youth facility, just getting guys where they can come in, meet a great team of people, have a beautiful 25,000 square foot facility in Johns Creek that we really could get, get after and get a lot, get a lot of work in and help some kids.

Brian Pruett: [01:10:02] So I know there’s a lot of different baseball academies out there. Walk somebody through the process on how to choose one because I’m sure everybody’s different and some of them may not be a good fit for everybody and some may not be good at all. So how can somebody, when they’re looking for a baseball academy other than because you’re Reggie, you know, what’s the best way to pick?

Reggie McClain: [01:10:24] I would say, you know, the personnel matters. The people that you’re going to be spending a lot of time with them if you’re going to be trusting them with your athletic career, you got you got to really like them. You got to you got to have a they have to have that vision for you. So see what they have in store for your kid or, you know, what plans they have for your kid, where they want them to be at. Just letting you know like that you care about their athletic career. That’s first and foremost. And then also where you train you, you want to be in a facility that you can call like a home base. You want to know that, you know, this is a place that I come back to regularly and they do a great job over there. Just building that community relation. You want people to be talking about it. You don’t want it to be like, We didn’t really have a good time over there. Like they didn’t, you know, they don’t instruct us. Well, you don’t. So just having that good personnel where you can build that good repertoire and build good, you know, build a good brand that people can be excited about, that’s what you know, that’s how I’m planning to attack it. Just having a great reputation, a good place to do it at.

Brian Pruett: [01:11:30] Are you going to be offering all kinds of aspects for baseball?

Reggie McClain: [01:11:33] Yes, we will be offering hitting, fielding, pitching. We can actually have a big enough space to have an indoor practice, especially in the youth league. Yeah. And youth sports. So we are we are getting going, starting up. We’ve only been open for about four months now. I’m really looking to get, you know, revved up on the baseball side. That’s what they brought me on for, to get that started and where we can really start affecting lives and getting some kids.

Brian Pruett: [01:12:01] Well, it helps. You’re from the area so yeah.

Reggie McClain: [01:12:03] Yeah. I’ve been in the area a long time.

Brian Pruett: [01:12:06] So I have to share this because like I said earlier, I’m a big sports nut and I’m like a kid in a candy store and I’m around these guys. And I helped with a celebrity golf tournament a few years ago. And sometimes they say, never meet your idols, never meet your, you know, things like that. And I won’t mention his name because. Uh, if he listens, he might come beat me up or something. I don’t know. But we had a I’ll just say it. Bo Jackson has. Anyway, he was. We had Pete Smith, former Atlanta Brave, brought in a jersey for a young man who had cancer. And he was one of all the guys to sign it. And that was my responsibility to help get these guys to sign it. And every time I asked Bo, he stuck his nose up and said, I’m not here to sign any memorabilia. And I’m like, This is for a young man with cancer. Here’s the letter from his mother. And he was just very, very rude. You know, you guys, obviously everybody is different in their personalities. But it’s cool to see because I know a lot of former professional athletes that you guys get back involved in the community, you know, and that you give back because you guys got to do something that most people are not going to be able to do. So why is it important for you to be part of the community doing that?

Reggie McClain: [01:13:15] You know, you always have to pay it back. There was always when I was, you know, in my adolescence, playing baseball, there was plenty of people that did the same thing that kind of gave me their insight. And they never were rude about it. They never they these are baseball junkies. They just love to talk the game and be a be a be a part of that and be a part of a growth process for you. And that’s how I view it. If I could steer one kid to, you know, and put my mold on him, to have him, you know, he made it to college or something like that, even making it to college is a great feat like that is you are still the 1% of baseball players that played in high school to make it to the next level. So don’t I think people get caught up in the end goal. So making it to the major leagues, stay in the present, stay in the process. You know, being able to see a kid, just get to that pedigree and learn more about himself. And as a as you know, as he athletically grows is a great you know, I have taken a lot of pleasure in seeing that and, you know, being around, you know, a kid that I can help.

Brian Pruett: [01:14:27] And that’s a good point you bring up, too, about the next level because there’s several different next levels. You could go to college. It’s an eye versus an NCAA Division three, you know, and on up. And I think it’s like you said, it doesn’t to me it doesn’t matter the level you go to, you’re there. Exactly. Um, so just give a little bit of knowledge of somebody, maybe a parent or somebody who has a child and maybe the child is listening about some conditioning. What should they start doing to get prepared to come and then what you guys are going to be working on.

Reggie McClain: [01:14:54] So I offer a bunch of programs at the facility. You know, I have I have 25 years of playing baseball experience under my belt, which a lot of is young to a lot of people. But know what we will what we’ll be doing is we have a bunch of programs as far as pitching side. We have hitting specialists. But on the pitching side, just for a young kid, as you see, the game is growing. A lot of guys are throwing harder. Just because you’re not throwing hard right now doesn’t mean that it won’t come. We kind of help facilitate that with, you know, Driveline Plyo Ball Plyometrics. I don’t know if you guys know what that is yet, but go ahead and share. It’s it’s like the different weighted balls that you see pitchers using nowadays. It’s kind of gotten into it’s a proven science. You’re throwing, you know, all these heavy weighted balls so that when you pick up a baseball, it’s like really light and you can just your arms are just like ready to go. It’s a different style of, you know, just locating like back in the 80s and 90s where, you know, Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux types located at the knees. That part of baseball is still there in a small sense, but usually when the guy’s in there, I mean he’s throwing 95 plus, they’re throwing hard. We get guys throwing hard. And I have I’ve ran these camps previously out of other facilities, but I’m excited to bring it to this facility. I have a bigger space to work out in my camp. I can reach a lot of kids that want to reach their goal and help them through that with, yeah, you know, the camps and stuff that I provide, I.

Brian Pruett: [01:16:33] Think that’s kind of a lost art, the way you were talking about Maddux and Glavine, because my favorite team is the Reds and Hunter Green. We all know he throws 105 miles an hour. He’s on the IL right now. But, you know, I think back to when I was growing up, Kerry Wood and Mark Prior, they blew their shoulders out because they were throwing so hard. But Maddux, I don’t know if you know this stat, but there’s not one baseball player who ever saw him, saw the same pitch twice. Did you know that?

Reggie McClain: [01:16:58] Oh, wow.

Brian Pruett: [01:16:59] I mean, that’s insane to me. He’s that good that nobody ever saw the same pitch twice. Jeez. So, I mean, just I think if somebody could learn, you know, the even the knuckle or just the thing, not just worry about throwing it so hard, it would be very valuable.

Reggie McClain: [01:17:13] Yeah, you think?

Brian Pruett: [01:17:14] But yeah, just ask Connor there, right? Or ask Reggie. He’ll tell you. All right. So. It. Tell us again where the location is and how people can get Ahold of you to maybe get your services.

Reggie McClain: [01:17:27] You guys can reach me on Instagram at Reggie McClain, 39. I’m going to be promoting a lot of what I do on social media platforms reaching adolescence. We also do I have a website that we’re about to put up that’ll have more of my baseball expertise on there still in the work right now. But I’ll make sure that we, you know, if you guys are, it’ll be posted on my Instagram where you guys can check that out. Once again, it’s Reggie McClain, 39, and you’ll see the baseball aspect of how I’m going to shape and the facility. At least you guys get to get to see the beautiful facility that I And what’s the.

Brian Pruett: [01:18:04] Name of the facility again? It’s called.

Reggie McClain: [01:18:05] Turning Point and it’s in point.

Brian Pruett: [01:18:07] Johns Creek, right.

Reggie McClain: [01:18:07] Johns Creek, Georgia. I wish I had an address for you. I can’t remember, but they.

Brian Pruett: [01:18:12] Have a website.

Reggie McClain: [01:18:12] Yeah, we do have a website. So, yeah, you guys could see us over there. And once we get up and running, we’re going to be we look forward to changing, change some lives.

Brian Pruett: [01:18:23] Well, I hope I’m going to get some Reggie out to some of these fundraising events. I do. And so I’m glad I got to meet you and and get to know you a little bit. So a couple of things before we wrap up. I wanted to ask Glenda and Melanie this question as well, because, Glenda, you and I used to network a lot together when you were over in this area. That’s how we first met. So why is it important for you to be part of the community?

Glenda Hicks: [01:18:47] Well, the community is everything. It’s your lifeline. It’s your safe space or we want it to be. And that’s why these nonprofits are so important, so that they’re equipped to create the communities that we imagine and that we can feel safe there and thrive and pursue our dreams. And for me to be a part of that, it’s just who I am. It’s what I’ve done since I was in college, volunteering, giving back. And, you know, with starting this other company, 501 C impact, it’s taken a lot of my time and I haven’t been able to engage on the frontline the way I used to. And it’s been quite unsettling actually. And so I’ve been behind the scenes trying to stand up nonprofits and equip them from an infrastructure standpoint. And I haven’t been out touching the people the way I used to. And so it’s interesting that you ask this question at this juncture because this is literally something that I’m changing for myself right now so that I’m back on the front side of things with people seeing them and doing things to change their lives directly, which which is interesting because let me just segway for a second, if I can, Nonprofits in terms of funding and Melanie can attest to this and most likely, you know, organizations really wanted to give to direct service.

Glenda Hicks: [01:20:04] They wanted to give to the front lines of the work. I want to give my money to literally change an individual’s life. And it wasn’t until the real estate bust a few years ago and then the pandemic that they said yes, but if the infrastructure is not there for the nonprofit to survive and be sustainable, then how are you how are you going to deliver those services? So I took pride in being able to be part of that infrastructure. But I realized that what made my heart sing was the community and being with the people and doing the work. So it’s critical to having the kind of communities and lifestyles that we desire to have. So I applaud the work that each of you do in your respective spaces and that we’re connected now so we can support each other and make a bigger impact, definitely.

Brian Pruett: [01:20:58] Melanie Why is it important for you to be part of the community?

Melanie Lambert : [01:21:00] So for me, I think it’s a little bit selfish and and personal in that Bartow County, even before knowing that stat you shared with me earlier about how many nonprofits we have, Bartow County is so philanthropic and I’ve lived in a lot of communities that are also philanthropic, but I feel that so much more in in Bartow. And that may be because I live, work and play there, but I just feel like there’s this sentiment and even beyond all of those nonprofits, individuals are very philanthropic in our community. And I think that just reinvigorates me in that sense of this is my role in that huge philanthropic community that we have. This is how I can contribute. I may not be able to write $1 million check myself to a non profit organization that can be transformative. But if what I can contribute with my talents can help do that for an organization, and when I can see that in the real world, you know, just write grants is completely virtual. And there’s, there’s pluses and minuses to that, as Glenda shared. But I have the absolute pleasure and honor of working with several Bartow County nonprofit organizations excuse me, Red Door Food Pantry being one, and I have helped them. Do you know Grant writing for several years? And one of the things that I like to. Share about the difference in working with a local nonprofit versus one that’s on a national level is I can actually see the results of my work. You know, I had the pleasure of helping them secure the funding for the mobile food pantry. Well, when I see that truck driving down the road that just lights a fire in me of, you know, I a lot of people were involved in that grant. I don’t I absolutely am not taking credit for it exclusively.

Melanie Lambert : [01:22:43] But having been a cog in that wheel that that made that happen and allowed them to serve the community at a completely different capacity than they were ever able to do before. That just gets me up in the morning. I mean, I love that and I can see a tangible result of that. So if, you know, I do love to be, I think I think community is how you define it, right? And so I also feel part of the community of the organizations that I work with that might be in California or New York or Florida that I’m not necessarily going to ever see in person. But if if the way that I manage those relationships with those organizations, I can feel part of that community and ingrain myself in what they’re doing, understand what they’re doing and the impact that they have, That’s important to me because I can see a bigger picture and I can sort of sell that better in the appeal that I’m making in the grant writing if I am involved in what they’re doing. And I make sure that the organizations that that I work with personally, I are aligned with, with what I believe in and things that I feel like are important to the community. Again, however you define that, because if it’s not as a writer, I think a reader can can tell that. I think a grant funder would be able to very, very quickly sense whether or not I believe in what I’m writing. And so being part of those communities helps me do that more effectively, but also helps me feel like I’m part of that mission work and I’m part of making a difference in whatever that definition of community is.

Brian Pruett: [01:24:22] Yeah, that’s pretty cool what you’re talking about seeing things happen, because one of the reasons I did start B’s Charitable Pursuits and Resources is the same reason I can’t write $1 million check right now. I can’t even write $100 check, but I can use my resources to put on events, bring the community together, have fun, get some of these athletes to come out and draw some folks and learn. And it’s cool to see when because to me it may not be a lot of money, but to these nonprofits a lot. I just think about January was the first month that I did the charity trivia for the charity and Footprints on the Heart was the charity, and I presented a check to $1,000 to them after we did the trivia and when she told me. You just paid for five caskets for me for the year. Not only did I get to see where the money goes, but I mean, that broke my heart. But it’s and then each of the rest of the time, they told me, you know, it may not be a lot of money that I’m giving them, but to them it is. So it’s just really cool to see that. So. All right. So the last question I have for all three of you before we wrap this up is I always like to end this show with some positive nuggets, quotes, uh, words to Live today, the rest of 2023 and beyond with. So we’ll start back with you. What you got, Melanie?

Melanie Lambert : [01:25:29] Oh, goodness. No pressure. Um, you know, again, it sounds cheesy, but, you know, be the change you want to see in the world, and I should know who to attribute that to. But I really I really believe that, that, you know, you can sit at home and complain about the way the world is all day or you can get up and do something about it, whether that’s starting your own nonprofit or, as Glenda mentioned, finding a nonprofit that is doing that work you’re passionate about and invest your time and resources into it because you know, if you don’t, it’s always going to be the way it’s always been. And there’s so many opportunities for people to get involved in things that can help whatever demographic it is that you’re looking to to help impact their lives. And so I really, really feel like that that’s the avenue for making the change that we want to see.

Glenda Hicks: [01:26:17] Glenda Wow. So many things swirling in my head. What to choose. I think I’ll just go with Never give up, Never give up. Whatever it is you’re pursuing, just keep chugging at it. Days can get long. They can get hard, they can get frustrating. You can become disillusioned, especially when you read and watch mainstream. I so appreciate this show and the way you describe your purpose with the positive stories and the good things people are doing in the community, because that’s what I try to find so that you can stay hopeful and maybe that’s it to stay hopeful and never give up and everything will fall into place. And it’s right timing. As long as you are really committed to the cause, whatever that might be.

Brian Pruett: [01:27:09] Yeah. Reggie.

Reggie McClain: [01:27:11] I would have to say, remember your why? Because there’s, you know, it’s always going to get rough. It’s going to it’s going to happen. But if you remember your why why you’re doing it, what got you into that? You know, that space, that spark that you felt. If you remember that, you know, you can get past all the hard times and the hardships and see see really the fruits of your labor on the other side.

Brian Pruett: [01:27:33] Well, I’m going to start we need to start writing a book of all this stuff.

Speaker6: [01:27:35] Well, you know what? We’ve got these responses recorded. Create a book. I love that.

Brian Pruett: [01:27:39] Yeah, that’s great. Like good thoughts, Don. I appreciate it. You’re welcome. The other thing that that I do, the thank you is a lost art these days. So, Melanie, thank you for what you’re doing for the nonprofits. Glenda, thank you for what you’re doing for the nonprofits. And Reggie, thank you for what you’re doing for the community and especially the youth. So all right, everybody out there listening. Remember, let’s be positive. Let’s be charitable.