Every few years, I invite readers and colleagues to contribute guest columns in the series Technology and my Hobby/Passion. Over a hundred contributed in the last decade on their birding, charities, cooking, music, sports and every other passion, and how it keeps evolving with technology. Click here and scroll down to read them all.
This time it is Michelle Turman, MA, CFRE, the CEO of Catalyst Consulting Services whose mission is to facilitate positive change for nonprofits in the areas of executive searches, organizational management, and fundraising. In 2018, Turman was recognized as Small Business Leader of the Year by the Greater Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce for her leadership in the nonprofit sector. She is also author of the best-selling book, Jumping the Queue – Achieving Great Things Before You Are Ready which focuses on how young professionals can seize personal and professional opportunities, achieve great things, and get what they want and deserve:
We have all seen or heard the phrase by Mahatma Gandhi, “Be the Change That You Wish to See in the World”, but how many of us truly are brave enough to create or facilitate change? Many of us are not risk-takers, entrepreneurs, leaders, innovators or change agents for fear of failure. I was one of those people in my 20s and 30s. Like many before me, I had a clear, safe path: get an undergraduate degree, gain a few years work experience, go back to graduate school and find a job that hopefully made use of the degree, then work my way up to where I wanted to be. Success meant achieving these goals and building on some personal highlights I had already enjoyed along the way.
Success came early
I was the youngest female to dive the wreck of the Titanic in a deep-sea submersible. At 27, I was the youngest of 12 women in the diving group, with the oldest at 72. I was afforded this opportunity because I was the Chief Curator of Collections and Exhibitions at RMS Titanic, Inc. This opportunity also allowed me to use my creativity, formal training and emerging technology to redefine the museum visitor experience. Whether it was through creating replicas of each room on the Titanic, the exact constellation of the sky on the fateful night or the 28 degree temperature of the icebergs, we brought the ship to life. LED lighting and a self-icing wall helped create that experience. As you walked through the Verandah Café you could smell fresh coffee or vanilla. The ability to create the exhibitions in the United States while managing the conservation in Semur, France, shipping artifacts around the world, and at sea in the North Atlantic were all made possible through technology (back then, mostly via cell phone and laptop). Having this knowledge about how to get things done allowed me to tour the world, provide access to the atypical museum goer, and change the way in which history was viewed. The video below depicts some of the artifacts from the magnificent, but doomed ship.
At age 30, I was one of the few adjunct professors at St. Petersburg College to transition my in-class instruction to on-line instruction. It was ahead of its time - tenured professors believed in-person classes had more credibility. I chuckle when I see that today the e-campus for the College makes up over 70% of their enrollment. I have seen a boom in other on-line degree universities. The current COVID-19 crisis is expected to turbo-charge the trend even more.
At the age of 32, I became the youngest female museum director in the State of Florida. I felt I had achieved all the professional goals I had set for myself.
Now what? Well in 2008, I found out.
Painful pivot
A “dream” job that I had wanted so badly, was poorly run before I came on board. I thought I could save the organization, but it was too far gone. I spent a painful 8-month period, dissolving the first organization I ever led. However, the lessons I learned would not only be the greatest education I ever received in how to pivot in tough times, it was the foundation for a service I created in 2014.
In my heart, I thought my passion for the arts was dead and beaten out of me, but with that death of a dream, came a new passion: the ability to save organizations and individuals the pain I had gone through. I wanted to ensure that all types of nonprofits, not just museums, were set up for success so they could focus more on serving needs in their community. No, the concept was not sexy or exciting. Frankly, no one wanted to focus on the concept of change management, my passion for "be the change". They wanted to focus on capacity building, growth, and innovation. However, if you do not have the basic building blocks in your foundation - the right people, a solid infrastructure, and the funds to implement - you cannot attract partners to collaborate with or fulfill your mission. That is the mantra of the firm I founded, Catalyst Consulting Services.
What made our mission of “facilitating positive change for nonprofit organizations” unique, was that we would teach people how to fish rather than give them the fish. That was fairly radical. At that time, nonprofit consultants were trained to a template that included certifications from BoardSource, John Maxwell’s leadership courses and so forth. I am not knocking these programs, but the reality is few had the scars and experience to share. They have not bought into what author Brene Brown says "I believe that you have to walk through vulnerability to get to courage, therefore . . . embrace the suck. "
One key component to delivering our mission was leveraging other nonprofit consultants who were experts in their fields including software, cybersecurity, grant writing, event management, executive searches and coaching, and social entrepreneurship. Our industry was changing in such a way that the core mission remained in house while many services became outsourced to the experts. Nonprofits were learning the Good to Great model and sticking to what they did well. Additionally, our model leveraged technology platforms to serve nonprofits throughout the Southeast US. With tools like Go To Meeting, Zoom, Dropbox, Google Docs, Blackbaud CRM (on the Salesforce platform) and other cloud-based applications, we could do 80% of the work virtually. This was a game changer in the nonprofit world, and for some not a welcome one. However, we were bringing a new level of efficiency so more money could be invested toward the nonprofit's mission, not on overheads.
So many with the courage to change
Each year, I look at our client list, their testimonials that they freely give, and the over $75 million dollars we have helped to raise and give since 2014 and I know I am being the change every day. I have truly leveraged the God-given talents I was given to benefit many missions, not just one. The budgets range from under a million to $72 million dollars and include the following successes:
Onbikes – Our firm was able to take a small, grass roots initiative in which the main mission was “every kid deserves a bike” and strengthen the infrastructure through policies and procedures, strengthen board governance, and increase fundraising to implement corporate bike builds for companies like Dell and Publix. This ultimately allowed the organization to hire its first full-time executive director. To date, the organization has built and given out over 6,200 bikes and remains one of the most well-branded millennial nonprofits. Here I am with Co-Founder Drew Weatherford and Board Member Ned Pope.
Working Women of Tampa Bay Foundation – Founder Jessica Rivelli realized that she wanted to take her mantra “women helping women” to the next level. Our firm came in and worked to create the Foundation that allows women to pitch their idea to other women. They get seed money and build relationships that will be needed to grow their business through a network of like-minded individuals. Here is a photo from their 10 year celebration.
I could go on an on about so many more nonprofits who sign up for change with us. Here are some of their CEOs - David Fleming of Donate Life America, Frank Wilton of American Association of Tissue Banks, and Jason Woody, of Lions Eye Institute.
The change I want to see grows each day and I feel fortunate that I am living a life of passion and purpose each day. Unlike the goals I had when I was younger, this is how my success is measured these days.
I also spend a good deal of my time mentoring young women and have expanded my reach through my recently published book. It focuses on how young professional women can seize personal and professional opportunities, achieve great things, and get what they want and deserve.
(Vinnie's note - I had reviewed the book here)
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