Phoenix (STN) – Numbers show what a nonprofit does. Feeling the mission shows why it matters. At the November episode of ‘It Happens at STN,’ two nonprofit leaders made the case that the best organizations bring the two together.
Monique Lopez, CEO of UMOM New Day Centers, and Maria Echeveste, chief of staff at BearFruit, took the stage during ‘Leading in the Moment’ just days after Election Day.
Lopez said her team’s approach is simple. “As a nonprofit leader, change is constant,” she said. “There is so much that is happening around us that is out of our control that will not stop, but what can happen is this team can lean into what we can control.”
The conversation turned to why feeling a mission matters. For Lopez, it comes from the success stories she sees at UMOM. “It’s why I get up in the morning,” she said. “It’s why I drive into UMOM every single day on the tough weeks, seeing those types of success stories, feeling the mission.” She added, “No child deserves to sleep on the street.”
Echeveste, who works with nonprofits on fundraising strategy, said funders need both the story and the data. “Yes, UMOM could say we have X amount of homeless people and leave it there,” she said. “But no, let everybody in.”
She encouraged nonprofit leaders to show funders how the work happens. “You can’t see that on a grant report, but I could feel what they’re doing, seeing the quality of that work,” Echeveste said.
The data still matters. Lopez pointed to UMOM’s impact report, which shows families and singles moving into permanent housing at a high rate. “Year after year after year, we are exiting over 80% of our families and singles to permanent housing,” she said. “I see good old-fashioned, boring, impactful outcomes, which we are very, very proud of.”
Echeveste’s call to action was short. “Get engaged, stay focused, and collaborate,” she said. “Now is the time. Especially now, we have to be more committed.”
Lopez’s ask was specific. “UMOM needs all three,” she said, referring to time, talent, and treasure. She pointed to the community’s response to UMOM’s heat relief efforts this past summer. “Our community, when asked, really can rally around a crisis,” Lopez said. “I would just urge people to think about it year-round and not just seasonally.”
