Amarachi Kejeh: Empowering Nonprofits with Sustainable Growth and The DIY Strategic Plan Program

Tasha: No pressure. It’s going to be fantastic. Okay. So, uh, usually I just start it off. Uh, good morning. And can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your nonprofit origin story?

Amarachi: My name is Amarachi K. J. I am a Nigerian citizen based in Ontario, Canada. I’ve had some international adventures in between in the U.

Amarachi: S. and Australia. Uh, but Canada is where I call myself home. Um, in the non profit world, I wear two hats. One is as a consultant and educator, I run a do it yourself strategic plan program to help non profits develop their plans in house at 10 percent of consulting fees and to train their teams, so win win win.

Amarachi: Um, and the second hat I wear is as a, uh, Just

Tasha: start again from the second hat I wear and you’re good.

Amarachi: So the second hat that I wear is as a board director at a community foundation in my town. Um, I’ve been there for about a month, so quite new in that space. Uh, but my journey actually started out in corporate.

Amarachi: I didn’t think I was going to end up in a nonprofit space until much later in life. I worked in finance, exciting team projects. Um, It just didn’t feel that fulfilling. I felt like there was something more beyond just, um, delivering profits to shareholders. Uh, and so I took an adventure to go back to school in Australia, do an MBA.

Amarachi: And that’s where I got involved in social impact consulting. Um, and I fell in love with the nonprofit space and I haven’t left yet.

Tasha: I love that. I love that everyone has just a different journey to this spot. It’s my favorite part. And in your experience to date as a consultant, as supporting nonprofits, what do you see to be some of the biggest challenges in nonprofits?

Amarachi: I think it starts with the name nonprofit and the mindset that sometimes comes with that space. Um, I think there’s a tendency because, Um, you’re passionate about the work that you do and you want to serve communities. And I think sometimes, um, some organizations forget to ensure that the right foundation for running a good organization is there, right?

Amarachi: Like, so it doesn’t matter whether you’re an entrepreneur running a small business or your government agency or your nonprofit. An organization needs certain fuel for them to be able to succeed. Whether it’s your business model and thinking about, okay, based on where we are, what should we focus on? How do we pivot?

Amarachi: How do we get to the next level? Whether it’s taking care of yourself and taking care of people. And I think with nonprofits, again, you’re in the business of charity and doing good. And it’s so easy to get Um, to give more of yourself than you’re taking care of yourself. Right. And so impact is not sustainable if you’re not taking care of yourself.

Amarachi: Um, so that’s another thing about foundation. It could be around financing and thinking of how to grow. But again, I would say it’s it’s a mindset. I think a lot of people would say that. maybe think of some of the external threats or maybe challenges with the economic landscape and how that impacts donors x, y, and z.

Amarachi: But I would say the biggest challenge is start inside, right? If you don’t have the right mindset and the right foundation for growing and staying sustainable, then your organization is going to struggle, right? So it starts from inside. It starts with me. It starts with you.

Amarachi: Absolutely. And you look at so many nonprofits who apply for these That are a little bit of a stretch and they’re like, Oh, well, we could run that program too.

Amarachi: Right. But sustainably, how can you? And I think when impact kind of, it’s almost like, like, if you step 1 foot forward in, in impact, but have to then take 2 steps back. I think that’s worse. Right? Like, it’s harder for everyone to manage. That’s, uh, yeah, that like move forward, move back, move forward, move back then to kind of maybe like creep forward over time in a way that means you don’t go backwards at all.

Tasha: Um, maybe a little bit more bulletproof.

Amarachi: Absolutely. And I’ll just say again, it’s just like a small business, right? Like it’s the same foundation. Like if you get distracted with a nonprofit hive and take everything that comes on your plate, right, then you’re not moving forward. And I again, sometimes the nonprofit tag, I think It causes people to sway away from sound business or sound organization principle.

Tasha: Absolutely. I totally agree. So what about favorite thing about working in the social impact sector? Like, what do you love about this work?

Amarachi: I’ll say, so for me, I’ve worked in this space for the past five years. I’ve worked with education, healthcare, disability services, associations, pharma organizations in Fiji.

Amarachi: Like, I’ve done some really crazy, exciting work. I really like the people. Um, I think there’s something, it’s almost like the non profit space self selects the kinds of people that come into the work, right? Again, extra passionate, but also extra down to earth. Um, and you can see that not just in the non profit, but even in the consulting space.

Amarachi: Like I find non profit consultants to be collaborative and to be open to share, um, tips and tricks compared to a regular business consultant where you might be seen as a competitor, right? So I think there’s just something about the self select. space and the kinds of people that you attract, um, that is really down to earth.

Amarachi: I think if I think about the favorite thing, uh, life doing in the nonprofit space and just really thinking about my program, um, I really enjoy the opportunity to teach people how to fish and not just. Um, and that’s what my D. I. Y. program is about. Um, I, I also am a consultant. I do consult maybe 20 percent of the time.

Amarachi: 80 percent I focus on D. I. Y. Um, by fine for a number of nonprofits, especially the small ones like you need money to grow, right? Like you need money to invest in yourself to get to the next level. And oftentimes, um, some of the nonprofits are trapped or I don’t see trapped. Um, but if you don’t have the money to afford the right kind of advisors, it kind of puts the ceiling.

Amarachi: And so. I love that I can serve the nonprofit space in this manner where I can equip the team, I can help them from end to end, not just with developing the plan, but thinking about implementation, um, and give them that win win. Come up with a plan, but come up with learning opportunities for you and your team as well.

Amarachi: That’s fantastic. And so great. And so you, you did point out, I think nonprofit consultants are their own interesting breed of consultants. Like they’re not, they’re not like normal consultants that I’ve worked with in for profit and they’re just. So lovely to each other, like 95 percent of the time. Like you noted, they’re ready to collaborate.

Amarachi: They, and if they think there’s someone else who could do a better job for that nonprofit, I’ve watched consultants hand off clients to each other all the time. Like, it’s so fantastic. It’s not, you know, there’s not as much gatekeeping, I think, to other talent or. How can we make this better or pitch together on this?

Amarachi: Because it’s right for this nonprofit. I think it’s a, it’s a really cool community and one I’m enjoying a lot of meeting just as many wonderful folks that are consultants in this. Nonprofit hive community as, you know, as, as people who are right in house too. Yeah. So what about peer support? Whether it’s consultant peer support, whether you’re talking to people who are in house, what about peer support in social impact work do you find to be important?

Amarachi: Yes. And I’ll just echo what you said about, um, nonprofit consultants being open. So for me as a consultant, my journey has changed over the past four years. So I used to be the typical, um, strategy planning consultant, go work with a client three months X, Y, Z, um, and come up with a plan. And sometime last year, I took a break to rethink my model.

Amarachi: Um, and part of that was just really thinking, how can I serve more people? Um, and how can I serve, especially in the town that I live with? are leaving. There are not so many nonprofits that have the budget. I mean, you can come, maybe the council, maybe the police, maybe the hospital, but when you come to some of the smaller nonprofits not having, um, not having the funds.

Amarachi: And so I took some time to rethink, um, and the community of nonprofit consultants really helped me on that journey. Um, even just on LinkedIn, like reaching out to people and saying, hi, I love what you’re doing. Can we have a chat? Like I’ve had, Conversations with people from Chicago, people in Ottawa, people in New York, like people overseas that are just willing to come and share their knowledge.

Amarachi: Um, and it’s not just about the learning. I think for me, it’s also the sense of community because being an entrepreneur can be quite lonely. Right. Even if you’re in the nonprofit space, like, yes, you can talk to your clients doing, but it’s not the same as having that sense of community for yourself. Um, and so it’s just been, it’s just been amazing.

Amarachi: Like originally LinkedIn would have been the primary way I reach out to people, but now that I’m part of the hive, it’s like, Hey, I’m going to see what the raffle or the ballot provides to me and I’m going to connect, I’m going to connect with someone else. So it’s been, uh, it’s been an awesome time.

Amarachi: Great. Well, and it is, it is, you don’t know exactly who you’re going to meet that day, and I also don’t know what’s kind of cool is each Thursday is unique to me too, because I don’t know who’s going to sign up. I have a few people. I think, uh, we’ve got one member who’s taken, this was his 29th call this week.

Amarachi: 20, he’s not, he’s missed one week. I think it was Christmas, but he has done every week otherwise. And. Which is incredible. But then there’s also people we just had our first activated member the other day who’s been on the like on the email list since last November and just said, I finally have time.

Amarachi: Right. And it’s so it’s kind of cool because you never are sure whether people are just lurking. Like, are they paying any attention? So it’s neat to see that happen. But I, you know, I see how the chips fall. I see who signs up for this coming week. And then that’s when I get to start figuring out, well, who chats with who based on who signed up, right?

Tasha: So it’s been pretty cool. So, um, what are some of the benefits you’ve gotten out of being a member of the nonprofit hive?

Amarachi: Right. Um, it’s been an opportunity, a great opportunity to meet people from all over. And I think it helps me, especially because I wear two hats. So of course there’s a consultant hat.

Amarachi: Um, but I’m also a board director and I work in a foundation or I serve in a foundation where fundraising is one of the major priorities and I’m quite new in the space, right? Like, yes, I can talk about strategic planning and the priorities and all, but when it comes to like thinking of the donors and their mindsets, like what’s different between a corporate donor versus like reaching out to community versus reaching out to other foundations or grants, x, y, and z.

Amarachi: so much. That’s, that’s a space that I don’t quite have the knowledge for. Um, and so it’s been really exciting just learning from other people that have their legs, like hands and legs in the trenches, right? Like I’m, I’m a consultant. I’m, I’m an advisor, but I sit on the periphery, right? It’s almost like helicopter view.

Amarachi: My hands aren’t really dirty when it comes to, when it comes to non profit work. And so it’s really just, it’s helped me really understand. Um, what the day to day looks, looks like get some tips from fundraising and also help me think about how to better serve my clients. Like what’s going on in their world.

Amarachi: Right. Um, and, and how to improve my program. So it’s, it’s been amazing. And again, talking about entrepreneurship, like, yeah, entrepreneurship can be quite lonely. Like I attend chamber events. I know the entrepreneurship events, but not many events create space to engage with. Exclusively nonprofits who are my target audience, right?

Amarachi: And so it’s just the right, it’s just the right spot. It’s just the right hive for me to talk to, uh, to talk to nonprofit leaders.

Tasha: Finding your people who just get what kind of work. you’re doing or what you’re coming up against in your work, right? Which it’s very unique. It’s a unique space. And I mean, I frequently reference my lovely husband who thinks everybody who’s in this space is a little bit, has to be a little bit nuts to even jump into this at all.

Tasha: Right. Like he’s like, it’s just attracts a certain type and it does. And I think you need to have those moments of reflection with other people doing the work in order to find Yeah, to find your space, to find your support system, it’s really hard if you’re trying to find support and with people who just don’t work in social impact.

Tasha: That’s awesome. Okay. This is fantastic. Um, how would people be able to reach you and find out a little bit more about your work?

Amarachi: Sure. Um, I show up very often on LinkedIn, uh, Amarachi KJ, K E J E H. Um, you can also learn more about my program on my website, www. amarachikj. com. I’ve kept it simple. Um, and you can find me on, uh, Instagram, Facebook as well.

Amarachi: But I think LinkedIn and my website is the best place to get a hold of me.

Tasha: Okay. That’s amazing. so much for doing this interview with me.

Amarachi: Thanks for having me, Tasha. You guys are awesome.

Tasha: Good morning. And can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your nonprofit origin story?

Amarachi: My name is Amarachi K. J. I am a Nigerian citizen based in Ontario, Canada. I’ve had some international adventures in between in the U.

Amarachi: S. and Australia. Uh, but Canada is where I call myself home. Um, in the non profit world, I wear two hats. One is as a consultant and educator, I run a do it yourself strategic plan program to help non profits develop their plans in house at 10 percent of consulting fees and to train their teams, so win win win.

Amarachi: So the second hat that I wear is as a board director at a community foundation in my town. Um, I’ve been there for about a month, so quite new in that space. Uh, but my journey actually started out in corporate.

Amarachi: I didn’t think I was going to end up in a nonprofit space until much later in life. I worked in finance, exciting team projects. Um, It just didn’t feel that fulfilling. I felt like there was something more beyond just, um, delivering profits to shareholders. Uh, and so I took an adventure to go back to school in Australia, do an MBA.

Amarachi: And that’s where I got involved in social impact consulting. Um, and I fell in love with the nonprofit space and I haven’t left yet.

Tasha: I love that. I love that everyone has just a different journey to this spot. It’s my favorite part. And in your experience to date as a consultant, as supporting nonprofits, what do you see to be some of the biggest challenges in nonprofits?

Amarachi: I think it starts with the name nonprofit and the mindset that sometimes comes with that space. Um, I think there’s a tendency because, Um, you’re passionate about the work that you do and you want to serve communities. And I think sometimes, um, some organizations forget to ensure that the right foundation for running a good organization is there, right?

Amarachi: Like, so it doesn’t matter whether you’re an entrepreneur running a small business or your government agency or your nonprofit. An organization needs certain fuel for them to be able to succeed. Whether it’s your business model and thinking about, okay, based on where we are, what should we focus on? How do we pivot?

Amarachi: How do we get to the next level? Whether it’s taking care of yourself and taking care of people. And I think with nonprofits, again, you’re in the business of charity and doing good. And it’s so easy to get Um, to give more of yourself than you’re taking care of yourself. Right. And so impact is not sustainable if you’re not taking care of yourself.

Amarachi: Um, so that’s another thing about foundation. It could be around financing and thinking of how to grow. But again, I would say it’s it’s a mindset. I think a lot of people would say that. maybe think of some of the external threats or maybe challenges with the economic landscape and how that impacts donors x, y, and z.

Amarachi: But I would say the biggest challenge is start inside, right? If you don’t have the right mindset and the right foundation for growing and staying sustainable, then your organization is going to struggle, right? So it starts from inside. It starts with me. It starts with you.

Amarachi: Absolutely. And you look at so many nonprofits who apply for these That are a little bit of a stretch and they’re like, Oh, well, we could run that program too.

Amarachi: Right. But sustainably, how can you? And I think when impact kind of, it’s almost like, like, if you step 1 foot forward in, in impact, but have to then take 2 steps back. I think that’s worse. Right? Like, it’s harder for everyone to manage. That’s, uh, yeah, that like move forward, move back, move forward, move back then to kind of maybe like creep forward over time in a way that means you don’t go backwards at all.

Amarachi: Absolutely. And I’ll just say again, it’s just like a small business, right? Like it’s the same foundation. Like if you get distracted with a nonprofit hive and take everything that comes on your plate, right, then you’re not moving forward. And I again, sometimes the nonprofit tag, I think It causes people to sway away from sound business or sound organization principle.

Tasha: Absolutely. I totally agree. So what about favorite thing about working in the social impact sector? Like, what do you love about this work?

Amarachi: I’ll say, so for me, I’ve worked in this space for the past five years. I’ve worked with education, healthcare, disability services, associations, pharma organizations in Fiji.

Amarachi: Like, I’ve done some really crazy, exciting work. I really like the people. Um, I think there’s something, it’s almost like the non profit space self selects the kinds of people that come into the work, right? Again, extra passionate, but also extra down to earth. Um, and you can see that not just in the non profit, but even in the consulting space.

Amarachi: Like I find non profit consultants to be collaborative and to be open to share, um, tips and tricks compared to a regular business consultant where you might be seen as a competitor, right? So I think there’s just something about the self select. space and the kinds of people that you attract, um, that is really down to earth.

Amarachi: I think if I think about the favorite thing, uh, life doing in the nonprofit space and just really thinking about my program, um, I really enjoy the opportunity to teach people how to fish and not just. Um, and that’s what my D. I. Y. program is about. Um, I, I also am a consultant. I do consult maybe 20 percent of the time.

Amarachi: 80 percent I focus on D. I. Y. Um, by fine for a number of nonprofits, especially the small ones like you need money to grow, right? Like you need money to invest in yourself to get to the next level. And oftentimes, um, some of the nonprofits are trapped or I don’t see trapped. Um, but if you don’t have the money to afford the right kind of advisors, it kind of puts the ceiling.

Amarachi: And so. I love that I can serve the nonprofit space in this manner where I can equip the team, I can help them from end to end, not just with developing the plan, but thinking about implementation, um, and give them that win win. Come up with a plan, but come up with learning opportunities for you and your team as well.

Amarachi: That’s fantastic. And so great. And so you, you did point out, I think nonprofit consultants are their own interesting breed of consultants. Like they’re not, they’re not like normal consultants that I’ve worked with in for profit and they’re just. So lovely to each other, like 95 percent of the time. Like you noted, they’re ready to collaborate.

Amarachi: They, and if they think there’s someone else who could do a better job for that nonprofit, I’ve watched consultants hand off clients to each other all the time. Like, it’s so fantastic. It’s not, you know, there’s not as much gatekeeping, I think, to other talent or. How can we make this better or pitch together on this?

Amarachi: Because it’s right for this nonprofit. I think it’s a, it’s a really cool community and one I’m enjoying a lot of meeting just as many wonderful folks that are consultants in this. Nonprofit hive community as, you know, as, as people who are right in house too. Yeah. So what about peer support? Whether it’s consultant peer support, whether you’re talking to people who are in house, what about peer support in social impact work do you find to be important?

Amarachi: Yes. And I’ll just echo what you said about, um, nonprofit consultants being open. So for me as a consultant, my journey has changed over the past four years. So I used to be the typical, um, strategy planning consultant, go work with a client three months X, Y, Z, um, and come up with a plan. And sometime last year, I took a break to rethink my model.

Amarachi: Um, and part of that was just really thinking, how can I serve more people? Um, and how can I serve, especially in the town that I live with? are leaving. There are not so many nonprofits that have the budget. I mean, you can come, maybe the council, maybe the police, maybe the hospital, but when you come to some of the smaller nonprofits not having, um, not having the funds.

Amarachi: And so I took some time to rethink, um, and the community of nonprofit consultants really helped me on that journey. Um, even just on LinkedIn, like reaching out to people and saying, hi, I love what you’re doing. Can we have a chat? Like I’ve had, Conversations with people from Chicago, people in Ottawa, people in New York, like people overseas that are just willing to come and share their knowledge.

Amarachi: Um, and it’s not just about the learning. I think for me, it’s also the sense of community because being an entrepreneur can be quite lonely. Right. Even if you’re in the nonprofit space, like, yes, you can talk to your clients doing, but it’s not the same as having that sense of community for yourself. Um, and so it’s just been, it’s just been amazing.

Amarachi: Like originally LinkedIn would have been the primary way I reach out to people, but now that I’m part of the hive, it’s like, Hey, I’m going to see what the raffle or the ballot provides to me and I’m going to connect, I’m going to connect with someone else. So it’s been, uh, it’s been an awesome time.

Amarachi: Great. Well, and it is, it is, you don’t know exactly who you’re going to meet that day, and I also don’t know what’s kind of cool is each Thursday is unique to me too, because I don’t know who’s going to sign up. I have a few people. I think, uh, we’ve got one member who’s taken, this was his 29th call this week.

Amarachi: 20, he’s not, he’s missed one week. I think it was Christmas, but he has done every week otherwise. And. Which is incredible. But then there’s also people we just had our first activated member the other day who’s been on the like on the email list since last November and just said, I finally have time.

Amarachi: Right. And it’s so it’s kind of cool because you never are sure whether people are just lurking. Like, are they paying any attention? So it’s neat to see that happen. But I, you know, I see how the chips fall. I see who signs up for this coming week. And then that’s when I get to start figuring out, well, who chats with who based on who signed up, right?

Tasha: So it’s been pretty cool. So, um, what are some of the benefits you’ve gotten out of being a member of the nonprofit hive?

Amarachi: Right. Um, it’s been an opportunity, a great opportunity to meet people from all over. And I think it helps me, especially because I wear two hats. So of course there’s a consultant hat.

Amarachi: Um, but I’m also a board director and I work in a foundation or I serve in a foundation where fundraising is one of the major priorities and I’m quite new in the space, right? Like, yes, I can talk about strategic planning and the priorities and all, but when it comes to like thinking of the donors and their mindsets, like what’s different between a corporate donor versus like reaching out to community versus reaching out to other foundations or grants, x, y, and z.

Amarachi: so much. That’s, that’s a space that I don’t quite have the knowledge for. Um, and so it’s been really exciting just learning from other people that have their legs, like hands and legs in the trenches, right? Like I’m, I’m a consultant. I’m, I’m an advisor, but I sit on the periphery, right? It’s almost like helicopter view.

Amarachi: My hands aren’t really dirty when it comes to, when it comes to non profit work. And so it’s really just, it’s helped me really understand. Um, what the day to day looks, looks like get some tips from fundraising and also help me think about how to better serve my clients. Like what’s going on in their world.

Amarachi: Right. Um, and, and how to improve my program. So it’s, it’s been amazing. And again, talking about entrepreneurship, like, yeah, entrepreneurship can be quite lonely. Like I attend chamber events. I know the entrepreneurship events, but not many events create space to engage with. Exclusively nonprofits who are my target audience, right?

Amarachi: And so it’s just the right, it’s just the right spot. It’s just the right hive for me to talk to, uh, to talk to nonprofit leaders.

Tasha: Finding your people who just get what kind of work. you’re doing or what you’re coming up against in your work, right? Which it’s very unique. It’s a unique space. And I mean, I frequently reference my lovely husband who thinks everybody who’s in this space is a little bit, has to be a little bit nuts to even jump into this at all.

Tasha: Right. Like he’s like, it’s just attracts a certain type and it does. And I think you need to have those moments of reflection with other people doing the work in order to find Yeah, to find your space, to find your support system, it’s really hard if you’re trying to find support and with people who just don’t work in social impact.

Tasha: That’s awesome. Okay. This is fantastic. Um, how would people be able to reach you and find out a little bit more about your work?

Amarachi: Sure. Um, I show up very often on LinkedIn, uh, Amarachi KJ, K E J E H. Um, you can also learn more about my program on my website, www. amarachikj. com. I’ve kept it simple. Um, and you can find me on, uh, Instagram, Facebook as well.

Amarachi: But I think LinkedIn and my website is the best place to get a hold of me.

Tasha: Okay. That’s amazing. so much for doing this interview with me.

Amarachi: Thanks for having me, Tasha. You guys are awesome.