Dr. Danika Tynes: Opening Doors Through the Sustainable Access Foundation

Tasha: Good afternoon. Could you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your nonprofit origin story?

Danika: I’m Dr. Danika Tynes, and the origin of Sustainable Access Foundation, like many nonprofits, it was founded in my own personal journey.

 when I looked back over all the things I’d done in my life and I realized that the thing that was driving me was access.

I’m a self proclaimed nerd. And so I love everything technology. And but technology, not just for efficiency sake, but for creating progress and access to more information resources for people who wouldn’t otherwise have it. So, like, I wrote my dissertation on telehealth. For example, and that’s closing gaps and access to health care for people who are geographically not able to access higher levels of care and and also that there’s not Always uh, medical services provided in every part of the globe.

Typically, those are centralized in like big cities. And so what happens to those who are rurally based and no surprise or people who financially can’t access those resources. And so of course there. Their outcomes are going to be worse off. So that so my over 25 years, I’m looking back and I’m like, wow, you know, all the decisions I made were about access.

Where did I get that from? And and when I think about my own personal story, I can think about those moments in my life. where a barrier was removed and I would then it changed the entire trajectory of my life. And so I think about a time when we were homeless when I was younger and we were living in a tent and then someone loaned my mother a an RV.

And now all of a sudden we weren’t single. Sleeping in a tent on the floor and sleeping bags. Now we had beds and we had, you know, and then I think about when I was 15, I got a scholarship to go live in Switzerland and that opened up my whole world about, you know, that there’s just more people out there and I got to learn French and then I got a full ride to Tufts university and that opened so many doors for me to be able to pursue.

career opportunities that I wanted. And, I started to think, what if access actually is the thing that we’re missing in our conversation?

I never wanted anyone to give me anything. I wanted people to just give me an opportunity, give me a shot. So if somebody opened the door, I was ready to kick it down, you know? And so that’s sustainable access. How do we sustainably support communities and individuals who are, who have social impact at the core of their mission?

And then how do we create access for them? And what I found is , when I rode out of Silicon Valley on my broom of self righteousness, I got to Uganda and, I was nervous, I was thinking, you know, does access translate across cultures? And the first time, and anybody I asked, it doesn’t matter their walk of life, whether they were a politician whether they were a community member.

 Whether they were, a farmer’s child, you ask what their access point is, and they always knew what their access were. They knew what door they needed to have to open in order to pursue their own legacy. And they’re all different. So when people ask me, well, Danika, what problem are you solving with Sustainable Access Foundation?

Are you solving hunger? Are you solving for women and child’s health? I’m solving for all of it because I don’t know what answer I’m going to get back when I ask someone, what is your access point?

So that’s sort of how it was developed. It was, my own personal drivers, what I felt like where we’re trajectory changing opportunities for me. And now, it’s my time to avail that same kind of energy to others.

Tasha: I love that. There’s the analogy of like, if a door is opened for you, just, you know, hold it like this, right.

For the person that you can coming after you or, you know, how do you bring more people to that table?

Too many of us don’t really recognize what exactly that would mean or what that would look like, but it doesn’t always have to be a huge financial gesture. I mean, maybe that’s part of it potentially, but it doesn’t have to be that. I love what you’re bringing to the philanthropy space. So tell me. What would you say has been your favorite part about the work so far?

Danika: I love getting to work with our change makers, I get to get WhatsApp messages every single day that are something along the lines of, I love you and I get to say I love you back.

I like that we get to be human in this work and human comes with lots of delightful surprises. Good, bad, all of that very chaotic.

So I think it’s just little delights like that. And what I’ve found in like my, I heard the best one on a podcast recently and it was, that our triggers are either our pathology or our prophecy.

 And I think one of my pathologies. Was that I had built up almost this badge of honor around I did it myself, right? It’s like, you know, world was hard. You know, it, you know, doors open. Sure. But for the most part, it’s like I did this on my own. And there’s some pathology in that because it’s very unused.

Like it’s poorly used in the nonprofit space. You can’t do it yourself. You cannot. Yeah. Yeah. And so the prophecy part of that is, you know, that this is my calling. And so, and so, sort of like the disgruntledness I had with like how corporate world worked, which is why I call it my broom of, you know, self righteousness is like, that was the thing that like pushed me out the door to say, let’s do it.

Let’s go, while we’re here, let’s go see how we can turn around and help those and open more doors for them. And so the beautiful part is that I’ve been learning how to ask and what’s been amazing are like the surprise questions. People, organizations who are leaning in to help.

I probably cry once a day by just gratitude. And I think, you know, I would have missed this. If I stayed in my little box of let me do it myself and fund it myself, I would have missed how much beauty there is and how collectively we do want to lean into this thing called access and sustainability.

And so I feel like I’m just, I

Tasha: think

Danika: the whole thing is gorgeous. And of course we need funding so that I’m not sitting behind a desk all day long, you know, crunk, you know, doing all the administrivia, but I’m out with the change makers and I get to engage with them more. And so, you know, our next step is to grow into scale.

So I know that’s a long answer to your questions. What’s my favorite part, but I think it’s just the the love, the support that I didn’t really know that was out there that I now get to tap into. And I’m just really glad I didn’t miss it, you know, in this way.

Tasha: In one of these interviews previously with another one of our members, one of the things she had said was, you know, sometimes these calls a she’s been in nonprofit work for almost 40 years. She’s like, I don’t feel like I’ve ever had anyone really like, like, where I’ve gotten to share my journey or tell my story.

I’m just a, I’m just a fundraiser. And, you know, like, that was her feeling. She’s like, I’ve never worked at a big organization. I’ve never been a senior leader, but here’s somebody who’s given their life to working in nonprofit, but they didn’t feel like they had a voice. And she’s like, these calls are so serendipitous, but I think sometimes serendipity is actually like, you’ve taken a step and then serendipity, it can feel serendipitous, but you took a whole bunch of actions along the way.

Even if it’s a simple. Just putting yourself out there for a phone call or putting yourself out there and going, I need help with X, or, you know, I can feel kind of serendipitous when it all comes together and creates this beautiful vision or comes together with a whole bunch of artists who are like, yeah, I’d love to do this, but you’ve been kind of setting the stage all along, right.

For serendipity even happens. So, Very similar favorite parts to this work for myself as well. So I love giving people a voice and, you know, talked about it a little bit of the challenges already, but you know, what are you facing or what are you finding to be some of the biggest challenges on this journey?

Danika: There’s a fine line between, you know, expressing your impact and being exploitative and And how do you do that in an honoring way? Right? So when we say like I just had a email exchange yesterday with my communication support local to Uganda, actually, and, you know, and I think there was something that came out that was like uh, we’re changing lives.

every day. And I was like, actually, that’s not what we’re doing. We’re not. They’re changing their own lives. And we’re just here as the support team. But in some way, right? So one is really powerful. We’re changing lives. And then the other one is no, we’re supporting others to change their own lives. Seems a little bit less powerful, but far more true.

And so how do you, and so how do you communicate your impact in a way that, you know, others go, Ooh, I want to get engaged. And I want to support this organization because you do need support. And also at the same time, like stay true to. your authenticity and what you’re really about. So I think probably, you know, framing the messaging has been the toughest part and social media,

Tasha: social media is huge, right?

And I, yeah, those two really Interesting things you pointed out. They’re both fall within the realm of what is marketing, right? And marketing is so, you know, I’m not a technical person, uh, or would not say that I was but I think, you know, marketing is changing so fast compared to so many other fields, new AI and what AI can do.

And you’ve got this, like grabbing attention has never been harder. But like you said about the messaging, I do think when we figure out how to give messaging that is true, right? Like you noted, you’re supporting change makers to make impact, not necessarily you directly as the organization, but the people who resonate with that, we’re supporting others who make change.

If that resonates with them right off the bat, your impact statements afterwards match what they expected, right? They knew that they were supporting. An organization who helps in like, uh, you know, facilitate change making on another level. They weren’t directly doing it themselves, but it ends up feeding almost like you get the believers right off the bat.

If they love that 1st message where they were going to support and that was the message they loved, you know, they’re probably like hard in. Continuously versus, you know, there’s always that bait and switch messaging, right? Like you accidentally say something and that’s what the person loved in the first place, but then that’s not what they see later.

What does that cost you? So I think, you know, those are huge questions and I’m sure even what you’re doing might be slightly different than what you thought you were going to be doing when you started out a couple of years ago, right? So like, that’s even a challenge of newer messaging.

Danika: 100. When we first started, I thought we were going to be doing projects.

You know, just projects that would advance communities and we only invest in changemakers who are social impact entrepreneurs. And so whatever they propose, it has to affect their entire community. And and so we thought we were doing projects and what access to me was like resources, whether it’s mentoring, whether it’s.

Whether it’s in investment, whether it’s just, you know, having dinner and having a conversation and now you’re able to dream about something bigger for yourself. I thought that was access, but what I quickly came to find is that access is also to yourself.

That the answers are not always outside of you.

And so I think that we started incorporating more mindfulness training before we could ever get into a conversation about changing. Anything that would impact an entire community. That was so access. The definition of access has really expanded for me for sure over time. Like, we did a needs assessment in a village on the Nile in Uganda and and we did, we hired a local research team to go live in the community for a week and do a human centered design kind of, research.

And there was one little line in the report from a woman who said that one of her major barriers was. was witchcraft in that they were cursed. And it made me rethink everything because if you feel like you’re cursed, there’s no amount of resources or money, nothing that we can throw in your direction.

If in your mind, you feel like nothing will work for us because we’re cursed. And so that and so that, you know, that propelled me into studying shamanism and and why Yeah, and really to, like, really understand, like, what are some of these indigenous practices and beliefs that that can be transmuted but that we need to meet people where they are.

And so usually, and so now we’re, you know, at first we were investing in changemakers and now we’re going to be doing more of an exchange. Accelerator program to really assess mindset and to prepare you to be an entrepreneur because not everybody is one. Sometimes people become entrepreneurs out of need.

There’s no jobs. But there is a certain amount of. you know, skill set and foundation that you have to have in order to be successful. And so, yeah, so I think just even the definition of excess for me has expanded. And so we’re treating our programs really differently.

Tasha: That’s super interesting. And you know, I think there’s so much behind why things succeed, right? Like, or the definition of things, you know, a business succeeding, a startup succeeding, a nonprofit succeeding.

There’s so much at play there. And mindset is a huge part of it that we don’t, you know, we don’t look at it. I’m learning that very deeply myself, uh, many times a day where, you know, it, the skills I can learn, or I can find someone else with the skills to potentially move the entire concept of what the nonprofit hive is forward.

But there’s a whole bunch of other factors. I’m probably the biggest barrier right now to many things like we were talking about asking for help. Not my normal. I’m very, you know, I keep, I use the word gritty for a long time. And then I was like, I actually don’t know that’s a word I should be using.

And I’m not sure that’s great to describe oneself as because, you know, It can be a real negative because I am not good at asking for help. And where could I have been if I’d learned how to ask for my help in my first 40 years of life versus now having to figure it out. But I really love that.

 So in this journey, you know, moving in over the two year mark, how has peer support worked for you?

You know, has it been peer support that are other founders? Has it been peer support that are people who just have a lot of knowledge of the sector? How has that kinda. factored into success or where you’re at today.

Danika: Honestly, it’s everything. And I would recommend to all nonprofit founders to keep a network and keep meeting new people.

I try to meet at least one or two new people a day who are aligned. And so when I found nonprofit hive, I just felt like that was. I mean, you’re my kindred spirit and is because I need that to get more perspective also to get to get feedback from people who have been there before, it feels like a tribe.

 Having people who have been there, who are going through the same, you know, same. Cycles as you’re going through, and even if you’re not, even if you don’t have the same mission, you’re focused on something totally different. Is that augments your knowledge and understanding?

Like. I met with someone who is doing like, you know, video design and it, and I was so excited to meet with this particular resource because I’m going, you know, tell, you know, give me all your knowledge. I am not all things to all people. And I have my zone of genius. But I think being paired with with people who can just sort of, give you auxiliary information that can just help you, you know, so I think I tried to meet with somebody every week to just, Give new perspective.

And so, so sometimes I can’t always meet on the Thursday spots, but but when I have time in my schedule, that’s something that always make time for because it’s so valuable. I. Hugely recommend it as a tool in the tool belt for any nonprofit. Yeah.

Tasha: I think sometimes it’s even just nice to, like you said, that outside opinion really has helped me not to kind of bog myself down into one way of doing something.

You know, I can appreciate heavily. I love reading my partner is very into like startup culture and everything and he’ll be like, you should read this book. This one’s great. But I think what’s kind of hard about that is it’s a often one person perspective in a dose of how they’ve done something or how they’ve seen the most success.

And it’s the culmination of a whole bunch of ways that people are doing things in the nonprofit space that helps me go. Okay, this is another cool opinion. Let’s bring this one. Let’s bring this one. And I feel like it’s making me stronger in not only knowing that I’m not right, which is really good to frequently be have like someone go, Oh, no, I’ve never seen it that way.

But have you heard about this? So we’re in. Yeah, I just feel so much stronger for having all of those different opinions, knowing that there is someone out there doing video is really helpful for me too, because it’s another thing that I am not good at. And, you know, and someone will say, have you tried this tool?

And it’s almost like a guarantee I haven’t. And. But it gives me another outsider’s like there, maybe that’s their zone of genius. They bring that in. And, you know, we talk about being connectors and I love to be able to go, Oh, do you know this person? Cause I, that’s a thing I have a great memory for. It just clicks and it’s in there.

And I remember people’s names and I keep little notes in places to go, Oh, this person should meet this person. And, uh, you know, the nonprofit hive was just me bringing, That skill set to life and finding a way to make it help others. And so many other people are doing that exact same thing, but if you don’t get out there and provide opportunities for connection, you don’t really get that same resource back to you.

Danika: I agree with that. I think, you know, at first I started reading books and taking workshops and you might get a nugget out of those things, like, you know, a couple of nuggets that work for you, but the whole thing, no. And I do find not just in the nonprofit world, but across entrepreneurship. That we often try and do go it in silos, you know, and so having that connection point and it’s almost like the cliff notes, it’s, you know, it’s what information is actually resonant for me.

So when you sit down with someone, you just with, for example, with nonprofit high, when we sit down for 30 minutes, we have no idea who the other person is or what we’re going to talk about. There’s no agenda, but very, it’s, it only takes. It’s, you know, three minutes of introducing ourselves and our background to go, Oh, I know why I’m here, you know, I know what I need to hear from you today or, you know, and it’s, it is that like serendipity that you’re talking about and it’s that energy exchange and and you don’t have to like read a whole book or, you know, sit through an entire workshop and try and make meaning for yourself.

And also, you know, for it to not be so siloed is. is huge. I mean, you can’t do this work by yourself and to feel like there’s community out there. It’s it’s affirming and almost, you know, it keeps you alive. It keeps you in the fight, you know, those days that are harder than others. And in those hard days you meet someone who’s like, Ooh, girl, I’ve been there.

You know, that just, that means everything.

Tasha: Absolutely. Absolutely. It does. Well, this was amazing. I love what you’re doing with Sustainable Access Foundation and how can people get in touch with you? Website, you know, what’s the best way to learn more about your work?

Danika: Yeah, our website is up, sustainableaccessfoundation.

org And and then of course, Instagram, we’re building our social media muscles. So feel free to follow us on sustainable access foundation. Nice.

Tasha: That’s awesome. Well, thank you, Danika. This was amazing.

Danika: Always good to talk to you, Tasha.