Pedro Jose Rivera, Esquire: Driving Impact and Empowerment in Nonprofit Leadership

Tasha: [00:00:00] Good morning. Could you please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your nonprofit origin story?

Pedro: My name is Pedro Rivera and I started my nonprofit career right outta law school. I started as a public defender at the Defender’s Association of Philadelphia.

My first actually touch with nonprofit pro exposure to nonprofit was when I was in law school. I did a clinical program with a western Mass legal services where I represented tenants, in housing disputes with, landlords that were. Not cleaning, keeping the premises up to par, and they were all section eight or section seven subsidized housing.

So that was like my introduction to the no, to the nonprofit world.

Tasha: Amazing. And what have you been doing since then in your career?

Pedro: Wow. I start, like I said, I started my career, my legal career as a public defender. And then as some of my friends said to me, I turned to the dark side.

I had to pay my bills. So I did corporate work for probably the next 20 something odd years. I worked for an insurance company as in-house counsel. I worked in a large law firm, and then I worked [00:01:00] in the financial services industry. But throughout that process, one of the things I always did as I sat on nonprofit board, so I sat on the nonprofit Board of Action AIDS in Philadelphia.

I sat on the board of the Hispanic Bar Association of Pennsylvania, being a formerly former president of the organization. I saw it in, Latino based organization called Puerto and Marcha. I also saw it in, I also sat in the, through the Philadelphia Power Association in the volunteers indigent program also.

Which we represented and us helped, the indigent people be able to have resources. So even through my career where I did corporate work, I always gave back by sitting on nonprofit boards. And I felt like during those times I was able to make the impact not only so much ’cause of my, professional position, but also because I had the means to be able to make a con significant contribu contribution.

To the nonprofit organizations that I set on the board, and then now for the last 15 years of my career that I switch into fundraising and [00:02:00] development. I’ve said I’ve worked in nonprofits going from, different NGOs, Latino based organization and higher ed.

Tasha: I love that. I think your story is, as I’ve gotten talking to more and more people in the sector.

There is such a wide range of people and their stories. And I’m seeing a lot of individuals who are, sun setting the for-profit part of their career reaching out because they’re going, well, how do I start working in nonprofit? Right? And yours is such a brilliant way of doing it because often I’m saying, go volunteer.

Like even understand how some of this works, what the dynamics look like. There are plenty of nonprofits who need your support, but. This is different than for-profit, and you really should understand some of those nuances in the work.

Pedro: Absolutely. I think one of the biggest misconceptions of people working in the nonprofit world, at least I’ve been, it’s been my experience coming from the corporate world that just ’cause you’re a nonprofit organization doesn’t mean you’re a poor [00:03:00] organization, that you like the resources.

When I say to people, do you know the American Red? Five one. Do you know that the Catholic churches of 5 0 1 3? Yeah. That the Episcopalian churches of 5 0 1 3. But the United Way and kind of make them realize, at the end of the day it’s a 5 0 1 3 for IRS tax purposes in the United States.

It doesn’t mean that you need to be poor and that you like the resources. So I think trying, I. I’ve been trying to work really hard as a board member of Somo, Jose Bodel Latin Fundraising Institute to dis mystify that and empower people by realizing that you can go big on a nonprofit organization and build the budgets that you need to be able to make the kind of social impact that we want to, that we want to, achieve.

Tasha: I love that. I love that. And what’s been your favorite part of working in this sector so far?

Pedro: I think the impact, there’s nothing more than, planting the seeds and leaving a legacy of helping an organization move forward. As I sat on different boards that, created scholarships for Latino [00:04:00] students or when I helped a mom be able to, stay at their house because they had two infant babies and there were under, under Section eight subsidized housing, and the landlord was kind of.

Not keeping the premises at the respectable level that a human being should be living. What other purpose? And to be able to give back to a community when honestly, I’ve been, blessed my whole life. I was raised relatively privileged. My parents always taught us that you give back because we’ve been blessed that those who receive shall give.

And that’s always been my motto. And it’s like. Trying to make the world a better place. When I started, when I launched the planned giving program, I don’t need those us. The fact that at some point, maybe I won’t be alive to see it, that they might give us two or three, or four or $5 million deferred gift on the planned gift, or as a bequest was as a result of the impact that I left.

And I made that place a little bit better for the organization, for the people, the community that it serves. What other greater satisfaction than being able to leave that impact in life? So I think the reason I do this really [00:05:00] is to leave an impact, a positive impact in the world that we live in.

Tasha: I love that. And I think that’s one thing I am definitely have noticed among leadership, sometimes fundraisers, even marketers. Is they’re not always frontline, right? So they don’t always get to see that impact. And I wonder how much more powerful it would be to find those, sometimes really small orgs where everyone’s wearing a lot of hats.

The burnout is for a totally different reason, right? Like they’re burnt out because too much is being asked of any one or two, or three humans to accomplish. But they’re also getting a lot of that positive. Real time impact back to them, right? It’s like as small as the nonprofit hive team is, I get lovely messages personally, right?

And it, so it helps feed you on those days when you’re like, this is too much. It helps feed you. And I wonder sometimes, how that impact reporting is coming back to [00:06:00] internal staff at larger organizations. Because I think they need it too, right? They need to see that like. Have those moments, have those interactions, and I’m definitely, you know, I think that connection to the cause and impact is really important internally for us in the sector too.

Pedro: Yeah, absolutely. I agree with that and you’d be surprised how many I. How many organizations don’t do the impact reporting or the impact statement or the impact? Little video, I mean, I, currently working for A Hispanic National Bar Association as their interim executive director, and we did an impact, video on the impact that the organization has done on Latino law students, on young Latino lawyers.

And it was. It was literally less than three minutes and we were able to rates within five to 10 minutes, close to $35,000. And that was the first time that the organization had done that. So then not only did the staff see that impact video, because we reviewed it before we did it at the gala, but the men, there were, we had over [00:07:00] 745 attendees at this conference over four at the gala.

And the does, and sometimes tell people, sometimes you. Nowadays, especially Gen Zers, they have their iPhones. You can videotape stuff. You can interview people that make impact and do small snip snippets. You know of little short videos in your, and show it to your staff, show it to the community, put it on your website, put it on your YouTube video.

Put it on Instagram, put it on social media. I think it’s so important to see that because I think sometimes donors. They give because they believe in the cause, but they don’t hear back from the organization till next year when they’re doing the annual appeal again at the end of the beginning of, at the end of November, beginning of December, and you’re like, I wonder what my $25 may impact.

It did, and sometimes those 5, 10, 15, 20 $5 as an aggregate. Make a huge impact. And I don’t, and sometimes I don’t feel like nonprofit organizations or some of the leaderships doesn’t do a good job because they don’t see sometimes the value in the [00:08:00] impact, or they feel like it’s too costly or too timely.

Tasha: Absolutely. And we’re all gathering so much data, right? Like even small nonprofits, they’re gathering, like even if you’re just on Instagram or LinkedIn, you have access to those metrics, right? You have access to that to go, Hey, did you know when you repost. Our social media thing, we see x on the opposite side.

You can tie all that together and it really helps. I think also your, community, your people that are supporting you. See in real time how when they take this small action, it has an outsized impact. Right. And we’re, it does take work, so I don’t wanna minimize how much work it does require, but I wonder in the long term if there’s lots of things we’re doing that are kind of just spinning our wheels and aren’t actually that of that much interest.

Pedro: I agree, but sometimes I think even at events, just doing live video kind of stuff, it just, yeah. I think you sometimes people get up on the editorial and can [00:09:00] we post things? And I understand sometimes you can’t put everything live because things happen at events that you don’t necessarily, but I do feel that at times there is a space for things of that nature that we can really work on.

Tasha: Yeah. Absolutely. Okay. I love it. And challenges, so we talked about your favorite part of it.

What are some of the challenges that you see in this sector?

Pedro: Lack of knowledge, honestly. I feel that, I feel like there’s lack of knowledge , from the board members. I feel like that’s a constant struggle with board members. I’ve sat on boards where, they’re very hands-on and then I’ve sat on boards that they just go to the meetings and don’t I.

do really much, except just go to the board meetings. I think the lack of training to boards on their fiduciary duty, on their fundraising, and also on the board governance and helping in the strategic aspect. I’ve also experienced, the opposite where, the board members are telling the executive director to on a daily day operations and [00:10:00] how damaging that is to the staff because it feels like they don’t feel like they’re doing their job even though they are doing their job.

And I think lack of education and I think also the. The everyday work environment that nonprofits work with. I can go into work with a list of everything I’m gonna do today and not do any of them because I got 10 phone calls that changed the. The trajectory of my day. And I think for people who work in a, like a job that they do the nine to five kind of work, they don’t realize that in a nonprofitization, the work sometimes is not really nine to five, especially if you’re the executive director or the development director or the program director or someone dealing with the public or even with the press, you know?

So I think the lack of education, nonprofits run, I think between boards and leadership, there also seems to be a. misunderstanding between the board and the management. And I think, people need to understand we’re working for the mission and. I think besides egos, which [00:11:00] is a human matter.

Yeah. People, their egos get into in their way. And, and particularly I’ve worked with organizations where you’re working with highly intellectual people, highly educated people where they don’t really like, they like to tell you how to do things even though they’ve never done it. And I think a lot of times I tell my staff we need to pause and breathe. We also need to put ourselves in their shoes and think what the perspective that they’re coming and try to not only educate them , in a way that’s meaningful, productive, and not demeaning or condescending. But I think the lack of education, I think people just think nonprofits are this like.

Rosie, we are gonna save the world organizations and they forget about the infrastructure of having a director of human resources, having the CFO and the staff. Having someone who does development training, having someone who does , development and fundraising, someone who does programs, someone who does the deputy director, the executive directors really at a higher level trying to think strategically, take the organization staffing.

The thing that most pe most people, nonprofits do three to [00:12:00] four to five jobs under one hat and expect to perform. Yeah. At a hundred and percent level. That’s just insane. That doesn’t happen in the corporate world for the most part. It’s not that it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen as a, you might be doing the job of two people in the corporate world, but in the nonprofit world, you’re doing the job of five people and also the lack of understanding that it is a business and it should be run like a business because if it’s not, then it just creates all these.

And really the impact is not as strong to the community that you’re trying to impact. So that’s in many ways what I feel. It’s a lot of the issues pertaining to nonprofits

Tasha: yeah, there’s so many, right? And definitely you hit on a big one, which is boards. That’s one of the number one, challenges I hear about frequently from people is the board conversation.

Because it is tricky, as a small startup. Get to run it however I want right now, and it makes it lean and quick and fast and I’m able to pivot and go, no, this is working, this isn’t working. [00:13:00] Pick up, set down. It’s pretty hard when maybe your board only meets. Every other month, quarterly.

And do they really have an understanding of how, it functions internally, right? And some of the challenges you’re facing. I love that. Those are fantastic. How has peer support, in your long career, your entry into nonprofit and how has peer support factored into your work?

Pedro: Survival. I really feel that it’s kinda like your familia, your, soul that feeds feeding the soul because you all are able to talk about. Your trials and tribulations and the similarities of the level of frustrations that you’re all going kind through and you’re also learning from each other.

As an interim executive director for a nonprofit organization right now, I’ve been able to talk to other people who do the work that I do and talk about the challenges that they have faced that I’m facing and how to navigate them. Although I’m interim and I’m not gonna stay in.

I’ve learned from that experience on how to be able to do it the next time I’m an [00:14:00] interim executive director for a nonprofit. But I mean, the peer is the people. It’s like when you’re in law school that you know, you have your study group and you work together, you cry together, you laugh together.

These are the people that keep you in line and sane, to be honest with you. Yeah. Work is so overwhelming and sometimes you feel. You feel so appreciated, and then the next day you’re kind of being put down by a board member or by a donor, or by, a corporate sponsor who doesn’t understand the intricacies and the difficulties and the complexities of running a nonprofit on a like low budget, on not enough staffing, on not having the latest technology available to your staff.

The board doesn’t see the value in that, and we’re going back to the board. It’s that kind of stuff, I do training on board development and board responsibility duties. I have been told after my conf, after my speech or session that I was too harsh on board members.

And I said to them, if you felt like I [00:15:00] was too harsh, then I hit a wrong nerve and I did my job. So that means you’re not doing something. I don’t do it in, in, in a shameful way. I do it, this is, if you decide to get onto this boat, get on it. If not, get off it.

I’m a big proponent of, if you’re on a board, you give, you get, or you go. And I’m very black and white about stuff like that, but I feel, those are the things that you talk to your peers that you’re just like, oh, it’s not only your board. So you see it like, this is a chronic

it’s such a big problem and I think people are starting to understand, but I think people sit on board because they feel like they’re bringing their skills. And I’m like, if I needed your skills, I can put you on the advisory board. And that’s why I tell ’em, so step up the board, I’ll put you on advisory board and then we can do with that.

But I think the peers are just, it’s like you’re, it’s what keeps you going in the nonprofit world. Absolutely. It’s the people that you cry, that you laugh

Tasha: You have to have those peers for all those hard moments that you were just talking about. And it is a very often lonely space.

If you are not finding [00:16:00] places to engage with your peers, it is going to feel lonely because you’re gonna feel like other people don’t get it. I’m mean, I, the number of close friends of mine who, try to have a discussion about nonprofit and they have an entirely like. External societal view of what the work is, the kind of people that are being served, the complexities of what is being solved.

And then when you start actually talking about it with them, they like, they have no idea. They just have, there’s no clue. It’d be, it takes so long to explain it. So sometimes being in peer groups means that there’s just this automatic understanding of this underlying layer of just. Background information that you can then jump in and go, okay, now what’s more unique about my nonprofit, my mission, the work I’m doing?

And you, the other person gets to share that too. And it’s, it just feels like absolutely we need more places to workshop nonprofit, right? ‘Cause that’s the only way this is gonna change and get substantially better.

Pedro: I think that’s where, that’s why it’s critical for me, to be [00:17:00] associated with the Association of Fundraising professionals.

Not only to also be involved with, the hive that you’ve created, not also going to events that are fundraising people just to network or even go to different galas to see how they do things. And also go into their websites, look at their strategic plans because, you really, sometimes you do feel very lonely and sometimes you feel like all you get is.

Beat up by leadership that doesn’t understand the complexities and the difficulties of the job that you’re trying to do. Managing of small staff with limited resources.

Tasha: Absolutely. Absolutely. And I’d love for you to tell us about what you’re doing right now. You’re right now you’re an interim executive director, but you’ve transitioned out of full-time nonprofit, started a consultancy.

Share a little bit about what those services are and how people can get in touch with you.

Pedro: Yes. So after many years of, I like, I, after having basically the background of being a legal an attorney working in, wealth management and then doing the last 15 years of working [00:18:00] in.

Fundraising and development. I and I sat, I sit on this board called Somo bo, which is a Land X fundraising institute, and I did a lot of pro bono work consulting with firms on like fundraising strategies, board governance plan, legacy programs, and also,, leadership services to nonprofits undergoing leadership transitions, ensuring that there, there’s seamless oversight and continue and there’s continuity for the organization.

So I decided to start my own consulting practice, at the, at this I call like my last. I guess quarter of my career or the last 10 to 15 years, which I will, you know, before I end up, hanging the hat and retiring full-time. But, so I created this, my consulting pla company called PJR Consulting, and it’s really to empower nonprofits with my expertise.

I like to focus on Latinx and LG Bt, because I’m part communities, doesn’t. It doesn’t stop me from helping other communities that need the empowering in small, in smaller communities. I do one-on-one coaching. I do training to boards, I do training to executive directors. I also help [00:19:00] implement and start or launch a.

Fundraising department because believe it or not, a lot of these non grassroot organizations don’t have a development director or can’t afford one. So I can, I won’t be their development director, but I’ll help ’em and teach the ways of the fundamental things that they need. They need a CRM. They need a list of donors, how to integrate to donors, how to communicate with donors, how many times you should be talking to donors.

I help them coach on having conversations of the fact that they have expertise of the services they provide and. Bri bridge that gap into an ask to empower them. And also teach ’em that, in fundraising, there’s individual giving, there’s corporate giving, there’s institutional giving, there’s plan giving, there’s event planning, and there’s also annual giving, which is part of the individual giving.

But it’s at a lower giving level. So it’s very similar to a lot of, political fundraising that this happens in the United States, where people, give five, 10, $20 a month or give a year or give once you know how many times they’d like. And that’s when you see these political parties raise so much fundraise, raise so much [00:20:00] money, and the importance of having money that’s not restricted to the programs that you’re providing because that leads you, gives you.

The freedom to be able to be a bigger impact, I started this consulting practice. My first client ended up being as an interim executive director for a professional, membership organization in this country, which is the Hispanic National Association. But I’m also working with a

nonprofit in another state that deals with voting rights, and another one that deals with providing services to disabled children and adults. And I’m helping them implement individual giving programs on ing the leadership on how to be able to do the fundraising or how to come, how to switch from knowing what you’re talking about the programs and turning that conversation.

Ask as I call ’em. My services are fundraising strategies, board governors plan, legacy programs, and interim executive director, executive dealer dealership. And you can reach me at PJ Rivera, R-I-V-E-R-A at pj r [00:21:00] consulting llc.com. , And that’s pj r Rivera at pj r consulting llc.com., And I’m also on LinkedIn, so you can reach me either way.

Tasha: This is great. Thank you so much for doing this with me. I love to show the breadth of our members, and like their journeys and stories because like we noted that peer piece of seeing yourself in the sector is so critical.

Pedro: Absolutely. And we just wanna make this world a little place one day at a time.

So thank you so much for your time and I look forward to speaking to you again. And if you need my services, you know where to find me. So have a good day everybody.

Tasha: Thanks.