How Tommi Pritchett-Rodriguez is Creating Safe Spaces for LGBTQ+ Youth Through Nonprofit Fundraising

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

Tommi: Yeah, absolutely. I am Tommy Pritt Rodriguez. I am a development director for a small nonprofit in central Florida named Zebra Youth. We serve lgbtq plus youth, ages 13 to 24.

Tommi: And we primarily, assist with, housing. So our target population is at risk youth or youth that are currently experiencing homelessness and we do that through a wraparound service model. We, heavily, provide mental health counseling. We have a drop-in center so youth can come take showers, do laundry charge devices, meet with a case manager.

Tommi: We also try to provide social opportunities for youth in a safe space where they feel comfortable being themselves. So I got started in nonprofit, gosh, about 15 years ago. I was [00:01:00] a student, at Rollins College and I was looking for some volunteer opportunities. I volunteered for a really small, very new organization, that, was targeting like animal welfare and

Tommi: in human animal connections. And so I, I volunteered with them at a booth for an event and then found out they had no fundraising, no outreach, nothing. And I was like, I’m an English major. I can write newsletters for you. And then that evolved into. Event planning and fundraising. And I realized that I really enjoyed it and, wasn’t really sure what I was gonna do with an English degree, so I put it to use for, nonprofits.

Tommi: really got interested in grant writing, took a proposal writing course through our, local, philanthropy institute. And then, yeah, just kind of grew from there. So now I’m full-time development director. And I’ve been [00:02:00] fundraising now professionally for about 10 years. That’s amazing.

Tasha: I love how so like origin stories and nonprofit always are my favorite because everyone comes from a completely different angle into this beautiful space.

Tasha: That I. I never know what I’m gonna hear. ’cause everyone’s is so different, right? There’s gen people where generationally families are very philanthropic. I didn’t come from a family like that at all. I very much kind of felt like I stumbled into the nonprofit world and was like, this is everywhere once you see it, right?

Tasha: Like it’s not obvious to many if you don’t need the services or you know that you don’t really have the exposure necessarily.

Tommi: Yeah, same. I did not come from a very, philanthropic family. We just didn’t have that kind of income to be able to, give, and so I didn’t even know you could make a career out of, fundraising or philanthropic work.

Tommi: Just like you said, I fell into it [00:03:00] and, realized that I could make a career out of it and, I love it.

Tasha: Yeah, for sure. An incredible mission too, that you’re a part of and I’m sure has never been more relevant to create community spaces at this moment for those particular youth.

Tommi: Yeah. Being based in Florida the last few years, we’ve had a lot going on here with anti LGBT movements. Things going on in the schools with book banning, or not being able to refer to youth, with their chosen names or pronouns. Not even being able to, allow youth to talk about their families because it’s

Tommi: or it’s promoting a lifestyle and then of course, with our new administration federally, there’s a lot going on, to curb DEI initiatives and, attack the trans community and in all different levels of society. And It’s a tough time right now and our [00:04:00] youth are really feeling it.

Tommi: So we are, it is a good time for us to be around, because our youth are depending on us more than ever.

Tasha: Yeah, absolutely. So what’s your favorite part of working in this sector? Sector as a whole? Current position can be either or. What do you appreciate most about nonprofit work?

Tommi: Yeah. So in my position, I don’t do a lot of direct services work.

Tommi: I don’t work with the youth directly. I’m on the fundraising side of things, but I think what I love the most about being in this position is getting to have conversations with funders and individual donors about why they support our organization. Because very much nonprofit origin stories, everybody’s reason for supporting.

Tommi: A nonprofit is personal, right? And it’s different. Everybody has a different story. But one of the things that I hear probably the most from our donors is that, when I was growing up, I wish I had [00:05:00] someplace like Zebra, someplace where I could talk to other youth that were like me. I. A place that I could talk to an adult who understands what I’m going through, or, I lived in my car for several months and I really wish I had a place like Zebra to help me get on my feet.

Tommi: So I hear those stories all the time and we’re a relatively young organization. We started in 2010, so just thinking about, just the. The history of the LGBT, civil Rights Movement. And how places like this could have been so monumental, 30, 40 years ago. and just hearing from folks that they really needed something like this is really affirming to let.

Tommi: Our organization know that, even though there has been so much progress, there’s still very much a need for our services. And we see that because we have wait lists for mental health counseling and for housing all the time. My favorite part of being in the sector is probably [00:06:00] getting to, see the change in people’s lives.

Tommi: At an organization I worked for previously, I was, running a satellite office and we had a youth come in with their parents, and they were positive for hepatitis C and we were partnering with a healthcare organization that was able to get him into treatment. And they caught it early enough that the treatment was able to, cure his hepatitis c.

Tommi: And, I hadn’t seen them in probably a year because they came for their consultation with the doctor and everything. And that was the last time I saw them. Yeah. And then at a Community Pride event, they came up to our booth and his, his mom came over and she was like, I just wanna thank you so much because you saved my son’s life.

Tommi: Oh. And it was just such a really like touching moment because she was teary eyed and I was teary eyed and this poor kid. Was suicidal [00:07:00] and just feeling really defeated. When he found out he was a, hepatitis C positive and just really just felt very much alone and defeated. And, it know just because we were there and we offered those services, it was able to.

Tommi: Turn his life around and now he’s got a job and he is going to school and he’s like doing so much better. And stories like that are really, it makes the hard days worth it, right? Because Absolutely. We know that nonprofit work is really hard, and burnout is real and fundraising is difficult. So when I get to hear these stories about people whose lives have literally just been.

Tommi: Turned around and changed. it just, it’s very affirming and it gives me a lot of hope, not just for humanity, but for, for my direct community. So I think those are probably my two favorite things about working in the sector.

Tasha: That’s an awesome, I would similarly, say fundraising is [00:08:00] so cool ’cause I really do feel like it, it’s a little bit of a cliche sometimes, or it feels like a cliche to be like.

Tasha: You’re connecting the donors to the mission like that, people in nonprofit provide this cool bridge that could it all happen between those individuals? Maybe. But it just doesn’t. It doesn’t Is the, like the flat out is that it doesn’t end up working that way out in the big world.

Tasha: So being that connecting point and having that opportunity to remind yourself, and I know you were saying you’re not necessarily working with the youth all the time. And so not necessarily in that like frontline position, but I do think it’s really important for fundraising staff, marketing staff, operations, whatever your position may be, to have those moments, to really touch base with the stories, right?

Tasha: And be a part, recognize your part in it. ’cause you’re right, it does make those days when everything feels like it’s absolutely not going the right way somehow. You go, no, but remember, [00:09:00] right? like it’s that. That’s a re-ignition of what you’re doing.

Tommi: Yeah, a hundred percent.

Tasha: Yeah. So I, to bring it, unfortunately, like maybe we should have started with challenges first and then uplifted back into, favorite parts, but challenges of the work.

Tasha: And you’ve already highlighted a few, but what do you find most challenging about being in nonprofit work?

Tommi: Yeah, increasing needs for services and just not enough capacity in our organizations to be able to fulfill that. there’s. Hundreds of thousands of nonprofits in the United States, and so many of them do similar work.

Tommi: And we talk a lot in the sector about, oh, don’t start another nonprofit, just partner with a nonprofit that’s already doing the work. Yeah. And the challenge to that is, is that most of these organizations are so tiny. It’s a couple of people, maybe they’re not even paid. They’re just doing this out of the, kindness of their hearts basically, and a passion for what they’re trying to [00:10:00] accomplish.

Tommi: So not that I advocate for, starting more nonprofits, but I feel if we as a sector could, invest in the capacity of our organizations to grow our teams, to educate our teams, to really educate the community about the need and the solution that we’re trying to offer, I think that we could do so much more.

Tommi: We could do so much better. And I think that’s just a huge challenge, right? Because there’s so little capacity building grants or operations grants out there. and individual donors don’t wanna hear that their dollars are going to, , staff or Marketing, but those are really important parts of our organization.

Tommi: We need those parts in order to fulfill our mission. Yeah. and so I think that’s one of the greatest challenges really, is just not being able to help everybody who needs the help. I. [00:11:00]

Tasha: Absolutely. I live in the startup ecosystem right now, right? Where very similarly, so many startups, they sound sometimes very similar.

Tasha: Particularly now with the advance of ai. I’m like, didn’t I hear about this? No, it’s actually a completely different business, but man, it sounds the same. Right? And the organizations that often end up faltering. It’s not due to a lack of a brilliant idea or like a great idea, passion. These people have that.

Tasha: Often what they don’t have is operational capacity and marketing and potentially like a sales person when you’re talking startup that is able to do those tasks because you can have the best idea out there for a startup. But if you can’t get the message out, if you can’t get everything running smoothly.

Tasha: It doesn’t work, right? it doesn’t. It falters pretty quickly. And so I can see that similarly in nonprofits, so frequently, we’re not investing [00:12:00] in teams, and ultimately that’s what makes nonprofit work is the team behind it. So when, boards are shocked that nonprofit fundraising isn’t going well, but you’re not investing in your fundraising team at all.

Tasha: I don’t know. It feels like very much a these are too intertwined for the, to not be this way.

Tommi: Yeah,

Tasha: for sure. Yeah, it’s too tough for sure. And so you’ve been, we actually knew each other before I even started the nonprofit hive. There’s a few of those humans out there, which is, is always fun for me.

Tasha: What have you gotten out of being a member of this community so far?

Tommi: Oh my gosh. when you first. Ideated this and we were chatting about it and you were like, what do you think about this? And is this something that you would be interested in? I was on board a hundred percent because I think it’s so important for nonprofit professionals to connect with each other no matter what side of house you’re in, if you’re in marketing or leadership or fundraising or programs.[00:13:00]

Tommi: It’s just so important for us to be able to learn from each other. And there are wonderful communities out there. There’s a FP, which I’m a member of, and there’s. CREs. and there’s, all kinds of different nonprofit communities out there. But I think what makes this in particular so special is that you don’t have to be in a geographical region.

Tommi: You don’t have to have similar mission focus. We’re connecting with people all over the world essentially. and. It’s important to know what’s going on in other places in the nonprofit sector, to stay informed, but also, we can learn from each other. We can learn so much from each other.

Tommi: And it’s also very comforting to know that we’re all struggling with similar things, right? Fundraising is always challenging. No matter how great of a fundraiser you are Similar things are happening [00:14:00] in states across the country. Legislation affects all of our nonprofits and the types of work that we’re able to do and, challenges to how we apply for funding.

Tommi: There’s just so much that we can commiserate on as. Nonprofit professionals, but there’s also so much hope that we can offer one another too. And that I think is one of the greatest things that I’ve gotten out of these hive chats is that, I’ve been able to connect with people that I’ve learned from, of course, but then also to know that we’re fighting the same fight, regardless of what our missions are.

Tommi: We’re all in it together and we can lean

Tommi: on each other.

Tasha: Yeah. Absolutely. I feel like that dynamic of we’re all in it together is not part of nonprofit culture for some reason. Which is so unfortunate because in many ways that’s the gift that nonprofit organizations often give to the people [00:15:00] they support.

Tasha: Like the organization you’re working for right now, you’re bringing together these LGBTQ plus youth from all over, like, and you’re offering that for. Florida youth, like I feel that exactly that community your organization is putting out is something that nonprofit doesn’t do all that well for itself, right?

Tasha: And we find barriers to connection in nonprofits, concerns about funding. Are we in competition locally? What does that look like? And the idea that donors will only give to one mission. Is incorrect. I don’t believe that to actually be true and if anything, right now, I think there is a strength in numbers in terms of even being able to showcase, like brand awareness.

Tasha: Look at we’re collaborating on this, we’re twice as strong coming into this together versus thinking. We’re only gonna get half as much by coming into this together. Right. Like we’re, it’s that like crazy pie model that you’re [00:16:00] like, but the pie’s not one size. Why are we looking at it like this?

Tasha: As a sector. And I think peer support in nonprofit work might be that, missing ingredient, particularly amongst smaller nonprofits where funding for conferences, networking, all of those pieces just doesn’t really exist in the budget.

Tommi: Yeah. Yeah, I agree with that. I can see that here locally in Central Florida because we do have so many similar organizations all competing for the same funding.

Tommi: Some of them play nice in the sandbox together, some of them don’t. it’s, yeah, it is. It’s very unfortunate because imagine how much more, much good work we could do if we just sat down together at the same table and said, Hey, we’re all working to. Find a solution to the same problem. Yeah.

Tommi: What is it that you’re offering that we aren’t offering, and how can we collectively make that happen together? and it is, it’s a challenge, because too [00:17:00] often it’s about finding, who’s gonna get the funding. Yeah. But we could collaborate and probably get more funding. And split it.

Tommi: There’s just so many ways, that we could just do so much more. And I think that’s one of the things that I do appreciate about, appreciate about Zebra. zebra Youth, the organization I work for, because we have had a culture of working with other organizations and funders. We started as a coalition.

Tommi: Relying on those other organizations to be able to provide the services that now we can provide in-house. but we maintain so many of those relationships still because. We do have wait lists and we’re not able to help everyone. So we do refer out quite a bit. and I think that, that is one of the things that really makes us so special in our community and so well respected because we’re not afraid to work with another [00:18:00] organization, even if their methodology is different than ours.

Tasha: Yeah. Yeah. And that’s even you bring up a really great point there, right? Is. Sometimes collaboration means figuring out ways to compromise on how to best push, go forward with the community endeavor together and keeping that like focus on constituents. Being the, what do we need to get to this goal over here and how can we maybe be innovative to get there?

Tasha: And I like, I can see, in the past how many years of being in the field and really just starting to support and bring collaborations together. You can see that sometimes you just need someone outside of your organization, a little bit outside of your ecosystem to go ask. Some pointed questions that are too awkward to have sometimes either in-house or in your commun like direct community for you to go, oh yeah, like maybe this isn’t as big a deal as I thought.

Tasha: Or maybe the politics behind this are ridiculous. Like, why are we even looking at it this [00:19:00] way when we could be over here. Doing this together. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. This was so lovely. I wanna know how we can tell people who listen in, who read this article after we’ve created it.

Tasha: How can they follow along with your journey, Tommy, and how can they get in touch with you?

Tommi: Yeah. You can connect with me on LinkedIn. Zebra Youth also has a LinkedIn page, although I will admit we’re not great at updating it very often, but when we do, it’s always very good news. Yes, absolutely.

Tommi: We have, we are on Instagram and Facebook, so we can connect to there as well. We usually, post more, like programmatic updates on those social media channels ’cause that’s where our youth are. Yes. and then, we have a newsletter. So if you visit our website, which is zebra youth.org, you can sign up for our newsletter and keep in touch that way.

Tasha: Awesome. Amazing. Thank you so much for doing this with me, Tommy, and thank you for, just being really supportive of this community we’re trying to build here at the nonprofit hive.

Tommi: Yeah, [00:20:00] absolutely. Thank you for including me.

Tasha: Yeah.