The Insider’s Edge To Real Estate Investing with Suzy Myers Jackson

Welcome. This is the Insider's Edge to Real Estate Investing with James Nelson, the principal and head of Avis and Young's Tri State Investment Sales Group. In this program you'll learn game changing strategies to outperform the market. James will teach you how to source, execute and capitalize on the best real estate opportunities in New York and around the world. Now here's your host.

Welcome to episode number 128 of the Insider's Edge to Real Estate Investing. This is your host, James Nelson. I am principal and head of Tri State Investment Sales for Avis and Young. Had to think there for a minute. You would think it'd be automatic by now, but yes, here we are. I have just completed a 12 part series with my writing partner Rachel Hartman. We are, we have finished our book, it's off to the publisher and it's gonna be coming out late January, early February. We're getting dangerously close to starting pre sales so keep checking back@james nelson.com that's where you can find out and pre order your individual copies, bulk orders. The opportunity to have me come speak to your group and share all the incredible lessons learned in this book. And if you didn't go back and hear that series, it's, it's a 12 part series that we based the book on. The first installment was my story and then we talked about why real estate and then the 10 steps to help you gain the advantage to outperform the market. That's what this show is all about. So for today's show, now that we've concluded that I want to mix it up a little bit and I want a chance to give back and I'm going to be bringing on shortly Susie Myers Jackson who is the executive director of Spark Youth nyc. This is an incredible organization based here in New York that I've been a part of for close to 20 years. Former normally this was known as the catalog for giving and our mission is to ignite growth in community based programs to expand opportunities for the young people of New York City. So we have helped dozens of organizations that benefit kids here in New York City and we invest in them in a critical time making a commitment for three year periods to help them grow. And, and the amazing thing is I think I can only maybe a very few have not made the journey and have not expanded along the way. And so it's kind of a testament not only to the way we've picked these organizations to support, but also how we help support them along the way. So I think you're gonna be able to learn a lot from this episode. Not just about the importance of giving back, what to look for in a not for profit, but also I think there's a lot of lessons that can be learned from from growing a not for profit and growing your business. So Susie has a very interesting background. She has over 20 years of experience in not for profit with a diverse range of expertise including fundraising, board development, nonprofit management, strategic planning. She was the long term Executive director of Opening act where she grew the organization's reach from 3 to 57 of New York City's most high need public schools increase revenue by 80 fold. I love how she's talking about revenue as a not for profit. So you can already hear. But she also has just such an incredible appreciation and such a leader for these social emotional learning outcomes. So we're going to have Susie come on with us briefly. But before we go to a word from our sponsor, make sure and check out sparkyouth nyc.org we're having our big annual benefit on October 17th. It'd be awesome to see you there. You're going to also see that there's a lot of our board members who are also some of the major players here in New York. Some of them have already been on this show as well. So again, I think you're going to get a lot out of this episode and so I, I thank you in.

Advance for sharing with your friends.

So we'll get a brief word from our sponsor and we'll be right into that interview with Susie Myers Jackson.

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Susie, I am so excited to be here with you today in person to talk about Spark Youth and NYC and just all the incredible things that the organization has been up to personally. They've been involved with this organization formerly Catalog Forgiving for those of you who might Remember listeners out there for close to 20 years. And so it's just been amazing to see how much the organization has grown and all the incredible things they've done to impact the young lives of kids here in New York City. So, Susie, for our audience, it'd be great if you could just give us a little bit of your background and in the not for profit world, maybe what, what inspired you to get into it in the first place and maybe take us through your journey before you came to Spark Youth.

Yeah, sure. Well, thank you for having me. So I have been in a nonprofit world now for about 20 years, and most of that time, which is when I first met you, I was working at an organization called Opening act, which was funded by then catalog Forgiving. Now Sprite Youth. Opening act, as you know, is a youth development organization working in over 50 of New York City's most high need high schools and really using theater and the arts for youth development leadership and just generally giving young people, as we say, it sparks something that sparks them and gets them excited about life and learning. I've also worked as a consultant for a wide range of nonprofits and now happily have found my home at Spark Youth. I think, you know, in terms of what brought me to nonprofit or sort of this path, I grew up in a small town in Missouri, and my parents just modeled service for me always. They were very involved in our community, in our schools, in our neighborhoods. And I just, you know, from a very early age was, was taught and was shown to do good by others. And that doing good for others or by others is ultimately doing good for yourself as well. That, that service and being involved in the community, we are all a part of the community, so it's mutually beneficial, like we're all helping one another. So I think that is just a value of mine that's, that's really deeply integrated into the core of who I am. And then professionally, I was very excited to move to New York. I came here for college. I went to NYU and studied theater and pretty quickly declared a minor in what NYU called Applied Theater, which essentially was sort of marrying these two things I loved, which was community and service and activism with theater and the arts. And so it was in one of those classes that I had my first opportunity to go into a New York City public school. I, I rather naively assumed in my small town in Missouri that every school in New York City was like fame in terms of the arts. This was New York. This was the cultural capital of the world. And surely every school not only Honestly had arts opportunities, but had all the opportunities. This is an incredible city with so much to offer. And so I was again, naively but shocked when I had my first experience going into New York City public high school and saw that that was not the case. At least it wasn't the case for every high school. And specifically, I think the thing that struck me as most unfair was I wasn't even looking necessarily at public versus private school within the public school system, within the department of education. Sometimes just a block away, you could have a school that was very well resourced and had a lot of opportunity, and then a school down the street that had none of that. And that struck me at the age of 19 as deeply unjust and unfair. And so I wanted to be a part of making that better. Wow.

At 19. So what was your vision for opening act? Did you think this is? I'm just gonna bring theater into these schools? I mean, I'm sure it started off at one location. Maybe talk us about those early days and how you got it off the ground.

So I actually, I came into opening act. I didn't found it. I came in when it was three years in the making and I came in as an assistant teaching artist. And Julia Camen, an amazing mentor of mine who founded the organization. It was a passion project for her. She had grown up in New York City, actually had gone to a very well resourced private school, and she had had, as we all have, challenges in our teenage years. She had had some very difficult things happen for her and theater helped her get through. And at the time she was working at an organization called Advocates for Children and was having a lot of conversations with families and parents who would say, you know, my child is struggling in XYZ ways, or their school is struggling in XYZ ways. But they joined the, the after school chess program, or they started karate, or they're doing the school musical. And it has completely transformed not only their personal experience, but their educational experience. And so Julia was seeing and this very much ties not just to opening act, but to spark youth. How this relatively small thing like a once a week after school for two hours could really be the spark, the game changer for young people person. For her, it had been theater. For me, it had been theater. And so she started opening act.

Can you talk a little bit about maybe some of those early classes that you taught? And see. And I've had the privilege to see the performances and it's amazing. Kind of the heart and soul these kids pour out into this, you know, in at a big theater venue. So. But I'm sure when you were first introduced to some of these kids, you know, they probably had, you know, lack of confidence. Maybe. I'm sure many of them had never acted. Maybe you tell me that none of them had ever acted before. So what was that process like to really get them involved, give them that confidence and ultimately to bring them to that level?

It's interesting because when we would sometimes start at a high school, I would talk to the principal or the assistant principal and explain the program and they'd kind of go, oh, I've got a kid for you. And it was like the kid that they consider to be the class clown or the, you know, kind of showman. And not that we didn't have those kids. We did, but that actually wasn't our sweet spot as an organization. The kids who really found us, loved us, grew and sort of thrived in our organizations were kids who often started out without confidence. And what I was always blown away by, from our young people. And I remember this specific story. A young person came into my program in Brooklyn and, you know, just everything physically closed off, sort of hand, you know, head down, hands on the backpack, you know, hoodie up, and said, I really, you know, I don't, I'm not really like a theater person, but I just thought, you know, maybe this would help me be more confident. And I thought, my God, for a 15 year old to know themselves and to say, and I'm gonna go beyond this obstacle and this challenge and show up for this and that kid. This specific instance, I just remember at the end, end of class came up to me and I said, so what you think? And it was really cool. And I feel like I can already tell this is gonna make me raise my hand more in class.

Wow, that's so cool.

To make that connection in a 90 minute workshop was amazing. And I think so. It was never for me. It's interesting because theater, you know, was. Continues to be a passion of mine, but in a lot of ways, opening act was never for me about theater. Just like in some ways, I think, you know, the chess club, certainly there's unique skills you learn from chess, unique skills you learn from theater. But for me, it's not about that. I think any young person, particularly young people who have a lot of obstacles in their lives, like they gotta have that thing. And it's not just the thing, it's the people. So it's the mentors and it's the community and having that safe space. And I was Mentioning to you before we got on, I sent an email out yesterday from Spark Youth about the recent school shooting in Texas and sorry, it's hard not to get emotional. And I was just struck yesterday by how grateful I am. And I know we haven't talked too much about Spark Youth yet, but that the organizations we're currently supporting at Spark youth, over 13,000 kids are served by those organizations and got to show up there yesterday, whether that's at a gardening program or a skateboarding program or a tech program. And while the skateboarding and gardening and tech are great skills that will help them in life, what I think is most important is that they're showing up at this place where they are supported and heard. And I think for any of us, if we think back about transformative relationships or moments in our childhood, it's that.

Yeah, no doubt. And it's again that the transformation and the number of kids that have been positively impacted by not only Opening act, but Spark Youth by supporting these organizations. So I want to get to that and maybe you could tell us a little bit about your first encounter with at the time catalog Forgiving now Spark Youth. But maybe talk about they were able to help Opening act bring them to the next level and maybe where ultimately Opening act was when you transitioned.

Yeah, big time. So I mean I can pinpoint like exactly where I was when I got the call that we were going to get. I'll just call Spark Youth funding, even though it was catalog funding at the time. So when I came into Opening act, our budget was around $25,000 and we were working with three high school. When I left Opening act, our budget was over $2 million and we were working with 57 high schools.

Wow.

So I went through a lot of different phases of the organization. I met Spark Youth in what I would call what we call at Spark Youth, sort of a second stage post startup phase. So at the time we were the smallest organization that they had funded. Our budget then was around $150,000. I think I might have had a second staff member, but definitely no more than that. I think it was me and one part time person and getting their support was, and I don't use this word lightly, a game changer. Transformative. What Spark Youth does is they make a three year financial commitment to an organization which is something that's very hard to get when, when you're in that post startup phase, folks kind of want to give you some money, see how it goes, then maybe give you some more money, see how it goes. The problem as someone running a nonprofit is that means that your vision for the organization sort of gets stunted to that year. I know how many resources I have this year so I can plan for this year. I don't know what's going to happen next year, so I can't plan for that year. It limits leaders and it limits the impact then that their nonprofits can have on young people. So they gave us multi year commitment of financial support, capacity building, which in the nonprofit world we talk about in terms of really thinking beyond the program or sort of the core of the work to just like building a business. What's the infrastructure, what's the foundation? What are the building blocks that are going to allow you to be sustainable, to scale, to exist long term? So they helped us with everything from fundraising to legal support to how to build out HR resources when you don't have any money to pay for an HR person. And then the third thing that they gave me was a network of peers. We were brought on to Spark Youth in a cohort. So I immediately met some of the executive directors who are now some of my breath best friends in my entire life. You know, people who were in a similar space as me professionally, but maybe, you know, two steps ahead of me or one step behind me. And so this ability to support one another emotionally, tactically, practically literally saved me. And I think opening act in a field that can be very under resourced and as a result can feel exhausting and lonely. Wow.

You know, I love how we're learning. The audience is learning about Spark Youth first through the eyes of the member organization because you were able to experience that firsthand and to your point, really that lifeline. And I think a lot of listeners who donate and give to charities, they might not understand that world and how it works and that many times for funding organizations. Yeah, you have to make that application every single year to get funding. And that is why Spark Youth exists, to really give that foundation that platform to grow. So maybe now that we're talking about Spark Youth, why don't you tell us where they are today? Maybe you can give our audience a little sense of the organization, the history of it. And so we could then talk about your decision to come on board as our executive director.

So Spark Youth was founded in 1994 by two social workers who really saw that there were amazing youth development organizations in the city that could be better supported. It was called the Catalog for Giving because back when we all used catalogs to share things. They would literally put together this beautiful catalog that highlighted the work their grantees and send it out so you could look and see these organizations and think about who and how you wanted to support those organizations through the catalog for giving. So part of the name change that happened is because we don't so much use catalogs anymore. But I think Spark Youth is a great name for what we're doing because it's not just about, as I said, like with opening act kids finding their spark, but how are we sparking growth and igniting change with our organizations? So in terms of history, we have now funded 75 organizations since the beginning of Spark Youth. And one of the things that I think is really impressive is that because we're in this kind of sweet spot of second stage organizations, the stats are that approximately a third of non profit profits will fail or close their doors in their first five years. Of our 75 organizations, 95% are still in existence and serving young people.

I was not to stop you, but I was just blown away. And I've been involved with the organization for a long time and I knew that our member orgs have gone on to achieve incredible things because we want them to kind of spread their wings and go off on their own. And there is, you know, that, that requirement of what their budget looks like. But the fact that again, that success ratio, I was saying if you were doing private equity or investing anything else, that success rate again at an early phase, investing when you know, unfortunately that there are, you know, so many of these organizations that have to close their doors. I mean, it's just truly remarkable.

Yeah. And I think it's both our selection of, of organizations and how we support them. Right. It's not just we choose well, we choose well, but then we give them the things that they need so that they can grow.

So let's talk about both them. Let's talk about first of all, what qualifies because there might be founders out there listening to this podcast right now who would love funding. So maybe we can talk about what is the criteria to apply and then maybe we could talk about that selection process.

So currently we look at organizations that are less than 10 years old, that have budgets somewhere between 150,000 and 1.5 million youth serving New York City based is what our current focus is. You know, we put out a request for proposals. The process is organizations submit a proposal with pretty typical things that go into a funding request. Financial information, program information, vision and goals, outcomes. For some of our organizations, because they're small, they may not have the sort of depth of data or like proof of success that a larger, you know, foundation might require. And that's okay. They'll submit an application. We then have a member selection team which is made up of non profit leaders, our board members, like yourself, community members. Members then review the applications. They do a site visit to every program. They interview the leader. And then from there it becomes a very, very difficult decision. Actually, I'm remembering now the first time I ever sat on the member selection team. I said, I can never take a job on this side of the table because it's so hard to make a decision because there are so many organizations doing incredible work. So it's very hard. But here I am.

And these are just New York City charities that support kids, I think. Yeah. Under. Yeah.

And our age, I think we sort of define young people ranging from 0 to 24.

Right.

Particularly in New York City with our public school system and also with our foster care system and the juvenile injustice system, we've got young people that are aging out of programs who are older than 18 and still very much need support.

Right. Can you just mention maybe a couple of the current member orgs so maybe our listeners can get kind of a sense.

Some of our grantees this year, we've got Harlem Grown, which is incredible urban farm in Harlem. We've got STEM from Dance, which is working to have more young women of color in STEM fields and really using dance as a way to bring them in and get them excited about stem. We've got Brooklyn Boat Works, where kids literally build boats and sail them on the East River.

I love that model, by the way, because I figured, okay, you're building a boat, do you have to be out at the shipyard? No, no. They send the boxes, the whole kits to the schools. And I think they're in dozens and dozens of public schools now. And I actually went out to one of the regattas where then the kids not only have to build the boat, but then they have to take it out into the East River. So, you know, it's gotta. That's right.

And then Catholic City Living is one of our newer grantees and they specifically support young people who are aging out of foster care to set up their own homes and their apartments and give them not only furniture and things to make a home, but wraparound services, mental health supports, etc. So wide, wide range. But the common thread really is supporting the young people of our city who.

Are our future leaders. And fair to say that most of these kids who are in these programs, if they were not in, in one of these Organizations, there probably would be nothing else for them to do after school. Is that, you know, at that school?

Yeah, I think, you know, I obviously don't want to make too much of a generalization, but I can say that each of our organizations are. Their mission is about bringing opportunities to young people who otherwise wouldn't have them.

Right.

So, you know, every kid in every family's story is different, but yes, very much going with, not going to the schools that have a million after school programs. We're supporting organizations that are really going where there is a need.

Right. And I know starting from where there.

Is a need, really, most of our organizations are from the community. And so identifying a need in a community and working on that together.

And I know especially during the early onset of the pandemic, I mean, our member orgs really stepped up in a big way to reach out and, you.

Know, pivoted as necessary. Not only just, you know, pivoted became sort of the word of that year, but not just changing from in person to virtual, but like one of our sports programs. The kids were. They really wanted yoga and meditation. It was something they'd never offered and they needed that wellness. You know, another program ended up delivering food that had never been part of their program, but they were responsive and reached out to folks and said, what do you need? They show up and they can do that because they have relationships with the families and the young people. And that's why even going back to when I was talking about this week, and I get goosebumps thinking about it, it's those relationships that actually matter.

So talk a little bit about your decision to come on board as Spark Youth's executive director. And you'd said that before. You've seen it on the other side. You said this is an impossible job, you know, a different kind of role, because now instead of working directly with the kids, now you're, you know, there to really help drive that support. So maybe talk about, you know, what led you to that decision and, you know, you're now how many months into the new position?

Four.

Five. Four months. Okay, great.

I have been involved in the organization for over, over a decade, you know, opening act as a grantee, and then I had the honor to serve with you for five years. So I feel it doesn't feel quite as new as it may seem. So my decision to step into this role or to be open to this opportunity, I think I had stepped down from opening act and I was consulting when I first stepped down from opening act and people said, what are you going to do next? I said, I have no idea. But the one thing even then I was able to pinpoint that I knew I loved doing and was interested in doing more of is supporting other leaders. I mentioned, you know, some of my best friends came through Spark Youth that were fellow executive directors. And we, there were seven of us that formed this sort of informal breakfast club in, if you will, that we ended up calling the Sustainable Sisterhood. We were seven executive directors of different social justice nonprofits in New York City. Sort of wide range of content, but we really became each other's lifelines. And I remember saying, I wish someone could pay me to just do this, which is to support these six incredible leaders in whatever way they needed, at whatever moment that they needed help. So the opportunity of Spark Youth, I think, excited me because I felt that I could use 17 years of pain, challenges, blood, sweat, tears, and happily some successes to hopefully make those pain points a little less painful for other leaders and really to think about how I can sort of clear the page for folks. How can I move some of those obstacles out of the way like funding? We don't. You know, Liz is the executive director of City Living that I mentioned. Liz is a social worker. You know, she started this organization because she was working directly with young people coming out of foster care and knew that they needed these services. Now she's an executive director, which means she has to fundraise and figure out the HR and sort of all of these things. And she's capable of that. And if I can, in this seat, in this role, help clear some of those blocks out of the way to say, we're going to give you three years of support, not one year. You don't have to keep coming back to me every year. Now that gives her more time to bring her zone of genius to the work and the vision. So I thought, if I can be a part of that, that's going to be really, really fulfilling and exciting.

And it has been so wonderful to hear. And I don't want to go too far off the track here, but you know, for our listeners out there who are, maybe they're in the private sector and maybe they have an incredible idea or they see a need and they want to give back and they want to start a not for profit. I mean, you have experience, you know, at a very early stage. I mean, what advice would you give to someone who's looking to start a not for profit? Where do you even begin? I'm sure with your vantage point now as a funding source and Understanding what to look for. I mean, what would, what would you tell someone looking to start out, to give back?

Honestly, if someone's thinking they want to start a nonprofit, I would tell them to try not to because I would tell them to find the nonprofits that are already doing that work. And is there a way that your idea or your specific need that you've identified for your community, is there a way that essentially be housed in an organization that's already there? And I say that because all these sort of infrastructure things take a lot of time and resources. If you have a specific need that you can join someone who's already in the community, already doing the work and support them and sort of, you know, I talk a lot with improv. The yes. And to add on to what amazing work is already out there, that's going to be a better use of your time than trying to start something from scratch. If you really want to start something.

Well, no, no, I like where you're going with this because definitely the listenership of this podcast, you've got a bunch of real estate investors and operators out there. So for them, I would imagine bringing kind of business sense to the table. I mean, even though it's a not for profit, so by definition you're not doing this for profit. There's clearly a business aspect to this. And I would imagine the not for Prof. That are successful, that go on to grow really do have to look at it as if you're running a P and L. So I mean, is there a skill set? I mean, and I'm sure maybe you could talk about the board that works for Spark Youth and how they're able to bring value to the table to really expand the mission.

I mean, honestly, I don't think there's anyone who doesn't have something to offer in terms of supporting community and support, supporting non profit service. Whatever you do, Real estate salesperson, baker. Like what? Whatever skills and talents you have, whatever resources you have, you can put those to service in your community or in service of a non profit. So, you know, I often we've been talking about this as a board actually thinking not sort of one size fits all, that every board member plays the same role. But for me, as a new executive director in this role, it's very important for me to get to know each member of this community. So if we're talking about the board thinking, what does James have to offer? What does your unique value add to this organization and how can we leverage that in a way that's meaningful for both of us. I talk a lot about with fundraising, but really with any relationship developing, which I assume is, you know, make sense in business and real estate as well, is kind of finding your shared why. Think about, I have this sort of sphere of interest, of passion, of work that I'm doing and so do you. And where do those things overlap? And that is kind of the magical place where what you bring to this organization is going to have a huge impact on us and what we bring into your life is going to have a huge impact on you. And I think that kind of goes back to what I said at the beginning about my upbringing, that service is not a one way street. Like it should be communal and circular and mutually beneficial. And so when folks want to get involved in nonprofit, start a nonprofit, support a nonprofit, I think thinking about where there's overlap between what you, the change you want to create in the world and the organization, that's how you can create really meaningful impact.

I love that. Thank you so much for sharing. And I know that our audience is going to get a ton out of this and I hope it inspires them to go out and get involved. I love that, that everyone has something to offer. Coming back to Spark Youth and there's this incredible track record and these organizations have gone on to, you know, incredible places. I know some of the organizations such as Imentor, Legal Outreach, Street Squash, some of them have gone on, I mean massive owns their own. Yeah. Starting here in New York. And so that, that has just been so rewarding as a board member to see. But maybe talk a little bit. This is your opportunity to, you know, a little humble brag, I guess, so to speak. But you know what, what does set Spark Youth apart? I mean there's ple of funding organizations, foundations out there. So how is Spark Youth different, you know, for our listeners? Why would someone consider donating to us?

Yeah, I think it's both who we support and how we support them. So we have this sort of niche, this secret sauce in terms of the organizations that we're supporting that are in this post startup, second stage spot. And I think for funders and for leaders like ourselves who are supporting this organization, what's really special about that is we already know that what they're doing works. Right. It's not just an idea like it's proven, it's tried. They've been around, they've been around, they've started the programs, they're working. They're not yet to the place where they have millions and millions of dollars coming in from really large institutions. So there's this real opportunity to have a huge impact. So for us, we are looking at that because they're ready for that next stage. And it means that our dollars and our resources, not just dollars, but time and capacity building and all of that can really be a game changer for the organization. So I think that in terms of who we're serving is very unique about Spark Youth and then how we serve them. There's, you know, I mentioned these in sharing my experience as a grantee of Spark Youth, but I would say there's three things that really set us apart. One is this multi year unrestricted funding. So like I mentioned, it just completely changes how a leader can plan for their organization and ultimately where their time is spent. There's an element to that which is trusting the leader is saying, I'm not an expert in young people aging out of foster care. You are a social work. You are, you know, and trusting them and saying, I'm going to invest in you and let you shape that vision. So multi year support is huge. The second thing is this what we call beyond the check support or the capacity building. It can be really hard with nonprofits to, when you're in the position of leading a nonprofit to make the decision to invest in something that doesn't feel like it's directly supported your young people. So there was this point, and this came right when Opening ACT was luckily getting support and guidance from Spark Youth, where we'd hit a plateau in terms of growth and how many kids we could serve because we didn't have infrastructure, sort of only had people in programmatic positions, we were spending all of our money on programs. And there has become kind of this dangerous myth, I think, in the funding and nonprofit world that nonprofits shouldn't spend money on overhead. Well, if you do that, if you get, get to a certain point and you have no internal systems, whether that's HR or fundraising or operations, you, you just stop, you stunt your growth. And so I think what Spark Youth did for us and what we continue to do is help people see what are those sort of key things that they can invest in that are going to help them jump up. There was a time at opening act, you know, I said, I was there 17 years, but there was this one thing three year period where we tripled in growth. And funders would say, how would you do that? How did you do that in those three years? I said, we finally invested in a development person. But I couldn't stomach doing it before. This was a challenge. For me as a leader, because I felt like, well, if I pay someone to fundraise, I'm not expanding to the school in the Bronx that needs us. But we have to understand, I think funders have to understand that just like businesses, we have to invest in that to. To see huge growth. So that's the second thing. And then the third thing that I mentioned that we do is that we convene leaders, we create this cohort space, we help them build a community that really is life and organization sustaining.

And I know, and we're going to get to the strategic plan for the future, but I know one of those exercises was to look at other funding sources. And when we kind of looked at those three buckets of offerings, that there really was not any other. You know, some foundations, obviously, they give money, they might give some support. But this cohort as well, and the fact that Spark Youth checks all those three boxes is certainly.

I don't know any other funder that's doing exactly that in this space. I think, like you said, there are folks that maybe do one of those things or two of those things. Yeah.

So I want to go back to something that you said about impact. And for those listening who want to donate, they want to give back to New York, they want to support kids, they want to support our future and having the platform to really make an impact. And look, there's wonderful big, global, not for profit organizations. Some of them do incredible work. They all do incredible work. You also hear about some of them who are flying around their CEOs and first class. But I mean, clearly these are organizations where if they only have a budget in the couple hundred thousand dollars to a million, a million and a half a year, you give 5, 10, $25,000, that's going to make a serious impact. But as a donor listening, you'd say, well, you know, I don't know if these organizations are going to, you know, are they going to make it right? So to me, and again, maybe I'm kind of, you know, with my experience and kind of taking everything you've said, you know, the real benefit of Spark Youth is being able to pick. You know, I hate to call them winners, for lack of a better word, but it's like, yes, you can make a real impact and not have to worry that this organization's not going to be around next year because you've really vetted it. So is that, you know, talk about the opportunity to make a real impact?

Yeah. I think what I was saying before was thinking about sort of the unique value that Spark Youth offers to our grantees, to our programs and thus to the community. But I think there is this really unique value that we can offer to someone who's wanting to make a difference through a giving of their time, talent, resources, who wants to make a contribution. You know, if someone was saying to me, sort of how do I figure out where to put my money? I would say, and I would say go to the source. So if you're interested in supporting a particular community or particular cause and you're not an expert in it, find the experts which is going to be the people directly impacted by that issue. The communities where organizations are communities are coming together and coming up with solutions. The nonprofit leaders talk to those folks. And so I think that's what Spark Youth can offer people is sort of a way into these smaller to mid sized organizations that are really community based, that are doing work right in our backyards. Yes, global organizations. Fantastic. I think a lot of people really want to feel like they are supporting their neighbors, you know, supporting their communities. But it can be hard to sort of find and understand some of those smaller grassroots to mid sized organizations. So I think Spark Youth offers that. And then as you said, I think for donors to think about when they're making contributions, you know, not just the cause that they're interested in supporting, you know, environment, youth and et cetera, but sort of where in the trajectory of organizational growth do they want to make an impact? And obviously I think this stage of organizations that we're supporting, I'm a fan of it because I think whether it's for a foundation or an individual donor, it really gives you, like you said, this opportunity to whatever contribution you're making matters to them can really have sort of an outsized impact.

That's amazing. You know, as you were saying that, and I know there was the whole think locally, shop locally, and now I'm thinking, you know, give locally. Right, give. Absolutely. Well, this has been absolutely fantastic and I'd love to hear about SparkU's strategic plan. So, you know, it's interesting because I know for my business we do strategic planning. If you're not thinking about the future, you know, you're never going to get there. Right. So maybe talk a little bit about your strategic plan. How did you pull us together? Key stakeholders? What was the goal? What were the deliverables? And then what do we have to look forward to with Spark Youth?

Yeah, I mean, for me, as soon as I stepped into this role, I feel like we have all these sort of Amazing folks on the ship. We're bought in. We support the organization. We know we want to be a part of it. But I didn't feel like we had a clear roadmap for the next three years, and I wanted to figure that out together. So for us, what we did is sort of think about our work in buckets. So how are we supporting our grantees? How are we fundraising and creating sustainability for ourselves as an organization? And who are the people that make that happen? A lot of whom are our board members now? So we went through a pretty quick process, I think, which went really well. We had such great engagement from the board, looked at those buckets, and we started with just assessment and sort of gathering data and talking to key stakeholders, looking at what we're doing well, what can be improved upon, and really simply said, what are the things we want to keep doing? What are the things we want to do better? What are the new things we want to start, and what, if anything, do we want to stop? I'm not sure we actually ended up having anything we wanted to stop, because happily, this strategic plan for us was not about reinventing the organization. It was about building on a legacy of success and impact. So we looked at those things. We've shaped the years ahead, and a lot of it is, as I said, sort of, yes, anding what has already been done. How can we double down on our support of our organizations financially and also in terms of capacity building and really tailoring those offerings to meet the unique needs of each individual organization? There may be things that we can offer. Like right now, we have a number of organizations, actually, that need to go through a strategic planning process themselves. They haven't done it. It can cost an organization $25,000 to hire a consultant to take them through the strategic planning process. So what we are doing is offering the expertise that we have on the team and doing sort of a cohort version of that. I believe eight of our 15 organizations will go through that process with us. So thinking about where we can sort of have collective impact and then where maybe one organization has a really unique need and we can sort of fill the gap for them. So I would say that on the grantee side is really important. We're also thinking about how we can leverage 28 years of amazing nonprofits and leaders to benefit one another. So sort of bringing folks back, setting up a mentorship program between former EDs of our grantees and current EDs on our fundraising side, I think we just want more people to know about it. You have. You have mentioned Spark Youth as sort of the best kept secret. And I think there has been a little bit of, you know, you said the humble brag of, we've all been. So many of us have been involved in this organization for decades and we kind of quietly go about the work every day. And I think it's time for more folks to know, not just like you said, the unique impact we're having on organizations, but what we can offer people who want to get involved and support. And then we're just looking at how we can engage and build our board who have just been tremendously supportive of this organization and grow our community so we can do more good work.

It's so amazing and I'm so happy that we can share the Spark Youth story with our audience. And I know we're inspiring people, whether it's to give back, whether it's to donate or maybe someone's listening out in LA right now and saying, hey, we need a Spark Youth la. I mean, so I don't know, maybe, I mean, look, if it works here in New York, I'm sure it would work in la, I'm sure it would work in Miami. And it's an incredible model. And so it's just, I'm so appreciative and I know our audience is too, about you sharing this. So before we go, maybe just tell our audience how can they get involved? How can they help spark you? Are there ways to volunteer as well? Give their time? What are ways that they can connect?

Yeah, I mean, I think what's so cool is that there's this commonality of our organizations that, you know, like we said, you're giving and supporting locally, you're supporting young people at all different ages and sort of this wide variety of ways. But because we have 15 organizations, there's lots of different ways to plug in and get involved. So I would say the first thing for folks to do is to send me an email, honestly, to make sure that they're on our email list.

What's your email? Why not?

Suzy s u z yparkyouthnyc.org and we have ongoing opportunities to volunteer with our organizations. I'm sure you've done some of that going out and planting things or doing interview days with kids that are getting ready to go to college, et cetera. So lots of great ways to volunteer. We have a huge event that the real estate community in New York is really incredibly supportive of. That'll be this fall, October 17th. And then I would just say, you know, like I said about our organizations and kind of how I work with board members. I truly believe that if someone is hearing this and is inspired to get involved, give me 15 minutes to find out more about them to listen and hear what their why is and what they're excited and interested to be a part of. And likely one of our organizations or Spark Youth is going to overlap with your why. And if not, we have 75 other organizations that I can recommend you to.

I love that. That's so amazing. And then finally, where can our audience find out about Spark Youth? Website social handles.

Yeah, I think website and social is sparkyouthnyc.org so arkyouthnyc got it.

Yeah. We'll definitely put the link in the show notes. So, Susie, this is has been amazing. Thank you so much. And thank you for the incredible work that you've done on the front line too. I mean, I'm sure the amount of courage, you know, at 19, I mean, I didn't even know what I was doing at 19. I could barely take care of myself that, you know, the fact that you were out there, you know, going to these schools and giving these kids hope, I mean, is such an incredible thing. And for you to now be able to have experienced that and to grow with an organization and now to give back in this capacity, I know Spark Youth is so, so lucky to have you as our director. So thank you again for joining us today.

Thank you. And truly, it's the young people that gave me hope. And so I think as hopefully as folks get more involved with Spark Youth, it feels good to feel like you're doing good. But the reality is, I think when you get involved with young people in the city and with these organizations, you're going to walk away feeling like they brought a lot more good to your life than you could have even possibly brought to theirs.

I love it. That's a wonderful way to end. This is your host, James Nelson. A really special edition here of the Insider's edge to real estate investing. And no, we're not talking about real estate investing, but we have been talking about investing in incredible organizations that help and are really given incredible foundation for our kids here in the city.

So investing in our neighborhoods, in our communities, in our city and in our young people.

That's it. And so that's it for this week. I appreciate, as always, you're listening, you're telling your friends, your ratings, your comments, that's what helps others find the show, especially this episode. It would mean so much to me if you could just forward this to a couple of your friends who you think would benefit from hearing this. So a special thanks for me. Until next week. This is your host again, James Nelson. Foreign.

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