Is ACG A Fit

Sunday November 29, 2020 comments Tags: Budgets, CNRG Accounting Advisory, Chyla Graham, Development, Nonprofit, Training, Grants, Budgets,

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Chyla Graham:

Well, I guess the next natural route to go then is like, what type of organizations is it that you work with? So, I understand the sectors, but is there like a size, especially for nonprofits since that is, most of the people will be listened to this podcast. So what about those?

Cherisse Wilks:

So, um, I do set aside some time throughout the year to work with startups, um, either on a planning capacity or, um, help them with one or two projects. Um, so size typically has not matter, cause I won't say that I don't work with any organizations who were between zero to three years old. That's not the case. Um, it really will depend on availability of myself and my staff. Um, we tend to have a little bit more time later in the fall for those types of, um, one time projects. Um, for right now where our firm is, we currently have longer-term multi-year contracts with the government entities. And so with also with businesses as well. So a lot of these businesses are still considered small, you know, by SBAs standards, but even for the nonprofits, but they typically have revenues over 50,000 or at least six speakers.

Chyla Graham:

Okay. And we're black. Um, people have not, if people are not watching on the screen, we were both black people. Um, one of the questions I started asking was, Hey, especially for my white counterparts or what black led organizations like have they worked with before. So just so we can add, understand some of the cultural context, um, so to the table and what may be missing, but for you, with your experience being, like you said, you run a business that is minority and women owned. What are some of the things that you see that you're like, I know I've learned this because of my position, but other people could benefit if they had just had to put this together in the way that I see the world. Does that make sense?

Cherisse Wilks:

It does. So one of the things that I stress with everyone, especially when you're talking about large-scale community change, um, I've had to do this even working within government. Um, we have a large project that needs to be that needs to happen. And there are multiple stakeholders at the table. First, I would say whatever program or project you're working on, don't do it alone. Nothing is done alone. You need a team, you need other stakeholders to be there with you. And then especially if you were talking about funding that with anybody else's money, besides your own, that comes from your pocket that comes with, you need to have other stakeholders at the table. You need to build a relationship with them. You need to build that trust there. You need to be good stewards of their money that they may give towards your project. You need to build trust within the community. And so I would say for any organization, whether you're black, white, whatever the key is, is to talk to people, get to know and understand who they are, what motivates them, that type of thing, and truly build a relationship with them where you're actually interested in helping them and serving them. If you go into any situation with a mind of service, first,

Cherisse Wilks:

the universe, My God, whatever always provides because the end goal is that you're not doing this for yourself. It's not what you're doing for the public is not for ego stroke. It is not to get paid. It is honestly to help and serve others. And if you keep that in mind, um, and actually add value while building these relationships, the rest will come. And so I employ anyone. You, we can stay within our own communities. That's great, but you still need to understand how to work outside of your community and with other, um, minority groups, other groups led by different genders. You need to just be a people person and understand how to work together. And that yields the greatest benefit.

Chyla Graham:

Yeah. I love that. The idea of if you put service first, really the principle of, if you put service first and let your ego go, that is you're going to see the biggest change and impact. So, all right.

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