357. Adopting the Startup Mentality to Build Resilient Organizations -Dominic Kalms

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Overview

Meet Dominic. He’s an entrepreneur, founder, philanthropist and a big believer in our collective ability to achieve more together through technology. Today, Dominic is CEO of B Generous, which is changing how people donate to nonprofits through the first-ever philanthropic credit product. We chat about practices and mindsets that will set your nonprofit up for resiliency and success even amid challenging times.

💡Learn

How nonprofits can learn from start-ups + lean into innovation
The pillars of resilient nonprofit organizations
Fundraising during economic downturns
Opportunities to lean into creative + digital marketing

Today’s Guest

Dominic Kalms, CEO + Founder, B Generous

“Be delusional in your optimism.”

— Dominic Kalms, CEO + Founder, B Generous

Episode Transcript

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Episode Highlights

Dominic’s story and journey to where he is today (4:00)
How nonprofits can think more like businesses (12:35)
Building resilient organizations (16:55)
Adjusting your mindset (21:55)
How the success of e-commerce can be applied to philanthropy (25:00)
A powerful moment of philanthropy in Dominic’s life (28:20)
Dominic’s One Good Thing: Failure is a prerequisite to success. (43:00)

Powerful quotes

“If you call something a nonprofit, you are taking out the primary motivator of innovation in the United States and so the name does not do a lot of service to the industry.” -Dominic

“Be delusional in your optimism.” -Dominic

“You need to be so optimistic, and so delusional in that optimism that you think you can do everything. Because otherwise, there's no point in even starting these ventures.” -Dominic

“If you don't believe you fundamentally believe that you can do it. Don't start.” -Dominic

“From a competitive standpoint, if you want to be competing with the least number of people, aim for the stars.” -Dominic

“Plan to raise a lot more money than you initially think you need and plan for it to take three to four times as long because nothing happens according to timeline.” -Dominic

“Failure is a prerequisite for success.” -Dominic

“The reality is if you look at almost any successful person, think about the people that you admire, I guarantee you they failed multiple times, before they succeeded.” -Dominic

“Most of the time, the difference between success and failure is perseverance.” -Dominic