Age: 42
Married: Yes
Children: 2, ages 13 & 16
Household Income: $150,000
Location: Anytown, USA
Nonprofit: Foster Family Support
History:
Heidi is a former foster kid who earned her degree in social work and fostered 4 children before starting her own family. She founded her nonprofit because she saw a huge need in her community to support families who were fostering children. She got her start working with a local agency 15 years ago to provide respite care, training, and mental health support, and 3 years later, she founded her own nonprofit working with multiple agencies, churches, and schools. She writes curriculum, trains foster families and respite care volunteers, manages 12 monthly support groups, and so much more.
Daily Routine:
Heidi’s alarm goes off at 5:30 every morning. By 5:45, she is out the door for her pilates class at the local gym. By 7:15, she is back home, making her kids’ breakfasts, and getting them out the door for the bus by 7:45. She gets on her phone for 15 minutes to catch the day’s news and scan social media, and then she hops in the shower to get ready for her day. Her commute is short – only 8 minutes – and it takes her to a converted storefront just off Main Street where she leads a small team of 3 full-time employees. She tries to stack most of her meetings in the morning, and schedules reach-outs to community partners for early afternoon, so she can be home by late afternoon when the kids get home from school.
While this is her ideal, as a nonprofit leader of an organization working with kids, she also becomes Chief Mom vs. Chief Executive. She will readily drop everything for a kid in crisis, many times resulting in big picture work never getting done for the fire of the day interruptions.
She shares the cooking and taxi service for kids’ sports with her husband Eric, who works from home as a software engineer. Two nights a week, Heidi leads various trainings for foster families in locations within a 30-mile radius. The other nights, she ferries her children to sports practices, and attends a weekly church community group with her family. She is only home 1-2 nights per week, and she is highly protective of that time.
Once evening activities are done, Heidi gets ready for bed and spends the last 30 minutes of her night scrolling through social media before falling asleep around 10 p.m.
Weekends are spent doing house projects, attending her kids’ games, going to church, and prepping for her week.
Favorite Brands/Stores: Costco, Walmart, Starbucks, Honda, Gap, Banana Republic (online)
Media Habits: Heidi consumes most of her media using her phone. Social: Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest. News: Apple News. Music: Spotify. For work: YouTube, Productivity Apps.
Professional needs: Heidi’s nonprofit has relied on government grants for 75% of its operating budget, but she just learned that 2 of those grants will not be renewed for the coming fiscal year, and one is being reduced by 50%. Heidi has known for years that she needs to diversify her funding streams, but has not had the time or energy to put into fundraising. Now she is under the gun and has to pivot quickly.
Pain Points:
- External – Heidi is worried about the long-term viability of her nonprofit (she only has enough savings to sustain her current spending for six months), but feels like she is out of her depth when it comes to fundraising. She knows she needs help, but is stressed about the cost of hiring a consultant.
- Internal – Heidi has a very nurturing personality and sees her employees as family. She is very worried about having to let them go and the impact that would have on them. The needs for foster families are also greater than even her current capacity to handle them. She worries she will have to start turning families away, which ultimately impacts the kids in their care.
Moral – Heidi is highly competent and has poured her heart and soul into this nonprofit. She shouldn’t have to watch it all fall apart just because she isn’t good at raising money.