Jeff Schreifels
Hey everyone, thanks for joining me. So a couple of months ago, I was at a conference and you know, you have a glass of wine in your hand and you're looking to make small talk. Well, I run into someone that I knew but hadn't ever really had a long discussion with. And this person blew me away. You know what it's like when you're in the middle of a great conversation and you're thinking, wow, this person is impressive!

This is that person. Today, my guest is Marne Fauser and she's the president and CEO of the United Way of Central Illinois. And I want her to tell her story along with what she's learned about leadership so that we can learn from her leadership style. We're all going to get some great pointers today on what it takes to be a great non-profit leader.

So let's get ready for some real talk. Hey there, great to see you.

Marne Fauser
Hello, how are you?

Good to see you. Thanks for having me.

Jeff Schreifels
Yeah.

All right. So I kind of already told our listeners that, you know, I recently just saw you at a conference. And, you know, I know who you are, of course, but we haven't really had much time for long discussion. And I was just, I just loved the discussion we had because you're just full of positive energy.

And was like, we need to have you on because I want you to talk about leadership. But before we get into all of that, I want to know, like, tell me your story. OK, you're the CEO and president of the United Way of Central Illinois. How did you get there?

Marne Fauser
Yeah, that’s a big question, right? And my story is like many others, it's a winding path. So, 25 years ago when I was like a young one, just right out of college, I was in coaching. I was a college basketball player. And so I kind of always thought like, that's where I'm gonna be, college athletics and higher education. And so that's kind of where my journey started.

Jeff Schreifels
Now, wait, before we even get further, I gotta ask you about your college basketball experience. So what is it like today to see where women's basketball is where it is today from when you were in it? Because, I mean, it's like super popular, there's great personalities. It's like changed completely.

Marne Fauser
It has. You had the Pat Summitts of my era, like this amazing coach with amazing players throughout her storied career. But it still wasn't necessarily catching on, especially at the WNBA level, but you see it now and it really is the Caitlin Clark effect. You just have this great player that's bringing some energy in. It's exciting, right? You're seeing somebody shoot from the logos on a court consistently. You're like, what is happening? And that's fun.

And I think, you know, it's exciting, but I need to see other women athletes, basketball players specifically, embrace that instead of like push against that, embrace that because she is bringing notoriety to the organization.

Jeff Schreifels
Yeah, so I just think it's amazing. So, okay, go back to your story, sorry. I just had to find out from you what you thought because...

Marne Fauser
It is. Yeah, we have to do the story.

No, yeah, I have lots of thoughts and love talking basketball and sports in general. Both my kids play now in college, so we are pretty dedicated to the sport for sure. But when I started in higher education, I had a boss that really instilled in me the importance of building relationships...

Marne Fauser
...And it was through recruiting and with the families. And when it came down to it, the reason you're building that relationship is to see if there's shared values. Are they going to be a good fit for your program? It's not just about winning and losing or can they help you win or not, but are they going to go to class? Are they going to be a good teammate? So it was really building those relationships to say, is this a good fit for us? Do we have the same values, the same goals?

And sometimes you get it right and sometimes you don't, but I really feel like that is the foundation of where I started and how it relates to fundraising. Because when you're working with donors, you're getting to know them, you want to understand if there's mission alignment. And if there's not, you don't want to force that and say, well, we can do this when it's outside your mission as an organization if that's not what the donor's interested in. So little did I know that that piece of my growth started on a basketball court.

And then I had somebody—he was a chair of the exercise science department—say, “You know what? You really should get into advancement.” And I’m like, “What is advancement? What does that mean?” That was the language and I had no idea what he was talking about. And then maybe he saw something that I didn't, because here we are today. And I really think those were the pieces that helped build my fundraising path.

Jeff Schreifels
Yeah, but now you're like leading the whole thing. It's not just you got to do all of it. You're overseeing the whole thing. So how did you get from the fundraising to now like overseeing the whole non-profit organization?

Marne Fauser
Well, I think one thing that helped guide me was being kind of unapologetically authentic. I know I have a strong personality. I share my opinions. I want to try new things and I want to take risks. And so I think the opportunity to do something that I have never done before was not something that I ever shied away from or something that I was scared of. I was more exhilarated by it. Absolutely, let's conquer this.

And so I think the opportunity to go from being an assistant coach to being a head coach—now I was able to get into a leadership role and have some experience there. And then shifting out of coaching into the non-profit world, I kind of moved into community engagement, kind of entry-level of like, okay, how are we going to build relationships? And then from there it was moving into fundraising and just different fundraising roles, whether it was in planned giving or major gifts.

And so it was always the piece of, I like ideas, I like trying new things. And so I think there was some natural, like, I want to kind of be the one in charge and the leader because I'm okay with taking risks. I'm okay with failing. And so I think when your leader is like, “Hey, let's try it. And if it fails, there's no fear of, am I going to lose my job? Am I going to get yelled at?” Because I'm like, “Hey, let's try it. If it doesn't work, it's okay. Let's figure out why. Let's pivot.” And I think when you have that mentality, it suits a person in a leadership role really well because I'm like, “Let's go for it.”

Jeff Schreifels
How did you get that? How did you get that? Why are you this way? I wish every non-profit leader was like this, but how did you get this?

Marne Fauser
That is a genetics question.

I honestly, I don't know if I have a great answer to that one. I just really think, you know, maybe when I was younger, I was always told I couldn't do it. I couldn't do something. Right? You know, I was five, five and 10 years old and a baby giraffe, right? Just, you know, maybe a 50 pound—like it was ridiculous. I was just a baby giraffe out there and everybody was like, “You're not tall enough to do this.” And by the time I was in high school, I was five, ten. But I was always like too small. I couldn't play in college because I was too short.

You know, I think maybe the rate—everybody kind of saying, “Well, you can't do this and you can't do that.” And I was like, “Why not?” You know, like, “Why can't I play basketball at this age?” Or, “Why...” You know, I had that—why did the girls have to be the cheerleader and the boys get to play basketball, you know? And I don't know if it was some of the drive was being told you can't do something. And I'm like, “Why not? Let's try it. If it doesn't work, okay.” And I'm sure that had a piece of my development over the years of just—go for it. Who's to say you can't do it?

Jeff Schreifels
Yeah. So do you think some of this is just you were born this way in a sense?

Marne Fauser
Yeah. You know, there's all the books that you can read that says here's who you are. This is your color or whatever. But I truly believe the one that resonated with me was the one that says ideation and discernment. Because I'm like, that is me. I love these ideas. And then I want to sit and think about them and make sure it makes sense.

You know, I have a Post-it note on my office. It's on my office cabinet. It says, “Make it make sense.” There is nothing profound about that. But I want—if we're doing something, I want to make sure it makes sense.

Jeff Schreifels
Tell me about some of the mistakes you made along the way—or that you saw leaders make that you were saying, I want to avoid that.

Marne Fauser
I think early on, as I was trying to like navigate finding those leadership opportunities that were not always easy, but you know, I just kept kind of working hard, my head down and do the things. And you realize that there are some people that are—they’re watching. They know what you're doing, even if they don't see you.

You know, I had a boss that said, “You always left breadcrumbs. I always knew you were doing things.” I didn't have to see you every day to know. But a couple areas that I feel like I saw were some of the lack of authenticity, you know, that you just didn't feel comfortable, right? That you saw people maybe trying to, you know, if you talk about it in fundraising, tell a donor something and you're like, that just doesn't feel real. Right? And I'm like, just be authentic. Be who you are.

Marne Fauser
...So that was one piece of what I saw and I was like, I would never do that. I am going to be as transparent as I can. And if there is not an alignment or we have to return a gift because we didn’t do what we said we were going to do or whatever it is, I’m going to honor that. And so I’m going to be authentic. I’m going to be real. And then I feel like that builds trust.

Another one, which I always struggled in is—my first day as an MGO, you want me to tell this quick story—my first day, we’re sitting in a room. I know no one in the room. We’re at a training and all of a sudden someone, a woman older than me, more experienced, has a lot more background in fundraising—and I think I probably was like, “What am I doing here?”

And it was, “Well, donor meetings, you gotta wear the short skirt, you gotta sit this way and your legs gotta be crossed.” And I was like… I'm not a poker player at all, Jeff. There's not one ounce of me. So my face said everything, right? I was just like, what are we doing?

Jeff Schreifels
Wow. Yeah. That... wow.

Marne Fauser
And I was like, “Okay, is this—you know, are we being punked right now? Is this a joke?” I’m like, “No, there are cameras here that just want to see my reaction.” But I was like, no. Those are the rooms I walked out of as a young woman, trying to do what I felt was the right way—with my hard work, with what I brought to the table—not my clothing or not my legs.

And so I was like, “I’m not sitting in this room. I’m not doing it this way.” And I feel very strongly when women and young girls are trying to build their resumes that they stay strong to who they are and they are hired for a job that they're there to do. So yeah, it was just a learning process, right? To go, “That’s not me. And I can take a different path.”

Jeff Schreifels
Yeah, wow, that’s a big one right there. Okay, so you’ve mentioned being authentic, being real. You’ve mentioned taking risks so far. What are some other qualities that you feel make great leaders that you’ve embodied yourself?

Marne Fauser
I think hard work. I mean, that willingness to learn. I don’t have it all figured out today. But I have a willingness to learn and to listen and, you know, see what others are doing. And again, if it makes sense for what we’re doing.

Valuing my team—I don’t need to be the smartest person in the room. I want the experts in those areas, whether it's in marketing or it’s in fundraising or it’s in finance, or program—I want them to be the experts in the room.

And boy, I think one of the things I talk about with my team is: tell me what you intend to do. You know, sometimes people come to you as the boss or the leader and go, “Well, here’s what I want to—what do you think? What should I do?” And I’m like, “No, no. Tell me what you intend to do.” Because then I know you’ve thought about it. You’ve thought about what could go wrong, what could go right, where there could be barriers. But tell me what you intend to do, and then let’s work through it—instead of asking my permission to lead in your area. I hired you to lead in that area.

So I love flipping the script that way. And it can also be scary. I could be setting my team up for failure, right?

Jeff Schreifels
Yeah.

Marne Fauser
You know, they could leave here and go take the next step in their career and walk into their boss’s office and go, “Hey, here’s what I intend to do.” And that boss might go, “Yeah, well, I don’t think it works that way.”

But I really want them to develop into leaders and be the best they can be in the role that they’re in. And if that is their sweet spot—man, let’s just be great at that.

Jeff Schreifels
Yeah, I love—so your style is really about helping develop people. Like, you know, that’s what I’m hearing is that you want them to develop into other leaders and to either be leaders within where they are now or in the future somewhere else.

I think that’s amazingly admirable for a leader, a non-profit leader, because a lot of times, some leaders are so focused on, “We gotta present the big vision,” and you gotta do all of that. And then the people are kind of like secondary. But what I’m hearing from you is people first. People are so important.

Marne Fauser
Yes, yeah. And boy, that development piece—I think that ties back into the coaching. You know, I’ve always said since I was a little girl, I wanted to coach. And I think coaching takes on different paths. And it doesn’t mean you have to have a basketball in your hand or whatever sport you play, but it is giving them a voice at the table.

Sitting in a staff meeting—as they all have a voice to give their thoughts and opinions. At the end of the day, I tell them, like, I have to make a decision at the end of the day. And I may not go in the direction that you shared, but be okay with that. I still need you to speak and give your opinion and your thoughts. And you have to do it knowing that I have a strong personality. But it’s okay to say, “I think I would do it this way.” I very well might go, “Yeah, no, we’re not doing that.”

But I think you open up those lines of communication when you do that. Then really getting the team to work together on—I'll say—peer-to-peer accountability.

Marne Fauser
...And so it’s not always like, “Hey, coming to me saying, hey, this ball was dropped,” or that—did you talk to your colleague? “Well, you know...” “Talk to them.” Like, if you guys can’t resolve it, absolutely bring me in. But I think it develops a couple of things. It develops their soft skills, right? And how to almost get comfortable being uncomfortable. Nobody likes to have those conversations of “somebody didn’t get a report to you in time and you needed it for a donor meeting,” or “you needed it for the board.”

But I think when you are working as a team, you have the opportunity to say like, “Hey, this is how that impacted me.” And so it’s not the boss coming to you. And so I really emphasize that. I stress that—this teamwork, this collaboration, we’re in this together.

I’m not better than anybody. My staff will laugh because they will see me doing things. They're like, “Why are you doing that?” And I’m like, “If it has to get done, it has to get done.” But I think just building that team and even developing, like, our internal plan—what we’re going to do—it is not me handing them a plan. We sit around that table and say, “Who are we? What needs to be done right now where we’re at with our organization?” And they have input in it. So there's buy-in from every single person on my team. There is buy-in. They’ve had a voice in it. And then that means it’s their responsibility too, right? It’s not just mine.

Jeff Schreifels
Yeah, yeah, I love that. You know, over the years, a lot of nonprofit leaders, CEOs, executive directors I’ve seen—they really have an aversion to fundraising. What are some of those mistakes or advice—actually, what advice would you give to the young potential leaders out there that really do want to lead an organization? What would you say to them now around the discipline around fundraising and how much they should spend in fundraising and its importance to their work?

Marne Fauser
Well, to kind of your first point, when you’re talking about some people have an aversion to it—and it’s because it’s difficult, or they feel it’s difficult, or maybe they’re dishonoring somebody if they’re asking them for money, right? And I think you have to flip that script and go, “They have a passion and want to help. That’s why they’re here.” They understand you’re a nonprofit. They’re expecting you to ask.

So as long as you’ve done your work, and you have that mission alignment, you understand the values of your organization you’re running, you understand the values of what the donor wants to see happen—well, you’re creating the moment to help them. Like, you become almost that gift advisor. You’re helping them meet their philanthropic goals.

And so I think if you think of it that way, it makes more sense instead of like, “Well, I feel uncomfortable asking you for 10,000, so I just have to do it,” right? You're like, that’s not inspiring. That’s not passionate. Like, no. Like, “Hey, I know you are so involved in this, and you love this.” Like, flip the script. You’re helping them. You’re connecting that donor to a way they can help their passions.

So for young leaders, I think that it's having that voice and advocating for the importance of fundraising and explaining why. If they have leadership that they’re not interested in it—I’ve sat in those rooms and have had to advocate and have had to fight for major gifts. And it’s hard, especially when you have the data and your argument is built on data and they’re just like, “Nope.” And you’re like, “Well, why?” And they’re like, “Well, because I don’t like it.” And I’m like, “Well, where’s the data behind that?” And it’s like, “Okay…”

So I think always advocating for your role in the work—and you’re advocating for the donor too, because without that, they don’t have a way to make that connection.

Jeff Schreifels
Yeah. Totally agree. There are so many leaders out there, though, that it’s just like—they are so out to lunch with—and they have such an aversion to fundraising. Some of the times, half of our job is just getting the leader on board with the concept that donors actually want to talk to you as the leader, you know? And they need to hear from you. They want to hear your vision. And you gotta figure out how to get over this aversion to talking with people about giving money. And if you can get them to realize that you're actually doing the donor a disfavor by not asking them to be engaged with you—that somehow has a trigger for a lot of leaders.

Marne Fauser
And having the person—whether that's your MGO or your director of development—make it easy for your leader in the sense that like, “Hey, you don't have to make the ask. Like, I can make that ask. You tell the story. You tell your passionate—like, why are you leading this organization? What are we trying to do here?”

And I think role-playing is good too. You know, no one likes it. My staff, when I do it, they're like, “My gosh, role-playing.” Or when I had to do it at a previous role with my leadership, it was like, “Hey, we’re going to role-play this.” You throw them some curveballs—because it’s coaching, right? It’s practice. You’re not just going to go play the game. You've practiced multiple days on how to make a shot or how to run this play or how to guard.

It's the same thing. You need to practice. And that's what that role-playing does. It prepares you. It gets you more comfortable. And it’s carving the time for it too, right? As a leader, you have to carve the time out to go, “Okay, let’s go through this. Let’s run. Who are those donors? Who do you need me to meet?” Because when you are dealing with all the things of an organization and you feel like there’s a hundred spinning plates, you need that one person to say, “Hey, here are the 10 people and I need you to call them. Or we’re going to have these four lunches. Or I need you to do these cards and here’s what it is.”

Allow someone on your team to take that responsibility and manage up and give that to you. And you go—you are now learning as a leader how to then engage that way. You don’t have to develop...

Jeff Schreifels
Yes, manage up. That’s great advice for young leaders. Let people manage up to you. Let them tell you—like you just said, that’s perfect—that you will allow someone to come in and say, “Marne, you’ve got to do these 10 things this week. Here’s the 10 things. Here’s the four donors, I need you to do this.” I mean, for you, that’d be awesome because you’re right.

As an executive director, you’ve got all these plates spinning. You’re thinking of so many different things. So to have someone that you can trust that tells you what you need to do—I think that’s gold. Now, tell me throughout your career, I want you to get a little vulnerable and tell me some mistakes you’ve made that people listening in can learn from.

Marne Fauser
You know, I would say in my younger days, I was extremely competitive, passionate. My first boss—he would laugh at me today because I would be like, “It is the principle of the matter,” right? I would dig in. And sometimes I wanted to win because I was so competitive—and that had been my world.

And sometimes it’s not about if you won or not. It’s about who—maybe the bigger of the who won, right? I had to really learn to still be competitive but, you know, maybe not be so fiery all the time. I still have a lot of that. So people would be like, “Well, she’s still that way.” And I’m like, “Well, if you saw me 20 years ago...”

But I think it’s really just listening—making sure I was listening and hearing what people were saying. I think there are times where maybe I was maybe too rigid. And those are things I’ve learned along the way of like, “No, this is where—we’ve been doing this, this is how we’re going to do it.” And I had to—okay, now that you’re in that leadership role, yes, you had this vision of what you wanted to do, but now you gotta bring the others with you. Otherwise you’re going to be fighting this battle on your own.

Even if in my head I’m like, “I don’t know that this is going to work,” I need to let them work through it. And letting—you’re asking me about my mistakes—but I also go, let them fail. I do this with my own kids, raising them. I was like, let them fail. If they climb the tree and they fall, hopefully it’s nothing serious. But if they break their arm—you know, I always say, let them fail. Let them fall. Let them get back up.

Sometimes mistakes can be like, “I thought I had all the answers,” or “I thought I had the right answer.” This is what we did. And maybe I should have sat back and worked—and maybe let somebody else come to those conclusions too. Patience—age—maybe I’m aging like a fine wine, right? Just calming down and being a little bit more patient along the way.

Jeff Schreifels
Yeah, love this whole idea of letting people fail or allow—giving people the space to try new things. And if it fails, they’re not in trouble. Because I think there’s so much fear—I mean, in the business world but also in the nonprofit space—of taking risks or doing anything outside of the box because you’re worried that, you know, it’s going to—a program will fail or it’s going to cost too much money and, you know, might waste money.

So we just have this mentality of playing it safe. I love that you as a leader allow for space to make—people fail. Because I think failure is really important to learn from.

Marne Fauser
Yeah. You are preaching to the choir on that one. Absolutely. I 100% align. It’s okay to fail. I had a conference—at the conference we were at—I said, “Raise your hand if you’re okay to fail.” Nobody raised their hand. I was like, “I’m raising my hand. I’m okay to fail.” Because that means we’re trying something different.

And I think in the nonprofit world—and you’ll know better than me—it’s a scarcity mindset. Almost like, “We don’t have the resources to do that.” “We already know what it’s going to take to do this.” And it’s like, “But is that the best thing?” “Well, I don’t know. But I know we can afford to do just this, and our budget’s not going to change.” And, you know—well, maybe you don’t do something else. Like, maybe let’s evaluate some other things so we can really knock X out of the park, or whatever it is.

I don’t know. I just think it’s okay to—I don’t like to fail. I’m not like, you know, living the dream failing. But it’s okay to try new things. I mean, the joke with me is, you know, I wear my heels. I’ll be the first one to trip and fall. It’s okay. People may laugh. I’ll get back up. It’s okay.

And so I just think it builds strength in your team when you’re saying, “It’s okay.” So if you say, “I want to try a new way to connect to this program. I want to try a new way to recruit volunteers.” Like, “Okay, let’s try it.”

Jeff Schreifels
You know, there used to be—several years ago—there used to be like a gathering of fundraisers that came to the East Coast. I think it was in the Baltimore area. And they would ask people to come and talk about their mistakes or failures for that past year and then what they learned from it.

When it first started, there was just like a handful of people. And then it started growing and growing to a point where it just became so big that they had to get new space and all of this. But the idea was that—come and share and be vulnerable. Share your stories of mistakes you made or where you think you failed so that we can all learn from this together.

It produced all kinds of great ideas from that. Maybe you need to—in your area—do this for other executive directors and bring other executive directors together to say, “Okay, tell me your failures from the past year. What were the mistakes you made?” I think it would have a profound effect on those organizations that they go back and lead. Because I think that’s where the learning really happens. The change really happens.

Marne Fauser
Yeah. And I mean, there’s times where—capital campaigns can be one of these areas—when you are planning something and all of a sudden this room is dedicated, you know, this donor makes that gift for this room. And next thing you know, the plans changed and that room doesn’t exist.

And I’ve been through some of those situations. It’s not necessarily a mistake, but it’s—boy, it’s uncomfortable. There’s so many moving parts. And people might not be thinking about you as the fundraiser when they’re making these building plans. You’re not in the engineering meeting.

But there are mistakes that happen along the way. You may go to an event and the timing is off or your speaker doesn’t show up. But you’re trying everything you’re supposed to do. It’s okay. Pivot. Just pivot, you know, and go to the next thing. Sometimes people don’t even realize those things were made.

Thank yous are a big one for me on the fundraising side. Get those things out to those donors. And if you miss it, that is on me. Organizationally, that is 100%. I accept that. We made a mistake. I made a mistake that we didn’t acknowledge that.

And sometimes mistakes—are they really mistakes? Or are they just learning opportunities? It’s all in the framing of how you see it.

Jeff Schreifels
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, before we go, I want to ask you this last question. And that is, I want to know: what is the best part of your job as a leader? And how do you create more space so you can do more of that in your day?

Marne Fauser
So a couple of things. I’ve learned that kind of my genius is ideation and discernment. So I know I need those moments that I can kind of sit and let my brain just think. And as an executive director in those leadership roles, sometimes you don’t have that, right? Because we’ve talked about those spinning plates. But I have to be able to find that time.

And there’s no such thing as balance. Work-life balance—it’s integration. It’s “How am I going to integrate my personal life and my professional life and maybe my volunteerism or whatever it is together?” I have to figure out how to integrate those. Because balance is not even a real thing, except maybe for gymnasts.

And I find my space at night—and it’s usually kind of at 9 to midnight. That’s kind of my time to let everything go and just think.

I’m also huge in immersive events. Just side note—my fundraisers do not run my events. Because I do not want them getting into the weeds there. They have a role there, and that is speaking with the donors, or meeting possibly new donors or volunteers or whatever that might be.

Marne Fauser
...But I want them in the room for what their strength is. I do not want them worried about what the centerpieces look like, or if the catering is five minutes late. Because those things take you away from the moment—and if you’re going to be in the room with donors, you need to be fully present.

So creating that space—both physically and mentally—to be present with people is a big one for me. Whether it’s my team, whether it’s donors, whether it’s our board—I want to be fully present. And that doesn’t mean I get it right every time. Sometimes I’m thinking of ten things at once. But I’m striving for that presence.

And the best part of the job—hands down—is seeing people grow. Whether it’s a donor who grows in their relationship with the organization, or a team member who finds their confidence, or a volunteer who’s never really been involved and all of a sudden they’re like, “This is my place.” That’s the best. That’s the win.

Jeff Schreifels
That’s beautiful. I love it. That’s what leadership is all about. Marne, thank you so much for being with me today. This was incredible. I think our listeners are going to love this conversation.

Marne Fauser
Thanks, Jeff. I really appreciate the invite and the opportunity to share. Hopefully there’s some nuggets in here that people can take and apply in their own journey.

Jeff Schreifels
Oh, for sure. Thanks again.