In a quiet Irish town in 1985, coal merchant Bill Furlong faces a life-altering choice: maintain the status quo or risk everything to do what’s right.

This is the heart of Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These, a novella that feels like it was written for anyone who’s ever faced an ethical dilemma in their work or life.

In this holiday episode, you’ll hear the quiet but powerful lessons this story holds for nonprofit leaders like you. Whether you’re fighting for funding, advocating for change, or simply trying to show up every day for your community, you’ve likely felt the tension between doing what’s easy and doing what’s necessary.

Skip Ahead:

(02:01) What a coal merchant in 1980s Ireland has to teach us about courage, compassion, and standing up to injustice

(04:19) How do the quiet, often overlooked moments in nonprofit and public sector work mirror acts of bravery in Small Things Like These

(06:28) What ripple effects could your smallest, most courageous actions have in the year ahead

Resources Mentioned:

• Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

  
  

Housing has become a silent crisis that's reshaping lives across America, with each rising rent bill and rejected application chipping away at people's sense of stability and hope.

In this episode, I'm sitting down with Jeffrey Smythe, executive director of the Atlanta Regional Collaborative for Health Improvement (ARCHI), to explore a different approach to rental assistance.

Jeff explains his innovative technology solution that's changing how people access housing support, the critical connection between housing and health, and how nonprofits can build strong partnerships to tackle this challenge.

Getting housing right is fundamental to improving health outcomes and supporting community well-being.

You’ll Hear:

(02:35)  How housing instability traps families in cycles of poverty and hardship

(05:30) What is unique about housing instability in the Atlanta metro area

(08:39) What is ARCHI and how it supports rent, mortgage, and utility relief

(13:05) What was the process like for creating ARCHI, and what did it take to build the necessary partnerships across organizations to share data

(16:59) How ARCHI tracks whether someone has been served after a referral is made

(18:36) What led 18 members to say ‘yes’ to joining ARCHI

(21:43) How housing instability and homelessness are connected to negative health outcomes

(25:20) Some examples in Atlanta where the conversation around housing is integrated into the client-provider relationship, using terms like a “prescription” for housing assistance

Connect with Jeff Smythe and learn more about ARCHI.

What if the key to improving educational outcomes was already in front of us, hidden in the data schools collect every day?

Attendance records, test scores, and family surveys offer insight into equity gaps, systemic barriers, and opportunities for intervention—but too often, this data isn’t used effectively.

In this episode, we’ll discuss how nonprofit professionals can collaborate with schools to analyze and apply data in ways that close gaps in access and achievement.

You’ll learn how to identify disparities, interpret data within the community context, and use it to inform programs that directly support students and families.

This episode highlights ways nonprofits can use data to advocate for resources, measure impact, and drive equitable education initiatives.

You’ll hear:

(02:30) How achievement data like standardized test scores and graduation rates can help organizations identify trends and support curriculum improvements.

(08:57) The importance of using behavior data such as suspensions and discipline referrals to understand and address classroom disruptions and bullying patterns.

(15:19) How attendance data—like chronic absenteeism rates and daily attendance records—can be used to develop targeted intervention plans and support student engagement.

(20:11) Where to find publicly available school data and how organizations can use it to demonstrate their impact effectively.