413. The Funder’s Mindset: Funding Beyond Checks: Enriching Partnerships to Fuel an Uprising - Sean Couch

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Overview

It’s time to reimagine the funder/nonprofit relationship. We’re putting a flag in the ground to talk about how to evolve relationships and processes to make the grantee/funder relationship symbiotic, empowering (and simple!) for all. This second conversation is exploring creative funding and threading story in your ask with Sean Couch. As the President and Co-Trustee of the J.W. Couch Foundation, he believes funders can/should be doing more than simply writing a check.

Over the last five years, Sean has led his family's private foundation to donate nearly $10 million in grants to various nonprofit organizations across the country. They’ve participated in direct charitable activities to help nonprofit organizations raise greater awareness with high-production video assets and provided technical assistance to numerous boards. We’re here for this creative and innovative approach to philanthropy🥳 Don’t miss this behind-the-scenes look at what really happens within foundations and how they want to partner with you on a deeper level👀

💡Learn

Ways funders can evolve their mindsets
What nonprofits + foundations could do differently to engage funders
How to approach creative funding

Today’s Guest

Sean Couch, President + Co-Trustee, J.W. Couch Foundation

“Personal touches go a long way.”

— Sean Couch, President + Co-Trustee, J.W. Couch Foundation

Episode Transcript

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Episode Highlights

Sean’s background and the story of the J.W. Couch Foundation (3:30)
Pillars of funding + the mindset inside J.W. Couch Foundation (10:25)
New mindsets and modes of operation that break the historically tedious grant system (15:00)
Investing in media and marketing assets for nonprofits (18:00)
Threading storytelling into your asks (21:55)
Sean’s One Good Thing: Take a step back and dedicate time to thinking about how you can get creative. (24:45)
How to Connect with Sean and the J.W. Foundation (27:05)

Powerful Quotes

“It’s really about getting educated. You get educated on these issues and you want to learn more about that topic.” -Sean

“Personal touches go a long way.” -Sean

“If there's anything that you can do for me, I find that the more visual you can be, the more descriptive and dynamic and the way you tell your story, the better. Because that really sets you apart from others.” -Sean

“There are more things foundations can do than just write grant checks.” -Sean