64. Overhead Myth, Mission Creep, Scarcity Mindset: A Stuck Sector and What We Can Do About It with Dominique Morgan

Dominique Morgan is a powerhouse executive director – most recently at The Okra Project, a collective addressing the needs of Black Trans people – but hers is a story that could have gone a different way. Growing up in Omaha, Nebraska, Dominique was repeatedly incarcerated. It was a lived experience without dreams or prospects – until she had a few life-changing experiences. A single volunteer gig working at a Pride festival started Dominique on the path to higher education, paid nonprofit work that she loved, and an unstoppable voice in the movement to dismantle broken systems. 

This impressive leader previously took Black & Pink from a modest budget into the multi-millions, leveraging her passion for abolishing violence against LGBTQ people in prison through advocacy, education, direct service, and organizing. While moving through the nonprofit world, Dominique has brought her unique prism to the psychological and practical baggage that too often diverts us from our core missions. But she now knows how to fundraise powerfully for her work through an abundance mindset that also allows her to see where she can redistribute funds or make connections to help others move forward on the path to their shared north star. 

Dominique embraces both celebration of all that nonprofits accomplish, while also seeing and calling out the shadow work that we must continuously do to fully stand in our integrity and purpose. You’ll come away from this wide-ranging conversation with a refreshing sense of what can be achieved if we choose to allow vulnerability, share our stories, and support one another. 

Many thanks to NationBuilder, the software that builds movements, for sponsoring this episode of What the Fundraising. With everything in one integrated system, NationBuilder tools are designed to power nonprofits, movements, and dynamic campaigns.

Check out my Power Partners Formula and register for a masterclass here. You might also be interested in taking my fun, informative Fundraising Superpower Quiz. 

Episode Highlights:

(02:43) – Dominique reflects on the impacts of violence, isolation, displacement, and ultimately incarceration.

(04:20) – How a simple volunteer experience changed her life

(06:21) – Dominique’s journey through nonprofit and how she grew to want and ask for more

(09:51) – The psychology of money and the nonprofit-industrial complex

(14:29) – Scarcity mindset and what feels available to us based on our lived experience

(15:49) – Dominique's journey to an abundance mindset 

(19:05) – Nonprofit pay and why the status quo needs to be disrupted 

(21:22) – How Dominique manages staff pay with transparency, curiosity, and nuance 

(24:14) – The importance of shadow work in the nonprofit sector

(27:55) – Mission creep and budgetary realities - how to make it all work 

(28:51) – How sharing resources underscores integrity, signals confidence, and leads to respect with funders

(35:00) – How the Okra Project is distributing funding 

(37:10) – You need to know what’s happening with other nonprofits in your space.