← We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits
We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits
699. How to Build a Mission That Outlasts You - Jeremy Bouman, RISE
00:34:59
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- [00:03]
A
This isn't about me, guys. I care deeply about what our mission is and I want this to sustain long after I'm gone. And so as a founder, it's my responsibility to build the culture, build the team, build the resources, and then slowly begin to get out of the way enough to elevate the voices of those with lived experience and expertise and really center that as the focus of our mission.
- [00:28]
B
Hey, I'm John.
- [00:29]
C
And I'm Becky.
- [00:30]
B
And this is the We Here for Good podcast. Podcast.
- [00:33]
C
Let's get started.
- [00:37]
B
Hey, Becky, what's happening?
- [00:39]
C
Well, I, I think I'm not going to intro our guest quite yet because the origin story of how he came to us is so beautiful. And so we are for good, nuanced. How many of you out there are looking for ways for board members to really elevate not just like how people are giving, but stature and awareness and connectivity?
- [00:59]
B
That's everybody.
- [01:01]
C
Yeah. Naomi Hadaway in our community, who's just such a brilliant expert on all things social impact and leaving. Well, she is the board chair for the organization that we are talking today, which is rise, and she sent us the most beautiful pitch about why we need to talk to Jeremy Bowman and what RISE is doing. And we jumped and called Jeremy immediately and said, here's our rose. Will you please come on the podcast because that advocacy matters. And so that is what we love about this community is really lifting what you all know, who you know and what's happening in the world so we can have an elevated conversation. And whoa, are we doing that today? Because Jeremy Bowman from Nebraska, Omaha, you are our like breadbasket. Yeah, brother from another mother with us Oklahomans. But you have founded and created something so beautiful. And today we're going to be talking about inside out transformation. We're going to be talking about organizations, sustainability and how to founder proof missions. But I just gotta say that this story of this non profit and this movement you've created really touched my heart. 93% of people incarcerated in Nebraska are coming home. Okay. Whoa. That is a stat. The question preceding that is what happens when they do? And the answer is that Jeremy and the RISE team are really creating the solve for that. They are operating in seven Nebraska prisons and RISE walks alongside people before their release and all the way back into their communities with programming focused on character development, employment, entrepreneurship and family. Thank you for all of those. Those pillars are so important and their graduates have a 90% employment rate and a recid of about a third of the state average, which is an extraordinary stat. But here's what we love about what Jeremy is doing. That same inside out transformation that RISE creates and the people they serve is how Jeremy runs this org. So last year his board approved a succession plan and he implemented this beautiful sabbatical policy for the entire organization. John snapping already. And he is actively and intentionally working to put himself out of a job because the mission was about him. We're going to explore all of that with him today and hear more about his incredible mission. Jeremy, welcome to the We Are For Good podcast. We are truly honored that you're here.
- [03:43]
A
Thank you both so much for having me here. I'm a big fan of the show. I'm a little starstruck right now. I'm so grateful to I love what you do for the nonprofit community and the value that you bring to all of us practitioners. So thank you for the service that you provide and to our mutual friend Naomi for connecting us. I'm really grateful to chat with you today.
- [04:07]
C
Well, it is absolutely our honor as well. We love it is the great joy of our lives to lift beautiful stories of transformation and tell people how they can get connected to it. So before we get into rise, which is a beautiful model, we gotta back up the train and find out about Jeremy because we know you're in a new place. You've been in Nebraska for 17 years, but you're a New York boy. So kind of tell us about like little Jeremy growing up. What led him into this work?
- [04:35]
A
Yeah, little Jeremy grew up in Queens in New York City, and my dad was a minister. We moved to Northern New Jersey, but I grew up in and around New York City for most of my life. And after college I was an entrepreneur. I went into telecommunications and started a company and like a lot of other telecom businesses in the late 90s, early 2000s, September 11th had a very profound impact on my business and my life. Working in Lower Manhattan, doing that kind of work was profoundly impactful for me as again, many, many folks in our country and in New York in particular and vocationally, I really took a hard look at how I was spending my time. What was the value I was providing? How could I do more to give back? And so I've been on a journey for the last probably 25 years working in nonprofits and higher education institutions. My my portal into nonprofit was development work and so a lot of fundraising experience in in a variety of nonprofits on the east coast in higher education institutions. Eventually coming to Nebraska about 17 years ago. I worked in higher ed when I moved here and I was a Longtime volunteer at the local jail through my church. And one of the most fulfilling parts of my week was that hour I would spend mentoring men who were pretrial. I have some extended family members who have been system impacted. It's not my lived experience, but the more I built relationships with people who are navigating these systems, the more I saw common themes of underemployment and unemployment from family, generations of incarceration, moms and dads, siblings. And really, I like practical solutions. And so really trying to dig in and say, you know, we have a system that's very complex and doesn't really serve folks in a way that makes it helpful or easy for them to get back on their feet. How do we stop that cycle when we know 89% of people who reoffend don't have a job when they reoffend? You know, in Nebraska, 1 in 10 kids has a parent with a criminal record or 70% of kids in our country will follow in their parents footsteps. So if your mom or dad's a doctor or lawyer, you say maybe that's something I can aspire to. But for some families, you know, it's not a matter of if, but kind of when with these, with these cycles of incarceration. And I truly believe that competitive wage employment is a big factor in helping people get out and stay out. And I've really learned through my volunteer work in the 17 years I've been going into facilities. Some of the most entrepreneurial people we have in our state and across the country are in our prison system because they've had to build that resilience from a young age to provide for their family, to pay rent, to raise siblings, to live. And so they have tremendous ability to adapt, to be resilient and just really a skill set the marketplace needs. So it was kind of a curiosity around if you're having a hard time getting a competitive wage job, but you truly have an opportunity to create your own job, how can we help you do that? And that's kind of the kernel of where, where Rise was born.
- [08:08]
B
Taking a quick pause from today's episode because we wanted to tell you about some amazing upcoming events that we don't want you to miss. So first up, on April 29th, we've got our monthly working session live. And we are excited to have Dana Snyder back in the house to walk us through forecasting our monthly giving growth in 2026. So you're going to walk away with a growth forecast for the year and all the pathways to get you there. Really excited about that session. And then in May, you can join us for our next ImpactUp gathering. You know, four times a year, ImpactUp brings the we are for good community together around ideas that really matter most. This quarter we are going deep on the most powerful tool that you already have and probably aren't fully using. Story. ImpactUp is also met with local meetups happening around the world, so you can find one popping up somewhere near you. Head to weareforgood.com or go to this episode's description for the direct links and you can save your free seat today. Can I just name a couple things because your story is resonant. I'm a fellow PK over here, preacher, but I think, you know, people chasing like, what happened in their personal lived experience is a powerful story and I think it gets platformed a lot. But it's equally as beautiful to hear your story of mentorship and finding connectivity where you realize you could add value and stepping into that and still leading in a way that's trying to decenter yourself and not coming in as like the savior hero mentality. So I just want to like, yeah, call that out. Like, that's really beautiful how you're stepping into this. And it's even in the philosophy of how y' all run, which is one of the things we wanted to talk about on the podcast. This idea of the inside out model, which I think is really cool. Would you tell us about what makes that model kind of unique, kind of unpack it for us? Because it's not just the way you deliver your programming, but it's how you think about your own philosophy as leading this mission. So would you kind of unpack that for us?
- [10:10]
A
Yeah, like you mentioned, it's not my lived experience, but 70% of Rise's staff, our system impacted themselves or an immediate family member. And I truly believe that people with the best solutions are closest to the problems. And those are the voices we need to raise up to make the kind of change that we want. So RISE is this really unique blend of people who are very passionate about this work and have other professional background, like me and then a lot of folks with lived expertise. And so we really learned that just in general there, there's historically been a bit of a lack of training and programming opportunities in prisons and in Nebraska. We've seen a lot more programs come online over the years. And, you know, working inside out, the main thing that that accomplishes is our program takes seven or eight months to complete. And again, character development, 20 page reentry plan entrepreneurship, job readiness. But what it really does is it builds deep relationships between our incarcerated, incarcerated participants and rise. We get to know each other, we get to deeply understand. Every person's reentry goals are different and it builds trust. So when they are navigating challenging times as they reenter, we've established, in many cases, years of trust where we've earned the right to speak into each other's lives, to hold each other mutually accountable, but also provide the level of support and when people are in crisis, more inclined to pick up the phone and ask for help. And that's where we can really shine and add the value. You know, we say if you, you know, when you smell smoke, that's when you need to reach out. When the house is burned down, we'll still try to help you. But because of that mutual trust and relationship we have that allows for people not to feel so alone, we bring lots of people from the community into the prisons for volunteer opportunities. So the inside out piece also allows people who might be spending, you know, several years incarcerated to know that the community hasn't forgot about them. You know, they may not have the family connection piece. We want to restore family healing and restoration. In some cases, they might not have had a visit for several years. So by bringing our program in, by bringing the community in, it provides hope, it provides a practical plan, it provides an opportunity to look inward and, you know, be able to create some new tools for when things get hard, because they will. When there's challenges and struggles and mainly to know that you don't have to do it alone. Going to be locked arms with you, we're going to walk out your re entry and when we say that we're going to be there when you get out, we are. We're going to pick you up, we're going to give you a phone and show you how to use it, a backpack of supplies and work on securing housing, securing employment, and just encouragement and support where a lot of times that has kind of gone away. So just kind of walking it inside out, I really believe is a difference in, you know, some of the successes that our participants have and how they're able to go on and meet their goals and live the lives that we all dream to have.
- [13:30]
C
You know, what I love so much about this mission, Jeremy, is that you didn't just transform it inside out, you wrapped it in community and belonging and love.
- [13:44]
A
Yeah.
- [13:45]
C
And to me, that is so game changing. To even have to, to have people who believe in you and want the best for you is is an incredibly powerful thing to feel in life. And I'm just so grateful when I look at that stat of 93% of incarcerated individuals are getting out and the fact that you're there and you're building that connectivity, you're starting it like essentially what we call step zero to start that process. And it. John, it reminds me when we talk to Mark Howard from the Frederick Douglass Project for Justice.
- [14:20]
A
They do great jobs.
- [14:21]
C
Yeah, I mean it was like the same thing. They're trying to change the public's perception of the criminal justice system by just becoming proximate, you know, with the humanity of incarcerated people. And so I love the inside out and the outside in and wrap all around it. I just think culturally it's beautiful. And I think we love having founders on because you get to see the culture from day one when you talk to founders. And Jeremy, the culture you built at Rise is one we want everyone to hear about. So let's get into the mindsets, like the policies, the logistics of how you build in an organization that is designed to your words outlast. You talk about this fighting to put yourself out of business. Like, I love this model. I love nonprofit founders who think like this. Where does that mindset come from and what does it actually look like and how you run Rise like from a day to day operation?
- [15:16]
A
Yeah. I think a key trait that I really try to espouse is humility. I definitely have worked with and seen other very founder led organizations that are only ever going to be as strong as the founder allows it to be. And when the founder decides not to do the work anymore, the organization is no longer there. This isn't about me, guys. I care deeply about what our mission is and I want this to sustain long after I'm gone. And so as a founder, it's my responsibility to build the culture, build the team, build the resources, and then slowly begin to get out of the way enough to elevate the voices of those with lived experience and expertise and really center that as the focus of our mission. So from our values to building the types of leadership development, internal programming that we have and having this blend of, you know, system impacted folks with non system impacted folks, I think all of that are things that can be sustained. I think I've been a part of enough fear based cultures. When you get to start something, a lot of times it's a lot of what you don't want, what you've been a part of before. That adds complexity as you grow and you add team members and we've had really beautiful continuity of staff where the first eight hires are all still here 10 years later and all doing different roles. And so having a team who own the mission and really have that same ownership of the organization as much, if not more than I do, I think it's really critical to sustain the overall organization to get to that day where I'm no longer the one here in charge of it. By choice or not. Right.
- [17:09]
B
I mean, yes, I love, I love the way that you're approaching this. And of course, Naomi would want to be bored involved in the board in an organization like this.
- [17:18]
A
Right.
- [17:19]
B
And I want to ask you about the sabbatical policy that y' all implemented. I mean, I'm so curious about how you built that. You know, how did you get buy in across the team? And what actually happened when you stepped away? What did that process really look like?
- [17:35]
A
What I love about our organization is, you know, we have such passionate practitioners and we truly do the work. And the people who are working here every day are deeply in the mess in the mission. And it's a marathon. And there's a lot of external challenges with systems and barriers our clients are facing and barriers from society, and it can burn you out. Having the continuity of our core leadership team over the period of time we have, I don't take that lightly that they have stayed and we have to create breathing room for people to restore and return to the work and be able to continue to give it everything they have. And this work is hopefully someday gonna stop. But in the immediate future, there's a lot of work to do. And so I started working with the board and with our core leadership team and looking at other examples of sabbatical policies and, you know, having worked in higher education, a lot of sabbaticals, there's a research paper or there's some type of something at the end of the rainbow. And we just said, we want people to rest. They can do whatever they want. We're gonna keep their job there for them. We're gonna give them enough time after they've been here a certain number of years. And we want them to truly disconnect and heal and process and find joy and be in the lives of their families. And no need to give us a 12 page paper when you get back, tell us what you did. Cause we love you and we're curious. Yeah, no doctor's note. And so I was so excited that we had the board approve the policy and was just kind of waiting for the applications to roll in. And it was Crickets. Nobody applied. And finally Naomi actually said, you're going to have to take. Nobody's going to do it till you do. And I didn't create it for myself. I created it for a lot of our long term employees, but I did. I took a sabbatical last year and I had some time to reflect and some time to read and be in nature and heal. And it was a little cathartic to look and see what I was carrying and what that impact had been on my family and just my own mental health. And so it was great to do it and to come back ready to keep fighting and then also to see the applications then start to trickle in and people having their sabbaticals approved for this year and next year and beyond. So I think we really have to be mindful of how we care for people who are, who are doing heart work and, you know, organizationally, not just support, but encourage people to take, take
- [20:30]
C
time that they need on behalf of the entire sector. Thank you for doing that. I am not even joking.
- [20:40]
A
It was probably the hardest thing I've had to do. Thank you for naming it. I failed the first 10 days.
- [20:50]
B
How long did you step away?
- [20:51]
C
Yeah, how long was your sabbatical?
- [20:53]
A
I stepped away for five weeks. And we're going to talk a little bit about succession planning. But as a founder, you trust your people and to put them in more opportunities where they're making the big decisions without you and getting more confident that you don't need to sign off on everything. That's really great for the continuity of the organization. It builds confidence for the folks who get to step in and make those decisions and lead boldly in their own way. And I was very comfortable stepping away based on my trust in our team and all the work we've done to prepare them for, you know, me leaving for five weeks or someday, you know, when I exit the organization, people are ready to step in and lead.
- [21:40]
C
I just think if you want trust based philanthropy at your organization, you have to have trust based leadership. In a time when we are so burnt out and people are so on the edge, we need to refill. And I thank you for modeling that. Though you did mention succession planning. And I do want to get into that because we mentioned at the top of the conversation that your board approved this formal succession plan for you last year. We want you to kind of take us behind the scenes. What did that process look like? And what would you say to like either a founder or a leader who keeps putting that conversation off? What would you Say to them, yeah,
- [22:20]
A
I think that's the other humility piece is whether it's by my choice or not, I will not be here forever. The data doesn't support it otherwise. So if you care about your place deeply enough, set it up and get it ready for life beyond you. Because there's so many things that could happen and you know, you don't want to leave people scrambling. You know, if you care so much about your culture and your mission and your values, documents and all of these things enough to create them and have them live, you want it to live on and you want people to know where they are. You want people to know where the important relationships are and all the connection points. And so we've done some intentional things. There's a couple internal leadership development things that we do just to prepare everybody. So it's not just a succession plan for myself, it's for all of our executive leaders that they have their, their plans that we're working on too. But we do a couple things. We do something called the Rise Leadership Academy. It's a 12 week internal leadership program that's about 48 hours of training over that 12 weeks that anybody in the organization has access to. And we do all kinds of cool stuff. We do lencioni, humble, hungry and smart, ideal team player. We do crucial conversations. We do things around emotional intelligence, conflict, habit building, just really knowing what, who you are as a leader. What's your leadership mission statement? We hope people at Rise, you know, we know they hopefully will be here for a long time, but we feel like while they're here, we want to develop them as much as we can. And selfishly, we hope that's to grow within our organization. So we do this 12 week rise leadership Academy. We also do something called the Rise Innovation Project or rip, which is an opportunity for anybody within the organization to take on a business problem, put together a plan, present it. We do kind of an innovation fair. They share about what their idea is, something they're seeing on the ground, how can we better serve our client? Or here's a area where we can improve and we resource it and they have, you know, 90 days to test it and then kind of report back on what it is. And that's true leadership development. When you can experientially present something, have a plan, build it, test it, see if it works. And it's led to some really cool things that we've been able to operationalize and we budget every year for that. So there's internal things we do and then Everyone has a professional development plan as a part of their annual evaluation, something that they can do externally for themselves or for their role. So it's that development, but then also just really getting your house in order, knowing who internally can step in in emergency, or what the short term, medium term and long term plan is when the founder eventually does move away and getting all of those critical documents and relationship handoffs and just that knowledge transfer plan in place. You know, it's really helped me sleep at night knowing that this mission that I love so deeply and that our team cares so deeply about will, will be sustained, hopefully for years to come. And in a challenging climate where you are seeing nonprofits struggling or not continuing, we at least have to do our part and put our best foot forward to make sure we can be here for a long time. Because our clients and people we love to serve depend on us and we depend on them.
- [26:13]
B
Yeah, I mean, thanks for doing the hard work that brings peace to all the other areas. You know, it's not the fun stuff sometimes working through some of those processes and getting things in place, but I'd imagine it led to peace being able to step away when so many of those things are taken care of and thought of. And it's giving people permission to feel that same empowerment as stepping away for their next, wherever it may be. It's also infinite game. I'm thinking of Simon Sinek's book. Yeah, I love it so much.
- [26:45]
C
Can we talk about like just doing this process? And the way that you're doing it is also building rabid fans of your mission. People who have been helped, people who have tasted what it feels like to receive this kind of support. And that extends to their family, and that extends to people who love them. And the flywheel effect of that person advocating for you long term is also an infinite game move. And so I just think of you having all these alumni that you're building toward and how many incredible stories you must have. That's really fantastic.
- [27:24]
A
Yeah, we have about 450 grads back out in the community. And once people exit their case management services, we have a business academy that's 12 weeks where we help system impacted people start small businesses where we started 90 companies the last few years, we have Youth and Family program, we do research, we do policy and advocacy. So there's a lot of ways we're trying to attack the mission of breaking generational cycles through research, through policy. And everything we've built is in a direct response to what system impacted people are telling us they need it's nothing that we're saying, hey, this is what you need. It's, hey, this would be really great. And then let's think together how we can build something that can, that can truly make the. Make the difference that, that people are looking for.
- [28:17]
B
Jeremy, I gotta ask you about generosity. I mean, to build a mission like this has been a lot of people pouring into it from all sides. I can imagine. What's a moment of generosity that's really stuck with you, maybe that you witnessed through rise or maybe a personal moment you would take us back to?
- [28:34]
A
Yeah. I will say that we have a very philanthropic community in Omaha in general and just in Nebraska. And that's been a real joy. A lot of people who get behind all kinds of causes here. I can think of two. One would be, we have a donor who was kind of giving every year and modestly. And we really talked about the impact that he was hoping to make. And he shared a story about his brother who had recently passed away, who had really dealt his whole life with mental health and addiction issues, which are very prevalent in folks who are system impacted. We've kind of replaced a lot of those safety nets where those folks now fall into the criminal justice system. And he wanted to do something meaningful to remember his brother. And he said the thing every executive director wants to hear, which is what's the stuff that is the hardest to find? That's the stuff I want to help you with and allowed us to dream a little bit and made a seven figure commitment to do that.
- [29:40]
C
I'm so happy for you. Oh, we celebrate with you. That's wonderful.
- [29:45]
A
And equally, I would reference one of our program graduates who is currently serving a life sentence in a Nebraska prison, took our program and donated $500 because that's about the cost of people to go through our program. Because he wanted to pay it forward and have somebody else have the experience he did. And Nebraska is a life without parole state, so unless laws change, he has no opportunity to get out. You know, getting resources provided from life sentence program participants doesn't surprise me. It might surprise folks who don't get to engage regularly, but that was a very meaningful investment in another person being able to take our program.
- [30:32]
C
Wow, Ripple, ripple, ripple. I mean, I just think that kindness begets kindness begets kindness, et cetera and so forth. So love hearing those stories. I am so glad that you're still so grateful to be in this and finding joy in it as a founder after all these years. And you've listened to the podcast before. You Know what we're going to ask at the very end, but we're going to ask for your one good thing. What's a one good thing? You want to leave with our audience today?
- [31:03]
A
My one good thing is to invite the audience to visit a prison somewhere in our state. It's to have that profound experience, to have shared humanity with people who are in a carceral system. It'll change your life. You'll give more than you will ever receive. And there's organizations all over the country where you can do that. I'm inviting both of you to Nebraska to come to prison with RISE or any of your listeners. We'd love to bring you in to see our mission in action and engage with our beautiful clients. And I'd also say if you have the ability in your nonprofits to do second chance hiring, hiring people with lived experience and expertise as a sector will add so much richness to your culture. You'll get some really hardworking people that have tremendous skill sets. And, you know, if you're not sure what your second chance hiring is at your organization, find out. And thank you to those organizations who hire their mission, who hire people that they're called to serve for putting them on boards, for bringing them in, and really, you know, meaningful and deep ways into the work. So come to prison, hire system impacted folks and provide opportunities for mission hires.
- [32:24]
C
I just want to flag here in the very end that you called them your beautiful clients. Yeah, that's what you called them. And I just think that a reframe, a repositioning, a reimagining and unwinding of belief systems to be able to look and say, these are our beautiful clients. I am going to come see you. I will take you up on that. I would love to come through your prison system with you and I would love to see it firsthand. Thank you for the invitation.
- [32:57]
B
Let's do it, my friend. How can folks listening support rise? Like, what are your needs? Kind of what is on the radar? And how can everyone connect with you personally as well? Where do you show up online?
- [33:09]
A
Our website is www.csrise.org. that's S E-E-U-S R-I-S E.org. you can look for Rise on all the various social media platforms. You can volunteer with RISE from anywhere in the country. There's opportunities to review resumes and business plans for people who are currently incarcerated. From your home, we've had volunteers from all 50 states and six countries. If you're feeling really frisky, come to Nebraska, we'd love to take you into facilities. We have people who mentor entrepreneurs in our business program from all over the country. So there's all kinds of cool ways to get involved. And of course, as a nonprofit, revenue is always helpful. So if you are interested in donating to help us sustain this important mission, you can find that information on our website as well.
- [34:02]
C
Jeremy, you're a joy, a treasure to this community, to all communities. And so we are rooting you on in everything that you are doing. And we'll be watching very closely your wonderful success and progress. Thank you.
- [34:16]
A
Thank you. And I truly mean thank you both for all you do for the nonprofit community and the ripple effects that that has made across the sector to educate us, to bring us together, to create a platform that was in a. That was kind of missing and helping us feel more connected and more impactful and better what we do. So what you both do is such a service to all of us. So I just want to say thank you.
- [34:45]
C
It's our joy, truly.
- [34:46]
B
Thank you. Ending with chills. Appreciate you. Hey friend. Thank you so much for joining us today. If you find yourself looking for a place to stay connected and keep learning between episodes, I hope you'll come and join us inside the We Are for Good community. Yeah, it is free. It's full of incredible nonprofit leaders like yourself, and it's now an app in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. So you can take this community with you wherever you go. Head over to weareforgoodcommunity.com to find us. We cannot wait to see you inside.