We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Amber Wynn. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Amber below.

Amber, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

Nonprofit leaders are some of the most amazing people on the planet. They tackle the world’s biggest challenges—poverty, hunger, education gaps—while wearing 17 hats and doing all the things. But they also face a 54% burnout rate
Here’s the harsh truth:
❌ Many nonprofits can’t afford to pay living wages.
❌ Health benefits, vacation, and retirement? Rarely covered.
❌ Philanthropy often limits “overhead” funding to 10-25%, leaving leaders unsupported.

As a result, we’re at risk of losing the very people who are driving change.
Philanthropy has a problem. Too often, funders restrict grants to programs and “direct” costs, leaving nonprofits scrambling to cover indirect costs. But these “overhead” costs aren’t luxuries—they’re essential. Without them, nonprofit leaders burn out, and their organizations struggle to survive. Nonprofit leaders are doing all the things—running programs, raising money, balancing budgets—often without the resources to care for themselves. The pipeline of future leaders is drying up. And the sector is struggling to incentivize leadership with living wages, health benefits, and rest.

With over 30 years of nonprofit experience (Executive Director, grant writer, programs administrator, board member, funder, and consultant) my mission is to take care of the people who are taking care of the world. Because when leaders thrive, their organizations thrive. When organizations thrive, communities are stabilized.

Too often, philanthropy focuses only on “programs” and avoids funding so-called “overhead” costs. But here’s the truth:
❌ Without funding for leadership salaries, benefits, and rest, nonprofits can’t sustain their work.
❌ The Overhead Myth keeps nonprofits underfunded and leaders burned out.
✅ What nonprofits need is unrestricted funding to build stronger, more resilient organizations.

I’m inviting business owners to join me in Doing Good, Differently. Instead of starting a nonprofit, let’s focus on:
🌟 Funding rest for nonprofit leaders.
🌟 Strengthening organizations that are already driving change.
🌟 Creating Giving Strategies that maximize your impact and save you money on taxes.

I created The Giveback Strategy:
🌟 To Fund Rest: 1 week of vacation, 5-week sabbaticals, or health benefits.
🌟 To redirect philanthropy toward indirect costs, where nonprofits struggle most.
🌟 To build stronger leaders, organizations, and communities.

With a GiveBack Strategy, you can:

Save up to 60% of your AGI on taxes
Amplify your brand’s impact and visibility
Strengthen nonprofits already doing critical work

Why go through the hassle of creating a nonprofit when you can maximize your giving with less effort and more results?

For example:

Business Gross: $200,000
Taxes Owed: $46,000 (23%)

OR

With a GiveBack Strategy: Deduct up to $120,000 (60%) and redirect it toward nonprofits doing the work you care about most.

Why give more to the IRS when you can make a difference in your community?

Strengthen Your Brand: Giving back builds customer loyalty, boosts employee engagement, and positions your business as a purpose-driven leader.

Amplify Community Impact: Skip the complexity and cost of starting a nonprofit.
By funding established nonprofits, you’ll empower organizations already embedded in communities to scale their impact.

Streamline the Process: Leave the expertise to the experts. No need to learn an entirely new sector, get your all-in-one social cause, marketing, and grant management system set up for you.

Save on Annual Expenses: For 1/10 the cost of the annual expense (Min $250,000) it takes to fund a nonprofit, you’ll get a custom-made online portal integrated into your website to manage grant submissions, application reviews, impact reporting, and fund disbursement

With a GiveBack Strategy, your funding can address critical needs like healthcare, vacation, and retirement for nonprofit teams—areas traditional philanthropy often neglects. Don’t increase competition for the small pot of grants available by adding one more nonprofit to the sector.

This isn’t just about giving back; it’s about creating a strategy that aligns your business with purpose, deepens your community impact, and drives brand awareness. Let’s do good, differently.

Amber, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I created The Giveback Strategy because I’ve spent 30+ years in the nonprofit world and I’ve seen firsthand how much nonprofit leaders sacrifice.

Most people don’t realize the burnout these amazing leaders face, the lack of health benefits, or the struggle to fund vacations or retirement. That’s why I’m committed to Funding Rest—because when leaders thrive, their organizations thrive. When organizations thrive, communities are stabilized.

With The Giveback Strategy, we’re flipping the script. We prioritize the people behind the programs and Fund Rest to ensure nonprofits thrive.

• Starting a nonprofit takes time, resources, and expertise.
• Many nonprofits already exist doing incredible work—you can amplify their efforts instead.
• With The Giveback Strategy, you can save money, maximize your impact, and support nonprofit leaders in
meaningful ways.

Small and medium sized businesses can significantly impact philanthropy while benefitting from the tax and marketing advantages having a GiveBack Strategy provides.

For 1/10 of the annual cost, business owners can 3x their social impact without starting a traditional brick and mortar nonprofit, which is essentially starting a completely new business . . . with employees, overhead, taxes and all the things that come with running a business. Because a nonprofit is a business. It’s just a business with a philanthropic purpose!

Leveraging the spirit of entrepreneurism, The GiveBack Strategy fuses passion, initiative, ingenuity and proven business practices to transform traditional philanthropy into a win|win for nonprofits and emerging business.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Most people go into starting a nonprofit with passion and commitment to their communities. I wasn’t any different. But after 30 years and holding practically every position in the nonprofit sector, I eventually realized that philanthropy was not designed to solve for the world’s most pressing issues. Think about it. For over 200 years philanthropy has “aimed” to solve for the world’s social challenges, yet we’re still tackling them. In many cases, the situation has gotten worse.

Philanthropy was created to keep the wealthy, wealthy. That’s why companies are only required to allocate 5% of their revenue to charity. That’s why funders only cover Direct Costs (program costs), when the majority of the organization’s costs are Indirect (Overhead). But the nonprofit poverty cycle exists because nonprofit leaders are unable to pay market salaries, so they can hire qualified individuals who can move the organization’s mission forward. Nonprofit Executive Directors can’t retire because they can’t fund retirement plans, so they work until they die because they need salaries to sustain their households.

I had to understand the root of the issues with philanthropy. And once I understood, I decided to do things differently. Entrepreneurs can help make a difference. We can leverage the same tax loop holes to strengthen their businesses, but do philanthropy differently. We can fund the salaries, vacation, life insurance, retirement that makes organizations enticing to the bright young leaders of tomorrow. Older leaders can create succession plans and pass down their knowledge and not take it with them when they die. And when they die, new leaders start all over again instead of building on what has already been figured out. We can fund rest. We can move the needle because all the needs of the organization are being met. Nonprofits can thrive instead of scrimp by.

I learned this and decided to pivot to support the most amazing individuals on the planet by standing in the gap that traditional philanthropy creates by not truly honoring the work and sacrifices of these amazing individuals. Instead of only giving 5%, we can give 25% or 50% and truly make a difference.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I believe people trust me because I’ve held every position there is in the nonprofit sector. As a result, when I share information it comes from lived experience. People can hear my authenticity. They can feel my passion. And they can see the results because they come from lived experience.

I am not in this role to take people’s money. I do my work to transform communities. I accomplish this by shoring up the nonprofit leaders doing the work. I have turned down plenty of contracts because nonprofits weren’t ready or didn’t have what it took to do the work. Why take their money? That’s just going to put them at even more of a disadvantage, that’s going to make them take longer to achieve their goals. That means more time that community members suffer and do without whatever service the organization is unable to provide.

So, no. All money ain’t good money. If I can actually help a nonprofit, then I will allow them to pay for my services because I know I will be able to help them transform their organization.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.amberwynn.net
• Instagram: @amberwynnphilanthrepreneur
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/amberwynnphilanthrepreneur
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amber-wynn-mspa-0863985
• Twitter: @AmberWynnDotNet
• Youtube: @onairwithamberwynnphilanth6468