We recently connected with Mindy Schweitzer-Rawls and have shared our conversation below.

Mindy , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you tell us about a time where you or your team really helped a customer get an amazing result?

At Purpose Possible, our core values – client impact, mutual respect, innovation and experimentation, and an inclusive and empowered team- are the foundation for our work with clients, primarily nonprofit organizations. With our core values driving client services across all of our client work, our four-year relationship with the Atlanta Land Trust (ALT) is a beautiful demonstration of how the actualization of our core values, coupled with trust and hard work, resulted in ALT’s ability to establish itself as a brand, develop a talented board of directors, and grow its annual philanthropic, government operating, and program-specific revenue from $250,000 to close to $2 million.

Operating as a community land trust ALT develops and stewards permanently affordable homeownership that allows families experiencing barriers to homeowners the opportunity to build wealth through homeownership. ALT primarily serves Atlantans where traditional homeownership has been out of reach – generally those at or below 80% of the area median income.

In 2018 following the hiring of its first executive director in many years, Amanda Rhein, ALT engaged Purpose Possible to lay the groundwork for ALT’s sustainable and scalable growth.

Purpose Possible’s initial engagement with ALT in 2019 provided the organization with tools to support the recruitment, retainment, and development of a board of directors to govern and lead the revamped organization toward its strategic vision. Purpose Possible was then hired to establish ALT as a brand that the organization leveraged to market itself, educate the community on its offerings, and communicate its case for support. Simultaneously, Purpose Possible created a comprehensive 3-year fundraising plan. The fundraising plan identified short-term and long-term fundraising and board development strategies, supported by tactics, market research, and best practices, to guide ALT into a scalable and sustainable organization.

With the fundamental groundwork in place, Purpose Possible hired me in January 2020 to provide consultation and implementation of the fundraising and marketing strategy to support ALT’s sole staff member. Through strategy, innovation, and a trusted working relationship with Amanda Rhein and ALT’s board of directors, we diversified ALT’s revenue streams and educated communities, donors, and public officials on the community land trust model and its ability to co-create more equitable communities.

Utilizing a scalable, step-by-step approach to establishing diverse funding streams to support sustainable growth has resulted in ALT raising close to $2 million of philanthropic and public funding to support its operations and stewardship programs in a little over three years. Our strategic and paced approach to growth has brought ALT from a volunteer-run organization to an organization with four talented and committed full-time staff, a board of directors who contribute their time, talent, and treasure in support of ALT’s mission, and changed the lives of the families living in ALT homes. Earlier this year, ALT was awarded funding from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation for the first time to develop permanently affordable housing on Atlanta’s Westside. By 2025, the Atlanta Land Trust aims to collaborate with communities to develop 300 permanently affordable, energy-efficient homes to create a more inclusive and equitable Atlanta. Purpose Possible will continue to lend our support to help them achieve their vision.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Purpose Possible is a women-owned business that transforms our communities by empowering mission-driven organizations.

We accomplish this by providing wrap-around services that allow organizational leadership and staff to focus on what they are subject matter experts in — the mission-focused work! We can take on the aspects they do not have the time or capacity to accomplish.

Our diverse and empowered teams help organizations across all sectors meet the current demands of their operational budgets while also planning for sustainable program expansion and organizational growth. We are thinkers AND doers. The Purpose Possible teams have deep experience in leadership, fundraising, organizational strategy, research, communications, community engagement, and CSR program management.

Studying Fashion Merchandising at the University of Georgia, I accepted an internship with the high-end design team Badgley Mischka in New York City. After my internship, I knew the fashion world was not for me, and I desired to work in the nonprofit sector. Shortly after moving to San Francisco in 2003, I secured my first nonprofit job with a community development organization. During this time, I took every opportunity to deepen my understanding of community-driven work and the various aspects of organizational governance. After a few years, I worked for an organization where I had volunteered for several years prior. I wore many hats for nearly a decade at the health-based human services organization, which provided me with hands-on experience in almost every aspect of nonprofit work, including organizational mergers. After moving to Atlanta, I connected with Susannah Darrow, one of the co-founders of Purpose Possible. Soon after that, I joined the Purpose Possible team and currently work as the Director of Fundraising Services, supporting our fundraising teams.

I specialize in designing and executing fundraising, communications, and community development strategies at Purpose Possible and supporting our teams to provide values-based services to our clients. As a former facilitator of compassionate care and empathic connection training, I organically infuse these refined soft skills into my work and client interactions. I take great pride in how Purpose Possible and have contributed to re-establishing ALT as an organization over the years. The work we’ve accomplished and continue to tackle is contributing to an Atlanta that I want to be a part of. I would not be a good fundraiser if I did not say -to financially support the development and stewardship of permanently affordable housing through ALT, please consider making a gift at atlantalandtrust.org.

Any advice for managing a team?

My advice for managing a team and maintaining high morale is to communicate directly, timely, and empathetically. We also deserve to know where we stand, what is expected of us, and with a touch of grace and an infusion of mutual respect.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Resilience takes practice, and I have had my fair share of exercise. Along my journey, I have demonstrated resilience many times, but an overarching example has been my ability to lean into the scariness of the unknown. For example, there have been times when someone saw something in me that I did not see in myself, so I was asked to take on a position or task I felt I was not qualified to deliver to the standard I held for myself. I accepted the challenge and leaned in, requiring flexing my resilience and perseverance muscles. I attribute my resiliency to my ability to find leverage resources and personal relationships to support my growth and strengthen my resilience muscle. We are not alone in our journeys, and we’ve all had our own; therefore, let’s learn from one another and become more resilient in our collective journeys.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.purposepossible.com
• Instagram: @purposepossible
• Facebook: @purposepossibleatl
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/purposepossible