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What if the fix for burnout, donor fatigue, and stalled partnerships isn’t another webinar, but a better conversation? We sit down with Tasha Van Vlack, founder and CEO of Nonprofit Hive, to unpack how simple one-to-one matchmaking helps nonprofit pros feel seen, swap solutions, and spark collaborations that actually stick. From role-based pairing to safety-in-strangers design, Tasha shares the small systems that turn isolation into momentum.

We explore the pressures reshaping the sector—post-pandemic staffing gaps, rising expectations, and funding uncertainty—and talk through a practical reset: protect time for curiosity, treat networking as a creative tool, and measure connection like any other KPI. You’ll hear why great partnerships create clarity rather than chaos, how to identify your organization’s zone of genius, and when to gracefully pause a misfit collaboration. We also dig into the psychological hurdles—scarcity mindsets, local competition, and fear of idea theft—and offer tactics to lower the stakes while raising the value.

Donors will find a candid roadmap for engagement beyond the glossy report. Think voice-memo updates, WhatsApp groups for real-time wins and needs, live video walk-throughs from the field, and small, transparent experiments that welcome learning—not just outcomes. Tasha’s stories from global peers, from rural Uganda to national networks, reveal how consistent, human-scale rituals can restore hope and drive measurable impact.
Hive: https://thenonprofithive.com/

If you believe radical collaboration beats going it alone, this conversation gives you concrete steps to start. Subscribe, share with a colleague who needs a lift, and leave a review with one low-stakes connection habit you’ll try this week.

A link to our website: helpingchldrenworldwide.org

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Firmly Rooted - A new documentary on orphanage response - the right way!

To view the released trailer and sizzle reel, go to https://firmlyrootedfilm.com/

or to https://www.helpingchildrenworldwide.org

__________

____

Organize a Rooted in Reality mission experience for your service club, church group, worship team, young adult or adult study. No travel required. Step into the shoes of people in extreme poverty in Sierra Leone, West Africa, Helping Children Worldwide takes you into a world where families are facing impossible choices every day.

Contact support@helpingchildrenworldwide.org to discuss how.

Give to a 25 year legacy - plant seeds of hope!

________

Travel on International Mission, meet local leadership and work alongside them. Exchange knowledge, learn from one another and be open to personal transformation. Step into a 25 year long story of change for children in some of the poorest regions on Earth.

https://www.helpingchildrenworldwide.org/mission-trips.html

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Helpingchildrenworldwide.org

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What if your partnership model unintentionally silences the very people it’s meant to elevate? We sit down with Asia Blackwell, executive director of Maya Midwifery, to unpack how a well-intended collaboration in Guatemala drifted toward hierarchy by over-rewarding a few “standout” leaders while leaving many midwives underpowered. Asia lays out how they rebuilt trust with transparent systems, written agreements, and equitable pathways that spread training, decision-making, and visibility across the full team.

Together, we reframe accountability as shared responsibility rather than control. Asia explains the pivot from informal, relationship-only trust to clear MOUs, role boundaries, and simple verification tools that protect everyone—midwives, boards, and donors. We challenge Western assumptions about leadership and administration, recognizing that Indigenous midwives already lead in their communities without needing titles to validate influence. When governance confuses literacy with legitimacy or paperwork with power, it narrows who gets heard and who gets help.

Asia shares a vivid, Maya-inspired governance model built around the Ceiba, the sacred tree: midwives as the canopy, local admin as branches, the Guatemalan board as trunk, and US teams as roots. Donors become sun and water—vital, nourishing, and appropriately at a distance from day-to-day decisions. This design makes equity operational with feedback loops, shared metrics, and practical safeguards that honor local autonomy. The impact is palpable: midwives now present their own data, speak confidently in meetings, and describe renewed pride and energy at the birth center.

If you’re working in global health, philanthropy, or any cross-border partnership, you’ll find practical guidance here: listen widely, rotate opportunity, document commitments, and let culturally grounded structures lead. Subscribe for more conversations on equitable, community-led maternal health, and share this episode with a colleague who’s ready to rethink how power and accountability can truly work together.

____

Firmly Rooted - A new documentary on orphanage response - the right way!

To view the released trailer and sizzle reel, go to https://firmlyrootedfilm.com/

or to https://www.helpingchildrenworldwide.org

__________

____

Organize a Rooted in Reality mission experience for your service club, church group, worship team, young adult or adult study. No travel required. Step into the shoes of people in extreme poverty in Sierra Leone, West Africa, Helping Children Worldwide takes you into a world where families are facing impossible choices every day.

Contact support@helpingchildrenworldwide.org to discuss how.

Give to a 25 year legacy - plant seeds of hope!

________

Travel on International Mission, meet local leadership and work alongside them. Exchange knowledge, learn from one another and be open to personal transformation. Step into a 25 year long story of change for children in some of the poorest regions on Earth.

https://www.helpingchildrenworldwide.org/mission-trips.html

******

Support the show

Helpingchildrenworldwide.org

Send us a text

A center for indigenous birthing practices grew out of an expatriate's dream and was realized as a thriving hub for Indigenous midwives in Guatemala. The ground shifted when a model of local ownership and global alliance collided with personal greed. Executive Director Asia Blackwell unpacks the full arc: early wins rooted in trust, warning signs revealed by governance training and a whistleblower policy, and the moment when cultural respect had to face corrupt realities, overcome personal threats, retaliation, forged elections, missing funds, and state-backed intimidation. After a democratic vote unseated entrenched leaders, a wave of retaliation brought lawsuits, threats, violence, and a dramatic raid with arrests of innocents. Trusted allies hadn't founded a nonprofit. They created a private society they owned, a structural flaw they leveraged for personal gain, through corruption. Rather than surrender, the midwives pivoted, formed a new association and reopened within weeks, keeping mobile clinics running with minimal interruption—proof of resilience under pressure.

The most powerful takeaway emerges from within Maya cosmology: leadership is a calling, and midwifery and administration are each their own gift. By separating clinical decision-making from administrative management—while keeping both local—the entire leadership and collaborative team aligned structure with values and protected what matters most: maternal and newborn health, Indigenous knowledge, and community sovereignty. Expect practical insights on equitable partnerships, accountable systems, language access in elections, and how to design governance that stands up to real-world stress. If this story moved you, subscribe, share with a friend who cares about global health and nonprofit governance, and leave a review to help others find the show.

____

Firmly Rooted - A new documentary on orphanage response - the right way!

To view the released trailer and sizzle reel, go to https://firmlyrootedfilm.com/

or to https://www.helpingchildrenworldwide.org

__________

____

Organize a Rooted in Reality mission experience for your service club, church group, worship team, young adult or adult study. No travel required. Step into the shoes of people in extreme poverty in Sierra Leone, West Africa, Helping Children Worldwide takes you into a world where families are facing impossible choices every day.

Contact support@helpingchildrenworldwide.org to discuss how.

Give to a 25 year legacy - plant seeds of hope!

________

Travel on International Mission, meet local leadership and work alongside them. Exchange knowledge, learn from one another and be open to personal transformation. Step into a 25 year long story of change for children in some of the poorest regions on Earth.

https://www.helpingchildrenworldwide.org/mission-trips.html

******

Support the show

Helpingchildrenworldwide.org