Christine Martin Featured on "Getting the Deal Done" Podcast

Our very own Christine Martin was recently featured on John Martinka's (Martinka Consulting) podcast series, "Getting the Deal Done." Listen to her explain why and how Valtas Group was founded,  market conditions for non-profits, mistakes that non-profits may be making, and how business people can add value to a non-profit organization. 

You can listen to Christine's interview or read the transcript below.

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Transcript:

John:
This is John Martinka and my special guest today is Christine Martin with the Valtas Group. Another episode of the Getting The Deal Done podcast series. Christine is a partner and the co-founder of the Valtas Group. The Valtas Group works with nonprofits. It's a little different twist on this podcast series, but every business person I know, works with a nonprofit two or three or more. I think it is a very timely topic and they run it as a business. It is a business. They help nonprofits with interim C-level people. They have a recruiting division and they do projects working on strategy and succession and many other things. Christine, welcome.

Christine:
Thanks, John. We really appreciate the opportunity to talk with you today.

John:
I gave the 3% description of what you do. Why don't you go into a little more detail about what Valtas does and tie into it how you got there, how this company came to be.

Christine:
Of course. As you described Valtas does three primary things. We work with leadership succession planning, helping with the search process, helping serve as interim CEO's and executive directors, and then working on a variety of different projects. Succession planning, strategic planning, organizational development. Valtas has been around for about three years. We're pretty young, we're a startup ourselves and as you pointed out, we are a business, but we are in the business of supporting nonprofits and social purpose organizations.

Christine:
That's our whole focus and Valtas came into being because a number of the founders had worked in the for-profit sector in the past. Like a lot of the folks that are listening to you today and decided that they really wanted to make a significant difference in the nonprofit and social sectors. Recognizing that a lot of the business skills that we had from prior careers would be incredibly valuable to nonprofits.

Christine:
That's kind of the first piece. The second piece is that nonprofits, especially in Washington state, there are hundreds of nonprofits, but most of them are fairly small. They don't have an entire C-suite. There's probably less than 50 nonprofits in Washington that have over $50 million in revenue. Most of them are in that 5 million, $10 million range, they're small businesses.

Christine:
When their leader leaves, their executive director or their CEO, there isn't often someone to step in. We started doing interim executive director work in prior businesses about 10 years ago, and we've done interim assignments at over 50 nonprofits, just in the last three years with our team. There continues to be significant change in the non-profit sector, and we don't anticipate that slowing down. Being able to ensure leadership continuity for nonprofits is a big piece of who we are and what we do.

John:
Okay. One of the things that I'm interested in learning more about is the project work that you do. I'm very familiar with your interim C-level and your recruiting. I'm on your distribution list. You do a really good job of keeping people up to speed on that. But talk a little bit about the projects. Don't name clients, but if you can name a couple of situations to give an example of how you help.

Christine:
Of course. Just like any business, nonprofits need a strategic plan and what we have found over the years, especially as we go in as an interim leader or advisor to the board or the executive, is sometimes they have strategic plans that have gathered a little dust sitting on the shelves. They were drafted three or four years ago and business changes and nonprofits are no different. A good example of that is a local nonprofit that has been operating a 10 to $12 million budget serving youth in Washington state for quite some time, and the need has continued to grow. Both the state and federal funding sources have continued to expand.

Christine:
We've worked with them for example, over the last year, to help determine how best to build a strategic plan, to attract the funds that they're looking for, but also importantly, how to scale and build the organization because a $12 million organization has a very different organizational structure, levels, title, delivery model, and quality of programs and approach that a $20 million organization. That organization is now operating a $20 million budget, but to be able to figure out how to nearly double their budget, but also to be able to figure out how to grow their staff by almost the same percentage to serve more youth than the state, that's the work that we do. An example of what I would say is a medium size organization.

John:
Okay. Okay. What's going on with nonprofits in this COVID era? Some have seen their fundraising shift or disappear, and I'm sure there's a lot of other things going on with that. I'm sure that they have the same people problems that going back to work that other for-profit companies do.

Christine:
Of course. Let's talk about funding first because obviously that's a big piece of how nonprofits make a living. We have some organizations who are funded by grants and donors, and most of their money comes because of the services that they're providing. Good examples in youth and family services, homeless services, that social welfare type of place.

Christine:
Those organizations are actually doing surprisingly well through the pandemic. They have their challenges. If you're running a homeless shelter or a youth program for low-income youth and you have COVID, people can't be in the same places. They struggle with the same thing all businesses do in terms of trying to figure out how to deliver services in the pandemic, but from a funding perspective, there's new dollars through Cares, through the state and quite frankly, through a lot of initiatives for individual donors, where money is coming in. I've seen most of those organizations weather the storm for the last 18 months fairly well. That's one example.

Christine:
I think, fee for service nonprofits, think about your arts organizations who might get some grants, but of course receive revenue from ticket sales because they're a film festival or they're a performing arts organization. I think those are the ones that have struggled the most, because they can't deliver the services and actually receive revenue from the work that they do. I think those are the ones that I think I'm the most concerned about, what it looks like coming out. That they've been able to do virtual film festivals and concerts online and things like that to be able to raise revenue, but it is not the same. They certainly have changed their staffing models significantly.

Christine:
Those are the ones where much like when restaurants needed to close movie theaters needed to close and film studios and performing arts organizations needed to close. Those folks received layoff notices and are struggling to come back from that place. That's two examples on the funding side. I think nonprofits will also experience the same challenges that the rest of the community is and is experiencing in terms of turnover. I'm already seeing it with executive leaders, but also staff making decisions to leave organizations they've hung in there with over the term of COVID and accepting new roles. I think that turnover that's happening for your for-profit businesses is affecting nonprofit businesses in the same way. That I think is a big concern starting in the fall as folks return to service.

John:
Okay. You're a three-year-old company, you've taken off. I know what some of the things you're doing, as I said, from all your press releases that I get. There's a market need for it. How have you changed the market? What were these non-profits doing and struggling with on interim people and recruiting and all of that before the Valtas Group?

Christine:
Yeah, that's a great question. Thanks, John. I would say that the work of an interim executive is very new to the nonprofit space. We still spend time helping folks understand why it is more valuable to have an experienced, seasoned executive come in and support them during a leadership transition, versus having a board member who's never run a nonprofit before or a volunteer step in as the executive.

Christine:
That has been a significant change and I would say it's almost a professionalization of the sector to recognize that leadership, a CEO or executive director role is a skillset in that of itself. That's a big change that we've seen and the professionalizing of the work. The other piece, I think they'll talk about is search. Obviously most nonprofit board members join a board because they care deeply about the youth that they're serving or the humane society or the arts or whatever the organization's mission is.

Christine:
But most nonprofit board members have never hired and never been an executive director themselves. Really knowing what to look for and the unique nature of the leadership required sometimes does require a search firm. I think these days as the employment market is incredibly tight and it is difficult to find great talent for these organizations for what is arguably a very difficult job, running a nonprofit, raising money for your salary and for everyone else's, it does really require the support of a search firm.

Christine:
I would also say that that is an area that board members are increasingly recognizing having a professional support them on the search is incredibly important so that they can get down to the most important work of governing the organization and selecting from a really highly qualified candidate pool versus doing all the rolling up your sleeves search work yourself.

John:
Okay. Very good. Mentioned board members, business people like me, like you, like your co-founders. We all tend to be on boards of nonprofits and help them. Give us some tips for these business people so they can really add value to the boards that they serve on and the organization in general, maybe not even in a board position.

Christine:
Yeah. Obviously many organizations have both boards, but some of them also have advisory boards where you may not be as deeply involved in the governance, but helping with financing on a finance committee, something to that effect. Part of it is finding a board that you're passionate about and that you care deeply about their mission, because you've been impacted by their work or someone in your family has, or your alumni association, something like that.

Christine:
Find something you're passionate about, figure out the best way to plug in. Obviously if you're a CFO or a marketing person, you may be helping them with your functional area of expertise. But I would imagine everyone listening today has great leadership experience from their own experience leading organizations. Sometimes for an executive director, having experienced executives on their board is really valuable, because it helps them think about business strategy because again, nonprofits are businesses or helps them determine how to better address the market need.

Christine:
Most nonprofit leaders are looking not for someone to help them with program because typically they are the experts in sexual assault, or they are the experts in animal welfare or art, or what have you, but they are looking for someone that can help bring that business acumen for them to make important decisions about where to make investments, about how to hire, about how to grow their business or it means sure that they're actually measuring the key outcomes that are important for determining the success of the programs.

Christine:
Of course, all board members are asked to in most organizations give or get, so see if they can actually make a contribution to the organization themselves, or if they work for an organization that does sponsorship or in other ways has access to be able to get funding. Those are other critical roles that board members also play.

John:
Okay. I have one more question for you and then if there's any other things you would like to make sure that the listeners get, or you get out, it's talk about some of the mistakes that nonprofits have made with strategy, recruiting their executive directors, et cetera. I'm sure you've got some interesting stories that the guilty shall remain nameless.

Christine:
Of course.

John:
Hear a couple, give people what not to do.

Christine:
Yeah, well I think just like any business, it's really important that the nonprofits have a program or product or service that's really relevant. I worked with an organization a few years ago that had been working with the homeless community and they offered an opportunity to stay connected through voicemails. It was a tool for homeless folks to be able to call in and receive messages from providers, their healthcare providers or housing providers.

Christine:
But the market had shifted pretty significantly where the federal government was offering stipends for cell phones, which as it turns out also in addition to having a voicemail have an ability to call out. It's a good example of the market had changed in the service provider space for that organization. We ended up merging that organization into a larger entity for which that voicemail product was really valuable. But lesson learned is the business strategy for your nonprofit needs to keep up with the needs for the community you're serving.

Christine:
That's one quick example, a second example around search, sometimes organizations are replacing a very longterm leader. That is happening a lot with baby boomers retiring. You've got folks that have been in their roles, 15, 20, 25. I have two executive directors that were in their roles for 40 years. When you're replacing someone that's been with an organization for a very long time, just like in startups in the technology sector, the culture of the organization is very aligned and inextricably linked with that leader that's been there for a long time.

Christine:
I think it's really critical when you talk about longterm leader transitions, to be smart about making sure that we understand what the culture for the organization is, and that we're not also trying to either hire someone exactly like that leader or in some cases, if that has not worked out, trying to hire someone very different from that leader and really looking at the circumstances for the business at the time that leader transition is happening and making sure we're the right person for the right stage of the business. Again, very similar to the for-profit space.

John:
Okay. Good examples, any final thoughts?

Christine:
Well, I appreciate you having us give and opportunity to chat about Valtas and learn a little bit more about the work we're doing in the sector. The non-profit sector in Washington state is one of the healthiest in my country in terms of number of funders, number of nonprofits and the commitment that our community has to supporting them. We feel very lucky to be able to live in this intersectionality of supporting our nonprofits through transition and being able to be a bridge for the for-profit community to find their way through board service, volunteerism and funding commitments. Thanks again for all you're doing to be able to help promote and support nonprofits in this community.

John:
You're welcome. For those of you who would like more information, you can go to the website, thevaltalsgroup.com V-A-L-T-A-S group.com. You may email [email protected]. There's also a form to fill out if you just want to request for some information on the website. Christine, thank you very much for being here. Very interesting about how you've created a niche and something that wasn't wasn't there before, at least in the greater Puget Sound area. Thanks for sharing.

Christine:
Thanks John.

About Christine Martin

Christine has over 20 years of experience as a strategic business leader and has held a variety of senior leadership roles in organizations ranging from large public companies to early stage start-ups and non-profits. Christine founded her consulting business, HR Strategies International in 2000, and after 18 years of independent consulting, was a founding partner at Valtas.

Christine has served as an Interim Executive for 15 organizations over the past ten years. She’s led the development of a wide variety of strategic and business plans and has also led executive hiring efforts for clients across the country.
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After a successful career as an executive leader in a number of technology and telecom ventures, in 2008 Christine pivoted her business to primarily support of best business practices in the non-profit sector. She brings a unique blend of extensive board service, education, training and coaching of nonprofit leaders. Christine’s passion for creating and developing leadership capacity in the nonprofit sector is evident across her client engagements.

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About John Martinka

John Martinka is known as The Escape Artist® because of the work he does in three areas:

1. Helping executives escape the corporate world by buying the right business the right way
2. Creating large exits for small businesses so the owner can exit their business with style, grace and more money
3. Accelerating businesses so they escape their plateau, often via growth by acquisition; dramatically increasing the value of the company

John is the author of three books, If They Can Sell Pet Rocks Why Can’t You Sell Your Business (For What You Want)?,  Buying a Business That Makes You Rich, and Company Growth by Acquisition Makes Dollars & Sense. A recognized public speaker, John has developed a reputation for expertise in business acquisition and “problem solving”. He has the knowledge and real-life experience which gains client confidence and delivers measurable results. John gets results for his clients whether it’s buying, selling or dramatically increasing the value of a business. His experience includes having analyzed hundreds of acquisition candidates for scores of clients and helped over 100 clients buy or sell a business.

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