The Alliance: Collective Power in Defending the Cause for Kids and Families.

Witnessing the devastating aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti was a turning point for my guest, Tiffany Loeffler, Founder and Executive Director of "The Alliance". She discovered a powerful calling to advocate for vulnerable children, which led her on a heartfelt journey through international adoption and inspired efforts within her Sacramento community. Tiffany's story unfolds as she navigates the emotional and legislative complexities of adopting from Haiti, while passionately working to heal and empower her children, now blossoming young adults, in their new lives in the United States.

That experience sprouted the origin and dynamic mission of an alliance, better yet, The Alliance, committed to addressing the root causes of trauma that afflict two-thirds of children by age 16. By fostering collaboration among caregivers, educators, and social workers, this initiative fills systemic gaps, supporting foster youth, refugees, and more across five counties in the Sacramento area. Through targeted events and innovations like the "Night to Celebrate," members unite to share resources and strengthen community bonds, showcasing the tremendous impact of collective action.

We'll discuss how The Alliance is revolutionizing philanthropic connections without the traditional reliance on cold calls. This collective amplifies its reach through meaningful relationships and strategic partnerships, laying plans to expand its support network to even more nonprofits and churches. With future projects like a job board and counselor directory in sight, we touch on the profound effects of dedicated community work of multiple agencies working together for the greater good and support of the families and protecting the vulnerability of children.
You can learn more about the organization by visiting their website, HERE.

Episode Chapters
(00:00) Supporting Vulnerable Kids
Tiffany's journey of advocating for vulnerable children, prompted by her experience in Haiti, and the complexities of human trafficking and legislative challenges.

(06:59) Building Stronger Communities for Vulnerable Kids
An alliance supports vulnerable children by addressing root causes of trauma and fostering collaboration among organizations in the Sacramento area.

(19:52) Alliance Member Appreciation Event
Collaboration and donations from Children's Hope and the Alliance, Pro Workshops, and annual member appreciation event foster community support and connections.

(23:41) Strengthening Philanthropic Connections for Children
Collaborative alliance in Placer County fosters relationships, amplifies impact through donations, and plans for future expansion and storytelling in grant applications.

(36:14) Community Advocate for Broken Families
Community work breaks cycle of broken families, impacting children and celebrating successes of Alliance's efforts.

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Transcript

Tiffany Loeffler: [00:00:00] There's about 2 to 3, 000 kids at any given time in our local foster care system here in the greater Sacramento area, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. There's a lot of kids that are living in situations where there's neglect, physical abuse, maybe sexual abuse, and it's just not reported because it's not seen the homelessness.

Ratios. They say 90% of homeless youth and adults came from broken homes. 80% of the people going to prison or to juvenile hall are coming from broken families. This is an epidemic and it's all interconnected, and so if we bring together not just the agency serving foster youth, but the ones serving refugees, homeless families, child trafficking agencies, then we can see so many more of the cracks in the system filled.

Jeff Holden: I'm Jeff Holden. Welcome to the Nonprofit Podcast Network. Our purpose and passion is to highlight a nonprofit organization in [00:01:00] each weekly episode, giving that organization an opportunity to tell their story In their words, to better inform and educate the respective communities they serve, as well as provide one more tool for them to share their message to constituents and donors.

Our goal is to help build stronger communities through shared voices, and to both encourage and support the growth of local non profit organizations through podcasting. Thanks to our founding partners for their foresight in helping us transform the way conversations start. CAP Trust, fiduciary advice for endowments and foundations.

Runyon Saltzman Incorporated, RSE. Marketing, advertising, and public relations creating integrated communications committed to improving lives. And Western Health Advantage, a full service health care plan for individuals, employer groups, and families. Before the episode begins, I want to take a minute to share that we now have a website where you can sign up to get our weekly email updates on the latest episodes, [00:02:00] transcripts to prior episodes, and see what else we have going on.

Please be sure to register so you never miss an episode or any other important information we may have to share in the nonprofit space. You can find us now at nonprofpod. com. That's nonprofpod. com. You'll also notice on the website a microphone in the lower right hand corner. for listening. By clicking on it, you'll be able to leave me voicemail messages, maybe a question you'd like me to ask our guests, or just a comment on the program.

I may even play your message in an upcoming episode. I look forward to more engagement with you as we continue to grow and better serve our nonprofit community. Thanks. When you hear that 2 out of 3 children have experienced trauma before the age of 16, it can't help but rock you a bit. It did me. And there are many agencies working to support families, foster youth, adoptive families, families in crisis, even our resettling families of refugees.[00:03:00] 

Many of these agencies serve common purposes. What if there was a way for them to come together? To gather collectively to learn and build even greater support? Maybe through something like, well, an alliance. Tiffany Leffler is the founder and executive director of this organization, and if the need wasn't evident for these agencies to have a central source to share and build out support, the alliance, defending the cause of kids and families, likely wouldn't have seen the growth you're about to hear.

What an incredible solution to some of the challenges these agencies deal with, and what a brilliant way to reshape and package information and direction to not only the families in need, but for the collective group of those nonprofits serving those families as well. Thank you. To see what's happening to support those children and families in our community is most enlightening and encourages hope that we can begin to minimize the volume of children experiencing trauma as a result of a shared and concerted effort.

Tiffany [00:04:00] Loeffler, welcome back to the Nonprofit Podcast Network. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Thanks, Jeff. 

Jeff Holden: So I say welcome back because you are one of the first organizations that we did Out of the virtual event, pandemic episodes, and that was toward the end of 2021, I believe. Over three years ago. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Wow. 

Jeff Holden: I can't wait to talk about what's changed in those three years.

Me too. So this, this will be exciting. Your experience with the Alliance started when? 

Tiffany Loeffler: I think my heart for vulnerable kids actually started back in high school. I was recognizing that all of my friends wanted to come and spend time at my house. Um, I had an intact family and we did a lot of family game nights and had a lot of fun together.

And so I started realizing that that wasn't everyone's experience. And so years later, after college, when my husband and I got married, we were looking at adoption. As plan A for building our family. And so I was recognizing that there were lots of kids [00:05:00] locally and globally that didn't have safe homes that didn't have parents that didn't have that supportive network that I had around me.

And so I think that's really kind of what birthed this idea of there's something all of us can do to help kids here in our community. 

Jeff Holden: Boy, that's a lot of foresight. At such a young age, you must have been the house with the games and the video games and the pac man and all that at the time. I don't 

Tiffany Loeffler: think we even had video games.

It was the ping pong table, the basketball hoop, the swimming pool in the backyard house. 

Jeff Holden: Still real active outside activities for kids. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Yes, really fun things. 

Jeff Holden: Even better. So, what do you think? What was it that gave you the genesis or the insight to start something like the Alliance? Where did that originate?

Tiffany Loeffler: Yeah, after I visited an orphanage in 2010, Haiti had had their giant earthquake that year, and my husband and I got to go on a relief team in the summer of 2010, and so my heart completely broke for kids in overseas orphanages. I'm seeing that level of poverty, that level of hunger and just depravity broke my heart.

So that's [00:06:00] actually why we did an international adoption for our first two kids. But I quickly realized that the foster care system and the at risk youth right here in the greater Sacramento area really needed support as well. And so I started rallying people in my church and community around foster agencies and started making connections with lots of the nonprofits, especially in Placer County at the time.

Jeff Holden: So when you did the adoption. From Haiti, did you get some sense of the challenges that we had back home here as a result of that? Is that where you saw some of the dysfunction? 

Tiffany Loeffler: We, we did on the legal side, our adoption took six and a half years. So I had quite a bit of processing of understanding how human trafficking works.

We started all of our paperwork in 2011, not knowing that orphanage was a human trafficking ring. And so I kind of describe it as jumping into the deep end of the pool because all of a sudden filling out the paperwork seemed like the easy part. We ended up having to use five different attorneys and three different agencies and go through multiple appeals before our kids were finally approved [00:07:00] to come home from Haiti in 2017.

So I started understanding the global side first, but recognizing that legislative changes and difficulties happen here for refugee youth, for foster youth. For families that are going through trafficking of a child or bullying even of a child. There's so many different forms of trauma. 

Jeff Holden: When you're going through that process.

It was the same two children over the course of six years that had to wait to get to the United States knowing that they have somebody that's working on trying to adopt them? 

Tiffany Loeffler: Correct. 

Jeff Holden: Wow. Yes. Yeah. That's, that's, that's rough, certainly on both sides, but I would imagine even more so on the children who are in an 

Tiffany Loeffler: less than 

Jeff Holden: desirable environment.

Tiffany Loeffler: Exactly. It was a lot of going and visiting. I went 26 times. My husband went 40 times, but it was going and leaving. And so we were realizing that we were even creating those traumatic moments for our kids whenever we had to leave country and not bring them home with us. So 

Jeff Holden: How long were those gaps each time before you got to see them?

Tiffany Loeffler: Three or four months each time. 

Jeff Holden: And were they just in an orphanage? 

Tiffany Loeffler: For part of the time, that [00:08:00] orphanage was closed. closed. Thankfully, the government did step in and shut the orphanage down and arrested the senior leaders there that were trafficking the kids. But then they were in, they bounced around between birth mom and other people who were willing to kind of be foster parents for them until the adoption finalized.

So they had quite a bit of transition. 

Jeff Holden: Boy, that's rough. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Yeah. It was for them. It was for us, but it was definitely more so for them. 

Jeff Holden: Yeah. I can just imagine this, the unsettling. We already know that foster children are so, so challenged by home to home to home to home. Right. Here you're in another country knowing that you have somebody that wants you 

Tiffany Loeffler: and 

Jeff Holden: you just can't get away from the other environment.

Tiffany Loeffler: Exactly. Wow. 

Jeff Holden: So that was. Three years ago. How are they doing today? 

Tiffany Loeffler: It was actually 17. I'm 

Jeff Holden: sorry three years ago that we spoke It was 2017 that you got them. Yeah, they've 

Tiffany Loeffler: been home seven years. They're doing well They're 18 and 20. They came home at 10 and 13 my 18 year olds finishing up He's in junior year of high school and he's playing football for West Park High School.

And then my [00:09:00] daughter just started her first semester at Sierra College. 

Jeff Holden: Oh, congratulations. Thank 

Tiffany Loeffler: you. Yeah, it's definitely a navigation of learning to adults and working on those, those trauma responses and trying to heal things that are still very much present in their histories, but we're definitely seeing forward progress.

Jeff Holden: Well, and then the acclimation to the, you know, to a whole new world once you get here is not. An overnight situation. Right. 

Tiffany Loeffler: There's definitely some culture shock. Their English is amazing now though. They both, especially my son, the 18 year old, he's a high communicator. So he's, his English is excellent.

Jeff Holden: I'll bet you they have a nice accent too. They 

Tiffany Loeffler: do. 

Jeff Holden: Yeah, very neat. That experience with adoption does give you a unique perspective and we, we scratched the surface on just a minute ago, how does that now play into? What has become the Alliance? 

Tiffany Loeffler: Absolutely. So as I was navigating my own journey, becoming an adoptive mom and searching for resources and understanding trauma, but still living in it as an entirely different experience, I had several friends who were marriage and family therapists or [00:10:00] counselors or social workers on speed dial, especially those first couple of years.

And I recognize that anybody willing to say yes. to a youth that has had a major life disruption, a major trauma. Again, it could be from a loving home and then they have a death in the family or they were bullied or they have a really difficult experience with a parent having cancer. Those things are traumatic events for kids all the way into trafficking and foster care and being a refugee coming from a war torn country.

Those disrupt children's brains and it affects their development. And it makes it really hard because they tend to push away from safe authority figures or parental figures. They tend to act out what they cannot talk out. And so the need for a connected community of resources was evident to me early on in my adoption journey.

As you 

Jeff Holden: struggle to find. Whatever that situation may have 

Tiffany Loeffler: been. I was blessed to have several people step up and say, I'll come to your house. I'll take your kids. I'll come and do some nurture groups or some play sessions. I'm here for therapy. But most families aren't that interconnected. I had already been in this [00:11:00] space for three or four years before our kids were approved to finally come home.

And so really the alliance was birthed out of the idea that all kids in our community need support. The new data post COVID is that two thirds of kids will experience a major traumatic event before they turn 16. That number's not different depending on community. And so that happens in low income neighborhoods, that happens in really nice neighborhoods, that happens in all schools.

And so if we built something where all All the organizations serving vulnerable kids were working together. We would see those organizations have what they need. We would reduce the gaps in the system and we could connect families who are saying yes to kids or who are raising those kids biologically with more resources quicker.

Jeff Holden: 66 out of 100 children. trauma. 

Tiffany Loeffler: By the time they turn 16. By the time they turn 

Jeff Holden: 16. Yes. Boy, that's, that's a significant number. It's sobering. Which, which tells us that the need is there for support. Yes. And, and better yet, proper support so that we can get to the root cause of [00:12:00] it as opposed to treating.

Yeah. The symptoms of the trauma, which could manifest themselves in bullying and crime and 

Tiffany Loeffler: yes, 

Jeff Holden: keep going. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Yes, exactly. Drugs, 

Jeff Holden: et cetera. 

Tiffany Loeffler: They say that what's broken in relationship and most of our deepest wounds are, are because of someone else. And they often happen in relationship. Those things can only be healed in healthy relationships.

And so one of our goals is to create healthier relationships between parents and caregivers, between teachers and students, between social workers and the kids on their caseload. This is an opportunity for us as adults to first address things in us and to become healthy and securely attached, and then to just offer that to kids.

We can't enforce it. But we have to offer it. And so when we come to kids in healthy and healing ways, then we see dramatic amounts of healing happen in their lives, too. 

Jeff Holden: So 2016 ish, the Alliance is born. Yes. What does it look like at that point in time? What do people see it as? 

Tiffany Loeffler: Yep. It was a collective. It was kind of almost like a brainchild of [00:13:00] multiple leaders.

I gathered together everybody working in the at risk youth space that I knew at the time and we hosted several brainstorming meetings to say, what would it look like to start a new nonprofit, but one that's not going to step on any toes, one that's going to be very collaborative. We wanted to leave logos and egos at the door and say, let's, what are the gaps in the system and what does each of your organizations need in order to be successful?

Let's build a collective around that. 

Jeff Holden: You know, it's interesting as you said that, I couldn't help but reflect on something that we It's mission, not organization, and at the beginning of the alliance, it's exactly what you were saying. It's how do we come together for, you know, leave logos at the door. Yep.

Which is so significant. A little bit ahead of your time there, Tiffany. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Ah, well, we, I see these connections. I love looking at strategy and I love looking at trends, and so I was recognizing very early on that there, yes, there's about 2, 000 to 3, 000 kids at any given time in our local foster care system here in the greater Sacramento area, but that's just the tip of the iceberg.

The other [00:14:00] 80 percent of the iceberg are all of the kids in unsafe situations who are maybe being just forced into situations that are unhealthy at school or unhealthy at home and there's nobody that's reporting it yet. So there's, there's a lot of kids that are living in situations where there's neglect.

physical abuse, maybe sexual abuse, and it's just not reported because it's not seen. And so the, the homelessness ratios, I say 90 percent of homeless youth and adults came from broken homes. 80 percent of the people going to prison or to juvenile hall are coming from broken families. This is, this is an epidemic and it's all interconnected.

And so if we bring together, not just the agency serving foster youth. But the ones serving refugees, homeless families, child trafficking, anti trafficking agencies, then we can see so many more of the cracks in the system filled. 

Jeff Holden: And we can see it, even the teachers in school can see it, you know, where that family is dysfunctional.

Oh, absolutely. There's a parent home all the time, isn't the parent home at all times? Right. Or there's only one parent. If there are two [00:15:00] parents, maybe it's not a healthy relationship back to your trauma. 66%. Right. There's a lot of latchkey 

Tiffany Loeffler: kids. Their parents either both work full time or they have a single parent that is, you know, working two jobs.

And so they're fending for themselves. They might be parentified. The oldest child is taking care of the younger kids in the home. They're missing out on their childhood, but it's necessary. That's just how they operate. 

Jeff Holden: Parentified. That's a new word for me. I haven't heard that. So we learned something really significant that we can use in everyday conversation there.

That's right. I like that. What is the scope of the alliance? You mentioned, you know, broken homes and families. We certainly talked about foster children. What is the actual scope in terms of who does participate in it? And then we'll have a couple of follow up questions that 

Tiffany Loeffler: are 

Jeff Holden: natural on that. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Yeah, we partner with foster and adoption agencies.

We partner with Any nonprofit with services for at risk youth, we partner with churches who have ministry opportunities to serve kids in the community and professionals and support services. So support groups that are operating, professional attorneys or [00:16:00] social workers or counselors or therapists, anybody in the space of serving at risk youth.

Jeff Holden: And what's the geography that you encompass? 

Tiffany Loeffler: We say it's the greater Sacramento area, but that's five counties. Actually, we've expanded since we last spoke. I think we were just covering four counties at that time. And so we added Nevada County because several of the organizations that we partner with now are located in Nevada County, but Sacramento, Placer, Yolo, Eldorado, and Nevada County.

Jeff Holden: And then do you do East and West on Placer and Eldorado? You go all the way up to Tahoe. 

Tiffany Loeffler: We do. 

Jeff Holden: Yep. Wow. That's a lot of turf. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Yeah, people, we, we want to make it close enough, we're not planning to expand beyond those five counties. This is a model that could be replicated in other areas because regional alliances are really beneficial to the entire fabric of a community, but for us, for this alliance, we really want to focus on things where people can access resources and connect with each other and actually form relationships with people that are going to meet face to face.

Jeff Holden: So, I'm a nonprofit in that space, whether it's foster youth or, or benefit to students in [00:17:00] school, whatever it may be. What's the benefit to me to join the Alliance? What can I expect to get out of it? 

Tiffany Loeffler: Yes, we have three goals. And so the first goal of the Alliance is connecting organizations with each other and with needed resources.

And so we recognize early on that organizations actually don't work together. People do. So one of the things the Alliance does is we create an interconnected community where those leaders have opportunities to meet each other, build relationships, foster trust, have some vulnerability, and then all of a sudden you see those organizations start partnering together on maybe a project, a program, a fundraiser, a new resource that they're launching in the community, maybe a grant application that they want to co author together.

And so we get together either in person or on online. And since the pandemic hit, we didn't. miss a beat. We just moved some things to online, but we get our Alliance together four times a year. We do quite a few introductory emails. So as soon as a new group joins the Alliance, we're introducing them to everybody.

We feel like they should know in their sector. And then we also [00:18:00] are launching a brand new resource next Wednesday, which is for the 

Jeff Holden: benefit of somebody who's listening. This is November of 2024. Yes. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Yes. Thanksgiving 

Jeff Holden: week. 

Tiffany Loeffler: It is. We have 

Jeff Holden: something to be thankful for. That's coming up. 

Tiffany Loeffler: We do. We recently received funding to create a white label online community.

And so the Alliance is going to now house an online desktop and mobile version app to enhance collaboration throughout our community on an ongoing basis. And so it'll house all of our. learning center courses, which I'll talk about in a little, a little bit, but it'll also have all these different spaces where leaders can ask each other questions, share resources, celebrate each other's wins, find everybody in a directory, locate organizations on a map.

It'll be really holistic to allow collaboration to happen 365 days a year. 

Jeff Holden: Oh, I can't wait to see the app. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Me too. That is very 

Jeff Holden: cool. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Finalizing build out this week. 

Jeff Holden: Very, very cool. 

Tiffany Loeffler: So unity and connection with resources is number one. Number two is mobilizing the community to get [00:19:00] involved. So most nonprofits, they need donors and they need volunteers.

We recognize that. 

Jeff Holden: Not the nonprofit community. You're talking about community at large. We are talking about 

Tiffany Loeffler: the community at large. So one of the Alliance's goals is to raise the awareness of childhood trauma so that we can mobilize more people to volunteer and donate. Sometimes that's donating funds.

Sometimes that's donating items. So the alliance creates a centralized platform for all of that. We have a fully customized needs database that people can go to the 11 action database. They can look for volunteer opportunities or they can look for donation needs and that is Our members have full access to.

So they have their own portal, they're posting their requests, and then the community is meeting those needs. We also do drives three times a year. So our organizations don't necessarily have to anymore. So we do an emergency supply drive for kitchen supplies, bathroom supplies, and bedding in the spring, a backpack drive in the summer, and then our holiday drive, which is coming up.

in December, but we do Christmas gifts for thousands of kids, and it really either supplements the programs and drives that our members do, or they've stopped doing them all together because [00:20:00] they know that we can supply what they need. 

Jeff Holden: So those drives are then distributed in some far and wide fashion to all the organizations as they need.

So 

Tiffany Loeffler: community service groups, individuals, churches, the community at large gets blasted out these opportunities to make a difference. 

Jeff Holden: Where do you house all this stuff when it comes in? 

Tiffany Loeffler: Our office is filling up right now. We turn it into Santa's workshop every December. And so we also have an offsite storage unit that is very full right now.

Jeff Holden: Yeah, I can, I can only imagine, you know, with other organizations that we know do the same. Yes. That this is a tough time because you just overwhelm. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Right. 

Jeff Holden: With the work. Yep. 

Tiffany Loeffler: We're, yep. We have bikes. We have all sorts of things taking over our office right now, which is a good problem to have. 

Jeff Holden: It's, it is a great problem to have.

Tiffany Loeffler: All right. Third category is trauma informed education. That was one of the big requests when we were having those first round table meetings is we need a way to equip everywhere from the beginner volunteer to organizational staff to even, you know, education for counselors and therapists as new research comes out.

And so the Alliance really is [00:21:00] stepping up in that education space. We host an annual childhood trauma conference where we're bringing in top experts from our region to highlight what they know and to give us more trauma informed tools. We teach an eight week in depth parenting class that's trauma informed twice a year.

And then we also have an online learning center. So parents, caregivers, teachers, anybody who wants to work with kids in a more trauma informed way can hop on and take a class at any time. 

Jeff Holden: Almost like a certification. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Yeah, they come with a certificate at the end. We won't say that they're certified, but they definitely will be much more trauma informed and have some new tools in their tool belt after any of our classes.

Jeff Holden: Certainly than they were prior for sure. Summarize those three for me again. So connection, 

Tiffany Loeffler: we're connecting them with each other and resources. We're mobilizing our community. So all of our members are going to have more donors, more volunteers, and we're providing trauma informed education. 

Jeff Holden: Wonderful. Boy, what?

I talk about scope. That is scope. That is huge scope for a lot of organizations. Now this is fun because we had this conversation just a few minutes ago [00:22:00] before we started. In 2021, when we were talking, you had roughly 50 organizations participating. Here we are three years later, almost three years to the day.

Tiffany Loeffler: Yes. 

Jeff Holden: And we are at what number? 

Tiffany Loeffler: As of yesterday, 100 organizations. 

Jeff Holden: That's amazing. 

Tiffany Loeffler: It is amazing. It's amazing. 

Jeff Holden: To think that you've. Doubled. Just look at how far you've come. Now you've got an app. You've got a hundred organizations that you're servicing. You've got a warehouse full of stuff that you need for the drives that you do.

Tiffany Loeffler: And I 

Jeff Holden: can only imagine what the courses look like when people come in for the educational process and how many children and families you're touching in the grand scheme of things through the tentacles of all the other organizations. Absolutely. We'll be right back with Tiffany Loeffler of the Alliance right after we recognize the businesses supporting today's program.

I was in the media business for over 35 years and had the great privilege of working with Runyon Saltzman RSE, Marketing, Advertising, and Public Relations. We collaborated on many different campaigns, but their commitment to the non profit sector [00:23:00] hasn't changed since their founder Gene Runyon started the agency.

Over many years and many campaigns, Runyon Saltzman has been committed to improving lives by tackling California's most challenging issues, guided by research informed strategies and insightful, creative solutions. RSE develops innovative communications campaigns that raise awareness, educate, and reduce stigma in diverse communities throughout our state and beyond.

To learn more about RSE, visit rs e. com. 

Scott Thomas: Hello, this is Scott Thomas with CAP Trust in our Sacramento office. I specialize in working with local nonprofits and associations. Annually, we survey private and public non profit organizations across the country to better understand challenges they see in today's environment.

In our more recent survey, we heard concerns about proper board governance, mission aligned investment, and how to implement all term investments. If you would like a copy of the survey or to discuss your organization, [00:24:00] look me up, scottthomasatcaptrust. com. 

Jeff Holden: I'm thrilled to have Western Health Advantage partnering with us as they do so much to support so many non profit agencies in our community.

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com. So usually when I'm talking to the nonprofit or the executive leadership, it's like, well, how do you collaborate? You are the collaborator. In this case, it's not how do you, you are the collaborator and you've addressed some of the points on the expectation for the organizations to work together because that's part of what you do.

How does that happen? Yes. Because I'm sure some people are a little bit reluctant, they join, what's the [00:25:00] benefit for me? 

Tiffany Loeffler: Right. 

Jeff Holden: Well, there's a greater benefit. It's not just you. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Right. It's a bigger picture. Yes. But we tell every single member that's joining the Alliance, if you invest a little bit of your time and effort into coming to events, utilizing our resources, Posting things on our database, attending the trauma conference, you will get back exponentially more than you put in.

There is a small amount of member dues to join the Alliance. That ranges from 100 a year to 600 a year. But we are a force multiplier. And so a really fun example, Children's Hope is one of our foster family agencies. They pay 600 a year in member dues. We fundraise for the remainder of the resources we provide.

That equates to about us investing another 2, 000 per organization per year. Okay. On all of the events, the software, the resources that we give. So it costs about 2, 500 per organization. That being said, in the last year, Children's Hope has received 95 tickets to the zoo, five car seats, 26 beds, hundreds of backpacks.

The tangible items alone, we calculated it, it added up to nearly [00:26:00] 16, 000. Okay. And that didn't include any of the introductions, any of the support offered, or any of the trauma informed education they received. And that's just this last year. And 

Jeff Holden: some of that you can even use for your own fundraising for the organization, depending on what the opportunity is.

If it's like a pair of King's tickets or whatever the tickets may be, you can put those online and do something with them that's Certainly far greater than the existing value of face value. Yes, 

Tiffany Loeffler: it can be philanthropic. Everything through our 11 action database goes directly to the kids, but there, we also bring in amazing speakers.

And so one of the events we just launched in 2024 was what we call pro workshops where we're bringing top experts in to train up all of our members in fundraising, in marketing, in team development, in staff support, in emotional health. And so we're bringing in leaders in the community to again, make our organizations more healthy and.

to allow them to learn new skills so that they can enhance their communication strategy or their next fundraiser. So they're again, bringing in more money. 

Jeff Holden: And I'm imagining the beauty of this today, at least, [00:27:00] is that while there probably is still a virtual element to these things, there are also opportunities for people to.

congregate and gather. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Oh, let me tell you. Yes. No, 

Jeff Holden: it's a big deal. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Yes. People want to, I mean, especially after the pandemic, now that we're reflecting back three years, people were anxious to be with each other again. We wanted to be safe. We wanted to protect people's health, but at the same time, that face to face connection is so important in building relationships.

And so our favorite event of the year comes along every February. It's called A Night to Celebrate and it's a member appreciation event where we invite all of the organizations that are part of the alliance to come and we're celebrating the work that they're doing right here in our community because they are all the difference makers.

They're on the front lines day in and day out. And so I call this our red carpet award ceremony without the awards. Because the Alliance doesn't play favorites. And so it's just a beautiful opportunity for all of them to get dressed up and to come to a lovely three course dinner. They're sitting at three different tables throughout the evening.

So they're getting to collaborate. They all sit together with their team at the first table, but then [00:28:00] we do make them get up and move tables so that they can meet a lot of new people in the community. They're sharing their top accomplishment from last year. So we can celebrate and they're sharing their top goal for the upcoming year so that people can speak into that and work on collaborating and we can all know what's coming up in our community because of this event.

Jeff Holden: That's so neat. Now, is that something that Is hosted, underwritten, or paid for by the organization? 

Tiffany Loeffler: It's, we cover the cost alongside some very generous donors. 

Jeff Holden: Okay. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Yes. It's free for our members to come. 

Jeff Holden: That's fantastic. And we know the benefit of just sharing those stories amongst peers. Yes. Oh, you did that?

What a great idea. I can, I think I can do something like that. Can I reach out to you? 

Tiffany Loeffler: And they exchange, they all bring their stack of business cards and they walk out, not just with contacts, but with friendships that are starting. 

Jeff Holden: Well, and you're all in the same space too. Yes. Yes. So, it's not like you're, you're really disparate organizations, you know, one, one could be, you know, servicing seniors over here and you got another one over here that's, that's high school [00:29:00] youth.

Tiffany Loeffler: Right. 

Jeff Holden: There's not a whole lot of collaboration opportunity there, but when you get everything in the same space. Correct. You're all dealing with the same issues. Correct. All the time from different perspectives. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Exactly. It's all around kids. And so everybody has things that are either ideas that have worked for them, programs that could be used or resources that could be shared.

Hey, I have extra diapers or I have, you know, a drive coming up. And if we have surplus, do you need extra winter coats? I mean, this is an amazing community of sharing 

Jeff Holden: and 

Tiffany Loeffler: collaboration because they're getting to know each other. 

Jeff Holden: Yeah. Or did you know? Let me introduce 

Tiffany Loeffler: you to this person 

Jeff Holden: happens so often with somebody sitting across me in that chair.

It's like you're in Placer County. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Yeah, 

Jeff Holden: and I'm hearing stories about have you met? No, I haven't. You need to talk to each other, right? Your capacity is where they can support 

Tiffany Loeffler: and you might have heard of that person. But if you don't have, we know that doing the cold calls or the cold emails don't work, right?

That's why the Alliance is so unique because we aren't doing any of that. We are in [00:30:00] relationship with all of our members. We are creating relationship between members. And then those introductions are so, so simple when somebody who knows somebody personally connects them with somebody that they don't know, but that there's already relational buy in.

Jeff Holden: Well, I mean, just amongst ourselves, we had the opportunity to judge the Sacramento Venture Philanthropy Group's fast pitch. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Yes. 

Jeff Holden: And the connection on just the board of judges. having sat and talked and enjoyed each other's company Pitch candidates. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Yes. 

Jeff Holden: Created a different relationship, but now we all can pick up the phone and say, Hey, what about, did you see, hey, I got an idea, do you know?

Tiffany Loeffler: Yes. Whatever 

Jeff Holden: it is. 

Tiffany Loeffler: We had a shared experience. 

Jeff Holden: Yes. And isn't that so valuable in person? 

Tiffany Loeffler: Yes. Very much so. 

Jeff Holden: So, I think we've covered collaboration pretty well. And you did scratch the surface on, Membership. So that's one of the ways that you're generating revenue for the organization's support. 

Tiffany Loeffler: It's a small amount.

[00:31:00] It's under 10 percent of our budget is member dues. And that's what I 

Jeff Holden: wanted to ask you. Kept it very low. Let's walk through what that is. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: So it's membership and then how else do you raise money to get the organization where it needs to be? 

Tiffany Loeffler: Yeah. Some of our organizational education. Aspects have a cost.

So there's a small cost for online courses. There's a small cost to come to the trauma conference. We don't, we just break even on those things. So those aren't necessarily generating revenue, but they are paying for themselves, which is amazing. The rest of the Alliance is supported by incredible business sponsors and individual donors in the community.

And we are passed through. So if somebody comes to us and say, I'm really passionate to give funding to refugees, we're going to introduce you to. 10 different organizations that serve refugees that are in our network, or I really have a passion for crisis pregnancy centers. Wonderful. I'd like to introduce you to the leaders of two different crisis pregnancy centers that I was, you know, on a call with last week.

But if you look at the opportunity, the Alliance allows donors to simplify and amplify their impact because they can give, if they, if they like the service. The big picture, or if they don't know where to give, [00:32:00] then giving to the Alliance allows us to fund resources that support 100 other organizations.

And we're going to multiply those donations and pay it forward. So we're helping the entire community 

Jeff Holden: without having to get into the discussion of restricted unrestricted. Where does this go and have a distribution of the actual funding itself, which is both valuable on that. And as, as the other is, it's just two very, very different ways of looking at collectively benefiting organizations.

is the budget. What is, what are you dealing with at this point now? What, eight, almost? 

Tiffany Loeffler: We've, we've grown substantially. I think we're going to end this year somewhere around 450, 000 as our operating budget. We have big plans for growth and expansion next year. I mean, so we're looking at next year having around a 600, 000 operating budget.

Jeff Holden: That is amazing. And to have a hundred organizations, that to me, aside from sometimes It makes my head hurt. You know, that's a lot of people to deal with. I have a team 

Tiffany Loeffler: of people with me. There's nine of us on staff. I 

Jeff Holden: was just going to ask, what is the size of the [00:33:00] staff? Okay. 

Tiffany Loeffler: We're very relational. And so I definitely know those hundred organizations, but I am not in deep relationship with all of them because I have a team who is.

Jeff Holden: So let me ask you a fun question. And you've already scratched the surface of some of it. This is the one, budget's no option. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Oh. 

Jeff Holden: Right? What would it look like if, if you didn't have to worry about the day to day and, you know, an actual budget? What would the alliance be? 

Tiffany Loeffler: There are over 250 non profits serving vulnerable kids and families in the Sacramento area, and I would love to be in relationship and supporting all of them.

Jeff Holden: Well, shoot, you're Almost halfway there. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Well, that there's lots of churches too. There's thousands of churches. So I would be happy with a network of two to 300 organizations. I just see so much more opportunities ahead. I could see us as we grow doing very County specific things. And so there'll be networking in Eldorado County and networking in Yolo County and Placer and SAC opportunities.

And we have the goal to add a job board so that as those organizations need to [00:34:00] hire, there's a very clear space for people in the community who want to, to want to use their career knowledge or want to work in the space of serving at risk youth, they can check things out on a job board. We hope to launch a counselor and therapist directory, that app for member connections.

We just hope to see that continue to grow. We're launching it next week, but I'd love to see hundreds, maybe thousands of people using that so that this collaborative movement, it doesn't stop or start with us. It's just absolutely ongoing all throughout the year. 

Jeff Holden: You say job board and my eyes light up and everything because I'm going to take a little shameless plug here for the podcast.

When we started, I thought it was a marketing tool. Here's a marketing tool for you to use to tell your story and your words in a unique way that you really probably wouldn't spend the money on. So we do it pro bono and it's underwritten by the sponsors. And that's where I kind of stopped. But it's been used in so many different ways.

It's been attached to grants to give them a point of differentiation. And they say people are actually listening. They see themselves moving up and getting grant [00:35:00] awards that they didn't get before. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Right? 

Jeff Holden: The second part that I heard, and this was just recently, for job recruits. We're using the podcast for recruit.

I said, I don't, I don't quite understand. Well, we, we have a job opening job board at a particular organization. We may have five, six, seven candidates. Send them the podcast. We don't have to take the time to explain the organization. That's done. If they show up and don't know about us. They didn't pay attention, right?

They aren't a candidate, 

Tiffany Loeffler: right? So we've weeded out 

Jeff Holden: quickly and vetted 

Tiffany Loeffler: those 

Jeff Holden: who care versus those who don't. Find out who's a 

Tiffany Loeffler: good active listener, and hopefully they're also coming in with ideas or insights or observations from the podcast. 

Jeff Holden: Especially on Budget No Option, if I'm that candidate, I have a dream for this organization that I want to talk to and you'll get stuff just out of those interviews that, Oh, I didn't think about that.

You know? So it, it just strikes me and it's so rewarding to hear that people are using it in so many different ways. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Well done, Jeff. This [00:36:00] is a pay it forward as well. 

Jeff Holden: Right. And it's to say, if you are listening, as you hear that, use it that way because it's another tool for you to save you time. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Amazing.

Jeff Holden: Okay, now we're back to reality. The dream is, is, is today. What is the greatest need that you have? 

Tiffany Loeffler: We are growing, so it's a, it's a blessing, but it's also the greatest need that like I mentioned, we're investing quite a bit more into every organization on an annual basis than they put in. We want them to have some skin in the game because that makes them more collaborative.

But if anyone wants to join in this movement of generosity, we are. Always looking for new donors, new business sponsors who want to see this collaborative movement continue to grow alongside all of the organizations. So especially at year end giving, but throughout the year we have a monthly donation program.

We have business sponsorship opportunities. We have a fantastic, generous community of business leaders that now get to collaborate with each other. We host events for them as well. And so it can be a place where you're. philanthropy also meets opportunities to network with other [00:37:00] business leaders. And so again, the Alliance gets to be that hub for people in the community who want to see every child in a safe, loving home, but also want to connect with other people in the community that they could do business with or that they can, you know, access for other resources.

Jeff Holden: What I like is. Because of the organization structure, it's like minded. So when those sponsors come in, if you have that sponsor or when you have that sponsor event and they're all together, they all know why they're there. They all know what they've done in a particular situation. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Yes. And 

Jeff Holden: sometimes it's challenging because the people who are sponsoring, Are extremely philanthropic.

Mm-hmm . We have wonderful businesses in town that do that. We do. And, and sometimes it just, it's out there. But the coalition of those people that support the organizations doesn't ever connect. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Right. And so we create that into every one of our, our networking or fundraising events. There's a component of who else is in the room.

Right. And connect with them and exchange some more business cards. Well, [00:38:00] there's 

Jeff Holden: two things happening. There's the synergy of it. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Mm-hmm . 

Jeff Holden: But you are at a point now over the course of the last. So, you know, if you go from eight years to where you've gone from, you know, 50 to 100, you've doubled. Typically that's a geometric.

The next change, it won't be eight, it'll be four before you double again or less. And it's obviously just based on need, but as need presents itself for the organization, so does need for funding 

Tiffany Loeffler: in order 

Jeff Holden: to keep up with the expectations. Right. 

Tiffany Loeffler: We hope to add 30 new organizations next year. We also have seen in the last year to year and a half, this has been a really hard time for nonprofit leaders.

There's been some very difficult legislative changes in California that have made staying open more expensive or more difficult. We've seen the trauma in kids go up. As I mentioned earlier, 50 percent and now it's 66%. We're also seeing a lot of leader burnout. And so one of my big passion points for the years to come are to create those places where leaders can get extra support, where we're [00:39:00] doing connection events for executive directors, providing additional tools, but also a safe place for them to share the state of their heart and the state of their organization where there's no, it's a vulnerable space, but there are no detriments to sharing.

We can't necessarily share as an executive director. We're not going to share. with our donor base or even with our staff when we're having a really hard time, but we need to share that somewhere. And we need to share it with like minded people. I mean, I'm sure all of our spouses know when we're having a hard day, but we want to share it with others that can be encouraging others that have walked through hard things before and come out on the other side, stronger and better.

And so after offering those spaces, especially to executive directors is one of my passions for this coming year. 

Jeff Holden: And so necessary. And we have some of the executive directors who have been 15, 18, 20, 25, 30 years in those organizations. And that intellectual equity, experiential equity is so valuable. 

Tiffany Loeffler: We cannot let them burn out.

We 

Jeff Holden: can't let them burn out because we [00:40:00] need to share what they know for those who are coming in behind them. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Right. 

Jeff Holden: That's just wonderful stuff. The work you guys are doing, you, you literally. Are walking the walk and I I need to add something here because we talked about the children in the beginning.

Tiffany Loeffler: Yes 

Jeff Holden: since 2021. Something else has changed. It's not just two children. Yep. 

Tiffany Loeffler: We added a third one to the mix. My husband and I, um, had a biological child in 2023. So he's now 20 months old. He's lots of fun. I was a little bit apprehensive in the sense that I didn't want our older kids to feel like they were less than, or that, that we were finally having a child that looked like us.

Cause From, from Haiti, my, my older two kids don't look like me. Yes. Um, and so it was just amazing that the exact opposite occurred. As they got to experience a baby in their lives, they, for the first time, were seeing how babies should be cared for and how they should be loved and how they should be nurtured.

And they didn't witness that in the orphanage [00:41:00] at all. 

Jeff Holden: Right. 

Tiffany Loeffler: And so they had no paradigm and no model for healthy parenting at the young stages of life because we missed those little ages. And so I'm seeing trauma healed in my older kids as they're watching us love their younger brother and as they're loving their younger brother.

And so it's a really, I mean, they were in an orphanage with 85 kids, so they were used to lots of kids. That part was, was fine and easy and they like littles, but getting to see love and getting to witness how connection and attachment are built on those early zero to two age that, that attachment foundation is so vital before kids turn two years old.

And I think my older two missed most of those opportunities. And so there's a little bit of repair and healing now, even as they're witnessing it for our son, Riley. 

Jeff Holden: Oh, they get to see it and experience it. And in such a unique situation and a unique setting, where they have both parents who are loving and caring and considerate, and they've had the benefit of their years with you first.

Yes, 

Tiffany Loeffler: [00:42:00] exactly. And now 

Jeff Holden: they see it starting 

Tiffany Loeffler: over again. Yeah. So I do have toddlers and teenagers, which is a little crazy. I think I have a few more gray hairs, but it's a, it's a wild and crazy ride we're on, but we're, we're enjoying it. 

Jeff Holden: Well, it's so neat to see the enthusiasm that you got to remember saying something about it in the last conversation we had three years ago.

You've had your cup of coffee. Here we are again. It's an early, early morning session. You've had your cup of coffee. And I just love what you bring to the conversation and the passion you've got for the community and for the communities that you serve. And, and that. really exemplifies the fact that it's about mending broken families.

Yes. And we know it's such a big part of life today, you know, and, and the kids are the unfortunate recipients of those broken families. And that just continues to perpetuate itself if we don't break that cycle in so many different ways. So thank you for what you're doing with the Alliance. What a neat organization.

And so, so cool to see that you've doubled. [00:43:00] Congratulations. Thank you. On the family. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Thank you. 

Jeff Holden: And I appreciate what you and your team have been doing and keep it up. 

Tiffany Loeffler: Thanks, Jeff. Thank you so much for having me back. 

Jeff Holden: Thanks, Tiffany.

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