(classical music) - PNC is proud to support Business Forward, where community leaders discuss the issues confronting business in central Illinois.

(music fades) (instrumental music builds) (music fades) - Welcome to Business Forward, I'm your host, Matt George.

Joining me tonight, a very special guest, I'm glad to have you on, Brad McMillan.

Brad is the coordinator of the non-profit leadership program at Bradley University, and governmental affairs, and Professor of Leadership, and you name it, he does just about everything, welcome.

- Thanks, Matt.

Great to be here.

- Well, I've got a ton to talk to you about.

And I've known you for a long time, but I always kind of think of you just as that politician go-to guy.

Like you just know stuff.

And so I'm just gonna read something.

You served as chief of staff for former Congressman and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood.

And, you know, we talk about, and you hear it all the time, bipartisanship.

And I usually don't get into politics here, but I find it interesting that he is one middle Illinois politician that actually can say he was bipartisan.

(laughing) Is that correct?

- Yeah, it's rare.

You don't find much of it in our country these days, but Ray really had the ability to reach across the political aisle and work well with others.

That's obviously why President Elect Obama picked him - [Matt] Yeah.

- to be in his cabinet.

And he comes and speaks to my bipartisan leadership class at Bradley every year.

He's got great stories to share.

- I bet he does.

I was lucky enough to take my family to Washington, D.C. when he was still a Congressman.

I always thought it was cool, because he had all these pictures of him and President Bush, and then when he became the Secretary, you sit there and go, oh man, there's a whole other administration.

And if you're like me, you just love politics from a sense of the respect for the Presidency, no matter who's in it.

And that's how I've always been.

I don't always agree with one side or the other side or whatever.

It doesn't really matter.

But at the same time, that's the President of the United States.

- [Brad] Absolutely.

And you know, Ray was known for treating others with mutual respect and civility.

He chaired bipartisan congressional retreats.

Great role model for, you know, and he's a Bradley University alum.

- [Matt] Right.

- [Brad] So we always want to take credit for that as well.

But he's been wonderful to me professionally.

I served as his chief of staff for 10 years and it was one of the great professional periods in my life.

- [Matt] I bet.

- Yeah.

- I bet you you've got some stories too.

Do the kids, I say kids, do the students when he comes in and tells a story, are they thinking this is big time?

- You know, I do think he makes a great impression on them.

What's interesting is this current generation, Matt, you know, they've known nothing but the partisan bickering and fighting.

And when we can give real examples of bipartisan leadership that has resulted in things like the Civil Rights Act getting passed, and you know, other key pieces of public policy and legislation and Ray talking about, you know, his relationship with Bill Clinton and with Barack Obama, even though he was a Republican, this generation is drawn to that.

They really don't like the extremism that we currently see in our national politics.

So it gives me hope.

- [Matt] Yeah.

- [Brad] For the future that maybe this new generation may take a different leadership approach when they get in positions of influence.

- That's a strong statement.

So talking about governmental affairs at Bradley University or Illinois State or wherever you may be.

So at Bradley, as an example, what would you be working on in governmental affairs on behalf of the university?

What would be some examples of that?

- Well, for example, we just went through the pandemic and there was a debate in Congress on whether private colleges and universities should get to be a part of the CARES Act and pandemic relief.

And we were successful in having Bradley University included, which meant a lot of financial assistance during a very tough period of time over two years.

We have a new nursing simulation lab that is gonna be built in the coming weeks that Senator Durbin picked as one of his community-impact projects.

Cheri Bustos picked our game design program to work on an Air Force research project with the University of Dayton.

And so we not only work with our federal legislators, we work very closely with our state legislative delegation on the monetary assistance program, scholarships that over a thousand Bradley students get annually.

So, and there's local issues.

I'm serving on Mayor Ali's Amtrak Passenger Rail Group at the request of President Standifird.

So, you know, a lot of different issues.

- Yeah, so some pretty, pretty neat stuff.

When you're talking about teaching leadership to today's students, you know, I kind of get frustrated sometimes when people sit here and say, well, the younger generation, they don't know what we knew and all this and everything.

My kids are all 27, 25, 20, they're all a whole heck of a lot smarter than I am.

- Absolutely.

I have four children, man.

(laughter) The thing I love about my children is they're across the political spectrum.

So I'd say my oldest son leans Democratic, my daughter, who's getting her PhD in biochemistry at Wisconsin leans Independent, my engineering son - (Matt chuckles) Yeah.

- who just got a job with Caterpillar leans Republican.

And my youngest son is an Independent.

- [Matt] Well there you go.

- And I love the fact that they've all found their own political identity.

And as a professor at Bradley University, that's what I want each of the Bradley students to do is to find their own political identity, be engaged, care about the issues of the day.

I don't care which party they pick.

- [Matt] Right, right.

- I don't care which candidate they support.

I just want them to be engaged.

- Yeah, so the reason I really had you on the show is I want to talk about nonprofits.

- [Brad] Sure.

- You know, that's very close to my heart.

- [Brad] Yeah.

- And you have a program at Bradley that is a master's degree program designed for working professionals to get into the sector, so to speak.

Is that correct?

- Yeah, so either getting into the sector, or many times the graduate students are in the sector, but they've reached a ceiling on their level of promotion within the organization.

So once they get the graduate degree, they usually get promoted within the current nonprofit organization or they move to another nonprofit organization in a leadership position.

We've actually had Julie Siebert from The Children's Home is a graduate of our program.

She's an adjunct professor in grant writing.

Anthony Rush, who works at The Children's Home is a graduate of the program.

Matt Coates is a former - Right.

- member of the program.

So, and if you think about it, I know this program tries to focus on business.

And one of the main points I wanted to stress today is the nonprofit sector is a huge part of our economy.

- [Matt] Huge.

- [Brad] I mean, if you think about OSF healthcare as a nonprofit, UnityPoint's a nonprofit, Bradley University is a nonprofit, Illinois Central College is a nonprofit.

The Children's Home is the largest human service organization in the tri-county area.

But then you add Easter Seals and on down the line.

- [Matt] Right.

- It's a huge part of our workforce.

The other thing that the nonprofit sector does is they bring outside federal state grant money, foundation money to the area to help out with the needs of our community.

So it's a huge economic engine, - [Matt] Yeah.

- for the Tri-County area.

And so, it's fun to be a part of the program because the students want to make a meaningful difference - [Matt] Yeah.

- in their communities.

- I was gonna bring this up later.

I'm glad you brought it up.

Because most people, when they hear nonprofit, they think of charities.

They use the word charities.

I hear it all the time when I'm talking to donors and this and that.

And so just in, and I call it social service works, but in the social service space alone, just in this area, you're talking 3,000 plus employees.

But like you said, you add libraries and hospitals and everything else that you can think of, it's in the thousands and thousands of employees.

But, you know, you said something, and I think these courses speak to what I want to talk about topic-wise today is, but they're all still businesses.

- Oh, there's a great overlap.

- [Matt] Right.

- You know, between business and and nonprofit, you know, the classes that you would take if you were a part of the program include strategic planning and financial management, but there's a little bit of difference.

You also take grant writing, grant writing is not necessarily something you do in the private sector.

Fundraising, which is really the lifeblood of the nonprofit sector.

So there's a lot of overlap, but there's some distinctions as well.

- Yeah, I personally speak a lot on people that want to get into the business have to understand that it is a business.

And at the end of the day, you have to have money, no matter what, to have programs.

And I think sometimes there there's a debate, you know, a lot of people that are mission-driven and program, not that I'm not mission-driven, but that program people I've always thought they think it's program first.

And then the business side is always thinking that it's if you don't have money, there's no program.

- (chuckles) Yeah.

You have to have resources.

- [Matt] You have to have resources.

- Yeah, in order to accomplish your mission and have a social impact.

So, and the other big transition that's happening with the masters in nonprofit leadership program, it's been in existence at Bradley for 29 years, but next fall, it's transitioning to 100% online.

And we learned in the pandemic, our eyes were opened.

I was one of the professors, not last fall, but the fall before, they gave professors and students the option of being either in person or virtual.

I offered to be in person, 'cause I thought some of my students wanted that.

By the second week in class, I'm standing in the classroom by myself.

All 15 of my graduate students are at home in their comfy clothes (Matt laughs) participating virtually in my class.

And the reality is graduate students work full-time.

A lot of them have families.

So the online option is something they greatly prefer.

And so we've decided to move in that direction.

So next fall will be all online.

- Oh well that's pretty cool.

So when you're talking about strategic planning with nonprofits, I think sometimes a lot of people forget that you have to have some sort of a plan to grow in the space, 'cause a lot of nonprofits go stagnant.

They really do.

- Yeah, yeah.

Well and it's critical that when you do a strategic plan that it's an action plan and that it's something that becomes a part of the monthly operations of the organization and is monitored so that you can tell whether you're making progress in the areas that you want to grow and develop in.

You know, we have at Bradley Dr. Aaron Buchko who's probably done more strategic planning for nonprofits than anybody I know.

- [Matt] Yeah.

- So, but it needs to be, and it's funny because Aaron just helped Bradley with our new strategic plan.

And I knew beforehand that he was gonna get it down to a one-page document.

- [Matt] Yeah.

- And he did.

- [Matt] Yeah.

- And so it has to be something very focused.

- Yeah, and when, when President Standifird was on the show, we talked about actually getting it down to a readable document, a document that, again, I'm gonna throw out Dr. Weinzimmer, too.

- Yeah.

- That, you know, he's a brilliant man and we've had discussions in the past of how do you take a strategic plan and just not have it be put on the bookshelves.

- [Brad] Exactly.

- [ Matt] You know, and so that's what this dashboard or whatever you want to call it is.

- Yeah.

- So when you are teaching this and you're talking about strategic planning for nonprofits, are you showing them how to do the plan or how to actually implement the plan once it's done or both?

- It's both.

- Yeah, because I think it's important, I think sometimes you can get the plan done.

- Now you have to have an implementation strategy as well.

And so, I actually bring in Dr. Buchko and Dr. Weinzimmer as guest speakers in my class, 'cause I never believe that I am the expert that has all the answers.

And when you have talent on campus, you want to tap into them.

- So when you talk about financial leadership and you're teaching that, what do you hit on in financial leadership in the nonprofit sector?

Grants?

Or are you talking about just revenue streams?

- Yeah, well we have a separate grant writing class and the students actually prepare a real grant for a nonprofit organization.

- [Matt] Okay.

- And we submit that.

Financial management is more preparing budgets and you know, the interactions that need to take place between the board of directors and the leadership team and how you create the budget.

It also involves government contracting, you know, a lot of nonprofits have government contracts.

- [Matt] Yeah.

- I know The Children's Home has a significant amount.

So there there's a lot of different elements to financial management in the nonprofit world.

- Yeah.

State contracts differ from federal contracts and so on.

But when it comes down to it, that budgeting piece, when we hire people in the nonprofit sector, I think this is probably one piece that needs to be more of a focus.

And I'm glad you're teaching it because the more that people know from the business side, the faster they're going to elevate in this business, because people, you touched on it earlier, you know, a lot of people get into this business for whatever reason.

And there's a lot of people that do it for the sake of the community or their mission or themselves, whatever it may be.

But a lot of times, too, people think there's a cap of how you can move up in a nonprofit.

And I've always said this, there's never a ceiling in a nonprofit.

If you're a star, we will figure out a way to keep you and to keep moving you up.

- Yeah, well, I just stepped off the board of directors of AMT after 12 years.

And Andrew Rand is the CEO and chair of that company that has grown exponentially and they have two of the best financial geniuses helping Andrew with that company.

And I have Tim and Chelsea come in and speak to the financial management class.

So that's, it's absolutely critical for nonprofit organizations.

- Yeah, and I think when you go to the fundraising piece, it's another key piece.

Not necessarily that you're gonna go into the fundraising or development department or marketing, but to at least understand how important it is, not just dollar-wise, but also community-wise, and that brand that you're putting out there.

- Yeah, it's another essential piece of the puzzle.

So one other thing I want to mention about the new online program in the fall.

If you work full time in the nonprofit sector and you apply to the program, you can get a 30% tuition reduction.

Bradley University leadership has made that decision to try to encourage, we want to make the program convenient and affordable.

- And that's great.

And it's a true testament to Bradley to understand how important this is.

You mentioned nursing earlier on the government affairs part that we were talking about.

I mean, we lack nurses, we lack medical professionals, not just people in social services.

- So, I want to give this example, 'cause I think it's really neat.

So the community impact proposal that Senator Durbin picked with this new nursing simulation lab, we're gonna be able to increase our nursing capacity at Bradley 15%, but we're gonna target those spots for Peoria public school students.

- [Matt] Oh wow.

- And we've worked with Dr. Sharon Kherat and we're also gonna bring those students through the labs when they're sophomores and juniors in high school to expose them to the profession and then encourage them to apply to Bradley University.

So it's a win, win, win, - [Matt] That is cool, yeah.

- on many levels.

But yeah, we have a nursing shortage, but we'd like to grow some of our own locally.

- [Matt] And keep 'em here.

- And keep 'em here.

So that's part of our strategy too.

- Yeah, exactly.

So Peoria has seen double-digit growth in this sector when you're talking about the adding that healthcare piece in there, which is is vital.

When did you see kind of that shift from it being a manufacturing town to kind of a healthcare/nonprofit area?

Because that's what we've become.

- Yeah, it seems like it's been in the last five to 10 years where you've really seen that transition in our local economy, but healthcare is the number one industry right now in central Illinois.

Again, a lot of the healthcare organizations are nonprofits.

The nonprofit sector has grown significantly as well.

Bradley sees the healthcare arena as an important part of our future.

We're adding occupational therapy.

We're looking at physician assistance degrees.

- [Matt] Nice.

- We're going to start to grow working with our friends at the hospitals.

- [Matt] Yeah.

- Both OSF and UnityPoint.

But you know, it's a huge part of Peoria's future.

- You know what I liked, when they hired Dr. Standifird to come on board, I really didn't know him at the beginning.

And, you know, people always can think what they want but I'm like, I just can't wait to sit down with this guy and kind of pick his brain on some things.

And I think what the pandemic did is it gave schools either an opportunity to stay the course or to change with the times.

And I kind of feel like after talking to him about the strategic plan and the way it was put out there is that he is all about change.

And he cares about the students and the struggles that some of these students have.

And the more people that we can keep in school and get that education, the more people that are happy, provide for their families, but also, we touched on it, stay in this community.

- So I've been at Bradley 15 years.

I am a huge fan of President Standifird.

I consider him to be innovative.

- [Matt] Innovative, great word.

And I also, he's, I'm probably gonna get myself in trouble here, but he's the most community-minded president that I've worked with at Bradley University.

- [Matt] Yeah.

- He knows that the health of Bradley is dependent on the health of the community.

And that's something that I'm thrilled about.

- Yeah he's out there, which is fun.

So when you go back, and I get sick of talking about COVID, but I do think since I'm in this sector myself, that the disruption that happened in this is do you see light at the end of the tunnel in hiring and getting more people into this?

I know the program is one big piece of that, but you know, I think nonprofits across the board, just like any business, we're struggling to get people in there, all people.

- Yeah, I mean, we're in a very unique spot with workforce and not only in central Illinois, but nationally, and smart minds need to try to figure out, - [Matt] Yeah.

- you know, what the right solutions are moving forward.

You know, fortunately we have a strong enrollment for next fall at Bradley.

I think we've had more stability at Bradley than in other sectors, you know, in the community.

The nonprofit sector I think was hit hard by the pandemic.

- [Matt] Yeah.

- In a lot of ways.

And wage scales are going up, but inflation is, you know, - [Matt] Right.

- kind of not making that a-- - [Matt] (chuckles) Not making it easy.

- Not making it easy on people.

- [Matt] Yeah.

- So there's a lot of challenges.

I do see brighter days ahead.

And I think we're all ready to get beyond the pandemic as fast as we can.

- Yeah, I like that you're saying it's going fully online.

I love the idea of the 30%, basically a coupon, but time-wise, what are we looking at getting through this program?

If I was-- - Yeah.

Yeah and I'm really glad you asked 'cause that that's important for people to understand.

So the way we've designed the online program, the most classes that you would take at one time are two classes.

- [Matt] Okay.

- So for example, next fall, the first, there'll be three classes offered.

Two of them will be 7.5 weeks in length.

One will be 15 weeks in length.

- [Matt] Okay.

- But the way we did it, you can start in the fall, go in the spring of '23, the summer of '23, the fall of '23, and you can finish the program in 16 months.

You don't have to finish it that fast.

You can have more time if you need to, because of your circumstances, but you can finish the master's in nonprofit leadership degree at Bradley University in 16 months.

- [Matt] Wow.

- But not take more than two classes at one point in time for people who work full time.

- [Matt] Yeah.

- That is-- - You can spread it out, too.

You could spread it out to three, four.

- And most of the work will be what's called asynchronous, that you do on your own time.

There will be some synchronous elements, but all those will be recorded so that if for whatever reason you missed it, you wouldn't miss the substance of what was discussed.

- I gotcha, and the other thing too, is there isn't, I speak all over about nonprofit you name it, and there are a lot of local, highly recognizable people that have gone through this program and become very successful.

- Well, and not only that, and this is, I'm glad I'm thinking of this, but most of our classes are taught by very talented adjunct faculty.

- [Matt] Yeah.

- With real world experience in the nonprofit sector.

Your chief operating officer, Julie Siebert, grant writing.

I finally talked Mark Roberts into teaching a class in the course.

We have really talented subject matter experts that are teaching these classes, and so.

- Well, it's a great course.

I hear nothing but great things about it.

I really appreciate having you on the show.

I really stress people to call you because one thing that this community and all communities need, but central Illinois needs more people in this sector.

So Brad-- - Please have them call me at (309) 256-7222.

(Matt laughs) - [Matt] I love it.

- It's my cell phone.

- All right, I appreciate it.

Brad McMillan, good stuff.

I'm Matt George.

and this is Business Forward.

(upbeat instrumental music) - Thank you for tuning in to Business Forward brought to you by PNC.

(classical music)