Episode #100. Best practices in funding your aphasia program with Kathryn Shelley

I'm Ellen Bernstein-Ellis, Program Specialist and Director Emeritus for the Aphasia Treatment Program at Cal State East Bay and a member of the Aphasia Access Podcast Working Group. AA strives to provide members with information, inspiration, and ideas that support their aphasia care through a variety of educational materials and resource I'm today's host for an episode that will feature Kathryn Shelley, former Aphasia Access President and co-founder and current Grant Director for the Aphasia Center of West Texas. Kathryn was our guest for episode #1 of the Aphasia Access Conversations Podcast and we are delighted and honored to invite her back to be the guest on this 100th episode of our Aphasia Conversations Podcast. We'll discuss financial sustainability of Life Participation programs across a variety of settings, with a focus on best practices for fundraising. Guest bio

Kathryn Shelley has over 30 years' experience in nonprofit management, board leadership, strategic planning, marketing, and fundraising. She is co-founder, prior Executive Director, Marketing & Development Director, and currently the Grants Director for the Aphasia Center of West Texas, one of the earliest community-based nonprofits in the U.S. to incorporate the Life Participation Approach to Aphasia. Prior to her father's stroke in 2001 and his resulting aphasia, Kathryn was lead designer and co-owner of a marketing and graphic design firm in Austin Texas. Listener Take-aways In today's episode you will: Hear how two events involving chocolate and rock and roll have grown awareness and funds. Find out how typical stages of organizational development might influence your fundraising capacity. Gain practical tips for sharing the impact of your aphasia program to help raise awareness and funding. Learn about some resources available for supporting your nonprofit know-how. Show notes edited for conciseness and clarity Ellen Bernstein-Ellis So, Kathryn, I want to give you a shout out and just a great big welcome. It took 100 episodes, but thank you for coming back. Kathryn Shelley Thank you so much for having me, Ellen. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis 01:24 Absolutely, I was glad to introduce you. You've done so much and have worn so many different hats, Kathryn, and I'm excited to get to have a discussion with you today. So again, welcome. Kathryn Shelley 02:20 Thank you. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis 02:21 We like to start off the episodes with a fun question. Can you share an Aphasia Access favorite resource? Kathryn Shelley 02:33 Well, it's a hard pick, there are so many. But let me tell you about the one that I'm involved in right now - top of mind. It's an online certificate and badge course, E-badge course, called Person Centered care, Life Participation Approach to Aphasia series. Aphasia Access just launched the first in that series called The Life Participation, Knowledge Course. It's so much more than a webinar. It's contemporary, and it's how you interact with each of eight modules. You earn .25 CEUs, and at the end you receive a clickable E badge which takes anybody, an employer, your peers, if you have that in your email signature, to a site that shows everything that you did to earn that badge. It's so contemporary and so comprehensive, and it will give someone a foundational understanding of the Life Participation Approach. I'm loving working with Melinda Corwin and Nina Simmons-Mackie, and just the entire team of subject matter experts. The reviews are coming in from both professors teaching the next generation and current speech pathologists that it is really fantastic and very, very helpful. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis 04:06 We can also point our listeners to Episode 92 to learn more about this course, because we actually interviewed Melinda and Brooke Hallowell. So that's another place they can go to learn more. Can you explain to the listeners how they can access the course? Kathryn Shelley 04:27 On AphasiaAccess.org, you'll see the li