Your Story Goes (HERE) is an interview series aimed at spotlighting the stories of remarkable people and their impactful work, especially those whose contributions may not have received the recognition they should. 

Today we feature Austin Together, whose purpose is to strengthen the nonprofit community in Central Texas by enabling sustained collaborations. Host Ray Brimble interviews the Executive Director of Austin Together, Karen LaShelle, and the Board Chair, Rich Smalling. 

RAY BRIMBLE: 

This edition of Your Story Goes (HERE) is very dear to me as I have been a part of the story that goes (HERE). This is the story of an idea that begins as a seed, quietly takes root and grows into a tree. Rich, maybe you can tell us a little bit about how Austin Together started. 

RICH SMALLING:

Well, this all started when you and I met to discuss the state of our nonprofit community over a glass of wine. We witnessed a lot of growth in the number of nonprofits, and the needs they served, but not as much growth in donations. That conversation set us off on a search to see what other communities were experiencing. We found several communities that formed funds to help nonprofits explore how they could collaborate for more impact and financial strength. 

We learned from those that came before us, raised seed funding from The Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, and started making grants. Eventually, we were smart enough to bring Karen on board to lead us into the future.

RAY BRIMBLE:

You’re right about that! Karen LaShelle brings over 25 years of non-profit experience and took Austin Together to a different level by focusing on changing the culture to one of collaboration. Karen, could you tell us a little more about that?

KAREN LASHELLE:

Well, first off, you both created a strong foundation for Austin Together and established the purpose and vision. It gave me the opportunity to build on that. Because collaboration can be overwhelming, you helped break the process into logical phases to make it more manageable. The basics were all there for me.

After being with the team for a little while and thinking back on my own time leading a nonprofit, I realized there is this other piece that goes beyond the technical aspects of collaboration; that missing piece is rooted in creating opportunities for people to build trust and help plant the seeds for them to collaborate. 

Especially after COVID, people were disconnected in the nonprofit community. The relationships weren’t there. It led to a lack of coordination and a lot of missed opportunities.

I started thinking about how we could foster a larger vision – one that shifted the culture of our community to be more collaborative and less competitive. 

We've seen an increase in competitive funding that often pits organizations against one another. I believe we can counter this by showing that working together is a strength, not a weakness. Collaborations would not only help organizations meet their mission, but by working together, they are stronger and will get more funding. 

We launched an annual event in 2023 to give people an opportunity to build relationships and become aware of collaboration strategies. This was the beginning of us turning Austin Together into a platform for bringing the community together to feel connection and to collaborate.

RAY BRIMBLE:

Can you describe what kinds of collaboration that you're seeing?

KAREN LASHELLE:

On one end, it’s things like alliances, networks, and coalitions. Organizations maintain their identities, but find something meaningful to collaborate on, whether it’s advocacy or coordination of effort, things that they can’t do on their own. 

In the middle of the spectrum, they take on higher level partnerships that require thoughtful planning, like shared services or co-location. On the furthest end of the spectrum are mergers and asset transfers, where organizations really come together as one. 

Mergers are actually pretty straight straightforward. Alliances are more nuanced. Sharing power and leadership can be tricky. We fund across the whole spectrum, so it’s a lot of fun. 

RICH SMALLING: 

I'd like to add a little bit on either end of your spectrum. We knew from our research that an important benefit that a fund like this can provide is a place for nonprofit leaders to go before they even have a collaboration in mind. Karen is uniquely positioned to have those conversations with nonprofit leaders in a safe space. They're talking to someone who knows what it's like to be in their shoes. 

On the other end of the spectrum, sometimes dissolution is an area we may get involved with. Sometimes a nonprofit has tried everything but can’t stay afloat. They come to us for help trying to find a home for the assets. Discussions like that keep their initiative alive in some way and might help another nonprofit or prevent a valuable service from exiting the community. 

RAY BRIMBLE:

What about the new Funder’s Network? How did that all get started?

KAREN LASHELLE

Several funders wanted to collaborate, and didn't know how. People were moving to Austin post-COVID, and didn’t know how to connect with philanthropy. Again, the relationships weren’t there. 

With initial support from the Austin Community Foundation, we are serving as an administrative backbone for a group of funders so that they can come together,

build relationships, and learn together.

In our first few meetings, we identified potential collaborations that could make things better for the entire nonprofit community. Our current strategic plan is to expand this experiment and work to bring funders and nonprofits together more effectively. 

RICH SMALLING:

From the beginning, Austin Together was born out of our deep respect for the nonprofit community and the many issues they tackle every day without our community realizing it. The nonprofit community is fragile, the need is growing, but funding isn’t matching pace. When we get funders together, they have amazing ideas for collaborations amongst themselves that can make things a little easier. 

RAY BRIMBLE:

Let’s switch gears. We formed this effort in one of the most polarized periods in our nation’s history, where cooperation doesn’t seem to be considered cool. Can you talk about how you overcame that and what you think collaboration offers?

RICH SMALLING:  

I don't agree that it's not cool. Maybe we’re so entrenched in our own view that we’ve forgotten that a community is about the whole and not getting your way all the time. As soon as a community devolves into individual needs above what’s good for the whole, it ceases to be a community. 

Collaboration requires sacrifice, and it’s one of the reasons why the first step in our process is to focus on purpose. A shared purpose that’s greater than any of us will unite all of us and make it easier to sacrifice for the greater good. Find what you can agree on and what you’re trying to solve, and the collaboration can spring forth. 

KAREN LASHELLE:

When you can get the noise out and focus on shared vision, there’s more common ground than people realize. It fits my own personality, trying to see all sides of a point, how we balance each other. I don’t want a bunch of people who all see things one way, that’s not going to be successful. You need multiple perspectives.

We’re an agnostic organization. We don’t have one view or political standpoint. Our process lends itself to being open. Sometimes people don’t find a shared vision, then there’s not a collaboration, and that’s okay. We bring together people from different organizations, different sectors, government agencies, for-profits. It’s beautiful when they come together with a shared purpose and discover what they can achieve together. 

RAY BRIMBLE:

Can you tell us a little bit more about your process?

RICH SMALLING:

Well, we put the tools into the hands of the organizations and let them evaluate the collaboration. We don’t tell you what to do or who to collaborate with.

We have basic principles that are pretty simple. Can you find a compelling purpose that you all share? Do you have people around the table that are aligned in their values and their vision? What’s going to hold you together through the compromises that want to tear your collaboration apart? 

The other part of our process that is unique to Austin Together is having someone to guide the leaders of the collaboration. This is someone with experience that acts like a mentor and facilitator to guide you. Our grantees appreciate this as much as the grant.

KAREN LASHELLE:

We have a great collection of guides. Some are recently retired nonprofit CEOs. Many have 20-30 years of experience. They are not personally connected to anyone involved in the collaboration, so they are not there to make the collaboration happen. They're there to push and see where there are weak spots. They're paid a small honorarium for their time. But they are mostly executive-level leaders from the nonprofit and business sectors.

RAY BRIMBLE:

Do you think these concepts have application in other areas of human enterprise? What is it that we’ve done to get people together that might be applicable in education or government?

KAREN LASHELLE:  

I don’t think we’re doing something that hasn’t been done before. We’re applying them to a specific problem, but it’s good practice for anything. If you have a project you’re taking on, making sure you have a good purpose and the right people is essential. 

RICH SMALLING:  

We’re humans and we’re genetically wired to work together. We’ve evolved this way because we’re better together. I can’t think of anything that’s more universal to humanity than collaborating. Often, we’re so focused on accomplishments, we speed past the relationships and the shared purpose, and we pay for it. 

RAY BRIMBLE:

One of the pushbacks we’ve seen is that some founders, funders, or board directors don’t feel comfortable with collaboration because it might pollute their original vision for the organization. How have we gotten past those things?

RICH SMALLING:  

Leaders that are focused on their organization first and foremost are probably not the best candidates for collaboration. As a director, your job is to look out for the impact your organization was formed to create in the community. If you’re focused on protecting the organization, you can lose sight of the impact. 

KAREN LASHELLE: 

The leaders have to be focused on impact. It’s about how you can drive more impact more effectively without being wrapped up in protecting your position or your organization.

RAY BRIMBLE:

Dennis Cavner, who also was one of the founders, used to say “one plus one equals three” as a way of pointing out that we need to help move from a culture of scarcity to one of abundance. Can you talk more about that?

RICH SMALLING:

Collaboration is about embracing an abundance mentality and moving away from that sense of scarcity which is not a very creative or generative space to be in. It takes courage for a leader to do that. It's easier to stay in your fear bubble and in the scarcity mentality. It’s hard to stop, think strategically, and look for ways to make the pie bigger. 

KAREN LASHELLE: 

It took a lot of courage for three women with similar missions to think about collaborating, They were each leading an organization focused on teen pregnancy in three different Texas cities. They were all fighting for donations in their communities to advance their missions. They had similar issues that they were doing their best to tackle on their own. Then they started to imagine what they could do to make the pie bigger. They put their egos aside, their boards put their egos aside, and they thoughtfully explored collaboration. In the end, they merged all three, and together they are getting bigger grants than they got before they came together. 

RAY BRIMBLE:

I’ve got one more question for you: What surprised you most or what was the most unexpected thing that came from this experience? 

KAREN LASHELLE:

My background is in arts education, bringing people together to use their creative thinking and communication skills. When I came to Austin Together, I thought it would be more technical. I was surprised that this is very similar to the work I’d be doing my whole life. It’s about helping people create a shared vision, communicating that vision, building trust, and collaboratively executing on the plan. When you hired me, I thought I’d give it a year to see how it goes. Then I discovered that I loved helping people connect. 

RICH SMALLING:

I have been surprised at how big the nonprofit community is and how much of an impact it has on all of us. One in every five workers in Texas is associated with a nonprofit. I came in as a part-time funder, knowing little about the nonprofit community and the impact it has on all of us. The need is so great and there are so many people giving so much of themselves to help our society without a lot of visibility, celebration, or support. I’ve developed a much greater appreciation for what the nonprofit community does. 

RAY BRIMBLE:

Thank you for speaking with me today about an organization that means a lot to us. We’re at the point now where Austin Together will live well beyond the three of us. We’ve led this effort from a place of honesty, and love, and service. People can feel that, and they want to be a part of it.

Austin Together

Austin Together (AT) was created to support nonprofits in Central Texas as they explore and commit to formal, sustainable collaborations. We define “collaboration” as strategic alliances, restructuring, and cross-sector partnerships that expand scope, improve efficiency, enhance quality, and serve more of the community. Since 2019, AT has made over $1.5M in grants to support countless potential collaborations. For more please see: austintogether.org.

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