We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits · We Are For Good

694. Stop Scaling. Start Solving: What the Nonprofit Sector Gets Wrong About Growth - Eliza Blank

·30 min·2 clips

FarmLink moved 150 million pounds of food last year and still calls that “just scratching the surface.”

1. We Are For Good Podcast episode 694 centers on Eliza Blank and the FarmLink Project’s approach to food waste and food insecurity. 2. Hosts John and Becky introduce Eliza Blank as the new CEO of FarmLink and explain that she founded The Sill in 2012. 3. The episode asks what happens when an entrepreneurial mindset meets a nonprofit problem that demands both scale and restraint. 4. John says FarmLink is an example of a “Disruptors” panel mindset from the We Are For Good summit. 5. Blank says she grew up in Northampton, Massachusetts, surrounded by farmland and a local food supply chain. 6. She says her mother, who is from the Philippines, kept plants at home, and those plants are still in her parents’ house. 7. The hosts describe FarmLink as a mission that takes excess product from farms, food-related donors, and charities and redistributes it to food-insecure communities. 8. Blank says she was drawn to FarmLink because it was already operating in an entrepreneurial way and solving a massive problem. 9. She compares FarmLink to startups that ask “dumb questions,” try new things, and do not fear looking foolish. 10. Blank says nonprofits are different from startups because they do not need to “elbow out the competition” and instead can coexist with incumbents. 11. She says The Sill helped her build a category that many people once ignored, and she sees a similar opportunity for FarmLink’s brand. 12. Blank says the goal is to build community around a solution to food waste at scale, not just to raise awareness of food insecurity. 13. She says the “hook” for charitable work may be feeling good about helping, and she is “not mad about it.” 14. When the hosts ask about scale, Blank says FarmLink moves millions of pounds of food every week but still considers that “just tip of the iceberg.” 15. She says the organization talks about its obsolescence “every single day” and would not want to exist in a perfect world. 16. Blank says growth for growth’s sake would be “tragic,” and she points to 48 million people in the country experiencing food insecurity. 17. She says FarmLink is focused on creating more interventions because the problem will never be solved by one solution alone. 18. The tone stays conversational and interview-driven, with John and Becky giving many concrete examples and Eliza answering in a reflective but practical style. 19. People interested in nonprofit strategy, food systems, and mission-driven leadership will likely want this. 20. Listeners wanting a purely tactical fundraising episode may skip this one.

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