A podcast from VolunteerBadge
The Sign-In Table
Every volunteer shift starts at a sign-in table. This show talks with the people who set it up: nonprofit leaders on why they started, what’s working, and how you can help.
Hosted by Matt Angerer · New episodes every other Friday · Audio first, with video on YouTube
Next up: Bonus Episode with Latoya U. Robinson, Saturday, October 31
Episodes
Many of our guests lead nonprofits featured in VolunteerBadge’s monthly Impact Report: the camps, churches, co-ops and community groups doing the work.
Episode 1 · Out now
One child, one mentor
Brandi Pillow, Founder, braveONE
Brandi Pillow joins The Sign-In Table to talk about building a one-to-one mentoring program, how braveONE matches, and what she wishes more people understood about raising a child with Type 1 Diabetes.
Meet braveONE
Episode 2 · Out now
Contributors, not recipients
Catherine Stephenson, Founder and CEO, IROSA Cares
After more than 35 years as an educator, Catherine Stephenson founded IROSA Cares and named it for her parents. She talks about the IROSA Cares Impact Club at Stamford PAL, a 9/11 Day of Service that packed 10,000 meals, and passing a family legacy of service on to the next generation.
Meet IROSA Cares
Episode 3 · Out now
Every child deserves a chance to rise
Thomas Nelson, Founder, President and Executive Director, Dare 2B You
Thomas Nelson founded Dare 2B You in Georgia to build the support system he needed growing up. He talks about why mentorship matters, the challenges young people face that adults miss, and what it really takes to start a nonprofit from the ground up.
Meet Dare 2B You Foundation
Bonus Episode · Drops Sat, Oct 31
Halloween special
Lead the mission, not the system
Latoya U. Robinson, Founder, LUR Growth; Executive Director, Neighbors for Better Neighborhoods
Twenty years in the nonprofit sector, fifteen of them as an executive director, and one organization taken from $400K to $1.2M. Latoya Robinson talks about what happens when a mission outgrows the few people who remember everything, and how to build systems that hold without burying the staff.
Episode 4 · Drops Fri, Nov 6
Centered from the beginning
Nijeria Jones, Founder, The DESIRE+ Collective
Therapist, sexologist and researcher Nijeria Jones founded The DESIRE+ Collective in Martinsville, Virginia, to turn her doctoral research into real programs. She talks about Sacred Spaces, building a volunteer Service Circle, and what could change if plus-size Black women were centered from the beginning instead of included as an afterthought.
Meet The DESIRE+ Collective
Episode 5 · Drops Fri, Nov 20
Kids as community builders
Tetyana Klymko, Founder, Well Chicago
Tetyana Klymko started Well Chicago because her own kids needed an affordable after-school program. She talks about reaching nearly 200 Chicago children with hands-on arts, STEM and civic learning, paying the artists who teach them, and what would change if we listened to young people and gave them the tools to act.
Meet Well Chicago
Bonus Episode · Drops Thu, Nov 26
Thanksgiving special
A helmet, not a ticket
Joe Cangas, Founder and President, Helmets First
Joe Cangas is a pediatrician and Army veteran who started Helmets First in St. Louis in 2004 after seeing how many head injuries a bike helmet would have prevented. The charity hands 1,000 to 2,000 helmets a year to local police, who give them to children they stop — an encounter that protects a head and, he hopes, changes what a child thinks an officer is for.
Meet Helmets First
Episode 6 · Drops Fri, Dec 4
Joyful tutoring, virtually everywhere
Alison Barry, Founder and CEO, WorldTutors
Alison Barry built WorldTutors after a school partner in Uganda asked for virtual tutors. She talks about free one-on-one tutoring and mentoring for students who wouldn't otherwise have it, why every student and tutor needs a personal recommendation, and how WorldTutors knows it's working without waiting for annual tests.
Meet WorldTutors: Virtually Everywhere
Episode 7 · Drops Fri, Dec 18
Safe, accessible, warm
Ian Tovell, Executive Director, Habitat for Humanity 7 Rivers Maine
Ian Tovell leads Habitat for Humanity 7 Rivers Maine as Executive Director. He talks about critical home repair for more than 150 families this year, from a broken window to a ramp at the front door, and why even a few volunteer hours a month make a real difference.
Meet Habitat for Humanity 7 Rivers Maine
Episode 8 · Drops Fri, Jan 1
New Year’s Day special
A two-year promise, seven years on
Cara Sottile, President, One With Earth
In 2019 Cara Sottile found the children at Damabiah Orphanage in Port-au-Prince eating every two or three days. She and her husband organized a food delivery, then another. Seven years on she talks about deliveries that never stopped, clean water and solar, a school rebuilt, and young adults now in college.
Meet One With Earth
Episode 9 · Drops Fri, Jan 15
A place to land
Alaina Jones, President and Founder, David’s Home Outreach
Alaina Jones knows what it is to be young without a stable place to call home. She founded David’s Home Outreach in Vienna, Georgia for young adults aged 18 to 24, and talks about why housing alone is not enough, the savings-based rent that sends residents out with money of their own, and building a nonprofit from nothing.
Meet David’s Home Outreach
Episode 10 · Drops Fri, Jan 29
Trust before programming
Jared Casey and Emerson Murray, Co-Founders, Bend vs Break
Jared Casey, a member of the Haida Nation, and Emerson Murray both played Division I basketball before building Bend vs Break, which runs youth leadership and mental-wellness work through sport across British Columbia. They talk about earning trust before any programming starts, and the difference between arriving with answers and actually listening to a community.
Meet Bend vs Break
Episode 11 · Drops Fri, Feb 12
Teaching kids to think
Lizia Santos, Founder, Berean Arrows
Lizia Santos founded Berean Arrows in Winter Garden, Florida, for children growing up with endless information and very little practice weighing it. She talks about the Five Arrows, Passion Labs where students run podcasts and a student-led Snack Shack, and raising kids who can recognise a convincing argument and still reconsider their own.
Meet Berean Arrows
Episode 12 · Drops Fri, Feb 26
Built by an autism family
Alyece Smith, Founder and President, Caiden’s Corner
Alyece Smith started Caiden’s Corner on the Mississippi Gulf Coast after her son Caiden’s autism diagnosis showed her how hard it was to find providers, resources and families who understood. She talks about what families need while they wait months for services, taking sensory support on the road in a mobile unit, and keeping volunteers connected between events.
Your story could be next. We talk with the leaders of nonprofits that use VolunteerBadge, and being a guest is free.
Apply to be a guestMore from the show
The Sign-In Table is made by VolunteerBadge. The rest of it lives there.
- The Sign-In Table on VolunteerBadgeEpisodes, the topics we cover and answers to common questions about the show.
- Be a guestLead a nonprofit? Fill in the short guest survey and we will be in touch.
- Impact StoriesProfiles of the nonprofits behind each episode, and many more.
- The monthly Impact ReportA monthly round-up of nonprofits making a difference in their communities.
- Why we started VolunteerBadgeMatt Angerer’s story, and why keeping volunteers safe shouldn’t strain a nonprofit’s budget.
- VolunteerBadge$5 volunteer background checks for churches, camps, co-ops and community nonprofits.
Your host
Matt Angerer
Co-Founder & General Manager, VolunteerBadge
Matt co-founded VolunteerBadge so a church, camp or co-op never has to choose between screening its volunteers and paying for its programs. On The Sign-In Table he asks the questions and lets the people doing the work do the talking.