Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast for Startup, Small, and Growing Nonprofits

Episode 49
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Speaker: [00:00:00] That very first night, I think we did about 40 people with showers, and to a person, they came out and we just said, "How was it?" Thinking, did everything work right? Right, right. Yeah. You know, was there hot water? And they came out and they said things like, "I feel human again."

Speaker 2: Mm. "

Speaker: It was the most amazing thing."

The second guy that came out actually said, "It's been 49 days since I had a shower." Oh, my goodness. "You have no idea what this means to me."

Speaker 2: Welcome to the Nonprofit Launch Plan podcast for startups, small and growing nonprofits. This podcast is here to help you build your nonprofit from the ground up on a strong, sustainable foundation by providing the clear frameworks, the practical tools, and the real world guidance that you need that you can actually put into practice.

I'm your host, Matt Stockman. I'm a nonprofit growth coach, and here at Nonprofit Launch Plan, we believe that every nonprofit has to be [00:01:00] operating successfully at peak performance across six key areas. Leadership, fundraising, marketing, programs and services, operations, and finances. So on every episode of the podcast, we focus on one of these core areas to help you create lasting impact in your nonprofit without all the unnecessary complexity.

Now, before we dive into today's episode, if you'd like practical help building a stronger nonprofit without wasting time on guesswork or trying a bunch of stuff without much of a plan, sign up for my weekly email. It's called the Nonprofit Launch Briefing. Each week, I share clear strategies and tools, fundraising insights, real world guidance stuff for startups, small and growing nonprofits.

It's designed to help you lead smarter, grow your nonprofit stronger, and avoid some common mistakes along the way. If you are serious about building a healthy nonprofit that makes a real [00:02:00] impact, I'd love to have you on the email list. Just shoot me a quick email with a simple "Sign me up" in the subject line.

My email is matt@nonprofitlaunchplan.com. Again, just put "Sign me up" in the subject line and send it to matt@nonprofitlaunchplan.com. Another thing too, this is a little preview for next week's episode. The next episode of the podcast will come out Wednesday, May 15th, 2026 at 8:00 a.m. Mountain Time. If you're listening to this in real time, that's a week from today.

And in that episode, I'm gonna make a massive opportunity available for one nonprofit leader, a really unique moment for one leader who's either trying to get your nonprofit off the ground or into orbit, or move your nonprofit that is already launched into a new phase. You're gonna wanna be listening as soon as you can after the episode drops to take advantage of this, so set an alarm if you need to for next Wednesday, May 15th, [00:03:00] 2026, 8:00 a.m.

Mountain Time to get the episode and listen for the special opportunity. Somebody's gotta get it, and I think it should be you. As a nonprofit leader, no matter where you are in the growth of your nonprofit, possibility is quite high that you are carrying a vision that feels bigger than what your current reality is.

In other words, what your vision for the future of your nonprofit could be is different than where your nonprofit is right now today. And if you're nodding your head up and down saying, "Yes, that's me," then today's episode is for you. Maybe you see the need clearly, you've identified the problem you feel like you're called to solve.

Maybe you know the impact that you want to make, but you're also trying to figure out how to build something that makes an impact and is strong enough to last beyond just a few months. That tension between vision and execution is where a lot of leaders can get stuck, and in this episode, I'm talking with Paul Schmitz, who's the founder of a nonprofit called [00:04:00] ShowerUp.

It began 10 years ago as a calling to meet a practical need and is now grown into a multi-city nonprofit that serves thousands of people experiencing homelessness through mobile showers and laundry services. But what I really want you to listen for in this conversation with Paul is how he built it.

He shares how he identified the need, took the first steps, put together the right board, made a few mistakes along the way, but created systems for donors, scaled the whole thing up very carefully, and has always stayed anchored to the mission all along the way. No doubt, those are some of the same kinds of questions that you are very likely navigating through right now in your nonprofit.

So wherever you are in your nonprofit leadership journey, whether you're starting something new or you're just trying to bulk up what you've already started, I think this conversation will help you think clearer and lead more wisely and [00:05:00] sharply. So let's jump into my conversation with Paul Schmitz from ShowerUp.

So let's start at the beginning. W- what was the initial sort of problem that you identified? What was the journey that you were on that opened your eyes to what is now ShowerUp?

Speaker: Well, uh, my wife and I had actually been, uh, a- and my whole family had been serving the unhoused population. And, and we, we were, you know, doing the s- the things that people do, you know.

You hand out meals, you hand out snacks, clothes, things like that. And, uh, the more we started talking to people, the more we started going, "Okay, there's a lot of people doing this." And we realized that there were a number of people who, well, the next thing for them really is they're ready for a job.

They're ready to, you know, kind of think beyond where they're at today. And one of the things that I, I don't know, I was just kind of scrolling through my, my social media feed one day, and I saw this, this truck that had showers and toilets in it. And I thought, "I wonder [00:06:00] if you can do something like that for the unhoused community."

Mm-hmm. And it was in that moment, and this is where people kind of go, "Oh, really?" I was like, I really believe that God spoke to me in that moment I was, I was all by myself, and as clearly as I can hear you and you can hear me, I heard, "You're doing that."

Speaker 2: Hmm.

Speaker: Wow. And I thought, and I said, "No, I'm not." And again, it was, "You're doing that," those three words, "You're doing that."

And I said, I, I said out loud, "I don't have time." I had a full-time job. Mm-hmm. You know, I, I don't have time to do that. And then the third time was, "You're doing that." And I, I remember my Old Testament, and I remember Samuel being called in the middle of the night, and oh my God, the three times was kind of the magic number.

And I said, "Okay." And so that was really kind of what, what spurred the conversation on of going, "Okay, is there a need?"

Speaker 2: Hmm.

Speaker: And let me do some research. Let me build a case here to determine if there's a need. And we saw [00:07:00] that at least in, in Nashville, the city where we live, that there were about 10,000 people who were experiencing homelessness, 5 to 10,000 people, and less than a dozen shower heads.

Speaker 2: Oh my goodness.

Speaker: Wow. Well, the math doesn't work.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker: Right. So and not a dozen places to shower, a dozen shower heads. So that was when we started going, "Okay, how are we gonna make this happen?" And that was when we saw that there's a need. We have this, I believe, a, a call from God- Mm-hmm ... to do this. And so that was how it started.

Speaker 2: Wow. So, I, o- once you feel like, oh, this is the vision for what this next, n- next chapter looks like, what were the first things that you did to kind of start the ball rolling? You know, obviously to have the idea and then actually launch it are two very different things, right? Yeah. And it appears like there can be a, a huge gap between those two things.

And quite honestly, a lot of the people that listen to the podcast or that we work with behind the scenes in, in, in coaching are people who are in that [00:08:00] gap. They've had the vision, they have the idea, and they're trying to figure out, well, okay, what's my first step? Walk us through what your initial first steps were.

Speaker: Sure. The, the first thing for me was to do research. Uh, it was to figure out, okay, well, what's happening in, in the, the quote-unquote marketplace? So in the, in the community of people who are serving those who are experiencing homelessness, is there anyone providing showers? Mm. Is there anyone doing something like this?

And I think if you, if you know the lay of the land first, then you can develop really what becomes a business plan. Um, and whether you look at this and you say, well, this is, you know, nonprofit business, or this is ministry, uh, you know, however you, however you look at it, it really has to come under the idea of, is there a need here?

I mean- Yeah ... we, we can have all the passion in the world, but if there's no, if there's no identification of a need and how you're going to address that need, it becomes the, well, it's a, it's a great idea. It's like Shark Tank, you know? It's like, well, what you [00:09:00] have is a product, but you don't have a business, you know, kind of thing.

Speaker 2: Right, right, right.

Speaker: And so as you start thinking, "How am I going to talk to people about this? What am I going to do and present this?" Okay, well, here's the need, and here's how we're uniquely positioning ourselves to meet that need. That becomes then the conversation and, and the blanks that you have to fill in.

Speaker 2: Finding out that obviously there was a need there. Uh, you know, going back to what you said before, there was only 12 shower heads for the 10,000 people or whatever that number was. What did you work on next? Did you start to share your vision with other people? Did you gather a board? Did you apply for a 501[c][3]?

Like, walk me through what happened after that.

Speaker: It really... And that's a, that's a great question, because people don't know oftentimes what to do next. Yeah. They've got this great idea, they got this passion, and they wanna start a 501[c][3]. Well, that's terrific, but oftentimes people get to that, that first step and they go, "I don't even know how to start a 501[c][3]."

Mm-hmm. Well, there are [00:10:00] forms, and there are, there are some costs, you know, involved in that. And sometimes you get a lawyer to help you with a 501[c][3], sometimes you don't. I think, I think for me, and, and what I encourage people to do is start thinking through, "What do I need to have as a foundation before I start telling people what we're doing?"

Speaker 2: Hmm.

Speaker: And so I started building out the foundation. I, I got the 501[c][3]. And actually, when we started, we, we really kind of did that all on our own. You know, we did the 501[c][3] on our own, just started filling out paperwork, send it in. Um, I also started looking at, okay, if I'm going to talk to people about what this is, I'd better have a clear case for support- Hmm

and identify what it is that I'm asking people to support. You know, if I'm gonna say, "Hey, I wanna do this," okay, well, so what? Great, go and do it. How can I be involved? What do you want from me? Right. So I built a case for support. I said, "Okay, if you're gonna [00:11:00] support what we do, here's what you're supporting," and I identified, you know, the different areas, the different needs.

But here's something that I think a lot of people miss out on, is you've gotta have a mechanism. You've gotta have a way for people to give you money.

Speaker 2: Hmm.

Speaker: And if you're gonna ask for money- Um, you, you've gotta have your, your, your, your ducks in a row, so to speak, because you're gonna ask for all kinds of trouble if you don't have your 501[c][3] and you're soliciting funds-

Speaker 2: Right

Speaker: if you don't have your license in the state that you're in as a nonprofit, if you're not incorporated as a nonprofit in your state, you're going to encounter fees. In the state that I'm in, uh, it, it's so funny because the, the, the cost for the license to solicit funds, to a- just ask for donations- Mm-hmm

is $10.

Speaker 2: Mm.

Speaker: Now, the fine if you don't have one of those and you ask for donations is $10,000.

Speaker 2: Wow.

Speaker: So you wanna look at your, at your, at your state [00:12:00] guidelines, your rules, your laws, because you have to treat this, in some ways it's harder than running a business. You, you have to f- you have to file with the IRS, you have to have a, a, a business incorporation, um, as a nonprofit in the state that you're in.

Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.

Speaker: And then you've gotta have that mechanism, okay, if someone's going to give me a dollar, well, what do I do with that? Mm. You gotta get yourself a bank account. You've gotta have a way to receipt them. Oftentimes that involves getting some kind of a CRM system.

Speaker 2: Right.

Speaker: A- and then you start getting into the, the nuts and bolts, the granular part of managing donors and, and things like that.

Yeah. It all starts with what happens if someone gives me a dollar, what's my obligation to them as a donor-

Speaker 2: Yeah ...

Speaker: and to the, to t- to the state and to the government?

Speaker 2: Wow, that's really good. Once you got all of that kinda squared away and you were ready to go, when did you get to the point where now actually people who were living on the streets were taking showers because of what you guys were doing?

[00:13:00] And what were the initial sort of reflections of the impact that you were having?

Speaker: Well, the very first time we, we rolled out our mobile shower unit, which that build-out is a, is a whole different story and there's a whole lot that goes on. It took about six months from the time that we started raising money until we did the very first shower.

Speaker 2: Okay.

Speaker: And, you know, and, and you start telling everybody. I, I told everybody that I know, "This is what we're trying to do." And, a- and it was, it was interesting because nobody had really thought of that. They hadn't heard of that.

Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.

Speaker: And so we, we started just telling everybody social media, you know, and, and we built out, you know, for ShowerUp, we built out some social media so that people could contact us and, and keep up with things.

Um, that very first time we took our mobile shower unit out, and again, this was a box truck that we had converted, uh, i- it to have three shower suites in it, air conditioned, um, tankless water heaters, so unlimited hot water for everybody- Wow ... um, [00:14:00] toiletries, towels, just, I mean, the whole nine yards. We wanted it to be a great experience for people.

Um, and that was a, again, a big thought process of going through, all right, step by step, what is this gonna look like? And, and what do we want people to, to have as a reflection when they walk out of the shower suite? Mm-hmm. If they step out, what do, what do I want them to feel like? And the very first time we took it out, it blew me away because we partnered with another nonprofit who was doing meals and clothing.

And we went out, we thought, "All right, we'll see how many people wanna get a shower." And we don't even know the capacity. We don't even know how many people we can serve in an evening. That very first night, I think we did about 40 people with showers, and to a person, they came out and we just said, "How was it?"

Thinking- Mm ... did everything work right? Right, right. Yeah. You know, was there hot water? And they came out and they said things like, "I feel human again."

Speaker 2: Mm. "

Speaker: It [00:15:00] was the most amazing thing." The second guy that came out actually said, "It's been 49 days since I had a shower." Oh my goodness. "You have no idea what this means to me."

49 days.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker: So when, when that happened and, and we're, we're driving home that night, we're just kind of going, "We're gonna need a bigger truck." Yeah. You know? Yeah. And, and that really was kind of the, uh, w- we realized that, okay, something's happening here. It's bigger than what we thought it was gonna be, and, and really, a- about two or three weeks later, we started working on getting the second unit.

Speaker 2: You know, y- you said something in there that I, that I think is really interesting when- and, and important. When it comes to your nonprofit programming, it can be really, uh, easy to kinda get lost in the details of the technical side of it. Did everything work? Like, is there any issues, right? Right. And finding out how your program makes the recipient of whatever you're [00:16:00] doing, how it makes them feel, is a really key ingredient when it comes to- Uh, telling the stories of that later on, whether, you know, you're sitting with a major donor or somebody who's just interested in what you're doing and maybe getting involved at some level, being able to describe how what you provide makes that individual feel is way more powerful even than just being able to say, "Well, they w- went in and they got a shower and they came out and they were clean," which is great, and technically that's what happened, but how they made them feel is really the, that's really the key ingredient to this, right?

Speaker: It really is, because i- if you look at our mission statement, um, showers and, and laundry, we've added laundry now to what we do, but showers a- and, and that sort of thing is number five in our mission- Mm.

Speaker 2: Mm ... statement.

Speaker: You know, the, the number one thing is building relationships. We wanted this to be something that from the guest side of things was very guest-centric.

[00:17:00] We wanted the experience that they were having, we wanted to build from there and go out.

Speaker 2: Mm.

Speaker: Um, from the, uh, from the donation and donor side of things, we have a similar approach. We start with the donor and we work our way out. So we're not looking at this going, "Well, what are we trying to accomplish here?

You know, we wanna get more and more showers." Mm-hmm. "We wanna serve more and more people." Um, no, the, the real basis of what we're trying to do is we wanna serve our guests, we wanna serve our volunteers. Uh, we have about, oh, annually 6,000 volunteers that will join us. Um, we wanna serve our donors, and so there's, there's a lot that goes into looking at their experience and, and seeing it through their eyes-

Speaker 2: Mm

Speaker: before we see it through our eyes. 'Cause-

Speaker 2: Yeah ...

Speaker: we're, we're trying to, we're trying to create something here that is bigger than us, and it's gotta be focused on them.

Speaker 2: Talk a little bit more about, you said, um, that you look at th- your donors the same way in terms of [00:18:00] starting at the center of them and their experience and then build out from there.

Define a little bit more about what that means.

Speaker: That really comes from a place of, from, from the get-go. If some- if, if you've, if you've impacted somebody and they wanna give and, and they, they find out about your mission and they wanna make a donation, what are the steps that they have to do? And, a- and if you were a donor- Yeah

you know, you've, you've given, you know, to, to different things too. What works for you? What do you feel good about when you've made that donation? And so we've tried to make it so it's very easy. It's one click on the website, and when you click on that, it's a very easy form to fill out.

Speaker 2: Yep.

Speaker: And when it...

And it's, and it's intuitive, so you don't have to guess, "Well, what am I doing here?" Or, "Am I going through a third party?" Yeah, you're always gonna go through a third party.

Speaker 2: Right.

Speaker: But how intuitive is that for your donor?

Speaker 2: Right.

Speaker: And we've made that a priority, so I know that a lot of people will think, "Well, I can just take [00:19:00] donations through Venmo or PayPal or, or whatever."

You can, but is that the best approach for your donor? Right. So we looked at different things, and we found a, a product that works for us, and, and then the communication with the donor.

Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.

Speaker: So once they make a donation, uh, first of all, are you gonna say thank you?

Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.

Speaker: That's always a nice thing to hear.

Right. And you know, and then, and then what, what do you think the donor wants from that point? Do they want updates? Do they wanna know, "How is my donation impacting your mission?" Do they wanna hear stories? Do they wanna hear, "Hey, what about that guy who, who'd gone 49 days without a shower?"

Speaker 2: Hmm.

Speaker: You wanna share those stories with them because that's kind of from their perspective, that's why they're giving.

They're, they're not giving because, you know, "Wow, I'm paying for hot water. Ooh, yay." You know? Right, right. They're giving because you're impacting a life.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker: That's what they're giving towards. So we try to look at it from their eyes as we build everything out and as we create the processes.

Speaker 2: [00:20:00] So i- if you were to be able to look back, Paul, back 10 years ago, and knowing what you know now, and sort of the initial year, 18 months, two years of growing and, and getting Shower up, up and running, what things would you do differently?

What mistakes do you maybe look back and go, "Man, we really took it on the nose that time because we just didn't know"?

Speaker: There's a, there's a lot that you just, you just don't know, and I think, I think for me, one of the things was, um, you know, and, and, and we haven't really mentioned it, but as a nonprofit, you know, if you're gonna be, uh, you know, registered and everything else and, and be a legit nonprofit, you have to have a board.

And the things that I didn't know about running a board, um, are, are lengthy. Um, so I became a student of how to be on a nonprofit board, how to run a nonprofit board, how to be an executive director. I, I looked at this and I thought, okay, and this was a mistake I made, [00:21:00] um, we initially, our board was, you know, just f- friends we knew.

Yeah. Just, just people we knew that, you know, we could put their name on a thing and, and we didn't really understand what a board does. Um, what I learned is a board's very important for a number of things. Um, uh, not just, you know, keeping you, you know, accountable and, and having board meetings and things like that.

A board's really important because oftentimes they can be your largest donors- Mm ... or they can bring in some of your largest donors. I believe that a board member should be a donor and an active participant in what you're doing. So all of our board members, um, that's a requirement. You, you have to be an active participant, you have to be a donor.

Because a lot of grants that you apply for, they're gonna ask you, "What's your, what's your board participation as far as supporting you?" Mm-hmm. And if it's not 100%, that doesn't look good- Mm-hmm ... and that doesn't bode favorably for you. Um, I also wanted to [00:22:00] find, as I, as I learned what, what boards are supposed to be, I thought, "Okay, I've gotta find people- Who are engaged, uh, who I respect and like, um, whose values align with my values or the values of the organization-

Speaker 2: Mm-hmm

Speaker: but are also smarter than me.

Speaker 2: Mm.

Speaker: And, and, and bring something to the table where, where they're going to see things that I don't see. And, and what I didn't realize then that I realize now is I have... I have- we have staff, so we have, you know, some part-time people, we have some full-time people. Um, those are people that I manage.

Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.

Speaker: The board has one employee, me.

Speaker 2: Yep.

Speaker: And they can fire me.

Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.

Speaker: I'm the founder. I mean, this is my thing. Right.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker: You know? I'm the executive director. But they can, they can fire me, and they know that because I have instructed them. And so when I became a student of [00:23:00] boards, I began to realize, okay, if I'm gonna have this board, I need to bring these people in, and I need to coach them on what it is that their role is- Mm

so that we don't have meetings and we don't have things going willy-nilly. My board is, uh, advisory. They're, they're oversight. They're not in operations. Right. So if there's an operations question, you know, "Well, well, Paul, we think the towels should be whiter," you know, "Uh, okay, that's an operations thing.

We're not gonna get into that."

Speaker 2: Right.

Speaker: Right? But, but as far as, you know, oversight and bigger picture and vision and things like that, uh, that's where they really help me. And, and that, that's been one of the things that I've learned, is how to work with a board and, and how to manage a board so that they can manage me.

Speaker 2: Talk a little bit about how your board is set up now, how many individuals you have, and how often do they meet, and how often do you... Like, what's the, uh, for lack of a better way to put it, what's the reporting structure between you and them? Just a little bit of the details for somebody- Sure ... who's maybe an [00:24:00] executive director who has done what you did to begin with and put all their friends, and anybody who would say yes, put them on the board now, and, and now it's time to probably tweak that a little bit to make it- Yeah

a little bit more effective and meaningful for longer term?

Speaker: Yeah, my guess is that if you've just started out, um, you've probably gone a couple of years or maybe a year or however long with some bylaws that you copy and pasted from somewhere else. Uh, read your bylaws, uh, first of all because you may be surprised what are in your bylaws.

Um, and, and then start thinking about, you know, what does this, what does this look like from a board perspective? We've done this, uh, a couple of times with, uh, with the board. Over the past 10 years, uh, we changed our bylaws because we started seeing that, okay, well, this is what works for us, and this is what, this is what we have.

So we have nine board members right now. We have, uh, we have slots for 12. Yeah. So we, we have room to grow and add some board members. Um, I want the board to be a, a, a team of people that, [00:25:00] um, they don't necessarily have to know each other, but I have to know them. Okay. We have to have that kind of relationship.

Yeah. They're not gonna come unknown to me. Um, the, the board that, that we have right now, we meet quarterly, and, and we feel like that, that's pretty appropriate because, again, all the board members are donors, and all the board members are actively involved.

Speaker 2: Yep.

Speaker: So there's a lot of interaction that goes on.

Um, I also give a monthly report to the board where I just... A, a little narrative, a, a couple of paragraphs about what's happening so that when we hit a board meeting they're not surprised by

Speaker 2: anything. Mm. Mm-hmm.

Speaker: I have a every other week meeting with the board president, and this is something vital because he becomes this person that is my liaison to the rest of the board.

Speaker 2: Gotcha.

Speaker: So your board president should be this person that if you're struggling with something, if you have a question about something, uh, if you have something going on in the organization that might [00:26:00] make it on social media or might make the news, You definitely wanna let your board president know. Um, or that's gonna impact, uh, the organization financially- Right

you know, in a major way. The, the board is there as your accountability. Uh, they are there to- Right ... not, not put, not put constraint on you, but like a, like a kid bowling, they're gonna have the rails up- Yeah ... to keep you from going into the gutter, and, and they're there to help you. If they're not there to help you, um, move 'em off the board.

Speaker 2: Mm.

Speaker: You know, thank you for your time, thank you for your service, we're making some changes, and, and replace them. But that's, that's how we, we tend to operate, um, with the board. Uh, as far as, like, ongoing communication with them, one thing that we have tried to do and, and, and really set up is a, is a good board strategy so that, um, every meeting that we have, we set it at a two-hour meeting.

It's virtual and, [00:27:00] uh, and we keep it under two hours. So we, we don't go beyond that. Mm-hmm. Um, I value their time, they value mine. The other thing that, that we do is we've set up an executive team. So these are the, the name players, you know, your treasurer, your vice president- Yep ... your president, um, your secretary.

These people then are the ones that they're going to look at things like, okay, how's the budget, how's the audit, um, and they also determine my salary. So they meet separate from the rest of the board-

Speaker 2: Mm-hmm ...

Speaker: and separate from me, uh, at the end of the year, and determine what, what's my compensation gonna look like.

Speaker 2: Gotcha. Oh, that's so valuable. Thank you for, uh, for all the insight. Talk a little bit about how you were able to scale up and add more to... How many mobile shower units do you have now?

Speaker: Uh, we've got about 14 mobile shower units. We are in eight cities. Okay. Um, we're gonna be adding nine and 10 this year.

Um, and [00:28:00] I, I will tell you that scaling is, is not for the timid. Um, and, and scaling can look a couple of different ways. Um, we, we've... One of the things that we did is we acquired another nonprofit and, and, and going into that even, and they were, and they're friends of ours. Mm-hmm. That's how we added laundry is because they were at a place where they wanted to, you know, they, they, they...

The, the running of the nonprofit became really burdensome, and we were so aligned missionally that we thought, "Okay, well this makes perfect sense." But we made no mistake and, and we were very clear, and I think clarity is the thing that you have to have as you, as you go to, uh, scale, a- as you acquire other organizations, you have to have clarity.

You have to be very precise about what it is that it's going to look like. When we acquired the other nonprofit, you can call it a merger, but they, they gave all of their assets to us-

Speaker 2: Okay ...

Speaker: you know, and that sort of thing. So [00:29:00] it's, and now the assets have ShowerUp on them. So that's what that looks like.

But- Right ... we've been able to grow that. Part of the, the, the challenge of Of scaling is, well, you've gotta make the case for support for that because once you start to scale and we expand to multiple cities, how is that gonna look? And we really had to... I, I looked back on my, my Christian radio background where I worked for Christian r- a Christian radio network- Mm-hmm

that had radio stations in multiple cities, and I looked at that and thought, "Okay, well how did we do it then?" And so that's how I've really structured it here, is that, uh, each of our cities, uh, we own the equipment, the staff reports to us. It's, it's all branded for ShowerUp. We run by the same principles, and if there's anything...

And, and we have to, I mean, it's not what you, you know, expect that gets accomplished, it's what you inspect. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. And so we have to be on site, you know? So we, we make site visits, and we go, and [00:30:00] we encourage that team, and we build our volunteers and things like that. So expanding and scaling takes on a whole different level.

It shouldn't be entered into lightly because that's where a lot of people get tripped up is they start going, "Oh, well, we can, we can grow this if we get this grant." And that's another thing too is you can't chase the money, and you can't let the money determine what your mission and vision's gonna be.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker: I've seen organizations do that where they go, "Well, we got this grant to do this thing now, and so we have to add staff. We have to do this." Well, the grant was gonna run out, and then that program's gonna stop because it wasn't part- Right ... of the original vision.

Speaker 2: Right,

Speaker: right. And it may take down the rest of the organization.

You don't want that.

Speaker 2: Yeah. How, c- can you think of times throughout the last 10 years, Paul, where you felt like there was invitation or opportunity for you to move into a sort of what might have felt like an adjacent area that really would have, to your point, taken you off the original- [00:31:00] Yeah ... mission and vision?

Talk about that a little bit, just, uh, because that can be really tempting, right?

Speaker: Oh, yeah. I, I can... And, and I also wanna point, um, point people to a book called Mission Drift. Um, it's a great book, great resource, but during COVID, uh, there were, there was a lot of money being spent for nonprofits who were helping the unhoused, and one of the things that, that got thrown out was there, there was millions of dollars, uh, if your organization would start doing housing navigation.

So getting people listed in the housing registry- Ah, gotcha. Okay ... and things like that.

Speaker 2: Okay.

Speaker: And, and we started looking at that. We started going, "Well, there's money there." It's always so tempting. If you start with the money, boy, it never works out. I've always said get the mission and ministry right and the money will follow.

And so we started looking at this and going, "Okay, well maybe if we, if we added somebody," and really had probably two hours of conversation about it, "If we add somebody, we can do [00:32:00] this, and we'll get, you know, this much money, and blah, blah, blah." And we thought, "Wait a minute." Th- they're, they're asking us to do these things too that, you know, well, okay, we're gonna have to get people's names, we're gonna have to get people's phone numbers, email addresses, and that's not who we are.

Speaker 2: Mm.

Speaker: We're a first point of contact. We really had to define then, further define who we were and what we did, and we don't get people's names. If you show up and you wanna get a shower, we're gonna ask for a name to put- Mm ... on our guest list. You can call yourself, um, I don't... Call, call yourself, um, you know, Mata Hoople.

I don't care.

Speaker 2: Right. Right.

Speaker: You know, w- call yourself whatever. We're gonna put your name on the list as Mata Hoople. Right. So you can show up. We don't get names. We, we don't do that, and we, we thought, "Okay, if we do, if we start doing that, we're gonna go down a wrong path," and we, we stopped in our tracks. But it's so tempting to try to veer away from your mission and what you're trying to accomplish.[00:33:00]

Adding laundry was a natural hand-in-glove thing. That, that was a natural thing, and it's worked out tremendously well, uh, because now we've expanded and added laundry in what will soon be five of our locations. Wow. So that's been tremendous. But we could have gone down a path that could have dragged the whole organization away from what our mission and vision

Speaker 2: was.

Mm-hmm. Mm. Wow, that's really good. What are you, in the day-to-day, sort of what you face on the regular, Paul, what, what would you say is the m- most sort of significant ongoing challenge that always just feels like, "Hey, this is just part of the, um, paddling upstream that's always gonna be a part of nonprofit leadership"?

Speaker: Oh, my goodness. There's about 100 things. Um, it's, it's honestly, I, I... And I think for, for people who are in this, uh, in this space, uh, one of the big challenges is trying to keep your head focused on what matters and what [00:34:00] you can do best. Mm. There are other people that can do other things. And if you, whether it's a volunteer, uh...

And, and again, don't be afraid to enlist volunteers. There are people who want to help and wanna be involved in your mission. I think that for some people it's gonna be, the answer would be, uh, raising money, getting donations, fundraising. Mm. It's always hard. It's always a challenge. And I would say that is a, that is always a big challenge because you, you wanna keep, you wanna keep this moving so that you can keep doing it, so you can add resources and add staffing and things like that.

Um, for me, I think, I think some of the biggest challenges are, you know, when you get into this, is, is not just managing the organization as, as a, as an entity-

Speaker 2: Mm-hmm ...

Speaker: but remember that you've got people. You've got volunteers, you've got, you know, you've got people who are with you part time, you've got people who are with you full time, and it's those people, and, and I never lose sight of this.

There are people who are [00:35:00] right now providing showers and laundry for people.

Speaker 2: Hmm.

Speaker: And I'm not there, they're there. They're giving their, their time, they're giving their energy, they're giving their heart. They've, they've embraced the mission, and I need to be the guy that's constantly th- saying, "Thank you.

You have no idea what this means to the people we serve. You're making a difference." Yeah. This year we're going to provide, uh, the 100,000th shower for someone. You know? That's, that's tremendous. Wow. That's a, that's a great number. Congratulations.

Speaker 2: Yeah, that's

Speaker: awesome. Uh, it's, it's a big number, but it only happens because there are these people that are...

They're, they're doing the hard work every day. Now, I still go out and, and I serve. I'll be out tonight serving and, and, and spending time with our guests and spending time with our volunteers and our team. Um, my role's very different, and I have to remember that while I may wanna go out and wrap up a hose or, you know, you know, take care of doing something else, the [00:36:00] people are the most important thing.

Speaker 2: That's really good. What does the future look like w- for, for ShowerUp? Do you have a vision for maybe the next five years, or do you wanna continue to just, uh, expand into other markets? Is there another program initiative you'd like to launch? Can you share some insight as far as that goes?

Speaker: That's a great question, Matt.

I appreciate that because, um, I get asked that every once in a while, and the, the board likes to ask that question. Of

Speaker 2: course they do. The board. Right.

Speaker: What's your five-year plan?

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker: And what I've discovered is that every year is different. E- every year seems to have a, its own focus. Every year seems to have its own thing.

Um, my five-year plan really looks, um, pretty similar to what a one-year plan looks like. Okay. But in five years, I would love to see us in, i- in multiple cities beyond where we are right now, obviously. We wanna be able to serve more people. The need is growing. There's, there's more people who are experiencing homeless- homelessness [00:37:00] right now in America than we've ever seen before.

Mm. Um, one out of every 385 Americans is experiencing homelessness. That's, that's crazy. You know, you think about those numbers and you think, what, what about... Well, where are they all at? Well, they're all in this, you know, they're all in these big cities. They're all in New York, or they're all, you know, wherever they are.

We're seeing smaller communities.

Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.

Speaker: Communities of 50,000 people where they have 100 people who are on the street, and they have no capacity to help them. So I'm looking for ways to help these smaller communities with some resources and with some options that, that make what we do work for them, and we're also looking at then, okay, well, what staffing are we gonna have to have?

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker: Because one question the board is always asking me is, "Well, Paul, do you have the bandwidth for that?"

Speaker 2: Uh-huh.

Speaker: And, and I have a lot of energy, and I have a lot of... And I take, and I spend a lot of time. I used to, when I, when I first started doing ShowerUp, I had a full-time job, and [00:38:00] then I started doing ShowerUp, and that became really a full-time job.

So I had two 40-hour a week jobs. Well, I left my job in, in radio, um, and so now I just have one 80-hour a week job. So.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker: So y- I, I have all that, but my board will constantly remind me, "Paul, do you have the bandwidth?" Yeah. And so I have to have in my, my five-year plan, I have to have a couple of things.

One is, well, what does, you know, operationally look like for us to move forward, and what are we gonna have to have structurally to be able to do additional cities? If it's five additional cities, what do we have to have structurally? Mm-hmm. One thing that, that, that we've been very diligent about and, and determined about is having a succession plan.

So I'm, I'm 60, and what, what I've determined is I've seen other organizations, um, where the founder retires or the founder dies- Hmm ... and the organization flounders, and within 18 months they're gone.

Speaker 2: Yep.

Speaker: If you believe in your mission, if you believe in your nonprofit, have a [00:39:00] succession plan and train up the person who's gonna come after you or the people that are gonna come after you.

I've identified to the board, and this person already knows it as well. We have someone that if I drop dead today, this person will step in-

Speaker 2: Mm ...

Speaker: at my encouragement, and I've already trained them, and the board is already aware that they're ready to go.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker: So I think that's, that's gotta be part of the five-year plan is building a succession plan.

Speaker 2: Yeah, and it also is i- interesting and I think is worth noting is that you have the relationship with, uh, with the board and that they understand that one of their responsibilities is to, to make sure you're not, they're not burning you out and you're not burning yourself out, right?

Speaker: Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: And, um, uh, which is hard to do, especially when you're the, the vision caster.

You're the one, the founder. You're the person who sort of was the first to put boots on the ground and start m- moving forward, right? It can just feel like- Yeah ... oh, [00:40:00] my gosh, we just gotta keep marching. And the board's, one of their roles is to make sure that you're gonna s- if you choose to, you're still gonna be around five years from now, and you're not gonna- Yeah

have put yourself in an early grave or something like that just by working too hard.

Speaker: If your board isn't watching out for you, um, the first thing I would do is, is I would, I would coach them. I, I would, I would absolutely coach your board. If y- as, as a nonprofit leader, you have to understand all the aspects of what- Mm, mm

of what you're doing. If you say, "Well, I'm just gonna get a board, and they'll figure it out," oh, they'll figure it out But wouldn't you rather coach them so they feel confident? May- maybe they've never been on a board before, or maybe they've got a board experience and they come into this. They're gonna bring whatever they brought from, or whatever they have from that previous board into this, and maybe it's not what you want.

So know, know what a board member should look like and what they [00:41:00] should do. Set some parameters. Put something in writing. You know, may- maybe you wanna have a board member and you, you want them to sign a statement of faith. Maybe, maybe you want them to, you know... I, I think, I think honestly they, again, I'll- I've said this before and I'll say it again, board members should be active in your organization and they should be donors.

Bottom line.

Speaker 2: Yeah. That's so good. Paul, how do, um, how do people find out more about what you guys do? If somebody's listening to the podcast, they wanna sort of look through your website, see how you have things structured. I know you talked about the giving process. Somebody wants to look at that. Like, walk us through how somebody might wanna follow up with you if they have, uh, additional questions.

Speaker: I appreciate that. Showerup.org is, is our website. Showerup.org. We also have, uh, we're also on Facebook and Instagram with all of our cities. Each of our cities has its own show- uh, ShowerUp Facebook and Instagram, so ShowerUp Nashville, ShowerUp Huntsville, and all the others. Um, and we're on TikTok as well.[00:42:00]

TikTok's fun because if you find ShowerUp on TikTok, you're gonna see some of the stories. Oh, okay. You're gonna see some of the, the cool stuff that happens, and it's all about the relationship. The number one thing in our mission, and, and I hope you see this with what we do, it's all about the relationship with our guests

Speaker 2: So I hope that this conversation with Paul Schmitz, the executive director and founder of ShowerUp, gave you some practical takeaways and some encouragement, too.

You can do this for your own leadership journey. There is so much good stuff in what Paul has shared with us, and maybe the takeaway for you is just to simplify whatever your next step is. Maybe it's to strengthen your board a little bit. Maybe it's, "Hey, I gotta stop chasing distractions and just stay focused on the core mission."

Maybe it's just a reminder that healthy growth, you build that intentionally, not by accident. But whatever it is that stood out to you, my challenge to you is to not just listen and talk yourself out of taking another step, which [00:43:00] w- is real common, and we can all do it. Rather, I want you to realize that you can do absolutely everything that Paul has done or all the things that any other successful nonprofit leader has done, but you've got to get started.

And if you need help putting a plan together, that's what I'm here for, and that's what I do for nonprofits just like yours all the time. So let's connect on a discovery call. It's free. Go to nonprofitlaunchplan.com and click on Book a Call. Again, nonprofitlaunchplan.com and click Book a Call. Now, before we wrap up for this episode, I'd like to, again, invite you to sign up for my free weekly email, the Nonprofit Launch Briefing.

If you want practical help building a stronger nonprofit and don't wanna waste a lot of time on guesswork or trying a whole bunch of stuff, uh, without much of a plan, sign up right now. It's one meaningful email each week, and I share clear strategies and practical tools, fundraising insight, guidance, [00:44:00] so on and so forth, for startups, small, and growing nonprofits like yours.

It's designed to help you lead smarter and grow your nonprofit stronger and sort of avoid some of the common mistakes and p- pitfalls that I, I've made and others have made as well. So if you're serious about building a healthy nonprofit that makes a real impact, I'd love to have you on my email list.

Just shoot me a quick email with the simple "Sign me up" in the subject line. My email is matt@nonprofitlaunchplan.com. Again, in the subject line, "Sign me up." And send it to matt@nonprofitlaunchplan.com. Another thing, a preview for next week's episode, that comes out Wednesday, May 15th, 2026 at 8:00 AM Mountain, if you're listening in real time.

It's a week from the day this episode dropped. In that episode, I will make a great opportunity available for one nonprofit leader. It's a really unique, uh, moment for maybe you, if you're trying to get your nonprofit off the [00:45:00] lan- launchpad and into orbit, or move your nonprofit that is already launched into the next phase.

You're gonna wanna be listening as soon as you can get the episode after it drops to take advantage of this. So if you need to set an alarm, next Wednesday, May 15th, 2026, if you're listening in real time, 8:00 AM Mountain to get the episode and listen. That's it for this episode of the Nonprofit Launch Plan podcast for startups, small and growing nonprofits.

If this podcast has been helpful at all, and I hope it is, would you consider sharing it with another nonprofit leader who's just getting started and needs more clarity? Until next time, thank you so much for watching and listening. Keep building wisely, and keep making a difference. Have a great day