Ep. 86: How Kathy Doubled Her Fundraising Using the Purpose & Profit Club™ Method
EPISODE 86
How Kathy Doubled Her Fundraising Using the Purpose & Profit Club™ Method
About the Episode:
Did you always know that you were going to be working in the nonprofit world, or is it something that the universe directed you toward? This is exactly what happened for today’s guest, Kathy Ruiz-Carter. After being diagnosed with a rare skin disorder she started a podcast to find community, then started a membership, then finally landed on creating her own nonprofit, the Lichen Sclerosus Support Network. On today’s episode, she shares what she’s learned along the way and how she’s managed to be profitable from day one. It’s been so fun to see her grow as an executive director, bringing the network’s audience and fundraising efforts right along with her. Kathy is such a light and I can’t wait for you to soak some of that up throughout the episode!
Topics:
The challenges that come with starting a nonprofit and finding funding within a niche (and medical diagnosis) that is almost unheard of
How Kathy grew her nonprofit’s website hits from 17,000 to over 100,000, quadrupled her email list, and doubled her revenue using the methods she learned in the Purpose & Profit Club™
Using (and extending) Giving Tuesday to increase traffic, engagement, and donations and the power of giving your audience free value
Why you should send more (and then some more) emails, even to those who have already donated
How to empower your supporters to donate and separate your worth from what they decide
Knowing when it’s time to move on from the free information and invest in coaching
The process Kathy went through in growing her business from a podcast, then a membership, to a nonprofit
Believing that you get back what you put out and trusting the universe to provide for you
Think you’ve reached out to “everyone” in your network? Out of ideas to get noticed and get funded? Generate leads for your nonprofit or social impact business: https://www.splendidcourses.com/prospect
Christina’s Favorite Takeaways:
“It sucks and unfortunately this is where we are now, but tell everybody so that we can change. You never know who you know.” – Kathy
“Our audience loves free, they will support free. We get more donations when we give free content.” – Kathy
“Sometimes it’s as simple as saying, ‘This is what we’ve done, this is what we still need to do.’” – Christina
“Don’t make people’s decisions for them, all you can do is give them the information and let them go from there.” – Kathy
“I literally should not be here where I am today… I knew zero about any of this.” – Kathy
“We’ve been profitable since day one.” – Kathy
“I’ve always wanted a coach, we just didn’t always have the funds to hire the right coach.” – Kathy
“I’ve taken us as far as the free stuff could take us.” – Kathy
“I want to give people hope, I want them to know there is life after diagnosis and they are not alone. They have a home.” – Kathy
“My mantra is you get back what you put out, so I’m very much mindful of what I put out.” – Kathy
About Kathy:
Host of Lichen Sclerosus Podcast and co-founder/executive director of the nonprofit Lichen Sclerosus Support Network, Kathy Ruiz-Carter has been educating and supporting people with Vulvar Lichen Sclerosus, a "rare" skin condition, since February 2020. Her passion for the community has propelled her career in the health advocate space to what it is now. She's excited to educate you about it.
Connect with Kathy + The Lichen Sclerosus Support Network
Episode Resources:
FREE Resources from Splendid Consulting:
How to Work with Christina and Splendid Consulting:
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*Links may be affiliate links which means I may earn a commission at no cost to you.
Christina Edwards 02:47
Okay. Welcome Kathy Ruiz Carter, I'm so excited to have you on the podcast. This is this is just such a joy to welcome you on and and tell everybody about the important work you do. I know that we're gonna get like dig into women's health. And that's like a hot button for me. So I'm thrilled to have you on so first to start. Tell us about your organization and your role and kind of what you're working on.
Kathy Ruiz Carter 03:13
Yeah, thank you so much for having me on. So I am Executive Director and co founder of the Lycan sclerosis podcast. And we empower people that have lichen sclerosis through evidence based education and support. And our whole mission is to give people the tools that they need to live happy, healthy lives with this condition. And most people have never heard of this condition. lichen sclerosis is a skin condition that mainly affects the female genitals. And so you know, there's a lot of stigma around it and so, you know, people don't talk about it and then it's not just on the patient side on the medical provider side, it falls between two specialties. So gynecology and dermatology because it is an skin condition. And the problem is most gynecologist you know, they're not looking at the outside of the genitals they are going straight in and they don't even pay attention. And on the dermatology side, you know, you're going in for your skin check and most of them are not looking down there. So a lot of people are falling through the cracks and we are pumping out information and trying to change that because you know, this is a non curable condition. And as you can imagine when we have stuff going on down there it's gonna change a lot of things not just our skin. Yeah,
Christina Edwards 04:54
and I saw you share what it was Rare Disease Day, which is recent was recently it was so injured We're starting to see so many of the organizations that they've worked with sharing that and just when you are impacted when you serve a population that works in sort of a rare disease, it's underfunded, it's under talked about, it's under everything. And like you said, you just kind of pointed out to the big problems, which is, you know, a woman comes in saying, This is what I'm experiencing. I'm sure it's being misdiagnosed or they're ping pong in go see a dermatologist. As someone who gets their skin checkup checkups once a year, my dermatologist. Yeah, I mean, not exactly the area she's she's working on, you know, she's looking at, you know, yeah. So yeah, I could see how it would just be either misdiagnosed or just missed altogether. Yeah. Yeah. That's
Kathy Ruiz Carter 05:45
what happens. And on average, it takes five to 15 years to get a diagnosis. And
Christina Edwards 05:51
yeah, and meanwhile, women are are having I would imagine lots of symptoms, and feelings progressive.
Kathy Ruiz Carter 06:01
It's progressive. So it's like, you can start off with one symptom. And over time, if you're not managing your condition, you can it can even progress to vulvar cancer, which
Christina Edwards 06:13
I'm going to Yeah, I want to put a like quick footnote in this conversation with it, which is I know some dudes listen to this podcast. And they might be like, alright, not my Listen, do it's because we're about to talk about your success. In this advocacy work, your success in bringing visibility to your to your mission, and what you've done in a really short amount of time. That's why I was like, you have to come on the podcast. So you may not be serving women's health, but this is very, very applicable to any mission or cause, especially ones where you're saying things like, you know, it's hard. Not a lot of people know, our disease even exists, right? That type of thing. So I feel like you first came into my world when you joined amplify social impact, right? Is that Is that true?
Kathy Ruiz Carter 07:00
I actually just came into your world a year prior I got the bundle that you put out with all the other coaches. Yeah.
Christina Edwards 07:13
Wait was Sean and Sean and Holly, that bundle was it that Yeah,
Kathy Ruiz Carter 07:18
the one for ya. Oh, my God. after Thanksgiving, the Black Friday bundle. Yep. That's love. That's when I got introduced to you. And I just want to make one thing clear for the guys, two guys can get this condition. It's rarer. But they can and right now. We don't have the resources to really research and provide the, the the level of care that is what it's aren't in our mission to give for guys, but our hope is to grow, where we do have that information for a guy. So guys, you know, check us out too, because I'm sure you got mom's sisters, daughters nieces. This is this is also there's a genetic component to it. So check us out. But yes, our growth has been amazing. Tell us.
Christina Edwards 08:12
So what were you struggling with before amplify social impact before you really said, let me work on this visibility thing, this funding thing? Like where were you and wins? Yeah,
Kathy Ruiz Carter 08:23
absolutely. So we, we are 100% donor funded? We don't get any grants. We don't have any fancy sponsorships with organizations or anything like that. And yet, that's right. Yeah. But we one of the things that we struggled with is, are we hitting up our community for donations too often? Like, do we want? You know, do you want to keep sending the please donate, please help. And so in the beginning, we and I should say we started our nonprofit in August of 21. But we didn't really start until like that, you know, you have the whole setting up the board and the bylaws and all that stuff. So we didn't really start working until 2022. And then we really got started in 2023. So for us, it you know, being new, having a small, a niche, kind of, you know, very small, nobody really knows us and the only people who really find us are patients. So it's like okay, are we going to keep hitting up our patients to fund us and it's unfair, right? We already are underfunded. We're under researched as a as a disease. And now we got to fund our own nonprofit Have it too, you know, and that's where we are. And it's like, the messaging is like, you know, and I got this from one of the talks that I did with you during Giving Tuesday through, we were doing those those sessions. And it was like, you know, yeah, it sucks. And, unfortunately, this is where we are now. But, you know, tell some tell people tell everybody so that we can change, right? You never know who you who you know. And I'm, and I'm speaking as far as like our donors, you never know who you know. And one of the problems with that, especially with our condition is the stigma, right? A lot of people don't want to talk about, well, I have this condition, because it's personal. And so we, we kind of gave them with your help, we gave them the messaging of, Hey, you don't have to tell them first off, you don't have to tell them that you have this. Second of all, you can just say it's a skin condition, you know, but very rarely are people going to go looking and doing the Google Search unless it very personally affects them. You just tell them hey, this is a progressive, uncurable skin condition that really affects people greatly. And I love to support them, will you help me support them? Right. And so being able to give them the messaging, I think has helped with getting the word out and getting more donors. So over the last year, yeah, this past year, 2023 was a huge year of growth for us. 2022, we were getting the whole year, we had about 17,000 hits on our website. This year, we end up sorry, last year 2023. We ended with over 150,000 hits on our website. Amazing. Yeah. Thank you. And our email list grew from 1000. To we're right at the cusp of 4000. Come on. All right now or X? Yes, yes, yes, yes. And our revenue year over year, we doubled our revenue year over a year. And it was very much Giving Tuesday. That's when you and I really really started working more closely before that I was just getting the emails and, and things like that. And then you did a webinar for amplified social. Uh huh. Which we were we I've always had, like, we call them our champions, but they're like our doctors, our speakers in our network, who have social media followings. But I have not reached out to other influencers, so to say, you know, and when I heard your webinar, I was like, Yes, we can do that. Yeah, I've been doing it on a so much granular, small scale, and only when like we're doing events or something like that. But to think that I could have a year long program, and really be strategic about holding campaigns, and reaching out to other people who care who have audiences that are may not have our condition, but who kind of our sister kind of, you
Christina Edwards 13:44
know, care about women's audiences. Yeah, exactly.
Kathy Ruiz Carter 13:47
And so we're taking the course I have a volunteer, recruited a volunteer, and she and I are doing the course together. And we are going to we're laying down the foundation so that this summer, we can host our first campaign. So I'm really excited about that. And then, while I was saying, part of the amplified social was that we got a bonus of withheld for giving Tuesday. Uh huh. Which that was so helpful. So we had a $10,000 goal, which we did the previous year, the previous year, we got a little over 5000. But my do 2000 of that was from the board though, those were board donation. So really, it was 3000. That was from donors. Sure, like outside donors. And so this year, again, our goal was 10,000 and this year, without any board donations we did at 700.
Christina Edwards 14:58
It's so good. I hate it.
Kathy Ruiz Carter 15:02
And I credit it 100% to our email game, which was completely different. So a previous years, we had that scarcity, like, Oh, we don't want to email them too much, oh, we don't want to, you know, bother them. Oh, we don't want to keep asking for money. And so we would do our we always stretched, Giving Tuesday out a week. So it was like, you know, we yeah, we just did. And, and it worked, right, we still got donations afterwards. But this year, we added an event. So we did an event on Giving Tuesday with a provider. So that gave us an excuse to start online event, right? Yes, everything we do right now. It's
Christina Edwards 15:54
virtual. Yeah, it's just part of what I love about your strategy. Yes, yeah. Yeah, cuz it's
Kathy Ruiz Carter 15:59
low cost, right? It's no cost. So, um, well, low costs. But um, we. So doing the event on Giving Tuesday gave us an excuse to start talking about giving Tuesday, two weeks ahead of time. Because, you know, we had to let people know, hey, this is coming up. And this is why we're doing it. And this is what's going to be helping, and the event was free. Let me make that clear. Because what we've found over time, is that we could charge for the event and we would get people. But our audience loves free, they will support free. And we make more donations, when we give free content. And let people know, you know, we always have a blurb, hey, this event is free. But you know, if you want to support and help us to do more of this, leave us a donation. And they just start pouring in.
Christina Edwards 17:03
That is part of the what I've really seen in the magic in the work that you do is you really are willing to like try this, evaluate, figure out what's working, what you want to improve on in the fact that you're understanding your audience and their preferences and being like, okay, I can get way more volume of people to the event for free, which means more hype, more engagement, more everything, and yet it converts higher, like pre and post, like during the event for donations to and that takes the only way you'll know that is by trying, right? Yeah.
Kathy Ruiz Carter 17:36
Yeah, absolutely. And so the other thing that we did different was we sent I don't know the exact figure, but I it was, I think we for extra emails from the previous the previous year.
Christina Edwards 17:54
You know, you put your hand to your chest. And what my brain did was an uncomfortable amount of emails. Christina, we started I
Kathy Ruiz Carter 18:03
was I guess it was, I think after after, you know, I did, we always do like a check in afterwards. And if I'm not, if I remember the figure correctly, over that stretch, we sent a total of over 22,000 emails to this group of three, you know, at that time, it was like 3030 200. So that was a lot of emails. Yes. And one of the thing was on Giving Tuesday, we we were I believe it like five 5000. Yeah, we were like halfway there. I want to say huh. And I know we met and we met around either the we checked in after giving Tuesday, we
Christina Edwards 18:50
had a coaching call right after right after Yes, it was right at Hannover, of giving Tuesday. Yes.
Kathy Ruiz Carter 18:57
And, you know, we were all like celebrating our wins and everything. And I was like, you know, we only made 5000. But, you know, and you were like, send another email to the people who already gave. And I was like, put they already key, Christine. Why would it you know, I don't want to seem greedy or like, and you're like, tell them what you've what you've raised, what that's going to be able to help and where you are falling short. And so with much trepidation, I did. And I laid out exactly like you said, Hey, we raised this much. And this is what it's going to be able to cover and this but this is what's still lacking. And it was like bullet list. It was really easy to skim. And I said you know I we appreciate your donation already. If you You have the ability, please, you know, help us to help support us some more if you don't please share this email with someone who who may donate. And our largest donor at that time was a donation for $450. I will say that as well. We do not have any major donors. Yep. All of our donors are 1000. Yes, yes. 1000. At that point, we're at, you know, still $1,000 or less. Yeah, our biggest donation, the previous year had been 1000. At this point that $450 donation was our biggest donation. And I was like, originally, I was like, I should leave her off the list. She's already given so much. And I said, and then you're just like, just send it so I sent it. And I was like, the worst that can happen is she just delete the email, right? And so, lo and behold, later on that day, I get a donation from $500. From that same donor. I about free right away, I went to Instagram and I DM Christina, I'm like, You're not gonna believe this.
Christina Edwards 21:18
Except I'm like, of course, I believe it. Yeah, worse. You know, it's like, it just shows so much like number one, it shows that our brains are just sometimes wrong, right? And that everything you've described, I know, every listener has felt before and that trepidation in that, should I just segment out these couple of people, right? I've felt that before. Like, it's so normal, and it's what keeps us small. It's what keeps us small. And so like, overcoming that piece is just such an important piece. And it's like, that email was just an invitation, it was an invitation for her to to make another donation for her to just share it for her to do nothing. Right. And to deny her that invitation for a cause she clearly cares about. That's like costs on us, you know, and that's not what we're here to do. And so it took a lot of guts, it took a lot of courage. And it also the the most fun part is it showed you it showed your brain that people want to help. And they're not done yet. Just because they made a sizable gift doesn't mean they're done yet. So, so good. And the other thing I want to underscore is that sometimes with emails, we think we have to tell this, like, just flowery, robust story that has all of the things and then it's, and sometimes it's a bulleted list that says, This is what we've done. Amazing. This is what we want to do. This is how far we have to go. You come in and it's like that speaks to my heart sometimes is like, and you did
Kathy Ruiz Carter 22:44
it. Yeah, that's my personality is like, give me the facts. Yeah, I didn't, you know, stories are nice, but I need to know, what is it that? What do we need? What are you? What are you asking me? Let me know. So that way I can make a decision. If I need more information, I'll read the rest. But you you know, I think you it was one of the trainings, I think it was you were saying? How? Look, don't make people's decision for them? Let them be the ones to make the decision yes or no? And good. Just all we need to do is give them the information and and let them go from there. Yeah. And that really hit for me.
Christina Edwards 23:26
Yeah, the next layer of everyone's work is the next layer of that. So you're like, Okay, got it noted, we'll do and then next layer is don't make it mean anything catastrophic, when they don't take the action you hoped they would take. Because oftentimes, they're not taking the action for 1000 reasons. It doesn't have to do with you. And it doesn't mean we stop, right. It doesn't mean we stop. So you've just been such a beautiful example of that. Thank you for sharing that that piece with us. And I think too, you saw in that. So implement social impact is a self study course. But I did some of these bonus coachings you saw the impact of coaching because it was like, Oh, what if I just add like, you know, like, hit the gas on this whole thing and get to where I need to go and not wait so long and which is why I'm so thrilled that you're in the purpose of profit club. Like, I've just like when you say things like we haven't, and I keep adding the yets I'm like, this is the year this is the year we do these things together. It's gonna be so fun. Yeah, absolutely.
Kathy Ruiz Carter 24:26
Like I've always been. I've always said like, I wanted to coach. I one even when I started the nonprofit. I was like, I don't know nothing about nonprofits. I don't know nothing about starting a business running a business. I literally should not be here where I am today. I should I have no business doing this. I was actually having a conversation with my daughters about doing the hard things and and not playing small and trying things. And I was like, look at that. What Mommy has done, because not to toot my own horn, but good job. I literally knew zero about any of this, I started a podcast, I learned about this condition which there's like barely any information, I grew a huge community, on, on during the pandemic, you know, and that has grown after the pandemic. And it's just like, every time I do something other, like, when you're in the midst of it, you're just doing it. And in the beginning, the first couple of years, like my husband, and even my board were like, You don't understand what you've done. And I'm just like, running like, I'm not doing enough I got to do Yeah, but this this, I want to say since like, Giving Tuesday and and I'm, I'm glowing in my basking in my glow, like I yeah, what I've done is a frickin amazing for where I came from. I have no background, I have no business in, in being able to double our freakin revenue in one year. Like, I listened to some business coaches, and they're like, it takes three years to become profitable, and that we've been profitable from day one. And we have just grown and, and the reason that I joined the coaching program is because I always said I wanted to have a coach just didn't have the funds to get to, to be able to have the right coach, right. And so I did all the free, you know, all the free conferences, all the free videos, all the podcasts, I'm downloading it. And that's how I learned exactly what I learned. But I think I was like I told my board, because I did have to get it approved through them. Because it is a large amount of money. But I told them, I have taken us as far as the free stuff is going to take us. i The amount of hours that I spend, you know, watching videos, reading blogs, you know, all of these things. I need someone who first is going to be able to look at what where we have what we've done. And let us know, this is where your growth is. So I'm not wasting time doing ABC when I should be doing XYZ and then telling me this is how to do XYZ. Yeah. Because I'm I'm flailing I'm trying all of the things and seeing what sticks. Yeah, but someone who's done it time and time and time and time again, they already know what's gonna stick.
Christina Edwards 27:52
That's you know, and I think too, when you join a coaching program like this, it reminds me of, you know, the first time you see a new therapist, and you're like, Alright, here we go, here's who I am. Here's some of my stuff. It's like you have to re explain or a doctor, same thing. Here's my charts. Here's what you know. And when you have a coach, when you're in a coaching program, I'm like, Oh, I already know you already know. So I know your foundations. I know your strengths. You can say to me, you know, here's what I'm thinking for the year. Here's where I need help. Here's where I need guidance, but we're not having to constantly do what I would call discovery, or not constantly, like reviewing your baseline. And that's the piece on I think the free stuff, which I love some free stuff too. But that's a piece you don't get because you're hopping around from expert or from strategy in that sense. You're not getting like the follow through. Yeah,
Kathy Ruiz Carter 28:43
yeah. Yeah, that's you're exactly right. Because you're like, Okay, I can do X, Y, Z from SU, I can do D E, F from Ed. Yep. But do Su and Ed's thing kind of work together. And, and you're like, Okay, you're piecemeal in it, right? Where it's like, I have to Okay, um, and then what ended up and I'm the worst? Well, no, I'm not, but I'm good. I'm just, I'm working on my negative talk. But what I ended up doing is I will start implementing Seuss stuff. And then halfway through, I hear good stuff. And then I'm like, Oh, that's really cool. So then I leave su stuff half done. And then I'm like, starting Ed stuff. And then here comes, you know, Mike, with another one. And it's like, yeah, so I never really see things through completely, you know, that's right.
Christina Edwards 29:39
That's right. And then when you don't have that accountability piece, I mean, you just described everyone by the way, I'd say typically, for free stuff. There's two types of people you're you're the better one because you're at least trying it you're implementing in that free scenario. The other part is I'm like don't watch this webinar like Netflix y'all don't just consume it, don't put it year by And wash dishes. And so a lot of times we see that too, where people are like, well, Christina strategy is interesting. And then they just move on. But I hear you, because you're almost code switching, right? And you're never really following through on one specific thing. So I want to talk about I'm gonna switch gears for a second, I want to talk about something that I think is really innovative that you do, you do quite a few innovative things. And I think it's going to be in already has, but it's going to be the reason why your organization sees a lot of success in a short amount of time. So you already said you're like, What am I doing here? Who should who am I to run this, you're the exact person around this nonprofit, by the way. But in that I think you've brought a lot of like, not traditional nonprofit easy stuff into. So for example, here's what I mean, you have a podcast, you say you have a podcast, you host these web events, live events, webinars, I don't know what you call them, where you bring in expert providers, you have identified, our audience is hungry for information, and there is a lack of information and our organization is gonna have a membership, you have an online membership, like I these are three things that I'd say 90% of my clients don't have clients and students. So talk to us about that innovation, the way that you are more forward thinking in in your in your organization.
Kathy Ruiz Carter 31:18
Oh, yeah. So the reason that all of those things came, so the podcast came first, the membership came second, and the nonprofit came third. Okay. And what we did was when, when I started the nonprofit, I was like, Okay, how are we going to incorporate the podcast and the membership because I don't want to kill them. And so what we did was, we made it so that the podcast is a marketing tool, right, it's an education tool, as well, but it's a marketing tool, as well. And then the membership, it ended up it, we turned it from, it was a for profit membership that I started. And we turned it into, okay, we're going to envelope this into the nonprofit. And it's going to be a perk for our monthly and annual givers, our donors. And so they're going to get the benefit of this nonprofit, I mean of this membership. And that's how we did it. That's exactly how we did it and, and what the evolution is, because when I started the not the the podcast, I had no intention of ever starting a nonprofit, it was literally, I cannot be the only one that is looking for this information, I cannot be the only one that is feeling this way and looking for community. And so it was really to get the information out there to build that community. And what I found really early on, like I started the nonprofit, I mean, nonprofit, I started the podcast in February. And by November, I was starting the membership. And in in that I was like, I'm a research. I'm a learner, right? All the free things I can learn. I'm in it. So part of that was listening to podcast following, you know, membership, people that taught you how to start memberships and things like that, learning the different platforms. And so then the membership originally was a way for me to make money to continue doing the thing. And then my co founder reached out to me after she was diagnosed in I want to say it was February because it was right after her birthday. And she was like, Hey, are you making money? And I'm like, not really. At that point. I was making like $150 a month from the membership. And she was like, she's a financial advisor. And she was like, we need to make this pie, a nonprofit. And I was like, Oh, I don't know how to do that. And so were her connections. She connected me with the YWCA in Illinois, and oh, my god, blanking right now, Chicago, and they had a mentor program, and so that they were really our first business coaches, and they walked us they helped us through the process of starting the nonprofit, making sure that we were doing everything in line. And we just, you know, I'm like the person that like I have an idea. I'm going to figure out how to do it ASAP. And like, over time I've had like my my team has been like Okay, that's a great idea. But let's not do it in two weeks, okay? Because, you know, we need a little time. So now like, Okay, fine. But yeah, it's just been a growth and like our virtual we do an annual event, which is a week long event, kind of like we've talked about bringing in our experts. And so we we bring in experts from all different types of fields, not just the medical field, because like I said, This condition affects your whole life, your self esteem, your mental health, your relationship, or if you're dating or looking to date, your future relationships, how you look at yourself, and treat yourself and diet exercise all of the things. And so what, what I learned early on was the information that was out there is really just the medical websites like the Mayo Clinic and that medical jargon. Yeah, that other medical jargon, but it doesn't tell you how to live with this condition. Yeah. How to Boiler quality of life, right? It's all Yeah, it's all very much medical jargon. And I've my thing is, I want to give people hope. I want to let them know there is life after diagnosis. I want to let them know that they are not alone. And they have a home. I always even my membership is when they come in. It's like you have arrived, you are home now. And we have like different rooms. So we have like the dining room. And that's like where people can chat. Or we have the delivery room where there's their news feed and things like that. So it really is this is your home. Right? And so, yeah, well, would
Christina Edwards 36:54
it be? Good? Yeah. Now you have a summit coming up? Right? Yes, that annual okay. Tell us Yes,
Kathy Ruiz Carter 37:00
May 13. To the 17th we have our is the fourth year that we're doing it in, like I said, we bring in experts from all different fields, mental health, physical health, pelvic health, all of that. And we, we over five days, we, we give people the information that they need, tips, tricks, education this year, where we're adding in like, workshops, and we want to do like a live panel and things like that. It's very interactive. And there's a sense of community, and you're learning. And for a lot of people, this is the first time they've actually talked to someone that also has this condition. So that's very big. And this year, we are so excited because we our theme is partners, caregivers, and disclosure. And so we are brand broadening out from just our patients, to to their partners, to the people who are helping to take care of them. And then we're also going to give them tools on how do you talk to people about this condition, whether it's your mom, or your sister, or your doctor, or your you know, your significant other? Yep. How do you have that conversation in a way that's comfortable for you, and honors, you know, getting that information to the patient. So we, we would love to be able to get information about this to all kinds of organizations that, you know, do women's health, menopause, especially because more than half of our audience is are postmenopausal. That's one thing is a lot of people get diagnosed after menopause. So, you know, we have an older audience, and we we got to get the information out there to them, especially because they're suffering. They're there. I don't know how many emails I've gotten from 78 year old people who are like, I've never talked about this, I don't even want my doctor to look down there. You know, and it's just that there was a stigma or there there, there was a really big stigma, you know, when they were younger that they have taken into into this time and it's just like, so many people in past summits have let us know. I feel so much more empowered to talk about this after the summer giving
Christina Edwards 39:40
people language or giving people like you said not only are they feeling seen and heard and understood, but you're giving them the language to have conversations that previously were just like nope, put that on a shelf not talking to anyone about that you're doing where I can't believe how fast this has flown by where can people connect with you get involved With the organization sign up for the summit, we'll link to it in the show notes. But give us some some links real quick. Absolutely.
Kathy Ruiz Carter 40:04
So our website is Ls support network.org. You can email us at support at LS support network.org. We are on Instagram and Facebook Lycan sclerosis support network. I'm, I've joined Tiktok. So
Christina Edwards 40:25
the waters weird and kind of warm over there. I don't know. Listen, come hang out with me.
Kathy Ruiz Carter 40:31
We're on LinkedIn as well. Everything is at like in sclerosis support network. So we are all there. And
Christina Edwards 40:40
we ask every guest on the podcast, what is one thought you liked to think on purpose? So this could be an affirmation or a mantra, just something that guides you forward into this work. But you share yours with us? Yeah,
Kathy Ruiz Carter 40:51
absolutely. So I think my mantra is, I'm a very big believer in karma. And so I believe, you know, you get back what you put out. And so I'm very much mindful of what I put out. And I just believe that it may not be tomorrow, but sometime down the line. And I've seen this time and time again, that I get the universe provides for me, the people like you, Christina, in the time when I need them, not when I want them, because I wanted to coach three, three years ago. But I wasn't ready now. Ready, and I'm so excited to start the coaching program. I'm so ready for tomorrow. And yeah, thank you. That
Christina Edwards 41:41
was that's such a good one. I totally agree. And I think you already articulated the nuance, but I think it's easy as nonprofits to think I'm putting in so where's my getting right, I'm pushing you. And sometimes it's like I'm cultivating this one donor, this one strategy, why aren't they giving versus I'm giving value and it's magic where it comes back and comes from right of just like all the different ways it shows up. So thank you for that. Thank you for today. I have a feeling you're going to come back. We're going to dig into more and we're gonna talk about more successes in the future. So I can't wait. I love
Kathy Ruiz Carter 42:16
it. Can't wait. Thank you