BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT

My name is Tephra Fields and the name of my organization is Built To Last Non-Profit Solutions

What Does Your Business Do?

We help nonprofits maximize their impact through the development of sustainable systems.

Are you from Cincinnati?

So I am originally from the great state, the peach state of Georgia I moved to Cincinnati in December of 2016 and how I got here is I was recruited by another organization and that brought me here and I’ve been here ever since.

What Inspired Your Business?

I was inspired to start Built To Last Non-profit Solutions because as a former executive director of several non-profits in Georgia, Northern Kentucky, and Cincinnati, Ohio I felt like I started in a place where I didn’t actually know I just kind of started. I’ve been working in non-profit organizations for 20 years and made a jump from a case manager into an executive leadership position and I was kind of thrown in even though I had you know, support around me and my organization I had to learn on the job and sometimes when starting a business, start a non-profit organization, you are learning on the job but if I had somebody that kind of walked with me to guide me, coach me through the process it would have been a little easier for me in the beginning but I am so appreciative for the journey. I actually work with several other other or being able to work with other executive directors and other non-profits in my job, I found that we were all dealing with a lot of the same things so even though we were wanting to help or we want to help the individuals and our clients the people we serve there’s also that foundational work of the organization that needs to be done and sometimes you don’t understand or even know so as a new person starting a non-profit, you want to start something because you want to help but at the same time you don’t understand or may not even know that there’s the foundational work that needs to be completed like your incorporation paperwork, building a board of directors how to build a board of directors, the fund development piece, fundraising, the strategic planning, volunteer recruitment, donor recruitment, maintaining your donors, program management, program development there’s so much involved in starting a non-profit, maintaining that nonprofit because you want to sustain it, you want to go on for years and I think of when you start your nonprofit you think of you want to eradicate something, you want to help something and once you’ve eradicated that thing you transition and you move on to the next. You know I always think you want to work yourself out of a job and transition to something else but you have to be able to plan and prepare to transition to the next step Built To Last Non-profit Solutions is an organization that can help the executive director, that board, that staff plan for the next step. So I want to be that person that walks hand in hand with that organization as they make those changes.

What Are Looking Forward To For The Best Week In July?

So even though I’ve been here since 2016, this will be my very first music week. I’ve never been to Cincinnati Music Fest and I am just kind of ready to see all the people that come from all over the country to this event. I actually was talking to a potential client in another state and they mentioned that they were going to come here actually it was fun because they’re from Cincinnati so it’s like a homecoming for them and it’s kind of a celebration for those individuals that are interested in music to see the concerts and to see everybody get together and have a good time and then highlighting a lot of the businesses in the area, the food trucks, the people that make t-shirts I mean all is just a great time and just to hear the music and just being excited about such a great event.

What Impact do you wish your Business adds to the community?

My impact it that I will be able to help non-profits sustain and to help them with their foundational work and to help them last we want organizations to last we don’t want them to get to the two-year itch and then it’s like “I don’t want to do this anymore” because it can be hard there are three things that I think that a lot of non-profit directors or individuals that want to start a non-profit or if you run:

You have to give yourself grace, you have to be persistent, and you have to make sure that you are prepared for all these other things that can happen you know it could be good it could be bad but just make sure that you are prepared for it. So grace, persistence, and preparation are important and I want to help them make the impact to grow in the community and past one or two years and to just make sure that they are doing what they say they are going to do and follow their mission.

Where do you see your business in the next 5 years?

In the next five years, I plan to be able to expand my business to bring on to be a training opportunity for those students that are looking to learn grant writing, those individuals or students that are interested in event planning to be able to grow and train other individuals as they grow their organizations and to be like a training hub for you know many other smaller nonprofits as well as creating tools for larger nonprofits.

What do we need to know about your business?

We’re Black Owned I guess you can see it but it was just something that started from the heart and I’m actually in a happy place and doing the thing that

I love and that’s being able to help nonprofit executive directors because I’ve been where they’ve been I’ve gone through those blood sweat and tears and not knowing what to do next and you know “Who do I partner with” “Where is my next donor going to come from”, I’ve been that lone staff member to do all the work and I want to let you know individuals know that you’re not alone, it’s not just happening to you. There are other nonprofits out there that go through those growing pains it doesn’t matter if you 5 years old as an organization, 10 years old as an organization it is a natural progression you are going to change after you know 2 years, 4 years which is why it has to be important to develop a strategic plan to prep you for those changes that are going to happen because the world is changing around us and I want to be able to grow outside of Cincinnati I want to be able to grow outside of Ohio and to build up those smaller nonprofits so that they can grow as well So if you’re looking for assistance with Built To Last Non-profit Solutions, if you need grant writing, fund development, program development, organizational development, board training, executive director coaching we can be reached by calling us, emailing us, messaging us on our website www.btlns.com Facebook page you can reach by social media at BTLNS Cincy and also you can give us a call at (513)713-0222 and if you would like to send me an email you can reach me directly at tfields@btlns.com