Q&A With Senior Program Officer, Rich Spisak
As Ball Brothers Foundation prepares to bid farewell to longtime Senior Program Officer Rich Spisak, we wanted to share a more personal look at his time with the foundation. Rich has been a steady presence at BBF for 17 years—known for his straightforward style, deep commitment to nonprofit partners, and his good humor. In the Q&A below, Rich reflects on the experiences, relationships, and moments that shaped his work and his perspective.
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Of course, over 17 years there have been many experiences or moments that stand out. There is one moment though I believe was a turning point for BBF and President/CEO Jud Fisher. That occurred at our first board retreat in Miami, FL in 2012. The retreat was led by consultant Fred Bartenstein. This was the first time the foundation ever did anything like this, and we all had reservations on how things would go. To make a long story short the retreat was a complete success and Jud established himself as the new leader of BBF after taking over for Doug Bakken after his long tenure of over 20 years.
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BBF has evolved significantly during my tenure. Besides the IT and technical advances, the foundation became much more transparent and took a path to be very open to the community, our grant making took on a very strategic and proactive approach. Our place-based granting began to develop as multi-year grants started to be given for operating expenses. Our AD program developed new family board members who were very committed to the success of our grant making and understood our mission. This in turn created great productive board meetings. The foundation began to show their leadership abilities as BBF started to convene groups to advance projects in the community. All of this and more are the reasons BBF is recognized not only locally but state and country wide.
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I would have to say the focus on building relationships is the heart of our foundation and is something that comes natural to me. In my prior work before joining BBF building relationships with people and families were the key to success. I believe I have learned to become more patient since joining BBF since many of our projects do take some time to develop. I believe BBF takes a commonsense approach to grant making. Keeping the grantees values and feelings always in the forefront but also expressing our thoughts in a respectful manor. Our foundation has developed into a great resource for many non-profits because of our philosophy of putting the grantee first.
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My coaching experience has prepared me for many things which were transferable to the foundation. Besides the relationship building, I developed a philosophy to always be upfront and fair when dealing with someone. I always wanted to put myself in the grantees shoes and respond accordingly. Accountability is important to me, so I always wanted to deliver an answer in a prompt but respectful way. After evaluating a situation, planning was something that came easy to me as there was no time to waste in coaching. Above all, I approached my job representing BBF like I did as a coach in that we were a team representing something much bigger than ourselves and we had an obligation and duty to be excellent stewards of our grant dollars.
We are grateful to Rich for the dedication, candor, and care he has brought to BBF and to the many nonprofit leaders he worked alongside. His insights and relationships have shaped the foundation in lasting ways, and we wish him all the best as he begins this next chapter.