Nonprofits are often described as mission-driven. But sustaining a mission for more than a century requires more than passion. It demands discipline, evolution, collaboration, and a deep commitment to community.
On this episode of the Charity Charge Show, we sat down with Claudia Aguirre, President and CEO of Baker Ripley, a $700 million nonprofit organization serving the Houston region. What followed was an honest conversation about disruption, scale, funding realities, collaboration, and what it truly takes to build an institution that lasts.
Overview
From City Hall to the Community
Claudia’s journey into nonprofit leadership did not begin in the nonprofit sector.
Early in her career, she worked for the mayor of Houston. After speaking at an alternative high school and hearing students’ stories, she realized how small missteps could derail young lives. That experience changed her trajectory. She left government, became a teacher, moved into school leadership, and eventually returned to city government during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
It was there she encountered Baker Ripley and saw something powerful.
She saw an organization positioned at the intersection of public policy, funding, and neighborhood-level impact. Fifteen years later, and eight years into her role as CEO, she now leads one of the largest nonprofit organizations in Texas.
The Mission: Earn, Learn, Belong, Be Well
Founded in 1907 by Alice Graham Baker as part of the Settlement House Movement, Baker Ripley was built on proximity to community.
Today, its mission remains clear:
Provide resources, education, and connection to vulnerable communities.
The organization helps neighbors:
- Earn
- Learn
- Belong
- Be well
Through programs including:
- Head Start and early childhood education
- Workforce development
- Immigration services
- Entrepreneurship support
- Youth STEM initiatives
- Senior programs
- Utility and housing assistance
Scale matters here. Baker Ripley operates with:
- $700 million annual budget
- 98% public funding
- $200–300 million in support services annually
- Approximately $15 million in private and foundation funding used largely for innovation
Claudia describes the model this way:
“We are large when it’s needed, and small when it matters.”
Why Baker Ripley Has Endured for 119 Years
Longevity in the nonprofit sector is rare. Claudia attributes Baker Ripley’s endurance to two core principles.
The Ability to Evolve
Programs are not identity.
Many nonprofits cling to legacy programs because they once worked. Baker Ripley takes a different approach. Programs are strategies, not definitions.
When funding patterns shift, when public investment changes, when community needs evolve, the organization redesigns accordingly. The mission remains constant. The tactics change.
Claudia was clear:
“We’re not chasing money. We are paying attention to where investment is moving and intersecting that with what communities aspire to.”
Deliver What You Promise
Reputation matters. Especially with public dollars.
If Baker Ripley commits to something, it delivers. And if something changes, they communicate clearly.
Trust compounds over decades.
The Reality: There Is Not Enough Funding for Everyone
This is where the conversation became especially honest.
The nonprofit sector is large and growing. Thousands of organizations are launched each year. Yet resources are finite.
Claudia addressed the elephant in the room:
“Money, money, money is the elephant in the room.”
Collaboration is often celebrated in theory. In practice, it can quickly become competition.
Foundations say they want collaboration. But when funding flows through one organization, tensions arise. Baker Ripley has approached this differently.
A Practical Example of Real Collaboration
In Houston, there are four Head Start providers. Historically, each operated independently.
Instead of competing, they formed a Head Start network and approached foundations together. Rather than applying as individual organizations, they applied collectively. They created a joint council to allocate funds.
The result:
- Shared infrastructure
- Coordinated support for families
- Stronger funding cases
- Reduced duplication
That is collaboration beyond referral letters. That is shared strategy.
Running Nonprofits Like Businesses
A theme that surfaced repeatedly: successful nonprofits borrow from business discipline.
Starting a nonprofit is easy. Sustaining one is not.
Founders often underestimate:
- Compliance requirements
- Public funding reporting
- Financial infrastructure
- Procurement standards
- Long-term planning cycles
Claudia encourages aspiring founders to consider alternatives:
- Partner with an existing organization
- Operate under a fiscal sponsor
- Bring your strategy into a larger infrastructure
Passion is essential. Infrastructure is non-negotiable.
Trust-Based Philanthropy and Innovation
We discussed the rise of trust-based philanthropy, where large funders provide unrestricted or minimally restricted grants to proven organizations.
Private funding allows for innovation that public funding often cannot support. Public dollars are structured and highly regulated. By the time a public program is approved, it has already moved through layers of compromise and design.
Private dollars allow organizations to:
- Fill gaps
- Pilot new solutions
- Strengthen excellence beyond compliance
For Baker Ripley, innovation often depends on that 2% private funding.
Workforce and the Future of the Sector
When asked what gives her hope, Claudia did not point to funding trends.
She pointed to people.
Despite workforce challenges in many sectors, she sees increasing numbers of passionate, compassionate individuals entering nonprofit work.
The challenge is not interest. It is:
- Compensation
- Balance
- Sustainability of staffing models
If nonprofit leaders can modernize workplace structures, she believes the sector will be strong for decades to come.
A Personal Leadership Practice
Running a $700 million organization can create administrative fatigue. Claudia has a simple reset strategy.
She goes back to the community centers.
When frustration creeps in, she reconnects directly with neighbors and frontline staff.
And she holds onto a core philosophy passed down through leadership generations:
“We are not here to save anyone. We are not the heroes of their story.”
Baker Ripley exists to facilitate, to remove barriers, to disrupt broken systems. The community already has aspirations. The organization helps move mountains.
That mindset keeps ego out and purpose centered.
Podcast Q&A Transcript
Q: You opened with a strong message about disruption and change. What do you mean when you say people need to “just get up and start” and disrupt systems that are not working?
Claudia: People are trying to get ahead and do their best. Often what holds them back is not effort, it is lack of information, lack of awareness, and systems that are outdated or unfair. Real change happens when you find the trigger point in a broken system, disrupt it, and create a new pathway that actually works for the people living inside that system. The stories matter because they legitimize what communities are fighting through and what they are capable of.
Q: Charity Charge talked about convening and listening as the foundation for building solutions. Why is convening so important in the nonprofit sector?
Claudia: Convening is where alignment happens. Nonprofit leaders are often isolated, overworked, and operating in survival mode. When you convene, you create space to share what is working, what is not working, and what needs to change. It is not just networking. It is where shared awareness forms. If we want to shift systems, we have to share information and coordinate action, not just operate alone in separate lanes.
Q: You compared nonprofits to small businesses and entrepreneurs. Why do you see that connection so clearly?
Claudia: Because nonprofits start the same way. Someone has a dream, sees an injustice, and decides to build something to fix it. Early nonprofit leaders are doing everything at once, marketing, payroll, operations, fundraising, community engagement, and program delivery. They are truly jacks of all trades. We celebrate businesses that start small and become big, but we forget nonprofits take that same path. If we honored the nonprofit journey the way we honor entrepreneurship, the sector would be healthier and more sustainable.
Q: Charity Charge mentioned the “empty chair” idea to represent the customer or community member in decision-making. What was your reaction to that?
Claudia: I loved it. A lot of organizations say they center the people they serve, but building a purposeful presence into the room is different. It is a discipline. It keeps decision-making honest. It is a tangible reminder that every operational decision should be tested against a simple question: is this in the best interest of the neighbor we are here to serve?
Q: For someone unfamiliar with Baker Ripley, what is the mission in plain language?
Claudia: Our mission is to provide resources, education, and connection to vulnerable communities. In practical terms, we help people earn, learn, belong, and be well. That means we operate programs that touch the whole life of a family: early childhood education, workforce development, immigration support, youth programs, senior services, entrepreneurship, and support services like utility or housing assistance.
Q: What does Baker Ripley actually do day to day across Houston?
Claudia: We operate community centers and programs that meet people where they are. That includes Head Start sites, workforce centers, community schools, immigration services, entrepreneur programs, youth STEM programs, and support services distribution. Our work evolves over time, but the anchor stays the same: being rooted in community and creating pathways to opportunity.
Q: You shared a powerful statistic about Baker Ripley’s scale. Can you break down what $700 million means in how you operate?
Claudia: We are a $700 million organization and about 98% of that is public dollars, local, state, and federal. Around $200 to $300 million of that total is what we call support services, where public entities fund us to distribute assistance into the community. Then the remaining 2% or so, around $15 million, is private or foundation funding. Those private dollars are what fund innovation and the core work in community centers, like immigration, entrepreneurship, youth programs, and new approaches we want to pilot.
Q: You said you intentionally built Baker Ripley to be large. Why is size and infrastructure important in your model?
Claudia: Because when crisis hits a region like Houston, you need an organization that can move fast and operate at scale. But we also need to stay rooted and relational. That is why I say we are large when needed and small when it matters. The infrastructure allows speed and stability. The community presence allows trust and relevance.
Q: Baker Ripley has survived for more than a century. What do you believe is the biggest reason it has lasted 119 years?
Claudia: The ability to evolve. Nonprofits often hold too tightly to programs, to funding streams, to legacy strategies. But programs should not define your organization. Your purpose defines you. Programs are tactics. If you stay centered on purpose and values, you can redesign strategies as the world changes. That is how you stay alive across generations.
Q: Many leaders worry that evolving programs means “chasing money.” How do you draw the line between smart adaptation and mission drift?
Claudia: We are not chasing dollars. We are paying attention to where investment is moving and where community needs are evolving. We look at public investment, private funding trends, and regional priorities, then we intersect that with what communities are aspiring for. The line is clear when your purpose is the anchor. You evolve tactics to stay relevant, not to abandon who you are.
Q: Besides evolution, what else keeps an organization strong over time?
Claudia: Delivering what you say you will deliver. Trust is everything. Funders, public partners, and most importantly the people you serve, they need to know you will do what you promised. If you cannot, you communicate early and honestly. Much of our reputation is built on clear commitments and follow-through.
Q: Charity Charge asked what is still relevant about founder Alice Graham Baker’s vision today. What stands out most to you?
Claudia: She believed in proximity. She helped form Baker Ripley as part of the Settlement House Movement, rooted in the idea that you cannot serve people from a distance. You have to co-create with the people you serve. You have to be in their neighborhoods. People will not come to you in an ivory tower. That philosophy is why our community centers matter and why we will not let them go.
Q: You talked about nonprofit funding going in cycles. What do you mean by that?
Claudia: Community development investment often moves in seven to ten year cycles. You see priorities shift, strategies change, and funding follows. Leaders have to be aware of that and plan ahead. You cannot just manage today. You have to put yourself in the shoes of who you will be three or five years from now, because when the shift hits, it is too late to start preparing.
Q: You said nonprofits have outgrown the way the sector budgets and funds work. What is broken right now?
Claudia: We came out of the COVID era where funding was very linear, basic needs, rent, assistance, emergency response. When those linear investments come in, organizations build linear programs that reflect those dollars. Now the future requires a more holistic approach, more partnerships, more connected systems. If we keep operating like the last few years, we will not be able to meet what is coming next.
Q: You called this “the year of collaboration.” Why is collaboration now not optional?
Claudia: Because there is not enough funding for all of us to operate independently the way we have been. We are scrappy, but you cannot scrap your way into the future. The sector has to coordinate. We have to know who is doing what, where the handoffs are, and how we move a family through a pathway of support instead of trapping them in disconnected services.
Q: Can you give a concrete example of Baker Ripley collaborating in a real way, not just referrals?
Claudia: Head Start is a strong example. There are four Head Start providers in our region. Historically, each provider received funding and operated separately. About a year and a half ago, we convened as a network and approached foundations together. We created joint funding applications and a council to decide how to distribute dollars across providers. The goal was to fund the life-happens gaps families face, car repairs, groceries, childcare needs, things outside classroom walls that still determine whether a child can succeed.
Q: You said funders want collaboration, but the impact often becomes competition. Why does that happen?
Claudia: Funders say they want collaboration, but funding structures often reward individual organizations. So nonprofits compete for credit, dollars, visibility, and sustainability. Collaboration becomes a headline, not an operating system. Real collaboration requires leaders to redesign programs so other organizations have real responsibility and influence inside the work, not just a letter of support.
Q: What do funders actually want when they say they want collaboration?
Claudia: They want results. They want an impact strategy that is managed well. The name of the nonprofit matters less than whether the work is real, measurable, and responsibly delivered. That is why large organizations have a responsibility to bring in smaller grassroots organizations and wrap them into shared infrastructure so the service experience is seamless for the neighbor.
Q: How do you define competition in the nonprofit sector?
Claudia: Competition is real, and pretending it is not there does not help. We have more nonprofits now than ever. Everyone is trying to be sustainable. That is not wrong. The problem is when competition blocks shared pathways and prevents the sector from acting like a coordinated system. We need more honest conversations with boards and staff about shared outcomes, not organizational ego.
Q: Charity Charge raised the idea that strong nonprofits are run like businesses. Do you agree?
Claudia: In the sense that you need discipline, infrastructure, and accountability, yes. Nonprofits have to manage finance, contracts, procurement, staffing, compliance, and outcomes. Especially with public dollars, reporting is constant and structured. Smaller organizations often do not have capacity for that, and it limits their ability to scale unless they partner or build strong operational systems.
Q: What would you tell someone who wants to start a new nonprofit today?
Claudia: I would not tell them not to. But I would tell them there are many ways to deliver your passion. You can partner with an organization that already has infrastructure. You can join an existing effort. You can build your strategy inside a larger system. If you do start, understand you are taking on marketing, finance, compliance, development, procurement, and reporting. It is real work, and you need a plan for sustainability.
Q: You made a strong point about public dollars being “our money.” What does that mean?
Claudia: Public dollars are community dollars. We send them to DC and they come back. We have to learn how to bring them back and use them responsibly. Many organizations avoid public funding because it is complex, but it is what anchors scale and long-term stability. You have to learn how to operate public dollars and private dollars together.
Q: You also said funders are getting smarter about what should be funded privately versus publicly. Explain that.
Claudia: Funders are increasingly asking why private dollars should pay for something the public sector is responsible for. That is why private philanthropy is moving more toward innovation, gap-filling, and excellence, and less toward duplicating basic public obligations. Leaders have to understand that shift.
Q: What is your view on trust-based philanthropy, like large unrestricted gifts?
Claudia: It supports innovation. Public dollars are structured and slow. By the time public programs exist, the community issues have often evolved beyond them. Trust-based philanthropy allows leaders to move quickly, close gaps, and build new approaches without waiting for a full public cycle.
Q: As you approach your 119th year, what gives you hope about the future?
Claudia: The people. Unlike many sectors that fear workforce decline, we still see people who want to do this work. The passion and compassion are real and growing. If we improve compensation and balance, and design better structures for nonprofit careers, we will be strong. Our workforce challenge is not lack of interest, it is how we sustain people.
Q: On a personal level, how do you stay energized and grounded in such a demanding role?
Claudia: When I start getting irritated or exhausted, my staff knows it is time to send me to the community centers. I reconnect to the work and the people. And I hold onto a core principle passed down through leadership here: we are not here to save anyone. We are not the heroes of anyone’s story. We are here to remove barriers, disrupt broken systems, and help neighbors move mountains.
Q: What is the leadership mindset that makes the work feel sustainable, even when it is heavy?
Claudia: The weight of the organization is on me, but the weight of the work is not. The work belongs to all of us. When you stop trying to be the hero, stop trying to have all the answers, and focus on facilitating pathways for neighbors, it becomes a more grounded and sustainable way to lead.
