Ryan Veldhuizen

0 likes • 8d

@Aaron Stroman Yes and I wish I could figure out a way to prevent that.

13d •

Thanksgiving Week

While every Monday brings a new leadership lesson the the Executive Leadership Course (free for level 2 members), I realized THANKSGIVING is this week! I'm thankful for this community and all of our members!

New comment 13d ago

2 likes • 13d

It snuck up on me too. I'm thankful to have found you and this group!

19d •

Watch this FIRST

Post your name and organization in the comments! Welcome to the Non-Profit Skool, please keep all posts and interactions focused on "non-profit" topics...and please keep every interaction positive.😃 To learn more about Stroman & Associates, visit https://stromanconsulting.com

New comment 10d ago

4 likes • 19d

@Scott Batchelor I will take a look at that. My son is 25 and on the spectrum. Thank you for sharing that.

1 like • 19d

@Scott Batchelor Nice to meet you as well.

26d •

AI Art Contest with a PRIZE

1.Let's have some fun in the Non-Profit Skool. Contest goal: use AI to generate a funny or dramatic portrayal of your favorite nonprofit's mission. Use the video below as your tutorial! Rules of the art contest: Only one submission per person, final submission due by Friday November 14th, make your submission by "commenting" in this post with your picture. Vote by "liking" a picture (you can vote for as many as you want and YES you can recruit your friends to join and vote for you too). I'll announce the winner in a separate post. I'll contact the winner for mailing address, etc. Prompts for https://chatgpt.com 1. Chat, I want your help creating the best prompt possible to be used in Gemini. 2. I am in a contest to make the funniest image that describes the mission of my nonprofit. My nonprofit name is (your nonprofit name here). Our mission is (your mission and description here). Copy and paste the results of the prompts into https://gemini.google.com/app Post your results in the comments below.

New comment 23d ago

4 likes • 23d

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1 like • 23d

@Aaron Stroman haha yea I guess that is where the veteran reference was.

Oct 11 •

Welcome! Introduce yourself + share a pic of your workspace 🎉

Please introduce yourself, your non-profit, and why it matters to you.

New comment 19d ago

2 likes • 24d

Hello everyone, I'm Ryan Veldhuizen, Program Director for the We Defy Foundation. I'm a veteran and love giving back. The We Defy Foundation is a non profit that provides qualifying combat veterans coping with military connected disabilities a long term means to overcome their challenges through Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and fitness training. Once I heard of WDF I had to help out. I started out as a volunteer 20 January 2020 and enjoyed it so much that I kept taking on more and more. At that time I was employed by the Gov. I was working in Foreign Military sale, selling munitions to our allies. The deeper I got in We Defy I realized I wanted to help people, not add to destruction. In April 2025 I was at a WDF event in Minnesota when they announced that they were going to have their first two paid positions. One of those positions was the Program Director and I was already the Program Coordinator. When I went back to work on Monday they announced DRP2 and that this time FMS was eligible to take it. DRP was the Delayed Resignation Program Trump and Elon put out earlier in the year. I was terrified to leave the gov. After 21 years loading bombs on F-16s and then as a civilian in munitions I thought that was all I knew and all I could do. My wife was the one that pushed me to jump. I'm 48 and had been in the government since I left for the military in 1996. Well here I am, No longer gov and happier than I have ever been. I look forward to learning from you all and networking.

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