Going Full Circle
Confessions of a Serial Nonprofiteer
For more than two decades Barbara and Bill Packard immersed themselves as volunteers in the nonprofit world. From creating an all-volunteer, free medical clinic to reviving two moribund thrift operations, one of which donated nearly three-quarters of a million dollars to local nonprofits in four short years. It wasn’t always pretty, but this book shares the honest and creative journey from run of the mill volunteer to innovative servant leadership. Their story offers you a chance to see how things really work and how the nonprofit world can change to be much more effective.
Going Full Circle
Workbook Journal
If you are currently involved with a nonprofit, or are thinking of starting one, here is your chance to learn the keys to success from two masters. Learn the skills and techniques to making fundraising something you look forward to, recruiting and keeping volunteers that can take your efforts to the next level, and how to create a board that is fully committed to helping you complete your nonprofits mission. The Packard’s share the real life secrets of their amazing twenty five year run of successful nonprofit startups and revitalizations. This workbook serves as either a “how to” to the book Going Full Circle, which traces their nonprofit journey or as a standalone guide to successful nonprofit leadership.
Special pricing available to nonprofits for multiple book orders. Please contact us directly at: fullcircletrade@gmail.com
Praise for “Going Full Circle”
You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ve heard that old saying a thousand times. But when you read Bill Packard’s brilliantly alive Flagstaff, Arizona memoir, Going Full Circle: Confessions of a Serial Nonprofiteer, you will find yourself laughing, crying, cussing humanity and loving what Bill tells us about deep community commitment; off-the-charts innovative non-profit design; the tenderness of a full marriage partnership; the depths of a loss; and the persistence of a couple determined to address not just injustice, but the structures and misguided humans that perpetuate it. Bill and Barbara Packard have given all of Flagstaff back to itself, and have done that through the practice of hard steady work. With any luck, you will finish this book and immediately contact potential allies to join with you in nurturing your community as Barbara and Bill Packard have.
Mary Sojourner, 35-year devoted Flagstaffian, author of the novels Sisters of the Dream, Going Through Ghosts, and 29; short story collections Bonelight and The Talker; newspaper op eds throughout the Southwest; and NPR commentaries.
The Packards local nonprofit helping other local nonprofits model was extremely helpful to a locally based small town non-profit like the Northern Arizona Book Festival. It enabled us to generate a very large donation ($25K+) with a lot of sweat equity and man hours from Book Festival board members and volunteers but without a lot of the traditional hoops and strings that often come with donations of this size. it also has been instrumental in creating ties and building working relationships between different nonprofits in the community that might otherwise never have happened.
Jesse Sensibar, Executive Director, Northern Arizona Book Festival
Bill and Barbara Packard introduced their community to an innovative and cooperative model for organizational philanthropy. The story of Full Circle and the positive impact it had on the mission of dozens of partner nonprofits is a Flagstaff original.
Chris Barton, Former Executive Director of the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra and Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra
Working with Bill and Barbara Packard and the entire team at Full Circle Trade and Thrift was incredible. Through their ingenuity and dedication they created a business that leveraged their infrastructure and our community to deliver more than $36,000 towards our small charter school relocation project and countless other nonprofits doing great work in Flagstaff, AZ.
Corey Allen, Pine Forest Education Association Board President, 2012–2018
I love the book. I love the honesty, the rawness, and the revealing examples of the lack of progress made when people refuse to work together and challenge the status quo.
Carynn Davis, past Executive Director of the Literacy Center
We loved the Full Circle Trade and Thrift grant model and were very appreciative of the generous and much needed support.
Moran Henn, Executive Director of Willow Bend Environmental Education Center, past Executive Director of Friends of Flagstaff’s Future and co-founder of Therapy Pets of Northern Arizona.
When I met Bill and Barbara they were just starting out on this remarkable journey nearly twenty years ago, I knew we were kindred spirits. It was obvious they understood the work these nonprofits were doing were more than charity, they were efforts at true social justice. Over the next two decades they accomplished amazing things and learned how the nonprofit world works. For anyone who is involved with a nonprofit that is just starting out or hasn’t reached its full potential this book is a great place to start. Their journey through love and loss will inspire you to reach a little deeper as you work to make the world a better and more just place.
Becky Margiotta, Principal/Owner of The Billions Institute, author of The Inner Work of Social Change: How to Repair the World Without Breaking Yourself, and host of the “Unleashing Social Change” podcast and nationally recognized homelessness advocate.
I just finished reading Going Full Circle and I loved it! I loved Bill’s personal stories of his experiences, his perseverance and problem solving when challenges came, and his courage to stand up for things he saw that were not right. I have always admired Bill and Barbara Packard and their tireless, selfless service for our Flagstaff community. As a Co-director of a nonprofit, I am thankful to learn from Bill’s wisdom and I hope to follow his and Barbara’s example of serving in my community.
Jessica Kitterman, Ballet Folklórico de Colores, Co-Director
About Us
“Wear your heart on the page, and people will read
to find out how you solved being alive.”
~ Gordon Lish
After nearly two decades of volunteering to start up and continue nonprofit efforts in Flagstaff AZ Barbara and Bill Packard decided in 2019 to take a back seat and help established and new nonprofit efforts in a behind the scenes roll. It was time for them to leave the day to day operations behind and help with planning, growth, and fundraising on an as needed basis. They hoped this new approach will prove to be an asset to their community and allow them the free time to retire a little.
After just a few months our passion to be reengaged with the nonprofit community lead us back to volunteering. And we started helping regularly at a food bank in Black Canyon City. Returning to the rank and file volunteer force reminded us of where and how we started. Those memories planted an idea that we needed to share our experiences so others could learn from both our successes and failures.
It wasn’t long before every morning Bill was at the computer typing away. With Barbara’s advice and encouragement he created a history of their journey growing existing and starting new nonprofits. Through many fits and starts that history has become a book we hope to be able to share, with everyone who has an interest in making an existing nonprofit more effective or starting one from scratch, before the year ends. In addition plans for a guide Book/ Journal are in the works. All proceeds from the sale will be turned over to Full Circle Charities to help other nonprofits, much like they did with their hugely successful Thrift Store.
Media
Bill Packard comes clean on trying to clean up Flagstaff nonprofits
Sam McManis
Apr 18, 2021
PEORIA — If this is what self-imposed exile — aka retirement away from Flagstaff — looks like for Bill and Barbara Packard, then everyone should be so fortunate.
They have retired deep in the desert to a gated country club community…
