Brigitte Cutshall is a health advocate and speaker who is passionate about encouraging others to lead their happiest, healthiest lives. She's the founder of Gemini Media, a creative enforcer, Real Things Podcast host, and author of five books. Key Takeaways: Authenticity, openness to feedback, and clarifying aspirations foster trust-building. Ask thoughtful questions, listen empathically, identify shared values, and avoid forcefully pushing opinions. Advocate for yourself, ask questions, find su...
Dec 05, 2024•42 min•Ep. 178
Key Takeaways: Maintain sovereignty and stay grounded despite what is happening around you. Practice sovereignty daily to develop resilience amidst crises. Seeking excessive control diminishes peace; embrace flexibility. Reclaim sovereignty through presence, grounding, and intuition. Move beyond binary thinking and win-lose dichotomy; embrace a third way. Lean into lived experience, coping abilities, and third-way solutions to navigate crises. Foster resilience through intentional spaces, suppor...
Nov 29, 2024•39 min•Ep. 177
Kirsten Stevens is an accomplished philanthropy advisor and nonprofit consultant, focused on bridging the gap between philanthropic support and transformational impact in the social sector. Born in Panama and raised in Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Mexico, Kirsten's diverse background has shaped her global perspective on philanthropy and nonprofit excellence Key Takeaways: It’s important to engage new board members effectively from the start to maintain their initial excitement. Do one-on-one meeti...
Nov 14, 2024•41 min•Ep. 176
Key Takeaways: Stay in motion, build relationships, and connect with people. Honor natural cycles and rhythms in work and life to achieve sustainable productivity. Taking breaks can be part of the process. Fix your eyes on what you want instead of what you don’t want. Focus on conditions that help you thrive and create plans for what you want. Shift the focus of your nonprofit from fixing what’s broken to creating what’s right. Creating what's right involves systems, structures, and policy chang...
Nov 07, 2024•25 min•Ep. 175
Morgan Gross, CEO & Founder of Fundraising Beyond Borders, is an international fundraising consultant and coach dedicated to empowering nonprofits to achieve their fundraising goals and expand their impact globally. Morgan provides strategic services such as fractional fundraising, custom fundraising plans, and personalized 1:1 fundraising coaching. Key Takeaways: Fundraising for international nonprofits is more challenging due to a lack of donors' understanding, requiring greater storytelli...
Oct 31, 2024•38 min•Ep. 174
Key Takeaways: Grow your pipeline impact through consistent, value-driven engagement across channels. Follow a social media strategy that moves audiences from awareness to reliable outreach, relationship building, and action. Implement a content hourglass system: Create one core story weekly and derive consistent messaging from it for all platforms. Create targeted email campaigns for different audience segments with one clear story/message instead of long, multi-update emails. Plan content in a...
Oct 24, 2024•33 min•Ep. 173
Key Takeaways: Great messaging attracts donors by being simple, clear, and concise, which requires effort and investment. Lack of differentiation, authenticity, transparency, and vulnerability prevents organizations from effectively connecting with their target audiences through marketing and messaging. Be bold, fearless, and fun. Ground your messaging in values alignment and authenticity to attract like-minded donors. Personal brand is vital, and organizations should define their own values, be...
Oct 17, 2024•46 min•Ep. 172
Key Takeaways: Embrace spontaneity and be open to new adventures, rather than clinging to preconceived expectations. Releasing expectations and attachments is key to achieving desired outcomes and living a fulfilling life. Remain open and adaptive to unexpected opportunities, as rigidity hinders success by preventing experimentation and limiting responsiveness. Releasing outcomes enables relationship-building, confident asking, long-term vision, and respect for others' autonomy, leading to susta...
Oct 10, 2024•32 min•Ep. 171
Key Takeaways: Influential fundraisers build trust, respect, and admiration by providing value, listening, and allowing empowered decision-making aligned with donors' sovereignty. Building relationships and finding authentic win-win solutions is more influential than manipulation or pushing self-interest. Influential leaders create supportive communities to drive collaborative change while balancing specific plans and adaptability, fostering long-term donor loyalty. Adopt an abundance mindset an...
Oct 03, 2024•42 min•Ep. 170
Key Takeaways: Shift from building organizations to mobilizing communities for long-term, sustainable change. Mobilize resources beyond just fundraising, involving community participation and in-kind gifts. Dare to dream big and commit to audacious visions, like ending hunger or eliminating the need for certain organizations. Focus on creating positive goals, like everyone having a home and kids being loved, supported, and safe, rather than just "ending homelessness" or "keeping kids off the str...
Sep 26, 2024•24 min•Ep. 169
Erin McAleer is the President and CEO of Project Bread, Massachusetts’ only statewide food security organization, connecting people and communities to reliable sources of food. McAleer uses her background in health and human services and public policy to address food insecurity in Massachusetts through systemic and scalable strategies. Key Takeaways: Lived experience is critical in solving food insecurity issues and policies need to be driven by those most impacted, shifting away from the tradit...
Sep 19, 2024•37 min•Ep. 168
Key Takeaways: Praise and criticism are two sides of the same coin. A lot of leaders fall into the trap of overdependence on praise and the fear of criticism. Taking a stand and making changes will inevitably upset some people, but it is a necessary part of the process. Stay true to the vision, even when faced with criticism. Instincts are triggered by stored trauma and are primarily focused on moving away from pain and towards pleasure. Allow instinctive reactions to pass and then move to the i...
Sep 12, 2024•25 min•Ep. 167
Key Takeaways: Pitching, pushing, convincing, or trying to get someone to see things a certain way doesn’t work. When pressure is applied, people tend to push back. Instead of pushing ideas onto others, focus on drawing out their thoughts and feelings. Release attachment to the outcome. The more you are able to avoid fixating on the outcome, the more likely you can achieve it. Also, set aside personal agendas. Remove anything that might distract from your main goal which is to make people feel s...
Sep 05, 2024•37 min•Ep. 166
Key Takeaways: Prioritize understanding and catering to donors' thoughts, feelings, and motivations for giving to deepen relationships and increase donations. Understand and align with a donor's "ego-system" or self-perception to effectively fundraise. Minimize risks or expand donors' self-views to align with desired actions, reframing activities to fit their identities. Use empathy mapping, listen to values, and customize experiences within donors' comfort zones for successful partnerships. Lis...
Aug 29, 2024•26 min•Ep. 165
Pat Duffy co-founded The Giving Block, a platform enabling nonprofits to accept crypto donations. This innovative solution has raised over $170M, making crypto philanthropy mainstream. Pat is a recognized leader in the field, honored with Forbes 30 Under 30, and frequently featured in major media outlets including Time Magazine, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, Associated Press, CoinDesk, and CNBC. Key Takeaways: Accepting cryptocurrency donations is not just a matter of accepting digital c...
Aug 22, 2024•26 min•Ep. 164
Key Takeaways: A lot of times we stumble between the first gift and the second gift because we're not paying attention to what people really want. Ask for what you want. Speak your truth. Advocate for your own needs. We are constantly training people how to treat us whether we are conscious of it or not. There is nothing wrong with asking for what you want, whoever it is that you’re asking it from. If you respond to feedback by deflecting, dismissing, and denying, you won’t get anywhere. You don...
Aug 15, 2024•19 min•Ep. 163
Sarah Wood is the founder of Sarah Wood Communication, a boutique communication agency that serves purpose-driven organizations and individuals by helping to illuminate and share the stories of their good work. Key Takeaways: The responsibility of event planning, development, and donor relations isn’t meant to fall on just one person. Collaboration is the sustainable and healthy way to success. Storytelling is powerful and versatile. It can be used as a golden thread that weaves together various...
Aug 08, 2024•41 min•Ep. 162
Key Takeaways: By truly listening and responding to donor concerns, organizations can strengthen their connections, leading to improved fundraising outcomes. Surface-level interactions aren’t going to cut it - we must always ask the question of “What lies at the heart of your donors’ concerns?” The “Three Pains” technique encourages understanding, rather than convincing when enrolling others in a shared vision. Understanding these three pains is the key to shifting from a transactional approach ...
Aug 01, 2024•34 min•Ep. 161
Ali Horriyat, a former finance manager turned philanthropist, left his career in 2016 to prioritize social impact over profit. He founded Compassiviste in 2020 to further this vision. With diverse academic achievements across multiple countries, he is also an author and advocate for compassion. Key Takeaways: The desire for more and more wealth is often not merely driven by the material comforts it affords but by the control and power, it can convey. A power that, left unchecked, risks eroding t...
Jul 25, 2024•44 min•Ep. 160
A leader in the fields of social justice and children’s issues, Lynn Margherio is the Founder and CEO of Cradles to Crayons®, the largest national nonprofit with Clothing Insecurity at the core of its mission. Launched in 2002, Cradles to Crayons provides children living in low-income and homeless situations with clothing and other everyday essentials—diapers, winter coats, shoes, backpacks, and more. Under Lynn's leadership, the organization has successfully fulfilled the needs of millions of c...
Jul 18, 2024•41 min•Ep. 159
Key Takeaways: In the realm of nonprofit leadership, the stories we tell ourselves are not mere whispers in the corners of our minds; they are the powerful undercurrents that shape our reality, influence, and leadership. Our personal self-talk mirrors the narrative we share with the world. This alignment, or lack thereof, can have significant repercussions on our efficacy as leaders and influencers. Transitions in life are as inevitable as the change of seasons. Adapting to change is key. This a...
Jul 11, 2024•27 min•Ep. 158
Tim Sarrantonio is an internationally renowned speaker on generosity, technology, and the trends in the social good sector. After helping various causes raise over $3 million, he then moved into providing support for thousands of nonprofits through his work at Neon One. He has spoken at AFPICON, NTC, TEDx, and holds a Certificate in Philanthropic Psychology from the Institute for Sustainable Philanthropy. He lives in Niskayuna with his lovely wife, three lovely daughters, and a deep love of the ...
Jul 04, 2024•36 min•Ep. 157
Key Takeaways: Developing conflict resolution skills is essential for nonprofit leaders, requiring practice and the ability to handle less intense conflicts to grow. Embracing conflict, rather than avoiding it, helps identify true problems and fosters harmony, while avoidance can lead to more significant issues. Often the apparent problem is not the real issue; effective leadership digs beneath the surface to uncover the underlying insecurities, fears, or miscommunications. Balance in handling c...
Jun 27, 2024•45 min•Ep. 156
Rachel Bearbower is a fundraiser, former ED, and founder. She is the host of the Sprout Podcast and spends her time building a community of small shop Executive Directors inside her membership, SproutED. Her work stems from struggling inside an underfunded, limited-resource, systemless organization despite working countless hours with the combination of never having enough time and feeling isolated as a leader of a small shop organization where burnout was inevitable. A story that’s not unique t...
Jun 20, 2024•37 min•Ep. 155
Key Takeaways: Engaging board members in fundraising can be a chronic challenge for nonprofits, often due to resistance and discomfort. To enroll the board, it's crucial to make fundraising tasks feel good, easy, and fun. You set the emotional temperature for board fundraising. Your comfort level and excitement will influence the board's engagement. That’s why it’s important to understand your own emotional temperature and deal with it before trying to influence the board. Dispatching board memb...
Jun 13, 2024•22 min•Ep. 154
After 15 years as an in-house fundraiser, Cindy started her business doing Fractional Fundraising. Today she teaches other fundraisers how to be their own boss by starting their own Fractional Fundraising business. She's also a consultant to nonprofit consultants, helping them shake off the “shoulds,” drop the scarcity hangover from the nonprofit sector, and abundance in entrepreneurship. Key Takeaways: The concept of fractional executives allows nonprofits to benefit from the strategic oversigh...
Jun 06, 2024•37 min•Ep. 153
As the chief do-gooder and Founder of Get Fully Funded, Sandy has a calling to be your number-one cheerleader when it comes to funding your nonprofit. For nearly 20 years, she has helped hundreds of small nonprofits go from “spaghetti-on-the-wall, nickel-and-dime” fundraising, to achieving 6 or 7-figure bottom-line results. Using a proven process, Sandy shows students how to find ideal donors, and then connect and build genuine, long-term relationships. She guides you to figure out what to do ne...
May 30, 2024•37 min•Ep. 152
Anne Murphy, the founder of Empowered Fundraiser Consulting, has over 25 years of experience in higher education and nonprofit advancement. Having successfully led campaigns and raised hundreds of millions of dollars, Anne not only brings her extensive expertise but also a skilled team of subject matter experts specialized in digital marketing, event planning, database conversions, board development, and more. Key Takeaways: AI levels the playing field. For example, there are a lot of leaders wh...
May 23, 2024•42 min•Ep. 151
Key Takeaways: Go through a seamless process with the donor, don’t go from unaware to action. Create a replicable, consistent donor experience through these stages of relationship building: awareness, interest, connection, and action. Build relationships with donors through direct communication, creating content that provides value to others, rather than simply bragging about one's own accomplishments. Identify your areas of expertise and share them with others in a way that is informative, ente...
May 16, 2024•26 min•Ep. 150
Key Takeaways: Mindset shifts cannot be achieved through strategy or training alone; coaching is necessary to remove barriers, create self-awareness, and build empathy. Staying sovereign means being in control of your own thoughts and actions, regardless of the outcome of your fundraising efforts. Coaching can help in these four ways: First, it will help you get out of your own way or shift your mindset so that you can get rid of your barriers. Second, you will be able to create more self-awaren...
May 09, 2024•23 min•Ep. 149
