I had the absolute pleasure of sitting down with my friend and fundraising rockstar Maria Griffin on the latest episode of Nonprofit Lowdown — and trust me, you need to hear this one.

Maria is the Chief Advancement Officer at DREAM (yes, the same DREAM from the episode with Rich Berlin!) and she's about to launch her own consultancy to help nonprofits raise big money with big strategy. 💸

In this convo, we got real about what it actually takes to raise $20M+ annually, build a high-functioning development team, and stop spinning our wheels with gala after gala.

Here’s what we cover:

✅ Why your gala might be a B2B event (and why that matters)

✅ The power of small, intimate gatherings for actual donor conversion

✅ How to build the right team based on strategy (not just more people)

✅ How Maria uses weekly pipeline meetings and KPIs to drive results

✅ Why comms and development need to be besties, not siloed

If you're a fundraiser, nonprofit leader, or just someone trying to make fundraising make sense — this is the episode you don’t want to miss.

Important Links:

Maria’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-griffin-32663823/ 

Griffin Associated: https://www.griffinassociated.com/ 

Upcoming Events: https://www.rheawong.com/events/ 

My Big Ask Gifts Program: https://go.rheawong.com/big-ask-gifts-program 

My Book, Get That Money Honey: https://go.rheawong.com/get-that-money-honey 

My Newsletter: https://www.rheawong.com/