July 04, 2025

Big Vision with Sherry Quam Taylor

56 minutes

Welcome to the show!

Today I've got one of my favorite people on earth with me! My former student Sherry Quam Taylor is here and we are talking all things communication, vision and voice!

Sherry Quam Taylor

Website: www.QuamTaylor.com

Headshot: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AcElBmPx43g4C-bpR63LIsEXrXYFZ3f5/view?usp=sharing

Logo: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14Xgxe1OJKUq1VatxHBuK4ptIAqO1AucS/view?usp=sharing

Main Social Media Outlet: LinkedIn

Sherry Quam Taylor works with business-minded Nonprofit CEOs whose Strategic Plans require expansive budgets and larger amounts of unrestricted revenue for growth and infrastructure.

As a result of learning her methodology, Sherry’s clients become sustainable, diversify revenue, and know how to add significant amounts gen-ops revenue to their budgets. But mostly, their development departments and boards transform into high-ROI revenue generators – aligning their hours with relational dollars and are set free from time-consuming transactional activities like events, appeals, and campaigns.

Sherry attributes the success of her business to her passion for modeling radical confidence to the future CEOs in her house - her two college-aged daughters.

General Overview

Conversation Summary: This is a conversation between Tracy Goodwin, a voice and communication expert, and Sherry Quam Taylor, a nonprofit fundraising consultant. They discuss Sherry's background and journey into the nonprofit sector, the mindset and skills required for successful fundraising, the importance of confidence and self-worth, and strategies for effective communication and sales.

Interviewee Background: Sherry Quam Taylor is a nonprofit fundraising consultant who has helped organizations scale their revenue and impact. She previously worked in the corporate world before transitioning to the nonprofit sector, where she found her passion for helping organizations achieve their goals through strategic fundraising and communication.

Key Points

Sherry emphasizes the importance of mindset and overcoming the "invisible scripts" that nonprofits often have about fundraising, such as the belief that they should not ask for large donations or invest in their own professional development.

She discusses the need to own one's value and expertise, and to confidently present financial needs and growth plans to donors, rather than being apologetic or hesitant.

Sherry and Tracy highlight the importance of building a strong pipeline of potential donors and clients, and the ability to pivot and move on when a prospect is not a good fit.

They emphasize the value of investing in one's own professional development and coaching, as it can significantly impact the growth and success of a business or organization.

Sherry and Tracy discuss the importance of effective communication, both in terms of email outreach and in-person interactions, and the need to avoid common pitfalls like small talk and unnecessary pleasantries.

Notable Quotes

"We are telling ourselves these scripts of we must do galas and we must do golf outings, appeals and events, and all these things that are not relational sales. And so we are doing the wrong things and then our minds are telling us, just be thankful for what you have." (Speaker 1, 00:01)

"I think it's all of that. And it is tying back to being confident enough to say, well, I work differently than others. I'm asked all the time, what is your hourly rate? I'll send you the RFP, which I don't do. I don't have an hourly rate. I don't. I've never had that. What deliverables do you have? No, I'm advising you. I am your partner." (Speaker 1, 29:01)

Kicker Quotes

"My biggest advice is if I would've invested in myself how I do now, the first year, the second year, even though that would've been even scarier to push the button, who knows what it would be? Because it is critical. It's not optional." (Speaker 1, 27:49)

"I think then people trust me, she must know what she's doing because of that ownership. I own it because it's like I'm not hedging here. No, this is what it is. And you're standing on the rock of the value of the work that you deliver." (Speaker 3, 24:34)

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By Tracy Goodwin

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