Nonprofit Pulse

Laurie Hood has spent 20 years growing Alaqua Animal Refuge, a no-kill animal sanctuary in Northwest Florida, and she says nonprofit crisis preparedness begins long before an emergency. For Laurie, relationship building is not something to turn on in a crisis. It is work an organization lives every day.

When Hurricane Milton created an urgent need, Alaqua had less than 24 hours to organize hundreds of dogs from South Florida. The response worked because people knew its role, trusted its team, and could be assigned to work quickly.

In this episode:

• How Alaqua became part of a statewide disaster-response coalition before it needed to activate one

• What changed when hundreds of dogs arrived from South Florida and Alaqua was fully set up within 24 hours

• How more than 1,000 volunteers contributing 80,000 hours a year create readiness before the next call for help

• Why knowing volunteers' strengths lets a team assign tasks quickly, safely, and without chaos

• How to use AI as an intern to create a starting point for an emergency-management plan and identify community partners

You will leave with a simple first move: make one phone call this week, start one relationship in the calm season, and build the trust that turns goodwill into coordinated response.

Episode highlights: (0:00) The relationships a crisis response depends on (2:03) Build community before the emergency (4:18) Who needs to be at the table first (6:49) Making room for readiness on a maxed-out team (7:56) Why calm-season relationships matter (10:46) Earning a seat in emergency planning (14:16) Keeping volunteers engaged between crises (16:22) The cost of activating community too late (18:12) What a prepared response looks like (19:24) One call to start building readiness (21:05) Your first relationship this week

Guest: Laurie Hood, Founder, Alaqua Animal Refuge

Full transcript and show notes: https://www.anedot.com/blog/nonprofit-pulse-how-to-build-community-before-a-crisis-hits More episodes and the monthly newsletter: https://www.nonprofitpulse.com/

If this was useful, follow Nonprofit Pulse wherever you listen.

Nonprofit Pulse is a podcast by Anedot that explores trends, insights, and resources that help nonprofits accomplish their mission. Hosted by Josh Breland.

Tasha Van Vlack says nonprofit ambassador programs fail when organizations treat people as a marketing tactic instead of building community. As Founder & Co-Director of The Nonprofit Hive, she has seen why a Slack channel full of posts to share can turn committed supporters into a distribution channel.

The goal is not simply brand awareness. Tasha argues that ambassadors should create trust, belonging, and influence around the mission. That begins by defining the purpose, choosing the right people, and giving the group a role that is clear without trying to control every action.

In this episode:

• Why an ambassador program should be a community strategy, not a cheaper substitute for paid advertising

• How The Nonprofit Hive used a one-page overview, an internal owner, and minimum expectations for its cohorts

• Why 12 ambassadors may need to become 18 instead of being asked to do more

• The value of separate tracks for a TikTok contributor and someone connected to a local chamber of commerce

• How a second-Wednesday monthly rhythm lets ambassadors put 12 months on the calendar

You will leave with a practical way to pilot an ambassador program, define its role, and recognize people without making the work feel transactional. Start small, learn from the pilot, and refine it.

Episode highlights: (0:00) When ambassadors become a distribution channel (1:08) Why ambassador programs miss the point (4:45) When programs turn transactional (7:00) Define the purpose before recruiting (8:53) What a working ambassador program needs (13:13) Values before marketing goals (17:18) Ambassadors as community leaders (20:01) Scaling without burning out supporters (25:59) Building belonging beyond the task list (30:08) How to start a program that lasts (37:08) Start small, learn, refine

Guest: Tasha Van Vlack, Founder & Co-Director, The Nonprofit Hive

Full transcript and show notes: https://www.anedot.com/blog/nonprofit-pulse-nonprofit-ambassador-programs More episodes and the monthly newsletter: https://www.nonprofitpulse.com/

If this was useful, follow Nonprofit Pulse wherever you listen.

Nonprofit Pulse is a podcast by Anedot that explores trends, insights, and resources that help nonprofits accomplish their mission. Hosted by Josh Breland.

Debra Hertz says a nonprofit merger can make one plus one equal five, but only when the organizations share a clear vision and common values. As Managing Director and founder of The Strategy Group, she helps nonprofit organizations build strength, clarity, and impact through moments of growth, transition, and complexity.

A merger is not automatically a sign of failure. Debra explains why leaders should look beyond themselves to what is best for the people they serve, while being honest about the time, money, and champion the process requires. Culture must be part of the conversation early, because cultures do not simply merge. The dominant culture dominates.

In this episode:

• How Connecticut's two food banks became a larger organization that served more pantries and saved $1 million a year

• Why the strongest mergers begin with common values, common vision, and a realistic view of non-negotiables

• The difference between a boardroom conversation and broad discussion before leaders have done their homework

• Why a merger can take 7 to 8 months, while an unusually compressed process can take 60 days

• How community foundations and capacity-building grants can help fund the work of exploring a merger

You will leave with a practical lens for deciding whether a merger is a strategic opportunity, how to raise the question responsibly, and which early issues deserve attention before a commitment. Reimagine the future around mission and community impact.

Episode highlights: (0:00) When one plus one can equal five (1:22) Why mission-driven mergers are rising (4:24) A merger that strengthened impact (5:52) The misconceptions that cloud merger talks (8:06) Strategic opportunity or desperation? (10:00) Why cultures do not simply merge (13:48) How boards should start the conversation (17:16) Questions to ask before pursuing a merger (18:37) What the merger process requires (20:55) Mergers as a sustainability strategy (23:15) Reimagine the future around mission

Guest: Debra Hertz, Managing Director and founder, The Strategy Group

Full transcript and show notes: https://www.anedot.com/blog/nonprofit-pulse-nonprofit-mergers

More episodes and the monthly newsletter: https://www.nonprofitpulse.com/

If this was useful, follow Nonprofit Pulse wherever you listen.

Nonprofit Pulse is a podcast by Anedot that explores trends, insights, and resources that help nonprofits accomplish their mission. Hosted by Josh Breland.

Christina Tzavaras Edwards has trained more than 10,000 nonprofit professionals across 20 countries, and she wants leaders to build fundraising systems that run like an engine instead of betting the budget on one annual event.

She is not anti-event. She is against high expense, high time, and high people power for diminishing returns. A fundraising engine carries momentum through the year, gives donors more than one moment to participate, and creates repeatable campaigns that compound over time.

In this episode:

• What makes a $10K+ sprint campaign different: a clear goal, a defined audience, and less than 30 days

• How clients raised $20K in 20 days and $10K in 10 days with sprint campaigns

• Why recurring-giving sprints moved one organization from 12 to 120 recurring donors

• Why PayPal is not a donation tool, and how a poor donation experience can block recurring giving

• How email, a 3-to-5-part welcome series, and personal texts can outperform a social media campaign

You will leave with a practical first step for launching a sprint in the next 30 days, a way to choose a real goal, and a better case for reallocating time from reactionary fundraising. Forward momentum includes hearing no, falling, and getting back up.

Episode highlights: (0:00) Stop betting the budget on one event (1:12) Fundraising as an engine (4:48) What scattered fundraising has to stop (6:42) What to prioritize before the next campaign (8:33) The anatomy of a $10K+ sprint (12:06) Campaigns that earn repeat giving (15:36) Storytelling beyond the transaction (16:44) Building a digital giving engine (21:30) Scaling mistakes to avoid (24:01) The first 30 days of your first sprint (24:48) Forward momentum, even after no

Guest: Christina Tzavaras Edwards, Founder of Splendid Consulting, Splendid Consulting Sprint campaign class: https://splendidcourses.com/sprintclass

Full transcript and show notes: https://www.anedot.com/blog/nonprofit-pulse-fundraising-engines

More episodes and the monthly newsletter: https://www.nonprofitpulse.com/

If this was useful, follow Nonprofit Pulse wherever you listen.

Nonprofit Pulse is a podcast by Anedot that explores trends, insights, and resources that help nonprofits accomplish their mission. Hosted by Josh Breland.

Dacia Moore says nonprofit leader burnout is too late. A licensed professional counselor and Founder of Second Wind Counseling and Consulting, she helps people build sustainable mental wellness and challenges leaders to stop treating themselves like machines.

Mission-driven work can make it easy to ignore the indicators and push through. Dacia explains that strength includes asking for help, taking basic care of yourself, and recognizing that leaders are interdependent. The nature of the work may not change, but what leaders do to manage it can.

In this episode:

• Why Dacia cites 95% of nonprofit leaders as worried about staff, while one third are worried about themselves

• The 1-to-10 exhaustion check leaders can use to compare how they feel now with last year

• Why a client who went to bed at midnight and got up at 3 a.m. to work needed a different approach

• How lunch outside the office at least three days a week can create space away from the pressure

• Dacia's 15-minute focus and 10-minute break version of the Pomodoro method

You will leave with small, sustainable ways to notice burnout sooner, protect time, and build a culture where counseling, coaching, and an EAP can be used without shame. Start now. Little things matter.

Episode highlights: (0:00) When mission work makes self-care feel optional (1:26) Why leader well-being cannot wait (4:58) What leaders carry behind the scenes (10:24) Early warning signs leaders miss (13:17) How burnout changes culture and retention (15:20) Well-being practices that fit mission work (20:31) Small habits that protect your capacity (25:33) A culture that makes support usable (34:04) Boundaries in mission-driven work (39:37) Little things matter

Guest: Dacia Moore, Founder, Second Wind Counseling and Consulting

Full transcript and show notes: https://www.anedot.com/blog/nonprofit-pulse-nonprofit-leaders-mental-well-being

More episodes and the monthly newsletter: https://www.nonprofitpulse.com/

If this was useful, follow Nonprofit Pulse wherever you listen.

Nonprofit Pulse is a podcast by Anedot that explores trends, insights, and resources that help nonprofits accomplish their mission. Hosted by Josh Breland.

Karen Alonso believes nonprofit event planning is not about a singular focus. As Chief Advancement and Communications Officer at United Way of Southern Nevada, she designs experiences that can fundraise, educate, build a supporter base, and turn attendees into advocates for a cause.

The work continues after people leave the room. Karen explains why every event needs a mission connection, participation before and during the experience, and a timely follow-up plan. The payoff is not just a dollar total. It is whether people remember the mission and choose to engage again.

In this episode:

• How United Way of Southern Nevada brings more than 1,000 volunteers together for Fall Day of Caring

• Why a save-the-date sent six or nine months ahead helps protect a fundraising gala from calendar conflicts

• The personal photo experience that gave attendees images they later used as Facebook and Instagram profile photos

• Why calling every attendee within 48 hours, with no ask involved, prevents the next-year-only follow-up mistake

• How a Salvation Army emcee's story of addiction and homelessness made the mission more memorable than figures alone

You will leave with a practical plan for designing an event people participate in, talk about afterward, and connect back to the mission. Measure the experience through engagement, follow-up, and the relationships it creates, not attendance and donations alone.

Episode highlights: (0:00) More than a fundraising event (1:24) Mission-first event design (7:35) Engagement before and during the event (13:52) Interactive moments people remember (18:18) Turn attendees into lasting supporters (23:31) Stories that make the mission stick (29:08) Success beyond attendance and donations (32:22) Follow up while the experience is fresh

Guest: Karen Alonso, Chief Advancement and Communications Officer, United Way of Southern Nevada

Full transcript and show notes: https://www.anedot.com/blog/nonprofit-pulse-nonprofit-event-planning

More episodes and the monthly newsletter: https://www.nonprofitpulse.com/

If this was useful, follow Nonprofit Pulse wherever you listen.

Nonprofit Pulse is a podcast by Anedot that explores trends, insights, and resources that help nonprofits accomplish their mission. Hosted by Josh Breland.

Courtney De Ronde says instinct can get a nonprofit to a certain level, but it cannot be the only guide when the organization is trying to grow, launch a program, or enter a new geography. As CEO of Forge Financial and Management Consulting, she helps leaders build reliable intelligence around the decisions that matter.

Hope is a great virtue, she says, but not a wonderful strategy. Courtney does not argue that leaders should ignore their gut. She argues that they should supplement it with clear outcomes, a system for gathering information, and a way to see what the organization needs to do next.

In this episode:

• How one client modeled best-case, better-case, and worst-case scenarios after governmental funding was affected

• The four areas in Courtney's system: finance, leadership, productivity, and human intelligence

• Why reliability, visibility, predictability, and flexibility must come before a dashboard can help

• The difference between a six-year-old small-dollar campaign anecdote and a measurable 3% annual-giving goal

• How 1- or 2-question pulse surveys can reveal more than isolated feedback from leaders or coordinators

You will leave with a way to move from gut-only decisions toward a system that makes instincts more valuable over time. Begin by getting visibility into where your organization is now, then define the result before you measure it.

Episode highlights: (0:00) When instinct is not enough (1:03) From gut calls to reliable insight (5:27) When funding cuts test your decisions (9:25) What insight-led decisions look like (11:58) Track the results that matter (18:03) Insights for donors, fundraising, and volunteers (24:49) A learning culture without losing creativity (27:43) The first move beyond gut instinct (29:14) Start with visibility, then define the result

Guest: Courtney De Ronde, CEO, Forge Financial and Management Consulting

Full transcript and show notes: https://www.anedot.com/blog/nonprofit-pulse-nonprofit-leadership-insights-over-instincts

More episodes and the monthly newsletter: https://www.nonprofitpulse.com/

If this was useful, follow Nonprofit Pulse wherever you listen.

Nonprofit Pulse is a podcast by Anedot that explores trends, insights, and resources that help nonprofits accomplish their mission. Hosted by Josh Breland.

Nathan Young has spent more than 12 years helping leaders use nonprofit storytelling to connect, inspire, and lead the narrative. The founder of StoryCulture Consulting says storytelling is more than recounting events. It is the cognitive tool people use to make sense of the world.

Instead of searching for one emotional story that sells, Nathan urges nonprofits to keep sharing many stories that make their work recognizable over time. The same discipline can shape fundraising, internal culture, and a leader's vision for the community.

In this episode:

• How the Mingei Museum connected a capital campaign to three distinct audiences, from younger millennials to legacy-minded donors

• Why opening every meeting with a story and sharing a story of the month can make storytelling part of the culture

• How accountants, HR staff, and volunteers can connect their everyday work to the mission statement and organizational values

• Why a leader's vulnerability sets the emotional tone, and why confidence matters even more than a polished story

• How fight, flight, freeze, and fawn can keep leaders from telling the bigger, more honest vision

You will leave with practical ways to find stories already inside your organization, invite more people to share them, and connect a near-term fundraising need to the community change you want to create.

Episode highlights: (0:00) Why stories do more than sell (1:34) What makes supporters feel a story (5:48) Finding stories without a big moment (7:40) A culture built on stories (10:22) Getting staff and volunteers to share (13:11) Storytelling as leadership vision (16:18) Vision mistakes leaders make (20:56) Building a narrative that inspires (23:01) Naming the change you want (24:47) Growing confident as a storyteller (28:06) Start with stories you already have

Guest: Nathan Young, Founder, StoryCulture Consulting

Full transcript and show notes: https://www.anedot.com/blog/nonprofit-pulse-how-storytelling-builds-powerful-engaging-leaders

More episodes and the monthly newsletter: https://www.nonprofitpulse.com/

If this was useful, follow Nonprofit Pulse wherever you listen.

Nonprofit Pulse is a podcast by Anedot that explores trends, insights, and resources that help nonprofits accomplish their mission. Hosted by Josh Breland.

Lyn Wineman, founder, president, and chief strategist at KidGlov, says nonprofit branding is not a logo-and-colors exercise. After more than 15 years of nonprofit branding work, she sees tangled brands drain time, blur the mission, and leave leaders misaligned.

The usual impulse is to jump straight to a name, tagline, logo, or font. Lyn's eight-step framework starts somewhere else: visioning, audience research, peer analysis, and alignment before a nonprofit invests in creative elements.

In this episode:

• Why KidGlov's first five of eight brand-framework steps are strategy based, not creative

• The 30% marketing-time efficiency Lyn sees when an organization has a strong brand

• How a confusing name that sounded like a government agency became a fresh identity and better messaging

• Why storytelling produces emotion, emotion produces trust, and consistency signals quality

• The two facilitated conversations that bring leaders together before the fifth-step brand strategy session

You will leave with a way to diagnose whether your brand needs clarity, align the people who have to carry it, and begin before a major rebrand. Lyn's practical starting point is the brand compass, with fewer than ten questions.

Episode highlights: (0:00) Brand clarity before creative (2:16) Why Untangling Spaghetti tells a fable (4:41) The eight steps before the logo (6:31) Why clarity is worth the investment (8:46) How brand clarity changes culture (10:35) How clarity earns trust and loyalty (13:38) Why logos cannot create clarity (15:43) Getting leaders on the same page (21:17) The tools inside Untangling Spaghetti (23:43) The brand compass starting point

Guest: Lyn Wineman, founder, president, and chief strategist, KidGlov Kidglov.com

Full transcript and show notes: https://www.anedot.com/blog/nonprofit-pulse-tangled-brand More episodes and the monthly newsletter: https://www.nonprofitpulse.com/

If this was useful, follow Nonprofit Pulse wherever you listen.

Nonprofit Pulse is a podcast by Anedot that explores trends, insights, and resources that help nonprofits accomplish their mission. Hosted by Josh Breland.

James Misner has more than 20 years of fundraising leadership, and he says donor retention is not a mystery outside a nonprofit's control. The Founder & Owner of The Kipos Group identifies three reasons recurring donors stop giving, and says two of them come down to what an organization does after the gift is made.

The goal is to reinforce that a donor made an amazing decision from the moment they hit submit. That requires an experience built around appreciation, stories, and signals that catch a lapse before it becomes permanent.

In this episode:

• Why monthly donors leave when they do not know they made a difference or do not realize that they lapsed

• How a physical welcome packet can stay in a home for an average of four to six months, long after an email falls down the inbox

• Why James recommends hearing from your organization at least twice a month, with impact stories, frontline reports, and thought leadership

• The donor-appreciation finding behind random handwritten thanks, and why anniversary celebrations can give people an excuse to unsubscribe

• How 17 to 20 touchpoints reactivated a donor who gave $50,000 at the 17th touchpoint, then grew to $100,000 and eventually $250,000 a year

You will leave with concrete ways to welcome recurring donors, use stories instead of facts alone, monitor early-warning signals, and give a lapsed donor campaign enough time to work.

Episode highlights: (0:00) Why recurring donors quietly stop giving (1:00) The three reasons donors leave (3:45) An experience that earns long-term loyalty (7:19) The twice-a-month contact rhythm (8:53) Creative thanks that keep donors close (11:35) Stories that make the impact real (14:27) Using data to find lapsed donors (16:52) Personal outreach that reconnects donors (20:35) A retention plan you can start today (23:57) Give the campaign time to work

Guest: James Misner, Founder & Owner, The Kipos Group

Full transcript and show notes: https://www.anedot.com/blog/nonprofit-pulse-how-to-maximize-donor-retention More episodes and the monthly newsletter: https://www.nonprofitpulse.com/

If this was useful, follow Nonprofit Pulse wherever you listen.

Nonprofit Pulse is a podcast by Anedot that explores trends, insights, and resources that help nonprofits accomplish their mission. Hosted by Josh Breland.