Nonstop Nonprofit

Is your nonprofit uncomfortable with growth? I mean huge, mission-busting, stuff-of-dreams type growth, otherwise known as exponential growth?

Because if your comfy idea of growth is increasing donations and programming and impact by a solid 5% each year, that’s fine. It’s just that… well, with 10-15% inflation hitting everyone, that 5% growth isn’t quite the flex you think it is. (In fact, it may not even cover your end-of-year pizza party.)

Now that we’ve scared you—and sorry about that, by the way—we’ve got a special guest to get you psyched for growth like you’ve never experienced. Matt Scott is the author of The High-Growth Nonprofit, CEO and Co-founder of CauseMic, and a longtime friend of Funraise.

As the title of his book suggests, Matt is here today discussing proven steps to quickly double your nonprofit’s revenue and drive impact, and he’s backing up these actionable insights with stories, examples, and analogies galore. Seriously, there’s something for everyone.

So settle in for a conversation centered in thinking big and changing big for breathtakingly big growth.

"Keep it simple." Could it be that simple? Could changing the world be as simple as… keeping it simple?

When Bill Lutz says it, it seems obvious. Bill is the ED of New Path and Coach and President of Pinnacle Strategies—and he’s got an amazingly focused view when it comes to nonprofit leadership and fundraising.

But his advice to “keep it simple” isn’t as simple as it sounds. Bill recognizes that a great nonprofit leader does the work of building the structure and instilling discipline while passing along the simplified system to an empowered team. An illusion, that’s what “keeping it simple” is.

And even when they simplify, those same great nonprofit leaders continue learning. Speaking of learning, listen in as Bill explains how nonprofit leadership is like both baseball and poker, illustrates the value of preparing for future donors, and delivers the most valuable—and simple—advice of all.

Many nonprofits struggle to deliver meaningful content in a way that engages their donor base. It tracks; you can have the coolest impact story, but if it’s just sitting on your website waiting for donors to come to it, it’s not truly making the impact it was designed for.

If that sounds like something your nonprofit struggles with, this episode is for you! Today, Funraise's Director of Growth Marketing, David Schwab, is talking to David Bowden, spoken word poet and Co-Founder & Executive Director of Spoken Gospel, a nonprofit that has a mind-boggling 50 million-plus engagements of their video, devotional, reading plan, and podcast-based content. They’ve got 151,000 subscribers to their YouTube channel!

We think “holy moly” is an appropriate response.

Plot twist: Spoken Gospel’s entire content creation model relies on lots of listening, not talking. David focuses on building individual relationships based on each member’s unique interests—and it’s paid off in a strong recurring program that responds to Spoken Gospel’s needs and asks alike.

Sure, David’s got the greatest story ever told to guide Spoken Gospel’s nonprofit story, but making the content itself approachable and relevant is key to attracting the type of donor that sticks around for the mission long term. So listen in!

Nonprofits have to answer so many questions these days: What’s the best way to invest in my nonprofit’s impact? How do I lead my team through today’s societal changes? How do I increase donor retention rates and hit fundraising goals and avoid burnout and stay on mission and still make a grocery run before dinnertime?

We’ve got a guest here who’s going to help us answer a few of these and hopefully change the way we approach relationships for the benefit of the whole changemaking sector. Andrew Olsen is Senior VP of Fundraising Solutions at Dickerson Bakker and a close friend of Funraise… and he’s going to blow your mind, listeners.

As a nonprofit consultant himself, David can relate to a lot of what Andrew is sharing, and in fact has explored that intersection of leadership, nonprofits, changemaking, and culture on his podcast.

But this conversation was different. Andrew dropped a bomb on us right at the end—a mindset shift that just turned everything upside down. We encourage you to listen as Andrew intentionally leads us down a path of long-term donor-organization relationship evolution and then changes the game with one sentence. When you’re done, listen again with that one key takeaway and prepare to unlock answers like never before.

Wow! Today’s episode is so jam-packed, it’s practically bursting. Chive Charities has only been around about a decade, but they’ve got donor retention down like no other organization we’ve seen. We know you’re sitting there thinking, “How great can their retention rate be? 50%? 60?”

Well prepare yourself, listener: Chive Charities has a 98% donor retention rate.

And today, you get to hear from longtime Chive Charities employee, supporter, and board member, Erika Carley, as she breaks down their retention tactics.

We were prepared to hear Erika talk about Chive’s super successful monthly giving program, but what we didn’t expect was Chive’s excitement to try their hand at peer-to-peer fundraising. Why seek out new strategies when you’re already winning so hard?”

From the concrete to the philosophical, the creative to the predictable, and the consistent to the untested, Chive’s retention magic comes from within their essential culture of impact—and Erika is here to let you in on what it takes to do it yourself.

Everyone in the nonprofit space has a moment where it all just clicks; in fact, you’ve probably had one or two. Today’s guest had one such moment that changed his perspective on nonprofit technology forever.

Tim’s Jerry Maguire moment came when he saw a statistic at an event that said, “90% of nonprofits collect data. Only 5% of nonprofits use that data to make decisions.” In that moment, Tim knew he had to rewrite the tech stack playbook to teach nonprofits how to get the most from their tech investment.

Join me as Tim and I discuss the importance of being a good data steward, highlight critical elements of a starter tech stack, and explain how implementing technology is like learning to drive.

John Walsh comes to the Nonstop Nonprofit podcast through a purely digital path that began with some of the hardest-to-engage audiences and then expanded to include broader digital strategies. These days, he advocates for nonprofits to lean into digital fundraising, with his specific passion being email.

As a self-proclaimed “digital guy” himself, our host David Schwab has seen how digital fundraising’s speed, directness, and consistency contribute to donor awareness and engagement in ways that direct mail can’t. But just like you all, he's still learning—and John makes that education exciting!

Listen in as John teaches us how a holistic communication strategy adds value to all of your fundraising channels, provides actionable first steps for email newbies, and shares his secrets to keeping digital fundraising fresh and successful.

The road to $1 million isn’t an easy or fast one to travel.

Only 9% of nonprofits in the Los Angeles area grow to manage a budget of $1 million. Ten years ago, when Richard Reyes founded the PLUS ME Project, his budget was $4000 and his vision was to provide mentorship and role models for youth through storytelling.

Today, an exciting part of this achievement is that PLUS ME’s own growth story is still unfolding, expanding, and providing guidance and inspiration to other nonprofits just as their mentors provide role models for the youth they lead.

As a nonprofiteer and consultant in the nonprofit space, Funraise's Director of Growth Marketing, David Schwab, has seen the results when nonprofits rely on storytelling to build supporter relationships—and what happens when those same supporters have their stories silenced. (Spoiler alert: it’s called donor churn.)

Join David and Richard as they discuss the ways that new fundraising tactics like peer-to-peer are a natural fit for PLUS ME's mission, what their COVID pivot-and-response taught the PLUS ME team, and how PLUS ME's usage of and reliance on technology has evolved on their road to $1 million.

For more info on the PLUS ME Project - https://www.theplusmeproject.org/
For more info on teenyBIG - https://www.teenybig.com/

Connect with the show contributors:
David Schwab - https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidlschwab/
Richard Reyes - https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-reyes-25064173/
Emily Taylor - https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-taylor-teenybig/

Hard as we try, sometimes the individual gets lost in our fundraising efforts. Beth Fisher is one fundraiser working to change that where she can.

Beth is the Chief Advancement Officer at Mel Trotter Ministries, leading fundraising, development, and donor stewardship for an organization that’s been around—and growing—for over 100 years. In her previous life in software sales, Beth’s superpower was seeing her customers’ needs and selling targeted solutions.

So when she took the reins at MTM, she naturally turned to her clients’ needs, providing them not just with “three hots and a cot”, but dignity as well. Beth quickly recognized that her fundraising efforts also benefitted from that mindset—treating donors as individuals was her key to fundraising success.

Listen in as Beth and Justin Wheeler, Funraise CEO and Co-founder, discuss the overlap of corporate and nonprofit fundraising, the value of nonprofit storytelling, and the importance of the individual in fundraising.

For more info on Mel Trotter Ministries - https://www.meltrotter.org/
For more info on Positive Equation - https://positiveequation.com/

Connect with the show contributors:
Justin Wheeler - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wheelerjustin/
Beth Fisher - https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethschrader99/
Dana Snyder - https://www.linkedin.com/in/danarsnyder/

Over the last few years, the United States has experienced a nationwide reckoning against racism and racial injustice. And while we've witnessed many steps forward towards antiracism, every sector has a long way to go to close the resource gaps created by structural racism.

Kia Croom is leading the fight against anti-Black racism in the nonprofit industry.

After twenty years of experience as a development executive and philanthropic strategist, Kia founded The Black Fundraisers' Podcast in 2021 to celebrate, inspire, uplift, and equip Black fundraisers with tools to "excel and positively impact Black communities." And we can all get behind that.

Through authenticity, radical honesty, and personal liberation—Kia has built a new table of access and resources for underrepresented fundraisers who historically have not been offered a seat.

Listen in as Kia talks to David Schwab about how nonprofit donors are directly involved in creating meaningful social change.

And if this episode gets you excited about moving the needle to increase representation and resources in nonprofit fundraising, be sure to create your Funraise free account to get started making the change you wish to see in the world.