Rainmaker Fundraising Podcast

The world of philanthropy is changing by the day right now. From the pandemic to artificial intelligence, to the dramatic increase in giving through Donor Advised Funds (DAF), and even the gamification of giving. So much is changing so quickly.

But one thing is clear…donors continue to dictate the terms.

With so much changing, I was thrilled to sit down with my friend, Paul D’Alessandro, Founder of High Impact Nonprofit Advisors, and author of the brand new book, The Future of Fundraising: How Philanthropy’s Future is Here with Donors Dictating the Terms.

Paul wrote this book after a lengthy and successful career in philanthropy where he’s met with more than 4,000 individual high net worth donors and raised more than $1 Billion for charitable causes! 

You’ll want to check out this conversation that covers so many important topics, including:

How Artificial Intelligence is impacting fundraising, and what that means for the future of the individual fundraiser

The positives and negatives of donor advised funds, and what this giving vehicle holds for the future of our industry

How platforms like Twitch and others impacting fundraising, and what that means for donor engagement and nonprofit revenue generation in the future

The emerging risks to donor privacy and how that could negatively impact giving in the future

The dirty secrets of fundraiser compensation

Sarah Lee is Chief Operating Officer at New Story, an innovative, growth-focused organization that behaves more like a Silicon Valley start-up than a traditional nonprofit. New Story is on a mission to solve the global homelessness crisis by creating solutions that are cheaper to develop, higher quality than traditional housing options, and able to get into market faster than typical solutions. In our conversation we talked about innovation and growth in the nonprofit sector, and how New Story is charging forward to change the way organizations address complex global challenges more effectively. Highlights from our conversation are:  Believing that nonprofit organizations should be held to higher (not lower) standards of effectiveness.How a 100% donation model and key investment partners help them achieve greater impact.The role that talent plays in their ability to deliver effective solutions and to grow and scale their impact.The need to balance advances in technology and innovation with mission delivery, and how organizations should think about that balance. The value of long-term thinking and how that changes the strategic approach for an organization. The importance of hiring people who embrace a "founder" mindset, and how that changes the way an organization operates.

If you want to be a successful major gift fundraiser, one of the most important traits you'll need is courage. Courage to overcome the fear of failure that so many of us face in asking donors to invest in our causes. Fear of not just hearing "no", but failing our organizations and letting down those we're committed to serving. Julie Ordoñez is the Founder of Courage Lab, a coaching and training program to help fundraisers and nonprofit leaders face their fears and build the skills and resilience necessary to raise significantly more money for mission impact. But Julie isn't just a coach or teacher of fundraising theory. She's a proven front-line fundraiser. She's done everything from running a one-person fundraising shop to achieving success as a top 1% major gift fundraiser for United Way of Los Angeles. We connected recently with Julie to learn more about the importance of courage in fundraising, and what holds people and organizations back from achieving success in their fundraising efforts. Some of the key takeaways you'll enjoy from our conversation are:Fundraising problems are actually organizational leadership and culture problems that manifest in revenue challenges.The risks of believing that only you and your employees care deeply about your cause (and that your donors don't care as much as you do).The importance of empathy for fundraisers and donors alike.Why the way we each view money in our personal lives impacts our ability to make significant asks. No, COVID-19 hasn't diminished the capacity of major donors (mostly), and why this line of thinking destroys your fundraising potential.The importance of asking great questions and listening to donors.Why you should stop looking outside your organization for major donors and instead invest in building relationships with your current supporters.The value of prioritizing important tasks like actually calling and speaking to your donors, and why that's so difficult for many fundraisers.

This episode of The Rainmaker Fundraising Podcast is brought to you by my friends at Virtuous. If you want to create meaningful connection with donors instead of putting distance between your supporters and your cause, you need to know Virtuous. The responsive fundraising platform created by Virtuous unifies fundraising, marketing, and donor development activities to deliver dynamic campaigns that engage supporters in more meaningful ways. Download a copy of their Responsive Fundraising Playbook

Matt Hackler is Vice President of Strategic Capacity Building with Feeding America. Like many of us, Matt says he "fell into" fundraising before joining Feeding America. In his current role, Matt leads a team of experts across multiple disciplines to help local member food banks increase their capacity to serve children, families, seniors and individuals experiencing hunger across the U.S.Matt and I connected recently to talk about COVID-19's impact on fundraising in general, on Feeding America nationally, and on individual member food banks. We covered a lot of ground, including:How food banks learned from the 2008 - 2010 financial crisis and changed their approach to crisis fundraising as a result.The spike in giving due to COVID-19, and whether donors who came on file as a result of COVID are "emergency response" donors, or "recession" donors (and what that means for your future fundraising efforts).When is the right time to stop talking to donors about COVID-19?The role of brand in fundraising, both nationally and in local communities across the U.S.How food banks have historically relied on volume-based tactical fundraising efforts instead of relationship-based philanthropy -- and why that needs to evolve for the future. Feeding America is seeing that donors who gave in response to COVID-19 are giving more frequently, retaining at higher rates, giving higher average gifts, and converting to monthly ongoing support at higher levels than the average donor -- and what this means for the future of hunger relief funding.Whether you're working in hunger relief or a completely different kind of nonprofit, you'll want to catch this episode with Matt. His insights are relevant no matter what your organization's focus!

This episode of The Rainmaker Fundraising Podcast is brought to you by my friends at Virtuous. If you want to create meaningful connection with donors instead of putting distance between your supporters and your cause, you need to know Virtuous. The responsive fundraising platform created by Virtuous unifies fundraising, marketing, and donor development activities to deliver dynamic campaigns that engage supporters in more meaningful ways. Download a copy of their Responsive Fundraising Playbook today!

Brent A. Hafele, M.A., is Senior Vice President of Talent Development at Dickerson Bakker & Associates. Early in his career, Brent held various leadership roles inside nonprofit organizations, including Development Director and Executive Director. Today, Brent leads talent development efforts for Dickerson Bakker & Associates, and provides executive coaching to fundraisers and nonprofit CEO's and Executive Directors.Brent and I sat down to discuss how talent development impacts organizational success. In our conversation we hit some big topics, including:How does talent impact an organization's capacity for growth? Breaking the myth that your nonprofit can't afford to hire top quality talent.What it takes to effectively assess a candidate's abilities and qualities during the interview process.Effective tools for candidate assessments.Why you should hire more slowly, and what the benefits of a longer assessment period is to your nonprofit.The value of using a strengths-based framework for talent assessment and coaching in your organization.Building a collaborative culture across your team and organization. Giving realistic performance feedback to motivate and engage your staff.If you lead a team or an organization, this conversation is sure to provide you with value!

This episode of The Rainmaker Fundraising Podcast was brought to you by our friends at Virtuous. We’re so excited to partner with them to promote the upcoming 2021 Responsive Fundraising Summit on April 14th and 15th. You can register for FREE today. You’ll be front-row with world-class nonprofit and thought leaders, participate in hands-on, discussion-driven workshops, and build lasting connections with like-minded peers. Sign up today for this FREE event!https://youtu.be/56RwjgU-q9M

As President & CEO of Oxfam America, Abby Maxman is responsible for leading global social change to alleviate the injustice of poverty across 90 countries. This fight is not a new one for Maxman, who has made a career of giving a voice to the voiceless, fighting hunger, poverty, disease, and injustice across the globe at leading INGO's and within the U.S. Government. Abby and I sat down to discuss her leadership experience and what we can all learn from her time working to right the most devastating wrongs the world over. We tackled some big issues in our discussion, including:The importance of boldly charging toward your goals, even when they might feel overwhelming and unachievable.How the values of integrity and commitment provide the courage and resilience necessary to allow a leader to book the first flight into post-genocidal Rwanda, to tackle apartheid South Africa, and to take on the global HIV/AIDS crisis.The importance of showing up authentically and consistently as our whole selves to build and nurture a healthy culture. Ad the value of creating a safe place for people to try new things, to fail, and to learn from those failures without risk of retribution or career damage. The role of leaders in addressing racial, gender, economic, and climate justice, and the challenging of maintaining focus on this important work in the midst of every other priority.Developing the 21st century skills of leading with care and compassion to help your people feel safe, engaged, and cared for by their leaders. 

This episode of The Rainmaker Fundraising Podcast was brought to you by our friends at Virtuous. We’re so excited to partner with them to promote the upcoming 2021 Responsive Fundraising Summit on April 14th and 15th. You can register for FREE today. You’ll be front-row with world-class nonprofit and thought leaders, participate in hands-on, discussion-driven workshops, and build lasting connections with like-minded peers. Sign up today for this FREE event!https://youtu.be/56RwjgU-q9M

The fifth child in a family of six, Bill High grew up "dirt poor and on welfare." The son of an alcoholic, Bill describes his childhood as "pretty dysfunctional."Around age eight or nine, Bill was introduced to the idea of a personal faith by a neighbor, and that began his life-long journey to live differently and to focus on making an eternal impact in our world.Throughout his lifetime, Bill has had some amazing opportunities to impact the world, including practicing law for 12 years to co-founding iDonate, a leading digital giving software company that helps nonprofits build lasting relationships with their supporters.In 2000, Bill felt a calling to do something more in our sector, leading him to create The Signatry, a global community and ministry dedicated to creating eternal impact through generosity across generations. They provide a unique approach to donor advised fund giving to empower donors, advisors, and ministries to maximize their impact.Bill and I met through our mutual relationship with Forbes Business and Nonprofit Councils, and sat down recently to talk about philanthropy and leading generously.  Some of the key insights from our conversation include:The impact of the massive increase in Donor Advised Fund adoption over the last decadeDebunking the myth that Donor Advised Funds are simply a place for the wealthy to "park" moneyHow Donor Advised Funds (on average) distribute 10X more than private foundations annuallyHow leaders who invest heavily in the people in their care are maximizing impactThe value of leaders serving others, and how that releases creativity and increases engagement with employeesLessons from a reluctant leaderWhy setting vision and inspiring your people is essential to your ability to achieve greater impactHow the best leaders use storytelling to inspire othersWhat 2021 has in store for philanthropy and charitable givingQuick tips for nonprofit boards and CEO's to begin effectively planning for leadership succession

This episode of The Rainmaker Fundraising Podcast was brought to you by our friends at Virtuous. We’re so excited to partner with them to promote the upcoming 2021 Responsive Fundraising Summit on April 14th and 15th. You can register for FREE today. You’ll be fr

Our good friend Brady Josephson at NextAfter joined us for a third episode here on the podcast recently. You might remember Brady from our conversation about COVID fundraising observations, or fundraising Testing. This week we connected with him to learn about the recent project that NextAfter and Salesforce.org collaborated on, called the Global Online Fundraising Scorecard. This study explored the front-end user experience of donors and email subscribers across multiple countries. Here are some of the key findings we cover in this discussion:Email sign-up was impossible in 27% of cases in the study, either because organizations didn't offer it, or because it took too many steps to discover where the email sign-up was locatedVery little progress has been made in years around the area of using value proposition to either subscribe for emails or make a giving decision (you'll hear Brady outline what the keys are in a successful value proposition too)The dangerous myth that online users don't or won't consume copy -- and address the (surprising) negative impact that video and images have on conversionThe half dozen (or more!) types of friction that negatively impact decision-making online, AND, the one positive type of friction that can actually help you raise more money online!The importance of email cultivation to long-term retention and revenue, and the sad fact that too few organizations are investing in meaningful email relationship building.The truth about email deliverability, and what you can do to improve deliverability for your organization.What's working best globally in sustainer giving, where the U.S. is falling behind in this key giving area, and what YOU can do to improve your organization's sustainer numbers.The trends on email welcome series use, and how one organization tested into a 900% increase in 2nd gift conversion by rethinking their approach to welcome series content.It's always a blast to have Brady on the show, and I hope you'll learn as much as I did in this conversation!Don't forget to download the Global Online Fundraising Scorecard today!

This episode of The Rainmaker Fundraising Podcast was brought to you by our friends at Virtuous. We’re so excited to partner with them to promote the upcoming

You might know him as The Fundraising Coach, the Founder of Concord Leadership Group, the author of Ask Without Fear, Fundraising Kick, or the brand new book, The Surprising Gift of Doubt: Use Uncertainty to Become the Exceptional Leader You Are Meant to Be . Or maybe you've seen and heard him speak at one of hundreds of nonprofit conferences over the last few years. I was honored and thrilled to sit down last week with Marc A. Pitman, CSP to have an insightful and in-depth conversation on nonprofit leadership.This is a 48-minute masterclass on leading well and dealing with key challenges our sector faces, including:How to live your values authentically as a leaderWhat it takes to build and grow a healthy culture in your nonprofitChallenging the status quo without damaging key relationships in your workplaceAddressing toxicity in the workplace and the damaging impact it has on your entire organizationTraits of high-performing leadersWhy nonprofits don't do succession planning well, and how to fix thatThe importance of strategic onboarding and training for volunteer board membersIf you enjoy this episode, don't forget to check out Marc's newest book too!  

This episode of The Rainmaker Fundraising Podcast was brought to you by our friends at Virtuous. We're so excited to partner with them to promote the upcoming 2021 Responsive Fundraising Summit on April 14th and 15th. You can register for FREE today. You'll be front-row with world-class nonprofit and thought leaders, participate in hands-on, discussion-driven workshops, and build lasting connections with like-minded peers. Sign up today for this FREE event!https://youtu.be/56RwjgU-q9M

Bob Carter is Founder and Chairman at Carter Global, the leading global philanthropic consultancy serving nonprofits, international non-governmental organizations (INGO's), and ultra-high net worth philanthropists. Bob is personally an expert in the development of major and mega gift fundraising campaigns and philanthropic giving strategies for mega givers. Throughout his career, Bob has also served as chairperson of seven different nonprofit boards, giving him an incredibly broad understanding of the inner-workings of our sector. We recently sat down with Bob to talk about the state of philanthropy in 2021, and his perspective on what the future holds for our sector, including:What he's most encouraged and concerned by in our sector for the coming yearThe biggest opportunities on the horizon for nonprofits over the next five yearsHow data and technology are changing the philanthropic landscape for the futureThe potential impact of changes to donor privacy laws that are currently under consideration by the Supreme CourtBob's thoughts and guidance for new and emerging nonprofit leadersWhat we as fundraisers should know about philanthropic supporters -- particularly the differences between those who have created wealth vs. those who have inherited itChallenges to nonprofits of philanthropic investors who are willing and comfortable bypassing the traditional nonprofit ecosystem to create impact for a cause, and what nonprofits need to do to address this challengeThe role of boards in addressing complicated issues like diversity, equity, and inclusion, and other tough conversationsBob shares a wealth of valuable insights and perspectives in our brief conversation. Get your pen and notepad out, because this is like a free masterclass in philanthropic planning!

If you want to lead your organization more effectively and help your team avoid costly mistakes that drain your organization of time, talent, and revenue, check out my Amazon #1 best-seller, 101 Biggest Mistakes Nonprofits Make And how You Can Avoid Them.