Small Nonprofit: Fundraising Tips, Leadership Strategies, and Community-Centric Solutions for Canadian and American Nonprofits

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From lack of opportunity to develop leaders or train managers to pay transparency, there are so many issues and topics about HR that we never seem to have time to do or be able to make the proper investments. It's going to be a big problem for our sector because our work is only as good as our teams. Our organizations are only as strong as our culture.

In today’s podcast episode, Bruce MacDonald, President, and CEO of Imagine Canada,  is going to share with us HR Intervals - a new and entirely free human resources toolkit specifically designed for nonprofit professionals to help them manage new challenges and opportunities in our work cultures.

Myths that Bruce wants us to walk away from

• Small nonprofits can’t afford human resources. Some leaders may need to find some volunteers to help them out, whether it's a member of the board or just networking to find some HR folks. Start that conversation with the staff about the priorities and urgent needs of the organization and be willing to listen to them. A talented staff member who is inspired by this work could be the staff lead supported by the executive director. They can also access the information and resources they need to perform HR functions at their organizations with the new HR Intervals toolkit. 
• Nonprofits shouldn’t invest in human resources. The pandemic posed new challenges in terms of attracting and retaining employees. Private-sector firms are improving their ability to attract and retain talent, which has an impact on charities and nonprofits. Companies are now offering incentives to work there, and it is critical to ensure that we have the best possible workplaces, fair workplaces, reasonable, transparent compensation, that the culture is there, that this equity and equality is more vital than it has been in quite some time because of this competition for talent.

Bruce’s thoughts around HR Intervals for Nonprofits 

• Access to free information and resources. A vast majority of our sector does not have paid human resources talent inside their organizations, there can be a gap in terms of how organizations think about the management of their people. HR Intervals is made to bring a service that organizations can go to, to help leaders better understand, address, and guide people management in their organizations.
• Be intentional. HR Intervals offers a variety of resources and practices that can be utilized by nonprofits to assess their organizations. They can leverage this information to develop realistic opportunities and set priorities that will create a better workplace for their employees and enable them to do their mission effectively.

Favorite Quotes for Today’s Episode

“I think the one thing I've learned is you can't do it all at the same time or can do it all at once, but over time can create a basket of offerings that make it a place where people want to be, want to go and want to stay.”

Resources from this Episode 

• HR Intervals 
• The Good Partnership

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• Being busy and overwhelmed is normal. We have been told over the years that being busy and getting many things done is a good thing. But these are just the expectations of our society, especially in our sector. In reality, we need to listen to our body, and we need to take a break from work, slow down and take care of ourselves to prevent burning out.
• We can’t control burnout. In order to find balanced energy, we need to have self-leadership which is learning to control our thoughts, feelings, and actions. We can have more balance and connection when we slow down, practice mindfulness, compassion, and gratitude. 

• Mindfulness: Slowing down our minds and being quiet allows us to choose more of our energies. We can choose more creativity and flow. We can listen to what our body is telling us. Mindfulness helps us to focus on one thing at a time and we can train ourselves to be mindful by doing breathing exercises. 
• Compassion: Stepping into another person’s shoes. It is looking at their situation from their perspective without judgment. We need to practice breathing and quieting our minds first, which allows us to choose how we are going to react, what action we should take, and how we can look at a situation from someone else's perspective. 
• Practice Gratitude: Kim suggests practicing gratitude in three ways. First, by writing down three things that you are grateful for every day. This doesn’t have to be massive, we can find it with the small things. Second, saying you’re grateful right when the moment happens. Lastly, when you feel like you are in a difficult moment, you can pause for a moment and choose gratitude instead of reacting in a situation. Gratitude helps us to shift our perspective. 

• Inner Powered Leaders
• Kim Dechaine | LinkedIn
• The Good Partnership 

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AI is one of those buzzwords that has recently taken over people's minds. We imagine AI as a futuristic, thrilling, and scary opportunity. But we don't always recognize how it affects us or our work. The cool thing is that AI is being brought into our sector and has a lot of potentials to help organizations leverage their data to do more focused work or analyze and find new opportunities.

In today’s podcast, our guest, Nejeed Kassam, Lawyer, CEO and Founder of Keela, an impact technology company, talks about AI and how it helps small nonprofits manage their donors, mobilize resources, and raise more money.

Myths that Nejeed wants us to walk away from:

• AI will replace your job as a fundraiser. Nobody's coming for your jobs. You can't automate fundraising. That's not realistic. What you can do is allow folks to be less burnt out, allow them to prioritize more effectively, allow them to see patterns and focus their work in different ways.
• Spending time on data has no benefits for your organization. Quality data has many benefits for organizations. Aside from compliance, data helps organizations to prepare for donor meetings, and then to use it for reporting and analytics. 

Nejeed’s thoughts around AI and Fundraising 

• AI predictions help drive decision-making. Using patterns from data that you have collected will help drive your decision-making. Data can tell your organization a story about your donors that is not recognizable when we don’t see the big data picture. It can also help you identify ask levels or make decisions about where you spend your time and energy.
• Forecasting helps fundraisers. Understanding forecasting can help you understand your organization’s programming realities. It can understand whether you’re on track for where you want to be. You can make decisions when you have an idea of where you're going. It also helps identify when to ask for support, how much to ask for, and more.
• Benchmarking for fundraising.  Data helps your organization to measure efficacy and focus on thinking about how you are doing relative to your goals. Being able to check yourself, being able to hold yourself as an organization and as a fundraiser accountable is really valuable because then you can lean on all these data points in these predictive analytics and know where you really need to dig in and not.

Favorite Quotes from Today’s Episode

“No, you can't automate fundraising. That's not realistic. What you can do is allow folks to be less burnt out, allow them to prioritize more effectively, allow them to see patterns and, um, focus their work in different ways because of the AI ultimately the effective use of artificial intelligence and fundraising is going to be because it’s deployed appropriately and then the fundraisers can take that knowledge and make decisions and steward better and build stronger relationships.”

Resources from this Episode 

• Nonprofit Software | Keela
• KIT: AI-Powered Fundraising (fundraisingkit.com)
• The Good Partnership 

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Have you ever heard the term design thinking thrown around whether in our sector or in the business world and you've thought, what are they talking about? What is that such a buzzword? But there's actually a lot of really cool stuff happening around design thinking and the approach that it has to problem-solving, which is exactly what today's podcast is about, how we can apply design thinking to our fundraising and our work.

Our guest for today’s episode is our colleague at The Good Partnership, Betty Xie, a fundraiser, filmmaker, and Coach for creatives. She studied Strategic Foresight, Innovation and Design at OCAD and brought that to our work. 

Myths that Betty wants us to walk away from:

• Design Thinking can't be applied in fundraising.  At the core of design thinking is a process of problem-solving that is focused on a human-centric, problem-solving process. In the fundraising space, empathizing with the user is the key. This means understanding your donors and funders’ needs, reaching out to them, and getting feedback. 
• You need to have a perfect pitch deck to raise more money. Following the process of design thinking, at the most minimum prototype, it’s just like passing an idea or some kind of model that doesn’t go for the most perfect state and move forward with it. 

The Stages of Design Thinking Process 

• Empathize with the user - In the nonprofit’s case, this could be our beneficiaries, the people that we serve, or our donors. 
• Framing the problem - Defining what exactly is the problem that we try to solve. 
• Ideate and design a solution - Once you have an idea of a solution, instead of going with the perfect solution, you will come up with a prototype and a prototype doesn't need to be physical. In a context of an organization, the prototype can be an idea that you're testing or a server or program.
• Testing and Iterating - Testing the prototype to see what works, what doesn't work, and then bring it back, have an honest conversation of other feedback, and try again and again. 

Favorite Quotes from today’s episode 

Empathize with the user is key. And in the fundraising space, that means really understanding your donors and funders’ need. I just think that it's very common to not spend enough time staying in that space and trying to reach out and get feedback. 

Resources from this episode

Betty Xie LinkedIn 
Lead to Create
The Good Partnership 

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Supervision is one of those things in our sector that we kind of fall into. It is often overlooked in our sector but the quality of supervision is important because it affects productivity, morale, work quality, team interaction, conflict, and the overall culture of the organization.

In today’s episode, Rita Sever, an expert in human resources, organizational psychology, and nonprofit systems, talks about how to lead, manage people, and create a culture that is aligned with our organization’s anti-oppression work and values. 

Myths that Rita wants us to walk away from:

• Nonprofit workers don’t need supervision. Nonprofit organizations are full of kind, caring, and committed people, but that doesn't mean they don't need to be supervised. Even when people are extremely high functioning, they need a supervisor's tender touch and a culture that will encourage them along the way and help them succeed.
• Power and privilege don’t exist in nonprofit supervision. Power and privilege have an impact on supervisory relationships. To work from an anti-oppression perspective, supervisors must be prepared for self-awareness – knowing their own background, norms, and hidden rules, and bringing that awareness to real conversations about how it affects their supervision, relationships, and treatment of others.

Rita’s JOIN framework on giving feedback as a supervisor

• J - Join your supervisees before you give them feedback.  You want to make sure you remember you're on the same side. 
• O - Observation and objective statement of what actually happened.
• I - Impact. What was the impact of that objective observation? How did it impact the person, the team, the work? 
• N - What needs to be different. And that can be simply, let's talk more about how you could have handled that interaction.

Favorite Quotes from Today’s Episode
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“I think the pitfall is that we are doing so much or so committed to our missions that we sort of take it for granted that everything will work out in terms of people because people are there to support the mission. So we just trust that it's all going to work, but even when people are extremely high functioning, they need that tender touch of a supervisor and a culture that is going to encourage them along the way and help them be successful.”

Resources from this Episode
Supervisionmatters.com
Leading for Justice: Supervision, HR and Culture
The Good Partnership

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Fundraising and philanthropy make a lot of people very uncomfortable. A big part of that is our discomfort with money generally, but a lot of it is how our sector and philanthropy have been structured and the power systems it upholds.

Our sector faces challenges related to power, change, and resource redistribution for impact. In today's episode, Yonis Hassan, Co-Founder, and CEO of The Justice Fund discusses one of his biggest challenges with the philanthropic sector - the hoarding of money in foundations. According to the Justice Fund’s most recent campaign, Move The Money, charitable foundations in Canada are holding onto over $85 billion dollars in charitable assets. If distributed, this money would create transformative change in providing security and proper access to opportunities and long-term resources to underserved communities.  Join the conversation as Yonis shares why the time to use this money is now. It’s time to call for change.

Myths that Yonis wants us to walk away from:

• Preserving a foundation’s capital over a long time is in the best interest of the public. It’s not. There's going to be more money coming into this sector. There’s going to be more innovation, more creativity, and more risk-taking. Yonis urges the charitable sector to use the abundance of taxpayer’s assets in a timely manner when we have a plethora of crises facing our communities. 
• Small nonprofits cannot make big changes in the philanthropy sector. Whether you are a grassroots organization, an unincorporated organization, a volunteer, a board member, someone who just donates to organizations, there will be an opportunity for you to speak up around these issues. 

Yonis’ thoughts around reforming philanthropy: 

• Changing the status quo. The foundations and funds in our sector have amassed a total of $85 billion. Reforming philanthropy entails leveraging the abundance of these assets to have a greater impact and serve the most vulnerable communities, especially during times of crisis.
• Stepping up as a collective sector. We must act collectively and have an open discussion about charitable laws and how they contribute to discrimination and continued oppression of indigenous communities in order to mobilize resources that will improve the situation of the vulnerable populations. 
• It’s time to speak up. Yonis encouraged the philanthropic community to speak up. Whether it's speaking with your municipal council or your MP or MPP, your donors, or your board members, stand up and urge them to take action and make these legislative reforms.

Favorite Quotes from Today’s Episode
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“With over $85 billion of charitable assets in this country, we can be using that to invest in affordable housing, to invest in climate financing, to invest in transit, to invest in cooperatives, but we choose not to. So, expecting the federal government to implement some changes to hold us accountable, to hold the philanthropic sector accountable.”

Resources from this Episode 

• Justice Fund
• The Good Partnership 

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Are your donors on the same page as your organization when it comes to understanding the work? Often, we think that there is this great divide between us and our donors - one that is not easily bridged. But Aniel Gokhale at The Toronto Foundation has been creating programs for donors to go on a learning journey to better understand how they can change how they give to align with their values.

What might be considered risky - engaging your donors in conversations about justice, equity and a redistribution of funds - has turned into a very successful fundraising campaign and community building initiative. 

Myths that Aneil wants us to walk away from:

• Younger generations don’t give. In fact, younger generations often are excited to give but want a little more than just writing a cheque. They want to learn, be involved, and stay engaged. Think of how you can create a community of supporters and bring them along on a learning journey.
• We have to tiptoe around tough topics with our donors. It can be hard to challenge your donors beliefs around philanthropy, but definitely not impossible. Aneil has leaned on research their organization does as well as understanding the intentions of donors and their values, to broach topics of privilege and power, as well as funding organizations that have historically been underserved by philanthropy.

Aneil’s thoughts around bring your donors on a learning journey.

• You don’t have to be big or well resourced to bring your donors on a learning journey. Now is the time to have important conversations about equity. The world is going through changes and the status quo is being challenged. Your donors want to align their giving with their values but might not know how. Your donors also see you as the expert, so share your knowledge and experience.
• Let your experts lead the way. The Toronto Foundation ensured that their new equity priorities were driven by populations they wanted to serve and support. Remember that you are the experts and your donors want to learn from you.
• Now is the time to ask! Younger generations care and they want to be engaged in philanthropy. They expect to be focused on justice and equity and they want to be involved. Your donors are likely committed to their community and feel connected to the work they support.

Favourite Quotes from Today’s Episode

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“It was this idea of actually building out a learning journey and taking your donors on an experience where they're giving more than just that sum of money, but they're actually going out there and they are learning a ton of things about this topic that they care deeply about. So we basically took that concept and created a learning journey here in Toronto, focused on resilience, focused on really just trying to make people understand what the needs were in our community and really trying to underscore how they could make a difference and make an impact.”

Resources from this Episode

The Good Partnership

Toronto Foundation

Aneil on Twitter

Email Aneil: [email protected] 

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Have you ever wondered how your small organization can leverage marketing to build an audience, raise more money, find volunteers or even find service users? I'm sure you've looked at the big organizations and their advertising, whether it be online or in-person and felt a little bit of envy - “I wish we could invest in that.” Well today's guest, Adora Drake, is going to bring her experience in marketing to the level that small nonprofits can actually implement. 

Myths that Adora wants us to walk away from:

1. You need a big budget. The good news is that a lot of online engagement can happen for FREE! If you follow Adora’s SCALE model, you can build community and drive them to action organically, without a budget.
2. Big ads are the goal. The days of billboards and TV infomercials for nonprofits are limited (or at least, not the goal for small shops). Instead, focus on digital marketing where you can better track results and have a clear picture of who you are targeting and what actions they take because of your ads.

Adora’s SCALE method:

1. Social Media. You can’t be everywhere, so start by understanding the persona of who you are trying to reach and connect with. Where would they hang out online? 
2. Content. What type of content will engage your audience or target persona? Think of it as an exchange. Often we assume we’re asking people to give to us, but we forget we have things that they value. Be consistent in your content.
3. Audience. Now is the time to grow your audience, leveraging the insights and engagement you’ve built with your persona and how they have been engaging with your content. You can run ads to target people based on their interests.The platform algorithms can help you find more people!
4. Lead. Social media is limited as you don’t own the relationship with your community. When the platforms go down (recently Facebook and Instagram), you still want to be able to engage with your audience. Think about giving them something valuable in exchange for their email address.
5. Execution. Use your email to nurture your list and lead them into a call to action - to give, volunteer, etc. Again, consistency is key - keep those relationships warm and engaged to build a “know, like, and trust” factor. 

Favourite Quotes from Today’s Episode
Post your favourite quote on social media to share with us!

“So no matter if you're in a for-profit or nonprofit, you're always going to have people that get on the list and they just don't stay on the list. There's nothing you can do about that. And it's actually a good thing. And I'm going to tell you why it's a good thing, because if they get on the list and they're not engaged, they don't really care about what you guys are talking about, then why have them on the list? It's just a vanity. I would rather have a really small list. Actually. I would really have five people that are really engaged on my list. Then they have a hundred people and one person maybe opens the email.”

“And so that persona represents that one person, that one ideal, which we call maybe a donor or a volunteer that you want to attract. You want to grab their attention. And so, instead of looking at a bunch of people and trying to get all these different people's interests, you want to just narrow it down to “who is this person?” Why would they be interested in my organization? And what should I do to give them value, to make them want to be attracted to me?

Resources from this Episode

The Good Partnership

Adora Drake Marketing - free guide 

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The last year and a half has been lonely. While at the beginning slogans like “together alone” might have made us feel connected, that has slipped away and many of us are feeling like our worlds are a whole lot smaller than before. But this loneliness is not new for those in small nonprofits. Often we are very much alone in our work, without peers. In today’s podcast episode, Kimberley MacKenzie joins us to talk about authenticity, community, and tough conversations.

Myths that Kimberley wants us to walk away from:

1. We need to put on our “armour” for work and “be professional.” Instead, Kimberley wants us to bring our whole selves to work. As leaders, we need to model that we’re human and lean on those around us when we’re not on our game. Not only do we get help, but then we also build trust and collaboration and create a safe space for others to be authentic.
2. We just need to fix our organizations. A lot of us are questioning some of the status quo and feel that our organizations need anything from a lite improvement to a full overhaul. And while that might be true, Kimberley reminds us that for change to stick, we have to change. It’s not just the organization, but we have personal work we need to do.
3. You’re the only one. One of the things Kimberley has seen in building her community is that as soon as we show up authentically, we find others who are very much in the same boat as us. You are most definitely not alone!

Kimberley’s tips on finding and building community:

1. Make the time and space to connect with others. This is something we often put off, because we are so busy with other things. But, as flight attendants like to remind us, put on your own oxygen mask first! Community can help you work through challenges and get different perspectives.
2. Change requires discomfort. Change is important and is probably more urgent now than ever. Change requires courage and discomfort, but knowing you are not alone can help you move forward and find accountability in the community.

Favourite Quotes from Today’s Episode
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“People are craving that community and people, you know, those small networks of support are fundamentally important to us being able to continue to do this change because it's exhausting. It's exhausting. The world needs our sector more than ever. The need is greater. The resources are fewer and we're driven by passion. So we often compromise our own physical and mental wellbeing to deliver for our organizations. And of course, we need to fill our tank.”

“I know it's happened to a lot of people where all of our human messiness has been exposed. And I think that as leaders, when we create, when we model that we're human and when we model that, we're not always on our game. And when we lean on our teams, when we need to, and we create space for safe conversations about what it is to be human right now, in this moment that will build trust and that will build collaboration and that will build safety so that folks will bring forward. Some of them are difficult, challenging situations.”

Resources from this Episode

The Good Partnership

The Intersection Hub

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Video - one of those things that everyone wants to get better at using, but not many know where and how to start. On today’s podcast, co-owner of Nonprofit Video Comms, David Phu, joins our host Cindy Wagman, to exchange insights on how nonprofits can best leverage the power of video. 

Myths that David wants us to walk away

1. Video = social media. There are so many other ways videos can be useful for an organization beyond social media, including internal communication, personal messaging, documentation of work processes, guiding donors through their journey etc. 
2. We need fancy equipment to make videos. You have everything you need. Your phone and your laptop can support you to make compelling videos to reach your specific goals.

David’s tips on using video content in a nonprofit setting

1. Guide donors through their journey using video content. From compelling donors to make a donation, to providing them instructions on how to make the donation, to thanking them, every touch point can be a short video.
2. Use videos to connect and establish personal connections. Before you interact with someone face-to-face, a quick and unedited video message is the best way to connect with them. An instant video message is like an upgraded voicemail. 
3. Use videos to communicate work processes and provide training for staff and volunteers. There are many tools available now that allow you to record your screen while you’re working through a problem. What’s a better/quicker way to create an instructional manual than just simply hit record and send that video to your staff or volunteers after?

Favourite Quotes from Today’s Episode
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“Video comes from a time where it was really about entertainment. And it later grew into  advertising, maybe training, and publishing this and that. But now with video, it's really about being person to person as much as possible without being there in person.”

“It seems that the first thing that people's minds go to is social media. Video equals social media, which it does. But I think a lot of people are missing all these other opportunities, like personal video messaging, websites, or internal communications videos. There's so much more power right now with video.”

Resources from this Episode

The Good Partnership

Connect with David on Linkedin

Nonprofit Video Comms

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