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Nearly half of nonprofit Executive Directors are reporting burnout as a serious concern, and that number is climbing fast. In this episode, we dig into the Center for Effective Philanthropy's 2026 report and unpack what's actually driving the crisis: rising service demand, shrinking budgets, and boards and staff who often can't be the safe space EDs need.

On this week's episode of The Small Nonprofit Podcast, Maria is joined by Caitlin McBride, a Certified Fundraising Executive with close to 15 years in the sector, to talk honestly about burnout and what small nonprofit leaders can actually do about it, starting today.

• Connect with Caitlin on LinkedIn
• Read the Center for Effective Philanthropy, 2026 report 

You don't need to figure it out alone. Book a Discovery Call with Further Together if you need help raising money in a way aligned with your values. 

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Most nonprofits ask foundations for what they think a funder is comfortable giving, not what the mission actually needs to succeed. That gap is costing the sector real impact. This episode pulls back the curtain on how private philanthropy really operates: why 95% of foundation assets sit invested with zero connection to mission, why "private" family foundations are actually funded with public money, and why the polite, small ask has become the norm even when it guarantees failure. 

On this week's episode of The Small Nonprofit Podcast, Maria sits down with Glenn Galaich, CEO of the Stupski Foundation and author of Control: Why Big Giving Falls Short, to talk about what happens when a foundation commits to spending down its entire endowment instead of sitting on it. 

• Connect with Glenn on LinkedIn
• Visit their website

You don't need to figure it out alone. Book a Discovery Call with Further Together if you need help raising money in a way aligned with your values. 

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Throwing spaghetti at the wall can't fix broken fundraising systems. On this week's episode of The Small Nonprofit Podcast, Maria Rio, a fundraising expert with over 15 years of experience, shares what it actually takes to turn acquisition and retention into a repeatable system instead of a scramble. You'll learn how to move donors through each stage of the funnel, from total stranger to lifelong supporter, and why retention deserves more of your attention. 

This episode is Part 1 of Maria's live workshop, "How to Get More Donors, Retain Your Base, and Deepen Their Connection," recorded for a cohort of nonprofit leaders.

• Connect with Maria on LinkedIn
• Watch The Golden Circle by Simon Sinek (TED Talk)

You don't need to figure it out alone. Book a Discovery Call with Further Together if you need help raising money in a way aligned with your values. 

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Small nonprofits are constantly told to do more with less. More fundraising, more reporting, more services, same tiny team. This episode flips that pressure on its head. Instead of asking "how do we do more ourselves," our guest makes the case for asking "who could we build this with together?" You'll hear real examples of what collaboration actually looks like on the ground, from a food bank that partnered with mental health organizations to a youth coalition that hit real growing pains. We break down why duplicated efforts hold small nonprofits back and how the right partnerships create capacity instead of just more work. 

On this week's episode of The Small Nonprofit Podcast, Maria sits down with Daniel Francavilla, a marketing strategist and capacity-building consultant who works with nonprofits through The Good Growth Company, Daniel Does, and Clarity Content. Daniel has spent years helping nonprofits and social purpose organizations tell their stories and build the kind of partnerships that expand reach. Nonprofit leaders will walk away with a clearer sense of what collaboration can look like beyond the usual program partnership and why capacity-sharing might be the missing piece in their strategy.

• Visit Daniel's website: https://www.thegoodgrowth.company/
• Learn more about the Together for Impact Summit, coming this November 5th: https://www.thegoodgrowth.company/summit

You don't need to figure it out alone. Book a Discovery Call with Further Together if you need help raising money in a way aligned with your values. 

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Most leaders don't talk about what actually happens the day you walk into an ED role. They talk about the vision and the strategy, not the fact that your admin manager just quit, the reserves are empty, and you're going to have to let people go before you've even found the bathroom. This episode is about that first year as an ED, unfiltered. On this week's episode of The Small Nonprofit Podcast, I sit down with Lenny Sweeney, Executive Director at SHORE Centre and a fundraiser of nearly 20 years across community services, gender-based violence, disability, and reproductive justice work. If you're a first-time ED, considering becoming one, or currently in the middle of a challenge, this episode will make you feel a lot less alone.

• Connect with Lenny Sweeny on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lenny-sweeney-cfre-a8309b11/
• Learn more about SHORE Centre (Sexual Health Options, Resources and Education): https://www.shorecentre.ca/

You don't need to figure it out alone. Book a Discovery Call with Further Together if you need help raising money in a way aligned with your values. 

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Search engines were never built with equity in mind. The organizations that show up first are the ones with money for ads, not necessarily the ones doing the most impactful work. For small and grassroots nonprofits, that means decades of good work can go unseen by the donors, program officers, and advisors who'd want to support it if they only knew it existed. It's clear the playing field was uneven long before AI entered the picture. But AI is also changing who gets found, and not always in the direction people assume. 

On this week's episode of The Small Nonprofit Podcast, host Maria Rio sits down with Brandolon Barnett, Chief Innovation and Philanthropy Officer at Giving Compass, to unpack why small nonprofits struggle to be discovered and what it actually takes for donors to find you in a AI-first digital landscape. Nonprofit leaders will walk away understanding why "just post more on social media" isn't the fix it used to be and what steps they can take instead without needing a tech team or a big budget.

• Connect with Brandolon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandolon/
• Visit their website: https://givingcompass.org/ or https://gg.givingcompass.org/
• Learn more about how donors and funders find you in the age of AI: Free self-paced course here

You don't need to figure it out alone. Book a Discovery Call with Further Together if you need help raising money in a way aligned with your values. 

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Ever felt pressure to chase every funding opportunity that crosses your desk just because the deadline lines up and the dollar amount looks good? This episode is your permission to slow down. You'll learn why "does this person have money" is the wrong first question, and what to actually look for before you sink hours into an application or a pitch. You'll hear the real cost of chasing misaligned funders (hint: it's not just your time), and get a practical framework for spotting values alignment before you're locked into a partnership. 

On this week's episode of The Small Nonprofit Podcast, host Maria Rio is joined by Caitlin McBride, a certified fundraising executive with close to 15 years of experience helping small nonprofit leaders make fundraising feel easy, ethical, and less chaotic. Together, they unpack how experienced fundraisers actually assess whether a funding opportunity is worth pursuing, and nonprofit leaders will walk away with a clear-eyed way to evaluate funders before committing time, energy, or their organization's reputation.

Connect with Caitlin on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/caitlinmcbride-ethical-fundraising/

The Unbearable Hypocrisy: Fundraising in a World of Compromised Integrity: Read here

CHAPTERS

00:00 Why Not Every Funder Is Worth Chasing
01:43 Meet Caitlin McBride: Making Fundraising Ethical and Less Chaotic
02:35 The "Looks Good on Paper" Trap — Money, Deadlines and Program Fit
03:41 Not All Money Is Good Money: Hidden Time and Reputational Costs
05:58 How to Check a Funder's Real Giving History (CRA Website Tip)
07:27 Values Alignment: Vision, Tactics, and How Donors Treat Your Staff
09:11 Closed-Door Funders: Why "They Won't Talk to You" Is the Answer
12:14 Scarcity Mindset vs. Being Strategically Picky About Funders
13:21 The "Ends Justify the Means" Debate in Nonprofit Fundraising
14:49 Funding Should Follow Mission, Not the Other Way Around
15:27 Assessing the Grant Application: Is It Worth Your Time?
16:23 Sneaky Recognition Requirements (Christmas Gifts, Logo Wars, and More)
18:41 Sponsorship vs. Donation: Know What You're Actually Signing
20:00 Why Being Picky Is the Strategic Move

You don't need to figure it out alone. Book a Discovery Call with Further Together if you need help raising money in a way aligned with your values. 

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Most nonprofits pour everything into the people and causes they serve, and forget the staff doing that work every single day. This episode flips the script. We're talking about what it actually looks like to take care of the caretakers, especially when your team is dealing with trauma, grief, or emotional burnout as part of the job. You'll hear how one nonprofit built a staff wellness program from the ground up, fueled almost entirely through community donations, not big budget line items. We also get into what happens when a founder hits her own breaking point, and what she changed because of it.

On this week's episode of The Small Nonprofit Podcast, Maria sits down with Laurie Hood, founder and CEO of Alaqua Animal Refuge, a 20-year-old organization that rescues and rehabilitates animals from cruelty and neglect cases. Nonprofit leaders will walk away with a real framework for supporting staff wellbeing without needing a bigger budget, and a reminder that modeling rest starts at the top.

Visit their website: https://alaqua.org/

You don't need to figure it out alone. Book a Discovery Call with Further Together if you need help raising money in a way aligned with your values. 

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Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs) are the fastest-growing way to give in Canada, the US, and the UK, and most nonprofits still don't have the words "donor-advised fund" anywhere on their website. This episode isn't a case for DAFs. It's a case for having a strategy for them anyway, so that money moves toward community instead of sitting in an advisor's spreadsheet.

In this episode, Mike Todd (Transform Philanthropy) breaks down what's actually happening when a DAF gift lands in your mailbox, why "anonymous" almost never means what you think it means, and how to stop losing gifts you didn't even know you were being considered for.

• Connect with Mike:  [email protected]
• Connect with Mike on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miketodd/
• Visit their website: https://www.transformphilanthropy.ca

You don't need to figure it out alone. Book a Discovery Call with Further Together if you need help raising money in a way aligned with your values. 

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Posting on social media and hoping donations follow? You might be setting yourself up for disappointment. In this episode, we get into why social media is often a top-of-funnel tool, not a direct-response one, and why that's not a bad thing once you understand how to use it right. We talk about the algorithm problem nobody wants to admit: that even your own followers might never see your posts. We also dig into what actually makes content land, from ditching jargon to using strength-based framing that invites people in instead of guilt-tripping them.

On this week's episode of The Small Nonprofit Podcast, Maria sits down with Farra Trompeter, co-director and worker-owner at Big Duck, who has spent over 30 years helping nonprofits use communications to build brands, run campaigns, and grow sustainably. If you've ever wondered whether your org "should" be on every platform, or worried your content isn't landing the way you hoped, this conversation gives you a clearer way to think about both.

• Connect with Farra: [email protected]
• Connect with Farra on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/farra/
• Visit their website: https://bigduck.com/

You don't need to figure it out alone. Book a Discovery Call with Further Together if you need help raising money in a way aligned with your values. 

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