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Most fundraisers treat the finance office like the department down the hall. Germeen Guillaume wants to tear down that wall, because your books can win you gifts or cost you them.
Germeen spent years doing audits in public accounting and banking before founding Visionary Accounting Group, a firm that works only with nonprofits on accounting, grant management, and audit prep. Her firm has recouped more than $2.8 million in receivables for its clients, much of it grant reimbursements that organizations were owed but weren't tracking.
In this episode of The Focused Fundraiser, Rob Burke talks with Germeen about what nonprofit bookkeeping has to do with raising money. She explains what the books reveal about whether your fundraising is working, how to handle a restricted gift so you can prove where every dollar went, and what a good monthly reconciliation between your donor database and your accounting system looks like. She also covers what to say when a major donor asks about overhead or reserves, what grant program officers actually check in your financials, and how a growing nonprofit should decide between a bookkeeper, a controller, and a CFO.
If you've ever been asked what last year's fundraising event actually netted and had to go digging for the answer, this one's for you.
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Cold open: no CFO can fix bad bookkeeping
00:19 - Welcome: how your books win gifts or cost you them
01:02 - From audit work to an accounting firm just for nonprofits
02:25 - What your books reveal about whether fundraising is working
04:08 - Handling a restricted gift so you can prove where it went
05:38 - Garbage in, garbage out: why cleanup comes first
06:45 - Monthly reconciliation between your donor database and accounting system
10:00 - How clean books help you raise more and win grants
12:13 - What to tell a major donor who asks about overhead or reserves
15:21 - What grant program officers check in your financials
18:22 - Diversify your funding before one source goes away
19:33 - Bookkeeper, controller, or CFO: what finance help you need
21:23 - Tactical takeaway: track every campaign in your books
22:24 - Accounting as a trust-building tool, and how to connect with Germeen
CONNECT WITH GERMEEN
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/germeen-guillaume/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4mbs2tBlk7WBoVCAH8T8uQ
ABOUT THE FOCUSED FUNDRAISER
Hosted by Rob Burke, CMO at DonorDock. Seasoned fundraisers share hard-earned wisdom on what moves the mission forward, because doing more doesn't lead to success. Focusing on what matters most does.
Learn how DonorDock helps you find clarity, keep clean donor data that syncs directly into QuickBooks, and forecast your fundraising: https://www.donordock.com
When your nonprofit earns revenue, some donors assume the sales cover everything. Laura Wetter, Development Director at Urban ArtWorks in Seattle, answers that by being specific about who pays for what.
Urban ArtWorks gets paid to paint commissioned murals, and that money supports the artists and staff. Foundations and individual donors fund the youth programs, which are free and pay teens a stipend to take part. Last year, 172 teens completed the mural apprentice programs, and every one of them earned $500.
In this episode of The Focused Fundraiser, Rob Burke talks with Laura about fundraising alongside earned revenue. She shares how Urban ArtWorks tells the story of outcomes donors can't see on a finished wall, like confidence, leadership, and job readiness. She also walks through the four storytelling threads she leans on when arts funding is scarce, how her team treats corporate team-building days and mural commissions as the start of longer partnerships, and the biggest shift she made moving from grant writing to individual giving.
If your nonprofit earns revenue and raises gifts, or you're thinking about adding an earned revenue stream, this one's for you.
Laura joined the nonprofit sector in 2007 as an AmeriCorps VISTA in Chicago. Before Urban ArtWorks, she raised money for economic development work ranging from business lending and local food and farming to neighborhood development on Chicago's West Side.
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Cold open: who actually funds the youth programs
00:45 - Welcome: fundraising when your nonprofit also sells its work
01:38 - From AmeriCorps VISTA in Chicago to Urban ArtWorks in Seattle
02:43 - Writing: the skill that carried across every mission
03:54 - Growing individual giving, and pausing the event to rethink it
05:04 - Earned revenue vs. donations: what commissions pay for and what gifts fund
07:10 - Raising money for outcomes donors can't see
09:20 - Four storytelling threads for when arts funding is scarce
12:09 - Turning team-building days and mural clients into recurring partners
13:54 - From grant writer to individual giving: the biggest mindset shift
15:30 - Keeping relationships at the top of a crowded to-do list
16:59 - Tactical takeaway: be grateful for your team
17:37 - How to connect with Laura
CONNECT WITH LAURA
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-wetter-0691284/
Urban ArtWorks: https://urbanartworks.org
ABOUT THE FOCUSED FUNDRAISER
Hosted by Rob Burke, CMO at DonorDock. Seasoned fundraisers share hard-earned wisdom on what moves the mission forward, because doing more doesn't lead to success. Focusing on what matters most does.
Learn how DonorDock helps you find clarity and build strong donor relationships through Smart Stewardship: https://www.donordock.com
Most nonprofits chase funding before they've built anything strong enough to hold it. Sharmon Lebby has spent two decades watching mission-driven organizations either build infrastructure or run on passion until it breaks down, and she's done both herself.
In this episode of The Focused Fundraiser, Sharmon shares the story of applying for a multimillion-dollar federal grant when her organization's budget was about $5,000, and why her board saying no was the best thing that happened to her. She explains why strategy, systems, and storytelling have to come before fundraising, how a Grand Forks nonprofit thrives on less than $100K a year because of the community it built, and what real collaboration looks like when two organizations want the same money. We close on mission drift: where it starts, how to tell it apart from healthy mission evolution, and the one diagnostic question every fundraiser should ask.
Sharmon Lebby is the founder of Blessed Designs Consulting and Board President of Intersectional Environmentalist. Her book, Rippled Impact, is on its way to the editor.
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Introducing Sharmon Lebby
00:48 - Growing up in service and founding a nonprofit from scratch
02:07 - The multimillion-dollar grant mistake on a $5,000 budget
03:51 - Focus: build slow, build solid
04:50 - Strategy, systems, and storytelling before funding
06:00 - The Grand Forks nonprofit thriving on under $100K
08:17 - What an ethical clothing brand taught her about donors
10:59 - Collaboration over competition when money is on the table
13:30 - A partnership that worked: five founders, one community
15:33 - Where mission drift starts
17:38 - Mission drift vs. mission evolution
19:19 - Tactical takeaway: sit down with 3 to 5 community members
20:27 - Connect with Sharmon and her upcoming book, Rippled Impact
CONNECT WITH SHARMON
Website and free resources (including the Purpose Drift Diagnostic): https://www.blesseddesignsco.com/friends
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharmon-lebby/
Intersectional Environmentalist: https://intersectionalenvironmentalist.com
ABOUT THE FOCUSED FUNDRAISER
Hosted by Rob Burke, CMO at DonorDock. Seasoned fundraisers share hard-earned wisdom on what moves the mission forward, because doing more doesn't lead to success. Focusing on what matters most does.
DonorDock helps small nonprofits find clarity and build strong donor relationships through smart stewardship. Learn more at https://www.donordock.com
Your most loyal $100-a-year donor might be sitting on a $3 million house and a $50,000 legacy gift your nonprofit will never see if you keep saying "planned giving."
In this episode of The Focused Fundraiser, Rob Burke sits down with Tess Conrad, who builds planned giving programs for charities across the US and Canada. Tess explains why the term "planned giving" confuses donors (and fundraisers), how to open a legacy conversation without making it transactional, and why financial advisors are quietly out-fundraising the nonprofit sector by steering charitable dollars into donor-advised funds.
You'll learn the "brochure pass" technique for gauging donor interest, how to run a legacy giving survey that gets donors to raise their hands, and the research-backed stat every skeptical board needs to hear: donors who add a charity to their will increase their annual giving by 77% on average (Dr. Russell James).
What you'll learn:
Chapters:
00:00 - Cold open: "Planned giving" is jargon
00:40 - Welcome and meet Tess Conrad, CFRE
01:25 - From theater degree to face-to-face canvassing to planned giving
02:16 - The language swap: what to say instead of "planned giving"
04:05 - Opening the legacy conversation without being transactional
04:31 - The brochure pass technique
06:16 - Finding hand raisers: checkboxes and legacy giving surveys
07:35 - Making the case to a skeptical board or Executive Director
09:39 - The 77% stat: legacy donors give MORE annually (Dr. Russell James)
10:54 - Why financial advisors are out-fundraising the nonprofit sector
13:05 - The DAF debate: deferred dollars vs. today's needs
15:37 - Loyal small donors: your best legacy prospects
17:17 - Tactical takeaway: write your legacy giving "why" message
18:33 - How to connect with Tess
Connect with Tess Conrad:
About The Focused Fundraiser: Rob Burke sits down with seasoned fundraisers to unpack their hard-earned wisdom on what moves a mission forward. Because doing more doesn't lead to success — focusing on what matters most does.
Curious how DonorDock can help you build donor retention through smart stewardship? Visit https://www.donordock.com
A board of 68. A staff of 50. 70,000 students a year. Most organizations would call that unmanageable — Laurie Sallarulo turned it into a fundraising engine.
In this episode of The Focused Fundraiser, host Rob Burke talks with Laurie, President & CEO of Junior Achievement of South Florida, about how she runs something big without letting it get slow. When she arrived almost twelve years ago, her first instinct was to cut the board in half. Instead she assigned every board member a relationship manager, wrote down exactly what "board member" means, and started sending quarterly report cards. Board members now notice when something's missing from theirs.
Laurie also gets into the four criteria she screens every board prospect against (including the one she calls "no jerks"), why she stopped tracking dollars in her weekly development meetings and started tracking meetings and asks instead, and how JA converts 5,000 annual volunteers into donors with a $10-a-month campaign and a QR code on every wall.
Plus: what to put in front of a donor when your program's real outcome is ten years out.
If your board is polite but passive, or your volunteer program has never produced a gift, this one's for you.
CHAPTERS
01:21 - From Brooklyn to banking to advertising to the nonprofit sector
02:36 - Which corporate habits transferred, and which didn't
02:52 - Running a nonprofit is running a business
04:27 - Why she didn't cut a 50-person board in half
05:03 - Giving every board member a relationship manager
06:00 - Getting clear on the give/get, the personal gift, and introductions
06:30 - Quarterly report cards — and why board members read them
07:00 - The overnight retreat that changed board relationships
07:20 - Four criteria for every board seat (including "no jerks")
08:05 - Welcomed vs. belonging: stewarding board members like donors
08:35 - Unreasonable Hospitality, The Power of Moments, and stewardship plans for everyone
10:25 - Mobilizing 5,000 volunteers a year through the school district
10:51 - Where volunteer-to-donor conversion stalls out
11:22 - It works both ways: 89% donor retention starts with engagement
12:15 - One Future: $10 a month, QR codes, and the end-of-day ask
12:50 - Turning employer partners and paid internships into gifts
13:46 - What development directors should expect from their chief executive
14:16 - Alignment: CEO, COO, and CFO leading development together
15:20 - Clarity on goals — and on the behaviors that get you there
15:45 - Tracking meetings, proposals, and asks instead of dollars
17:04 - Proving impact when the outcome is ten years away
17:30 - Fifth grade, eighth grade, high school: telling the full-spectrum story
18:10 - College grads who can tell their JA BizTown story
18:40 - Pre-apprenticeship: 100 students, $4 million in economic impact
19:16 - Tactical takeaway: ask everyone you know who else you should meet
20:13 - How to connect with Laurie and JA South Florida
RESOURCES MENTIONED
LINKS
Best systems, wrong person? You fail. Best person, terrible systems? You still fail. Austin Satrom has spent his career sitting with leadership teams and boards that have hit a ceiling, and he's found the distinction between the two is where most nonprofits get stuck.
In this episode of The Focused Fundraiser, host Rob Burke talks with Austin — founder of Breakthrough Advising and a certified System & Soul coach — about what it actually takes to stop running your organization on heroics. They get into carving out time to work on the organization instead of in it, building an org chart that starts with the what instead of the who, the CEO/board chair covenant Austin puts on paper, and how to run a weekly meeting that produces decisions instead of another meeting.
Then Austin makes the case that the strategic plan collecting dust on your shelf is one of the most underused fundraising tools you own.
If your board meetings feel busy but never decide anything, or your growth has outrun the systems meant to support it, this one's for you.
CHAPTERS 00:00 - Best systems, wrong person: why both have to be right
00:11 - Welcome: why good people in good orgs still spin their wheels
01:02 - Falling into the nonprofit world from ministry and corporate
02:24 - Running on heroics: what to install and what to cancel
02:57 - Working ON the organization instead of in it
05:11 - When revenue and impact outgrow your systems
05:48 - The org chart that starts with the what, not the who
09:16 - The CEO and board chair covenant
09:45 - What goes in it, and why both parties sign
12:12 - What separates a meeting that decides from one that doesn't
12:35 - The weekly sync: start on time, end on time
13:30 - The scoreboard: five metrics, no rabbit trails
15:00 - Prioritize the issues list instead of ticking down it
17:20 - EOS, Traction, and structure for the nonprofit sector
17:38 - Strategy problem or trust problem?
18:10 - Micromanaging, delegation, and the leader's honest question
21:04 - Tactical takeaway: pull your strategic plan off the shelf
21:30 - Using the plan to shape donor stories and show stewardship
23:29 - How to connect with Austin + wrap up
LINKS
Colleen Mitchell talks about generosity in three different rooms. She runs annual giving at MidAmerica Nazarene University, pastors youth and families at her church, and teaches freshmen the rest of the week. Her takeaway from all three: relationship doesn't change just because the room does.
In this episode of The Focused Fundraiser, host Rob Burke talks with Colleen about what she learned from the admin seat in an advancement office, the historical donor data sitting unused in most databases, and why the $5-a-month recurring donor is her favorite person to work with. She also breaks down Champions Challenge, MNU's athletics crowdfunding campaign that invites people to invest in what's already working instead of leading with scarcity and urgency.
If you run the annual fund, wear more than one hat, or feel like the need never ends, Colleen's answer to burnout is simpler than you'd expect: go say thank you.
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Relationship doesn't change when the room changes
00:24 - Welcome: one fundraiser, three different rooms
01:07 - The accidental path into fundraising
02:47 - What the admin seat taught her about the whole shop
03:54 - Becoming the bridge: asking "why do we do it this way?"
05:10 - The donor data you already have and aren't looking at
05:53 - Quick wins, and the limits of constituency codes
07:00 - What actually changed about how they use their data
07:38 - The database admin who typed in 35 years of yearbooks
08:53 - Where they still struggle: donor contact info
09:31 - Stewardship packets and matching student stories to donors
10:51 - What preaching and teaching taught her about donors
11:54 - Making the case for annual giving
12:56 - The quiet cohort: $5 to $25 every paycheck
13:47 - "I get the rest": the overwhelm and the upside
15:56 - How to spot a donor who's ready for the next step
17:08 - Champions Challenge: leading with gain instead of gap
18:47 - The women's soccer team that caught the vision
20:04 - One thing every fundraiser should do today: say thank you
20:34 - How saying thank you protects you from burnout
21:43 - Connect with Colleen + wrap up
KEY TAKEAWAYS
LINKS
Fundraisers are at the mercy of their systems. And when the technology doesn't work, most nonprofit teams do the same thing: they buy more of it. Tim Lockie, founder of The Human Stack, says that almost never works, because the real problem lives in the human stack, not the tech stack.
In this episode of The Focused Fundraiser, host Rob Burke sits down with Tim Lockie, who built a seven-figure Salesforce consulting firm before turning his focus to the part of technology everyone overlooks: the people. Tim explains why your CRM struggles are usually culture problems in disguise, walks through his orchestra analogy for understanding tech adoption, and shares a simple framework for figuring out whether your tech is ahead of your culture or your culture is ahead of your tech.
You'll learn why "digital voluntolds" are quietly holding your fundraising team together, why new software keeps becoming expensive shelfware, and how to think about letting AI into your work without amplifying the problems you already have.
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Intro: doing more vs. focusing on what matters
01:01 - Tim's path: 20 years in nonprofits and a seven-figure Salesforce firm
03:01 - Why no software solves the people problem
05:47 - Signs your team has thrown in the towel on its database
05:59 - The orchestra analogy: instruments, sheet music, and musicians
08:56 - Adoption vs. orchestration: playing well together
09:53 - The conductor and the "first chairs" who actually drive change
12:58 - The techie by necessity, and what they should stop doing
15:00 - The power differential and the rise of "digital voluntolds"
16:14 - Is your culture ahead of your tech, or your tech ahead of your culture?
17:57 - Why tech rollouts die and become expensive shelfware
20:28 - Adoption comes down to ownership
21:13 - AI, ethics, and fundraising.ai
22:00 - Three rules for letting AI into your fundraising work
24:54 - Tactical takeaway: the six-question digital health quiz
25:43 - Where to connect with Tim
KEY TAKEAWAYS
LINKS
Most fundraisers who say they hate fundraising were never actually trained to do it. That was true for Mary Rockwell Thon, until she learned to talk about giving in a donor-centric way. Twenty years later, she's raised money for Girl Scouts, the Alzheimer's Association, child abuse prevention, and now MENTOR Vermont.
In this episode of The Focused Fundraiser, host Rob Burke talks with Mary about the storytelling habit every fundraiser should drop, why the $10-a-month donor can be worth more than a one-time big gift, and how to make donors feel the impact of slow, relationship-based work. Mary also shares a grounded, honest take on ethical fundraising and where AI does and doesn't belong in nonprofit communications.
If you're on a lean team, or you're the whole team, this conversation is full of practical ways to spend your limited hours where they actually pay off.
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Intro: focusing on what moves a mission forward
00:51 - Mary's accidental path into fundraising
02:46 - The training that changed everything: donor-centric fundraising
03:49 - The storytelling habit to drop and the one to add
04:45 - Make your organization the guide, not the hero
05:18 - What transfers from cause to cause, and what to unlearn
06:28 - Different fundraising styles: events, major donors, corporate
07:21 - Ethical fundraising and asset-based storytelling
08:35 - Navigating AI in nonprofit communications
09:29 - Disclosure, composite stories, and honesty with donors
10:14 - Donor retention in a small market
11:56 - Making impact felt when outcomes are slow
13:35 - Where lean and solo teams should spend their time
14:40 - Find a development mentor: you don't have to do it alone
15:14 - Wrap up
KEY TAKEAWAYS
LINKS
Move for Hunger has transported more than 70 million meals to food banks and pantries across the US and Canada, and they don't own a single truck. In this episode, Rob Burke sits down with Jennifer Bushinger-Ortiz, Director of Development at Move for Hunger, to unpack how you fund a mission that runs on a network instead of a warehouse.
Jennifer has spent nearly two decades in development, and she brings a refreshingly honest take on building a corporate-first fundraising model, making enormous impact numbers feel human, holding two messages at once (fighting hunger and cutting food waste), and knowing when a big, risky campaign is worth it. If you lead fundraising or development at a nonprofit, this one is full of tactics you can use this week.
Chapters
00:00 - Welcome to The Focused Fundraiser
00:56 - From theater to fundraising: Jennifer's path
03:21 - Inside Move for Hunger's corporate-first model
06:45 - Making big numbers mean something: food as the hero
10:11 - Holding two messages: hunger and food waste
12:27 - Segmenting your story for the room you're in
14:40 - Big, risky campaigns and a Guinness World Record
17:55 - The fundraising tactic Jennifer thinks is overrated
20:38 - Tactical takeaway: keep learning, trust your gut
22:21 - How to connect with Jennifer
Key Takeaways
About Move for Hunger Founded in 2009 by Adam Lowy, Move for Hunger rescues food that would otherwise be thrown out when people move and gets it to food banks and pantries. In the US, 38% of perfectly good food ends up in landfills. It's not a food creation problem, it's an access and waste problem.
Links
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