The Focused Fundraiser

Can you get someone to give to a cause they'll never see in person? Morgan Gross and Sjeel Haarhuis, co-founders of Fundraising Beyond Borders, have spent a combined decade-plus raising money for international programs across East and Southern Africa. In this episode, they break down the four pillars of fundraising across distance, why authentic beats polished every time, and how "shiny object syndrome" quietly wrecks small nonprofit teams that are already stretched thin.

Whether your donors are down the street or across the world, this conversation is about building trust you can't do in person, choosing the right channels for your actual donors (not everyone else's), and focusing on the two or three fundraising activities that will actually move the needle.

Chapters: 00:00 - Cold Open: The Shiny Object Syndrome Trap

00:32 - Welcome to The Focused Fundraiser

01:29 - Morgan's Path: From Second-Grade Teacher to Zambia

02:53 - Sjeel's Path: From the Netherlands to Nonprofit Ops

03:51 - What International Fundraising Teaches Every Nonprofit

04:15 - The Four Pillars of International Fundraising

05:48 - Moving Donors to Give to a Cause They Can't See

08:03 - Why Authentic Beats Polished

09:51 - Choosing the Right Channels: Acquisition vs. Retention

12:24 - Mobile Giving and the Apple Pay Shift

12:58 - Email Stewardship: Quality Over Frequency

13:55 - Pressure-Testing a Fundraising Plan

16:07 - Finding Your Ideal Donor

16:53 - What Lean Teams Should Stop Doing

19:10 - Busyness vs. Building Fundraising Capacity

21:14 - Say "Not Yet," Not "No"

22:34 - Tactical Takeaways

23:47 - Relationships First, Community Second

25:19 - Connect With Fundraising Beyond Borders

Key Takeaways:

Fundraising across distance rests on four pillars: donor trust, cross-cultural communication, digital presence, and connection.

Authentic, unedited content (a live video, a behind-the-scenes look) builds more donor trust today than a polished, produced campaign.

Know your ideal donor and put your time where they actually are, not on every channel at once.

Small teams grow fastest by focusing on two to three fundraising activities with the highest ROI, not by chasing every "shiny object" idea from a webinar or board member.

Say "not yet" instead of "no" to new ideas. It keeps the door open without derailing your focus.

Stewardship beats frequency in email. Send fewer, better emails rather than hitting an arbitrary weekly quota.

Links:

Fundraising Beyond Borders: fundraisingbeyondborders.com

DonorDock: donordock.com

Most fundraisers are taught to chase: more grants, more new donors, more names on the list. Jackie Jones did the opposite and built something that lasts.

In this episode of The Focused Fundraiser, Rob Burke talks with Dr. Jacqueline "Jackie" Jones, founder of the I SEE ME Foundation, which helps girls build inner confidence in a social-media age. A former accountant turned 26-year teacher turned nonprofit founder, Jackie funds free programming through community partnerships, in-person conversations, and a foundation of small recurring donors. We get tactical on how she stewards those relationships, where she lets AI help (and where she refuses to), and the hardest lesson every founder eventually faces: letting go.

If you run a small shop and feel like you're applying for everything and gaining nothing, this one is for you.

⏱️ CHAPTERS

00:00 - Why "I SEE ME" exists: confidence in a social media age

01:05 - From accountant to 26-year teacher to nonprofit founder

03:28 - The fundraising lesson: stop applying to everything

05:07 - Why $5/month recurring donors keep the lights on

06:43 - Beyond the statistic: story-driven giving that sticks

08:21 - Using AI ethically without cheapening the relationship

11:57 - Building a brand that stays focused

14:23 - The founder bottleneck: learning to let go

17:48 - Tactical takeaway: connect, don't just collect

19:14 - Where to find Jackie and I SEE ME

✅ KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Don't apply for everything. A constant flow of "no" wears you down. Laser-focus every application on your exact mission so even a no teaches you something.
• A base of small recurring donors ($5/month) can cover your core operating needs and protect you when grants fall through.
• Stewardship beats acquisition. Send photo collages 3–4x a year and testimonials that tell donors, "you are responsible for these faces."
• Don't sell a statistic. Use photos, video, and audio so donors feel like they were in the room.
• AI should be an exponent to relationships, not a replacement. Use it for the logistical, mundane work (flyers, formatting) and protect the authentic voice of the people you serve.
• Founders stall growth when everything runs through them. Train people you trust, hand off delivery, and free yourself to focus on the board and the mission.

🔗 LINKS

• I SEE ME Foundation: https://iseemefoundation.org
• Connect with Jackie on LinkedIn (search "I SEE ME" / Jacqueline Jones)
• Learn how DonorDock helps you build retention through smart stewardship: https://www.donordock.com

🎧 The Focused Fundraiser is where we talk about focusing on the fundraising practices that actually matter, with the experts and founders doing the hard work. New episodes weekly.

Fundraising drives relationships and the big gifts. Nobody puts the systems, the data, and the back-end operations on the flyer, and that's exactly the work that keeps an organization alive. In this episode of The Focused Fundraiser, host Rob Burke talks with Sami Zoss, founder of Zoss Collaborations and a former higher-ed foundation COO who calls herself a "systems girly with an ADHD aesthetic."

Sami makes the case for a project-management mindset in nonprofits (the non-techie kind), the healthy tension between relationship-driven fundraisers and the people who build the systems, and how to earn trust through small wins instead of big overhauls. We get practical about the smallest data cleanups with the biggest payoff, how to advocate to your board for the time to fix your back end, and where AI is genuinely useful for a development team versus where it's just hype. She closes with one of the most doable tactical takeaways we've shared: get one thing out of your head and into the institution every week.

If you've ever felt too busy raising money to fix the systems underneath it, this one is for you.

Chapters

00:00 - The unglamorous side of fundraising: systems and operations

00:45 - Sami's path: from criminal justice major to foundation COO

03:08 - A "systems girly with an ADHD aesthetic"

03:57 - The most common broken system: no project management

06:25 - Getting relationship-driven fundraisers to trust a process

06:55 - "We're going to trip over money": building trust through small wins

11:06 - Leadership buy-in and the grace to fail

12:27 - Institutional knowledge walking out the door

13:06 - The smallest data cleanup with the biggest payoff

15:42 - "Too busy raising money to fix the back end"

18:52 - Where AI is genuinely useful, and where it's hype

24:12 - Context is everything: using AI safely

26:22 - Tactical takeaway: one thing out of your head each week

Key takeaways

Most nonprofits are so good at saying yes that they lose track of what they're working on and whether it's still mission-aligned. A light project-management mindset fixes that.

Trust between fundraisers and operations is built in small, incremental wins, not big overhauls.

You need leadership buy-in to fail gracefully. Processes are wrong before they're right.

Institutional knowledge walks out the door when staff leave. Document it before that happens.

Smallest cleanup, biggest payoff: keep contact info current and run a monthly contact-record cleanup.

Advocate to your board for the time to fix systems. Lower the short-term fundraising expectation to raise long-term accuracy.

AI is useful when it's genuinely useful, not just interesting. Mind your context and your data, and never let it manipulate the donor relationship. AI amplifies the relationship, it doesn't replace it.

Tactical takeaway: every Friday, write down one thing that lives only in your head and get it into the institution.

Connect with Sami Zoss

Zoss Collaborations | Fundraising.AI advisory council

About DonorDock

DonorDock helps nonprofits find clarity, build stronger donor relationships, and grow retention through smart stewardship. Learn more at https://www.donordock.com

Subscribe for a new episode every week.

Passion starts a nonprofit. Structure keeps it alive. In this episode of The Focused Fundraiser, host Rob Burke sits down with strategic advisor Leah Wiley, who spent nearly two decades as a community organizer before she began coaching nonprofit leaders. Leah explains why so many mission-driven organizations stay in "building the plane while flying it" mode for too long, how that fuels leadership burnout, and what it actually takes to build the structure underneath the mission.

We get into letting go of the vine as you scale, stewarding your staff the way you steward donors, the discipline of saying no, and the one question every fundraiser should ask themselves today: am I doing this alone?

If passion alone isn't moving your mission forward, this conversation will help you find the focus and the framework to do work that lasts.

Chapters

00:00 - Building the plane while flying it

00:50 - Leah's path: from community organizing to nonprofit coaching

03:36 - Strengthening how an organization is structured

04:41 - The #1 structural problem: building too long without a blueprint

06:45 - Letting go of the vine as you scale

09:16 - Burnout and why it comes up every episode

11:35 - Stewarding your staff the way you steward donors

13:20 - Saying no and focusing on what matters most

17:12 - The question to ask donors: why do you do this work?

18:44 - Tactical takeaway: am I fundraising alone?

20:35 - How to connect with Leah

Key takeaways

"Building the plane while you fly it" is healthy at launch and a liability when it lasts for years.

Strong mission-driven organizations require a strong mission-driven architecture: bookkeeping, hiring, roles, and a fundraising plan that fits the strategy.

Burnout is usually a structure problem, not a willpower problem.

Stewardship starts internally. Leaders who ask their staff about their lives and roles build cultures people don't want to leave.

Ask donors why they got involved and what keeps them here, then actually listen.

Fundraising should never sit on one person. Board, staff, and volunteers all have a role.

Connect with Leah Wiley

Email: [email protected]

About DonorDock

DonorDock helps nonprofits find clarity and build stronger donor relationships through smarter retention and stewardship. Learn more at https://www.donordock.com

Subscribe for a new episode every week. New conversations with the people in the trenches of nonprofit fundraising.

Every nonprofit wants more new donors. Patrick Kirby thinks that is exactly the problem. The people who already love your mission are where your major gifts, your bequests, and your steadiest support come from, and they are the ones we keep ignoring.

In this episode, Rob Burke sits down with Patrick Kirby, founder of Do Good Better Consulting and author of Fundraise Like a Fifth Grader. After 20 years helping nonprofits "suck less at fundraising," Patrick makes the case for going back to the basics: real human connection, one question almost no one asks their donors, and a phone call with no ask attached. He breaks down what to track in your CRM, how to get a reluctant board to open doors instead of fundraise, and how to fight the burnout taking down nonprofit leaders across the sector.

If you have ever felt like fundraising advice was written for someone with a bigger team or a bigger budget, this conversation is for you.

Chapters

00:00 - Don't Forget the Donors Who Loved You First

00:30 - Welcome and Meet Patrick Kirby

01:25 - From Losing an Election to Winning at Fundraising

02:52 - The Biggest Mistake: Skipping the Basics

05:28 - Why Retention Beats Chasing New Donors

05:52 - The One Question: How Do You Like to Be Thanked?

08:59 - Matching Gratitude to Communication Style

11:10 - Stewardship Is Showing Impact All Year

13:13 - What to Actually Track in Your CRM

16:22 - How to Get a Reluctant Board to Open Doors

20:31 - Burnout, Turnover, and Playing the Long Game

23:40 - Tactical Takeaway: Pick Up the Phone

25:37 - Patrick's Book and Where to Connect

Key Takeaways

- The most common fundraising mistake has nothing to do with budget or team size. It is trying to do everything and forgetting the basics. Technology should free up your time for human connection, not replace it.

- Retention beats acquisition every time, yet nonprofits do the opposite. Love the ones who have loved you longest. They are where major gifts and bequests come from.

- Ask every donor one question almost nobody asks: "How do you like to be thanked?" It unlocks a hyper-personalized gratitude plan and tells the donor you actually know them.

- Don't go a full year without connecting. Ask permission to send updates and notes with no solicitation attached, then steward consistently across the calendar.

- Track the right things in your CRM: last contact, communication preferences, how they like to be thanked, and the weird, specific details that prove you are curious about the person, not the pocketbook. You never ask for a major gift unless you know the name of the donor's dog.

- Stop asking your board to fundraise. Ask them for warm introductions instead, recalibrate expectations every year, and set a doable KPI (one or two names a quarter, not five a month).

- Burnout is the number one issue facing nonprofit leadership. Acknowledge it, treat fundraising as a long game, and find a peer community so you know you are not alone.

- The single best thing you can do today: pick up the phone. Call a donor to say thank you and share their impact. Make no ask. Let the CRM handle the back-end work so you can focus on the conversation.

Links

- Do Good Better Consulting: https://dogoodbetterconsulting.com

- Fundraise Like a Fifth Grader (Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Fundraise+Like+a+Fifth+Grader+Patrick+Kirby

- See how DonorDock helps you build relationships and retention through smart stewardship: https://donordock.com

Most nonprofits run the same play: hire a development director, watch them work themselves to the bone, then watch them walk out the door 16 months later. Eddie Allen says that cycle isn't a people problem. It's a systems problem.

In this episode, Rob Burke sits down with Eddie Allen, founder of Pacific Northwest Fundraising and author of the forthcoming book The Unicorn Development Director, to unpack why fundraising breaks when an organization builds it around one impossible job. Eddie explains the difference between fundraising, development, and philanthropy, why the math behind turnover is far worse than the often-cited $130K, and how "infrastructure fundraising" gives the person in the seat a fighting chance.

If you have ever felt like your role wasn't actually possible, this conversation reframes the problem and points to what to do instead.

Chapters

00:00 - Doing More Isn't the Goal

00:52 - Meet Eddie Allen and the Fractional Model

03:04 - The Unicorn Development Director Problem

05:30 - The Real Cost of Turnover

08:18 - Raising Money Now Without Burning Out

11:39 - Systems Problem or Money Problem?

15:35 - Why Retention Beats Acquisition

17:23 - Where to Spend 10 Focused Hours a Week

20:05 - The Tactical Takeaway

21:01 - The Book and How to Reach Eddie

Key Takeaways

Communications, marketing, database management, grant writing, and major gifts are separate jobs at large nonprofits. Smaller orgs pile them all onto one development director and wonder why the role fails.

"No database, no donor development." Almost every project starts by building the data clearinghouse first, because data lives in someone's head or scattered across spreadsheets.

Development takes time. Major gifts can take 24 to 48 months, yet most hires are told to raise money right now. That timing mismatch is built to fail.

The true cost of turnover is roughly double the $130K salary-and-benefits figure once you count mission interruption, brand damage, donor distrust, and staff stress.

Retention loses to acquisition because of bandwidth, not strategy. When one person is doing nine jobs, stewardship is the first thing to get dropped.

Block standing time on your calendar for donor conversations (Eddie protects a weekly Wednesday lunch slot) and spend 80% of your time on the 20% that moves the organization forward.

About the Guest

Eddie Allen is the founder, CEO, and self-described "lead guide" of Pacific Northwest Fundraising, a fractional development team that gives nonprofits C-suite-level fundraising experience without the cost of building a full team in-house. His book, The Unicorn Development Director, comes out in July.

Links

Pacific Northwest Fundraising: https://pacificnorthwestfundraising.us

Email Eddie: [email protected]

Learn how DonorDock helps you build relationships and retention through smart stewardship: https://donordock.com

Ryan Yuhas has fundraised for food, faith, animals, and now furniture. He's seen what carries across every mission type and what only worked in one place. In this episode, he digs into why galas and golf outings are losing steam, the events grassroots nonprofits are using to bring in entirely new donor bases, and the simple mechanic Open Door Exchange uses to turn in-kind furniture donors into recurring cash donors.

We also get into the human side of stewardship, including why donors leave when fundraisers leave, what a great executive director actually does for your job, and the story of a veteran with PTSD and five kids that explains why furniture is more than furniture.

If you run events, work with in-kind donations, or have ever felt like you're carrying your fundraising shop alone, this one is for you.

Chapters

00:00 - Welcome and intro to Ryan Yuhas
00:56 - Ryan's path: food, faith, animals, furniture
02:10 - Five rescue dogs and the animal welfare outlier
02:31 - Galas are getting played out: trivia night, music bingo
03:46 - The Glass Pumpkin Patch annual event
05:05 - What's on the scorecard besides net revenue
06:09 - Scaling grassroots into a larger budget
06:23 - Spinning out as their own 501(c)(3)
07:03 - What great EDs do and the red flags to avoid
08:44 - Donors invest in the mission AND the person
10:14 - Turning in-kind donors into financial donors
13:05 - Telling impact stories that go beyond the dollar amount
14:00 - The veteran's story and "the foundation of the home"
15:21 - Story plus statistics: how to communicate impact
16:43 - Tactical takeaway: ask for help, you're not alone
17:55 - How to connect with Ryan and Open Door Exchange

Key takeaways

• Galas and golf outings are flat. Trivia nights, music bingo, and signature partnerships bring new donors.
• Net revenue is not the only scorecard. Attendance and new audience reach matter just as much.
• Free in-kind pickup is your best cash cultivation tool. Donors who would've paid $150 to dump it now want to support you instead.
• When a fundraiser leaves, donors leave too. Rebuild the relationship from scratch, in person, with a warehouse tour.
• The story plus the statistic always beats either one alone.
• A two-person shop survives by asking for help. Burnout is the real fundraising risk.

Links

• Open Door Exchange: https://opendoorexchange.org
• Ryan Yuhas: [email protected]
• DonorDock: https://www.donordock.com

What if your donor retention problem is not a copy problem, but a brand problem?

Farra Trompeter has spent 30+ years in the nonprofit sector and 19 of those at Big Duck, helping organizations build brands that move donors. In this episode, she breaks down why brand is more than logos and colors, how brand stickiness inside your team determines whether donors recognize you, and why most rebrands fail to lift fundraising results.

We dig into the donor retention crisis, the difference between major-donor stewardship and the watered-down version everyone else gets, and the sub-brand strategy Big Duck used with the International Rescue Committee to build the Rescue Collective. Farra also explains why Q4 planning starts in Q3, and ends the episode with a tactical move every fundraiser can do this week: become a secret shopper to your own giving.

If you want donors who stay, this is the conversation.

Chapters

00:00 - Cold open: Be a secret shopper to your own giving

00:38 - Welcome and intro to Farra Trompeter

01:48 - Farra's path: from telefundraiser to Big Duck Co-Director

03:30 - What brand actually means for a development director

05:33 - Brand, culture, and where they overlap

06:22 - Why rebrands fail to lift fundraising results

09:04 - AI, generative tools, and brand consistency

10:43 - Donor retention is a stewardship problem, not a copy problem

12:54 - Monthly giving and sub-brands (Rescue Collective)

15:26 - Designing Q4: start in Q3 with a warm-up

17:25 - Prioritizing stewardship year-round

18:31 - Segmentation and treating mid-level donors like they matter

20:31 - Tactical takeaway: secret shop your own giving

21:46 - How to connect with Farra and Big Duck

Key takeaways

- Brand is every email, ask, event, and acknowledgement, not just your logo.

- Internal "brand stickiness" comes before external recognition.

- Donor retention is built between asks, not inside them.

- Q4 results are decided in Q3 with a non-fundraising warm-up.

- The fastest way to find your stewardship gaps: give to your own organization from a personal account and watch what happens.

Links

- Smart Communications Podcast: https://bigduck.com/insights/?type=podcasts

- Farra Trompeter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/farra

- DonorDock: https://www.donordock.com

Tori Tishman has fundraised across education, healthcare, and political campaigns, and she came out of it with strong opinions about what the sector gets wrong.

In this episode, Rob and Tori dig into relationship mapping for major donors, why grant reporting needs a radical transparency overhaul, the uncomfortable truth about pay in nonprofits, and how cognitive biases might be quietly tanking your fundraising results.

Whether you're running your first capital campaign or you're a seasoned development director, Tori's systems-driven approach to CRM documentation, institutional knowledge, and storytelling will give you a new way to think about the work.

What you'll learn:

How to use relationship mapping and LinkedIn to unlock the right person to make a major donor ask

Why fundraising is never just about numbers — and what that means for how you build trust

The case for radical transparency in grant reporting (and why it protects you legally)

Tori's honest take on pay transparency and executive compensation in the nonprofit sector

How to structure a capital campaign — from goal-setting to leveraging foundation gifts as social proof

Storytelling in HIPAA-sensitive environments: how Tori tracks and anonymizes client stories

Why the playbook you build today protects your org the day you're gone

The one exercise every fundraiser should do to uncover the biases holding them back

Chapters

00:00 - The Ask Has to Come From Someone They Trust

00:42 - Welcome to The Focused Fundraiser

01:15 - Tori Tishman's Background in Fundraising

02:09 - Diversifying Revenue and Relationship-Centered Fundraising

03:48 - What Actually Works With Major Donors

05:37 - AI + CRM: Why Unstructured Data Is a Game Changer

06:50 - Dysfunction in the Nonprofit Sector

07:11 - Radical Transparency in Grant Reporting

09:38 - Pay Transparency and Executive Compensation

10:46 - Capital Campaigns: Strategy, Goals, and Getting There

12:59 - Advice for Fundraisers New to Multi-Million Dollar Campaigns

13:46 - Storytelling as a Fundraising Tool

15:16 - Telling Stories in Healthcare Under HIPAA

16:23 - Systems Thinking, CRM Documentation, and Institutional Knowledge

18:37 - Tactical Takeaway: Examine Your Cognitive Biases

19:50 - Where to Find Tori Tishman

Connect with Tori Tishman:

LinkedIn: Victoria Tishman

Medium: Fundraising blog

Learn more about DonorDock: donordock.com

What if you thought about fundraising the way a farmer thinks about soil, not just what you can extract, but what you're building over time?

Terrence Mugova joins Rob Burke from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, where he founded Educate, a financing company that helps students at more than 50 schools afford school fees, and runs a hunger relief program and money coaching practice in his community.

Terrence brings a perspective rarely heard on fundraising podcasts: what it actually looks like to raise money without collateral, without a wealthy network, and inside an economy that's wrestled with hyperinflation.

In this episode, Terrence breaks down how he built a sustainable funding model that blends donor relationships, corporate shared-value partnerships, micro-loans, and earned revenue — and why he believes nonprofits everywhere need to start thinking more like business operators. He also shares a sharp critique of how global organizations often get it wrong when they show up in Africa with a predetermined vision and no understanding of local context.

If you work in fundraising — whether in the US or anywhere else — this episode will challenge you to widen your lens.

Chapters:

00:00 - Fundraising as Ecosystem Building (Teaser)

00:22 - Welcome and Guest Introduction

01:21 - Terrence's Story: Almost Losing His University Seat and Founding Educate

04:15 - Starting Small: Six Students, One Proof of Concept

07:25 - What Success Really Means: Identity, Action, and Dreams

08:57 - The Fintech Partnership: Making Diaspora Education Funding Direct and Accountable

10:26 - Building a Sustainable Funding Mix Beyond Grants

14:14 - Shared Value Partnerships: Speaking the Language of Business People

15:53 - What Global Nonprofits Get Wrong When They Enter Africa

19:11 - Tactical Takeaway: Approach Fundraising Like Building an Ecosystem

Learn more about DonorDock: https://donordock.com