In this heartwarming episode of The First Day from The Fundraising School, host Bill Stanczykiewicz, Ed.D., welcomes certified fundraising dynamo Jennifer Oyer, CFRE, MA, Founder & Chief Joy Officer at Community Impact Advisors. Joy lives and breathes The Fund Raising School’s signature mantra: Fundraising is the gentle art of teaching the joy of giving. Broadcasting straight from her home base in Honolulu, Jennifer shares how that single sentence flipped the script on her entire career, and why she’s made it the bedrock of her consulting practice at Community Impact Advisors. Spoiler alert: this isn’t your average donor pitch session, we’re talking full-on joy engineering.

Jennifer recounts her early days trying to connect with attorneys who treated meetings like billable hours: short, sharp, and transactional. But when she embraced the idea of inviting them to campus events as guest lecturers or moot court judges, something clicked. By showing, not telling, them the impact of their philanthropy, she turned six-minute chats into six-figure donations. “Fundraisers are creative and innovative,” she explains, “and a mission experience doesn’t have to break the bank, it just needs to be meaningful.”

The episode dives into a real-world example from her time at the Salvation Army, when a lava disaster on Hawaii Island inspired her team to fly major donors to the site. The result? A powerful, immersive experience that led to transformational giving, and stories still being shared years later. For Jennifer, these aren’t just field trips, they're masterclasses in stewardship. As she puts it, the magic happens when you stop chasing revenue and start cultivating relationships that spark joy on both sides of the giving equation.

Bill and Jennifer also touch on why this mindset is more vital than ever in today’s uncertain times. Whether it’s economic anxiety or post-pandemic fatigue, fundraisers must resist the urge to go silent. Jennifer’s advice? Never assume your donors are too busy, too broke, or too burdened to care. Instead, bring them into your mission with courage, clarity, and compassion. Because when you help donors align their passions with your purpose, you’re not just raising funds, you’re delivering joy.