A Modern Nonprofit Podcast

Nonprofits are great at counting things. But are those numbers telling you whether your programs actually work? Tosha Anderson sits down with Dr. Zuri Tau, LMSW, PhD, founder and CEO of Social Insights Research, to talk about measuring nonprofit impact that matters. They cover why evaluation should serve your mission before your funders, the difference between feedback and true program evaluation,...

Your nonprofit built its reserves. Now what? Tosha Anderson and Aaron Sheklin of Farther talk through how a nonprofit decides how much cash to keep liquid, how much to invest, and how the board sets guardrails before a single dollar moves. Aaron shares what he's learned from both sides of the table, as an advisor and as a board member. A practical listen for executive directors, finance leader...

Growth is supposed to be good news. But for many nonprofits, a big grant or new program quietly exposes every weak spot in the back office. In this episode, Tosha Anderson, founder and CEO of The Charity CFO, shares the four-part growth readiness test we use with nonprofit clients: reserves, compliance, administrative capacity, and staff capacity. She covers reserve benchmarks, the hidden costs gr...

When a nonprofit grows faster than its structure, things start to break. Decisions slow down, roles blur, and good people get worn out. Most leaders assume it's a people problem. It usually isn't. Tosha Anderson talks with Dee Benno, VP of People and Operations at the Air Conditioning Contractors of America, about leading through the messy middle of nonprofit growth. Dee explains the early...

Your Donors Can Tell: The Right and Wrong Ways to Use AI in Fundraising Your donors can tell when an email was written by AI. Cherian Koshy, VP at Kindsight and author of Neurogiving , returns to the show to talk about the right and wrong ways nonprofits are using AI in fundraising. Cherian shares data from his two year study of more than a thousand donors, why "human in the loop" has be...

🔁 Encore episode — bringing back one of our most relevant conversations, because we keep hearing the same struggle from clients heading into budget season. Most nonprofits think they need to soften the story to keep donors close — don't share the crisis, don't reach out too often. Erin Straza, CEO and Chief Donor Engagement Strategist, says that's exactly backwards, and it's quiet...

95% of nonprofit leaders say they are burned out. Not tired. Not stretched thin. Burned out. And one in three is actively thinking about leaving the sector for good. In this episode of A Modern Nonprofit Podcast, host Tosha Anderson sits down with nonprofit executive and governance expert Annette Eros, founder of EROSolutions, to challenge the usual advice. More rest. Better boundaries. A calendar...

Tosha lays out rule number one for nonprofit financial health: monthly reports, on a fixed schedule, every single time. At The Charity CFO, that means a strict 15-day reporting cycle — even when data is missing from a client's team, the report still goes out, flagging what's incomplete and what it could mean financially. Tosha shares a real example: an organization spent three to seven yea...

A local utility company just posted a 15.6 million dollar deficit. Tosha Anderson breaks down what really happened at Kirkwood Electric and why she does not think fraud is the answer, even though everyone assumes it is. She unpacks the three real explanations behind a finance team gone quiet, the reports every nonprofit board should demand every month, and how to tell the difference between a capa...

Brandon Peacock survived a drive by shooting, was told he'd never walk again, and went on to run an Ironman. But this episode isn't about his comeback. It's about what he learned after: that being the face, the fundraiser, and the operator of his own nonprofit was quietly burning him out. Tosha Anderson and Brandon talk honestly about nonprofit founder burnout, the guilt of stepping ba...

What if your team's performance problems are actually a leadership problem? Tiffany Slater, founder and CEO of HR TailorMade, joins Tosha Anderson for a frank conversation on why teams underperform and what nonprofit leaders are missing. They dig into onboarding, unclear expectations, accountability systems, and the hard question of when to coach versus when to move on. Tiffany and Tosha also...

Most nonprofit leaders know what burnout feels like. But not everyone burns out the same way. In this episode, Tosha Anderson sits down with Britt Stockert, Certified Fundraising Executive and coach at Donorbox, to talk about something that rarely comes up in the nonprofit leadership conversation: neurodivergence and the invisible workload it creates. Britt and Tosha both share their own experienc...

Your press release is not getting picked up because it's written for you, not for the journalist. In this episode of A Modern Nonprofit Podcast, Tosha Anderson talks with Mickie Kennedy, founder of eReleases, about what actually makes a nonprofit press release work. They cover the story arc journalists want to see, how to pitch local media with no budget, why your quotes are probably too safe,...

Nonprofit burnout is real and nonprofit leaders are carrying more than ever before. In this episode, Tosha Anderson sits down with productivity coach and Winning the Week co-author Demir Bentley to talk about sustainable leadership, weekly planning, productivity systems, and how nonprofit professionals can stop living in constant overwhelm. If you constantly feel behind, struggle to disconnect fro...

Most nonprofits have a budget. But very few are actually using it to make better decisions. In this episode of A Modern Nonprofit Podcast , Tosha Anderson sits down with CFO Pat Fisher from The Charity CFO to break down what effective nonprofit budgeting really looks like. This is not about spreadsheets. It is about strategy. You will learn: Why every nonprofit needs a board-approved budget The bi...

Are you constantly chasing funding but still struggling to build sustainable growth? In this episode of A Modern Nonprofit Podcast, Tosha Anderson sits down with Drew Reynolds, Principal Consultant at Common Good Data, to break down why so many nonprofits are stuck in the funding trap and what to do about it. With increasing funding uncertainty and limited capacity, nonprofit leaders are being for...

Grant Writing in 2026 Is Harder Than Ever - Here’s How to Adapt Federal funding volatility. Private foundations acting like contracts. Massive nonprofits competing for $5,000 grants. And now AI flooding the system with applications. In this episode of A Modern Nonprofit Podcast, Tosha Anderson sits down with Dr. Krista Kurlinkus to unpack the state of grant seeking in 2026 and what nonprofit leade...

Why Are Donors Disappearing? Here’s What Nonprofits Must Change Only 20% of first-time donors give again. That means for every 100 new donors you acquire, 80 disappear. Is it donor fatigue? The economy? AI? Federal funding volatility? In this episode of A Modern Nonprofit Podcast , Tosha Anderson and donor strategist Erin Straza unpack the real reasons donors don’t return - and what nonprofit lead...

Is federal funding coming back? Should your nonprofit apply for federal grants in 2026? And what are the new compliance risks you need to understand before submitting an application? In this episode of A Modern Nonprofit Podcast, Tosha Anderson sits down with federal funding expert Fielding Jezreel to unpack the current state of federal grants as of February 2026.After a turbulent 2025 filled with...

Data doesn’t have to feel like a burden. In this episode of A Modern Nonprofit Podcast , Tosha Anderson talks with Kayla Meyers, Founder of Bridgepoint Evaluation, about how nonprofit leaders can move from compliance-driven data collection to clarity-driven evaluation strategy. If your organization is collecting data for grants but not using it for decision-making, team alignment, or strategic gro...

What if philanthropy wasn’t just about writing checks - but about building systems that actually work? In this episode of A Modern Nonprofit Podcast, host Tosha Anderson sits down with Ed Mitzen, Co-Founder of the Business for Good Foundation, to talk about rethinking traditional philanthropy through a business lens. After selling his for-profit company, Ed and his wife chose a hands-on approach t...

Traditional strategic plans are failing nonprofits. In this episode of A Modern Nonprofit Podcast , Tosha Anderson and Theresa Guest, CFO at The Charity CFO, explain why so many nonprofit strategic plans collect dust instead of driving decisions. Using insights from The Charity CFO Financial Blueprint , they unpack the missing links between strategy, accountability, financial planning, and executi...

Fundraising and finance are supposed to work together but in most nonprofits they operate in silos. In this episode of A Modern Nonprofit Podcast, Tosha Anderson sits down with David Cristello, Founder and CEO of Jetpack Workflow, to talk about why this disconnect is costing nonprofits time, money, and people. They dive into grant utilization, financial visibility, burnout, and why spreadsheets ar...

Trust is the currency of leadership - especially during disruption. In this episode of A Modern Nonprofit Podcast, host Tosha Anderson sits down with Kim Bohr, President & COO of SparkEffect, to unpack how nonprofit leaders can navigate uncertainty without losing the trust, morale, and engagement of their people. Kim draws from SparkEffect’s new research study, Trust in Turbulence: The 2025 St...

Most nonprofit leaders want more unrestricted revenue - but few have a strategy for building it. In this episode, The Charity CFO’s Tosha Anderson and Aaron Landis explain why unrestricted funds are the true fuel behind nonprofit growth, stability, and innovation. Drawing on conversations with hundreds of CEOs and EDs, they highlight why organizations with the highest unrestricted percentages are...