Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast for Startup, Small, and Growing Nonprofits

Every nonprofit leader has a vision for the future. The challenge isn't imagining where your organization could be ten years from now. The challenge is knowing what to do next. In this episode of the Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast , Matt Stockman sits down with longtime nonprofit executive Dick Whitworth to discuss one of the biggest challenges facing startup, small, and growing nonprofits: turning...

What do you do when your entire fundraising department is...you? For many startup and small nonprofits, the executive director wears every hat. You're leading programs, managing volunteers, handling finances, solving problems, and somewhere in the middle of all of that, you're expected to raise enough money to keep the organization alive. In this episode, Matt Stockman shares a practical framework...

The Most Important Gift Is the Second One: How to Move Donors from First Gift to Lifelong Partner Most nonprofits spend a tremendous amount of time figuring out how to acquire new donors. Far fewer spend time creating a clear plan for what happens after a donor makes their first gift. In this episode of the Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast, nonprofit growth coach Matt Stockman explores why donor rete...

Many nonprofit leaders believe they have a fundraising problem when, in reality, they have a donor journey problem. In this episode, Matt breaks down the four stages every donor moves through before making a first gift and explains why focusing only on donation appeals can cause organizations to lose potential supporters long before they ever reach the giving stage. You'll learn why awareness alon...

Could Your Nonprofit Survive Two Weeks Without You? What would happen if you disappeared for two weeks? No email. No phone calls. No text messages. No checking in. Would your fundraising continue? Would your volunteers know what to do? Would donors still receive thank-you calls? Would your team keep moving forward? Or would everything come to a standstill until you returned? In this episode, Matt...

Stop Chasing Followers: What Really Matters on Social Media For many nonprofit leaders, social media can feel like both a billboard and a scoreboard. It's easy to look at follower counts, likes, shares, and views and assume those numbers determine whether your nonprofit is succeeding online. It's also easy to believe that if you could just grow a large enough audience, donors, volunteers, and supp...

Starting a nonprofit is exciting. But for many leaders, the pressure to immediately build a standalone 501(c)(3), create HR systems, manage compliance, oversee payroll, and handle financial reporting can become overwhelming before the mission ever gains momentum. In this episode of the Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast for Startup, Small, and Growing Nonprofits, Matt sits down with Noah Stockman and B...

Monthly giving is one of the most overlooked growth strategies for startup, small, and growing nonprofits. Too many nonprofit leaders spend their time chasing the next fundraising campaign, the next event, the next grant opportunity, or the next major donor conversation, while overlooking one of the most stabilizing and sustainable revenue streams they could build: recurring monthly donors. In thi...

What does it actually take to move a nonprofit from an idea to a sustainable, growing organization? In this episode of the Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast for Startup, Small, and Growing Nonprofits , Matt Stockman sits down with Paul Schmitz, founder and executive director of ShowerUp, to talk about the real-world journey of building a nonprofit from the ground up. What started as a simple vision to...

Many startup nonprofits and growing organizations get stuck because they believe they need a building, full staff, major funding, or a polished infrastructure before they can begin serving people. In this episode of the Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast, nonprofit growth coach Matt Stockman explains how to launch a Minimum Viable Program (MVP) so you can start small, create real impact, build momentum...

Many aspiring nonprofit leaders delay launching because they believe they need the finished version of the dream before they can begin. They think they need the building, the staff, the full budget, polished branding, and complete infrastructure before making impact. In this episode, Matt Stockman explains why that mindset keeps great missions stuck at the starting line. This is Part 1 of a two-pa...

Ever had a donor prospect seem fully engaged… only to go completely silent? No reply. No questions. No decision. In this episode, Matt breaks down exactly what to do next when a potential supporter “ghosts” you, without coming across as pushy, desperate, or unsure. The reality is, silence almost never means rejection. More often, it means something far simpler and far more fixable. You’ll learn ho...

If your nonprofit feels stuck, the issue may not be your strategy or your effort. It may be the relationship at the core of your organization. In this episode, we revisit a foundational conversation with Bob Lonac on one of the most critical dynamics in any nonprofit: the relationship between the CEO or Executive Director and the board. When this relationship is healthy, aligned, and clearly defin...

What if your nonprofit could reach people who are already searching for the exact problem you solve… without spending a dollar on ads? In this episode, Matt Stockman sits down with digital marketing strategist Matt Mundt to break down one of the most underutilized tools available to nonprofits today: the Google Ad Grant. Eligible nonprofits can access up to $10,000 per month in free Google search...

For many nonprofit leaders, hosting a large event feels like a natural step in growing awareness and raising funds. But before you jump into planning venues, catering, invitations, and programming, there is a more important question to ask: Is your nonprofit actually ready to host an event? In this episode, Matt Stockman breaks down how nonprofit leaders can pressure test whether an event is the r...

Sooner or later, every nonprofit leader faces a difficult leadership moment. You bring someone onto your team because you believe in them. They care about the mission and want to help move the organization forward. But over time something starts to feel off. Deadlines slip. Details are missed. Results are not what they should be. Now you are left wondering what the real issue is. Is it a coaching...

Brainstorming meetings are supposed to spark creativity, solve problems, and move your nonprofit forward. But for many leaders, they end up feeling like a waste of time, energy, and attention. In this episode, nonprofit growth coach Matt Stockman explains why most brainstorming sessions fail and shares a simple 7-step framework nonprofit leaders can use to design meetings that produce clear ideas,...

Each nonprofit grows through 5 distinct phases in its early years, and in this episode of the Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast, Matt Stockman explains how nonprofit leaders move from early traction into long-term sustainability by understanding where their organization sits in the development cycle. If you’re trying to grow your donor base, stabilize funding, scale programs, or strengthen your leader...

Every nonprofit begins the same way: with a problem that refuses to leave your mind. In this episode, Matt introduces the Nonprofit Flight Path , a five-phase framework that maps the predictable journey every nonprofit takes from early dreaming to long-term sustainability. Today’s focus is on the first two phases: Phase One: The Dreaming Phase Phase Two: The Building Consensus Phase If you are in...

There is a critical moment in the early life of almost every nonprofit when leaders feel pressure to go bigger. More marketing. More emails. More social posts. A bigger event. A broader appeal. And when those efforts fall flat, it is easy to assume something is wrong with the mission. In this episode, I explain why the problem usually is not your mission at all. It is timing. This is part three of...

What comes after your very first nonprofit gifts? For most startup and early-stage nonprofits, the next critical source of funding is not grants, events, or online campaigns. It is your board and your board’s network. In this second episode of a three-part series on securing your first nonprofit dollars, we focus on the real role your board plays in early fundraising, why board giving is about val...

What do you do when your nonprofit officially exists, the paperwork is approved, the vision is clear, and everything else is still at zero? Zero names in the database.  Zero donors.  Zero dollars in the bank. In this episode of the Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast , Matt Stockman kicks off Part 1 of a three-part series on how startup and early-stage nonprofits secure their very first dollars. If you...

When a professional athlete hits a slump, the solution is rarely something flashy. Coaches bring players back to the fundamentals. Stance. Form. Focus. Repetition. In this episode of the Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast , Matt Stockman applies that same principle to nonprofit leadership. When your organization feels harder to run than it should, when every solution seems to create two new problems, i...

Many nonprofit leaders celebrate raising money, yet still find themselves unable to pay the bills. In this episode, Matt Stockman unpacks one of the most common and dangerous funding traps facing small and growing nonprofits: an overdependence on restricted giving. You will learn why restricted gifts are not the villain, how they can quietly undermine your organization’s stability, and how to shif...

Many nonprofit leaders have a powerful vision, a meaningful mission, and a deep personal calling. Yet when it comes time to raise funds, they hit unexpected resistance. In this episode, Matt Stockman explains why passion alone does not create a fundable nonprofit program and how to transform a heartfelt idea into a clear, credible, and sustainable program that donors and foundations are willing to...