Purpose & Profit Club® – The Nonprofit Fundraising & Marketing Podcast

In this episode, I’m joined again by Nathan Ruby, Executive Director of Friends of the Children of Haiti (FOTCOH), who has spent more than twenty years raising major gifts, and doing it without relying on galas, grants, or flashy events. Instead, Nathan has built a deeply effective fundraising engine through micro events: small, relationship-centered gatherings hosted by board members and key volu...

In Part 2 of my 2026 Fundraising Trends series, we’re going deeper into the tools, tech, and leadership shifts that will define nonprofit growth this year.  If Part 1 was about strategy and visibility, this episode is about the systems and decision-making that actually make those strategies possible. I discuss upgrading outdated CRMs and donation tools, the rise of AI-assisted fundraising, the acc...

If you want to grow in 2026, you cannot rely on outdated playbooks or wait for a perfect case study to tell you what to do. In this two-part series, I’m breaking down the real fundraising trends I’m seeing across every organization in my ecosystem, not theory, not headlines, not generic Google wisdom. These trends are based on live data, donor behavior, digital strategy sessions, leadership conver...

If you believed the headlines this year, you’d think generosity was shrinking. Inflation up. Layoffs everywhere. Grant budgets tightening. Every sector talking about a downturn and uncertainty. But inside my world (thousands of podcast listeners, email subscribers, clients, and community members), the story was completely different. This year was record-breaking! Record-breaking campaigns, major g...

If you’re worried you’re behind on year-end fundraising, take a breath; December isn’t over. In fact, the most generous days of the year are still ahead. In this episode, I break down the three hidden psychological reasons donors give again before year-end, even if they've already given this month. I go deep into donor momentum, identity and reciprocity, and why “donor fatigue” is one of the...

Major gift fundraising is where many nonprofit leaders freeze, but not because they lack passion or skill. The fear lives in the body, the brain, and the stories we tell ourselves long before we walk into the room. In this episode, I’m joined by Nathan Ruby, Executive Director of FOTCOH (Friends of the Children of Haiti), one of the rare EDs who has raised millions of dollars from individual donor...

If you’ve hit that post-campaign wall, tired, drained, and wondering if anyone else feels the same, this episode is for you. In today’s episode, I share what to do when you’re completely wiped from GivingTuesday or a year-end push but still have fundraising goals to hit. You’ll learn how to recover strategically (without going silent), re-engage donors who gave once, and use short “sprint campaign...

If you’ve ever caught yourself overthinking a donor email, hesitating to post, or waiting for “the perfect timing” to launch your next campaign, this episode is for you. In today’s episode, I reveal the mindset pattern that’s quietly keeping you stuck: fear disguised as strategy. You’ll learn how to recognize when your “planning” is really just procrastination, why bravery always comes before clar...

Every year, billions are donated on GivingTuesday, but only a small percentage of nonprofits turn that day into real momentum. In this episode, I share exactly what the top 1% of nonprofits do differently to make GivingTuesday their biggest fundraising win of the year (without burnout, perfectionism, or chaos). You’ll learn the seven steps to lead with clarity, confidence, and courage, from creati...

If you’re ending your workday exhausted but can’t point to how you actually moved your fundraising forward, you might be caught in the fundraising busywork trap . In this episode, I’m breaking down why so many nonprofit leaders confuse “activity” with “progress,” and how fear, comfort, and overthinking keep your mission stuck in motion but not momentum. You’ll learn how to identify low-ROI tasks,...

If you’re done following the same old fundraising playbook, the polite one that keeps your goals small and your growth stuck, this episode is your permission slip to break the rules. In The Rule-Breaker’s Guide to Year-End Fundraising , I share how safe, “board-approved” strategies are quietly capping your potential, and how modern fundraisers are rewriting the rules to build momentum, trust, and...

If you’ve ever hesitated to hit send, make the call, or follow up because you didn’t want to “bug” your donors, this episode is for you. That fear isn’t really about your donors, it’s about you. It’s your ego trying to keep you safe from rejection, discomfort, or embarrassment. But every time you let that fear win, you lose more than a donation. You lose momentum, trust, and connection. In this ep...

GoFundMe launched a new “Nonprofit Pages” feature — automatically creating donation pages for over 1.4 million nonprofits across the U.S. without direct consent -- here's the latest update on the pages being unpublished and de-indexed.  Bloomerang is the complete donor, volunteer, and fundraising management solution that helps thousands of nonprofits deliver a better giving experience and cre...

GoFundMe launched a new “Nonprofit Pages” feature — automatically creating donation pages for over 1.4 million nonprofits across the U.S. without direct consent. If your organization never set up a GoFundMe campaign, you might still have a live, searchable page collecting donations right now — with funds routed through the PayPal Giving Fund and a 15–45 day delay before the nonprofit ever sees the...

What if your next big fundraising win wasn’t about adding more grants, galas, or gimmicks, but about simplifying and believing it could work? In this episode, I’m joined by Kim Wardlow and Penn Street from Aftersight, an incredible organization supporting the blind and low-vision community through accessible media, podcasts, and programs. They share how they went from uncertainty to running a $20K...

GoFundMe recently created more than 1.4 million donation pages for U.S. nonprofits — many without notice or consent. In this episode, Christina Tzavaras Edwards unpacks what this means for your organization, your SEO, and your donor trust. You’ll learn why these pages exist, how to check if your nonprofit has one, and the key pros and cons of keeping, claiming, or removing it. Christina also expla...

Getting new donors feels exciting, new names, new gifts, fresh energy. But if you can’t keep them, you’re stuck on the hamster wheel. In this episode, I talk about the retention wall, why most nonprofits struggle to keep donors giving year after year, and how to fix it. We’ll unpack why first-time donors ghost you, what for-profit brands get right about loyalty, and the exact mindset + strategy sh...

You don’t need to send more emails. You need to send the right ones.  In this episode, I’m breaking down the five email types every nonprofit must use if you want to double, triple, or even 9x your campaign results. These aren’t random updates or long newsletters that no one reads. Each type has a specific role in moving your donors from curious to committed. We’ll talk about why your current emai...

The fear of “bothering” donors has nonprofits sending fewer emails than Sephora sends about mascara. And you know what that means? Fewer emails = fewer donations. In this episode, I’m pulling back the curtain on why silence in your donor’s inbox is way more damaging than showing up with short, story-driven emails. I’ll tell you why Patagonia, Old Navy, and Jimmy John’s can email you daily without...

I had the pleasure of hosting Michael Murphy, Director of Development at Missouri’s National Veterans Memorial, and one of my Purpose & Profit Club® members. Michael’s story is proof that you don’t need decades of fundraising experience to see major wins with email. In fact, in his very first nonprofit role, he took one of my frameworks, Easy Emails For Impact™ , and turned a $1,900 campaign i...

Nonprofit leaders love to default to newsletters - long, clunky, “Fall Update” -style emails stuffed with program blurbs, raffle announcements, and event reminders. But newsletters don’t raise money. In fact, they train donors to skim, ignore, or unsubscribe. In this episode, I break down why newsletters flop, what you should be sending instead, and how shifting to single-topic, story-driven campa...

Most nonprofits underestimate the quiet powerhouse sitting right in front of them: email. In this episode, I’m sharing 10 proven strategies to transform your inbox into your most reliable fundraising engine . From reactivating lapsed donors to priming your biggest asks, I’ll walk you through the data-backed reasons email outperforms social and direct mail, and how small tweaks in consistency, inti...

Most nonprofit leaders play it too safe . In this episode, I’m pulling back the curtain on why a little “healthy delusion™” might be the missing ingredient in your fundraising and leadership success. You’ll learn why being overly realistic can quietly cap your revenue potential, and how the right dose of ambitious, slightly unreasonable belief in your vision can get you into rooms, conversations,...

Something is missing in your recipe for success. Not a tool. Not a strategy. But something deeper: your inner grit . This isn’t about hustling harder or pushing yourself until you burn out. It’s about the strength you draw on when you’re tired, when the campaign feels heavy, when the grant report is due, and when your to-do list is longer than your capacity. In this episode, I’m sharing why grit m...

This episode is for the nonprofit leader doing “all the right things” (you’ve got peer fundraisers, events, email blasts, major donor asks) but you're still not hitting your campaign goals. Sound familiar? It’s not your fault. It’s your foundation. I recorded this episode fresh off the launch of The Purpose and Profit Club®, and after talking to so many of you, I noticed the same trap over an...