Rainmaker Fundraising Podcast

This conversation with Jenny Floria, Founder of Floria Consulting , is focused on the importance of data and how data drives strategy is an essential conversation for all nonprofit leaders and fundraisers.  In our chat, you'll hear Jenny and I talk through a number of important examples of how understanding data and how to deploy data effectively in your marketing and fundraising can drive increas...

Jennifer Diaz is Director of Major Gifts with The Salvation Army. She works out of the Philadelphia area, where she leads a team of five major gift fundraisers, and carries her own portfolio of top-level donor relationships. I first met Jennifer about five years ago when I was helping to lead a major fundraising change initiative for The Salvation Army's Eastern Territory . I quickly connected wit...

As we are quickly approaching the year-end giving season, it's more important than maybe any time in recent history that nonprofits understand how to effectively engage with high net worth donors and members of their communities.  That's why I was so excited to sit down recently my good friend, Kurt Peterson. Kurt is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP), a Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor (C...

Eric Ressler is Founder & Creative Director at Cosmic , a social impact creative agency in the Bay Area.  We sat down recently to discuss how brand and digital engagement can impact a nonprofit's ability to scale revenue. While some in the nonprofit sector believe brand will always be in conflict with an organization's ability to raise revenue, Eric doesn't share that point of view. In fact, h...

Leadership has zero to do with position or title. It has everything to do with impact. But becoming a leader of impact doesn't just happen by accident. And it doesn't happen over night. It requires focus, intentionality, and a commitment to changing the world for the better.  I sat down recently with Braden Douglas , founder of CREW Marketing Partners and author of Becoming a Leader of Impact to t...

Tony Martignetti, host of Tony Martignetti Nonprofit Radio , and one of the nation's leading authorities on planned giving just launched a brand new program to help more nonprofit organizations access the transformational impact of planned giving for their organizations.  The program is called Planned Giving Accelerator .  Tony and I sat down recently to talk all things planned giving, and to chat...

John Walsh is one of the most innovative digital marketers in the nonprofit sector today. He currently leads email marketing at one of the world's largest Evangelical ministry organizations.  In this episode, you'll hear John and I discuss all things email marketing and fundraising, including: Designing and executing an effective email testing strategy How to determine whether a variable is worth...

Kris Putnam-Walkerly is Founder of Putnam Consulting Group , and author of Confident Giving and The ImpactAssets Handbook for Investors .  Kris has spent her career as an advisor to high net worth individuals, family offices, corporate philanthropy programs and foundations.  She's also the author of the newly released book, Delusional Altruism .  We sat down with Kris recently to talk about her ne...

How has COVID-19 impacted Mid-level and Major Gift fundraising? Are Mid-level and Major donors shifting their giving priorities because of this crisis? Are they holding back on giving? If Mid-level and Major donors did give during the COVID crisis, how is that going to impact year-end giving?  These are the exact kind of questions that my close friends, Derric Bakker and Paul Martin of Dickerson B...

Have you ever wondered what your major donors really thought of your work, how you engage with them, and the experience you create at your events? Have you ever struggled to connect deeply with high net worth individuals that support your cause, and wish you had an insider's perspective on how to approach these relationships more effectively?  You're in luck!  Lisa Greer is a serial entrepreneur,...

On August 3rd, 2020, Bob McCartney authored the article, Nonprofits in trouble: One-third of organizations may not survive pandemic, recession for The Washington Post .  This article is a sobering assessment of the health and sustainability of nonprofit organizations in the Washington, D.C. metro area. But more than that, it's likely a canary in a coal mine for our entire sector on a national scal...

In many respects we're living through a period of time where we've forced a decade of disruption into (at this point) a 12-week period.  Or at least that's what it's felt like between the COVID crisis and the ongoing struggles related to racial inequality, diversity, equity, and inclusion.  This is a lot of change, requiring a lot of emotional investment on all of our parts, and all forced into a...

Stewardship and gratitude are such integral components of successful philanthropy efforts. In my mind, it all comes down to showing appreciation for the people who make our work in the nonprofit sector possible. That's why I was shocked earlier this summer when I shared the results of a small test where 8 out of 10 organizations that received a contribution never sent a thank you letter or followe...

It was great to have Brady Josephson back on the podcast today for a second conversation. If you didn't catch our conversation last month on COVID fundraising trends , you should check it out.  But today, Brady and I talk about all things testing. This is one of Brady's favorite things to chat about. That shouldn't be a surprise, given his role as Managing Director at NextAfter's Institute for Onl...

Jaimie Trussell, CFRE , is Chief Development Officer and Vice President of Marketing & Communications at Adult & Teen Challenge USA .  She recently sat down with me to talk candidly about nonprofit leadership. In this great conversation, Jaimie provided so much value! Check out the top 5 insights I took from our conversation: True leadership isn't glamorous. It's hard, but highly rewarding...

Trevor Bragdon is a behavioral scientist by training, and is Founder of 7-Figure Fundraising .  He and his team have developed a proprietary training program that helps nonprofit CEO's, fundraisers, and board members hone their fundraising message (i.e., the pitch) to secure more 5, 6, and 7-figure gifts from individual donors, foundations, and corporate partners.  This unique approach to crafting...

Chances are your organization was NOT prepared for COVID-19. Even organizations that work in international relief and development or domestic emergency response weren't fully prepared for all of the impacts of COVID-19, and how it would impact operations, fundraising, internal processes, staff, etc.  That's why I was so excited to sit down with Amy McFeely and Laura Olean from Category One Consult...

Brady Josephson, Managing Director of the Institute for Online Fundraising at NextAfter recently sat down with us to share what he's learning about the changing fundraising landscape during the COVID-19 crisis.  This conversation and the learnings that Brady shares are based on observations from more than 157 nonprofits that were and are actively fundraising during the COVID crisis. Brady is learn...

We sat down last week for a leadership conversation with Kishshana Palmer, CFRE , CEO of Kishshana & Co ., Founder of The Rooted Collaborative , and Author of Hey, I'm New Here .  We scheduled this conversation months ago, and initially our plan was to talk broadly about leadership trends, insights & learnings across the nonprofit sector.  But...then George Floyd was murdered here in Minne...

You are going to LOVE this conversation with Mark P. Fisher on Inspiring Growth as a leader! Mark is host of the Inspiring Growth Podcast , CEO, and Chief Encourager at Inspiring Growth, a firm he founded to help organizations increase revenue, organizational leadership, and overall joy in their work. Check out some of Mark's great offerings here . If you like The Rainmaker Fundraising Podcast, yo...

Dionne M. Rosser-Mims, Ph. D., is Dean of the College of Education at Troy University . She's an educator, author, and successful leader. She's also my longtime friend, and someone I'm incredibly proud of and inspired by. We recently sat down to discuss leadership, and to get Dr. Rosser-Mims' perspective on what it takes to be a great leader.  Here are : Leaders don't sit on the sidelines and comp...

Leading well is critical -- especially during the challenging times in which we find ourselves these days. That's why I think my recent conversation with Bobby Lewis, Executive Vice President of Operations at Love Worth Finding is so important.  According to Bobby, great leaders: Are lifelong learners who focus on adding knowledge and skills regularly Lead THROUGH others rather than trying to do e...

Gabe Cooper is CEO at Virtuous Software , Founder of The Modern Nonprofit Fundraiser Podcast , and Author of Responsive Fundraising . We got together recently to talk about the concept of Responsive Fundraising, and what it means for the future of the nonprofit sector. What's exciting is that the concept of Responsive Fundraising doesn't require you to throw out everything you're doing and start o...

Visionary leaders don't succeed with just great ideas. They succeed because they've built a framework that inspires others and provides their teams with the necessary tools to perform." I was recently blessed to have a fascinating conversation with Dr. Kent Ingle . In this fast-paced conversation, Dr. Ingle delivered huge leadership wisdom and value -- and I think you'll get a lot from this conver...

Coral Dill is the Founder and Principal at Grant Writer Etc. , and a contributing author to the 2019 #1 Best Seller, 101 Biggest Mistakes Nonprofits Make And How You Can Avoid Them . Coral is an expert grant writer and regularly helps nonprofits of all shapes and sizes become "grant ready", and has helped those organizations raise millions of dollars over the last decade.  In this episode Coral ta...