Small Nonprofit: Fundraising Tips, Leadership Strategies, and Community-Centric Solutions

Send us Fan Mail On today’s podcast, editors of the book Collecting Courage: Joy, Pain, Freedom, Love -  Nneka Allen, Camila Vital Nunes Pereira, and Nicole Salmon - share with us their insight and wisdom on how to confront systemic racism in our sector by starting with speaking up and sharing stories.  Ways that Nneka, Nicole and Camille encourages us to confront systemic racism: Recognize that w...

Send us Fan Mail On today’s podcast, David Love, seasoned fundraiser also known as the Godfather of Good, shares with us his take on the role of fundraisers in achieving change in the world. When we centre our work around the mission and the journey that we are on as an organization and how that aligns with the journey our donors are making - we can impact meaningful and lasting change in the worl...

Send us Fan Mail How do we recover from the exhaustion and pain of the pandemic? How do we lead our organizations into the post-pandemic world with responsible leadership in service for our communities? On today’s episode, social impact leader Chi Nguyen gives us the real talk on how to approach our leadership and the way we show up with a feminist and inclusive lens.  Chi’s tips on approaching le...

Send us Fan Mail How can I close that sponsorship deal? This is the question that keeps many fundraisers and Executive Directors up at night. On today’s episode, Charmaine Hammond, partnership development expert at Raise a Dream, shares with us an easy-to-follow, 7-step framework for building long lasting partnerships. Myths that Charmaine wants us to leave behind You have to shoehorn your nonprof...

Send us Fan Mail We’re so busy taking care of everything that often we forget to take care of ourselves first. How do we create space for ourselves in our day to day so that we build resilience in the long run? Tune in to this amazing conversation with Komal Minhas, a resilience educator with a mission to help people rise through adversity  Myths that Komal wants us to leave behind We need to buil...

Send us Fan Mail We often think about branding for our organizations as something that speaks to communities we serve and stakeholders we answer to. We forget to count our staff and prospective staff in that list. How is your organization speaking to current and future employees? On today’s podcast, Laura Tolhoek, President of Essential HR, shares with us how to build your employer brand and recru...

Send us Fan Mail More and more organizations are prioritizing diversity and inclusion as their strategic priorities. But how are organizations actually doing this work? On today’s episode, Trish Mandewo, Founder & CEO at Synergy on Boards Consulting Group and Coquitlam City Councillor, shares with us how to distinguish D&I tactics that are lip service and perpetuate harm from those that ha...

Send us Fan Mail How can charities become “investment-ready”? On today’s podcast, Narinder, Managing Partner at Marigold Capital, shares with us what impact investors, grantors, and other funders, are looking for when choosing charity partners, and how charities can assess whether an investor or funder is the right fit for them.  Myths that Narinder wants us to walk away  We have to fit a program...

Send us Fan Mail What do funders really look for in a proposal? How do they decide what to fund and what not to? These are the burning questions we have when laboring hours and hours of work for a funding application. On today’s podcast, we go behind the scenes with a funder and connect with Stephanie Rebello, Manager of Sustainability and Inclusion at LoyaltyOne to tackle all your burning questio...

Send us Fan Mail Social media is one of those things that almost everyone has, but very few use it well. On today’s podcast, we invited Brock Warner, fundraiser and author of the book From the Ground Up: Digital Fundraising for Nonprofits to walk us through how to build a consistent and effective social media strategy.  Myths that Brock wants us to walk away  All my followers will see every post I...

Send us Fan Mail If things are not broken, why change? But what are some fundamental assumptions and myths that we believe in working in the charitable sector that hinder us from enabling changes and delivering impact? On today’s podcast episode, Rickesh Lakhani, Executive Director of Future Possibilities for Kids and a passionate champion of grassroots organizations, joins us to bust these myths...

Send us Fan Mail Good financial health is the cornerstone of a sustainable nonprofit. As nonprofit leaders, we all know the importance of financial management, but budgets and audits still give us the worst headaches. How can we build up our financial management muscles and confidence? On today’s episode, Betty Ferreira, Founder of GoodCasting who has trained and coached many nonprofit leaders on...

Send us Fan Mail Donating with cryptocurrency is an emerging trend. With a lot of information (and hype) out there about cryptocurrency, it can be confusing and even a bit scary when considering whether your charity should start receiving cryptocurrency donations. On today’s episode, two experts in this field, Anne Connelly and Jason Shim, share with us how to get started with cryptocurrency fundr...

Send us Fan Mail Dealing with conflicts often invokes uneasy feelings or even fear. But healthy debates and conflicts can bring thought diversity and new perspectives to the table. So can we stop avoiding conflict and manage them with more ease and courage? On today’s episode, personal development coach and mediator Claudia Aronowitz shares with us practical tips on conflict management.  Myths tha...

Send us Fan Mail Prospect research, or prospect development, often seems to be one of those fundraising “best practices” that feel exclusive to charities with more resources. How can small charities do meaningful prospect research and development without draining their bank account? On today’s podcast, prospect development expert Preeti Gill shares some practical tips for small nonprofits to kicks...

Send us Fan Mail Managing the board often gives EDs a headache. When a board functions effectively, it can be an organization’s greatest asset, but when it doesn’t, it becomes an extra burden for the ED and the rest of the staff. So how do you build your dream board from inside out? On today’s episode, Andrea Shirey, CEO of One Nine Design and expert on nonprofit board management, shares with us s...

Send us Fan Mail Reaching and engaging the changing demographics in communities is often on organizations’ strategic agenda. But when it comes to developing the actual strategic tactics and implementing them, organizations often face a set of questions:  where do we begin? How do we reach new communities authentically and meaningfully? And how long will our strategies start to show results?  On to...

Send us Fan Mail Myths that Bruce wants us to leave behind Because corporations have shrinking budgets, they can’t support the charitable sector.  Many corporations have digital expertise that charities might not have. Corporations can share their digital expertise and help charities to assess their digital infrastructure needs to support them to adapt to the pandemic and post-pandemic world.  Aft...

Send us Fan Mail We all want to do a good job. Especially in the nonprofit sector, sometimes there’s immense pressure to do an outstanding job because we need to answer to the community we serve. But trying to do a good job does not equate to the endlessly pursuing perfection. In fact, perfection doesn’t exist and we learn the most when we fail. On today’s episode, our guest Nikki Bell, fundraisin...

Send us Fan Mail Offering a naming right opportunity to donors can be a daunting process. From making the right offer to negotiating the terms of the naming, how might we think holistically and act strategically about it? On today’s episode, Vincent Duckworth, seasoned fundraiser and CEO and President of the ViTreo Group, reframes our fear and worry around donor naming rights and provides practica...

Send us Fan Mail How can we have a real conversation about systemic racism and white supremacy, especially at our workplace with power dynamics involved? On today’s podcast, Hawa Mire, strategy and equity consultant and community organizer, walks us through how we might build up our muscles and emotional intelligence for having these important conversations.  Myths that Hawa wants us to leave behi...

Send us Fan Mail How are you going to make this program sustainable after we stop funding you? Most people who have written a grant have been asked that question, and guess what, most people just improvise the answer. There’s a lot to unpack about program sustainability. Is it a fair expectation to ask from nonprofits? If nonprofits do want to sustain a program, what factors should they consider....

Send us Fan Mail Conversations about data, databases, and CRMs often surface fear and insecurity. Are you doing enough? Are we missing out just because we can’t afford an expensive database? How can we leverage the tools out there to help our fundraising efforts?  In this episode, Allen Dadvidov, VP of Business Consulting and Nonprofit Sector Lead from Environics Analytics, shares with us tips on...

Send us Fan Mail Donor stewardship is something that most of us know is important, but for some reason, it always gets pushed to the bottom of our to-do list.  What ends up happening is when it comes time that you need your donors, you realize you haven’t talked to them in forever! This is why donor stewardship is not a nice-to-have. It’s a must-have if you want consistent fundraising growth.  Tod...

Send us Fan Mail How do you go beyond the land acknowledgement? In recent years, we see more and more nonprofits including decolonization as their strategic priorities. But if we do a gut check, how’re we actually committing to decolonization everyday? On today’s podcast, Tim Fox, Vice President of Indigenous Relations and Racial Equity at Calgary Foundation, shares his lived experience of facilit...