The Influential Nonprofit

Key Takeaways: Embrace discomfort and take risks to broaden your range and become a more powerful leader and fundraiser. Release the outcome to unlock confidence, productivity, and opportunity. Honor and manage feelings of shame and guilt rather than avoiding them, as they play a role in keeping you humble and motivated. Acceptance of discomfort leads to evolution and achieving amazing feats, whil...

Lou Kotsinis is CEO of BCS Interactive, a digital marketing agency dedicated exclusively to the nonprofit community. Since 2011, Lou and his team of designers, technologists, and digital strategists have helped nonprofits nationwide grow their causes and reach millions of followers through impactful web design, social media marketing, and smart digital strategy.   Key Takeaways: Build authentic re...

James Misner is the founder of The Kipos Group. Over his career, he has facilitated the raising of 100’s of millions of dollars to support nonprofit organizations. A trusted expert in the realm of fundraising strategy, staff, culture, and implementation, he brings a sharp focus on small and mid-sized organizations engaged in direct service.   Key Takeaways: CEOs and founders of small nonprofits wh...

Brigitte Cutshall is a health advocate and speaker who is passionate about encouraging others to lead their happiest, healthiest lives. She's the founder of Gemini Media, a creative enforcer, Real Things Podcast host, and author of five books.   Key Takeaways: Authenticity, openness to feedback, and clarifying aspirations foster trust-building. Ask thoughtful questions, listen empathically, identi...

Key Takeaways: Maintain sovereignty and stay grounded despite what is happening around you. Practice sovereignty daily to develop resilience amidst crises. Seeking excessive control diminishes peace; embrace flexibility. Reclaim sovereignty through presence, grounding, and intuition. Move beyond binary thinking and win-lose dichotomy; embrace a third way. Lean into lived experience, coping abiliti...

Kirsten Stevens is an accomplished philanthropy advisor and nonprofit consultant, focused on bridging the gap between philanthropic support and transformational impact in the social sector. Born in Panama and raised in Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Mexico, Kirsten's diverse background has shaped her global perspective on philanthropy and nonprofit excellence   Key Takeaways: It’s important to engage...

Key Takeaways: Stay in motion, build relationships, and connect with people. Honor natural cycles and rhythms in work and life to achieve sustainable productivity. Taking breaks can be part of the process. Fix your eyes on what you want instead of what you don’t want. Focus on conditions that help you thrive and create plans for what you want. Shift the focus of your nonprofit from fixing what’s b...

Morgan Gross, CEO & Founder of Fundraising Beyond Borders, is an international fundraising consultant and coach dedicated to empowering nonprofits to achieve their fundraising goals and expand their impact globally. Morgan provides strategic services such as fractional fundraising, custom fundraising plans, and personalized 1:1 fundraising coaching.   Key Takeaways: Fundraising for international n...

Key Takeaways: Grow your pipeline impact through consistent, value-driven engagement across channels. Follow a social media strategy that moves audiences from awareness to reliable outreach, relationship building, and action. Implement a content hourglass system: Create one core story weekly and derive consistent messaging from it for all platforms. Create targeted email campaigns for different au...

Key Takeaways: Great messaging attracts donors by being simple, clear, and concise, which requires effort and investment. Lack of differentiation, authenticity, transparency, and vulnerability prevents organizations from effectively connecting with their target audiences through marketing and messaging. Be bold, fearless, and fun. Ground your messaging in values alignment and authenticity to attra...

Key Takeaways: Embrace spontaneity and be open to new adventures, rather than clinging to preconceived expectations. Releasing expectations and attachments is key to achieving desired outcomes and living a fulfilling life. Remain open and adaptive to unexpected opportunities, as rigidity hinders success by preventing experimentation and limiting responsiveness. Releasing outcomes enables relations...

Key Takeaways: Influential fundraisers build trust, respect, and admiration by providing value, listening, and allowing empowered decision-making aligned with donors' sovereignty. Building relationships and finding authentic win-win solutions is more influential than manipulation or pushing self-interest. Influential leaders create supportive communities to drive collaborative change while balanci...

Key Takeaways: Shift from building organizations to mobilizing communities for long-term, sustainable change. Mobilize resources beyond just fundraising, involving community participation and in-kind gifts. Dare to dream big and commit to audacious visions, like ending hunger or eliminating the need for certain organizations.  Focus on creating positive goals, like everyone having a home and kids...

Erin McAleer is the President and CEO of Project Bread, Massachusetts’ only statewide food security organization, connecting people and communities to reliable sources of food. McAleer uses her background in health and human services and public policy to address food insecurity in Massachusetts through systemic and scalable strategies.   Key Takeaways: Lived experience is critical in solving food...

Key Takeaways: Praise and criticism are two sides of the same coin. A lot of leaders fall into the trap of overdependence on praise and the fear of criticism. Taking a stand and making changes will inevitably upset some people, but it is a necessary part of the process. Stay true to the vision, even when faced with criticism.  Instincts are triggered by stored trauma and are primarily focused on m...

Key Takeaways: Pitching, pushing, convincing, or trying to get someone to see things a certain way doesn’t work. When pressure is applied, people tend to push back. Instead of pushing ideas onto others, focus on drawing out their thoughts and feelings.  Release attachment to the outcome. The more you are able to avoid fixating on the outcome, the more likely you can achieve it. Also, set aside per...

Key Takeaways: Prioritize understanding and catering to donors' thoughts, feelings, and motivations for giving to deepen relationships and increase donations. Understand and align with a donor's "ego-system" or self-perception to effectively fundraise. Minimize risks or expand donors' self-views to align with desired actions, reframing activities to fit their identities. Use empathy mapping, liste...

Pat Duffy co-founded The Giving Block, a platform enabling nonprofits to accept crypto donations. This innovative solution has raised over $170M, making crypto philanthropy mainstream. Pat is a recognized leader in the field, honored with Forbes 30 Under 30, and frequently featured in major media outlets including Time Magazine, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, Associated Press, CoinDesk, and...

Key Takeaways: A lot of times we stumble between the first gift and the second gift because we're not paying attention to what people really want. Ask for what you want. Speak your truth. Advocate for your own needs. We are constantly training people how to treat us whether we are conscious of it or not. There is nothing wrong with asking for what you want, whoever it is that you’re asking it from...

Sarah Wood is the founder of Sarah Wood Communication, a boutique communication agency that serves purpose-driven organizations and individuals by helping to illuminate and share the stories of their good work.    Key Takeaways: The responsibility of event planning, development, and donor relations isn’t meant to fall on just one person. Collaboration is the sustainable and healthy way to success....

Key Takeaways: By truly listening and responding to donor concerns, organizations can strengthen their connections, leading to improved fundraising outcomes. Surface-level interactions aren’t going to cut it - we must always ask the question of “What lies at the heart of your donors’ concerns?”  The “Three Pains” technique encourages understanding, rather than convincing when enrolling others in a...

Ali Horriyat, a former finance manager turned philanthropist, left his career in 2016 to prioritize social impact over profit. He founded Compassiviste in 2020 to further this vision. With diverse academic achievements across multiple countries, he is also an author and advocate for compassion.    Key Takeaways: The desire for more and more wealth is often not merely driven by the material comfort...

A leader in the fields of social justice and children’s issues, Lynn Margherio is the Founder and CEO of Cradles to Crayons®, the largest national nonprofit with Clothing Insecurity at the core of its mission. Launched in 2002, Cradles to Crayons provides children living in low-income and homeless situations with clothing and other everyday essentials—diapers, winter coats, shoes, backpacks, and m...

Key Takeaways: In the realm of nonprofit leadership, the stories we tell ourselves are not mere whispers in the corners of our minds; they are the powerful undercurrents that shape our reality, influence, and leadership. Our personal self-talk mirrors the narrative we share with the world. This alignment, or lack thereof, can have significant repercussions on our efficacy as leaders and influencer...

Tim Sarrantonio is an internationally renowned speaker on generosity, technology, and the trends in the social good sector. After helping various causes raise over $3 million, he then moved into providing support for thousands of nonprofits through his work at Neon One. He has spoken at AFPICON, NTC, TEDx, and holds a Certificate in Philanthropic Psychology from the Institute for Sustainable Phila...