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

Your nonprofit may be doing incredible work. But when you talk about that work with a potential donor, who sounds like the hero? Too often, nonprofit fundraising revolves around what we do: we provide these programs, we served this many people, we expanded into this community. In this episode, we continue working through the Fearless Fundraising Framework with step two: the solution. And the solut...

Before you ask someone to support your nonprofit, can you clearly explain the problem you’re asking them to help solve? That sounds simple, but it’s one of the places nonprofit fundraising communication often gets complicated. We become really good at explaining our organization, our programs, our history, and everything we’re doing. But to someone hearing about our work for the first time, we may...

A donor tells you they’re going to give $5,000. Great. Except a week passes. Then another week. Eventually you start wondering: Do I call them? Send an email? Leave it alone? And at what point does following up become pushy? This is one of those awkward fundraising situations that almost every nonprofit leader eventually encounters, but very few people teach you how to handle. In this episode of t...

Some leadership habits look responsible on the surface. Watching the numbers closely. Working long hours. Staying involved in decisions. Learning not to take rejection personally. But each of those can quietly become something unhealthy. In this episode of the Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast for Startup, Small, and Growing Nonprofits , Matt Stockman shares four leadership beliefs he has had to unlea...

Uncertainty does not always stop generosity, but it can change how donors make decisions. When conflict escalates, markets become unsettled, or political and economic changes create anxiety, donors may begin thinking differently about their jobs, retirement accounts, household expenses, and charitable giving. For nonprofit leaders, the challenge is knowing how to respond without panicking or makin...

You can lead at an unsustainable pace for a surprisingly long time. You can continue making every decision, answering every question, carrying the fundraising pressure, and solving every problem while telling yourself, “This is just the season we’re in.” But what happens when the season becomes the system? In this episode of the Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast for Startup, Small, and Growing Nonprof...

A donor sends you an email, and they're not happy. Immediately, your mind starts racing. Are they going to stop giving? Did we do something wrong? Do we need to fix this right now? Donor complaints can feel like an emergency, especially when you're leading a startup, small, or growing nonprofit where every donor relationship matters. But not every complaint means your organization made a mistake,...

When nonprofit leaders think about stewardship, they usually think about finances. Budgets. Donor dollars. Financial accountability. Those things matter. But what if the resource you're wasting most isn't money? In this episode, nonprofit growth coach Matt Stockman argues that time—not money—is often a nonprofit's most under-managed resource. Every unnecessary meeting, every unclear expectation, e...

Your founding board of directors will influence nearly every part of your nonprofit's future. Many new nonprofit leaders choose board members simply because they're willing to help or because they need names for their IRS application. Unfortunately, those early decisions often create governance problems, unclear expectations, and difficult relationships that can take years to correct. In this epis...

Artificial intelligence is changing how nonprofits work. The question isn't whether your organization should use AI. The better question is: What should AI actually be doing? In this episode of the Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast for Startup, Small, and Growing Nonprofits , Matt Stockman shares a practical framework to help nonprofit leaders decide where AI creates real value—and where it can quietl...

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...