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by Nonprofit411
The Nonprofit411 Podcast is your go-to podcast for expert insights and practical tips on nonprofit funding and strategy. Hosted by Sarah Barton, each episode features in-depth conversations with industry leaders and innovators who share their knowledge on grant writing, funding opportunities, capacity building, and much more. Whether you’re a seasoned nonprofit professional or just starting out, the Nonprofit411 Podcast provides the resources and inspiration you need to make a greater impact. Tune in to learn from the best and elevate your nonprofit’s success!
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- 6 days ago35 min
AI Fundraising Copy With Soul: Sam Stern on What Donors Feel
Sam Stern says AI has read every appeal letter ever published. What it can't know on its own is why your donors give.Sam Stern is CEO at MagnifyGood, a communications agency for nonprofits, and he built ConnectionWorks, an AI communications system for teams with nobody assigned to communications. He started out owning and managing a group of radio stations, spent 20 years in brand marketing, then 20 in the nonprofit sector. He works from Sarasota.Sam's clearest example is what most of us hand the tool: a donor who has given ten years in a row, usually $4,000, and lives on the east side of town. In his words, "those are cold raw data kinds of things. You want to get tapping to the emotional component." His alternative starts with a phone call. Ask four or five donors what about your work speaks to them, how they found you, and what made them give. Record and transcribe the calls, then let AI find the pattern. He builds what you learn into a system with three parts, voice, narrative continuity, and relationship architecture, so it holds when staff move on.If your drafts are correct and still land flat, start here.In this episodeWhy AI makes nonprofit writing sound the same, and why donors can feel itSam's three parts: voice, narrative continuity, and relationship architectureWhy he wants nonprofits to say plainly that they use AI, and howA few ideas to apply at your nonprofitCall four or five donors, ask what connected them, record and transcribe the calls, and ask AI to find the pattern before your next appeal.Ask AI to help you define one donor persona: what keeps them up at night, what you do about it, and what they feel.Ask AI to act as a brand agency and interview you about your organization, then test what comes out on a social post.Resources MentionedConnect with SamConnectionWorks: https://connectionworks.aiMagnifyGood: https://magnifygood.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nonprofitstrategistConnect with SarahFollow the podcast on Apple Podcasts: https://podcast.nonprofit411.orgNonprofit411: https://nonprofit411.orgLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/nonprofit411The Generosity Roadmap for Nonprofits, a free class: https://nonprofit411.org/generosity_mapChapters00:00 Introduction05:56 No donor wakes up planning to give12:01 Why AI drafts all sound the same19:25 Voice, story, and relationship27:57 Ask donors for their stories30:42 Have AI interview you
- 2 weeks ago33 min
Scarcity Mindset: Pradnya Haldipur on Sharing Revenue Work
Your donors may not want to talk to you. They want the person doing the work.Pradnya Haldipur is the founder of Strategy. Creativity. Mentorship. She has spent going on thirty years in the sector, starting as executive assistant to the director of an art museum, where she fell into fundraising by accident. She has since worked with Doctors Without Borders, Mount Sinai, Boston Children's, and Children's National. She calls the work revenue generation, because that's what it is.One of Pradnya's favorite moments is a colleague's first donor visit. An assistant professor with a first big grant, a systems engineer, someone just starting out. They prep together, the colleague talks about their work, and afterward she hears the same thing every time: "That wasn't as hard as I thought it was gonna be. When do I get to do that again?"If asking has always been one person's job at your organization, this conversation is about sharing it.In this episodeWhy "nonprofit" is a tax designation, and why Pradnya says revenue generation instead of fundraisingThe scarcity cycle: raise more first, then we'll investPatient capital, endowments, and why the long game looks different in the social good sectorA few ideas to apply at your nonprofitBring a program person on your next donor visit. Prep together, then let them talk about their work.Ask whether development can have 5% of each person's time, written into their role and their year-end review.Put endowment and earned revenue on the agenda for one board conversation, even if the answer is not yet.Resources MentionedConnect with PradnyaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pradnya-haldipur/Connect with SarahNonprofit411: https://nonprofit411.orgLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/nonprofit411The Generosity Roadmap, a free class: https://nonprofit411.org/generosity_mapChapters00:00 Introduction01:22 The hobby question03:54 Falling into fundraising by accident07:54 Why "nonprofit" is only a tax designation08:23 Donors want the expert12:07 A shared desire to solve a problem15:58 Talking about money as money17:08 Bringing colleagues into the work20:13 Five percent of everyone's time23:01 The scarcity mindset26:22 The long game and patient capital28:07 What we forgot about endowments31:56 Who goes unserved in the meantime32:46 Where to find Pradnya
- 3 weeks ago33 min
Nonprofit Branding: Roger Starkweather on How Your Team Is Showing Up
Nonprofit Branding: Roger Starkweather on How Your Team Is Showing UpYour brand isn't the logo. It's whether everyone around you tells the same story.Roger Starkweather is co-founder and CEO of ANEWbrand, a Seattle-born agency whose motto is branding for the greater good. He got his start in sales, selling rubber stamps door to door, and has built businesses of his own ever since, including one in construction. He and his business partner, Steven Picanza, have worked together in the agency world for fifteen years, and both have worked with SCORE, a nonprofit that mentors people starting businesses.Roger describes a project his team is working on right now that never leaves the building. The organization's own groups were arguing among themselves, so ANEWbrand came in with workshops and surveys to say what nobody inside could. Sarah connects it to the mergers she's seeing across the sector. When two people who each own a house get married, building a new one together is easier than moving into either.If your staff, board, and supporters would each describe you a little differently, start here.In this episodeWhy Roger calls brand guidelines an operating system, and what happens when nobody feeds itMarketing as the road brands drive down, and return on experience as a way to measure what dollars can'tThe internal side of a brand, when staff and volunteers need the same clarity your donors doA few ideas to apply at your nonprofitRead the top section of your homepage. Does it say why you exist before it shows a single pretty picture?Give branding and marketing its own pillar in your strategic plan, with a budget line that can stand up to it.Put Roger's question on your next team agenda: how are we showing up today? Any hesitation is worth a conversation.Resources MentionedConnect with RogerANEWbrand: https://www.anewbrand.co/Email: roger@anewbrand.coConnect with SarahNonprofit411: https://nonprofit411.orgLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/nonprofit411The Generosity Roadmap, a free class: https://nonprofit411.org/generosity_mapChapters00:00 Introduction02:03 The hobby question03:09 Why nonprofits, and why now05:49 Is branding a real investment?06:15 Your brand is an operating system07:34 What a clear brand does for fundraising10:12 The road brands drive down11:38 Return on experience14:36 Competing on a world stage16:02 Thinking like a retailer17:45 The biggest challenge: the budget19:16 Evolution or revolution20:57 Do nonprofits invest enough?22:49 Signs it's time25:05 When the brand problem is internal26:18 Mergers and the new house28:00 How am I showing up today?29:25 Where to find Roger
- 3 weeks ago34 min
LinkedIn for Fundraisers: Michelle Benson on Being Found By Funders
Michelle Benson spent 18 years chasing funders, then crossed to the other side of the desk and watched them go looking instead.Michelle Benson is the founder of Culture of Philanthropy, online training that teaches fundraisers, CEOs, communications staff and consultants how to be found on LinkedIn by the people they want to reach. She was a fundraiser for 18 years and has spent about ten on the funding side. She joins Sarah to explain what changed when she stopped chasing high value funders and started building a way for them to find her.She tells it from inside a trust fund. Two colleagues came in every morning to a flood of applications, most of which missed the criteria, and had to wade through the weak ones to reach the strong ones. So the fund closed its open application process. Those same two people were handed the giving criteria and, by her account, fifteen million pounds to place, and sent out to find charities themselves. The quality of the pipeline went up. So did the mood of the two people doing the work.If your whole pipeline runs on cold outreach, this is the second string.In this episodeWhy funders are closing open applications and going out to look insteadThe algorithm as a sniffer dog, and what your words and actions send it afterWhy a post with plenty of likes can still be a post that failedA few ideas to apply at your nonprofitWrite the goal down before you touch LinkedIn. Something as specific as four new corporate funders at around $20,000 in the next 12 months.Describe your best supporter and your worst one, then write your profile for the best one. Your profile is what the algorithm reads.Give every post one job, then judge it against that job. If the job was clicks to your site, likes are not the score.Resources MentionedConnect with MichelleCulture of Philanthropy: https://www.cultureofphilanthropy.coLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-benson-creates-digital-pipelinesConnect with SarahFollow the show on Apple Podcasts: https://podcast.nonprofit411.orgNonprofit411: https://www.nonprofit411.orgLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nonprofit411The Generosity Roadmap for Nonprofits, a free class to explore the systems that keep community at the heart of fundraising: https://nonprofit411.org/generosity_mapChapters00:00 Introduction04:20 Eighteen years of chasing07:14 "My job is to be found"14:33 The algorithm as a sniffer dog25:18 When likes mean the post failed
- 4 weeks ago34 min
LinkedIn for Fundraisers: Michelle Benson on Being Found by Funders
Michelle Benson spent 18 years chasing funders, then crossed to the other side of the desk and watched them go looking instead.Michelle Benson is the founder of Culture of Philanthropy, online training that teaches fundraisers, CEOs, communications staff and consultants how to be found on LinkedIn by the people they want to reach. She was a fundraiser for 18 years and has spent about ten on the funding side. She joins Sarah to explain what changed when she stopped chasing high value funders and started building a way for them to find her.She tells it from inside a trust fund. Two colleagues came in every morning to a flood of applications, most of which missed the criteria, and had to wade through the weak ones to reach the strong ones. So the fund closed its open application process. Those same two people were handed the giving criteria and, by her account, fifteen million pounds to place, and sent out to find charities themselves. The quality of the pipeline went up. So did the mood of the two people doing the work.If your whole pipeline runs on cold outreach, this is the second string.In this episodeWhy funders are closing open applications and going out to look insteadThe algorithm as a sniffer dog, and what your words and actions send it afterWhy a post with plenty of likes can still be a post that failedA few ideas to apply at your nonprofitWrite the goal down before you touch LinkedIn. Something as specific as four new corporate funders at around $20,000 in the next 12 months.Describe your best supporter and your worst one, then write your profile for the best one. Your profile is what the algorithm reads.Give every post one job, then judge it against that job. If the job was clicks to your site, likes are not the score.Resources MentionedConnect with MichelleCulture of Philanthropy: https://www.cultureofphilanthropy.coLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-benson-creates-digital-pipelinesConnect with SarahFollow the show on Apple Podcasts: https://podcast.nonprofit411.orgNonprofit411: https://www.nonprofit411.orgLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nonprofit411The Generosity Roadmap for Nonprofits, a free class to explore the systems that keep community at the heart of fundraising: https://nonprofit411.org/generosity_mapChapters00:00 Introduction04:20 Eighteen years of chasing07:14 "My job is to be found"14:33 The algorithm as a sniffer dog25:18 When likes mean the post failed
- Oct 9, 202634 min
Fundraising Goals: Jo McPartland on Selling the Why, Not the Item | Nonprofit411
People don't say yes to the item. They say yes to the reason you're asking.Jo McPartland is the fundraising coach at Dutch Mill Bulbs, a fundraising company founded in central Pennsylvania in 1960. She ran fundraisers as a teacher and as a volunteer leader before she moved to the other side of the table. Dutch Mill Bulbs works with hundreds of groups every season, and Jo coaches them through it, from Scout troops and churches to sports teams and animal rescues.One group Jo works with has to travel for every field trip. They hit their goal every single year. The kids could say they're raising money for buses. Jo's point is that they aren't. "It's not gas, it's not transportation. That's the means to have that experience."If your goal feels too big to say out loud, start by dividing it.In this episodeWhy so many groups start with "whatever we can make," and what changes when they pick a numberThe one sentence every volunteer can say: what it's for, how much, and how to helpCelebrating halfway, and the pink ribbon tulips that support the National Breast Cancer FoundationA few ideas to apply at your nonprofitDivide your goal by the number of people asking. Six or seven sales each is a couple of neighbors and a coworker.Name what the money makes possible, not what it pays for.Give supporters two ways to help, in person and online, so a grandparent in another state can still say yes.Resources MentionedConnect with JoDutch Mill Bulbs: https://dutchmillbulbs.comFundraiser Goal Calculator: https://dutchmillbulbs.com/goal-calculator/Pink Ribbon Tulips: https://dutchmillbulbs.com/product/o-pink-ribbon-tulips/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jo-mcpartlandConnect with SarahNonprofit411: https://nonprofit411.orgLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/nonprofit411The Generosity Roadmap, a free class: https://nonprofit411.org/generosity_mapChapters00:00 Introduction01:05 The hobby question02:17 From teacher and volunteer to fundraising coach03:43 How a bulb fundraiser works06:56 The groups Jo loves working with09:55 Choosing the bulbs12:10 Start with the goal13:35 It's not the item, it's the why14:54 Smaller numbers feel doable16:39 Celebrate the wins18:15 Pink ribbon tulips21:30 What groups run into23:30 The group that hits its goal every year25:34 Say it more than once, in more than one place27:10 Not gas money, an experience27:36 Tell them how to help29:16 Where to find Jo30:00 If I were starting from scratch
- Oct 2, 202629 min
Donor Stewardship: Brad Ton on Why a Human Note Beats a Polished One
The update your donors remember is rarely the polished one.Brad Ton is a senior account executive at FundMiner. He studied sports marketing at Indiana University and sold tickets for the Chicago Bulls and the Indiana Pacers before a sales boot camp through TechPoint, an Indianapolis nonprofit, introduced him to fundraising through OneCause. After eight or nine years in fundraising technology, he moved to the donor relations side, where he works with community foundations and hospital foundations on what happens after the gift.Sarah describes the email she suggests to the rural nonprofits she works with. Open a blank screen and write that you just saw Susie come in, over the moon, because they finished her porch. Brad's first reaction was that there's no ask in it. Send that out. Then he pointed out that before they hit record, Sarah had asked for his mailing address so she could mail him a handwritten note. "That's everything," he said.If stewardship keeps waiting for a free afternoon, this conversation is about sending it anyway.In this episodeWhy donor relations gets treated as work that doesn't raise money, and why Brad says that couldn't be further from the truthSarah's porch email, and why the less fancy the update, the betterTen handwritten notes or 500 newsletter emails, and what makes a touch point countA few ideas to apply at your nonprofitCount last week's new donors. Write each one a short note about one thing their gift touched, with no ask.Keep a running bank of small stories as they happen, so impact updates and year-end reports never start from a blank page.Put stewardship on the daily list, not the someday list. Brad keeps his short, works it in order, and crosses things off.Resources MentionedConnect with BradFundMiner: https://www.fundminer.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradton/Connect with SarahNonprofit411: https://nonprofit411.orgLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/nonprofit411The Generosity Roadmap, a free class: https://nonprofit411.org/generosity_mapChapters00:00 Introduction01:40 The hobby question04:02 From ticket sales to nonprofit tech08:24 Fundraising isn't begging09:40 What happens after the gift12:05 Technology that frees us to be human13:08 The porch email13:57 Why stewardship gets pushed aside15:21 One email, one reader17:30 A bank of stories18:07 Making it a habit19:08 The bar for human connection20:02 Ten notes or 500 emails21:45 Count your new donors23:13 Technology as a habit tool24:35 Human is better than done25:25 Video messages, stumbles and all27:34 Where to find Brad28:12 Stack days
- Sep 25, 202637 min
Corporate Partnerships: Dan Drucker on Moving Past Sponsorships
A sponsorship pays for one program. A partnership can change what your organization is able to do next year.Dan Drucker spent more than 35 years in corporate B2B sales and marketing, the last twenty or so at Canon, running sales and marketing for the US. He retired at the start of 2024 and founded Philanthropy Fuel, where he helps nonprofits build corporate partnerships. He writes The Fuel Tank, a free weekly newsletter. He volunteers at an animal shelter, and he and his wife are birders.Dan tells the story of a conversation he had with the head of employee volunteerism at Goldman Sachs. He was asking her about her work when it occurred to him to ask whether the bank's financial experts ran financial literacy workshops in underfunded communities. They did. It's one of the biggest things they do. He was already working with a hospital system in an underfunded community near him. He introduced the two. That match existed before the call; nobody had asked the question.If the only thing you've ever asked a business for is a check, this conversation is about everything else you could be asking for.In this episodeWhy a sponsorship keeps an organization living paycheck to paycheck, and what a partnership does insteadThe translation test: the two-word question that turns your impact into something a business can useSkills-based volunteering, and why twenty scientists beat twenty extra hands on a volunteer dayA few ideas to apply at your nonprofitTake one line from your last appeal and ask "so what?" until it describes something a business gets. "We planted 10,000 trees" becomes a hands-on volunteer experience their employees will ask about.Write down every business you already know: current sponsors, vendors, volunteers' employers, board connections, recurring donors. Those calls are warm. Start there before you research anyone new.Look past the CSR officer. Employee engagement, HR, marketing, and volunteer services all have a reason to say yes, and they're easier to reach.Resources MentionedConnect with DanPhilanthropy Fuel: https://www.philanthropyfuel.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/druckerdan/The Fuel Tank, his free weekly newsletter, comes out every Sunday. Sign up from his website or LinkedIn.Connect with SarahNonprofit411: https://nonprofit411.orgLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/nonprofit411The Generosity Roadmap, a free class: https://nonprofit411.org/generosity_mapChapters00:00 Introduction01:03 Photography, Birding, and Paying Attention03:31 Thirty-Five Years on the Corporate Side04:57 Two Sides That Don't Speak the Same Language07:13 Start by Looking Inward11:59 The Translation Test16:07 Your Sponsors Are Your First Stop20:04 Reaching Beyond Your Region22:17 Sponsorship or Partnership25:08 Skills-Based Volunteering30:15 Joint Research With Health and Education31:42 Where to Start Today
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About Nonprofit411 Podcast
The Nonprofit411 Podcast is your go-to podcast for expert insights and practical tips on nonprofit funding and strategy. Hosted by Sarah Barton, each episode features in-depth conversations with industry leaders and innovators who share their knowledge on grant writing, funding opportunities, capacity building, and much more. Whether you’re a seasoned nonprofit professional or just starting out, the Nonprofit411 Podcast provides the resources and inspiration you need to make a greater impact. Tune in to learn from the best and elevate your nonprofit’s success!
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