Every fundraiser on the planet has, at some point, wished they could have a prep conversation with a donor before they actually sit in front of them to make an ask of any kind.  But that’s silly. That’s not possible. Instead, most of us settled for half-baked role playing with a colleague from time-to-time.  And that was helpful. Sort of. But it was never exactly what we needed. It was never dialed in as much as many of us wanted. The result?  Many of us still walked into donor visits and meetings nervous, unsure of ourselves, and unprepared to navigate […]

“How are you?” Simple question, right?  If you lead a nonprofit organization, a ministry, or work inside one, this probably feels like a loaded question. A trap, if you will.  What we all know, but what so few are willing to admit, is that burnout is at an all-time high in our sector. As Nathan LaGrange, Executive Director at Oasis Rest International says, leaders don’t set out in their careers to flame out. No one wants to burn out, to harm their most precious relationships, or end up on the brink personal and professional failure. But it happens. https://youtube.com/shorts/ksKb5a8B_GI?feature=share In […]

With access to clean water remaining a pressing issue in our world, charity: water stands out as a beacon of innovation and change. Brady Josephson, VP of Marketing and Growth (and a semi-regular guest on The Rainmaker show), shares insights into how the organization is transforming the way it engages with the world, driven by a relentless mission to provide clean water to every person on the planet. In our conversation, Brady the power of curiosity, a trait that fuels his (and the entire team’s) approach to innovation at charity: water. Working alongside the organization’s founder Scott Harrison, who embodies […]

Should you invest in branding, OR, should you invest in fundraising?  What creates greater impact for your cause?  The answer often depends on who you ask. There are plenty of fundraising consultants who will tell you that investing in brand is a useless exercise, and all you need to do to be successful is invest in fundraising. Buy more direct mail. Spend more on paid ad programs. Hire more consultants. Do more events. If you’re not careful, you’ll invest in a grab bag of tactics that may not move the needle for you on revenue. Sadly, too many nonprofits do […]

Do you know the 7 key donor performance metrics that drive organizational fundraising success in your nonprofit?  My friends Gabe Cooper and Carly Berna from Virtuous help us dig into those KPI trends in this conversation about the Virtuous 2025 Nonprofit Benchmarking Report. Some of the insights we cover in this conversation include: The importance of donor retention, and the key difference between overall retention and net donor retention Challenges facing the nonprofit sector, and how doubling down on relationship, personalization, and automation can help offset some of those challenges Why you have to start leveraging data and automation (including […]