Hasta luego. Tot ziens. À bientôt.The podcast got too big, too quick for these two social sector entrepreneurs and we need some time to regroup.What’s NOT changing?The concept of Donor Growth - more AND deeper relationships with more of your do

Part 2: How to think about donor acquisition

Sep 7th, 2023 26m 11s

Everyone wants new donors.But few organizations are ready to invest in donor acquisition—and more importantly, the work it takes to invest in the relationship with new donors. Or are they?Today we talk about a few different ways organizations a

Part 1: The acquisition hamster wheel

Aug 31st, 2023 17m 19s

Acquisition… the final frontier.Everyone thinks they know what acquisition is and seem to be either firmly for or against.How did some nonprofits get really big through direct mail acquisition?Now that many nonprofits are losing donors, how sho

7 recession-proof fundraising first principles

Aug 24th, 2023 28m 44s

Are we in a recession? Who knows. But it’s no secret: a lot of nonprofits are seeing a decline in revenue after the covid bump we experienced for a few years. On today’s podcast, we get into 7 principles of fundraising that will help you keep t

Fundraisers in cars getting coffee

Aug 17th, 2023 25m 21s

Jump in, we’re going for a ride.On today’s podcast, Louis and Mike have a chat about some of the things they’ve been thinking about.From why focusing on the fundamentals in fundraising is so hard, to building a cheap CRM using no-code tools, to

Do nonprofits need North Star metrics?

Aug 10th, 2023 35m

Should you focus on donors, dollars, or something else?Some shops have over 25 metrics that they use to measure gift officer performance!Others, don’t have any… (or maybe just this one: the is-the-board-happy metric)What should a fundraising sh

Check this off your list: ✅ creating a checklist to support fundraising

Jul 27th, 2023 18m 25s

Can a simple checklist reduce the complexity of your fundraising operations? It sounds too simple. Maybe even too systematized and rigid and robotic.But what if the complexity of our lives requires the simplest of solutions to give us back the

Are nonprofits competing for market share?

Jul 20th, 2023 14m 30s

You’ve likely heard this before: “your nonprofit is competing for market share—so you need a clear value proposition to win.”But is that really true? Here are some assumptions we’re making if we think that way:That giving to charity is like buy

If the donor isn’t a hero, who is she?

Jul 7th, 2023 35m 23s

For decades, the common way of talking about donor-centric fundraising was defined as “the donor is the hero.” The sentiment was harmless in its intent. Noble, even.It was meant to help charity administrators realize that people play the main c

The Role of the Nonprofit CEO: The Grand Coordinator

Jun 29th, 2023 34m 50s

It may not feel like it, but large parts of the world live in greater abundance than ever before.There is more work, more services, more wealth. And yes, more people.Increasingly, the hard part is coordinating all of this!Donors and other exter

Ideating new businesses that serve nonprofits

Jun 22nd, 2023 46m 7s

Welcome to the Shark Tank…or, more like the Turtle Tank (to avoid any trademark violations).On this week’s episode, Mike pitches Louis some ideas for businesses that would help nonprofits improve their fundraising operations—and Louis gets to i

Should We Think of Fundraising as a Funnel?

Jun 15th, 2023 30m 13s

There are several mental models we use to organize and understand our fundraising work. The funnel is one of the most well-known.In today’s episode, we explore the funnel model with you:What it’s good at explaining. What it misses.How it could

The ABCs of fundraising failure

Jun 8th, 2023 40m 32s

What keeps organizations from growing once they’ve hit a certain maturity? On this week’s podcast, we discuss 3 challenges we’ve seen that hinder fundraising growth.Arrogance: Thinking your org is “too important” to fail—or too big, or too well

The New Playbook for Higher Ed Annual Fundraising

Jun 1st, 2023 47m 57s

If you were a fundraiser in higher education 20-30 years ago, the playbook for the annual fund was clear: a couple of letters to your alumni, a reunion effort, and lots of volunteer solicitation.Now… not so much.Most alumni are non-responsive t

Fyre Festival 2 and the incurable addiction of special events

May 25th, 2023 42m 57s

We're diving into the captivating story of the Fyre Festival and exploring how it serves as both a shining example and cautionary tale for special events in fundraising.At it’s best, special events can:Brings corporate partners on board Be a ph

Louis reveals the project he’s been working on: The Annual Fund Toolkit

May 18th, 2023 31m 23s

Do you struggle with keeping your donors engaged and your pipeline filled? You're not alone.Over the last 6 months, Louis has delved deep into the challenges of consultant relationships and the complex nature of one-to-many work. The good news?

Back from Build Good Summit

May 11th, 2023 40m 58s

We’re back from the first-ever Build Good Summit at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights—and we’re doing a bit of a recap.-What did we learn?-What made the BG Summit different from other conferences?-What were some of the key challenges fundrai

Live Consulting: How to grow the monthly giving program of Free To Shine

Apr 27th, 2023 53m 35s

In this special episode of Donor Growth, we chat with Georgia Morrison from Australia about how to grow her organization’s monthly giving program. Free To Shine raises about $400,000 per year to protect girls in Cambodia from being sex traffic

Fundraising use cases for ChatGPT that aren’t content creation

Apr 20th, 2023 34m 51s

Are you tired of hearing about ChatGPT? If you are, this episode might be for you.Because chances are, most use cases you’ve seen are about using AI to help you write thank you notes, emails, appeals, gift agreements, and more. But that’s only

Does nonprofit fundraising as a career have a future?

Apr 13th, 2023 28m 48s

Would you recommend fundraising as a career to your kids?Why or why not?Like so many areas of nonprofit life, we find that there is not enough awareness and data.Join this episode to hear how Mike and Louis are trying to figure this one out.GET

Business ideas for enterprising fundraisers

Apr 6th, 2023 44m 50s

If you’ve ever dreamed of starting a business that serves the nonprofit sector, but you’re not sure what business to start…well, we don’t either.But on today’s podcast, we discuss a few ideas. From print-on-demand services and no-code CRM tools

Funnel-hacking Fundraising

Mar 30th, 2023 36m 6s

What is "funnel hacking" in the context of fundraising?In business, funnel hacking is the process of reverse-engineering the marketing and sales strategies of other organizations to understand what works and what doesn't. But in the context of

We’re in over our heads with The Overhead Conversation

Mar 23rd, 2023 29m 57s

Do donors really hate overhead? Or does it mean more to us than to the general public?Today, we’re sharing some information that changed the way we think about overhead.We think you’ll find it compelling.GET CONNECTEDFollow Louis Diez on Linked

7 retention accelerators you can use to keep donors engaged

Mar 16th, 2023 28m 41s

1. Thank donors quickly—and thank them well.2. Pick up the phone.3. Ask for advice and feedback.4. Report back on their specific gift.5. Create an onboarding journey that provides something emotionally valuable, focuses on making donors feel se

With Surveys, the Money is in the Follow-up

Mar 9th, 2023 32m 35s

Like any powerful fundraising tool, surveys can be both your best and your worst idea.They are a fantastic way to make people feel seen and valued…… unless you ignore the results, ask transactional questions that put people in the wrong frame o