Why Fundraisers Are Burning Out | How to Build a Sustainable Dev Team

How do you run year-end fundraising without burning out your team or putting donors in a “fishbowl”? 🎧

In this episode of The Focused Fundraiser, host Rob Burke sits down with Raegan Mach, Director of Development at Urban Bridge in Oklahoma City, to talk about relationship-based, community-centric fundraising, trauma-informed donor engagement, and how project management can totally transform your nonprofit fundraising strategy.

You’ll hear how Urban Bridge invites donors into a youth-focused space without centering donors, how Raegan builds an annual and quarterly development plan, and how her team launched a “10 for 10” monthly giving campaign for Urban Bridge’s 10-year anniversary. They also dive into using your nonprofit CRM and integrations (like DonorDock) to track campaigns, tag donors, and avoid siloed spreadsheets.

Raegan also shares why fundraiser burnout and high turnover are one of the biggest threats to long-term sustainability—and what leaders can do to better invest in their development teams with benefits, professional development, and healthy culture.

If you care about major gifts, year-end fundraising, donor stewardship, and retaining both donors and fundraisers, this conversation is for you.

👉 Learn more about DonorDock and how it can help you simplify donor management and fundraising: [add your link here]

CHAPTERS

00:00 – Welcome to The Focused Fundraiser

00:30 – Raegan’s path into nonprofit development

01:58 – Fundraising as relationship-building

03:33 – Trauma-informed donor engagement at Urban Bridge

06:30 – From donor-centric to community-centric fundraising

08:58 – Development planning, calendars & project management

11:46 – CRMs, integrations & tracking campaign data

14:42 – Designing a strategic year-end giving campaign

19:45 – Turning year-end giving into year-round relationships

21:45 – Micro-reporting, touchpoints & donor storytelling

23:03 – Fighting fundraiser burnout & investing in your team

25:38 – Wrap-up & DonorDock invitation