Rainmaker Fundraising Podcast

Trevor Bragdon is a behavioral scientist by training, and is Founder of 7-Figure Fundraising. He and his team have developed a proprietary training program that helps nonprofit CEO's, fundraisers, and board members hone their fundraising message (i.e., the pitch) to secure more 5, 6, and 7-figure gifts from individual donors, foundations, and corporate partners. This unique approach to crafting a compelling fundraising pitch has helped organizations raise millions of additional dollars. Yesterday, Trevor conducting an exclusive training for 70 Newport ONE clients and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. In our podcast conversation, Trevor distills some of those same key insights that you can start taking advantage of immediately.If you want to raise more 5, 6, and 7-figure gifts for your organization, check out this conversation. I promise you'll be glad you did!

Chances are your organization was NOT prepared for COVID-19. Even organizations that work in international relief and development or domestic emergency response weren't fully prepared for all of the impacts of COVID-19, and how it would impact operations, fundraising, internal processes, staff, etc.  That's why I was so excited to sit down with Amy McFeely and Laura Olean from Category One Consulting recently. Their firm helps organizations maximize their effectiveness through human resources support, strategic planning, program evaluation, and needs assessments.  When COVID hit, they jumped into action to create a Crisis Response Toolkit specifically designed to help nonprofits respond to the COVID crisis and succeed throughout the remainder of 2020. And even better, this Toolkit can easily be applied to help nonprofits navigate a crisis of any type and scope. I hope you enjoy this conversation about preparing for and responding to crises, and take a minute to check out their Crisis Response Toolkit to get your nonprofit ready to respond to a crisis of any kind. Special Offer From Velocity Strategy Solutions, Our Episode Sponsor: 

Brady Josephson, Managing Director of the Institute for Online Fundraising at NextAfter recently sat down with us to share what he's learning about the changing fundraising landscape during the COVID-19 crisis. This conversation and the learnings that Brady shares are based on observations from more than 157 nonprofits that were and are actively fundraising during the COVID crisis. Brady is learning and seeing some interesting trends that you'll no doubt want to be aware of:As COVID took hold in early March, a lot of fundraising slowed or stopped. There was a marked decrease in email volume, as some organizations slowed down and some went entirely dark.Starting early in April, organizations began to emerge from the initial shock of COVID, and fundraising (particularly online) saw growth both in April and May (in both email volume and total revenue). This was further supported by the Giving Tuesday NOW initiative. Through late May and into early June, we've now started to see a correction (downturn) in email volume again. There is absolutely value in achieving first mover status when it comes to responding and communicating in a crisis. The faster an organization can get into market and begin to communicate with constituents, the easier it is to navigate a crisis situation. Organizations responding fastest and raising the most money during the COVID situation are those that are NOT focused on perfection, but focused on speed to market. They are willing to move quickly, test, learn, and adapt. The more human you can make your digital fundraising and marketing efforts, the better you'll perform.The elevated sense of empathy across the globe has resulted in increased giving across many different types of organizations, even those that might not typically receive increased funding during a crisis (i.e., arts, etc.).High dollar sustainers may be more apt to opt out of their monthly commitment right now. They are seeing this emerging in the U.S., and we have seen it more significantly in Europe. Since people are at home more right now, a lot more of our online consumption is happening on desktop vs mobile. That's good news because desktop experience tends to increase conversion rates. However, this may mean that when the country reopens and people return to work (whenever that is...), online conversion rates my drop again to reflect the shift back to mobile consumption. Special Offer From Our Episode Sponsor, Velocity Strategy Solutions: 

We sat down last week for a leadership conversation with Kishshana Palmer, CFRE, CEO of Kishshana & Co., Founder of The Rooted Collaborative, and Author of Hey, I'm New Here. We scheduled this conversation months ago, and initially our plan was to talk broadly about leadership trends, insights & learnings across the nonprofit sector. But...then George Floyd was murdered here in Minneapolis. Cities across the state -- across the nation -- erupted in protest against police brutality and racism. As any good leaders would do, we assessed our situation and changed our objectives to address the critically important issues of equity and inclusion in the nonprofit sector.This conversation is a bit more off the cuff, and maybe not as polished as our other episodes. It's a bit raw. A bit more unvarnished. But such a necessary discussion. I hope you'll give us just a bit of grace if the conversation is a little more meandering than you might be used to. I encourage you to listen all the way through, as we cover a ton of important ground.I'm so grateful to Kishshana for walking through this conversation with us, shooting straight with us, and not holding back. Special Opportunity From Our Episode Sponsor, Velocity Strategy Solutions:

You are going to LOVE this conversation with Mark P. Fisher on Inspiring Growth as a leader!Mark is host of the Inspiring Growth Podcast, CEO, and Chief Encourager at Inspiring Growth, a firm he founded to help organizations increase revenue, organizational leadership, and overall joy in their work. Check out some of Mark's great offerings here.If you like The Rainmaker Fundraising Podcast, you can thank Mark. He's the person who inspired me to launch this podcast!I first met Mark when he and his team led the national marketing effort for the Paramount Pictures movie, Same Kind of Different As Me, and we worked together to craft a Red Carpet Event strategy to market this film nationally in support of Gospel Rescue Missions through a partnership with City Gate Network.  In this episode, Mark and I covered a ton of ground in a very candid conversation about his personal leadership journey.Here are some of the key points we hit in this discussion:Mark's personal story of going 100+ miles per hour as a leader until he hit a wall...and it nearly killed him. He talks about how this experience helped him reset his priorities and focus, and create Inspiring Growth, his life's calling.The importance of caring for yourself as a leader in order to allow you to truly serve those you lead.The power of kindness, and how it helps you lead well.The importance of resilient thinking, and how that allows you to pick up  the pieces and move on after failure or setbacks. As a leader, why you should strive to believe the best about people, and how that can radically change the culture in your organization.How to use a post mortem or after action review to overcome failure and create learning that will move your organization forward in a healthy way, even when a major project or initiative doesn't turn out the way you'd hoped.Special Offer From Our Episode Sponsor, Velocity Strategy Solutions:

Dionne M. Rosser-Mims, Ph.D., is Dean of the College of Education at Troy University. She's an educator, author, and successful leader. She's also my longtime friend, and someone I'm incredibly proud of and inspired by.We recently sat down to discuss leadership, and to get Dr. Rosser-Mims' perspective on what it takes to be a great leader. Here are :Leaders don't sit on the sidelines and complain -- they jump in and focus on finding solutions to the problems of the day.The best leaders focus on collaborative engagement, not on being the smartest person in the room.Integrity is critical for leadership success.Great leaders are consistent communicators, making sure that everyone understands where the organization is headed, how they individually fit into the plan, and what is expected of them.Being an authentic leader means modeling what you expect of others. If you aren't willing to do something yourself, you can't expect others to step up and do it either.It's a great conversation, and I hope you enjoy it!Special Offer From Our Episode Sponsor, Velocity Strategy Solutions:

Leading well is critical -- especially during the challenging times in which we find ourselves these days. That's why I think my recent conversation with Bobby Lewis, Executive Vice President of Operations at Love Worth Finding is so important. According to Bobby, great leaders:Are lifelong learners who focus on adding knowledge and skills regularlyLead THROUGH others rather than trying to do everything themselvesInvest in mentoring others so that skill-building becomes an ingrained focus across organizationsDevelop deep, meaningful relationships with those they mentor, rather than trying to rush the processLead through collaboration and consensus-building instead of dictatingEmbrace the power of relationships rather than focusing on authority-based leadershipGet close to people -- staff, donors, and clients -- in times of crisis, rather than pulling awayBuild trust by investing in people and relationshipsThere's some real leadership gold in this episode. You don't want to miss it!Special Offer From Our Episode Sponsor, Velocity Strategy Solutions: 

Gabe Cooper is CEO at Virtuous Software, Founder of The Modern Nonprofit Fundraiser Podcast, and Author of Responsive Fundraising. We got together recently to talk about the concept of Responsive Fundraising, and what it means for the future of the nonprofit sector. What's exciting is that the concept of Responsive Fundraising doesn't require you to throw out everything you're doing and start over completely. You don't have to lose ground in order to improve donor relationships and increase revenue.  Responsive Fundraising is really about applying the hyper-personalization that Americans are accustomed to in their daily life to their charitable giving experience. It's about using data you have at hand (or that you can get your hands on) to develop highly personalized donor experiences that communicate to your donors that you value them, you know them, and you are committed to providing them with a meaningful experience every time they interact with your organization.  Here are Gabe's key points about Responsive Fundraising: It's less about tactics and technology and more about shifting your mindset.  The success of Responsive Fundraising requires that you Listen (i.e., collecting more and better data, and understanding how it influences donor behavior), Connect (i.e., how can you use simple marketing automation to deliver relevant messages to your constituents at the exact time they are most likely to want it and engage with it?), and Adjust (i.e., creating a feedback loop so that you are modifying your organizational engagement approach based on what you see and hear from your donors as you deliver  them this new experience).  Responsive Fundraising doesn't require to stop mass fundraising activities like direct mail, email, and telemarketing. Instead, it gives you a framework for making those interactions more meaningful (and more valuable) to the donor.  You don't have to burn your entire program down and start from scratch. You can start small, with just two or three key elements. Once you prove out the value in small ways, use that success to increase the scale of Responsive Fundraising in your charity. Embracing and deploying a Responsive Fundraising philosophy and strategy in your organization doesn't require you to upend everything you're doing and change staff. It does, however, require that everyone be aligned around the goal, and willing to learn and change the way they've worked in the past.  Change of any kind -- but especially change like this -- requires a willingness to take risk and embrace failure in the service of creating something better for those you serve.  As Gabe shared, ultimately results matter. Organizations that have adopted this Responsive Fundraising approach are improving their retention rates by as much as 15%, and are also moving the needle on average gift by as much as 10-15%.  You can download your own copy of the Responsive Fundraising Blueprint here.    Download the full show notes here.  Special Offer From Our Episode Sponsor, Velocity Strategy Solutions: 

Visionary leaders don't succeed with just great ideas. They succeed because they've built a framework that inspires others and provides their teams with the necessary tools to perform."I was recently blessed to have a fascinating conversation with Dr. Kent Ingle. In this fast-paced conversation, Dr. Ingle delivered huge leadership wisdom and value -- and I think you'll get a lot from this conversation. Dr. Ingle is President of Southeastern University in Lakeland, FL. He's also author of multiple books including Framework Leadership, 9 Disciplines of Enduring Leadership, This Adventure Called Life, and The Modern Guide to College. He also hosts The Framework Leadership Podcast.Here are just six of the key takeaways from our conversation:1. Focus on being self-aware and self-disciplined. Self-awareness allows you to understand who you are, your gifts, your passions, your abilities and experiences. And always knowing that helps you to understand the opportunities before you.2. If you want to succeed as a leader, you need to build habits of discipline. Whether they be physical, emotional, educational, spiritual, or other, your ability to be disciplined in your own life will greatly impact your ability to lead others. 3. People long for value and significance. As a leader, your responsibility is to help people understand their value and significance in the world. 4. Leadership is all about your relational connectivity and how you interact and influence and have impact. 5. One of the most difficult and challenging things for any organization is to be excellent at systems thinking where you see the big picture, understand how the individual parts really interconnect to each other to accomplish the big picture. Especially at times of change, if you aren't growing your systems at the same speed of your overall growth, you're probably going to hit some plateaus. 6. To be successful as a leader, when leadership requires you to build a map to a place you've never been before, you need a framework. A successful framework for leadership requires four key elements: Listening - You must constantly listen to all stakeholders and constituencies.Contextualize - After you've listened to all involved, make sure that you've appropriately contextualized the situation so you fully understand what the issue really is.Audit - Continue to audit your perceived understanding of the issue. When you think you've listened, and you think you understand the context, keep clarifying until you have certainty that there's shared understanding of the issue. Align the vision - Align the strategy, the finances, the people, and the systems to meet the vision. You can grab the full show notes here. I hope you enjoy this insightful conversation!Special Offer from our Episode Sponsor, Velocity Strategy Solutions:

Coral Dill is the Founder and Principal at Grant Writer Etc., and a contributing author to the 2019 #1 Best Seller, 101 Biggest Mistakes Nonprofits Make And How You Can Avoid Them. Coral is an expert grant writer and regularly helps nonprofits of all shapes and sizes become "grant ready", and has helped those organizations raise millions of dollars over the last decade. In this episode Coral talks with us about some of the biggest grant seeking mistakes and how to avoid them. According to Coral, the biggest mistakes she sees are:Starting with grants: So many organizations - especially start-up nonprofits - assume that the fastest way to significant funding is through grants. But the reality is that most funders want to see a track record of success and fiscal health outside of grants before they'd be willing to consider a funding request.  Sending unsolicited funding requests: Grant seeking my be functionally different from individual donor fundraising, but there's one major similarity. They're both deeply relationship-based. In the same way that you wouldn't think of calling an individual donor you'd never met before and making an ask on the spot, don't make that mistake with grant funders either. Assuming that everyone wants to fund you: Grant funders have specific focuses of their philanthropy. If your approach to grant seeking is to "spray and pray", you could end up sending a million grant requests and get the same result as if you'd sent none at all. Instead, invest the time to research, find funders that are aligned with your mission, and engage them deeply -- that's where you'll find success.Making poor revenue assumptions: This isn't unique to grant seeking, but it's critical to avoid. The mistake here is assuming that you're going to get funded by every funder or that they'll fund you at 100% of your request. It's rare that any organization gets funded at 100% by 100% of the funders they solicit. Make sure you're not executing spending plans based on poor assumptions like this.Not being prepared to manage the grant: Most organizations are prepared to accept the funds associated with a grant. But as Coral explains, often organizations are ill-prepared to handing the various stipulations, reporting requirements, and other aspects of actually fulfilling on the grant terms. If you're not prepared for those, you're not ready to solicit the grant yet.This conversation is full of great insights and context around the biggest grant seeking mistakes that organizations make, and what you can do to make sure your nonprofit doesn't make these same mistakes. You can download the full show notes here. Special Offer From Our Episode Sponsor, Velocity Strategy Solutions: