The Build Good Fundraising Podcast

Send us a textDo you have a fundraising plan for 2021? Do you have a roadmap for how you will fund your mission during the next 12 months — and beyond?The simple act of developing a fundraising and development plan will already make you more likely to succeed, according to a new study co-authored by today's guest.But beyond just having plan, there are 4 main factors that influence just how successful your fundraising will be.Today we're talking to Barbara O’Reilly, president of Windmill Hill Consulting. She recently teamed up with the Institute for Sustainable Philanthropy to study the difference a fundraising plan can make.During the study, Barbara noticed common traits every successful nonprofit has in common. We are lucky to have her with us to learn the 4 factors that influence fundraising success.Today we’ll cover:[4:06] - Did the study find that having a plan leads to better fundraising outcomes?[5:53] - What a fundraising plan is[10:54] - Factor #1 - a fundraising culture. What does it mean to have a fundraising culture?[15:30] - How to get the whole organization to adopt a philanthropic mindset[20:15] - Factor #2 - data-informed planning[23:20] - Using data to adjust your fundraising plan[26:16] - Factor #3 - Commitment to the plan[28:38] - Can you take advantage of unforeseen opportunities and stay committed to your plan?[35:28] - Factor #4 - Senior Leadership and Board Involvement[37:40] - 2 non-negotiable requirements for board members[44:15] - Barbara’s encouragement for nonprofit leadersBarbara would love to connect with you. You can find information about her at her website:whillconsulting.com.  You can also access the study here: https://www.whillconsulting.com/development-planning-research-report For your chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card, take less than 3 minutes to fill out the survey to make this podcast even better: https://www.buildgood.org/survey 

Send us a textIn the last podcast of the year, we take a look at 3 things nonprofit leaders should do more of in the New Year to grow the value of their donor file.They don’t require you to completely change the way you do things. In most cases, they simply require you to prioritize your time and resources in a slightly different way. You might be weary and worn out from this year. Some of you lived through layoffs and budget cuts. You lived through having to keep the doors of your nonprofit open to help those who rely on you — all while struggling to raise funds in a way you’ve never had to before. But take heart. You've made it. So allow yourself a moment to feel proud about what you’ve achieved. And allow yourself a moment to just breathe and rest up a bit.Then start making a plan on how you can implement these 3 things in 2021 to raise more money, from more donors, more often. For your chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card, take less than 3 minutes to fill out the survey to make this podcast even better: https://www.buildgood.org/surveyFor your chance to win another $50 Amazon gift card, rate and review the show in Apple Podcasts. Then send a screenshot of your review to mike@buildgood.org.

Send us a textOn a special Christmas edition of the podcast, we are getting a behind the scenes look at how an independent artist raises funds to support their mission. Today we’re talking with Steve Bell. Steve is a singer-songwriter, author, and speaker. He has been sharing his music and message for almost 30 years across Canada, the US and beyond. Steve has a two-sided business model. He tours and sells music — but he also raises funds and relies on philanthropy. Over the years, Steve has built a broad base of donors by giving people a chance to support his mission in a meaningful way.This is one of the more insightful fundraising chats I’ve had in a long time. We get into the philosophy and mindset of fundraising: giving someone an opportunity to be a part of, and sharing in, the work we do.Today we’ll cover:[3:25] - Getting to know Steve as an artist, author, and mission-driven fundraiser[9:16] - How Steve maintains an active relationship with his audience[11:46] - How to grow a donor base while doing what you care about[18:43] - The currency of music[16:55] - Steve’s explains his pre-COVID marketing strategies and revenue streams[25:20] - Mike and Steve talk about advent; Steve performs, “The Magnificat”[31:20] - What Steve has done to adjust to fundraising during COVID-19[37:50] - What losing live events has meant for Steve’s business[37:30] - There is so shortcut to great fundraising  [45:30] - Steve performs the title track of his new album, “Wouldn’t You Love to Know”[49:34] - Steve’s parting thoughts for nonprofit leadersResources mentioned:A Spirituality of Fundraising by Henri Nouwen“A Hunkered Down Christmas” by Steve Bell7-book series “Pilgrim Year” by Steve BellSteve Bell’s newest release “Wouldn’t You Love to Know”Get connected:Steve would love to connect with you. You can find information about him at his website: stevebell.com Please consider subscribing to, rating, or sharing the podcast on your preferred platform. You can do that by clicking here. To take advantage of our FREE resources and get your 5-Minute Fundraising Fix, visit:fiveminutefundraisingfix.com

Send us a textA lot of direct response fundraising advice focuses on creating effective strategies, messages and donor journeys — but we rarely talk about the design of our fundraising. In fact, many organizations outsource the design of their fundraising to graphic designers who know a lot about how to make things look pretty, but know nothing about fundraising or how donors make decisions. The truth is, good fundraising design is less about how something looks, and more about how something works. To help us design fundraising materials and assets that get results, we’re talking with John Lepp from Agents of Good. John is a direct response marketing and design expert with over 20 years of experience working with charities across Canada and around the world. In our chat, we focus on how you can use design to best present and support your fundraising messages for maximum effect.Today we’ll cover:[6:22] The objective of design in fundraising[9:43] What does a great outer envelope look like?[13:01] The best direct mail pack Mike has ever received[14:01] How donors read your letters[16:55] What to do and what to avoid in a letter[24:27] Giving donors an opportunity to share[28:07] What’s more important: your brand guide or personal connection?[32:56] What a good reply form needs[37:30] Always add another piece to your mail[40:43] John’s encouragement for nonprofit leadersJohn would love to connect with you. You can find him on Twitter or on the Agents of Good website.Please consider subscribing to, rating, or sharing the podcast on your preferred platform. You can do that by clicking here. To take advantage of our free resources and get your 5-minute fundraising fix, visit:fiveminutefundraisingfix.com

Send us a textIf you are serious about growing your fundraising and building  meaningful and lasting relationships with your donors, then you have to start by understanding who your donors are — truly are. What motivates them? What values are important to them? How do they see themselves in the world? Discovering your donors' identity — and then creating donor journeys and communications based on those identities — is a strategy with high returns. It can strengthen the connection your donors have with your cause, and lead to an increase in commitment, engagement and giving.To help you get started, we are talking with Dr. Kiki Koutmeridou a behavioural scientist at DonorVoice. Kiki holds a Masters in Neuroscience and a PHD in Cognitive Psychology. As the nonprofit sector's first practising behavioural scientist, Kiki works closely with charities on applying behavioural insights to their direct marketing communications.In today’s chat, we are going to focus on understanding identity to improve your giving and retention. Today we’ll cover:[4:55] - Understanding what donor identity is and is not[7:35] - Why donor identity is relevant in fundraising[9:26] - Dr. Koutmeridou explains identity presence and identity importance[12:30] - How to use donor identity to drive giving and increase retention [14:40] - Discovering your donor’s identities[17:40] - Targeting new donors [22:10] - Acknowledging who the donor really is[26:00] - The Fundraising 5 [30:05] - How smaller nonprofits can utilize these concepts[34:45] - Dr. Koutmeridou’s encouragement for nonprofit leadersDr. Koutmeridou would love to connect with you. You can find her on agitator.net, where you can ask her a question or sign up for her new course.Please consider subscribing to, rating, or sharing the podcast on your preferred platform. You can do that by clicking here To take advantage of our free resources and get your 5-minute fundraising fix, visit:fiveminutefundraisingfix.com

Send us a textEvery day the human brain makes tens of thousands of decisions — most of them quickly and effectively, but not always rationally. And that can have a big impact on your fundraising.Today, we’ll learn from Dana K. Segal how donors make decisions, and how the science behind behavioural economics can be applied to improve your fundraising.Dana is a senior partner consultant at the Management Centre. Her consultancy portfolio includes NGOs across the UK, Europe and Africa. She has delivered decision-science training for clients that include Oxford University, RNLI, and MSF International. On today's podcast, Dana shares five heuristics — or tools — the brain uses to simplify its decision-making process. Along the way, you'll learn how you can use these tools in your own organization’s donor communications to raise more money,Applying these principles can lead your donors toward greater generosity, so make sure you have a notepad and pen as you listen to this episode.Today we’ll cover:[6:07] - What decision science and behavioural economics is[10:44] - How decision science serves ours donors[11:44] - The ethics of decision science[15:10] - What we know about how people make choices[17:04] - What is a heuristic and how do they drive decision making? [18:36] - Heuristic #1 - Perceived effort[25:06] - Heuristic #2 - Social proof[32:02] - Heuristic #3 - Defaults[34:20] - Can this backfire on your organization?[38:07] - Heuristic #4 - Loss aversion[43:04] - Heuristic #5 - MessengerDana would love to connect with you. You can find her on Twitter and learn more about her work  in decision science and behavioural economics here.Join in our mission to help others build good in the world by rating and sharing this podcast on all major platforms. You can do that by clicking here.https://www.buildgood.org/fiveminutefundrasingfix.com

Send us a textMulti-channel fundraising — the concept that we should cultivate donors across as many channels as we can — gets talked about a lot.And for good reason. The data shows that multi-channel giving is the best way to grow and maintain revenue.But high-quality multi-channel communication is hard to do. So what exactly are nonprofits doing in their marketing to truly be multi-channel — and do it well?To help you figure out what works, and what other organizations are doing, today we’re talking to Brady Josephson about new research on the sate of multi-channel donor communications.Brady is the vice president of innovation and optimization at NextAfter — a research lab and consultancy.Earlier this year, Brady and his team spent four months tracking and analyzing the giving experience of multi-channel fundraising from more than 100 different nonprofits. They gave individual gifts to each organization, and gathered all their insights into a new study they’ve just released. Today, Brady will share some of the most important takeaways from his research, and give you tips to help you in your own efforts so you can maximize your multi-channel fundraising potential.Today you'll learn:[5:23] - Why Brady and his team focused on multi-channel fundraising even though the nonprofit world talks about it relentlessly[11:52] - The key data points they tracked during their research[16:50] - What the research revealed about how nonprofits actually approach multi-channel fundraising[18:40] - How caring for smaller-level donors impacts your overall fundraising goals[22:56] - The importance of stewarding offline donors well[26:53] - How nonprofits subconsciously end up treating online donors better than offline donors[30:35] - The glaring lack of phone follow ups from nonprofits[32:37] - How a phone call touch point impacts a donor's giving[37:54] - Practical ways nonprofits can improve their multi-channel communication[40:34] - The impact that social ads make on fundraisingBrady would love to connect with you. You can find him on Twitter and Linkedin. Learn more about his work at NextAfter and check out the research talked about on this episode at multichannelnonprofit.com.This episode brought to you by fiveminutefundrasingfix.com and BuildGood. 

Send us a textWe are witnessing the greatest transfer of wealth in human history. Is your nonprofit benefiting from it?If you don't have a strong planned giving program integrated into everything you do, chances are you're leaving money on the table. You're not serving your donors well. And you're vulnerable to economic downturns and unexpected changes in revenue.But it doesn't have to be that way. You can diversify your revenue streams and build a reliable pipeline of strategically planned gifts supported by fantastic donor stewardship — starting today. Make no mistake: planned giving isn't just "someday" revenue. More than just gifts in wills, planned gifts are revenue that can have an immediate impact on your organization.To show you how, we chat with Paul Nazareth on today's podcast. Paul is the VP of Education and Development at the Canadian Association of Gift Planners. He's a prolific speaker and writer on philanthropy who is often asked to be on national radio and TV to speak about creating a personal legacy through charity.You'll hear why planned giving isn’t working for most organizations, and how to fix it. And you'll get helpful, easy tips your organization can implement today to improve your strategic and planned giving programs.Today we’ll cover:[5:18] - What we mean when we use the term ‘planned giving’[7:29] - Why planned gifts are the biggest gifts your donors will make, but remain the least focused-on aspect of fundraising[9:58] - How you can communicate the importance of planned giving to your board and others who have not traditionally focused on it[11:28] - The effect COVID-19 has had on wills and planned giving[17:51] - How to help a younger audience understand that legacy giving starts in their lifetime, not just when they pass away[20:39] - How soon an organization can expect reliable income from a planned giving program[23:02] - Practical tips on how to get started in procuring new planned giving donations[26:07] - Practical tips for those who have already been involved with planned giving but want to take it to the next level[29:31] - How to steward donors who have committed to giving a legacy gift[33:21] - Integrating planned giving into your budgetPaul would love to connect with you. You can find him on Twitter and Linkedin. Learn more about his work at Willpower.ca and find all the links mentioned in this episode at Cagp-acpdp.org.Join in our mission to help others build good in the world by rating and sharing this podcast on all major platforms. You can do that by clicking here.https://www.buildgood.org/fiveminutefundrasingfix.com

Send us a textWe live in the golden age of fundraising. With so much software, technology and tools at our disposal, it's never been easier to capture the attention of donors, reach new audiences and generate revenue.And yet, fundraising performance as a whole remains largely stagnant. Can relying too much on technology actually hinder our ability to make meaningful and personal connections with donors? On today's episode, we'll hear from Steven Shattuck on how you can have the best of both worlds: strong relationships with your donors that rely on personal touches and helpful digital tools to improve your systems and processes. Steven is the chief engagement officer at Bloomerang, a donor management software that focuses on donor retention. He is a prolific writer and speaker who curates Bloomerang’s educational and research content.His latest book, "Robots Make Bad Fundraisers: How Nonprofits Can the Maintain Heart in the Digital Age" was released earlier this year, with the goal of making digital fundraising more human. Today we’ll cover[4:45] - Why Steven, an exec at a tech company, wrote a book warning us to not rely too much on technology[8:02] - The reasons giving has remained stagnant even though technology has us in the golden age of fundraising[11:01] - What donors want, what they respond well to, and how technology can meet these donors needs[13:45] - What human-centered philanthropy looks like in practice[19:44] - How nonprofits should use donor data to create more human moments, interactions and connections with donors[25:53] - The role of mass emails in your fundraising efforts[30:18] - How you can make a mass email more personal[34:11] - How to make a giving page attractive and user-friendly[40:36] - What to include on your post-donation pageSteven would love to connect with you. You can find him on Twitter, LinkedIn, and learn more about his work at Bloomerang Join in our mission to help others build good in the world by rating and sharing this podcast on all major platforms. You can do that by clicking here Get FREE access to the 5 Minute Fundraising Fix by going to fiveminutefundrasingfix.com

Send us a textOver the last few months it’s become clear to many nonprofits that monthly donors are the heroes we need, but don’t deserve. During COVID, most revenue streams have been shaky and unpredictable. But what seems to have remained very stable is monthly giving. And that has caused a renewed interest in acquiring, retaining and upgrading monthly donors.The problem is, most monthly giving programs are notoriously bad. You sign up, the charity charges your credit card once a month...and that’s it. And most monthly giving programs grow really slowly. They idle in the background, with very little thought or care put into them.But done right, monthly giving has the potential to completely change the future and scale of your mission. And to help you build a stronger monthly giving program, today on the podcast we’re talking to Viktoria Harrison – co-founder of charity: water. Viktoria was part of the team at charity: water that built The Spring over the last few years, a monthly giving program that will raise $17 million dollars this years from more than 50,000 donors all around the world.Along the way, she has learned what works when building a monthly giving program — and what doesn’t. And now she has developed a program called The Monthly Giving Launch Guide to help organizations maximize their donor potential. In our chat, Viktoria walks through 5 reasons monthly giving programs fail, and why it’s worth investing every penny to get it right. Today we’ll cover:[3:47] - Why Viktoria went all in on developing a premier monthly giving program[11:00] - How to make sure your monthly giving program is a flagship program, not just an afterthought[16:45] - The most important components of a strong monthly giving program[20:48] - The importance of creating inspiring content for your donors[24:04] - How to follow up with your donors in the most encouraging, honouring way[28:22] - The keys to keeping things personal with your donors when your organization is scaling up[31:14] - Working hard to make sure your donors understand what their money is going towards and the impact it is having[36:10] - Ideas on how to make sure your donors feel like a valued part of your community and not simply like a means to an ends[41:29] - The right frequency for thanking your donorsViktoria would love to connect with you. You can find her on Instagram, or learn more about her work at The Branded Startup.Enrolment for the Monthly Giving Launch Guide is open now.Join in our mission to help others build good in the world by rating and sharing this podcast on all major platforms. You can do that by clicking here. https://www.buildgood.org/fiveminutefundrasingfix.com