The Build Good Fundraising Podcast

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

Send us a text2020 has been a strange year, but one of the positives has been a strong movement towards equity and inclusion in the workplace. For too long, systemic oppression has held back our under-represented colleagues. The good news is many leaders are working through this issue in their own organizations, while also pushing the nonprofit sector to take a leading role when it comes to increasing equity and inclusion.In this episode of the Build Good Podcast, we’ll hear from one of them — Tycely Williams. Tycely is the chief development officer at America’s Promise, the largest alliance of its kind in the US devoted to helping the younger generation thrive and succeed. For 23 years she has held senior leadership positions with the YWCA USA, the American Red Cross, and the YMCA. Throughout the course of her career she has inspired individuals and institutions to donate over $92 million to charitable causes. Tycely shares with us how our beliefs about equity, race, and inclusion must influence our behaviour. She wants to inspire and help your organization to have a plan that increases equity and inclusion so you can create a more just work place. Her practical, actionable advice will put you in the perfect position to achieve this by helping shape your systems, processes and policies.Today we’ll cover:[9:49] - Doing philanthropy through the lens of ‘Noble benefit’[16:36] - What we mean, practically speaking, when we talk about increasing equity[20:07] - Recognizing implicit bias within yourself and your organization[22:56] - An example of what implicit bias looks like[25:21] - Change in society starts first within yourself and your organization[32:54] - Where a leader should start when wanting to have conversations with their staff about equity[40:09] - How to become a diverse team without sacrificing talent[46:23] - Developing a track for minority employees to be able to fill any position in the organization[51:33] - How to discern where and with who your organization should invest time and moneyTycely would love to connect with you. You can find her on Twitter, Linkedin or learn more about her work at America's PromiseJoin 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 Five Minute Fundraising Fix here: fiveminutefundrasingfix.com

Send us a textThe last five months have shown us how volatile revenue streams can be. Almost overnight, nonprofit leaders had to figure out how to become less dependent on event revenue, grants from foundations and government grants. The best way to protect your organization from future volatility is to build a more resilient fundraising engine — one that focuses on leading individual donors already in your donor base to giving their best gift every year.On today's episode, we’ll hear from Sherry Quam Taylor. Sherry is a nonprofit fundraising coach who helps organizations of all sizes secure larger individual donations from those already in their existing donor base. She started her own business working with executive directors, development directors, and board members to help them create a funding model so all their hard work would yield the maximum return possible. Fundraising and donor development takes discipline but can have massive rewards when we focus our energy in the right direction. Your existing donor file has gold hidden within it. And with the right tools, you’ll be able to mine and uncover all this untapped opportunity. Sherry will equip you to do this and help you identify donors who can, and want to, give more while taking your relationships with donors from transactional to deep, personal and genuine. Sherry demonstrates how to have conversations with your donors to inspire and motivate them towards greater passion for your organization's goals and deeper generosity to fulfill those goals. Today we’ll cover: [6:57] - Leading your donors to give their best gift possible[10:35] - Strategies and tips to learn what your donor’s best gift is.[13:50] - How to find the untapped opportunities amongst your current donor file[20:50] - The importance of discipline and rhythms in cultivating your donors best gift[25:09] - How to customize and tailor your communication to all your different donors[28:08] - Identifying where, how and why donor money is being left on the table[32:10] - How to encourage and engage with your mid-level donors[35:05] - What a ‘gift chart’ is and why you should be using one[37:05] - How to move from a transactional relationship to a deeper, personal relationship with your donors[39:53] - Encouragement for fundraisers who feel like now is not the time to pursue donorsSherry would love to connect with you. You can find her at her website, Her linkedin, and on twitterJoin 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. 

Send us a textIf you’re like most nonprofits, this year has been a wake up call that you need to step up your game when it comes to communicating clearly, effectively and authentically with your donors. Maybe you were getting by before, but when the system was put under stress, you didn't have the resources or the team or the tools or the strategy to move quickly – and confidently. Today on the show, we’re talking to Sarah Durham, author of the Nonprofit Communications Engine – a leader’s guide to managing mission-driven marketing and communications. Sarah is the founder and CEO of Big Duck, an agency that helps nonprofits increase their visibility and communicate more effectively. She's also the owner of Advomatic, a company that builds websites for nonprofits. In our chat, Sarah gets into what it takes to build a successful communications team, how to create a communications strategy that will help you achieve your goals, and what tools every communications department needs to successfully advance the mission of the organization. We also get into what makes for a successful communicator – and you might be surprised that it has less to do with raw talent, and more to do with being willing to serve.  

Send us a textYou didn't see COVID coming. Nobody did. But now that the initial shock to the system is over, it's time to get back to business. While others might wait for "normal" to return, it's time for you to embrace "the now" by creating a concrete, simple, and clear strategy that will help you survive the next 12 months — and come out of the pandemic positioned for growth. On today's podcast, we talk about 5 mini plans your nonprofit should create right now to guide your fundraising so you can achieve predictable income during a recession, and avoid volatility from future downturns and crises.