The PM Podcast

In this episode, we speak with Tony Myers, internationally acclaimed consultant, strategist, author, speaker, teacher, mentor, board member, and executive coach who has guided leaders to realize their vision, mission, and financial goals at over 60 nonprofit organizations on six continents. Dedicated to building a sector guided by sustainability, accountability, and leadership, his approach is to listen first, seek deep understanding, identify challenges, and find ways to work collaboratively to meet those challenges head-on. We began our conversation by exploring his earliest days, learning how he found “the juice” to persist when others only saw limits, and discovering his vision for “a world driven by love.”

For nearly forty years, Paul Edwards has been at the center of several miraculously successful philanthropic efforts. He began his career with a record-breaking higher education campaign and then decided he needed to leave the field for his faith, entering the seminary. There he unexpectedly discovered a new and profound spiritual role for fundraising which he applied when tapped to lead the fundraising effort at Prison Fellowship. Since then, he has led a successful major campaign for Mercy Ships International, Gordon College's $75.5 Million Capital Campaign, and Wycliffe's $2 Billion Last Languages initiative, making the Bible available in all the world’s languages, as well as serving as a teacher and guide to hundreds of other organizations. Today, as Principal Consultant at Edwards & Creson, he collaborates with inspired leaders and organizations to produce inspiring results. In this episode, I speak with Paul about his remarkable journey and what he describes as his Theology of Fundraising.

In this episode, we speak with Rachel Hutchisson, a social impact executive with over three decades of experience working at the intersection of business, society, and the nonprofit sector. Rachel is a former leader of the Global Social Responsibility effort at Blackbaud, a 3,300-person publicly traded cloud software company. During her tenure at Blackbaud, Rachel built the company’s “give back” function from the ground up, relying on her expertise in ESG/sustainability, strategic communications, corporate philanthropy, and building programs that drive social impact while engaging employees, customers, and the community. Rachel is also a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion, women's leadership, and investing in future generations. She currently serves on the board of various organizations, including The Giving Institute, Common Impact, and Athletes' Voices. We begin with her earliest recollections as a world traveler at the age of five.

“Serving Others.” That is how Jennifer Oyer, Founder and Chief Joy Officer of Community Impact Advisors, describes the foundation of her life and her work in Hawaii, across the pacific islands, and around the world. For two decades, she has led and grown development efforts at organizations across Hawaii, including The Salvation Army, the Arthritis Foundation, the Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii, and her own alma mater, Hawaii Baptist Academy, before launching her firm in 2019. Always leading by example and with generosity, Jennifer has been active on several nonprofit boards as well as in supporting the profession, including her current role on AFP’s US Foundation for Philanthropy. In this episode, she describes her personal and professional journey and shares what we can do to connect with others and build meaningful relationships. 

Andrew Olsen is a best selling author, popular podcaster, speaker, and nonprofit marketer who has guided over 500 nonprofits in raising more than half a billion dollars. Over the years, he has built and led fundraising programs on behalf of organizations ranging from Covenant House International to CARE USA, and dozens of Rescue Missions and Food Banks across the U.S. and Canada. Today, he serves as Senior Vice President of Fundraising Solutions at DickersonBakker & Associates, leading the firm’s major gift consulting practice, overseeing the Impact Messaging division, and with responsibility for developing and launching new products and services for the firm. In our conversation, he takes us on the journey from the rough neighborhood and tough times of his LA childhood to farm country in Tennessee with his family and menagerie of 227 animals and counting. 

Chris Carnie is the Founder of Factary, Europe's leading prospect research agency, an instructor in fundraising at the University of Barcelona, Director of Fundacio Terra, and the author of three books on fundraising and philanthropy, including his latest, How Philanthropy Is Changing Europe. In this episode, we speak with Chris about his personal and professional journey which started in Scotland and eventually led him to Spain, the generosity he has witnessed along the way, and how nonprofits can be the leaders of change in the years ahead. 

In today's episode, we speak with Helen Brown, President of the Helen Brown Group, the world's largest and most influential development research consulting and training agency. A fundraising professional since 1987, she served in leadership roles at several major institutions before launching her firm in 2005. Since that time, she and her team have worked with over 1,000 nonprofits around the world. Along the way, she served as president of NEDRA, which honored her with the Ann Castle Award, on the board of Apra, which recognized her with the Distinguished Service Award, and co-authored the definitive book in the field, Prospect Research for Fundraisers.

Stacy Palmer has served as a top editor at The Chronicle of Philanthropy since its founding in 1988, overseeing its growth and development from the print to the digital era. In this episode, we talk about the arc of her career, from her early days as a lifestyle reporter to her work today in shepherding her influential publication into an independent nonprofit, as well as her thoughts about the media’s coverage of the nonprofit world, and her hopes for the future of the sector.

Krista Slade is an international leader whose epic voyage from Toronto to Hong Kong, Melbourne, Singapore, Oxford, and back again has had a lasting impact on the size, shape, and scope of advancement programs around the world. In today's episode, we take that journey with her, learning about each of these unique environments, the challenges and the successes, and the enduring characteristic which continues to fuel her optimism for the work we do in fundraising and philanthropy.

In today's episode, we speak with Lisa Zola Greer, an entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist who has managed her family's giving for the last decade. She has served on dozens of boards and commissions, including the Beverly Hills Cultural Heritage Commission, the international board of the New Israel Fund, the Make-a-Wish Foundation, and the Los Angeles District Attorney Crime Prevention Foundation. In her new book, Philanthropy Revolution, she describes how she and her husband found themselves in the 1% virtually overnight and how their efforts to give generously to charity were often thwarted by the seemingly inflexible processes and scripts of fundraisers who suddenly saw them as piggy banks. Now the self-described "fixer" is working to reverse the decline in the number of Americans who give to charity by showing how nonprofits can establish and maintain truly collaborative and effective relationships.