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Everyone in the nonprofit space has a moment where it all just clicks; in fact, you’ve probably had one or two. Today’s guest had one such moment that changed his perspective on nonprofit technology forever. Tim’s Jerry Maguire moment came when he saw a statistic at an event that said, “90% of nonprofits collect data. Only 5% of nonprofits use that data to make decisions.” In that moment, Tim knew he had to rewrite the tech stack playbook to teach nonprofits how to get the most from their tech investment. Join me as Tim and I discuss the importance of being a good data steward, highlight critical elements of a starter tech stack, and explain how implementing technology is like learning to drive.

John Walsh comes to the Nonstop Nonprofit podcast through a purely digital path that began with some of the hardest-to-engage audiences and then expanded to include broader digital strategies. These days, he advocates for nonprofits to lean into digital fundraising, with his specific passion being email. As a self-proclaimed “digital guy” himself, our host David Schwab has seen how digital fundraising’s speed, directness, and consistency contribute to donor awareness and engagement in ways that direct mail can’t. But just like you all, he's still learning—and John makes that education exciting! Listen in as John teaches us how a holistic communication strategy adds value to all of your fundraising channels, provides actionable first steps for email newbies, and shares his secrets to keeping digital fundraising fresh and successful.

The road to $1 million isn’t an easy or fast one to travel. Only 9% of nonprofits in the Los Angeles area grow to manage a budget of $1 million. Ten years ago, when Richard Reyes founded the PLUS ME Project, his budget was $4000 and his vision was to provide mentorship and role models for youth through storytelling. Today, an exciting part of this achievement is that PLUS ME’s own growth story is still unfolding, expanding, and providing guidance and inspiration to other nonprofits just as their mentors provide role models for the youth they lead. As a nonprofiteer and consultant in the nonprofit space, Funraise's Director of Growth Marketing, David Schwab, has seen the results when nonprofits rely on storytelling to build supporter relationships—and what happens when those same supporters have their stories silenced. (Spoiler alert: it’s called donor churn.) Join David and Richard as they discuss the ways that new fundraising tactics like peer-to-peer are a natural fit for PLUS ME's mission, what their COVID pivot-and-response taught the PLUS ME team, and how PLUS ME's usage of and reliance on technology has evolved on their road to $1 million.   For more info on the PLUS ME Project - https://www.theplusmeproject.org/For more info on teenyBIG - https://www.teenybig.com/Connect with the show contributors:David Schwab - https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidlschwab/Richard Reyes - https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-reyes-25064173/Emily Taylor - https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-taylor-teenybig/

Hard as we try, sometimes the individual gets lost in our fundraising efforts. Beth Fisher is one fundraiser working to change that where she can. Beth is the Chief Advancement Officer at Mel Trotter Ministries, leading fundraising, development, and donor stewardship for an organization that’s been around—and growing—for over 100 years. In her previous life in software sales, Beth’s superpower was seeing her customers’ needs and selling targeted solutions. So when she took the reins at MTM, she naturally turned to her clients’ needs, providing them not just with “three hots and a cot”, but dignity as well. Beth quickly recognized that her fundraising efforts also benefitted from that mindset—treating donors as individuals was her key to fundraising success. Listen in as Beth and Justin Wheeler, Funraise CEO and Co-founder, discuss the overlap of corporate and nonprofit fundraising, the value of nonprofit storytelling, and the importance of the individual in fundraising.   For more info on Mel Trotter Ministries - https://www.meltrotter.org/For more info on Positive Equation - https://positiveequation.com/Connect with the show contributors:Justin Wheeler - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wheelerjustin/Beth Fisher - https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethschrader99/Dana Snyder - https://www.linkedin.com/in/danarsnyder/

Over the last few years, the United States has experienced a nationwide reckoning against racism and racial injustice. And while we've witnessed many steps forward towards antiracism, every sector has a long way to go to close the resource gaps created by structural racism. Kia Croom is leading the fight against anti-Black racism in the nonprofit industry. After twenty years of experience as a development executive and philanthropic strategist, Kia founded The Black Fundraisers' Podcast in 2021 to celebrate, inspire, uplift, and equip Black fundraisers with tools to "excel and positively impact Black communities." And we can all get behind that. Through authenticity, radical honesty, and personal liberation—Kia has built a new table of access and resources for underrepresented fundraisers who historically have not been offered a seat. Listen in as Kia talks to David Schwab about how nonprofit donors are directly involved in creating meaningful social change. And if this episode gets you excited about moving the needle to increase representation and resources in nonprofit fundraising, be sure to create your Funraise free account to get started making the change you wish to see in the world.

Virtuous and Funraise are teaming up! You heard it here first, loyal podcast listener. CEO Gabe Cooper is leading Virtuous on a mission to expand the giving experience, retain donors, and move one-time donors to full-time, monthly donor status. Listen while Justin speaks to Gabe about  how to make that happen––and how Virtuous and Funraise are coming together to make navigating generosity a seamlessly simple experience. Make sure to stay until the end of the episode to hear Justin's mini-interview with Stephen Boudreau about giving trends! 

Shannon Scanlan is a champion of peer-to-peer fundraising. With an impressive career that has touched nearly every avenue of nonprofit fundraising, Shannon brings her expertise to the Nonstop Nonprofit podcast to break down top trends for P2P fundraising in 2023.Listen in as Shannon talks to Justin about the untapped potential of P2P fundraising—and shares clever ideas to leverage P2P in new and innovative ways.And if this episode gets you excited about P2P fundraising for your nonprofit organization, be sure to create your free Funraise account to get a head start on knocking those 2023 trends out of the park!

If you’ve been involved in the nonprofit world for the last decade, you know that the landscape of nonprofit fundraising has significantly shifted to increase charitable giving as digital innovation drives donor engagement. But in order for innovation to truly change the fundraising game, it’s critical for innovators in technology and finance to direct their attention and their talents toward increasing social good.  Steve Latham is doing just that.  In 2020, while many of us were locked in our homes and navigating the uncertain terrain of a global pandemic, Steve recognized an opportunity to increase donations to nonprofits doing critical and life-saving work. As a fintech innovator, Steve leveraged his background in finance, technology, and digital marketing to found DonateStock, a tech platform addressing the historical inaccessibility of nonprofit stock donations by streamlining the stock donation process. In the last two years, DonateStock has innovated the stock donation pipeline so that everyday investors can donate stock to nonprofits with ease, allowing donors to give more charitably and save their tax dollars in the process.  By making stock donations a mainstream source of nonprofit revenue, DonateStock allows nonprofits to tap into a new pool of resources to elevate the financial infrastructure of their social good initiatives. Creating more opportunities for nonprofit fundraising? We love to see it. Listen in as Steve introduces us to the world of nonprofit stock donations, and learn why stock is the “biggest pool to fish in” for nonprofit fundraising. You’ll want to listen until the end to hear about the exciting partnership between DonateStock and Funraise! Make sure you listen to the entire episode to hear a bonus interview with Arup Banerjee, CEO and Co-founder of Windfall Data, recorded at The Nonprofit Innovation & Optimization Summit! You can watch and listen to the full interview here! And if this episode gets you as excited about nonprofit stock donations as we are, be sure to create your Funraise free account to get started unlocking all the potential that stock donations has to offer. 

If you're following Funraise CEO and Co-founder Justin Wheeler on LinkedIn, you know that Funraise is hiring. We have lots and lots of positions to fill and we're not shy about getting the word out. You may also be hearing the AWESOME public feedback that we're getting on our hiring process—even from candidates that we didn't hire. What you may not know, though, is that getting to that point was not easy. To help us navigate these new hiring waters, we brought on an incredible recruiter, Angela Manginelli. Although she's only been with Funraise a matter of months, Angela has had a profound impact on our culture and practices, including starting and leading our new humane hiring movement, so we thought it was high time we had her on the podcast to share her wisdom. Angela has lots of experience dealing with awful hiring processes—she started her own nonprofit guiding new graduates through their first job hunts. And although building a new hiring blueprint has had its challenges, watching Angela lead our candidates and staff through her hiring process has convinced us that a great company culture starts with that very first interaction. Listen in as Angela explains how infusing the hiring process with equity, transparency, and a great candidate experience isn't just the right—and humane—thing to do, but the best thing for your bottom line as well. And if you're looking for your next awesome nonprofit job, subscribe to Funraise's newsletter and keep an eye on our Cool Nonprofit Jobs section. At the bottom of each week's newsletter, you'll find ways to do your best good work ever.

Hear from eleven of the nonprofitsphere's brightest stars, and see the beautiful constellation their efforts have made in our sector. Empowerment, leadership, trailblazing, and proof that you can't refute. Technology, the social element, and revolutionary data-based developments. These are the segments that shone bright in 2021 and got us through some of our darkest days. Listen in as we celebrate 2021 and say hello to a new season of the Nonstop Nonprofit podcast!

Welcome back, nonprofit friends! Nonstop Nonprofit is kicking off our season 3 with a four-part series loaded with live interviews from AFP ICON 2022! Hang out at our booth with us and talk to nonprofit's brightest stars about trends, impact, and the future of fundraising. Episode four of our compilation series features Taylor Shanklin, Madison Gonzalez, Chad Barger, and Courtney Gaines.  Let's dive in! Listen to the full-length AFP ICON 22 live interviews on YouTube.

Welcome back, nonprofit friends! Nonstop Nonprofit is kicking off our season 3 with a four-part series loaded with live interviews from AFP ICON 2022! Hang out at our booth with us and talk to nonprofit's brightest stars about trends, impact, and the future of fundraising. Episode three of our compilation series features Karen Houghton, Bret Heinrich, Shiree Skinner, and Mallory Erickson.  Let's dive in! Listen to the full-length AFP ICON 22 live interviews on YouTube.

Welcome back, nonprofit friends! Nonstop Nonprofit is kicking off our season 3 with a four-part series loaded with live interviews from AFP ICON 2022! Hang out at our booth with us and talk to nonprofit's brightest stars about trends, impact, and the future of fundraising. Episode two of our compilation series features panelists from AFP: Julia Campbell, Cherian Koshy, and Rachel Muir.  Let's do it! Listen to the full-length AFP ICON 22 live interviews on YouTube.

Welcome back, nonprofit friends! Nonstop Nonprofit is kicking off our season 3 with a four-part series loaded with live interviews from AFP ICON 2022! Hang out at our booth with us and talk to nonprofit's brightest stars about trends, impact, and the future of fundraising. Episode one of our compilation series features Francesco Ambrogetti, Kishshana Palmer, Sommer Brock, and Jarret Ransom. Listen to the full-length AFP ICON 22 live interviews on YouTube.

Confession time! Here at Funraise, we're all huge nerds, so when we added Beth Kanter and Allison Fine to the Nonstop Nonprofit podcast schedule, our CEO and Co-founder (and biggest nerd) Justin Wheeler, was. stoked. And on the agenda? Smart tech. But what is smart tech, exactly? "Smart tech" refers to AI and other advanced digital technologies that make decisions for people. It's not a tech evolution, but a revolutionary shift in power away from people and towards tech. Beth and Allison, both well-known nonprofit consultants, trainers, and authors, have written a book called The Smart Nonprofit: Staying Human-Centered in an Automated World and for all you nonprofits wondering about the future, they've got answers to your questions about technology—specifically adoption, costs, ramifications, and the catalysts happening right now to launch us into an automated new world. So listen in and get a sneak preview of The Smart Nonprofit, complete with examples, guidance for nonprofit leaders, and a whole lot of nerding out!

As Nuka Solomon says, "Growth is an interesting word." She's right; depending on who's asking us—our board of directors, partners, or, heck, even a podcast host—we hold that concept of growth to the light and turn it to answer with the most beautiful kaleidoscope possible. Nuka is a pro when it comes to nonprofit growth: as the CEO of Free Wheelchair Mission, she's taken the organization through the pandemic with flying colors, supporting expansion in finances, reach, and engagement. But she hasn't done it alone; Free Wheelchair Mission's team, from the board to boots on the ground, has a stake in achieving their ever-evolving mission. Listen in as Nuka and Justin uncover how recent trends toward transparency, donor access and engagement, longevity of content, and deeper relationships have led to a paradigm shift in the way nonprofits define things like impact, growth, and investment.

Sean Goode has a way of clearing up murky waters, idea-wise. Just one conversation with him makes previously sticky concepts seem obvious, possible, and right. As Sean would say, he focuses on possibilities instead of problems. As the Executive Director of Choose 180, Sean's focus on transforming unjust systems led his organization to make an overdue-yet-unheard-of change in 2021: they moved to an organization-wide living wage policy. You heard that right; every employee at Choose 180 makes a living wage. But rather than being a one-off problem-and-solution, Sean sees this as part of a larger journey toward justice. In this interview with Justin Wheeler, Funraise CEO and Co-founder, he points out that this step is exactly the type of injustice-busting action that his donors, engagement partners, and community are looking for—and they've stepped up to support Choose 180's choice. Take a break and truly listen to what Sean is sharing in our conversation today. You'll walk away with clarity around his philosophy, "Philanthropy will follow" and the inspiration necessary to begin your own transformation. Through Amplify Voices, Sean has a podcast of his own called (what else?) Possibilities Over Problems. Listen in as Sean exposes what success looks like in unorthodox ways.

Why is grant management such a freaking hassle (to put it nicely)? Well, we don't have the answer for that, but today's guest does. She also has a solution. Ansley Fender, CEO and Founder of Atlas, a grant management platform, is here to light up your various spreadsheets and applications and revenue streams and transactions and explain the uncharted chaos that separate databases is causing your programs. It's no secret that nonprofits struggle with the grant process, but Ansley's insight gave us a lot of hope for a world with democratized grant funding. Reimagining the funding lifecycle as a two-way street means more money, more support, and more impact—and it may be a reality sooner than we think. Tune in for the future of grant management and stick around til the end to hear some of the best nonprofit solutions we've heard for grant-loving organizations like yours. https://www.getatlassolutions.com/

As a nonprofiteer, you know what it means to put your heart into something. Like, you KNOW know. But when it comes to missions of the heart, your board may not see it as clearly as you do. Today, we'll get both perspectives: Luke Womack is an Executive Director with passion while Pat Mullen is a board chair on a mission. Funraise CEO and Co-founder-slash-nonprofit board member Justin Wheeler is talking to The Go Fund leaders to discover how they found their footing together and uncover their secrets to board efficacy. And the best part? What Pat and Luke deliver is stuff that every nonprofit can do: you don't need a big board budget to build relationships, ask the tough questions, or recruit the people who have proven their care and interest in your organization. What you need is a board who's willing to show up. Listen as Luke and Pat channel their inspiration and motivation into no-budget-needed actions designed to take your board from barely breathing to fully functioning.

"Cultivation is the key to connection." The title of today's podcast, and a relatively core fundraising strategy. So why are we talking about it like it's news? This quote right here: "It's amazing how many nonprofits opt out of communications during the giving season." Nathan Hill, VP of Marketing at NextAfter, isn't talking about being skimpy with the outreach. He's talking about 0 communications. Radio silence. During a month that brings in a third of the year's giving. Nonprofits, whyyyyy?! So, while it may seem central to fundraising, there are bigger questions at play: Why aren't nonprofits talking to their donors? Which comms cut through the year-end chaos? What would make it a no-brainer for nonprofits to start building relationships? Is there an ace in the hole that makes cultivation a clear-cut tactic? Listen in as Nathan and Justin Wheeler, Funraise CEO and Co-founder, tackle these tough questions and build a cultivation strategy that will take your nonprofit through the year-end giving season, into the new year, and produce results for year-ends to come.