The Influential Nonprofit: Recent Episodes
Maryanne Dersch
You want your nonprofit to make the biggest impact possible on those you serve and to do that you need a community of support. Each week, join Maryanne Dersch, nonprofit revolutionary, as she interviews nonprofit leaders who are growing their influence to raise more money and do more good. If you want to fundraise with ease, build better relationships with board and staff, or just need a shot of fresh ideas and inspiration, this show is for you.
What if your leadership wasn’t defined by urgency and chaos, but by calm, clarity, and presence? In this episode, you’ll learn how to become a regulating presence whose nervous system quietly shapes the entire culture of your organization.
Key Takeaways:
- You cannot regulate another person’s nervous system, but you can become a regulating presence that others naturally attune to.
- Your energetic state is contagious; how you walk into a room can either escalate panic or invite everyone to breathe and settle.
- Calm becomes accessible when leaders design predictable, consistent, and psychologically safe environments with clear roles and next steps.
- Coaching through curiosity—rather than correcting through criticism—helps dysregulated team members explore what feels urgent and where they need support.
- Many people, especially in nonprofits, unconsciously build their identity around chaos and busyness, and only self-awareness and willingness to do the inner work can shift that pattern.
“You don't make somebody calm; you make calm accessible through productivity, through predictability, through curiosity, consistency, psychological safety, clarity, and simple next steps.”
“Clarity creates leadership that reassures.”
“If urgency becomes contagious, so can steadiness.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
When do you ignore the red flags your body, brain, and intuition are screaming at you—and what does that cost your leadership? In this episode, learn how to stop outsourcing trust and start making calm, confident decisions rooted in your own inner knowing.
Key Takeaways:
- Self-betrayal rarely comes from a lack of information; it comes from overriding what your body, observations, and intuition are already telling you.
- Instinct, intellect, and intuition are three distinct but complementary information systems, and wise leadership means giving each a “seat at the table.”
- External pressures—from family, boards, donors, or cultural conditioning—often masquerade as wisdom but are usually fear dressed up as good advice.
- Many leadership mistakes happen when trust is outsourced to boards, consultants, or “important” stakeholders instead of starting with the question, “What do I know?”
- True freedom is not about avoiding hurt; it’s about becoming someone who no longer abandons themselves in order to avoid discomfort or disappointment.
"You can have every signal, every red flag, every fact, every intuitive knowing, and still betray yourself."
"Our goal is to become people who never have to abandon themselves in order to avoid getting hurt."
"Because when you trust yourself, you don't have to know how the story ends. You simply have to know that you'll stay with yourself through every chapter."
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Learn why your nervous system keeps mistaking uncertainty for danger—and how shifting from hypervigilance to trust can transform your leadership, fundraising, and everyday decisions. This episode shows you how regulated leaders create calm, confidence, and influence, even in the middle of crisis.
Key Takeaways:
- The nervous system’s primary job is safety, not truth, so it often creates stories that feel real but aren’t actually based in facts.
- When uncertainty arises, the brain rushes to “fill in the blanks,” which can trigger anxiety, catastrophizing, and unnecessary conflict in leadership and fundraising.
- Hypervigilance can look like being extra prepared, caring, or productive, but if it is driven by fear and the need for control, it never truly calms the nervous system.
- Trust doesn’t eliminate uncertainty; it increases your capacity to tolerate it and move forward, believing you will handle whatever happens.
- The most influential leaders are the most regulated ones—they set the emotional temperature, create psychological safety, and stop making decisions from a dysregulated state.
“People think trust removes uncertainty. It doesn't. It increases our ability to tolerate uncertainty.”
“As leaders, we communicate more than information. We communicate emotional safety, and your nervous system becomes a part of your leadership.”
“You don't need more confidence. You need a nervous system that no longer mistakes uncertainty for danger.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Discover how to close the gap between who you are on the inside and how you show up on the outside. In this solo episode, you’ll learn a practical, seven-step framework to live fully self-expressed—through your choices, boundaries, presence, and the courage to speak (or stay silent) with intention.
Key Takeaways:
- Self-expression is much more than “speaking up”; it’s about living in alignment so your daily choices, boundaries, and presence reflect who you truly are.
- Continually suppressing your truth widens the gap between who you are and how you show up, leading to resentment, burnout, and feeling like a victim of circumstance.
- Agreements and boundaries are powerful tools of expression that define what you are and are not available for, and they communicate your values more clearly than repeated complaints.
- Curiosity-driven questions like “Help me understand what you mean by that” can defuse conflict, create safety, and often make problems “go away” without an argument.
- Living fully expressed is a daily practice of sovereignty and discernment—choosing what to say, what to ask, when to stay silent, and how to act so your life becomes a more effortless “super highway.”
“Sometimes the most powerful self-expression isn't speaking a truth, it’s refusing to continue betraying one.”
“Full self-expression isn't measured by the number of words you speak. It's measured by how intentionally your life reflects who you truly are.”
“One of the greatest gifts and one of the best skills you can have is we can give the other person the experience of feeling fully heard, and sometimes the most authentic response isn't an answer; it's curiosity.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Discover how a longtime educator-turned-nonprofit leader uses governance, compassion, and community empowerment to build organizations that truly last. In this episode, you’ll hear stories from hospices, classrooms, and European projects that reveal what sustainable leadership looks like in the real world.
Key Takeaways:
- Strong governance and clear structures are critical for nonprofits to compete with larger institutions and remain sustainable over time.
- When leaders actively identify and nurture the potential in others, they can create learning pathways that help people “leap forward” despite limited opportunities.
- Third-sector organizations are still businesses at their core; they require sound leadership, financial sustainability, and strategic planning just like for-profit entities.
- Compassion, kindness, and genuine giving are not “soft extras” but essential qualities of modern leadership, especially for women balancing multiple responsibilities.
- Networking and mentorship—both in person and online—provide vital emotional support and perspective for leaders who often feel they are carrying the weight of an organization alone.
“How do you make it easier for people to leap forward when they haven't had the opportunities?”
“To me, businesses in the third sector are no different to businesses in the first or the second. They still have to be sustainable; they still have to have good governance; they still have to have good leadership.”
“I think all along the line we're giving, we're giving our knowledge, aren't we? We're passing on something that we've learned from somebody else, and if they didn't share their knowledge with us, then we wouldn't have anything to share…”
- Christine Lester
Christine Miller Lester is an international leadership, Learning & Development, and organizational transformation specialist with more than 40 years of experience helping mission-driven organizations develop leaders, build learning cultures, and create sustainable impact through people-centered leadership and organizational excellence.
Reach out to Christine Lester at:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinelester1/
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Identify and acknowledge your resistance, such as being overly attached to outcomes or trying to fix others. Understand that fear has a role but should not drive your actions.
- Reframe negative mindsets and stories into more positive, empowering narratives. Make the unconscious conscious to change unhelpful thought patterns.
- Practice surrender, trust, and gratitude to cultivate a receptive state. Engage in joyful, playful activities that activate your whole being.
- Take inspired action aligned with excitement and purpose, rather than obligation. Maintain a sense of sovereignty and commitment to the process over the outcome.
“Fear has a place. It has a role. We're not going to kick it off the bus. It just doesn't get to drive it.”
“The more you focus on what's already good in your life, the more you attract positivity. ”
“Joy puts you in a receptive state, and it makes it easier to attract good things. You get to be joyful. You deserve joy.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
What happens when you stop people-pleasing, raise your standards, and actually live in alignment with your truth? In this episode, you’ll learn what it really means to be fully self-expressed—and how to practice it every day in your work, relationships, and leadership.
Key Takeaways:
- Self-expression is less about speaking louder and more about aligning your outer life with your inner truth.
- The pain of constantly holding back comes from the gap between who you are and how you show up in the world.
- Boundaries and agreements are powerful tools for honoring what you value, need, and are no longer available for.
- Sovereignty means deciding your own worth and standards first; others will either rise to meet them or naturally fall away.
- Fully expressed living is a daily practice—notice where you withhold, ground yourself, choose your timing, seek to understand, and then speak what’s true with courage and wisdom.
“The most authentic person in the room is the most powerful.”
“Every time we consistently suppress our truth, we create distance between who we are and how we show up, and that is the greatest source of pain, the dissonance between who we are and who we're supposed to be.”
“Creativity is expression made visible. It's taking something that's inside you and giving it form.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Most nonprofits push harder when donors go quiet. In this episode, you’ll learn how to trade pressure for emotional momentum, so stalled donors start moving again—without more follow-up fatigue.
Key Takeaways:
- Donor silence is usually a signal of an unmet emotional need, not a verdict on your worth or your mission.
- Interest and readiness are different stages; rushing from enthusiasm to “the ask” often triggers a stall instead of commitment.
- Emotional connection must be nurtured intentionally over time. Information and activity alone cannot sustain donor momentum.
- Clear, simple next steps build confidence and keep donors moving; confusion and ambiguity almost always cause them to pause.
- The most sustainable fundraising comes from authentic, curiosity-driven relationships where trust sets the pace and the money follows.
“Interest and readiness are not the same thing. This is where you get stuck emotionally, because you interpret donor interest as donor readiness... A stalled donor is not a disinterested donor.”
“Sometimes the relationship moved faster than trust, and relationships only move at the speed of trust.”
“Momentum and fundraising is emotional before it's financial.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Discover how karaoke becomes a surprising laboratory for courage, authenticity, and leadership. In this episode, you’ll learn eight powerful lessons from the karaoke stage that can radically shift how you show up as a fundraiser, leader, and human being.
Key Takeaways:
- Courage comes before confidence; action is what generates the confidence you’re waiting for.
- Releasing attachment to specific outcomes creates space for authenticity, deeper relationships, and “magical” results.
- Most people are not judging you nearly as harshly as you judge yourself; they are usually rooting for you to succeed.
- Discomfort is often evidence of growth, and expanding your capacity to be uncomfortable is essential for meaningful leadership and fundraising.
- Authenticity, passion, and alignment are far more compelling than perfection; connection will always beat flawless performance.
“The more tied to a result you are, the less likely you will have that result.”
“Connection beats perfection every time.”
“The magic isn't in hitting every note. The magic is just being willing to sing."
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Learn what it really takes to scale a focused nonprofit, build long-term corporate partnerships, and play the long game in fundraising without losing sight of the people you serve.
Key Takeaways:
- A narrow, concrete focus, like providing brand-name shoes, can dramatically amplify a nonprofit’s clarity, impact, and support.
- Strong corporate partnerships grow slowly from shared values, deep listening, and customized collaboration, not one-size-fits-all pitches.
- How support is delivered matters as much as what’s delivered; respect and flexibility turn shoes into symbols of dignity and belonging.
- Individual donors and family foundations are the stability engine, while corporate and sports partners mainly boost visibility and reach.
- Shifting from “these kids” to “our kids” reinforces shared responsibility and reminds us that every child is worthy of investment.
"How we give them shoes is as important as the shoes we give."
“Our program is about the kids. I say, you know, we're really not about shoes, we're about the kids.”
“It's not a matter of making donors into heroes. I don't like that language. It's thinking, it's just being grateful for what they've done, and letting them know this is what you've allowed to happen.” - Amy Fass
Amy Fass is the leader behind Shoes That Fit, a national nonprofit that provides new athletic shoes to children experiencing homelessness and low-income circumstances across all 50 states. Under her leadership, the organization has grown from a small operation into a nationwide nonprofit that has delivered more than one million pairs of sneakers to kids in need.
An Amazon best-selling author and advocate for children affected by poverty, Amy speaks on scaling nonprofits, building strong corporate partnerships, and creating sustainable impact. She’s known for bringing a Fortune 500 leadership mindset to the nonprofit world, helping organizations grow, adapt in times of crisis, and give children the confidence and opportunity that can start with something as simple as a new pair of shoes.
Reach out to Amy Fass at:
Website: https://www.shoesthatfit.org/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shoes-that-fit/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShoesThatFitNonProfit
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Energy shapes everything. Energy is the foundation of all outcomes—your energy affects your thoughts, words, and ultimately, your results.
- You broadcast what you carry. As a leader, your thoughts and emotions are felt by others. Your energy influences how people respond to you.
- Attention creates direction.
- Where you focus your attention determines what grows. Choose to notice what works and who shows up.
- Choose alignment over effort. When your internal state aligns with your purpose, you move with clarity and don't need to force outcomes.
“Your thoughts, your emotions, your presence, it's all broadcasting something... people are responding to your frequency.”
“Multiple realities are possible. What becomes real is just what we choose to make real.”
“When you consciously align your internal state, thoughts, emotions, intentions with your vision and values, you don't have to push or hustle.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
When your nonprofit outgrows spreadsheets and sticky notes, your impact can stall. In this episode, discover how smart, accessible data systems can free your team from copy‑and‑paste drudgery and unlock real capacity for relationship-building and growth.
Key Takeaways:
- Resilience in the face of uncertainty can become the catalyst for building an entirely new, impact-driven business.
- As organizations grow, decentralized spreadsheets eventually break; a centralized database becomes essential to scale programs and funding.
- The most effective systems are co-created with the people doing the work, so they’re intuitive, low-friction, and actually get used.
- Thoughtful automation should target repetitive, manual, time-consuming tasks so staff can focus on high-value relationship and strategy work.
- The people who step up to improve operations and systems often position themselves for future leadership opportunities inside their organizations.
"You can think of Airtable like spreadsheets on steroids, or smarter spreadsheets."
“Airtable really comes in at a point where people are really struggling with all of their spreadsheets and their data is in too many places, and that's when you start implementing a database to store and centralize all of that information.”
“The key thing in automation that hasn't changed in the last while is just what sorts of things we want to automate: It's the repetitive work, the manual work, and the time-consuming work.”
- Cherry Yang
Cherry Yang is the founder of Claribase, an award-winning Airtable consultancy and Airtable’s Non-Profit Vertical Partner of the Year. She helps mission-driven organizations streamline operations with custom Airtable databases and automations so teams can save time, reduce chaos, and make better data-driven decisions.
Reach out to Cherry Yang at:
Website: https://claribase.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherry-yang-12368141/
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Struggling with a passive or confused board? In this episode, you’ll learn how to transform tension into clarity, turn board members into passionate advocates, and use thoughtful questions to unlock real leadership and fundraising support.
Key Takeaways:
- Many board-staff problems trace back to a lack of clarity between governance and operations, and defining that line can immediately relieve tension.
- Framing conversations and changes around what the organization needs, rather than what any one person needs, helps boards step into true leadership.
- When board members are equipped to speak passionately about the mission, their personal connection, and the impact, fundraising becomes a natural next step instead of a scary task.
- Simple tools like annual board self-assessments and clear expectations can dramatically improve accountability and long-term engagement.
- The fastest way to shift board culture is to ask more thoughtful, open-ended questions that invite ownership instead.
“Being able to define and articulate and clarify what the board's role is, and teach that to them, and then have them hold themselves to the expectation, can really lighten up a lot of load on the executive director and staff.”
“When you start with a mission-focused approach, you lead with the mission every time. It’s my golden rule: lead with the mission."
“If you want engaged board members who are going to roll their sleeves up and get to work... then you have to mirror that energy from the beginning."
- Elise Woodworth
Elise Woodworth is a national speaker and board relations coach known for her clarity‑driven approach to strengthening nonprofit boards. A VMI graduate, Air Force Veteran, and MBA, she is the author of Business, Not Battle and creator of The Four Champions model. If you’re looking to grow or develop your board, Elise is the person to call.
Elevator Pitch Exercise
https://www.betterwithwe.com/championselevatorpitch
Reach out to Elise Woodworth at:
Website: https://www.betterwithwe.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elisewoodworth/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Elise-Woodworth-Speaker-Author-Consultant/61561521157037/
YouTube: @betterwithwe
Instagram: @businessnotbattle
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
When you finally set a boundary, and everything seems to explode, it doesn’t mean you did it wrong; it may mean it’s finally working. In this episode, you’ll learn how to recognize and ride out the “extinction burst” so your new agreements, standards, and leadership can actually stick.
Key Takeaways:
- Boundaries define what you will no longer tolerate, while agreements define what you are actively choosing and saying yes to; both are essential for healthy leadership.
- When you change a pattern that has benefited others, the first response is usually not compliance, but escalation; more intensity, more emotion, and more testing.
- The “extinction burst” is not proof that your new boundary is failing; it is often the clearest sign that the old pattern is losing power.
- If you give in during the extinction burst, you don’t solve the problem; you teach people exactly how hard they need to push next time to get what they want.
- Real change requires expecting pushback, calmly reinforcing your agreements, and being willing to release relationships or dynamics that no longer serve your mission.
“If you give in during the extinction burst, you don't stop the behavior. You actually train it to keep continuing.”
“Whenever you raise standards, you invite testing.”
“We can't change behavior unless we change the boundaries and agreements that support the behavior.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
In this episode, discover why impatiently “watching” your donors actually blocks generosity—and how to shift into “watering” relationships with trust, patience, and consistent care. Learn the WATER method to move from transactional fundraising to transformational connection.
Key Takeaways:
- Lasting donor relationships are built by tending to them consistently, not by pushing for quick outcomes or instant results.
- Anxiety-driven behaviors—like over-checking email or over-following up—often come from fear and self-doubt, not from what donors actually need.
- Adding value without expecting an immediate gift shifts relationships from transactional to transformational and builds deeper trust.
- Trusting the timing means allowing people to move at their own pace while still using clear systems and follow-ups to keep the relationship moving forward.
- Learning to truly receive and celebrate “blooms”—gifts, compliments, progress—reinforces your sense of worth and keeps you open to unexpected forms of support.
“Consistency builds trust more than intensity.”
“You can't rush readiness. Timing is part of the relationship. It's not a problem to solve.”
“Your job isn't to make it happen faster. Your job is to just keep watering, keep cultivating, instead of checking for results, asking yourself, ‘how am I tending to what matters?’”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Dave LeVan is President and CEO of Water for Good. They transform lives by providing access to reliable water, sanitation, and hygiene in needy communities. He recently led a merger with Lifewater International.
Key Takeaways:
- Successful mergers start as honest conversations about where each organization wants to go and what assets they bring, not as a rushed decision to combine.
- Fear of change is universal, even among leaders who specialize in transformation, so acknowledging loss, grief, and uncertainty is essential.
- Over-communicating the “why” behind big changes, long after leaders are tired of saying it, is what finally helps staff, donors, and partners internalize the vision.
- Honoring history and founders while clearly articulating a new shared identity allows people to see the merger as an evolution, not an erasure.
- When nonprofits collaborate and share proven models instead of staying in silos, they can dramatically increase impact, sometimes doubling the number of people served without doubling revenue.
“People just want to be seen and heard, even more so than they want to be right.”
“We don't have to double our revenue to double our impact.”
“You need to communicate and communicate and communicate and keep sharing that vision.”
- Dave LeVan
Reach out to Dave LeVan at:
Website: https://waterforgood.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/water4good/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/water_for_good
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidlevan/
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- The Donor Flow Framework moves donors through four stages: Aware, Interest, Connect, and Act. Awareness and interest are often handled well, but true giving comes when people feel personally connected.
- The real gap is in the Connect stage. Without structured opportunities for meaningful interaction, donors may like your work but won’t feel invested enough to take action.
- Small, consistent, and low-risk events like lunches, behind-the-scenes tours, or after-hours experiences turn interest into real relationships. Regular, predictable opportunities make engagement repeatable and sustainable.
- Fundraising is about influence. Meeting people where they are, providing value first, and creating consistent follow-up builds trust and long-term support.
“Systematize to stabilize.”
“Connection… is where people feel important, where people feel loved, and where people see that they just don’t say, ‘I’m interested in you.’ They say, ‘I feel personally connected to what’s happening to your cause.’”
“The biggest shift of all is that fundraising isn’t about tactics. It’s about influence.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Sally is the founder and CEO of Commonwell Marketing, a heart-centered marketing and leadership firm that helps nonprofits and rural health organizations stand out. A former brain injury rehabilitation therapist turned marketer, Sally brings a rare blend of art and science to her work—applying the neuroscience of belonging, trust, and human connection to marketing, communications, and leadership strategy.
Key Takeaways:
- Sally’s work sits at the intersection of neuroscience and marketing, showing that effective nonprofit communication isn’t about doing more, but about doing less with intention—simple visuals, few words, and a clear emotional hook consistently outperform dense, information-heavy messaging.
- Emotion is the gateway to attention and memory. According to Sally, nonprofits have 2–8 seconds to spark an emotional response; if they start with data dumps, history lessons, or program lists, the brain simply checks out to conserve energy.
- Instead of trying to make people care, great nonprofit marketing finds and attracts people whose lived experience and “philanthropic heart” are already aligned with the cause—shifting from convincing and chasing to resonating and inviting.
- The “energy” behind communication matters just as much as the words: desperate, scarcity-based, or pushy outreach is neurologically and emotionally repelling, while servant leadership, curiosity, and genuine human connection build trust, oxytocin-driven bonding, and long-term engagement.
- Rural health organizations face unique pressures—funding volatility, hospital closures, staffing shortages—but Sally stresses that no amount of new programs or technology will transform outcomes without strategic, trust-building communication that makes patients feel seen, safe, and confident choosing local care.
“More stuff for the sake of stuff is not what the world needs from marketers.”
“There has to be something in it that triggers a neural response in our brain of emotion… at roughly two to eight seconds, you've got to capture an emotion enough to get attention, then people's brains start to wander.”
“There is no transformation without engagement and connection, because they don't know that you have a cool new telemedicine, or who it's for, or… why would I want to trust it?” – Sally Mildren
Reach out to Sally Mildren at:
Website: commonwellmarketing.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/71360437/admin/dashboard/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/commonwellmarketing/
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
JD Bauman is the executive director of Christians for Impact and co-author of a new book on effective altruism, All the Lives. You can change how you turn good intentions into real impact. It shows how you could move beyond. Feel good philanthropy, I make a maximum Impact on problems that you care about. JD spends most of his time helping analytically minded Christians find careers that have maximum social impact or donate effectively.
Key Takeaways:
- Passion is what brings people into mission-driven work, but it’s not enough to create meaningful change. JD emphasizes that without data and evidence, even well-intentioned efforts can unintentionally cause harm or fall short of their potential. Pairing heart with strategy is what turns care into real-world impact.
- Not all good actions are equally effective, and that distinction matters. JD illustrates how some interventions can be hundreds of times more impactful than others, even when both are “doing good.” Understanding cost-effectiveness allows leaders to multiply the difference they make.
- “Band-aid” solutions are often criticized, but they can still create life-changing outcomes. In a world where immediate suffering exists, practical, scalable interventions such as poverty relief and disease prevention can dramatically improve lives today. Long-term systemic change and short-term relief must coexist.
- The nonprofit sector often lags in innovation due to fear of risk and failure. Unlike startups, many organizations continue programs that don’t work because shutting them down feels unacceptable. JD argues that testing, failing, and iterating are essential to discovering truly impactful solutions.
“In the real world, we don't have an impact just by caring about something.”
“If you want to be someone that has a maximum impact possible, that really wants to make the most of everything you've been given and do the most good possible, then it's going to require a heart and a head as well.”
“If you don't take those risks, you're never going to find what works.”
- JD Bauman
Reach out to JD Bauman at:
Website: https://www.christiansforimpact.org/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/christians-for-impact/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christiansforimpact/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@christiansforimpact/videos
Book:
https://www.christiansforimpact.org/getbook
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Naomi Hattaway is the founder of Leaving Well, a practice devoted to helping organizations treat leadership transitions not as crises or cleanups—but as acts of cultural maturity. She works with mission-driven teams to address board development, succession planning gaps, and workplace transition support. Through interim executive leadership and advisory services, Naomi's work lives at the intersection of trust-building, systems change, and the radical belief that how we end things matters just as much as how we begin.
Key Takeaways:
- Leadership changes are often treated as crises even though they are normal and predictable. Naomi reframes exits as acts of cultural maturity rather than simple HR events. Thoughtful offboarding helps organizations create healthy closure and continuity.
- Transitions affect not only leaders but also the team that remains. Founder departures can trigger identity questions when organizations are built around one personality. Acknowledging grief and uncertainty helps teams move forward with clarity.
- Succession planning should involve the whole team, not just top leadership. Documentation, relationship handoffs, and knowledge transfer strengthen organizational resilience. Sabbaticals and temporary leaves can help organizations practice navigating absence and return.
- People respond to change in different ways, and each style brings value. Understanding these differences helps teams balance stability with forward movement. Healthy organizations accept that transition is messy but handle it with intention and care.
“We need to normalize the reality that people leave.”
“We put so much effort and beautiful intention into the onboarding, and then the offboarding is not the same level of energy.”
“We have to start somewhere by being a little bit better to each other when it comes to goodbye.”
- Naomi Hattaway
Reach out to Naomi Hattaway at:
Website: https://naomihattaway.com/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/naomihattaway
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/naomihattaway
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Fundraising rooted in pressure and extraction erodes trust over time. Sustainable support grows from community, shared values, and genuine connection. When relationships lead, generosity follows naturally.
- Over-following up and manufactured urgency often reveal anxiety, not strategy. Constant pressure weakens credibility and exhausts donors. Abundance thinking creates calmer, more effective leadership.
- Caring about a mission is not enough to spark giving. Donors contribute when they feel seen, heard, and connected to something meaningful. Relationship transforms passive belief into active generosity.
- A “no” rarely means disinterest or lack of care. Staying curious and honoring dignity preserves long-term trust. Valuing the person over the transaction builds lasting loyalty.
“Manufactured emergency undermines your credibility. If our relationships are rooted in trust... manufactured urgency breaks that trust, and it is a tool of manipulation.”
“Curiosity keeps relationships alive. Assumptions shut them down.”
“When we stop treating generosity like it's running out, fundraising gets quieter and more effective.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Heidi is a nonprofit communicator passionate about helping civic tech, human services, and food access organizations tell clear, human-centered stories. She believes marketing carries great responsibility and shapes how communities understand and access support. As the founder of Heidi Kerr Strategies, she loves building thoughtful campaigns and social videos that earn trust and inspire action.
Key Takeaways:
- Marketing in nonprofits is not just about fundraising but about shaping how communities understand and access support. When treated as strategy and education, it becomes core to the mission, not an afterthought.
- Short-form, phone-shot videos often outperform highly produced content. Imperfect, human storytelling builds more trust than scripted perfection ever could.
- Pair real stories with data while protecting dignity and consent. The person sharing their experience should be the hero, not a prop for fundraising.
- Strong marketing equips teams with reusable tools, aligned messaging, and clear goals. Capacity-building creates momentum that lasts beyond a single campaign.
“When you ask them to create a short form video… ‘who is the star?’ And my answer to that is the people you serve - the humans in your organization.”
“The data is out there that those little videos - informal, authentic - they outperform anything fully branded or anything fully produced.”
“One thing I just can't talk about is ethical storytelling and trauma-informed storytelling, and the importance of ensuring that you're not having people perform for their poverty.”
- Heidi Kerr
Reach out to Heidi Kerr at:
Website: heidikerr.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidikerr/
Substack: https://substack.com/@heidikerr
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heidikerr/
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
As a fundraising consultant and coach, Perry helps nonprofits develop strategies, systems, and relationships to improve their fundraising yield. She believes in creating environments that nurture all gifts - time, talent, treasure, testimony, and ties - honoring how each person is uniquely suited to make a difference within their community.
Key Takeaways:
- Donors are partners who bring time, talent, treasure, testimony, and ties. When relationships are rooted in shared values and trust, financial support follows naturally. Sustainable fundraising honors the whole person rather than treating giving as a transaction.
- Scarcity culture fuels burnout, fear, and reactive decision-making. An abundance mindset focuses on transformation, sustainability, and long-term impact. Organizations that move beyond survival thinking create healthier outcomes for both staff and communities.
- Burnout drains capacity, while moral injury erodes trust and integrity. Misalignment between stated values and lived behavior is a common source of harm. Naming these dynamics is the first step toward healing individuals and institutions.
- True alignment requires that daily actions reflect the organization's declared values. Healthy conflict and psychological safety strengthen culture more than surface-level niceness. Leadership grounded in empathy and the Platinum Rule fosters belonging and lasting engagement.
“People who show up to give, they often don’t just want to write a check. They want to do whatever they can to help a cause that means something to them.”
“Let’s stop flattening people. Let’s treat volunteers and donors with the same level of respect. Let’s not just keep putting money on this pedestal.”
“We want to treat people the way they want to be treated. We want to honor them. We want to acknowledge them. We don’t want to just dismiss them and act like our way is the only way.”
- Perry Radford
Reach out to Perry Radford at:
Website: radphilanthropy.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/perryradford/
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Chasing a yes often comes from anxiety, not intention, and people can feel that pressure immediately. When you stop needing a specific outcome, your tone relaxes and trust increases naturally. Your role is to help others decide freely, not to manage your own fear through follow-ups.
- Momentum shows up as shared energy, mutual curiosity, and agreed-upon next steps. Chasing looks like one-sided check-ins, escalating urgency, and tension after sending messages. Learning to tell the difference protects your time and preserves relational integrity.
- People avoid giving honest answers when saying no feels costly or awkward. Explicit permission to decline reduces avoidance and leads to faster, cleaner decisions. Trust grows when people feel respected, regardless of what they choose.
- Fantasy relationships rely on polite delays that sound like yes but function as no. Booking the next meeting during the current one turns vague interest into real movement. When someone will not schedule a follow-up, it is often wiser to release than to pursue.
“Pressure is when a donor feels managed. Relationship is when they feel respected.”
“A fantasy relationship just means that you’re not able to be honest. So you’re both pretending… because nobody knows what to say to actually get you out of it.”
“The more permission you give people to say no, the more likely they are to say yes.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Lasting fundraising growth does not come from better tactics alone but from changing the internal narratives that drive behavior. Coaching addresses fear, money stories, and self-doubt that silently undermine even the best strategies.
- Fundraising leaders often carry invisible baggage that affects how they show up with donors and teams. Coaching builds awareness, emotional neutrality, and sovereignty by separating facts from stories and reducing reactive behavior.
- Effective fundraising leaders coach boards and staff through fear, avoidance, and shame rather than simply training them. Through questions, accountability, and normalized discomfort, coaching creates ownership without blame.
- Over-functioning leaders burn out when they carry all the emotional and relational weight alone. Coaching redistributes responsibility, strengthens collaboration, and removes leaders as the bottleneck in fundraising efforts.
“Strategy is great. Training is great. You need both those things, but mostly they do not shift your mindset. They do not shift your thinking.”
“Sovereignty means you own your own thoughts, choices, and actions. You do not outsource your confidence to outcomes, and you do not let no define your worth or competence.”
“At its heart, fundraising is a team sport. When you coach instead of carry, you stop being the bottleneck.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Fundraising nos and prolonged indecision often reflect emotional readiness, not the quality of the ask. Letting go of over-attachment to a yes allows fundraisers to listen more clearly.
- The Map of Consciousness offers a practical way to understand donor behavior without ranking people as better or worse. Effective fundraising adapts presence and strategy to a donor’s current emotional state.
- Lower emotional states call for safety and acknowledgment rather than solicitation. Courage is the turning point where donors become open to clear, values-based asks.
- Repeated follow-up does not move donors emotionally; trust and presence do. When a relationship leads, financial support follows.
“The issue isn’t your ask. It isn’t your words. It isn’t your case. It’s that the ask is happening at the wrong level of readiness.”
“You cannot argue your way into a yes.”
“Love doesn’t need a pitch; it needs a pathway.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Centering fundraising on genuine care, honesty, and alignment creates trust and long-term support rather than transactional gains. Actions from authentic relationships feel meaningful, while actions solely for money feel manipulative.
- Loving donor relationships are honest, authentic, and aligned. They are not transactional or performative, and both the donor and organization benefit from shared values and mutual yeses.
- Applying love languages in fundraising—words of affirmation, quality time, acts of service, meaningful gifts, and shared experiences—builds connection without pressure or manipulation. Each interaction should reflect respect, care, and intention.
- Listening, personalization, and alignment are critical. Engaging only with donors who resonate with the organization’s mission fosters sustainable giving, while letting go of misaligned relationships protects energy, trust, and long-term impact.
“If we are doing things for our donors because we genuinely love and care about them… that’s a loving relationship.”
“Love languages don’t replace integrity. They express integrity.”
“Healthy donor relationships don’t come from saying the right thing. They come from being in the right relationship.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- 90 days is long enough to get something done, but short enough that there’s some urgency to it. The 90-day MOST stands for Mission, Objective, Strategy, and Tactics. It accounts for having an overall vision and creating simple strategies to implement each quarter.
- We need to have a clear vision so that we know what we’re looking for. Before creating a plan, take time to create a vision board. Visualize what you want to create in your life and depict it in your vision board.
- Once you have a vision, determine an objective. Then, create three strategies that will serve to achieve that objective. Under each strategy, create three simple tactics. Keep it simple.
“90 days has been studied to be very effective. It's long enough to get something done. But it's short enough that you there's some urgency to it.”
“We create the vision. And then from that vision, we create the plan. But we don't want to plan while creating the vision, because we wind up talking ourselves out of doing some bold things.”
“We're keeping it very, very simple. The more complicated you make this, the less likely it's going to work for you. So you pick what would make this quarter be the win for you.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Reframe goals as guides, not judgments. Traditional output-focused goals can create pressure and burnout; goals should inform your direction, not define your worth or success.
- Wrap up the year holistically. Reflect on wins, surprises, and growth beyond numeric targets, release what no longer serves you, and recognize internal and relational progress as real achievements.
- Make goals human-centered, not just metric-centered. Reframing SMART goals to be Supportive, Meaningful, Aligned, Relational, and Tension-free ensures they strengthen trust, connection, and values alongside traditional metrics.
- Measure relationships, not just money. Track trust, reciprocity, affinity, consistency, and advocacy to prioritize connection and mission impact, understanding that financial outcomes naturally follow strong relational foundations.
“Goals aren't good or bad. They are just what they are. They are information.”
“If we're only measuring our worth by input and output, we're really missing a lot on what we're doing and the progress that we're making.”
"Work can be joyful. Grace, ease, joy is sustainable. Hustle and grind is not.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Sustainable change begins by raising standards, not just managing expectations. Standards define the floor you will no longer fall below, while expectations shape the ceiling you desire. Boundaries and agreements act as the walls that uphold both.
- Boundaries focus on what you no longer want to tolerate or experience. Agreements clarify what you do want and how it will work in practice. They turn avoidance into intention and make expectations visible to others.
- Agreements reduce resentment by replacing unspoken rules with shared understanding. They teach others how to relate to you personally, professionally, and in leadership spaces. Strong agreements create safety, predictability, and mutual respect.
- Raising standards often invites testing, especially in the early stages. Holding the agreement while releasing the outcome allows relationships to adjust naturally. Over time, people either rise to meet the standard or drift away.
“We can't change behavior unless we change the boundaries and agreements that uphold and support that behavior.”
“We teach people how to treat us.”
“Your internal agreements will determine your external results.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Many nonprofit leaders enter the new year already depleted from the holiday rush. Emotional residue from 2025 lingers in the body and shapes early decisions. A reset begins by acknowledging how much energy was carried forward unnoticed.
- Leaders often bring guilt, unfinished conversations, and unresolved pressure into 2026. Closing loops matters more than fixing everything that happened. Release becomes the doorway to entering the new year with clarity and choice.
- Leadership begins with knowing your actual energetic capacity, not the idealized version. From that honesty, you choose what stays, what shifts, and what boundaries support you. Agreements rooted in calm reshape how you lead and how you protect your energy.
- Reclaiming means deciding who you are becoming and leading from that center. Leaders choose identities like calmer, clearer, or more sovereign and act from that energy. This practice restores agency and ensures no circumstance dictates your value.
“If you don't pause or reset, you're going to step into the new year carrying the energy of the old one.”
“Every boundary, every decision, every conversation, every interaction is going to come from that survival mode place - that's the lens through which you're going to view the world.”
“Reclaiming your energy means consciously choosing the leadership identity you want to embody this year.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Influence is the art of getting people you have no authority over to do what you want them to do, not just because they have to do it, but because they choose to. Your ability to influence others is critical to your success.
- The first step in mastering the art of influence and showing up as an influential leader is knowing yourself. It’s not about anybody else. Train yourself first before anybody else in the organization, because you are the trailblazer who sets the limit for others. If you raise your game, they will rise with you.
- Discover and honor the things that make each person in your team unique. Acknowledge those things so that they will light up and they will join you in your vision.
- Look within yourself for credibility rather than relying on others to recognize your worth. This is the key to becoming a sovereign, influential leader. If you want them to recognize something in you, you have to recognize it in yourself first.
“An influential leader shifts that narrative from going to somebody who needs other people to feel good. Instead, we know ourselves, and we cultivate our own energy ourselves so that we stay sovereign.”
“If you can feel anything, you can do anything, and influential leaders understand how their thoughts and feelings play into their everyday decision-making, and they know how to navigate in a way that feels really good, really easy, and really aligned. ”
“Showing up as an influential leader means having deep trust in yourself and others, that everything is working out as it should, that there is nothing to fear. ”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Understanding how thoughts and feelings contribute to decision-making is key to influential leadership. Influential leadership creates sustainable workforces with less turnover and more productivity.
- The first step towards becoming an influential leader is to go inward. Be willing to understand how the thoughts, beliefs, and experiences that you had when you were young impact the decisions that you make today.
- Guilt is when we feel bad for what we do, and shame is when we feel bad about who we are. Most things that upset us originate from deeply rooted feelings of guilt and shame. When navigating conflicts of others or your own, pay attention to what’s making you and others feel uncomfortable.
- An influential leader’s job is to create more good leaders. When you practice influential leadership, not only are you creating a more influential and conscious leadership for yourself, but you're also teaching others how their thoughts and feelings contribute to their everyday decision-making, which helps them resolve things internally.
“Every minute we spend in clean-up conversations that could have been avoided with better communication and leadership - we're moving away from the work we were called to do.”
“You have to be willing to go inside, and understand what thoughts and beliefs were implanted in you when you were young, and how those can be affecting the decision-making that you make today.”
“When you find yourself in a conflict or navigating somebody else's conflict, first you have to pay attention to what's happening in your body, what am I feeling? And then seeing other people - there’s something inside of them that’s uncomfortable with this, what can we do?”
“Good leaders create more good leaders and influential leaders; their job is to create more good leaders.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Supporters engage for a reason, a season, or a lifetime, each bringing unique value. Instead of expecting long-term loyalty from everyone, recognize the natural ebb and flow. Gratitude for every contribution keeps the relationship healthy and grounded.
- Tourists, seasonal residents, and townies each play a meaningful role in the ecosystem. One-time donors bring energy, visibility, and new connections when they matter most. Long-term supporters reveal themselves through aligned values and deeper engagement.
- Lasting relationships grow through purpose, connection, and involvement beyond giving. Inviting donors into stories, conversations, or behind-the-scenes roles builds ownership. When people feel seen and included, loyalty naturally strengthens and expands.
- Not every donor will stay forever, and that is part of a healthy pipeline. Letting go with appreciation frees energy to invest in aligned relationships. Focusing on shared values ensures every interaction remains meaningful and mutual.
“Our job is to give them meaningful experience while they're with us and release them with gratitude when they're ready to go.”
“Every donor plays a role in your ecosystem. You know, tourists bring energy and visibility, townies bring depth and sustainability, and there's space in between them, where just the relationships involved.”
“Relationship first, money will follow that. Build belonging, not just giving.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Goals are meant to guide, not judge. When they serve as a compass instead of a scorecard, they inspire growth and unity instead of strain or shame. Progress becomes something to celebrate, not a verdict on worth.
- Nonprofit leaders often walk the line between big dreams and achievable results. Rigid focus on financial targets can create tension and burnout, but realistic goals rooted in purpose help teams stay motivated and grounded.
- True success goes beyond numbers. Relationships, learning, and consistent effort shape sustainable impact. By valuing process over perfection, organizations can find meaning in every outcome—good or bad.
- Lasting results come from people, not pressure. Relationship-building should be prioritized over transactions, with gratitude and reflection fueling resilience, renewal, and authentic growth for the long run.
“Rejection isn't the opposite of success. It is part of success.”
“Goals should stretch us, not strain us. They should unite, connect us, not divide us, and they should inspire us to grow, not shame us for being human.”
“Remember: every ‘no’ refines your ‘yes’. You're not rejected, you're redirected. Rejection is protection.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Goals are meant to guide, not judge. When they serve as a compass instead of a scorecard, they inspire growth and unity instead of strain or shame. Progress becomes something to celebrate, not a verdict on worth.
- Nonprofit leaders often walk the line between big dreams and achievable results. Rigid focus on financial targets can create tension and burnout, but realistic goals rooted in purpose help teams stay motivated and grounded.
- True success goes beyond numbers. Relationships, learning, and consistent effort shape sustainable impact. By valuing process over perfection, organizations can find meaning in every outcome—good or bad.
- Lasting results come from people, not pressure. Relationship-building should be prioritized over transactions, with gratitude and reflection fueling resilience, renewal, and authentic growth for the long run.
“Goals should stretch us, not strain us. They should unite, connect us, not divide us, and they should inspire us to grow, not shame us for being human.”
“What if we saw goals as a compass instead of a scorecard? It gives us direction, but it doesn’t judge us.”
“The growth comes from the receptivity of all of it: what worked and what didn’t, because everything was progress, everything was a lesson, everything was information.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- True commitment begins with finding like-minded people, not convincing others to care. Instead of pitching or pushing, nonprofits should focus on shared values and invite donors into a community built on authentic connection.
- Meaningful conversations start with listening, not selling. By asking thoughtful questions and validating donors’ stories, organizations create space for people to feel seen and heard, laying the groundwork for lasting trust.
- Letting go of results transforms how we communicate. When fundraisers detach from fear or pressure, they become more open to honesty, mutual respect, and new possibilities that turn rejection into redirection and growth.
- Donors move naturally toward giving when each step feels like their choice. Using small yeses, open-ended questions, and calm follow-ups helps convert interest into action while maintaining dignity and genuine rapport.
“People buy to the level they feel seen and heard. Your job isn’t to convince—it’s to listen.”
“If you’re making friends with someone because they have money, that’s manipulation. Build relationships first; the money will follow.”
“Authentic, honest, transparent relationships create loyal donors for life.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Javan Van Gronigen is the Co-Founder of Donately, a leading fundraising platform that has processed over $180M in donations for 1,400+ nonprofits. With 15+ years in digital marketing and social impact, he helped create accessible, transparent fundraising technology after his work on the global Kony 2012 campaign.
Key Takeaways:
Nonprofits thrive when they align marketing, storytelling, and data into a unified approach that strengthens both mission and message, especially when working with small teams and limited resources.
Tools like Donately, Google Analytics, and AI empower nonprofits to personalize donor experiences, track engagement, and make informed decisions that drive sustainable growth.
Establishing a steady rhythm—such as quarterly roadmaps—helps organizations stay consistent while leaving room to explore new ideas, platforms, and emerging technologies.
Nonprofits that take risks, communicate openly, and lead with authenticity build stronger trust, greater visibility, and lasting donor relationships.
“Act like for-profit businesses, take those risks. You will be rewarded for that if you're more bold and you go after being unique in that space.”
“With AI...you just have the ability to audit and look through mounds of information far better than you used to. Understanding who your audience is, what's working, what's not, that's really critical.”
“If you don't know where your donors are coming from, you don't know where to put your money.”
- Javan Van Gronigen
Reach out to Javan Van Gronigen at:
Website: http://www.donately.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/javanvangronigen/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wearedonately
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/donately_org/
X: https://x.com/donately
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- True leadership success is measured by alignment with your values and season of life. It is not about busyness but about making intentional, sustainable choices that bring fulfillment.
- Leadership has natural rhythms of growth, energy, refinement, and rest. Recognizing and embracing each season allows leaders to act with clarity and avoid burnout.
- Success is reflected in energized weeks, meaningful relationships, lasting influence, and personal joy. Leadership thrives when others feel better and positive change continues.
- Lead from peace, set boundaries, and focus on depth over breadth. Continuously evolve your definition of success to expand in wisdom and align your leadership with purpose.
“Sometimes you have to stop moving to see where you're really going.”
“Busyness is not being important. It's just filling your life with stuff so you can feel important.”
“Joy is not optional. It's a leadership strategy.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
David Blyer is the Co-Founder, CEO, and President of Arreva, a leading provider of fundraising and donor relationship management software for nonprofits. With over three decades in the industry, he’s passionate about helping organizations strengthen donor engagement through technology and innovation.
He previously founded DonorCommunity, the first all-in-one fundraising software for nonprofits, and co-founded Arreva through a merger with Susan Packard Orr’s company, Telosa. Earlier in his career, David led Vento Software, later acquired by SPSS and IBM. He also serves on NonProfit PRO’s Editorial Advisory Board.
Key Takeaways:
- Donor acquisition and retention decline not because people stop caring—but because organizations often fail to acknowledge and engage donors quickly and personally.
- Fragmented systems hurt relationships. When fundraising, events, and CRM data don’t “talk” to each other, nonprofits lose time, insight, and donor trust.
- Integration and automation empower nonprofits to respond faster, personalize communication, and strengthen long-term loyalty.
- Timely gratitude matters: reaching out within 48–72 hours after an event or donation dramatically increases donor satisfaction and retention.
- Peer-to-peer fundraising, when integrated into a nonprofit’s ecosystem (unlike GoFundMe), helps acquire new donors, foster engagement, and turn supporters into ambassadors.
- A donor-centric website and seamless online giving experience—especially mobile-friendly—serve as the foundation of modern fundraising success.
"I can honestly say I'm so proud of the team that I have. I've never had the opportunity to work with a collective team like this and and be so proud of them every single day."
"When you're a nonprofit, I caution you do not use GoFundMe, because I'll tell you why, what you want to have, and I go back to software you want to have a pit. I'll call it, as opposed to a GoFundMe. I look at that as what I will call the peer to peer fundraising."
"But my challenge has always been and now I'm very frustrated that my last tribute gift and I just gave another one, but my last tribute gift, it's been four months. I didn't get any acknowledgement that the person I gave a tribute gift to...was acknowledged."
"61% of donors worldwide prefer giving online. So if you're giving your volunteers, if you're giving your board members, maybe even your active donors, the ability to send something out online, there's a better chance of them raising more money and an easier way of doing this."
- David Blyer
Reach out to David Blyer at:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arreva/
Website (Company): https://www.arreva.com/
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- True leadership often means loosening your grip. You cannot force outcomes, timelines, or people, but you can release and lead with trust. Surrender opens space for wisdom and growth.
- Surrender is not weakness but strength in disguise. Rest becomes a strategic act when we allow it to restore us. In slowing down, we sharpen clarity and courage.
- Perfection and rigid plans weigh leaders down. Balance is found in the natural rhythm of effort and rest. Honoring both flow and pause leads to sustainable impact.
- Leadership is not a solo journey but a shared one. Trusting your team and support network empowers them to rise higher. In giving space, you multiply strength together.
“Surrender isn't weakness. It's wisdom. Choosing rest is a strategic decision.”
“Let go of perfection and timelines. Whatever you missed happened anyway. It's all okay, nothing's going to pass you by.”
“Balance comes from rhythm, not rigidity. Leadership is expansion and contraction. Go with the flow… honoring the rest as much as the pushes, honoring the ebb and the flow.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
A Canadian direct response strategist, designer, and author with over 25 years of experience. He champions donor-centered approaches that prioritize authenticity and emotional connection. His 2022 book, Creative Deviations, has inspired fundraisers worldwide to embrace creativity in storytelling and communication. John brings warmth, insight, and a human-first philosophy to every stage. Empowering fundraisers to build more meaningful donor relationships.
Key Takeaways:
- Donor relationships thrive when leaders allow open, honest dialogue rooted in empathy. Vulnerability invites trust, making it easier for supporters to share openly and feel truly heard.
- Engagement comes not from polished presentations but from being human. Dropping the “professional bubble wrap” allows values-driven conversations that foster deeper bonds.
- Direct mail and appeals work best when they feel one-to-one, conversational, and emotionally compelling. Donors respond when a message feels like it was written just for them.
- Great fundraising relies on trusting experienced people and never losing vulnerability. Staying passionate and authentic ensures both donors and leaders stay connected to the deeper “why.”
“We’re being emotional. We’re connecting with each other as humans. That’s how we create engagement with donors. … Not by me showing up a suit and tie and in a big desk with gold stuff around me.”
“The more mail looks personal and looks like I sent it to you, the better it performs all the time…”
“We want donors feeling something. It’s the emotions that make us take action. And it can be joy, it can be anger, it can be sadness, whatever it is.”
- John Lepp
Reach out to John Lepp at:
LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/johnlepp
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnlepp_aog/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AgentsofGood/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/agentsofgood
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Go through a seamless process with the donor; don’t go from unaware to action. Create a replicable, consistent donor experience through these stages of relationship building: awareness, interest, connection, and action.
- Build relationships with donors through direct communication, creating content that provides value to others, rather than simply bragging about one's own accomplishments. Identify your areas of expertise and share them with others in a way that is informative, entertaining, or emotionally resonant.
- Personalized invitations create deeper connections with potential donors, and so does creating trust through smooth processes and acting in donors' best interests. Be a value to others in every interaction.
- Set up nurture sequences before and after events in order to engage attendees. Connect with the attendees and understand their needs, and build relationships with them by reaching out and listening to their values and interests. Don’t neglect follow-up.
“A lot of times, what I see is people go from unaware to action. We have to create an experience. It's like courting or dating, where you're enrolling someone slowly. And you're allowing them to move through this experience at their own pace.”
“They have to know you to like you, like you to love you, or trust you enough to give, to act.”
“What gets smiles on screens and souls on seats is a personal invitation.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Matt Nash is the executive director of The Blackbaud Giving Fund, leading the organization’s mission to unleash generosity by connecting people to causes they care about worldwide. An experienced executive with a focus on customer relationships and an expert in donor-advised funds and philanthropy, Matt previously served as the executive director of the Generosity Commission Working Group.
Key Takeaways:
- The upcoming Individual Contribution Deduction (starting 2026) allows $1,000–$2,000 deductions even without itemizing. This is a game-changer for mid-level donors and nonprofits. High net worth donors, meanwhile, are expected to give more this year before new caps take effect.
- Building trust requires proactive communication—help donors understand new deductions, be transparent about challenges, and highlight impact. Clear stewardship can inspire donors to give more, not less, during times of change.
- Companies are becoming more selective, prioritizing alignment with their values. Nonprofits that provide high-quality volunteer opportunities and keep corporate giving platform profiles updated will stand out. Mid-size and local companies, often overlooked, are especially valuable.
- Tracking foundation, government, and donor-advised fund trends helps nonprofits anticipate risks and opportunities. Using available data to identify potential DAF holders and maintain strong funder relationships ensures resilience.
“The key is stewardship of these donors, and helping them know this deduction is available, allowing them to amplify their giving.”
“If you have big funders, watch how they're using their resources; it might be a negative cause to you moving forward.”
“If you are working with a corporation, make sure your volunteer effort works great, it creates an aura among employees: ‘What a fantastic organization.”
- Matt Nash
Reach out to Matt Nash at:
Website: https://blackbaudgivingfund.org/
Blog: https://blackbaudgivingfund.org/blog/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlackbaudGivingFund/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackbaudgivingfund/
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/the-blackbaud-giving-fund
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Jen Recla is a leadership coach, facilitator, and adventure-seeker who helps leaders navigate their workload, build team trust, and lead with clarity, even when demands are high and resources are thin. With 15+ years in leadership, coaching, and organizational development, she brings a practical yet energizing approach to helping mission-driven leaders feel more capable and connected in their work.
Key Takeaways:
- Community building strengthens both personal and professional life, creating resilience and collaboration that support growth.
- Sustainable achievement requires focusing on priorities, setting boundaries, and celebrating gains rather than chasing endless tasks.
- Feedback cultures thrive on psychological safety, with leaders modeling behaviors that shape healthy and sustainable team norms.
- Core values such as fun, adventure, and growth provide direction, energize leadership, and create authentic, purpose-driven work.
“Some of the signs [of burnout] that I've seen with individuals really are dependent on who they are. So I think getting to know people, getting to know what makes them tick, what strengths they have, has been really helpful in my position as a leader in the past, and as a coach now as well.”
“We focused on what the gains are… individually, for your team, for the organization - so that they could really see the progress and momentum that they've made. It’s a way to pull people out of the downward spiral and really focus on the momentum and continuing to build that momentum.”
“The starting place is really to take a step back, zoom out, and focus on what's important to you, what's your purpose, what's driving you? What are your values? What are your goals?”
- Jen Recla
Reach out to Jen Recla at:
Website: www.jenrecla.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferrecla
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Effective change management begins with acknowledging and inventorying concerns rather than dismissing them.
- Benefits should be clearly articulated and emphasized in order to outweigh perceived risks.
- Aligning proposed benefits with shared organizational values strengthens collective buy-in.
- Identifying the tipping point, where benefits surpass concerns, creates momentum for meaningful change.
“The first thing we do is acknowledge the fear. We inventory the concerns. We do not deflect, dismiss, deny.”
“Stack the benefits, transform your positives, transform the positives, and to tip the sale.”
“Identify the tipping point where the benefits clearly outweigh the concerns.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Change unfolds in stages, and readiness cannot be forced. Recognizing that change follows a psychological process helps set realistic expectations. People move through stages at their own pace, and you cannot make yourself—or someone else—be ready before the time comes.
- Meet people where they are, not where you want them to be. Effective support means accepting others for who they are and approaching them with patience rather than trying to pull them ahead in their journey.
- Tailor your approach to each stage of change. Not everyone is in the same place, so it’s essential to assess readiness and match your strategy accordingly. Small, incremental “micro-asks” can help move people forward.
- Setbacks are part of the process, and relationships drive lasting change. Relapse is normal and should be seen as a learning moment, not a failure. Real transformation grows out of relationships built on trust, not transactional interactions.
“You will know when it’s time. You can’t make yourself be ready.”
“Don’t assume everyone is in the same stage. You have to assess first... and match your approach to their stage.”
“Change is a relationship. It’s not a transaction.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Nicole Stewart is the Executive Director of Boston CASA, a nonprofit that trains and supports community volunteers to serve as Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs) for children who have suffered from abuse and neglect. She has over 25 years of experience supporting vulnerable children and advancing equity, education, and justice.
Key Takeaways:
- Effective leadership begins with a clear sense of purpose, as understanding and communicating the “why” behind change builds trust, inspires alignment, and ensures the work stays centered on the mission.
- Establishing and living by shared guiding principles creates alignment in values and goals, making organizational change smoother and more unified.
- Bringing in outside facilitation during team change processes allows leaders to fully participate alongside their teams, while benefiting from an objective perspective that supports collaboration and engagement.
- Guiding principles should function as living documents that actively shape daily work, rather than being treated as one-time exercises or check boxes to complete.
“Together, we created some guiding principles to ensure that there was alignment in our values and in our goals, which just makes leading an organization through this process a lot easier when you have, you know, those basic core values and you're working in sync.”
“What I wanted to make sure is that once we came up with these guiding principles, that it became a living document.”
“One of our guiding principles is that we create a culture of self-care so that we can perform at our very best.”
- Nicole Stewart
Reach out to Nicole Stewart at:
Website: https://bostoncasa.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BostonCASA
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boston.casa
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Fear Has a Role. It’s not something to eliminate but to understand. It can guide rather than block you when approached with awareness.
- Confidence Can Hold Fear. You don’t need to be fearless to lead. True confidence comes from naming your fears, narrowing them down, and choosing your next step anyway.
- Vulnerability Builds Trust. Leaders who show up with honesty and openness create space for others to be brave. Influence grows when you lead with your full, imperfect self.
- Purpose Is Your Anchor. When fear rises, ground yourself in what matters most. Regulate your inner world, focus on what you can control, and move with clarity.
“Confidence rises when you create inner safety. That means regulating your nervous system through breath, stillness, movement, or connection.”
“The most vulnerable person in the room is the most influential person in the room.”
“If you're doing bold, meaningful work, fear is not a sign that something's wrong, it's a sign you're on the edge of growth.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Robin is the Founder and CEO of The Abundant Nonprofit and the creator of the 7-Figure Nonprofit Framework. She is a speaker, strategist, culture-builder, and team whisperer.
She works with nonprofit leaders who are done feeling stuck, underfunded, and overwhelmed—and who are ready to lead with clarity, confidence, and cash flow.
For over 30 years, Robin has helped visionaries transform burnt-out boards into dream teams, scattered programs into powerful movements, and struggling budgets into sustainable revenue. She doesn’t offer quick fixes—she builds legacies.
Key Takeaways:
- True sustainability means valuing both momentum and stillness. Embrace periods of rest with the same intention as times of productivity—lulls are not setbacks, but part of the cycle that fuels longevity and creativity.
- When another organization receives a major donation or breakthrough opportunity, it isn’t a sign of scarcity—it’s proof of potential. Their success is not a threat, but an invitation to believe that there is more than enough for all.
- Money is never just numbers—it flows through trust, relationships, and shared purpose. Success begins not with pressure or hustle, but with deeply rooted connection to people and their stories.
- Mistakes aren’t hidden or punished—they’re addressed with honesty and care. A culture that encourages transparency without blame becomes one where growth, resilience, and learning can truly thrive.
“Money is not a number game, it's a people game. Money is all about people.”
“When another nonprofit gets the big check, it doesn't mean it's not there for us. It's actually the opposite. It's showing us what's possible.”
“The most important thing they can do is embrace the lull as emphatically as they embrace the hustle.”
- Robin Berlinsky
Reach out to Robin Berlinsky at:
Website: https://www.theabundantnonprofit.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robin-berlinsky-7b147b33/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robin_berlinsky
Robin Berlinsky is an educator turned entrepreneur and a leading voice in the non-profit world. With over 30 years of experience, she has successfully founded two multi-seven-figure nonprofits, including being the founder of The Abundant Nonprofit. Through her expertise in sponsorships, fundraising, and donor engagement, Robin helps nonprofits secure critical funding, expand their reach, and create lasting community impact by tapping into the $600 billion nonprofit sector.
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Energy shapes everything. Energy is the foundation of all outcomes—your energy affects your thoughts, words, and ultimately, your results.
- You broadcast what you carry. As a leader, your thoughts and emotions are felt by others. Your energy influences how people respond to you.
- Attention creates direction.
- Where you focus your attention determines what grows. Choose to notice what works and who shows up.
- Choose alignment over effort. When your internal state aligns with your purpose, you move with clarity and don't need to force outcomes.
“Your thoughts, your emotions, your presence, it's all broadcasting something... people are responding to your frequency.”
“Multiple realities are possible. What becomes real is just what we choose to make real.”
“When you consciously align your internal state, thoughts, emotions, intentions with your vision and values, you don't have to push or hustle.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Fundraising begins with energy. Donors respond more to your emotional presence than your pitch, confidence, and authenticity attract, while desperation repels.
- Influence through presence, not perfection. Being grounded and emotionally attuned makes you more influential than having the "perfect" ask or script.
- Manage your energy intentionally. Simple practices like choosing a focus word, visualizing success, or resetting with breath and music can elevate your presence in donor conversations.
- Authentic connections build long-term results. Fundraising rooted in real connection leads to lasting relationships, lower stress, and more meaningful donor engagement.
“Influence is not about being perfect. It's about being present.”
“Even 90 seconds of intentional grounding can shift your state and realign your energy before you connect with anyone, especially a donor.”
“The more that I let go, the more that I give them the opportunity to make their own choice, the more likely they are to choose what I want.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Successful fundraising is more than just strategy—it begins with your internal world. Your mindset, emotional energy, and unconscious patterns play a major role in how you connect with others and inspire support.
- We all have sub-personalities—like the pleaser, perfectionist, or rebel—that try to protect us. These “parts” aren’t bad, but they can unintentionally undermine your efforts if left unchecked. Awareness is key to working with them, not against them.
- In fundraising, how you show up matters more than what you say. People respond to your energy—your authenticity, confidence, and presence—far more than a perfectly crafted pitch. Your internal state sets the tone.
- The goal isn't to silence your inner parts, but to let your grounded, aligned self take the lead. When you notice, name, and understand which part is showing up, you create space to choose a response that’s authentic and effective.
“Fundraising at its core is an inside-out game. What you put out is what you're going to get back.”
“Energy speaks louder than words, and most of us really want to get the words right, and we're not thinking about the energy.”
“Nothing is broken, no one needs to be replaced or banished. We just have to think about who gets to drive the bus.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Receptivity is an intentional strength. True openness toward money, ideas, feedback, or kindness is not passive. It is an active, rewired mindset that can be shaped over time, despite early conditioning.
- Receptive leaders influence through presence, not pressure. Leadership rooted in listening, collaboration, and invitation creates space for growth and impact, far more than force or control ever could.
- The practice begins in small moments. Noticing your receiving patterns, saying "yes" more often, and learning to accept compliments are daily habits that slowly widen your capacity to receive.
- Receiving invites transformation. When we let go of guilt, scarcity, and the urge to constantly produce, we begin to attract support, energy, and purpose, not just in fundraising, but in life.
“When you begin with receptivity, you don't just raise funds, you raise energy, you raise possibility, you raise movements.”
“The secret to raising money isn't how hard you push, but how open you are to receive it.”
“The leaders who raise the most money aren't the ones who shout the loudest. They're the ones who are deeply tuned in, confident in their worth, and open to support.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Welcome criticism as much as praise; both of these are other people’s opinions of us. They get to have their opinions, and not everything that people think about you is your business. People will only respond to what you did and say if they care enough to do so.
- Don’t put peace on a pedestal. Instead, balance peace and conflict. When you sacrifice the conflict for peace at all costs, we will only end up multiplying and creating more explosive conflicts. Creating space for conflict is the only way to have actual peace.
- Release the outcome. You don’t get to decide who likes you and who doesn’t, nor do you get to decide who will support your organization and who won’t. Don’t be attached to the outcome. Stay sovereign, hold your vision, and keep moving.
- Adopt neutrality. Look at the world from a 10,000-foot view. Everything is information; none of it is either good or bad. Be open to allowing things to happen. Things are happening for you, not to you. Everything that happens to you is a gift.
“When we need praise to feel good about ourselves or need praise to feel like our organization is on track, or we're terrified of criticism because we think it'll derail us, then it has ownership of us.”
“By sacrificing the conflict, for peace at all costs, we're actually creating more conflict. When you allow for a little conflict, you are actually creating peace. ”
“All I do is I stay sovereign, I stay in action, and I hold my vision, and I keep moving. That is releasing the outcome.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Crises don't cancel out other needs. Multiple truths, missions, and urgencies can coexist. When we reject scarcity thinking, we make room for shared impact.
- Donors are not fragile. They can care deeply about more than one issue and often feel more compelled to give when reminded of what truly matters. Let them decide what resonates.
- Fundraising isn’t about taking, it’s about offering a meaningful way to contribute. Even in challenging times, inviting people to give can be an act of empowerment and connection.
- There will never be a “perfect” time to reach out. Don’t let fear or timing stop the mission. Trust in your community, and ask with clarity and conviction.
“Donors are capable of caring about multiple causes at the same time, and in fact, many people even feel more motivated to give...”
“People give where they're connected. You aren't taking away from anyone by offering donors the opportunity to support your work.”
“Trust your donors. Trust their ability to discern a situation and decide what's right for them.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Your reality is a reflection of your thoughts. If you want different outcomes, start by cultivating different thoughts.
- Words follow thoughts. The confidence and clarity you seek in your communication begin in your mindset, not in a perfect script or message.
- Limiting beliefs are mental loops you can rewire. Recognize recurring negative narratives and actively replace them with new, empowering ones.
- Leadership influence starts internally. The way you perceive yourself sets the tone for how others respond to you.
- Intentional thought management is a daily practice. It’s not about perfection, but consistently choosing thoughts that align with your desired reality.
"You cannot create a new reality holding on to the same beliefs that you have now."
"If you can rehearse failure, you can rehearse success."
"Presence builds trust. Greater leadership requires presence."
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
With 25+ years guiding Fortune 100s, start‑ups, and non-profits through change management, culture transformation, and engagement, Dr. Patrick Farran, founder of Ad Lucem Group, former Consulting Director at SAS Institute, and former Notre Dame MBA faculty, brings impactful insight into purposeful leadership.
Key Takeaways:
- Purpose drives performance. Focus on the "why" and "who" to align teams with a clear mission, not just tasks and tactics.
- Leadership is a shared journey. Involve team members in decision-making, embrace diverse perspectives, and co-create solutions.
- Coaching fuels growth. Building leadership capacity means creating space for reflection, learning, and adaptive challenge.
- Shift from fixing to flourishing. Great teams don't just solve problems—they unlock potential by valuing strengths and encouraging creativity.
“Our culture is built one conversation at a time.”
“The absence of conflict is not peace. It's apathy,”
“The central task of leadership is to manage strengths such that the weaknesses become irrelevant.”
- Patrick Farran
Reach out to Patrick Farran at:
Website: https://adlucemgroup.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickfarran/
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Your presence and emotional frequency speak louder than what you say—people remember how you made them feel, not just what you said.
- Conscious leaders intentionally cultivate their energetic state, understanding that influence stems from within and radiates outward.
- Effective connection comes from meeting others where they are—validating their state rather than trying to pull them into yours.
- Your energetic baseline influences every area of life. Elevating it naturally attracts alignment and resilience, not perfection, but a stronger bounce back when things fall.
“Energy speaks louder than words, and people won't remember what you say, but they'll remember how you made them feel.”
“Remember, influential leaders love people for who they are, not who you want them to be.”
“When you raise your standard, when you raise your vibe, people will come with you."
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Create engaging experiences rather than logistically exhausting one-off events, with meaningful follow-up and sponsor involvement for effective event planning.
- Treat events as part of the donor journey, aligning activities before, during, and after to support awareness, interest, connection, and action stages.
- Meet participants' seven emotional needs (safety, pleasure, positive outcomes, connection, authentic communication, vision, and interconnectedness) for unforgettable experiences.
- Capture and retain the energy generated after an event through follow-ups, thank-you emails with photos, lunch-and-learns, personal phone calls, and nurturing email sequences.
“Event plus emotion equals experience.”
“If you're an experience maker, you're focused on emotion, connection, and transformation.”
“What you do after an event is as important or more important than what happens during the event.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Ask for and receive all you want, need, and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively, and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Sean Littman is the Founder and CEO of GiveSuite.com, a dynamic company at the forefront of nonprofit software and marketing. With a decade of experience in the digital marketing landscape, Sean has a proven track record of building and scaling successful ventures. His expertise lies in strategic and unconventional marketing, and he has a knack for problem-solving and developing exceptional solutions. Sean's strength lies in his ability to deeply understand people and their needs through insightful conversation. He then translates those insights into effective strategies and user-centric software at GiveSuite.com. He believes in democratizing knowledge and generously offers all his marketing content for free, driven by a passion for seeing individuals and organizations learn, grow, and achieve their marketing goals. Sean drives innovation and positive impact within the nonprofit sector as a thought leader.
Key Takeaways:
- Timely and automated follow-up deepens donor relationships. Implementing email sequences and automation after events keeps donors engaged and connected to the cause.
- Storytelling and valuable content create lasting impressions. Sharing organizational narratives and offering resources like lead magnets builds trust and sustained interest.
- Strategic digital tools amplify reach and efficiency. Leveraging tools like Google Ad Grants and evergreen funnels helps nonprofits expand impact without overextending teams.
- Consistency and personalization drive long-term growth. Moving beyond siloed efforts to create ongoing, tailored conversations is key to transforming donor engagement and revenue.
“Retention is key. Follow-ups are key. Staying on top of your people is key."
"Software is not just a solution. It's a strategy."
"You have to be the answer that people are searching for on the internet."
- Sean Littman
Reach out to Sean Littman at:
Website: Givesuite.com , https://givesuite.com/profiting-with-non-profits/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NonprofitAcademy/videos
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-littman-catch22nonprofit/
Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/3jW0sGWuL6pw65QBGNjOCW?si=59355405b74349fc
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Kim Faircloth: A seasoned professional with over 30 years of experience in conflict resolution coaching and mediation, leadership development, and executive coaching. As the owner of Integrated Conflict Solutions, LLC, she empowers individuals and organizations to effectively manage conflicts and enhance employee engagement. A certified coach and trained mediator, Dr. Faircloth has guided thousands in addressing workplace conflicts.
Her expertise spans roles such as ombudsman, workforce strategies consultant, and director of human resources. Drawing on her doctoral studies in conflict and mediation, she is a senior principal trainer and consultant at the Mediation Training Institute based in St. Petersburg, Florida. She continues to make significant contributions to the field, driven by her commitment to peacemaking and educating future HR professionals.
Dawn Bedlivy: A distinguished conflict resolution specialist with over three decades of experience. Her expertise encompasses leadership development, alternative dispute resolution, and conflict systems design. Ms. Bedlivy has successfully led teams and delivered consultation and training at prestigious venues. As an accomplished ombudsman, mediator, and organizational systems coach, she has applied her skills to spearhead an innovation ecosystem.
Demonstrating her commitment to education, Ms. Bedlivy serves as adjunct faculty at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, where she educates future professionals in conflict resolution.
Key Takeaways:
- Normalize conflict as a natural driver of change, focusing on respectful dialogue and emotional regulation.
- Build trust through competence, confidence, consistency, and caring during conflict resolution.
- Use the HERE model—Honor, Explore, Reflect, Establish—to navigate conflict productively.
- Prioritize listening and understanding over immediate solutions to strengthen relationships across all cultures and settings.
“We're all a mess. Conflict is absolutely normal, and people are, for the most part, don't wake up looking for it.”
“The first thing that you think does not have to come out of your mouth.”
“If you don't have non-conformers on your team, then you have groupthink, and that is much worse than having respectful conversations.”
- Kim Faircloth
“Sometimes people will solve it themselves just by sitting there and letting it all come out.”
“We're respecting boundaries. It doesn't mean we're not going to have conflict, but we're channeling that conflict someplace productive.”
- Dawn Bedlivy
Reach out to Kim Faircloth & Dawn Bedlivy at:
Website: https://conflictsparkschange.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/conflict-sparks-change/about/
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Empathy and validation are essential skills that can be learned and practiced to strengthen relationships, foster trust, and build healthier communities.
- True validation doesn’t require agreement, it’s about acknowledging another’s feelings and experiences through listening, reflection, affirmation, and, when welcomed, offering insight.
- Effective validation practices include giving full attention, avoiding quick fixes, using empathetic language, and showing genuine interest in both staff and donor interactions.
- Presence matters more than perfection, people want to feel seen, heard, and understood, and that emotional safety opens the door for meaningful connection and collaboration.
“Empathy and validation is a muscle. It's a practice. It's something we practice every day."
“Our greatest need is to feel seen and understood... if you want people to see it your way, the best way to do it is to see it their way first.”
“Listen without interrupting. Focus your full attention. Resist the urge to fix and solve. Give the person space to express themselves fully.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Lunch and Learn is a strategic, low-pressure event to move potential donors through awareness, interest, connection, and action stages by providing a welcoming, informative one-hour introduction to your organization.
- Consistently host monthly events with personal invitations from board members, volunteers, and donors, focusing on high-level impact stories and testimonials rather than detailed program descriptions.
- Create an engaging session that allows attendees to introduce themselves, hear about your organization's mission, and feel valued without any fundraising pressure.
- Follow up personally with every attendee, capturing contact information and being open to potential relationships, understanding that not everyone will become a donor but may become an advocate.
“Nothing gets smiles on screens and souls in seats more than a personal invitation.”
“Keep it tight, keep it to an hour, keep your promises, get to know everybody in the room, and then allow after your presentation for cross communication, so that other people in the room get to know each other.”
“The thing about I want you to remember the most is that we all leave feeling good. They felt good for having gotten to know you. You felt good for having gotten to know them. Because they felt seen and didn't feel pressured, they're more likely to invite or suggest doing this to other people.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Steven Screen is an experienced fundraiser who gets energized by helping organizations understand how they can raise more money. He’s a second-generation fundraiser, a past winner of the Direct Mail Package of the Year, and data-driven. His superpower is summarizing things. Steven is married and has three kids.
Key Takeaways:
- Vulnerability is crucial in fundraising - showing that an organization needs help actually increases donations, contrary to the instinct to appear perfect and self-sufficient.
- Direct mail is not dead - only 14% of charitable donations are online, with older donors preferring traditional fundraising methods. Successful appeals focus on future work donors can help fund, not past achievements.
- Fundraising must be inclusive and recognize different donor motivations - some donors want community, some want impact, some want transactional interactions. Organizations should create opportunities for all types of engagement.
- Fundraising is a gift to everyone - it connects people to causes, reminds donors of their responsibilities, and creates opportunities for shared impact when done with accessibility and genuine involvement.
“At the moment of the give or not give decision, usually the thing that has the highest point of leverage is the donor's own story and values and preferences.”
“If we want to be inclusive, you need to talk about work that the donor and the organization can do together.”
“Fundraising is a gift to everybody. It's a gift to the people who make it because you have to be other-centered. It's a gift to the people who receive it because they are reminded of their responsibilities in the world. More good happens if we make fundraising that shares responsibility, shares credit, involves everybody, and is accessible.”
- Steven Screen
Reach out to Steven Screen at:
Website: https://betterfundraising.com/
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Release the Outcome: Don't tie your self-worth to others' decisions. Focus on effort and preparation, and give people the power to make empowered choices.
- Reframe Rejection as Protection: Rejection isn't failure; it's feedback. Use nos as opportunities to refine your approach and understand that timing and fit matter more than personal rejection.
- Build Relationships First: Prioritize authentic connections over immediate outcomes. Listen to people's needs, validate their concerns, and create mutually beneficial interactions.
- Practice Self-Compassion and Persistence: Acknowledge disappointment quickly, but don't dwell on it. Keep moving forward, stay in action, and remember that “no”s are part of ultimately getting to yes.
“Your job is not to convince people to do anything. Your job is to help somebody make an empowered decision.”
“Remember, relationship first. The money will follow.”
“We can sometimes perceive them as rejection, but objections are just people trying to figure out how this could fit and work for them in a way that feels right to them.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Trusting your intuition is key to becoming a confident decision-maker. Intuition, unlike instinct (which is fear-based) or intellect (which is data-driven), comes from experience and deep knowing.
- Fear of failure, perfectionism, and external validation often hold people back from making strong decisions. Recognizing these barriers is the first step to overcoming them.
- Confident decision-making requires releasing attachment to the outcome. The more you focus on being true to your values instead of pleasing others, the stronger your leadership becomes.
- Developing a confidence ritual—such as deep breathing, visualization, or grounding exercises—can help you step into your power before making important decisions.
- Your intuition is a muscle. The more you practice listening to it and trusting it, the more powerful and effective your decision-making will be.
"You have to trust your ideas. You have to trust your thoughts. You have to trust yourself before other people will trust you."
"I can tell when somebody pops on the screen in my Zoom within three seconds if I want to work with that person or not, I just know..."
"Confident decisions stem from a light of an alignment with your personal and your organizational values."
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
About Andrea Kazindra: As the Co-Founder/CEO of Musana, I’ve spent the past 16 years dedicating myself to building a sustainable community development model in Uganda. Together with an exceptional team of local change agents, we’ve worked tirelessly to empower communities to thrive independently, free from reliance on foreign aid. I am driven by a vision that every community possesses the inherent capacity for self-sustainability. Beyond Musana, I am a passionate Jesus follower, I love spending time outdoors, traveling the world, being a mother, and inspiring others to join me in building a brighter future for all.
About Haril Kazindra: Haril is the Co-founder and CEO of Musana Community Development Organization. His passion lies in transforming communities by breaking the cycles of poverty and dependency. Over the past 16 years, Musana has grown from a small orphanage to a leading model of sustainable community development in Uganda. Haril and his team believe in faith-driven, locally-owned enterprises that empower people to take ownership of their futures. By investing in education, healthcare, and community development projects, he is dedicated to ensuring that the underprivileged have the skills and resources they need to succeed.
Key Takeaways:
- Fostering self-sustaining communities involves investing in infrastructure, education, healthcare, and economic opportunities created by local efforts, leading to long-term impact and independence.
- Empowering communities by tapping into existing assets and encouraging local ownership paves the way for innovative and sustainable solutions without reliance on temporary external aid.
- Emphasizing the importance of cultural awareness and collaboration, particularly in contrasting individualistic and communal cultures, ensures solutions are tailored to local needs and values.
- Moving away from short-term aid toward trust-based investments in local leaders and communities proves essential for breaking cycles of dependency, addressing poverty, and driving meaningful change.
“We want the charity sector to change... We want to use philanthropic dollars to invest in the enterprise, invest in things that communities need to truly thrive, not continuously be dependent on us.” - Andrea Kazindra
“Ideas of how to change a community can actually come from the community themselves, not really our own ideas.” - Haril Kazindra
“Development takes a long view and a deeper, long-lasting impact in a community than just raising money for programs.” - Haril Kazindra
Reach out to Andrea and Haril Kazindra at:
Website: https://musana.org/us/
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Few people know how nonprofits work. Dan does. Specializing in helping business owners and professionals create nonprofits that last, Dan has helped new nonprofits raise over $3 million, turned around several struggling organizations, and helped over 30 non-profit leaders create sustainable nonprofits.
Key Takeaways:
- Dan emphasized that fundraising fears are often rooted in psychological barriers. By reframing asking for money as a partnership and understanding the donor's desire to create impact, nonprofit leaders can overcome their reluctance to fundraise.
- Instead of making small asks, nonprofits should quantify their actual economic and social impact. Dan shared an example of a youth entrepreneurship program that could demonstrate $40 million in economic impact, which justifies asking for larger investments.
- Donors want to be part of the solution and make a difference. Treat them as collaborators who wish they could be on the front lines. By creating genuine relationships and showing how donors can contribute to meaningful change, nonprofits can build more sustainable support.
- Dan passionately argued that nonprofits are uniquely positioned to solve society's most pressing problems. By raising standards, focusing on solutions, and communicating their value, nonprofits can attract people who are looking to be part of something meaningful.
“You have no regrets about asking people for their time, and time is irreplaceable. Once people give you their time, they're not getting it back. Money is replaceable, they can get money back.”
“Nonprofits are the vanguard for the greatest change in how we solve social issues and the greatest impact on the social issues we face today. The vast majority of the problems that we face today are problems nonprofits are positioned uniquely to solve.”
“What matters more is picking the right donor to actually talk to and when you approach it as a partnership, you're not looking for that person to give you money, you're looking to see if that person is a good partner.”
- Dan Johnson
Reach out to Dan Johnson at:
https://nextlevelnonprofits.us/
https://www.youtube.com/@nlnonprofits
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Engaging board members in fundraising can be a chronic challenge for nonprofits, often due to resistance and discomfort. To enroll the board, it's crucial to make fundraising tasks feel good, easy, and fun.
- You set the emotional temperature for board fundraising. Your comfort level and excitement will influence the board's engagement. That’s why it’s important to understand your own emotional temperature and deal with it before trying to influence the board.
- Dispatching board members at events to connect with attendees, learn their interests, and introduce them to the organization's development team is an effective way to engage potential supporters.
- To effectively engage donors, it's important to release pressure by making authentic connections and allowing them to make their own decisions without pushing or convincing.
- Set the emotional temperature, define the board’s role, release pressure, master their mindset, provide training and support, specify actions, and create a system of accountability. By doing these, you can successfully enroll your board in fundraising.
“You set the temperature. The more comfortable you are, and the more excited you are, the more passionate you are, the more they will pick up on that.”
“The riches are in the niches - the more specific you can be, the more inclined they are to do it, because they understand exactly what it is that they want to do.”
“Release the pressure, make it feel easy, make it feel fun. They don't need to get anybody to do anything. The only thing they get to do is connect with people and see if there's an alignment.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Build long-term loyal communities of support by focusing on relationships, not transactions. Stop pitching, pushing, and trying to convince people to care about your cause. Instead, find like-minded people who share your values and vision.
- Adopt the "philanthropic heart" model, which is based on a person's lived experience, focus on future gains, and acceptance of people as they are. This helps you connect with donors on a deeper level.
- Understand the six human needs that drive decision-making - security, variety, significance, connection, growth, and contribution. Use this to define your donors' "philanthropic hearts" and provide them with opportunities that align with their needs.
- Prioritize building authentic, aligned relationships with donors. The more you make people feel seen, heard, and accepted for who they are, the more they will engage with your organization long-term, even through challenges.
“The marketing and messaging is to attract like-minded people. It's not to change people, and once we embrace that and understand that, people will feel seen and heard. ”
“The more decision-making I give someone else, the more likely they're just to decide what I want - but it needs to come from a place of genuine honesty.”
"Relationship first, the money will follow."
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Identify and acknowledge your resistance, such as being overly attached to outcomes or trying to fix others. Understand that fear has a role but should not drive your actions.
- Reframe negative mindsets and stories into more positive, empowering narratives. Make the unconscious conscious to change unhelpful thought patterns.
- Practice surrender, trust, and gratitude to cultivate a receptive state. Engage in joyful, playful activities that activate your whole being.
- Take inspired action aligned with excitement and purpose, rather than obligation. Maintain a sense of sovereignty and commitment to the process over the outcome.
“Fear has a place. It has a role. We're not going to kick it off the bus. It just doesn't get to drive it.”
“The more you focus on what's already good in your life, the more you attract positivity. ”
“Joy puts you in a receptive state, and it makes it easier to attract good things. You get to be joyful. You deserve joy.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Stephen has 15+ years of experience in finance, spanning nonprofits, startups, and Fortune 500 companies. He’s worked across diverse industries, including foster care, financial literacy, housing, software, professional services, and more. He believes nance and accounting should be simple and practical.
Key Takeaways:
- Nonprofit organizations often have a scarcity mindset around money due to the "not-for-profit" label, which can limit their ability to invest in growth and make bold moves.
- An individual's relationship and beliefs about money are often deeply rooted in their childhood experiences and upbringing. Understanding this "money story" is crucial when working with people on financial matters.
- The vulnerability and fear of rejection involved in fundraising, combined with money being a sensitive topic, can make it difficult for nonprofit leaders to confidently ask for the funding they need.
- Nonprofit leaders and staff need to examine their own personal money mindsets and how those influence financial management and decision-making within the organization.
“An investor in a business wants a return on their money, they want a profit. A similar transaction is happening in nonprofits, but it's not a financial return. It's either a social return or a mission-oriented return. They want to see impact as their return on investment.”
“[Have] some sort of a forecast in place - something that could be updated once a month or once a quarter. I find it helps combat the scarcity mindset, and it also helps combat Free Wheeling - just spending and not paying attention to it.”
“Look around who's in your personal board, who's in your personal sphere of advisors, or who can you go to to talk to about whatever issue you're working on with your organization. Having someone who has the opposite viewpoint or the opposite kind of relationship with money will be a net benefit to your organization, because the more perspectives you have, the the better your organization's going to be.”
- Stephen Newland
140+ Nonprofit Discounts: https://www.moneypathfpa.com/nonprot-discounts
Reach out to Stephen Newland at:
Website: https://www.moneypathfpa.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenmnewland/
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Inspiration is more powerful than manipulation or influence. Inspiration involves being a model for the change you seek, without trying to change others. It releases resentment and doesn't require others' approval.
- Avoid the compulsion to change people's minds. Instead, focus on sharing your authentic perspective and experiences. People are more likely to be influenced when they are allowed to choose for themselves.
- Understand your own ego needs and ensure your actions come from a place of joy and self-approval, rather than a need for external validation or impressiveness.
- Be selective about when to engage in divisiveness. Often, it's better to let things go and focus your energy on being an inspiration, rather than getting caught up in unproductive arguments.
“Influence means when I'm a value to you, you'll be a value to me. And so in influence, I am only concerned with giving.”
“When you try to push somebody, they're going to push back, and that conversation will quickly devolve.”
“When I love them for who they are, I'm able to really hear them, and when I'm able to really hear people, then I can actually address their concerns.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Focus on high reward, high urgency, and high reward, low urgency tasks first each day to make progress on your important goals. Don't let low-reward, high-urgency tasks consume your time.
- Celebrate your wins, no matter how big or small. Taking time to acknowledge your achievements will motivate you to keep working towards your goals.
- Be open to delegating or outsourcing low-reward, high-urgency tasks that don't require your personal attention. This frees up your time for higher-impact work.
- Regularly assess how you are spending your time and be ruthless about cutting out low-reward activities. Get support if needed to help you make these changes
“We're here to change lives. We're here to move people. We're here to make something amazing and in order to do that, we have to be brave, we have to be bold, we have to be willing to be uncomfortable.”
“Open your mind to the possibility that there are things that you actually don't need to do...We sometimes get bound in situations and refuse to let things go because we don't trust other people to do that.”
“You have to be brutally honest with yourself, brutally honest with all around you. Be ruthless in your assessment of how you're spending your time.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- It's not the strategy that's the problem, it's your feelings about the actions required to execute the strategy. Maryanne emphasizes that understanding your thoughts and feelings is more important than the strategic plan itself.
- Embrace uncertainty rather than seeking certainty. Maryanne explains that the more you need certainty and control, the more opportunities there are to feel uncertain and out of control. Learning to live with uncertainty is key.
- Set bold, audacious goals, not just achievable ones. Maryanne argues that plans often focus on conservative, achievable goals rather than big, hairy, audacious goals that scare you a little. Pushing your boundaries is how you truly grow.
- Address underlying issues and mindsets, not just create a plan. Maryanne shares an example of a coalition that thought a plan could solve their trust issues, when in reality the feelings and communication needed to be addressed first.
“The more you need certainty and control, the more out of control and uncertain you'll actually feel.”
“If your plan isn't scaring the crap out of you, it's not a really good plan. And that's why I said the number one myth was plans bring certainty because you want to feel uncertain. You want to feel scared.”
“The way to grow is to release the outcome, get bold, and make your objectives based on the change that you truly want.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Laura Bonnell, a seasoned journalist with 25 years of experience in Detroit, founded The Bonnell Foundation in 2010 after her daughters, Molly and Emily, were born with cystic fibrosis (CF). Despite having ten siblings between them, Laura and her husband, Joe, had no idea they were carriers of the disease, as no one else in either family had been diagnosed with CF. Driven by her personal experience and professional expertise, Laura used her platform as a reporter to raise awareness about CF. Before establishing The Bonnell Foundation, she actively raised funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, participating in the Great Strides Walk fundraisers and speaking at CFF events. Bonnell also organized events like the first Celebrity Softball game with the Detroit Tigers’ wives and launching the "Portraits of Cystic Fibrosis" calendars in 2003—both of which are integral to The Bonnell Foundation's fundraising efforts today. Through her foundation, Laura continues to advocate tirelessly for those affected by CF, leveraging her journalistic skills to amplify the cause and support the CF community.
Key Takeaways:
- Seeing nonprofits as corporations is important for changing mindsets and driving growth. Nonprofits need to embrace the business aspects of running an organization, like budgeting, fundraising, and strategic planning.
- Leveraging your existing skills and experiences, even if they seem unrelated, can be incredibly valuable when starting a nonprofit. Laura's background in journalism and storytelling was crucial for building the Bonnell Foundation.
- Authenticity and personal connection are powerful tools for fundraising and advocacy. Sharing your authentic story and being open to building relationships can lead to unexpected opportunities and support.
- Persistence and a willingness to learn are key when facing challenges. Laura had to overcome her discomfort with fundraising but embraced it as a necessary part of her work, which led to the foundation's growth.
“There is a stereotype or a feeling that people working for a nonprofit shouldn't make any money. I think it needs to change because it's really important that there are foundations that are helping people in the community.”
“Just ask. The worst someone can say is, “No, we can't do that much, but we'll do this much.’”
“Keep your willingness to share open, because there are so many people I've connected with about being open, and we all help each other. People relate to the same things.”
- Laura Bonnell
Reach out to Laura Bonnell at:
Website: https://thebonnellfoundation.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebonnellfoundation
X: https://x.com/roadmaptocf
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bonnellfoundation/#
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Mindset shifts cannot be achieved through strategy or training alone; coaching is necessary to remove barriers, create self-awareness, and build empathy. Staying sovereign means being in control of your own thoughts and actions, regardless of the outcome of your fundraising efforts.
- Coaching can help in these three ways: First, it will help you get out of your own way or shift your mindset so that you can get rid of your barriers. Second, you will be able to create more self-awareness and learn to practice neutrality. Third, build empathy for others around you and stay sovereign.
- Group coaching is very powerful! It is a great way to connect with other leaders and fundraisers, helping you see that you are not alone in your problems. It is also a great avenue for you to share your magic; giving, receiving, and exchanging wisdom with others just like you.
- Start with a clear intention, don’t abdicate your success, be patient, hold accountability to yourself and others, and stay sovereign.
“Our world, our bodies, we're looking for balance. Fundraising training and fundraising coaching are two different things that can create that balance.”
“Be mindful of what your intention is and what you need to accomplish that. Strategy will not shift the mindset, training will not shift your thinking. What shifts your mindset is coaching.”
“No one can be more committed to your outcomes than you.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Pitching, pushing, convincing, or trying to get someone to see things a certain way doesn’t work. When pressure is applied, people tend to push back. Instead of pushing ideas onto others, focus on drawing out their thoughts and feelings.
- Release attachment to the outcome. The more you are able to avoid fixating on the outcome, the more likely you can achieve it. Also, set aside personal agendas. Remove anything that might distract from your main goal which is to make people feel seen and heard.
- Ask questions, and understand the other person’s perspective. Listen without trying to fix, solve, or argue against their points. Validate what has been shared and then ask if thoughts can be shared from a personal perspective. Continuous validation and feedback without judgment are key.
- The key is to give people the sovereignty to make an empowered choice, leaning into what they want. Although it may seem counterintuitive, the more this approach is used, the more likely others will choose the desired outcome because they feel in control.
“Our job is not to push people. Our job is to pull information out of people.”
“Rejection is protection.”
“The less you want something, the more likely you are to have it.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Embrace discomfort and take risks to broaden your range and become a more powerful leader and fundraiser. Release the outcome to unlock confidence, productivity, and opportunity.
- Honor and manage feelings of shame and guilt rather than avoiding them, as they play a role in keeping you humble and motivated.
- Acceptance of discomfort leads to evolution and achieving amazing feats, while the ego system hinders growth.
- Overcome fears, embrace vulnerability, and practice gratitude for challenges to empower personal growth, confidence, and connection with others.
“As fundraisers, we're called to be uncomfortable. Making friends with discomfort and putting yourselves in situations where you are uncomfortable can broaden your range of comfort.”
“Guilt and shame have a role in your life. They keep you humble, they keep you hungry. And we're never going to get rid of them because this is how our bodies work. But we can also learn to manage it and learn to understand.”
“The ability to be uncomfortable, to take risks, to ask for what you want, to let go of the result, to navigate the feelings, of guilt and shame that come up when you face rejection is completely 100% key to being a fundraiser.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Lou Kotsinis is CEO of BCS Interactive, a digital marketing agency dedicated exclusively to the nonprofit community. Since 2011, Lou and his team of designers, technologists, and digital strategists have helped nonprofits nationwide grow their causes and reach millions of followers through impactful web design, social media marketing, and smart digital strategy.
Key Takeaways:
- Build authentic relationships and digital communities to increase influence, income, and impact. Gather honest feedback and data analytics to understand audience perceptions, needs, and demographics.
- Follow a structured approach: positioning, website experience, online audience building, and email marketing segmentation.
- Leverage emotional human stories to create engagement. Design websites that clearly convey the mission, engage emotionally, guide users, prompt action, and ensure a smooth experience.
- Provide value through educational, mission-focused content rather than self-promotion. Use email for reliable reach and social media for engagement. Segment email lists, tailor content, use a personal tone, systematize processes, and focus on fundamentals.
“Their positioning is really the most important factor in their whole marketing program. And that comes down to what is their story? Who is their audience? Is their messaging around that story resonating with that audience?”
“The website is the most critical and most useful storytelling device that you have. So we want to look at that in terms of what is the quality of that experience? Are people engaged when they come to the site? Do they understand what you do?”
“Social media is not a platform that you go on twice a week just to post about your upcoming gala or your upcoming event. You have to think carefully about the people that are coming to your page. They have a million distractions. They have a million other pages they could go on. What are you providing them that's actually giving them value?” - Lou Kotsinis
Reach out to Lou Kotsinis at:
Website: www.bcsinteractive.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loukotsinis/
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
James Misner is the founder of The Kipos Group. Over his career, he has facilitated the raising of 100’s of millions of dollars to support nonprofit organizations. A trusted expert in the realm of fundraising strategy, staff, culture, and implementation, he brings a sharp focus on small and mid-sized organizations engaged in direct service.
Key Takeaways:
- CEOs and founders of small nonprofits who feel inferior need to change their mindset from feeling inferior to recognizing their unique contributions.
- Focus on building a strong team and a good organizational culture. The three essentials are clarity, community, and consistency. Clarity involves understanding roles, responsibilities, and metrics.
- Community helps build confidence and support among team members. A good sign of a connected community is if team members feel free to share successes and failures without fear of judgment and also support each other. Consistency in treating team members equally builds trust and culture.
- Balance peace and conflict in team dynamics. Be open to feedback. Leaders need to be vulnerable and model the behavior they want to see in their teams. Addressing conflicts and being honest about issues helps build trust and stronger teams.
“In a chaotic world that's always changing, you're not responsible for that chaos. Your responsibility is to find the two or three things that you can either influence or control and leverage those to bring about great change in the world.”
“Bringing that conflict does put you in a vulnerable spot… but we have to talk about this hard thing. The leader needs to model that you can be safe and vulnerable at the same time, and that helps us all get stronger together.”
“Don't wait. You are not going to have a perfect plan. There is not going to be a linear A to B, B to C strategy for this, you need to throw yourself into the fray. You need to take imperfect action, and you need to start making a better team today.”
- James Misner
Reach out to James Misner at:
Website: https://thekiposgroup.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesmisner/
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Brigitte Cutshall is a health advocate and speaker who is passionate about encouraging others to lead their happiest, healthiest lives. She's the founder of Gemini Media, a creative enforcer, Real Things Podcast host, and author of five books.
Key Takeaways:
- Authenticity, openness to feedback, and clarifying aspirations foster trust-building. Ask thoughtful questions, listen empathically, identify shared values, and avoid forcefully pushing opinions.
- Advocate for yourself, ask questions, find supportive people, and make positive lifestyle changes. Pursue activities that bring positivity and endorphins without overdoing it. Pause, reflect, and focus on enjoyable activities to cope with overwhelming events.
- Cultivate positive energy, authenticity, and relationship-building to connect effectively. Find happiness through intrinsic motivation, self-acceptance, and embracing life's simple joys.
- Establish aligned, authentic relationships while adhering to standards. Let go of incompatible clients gracefully without burning bridges. Communicate truthfully and calmly, and allow time for thoughtful responses.
“Authenticity, that's just so important. That's how we connect and develop relationships.”
“Don't start off with a long story, that will turn people off. You want to get to the point, but you have to have some takeaways. You got to ask them the right question.”
“Pause and try not to react. Reflect on what's making you upset.”
- Brigitte Cutshall
Reach out to Brigitte Cutshall at:
Website: https://brigittecutshall.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brigittecutshall
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brigittecutshall/
YouTube: https://youtube.com/realthingsliving
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Maintain sovereignty and stay grounded despite what is happening around you. Practice sovereignty daily to develop resilience amidst crises.
- Seeking excessive control diminishes peace; embrace flexibility. Reclaim sovereignty through presence, grounding, and intuition. Move beyond binary thinking and win-lose dichotomy; embrace a third way.
- Lean into lived experience, coping abilities, and third-way solutions to navigate crises. Foster resilience through intentional spaces, supportive relationships, and community-building.
- Reclaim sovereignty and power through boundaries, self-advocacy, and maintaining high standards. Inner worth transcends outcomes.
“Sovereignty means that I say how I feel and I define who I am regardless of the circumstance.”
“The more you need control, the more out of control you feel.”
“Lean into the experiences that you have had, and also, understand that there are people around you who have been through this. Watch them and pay attention to how they move through these crises.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Kirsten Stevens is an accomplished philanthropy advisor and nonprofit consultant, focused on bridging the gap between philanthropic support and transformational impact in the social sector. Born in Panama and raised in Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Mexico, Kirsten's diverse background has shaped her global perspective on philanthropy and nonprofit excellence
Key Takeaways:
- It’s important to engage new board members effectively from the start to maintain their initial excitement. Do one-on-one meetings with new board members, and try to understand their interests and potential contributions.
- New board members face a lot of challenges such as feeling intimidated or overwhelmed. Having a buddy system where new board members are paired with experienced members for guidance can help a lot in making sure that new board members feel supported and informed.
- Create a diverse board membership so that you’ll have the gift of having multiple perspectives by making the board service accessible and appealing to all. Engage the community, educate potential board members, and train and attract diverse board members.
- Build trust and community among board members through one-on-one meetings and social gatherings. Proximity and authentic conversations have a key role in building strong board relationships. A supportive and connected board can significantly enhance the overall impact and leadership of an organization.
“Before we even have the first board meeting, I love to have a one-on-one with new board members, and we have a real, person-to-person conversation about the things we're focused on.”
“Let me just speak as if I'm on a board currently, I'll just be a we. We do not currently spend enough time assessing our own performance. We don't. We just don't.”
“We have to make programs that offer this type of training. We have to make those more available. Board readiness is offered every year. ”
“Institute board self-assessments on a regular basis, but let's also include our community efforts. Each of us has a responsibility to get out into the community.”
- Kirsten Stevens
Reach out to Kirsten Stevens at:
Website: www.kannico.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kirstenstevensforglobalgood
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kirstenstevenskannico/
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Stay in motion, build relationships, and connect with people. Honor natural cycles and rhythms in work and life to achieve sustainable productivity. Taking breaks can be part of the process.
- Fix your eyes on what you want instead of what you don’t want. Focus on conditions that help you thrive and create plans for what you want. Shift the focus of your nonprofit from fixing what’s broken to creating what’s right.
- Creating what's right involves systems, structures, and policy changes. It also takes shifting donor expectations from short-term wins to long-term sustainable change. Donors want to invest in compassionate, just communities, and focusing on creating these communities is more impactful.
- Focusing on what we want creates better outcomes in life, work, and relationships. Retrain your brain to focus on positive outcomes. Focusing on positive outcomes can improve team dynamics and personal satisfaction.
“An influential leader and influential fundraiser understands that their job is to create what is right, and to enroll people in a vision of change.”
“What conditions do I work best in? How do I work best? What can I do when I meet resistance from a task?”
“The problem, the effort, the initiative, will not shift until your thinking shifts.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Morgan Gross, CEO & Founder of Fundraising Beyond Borders, is an international fundraising consultant and coach dedicated to empowering nonprofits to achieve their fundraising goals and expand their impact globally. Morgan provides strategic services such as fractional fundraising, custom fundraising plans, and personalized 1:1 fundraising coaching.
Key Takeaways:
- Fundraising for international nonprofits is more challenging due to a lack of donors' understanding, requiring greater storytelling efforts, transparency, and online presence to build trust.
- An online presence builds awareness and interest but requires a physical connection to deepen donor relationships; e.g., inviting donors behind-the-scenes, exclusive tours, and events for engagement. Virtual events and behind-the-scenes experiences strengthen donor relationships and stewardship creatively without in-person visits.
- Building meaningful relationships takes time; start on social media, establish mutual partnerships through conversations, identify supporters' preferred ways of contributing, and leverage connections abroad to expand reach.
- Fractional fundraising service provides experienced fundraisers for part-time to nonprofits by assessing needs, clarifying three main revenue-generating activities, strategizing a 12-month plan, and implementing it.
“We have to be able to slow down our storytelling process and really explain to somebody what a beneficiary is going through, or what a behind-the-scenes looks like, or what every day looks like for your nonprofit.”
“It's really important to know that a supporter doesn't mean necessarily a financial supporter. Support can look like so many different ways. It can be a volunteer, it can be a donor, it can be somebody who comes abroad and supports you. It can be that they're sharing your posts on social media.”
“How can you also in your impact reports, show exactly where that dollar is going because a potential donor is going to be able to see exactly that journey.”
- Morgan Gross
Receive fundraising Tips by clicking on this link: https://fundraisingbeyondborders.ck.page/newsletter
Reach out to Morgan Gross at:
Website: www.fundraisingbeyondborders.com
Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/peerfectfundraising
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fundraisingbeyondborders/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/morgan-domijan/, https://www.linkedin.com/company/fundraising-beyond-borders/
Podcast Spotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fundraising-beyond-border
Podcast Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fundraising-beyond-borders-podcast/id1762613551
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fundraisingbeyondborders
YouTube: @fundraisingbeyondborders
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Grow your pipeline impact through consistent, value-driven engagement across channels. Follow a social media strategy that moves audiences from awareness to reliable outreach, relationship building, and action.
- Implement a content hourglass system: Create one core story weekly and derive consistent messaging from it for all platforms. Create targeted email campaigns for different audience segments with one clear story/message instead of long, multi-update emails.
- Plan content in a three-week cycle: client story, donor feature, recap, and rerun/recycle content occasionally. Develop one core story weekly, repurpose it into various formats, host it on the website, and distribute it through channels to drive traffic back to the website.
- Tell one awesome story weekly using video, blog posts, and social posts; repurpose major events content for the website, email, and social; segment email lists for targeted communication; move audiences from awareness to action through a consistent content pipeline.
“Email is reliable reach - it's the most reliable, most consistent method of getting your message out.”
“Ask yourself this question: Is the story I'm telling something that I want people to know or something people want to actually know?”
“Tell one awesome story a week. You can tell an entertaining story or an educator story. You have expertise that you can share with people.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Great messaging attracts donors by being simple, clear, and concise, which requires effort and investment.
- Lack of differentiation, authenticity, transparency, and vulnerability prevents organizations from effectively connecting with their target audiences through marketing and messaging.
- Be bold, fearless, and fun. Ground your messaging in values alignment and authenticity to attract like-minded donors. Personal brand is vital, and organizations should define their own values, beliefs, and what they want to deliver consistently.
- Effective nonprofit messaging focuses on the cure, not the process, highlighting the difference made in the world, not programs or services, to attract aligned supporters while standing firm in values.
“The riches are in the niches. The more specific we can be about who we want to attract, the more likely we are to attract them.”
“Every relationship is built on an emotional connection. People get attracted to your organization because there's something in them that's connecting to you.”
“Your job is not to tell people how they can be of value to you. Your job is to be a value to them.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Embrace spontaneity and be open to new adventures, rather than clinging to preconceived expectations. Releasing expectations and attachments is key to achieving desired outcomes and living a fulfilling life.
- Remain open and adaptive to unexpected opportunities, as rigidity hinders success by preventing experimentation and limiting responsiveness. Releasing outcomes enables relationship-building, confident asking, long-term vision, and respect for others' autonomy, leading to sustainable relationships.
- Managing anything requires risk-taking, releasing attachment to specific outcomes, and embracing uncertainty to allow innovation, breakthroughs, and new opportunities. Communicate vision, not rigid expectations, and balance planning and improvisation.
- Evaluate options objectively by releasing desired outcomes, allowing decisions based on available information rather than being overly fixated on specific results. Seize unexpected wins and be open to possibility, even if initially unsettling.
“The more expectations you have, the more opportunity you have for disappointment, frustration, and resentment. The key to successful life experiences is releasing the outcome.”
“Releasing the outcome allows us to focus not on the short-term wins, but on the long-term vision that we have in relationship with this donor or board member or prospect or community partner - fundraising is the long game.”
“When I'm not overly attached to an outcome, I'm more willing to try new ideas and initiatives, even if there's uncertainty, even if I'm not sure of the outcome. This can lead to breakthroughs, new opportunities, and that wouldn't arise if we were cautious.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Let’s Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence
- Group Coaching for Nonprofit Leaders
Want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward.
- Team Coaching + Training
I work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you’re growing fast or feeling stuck, we’ll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together.
- Board Retreats + Trainings
Your board has big potential. I’ll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:
https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker
Key Takeaways:
- Influential fundraisers build trust, respect, and admiration by providing value, listening, and allowing empowered decision-making aligned with donors' sovereignty.
- Building relationships and finding authentic win-win solutions is more influential than manipulation or pushing self-interest. Influential leaders create supportive communities to drive collaborative change while balancing specific plans and adaptability, fostering long-term donor loyalty.
- Adopt an abundance mindset and view the donor-fundraiser relationship as equal partners contributing different assets towards a common goal. Embrace rejection instead of fearing it, use micro-commitments to condition acceptance, and allow people to say no from the beginning.
- Shift focus from words to energy, showing up calmly and confidently, and from convincing to questioning and allowing conversation flow. Inspire people with a bold, transformative vision for the future, not just short-term fixes.
“The less likely you want something, the more likely you are to get it. [Likewise], the more decision-making power you give to someone, the more likely they're going to do what you want.”
“Rejection is protection and as. And, yes, a holding space that rejection hurts and it sucks and it's disappointing also. It's part of the game, and you can get yes or you can get no and it's part of the game.”
“Rejection is protection - it hurts and it sucks and it's disappointing, and that is something we learn to live with. When we fear no, we're not hearing people say no, and when we don't give people the ability to say no from the beginning, they're going to give us a fake yes.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Ask for and receive all you want, need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Key Takeaways:
- Shift from building organizations to mobilizing communities for long-term, sustainable change. Mobilize resources beyond just fundraising, involving community participation and in-kind gifts.
- Dare to dream big and commit to audacious visions, like ending hunger or eliminating the need for certain organizations.
- Focus on creating positive goals, like everyone having a home and kids being loved, supported, and safe, rather than just "ending homelessness" or "keeping kids off the streets."
- Support communities and follow their lead. Mobilize resources towards creating long-term solutions and audacious goals, instead of temporarily alleviating symptoms and perpetuating ongoing problems.
“We forget the fire because we feel like we have to compromise ourselves or a bold vision in order to get people to invest.”
“We have all the resources we need to solve a problem. It's just a matter of mobilizing them. we have everything if we're willing to step out and make that commitment and to stay in it”
“As long as we're collectively encouraging people to focus on what's broken, things will continue to be broken. But if we're collectively enrolling them in a vision of what we're going to build, that's creating what's right, what's just, what's fair, what's equitable, what's inclusive, what's peaceful.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Ask for and receive all you want, need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Erin McAleer is the President and CEO of Project Bread, Massachusetts’ only statewide food security organization, connecting people and communities to reliable sources of food. McAleer uses her background in health and human services and public policy to address food insecurity in Massachusetts through systemic and scalable strategies.
Key Takeaways:
- Lived experience is critical in solving food insecurity issues and policies need to be driven by those most impacted, shifting away from the traditional top-down approach. Don’t prioritize immediate payoffs, consider long-term systemic solutions, and strive to execute on both fronts.
- Establish a council of experts full of people with lived experience of the need that your organization aims to address. Solutions must be guided by the community that the organization serves with a process or system that ensures inclusivity and collective involvement.
- Shift your focus to the people that you serve. Use storytelling to raise awareness, promote donor engagement, and educate your audience about how they could serve. Eliminate the cost and stigma barriers against access to needed resources for the community you serve.
- Leverage your skills, experiences, and expertise to make a difference. Seek a meaningful life by striving towards your higher calling. Look into the pain points that you’ve experienced in your life and find a way to serve that need in the world for others.
“Lived experience is the most expertise that you can provide to solve this problem.”
“Solutions always come from the community.”
“The disconnect between donors and reality is that bridge that we are trying to make through storytelling.”
- Erin McAleer
Reach out to Erin McAleer at:
Website: www.projectbread.org
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-mcaleer-22b21012/
Project Bread LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/project-bread/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/projectbread/
Twitter: www.x.com/projectbread
Ask for and receive all you want, need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Key Takeaways:
- Praise and criticism are two sides of the same coin. A lot of leaders fall into the trap of overdependence on praise and the fear of criticism. Taking a stand and making changes will inevitably upset some people, but it is a necessary part of the process. Stay true to the vision, even when faced with criticism.
- Instincts are triggered by stored trauma and are primarily focused on moving away from pain and towards pleasure. Allow instinctive reactions to pass and then move to the intellectual response, gathering facts and understanding the situation. Don’t let instincts rule when managing crises.
- The role of intellect in crisis management is to gather facts. For example, it can help you understand and weigh out the pros and cons of a situation. Don’t let instincts dominate, move to a place of intellect and gather the necessary information. Understand situations and make a decision informed by facts.
- Don’t overlook intuition when making decisions, it’s crucial in making big changes and taking fruitful risks. intuition comes from a place of deep knowing and is often accessed in quiet moments or during brainstorming. Practice intuition regularly to access it during crises, as it can provide valuable insights and guidance.
“Criticism is the price of doing business.”
“As a leader, remember that you set the emotional temperature.”
“When you are in crisis mode, it can be hard to access that intuition, which is why doing a daily practice of tapping into your knowing self, tapping into that higher self part of you is so important so you can readily access it or understand it, even in a difficult situation.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Ask for and receive all you want, need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Key Takeaways:
- Pitching, pushing, convincing, or trying to get someone to see things a certain way doesn’t work. When pressure is applied, people tend to push back. Instead of pushing ideas onto others, focus on drawing out their thoughts and feelings.
- Release attachment to the outcome. The more you are able to avoid fixating on the outcome, the more likely you can achieve it. Also, set aside personal agendas. Remove anything that might distract from your main goal which is to make people feel seen and heard.
- Ask questions, and understand the other person’s perspective. Listen without trying to fix, solve, or argue against their points. Validate what has been shared and then ask if thoughts can be shared from a personal perspective. Continuous validation and feedback without judgment are key.
- The key is to give people the sovereignty to make an empowered choice, leaning into what they want. Although it may seem counterintuitive, the more this approach is used, the more likely others will choose the desired outcome because they feel in control.
“Our job is not to push into people. Our job is to pull out.”
“Rejection is protection.”
“The less you want something, the more likely you are to have it.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Ask for and receive all you want, need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Key Takeaways:
- Prioritize understanding and catering to donors' thoughts, feelings, and motivations for giving to deepen relationships and increase donations.
- Understand and align with a donor's "ego-system" or self-perception to effectively fundraise. Minimize risks or expand donors' self-views to align with desired actions, reframing activities to fit their identities.
- Use empathy mapping, listen to values, and customize experiences within donors' comfort zones for successful partnerships. Listen and understand donors' pains, gains, values, and motivations before pitching for action.
- Expand your sense of self, and accept all parts to authentically connect without being triggered. Respect people's truth, align your mission with their passion and release those who don't connect, as a common identity attracts loyal relationships.
“The most frustrating position you can put anyone in is to not feel seen and heard.”
“We're either going to lower the risk or grow the window. And how we grow the window is to help people step slowly outside of their comfort zone.”
“We lead by listening. We lead by understanding.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Ask for and receive all you want, need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Pat Duffy co-founded The Giving Block, a platform enabling nonprofits to accept crypto donations. This innovative solution has raised over $170M, making crypto philanthropy mainstream. Pat is a recognized leader in the field, honored with Forbes 30 Under 30, and frequently featured in major media outlets including Time Magazine, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, Associated Press, CoinDesk, and CNBC.
Key Takeaways:
- Accepting cryptocurrency donations is not just a matter of accepting digital currencies for the sake of trendiness; this strategy opens doors to a whole new demographic of donors.
- Gen Z and millennial billionaires bring not just their digital assets but a preference for tech-savvy giving methods. By tapping into this, nonprofits aren't merely keeping up with the times, they're engaging with a group that tends to give more generously.
- The process for adopting the practice of accepting cryptocurrency donations is a three-step journey: setting up donation tools, activating teams and donors, and deploying long-term successful strategies.
- Engaging existing donors and attracting new supporters through simple yet consistent messaging can prove fruitful, especially when aimed at the oft-targeted younger generation who are keen on tech-led financial transactions.
“Today for nonprofits, in particular in midsize and large nonprofits, it's become a necessity. It's the main way that Gen Zs invest. It's close to 90% of millennial millionaires or crypto traders. At this point, Gen X earns even more money in crypto than those other generations combined. ”
“The main thing we do is - how can we as much as possible reduce how much work goes into it in that first three to six months, and then ensure that you have as many opportunities as possible to get gifts?”
“For anyone listening, read a bit about crypto and don't get too bogged down in the technology itself. Crypto is very similar. It's not nearly as scary and complex as it seems.”
- Pat Duffy
Reach out to Pat Duffy at:
Website: https://thegivingblock.com/
X: x.com/thegivingblock
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/thegivingblock
Facebook: facebook.com/thegivingblock
Instagram: instagram.com/thegivingblock
Ask for and receive all you want, need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Key Takeaways:
- A lot of times we stumble between the first gift and the second gift because we're not paying attention to what people really want.
- Ask for what you want. Speak your truth. Advocate for your own needs. We are constantly training people how to treat us whether we are conscious of it or not. There is nothing wrong with asking for what you want, whoever it is that you’re asking it from.
- If you respond to feedback by deflecting, dismissing, and denying, you won’t get anywhere. You don’t have to agree with what people are saying, all you’ve got to do is make them feel seen and heard. People won’t feel valued, seen, and heard if they are met with deflection, dismissal, and denial.
- Part of relationship building is seeing people for who they are and not who you want them to be. You have to let go and be willing to receive a “no” from people. Likewise, you’ve got to also allow yourself to say no when necessary or when something is not aligned with your values and ideals.
“It's okay for you to ask for what you want. It's okay to set boundaries on how you were and how you show up best, even with board members, even with donors, because it is a relationship.”
“ Instead of deflecting, dismissing, denying that feedback, you say, ‘Tell me more about that.’”
“They're not saying ‘no’ to you. They're saying ‘This isn't aligned. This isn't in line with my highest values and ideals. It just isn't for me.’”
- Maryanne Dersch
Ask for and receive all you want, need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Sarah Wood is the founder of Sarah Wood Communication, a boutique communication agency that serves purpose-driven organizations and individuals by helping to illuminate and share the stories of their good work.
Key Takeaways:
- The responsibility of event planning, development, and donor relations isn’t meant to fall on just one person. Collaboration is the sustainable and healthy way to success.
- Storytelling is powerful and versatile. It can be used as a golden thread that weaves together various strategies for audience engagement. Stories can be repurposed and made to serve distinct purposes. By tweaking them slightly, they can be made to fit different contexts.
- Strategic communications move beyond achieving likes and follow. It’s about creating synergy between communications and development teams, ensuring every response to fundraising appeals is made with intention and is aligned with the organization’s goals.
- A solution to the challenges of nonprofit communications is fractional hiring in marketing and communications roles. This offers flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and a fresh perspective while allowing organizations access to expertise otherwise beyond their reach.
“In telling the stories of who you've impacted, you need honesty and a safe space for that. You want to be careful how you do it - but also expressing it in a really touching way that reaches and resonates with the audience.”
“When you invest in communication, in telling these stories - you really will see the long-term result of that investment. But it can be a little harder to track than a specific campaign…”
“A strategy is a living document, you do not create a communication strategy, set it on a shelf somewhere and just leave it there That's not the way it works. Communication is ever-changing, your audiences are ever-changing. ”
- Sarah Wood
Book a complimentary consultation with Sarah to discuss your communication needs! Include code SUMMERPROMO when reaching out: https://www.sarahwoodcommunication.com/contact-info
Reach out to Sarah Wood at:
Website: https://www.sarahwoodcommunication.com/
Ask for and receive all you want, need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Key Takeaways:
- By truly listening and responding to donor concerns, organizations can strengthen their connections, leading to improved fundraising outcomes. Surface-level interactions aren’t going to cut it - we must always ask the question of “What lies at the heart of your donors’ concerns?”
- The “Three Pains” technique encourages understanding, rather than convincing when enrolling others in a shared vision. Understanding these three pains is the key to shifting from a transactional approach to a transformational one.
- Take note of the three pains: the pain that we openly acknowledge, the insecurities we hide due to fear, and the deeply ingrained issues that we struggle to recognize in ourselves.
- The journey towards understanding doesn’t stop at personal introspection. Addressing the underlying fears and insecurities can inspire confidence and effectiveness in interactions with stakeholders.
“Remember, we're not pitching, we're not convincing, we're not selling. We're enrolling people in a vision.”
“When you solve the top-level problem, you're not really solving the problem, because that really wasn't the problem, it was the physical manifestation of some deeper issues. And if we can get to those deeper issues, we can make the change that we want.”
“Ask them questions to help them get to a clearer understanding of what the problem is. Here is the questions that I find the most helpful in uncovering the pain: ‘What makes you say that?’”
- Maryanne Dersch
Ask for and receive all you want, need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Ali Horriyat, a former finance manager turned philanthropist, left his career in 2016 to prioritize social impact over profit. He founded Compassiviste in 2020 to further this vision. With diverse academic achievements across multiple countries, he is also an author and advocate for compassion.
Key Takeaways:
- The desire for more and more wealth is often not merely driven by the material comforts it affords but by the control and power, it can convey. A power that, left unchecked, risks eroding the quality of our relationships and personal well-being.
- Overcoming the scarcity mentality is vital for nonprofits. Community engagement and collective impact are more crucial than just fundraising.
- Throwing money at problems is not going to fix anything. Real societal transformation is brought about by the collective effort and concern of people, not just by the money that they bring.
- A strategic foundation is necessary for social impact work to thrive in the long term. Focus on sustainability, self-sufficiency, and having an exit strategy. Look beyond what’s right in front of you and invest effort and focus into creating an enduring resolution to deep-rooted problems.
“If we can prioritize compassion, through every action that we take, then we're going to be in a better place helping not only people but the entirety of our society.”
“When you don't have an exit strategy, all the money in the world is not enough.”
“Forget correlating money to resolution, let's correlate people to resolution. Don't bring me money - before the money, what I'd like to have is the community.”
- Ali Horriyat
Reach out to Ali Horriyat at:
Website: https://compassiviste.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/compassiviste/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ali-horriyat
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/compassiviste/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Compassiviste
Ask for and receive all you want, need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
A leader in the fields of social justice and children’s issues, Lynn Margherio is the Founder and CEO of Cradles to Crayons®, the largest national nonprofit with Clothing Insecurity at the core of its mission. Launched in 2002, Cradles to Crayons provides children living in low-income and homeless situations with clothing and other everyday essentials—diapers, winter coats, shoes, backpacks, and more. Under Lynn's leadership, the organization has successfully fulfilled the needs of millions of children and connected more than half a million volunteers to meaningful engagement opportunities and donation experiences, mobilizing people of all ages in communities all over the country.
Key Takeaways:
- Vocalizing commitments, implementing accountability partnerships, and celebrating every small victory are critical in sustaining motivation in the team and nonprofit members.
- Actively solicit feedback, nurture trust among partners, and tap into the wealth of collaborative experience. Show your organization's commitment to continual improvement by opening up to other people’s ideas.
- Be ready to hear a lot of “no’s”. Don’t internalize nor focus on rejection, celebrate the “yes” that you receive. Continue to strive to secure small wins to advance your big vision despite all the setbacks and challenges because it is worth it to keep moving forward for your cause!
- Continuously hone and improve your presentation. Seek to learn from your rejection, and recognize what made people say “yes”. Acknowledge that at the end of the day, your job isn’t to persuade people but to find like-minded folks who already care about what you care about.
“Find the experts - I still do that 22 and a half years into this. There are people I reach out to all the time just to say, "Hey, I'm thinking about this, what do you think?”
“You have to keep plowing through the no’s to get to your yeses. The no’s can teach you something.”
“We realized that if we focus on meeting foundational needs, we can do a better job in serving that need because trying to be a one-stop shop for everything a kid needs meant that we couldn't focus enough on ensuring that we had a good supply of the most critical items.”
- Lynn Margherio
Reach out to Lynn Margherio at:
Website: https://www.cradlestocrayons.org/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cradlestocrayons/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/c2cboston/
Ask for and receive all you want, need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Key Takeaways:
- In the realm of nonprofit leadership, the stories we tell ourselves are not mere whispers in the corners of our minds; they are the powerful undercurrents that shape our reality, influence, and leadership.
- Our personal self-talk mirrors the narrative we share with the world. This alignment, or lack thereof, can have significant repercussions on our efficacy as leaders and influencers.
- Transitions in life are as inevitable as the change of seasons. Adapting to change is key. This adaptation is made smoother with the help of emotional tools, which act as navigational aids during life's transitions.
- Every emotion wields a purpose; even the ones tinged with negativity like anxiety and doubt have a role to play in our decision-making and behavioral regulation. Achieving a balance and being aware of our emotional narratives are essential as we 'drive the bus' of our emotional selves through the daily journey of life.
“It's not the story that we're telling other people that really has the power. It's the story that we tell ourselves”
“Life is full of transitions, and you can adapt. Accept that life is full of transitions, that there are beginnings and endings. And that's the natural order of everything.”
“The more kind and graceful and loving you are to yourself, the more time graceful loving, accepting you will be to other people.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Ask for and receive all you want, need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Tim Sarrantonio is an internationally renowned speaker on generosity, technology, and the trends in the social good sector. After helping various causes raise over $3 million, he then moved into providing support for thousands of nonprofits through his work at Neon One. He has spoken at AFPICON, NTC, TEDx, and holds a Certificate in Philanthropic Psychology from the Institute for Sustainable Philanthropy. He lives in Niskayuna with his lovely wife, three lovely daughters, and a deep love of the Adirondacks.
Key Takeaways:
- A report from Neon One and the University of Dallas digs deep into transactional data and donor records, revealing the rising trend of recurring donations. Recurring giving programs, especially online credit card donations, have shown effectiveness in growth, promising a steady flow of support for nonprofits.
- A study on donor motivations illustrates that emotions and identity significantly influence generosity. Thus, understanding what resonates emotionally with donors can be just as important as the financial support they offer.
- In order to acquire recurring donors, nonprofits must take nurturing tentative interactions into enduring commitments. Remember to humanize data, acknowledging that it is a reflection of relationships that, when prioritized, lead to financial success.
- In this digital era, harnessing the right tools and nurturing relationships are essential ingredients in the recipe for sustainable generosity.
“People don't give to you, they give through you.”
“Ultimately, data is simply the electronic representation of relationships.”
“Don't make decisions for your donors, use data to validate whether your audience is doing one thing or not.”
- Tim Sarrantonio
Reach out to Tim Sarrantonio at:
Website: https://neonone.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsarrantonio/
“The Recurring Giving Report: Data-Backed Insights for Sustainable Generosity” https://neonone.com/resources/recurring-giving-report/
Ask for and receive all you want, need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Key Takeaways:
- Developing conflict resolution skills is essential for nonprofit leaders, requiring practice and the ability to handle less intense conflicts to grow.
- Embracing conflict, rather than avoiding it, helps identify true problems and fosters harmony, while avoidance can lead to more significant issues.
- Often the apparent problem is not the real issue; effective leadership digs beneath the surface to uncover the underlying insecurities, fears, or miscommunications.
- Balance in handling conflict is key. Leaning too much towards needing control or seeking praise can lead to vulnerability and chaos.
- Empathy and empathetic listening are critical for resolving conflicts, building trust, and facilitating more productive interactions.
"Peace is not the absence of conflict; it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means."
"Release the need to control the outcome and listen with empathy to truly resolve conflicts and negotiate effectively."
"Feeling seen and heard can defuse most conflicts and is a cornerstone of building trust."
"If you want to be an influential leader...navigating conflict is a skill that I highly encourage you to learn to master."
- Maryanne Dersch
Ask for and receive all you want, need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Rachel Bearbower is a fundraiser, former ED, and founder. She is the host of the Sprout Podcast and spends her time building a community of small shop Executive Directors inside her membership, SproutED.
Her work stems from struggling inside an underfunded, limited-resource, systemless organization despite working countless hours with the combination of never having enough time and feeling isolated as a leader of a small shop organization where burnout was inevitable.
A story that’s not unique to anyone inside the nonprofit sector.
Rachel believes in reclaiming your time to create better relationships with donors and raise more for the mission you love while creating a sustainable + lasting impact.
You can find her on Instagram at @smallshopstrategies, on LinkedIn, or on her website at www.smallshopstrategies.com.
Key Takeaways:
- It’s important to balance systems implementation with human connection in nonprofit fundraising. Remember that the point of updating infrastructure is to support processes and free up time for meaningful interactions with donors.
- Relationship building is the most critical thing to the sustainability of your organization. Dedicate more of your time and energy to making people feel seen and heard, and a part of a loving and thriving, authentic community.
- Most nonprofits don’t have the capacity to follow up with every single donor. Through automated systems, you can acknowledge the gift, reach out to the donor, and nurture the relationship of each and every donor that goes through your organization’s process.
- You can make people feel special through automated responses, you just have to be intentional about it. Make your automated messaging sound like you. Write it like you’re talking to one person instead of a group.
“Productivity really isn't the point. We set up these systems so that we can give ourselves time back in our day. Not so that we can do more, but so that we can do less.”
“Get them in the front door and make sure that they are connecting using automation, and some very intentional workflows to make them feel supported in a way that feels true and authentic and genuine, to your organization and to who you are.”
“You want to make sure that you're you're writing in that voice that's speaking to just one person. Just because you're automating it doesn't mean that you aren’t still writing it, it's still coming from you. ”
- Rachel Bearbower
Reach out to Rachel Bearbower at:
Small Shop Strategies
Nonprofit Automation Agency
Book a demo
Free eCourse: 5 ways to automate your stewardship
Say hi on Instagram - @smallshopstrategies
Connect with me on LinkedIn - @rachelbearbower
Ask for and receive all you want, need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Key Takeaways:
- Engaging board members in fundraising can be a chronic challenge for nonprofits, often due to resistance and discomfort. To enroll the board, it's crucial to make fundraising tasks feel good, easy, and fun.
- You set the emotional temperature for board fundraising. Your comfort level and excitement will influence the board's engagement. That’s why it’s important to understand your own emotional temperature and deal with it before trying to influence the board.
- Dispatching board members at events to connect with attendees, learn their interests, and introduce them to the organization's development team is an effective way to engage potential supporters.
- To effectively engage donors, it's important to release pressure by making authentic connections and allowing them to make their own decisions without pushing or convincing.
- Set the emotional temperature, define the board’s role, release pressure, master their mindset, provide training and support, specify actions, and create a system of accountability. By doing these, you can successfully enroll your board in fundraising.
“You set the temperature. The more comfortable you are, and the more excited you are, the more passionate you are, the more they will pick up on that.”
“The riches are in the niches - the more specific you can be, the more inclined they are to do it, because they understand exactly what it is that they want to do.”
“Release the pressure, make it feel easy, make it feel fun. They don't need to get anybody to do anything. The only thing they get to do is connect with people and see if there's an alignment.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Book your quickie intro call with Maryanne here!
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
After 15 years as an in-house fundraiser, Cindy started her business doing Fractional Fundraising. Today she teaches other fundraisers how to be their own boss by starting their own Fractional Fundraising business. She's also a consultant to nonprofit consultants, helping them shake off the “shoulds,” drop the scarcity hangover from the nonprofit sector, and abundance in entrepreneurship.
Key Takeaways:
- The concept of fractional executives allows nonprofits to benefit from the strategic oversight and hands-on support of experienced fundraisers for a fraction of the time and cost.
- it's important to note that hiring a fractional fundraiser is not a magic solution. It requires a long-term commitment and clear expectations from both parties to achieve the desired outcomes.
- Shift your mindset from scarcity to abundance. By embracing innovative consulting models and hiring fractional experts, project-based workers, and specialists, organizations can optimize their in-house capacity and prevent staff burnout.
- As fractional fundraising continues to gain traction, it's crucial for organizations to clarify the specifics when working with a fractional executive. By embracing this growing trend and walking through the discomfort of change, nonprofits can unlock the "secret option C" and achieve sustainable growth and success.
“How do we think differently about doing things in a way that allows our organizations to grow and flourish and achieve our missions without that scarcity or feeling like we have to self-sacrifice.”
“We are not magic. The way I train fractional fundraisers and the way I talk to organizations about considering fractional executive support is it's not a short-term solution. It does not happen overnight, it takes a year minimum to start to see a return.”
“We're teaching them to fish, organizations need to know how to fish. But the unique thing about fractional executives is we're also kind of doing the fishing for them. Yeah, in the short to mid-term. Because sometimes the organization is literally starving and it takes time to learn how to fish.”
- Cindy Wagman
Reach out to Cindy Wagman at:
Website: https://www.fractionalfundraising.co/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cindywagman/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cindywagman.consulting/
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Book your quickie intro call with Maryanne here!
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
As the chief do-gooder and Founder of Get Fully Funded, Sandy has a calling to be your number-one cheerleader when it comes to funding your nonprofit.
For nearly 20 years, she has helped hundreds of small nonprofits go from “spaghetti-on-the-wall, nickel-and-dime” fundraising, to achieving 6 or 7-figure bottom-line results.
Using a proven process, Sandy shows students how to find ideal donors, and then connect and build genuine, long-term relationships. She guides you to figure out what to do next, with lots of ideas and practical tips along the way — so you know exactly how to get results, time and time again.
As your teacher and coach, Sandy is practical, warm, encouraging, approachable and sometimes, even a little goofy. “Fundraising doesn’t need to be a drag. I know how to make it fast, fun, and productive.”
When she’s not working, Sandy lives on a small farm in rural East Tennessee with 2 dogs, 6 cats, 2 horses, and the occasional miniature donkey fosters. She also volunteers for Project Linus, making quilts for kids in need.
Key Takeaways:
- Focus less on donations and more on building long-lasting donor relationships. Treat donors like friends as opposed to sources of money, and build authentic and genuine relationships with them. When you put people first, the money will follow.
- Utilize the power of storytelling to build donor relationships. Everything you create for the donor must come from a desire to give value and connect on a deeper, more emotional level.
- You don’t have to try to change people’s minds. Be authentic and connect with like-minded people. Engage supporters with vulnerability and honesty, share true stories, discuss real problems, and ask for advice from them. All of these will lead to increased support.
- Your ability to listen enhances your ability to be a good storyteller. Listen to your people with an open mind and an open heart. Show interest, and display curiosity for their lives. See them as people and know them.
“Donors are not a scary group of people. They are people who care about the work the organization is doing. And when you treat them like friends and not checkbooks or ATMs, magic happens.”
“Relationships are built on trust, then one of the most important things that any fundraiser can do is to be purposeful about building trust with donors.”
“How do you build relationships that stand the test of time? A real good way to do it is to truly be interested in donors for who they are, not just the money they can give.”
- Sandy Rees
Reach out to Sandy Rees at:
Website: https://getfullyfunded.com/
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Book your quickie intro call with Maryanne here!
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Anne Murphy, the founder of Empowered Fundraiser Consulting, has over 25 years of experience in higher education and nonprofit advancement. Having successfully led campaigns and raised hundreds of millions of dollars, Anne not only brings her extensive expertise but also a skilled team of subject matter experts specialized in digital marketing, event planning, database conversions, board development, and more.
Key Takeaways:
- AI levels the playing field. For example, there are a lot of leaders who are great at helping people grow and influencing them to achieve each one’s goals. However, not every leader is a great writer, and with AI, we can remove that limitation.
- AI has a lot of features that are not commonly explored. It’s not only used for writing assistance, it can also be used for assistance with wardrobe choices, event planning, fundraising, and data analysis which can help make decisions in real time.
- Don’t depend on AI for everything. Rather, treat AI as a strategist or a super smart intern, generating ideas and bouncing off of them for feedback. Think of ChatGPT as a co-pilot that assists with decision-making and idea creation. Learn to use ChatGPT for specific tasks that will greatly benefit your workflow.
- Using AI to its greatest potential requires patience. Through trial and error, spend some time with AI and play around with its features until you get the result that you want.
“AI amplifies our humanity. It allows us to expand into our zone of genius and spend more time doing the things that only we can do.”
“Creating content is what people kind of think of first, but for me, the bigger level up has been using AI as a strategist, as a super smart intern. When I'm working through ideas, and options and strategies, I now have somebody right in my pocket to run these ideas by, not judging me.”
“Start playing. Remember Malcolm Gladwell said you have to do something for 10,000 hours before you're good at it. [Spend] 10 hours of just playing, learning, trying things. Don't quit before 10 hours. At that point, you will be better than 99.5% of people.”
- Anne Murphy
Reach out to Anne Murphy at:
Website: https://empoweredfundraiser.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anne-murphy-philanthropy/
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
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Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Key Takeaways:
- Go through a seamless process with the donor, don’t go from unaware to action. Create a replicable, consistent donor experience through these stages of relationship building: awareness, interest, connection, and action.
- Build relationships with donors through direct communication, creating content that provides value to others, rather than simply bragging about one's own accomplishments. Identify your areas of expertise and share them with others in a way that is informative, entertaining, or emotionally resonant.
- Personalized invitations create deeper connections with potential donors and so does creating trust through smooth processes and acting in donors' best interests. Be a value to others in every interaction.
- Set up nurture sequences before and after events in order to engage attendees. Connect with the attendees and understand their needs, build relationships with them by reaching out and listening to their values and interests. Don’t neglect follow-up.
“A lot of times what I see is people go from unaware to action. We have to create an experience. It's like courting or dating where you're enrolling someone slowly. And you're allowing them to move through this experience at their own pace.”
“They have to know you to like you, like you to love you or trust you enough to give, to act.”
“What gets smiles on screens and souls on seats is a personal invitation.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Book your quickie intro call with Maryanne here!
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Key Takeaways:
- Mindset shifts cannot be achieved through strategy or training alone; coaching is necessary to remove barriers, create self-awareness, and build empathy. Staying sovereign means being in control of your own thoughts and actions, regardless of the outcome of your fundraising efforts.
- Coaching can help in these four ways: First, it will help you get out of your own way or shift your mindset so that you can get rid of your barriers. Second, you will be able to create more self-awareness and learn to practice neutrality. Third, build empathy for others around you and stay sovereign.
- Group coaching is very powerful! It is a great way to connect with other leaders and fundraisers, helping you see that you are not alone in your problems. It is also a great avenue for you to share your magic; giving, receiving, and exchanging wisdom with others just like you.
- Start with a clear intention, don’t abdicate your success, be patient, hold accountability to yourself and others, and stay sovereign.
“Our world, our bodies, we're looking for balance. Fundraising training and fundraising coaching are two different things that can create that balance.”
“Be mindful of what your intention is and what you need to accomplish that. Strategy will not shift the mindset, training will not shift your thinking. What shifts your mindset is coaching.”
“No one can be more committed to your outcomes than you.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Book your quickie intro call with Maryanne here!
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
As the VP of Community Engagement, Bethany Natoli is one of the driving forces behind Mightycause, an all-in-one nonprofit fundraising platform. With over 10 years of experience in the nonprofit sector and a passion for utilizing technology for social good, Bethany has helped countless organizations and campaigns enhance their fundraising efforts and streamline donation processes.
Key Takeaways:
- Peer-to-peer fundraising is a powerful tool for garnering support for mission-driven organizations. Storytelling and building meaningful connections are the keys to creating successful peer-to-peer campaigns.
- Organizations that utilize the power of peer-to-peer fundraising should also apply the same strategies and tools that they teach others to use.
- Peer-to-peer fundraising requires a careful strategy to retain donors and fundraisers year after year. Building strong relationships and demonstrating the value of the organization's mission is crucial for long-term success.
- To create a successful peer-to-peer fundraising campaign, nonprofits should focus on organizing committed campaigns, selecting the right fundraisers, and providing volunteers with easy-to-use templates, sample emails, and clear language about the organization's mission.
“Peer-to-peer fundraising is about activating individuals or groups that aren't the fundraising staff at your nonprofit to get the word out about your cause to fundraise on your behalf.”
“You may not retain all (donors) because of the way that they're coming in. But I think with with the concentrated focus on what does that post campaign stewardship looks like. Try and develop a relationship directly with that one removed donor, I think you have a lot more likelihood.”
“The way that I tried to reframe it for myself then and the way that I think about it now is like - you're not asking, you're presenting an opportunity to someone.”
- Bethany Natoli
Reach out to Bethany Natoli at:
Website: www.mightycause.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mightyapp/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mightycause
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mightycause/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mightycause/
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
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Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
As Founder & President of Travers Training & Consulting, Rhonda Travers fulfills her passion for creating a collaborative culture by helping businesses & nonprofits increase engagement, retention, and productivity. Rhonda leverages her 30-year corporate leadership experience to share her unique approach through business consulting, training workshops, and speaking engagements.
Key Takeaways:
- In today's fast-paced world, offering flexibility in volunteer roles is essential for nonprofits to attract and retain volunteers. Showing sincere and specific appreciation is also critical, as it encourages volunteers to go above and beyond for the cause they believe in.
- To keep volunteers engaged, nonprofits should inform them about their roles and the organization's mission through various communication channels that match their preferences.
- Volunteers are more likely to stay when their personal motivations align with the nonprofit's mission. Rather than trying to make people care, nonprofits should focus on inviting those who already have a connection to their cause.
- Finding the right fit between a volunteer's interests and an organization's needs is crucial for retention. Grassroots efforts through current volunteers and engaging with school programs are effective ways to find and retain volunteers.
“Your volunteers help you achieve your mission. And so retaining those volunteers is so important.”
“People want to feel appreciated. Those who feel appreciated will always go the extra mile.”
“People are going to be more likely to stay with you if they understand your mission as a nonprofit and their role in achieving that mission. They want to be empowered to make a difference. In today's world, we all want to make a difference.”
- Rhonda Travers
Reach out to Rhonda Travers at:
Website: https://traverstraining.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhondatravers/
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
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Kim Fisher is a nonprofit strategist who specializes in creating and implementing infrastructure for nonprofit start-ups. Kim does everything from completing the IRS 501(c)(3) nonprofit application requirements, to board training and development.
She has over 30 years experience as a nonprofit executive in all areas of nonprofit management including business development, training, marketing and as CEO. Kim’s extensive experience in both domestic and international organizations gives her a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities of the nonprofit adventure.
Key Takeaways:
- Nonprofit leaders and members really struggle with taking salary from the nonprofit organization. This is rooted from a poverty mindset that you have to let go of if you want to build a successful and sustainable nonprofit company.
- The four main pieces of starting out a nonprofit: be incorporated into your state, work on board and bylaws, create a narrative on what you’re gonna do and how you’re gonna do it, lastly, make a budget.
- It takes a lot of time for any business to gain some traction - it’s the same way for nonprofit organizations. It’s going to take a lot of investment of not only money but also patience and effort.
- It’s hard to recruit members because we all want to be part of something that’s already successful. A base requirement for a board member should be commitment and persistence.
“It’s kind of a litmus test because it’s the question of if you’re not bringing it 3000 dollars to form your startup plus all the other startup costs… you’re gonna have a challenge in raising money to actually run the organization.” - Kim Fisher
Book a 30 minute discovery call with Kim Fisher by clicking on this link: https://calendly.com/kimberlyfisher/30min-discovery-cq?month=2022-01
Reach out to Kim Fisher at:
Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/nonprofitsuccess?_rdc=1&_rdr
Website: https://visioncatalyst.org/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberfisher/
Email: kim@visioncatalyst.org
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Book your quickie intro call with Maryanne here!
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Key Takeaways:
- Ask and listen instead of pitching and selling. People are more likely to when they feel seen, heard, and understood. Your only job is to tap into somebody and have them feel seen, heard, and understood.
- People decide based on their emotions. Listen to them and lead the conversation with empathy. If people feel misunderstood, they’ll become frustrated and guarded, the opposite is also true.
- First, ask a vision question to know what their pain is or what they want to gain. Second, ask about the gap - the challenges that make the vision difficult to materialize. Third is the cost, ask them what is the cost of not solving this issue.
- After asking those three questions, that’s when you can involve your organization in the conversation. Ask a qualifying question: “What do you feel is needed to close the gap?”
“If you want to increase the quality of the conversations that you have with anybody in your life, it is not what you say, it is the quality of the questions that you ask.”
“People will buy to the level that they feel seen, heard, and understood.”
“Keep people in their feelings, we make decisions from feeling not thinking.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
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Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Jane Pfeiffer is the founder and President of Fieldtrip, a cause-focused agency dedicated to helping purpose-driven organizations help others. Fieldtrip is based on the belief that learning expands when you step outside with a sense of wonder and curiosity. Jane, and the Fieldtrip team, work across the country supporting important work including public and private education, homelessness, child abuse prevention, LGBTQIA+ advocacy, and other health and social services.
Key Takeaways:
- The three key attitude segments within the supporter population are these: first is culture or how they think about giving and supporting nonprofits. Second is if they believe the issues we’re facing today are solvable or at least improvable. The third is how they view the beneficiaries or the recipients of the mission.
- Instead of trying to find the magic words that will make people care about your cause, talk to people and ask them what made them want to donate or support your organization. Once you determine their motivations, you can then know which of the three buckets they are in
- As communicators in the nonprofit space, it’s our role to help supporters understand the sociological and systemic context of what puts the beneficiaries in need. We must also inform supporters how progress is being made in a particular mission. For many, constant progress is enough to motivate them to support.
- Supporters who are disconnected from the cause will become more motivated to support the mission once they are able to personally connect with what issues the beneficiaries face. They will gain this connection either through personal circumstances and experience or through media and nonprofit communication.
“Demographics are typically the way we look at audiences. Don't worry about those details, let's focus on their mindset, and how they view both, important social issues, and the beneficiary. Then, what is their culture and approach around empathy.”
“What I run into so often is so many people think that if they're aware, they automatically care. And so people equate growing awareness with growing donations, and that's just not a guarantee”
“We either have to increase their level of understanding through the way we tell stories or wait for them to have some type of external exposure. They're ready to support but until it's connected to their world, they're gonna be less likely to.”
- Jane Pfeiffer
Beyond Donor Demos: Leverage Attitudes Over Demographics for Nonprofits - https://wearefieldtrip.com/lp/research/
Reach out to Jane Pfeiffer at:
Website: https://wearefieldtrip.com/
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
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Key Takeaways:
- Creating a support network can help you stay connected, stay confident, stay grounded, and most importantly, stay sovereign.
- Prioritize building deeper connections with people, and be intentional in getting to know them. Set dates, strive to meet consistently, and keep it fresh with different activities.
- The lessons that you need rarely ever come from within. Most of the time, it’s by seeking out other people and giving them a listening ear that you’ll find the gem that you need.
- Having a strong support network is not only about what you can get from it, it’s also an opportunity for you to give value to other people. Instead of worrying how your needs can be met, focus on being a value to others, knowing that your needs will be met.
“It's not about the outcome, it's about staying sovereign. You create, you decide, you set the pattern. No one dictates to you how you feel or [what you are] worth, you decide that for yourself. That's sovereignty and what helps us stay in that is a support network.”
“Allowing others to care for you and support you is an act of generosity. They get to have the gift of supporting you. It's not a burden, just like fundraising is not a burden.”
“Instead of thinking, ‘What do I need from people?’ , [think] ‘How can I be a value to my friends?’ Because I know when I'm a value to them, they’ll be a value to me, I don't have to worry about it. I know my needs will be met.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
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Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
With a career spanning over three decades, Karen Knight is a seasoned professional renowned for her unwavering commitment to the not-for-profit sector. Having navigated various leadership roles in both the private and public sectors, Karen’s journey highlights her adaptability and versatility.
Key Takeaways:
- Before looking for volunteers, establish the roles that they will fill or come up with a list of tasks that they will do. Know who you are looking for and what they’re going to do.
- Keep your volunteers happy by making them feel appreciated. Thank every volunteer in every shift and in specific if possible. If you can’t be specific, then show them that you see what they’re contributing.
- Talk to your volunteers. If you listen, people tell you about what they want. Don’t spend time and energy arranging an event for the volunteers that they may not necessarily like. Instead, ask them what they want.
- Volunteers are not merely “free workers”. The senior leadership needs to realize the value of investing in their volunteer program. One change that could make an impact is to hire a volunteer manager who’s qualified and appropriately funded. Being a volunteer manager is a senior leadership position.
“The more people who are involved in your mission, the faster it'll advance, you get to your mission sooner. The more people you bring in, the more ideas you have, the more enthusiasm you have - it just builds on itself.”
“You have to be ready for your volunteers. Otherwise, it's, you're frustrating them and you're not making any difference to your cause. Once you know who you're looking for, you will find them.”
“You need to have the buy-in of the senior executive of the board to invest in the [volunteer] program. You need to realize that [managing volunteers] is a senior leadership position and treat it as such and fund it as such.”
- Karen Knight
Reach out to Karen Knight at:
Website: https://karenknight.ca/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-knight-consulting/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KarenKnightConsulting
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
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Key Takeaways:
- Understanding how thoughts and feelings contribute to decision-making is key to influential leadership. Influential leadership creates sustainable workforces with less turnover and more productivity.
- The first step towards becoming an influential leader is to go inward. Be willing to understand how the thoughts, beliefs, and experiences that you had when you were young impact the decisions that you make today.
- Guilt is when we feel bad for what we do and shame is when we feel bad about who we are. Most things that upset us originate from deeply rooted feelings of guilt and shame. When navigating conflict of others or your own, pay attention to what’s making you and others feel uncomfortable.
- An influential leader’s job is to create more good leaders. When you practice influential leadership, not only are you creating a more influential and conscious leadership for yourself, but you're also teaching others how their thoughts and feelings contribute to their everyday decision-making which helps them resolve things internally.
“Every minute we spend in clean-up conversations that could have been avoided with better communication and leadership - we're moving away from the work we were called to do.”
“You got to be willing to go inside, and understand what thoughts and beliefs were implanted in you when you were young, and how those can be affecting the decision making that you make today.”
“When you find yourself in a conflict or navigating somebody else's conflict, first you have to pay attention to what's happening in your body, what am I feeling? And then seeing other people - there’s something inside of them that’s uncomfortable with this, what can we do?”
“Good leaders create more good leaders and influential leaders, their job is to create more good leaders.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
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Key Takeaways:
- Having maximum structure and maximum flow allows individuals to work to their highest advantage, rather than sacrificing one for the other.
- Individuals can fall into one of three categories: high structure, low flow; high flow, low structure; or high structure, high flow, where the ideal balance is found in the "influential third."
- Create a foundation for the day through a consistent morning routine or Sunday planning. This structure allows for greater openness to unexpected creativity and flow. It’s also important to take a day or week off to unplug and recharge. Hustle and constant productivity are not sustainable.
- Embrace structure and accountability to maintain passion and creativity while also acknowledging the importance of individual choice and autonomy.
“Ideally, what we would love to have is a high flow, high structure. When we're this way, we get maximum productivity and creativity, you get the best of both worlds, which you're absolutely allowed to have. Remember, you don't have to choose between one or the other.”
“Pushing and driving is not sustainable. Grace, flow, and ease are sustainable. Creating that grace and ease sometimes requires powering down.”
“When we're out of balance, we tend to either save the bridge and burn the relationship or burn the bridge and save the relationship. Those are the two extremes of structure and flow. But we can have the bridge and the relationship, I swear it is possible.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
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Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
As Founder and Customer Happiness Director of Beeline, Chris is thankful to get to help nonprofits grow their mission and donor base through digital marketing, specifically Google Grant, Bing, and Facebook ads.
Most of all, he’s thankful to be the dad to seven kids and to help them learn to live generously.
Key Takeaways:
- Digital marketing is a powerful tool for nonprofits to achieve their organizational goals. The key to having an effective digital marketing strategy is to focus on giving value.
- Create content that addresses donor’s questions, entertains, and solves their problems. When you focus on producing valuable content for your audience, you won’t have to waste too much effort on self-promotion. People will naturally gravitate toward you.
- Leverage existing content to provide value without sacrificing too much time, collaborate with partners in creating mutually beneficial projects, and utilize Google Ad Grants to increase awareness and grow email lists.
- Take a step-by-step approach to building relationships and enrolling people in the organization. Utilize tools like Facebook lead ads and Google Ads to attract new subscribers. Focus on creating engaging content to continually attract new donors.
“It's not just attraction. It's nourishing. The flower provides nourishment for the bee. it's not just about making ourselves look nicer.”
“A lead magnet is putting together a piece of content that is valuable, is helpful, provides an answer to questions that your potential donors have and helps them solve a problem, or entertains them.”
“Google grants are effective if your attitude and approach is, ‘What are people looking for? And how can we meet them there?’”
- Chris Barlow
Reach out to Chris Barlow at:
Website: https://yourbeeline.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cbarlow-nonprofit-marketing/
Email: chris@yourbeeline.com
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
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Maria Rio is a Community-Centric Fundraiser with over a decade in the sector, published in a variety of national publications, a speaker, and an advocate.
Key Takeaways:
- Being Community-Centered means focusing on the community rather than an executive’s ego, a board member, or somebody else. It’s all about centering the needs, methods, and values of the people that you’re trying to serve in all aspects of your organization.
- Release judgment and start from a place of empathy when discussing socio-economic intersectional issues. It’s indeed important to have a basic understanding of these issues but it would be more effective to educate people when you meet them where they are at.
- Donors envision themselves as changemakers instead of wealth hoarders and are actively exploring ways to give away their wealth to address societal issues. Nonprofits should show that Donors are partners, rather than heroes or beneficiaries.
- There is great potential for collaboration and growth through partnerships with other organizations in the nonprofit space. Have an abundance-focused mindset, not one that views fundraising as a competition for limited resources.
“In fundraising, in recruitment, in your leadership - is that reflective of the people and the lived experiences that your program serves? If not, why not?”
“You have to open up your window of tolerance to actually include that discomfort. Because those opportunities to be uncomfortable will push you to learn, be open, and will push you to have kind of different conversations and seek out different voices.”
“We all bring something to this organization, to this discussion. Staff are the people who are delivering on this work, they're just as important as the donor. So why are we not stewarding our community in a way that actually acknowledges that?”
- Maria Rio
Reach out to Maria Rio at:
Website: https://www.gofurthertogether.ca/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gofurtherwithme
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariario/
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
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Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Sean Kosofsky is the Nonprofit Fixer! He is a coach, consultant, trainer, and strategic advisor. For the past 30+ years, he has helped causes, campaigns, and candidates raise millions of dollars and transformed nonprofit organizations and leaders. He has served in a wide variety of roles in nonprofits, including policy, communications, development, grassroots organizing, direct service, board leadership, and five stints as an executive director. He is an author and the owner of Mind the Gap Consulting, which offers coaching and consulting services for executive directors, boards, and fundraisers, as well as a suite of online training courses.
Key Takeaways:
- Unless the executive director is clumsy at pitching or closing the deal, they should be a part of every major gift solicitation. The team can set appointments but the executive director must be the one closing the deal.
- Fundraising is a partnership that will help create the world that the doer and the donor want to see. It’s an incredibly generous act to give someone an opportunity to be part of the change and the movement.
- When we decide for others whether they can donate to our cause or not, then we’ve taken away their power to decide. We become both the buyer and the seller.
- It’s better to do three things well than twenty things poorly. Some of the organization’s leadership may respond to being challenged to fundraise by leaving while others will step up their game. If challenging the leadership means that the organization will have a smaller team, then it is worth it.
“The executive director is ultimately the top fundraiser in the organization. Make yourself available, close those deals, you know, making sure that you're part of the ask, and really creating the conditions for fundraising success.”
“If you see fundraising as a necessary evil, asking someone for a favor, or as a burden, you're not going to enjoy doing it. It is an incredibly generous act to invite someone to fund and create the movement and the world that they want to see. ”
“The board owns the nonprofit. And all owners of all corporations, including not-for-profit corporations are responsible for revenue. Period. The board owns the corporation, all owners are responsible for revenue.”
- Sean Kosofsky
Reach out to Sean Kosofsky at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mindthegapc
Website: https://www.nonprofitfixer.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mind-the-gap-consulting-sean-kosofsky/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SeanKosofskyNonProfitFixer
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nonprofitfixer/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/nonprofitfixer/
Email: sean@mindthegapconsulting.org
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
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As Big Duck’s Co-Director, Farra ensures that Big Duck is a healthy, thriving company—that we’re creating a great work environment, are financially stable, producing work that successfully meets or exceeds client’s needs, and that diversity, inclusion, equity, and antiracism are centered in all we do. She directs Big Duck’s marketing and business development efforts, seeking to build relationships with nonprofits who want to use communications to achieve their mission.
Farra has led dozens of organizations through major brand overhauls, fundraising campaigns, and much more since joining Big Duck in 2007. She’s a frequent speaker around the country, training nonprofit staff and board members on branding, communications planning, and engaging donors at all giving levels.
Key Takeaways:
- Organizations often present an outdated or aspirational version of themselves online, which can lead to a disconnect between their digital presence and reality.
- Seek to understand your primary audience for effective branding and messaging. Create a clear and consistent organizational narrative and equip the entire team with access to this messaging.
- Organizations may unintentionally confuse their audience by creating campaigns that don't connect to their overall brand or mission.
- When building or rebuilding a brand, involve people who are outside of your senior staff or board. At the very least, inform the entire staff. Building a brand using the feedback of your community is a powerful way to enhance your connection to your community and the strength of your branding.
“If an organization goes through a process, and they say, ‘we intentionally want to be seen this way, felt this way, thought of this way, experienced this way’, then it can look at how it's, in fact, expressing that in its visuals, and its messaging and across its channels.”
“Nonprofits have lots of audiences including a very passionate and committed staff and board potentially volunteer donor, other participant audience who feels very close to the organization. And that's just an important thing to acknowledge in a branding or communications process.”
“Thinking about branding is a chance to build something that really connects to your community so that when you do reintroduce the organization with whatever the updated branding, is it like to your point it feels built by them and shaped by them”
- Farra Trompeter
Reach out to Farra Trompeter at:
Website: https://bigduck.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/farra/
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
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Join us LIVE on Thursday, February 15th & Friday, February 16th in this year’s Donor Attraction Forum for FREE by clicking here: https://donorattractionforum.com/MaryanneD
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
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Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Key Takeaways:
- Addressing your inner beliefs and feelings about money is essential to your success in fundraising because our subconscious minds can influence our financial decisions and behaviors.
- Look at the story that your mind has made up about money. Separate the guilt and the shame and keep your feelings neutral. You are not judging, you are observing and analyzing. Hear out the story and then re-write it. Self-awareness gives you the power of choice.
- The nonprofit sector has a tendency to operate in a scarcity mindset, prioritizing short-term survival over long-term growth and impact. We must altogether shift from a scarcity to an abundance mindset and release what doesn’t serve us so that we can make room for aligned individuals and resources.
- The Big Lie that we’ve been told is that there’s only so much money for nonprofits that you’ve got to take your slice of the pie. However, if you look at the data, you’ll know that that is false.
“Money mindset is your unique and individual set of core beliefs about money, and how money works in the world. It is your basic attitude towards money.”
“Our subconscious is a very, very powerful tool and can make us make decisions. We're on autopilot unless we develop some self-awareness and some consciousness around why we do what we do.”
“Money is not a stagnant pond, there is an ebb and flow to it. When I have the courage to invest in my business and flow money out, that means I’m allowing for money to come in.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Book your quickie intro call with Maryanne here!
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Key Takeaways:
- 90 days is long enough to get something done but short enough that there’s some urgency to it. The 90-day MOST stands for Mission, Objective, Strategy, and Tactics. It accounts for having an overall vision and creating simple strategies to implement each quarter.
- We need to have a clear vision so that we know what we’re looking for. Before creating a plan, take time to create a vision board. Visualize what you want to create in your life and depict it in your vision board.
- Once you have a vision, determine an objective. Then, create three strategies that will serve to achieve that objective. Under each strategy, create three simple tactics. Keep it simple.
Special shout out to my coach Michelle Villalobos for teaching me this strategy! I use it every quarter.
“90 days has been studied as to be very effective. It's long enough to get something done. But it's short enough that you there's some urgency to it”
“We create the vision. And then from that vision, we create the plan. But we don't want to plan while creating the vision, because we wind up talking ourselves out of doing some bold things”
“We're keeping it very, very simple. The more complicated you make this, the less likely it's going to work for you. So you pick what would make this quarter be the win for you.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Book your quickie intro call with Maryanne here!
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Luke brings 25+ years of expertise from top companies like Procter & Gamble and AstraZeneca to the University of Rochester. As Assistant VP overseeing Domestic and International major gift fundraising, he drives impactful results. In his free time, Luke's passion extends to Tips4People.com, a video micro-learning hub empowering small nonprofits with concise, high-quality actionable tips for positive change.
Key Takeaways:
- Listening is the key to being an effective fundraiser. You have to listen to what your donors are saying so that you can hone in on the impact that they want to have. You don’t have to pitch or sell, you just have to listen and connect.
- Webinars and courses may take 45 minutes and contain a lot of great information, but usually, there are only two or three nuggets within the webinar. If we condense those nuggets and package them into bite-sized and actionable clips we can save people time and have them apply the lesson faster.
- Condensed and curated information that’s relevant and valuable is a huge advantage for nonprofit leaders and teams considering that most nonprofit workers already spend a lot of time doing their day-to-day tasks.
- If you feel uncomfortable whenever you fundraise, remember to visualize what impact the ask will have. Think of a person whose life is going to be changed by that ask. You can’t be nervous when you’re in service.
“You have to listen to what your donors are saying. So you can really truly identify the impact they want to have. For me, that's the most important trait - when I interview folks, that's what I'm looking for.”
“If you look at a webinar or a course, let's say a webinar, for example, lots of great information, but there are usually two or three nuggets within the webinar. So the idea is let's take those nuggets and package those right and really save people time.”
“When I talk to them about visualizing the impact that ask will have, think about a specific person that asked will impact, then they start to relax a little bit. We should not be nervous about asking for money but thinking about the impact.”
- Luke Emerson
Reach out to Luke Emerson at:
Website: https://tips4people.com/
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Book your quickie intro call with Maryanne here!
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Key Takeaways:
- Raising money is critical to a mission. That’s why it’s important to find a better way of doing this that has more grace, ease, and flow. Measuring by amount only limits how we look at relationships and it makes fundraising transactional. Remember that donors aren’t ATMs.
- We tend to not value other things that come to us if they're not supportive of a goal that we need. When we don’t value those things, we’ll miss out on a lot of beauty and joy.
- Goals don’t create long-term success and they can restrict our joy if we equate our value with our ability to reach them. Goals create tension, cause smallness and fear, and it can set people up for failure.
- This coming 2024, instead of coming up with goals, ask yourselves “What systems and structures are we going to put in place that will help create these goals?” Systems and structures that are put in place to support the goal will help us achieve the success that we want.
“When we're only measuring one way of how we build relationships then we're neglecting the other ways that are just as important in the end to creating revenue.”
“You want to be able to say ‘I can get somebody to do something.’ But you do not get to say who and you don't get to say when. That is the universe's job. They will deliver when they are ready. Sure, you can prompt them and encourage them but if you're pushing them, people will push back.”
“The systems and structures are going to be the things that are going to help us achieve whatever results we want. It's not the goal that's going to achieve it for us, it’s the systems and structures that we put in place to support the goals. ”
- Maryanne Dersch
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Book your quickie intro call with Maryanne here!
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Mitch is a social entrepreneur, community builder, and impact innovator. He is currently the Head of Strategy for Chariot, a Donor-Advised Fund solution for nonprofits to solicit, maximize, manage & steward DAF donors and their gifts. He previously founded a nonprofit marketplace and community called Pond after leaving his role as a VP on Goldman Sachs' Technology Investment Banking team. He's a long-time board member at The LGBT Center of NYC and an active alum of the Startup Leadership Program NYC.
Key Takeaways:
- Through the Chariot App, donors with donor-advised funds can now log into their accounts and send grants directly to nonprofits on their websites, eliminating the need for wire transfers or mailed checks.
- Donor-advised funds are money that’s already there. We have to strive to make the process easier and more efficient so that people are better equipped to give to the causes they care about without any hassle.
- Ask the board what things they are interested in doing for the organization. A lot of people in the nonprofit space feel underutilized and by tapping these people, you’ll be able to get them to be more engaged and invested in the work that the organization is doing.
- The first step to getting more donor-advised fund fundraising is just to learn a bit more about it. The first step to getting more donor-advised fund fundraising is just to learn a bit more about it. Getting yourself familiar with those statistics and information will make you way more confident to bring that up in a conversation with a donor
“There's $230 billion sitting in these vehicles called donor-advised funds. That means money that has already been set aside for charity, the only way it can be used is for charity, and yet this money is sitting there and not yet helping an actual operating nonprofit organization.”
“One of the big innovations of doing this through your own system is you capture that donor name and email immediately so you're not hunting down trying to figure out who this check came from, you can thank them appropriately right away and steward them accordingly.”
“Through a better engagement of [board members], you're going to get them more, even like a better fundraiser, they're probably going to contribute more to your organization financially because they feel personally more invested with their time and how they're sharing their talents with the organization. ”
- Mitch Stein
Reach out to Mitch Stein at:
Website: www.givechariot.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitch-stein/
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
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Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Eric Ressler is the Founder and Creative Director at Cosmic, a Social Impact Creative Agency. Cosmic empowers social impact organizations to catalyze real-world change by helping them nail their impact story, build brand awareness, and inspire action.
Key Takeaways:
- It shouldn’t be an issue if either a “nonprofit” organization is making a profit, or if it’s failing. Most for-profit businesses take a lot of years before they take off and it’s only right that we give nonprofit businesses the same kind of consideration.
- Our current digital era has allowed for information to be free and flowing to the point that it can be overwhelming to most people. Information is no longer at a premium, attention is. Since attention is finite, that is the thing that we compete for in this new “attention economy”.
- Building your brand is foundational to your organization’s success - it can either boost your growth or hinder it. Embrace boldness, but not just for boldness’s sake. Your messaging, actions, and decisions have to reflect the brand and core values of the organization.
- If the branding foundation is strong, then everything else that you do is going to have a bigger impact. However, if you don't have that luxury, you can still make a lot of progress just by getting the right messages out to the right people in a way that's informative and inspiring.
“I think we need to embrace failure and learn from failure as a sector and not like sweep those things under the rug when they don't work, but publish them and say, ‘We tried this, here's why we tried it. Here's why we thought it had potential. Turns out it didn't work. For these reasons, let's like all learn from this experience together.’”
“Information is no longer at a premium, what's now at a premium is attention. If you understand that, you are playing in the attention economy where our attention is being bought and sold by large corporations.”
“You have a brand, whether or not you think you do, and the more that you can dial in that brand - your visual identity, your impact story, your niche - that foundational kind of brand-building work is either going to supercharge everything else that you do or hold back everything else that you do. ”
- Eric Ressler
Manifesto for Today’s Social Impact Leader: https://designbycosmic.com/manifesto/
Free Insights and Resources: https://designbycosmic.com/insights/
Reach out to Eric Ressler at:
Website: https://designbycosmic.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cosmiceric/
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Book your quickie intro call with Maryanne here!
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Book your quickie intro call with Maryanne here!
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Key Takeaways:
- We don’t have to always choose between two options. The influential way is the third option where everybody wins which is all about making decisions from a higher power and with a higher purpose.
- When you focus on one polarity over another and pull them apart from each other, the polarity will eventually break. For example, by sacrificing conflict for peace, we end up creating more conflict.
- Learn to see value in both elements of a polarity. Allow space for paradoxes and keep both polarities in balance. Instead of thinking only of choosing between two options, adopt a higher level of thinking.
- There’s no such thing as personal life and work life. How you show up in one place is how you show up in every place. There is no distinction.
“We live in the polarity. It's either this or that. When we do that, what happens is we stay bound to that - we can only see two solutions: it's this or that and we don't see, or open ourselves up to the possibilities beyond.”
“When we pull the polarities apart, they often collapse on each other.”
“Why wouldn’t you want to come up with solutions where everybody wins? When we when we move past the polarity, we move past being trapped in that binary. We could have the best of both worlds.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Book your quickie intro call with Maryanne here!
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Book your quickie intro call with Maryanne here!
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
President and Founder of The Philantrepreneur™ Foundation, Dr. Boyd has been a driving force in education, non-profit, and entrepreneurial endeavors as an educator, trainer, administrator, and advocate throughout the country. With a passion for seeing others reach their full potential, she provides guidance and training focusing on nonprofit and social enterprise development and management.
Key Takeaways:
- The nonprofit side and business side must intersect. If you are a business, you need to have a purpose, you need to give back to the community and if you are on the nonprofit side, you need to consider how you can sustainably realize your mission by thinking like an entrepreneur.
- Nonprofits have to upgrade how they talk about themselves and how they label their work because the words we use influence our mindset and feelings. Instead of nonprofit, Dr. Victoria suggests we call them a “For-Purpose Business” - which is more accurate since running a nonprofit requires both passion and resources.
- You don’t own anything on social media. If that social media shuts down, you will lose all your followers and all your content. This is why you always have to set it up so that your followers will be sent to your website.
- Give yourself a year to get to know a person before asking them to be on the board. Build a relationship so that you can know if it is their passion. Where you put your support and where you put your service are two different things, you have to figure out where they stand.
“You are a for-purpose business. You need to invest in your organization - invest in different things that need to be done in order for you to really have an impact with your mission…”
“Your website is one of your most important assets. It's one of the first things that you should really devote time and energy to putting together you have the vision of what you want to do.”
“You don't own anything that's on social media. The goal is, to let them hear about you. That's brand awareness, all those social media platforms. But always do a call to action, that sends them to something that's on your website.”
- Dr. Victoria Boyd
Want to learn the ultimate fundraising framework for donor cultivation and retention? Sign up now!
https://superdonorchallenge.now.site/home
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Reach out to Dr. Victoria Boyd at:
Website: https://www.philantrepreneurfoundation.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrVictoriaBoyd
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drvictoriaboyd/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/philantrepreneurfoundation
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Book your quickie intro call with Maryanne here!
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Book your quickie intro call with Maryanne here!
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Becky Endicott is a ridiculous idealist and marketer disguised as a fundraiser working to unleash the Impact Uprising. She's the co-founder of We Are For Good, a new media company gathering nonprofit allies and changemakers in community and conversation to elevate, modernize, and humanize doing good.
Key Takeaways:
- Fundraising will make you feel disingenuous if you put money first in your intention and mindset. If you prioritize building a relationship and building a community, the money will come.
- Shift your perspective on how you measure engagement. Money is an important currency, but there is a currency that is so much more important and has the potential to be more impactful and that is your relationship equity. Use your marketing not just to push out messages but to create a community.
- Emotions and experience create a memory. When you host an event for your people, let it be that your focus is on creating meaningful experiences and fostering community growth. When people are able to experience an event on a deeper level, it tends to really stick to them.
- Scarcity can’t exist without abundance and vice versa, we can’t have joy without pain, and we can’t have peace without conflict. There’s value in both scarcity and abundance, pain and joy, peace and conflict. Use the concept of the magic triangle. Recognize that it is neither this or that, but it’s all the things.
“We have this kindness army behind us who's just waiting to be activated. They just need to know what we need."
“It’s never about the event, the event is a vessel for the story and for the connection, but it's about what is the experience going to be like. How do we see those people? And how does that translate after the event so that the ripple keeps going, going, going?”
“What is the value of your currency right now? Is it in your KPIs - which let's not negate - we need that money but we're also saying that there's another currency there in your relationship equity and the way that you can look at engagement signals is really interesting.”
- Becky Endicott
Reach out to Becky Endicott at:
Website: http://www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Book your quickie intro call with Maryanne here!
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Book your quickie intro call with Maryanne here!
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Becky Endicott is a ridiculous idealist and marketer disguised as a fundraiser working to unleash the Impact Uprising. She's the co-founder of We Are For Good, a new media company gathering nonprofit allies and changemakers in community and conversation to elevate, modernize, and humanize doing good.
Key Takeaways:
- Stoking your audience is all about creating a community that’s centered on authentic engagement that leads to movement. Whenever you post anything or tell a story, tag and involve people in your community who might be connected to that story. Start a conversation.
- The goal of stoking your audience is to cultivate believers. Believers don’t only bring in donations, they bring social capital and social proof, they bring stories, lived experiences, their own time and effort, and their network.
- Stoking creates an authentic community. An authentic community is one where everyone’s voice matters and the mission moves forward in a way that’s authentic, vulnerable, safe, and real through the collective efforts of everyone within the community.
- Building a culture of storytelling in your nonprofit and finding ways for people to give you that information will impact your community in a significant way. Apply a more generative approach rather than an extracting approach when it comes to stories. The more raw and authentic the story, the more it will create connections.
“It's not enough just to syndicate, you’ve got to stoke… Stoking is getting in there and creating a conversation about what you want to talk about”
“We're trying to move from thinking about ‘how do we cultivate a donor’ to ‘how do we cultivate a believer’, that is a 2.0 level of thinking in this modern era. Believers bring more to the table than donors. ”
“The stories already exist, you just need to ask for them - so this generative approach, rather than extracting approach, is really interesting.”
- Becky Endicott
Reach out to Becky Endicott at:
Website: http://www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Book your quickie intro call with Maryanne here!
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Book your quickie intro call with Maryanne here!
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Key Takeaways:
- Influence is the art of getting people you have no authority over to do what you want them to do, not just because they have to do it but because they choose to. Your ability to influence others is critical to your success.
- The first step in mastering the art of influence and showing up as an influential leader is knowing yourself. It’s not about anybody else. Train yourself first before anybody else in the organization, because you are the trailblazer that sets the limit for others. If you raise your game, they will rise with you.
- Discover and honor the things that make each person in your team unique. Acknowledge those things so that they will light up and they will join you in your vision.
- Look within yourself for credibility rather than relying on others to recognize your worth. This is the key to becoming a sovereign, influential leader. If you want them to recognize something in you, you have to recognize it in yourself first.
“An influential leader shifts that narrative from going to somebody who needs other people to feel good. Instead, we know ourselves and we cultivate our own energy ourselves so that we stay sovereign.”
“If you can feel anything you can do anything and influential leaders understand how their thoughts and feelings play into their everyday decision-making and they know how to navigate in a way that feels really good, really easy, and really aligned.”
“Showing up as an influential leader means having deep trust in yourself and others, that everything is working out as it should, that there is nothing to fear. ”
- Maryanne Dersch
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Book your quickie intro call with Maryanne here!
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Book your quickie intro call with Maryanne here!
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Rebecca is the Principal Consultant at For the Philanthropist and author of The Nonprofit Workbook: Tips & Best Practices for Start-ups Serving the Greater Common Good. Her clients include funders & grant recipients where she focuses on capacity building. Rebecca joins me along with 18 other nonprofit entrepreneurs who focus on supporting those who labor in the social sector.
Key Takeaways:
- Most people who start nonprofits don’t need to. If you’re planning to start a nonprofit, try to get experience in the social sector first. Volunteer for at least a year before you launch your 501C entity. Do some research on existing organizations. Duplication causes a lot of confusion.
- We are each on a journey to fulfill our purpose. There are many ways to express the self-fulfillment of your meaning and starting a nonprofit is only one of the ways. Do take note that sometimes, the process towards self-actualization will involve pain and those moments are a part of the lesson and the journey.
- A business has to start with enough capital. Think about existing logic models, or what theory of change is involved in your organization. Recognize the community that you serve and define how you are meeting their particular need.
- Many nonprofits don’t get past the second stage of building a nonprofit which is concentration and focus because it is when you are going to do a lot but are not going to get a lot back from it. Most people give up, not knowing that if they persist, it will put them into momentum.
“We're here on Earth for a divine purpose. We have to find our destiny and live that out. You know better than anyone what your purpose in life is, where your flow is, and you're on your way to meeting your destiny. And I've had to learn how to really embrace that and honor that.”
“That perspective that I'm serving the donors, I'm not sure I would choose those words. I'm facilitating the donors or inviting the donors to participate through me, for them to create change.”
“This is a continuous journey. We're all on the path of continuous improvement. We never arrive. But we get better and better with time.”
“Aim for individual donations first. Realize that that's your bread and butter. Don't bank on grants.”
- Rebecca Rodriguez
Take the Nonprofit Assessment: https://f757-info.systeme.io/self-assessment
Check Out the Accelerator Startup Package by clicking on this link: https://www.forthephilanthropist.com/accelerator-startup-package
Reach out to Rebecca Rodriguez at:
Website: https://www.forthephilanthropist.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ForthePhilanthropist
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Book your quickie intro call with Maryanne here!
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Book your quickie intro call with Maryanne here!
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Rhea helps non-profits raise more money. Though she has deep experience with institutional, corporate, and event fund-raising, she is passionate about major individual donors and helping organizations to establish individual giving programs. She has raised millions of dollars in private philanthropy and is passionate about building the next generation of fundraising leaders. She has become a leader in the New York nonprofit community and is a frequent educational commentator in the media. She has been recognized with the SmartCEO Brava Award in 2015 and NY Nonprofit Media’s 40 under 40 in 2017.
Key Takeaways:
- Stay sovereign and hold your value no matter what the outcome is. Who you are creates what you do and not the other way around. Hold on to your inherent value as a human being and remember that you cannot change other people’s minds.
- The primary role of an executive director is to be the chief fundraiser. If you are an Executive Director, you’ve got to note what are the things that are taking up your time and see which of these can be delegated so that you can focus on fundraising.
- Don’t waste your time trying to persuade people to care about your cause or perfecting your pitch. People partner with organizations that they trust and that care about things that they care about.
- There’s no magical “development fairy”. If you’re hiring a development director, that means that you are committing to fundraising more while your development director gets rid of all the obstacles. The purpose of all that is for you to focus on the most important things.
“What you have is who you are in your being and from the being you do things. But whether or not the results or the outcomes come in the way that you want, it doesn't mean that you are less than or more than.”
“Executive directors are the chief fundraisers. As executive directors you are the face of the brand, you are the spokesperson for the organization. If you are not actively fundraising, I would say you're probably not doing your job.”
“Now, I don't know about you, but I've never given off the back of someone's magical words. I've given because it's a cause I care about, [or] because somebody I love has asked me to give. A pitch has never done it for me.”
- Rhea Wong
Reach out to Rhea Wong at:
Website: https://www.rheawong.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rheawong/
Ask for and receive all you want, need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Book your quickie intro call with Maryanne here!
Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
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Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Key Takeaways:
- Welcome criticism as much as praise, both of these are other people’s opinions of us. They get to have their opinions and not everything that people think about you is your business. People will only respond to what you did and say if they care enough to do so.
- Don’t put peace on a pedestal. Instead, balance peace and conflict. When you sacrifice the conflict for peace at all costs, we will only end up multiplying and creating more explosive conflicts. Creating space for conflict is the only way to have actual peace.
- Release the outcome. You don’t get to decide who likes you and who doesn’t, nor do you get to decide who will support your organization and who won’t. Don’t be attached to the outcome. Stay sovereign, hold your vision, and keep moving.
- Adopt neutrality. Look at the world from a 10,000-foot view. Everything is information, none of it is either good or bad. Be open to allowing things to happen. Things are happening for you, not to you. Everything that happens to you is a gift.
“When we need praise to feel good about ourselves or need praise to feel like our organization is on track, or we're terrified of criticism because we think it'll derail us, then it has ownership of us.”
“By sacrificing the conflict, for peace at all costs, we're actually creating more conflict. When you allow for a little conflict, you are actually creating peace. ”
“All I do is I stay sovereign, I stay in action, and I hold my vision and I keep moving. That is releasing the outcome.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Ask for and receive all you want, need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
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Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
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Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Key Takeaways:
- Honor struggle as it is the first step towards creating change. The next step is to bring into awareness any eternal solution that we treat as a magic wand. The third step is letting go of that magic wand and instead looking inside of ourselves.
- Step four is to wield anger as a tool for transformation, change, and revolution. Claim these words: “I deserve better. Enough of this, I take my power back.” Realize that somewhere along the way you’ve given your power away, and through this realization, you can take it back.
- Step five is possibility. New ideas, new systems, new energy, and new stories emerge from the anger and you start to create from a place of openness and possibility rather than fear.
- The last step is neutrality. This is when you begin to understand that nothing is ever good or bad, everything is just information. Every experience is a part of the process, and each of them has a role to play.
“We don't value struggle. We don't value difficulty as a part of the process. We want change, but not feel uncomfortable. We want change but don't want to feel scared.”
“Anger is an obstacle when it isn't the energy of change. When people get angry, it means they care. Nothing has changed without anger.”
“Helping people come to that place of neutrality then allows for change to happen. Individuals make up communities and communities create systems. And so the communities are the ones that can change the system.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Ask for and receive all you want, need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
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Connect with Maryanne Dersch: https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
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Richie Kendall is a visionary business leader and storyteller. He envisions a world powered by generosity, collaboration, and compassion where workplace giving, cause marketing, influencer impact, and next-generation philanthropy collide. His company Goodworld provides award-winning nonprot and CSR software to power the social purpose sector. His combined experience in technology, film, social impact, and design has put him at the center of collaborations with leading global brands and impact movements.
Key Takeaways:
- Here are the two main trends: companies today want to humanize their brands in order to appeal to the younger generations while individuals are starting to become like brands, building communities and creating revenue as influencers.
- In a world that values making a profit, being classified as an organization that’s not making a profit messes up with our collective self-esteem. Nonprofit organizations are stable and worthwhile, but the label has an effect on people’s mindsets.
- Nonprofits must adapt to the digital age by involving younger people in their work, whether through volunteering, spreading the message, or changing cultural attitudes. Nonprofits that fail to do so risk becoming irrelevant, while those that embrace this change will be better positioned for long-term success.
- Collaboration between for-profits and nonprofits is powerful, with each side offering unique value to the other. There is also a lot that either party can learn from the other.
“You have human beings in a way becoming more like brands. The influencer economy, groups of people, organizations working together, create a symbolic form to attract their people to build a community, to create revenue, and build things.”
“There's no reason why nonprofits can't be tight-run ships that are all about creating returns on impact, rather than returns on investment.”
“The more organizations can comport to the demands of younger generations, I think the better world we're going to have.”
- Richie Kendall
Reach out to Richie Kendall at:
Website: https://goodworldnow.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/goodworld.me/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodworld/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/goodworld
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/goodworld
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
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Connect with Maryanne Dersch: maryanne@courageouscommunication.com
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
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Chelsea Lamego is the Co-Founder and CEO of FundMiner. She was previously the Assistant Vice President for Advancement Operations at The University of Texas at El Paso. Before joining UTEP, Chelsea was Executive Director of El Paso Opera and previously worked in real estate property management and restaurant management. Chelsea received a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Business Administration at UTEP.
Alejandro Stevenson-Duran is Co-Founder and Chief Product and Technology Officer at FundMiner. He's a technical leader with a track record of successfully launching B2B products, specializing in scaling ML-powered products for millions of users while working at top tech companies including Microsoft and Meta. His experience and education as a Computer Engineer drives his passion for crafting user-oriented products and proficient workforces.
Key Takeaways:
- Nonprofits often underinvest in infrastructure due to emotional hurdles, like guilt, that leaders must overcome. They need to recognize that technology investment is rational and justified.
- One common difficulty that nonprofits face, whether small, medium, or large, is managing their money in the midst of restrictions and honoring donor intent. There are a lot of manual tasks associated with using money correctly as a nonprofit and technology exists as a co-pilot to the organization in this issue.
- As you start to scale, you will need more people to manage your systems, operations, and infrastructure unless you leverage technology for that. By being efficient with your technology and operations, you can create more capacity in the area of fundraising.
- There are two types of Impact Reporting: An engagement-type report showcasing the organization's growth and performance in the past year and a detailed report tailored to donors who contributed to a restricted fund.
“We really want to look at technology as an investment. You're investing in infrastructure that is going to support and help you meet your organizational goals.”
“By investing in the infrastructure and systems to support your fundraising operation, you're perpetuating longer-term sustainability growth.”
“Being able to measure how those funds were used, and having the data available to report back to donors of their impact, builds that trust and that positive cycle that's going to get you more donors, more donations, more impact over and over.”
- Chelsea Lamego
“Not all money is the same. There's this thing called restrictions and honoring donor intent. That is a key difficulty that we see ranging across all nonprofits.”
“It's one thing being able to scale your fundraising team so that you can knock on more doors and get more donors. But it's another thing being able to manage the funds that you've actually landed and be able to spend the money.”
“If you are able to connect the data sources that are relevant to your organization so that a lot of this part is automated, you do not have to compromise and just report on a percentage of your funds and make a percentage of your donors happy when that percentage can really be 100% and can truly become a strong foundation for a better relationship that thrives on transparency.”
- Alejandro Stevenson-Duran
Reach out to Chelsea Lamego and Alejandro Stevenson-Duran at:
Website: www.fundminer.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fundminer/
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/FundMiner_usa
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Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
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After leading a health-tech company, Owen joined DonorSee to head up growth and product. Owen is passionate about designing products for the greater good. He loves witnessing every day the life-changing effect of DonorSee. He lectures part-time in technology and loves the sea.
Key Takeaways:
- Authenticity is so much more important than technical production quality. It might seem counter-intuitive, but lower-quality videos are often able to convey authenticity in a much clearer way.
- An important aspect of authentic storytelling is for the content to show the whole truth of a story, especially the bad news.
- Statistics show that the prominent way that people consume content is through videos. It is the kind of content that most people now expect from organizations. If an organization doesn’t consider making video content, they will miss out.
- There is a lot of power in telling authentic stories. It’s especially powerful when showing the donors the good that they are doing through their partnership with the organization. People want to see the impact of their support of the organization.
“We want to bring the donor to the scene that they're giving. And once you do that, and they're part of your community, and they see what you're doing, they're connected to what you're doing. They come back time and time again.”
“Be real and be authentic. It makes a lot of difference.”
“It's the case of not trying to do all of the slick production all the time, but it's about telling stories that are authentic.”
- Owen O'Doherty
Reach out to Owen O'Doherty at:
Website: https://www.donorsee.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/owenodoherty/
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Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
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Mary Hiland, PhD, is a nonprofit board and leadership development consultant dedicated to assisting nonprofit executives and board members in unleashing their organizational and community impact potential. She has over 40 years of experience in the nonprofit sector — 26 as an executive.
Mary works with nonprofit leaders to strengthen the executive/board partnership and develop the board as a powerful force for organizational and mission results. She is a coach and mentor for boards, individual board leaders, and executive directors.
Mary has been consulting since 2002, working with several hundred nonprofits, including associations and all-volunteer nonprofits. The focus of her consulting is board development and executive leadership. In addition, as a certified Strategic Restructuring Consultant, Mary has trained and consulted with over ninety nonprofits on mergers and strategic alliances, coaching and facilitating nonprofit leaders through all phases of the process.
Key Takeaways:
- If you have the luxury of building your board, then the most important thing is to get to know each one. Establish a relationship with each of your board members. Don’t hire based merely on expertise, bring people in who care about the mission.
- Embrace each individual from the board as a member of the team. Acknowledge the power dynamics, and recognize that collectively, the board is the boss of the executive director but lean into the fact that you are all one team. You will be united when you emphasize the common passion that you have for what your organization stands for.
- Most problems in organizations boil down to these three C’s: Capacity, Connection, and Culture. The first step to amending these problems is by sparking awareness. Awareness allows for change to take place. Mindset is really where you want to start with a lot of things.
- Most problems can be solved by starting with your mindset. When it comes to fundraising, shift your mindset from this energy of “asking” to one that’s passionate about the work that you’re doing. Talk to people about the work that your organization is doing but don’t force your message onto people who are not interested.
“You don't just grab someone because of the expertise that they have. You first have to assess how passionate they are about your mission. That's the common ground.”
“If you're going to be an effective board, you got to be an effective team.”
“You've got to shift your mindset about fundraising. If you're passionate about the mission, go talk to people about it. Don't twist their arms to be interested in it. If they're not, move on to somebody else.”
- Mary Hiland
Reach out to Mary Hiland at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hilandconsulting
Website: https://www.hilandconsulting.org/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maryhiland/
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Christina Danese, Development & Communications Manager at Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech. Clarke’s mission is to teach children who are deaf or hard of hearing to listen and talk.
Kylie Herbert, director of development for Habitat for Humanity of Anderson County in Anderson, SC. We provide a pathway to affordable homeownership for low-income individuals and families living in cost-burdened and substandard housing.
Colleen Hafner is the CDFI Director at Rise Community Development.
Key Takeaways:
- Release the outcome. Focus on building relationships and in making people feel seen and heard. Listen and empathize while also moving the conversation forward.
- Recognize the value that you can bring to the table with your skills and experiences. Show up as your authentic self and see things through the perspective of others, always striving to give value to them rather than convincing them to give.
- Listen intentionally to people and recognize what part of the decision-making process they are in. Are they ready to “go”, are they in “slow-go”, or is it a “no”? Read people’s energies and meet them where they are.
- Stay sovereign within no matter what the external circumstance may be. Manage your output of energy and own your value. Other people don’t give you your value, you give yourself value.
“Letting go of the outcome was huge for me - just going in to build that relationship and having an outcome I wish were in mind, but not letting it rule the day.” - Kylie Herbert
“The overall feeling that I have, in approaching funders, partners, or people we have to mend relationships with is so much more confident, because I'm approaching it from the perspective of seeing things through their perspective and what their needs are, and how, if we are meant to work together, it's because we're both trying to fulfill both of our needs.” - Colleen Hafner
“Listening more carefully, more intentionally - hand in hand with that is learning how to listen for where the person you're having the conversation is. Are they “go”, “slow”, or “no”. Identifying that has really been helpful in gauging what I need to do next or not do at all.” - Christina Danese
Reach out to Christina Danese at:
Website: www.clarkeschools.org
Reach out to Kylie Herbert at:
Website: www.habitatanderson.org
Reach out to Colleen Hafner at:
Website: https://risestl.org/
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Key Takeaways:
- A lot of times we stumble between the first gift and the second gift because we're not paying attention to what people really want.
- Ask for what you want. Speak your truth. Advocate for your own needs. We are constantly training people how to treat us whether we are conscious of it or not. There is nothing wrong with asking for what you want, whoever it is that you’re asking it from.
- If you respond to feedback by deflecting, dismissing, and denying, you won’t get anywhere. You don’t have to agree with what people are saying, all you’ve got to do is make them feel seen and heard. People won’t feel valued, seen and heard if they are met with deflection, dismissal, and denial.
- Part of relationship building is seeing people for who they are and not who you want them to be. You have to let go and be willing to receive a “no” from people. Likewise, you’ve got to also allow yourself to say no when necessary or when something is not aligned with your values and ideals.
“It's okay for you to ask for what you want. It's okay to set boundaries on how you were and how you show up best, even with board members, even with donors, because it is a relationship.”
“ Instead of deflecting, dismissing, denying that feedback, you say, ‘tell me more about that.’”
“They're not saying ‘no’ to you. They're saying ‘This isn't aligned. This isn't in line with my highest values and ideals. It just isn't for me.’”
- Maryanne Dersch
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
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Tom Ruwitch is the Founder and President of Story Power Marketing. He helps clients transform content from ignored to adored, turn marketing from frustrating to fun, and convert results from subpar to superb. Tom is a master storyteller and helps coaches, consultants, and thought leaders power up their stories so they can captivate prospects and inspire them to buy.
Key Takeaways:
- Email marketing has stayed relevant even throughout the emergence of many new social media networks. Young people may not spend as much time on email, but one day, they will have to use it when they have jobs. The fact is that even signing up for social media will require you to have an email.
- Email is reliable reach, it is real estate. You control the message and you control who receives it. There’s no algorithm that decides who gets to see what you put out.
- You have an important message to put out there that will be helpful to a lot of people. Make your message readable to your audience by talking about a story. The story must be about your clients and their emotional journey. Understand their needs all the way down to the individual level and connect with them through storytelling.
- You must star in your own stories. Even if it is about other people, telling an anecdote that’s connected to a promise and a lesson is very powerful and creates a connection with your audience. It also allows them to see you as genuine, relatable, and therefore, likable. People connect and interact with people that they know, like, and trust.
“Lots of people will tell you that email marketing is dead or email marketing is not working as well and got to be on TikTok or Instagram or wherever it may be. Email marketing is working as well as ever.”
“When we're talking about a story, we're not talking about you and your story. It's all about your prospect, your audience, your client, your follower, your donor, and their story, what is their emotional journey?”
“You have to stand out and you do that when people know, like, and trust you - when they like you and your personality, and this kind of storytelling and content.”
- Tom Ruwitch
Reach out to Tom Ruwitch at:
Website: https://storypowermarketing.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomruwitch
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Miriam Dicks is an operations leader with proven experience in transforming organizations to achieve optimal operational performance. Over the past 20+ years, she has held several positions in operations management and operations consulting as well as serving as adjunct faculty teaching operations courses on both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Miriam’s passion for operations is fueled by her belief that any organization can operate in excellence with the right tools for change.
Prior to starting 180 Management Group, Miriam spent 15 years working for organizations in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors and also spent several years in ministry operations roles in the local church. Miriam Dicks is also a sought-after speaker and trainer, having spoken on national platforms as well as statewide events.
Miriam received a Bachelor’s degree in Public Policy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Master’s Degree in Healthcare Administration from the University of South Carolina, and a certificate in Change Management from Acuity Institute.
Key Takeaways:
- An organization will not be able to effectively change if there are cultural issues that keep change from happening. The culture must be addressed first in order to allow the transformation to take place and for it to stick.
- Sometimes there’s an underlying truth that needs to be addressed in people’s negative beliefs. Listen to what people say and find out why they say it. Then, change the narrative by giving them the training and preparation that they need in order for them to be confident with the change.
- Accountability blooms in an environment where people have a sense of belonging. When people know that they belong and that they’ll be accepted no matter what, they’ll be more inclined to talk about it when things go wrong. Therefore, the solution will be created more quickly.
- Change is a process. It’s not a magic pill that will make everything better instantly. It takes work, it takes time, and it takes willingness. People need to understand why the organization needs to change and what’s going to be the impact and end-result.
“Culture is what we call the apex predator, it is at the top of the food chain. So if you don't address culture, you'll never address the other issues.”
“Sometimes there's an underlying truth that needs to be exposed behind the comment. That's why we have to kind of dig into ‘why are you saying what you're saying?’ So that we can make sure we can change the narrative.”
“We all have to be cognizant of creating a sense of belonging - If you feel like you belong, then you also have this sense that ‘even if I get it wrong, I still have folks who are on my side, because I belong here.’”
- Miriam Dicks
Reach out to Miriam Dicks at:
Website: https://www.180managementgroup.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miriampdicks/
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Carol Hamilton is the Principal of Grace Social Sector. She dedicates her career to closing the gap between a nonprofit’s external mission and its internal capacity to realize those missions. She’s also the podcast host of Mission: Impact.
Key Takeaways:
- Balance bold vision with attainable and actionable steps. Think about what success is going to look like for you and how you can know that you are moving in the right direction.
- Use the acronym SOAR when making your strategic plan. It stands for strengths, opportunities, aspirations, and results.
- Mission statements should reflect the current reality and where the organization is going, and how it will go. It’s like a GPS that’s recalculating the path to the destination based on where one is currently.
- Work through some conflict, tension, uncertainty, or distrust in the team before moving forward with creating a strategic plan.
“There's a way to, to stretch, have stretch goals, but then also really have it be realistic, so that, you know, people can see themselves in it and see that it's doable.”
“SOAR (strengths, opportunities, aspirations, and results) focuses on what's working in the organization, and how can we build more of that.”
“A strategic planning process is only ever a snapshot in time and it really needs to start being a practice in the organization versus just an event.”
- Carol Hamilton
Reach out to Carol Hamilton at:
Website: http://www.gracesocialsector.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carol-hamilton-0052b71/
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Sara Hoshooley’s passion for fundraising began in 2009 at a small grassroots community development organization in Belize, Central America. While volunteering there, it became clear that the organization was in urgent need of funds to keep its doors open, and all the programs operational.
Sara quickly developed a crowdfunding campaign (which was fairly new at that time!) and reached out to all of the past volunteers who had given their time to the organization. She leveraged these connections and also reached out to local businesses to explain the urgent need. Within weeks, the organization had raised well over their goal and Sara had fallen in love with fundraising.
Upon returning to Canada, Sara continued to hold nonprofit volunteer, Board, and leadership roles and has since obtained certifications in Fundraising Management and Nonprofit Management from the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT).
She has also received certification in Philanthropic Psychology from the Institute of Sustainable Philanthropy UK.
Key Takeaways:
- Release the outcome. Whatever will be, will be. You can be excited and hopeful about something while also being detached from the outcome, holding space for both thoughts. Give opportunity for the unknown to take place.
- Shift your language from talking about a person’s deeds to focusing on their identity. When thanking somebody for example, send a message that will emphasize who they are in relation to how they’ve supported you instead of just merely talking about the transaction.
- Your job is not to convince people, your job is to attract people who are aligned to your mission. Just like how a donor chooses what to wear and where to eat in order to show a side of their identity, they are also showing something about themselves whenever they align themselves with a nonprofit organization. You’ve got to honor the identity of people.
- Send out emails that give value using messages or stories that resonate with your audience. Your content has to be meaningful and engaging and not just a series of asks - focus on giving to your audience.
“I like to speak to not only [an organization’s] donors, but also their volunteers, board members, and staff, and ask them to tell me why they love the organization. What happens is that when we start to hear about our work through the viewpoint of other people, it reminds us why we're doing what we're doing.”
“Rather than talking to a donor, about the donor's behavior - about what they did, talk about who they are.”
“At the end of the day, if you're moving somebody to take action, it's because something resonated with them personally, and we can't lose sight of that.”
- Sara Hoshooley
Reach out to Sara Hoshooley at:
Website: https://www.charityshift.ca/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahoshooley/
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Rob is a nonprofit executive professional with over 29 years of experience in leading and building nonprofit organizations. He is a sought-after speaker and seminar facilitator, and he founded and hosts the “Nonprofit Leadership Podcast.” He is a member of and contributor for the Forbes Nonprofit Council and was invited to join Harvard Business School’s “Young American Leaders Program” in 2021. He also serves on the Utah Advisory Committee for the US Global Leadership Coalition.
Key Takeaways:
- A mindset of scarcity has an immense effect on the effectiveness of an organization’s marketing or execution. It has a tendency to seep into the unconscious and affect the energy of interactions and decisions.
- Nonprofits must realize that they provide people with the unique opportunity to be connected to the mission that’s meaningful to them.
- There’s nothing wrong or dirty about a nonprofit making profit. There’s nothing wrong with them making their people’s workplaces better or giving their workers a living wage. We live in a world that’s abundant, there’s enough for everyone.
- Use AI as a tool or as an assistant to your writing work. Use it to spark ideas or to get through creative blocks. But don’t think that you can use it to replace people or replace you and your voice. Let AI work for you, but use it alongside your other tools and resources.
“We provide for many people in this world, the primary place for meaning and purpose. Whatever nonprofit you do. All those things give tremendous meaning and purpose. ”
“I think the vast majority of people that are going to the nonprofit sector, they don't go in it for the money. They go in it for meaning and purpose and the difference they're trying to make through the organization.”
“If you want them to find your website and donate then make it super easy to find where that donate now button is. Do an audit of your website, make sure it's very simple. Do an audit of your organization in terms of how easy is it to give to your organization.”
- Dr. Rob Harter
Reach out to Dr. Rob Harter at:
Website: https://nonprofitleadershippodcast.org/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-rob-harter-25457313/
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Seeing the positive change digital communities can create, Brynne is passionate about using social media for good. After nearly a decade in DC working on campaigns at every level – from grassroots to global – she’s had a front-row seat to test and develop proven digital strategies that motivate audiences to take action. Brynne’s expertise in empathy-based marketing helps brands cut through the noise and connect with their audiences on a deeper level.
Key Takeaways:
- Marketing campaigns that have organizations treat their audience as the human beings that they are will win all the time, they are the ones that tend to have top-performing campaigns.
- Social media platforms are social environments that were created with dialogue, community, and relationship-building in mind. When you use social media as a communal environment, that’s when you’ll start to see your community thrive.
- Authenticity and transparency are the two things that people are hungry for. The more authentic and transparent you can be, the more encouraged people will be to trust you and connect with you.
- Build a relationship with your audience the same way that you build a relationship with people in real life. Reveal things about you gradually, don’t overwhelm them with information. Present one person, one idea, one concept, and make them feel like they are able to participate in solving the problem.
“If we were to maintain this priority of creating communities that were making a positive impact on the world, we had to come at it with this approach of empathy first and humans first.”
“Showing the humans behind your organization can be really impactful. Showing videos that kind of pull back the curtain and just feature some of the real authentic stories can create that relationship with your audience.”
“You don't have to present the problem in its entirety all at once. That actually creates a lot of confusion for people and they get overwhelmed. If you present one person, one idea, one concept for them, and do it in such a way where they can see themselves as someone who can actively participate in the problem-solving of whatever you're trying to do, then they're going to act and they're going to be emotionally connected to the cause. ”
- Brynne Krispin
Reach out to Brynne Krispin at:
Website: https://causefokus.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brynnekrispin
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brynnekrispin/
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Jami is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) with more than 17 years of experience managing a portfolio of innovative projects and planning initiatives. She has a proven track record of leading diverse and collaborative teams and excels at facilitating consensus and keeping (even reluctant) teams on track. Jami also has extensive experience designing and delivering engaging face-to-face and online training sessions and facilitating meetings and programs.
Over a diverse career spanning roles in business, libraries, and public higher education, including over a decade in leadership (Director) and management positions, Jami effectively led teams, championed change, and empowered staff. Jami has also volunteered and actively served on the boards of nonprofits and professional associations, working in leadership (Chair and Vice-Chair), marketing, programming, and mentoring functions.
Jami brings practical experience, management expertise, a love of spreadsheets, and a sense of humor to project management, planning, and training.
Key Takeaways:
- One of the many overlooked aspects of project management is designing team communication. Communicate the scope and the desired outcome of the project clearly and establish a way for team members and stakeholders to be in communication all along the creation of the project.
- The fear of rejection is something that a lot of project managers struggle with. The fact is that when you face rejection, it’s not you that you’re rejecting but your plan or aspects of it - it may not seem like it, but they want you to be able to create the best plan that you can.
- Take the time to breathe and celebrate accomplishments and each milestone within a project. Make time to be grateful to each team member and highlight the great things that happened.
- Don’t abruptly move on to the next thing. Do a retrospective at the end of a project, and take note of the best practices. Be proactive instead of reactive, and keep yourself at a sustainable and effective pace. Don’t overburden yourself, remember to reflect on what’s important.
“Being intentional about communication is one of the ways to get people together. I think that's an overlooked piece of managing people and projects.”
“Your role as a project manager is not to write the best plan, it is to get to the best outcomes. ”
“The effort that you put into planning, often other people just aren't going to recognize it. But they will recognize the good outcomes, they will recognize that you're facilitating collaboration and feedback.”
- Jami Yazdani
Reach out to Jami Yazdani at:
Website: https://yazdaniconsulting.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamibryanyazdani/
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About Cody Hayes: Marketing Mission. In his past seven years as a nonprofit marketing strategist, he has worked with 30+ nonprofits to streamline their marketing efforts and reclaim their team's time. He specializes in nonprofit marketing.
The individuals he assists the most are nonprofit fundraisers, founders, and executive directors who typically face the challenges of being overworked and overwhelmed by marketing responsibilities.
His most valuable solution for these challenges is the Maximized Marketing Intensive - an immersive experience where, in just 2 days, they create a valuable Nonprofit Marketing Toolkit. These powerful assets enable them to streamline their marketing efforts and increase impact and funding without losing their sanity.
Key Takeaways:
- Consistency is key and automation is the best way to keep yourself consistent in delivering content and engaging audiences. Without it, marketing and connecting with people becomes challenging.
- Create automated email workflows. These are a sequence of emails that are sent when triggered by a client action. Start with creating a welcome email sequence, one that is triggered when a client signs up for your email list.
- The welcome sequence is just the beginning. Once a client has gone through the welcome sequence, introduce them to an evergreen nurture sequence. Introduce the paths they could branch off of that when they are done with the nurture sequence, this is where we give them opportunities to be a donor, volunteer, or more.
- We need to cross-communicate with our people because volunteers might be interested in being donors and donors might be interested in volunteering as well. People care about more than just one silo of our work.
“One of the most stable email tactics that I use is automating workflows. The difference between a one-off email, and a workflow is it has more than one email in it, which makes it a process or workflow. These emails can be triggered by certain events - if x then y.”
“The most important piece to remember is to bring value into this email workflow. Make an evergreen nurture sequence.”
“We're not going to send an email asking for money to people who haven't completed the welcome and nurture sequence yet because they're not ready psychologically. By the time they're done with this nurture sequence, ideally, they're ready for an ask.”
- Cody Hayes
Reach out to Cody Hayes at:
Website: https://www.marketingmission.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marketingmissionorg/?hl=en
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/marketingmission/
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Key Takeaways:
- Praise and criticism are the same things. Those are just other people's opinions of you. A whole person doesn't need praise to make themselves feel good and doesn't let criticism derail them.
- The internal defines the external, not the other way around. Don’t wait for someone else to define who you are and what you are, stand in your value and embrace your own worth. People will connect with that or fall away, and those that leave are not your people.
- Criticism can expose what I call our shadow self, those dark parts of ourselves that we don't like and that we want to stay hidden. When we can understand what they are and accept those and love those parts of ourselves, then they become neutralized.
- So very little of what people do has anything to do with us. Understanding that will set you free. Don’t take things personally. Praise and criticism are neutral opinions of other people that are a reflection of themselves.
“Our ability to navigate praise and criticism is absolutely critical to us being able to have important conversations, move our missions, change the world, because if we're doing or saying something interesting, something important, something worthwhile, somebody is not going to like it. That is the price of doing business. ”
“Stay in your sovereignty, stay in your value and your worth, in your leadership, in your confidence, no matter who's saying what. That is the key.”
“When we get to define our own self, that's when we become powerful.”
“The more we can love all aspects of ourselves, the less power that criticism has.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Ask for and receive all you want, need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
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Kel Haney has over 17 years of experience as a fundraiser, coach, and consultant. She began her journey as a theater director, taking on fundraising calls as a means of supplementary income. Over time, she transitioned into becoming a full-time Outbound Fundraising Expert.
Her expertise lies in assisting artists, creatives, administrators, and board members in discovering and harnessing their inherent talents. Her goal is to help individuals unlock their existing gifts, enabling them to become authentic and accomplished fundraisers.
Key Takeaways:
- Nobody wants to be seen as a “transaction”. Prioritize building meaningful relationships with people by identifying the person, having them feel valued for who they are and what they bring, and then from there see if there is an alignment.
- Don’t decide for a person whether they could support you or not or how much they could support you. When asked, no matter what the other person looks like or seems like, give them the full amount. You will never know what their relationship is with money. Always be ready to shoot for the moon.
- Set aside some time for calling people, block it out in your schedule. Then, go to a slightly different place and give yourself extra kindness. Third, pull-out scripts are not recommended, but it would be a good idea to have an outline of things you’ve got to say in order to prevent yourself from rambling.
- The first 10 seconds of the call are crucial. Initiate the call with telling them who you are, your connection to the org, why you’re calling them and why now. Second, share updates that might be interesting to them, and third, talk about the fundraising campaign you have right now. Finally, close the conversation and figure out what’s the next point of contact with the person.
“Whenever I and the fundraisers that I coach and I train, approach it from that place of ‘let's connect as humans’, the money always follows. I don’t even have to worry about it.”
“Don't get me wrong, I love numbers, I love goals, but never at the expense of putting humanity second.”
“Instead of ‘always be closing’, always be curious. If we're always curious, anything that we get back from that potential donor is a gift.”
- Kel Haney
Reach out to Kel Haney at:
Website: https://www.kelhaney.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kel-haney-15a24a10
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kelhaney
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kelhaney/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kel.haney
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Evan Wildstein is a nonprofiteer with over 20 years of experience in fundraising and strategy. Throughout his career, Evan has worked with organizations like The Juilliard School, Asia Society, Rice University, and Houston Grand Opera to raise funds and develop innovative programs. He is passionate about the intersection of philanthropy, creativity, and learning, and has dedicated his career to supporting initiatives that build stronger communities.
In addition to his work in social impact, Evan has coached organizations on board development and talent growth, commissioned operas, and produced educational programs. He is a native of New York and currently lives in Texas (Houston) with his family. Evan is a regular contributor to several publications, writing about the nonprofit sector and organizational leadership.
Key Takeaways:
- Servant leadership is misunderstood. It’s not about giving relentlessly until you burn out. It’s about serving others and focusing on giving value. It’s about leading in a way that inspires growth, eventually creating more leaders rather than just followers.
- Listening is different from merely hearing, it is also different from listening for what you want to hear. Truly listening is about being fully present in the conversation and making the other person feel seen and heard.
- Here are the ten tools that a true servant leader has: listening, empathy, healing, persuasion, awareness, foresight, conceptualization, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building community.
- The biggest difference between coercion and persuasion is that coercion is all about getting someone to do something in the short term, while persuasion is attracting people to be with you and actively work with you into accomplishing great things.
“I think one of the misunderstandings of servant leadership is this overwhelming need and desire to put other people first. That's not servant leadership. That's service to a fault.”
“It's all interwoven. In that you can build a better community by being empathetic, being a good listener, and by virtue, leading to a place of healing.”
“If it just didn't happen, don't try and fit that peg into the hole where it's not going to go. How you grow is how you go so find the place where you are the right thing.”
- Evan Wildstein
Reach out to Evan Wildstein at:
Website: https://www.thenonprofiteers.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evan-wildstein-7053545a/
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Key Takeaways:
- Releasing the outcome means deciding that you’ll be okay before anything happens. It means letting go and not tying your happiness and your worth with the outcome of your goals.
- It’s important to release the outcome because people can feel your energy. When somebody sells from a place of desperation, you can feel it and it will make you feel uncomfortable. Attachment creates fear, and fear creates more fear.
- Releasing the outcome is different from giving up. When you release the outcome, you’re tapping into the energy of completeness and wholeness that’s completely unattached to circumstances and is instead rooted in confidence within.
- The harder we try to push someone to do something we want, the harder it’ll be for them to do what we want. Ironically, it is when we give more decision-making power to someone that they become more inclined to do what we want them to.
“The more that we want it, the more that we tie our happiness, our worth, onto goals and onto how much money we bring in, the less likely we are to have it.”
“When we are attached to an outcome, we've automatically given away our power and we're operating on steer and desire. When we operate on steer from fear, we create more fear. And when we push people, they push back. ”
“So the idea is, it's not about the outcome, it's about staying sovereign, staying on the throne.”
- Maryanne Dersch
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Key Takeaways:
- Preparation is critical when it comes to having difficult conversations. Don’t think of what to say on the spot, instead, ask yourself these three questions: “What do you want to have happen?”, “What is not okay for me?”, and “What is the story I’m telling myself right now?”
- Release the outcome. Create a structure that’s going to further the conversation - don’t make people feel divided. Hold space for neutral energy, be conscious of what’s happening in your body, and look for something that everybody may agree with.
- Your gifts, talents, intellect, and opinions are valuable. Ground yourself in the value that you bring to the situation. Remind yourself that you’re in that room for a reason. Don’t be afraid to tell the truth.
- The goal of difficult conversations isn’t to break the conflict. Conflict is a natural part of a healthy relationship and honoring that conflict brings people together. Putting peace on a pedestal creates more conflict.
“Do you want to be liked or do you want to be valuable? You can be liked and then you can walk away resentful because you didn't say what you wanted. Or you can be valuable.”
“In a dispute or in what we consider conflict, we're focused on what the split is. What we really want to focus on is what we agree to. You can agree to a lot more than you don't agree to. It puts us in a mindset of finding like values and finding ideas.”
“Conflict is not the enemy. Honoring that conflict is a natural part of a relationship. ”
“Truth-telling is leadership.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
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Kelly Garrity is the owner of the company, the Savvy Generalist and she talks about three things: demystifying corporate relationships, outside-the-box program development, and teaching team members to manage to achieve their goals and organization goals.
Key Takeaways:
- Look for your people, think of what kind of place the kind of people you want to be around gather in. Don’t pitch, don’t sell, don’t convince. Instead, showcase yourself. Give people enough information that they could discern quickly if they want to have a conversation with you.
- The two highest needs are personal growth and contribution. Providing people an opportunity to fulfill these needs is a good way to attract them and keep them within your circle
- your chamber of commerce is one of the best places to network, bar none, because you're going to meet all of the local contacts that you need. Another one is your Community Foundation, they do grants and a lot of them have hundreds of millions of dollars.
- The best way to keep people in your organization is to follow up with them by doing simple things that build connection and relationship. An actionable example of this would be to send out a message without any asks. Just let them know you’re thinking about them and that you’re glad they’re a part of your circle.
“ I didn't do networking within our field I looked at where are the people I need to meet going to be? Where are their conferences? And went to those? Because those are the ways that you will meet people you need to.”
“You're building a relationship with the people in the organization, you're bringing them into your fold, and they will then go out and get the dollars for you or the program alignment for you.”
“If you're not listening 70% of the time, then that's where you start. Listen more than you speak.”
- Kelly Garrity
Reach out to Kelly Garrity at:
Email: kelly@thesavvygeneralist.com
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Key Takeaways:
- Focus on one thing: make people feel seen and heard. Your job isn’t to pitch, sell, or convince, your job is to make people feel seen and heard.
- Listen to the person and toss aside your agenda when you see that they are in struggle. Honor their struggle and witness it, remember that you don’t have to get involved in order to do that.
- When people are in slow mode, that means that they do want to make a decision eventually, once they’ve gotten all the information they need or when they’re done consulting someone that they want to. Schedule a time for you to discuss the matter again in the near future and if they don’t come, then it’s a no.
- “Go” is a sense of urgency. When you meet a person who’s in urgency, you’ve got to honor that by matching their urgency and never forgetting their call.
“Your job is to not pitch, sell or convince. Your job is to help people feel seen and heard. That's it. And if you do that, they will relax and they will be open to what you have to say.”
“You can honor their struggle without getting involved. We don't have to fix it, solve it. All we have to do is witness it, honor it.”
“Glow mode is when you just connect with somebody and it's easy and it's effortless. They love you and you love them and they're ready to buy and you're ready to sell and everything is aligned.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Ask for and receive all you want, need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
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About Jordana Merkin: With an outsider’s perspective and an insider’s knowledge, she equips small nonprofits with the tools and knowledge to share their big stories — raising awareness and funds for their missions. She has worked with both local and national organizations with varied missions, budgets, and resources, developing and executing marketing plans for multichannel fundraising campaigns, public awareness projects, programmatic initiatives, and volunteer recruitment. She loves dreaming big for her partner organizations while creating practical plans for them to identify and achieve their goals.
Key Takeaways:
- Your organization should sound human since people connect to people. Don’t sacrifice authenticity for fear of not looking like a professional. If you want people to trust you, you’ve got to show them your authentic humanity.
- Align yourself internally with the “why” of the organization. Everyone must collaborate in coming up with that brand mission and message by asking themselves why they do what they do, and asking that question three times more in order to get to the root purpose.
- “Show me you know me” is a reminder for people to always keep in mind the target audience that they are speaking to whenever they make any kind of content.
- Don’t try to convince anyone, instead, attract the people that are for your organization. Speak to the people that are aligned to your organization’s mission and values. Remember that your organization is not for everyone and that when you try to speak to everyone, you end up speaking to no one.
“Your organization should sound human, It should have a voice that people can connect to. People give to people, people connect to people. “
“The authentic piece comes from identifying that brand voice and using it consistently and clearly. That's what's gonna build trust more than sounding like a buttoned up, boring organization. Let that personality shine through and that is actually how you'll build that trust.”
“Getting everyone aligned internally is really important because then you have that clear message to convey to everyone else. Every opportunity to answer the question (why you do what you do) is an opportunity for everyone to give the same answer.”
“Use the right words to tell the right story to the right people and at the right time.”
- Jordana Merkin
Reach out to Jordana Merkin at:
Website: https://www.voiceforgoodmarketing.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordana-merkin
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
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Key Takeaways:
- How we think and feel about money affects our ability to raise it. Words shape our reality which is why we’ve got to be aware of what are the beliefs that we hold around it that are related to our “money story”.
- We all have a different story about money. We bring the beliefs that we acquired in our childhood into our daily lives. The key to being able to make objective decisions is to acknowledge this in yourself and others
- Change your story around money. Money is abundant and available to you and your organization. Money is not evil, it’s a positive resource that helps you get important work done. It doesn’t take money to make money, it takes connecting and creating meaningful relationships. Lastly, most philanthropic people are not made of money, they’re just like you and me.
- People will decide whether they can afford to donate to your organization or not. Do not assume anything about them nor decide for them, think about how it will truly feel for them to not be asked. Fundraising is a gift.
“We alternately worship and demonize money at the same time, and often don't understand it. Every person has a Money Story - your attitude towards money brought on mostly by childhood experiences. Those beliefs about money show up in your everyday decision-making around money.”
“When we can step back and get outside of those beliefs, and look at them, then we can break through them. Then we can bring in other information and make more powerful, more complete decisions.”
“The universe is unlimited and has everything we need. And so if we tap into that feeling of abundance and that, that you're safe, you're secure, you're cared for and the money will show up, then you can go out and raise it because you know that it's abundant. There's no ceiling.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
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About Zach Thanasilangkul: He is a communications coach and founder of Mission Driven Impact a training company that helps nonprofits clarify their message + get the word out online so they can raise awareness, increase revenue, and make the impact they were called to make.
Key Takeaways:
- Digital marketing isn’t different from human relationships. It’s fundamental to know who it is you’re speaking to and what is it that you want to say to them that will be worth their time. You also need to have a way of communicating with them or getting their attention.
- Communicating the vision is key in any leadership position. First, you’ve got to identify what is the world you want to create and then, communicate it to the people you’re leading whether it’s yourself, your team, or your whole organization.
- Creating a marketing plan is all about answering these six questions: “who am I speaking to?”, “what do I have to say to them?”, “where are my people hanging out?”, “how do I get in front of them?”, and then “how do I turn attention into opportunity?”
- Attention is a critical part of digital marketing, but it’s not everything. There must be infrastructure in place that could make something out of the opportunity to be viewed or be seen. There must be a systemic process that gives people direction and guidance on what are the next steps they have to take.
“Digital marketing isn't all that different from human relationships. You got to get in front of somebody, you got to have something worth saying, and you got to lead them to a decision they can make that helps themselves.”
“In any position where you find yourself in leadership, your ability to grow and expand that capacity within yourself, your team, your organization is directly related to how well you can cast a vision and get people to believe in it.”
“If I brought a million people to your website, what then? Do you have a systematic process to do something with it? Being seen isn't quite enough if you don't have a way to do something with that. ”
- Zach Thanasilangkul
Reach out to Zach Thanasilangkul at:
Website: https://www.missiondrivenimpact.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachthanasilangkul/
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
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Key Takeaways:
- Mobilize your board and have them do connection conversations. Have them go out into the community and see who’s interested in furthering their connection and pass the lead along to the development team or executive director for follow-up.
- Keep your people in momentum, and encourage them to keep going. Don’t have just one meeting about it, keep it going. Let them each come up with a list of 25-30 prospects and have them identify an affinity or connection to the organization.
- Find a way to establish a way to transfer data. Give your board a place where they could add all their prospects, including each one’s affinity, and the status of their connection conversation with their prospect.
- Have a system of accountability. Someone has to make sure that this project is being done and that people are making progress on their commitments so that it becomes a habit that’s ingrained in the workplace culture.
“Connection conversations are going out into the community, see who's interested, who might want to further their connection. And then pass that lead along to whoever's gonna follow up.”
“The most important thing is [having] a system of accountability. It really doesn't matter specifically what your system is, as long as you have one.”
“Do not give up until a year is up. Even if it's clunky, even if it's hard, even if they forget, just stay in it with them. It takes a year.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Ask for and receive all you want need and deserve without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
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Connect with Maryanne Dersch: maryanne@courageouscommunication.com
Key Takeaways:
- In Newtonian physics, we all experience the same thing, and the possibilities are fixed. In quantum physics, all possibilities exist in every moment and time is not linear.
- A fixed mindset relies on what happened in the past to determine what’s possible in the future. A growth mindset considers all that can be and is open to all the possibilities for great things that the future holds.
- A Newtonian leader takes their function in more of a black-and-white, cause-and-effect, mechanical approach. Quantum leaders recognize the vast array of possibilities in all situations with their teams and they realize that leadership is shared. So they empower their teams and colleagues to lead.
- There isn’t always an easily seen and easily definable result that comes back from the effort that you put out. However, just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there or that it will never be there.
“If we move our mind into the quantum realm, that means all possibilities exist, and our past does not dictate our future because every moment possibilities exist.”
“Your job is to put your message out there, to be present, to be connected so that when that person decides, you're ready. But you can't make people decide, you can't push somebody into doing something and expect they're going to do it right back.”
“If we don't believe there's a possibility for things to be different, things won't be different.”
- Maryanne Dersch
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Connect with Maryanne Dersch: maryanne@courageouscommunication.com
She has a B.A. in English from the University of Michigan - Flint, and she has been a freelance writer for over 15 years. In that time she has written for nonprofits large and small, as well as healthcare, tech, and marketing companies. She has been the content marketing manager for Virtuous CRM, written a bunch of grants, covered local news for community newspapers and written for national trade journals.
She focuses on nonprofits and social good clients because she cares more about causes than widgets. She loves learning about the ways that people are changing the world.
Key Takeaways:
- There’s an opportunity in authenticity to build trust with your supporters. There is an impulse that is common in groups to want to protect the image of the organization. However, doing this, you’ll miss out on being real and connecting to your people in a genuine way.
- Simple is good. Include only as many words as you have to say and ditch the filler. Make sure that the time the readers spend on reading your report is worth it.
- When writing nonprofit stories, think about your audience first and foremost. The report is going to be for them so figure out who those people are. Then, ask yourself how you want them to feel. Start the story from the individual zooming out to the bigger picture and then going back to that individual again.
- The decisions that we make don’t come from what we think but instead come from what we feel. The same is true for philanthropic decisions. In our messages, we always have to keep in mind what we want the readers to feel.
“Putting your mistakes out there, or the things that were disappointing, and inviting your supporters into that story shows them that you're not trying to trick them. And I think you can't like you can't buy that kind of authenticity and relationship building. The cost of it is bravery.”
“It’s annual report time and you're thinking, ‘oh, right, I need quotes and stories, and I need to talk to the program people about what's going on’. You can do that not on annual report time, you can build yourself a little repository of stories you can use for fundraising.”
“That's where we make philanthropic decisions. Yes, is with that emotional, or in that emotional space. It's not an analytical space, even though it seems like it should be and we try to reason people into giving.”
- Megan Donahue
Reach out to Megan Donahue at:
Website: http://donahuewritingchicago.com/
Email: megan@donahuewritingchicago.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/megan-donahue-writer
Be more confident, credible & convincing to your board & supporters without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy.
Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.comConnect with Maryanne Dersch: maryanne@courageouscommunication.com
Key Takeaways:
- We need to release the board from any pressure while also making sure that they have direction on how they could connect people to the organization. This would require consistency and building systems inside your organizations that make these things become a habit.
- Address your thoughts and feelings about fundraising. Correct any misconceptions that you have about it. Remember that the ask is just a tiny part of the overall fundraising process.
- Don’t forget to include an action point in board meetings. Give people a direction and a process. Let them have something to invest their inspired energy towards. Create a system of accountability.
- Approach sales from a service perspective. Focus on providing value to the customer and working in their best interest.
“In influence, the more I want somebody to do something, the less likely they are to do it, the more I give the person their own decision-making power, the more likely they are to decide what I want.”
“We need three things to create lasting, sustainable change, we have to address three different things: what we think and feel, what we do, and what we have.”
“Release the outcome. You don't have to pitch or sell, only listen. Empathize and validate. Find an opening. Find the true connection and alignment between two people, between this person and an organization, and then let go if it's not a fit. ”
- Maryanne Dersch
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Key Takeaways:
- Fundraising is more than just asking for money. The process goes as follows: awareness, interest, connection, and action. The action may be giving money or volunteering time. Each activity must fit into one of these categories.
- Awareness is indirect contact. It can be from social media, publicity, speaking, or any other event that generates broad-level awareness. Interest is when they know us and like us. It could be driving them to the website, or having them join a major event. Interest is moving from indirect to direct.
- There must be a call to action in each of these things that get them to transition from one part of the process to the next.
- Don’t skip right to the ask. Raise awareness, generate interest, foster connectedness, and then call them to action.
“There's awareness, interest, connectedness, and then action. Each of our activities needs to fit in one of these things. ”
“They have to know you to like you, they have to like you to love you, and they have to love you to invest in you.”
“Is this helping generate awareness, interest, connection, or action? If not, we can let it go. Because if we’re not doing that, then why are we doing it?”
- Maryanne Dersch
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Key Takeaways:
- The best way for organizations to grow their community is to aim to attract like-minded people, rather than convince people who are not necessarily aligned with what they do.
- The philanthropic heart is the ability to define who a person is, what their values are, and how the things you care about connect with what they care about. It’s centered on the intention that you’re not there to convince but to simply connect.
- Here are the six needs of a philanthropic heart: they want to see integrity and they want to feel important, interconnected, improved, invested, and inspired. This is what the donors want and if you can create those six things, you can really make a difference.
“Our communications can be hard, frustrating, unproductive, because we're using it to try to change people's minds and make them care about something that they don't really care about. Instead of allowing them to be who they are and care about what they want.”
“Marketing communication now serves the purpose of connecting with like-minded people. Finding the people whose mission, vision, values align with mine, and connecting to them in a powerful and meaningful way. I don't need anybody to be different. I'm just going to find the people that care about the thing that I do. That's what my marketing is for. And that's the philanthropic heart.”
“[The needs of a philanthropic heart] Integrity is important. They want to feel interconnected, they want to feel improved, they want to feel invested, and they want to feel inspired.”
- Maryanne Dersch
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Whitney Anderson is the principal for camping services at Fox advancement, a fundraising firm that provides capital campaign consulting, grant research and writing, and fractional Development Officer support.
Key Takeaways:
- Capital campaigns involve a lot of change and tend to be very emotional. People absorb different levels of change at different rates. There's tons of transition and change management baked into any campaign because it’s never just about a physical move.
- Nonprofits must consider doing a pre-feasibility study in which they comprehensively think about their overall campaign number. We need to know what we really need and include the accurate number when we’re asking from the donor to make sure that the project gets completed.
- Document everything you know about your case from an emotional level, a financial level, and a practical level, then try to wrap all of those arguments up into a well-written document. Realize that this document is a living document that’s subject to change. Don’t aim to launch a perfect case.
- When launching campaigns, hone in on what the donors are going to resonate with. Don’t stop with just talking about the building or any other material upgrades, talk about how this campaign will be able to create a greater impact in the community.
“There are different levels of change that happen within a campaign and people absorb those at different rates. For some, it's easy and exciting. For others, it can be really draining and there needs to be a lot of communication and navigation around that.”
“Now is the time to ask for what you need. And be really clear on what those different buckets compose.”
“If you're always trying to achieve the perfect case, you're going to be wasting a lot of valuable time when you can at least have a core document that is open to change as you go through the process.
- Whitney Anderson
Reach out to Whitney Anderson at:
Website: https://foxadvancement.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/whitney-anderson-33711121/
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Bailey Lewis, founder of Words First Content Strategy, coaches leaders, teams, and professionals all over the world to cultivate a humans first approach to digital content practices and make their corner of the digital world a little better place for everyone involved, on both sides of the screen—all through the power of words.
The Words First approach to digital content strategy practices and processes is rooted in user experience and the psychology of human behavior in digital spaces. This is the same approach used by the organizations responsible for the world’s best digital content experiences—the sites, apps, and digital spaces people want to visit again and again.
Bailey’s coaching methods teach leadership and teams to adopt this same approach and mindset for world-class results, swapping risk for reward and headaches for fist bumps in their digital content work.
Bailey is a longtime user experience, content strategy, and digital leadership expert. She’s an international writer, speaker, and coach with 1300+ professionals taught, 200+ teams coached, and 300+ digital projects led (and counting!). She’s known for her approach to words-first digital content transformation in the name of more human, intentional, joyful digital spaces everywhere.
Key Takeaways:
- Designing is the exciting part of creating a project for most people. However, when creating something, we’ve got to take into account primarily the words or the message we want to convey. We’ve got to answer these questions first: What are we saying to people on the other side of the screen? Why are we saying that? And why are we saying it this way?
- We’ve got to break apart silos that separate the content writing team from the design team. When we let the writers use designing programs the team will end up with a blueprint for design.
- You’ll know your strategy is successful when you manage to have your organization’s goals align with the audience’s needs, perspectives, and values. The only way to understand what your audience needs or wants is by directly engaging them as much as possible.
- Make it easier for people who visit your site to navigate. Guide them through by emptying your mind of any internal mindset and just focusing on what the experience of going to your site would be for the uninitiated. Create digital spaces that are empathetic.
“When the process is flipped to think about [words] first before design, it reduces a lot of risk - it actually swaps the risk for reward, and it makes the team's life a lot better, too.”
“If you get content professionals and writing professionals into a space where they can do more than just writing paragraphs or trying to make little notes about where stuff goes, then what you end up with is a blueprint for design.”
“Part of practicing people first, words first is having extreme empathy for the people on the other side of the screen to the point where you can kind of have an out-of-body experience, and put yourself really in their shoes - understanding the level of understanding that your audiences are coming in with”
- Bailey Lewis
Reach out to Bailey Lewis at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dowordsfirst
Website: https://www.wordsfirstcontent.com/
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/wordsfirstcontent
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bailey-lewis-content-strategy-coach-consulting-training/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@baileywordsfirst
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Key Takeaways:
- Older generations and younger generations are struggling because of a gap relating to emotions. Boomers are more inclined to believe that feelings don’t matter while younger generations put heavy emphasis on understanding and being in touch with what they feel.
- The mature generation is more generous and loyal to an organization. To them, everything is about sacrifice, loyalty, and creating stability because they were born and raised during uncertain times. They represent 26% of national giving.
- Boomers represent 43% of total giving. They are more driven by emotional appeals, they like significance and being honored publicly, and they also are the most likely to want to know more about your finances and get into gritty details before they donate.
- Millennials want a sense of community. They don’t want to just give money and be thanked, they want to be a part of something that’s greater than themselves. Meanwhile, Gen Z puts a greater emphasis on meaning. They want their work to have a meaningful effect on society.
“As generations go through, you can see that every generation, we're developing this culture of philanthropy deeper and deeper and deeper into our culture.”
“You can't make people care about your nonprofit, you can only connect with people. And so it's more important now because people won't give just out of a sense of duty or loyalty they're going to give because it's meaningful to them.”
“Reflect in your own stories in your life of how you were raised and how you were taught to manage feelings, how you were taught to see the world, and then how that plays out in your everyday decision-making and how you connect with other people.”
- Maryanne Dersch
Donor statistics were taken from https://www.classy.org/blog/how-to-engage-different-generations-of-donors/
Be more confident, credible & convincing to your board & supporters without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy.
Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.comConnect with Maryanne Dersch: maryanne@courageouscommunication.com
Lauren Ready is an Emmy award-winning storyteller, keynote speaker, and the Principal Storyteller of Forever Ready Productions.
The Forever Ready team tells mission-driven stories for nonprofits and businesses so they can realize and harness their collective purpose and impact.
Lauren Ready started her TV news career as a production assistant at 17. She then spent the next ten years as a video journalist as she moved across Iowa, Nebraska, and Memphis to cover national breaking news.
Lauren’s vision for storytelling is at the heart of every production at Forever Ready.
It’s this background in reporting — where production happens fast and complex human stories are at the center — that gives Forever Ready its unique creative edge. Lauren’s specialty is taking moments of human experience and turning them into dynamic and compelling short videos.
Since leaving her TV news career and starting Forever Ready Productions in 2016, her company has received the Small Business of the Year Award from the Memphis Business Journal. Lauren has also won 4 regional Emmys and in 2019, was named Memphis Business Journal’s Top 40 Under 40.
Key Takeaways:
- You already have stories. Take a look at the “ordinary” things you do in your everyday work and try to see if there is a story in it that’s worth telling.
- Take the story beyond what you see in the headlines. Life continues beyond the snapshot so write about the follow-up or the continuation of the story. Give people a story that they don’t expect.
- Be authentic. Show the reality of your work. Don’t paint a perfect picture for the sake of your audience. Be optimistic and be empathic about the help that you’re providing to your community, but show them the real imperfect parts of the story.
- Instead of thinking about showing something big that you do, zoom in on one person. It makes the kind of impact you give more digestible and easily understandable.
“We're challenging folks to take the story beyond what you see in the headline.”
“The story you should be telling in your nonprofit is right in front of you. It's a part of what you do every day, but it seems ordinary to us so you don't tell anybody about it.”
“When we put in some of those imperfect moments, they feel real, they're truthful, they empower your client, they empower your team, and they show your supporters the real side of your work.”
“Get rid of the scarcity mindset, don't do what you've always done in the past, and don't be afraid to tell an imperfect story.”
- Lauren Ready
Reach out to Lauren Ready at:
Website: https://www.foreverreadyllc.com/
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Matt is the executive director of the Blackbaud giving fund. He leads the organization's mission to unleash generosity by connecting people to the causes they care about throughout the world.
Key Takeaways:
- Donor Advised means that the donor tells the organization where to send the money. Then as long as that charity is in good standing with the IRS, they’ll send the funds to that charity.
- Workplace giving amplifies the rate, it also allows employees to experience the joy of being able to give and connect with organizations that they want to.
- Giving donations to a donor-advised fund is a great way to take something that has grown for you and move it into a charitable unit so that you can put it to use charitable sector.
- It starts with an emotional connection to something that speaks to you. You can’t make people care about what you do, so stop trying to convince people. Instead, let you intend to call and connect with people that share your values.
“Workplace giving is teaching these employees how to be philanthropists as they move forward in their career.”
“Employees want to work for a company that does something of social good. If those companies can offer it, then now you've got employees who want it, companies are offering it, it's a great match. And it's a great experience for them to be involved.”
“It's a core part of what we want to do. Because we see ourselves as amplifying giving and creating this connection between the donor and the nonprofit, it’s hard to have a connection if the nonprofit doesn't know who the donor is.”
- Matt Nash
Reach out to Matt Nash at:
Website: https://www.fidelitycharitable.org/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-nash/
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With more than a decade working in the nonprofit sector, Susan is passionate about the power of philanthropy and helping organizations meet and exceed their goals to fulfill their missions. Based in Chicago, Susan has experience working with major gifts, mid-level donors, planned giving, capital campaigns, and creating and executing fundraising strategies and events.
Beyond Chicago, Susan has worked in Boston, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, and Washington DC, and she brings her knowledge and expertise from these special communities to each of her current projects and clients. A relationship builder and people connector, Susan was also involved in grassroots political mobilizations and encouraging citizens to get involved in the political process with their voice and their financial support.
Before founding Sapphire Fundraising Specialists, Susan held fundraising and management roles at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Susan graduated from George Washington University in Washington, DC with a major in Communication and a double minor in Political Science and Business Administration.
Susan is a frequent speaker at conferences, webinars, and board meetings on fundraising topics and nonprofit board management. If you are interested in booking Susan for a speaking role, please go to the Contact Page and select Speaking Role.
Key Takeaways:
- Put it on top of your to-do list to celebrate what you’ve accomplished so far. Take a step back, look at what you’ve made, and be proud. Never give up, the only way that you’ll truly fail is if you stop.
- The goal of fundraising is not to get one gift but to build a relationship with people. While building the relationship, don’t forget to get to business.
- Donors get to choose if they want to give or not. Connect with them, build relationships, and stay in touch while always keeping in mind that they are people too, not moneybags.
- Play up to your strengths. Take inventory of your strengths and those of your organization and use those strengths for fundraising.
“The key thing when it comes to fundraising is relationship building. ”
“You should have a goal for the meeting. You should be showing that you prepared for the meeting. Listening is a critical leadership skill.”
“Fundraising can be really difficult and time-consuming. So do what you can. You don't have to do everything. Start with something.”
- Susan Kahan
Reach out to Susan Kahan at:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-kahan/
Website: https://sapphirefundraisingspecialists.com/
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Key Takeaways:
- Organizations start off small and grow bigger over time. However, you can never be too big to notice who your people are. You must make sure not to leave long-time supporters forgotten.
- Be curious about who is in your community and train your staff to be curious as well. Create a system that documents people’s stories and shares those stories with other people in the community.
- People stay involved in an organization because of their relationships with people and that’s why institutional knowledge is important. So much relational history and context are lost in the transition of employees.
- Understand your history and the story of your organization. Remember your roots and keep it in mind as you grow. At the same time, you’ve got to let the organization move, change, and stabilize. The goal must be to be part of the mainstream.
“Be curious about the people who are around. Tap into who they are. Document their stories. Make sure other people know it.”
“People stay involved in an organization most of the time because of their relationship with the people inside the organization.”
“People don't give because they're not asked. We're so afraid to ask and yet, that's why people give.”
- Maryanne Dersch
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Elyse Wallnutt is a senior marketing and tech leader with 16 years of experience driving results at the intersection of revenue, advocacy, brand, and policy objectives.
She has delivered $39M+ in net new revenue for organizations over the past five years. She built the digital activation campaign for the clean future plan that powered the majority of President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act. She’s grown acquisition programs to more than 9x their former size. Her communications efforts have led to human rights victories such as the unconditional release of prisoners of conscience domestically and internationally. And she’s saved organizations an average of 18% of their annual marketing expenses with efficiencies gained in tech stack, targeting, and contractual enhancements.
Elyse has played leadership roles in supporting some of the largest nonprofit brands in the world — including Amnesty International, Heifer International, Feeding America, UNICEF USA, The Nature Conservancy, and World Food Program USA — in both client-side and agency settings. She also spent time leading GOTV efforts in consulting roles at Center for American Progress and Blue State during the 2016 and 2020 election cycles.
After nearly two decades working for nonprofits, she launched Agility Lab Consulting to support business leaders in reaching their audiences through smart strategies that stay ahead of shifts in technology, algorithms, consumer demand and rising demand for privacy. She specializes in assessing internal solutions portfolios – including current-state approach to financial projections, tech stack integration, media investments, and user experience design – and using findings to build an integrated vision that achieves KPI targets, breaks down channel silos, and pushes the limits of program growth.
Key Takeaways:
- There are new data privacy laws that are being pushed today and big tech companies are making moves that will show their users that they are being respected. Therefore, companies will have to be creative about our marketing because we won’t have insights provided by trackers by social media sights.
- Set up your own baseline and start making your own measurement tools. Take stock of the data that you have available right now and ingest all that information in order to make good decisions. It would be a good idea not to rely on third party information in the future.
- Relying too much into your social media page is like building a house on rented land, that’s why it’s our job to get people off of our social media pages and into our websites and email list. Websites are a more solid foundation than social media, a lot of people lose their social media pages and most are never able to recover it.
- Don’t try to own the tree, instead, pick a leaf off the tree and own that. Find a specific area you intend to impact in the nonprofit space and commit to it. Make sure that you’re not in a space that’s going to be overly competitive.
“We can't keep just moving money from digital channel to digital channel, we need to think long game. We need to think about the the content strategies and the attribution vehicles that are going to help set us up so that we understand who our audiences are.”
“You need to take stock of the data that you have available to you right now and create as much of a first party internal understanding of who your audience is, that doesn't rely on all of these third parties to tell you, who cares about your mission.”
“The name of the game is first-party data acquisition.”
“You want to make sure that your brand name is very relevant and forward. And you also want to make sure that you are not in a space that's going to be overly competitive.”
- Elyse Wallnutt
Reach out to Elyse Wallnutt at:
Website: https://www.agilitylab.io/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elysewallnutt/
Be more confident, credible & convincing to your board & supporters without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy.
Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.comConnect with Maryanne Dersch: maryanne@courageouscommunication.com
Nick Lynch is a senior product and business operations executive with experience managing, building, and executing product development strategy, developing business relationships, growing revenue, and executing initiatives in the social, digital, influencer (creator economy), traditional, and online media industries for multiple start-ups, growth stage, and blue chip companies. Strategic thinker focused on identifying businesses, processes, and people with growth potential, and providing actionable solutions and leadership that drive success. Extremely excited and bullish on Web3 and all the opportunities it will create.
Key Takeaways:
- Corporate social responsibility programs have a lot to do with communicating the good that a corporation is doing. ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance. It’s what investors these days are looking for in corporations.
- When you take a step back and look at the bigger picture, you’ll see that influencer marketing is really all about storytelling and community building.
- Figure out what words or topics are relevant to your organization and search for keywords or hashtags in various social media to look for potential influencer partners who are aligned with your organization’s mission. Narrow down the search then reach out. Don’t just pick the ones with the biggest following.
- If you don’t measure something, then it doesn’t matter to you. If there are things about your organization that you don’t know or are not taking any steps to know, then it doesn’t matter to you or to your team. If something matters, measure it.
“Everybody has some influential power.”
“The core of it [influencer marketing] is storytelling and community building.”
“[Reach] out to people not because they have a big following, but because there is synergistic alignment with your mission. If there isn't that, then it doesn't work. There's no authenticity”
- Nick Lynch
Reach out to Nick Lynch at:
Website: https://collidescope.io/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholaslynch/
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Jenn Whitmer helps teams and leaders solve conflict, cultivate communication and create empowered teams. She is a keynote speaker, a TEDx speaker, and a consultant. She talks about hard topics with infectious joy. Through working with her, people improve communication, work through conflict, and build awareness with the Enneagram. She asks big questions that lead to big dreams, big ideas, and big living.
Key Takeaways:
- You have to do your inner work and put your own healing first so that you can be effective in helping your organization navigate conflict.
- You have to learn how to manage conflict because avoiding conflict would only create more conflict. Tolerating conflict is the way to peace. Avoiding conflict would only create fake peace.
- Get clear in the beginning, and start with your values, what your goals are, and where you want to go. Be curious about another person’s goal and keep communicating
- You can’t lead anybody until you are able to lead yourself. Self-leadership involves ruthless self-honesty. You have to be ruthless in becoming aware of who you are.
“You can only lead as far as you've healed.”
“If you avoid conflict, you manufacture fake peace.”
“You cannot lead anybody else until you lead yourself. Self-leadership involves ruthless self-honesty and - generous self-compassion. The way you get to marry those two together is curiosity.”
- Jenn Whitmer
Reach out to Jenn Whitmer at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jennwhitmerspeaks
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenn_whitmer/
Website: https://jennwhitmer.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jennwhitmer
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Katelyn started her marketing career in tech then moved to the nonprofit sector to focus on mission-driven marketing. After having her first daughter (now has two!), she started her consultancy for more flexibility and freedom. Her strengths are digital strategy, project management, fundraising, and email marketing.
Key Takeaways:
- If you want to give the highest quality of service that you want to give, make sure to give from the overflow and not from the depths of the well. Because if you give from the depths, you’ll be full of resentment and will eventually burn out.
- Email marketing has the highest ROI. Also, with email marketing, you own your list, as opposed to marketing on social media websites. If Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram went down tomorrow, you’ll lose most of the people you’ve connected with.
- Provide as much value as you can with the email that you give out to your list. Don’t let the intention behind it be selling something to the person because they will feel that energy when they open your email.
- Don’t be afraid to automate your email. Use nurture sequences to make people feel like they belong to a community.
"Trying to find ways to integrate your life with your work and have work-life harmony - that's something that I think is truly important for everybody”
“The reason why I love email, and there's multiple reasons, but it has the highest ROI.”
“As long as you're providing something that is valuable, and telling a story and showing impact. There shouldn't be that fear behind that.”
- Katelyn Baughan
Reach out to Katelyn Baughan at:
Website: https://katelynbaughan.com/
Instagram: http://instagram.com/kb_digital
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katelyn-baughan/
Be more confident, credible & convincing to your board & supporters without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy.
Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
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Julie Boll is passionate about supporting powerful, dynamic, and impactful leaders that are accountable, visionary, and always growing.
Great people make great organizations. And great organizations change the world. It is her joy and passion to help people and organizations get clear on where they want to go and how they will get there and then help them hold themselves accountable to propel their organizations forward.
At Julie Boll Consulting, they provide Leadership training, Strategic planning, and Leadership coaching. Julie has more than 18 years of experience in the nonprofit and education sectors, serving in marketing, public relations, and grant development roles.
Key Takeaways:
- More money doesn’t fix every problem. Most times it’s the people that need to change in order that there will be transformed and growth in the organization.
- Honor conflict as a part of our lives. If we put peace on a pedestal and sacrifice everything for it, it’s going to create more conflict. We need to stop avoiding difficult conversations.
- Build trust in your organization by practicing the BRAVING acronym. Boundaries, Reliability, Accountability, Vault, Integrity, Non-judgement, and Generosity.
- The money will come more easily when you’re standing in your values.
“It's about the people that run the organizations more than it is about pumping money in or even doing strategy work.”
“I have just seen too many conversations avoided that needed to be had. And when your leader won't confront something and won't have a conversation, it lets you down as an employee.”
“Trust is built in the smallest of moments.”
- Julie Boll
Reach out to Julie Boll at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jboll
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JulieBollConsulting/
Website: https://juliebollconsulting.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-boll-gpc
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Connect with Maryanne Dersch: maryanne@courageouscommunication.com
Key Takeaways:
- You’ll find unexpected gems if you open your eyes to the lessons that you could learn from the people around you.
- Be personal but stay neutral. Don’t let your interactions with other people have any bearing on how you perceive your own self-worth. Be graceful to others and do not judge.
- The energy that you put out, you get back. If you want the energy of the atmosphere to be calm or compassionate, channel compassion and calm from within and let that energy fill each and every one of your interaction.
- Be a good listener. Open your ears and close your mouth, don’t argue or give advice. People don’t want that, they want to feel seen and heard. Instead, ask questions that will lead them to their own conclusions.
“You're only human, you're gonna make judgments. Look at it as an observation. How can I give grace in the situation?”
“Be personal with someone and depersonalize the interaction. That is a true gift. You can be personal, and stay neutral.”
“Don't give advice. People don't want advice. They want empathy. They want understanding. They want to feel seen and heard.”
- Maryanne Dersch
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Key Takeaways:
- Anytime there's something new, something different, something unexpected, it tends to stir up the monkey mind. It goes into overdrive.
- Relax into the present and release the need for certainty and control, knowing that you won’t be able to have it anyway. Shift your monkey mind into more deliberate, conscious thoughts.
- Be conscious of what’s happening and interrupt the pattern or the thought. Deliberately pick another thought that’s going to serve you better. Prepare a mantra or an action that will help you change the flow of your thoughts.
- Replace thoughts with new ones and then continue the conversation with those new thoughts. Keep practicing until it becomes easier to switch to it whenever negative monkey-mind thoughts come up.
“The reason why the monkey mind is so powerful is because there are two things our brain wants: certainty and control. And those are two things that we can never have. They're not real. There's no control, there's no certainty, but we crave those things.”
“Here's what I know to be true: our thoughts shape our words, and our words shape our reality.”
“Now that you understand what the monkey mind is, you don't need to judge it. Everybody has it, we're just going to look at it with neutrality and observation.”
“What gives us that feeling of being safe, supported and grounded is us.”
- Maryanne Dersch
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Key Takeaways:
- Energy is everything - it precedes outcome. How you think and feel about something determines the kind of results you’re going to get. We often prioritize strategy but we must also focus on energy.
- Write all the ways that your life is amazing, be specific about it - as if you’re going before a judge to present facts and evidence that your life is indeed amazing.
- There's little tiny miracle moments that are happening to us every day but we often don't pay attention because we're moving so fast. We need to pause and take time to receive a miracle deeply.
“There’s feelings and there's facts, and sometimes we don't see the facts because our feelings are looking for their own evidence.”
“Be grounded in the amazingness, the awesomeness of every moment of every day.”
“We can train our brain to look for the amazing and awesome, just like we can train our brain to look for the trouble. Which way would you rather live?”
- Maryanne Dersch
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About Kim Woods: Kim grew up in a family that kept astrology books on the coffee table. If it involves cards, crystals, or flower essences, she’s certified in it. However, she didn’t come fully out of the intuitive closet until her son was born with significant issues and she walked away from a highly successful corporate career to focus on healing.
Now, she weaves strategy with intuition to help clients restore their intuitive knowing, earn more money, and claim their brilliance.
She loves to sew and weave threads and tapestries together. Yes, there’s a metaphor there.
She’s got the credentials – an MBA and countless master-level intuitive certifications paired with 25+ years of C- suite business experience. She has built multiple 7-figure brick & mortar businesses and is a former business consultant at Oracle.
Key Takeaways:
- Practical and intuitive are two things that don’t belong in separate worlds. They can be melded together and you can benefit from both at the same time if you allow yourself to.
- If you’re a worker in the nonprofit space, a good energy practice is to allow yourself to receive the energy of gratitude from the recipient and the giver so that you could be filled. Find ways to fill yourself up with energy, take care of yourself and double that.
- Intuition is a muscle that you could build through practice. Listen to your intuition and build on that through experience and practice.
- Instead of being overly concerned about how you’ll be received or perceived by others, think about how you’d like to show up for yourself. This means answering the question of how you’d like to show up in a way where you’ll like yourself, instead of thinking about how you can make others like you.
“You talked about practical and about intuitive. Well, if I marry these two, the eastern and the western, I wonder what type of results we'll get? Well, amazingly, we got unbelievable results.”
You have the recipients who are their clients, but you have the donors who are the customers - understanding you're giving on both sides. That's another reason why in the nonprofit world, it is so critical to find ways to fill yourself up.”
“Instinct is the doorway. And the intuition is the house.”
- Kim Woods
Access Kim’s “3 Powerful Secrets to Bust through the Blocks to Your Success” by clicking on this link: https://bit.ly/kims3secrets
Reach out to Kim Woods at:
Website: https://www.kimwoods.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXht7r3yCKU991YJZtv9nfg
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KIMWOODSCHANNEL
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimwoodschannel/?hl=en
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimewoods/
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Key Takeaways:
- You don’t own your social media, it’s unreliable reach. It’s a great way to create a community, but you have to find a way to transfer that community to more reliable reach.
- Creating content for a lead magnet is all about offering value that is relevant to the people that you want to reach. It doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive.
- Instead of sending a monthly newsletter containing 5 or 6 items to your email list, why not share one awesome story a week? That’s the best way to increase open rates and connect with people more effectively.
“Your job is to get people off of social media, and on to reliable reach. And the best, most effective, reliable reach you have is your email list.”
“It's about the content and connecting with people who are like minded, who are seeing the same thing, who share the same philanthropic heart”
“The best way to increase your deliverability, to increase your open rates and to actually connect with people is one story a week.”
- Maryanne Dersch
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About Joey Goone: Joey Goone is the president of The Utopia Experience. Utopia is an experienced creation company, namely producing Events and Video stories for nonprofit organizations. They've helped 200 nonprofits raise more than $30 million since the onset of the pandemic. Joey's mantra and Utopia sole purpose is to serve those that serve the world.
Key Takeaways:
- There are three forms of capital that are the reasons why anyone anywhere decides to go to an event any time. These three are: intellectual capital, social capital, communal capital - which is the most important one.
- When you host events, make sure to answer the question of, ‘how can we create that community-like experience where people walk away with this higher transcendent purpose, and this deeper emotional connection than they've ever had in the past?’
- You can tell better stories by starting with your why and defining your authentic identity and being your genuine self. Don’t compare yourself with other people or else comparison will rob you of happiness. Be happy being you.
- If you want to scale your business, you have to realize that your enemy is your ego. It’s not about being egocentric, it’s about being eco-centric - being about people around you.
“Communal capital - is the most important one. People want to find other people that are trying to solve similar challenges that have similar aspirations and that they can bond with those people in an effort to have a higher transcendent purpose in life.”
“Follow your different. Don't be afraid to be a little weird.”
“You have to use a forward-looking lens to discover insights and reveal how the future is actually going to be different from the past. And if you don't do that, then unfortunately, you become Blockbuster.”
- Joey Goone
Reach out to Joey Goone at:
Website: https://www.utopiaexperience.com/
Email: info@utopiaexperience.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joey-goone-58225758/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joey.goone/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joeygoone/
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About Maria Bryan: She equips nonprofit leaders with the quality training, tools, and 1:1 support needed to thrive as change agents — through consultation sessions and group workshops on creating simple but powerful nonprofit marketing strategies. Because she believes that marketing doesn’t have to be an obstacle course.
Key Takeaways:
- If your target audience would be people who have been through trauma, you have to think about structuring your message in a way that they feel safe, protected, and are not re-traumatized by your content.
- It’s worth it to invest time, effort and money into learning how to create marketing through a trauma lens. It’s not only ethical, but it opens the doors for your nonprofit organization to be able to communicate better to the people you want to reach out to.
- Telling your story is a huge part of healing, it’s important that we give people the space to be able to speak freely about their traumatic experience. However, always remember that people don’t owe you their story. You have to make sure that they fully and enthusiastically consent to telling their stories and that they are in no way shape or form, pressured to tell it.
- It’s important to go through the framework of understanding pain points and understanding what's at stake because if you know what the stakes are then you know what the bright future is. If you know what the pain points are, then you know what the hope is.
“Victims aren't asked for solutions. And that's really, really important for marketers, to know that we have the power to - give the people whose stories we're telling agency and power - dignify and respect them through the stories we’re telling.”
“It's such a new space in the nonprofit marketing communications fundraising world to come at this through a trauma lens. Stories will always be powerful. It is stories that move hearts and change minds, and in turn change lives. So anyone listening to this that feels overwhelmed by just one more lens. In the nonprofit space, it's doable, just take it one step at a time.”
“The people that you serve don't owe you their story. It's not part of the deal. Make sure that you have informed consent from people who are telling their stories.”
- Maria Bryan
Reach out to Maria Bryan at:
Website: https://www.mariabryan.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariabryancrtv/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/mariabryancrtv
Download: https:/c/www.mariabryan.com/marketingtemplates
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Angie Winchel is a strategic and proven communication professional. With more than 30 years of experience helping companies and organizations find clarity. She provides strategy, marketing, and communications and fractional CMO services to a variety of clients.
Key Takeaways:
- Don’t put yourself last, don’t do something if you’re not the right person for the job. Say no so that you can say yes to things that are more aligned to what you're best at.
- Your brand starts before your logo, it is the big idea of what you want people to remember about your organization.
- Make your calendar work for you. Block out your schedule for you to have a meeting with yourself to think about and develop your marketing strategy.
- Make time for the significant, open your eyes for opportunities to make some lasting change. Don’t be swayed by the currents of your day to day busyness.
“Your brand starts before your logo. It should be really simple. It doesn’t have to be super involved, or that measurable.”
“One of the big things that people can do is just start asking - what's the best thing about us? And then just listen, and you'll, you'll start to hear some trends. And then you can build from that.”
“You cannot just sit down and do strategy, you have to have time for it to develop.”
“The community knows what it needs, let's let them speak to that. And then let's take that information and match it up with people who also believe that who want to support it, instead of starting with, you know, here's money to make that go make this happen.”
- Angie Winschel
Reach out to Angie Winschel at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/angwins
Website: https://www.brandalmanac.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angie-winschel-a32824a/
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Sarah founded The IllumiLab (as Insight Partners Consulting) in 2016 after having worked in the non-profit sector as a family therapist, program manager, quality improvement manager, grant-maker, and capacity-builder. Throughout her career, Sarah’s been driven toward increasing effectiveness, efficiency, and impact because she hates waste and loves seeing results. She believes that, as mission-minded professionals who are drawn into this work in order to make a difference in the lives of vulnerable people and struggling communities, we cannot afford to waste time, energy, information, opportunities, or resources. As an “evaluative thinking evangelist,” Sarah is passionate about making the tools and processes of reflection and learning accessible, intuitive, and energizing!
Key Takeaways:
- The results you’re trying to achieve aren't always easy to measure or observe with the naked eye. Measuring what’s meaningful will require you to step back and ask what is the most meaningful for you and what story you want to tell.
- Understand your own value and attract the right partners. Take your power back. Don’t let yourself be pulled into different directions. Figure out what’s truly meaningful, make it measurable, pursue that and pitch that to your funder.
- People don’t really want to know what you do, but why you are important. What’s the outcome or impact that your organization is able to create?
- See if your intentions align with your impact. You might have activities that aren't connected to the outcomes or outcomes that aren't supported by any of your current activities.
“If nonprofits could suspend reality, step back, set aside all of their funder promises and ask themselves, what they get out of bed to do in the morning, why they do this work, what would be most meaningful, and if they can craft a meaningful and measurable system around that to measure and improve their performance, then go sell that to your funder. ”
“A Theory of Change is a tool that helps you articulate the pathways that you believe lead to your ultimate result. And there might be lots of other things that have to happen in that pathway. But it articulates - our piece of the puzzle. ”
“List all intended outcomes. List all current activities, and then we see how well they line up. Double check and make sure that the program is in fact aligned with their intentions. ”
- Sarah Buek
Reach out to Sarah Buek at:
Website: https://www.insightsintoimpact.com/ | https://www.insightsintoimpact.com/author/sarah-buekgmail-com/
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Key Takeaways:
- Time has value. Taking your time off from doing the things you’re good at to do the things that you can pay somebody to do, is wasting a lot of time and causing a lot of burnout in you and your team.
- We get back what we put out. If you’re putting out grace and ease, you’re going to get grace and ease. If you’re putting out stress and tension or the thought that there’s not enough time, then that’s exactly what you’re going to get.
- The past and the future live in our head, all we really have is this moment. When past regrets or future worries cloud your mind, that’s when you know it’s time to bring yourself back to the present, or rather, remind yourself that that's where you actually are.
- Your to-do list is always going to be there. There will never be a good time and therefore it is always the perfect time. Always remember to celebrate your wins, make a list of things you accomplished in a day instead of a list of things you still have yet to do.
“Hustle is not sustainable. Grace, ease and flow is sustainable.”
“Work expands and contracts to fit the time allotted. Whatever’s important will rise to the top and everything else will fade away.”
“I promise you. The more time you spend in your zone of genius, in grace and flow and ease, the more productive you will be. And the more that time will feel abundant to you. It is the absolute truth.”
- Maryanne Dersch
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Key Takeaways:
- Stop pitching. Instead, take the time to talk with them, assess their needs, and then find something that works for them or create something to work for them based on their specific needs.
- Start with a quick call with the goal to connect. Get to know a person or organization first before giving your pitch. Once you’ve had more information about them and know how you can help them, that’s when you can give your offer pitch.
- When you schedule a follow-up call, do it in the moment while still in the call with that person. Don’t email them a date, give them a schedule immediately.
- Provide value even if it’s not your event. Help them along the way, refer them to someone you know, try to do anything you can to help them with whatever they need. They will remember you and they will be helpful to you too.
“When I say pitching, what I mean is you're just throwing something at me and hoping it sticks - without really knowing what my needs are, what my goals are, what anything that I want from my businesses. This approach is not working and I think it may be causing you frustration”
“You cannot meet someone's needs until you know what those needs are. And so have conversations to understand the needs and then make an offer - not a pitch - an offer. Because an offer is based on something that you know would fulfill a need that they have, not a guess.”
“Have connection conversations. If they're aligned, keep the conversation moving. If not, bless and release. Put them on your email list, maybe get some referrals from them. And then and then move on.”
- Maryanne Dersch
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Key Takeaways:
- Our brains don’t process a negative so it’s important for us to speak in a language of what we want instead of what we don’t want.
- Look at your own messaging. Are we mired in the negative? Is there a better story we can tell?
- Here’s our six needs in order of lowest to highest: certainty, variety, significance, love and connection, growth, and contribution. When creating a vision, we need to consider how we will fulfill the higher order of needs such as connection, growth, and contribution, for our donors and the people we serve.
- Don’t focus merely on the prevention of bad things. Ask yourself what world you want to create for the people you serve. People are more excited about creation than prevention.
“When we talk about things in the negative, that is a lower energetic than if we want to create something positive.”
“Instead of talking about a negative - about what we’re going to keep certain or safe - we talk about a vision we have for the future and the love and connection we want to create, the growth and the contribution everyone involved can make to anyone else’s benefit.”
“If you look at your board, any relationship that you have and you’re like this relationship isn’t going so well’ - then you look and say, ‘how well am I meeting all six of their human needs?’ Chances are, you’re probably missing a few.”
- Maryanne Dersch
TikTok mentioned in the episode: https://www.tiktok.com/@jamylecannon/video/7137499799892266282
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Jenny is a veteran in nonprofit communications and she’s been with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet for 16 years, from doing PR Campaigns, Big Picture strategies, to making Facebook memes. She also shares her expertise through consulting projects and speaking engagements and she is a long time member in the Communicators For Women Religious and a local group in St. Louis, the Nonprofit Marketers Network. Currently her team is striving to be more courageous and authentic in sharing the Sisters’ message of unifying love which is much needed in today’s divisive world.
Key Takeaways:
- We can connect to like-minded people by being authentic. We tend to shy away from authenticity because it’s not for everyone. However, your authentic story will attract the right people to your organization.
- Recognize that people can solve their own problems, give them the opportunity to do so. Sit in the discomfort of not being “helpful” to others because the end result will be that they will feel empowered.
- People come for the cause and stay for the community. The courage to communicate your true authentic values will shift your community. Some will fall away, but some will feel an even stronger bond with the organization.
- Being bold about who you are requires that you know who you are. Take time to reflect and look within. Are your own personal values aligned with the organization’s? Your personal fears and beliefs can impact the work that you do.
“We want to be authentic, bring their personality and their spirit and their message to our communications and connect with people on the values.”
“To be authentic - it’s not for everybody. You might disappoint people. But your boundaries are really saying what you’re willing to say yes and no to.”
“If you’re going to be authentic and be bold, fearless, and fun about who you are, you have to know who you are.”
- Jenny Beatrice
Reach out to Jenny Beatrice at:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennybeatrice/
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Key Takeaways:
- You are the creator of your experiences. You have options and possibilities. You don’t have to put yourself in the role of a victim.
- A lot of times we paint our nonprofit spaces in the hero-victim-villain dynamic. We were taught to make our donors the hero and make the people we serve the victims.
- When you are challenged, you have the opportunity to flip from being the victim into being the creator of your own experience. That’s why it’s important to practice empowerment rather than the drama triangle.
- One little shift in thinking can help you move from victim to creator. You have the power to choose what story to tell others and yourself.
“I went from ‘woe is me’ to ‘I am the creator of my own experiences’ - I realized I went from victim to creator.”
“Anytime we create a hero, we automatically create a victim and then a villain. That is the nature of the drama triangle.”
“Instead of a victim, you’re a creator. Instead of a hero, you’re a coach. And instead of a villain, you’re a challenger.”
- Maryanne Dersch
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Adora Drake is a digital marketing consultant with High Spirits Marketing and she is an expert digital marketing strategist, coach, and consultant. She helps nonprofit organizations feel inspired to take action and to gain clarity in their marketing strategy and learn how to convert their followers into raving fans who want to be part of their mission.
Key Takeaways:
- How you set boundaries at home or in your personal life directly translates to how you set boundaries at work or in any other part of your life. Your whole life is connected, everything is connected.
- Maximize the work that you’ve already done. Create less and send out more frequently and in all channels and forms available.
- There are certain metrics you have to watch out for in order to have the information you need in order to know how to proceed in your marketing plan. However in marketing, not everything is measurable.
- Just because your members are not sharing your mission, doesn’t mean that they don’t care. They might not just know how. You need to explicitly tell your members to share, if they don’t know how, you can instruct them or advise them to share it in the way that they could.
“Post events, show you guys working in the community and tell the story of how you got to where you are - people like to hear those things, they really do… Whatever your mission is, somebody’s gonna want to know about how you started, what can you do for the community, and how they can get involved.”
“Clickthrough rates, are they opening our emails, retention rate, how much money are the donors donating this year vs last year - look at all these things when you create a marketing plan. That’s gonna tell you where do we need to continue working on our marketing going forward. ”
“What you wanna do is really make sure that you are keeping the donors that you already have excited and engaged - by keeping that consistency in front of them. Letting them know what’s going on, where’s the money going, getting them excited about what’s to come. ”
- Adora Drake
Reach out to Adora Drake at:
Website: https://www.adoradrakemarketing.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adoradrake/
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Joanna Brody, M.A., is an award-winning communications professional with a distinct expertise in social marketing and a passion for promoting causes and issues.
Her full-service public relations firm, Brody Public Relations, is known as “an agency with a conscience” for its work with clients who make a difference in the world. Joanna has spent 25 years in public relations, creating a variety of successful programs for government agencies, social enterprises, professional associations and nonprofit organizations in the areas of public health, education, business management, public safety and emergency management, dispute resolution, environmental education and crisis communications.
Key Takeaways:
- Crisis PR isn’t always about something bad that’s happening, but it can be anything that’s way out of the ordinary for a nonprofit or organization.
- People don’t really care about what you do, or how it’s done, they care about the difference it makes. People will care about how it’s done only in the context of what its impact has been.
- Don’t create different content for different channels, you’re using the same content and distributing it in as many different ways as you can.
- The fullness of the impact of your message or your action can not be completely quantified. There are some parts of your impact that can’t be turned into numbers or statistics. Don’t forget these qualitative results, they are just as meaningful as quantitative ones.
“You need to do it all, you need to use every form of communication because you’re reaching different people and people are going to consume their information in different ways.”
“There’s one caveat to the publicity: if there’s not a good story to pitch, then you don’t want to expend those resources.”
“The ideal client is somebody who puts their trust in the PR person - the client has to put their trust in us that we’re going to do the best job we can possibly do…”
- Joanna Brody
Reach out to Joanna Brody at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PRbyJB
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Brody-Public-Relations-140552862781189/?fref=ts
Website: https://brody-pr.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannabrodypr
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Key Takeaways:
- Don’t deliver content in silos. You don't have to pump out a lot of content to get people’s attention. Consistency is key.
- The top of the hourglass is one awesome story that you will tell per week. One story with one call to action. Tell this story on a video instead of writing it down.
- Upload the video of you telling the story on YouTube, now you have video content. Take the audio from that, have it transcribed and now you have an article. Make a graphic out of the content. Put all this on your web page.
- It’s important that content posted on your social media would encourage people to go to your web page. You can do this by teasing some of the story and giving them the option to go to your page to read more.
“I hear people say this all the time, ‘I want people to know this about my nonprofit’ - that’s what you want them to know, that’s not really what they want to know. Sometimes this need to over-communicate comes from fear and scarcity… what happens is that we’re overpromoting and not connecting enough.”
“You’re going to tell one awesome story a week — with one call to action… If you give people too much choice, they just won’t pick. ”
“Your job is to get people off of social media and onto your email list.”
- Maryanne Dersch
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Jess is with Out In The Boons, a small shop fundraising house. She teaches nonprofits how to raise more money through writing killer stories.
Key Takeaways:
- Stories will outlast “billboard style” advertisements. That’s why when advertising for your nonprofit, you must use stories.
- The most vulnerable person is often the most powerful. Tell your story in an authentic and open way.
- Tell stories about transformation - stories of how your nonprofit has changed someone’s life for the better. Another kind of story you can tell is your origin story.
- If you’re not confident in your skill as a storyteller, the best way to improve is just to keep trying, keep getting feedback, and keep honing your skill through feedback and experience.
“People retain information more when it’s told through a story. That’s why storytelling has been around from the beginning of time.”
“Studies and data actually show that stories of hope and inspiration are way more effective from a marketing standpoint than the stories of despair. ”
“Nonprofits need some mental work on showing up and taking up space and holding the mic. People give money to people. Your connection is with the people, more so than the work that you do.”
- Jess Campbell
Reach out to Jess Campbell at:
Website: https://www.outintheboons.me/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jess-campbell-outintheboons/
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Key Takeaways:
- It’s not your job to convince people to make people care about your nonprofit. Your job is to make people feel valued, heard and seen.
- The philanthropic heart is the reason why somebody cares about your nonprofit and somebody else doesn’t.
- You can’t convince someone to change their heart. All you can do is to reach out to those who already do have a philanthropic heart.
- When people feel valued for who they are, they will remember you fondly. Every person has six needs: certainty, variety, significance, connection, growth, and contribution. Make people feel valued by addressing these needs.
“Fundraising and marketing can be laborious, difficult, rejection-filled experiences because we see everyone as a potential donor.”
“The philanthropic heart has to do with the legacy that you wanna leave, the difference that you wanna make in the world, the change you seek.”
“Our job is to connect philanthropic hearts.”
- Maryanne Dersch
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Key Takeaways:
- Growing your empathy isn’t useful only for external public situations and organizational crises, it’s also useful for interpersonal situations, your relationship with other people.
- Empathy is all about witnessing and validating what’s going on with someone. It’s all about making somebody feel seen and heard.
- The biggest part of communication is nonverbal. When speaking, mind your tone, your posture, and your overall vibe or energy. These things often speak louder than words.
- Admit what you did wrong, take full responsibility, and pledge to do better. That’s the best way to approach crises.
“Part of influence is empathy, setting aside your agenda - whatever you think or feel - and tapping into what someone else is thinking or feeling, allowing them to be really seen and heard and understood.”
“The ability to empathize it’s like a super highway. It clears away the blocks, it allows you to move past things, it just makes stuff go away.”
“The faster you can take responsibility for what happened, the faster that this will all just go away.”
- Maryanne Dersch
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Michael Slawin: As a fourth generation entrepreneur, Michael has been involved with a variety of businesses including Real Estate (where he completed rehabs utilizing tax credits), E-commerce, Printing, and has volunteered and supported a number of nonprofits.
Susan Holt: Susan has been in the financial services for five years and has partnered with ERC Specialists to help nonprofits and businesses with the last of the CARES Act.
Key Takeaways:
- Employee retention credit is a payroll tax, it’s money that has been collected from nonprofits and businesses. There’s 400 billion dollars available and it’s not going to run out until the last check is written.
- One of the things the government failed to do is to publicize the availability of the ERC. They also kept changing the guidelines. That’s why there aren't a lot of people that are informed of its existence.
- A partial shutdown is considered a reduction of services as it would mean that you were in a reduced capacity to serve your clients. You don’t have to have a total shutdown in order to qualify.
- When applying for the ERC, there’s no fees, no obligations, nor are there any costs. Hiring ERC specialists and forensic payroll tax experts that will go line by line in your documents is the best way to maximize the credits within the law.
“They’re being rewarded for keeping their employees on payroll. They’ve already paid these taxes, the money is on the table just waiting for businesses and nonprofits to apply.” - Susan Holt
“One thing I do want to stress is this is general operating budget money, there’s no restrictions on what the nonprofit can do with the money.” - Michael Slawin
Click on this link to schedule an appointment to begin pre-qualifying:
https://calendly.com/schedule-your-review/click-here-to-meet-regarding-erc
Reach out to Susan Holt & Michael Slawin at:
Website: http://www.ERCPlanning.com
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Gauri Manglik is the CEO and Cofounder of Instrumentl, a company that helps nonprofit grant seekers with prospecting, tracking, and management all in one place.
Key Takeaways:
- In any organization, there has to be a foundation of trust, safety, and respect for one another. How you say things or how you connect with people is important in any environment, especially at work where people spend almost a third of their lives.
- Grants are a great funding stream to consider for many nonprofits once they get past a certain threshold of robustness. You have to be able to demonstrate robustness of your programs so that you can be set up for success to receive more funding where funders are actually going to want to fund your program over others. Institutional funders tend to be more risk-averse than individual funders.
- Making the right decision in getting grant funding is all about having the right information in your hands and creating a clear and reliable process or system to devote yourself to.
- Grants are a strong fund-raising channel to add to your overall portfolio. I don’t think that has changed. One of the things we saw during covid was that institutional funders were the ones that really were able to step up during that time as opposed to individuals.
“When you’re going after an institutional funder, they’re gonna have a higher bar for you to clear ‘because they have a more institutionalized process on their end and they often are giving out larger sums of money. They’re gonna want to make sure they’re giving their funds to an organization that has some sort of demonstrated history of success.”
“Grants are a great funding stream to consider for many nonprofits once they get past a certain threshold of robustness and however, grants as a whole is getting competitive because information silos are getting removed. That increases the need for making sure that you have access to the best data so you could make the best decision on which funders to pursue and make sure that you have a strategic and systematic process for actually applying and incorporating feedback, reapplying building relationships”
“Number one, be very discerning with the funders that you are researching, that are in your pipeline. Make sure that those funders are truly aligned to your mission and to that particular program. The second thing is - have some sort of system… try to not have grants be something that's ad-hoc where you’re applying for things as they come across your desk. Think about your long term goals and work backwards and try to understand how many grants does that mean you’re going to apply for in a given month. Try to understand what needs to be done to make sure that you’re existing funders are truly in a good place to continue to renew.”
- Gauri Manglik
Reach out to Gauri Manglik:
Website: https://www.instrumentl.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaurimanglik/
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Key Takeaways:
- It’s ingrained in our minds that to get someone to do something, you have to convince them into doing it through pitching. However, getting to yes is really rooted in listening and founded in empathy.
- There’s a vast difference between sympathy and empathy. Sympathy is like being on the outside or on the top, looking down at the person’s situation while empathy is being there with them, sitting beside them and really trying to understand what they’re going through.
- The three D’s that you don’t want to be doing are Deflect, Dismiss, or Deny. These are natural reactions to any objection, story, or concern and it takes practice to be able to choose listening and empathy. Grow your empathy muscle through practice.
- Your only job is to allow people to feel seen and heard, don’t worry about what you have to say, don’t worry about your talking points. All you have to do is listen deeply and empathize. Resist the urge to give a quick fix.
“The art of fundraising is about cultivation and relationships and creating an emotional connection with people and within that emotional connection, building trust and building mutual respect. WE don’t do that by pushing and convincing. ”
“Sympathy is sort of looking down at someone, empathy is sitting next to them. ”
“Believe what people are telling you. You don’t have to agree with it, like it, or see it the same way. All you have to do is empathize. Empathy is a muscle that we learn to grow.”
“The number one need we have in our life is to feel seen, heard, valued, and understood”
- Maryanne Dersch
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Haley Cooper is a certified fundraising executive, certified stress-management coach, and certified EMC Train The Trainer. Her mission is to empower, elevate and engage nonprofit leaders to build healthy, thriving organizations.
Key Takeaways:
- Influence is rooted in an emotional connection. What you put out is what you get back. If your gas tank is empty, you’re not going to be able to be as productive or as powerful as you’re going to be.
- As members of the nonprofit community, we tend to take care of the needs of other people without recognizing our own needs. Some also belong to a culture that sees asking for help as something that shows weakness. Asking for help takes courage because it’s difficult.
- Building an emotional connection and developing our empathy for others starts with developing a deep awareness of our emotional states and needs. Make people
- Go to your team members and ask them how you could serve them. That’s the best way to make sure that people feel seen and heard and that they are being allowed to be the best that they can be in the organization.
“In order to do successful fundraising, you have to have a connected team, you have to have a connected organization and everyone working towards the same mission, everyone understanding their value and how important they are to achieving that mission.”
“Emotional connection is the bond that holds us all together. Every single person, that’s our basic need, is to feel valued, heard, loved and cared for, that they’re important and that they matter.”
“...Making sure people understand why they’re there, what the mission is, how they could contribute and use their skills. Everyone doesn’t have time, they want their time to be valued. ”
- Haley Cooper
Reach out to Haley Cooper at:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haley-cooper-cfre/
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Key Takeaways:
- A preframe is how you show up as a leader to a meeting. You initiate and set the conditions for the conversation
- Here’s the basics of doing a pre-frame: they will talk, you will listen to understand, you may add some wisdom, and then you decide together what comes next.
- Schedule people in your calendar and make sure that you’ll follow up. Give them permission to say no, encourage them to be truthful.
- Spend your time and energy on people who are a right fit. Your time and energy are resources that you use to give value, so you have to allocate it responsibly.
“Whoever sets the conditions for the conversation has the most influence in the conversation ”
“The more decision making I put into their hands, the more likely they are to decide what I want”
“Raise your standards. Speak the truth. Put people on your calendar who really wanna be there. Let everybody else go. ”
- Maryanne Dersch
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Key Takeaways:
- You might be imagining that they are at a higher level and you are down below looking up. Put that image aside and really come in as a peer. A peer-to-peer situation where you both have assets, you both have things you need to get done and you may need each other in order to do it.
- Be careful about telling yourself stuff like “it’s easier to do a meeting in person” because that way, you’ll be setting yourself up to not have good conversations if you’re on a zoom or on a phone. Your magic can show up anywhere you choose it to, don’t limit yourself.
- Setting up a pre-frame when the meeting starts is a good way to put people at ease, allow yourself to show up as a leader and prevent meetings from going off the rails.
- Get people talking. Put your talking points and sponsorship opportunities in the back pocket and just listen. Preframe but let them speak and try and understand how you can be a value to them. Make people feel seen and heard.
“If you show up in deference, you don’t show up as a leader… people want to work with partners, they want somebody who sees themselves as worthy.”
“All people want to be is seen and heard and if you can allow people to be seen and heard and understood, they can be a value to you and they’ll be open to what you have to say.”
“You really can release the need to say everything perfectly, to have the right response. The whole point of the listening is to be in the minute.”
- Maryanne Dersch
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Key Takeaways:
- Recognize if your message has an element of pitching and avoid that. You have to be a value first before asking something from the other person otherwise they’ll be uncomfortable and will probably reject you.
- Instead of asking them to participate, express your desire to connect with them and why you want to. This approach works for a lot of people.
- Invite people into a meeting that would be the most convenient for them with no obligations on their part.
- Use words like open, quick, or easy and implement them into your invitation naturally. This will affect how they will react to what you say.
“You need to be a value to them before they’re gonna be a value to you.”
“There’s a balance to being available to people but also holding your boundaries and standards for how you work best.”
“Language is so important. Our thoughts shape our words, our words shape our reality so we have to think about the language we use.”
- Maryanne Dersch
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Kiersten Hill is the Director of Nonprofit Solutions in Firespring. She is a Nebraska-native born and raised in North Platte. She graduated from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. With almost two decades in nonprofit management and fundraising, she has raised over $20 million for Nebraska nonprofit organizations and worked to better train and equip nonprofit leaders and boards of directors.
Key Takeaways:
- A rising tide floats all boats and there’s enough pie for everybody. Stop seeing nonprofit work as a competition - everyone wants to make the world a better place so everyone has to work together to win together.
- Nonprofits tend to look at a lot of capacity-building tools, marketing tools, and even some fundraising tools on a cost basis as opposed to an investment basis.
- Limit and specialize your audience and communicate to that specific audience. Tailor your message to be useful and attractive to that audience you have decided to communicate to.
- Viral fundraising efforts don’t just happen, you have to invest in good marketing on a consistent basis and really focus on honing your mission, honing your messaging, and really targeting your audience. That takes consistency, dedication, and knowledge.
“When we all work together, we all succeed… There’s enough for everyone, you put out in the universe who you are and what you do and how you do it better and differently than anyone else and the right people will find the right people. It all works out.”
“I would challenge, especially small and mid-sized nonprofits, to really start thinking of capacity building and what your return on investment is as opposed to just what the receipt says…”
“The hero of a nonprofit story is either the people that you help or it’s the donors who make those things possible.”
- Kiersten Hill
Reach out to Kiersten Hill at:
Website: https://firespring.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hillkiersten/
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Lynne Wester strongly believes that donor relations is the key to unlocking fundraising success and that organizations must be as dedicated to the donor experience, or DX, as they are to the ask itself. Sometimes referred to as the Olivia Pope of fundraising, Lynne helps organizations when they need it the most – when crisis or opportunity arrive.
Lynne and her teammates at the Donor Relations Guru Group partner with nonprofits large and small on a variety of initiatives from developing sound strategy and vision to utilizing technology and creating meaningful donor engagement - all designed to positively affect the fundraising bottom line. Her guidance has led her clients to be recognized on the national stage for fundraising innovation, creative communication, and groundbreaking donor relations work.
The DRG website in a unique industry tool filled with resources, samples and thought leadership on donor relations and fundraising. Lynne is regularly featured in publications such as the Washington Post, Chronicle of Philanthropy, and CASE Currents and has authored three books of her own on a myriad of industry topics.
Lynne received her B.A. from the University of South Carolina, holds a Masters in Strategic Fundraising and Philanthropy from BayPath University, and proudly sports a DUCKtorate from the Disney Institute.
Key Takeaways:
- Getting hung up on money is what’s causing a lot of nonprofits to not be optimized.
- Prioritize donors more than donations. Also, keeping donors is more important than getting new donors. Focus on charitable people, stop spending time and effort converting uncharitable people.
- Personalize and point out what makes your donor special in your “thank you” messages.
- As an organization, set yourself up as a giver, not a taker. You want to give content, give appreciation, give opportunities - don’t put a “donate now” button in every email that you send.
“The number one thing that I think challenges nonprofits is their desire for more money and basing their success on how much money they raise, not on how many donors they keep.”
“If we look at the top 10 or 20 motivations as to why a donor makes a gift, an organization’s goal is not in those top 10 or 20. ”
“I never thank the donor for their gift, I thank the donor for who they are.”
- Lynn Wester
Reach out to Lynn Wester at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DonorGuru
Website: https://www.donorrelationsguru.com/
Blog: http://donorguru.blogspot.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynnewester/
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Emily Taylor, the principal of teenyBIG, is an expert listener who is passionate about helping nonprofits find better ways to engage the people who matter to them. She guides teams in stepping outside of their day-to-day work in order to create stronger connections with their audiences, turning lackluster followers into enthusiastic supporters.
Key Takeaways:
- Build a strategy according to what results you get from listening to your target group. Be mindful of the words that people use and value and turn what you know into something actionable.
- When you’re listening to your people, they’ll feel more invested in your organization. Use their words and bring it to life. Everything you need is already in the room.
- Apply listening in every interaction that you have with your target group. Allow them to have a voice so that you can listen to it. Give out feedback forms, ask questions on social media, have a QnA in webinars, give out small surveys in your email marketing - make it a part of every engagement.
- Communicating effectively starts with a shift in mindset. It’s not all about creating the perfect message, it’s about crafting the message into something that speaks the language of the receiver. You’ll only be able to do that if you start listening.
“I grew up really shy and wanted to connect with people so one of the things that I did - just listening to what people are saying and finding what I wanted to talk about and connecting it to that. I’d listen for the words that they were talking about, what excited them, and be able to change my wording to what was hot in the playground and what connected with people. ”
“The benefit is usually two-fold. One, you get valuable information about how someone perceives your organization but you also get a sense of participation. So people - more than just feeling they’re a part of something - but they are actually being a part of your organization. ”
“Just start building listening into what you’re doing. If you’re posting in social media, make sure you’re asking questions and listening to those responses, it’s a great opportunity to just get some quick feedback from people and get them to engage in your social media. If you have a program, leave some time at the end for questions… you’re building engagement but it’s also giving you information. ”
- Emily Taylor
Reach out to Emily Taylor at:
Website: https://teenybig.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-taylor-teenybig/
Email: emily@teenybig.com
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Key Takeaways:
- Don’t feel bad if you’re currently suffering from a disconnection. This stage is part of the process of healing, this is a stage that you will go through.
- You are a supreme creator of your experiences. Don’t long for a quick fix or a solution that will make the problem go away - let go of that magic wand thinking.
- Anger is a revolution, nothing in this world would change without people getting mad about it. Anger is an element in reclaiming your power.
- Once you take your power back, now reflect on what’s true about yourself. What are you now capable of from this new place of possibility, power, and abundance?
“There’s no stage that’s right or wrong, these are all part of the process, they’re all a part of living, they’re all something that we’re gonna go through.”
“There are times in our lives when we realize that something has to change and that something is us. We recognize that we’ve given our power away…”
“We often limit ourselves with beliefs when they’re not even our own beliefs. We just picked these things up along the way and made them true.”
“If I can’t make space for a new story, the new skills can’t emerge.”
- Maryanne Dersch
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Key Takeaways:
- Freezing has its origin in trauma and it means seeing people as “frozen” or unchanging. It’s when you keep your perception of a person despite the passage of time, or even despite them being a different person now.
- Change starts with you. Determine if you are freezing somebody in your life right now. Being able to recognize that and shift your perspective allows others to also shift their perspective about you.
- See if the relationship is worth time, effort, and discussion. If you decide that it is, have a conversation with them about it. Be honest about your feelings but at the same time, be detached from the outcome.
- Believe in who people truly are and not who you think they are or who you need them to be.
“That’s what happens, we see someone in a moment and we capture that moment, take a picture and we freeze them.”
“When we freeze somebody, we deny them the full expanse of expression. We think anything beyond what we believe them to be is not the truth - and we know the truth and they are actually not living their truth. This can be really damaging for us and for other people because we’re not allowing people around us to grow and develop, we’re not seeing the next evolution of people and recognizing them for that and people are also holding us down and keeping us frozen in a specific place in time. ”
“I can’t ask somebody to uplevel and be better unless I’m willing to go first. ” - Maryanne Dersch
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Key Takeaways:
- People sometimes don’t know what they really want, so the best thing to do before executing a plan is to figure out what people really want to happen.
- The first problem is what you know and admit to, the second is what you know but don’t admit to and the third problem is the problem that you don’t know and don’t admit to. The third is often called a blindspot.
- Don’t directly call people out on their blindspot, they would need to be guided into a deeper understanding of it or else they will shut down.
- The best way to solve the third problem is to guide someone into seeing that problem and encouraging them to come up with a solution on their own
“What they say they want and what they actually want are two different things.”
“The presenting problem is typically not the actual problem, there’s something going on deeper”
“Your job is not to walk around, solving everybody’s problems, your job is to understand what the true issue is, what that third problem is - not call them out on it, but help them reveal to themselves a greater understanding of self. ”
- Maryanne Dersch
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Key Takeaways:
- Manage the expectation of those around you. Communicate openly what you do and do not know.
- Once you’ve evaluated your conditions, decide what your time frame is gonna be and stick to it no matter what. When the time frame is done, that’s when you can re-assess whether to continue on the project or not.
- Commit to doing adequate research before launching a new initiative. Don’t just focus on other people’s results, learn from others, find out the story of their project and what exactly made their project work.
- Anytime you create something new, you have to be accountable. Set up a system of accountability, do consistent check-in meetings
“Being aware of the condition. What are some of the potential conditions that could affect what you’re doing? Come up with strategies in advance to get you through those things.”
“Be comfortable in the unknown - when we’re swimming from island A to Island B, we wanna swim as fast as we can and decrease that uncertainty. Getting comfortable being in the unknown is a super super key thing.”
“Trust the process, be patient and let things work. Trust in your idea, some things just take time.”
“Step into the unknown and do something. The only way that things are gonna change is if you do something different. You need some faith, belief… and imperfect action.”
- Maryanne Dersch
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Since 2002 Dana has guided organizations in California's Silicon Valley and worldwide to produce breakthrough talent and community engagement programs. She is a popular presenter at the Points of Light National Conference on Volunteering and Service (USA), and countless regional conferences and webinars.
Dana is the creator of the premiere web series “Priceless Advice for Leaders of Volunteers.” She is the Past President of the Association of Leaders in Volunteer Engagement (AL!VE), and a founder of the multi-sector National Alliance for Volunteer Engagement.
Key Takeaways:
- If you don't have trust, it’s really hard to get anything done. Trust yourself, trust other people, and trust that the universe isn’t filled with scarcity.
- Relationships are worth building. When seeking new donors or volunteers, don’t neglect the ones you already have - the ones who already love and support you.
- Get to know each volunteer and what skills they can offer to the organization. An expert accountant or even a doctor might be in your organization packing goods and you wouldn’t know if you don’t have that relationship.
- Here are the three C’s of happy volunteers: comfort, convenience, and connection
“Most nonprofits do not recognize the foundational, strategic value of the volunteer engagement, volunteer events and activities and programs that they’re doing. ”
“Volunteers… are not free. You have to invest in marketing to get a return, you have to invest in fundraising. You have to invest time, resources and talent and have someone with real experience and skill doing those jobs…”
“Every interaction is an invitation to stay or invitation to go.”
- Dana Litwin
Reach out to Dana Litwin at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanaLitwinCVA
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100011517400460
Website: https://www.danalitwinconsulting.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danacorylitwincva/
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Can you imagine harnessing the power of email to easily generate leads to your business, to have your emails be the one that are welcomed and read, to be the stars of your subscribers inboxes? You’re in luck because today’s guest is LeeAnn Marie Webster is an email marketing expert who is on a mission to get you to love email marketing. LeeAnn created “Email With Heart” to give entrepreneurs a structure for utilizing email to more effectively grow their own business without being sleazy and cheesy. She’s a recovering attorney, a tri-athlete, a Moth Story Hour winner and also she, along with her team produces Maryanne’s Donor Attraction Forum.
Key Takeaways:
- Sending newsletters to somebody without their consent can be considered a crime. If your emails get reported as spam, or they often get ignored, your email provider is going to flag you.
- Write something that’s relevant to your audience. Connect with them through your content, give practical advice. When you write, remember that you write to a person.
- The energy of how you create something will be felt by the reader intuitively. If you come into it feeling ashamed that you’re bothering someone, people might feel like it is a bother. They won’t feel good about consuming your content.
- Don’t be afraid to let people go. If they’re not engaging, that means that they’re not your people - keeping them in your list would hurt your email marketing since email providers consider statistics like opening rates.
“ If people aren’t engaging, if they don’t wanna be on there then it doesn’t matter. What you want are people who love you, who are reading and participating - that’s a very special relationship you’re building with the people on your list so honor it because if you can honor and develop it then a 500 person list will give you more than a 16,000 list.”
“I like to have a place that captures content ideas I have… Jot those things down somewhere so that you have a list so that when you go to write your email, there’s ideas already there for you to pick from. You might get divine inspiration.”
“The people that you’re letting go are people who haven’t been opening, haven’t been engaging - they’re not doing you any good, in fact, they’re actually hurting you. ”
- LeeAnn Marie Webster
Connect with LeeAnn Webster:
Website: https://leeannmariewebster.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/busygirlsguide/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leeannmwebster/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leeannwebster/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/BusyGirlsGuide
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About Ilia Khairetdinov: He is a Growth Specialist at ConnectAd, spends his days discussing strategy and growth with nonprofits. His extensive experience in the nonprofit and start-up space allows him to deeply understand the challenges organizations face, particularly when it comes to digital marketing and strategy.
Key Takeaways:
- Getting a grant from Google is not as hard as it sounds. Just apply at google.com/nonprofits - all you need is your EIN Registration number, 501C3 in the United States, and your physical and digital address.
- Even while doing an awareness campaign, don’t neglect the people you already have. Keep your current email list warm, engage with every person who subscribed to you.
- Digital advertising isn’t the end all be all, it has to be fully integrated into your other systems in order for your organization to maximize its effectiveness.
- It’s not going to be as useful to advertise just for mere awareness’ sake. Awareness has to have a purpose.
“You really gotta take this as a serious opportunity to grow your organization not just from an awareness standpoint, but from a sales and fundraising, attraction, volunteerism - if you’re gonna take it seriously, treat it seriously. “
“The key thing is that the advertisement is based directly off what you searched… you wanna get in front of people who are already looking for what you provide”
“We are really focused on being conversion-driven… You could bring a million people into your website, if they leave in the first five seconds you just wasted all that money”
- Ilia Khairetdinov
Reach out to Ilia Khairetdinov at:
Website: https://connectad.ca/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iliakhairetdinov
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Key Takeaways:
- There are five phases to creating and implementing new ideas: ideation, concentration and focus, momentum, stabilization, and integration.
- The second phase often kills ideas because people give up. However, every idea needs an investment of time and effort - you’re not going to get a return for that investment early on but you have to keep pushing.
- Your idea not working doesn’t mean that it’s a bad idea, it means that you have to be more consistent with processing the implementation of it.
- You don’t want to be associated with starting a bad idea - so when an idea doesn’t work, it’s easier to just come up with a “better” idea. The idea not working out early on is not an indication of your competence or ability.
“What I’m hearing a lot of is, ‘I feel like I’m on a hamster wheel - going and going and going and I’m not getting anywhere and it’s exhausting.’ That is pretty typical of any sort of new effort or new energy you want to put out there.”
“It’s very tempting when you’re in phase two to stop - because the real kicker of phase two is you’re gonna have to put a lot more out than you get back.”
“Most things don’t work not because… it wasn’t given enough time and consistent devotion to activity to actually take hold. Knowing that if there’s something we really wanna see happen, it’s going to take some concentration and focus, faith and trust, that what you’re putting out there is actually gonna come back to you. “
- Maryanne Dersch
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About Liz London: She is an artist out of Dallas who exhibited all over the country. With her creative energy, she created two projects namely, “Art For Your Cause” and “The Causability”
Key Takeaways:
- Empower people to do good with their purchase. Reward people with the opportunity to give, share, and help.
- With your help, cause-based businesses can take over traditional capitalism, building a new kind of economy where companies give more than it takes.
- Create win-win-win situations where the business and the client profits from a transaction - while also benefiting a cause or a group of people’s needs.
- Make people feel good about giving by applying incentives and creating systems that make the process smooth and easy.
“The ultimate giving without selling something — it's reverse capitalism — we're flipping the switch on capitalism to be a cause-based economic system.” — Liz London
Reach out to Liz London at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lizlondon
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LizLondonArtist/
Website: https://lizlondon.com/ | https://afyc.com/ | https://causability.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lizlondonartist/
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Key Takeaways:
- Having an interim ceo or founder is a good opportunity to reset your identity as an organization so that you understand who you are as an organization in order to attract your people. Take some time to explore that.
- You can be a much more effective ambassador, advocate, and strategic leader when you understand your organization’s mechanics deeply.
- A certain kind of cultural deference and sensitivity is required when you’re setting up a nonprofit that involves another country. Establish a respectful connection and relationship with locals and always involve them in action and decisions.
- There are people all over the world that are willing to support whatever you do, and there are a lot of doors and entry ways for that. You don’t have to convince anyone to care, just find what values you share.
When you understand on a slightly more detailed level, you can get really more fine tuning in your thinking about your strategic future
“As a board member, dig in a little deeper to really understand some of the fundamental mechanics of how you’re mission is carried out because that will make you a stronger board member and it will also make you a more meaningful board member to the staff that you work with. “
“You have to continually inform yourself about how you’re being perceived and you always wanna be respectful and let the partners that you have in that country know that you’re honored to be a part of their world and you respect that you’re here as a guest, you’re not here to tell them how to live their lives or change their country.” - Suzanne Langlois
Reach out to Suzanne Langlois at:
Website: https://www.mfkhaiti.org
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/langlois.suzanne/
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Corey Kupfer is a deal-driven growth strategist, negotiator, deal-maker, speaker, and attorney. He’s also the founder of DealQuest, host of the weekly DealQuest Podcast, and author of Authentic Negotiating.
A successful entrepreneur from the age of 15, Corey is a passionate advocate and leader in the entrepreneurial world; he’s also a renowned strategist on deal-driven growth strategies.
Key Takeaways:
- Money is like water. If it doesn’t move, it goes stagnant. It has to flow. Once you let it flow, it flows back.
- Fundraising is partnering with people to invest in the future that you want to see in the world.
- Fundraising is a gift, not a burden. It attaches people to their power and their purpose.
- You’re not just asking money from people when you’re fundraising. You, in service of them, are giving them an opportunity to step into their greatness.
“I made the commitment, I said I’m gonna put it in my budget first, I looked at what I’ll need to change and cut down on expenses - and it turned out that I never had to do that. Because more abundance flowed - and it came back in. If it’s really from a place of true giving, it does come back to you. And it continues to…”
“My personal growth, my financial success, my connectivity to human beings, my satisfaction in life have all been exponentially higher because I was called forth”
“What the fundraiser gave me was the gift of getting more connected to my passions, to see the impact I make, to have me change as a human being.”
- Corey Kupfer
Reach out to Corey Kupfer at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/coreykupfer
Facebook: https://facebook.com/CoreyKupfer/
Website: https://www.coreykupfer.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coreykupfer/
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Key Takeaways:
- Nonprofit leaders and members really struggle with taking salary from the nonprofit organization. This is rooted from a poverty mindset that you have to let go of if you want to build a successful and sustainable nonprofit company.
- The four main pieces of starting out a nonprofit: be incorporated into your state, work on board and bylaws, create a narrative on what you’re gonna do and how you’re gonna do it, lastly, make a budget.
- It takes a lot of time for any business to gain some traction - it’s the same way for nonprofit organizations. It’s going to take a lot of investment of not only money but also patience and effort.
- It’s hard to recruit members because we all want to be part of something that’s already successful. A base requirement for a board member should be commitment and persistence.
“It’s kind of a litmus test because it’s the question of if you’re not bringing it 3000 dollars to form your startup plus all the other startup costs… you’re gonna have a challenge in raising money to actually run the organization.” - Kim Fisher
Book a 30 minute discovery call with Kim Fisher by clicking on this link: https://calendly.com/kimberlyfisher/30min-discovery-cq?month=2022-01
Reach out to Kim Fisher at:
Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/nonprofitsuccess?_rdc=1&_rdr
Website: https://visioncatalyst.org/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberfisher/
Email: kim@visioncatalyst.org
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Besides being married to Maryanne, Jon Schmuke was Vice President of Research and Development at Adarza Biosystems, leading the development of biosensors for use with the AIR technology. He has more than 30 years of experience and a successful track record of developing, expanding, and automating technology. His ability to leverage extensive automation in liquid handling, small volume assays, innovative cloning techniques, quality systems and leadership of researcher scientists was instrumental in developing Monsanto’s world class plant biotechnology platform. He most recently served as the lead of the BioDirect program at Monsanto producing RNA biomolecules at scales suitable for research up to large scale manufacturing. Prior to that he has led a variety of research teams at Monsanto driving high throughput molecular characterization, molecular biology, protein biology, and plant transformation. In earlier research at GD Searle Jon published articles in fields of glycobiology, inflammation, and infection. Jon has a BS in Biochemistry from University of Missouri.
Key Takeaways:
- Viruses are naturally occurring and we know that COVID was not engineered because of its structure. A virus will keep mutating as long as it has access to many different hosts.
- Vaccines don’t automatically kill viruses when it enters your body, but they do provide a better defense against the virus when it interacts with your body. Without vaccines, your body will be at a severe disadvantage against the virus.
- Fighting the virus naturally, without support from a vaccine, brings a huge risk to you. The worst case scenario could be death. Wear a good mask, be fully vaccinated, and practice physical distancing.
- Wearing a mask, practicing physical distancing and getting vaccinated is protecting your community as much as it protects you. The symptoms may hide or be milder, but you can still get infected and you can bring that infection home to your family where the virus could infect a vulnerable person.
“Think more about ‘we’ and less about ‘I’. Getting vaccinated is something you do for your community, your loved ones and people that you’re close to.” - Jon Schmuke
Reach out to Jon Schmuke at:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN7ZNDdWukKo68v1xTl2rdw
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-schmuke-39547932/
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For more than 23 years, Kathy Lambert has worked to disrupt the cycle of poverty with a holistic family approach. Her journey began in 1997 after she read an article about Dress for Success New York, a nonprofit dedicated to helping women re-enter the workforce by providing interview clothing. Recognizing a similar need in her St. Louis community, Kathy launched Dress for Success Midwest to help women coming from difficult circumstances achieve economic independence.Kathy quickly learned about the challenges many low-income single moms face, including a lack of transportation and difficulty navigating social service and justice systems. To help address the need for transportation, Kathy’s husband, Brad, started Wheels for Success, a nonprofit dedicated to connecting individuals and families with reliable transportation. In 2001, Kathy and Brad merged their organizations to create Connections to Success (CtS) with the goal of breaking the cycle of poverty and incarceration for the next generation.Kathy has provided passionate leadership and overseen CtS’s growth into a regional nonprofit with sites in Missouri, Illinois, and Kansas. Today CtS is nationally recognized as an evidence-based model for Economic Mobility, improving children’s futures by helping parents gain social capital and achieve economic independence. Connections to Success has 13 Membership sites in 7 states.Kathy’s work has been recognized locally and nationally. She received the 2020/21 Legacy Alumni Award from Focus St. Louis, 2019 Women of Influence Award by RISE Collaborative, 2017 St. Louis Women of Achievement Award for Social Enterprise, 2005 The Athena Leadership Award, in addition to awards from the State of Missouri and the U.S. Department of Labor. In2013 Kathy received the Volunteer Service Award from President Obama and in 2014 she participated in an invitation-only White House Summit for Working Families. She is a graduate of the FOCUS St. Louis Leadership program, NSC’s Nonprofit Women’s Leadership Academy, the NIC Offender Workforce Development Specialist Train the Trainer and the National Practitioners Leadership Institute, where she served as a faculty member. Kathy served as the first Board President for Dress for Success Worldwide and served as a 2017-2018 Mentor for the DeVos Urban Leadership Program in St. Louis. In February 2018, Kathy was appointed to serve on the Missouri State Workforce Development Board and recently accomplished one of her goals on her bucket li –she is now a TEDX Speaker.
Key Takeaways:
- The best laid plans can go out the window.
- Abundance starts in the mind. When you shift your mindset from lack to abundance, your reality will be transformed as well.
- Our thoughts create our words, our words create our reality. How we speak, think and receive people shapes how our world can be.
- It’s deeply ingrained in non-profit workers that doing good work has to take a toll on the worker, that they need to treat themselves less in order to serve the “greater good”. The truth is - that kind of thinking is out of alignment from the purpose and is greatly unsustainable.
“Just because somebody is in a non-profit doesn’t mean that they should make less… there has to be a shift in the mindset in regard to that” - Kathy Lambert
Reach out to Kathy Lambert at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kblimpactpartners
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathy-lambert-kblimpactpartners/
Website: https://kblimpactpartners.com/
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Key Takeaways:
- Realize that your reaction to unexpected comments is a biochemical response and it will not be productive to continue responding from a place of either anger or fear.
- If you receive an unexpected comment via email and you start getting a feeling in your body, that’s your cue to pause and take an hour or as much as you need to do to get some better perspective. Perspective will come in time.
- In conversations, give a non-response response. You don’t have to say something immediately in the moment. A simple “uh-huh” in response to an unexpected comment can buy your brain some time to think more rationally and come up with a less emotionally-infused response.
- Prepare “ledges” - neutral phrases that you can say in response to unexpected comments. Asking questions like “What makes you ask that?” or “What makes you say that?” are two simple but effective ones of turning the conversation back to the other person.
“What we want is to create a space between the stimulus and response - because in that space we can access a different part of our brain that has rational thinking.” - Maryanne Dersch
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Marc A. Pitman, CSP® helps leaders, especially in nonprofits, lead their teams with more effectiveness and less stress. His latest book is The Surprising Gift of Doubt: Use Uncertainty to Become the Exceptional Leader You Are Meant to Be. He's also the author of Ask Without Fear!® - which has been translated into Dutch, Polish, Spanish, and Mandarin. He is the founder of The Concord Leadership Group and FundraisingCoach.com. He's also the executive director of TheNonprofitAcademy.com and an Advisory Panel member of Rogare, a prestigious international fundraising think tank.
Called "The Johnny Appleseed of Fundraising," Marc's expertise and enthusiasm engages audiences around the world both in person and with online presentations. And has caught the attention of media organizations as diverse as Al Jazeera, SUCCESS Magazine, and Fox News. Marc’s experience also includes pastoring a Vineyard church, managing a gubernatorial campaign, and teaching internet marketing and fundraising at colleges and universities. On Twitter, he is @marcapitman.
He is the husband to his best friend and the father of three amazing kids. And if you drive by him on the road, he’ll be singing 80’s tunes loud enough to embarrass his family!
Sign up for his free fundraising tips, the Ask Without Fear! email newsletter, at https://fundraisingcoach.com/subscribe/.
Key Takeaways:
- Not everybody's going to be on board with your nonprofit. Donors should never dictate the mission, the mission should define the donor that your organization wants.
- Nonprofits sometimes suffer from a lack of organization and technical systems because founders don't start a nonprofit thinking about accounting, human resource management or marketing - they started it to relieve pain. Systems need to be in place to keep the good happening sustainably.
- Part of the toxicity in organizations is that we're constantly looking outside of ourselves for the answers. The benchmark is mediocrity - you don’t want to be in that place.
- Make an inventory of all the things that make you different. Don't cast out your doubt, instead, doubt positively. Shift it from wondering why you’re not enough to wondering if perhaps you are exactly what your team needs, or that the things that make you different are exactly what your people need.
- Living your life reacting to every stimuli that presents itself is exhausting. Take time to pause, and let the situation or unease sit for a while. Let ideas bounce inside your head before reacting.
“The gift of doubt is that it can finally push us into looking at other things. Instead of, ‘Why am I messing up so badly?,’ or ‘Why am I lacking?’ or ‘Why am I so broken?’ — allow your doubt to shift the question to: ‘What if I’m exactly the leader that this organization needs?’” — Marc Pitman
Reach out to Marc Pitman at:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/marcapitman
Facebook: http://facebook.com/askwithoutfear
Website: https://fundraisingcoach.com/
RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/extremefundraising
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcapitman/
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Rabbi Amy Feder became the Senior Rabbi of Temple Israel in July of 2009, when she became the youngest woman to become a Senior Rabbi of a large Reform congregation in history. She is blessed to work alongside her husband, Rabbi Michael Alper.
Rabbi Feder began working as the assistant rabbi at Temple Israel in 2006 after her ordination from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. She graduated from the University of Michigan with high honors in 2001, where her coursework was focused on music and Judaic studies. She also holds a Masters degree in Hebrew Literature from HUC-JIR. Rabbi Feder has served in rabbinic and educational capacities in a number of communities, including several small towns throughout the southeastern United States as well as Jerusalem, Long Island, and St. Louis. As part of her rabbinic training, she worked as a chaplain at New York University Hospital and also taught at the Millers Honors High School program.
Rabbi Feder has a great love for Jewish camps, where she formed an important part of her Jewish identity. She is also a trained musician and music teacher who tries to bring music into every part of her rabbinate. A St. Louis native, Rabbi Feder became both a bat mitzvah and a confirmand at Temple Israel and is so pleased to have returned to a congregation and community that she cares about so much. Rabbi Feder and Rabbi Alper have a son, Jonah and a daughter, Molly.
Key Takeaways:
- Leadership is better if you’re “one of them”. Be both a member and a leader, prioritize conversations with each part of the group or organization so that you can make important changes in a way that’s comfortable for your everyone.
- Cultivate a “thick skin”. Recognize that people may not be being the best version of themselves at the moment and that you need some sort of way of not giving difficult people a space in your head. Let it bounce off you, it takes practice.
- The greatest challenge in today’s hybrid/online setting is making engagement and connection happen even when it seems like gatherings are just one big show.
- Some will be upset at seeing women in leadership but will quickly find that women bring new things to the table and show new ways to lead that others may not have realized. A balance of both energies is essential for growth in any organization.
“This is not a change that we’ve chosen for ourselves, but now that it’s here, maybe there’s some things that we can do to make ourselves better.” - Rabbi Amy Feder
Reach out to Rabbi Amy Feder at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/templeisraelstlouis/
Website: https://www.ti-stl.org/index.php
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Key Takeaways:
- Don’t put peace on a pedestal. Peace and conflict are both part of the process of healing.
- We were taught to value things that feel good, but not everything that feels good is good and not everything that feels bad is meant to be pushed away.
- Conflict is just people being human beings, we don’t need to label that as good and bad.
- The more you try to avoid conflict, the more conflict you’ll get. But if you welcome conflict, there will be more peace and balance.
“Our ability to step into conflict allows us to operate at a much higher level.” - Maryanne Dersch
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He is a pastor, nonprofit executive director, professor, artist, and writer.
He has earned undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in Biblical studies and organizational leadership, arts management and leadership, theology, ministry and interdisciplinary studies.
Currently, he serves as President and Executive Director at Rise Community Development. Rise acts as a resource and partner to the community. They bring together nonprofit organizations, financial institutions, and government to make successful neighborhood revitalization possible.
Key Takeaways:
- When you’re given a leadership position, you’ll be challenged to learn and do many things at once that you may not have done before.
- A leader doesn’t really need to teach people all the time, their role is to make sure that they have what they need to apply what they already know.
- Whatever you’re doing, make it more than just work, make it mean something.
- Your neighborhood is a great equalizer and a humanizer, it’s so much more than just a place to live - it’s a community where connections and relationships could grow.
“...Always ask questions before you make assumptions. The more you ask questions, the more you learn, the more you realize that your assumptions probably are off.” - Terrell Carter
Reach out to Terrell Carter at:
Website: https://terrellcarter.net/ | http://www.risestl.org/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terrell-carter-dmin-b69a71b/
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Sarah Javier is the CEO and President of APA of Missouri, an organization that helps more than 4,000 pets find homes and thousands more through outreach and wellness initiatives. During her tenure, Sarah has increased charitable giving by more than 70% and has double organizational reserves and has implemented a robust planned giving program that has resulted in secured and realized gifts totalling more than 13 million since its inception.
Key Takeaways:
- Nonprofits usually are built out of passion and is sustained by passion too.
- It’s alright to take risks as long as you have the positive results to back them.
- You don’t convince, you look for like-minded people who also care about what you care about.
- Good leaders make more leaders
“I like other people to shine and use their expertise and we all win… by trusting my team and by supporting them we are in a position to be more innovative and in many situations they do far more better and are far more successful than if I said ‘here’s how to do it’” - Sarah Javier
Reach out to Sarah Javier at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/apaofmo
Website: https://apamo.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/apaofmo/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apaofmo/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahjavier
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Laura Rossmann started her consulting firm in 2014 and has specialized in nonprofit management, fundraising and marketing and leadership transition. She has two decades of experience working with nonprofits, from serving for 13 years as an Executive Director at several nonprofits to being on numerous She holds a Masters of Business Administration (MBA), a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) with an emphasis in Marketing , and is a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE).
Key Takeaways:
- Don’t be scared of letting things get ugly, sometimes it’s necessary for that to happen. Release the outcome, don’t try to control the outcome.
- Getting the voice of an outsider in an in-organizational problem or issue is important for solving the problem objectively. That is one of the value of an interim ED.
- There are a lot of reasons why things don’t change in an organization, an interim ED’s perspective is sometimes necessary for positive change.
- Donors are attracted to strong leadership. An interim leader must be appointed when a leader leaves so that the donors can be confident that the organization will continue.
“I would encourage people looking for an Executive Director position to ask those questions like ‘what is your vision?’, ‘do I have the right skills to take you on that vision?’ and if they don’t have a vision, know what you’re in for.” - Laura Rossman
Reach out to Laura Rossman at:
Website: https://laurarossmann.com/
Email: laura@laurarossmann.com
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Key Takeaways:
- Fixing communication problems can only be done by having better communication and shifting a culture can only be done by introducing a new perspective and a new set of thinking.
- You need both mindset and strategy. If you have strategy without mindset, the strategy won’t work.
- The two ways we struggle: feeling of separation or disconnection, and when we look outside of ourselves to other people to solve our problems
- Turn the lens on yourself, then take your power back. Take inventory of the stories that you believe are true and see things from another perspective, from a place of empowerment and possibility.
“When I can turn the lens on myself, that’s when I can truly become free. I move from ‘victim of circumstance’ to ‘creator of my experiences’” - Maryanne Dersch
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Key Takeaways:
- Struggling is not sustainable. Our need to be in struggle causes burnout, turnover, mission creep and a ton of other issues.
- Essentially, the name “nonprofit” is hurting the industry. Being defined by a negative hurts us.
- We feel a huge responsibility to those people we serve and we tend to sacrifice ourselves because of that.
- We’ve been taught that if something is worthwhile, it must be hard. This belief that we have to look for the tough road, thinking it will give our lives meaning. If we believe in struggle, we create the struggle to justify the belief.
- We think we must sacrifice ourselves in order to help others and that we are dependent to our donors.
“The scarcity myth… is wrong… I can’t tell you that you can be anything that you want while limiting my self. It’s misalignment and it doesn’t work. There’s enough for everyone.” - Maryanne Dersch
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Sonia started Uplifting Nonprofits in 2010 with a crazy mission to “save” the world. Today, her mission is to bring mastery of fundraising to nonprofits, so they can be more successful in their missions. She recognized that successful fundraising remains the number one challenge for most nonprofit Boards. So she set out to change it because she knows from personal experience that overcoming fundraising blocks and struggles is possible and achievable.
Having worked both in the for-profit and not-for-profit world, Sonia brings together this level of understanding when teaching the art of fundraising to nonprofit executives and board members.
Known for program Unleash Your Inner Fundraiser, it is about accessing new thinking with brain science. Her clients learn how to double their fundraising results while becoming comfortable and confident in their own voice.
Coming from a multicultural background and speaking 3 languages - Arabic, French, and English - Sonia brings diverse perspectives and cultures to the table. She loves to travel. She has been a member of Rotary for 10 years and in 2022 will be District Governor, engaging over 1500 members. She’d love to meet President Jimmy Carter, a man of peace and service, so any connections you may have will be greatly appreciated.
Key Takeaways:
- Understand the difference of a transactional and a transformational ask. When you ask a prospect to donate to your nonprofit, you’re not selling nothing - you’re giving them the priceless opportunity to spend their resources to make someone’s life better.
- Unlearn the fear instinct - when doing something new like ask for something
- The energy froim which you create dictates the creation. What you put out there is exactly what you’ll get back.
- Once people feel pushed, they’re going to push back. When that happens, they’ll be in a defensive mode.
“When doing something new like ask for money for social value, our brain tells us ‘stop, run in the opposite direction’ because it’s not familiar with it… help the amygdala to recognize that this is not a frightening scenario, this is not a lion attacking us.” - Sonia Saleh
Reach out to Sonia Saleh at:
Email: sonia@upliftingnonprofits.com
Website: www.upliftingnonprofits.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/soniasaleh/
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The Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation promotes the preservation and enhancement of the architectural, cultural and landscaped heritage of Saratoga Springs. Its mission is fulfilled through educational programs, preservation projects, technical assistance, and advocacy. Executive Director Samantha Bosshart and Membership & Programs Director Nicole Babie join me today from their office in Upstate New York.
Samantha has over 25 years of experience in the field of historic preservation. Since 2008 she has served as the Executive Director of the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation and has previously worked at Historic Albany Foundation and Galveston Historical Foundation. She has a Bachelor of Arts in History from Indiana University and completed her coursework for a Master of Arts in Historic Preservation Planning from Cornell University. She currently serves as the vice chair and chair of the governance committee for the National Preservation Partners Network; Adirondack Architectural Heritage; and Discover Saratoga, the Saratoga Convention & Tourism Bureau.
Nicole has been with the Foundation for 6 years and has her Master of Arts in Museum Studies from Johns Hopkins University where she focused in museum education and exhibition design. Nicole is also a graduate of Hartwick College with a Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art, focus in painting and photography, and Art History. She serves on the board of directors of the Association of Fundraising Professionals Hudson-Mohawk Chapter and currently serves as the Communications Chair and President-Elect.
Key Takeaways:
- Once you get the right people in place, the whole organization becomes much better to maintain.
- Giving donors a tour, to see how they’re support is impacting the community is a good way to show progress and encourage and motivate people.
- It’s important to keep a fun and friendly atmosphere even in board meetings. Organizations will always work much more smoothly if people like each other so it’s important to facilitate a good environment.
- Having a project can get people hyped up and motivated to support, it doesn’t have to be a big project. Progress makes people excited.
“It’s amazing, and we let them know. The staff follows up to let the members know that the efforts that they do - they mean something… it takes a lot of coordinating… the end result has been a game-changer for our organization” - Nicole Babie
Reach out to Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SaratogaSpringsPreservationFoundation
Website: www.saratogapreservation.org
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For many years Johnathan lived a drug addicted life. He began using drugs at 13, which led him to drop out of school at 14, he was incarcerated at 15, and shot at 3 times by 16. At age 19, God radically saved him and by age 20 he was involved in children's ministry at his Church. He went on to become a teacher helping children to know they have someone who believes in them. Founder and President Dr. Jonathan Kraus, is a Rutgers University graduate. He went on to earn his Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry at Trinity Seminary. He also earned his Ph.D in Counseling from Northwestern Seminary.
Key Takeaways:
- Sponsoring a child isn’t only a blessing for the child but also for the donor.
- Forge a connection between the donor and beneficiary - let the donors know that they’re making a difference by sharing the stories of your target group.
- For the organization to grow, you have to let your leadership grow and sometimes, that means stepping back.
- Stop driving the train, let the other people drive the train. People will discover their potential if you allow them to be more involved and stop relying on you for action and direction.
“If you confuse, you lose. You can have the greatest work in a non-profit, but if you give that information like someone drinking from it from a firehose, you’re gonna blow them away. Very small snippets are ones I find most effective.” - Johnathan Kraus
Reach out to Johnathan Kraus at:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/loveneverfailsinternational/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/loveneverfailsindia/
Website: https://loveneverfailsindia.com
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Key Takeaways:
- The Drama Triangle is filled with limiting beliefs and comes from a place of powerlessness. Often, people cycle between all the roles and the triangle is a time and energy suck.
- Heroes want to solve problems, stop the suffering and save everyone. Villains blame people and external factors. Victims believe they are powerless to change their circumstance
- Replace “hero” with “coach." Be someone who helps people make decisions or solve problems by themselves. Help people come to their own conclusions.
- Replace “villain” with “challenger.” Think about how you can help or support people in their goals. If you’re going to challenge somebody to grow, think if it’s truth supported by love.
- Replace “victim” with “creator.” You can be a creator of your experience. You can guide your circumstances and decisions.
“Offer wisdom, if necessary, not advice. Wisdom comes from learned experiences, advice is telling people what to do.” - Maryanne Dersch
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Claire Wyneken joined Wyman for a 3-month job in 1987. She has dedicated her career to expanding equitable and transformative outcomes for young people. Her vision is for every young person to find fulfillment and joy in the discovery and contribution of their gifts to the world. Claire spent 20 years in direct service programs and a decade designing and launching innovations in St. Louis and across the United States. She has served as Wyman’s President and CEO since 2016.
Claire is an alumnus of Leadership St. Louis, CORO Women in Leadership, and the NCCJ Dismantling Racism Institute. She served as the Board Chair for the Missouri Teen Pregnancy Prevention Partnership and for Big Crank Cycling. She is the Chair-Elect for Eliot Chapel. She holds a BA in Humanities from Purdue University and a MS in Leadership and Organizational Development from Saint Louis University. In 2019, Claire was selected as an Alumni Merit awardee from St. Louis University. She is a contributing author to Women Courageous: Women Leaders Navigating Adversity and the Leadership Labyrinth to Lead Well (2021).
She and her wife, Patrice and furbaby, Buddha, live in St. Louis City.
Key Takeaways:
- Teenage years are one of the most formative period of life one can go through, there are skills that they can learn and develop to make better decisions if they’re in the right environment with the right guidance
- Authenticity is pretty simple - we only have to see each other in our wholeness, we’ll be able to appreciate and learn more because of one another.
- You can’t lead people if you don’t love them.
- We must create a world where young people’s voices are amplified - they’re the hope of our future
“I believe that courage begets courage, I know that I’m more inspired when I’m around courageous people. ” - Claire Wyneken
Reach out to Claire Wyneken at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/clairewyneken
Website: http://www.wymancenter.org/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claire-wyneken-4772276/
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Kristen Tippit and Jon Porter founded LOGiC.baby, a St. Louis based nonprofit, to support families going through their NICU journey. Having their own baby unexpectedly spend 22 days in the NICU in May 2020, the duo wanted to create a space for families to connect, feel empowered, supported, engaged, and practice advocacy so that parents could improve their own mental health and their babies would have better health outcomes and shorter NICU stays. Using a new app from the makers of Marco Polo, they created NICU Channels, a video membership platform with a channel dedicated to every step of the NICU journey; from pregnancy, to the NICU, and beyond.
Key Takeaways:
- Always think about how you can make your services more accessible to your benefactors and donors.
- Limiting beliefs are the most stubborn hindrances that we have in reaching our dreams, but deconstructing these beliefs and letting go of them will enable us to be who we really are meant to be.
- You are capable of holding space for two things that seem opposite of each other.
- Keep in mind constantly what you can bring instead of always thinking about what you can take or how you can benefit.
“Sticking with it can be a challenge because you start to doubt yourself. But what it comes down to is building relationships with people, in doing that, you’re not only spreading word about what you’re doing but getting an army of people that are cheering for you and helping you move forward. Don’t give up!” - Kristen Tippet
Reach out to Kristen Tippet at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/logicdotbaby
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@logicdotbaby
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LOGiCdotbaby/
NICU Channels: https://logic.baby/nicu-channels
Website: https://logic.baby
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/logicdotbaby/?hl=en
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/logicdotbaby/
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Key Takeaways:
- The three points in the Triad of Change: Perception, Behavior and Structure. All three work together to create sustainable change.
- A part of making a long lasting change is changing your perception - try to see things from another angle. To do that, you may sometimes have to change your structure and behavior.
- Changing the structure of something can change your behavior and then your perception.
- You need a systematic solution to recurring problems.
“If you’ve ever gone away for the day[on a board retreat] and everyone’s jazz, but after that… there’s no real change. That’s because there was no structure given on how to move forward.” - Maryanne Dersch
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About Ann Graham: Her interest in Pediatric Oncology began when, at age 43, she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a primary bone cancer that affects kids aged 10-20. Age notwithstanding, she was treated in the Pediatric Cancer Center at Memorial Sloan Kettering. Like most adults, she was unaware of how little funding pediatric cancers receive, how great the suffering is, and how too often the youngest patients lose limbs, organ function and their lives to cancer.
Ann began MIB Agents in 2012 when fellow osteosarcoma patient, Alyssa Divers, age 11 was sent home to Hospice. Ann rallied her friends to create an extraordinary NYC experience for Alyssa and her family in her last week of life.
Today, MIB Agents work to ensure that no one walks alone through osteosarcoma - physicians, researchers and patient families - by providing Research, Education and Support Programs to the osteosarcoma community.
Our wholehearted belief is in advocacy with and for the entire disease community - researchers, clinicians, patients and their families. Understanding that all constituents working toward the common goal of “better” is the best and most expedient way toward improving outcomes.
Key Takeaways:
- When you know better, you do better. When people truly understand the importance of your cause, they’ll want to help.
- Remove ego from the equation of what you want to accomplish - we all have a part to play for our common cause of making the world a better place.
- Never ask someone to do what you’re not willing to do yourself.
- Find your people, find the ones who will stick with you in the long term and will commit to dedicating some or all of themselves to the cause you both believe in.
“To accomplish great things, you have to remove yourself from the center of what it is you do and what you want to accomplish.” - Ann Graham
Reach out to Ann Graham at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AgentsMIB
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MIBAgents
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mib.agents
Website: https://www.mibagents.org
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-graham-a63532115
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Today we’ve got three guests, Julianne Buck, Holly McFarlin and Neosha Franklin - three Directors, from three different Community Foundations.
About Julianne Buck: She is the Executive Director of the community foundation of Grundy County and has been working there for 18 years, since 2003.
About Holly McFarlin: She works for the East Texas Communities Foundation, serving 32 counties for 7 years as the Director of Public Relations.
About Neosha Franklin: She has been working for St. Louis Community Foundation first as Communications Coordinator, then as Marketing Communications Manager and finally, as Director of Communications.
Key Takeaways:
- The pandemic did cause a lot of destruction, but it also allowed a lot of innovation to be done.
- People realized that we aren’t promised forever, we’re living our lives in a short time frame and we have to make an impact while we can. This prevalent realization caused a lot of people to be increasingly generous to nonprofits.
- If you’re willing to help out your community, be involved with your community by researching any community foundations - there might be some around you that you’re not aware of.
- Remain resilient and stay positive!
“You have to support your neighbor if you want to be successful in your community ” - Holly McFarlin
“You have to influence yourself first. If you want people to respond differently, you have to show up differently. You can’t show up the same and expect a different result.” - Maryanne Dersch
Reach out to Julianne Buck at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/buckjulianne
Website: https://www.cfgrundycounty.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julianne-buck-cap%C2%AE-0169853/
Reach out to Holly McFarlin at:
Website: https://etcf.org/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/holly-mcfarlin-a0295b3a/
Reach out to Neosha Franklin at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/iamneosha?
Website: https://stlgives.org/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neoshafranklin/
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This episode was recorded as a part of Maryanne's Donor Attraction Forum. Julia had some amazing insights that Maryanne wanted to share.
About Julia Campbell: She is an expert in digital marketing and has run a consulting business for almost 10 years now. Julia focuses exclusively on mission-driven organizations. She is the author of "Storytelling in the Digital Age: A Guide for Nonprofits". Julia is also a mom of 2 and Returned Peace Corps Volunteer.
Key Takeaways:
- Simplify your message, don't dumb it down - just make it understandable and relatable to the audience you want to attract.
- Try your very best to grab their attention, pique their curiosity, or challenge their mindset.
- Don’t waste too much time trying to convince random strangers to care about your cause - figure out who your audience is, what they care about, who you want to attract and how you can create a message that’s going to resonate with them
- People know when the difference of being broadcasted to versus spoken to.
- Each channel is different, you can't treat them all the same. But you can repurpose content Try to learn as much as you can about each social media channel.
- 80% of things you post on social media should be all about adding value to your viewers; the remaining 20% is for asking something back.
- If we're asking someone to do something, let's think first about what's in it for them.
“Nobody wants a newsletter. We want stories, we want impact. We want outcomes, we want to be inspired. We want to learn about a cause that we care about.” - Julia Campbell
Reach out to Julia Campbell at:
Website: https://jcsocialmarketing.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliacampbell/
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Rebecca (Becky) J. Hatter has been President and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri (BBBSEMO) for 27 years. In that time, her “Put young people first” leadership has brought about dramatic growth – both in impact and scale – making BBBSEMO the most effective mentoring organization in the State of Missouri and the 6th largest Big Brothers Big Sisters among 267 affiliates across the country. In addition to leading that federation in quality service for seven straight years, BBBSEMO is the only agency ever to be awarded Big Brothers Big Sisters of America’s Agency of the Year, Board of the Year, Staff of the Year, and # 1 in Quality Service in the same year. In June 2018, BBBSEMO accepted Large Agency of the Year honors for the second time in a decade.
Such development has come through bold initiatives Becky has helmed regionally and nationally. They include ABCToday®, a U.S Department of Education-lauded initiative around student data and community networked interventions in 19 Cape Girardeau and St. Louis schools; Amachi Missouri, a statewide partnership program with other Big Brothers Big Sisters affiliates and the Missouri Department of Corrections that serves children of incarcerated parents; and Big Futures, a program created to support “alumni” Littles through age 25 as they own their future through education, enlistment in military, and/or living-wage employment.
Becky’s decades-long work has also been widely honored. President Barack Obama named her a 2013 Champion for Change in educating African American children, a distinction underscored by her return to Washington, D.C. when President Obama recognized Big Brothers Big Sisters for its efforts in college preparation, entry, and completion rates. In 2014, Becky accepted the call to join the Ferguson Commission as a Commissioner and appointment to Chair of the Child Well-Being and Education Equity Work Group. A graduate of Leadership St. Louis and Leadership Missouri, and a Governor Matthew Blunt appointee to the Missouri Community Service Commission, Becky has also been honored by the Missouri Chamber of Commerce’s Lifetime Achievement Award and was recently a 2019 finalist for MENTOR’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Becky is also a four-time Big Sister who has kept close contact with Little Sister Ivey (matched 20 years ago) and Little Sister Ke’Sheara (25 years). Becky and her husband Bill have been a Big Couple to Little Brother Erick for twelve years, and like others they remain connected and close.
Key Takeaways:
- Don’t forget to take a moment to acknowledge and celebrate the success that you’ve got so far.
- A lot of people think that nonprofits should always sacrifice themselves to build others up, but the truth is that it’s not sustainable
- The most powerful skill that all organizations need right now is the ability to manage change quickly and effectively
- No one needs to be fixed, no one’s broken, everyone has assets and all we need to do is to create the best garden for them to grow in.
“Everybody wants to be a part of a victory… but we don’t have a victory unless we have a challenge” - Becky Hatter
Reach out to Becky Hatter at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/beckyjameshatte
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BBBSEMO/
Website: www.bbbsemo.org
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/becky-hatter-b115461b2
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Sherry Quam Taylor teaches nonprofit CEOs and their teams how to break free from traditional fundraising models and activities that limit growth and never secure enough money to fulfill their organization’s vision. She helps teams become less dependent on program, government, and event gifts by helping them learn how to secure large, investment-level donations from individuals. The leaders she works with are high-performing experts in their field but desire an overall financing model that will truly scale their organization’s impact, give them a larger amount of unrestricted funding for overhead, and maximize every hour their teams spend raising revenue. She helps them learn the exact steps to pivot into a mid-and major level gift program that feels comfortable, empowers their advancement team, and fully funds their mission for the long-haul. She does this nationally through private, one-on-one coaching.
Key Takeaways:
- When we invest in ourselves, invest in our people, then that flows out for the benefit of your donors and target groups.
- Leave your misconceptions in the past to allow room for growth in your organization
- This pandemic showed just how sudden international crises can appear and budgeting for growth also means budgeting for mobility and reaction in times of crisis.
- Put together a budget that actually represents what your organization needs, not just the minimum
“You got to sit at the table and confidently share what you need without you deciding the donor can’t do it.” - Sherry Quam Taylor
Reach out to Sherry at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sherryqtaylor
Website:https://www.quamtaylor.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherryquamtaylor
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Julie has been the Executive Director of Food Outreach since 2016. Food Outreach provides nutritional interventions to people living in the St. Louis region diagnosed with HIV/AIDS or cancer whose incomes are at or below 300% of the Federal Poverty Level. She graduated from FOCUS Leadership St. Louis in 2020 and currently serves on a committee working on building Black individual, household and business capacity in the St. Louis region.
Key Takeaways:
- You need trust to get anything done - instill a “love bubble” culture in your organization to be more effective
- Think about where each volunteer is coming from, figure out what motivates them and what made them join your organization
- Empathy and compassion should be dispensed not only to your target group or community, but also inside your organization, towards your volunteers
- Your organization needs a culture of consistent building of positive morale and mutual trust in each other
“What we bear witness to here is love, the opportunity to give without expecting anything in return - that's really what a volunteer is” - Julie Lock
Reach out to Julie at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FoodOutreachSTL
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/foodoutreach/
Website:https://foodoutreach.org/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/food-outreach/
Youtube: bit.ly/YouTubefoodoutreach
To find out how you can volunteer, go to: https://foodoutreach.org/get-involved/volunteer/
Be more confident, credible & convincing to your board & supporters without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy.
Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Key Takeaways:
- When you’re a value to others, others will be a value to you.
- Active listening is being present in the conversation without worrying about how you’re going to respond.
- Empathize - tap into the situation of people, relieve them of pain and get them closer to a gain.
- People hate to be sold, they love to buy. Give people control - help them realize that your goals and their needs align so that you can work together with them.
“The less ownership you have over the outcome, the more likely you’re going to have the outcome that you want.” - Maryanne Dersch
Be more confident, credible & convincing to your board & supporters without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy.
Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Patrick Kirby is the founder of Do Good Better Consulting and is a firm believer that “we’ve always done it this way” is the most dangerous phrase in the English language. HE has spent over a decade working at every capacity in a non-profit industry and organizations in all shapes and sizes and strives to do good better everyday.
Key Takeaways:
- Fundraising never ends - you have to fall in love with the process in order to survive in the nonprofit industry.
- Take a time-out to build morale, to affirm people with encouragement, and to show your donors where their money is going.
- Don’t turn compliments away - learn to accept it and utilize those moments into productivity.
- Be honest, if you don’t know the answer to a question - say “I don’t know, can I get back to you on that?” Doing so will open up an opportunity for another conversation and therefore, a better connection.
“Always celebrate your wins. People want to be associated with winners.” - Patrick Kirby
Reach out to Patrick Kirby at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/fundraisingdad
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DGBConsulting/
Websites: https://www.dogoodbetterconsulting.com/
www.DoGoodersConference.com
www.DoGoodBetterConsulting.com
http://FundraiseAwesomer.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fundraisingdad/
Be more confident, credible & convincing to your board & supporters without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy.
Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Tasyin Front is the Executive Director of the Challenger Learning Center located in Ferguson, Missouri. She has 25 years of experience as a leader in nonprofit administration, where she is overseeing all aspects of managing programs and organizations including marketing and communications. Since 2002, she has led a team of dedicated educators, managers, and volunteers at the Challenger Learning Center to develop and facilitate award-winning programs, which have been recognized both locally and nationally.
Key Takeaways:
- Use your influence to solve issues.
- Examine the benefits and drawbacks of the Logic Model to demonstrate your impact.
- Put the time and effort into assessment so that people can actually learn from the information you provide.
- Allow donors the space to dictate when is best to have open conversations.
- Listen to the client’s point of view first to make them feel seen and heard.
“As an organization, there are meaningful ways to show what you are doing as an operation.” - Tasmyn Front
Reach out to Tasmyn Front at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/clcstlouis
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clcstlouis
Website: https://www.challengerstl.org/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEw7Ib2dYNX5sM2jhKwOLXA
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clc_stl/
Email: tasmyn@clcstlouis.org
Be more confident, credible & convincing to your board & supporters without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy.
Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Leslie Gill has a long and amazing career in the nonprofit industry. She is the executive director of Rung which is a new organization that took off in a big way from the beginning. She was the CEO of Annie Malone Children and Family Services Center in St. Louis, which is a long and well-loved organization. Prior to her role at Annie Malone, Leslie served as executive director of College Summit, where she had a multi-state responsibility for programs, fundraising, and business operations. She has been in executive leadership roles with the Girl Scouts and has done amazing things over the years. She is a native of St. Louis, a graduate of Hampton University, and an exceptional leader.
Key Takeaways:
- The importance of creating economic mobility while moving away from the cliff effect.
- Moving out of survival mode so that you can move up the economic opportunity ladder.
- A living wage is not enough to move people into an economically stable position, a family-sustaining wage is.
- Being a goal-oriented and driven institution is vital to elevating the lives of members.
“We don’t want to lose the survivor mindset, but we want to make life a little more comfortable.” - Leslie Gill
Reach out to Leslie Gil at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rungforwomen
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RungforWomen/
Website: https://rungforwomen.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rungforwomen/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rung-for-women/
Be more confident, credible & convincing to your board & supporters without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy.
Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Laura has 25 years of experience in nonprofit organizational management. Laura works in organizational management, strategic planning, leadership development, and fundraising. She provides resources and guidance to enhance the performance of mission-driven leadership in fundraising teams. Laura was the Interim President of Grace Hills Settlement House in St. Louis where she not only raised a lot of money she was also able to cut costs at the same time while preparing the agency for some major changes including a merger of programs and services. Prior to that she was also the Vive President of Development and secured 4.5 million in major gifts and tripled its annual funds while simultaneously marshaling the volunteer initiatives.
Key Takeaways:
- Fundraisers need strong leaders and a strong organizational board.
- The relationships you build are key to raising money and building community-based fundraising.
- Teaching and fostering authentic community investment.
- When you are of value to others, they will be of value to you.
- There is no “Silver Bullet” in fundraising.
“Every organization is unique, not cookie-cutter so you have to figure out the energy, tempo, and authenticity of the organization you represent.” - Laura Kozak
Mentioned: Co-Opetition
Reach out to Laura Kozak at:
Website: https://www.3rdcultureconsulting.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-kozak-99ab2911/?trk=people-guest_profile-result-card_result-card_full-click
Email: laura@thircultureconsulting.com
Be more confident, credible & convincing to your board & supporters without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy.
Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Melanie and her husband are proud adoptive parents of two children. She has 29 years of nonprofit management experience and she joined the Foster and Adoptive Care Coalition as Executive Director in 1999. Under her guidance, the agency developed groundbreaking programs, Extreme Recruitment, and 30 days to Family. Melanie has been honored in the St. Louis Business Journal's 50 Most Influential Businesswoman of 2019 Award, North American Council on Adoption, Children's National Adoption Advocate Award, the Congressional Angels and Adoption Award, and Women of the Well Award and she has a BS in accountancy from Miami University.
Key Takeaways:
- Don’t be afraid to try things. It’s better to try and fail than not try at all.
- 2020 saw more volunteer participation than any other year.
- It’s important to make make your organization feel like one big family where everyone is welcome and working together.
- Even when it’s scary to take a position on an issue, you aren’t always going to make everyone happy, but those aren’t your people anyway.
- The movement toward diversity, equity, and inclusion in foster care kids and families.
“We’re not the only ones doing this work, but by working together there is more strength.” - Melanie Scheetz
Mentioned: The Institution for Innovation and Child Welfare https://forchildwelfare.org/
Reach out to Melanie at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/fosteradopt
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FosterAdopt/
Website: https://www.foster-adopt.org/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/foster-&-adoptive-care-coalition/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/fosteradopt/_created/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQgv0DWWSPIxbfEdp_sTPjw
Be more confident, credible & convincing to your board & supporters without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy.
Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Key Takeaways:
- Your donors support and participate in whatever you ask when you are influential.
- With influence, your organization can create a higher level of impact and consequently create more change.
- Influence isn’t, a social media influencer, manipulation, selling, or pushing an idea or an agenda.
- The key to influence is the ability to get people you have no authority over to do what you want them to do.
- The secret of influence is that it starts with you, be of value to others so they can be of value to you.
Be more confident, credible & convincing to your board & supporters without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy.
Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Bethany is the Founder of Snyder Strategies a boutique consulting firm she formed to share and leverage her deep understanding of the advocacy world with nonprofits and social justice organizations. With her 15 years of experience in communications, advocacy, and public affairs. Bethany is s seasoned professional and expert in managing strategic communications, leading successful advocacy initiatives, designing innovative outreach and engagement programs, and running high-profile campaigns.
Key Takeaways:
- Nonprofits working in coalition partners and finding their allies.
- Advocacy as a donor or member engagement tool.
- Overcoming the struggles with leadership in advocacy.
- Donors engaged in advocacy give about 60% more than a donor not engaged in advocacy.
- Advocates are 7x more likely to donate to an organization than a non-advocate.
- People are 5x more likely to open advocacy messages than fundraising appeals.
“A nonprofits greatest resource is their people.” - Bethany Snyder
Reach out to Bethany Snyder at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bethanysnydermn
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SnyderStrategies
Website: https://www.snyderstrategies.me/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/snyder-strategies/
Be more confident, credible & convincing to your board & supporters without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy.
Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Rachel was born and raised in St. Louis, MO after her parents emigrated from India. She studied women’s studies at Loyola Univerity in Chicago, IL before returning to St. Louis where she earned her Masters degree in Public Policy Administration from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She started her nonprofit career working with Habitat for Humanity St. Louis She also worked in fundraising for a local language emersion charter school before starting her company Gladiator Consulting in 2015.
Key Takeaways:
- Embrace an abundance mindset to achieve bigger results with less resistance.
- Taking the scarcity mindset away from acquiring and approaching donors.
- Nonprofits adapting a community-centric fundraising model.
- Collaboration leads to greater giving and fundraising accomplishments.
- Operationalizing equity in your nonprofit.
“Interrupt institutional and systemic oppression across all races, gender, and abilities” - Rachel D’Souza Siebert
Mentioned: https://nonprofitaf.com/
The Soul of Money
Decolonizing Wealth
Winner Take All
The Revolution Will Not Be Funded
Reach out to Rachel D’Souza Siebert at:
Email: hello@gladiatorrds.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GladiatorRDS
Website: https://www.gladiatorrds.com/
Be more confident, credible & convincing to your board & supporters without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy.
Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
Barb Griffith is the President and CEO of Community Living, Inc. located in St. Charles County, Community Living enriches the lives of people with disabilities so they can achieve their highest potential through the provision of services and programs to children and adults with disabilities that allow them to live, learn, work and play in the community. Barb joined the staff of Community Living in 1986. In 1998, she was named Executive Director; in 2005, the position evolved to President and CEO.
She “happened into” this field in 1978 when a friend offered her a job at an institution for people with developmental disabilities. She fell in love with the individuals they served; they enriched her life in so many ways. But she was appalled by the way the residents were treated. This was the beginning of the “de-institutionalization” movement in the disabilities field. It had a profound impact on her – and thus began her passion to build awarenes
Key Takeaways:
- Barb has been with Community Living for over 35 years
- You have to make sure the community knows who you are and what you are doing
- Creating and maintaining relationships is critical, personal and business relationships
- Find other organizations to collaborate with who offer the same or complimentary services. You can always learn from how others do things
- Figure out if something you’re doing now is not sustainable and find a way to change it
“It's an art and a science to to keep an organization, a nonprofit organization going because it's a business.” -Barb Griffin
Reach out to Barb Griffith at:
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CommunityLivingInc
Website https://www.communitylivingmo.org/
Be more confident, credible & convincing to your board & supporters without feeling rejected, ineffective or pushy.
Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work.
Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com
If you want your nonprofit to make the biggest impact possible on those you serve. And to do that you need a community of support.
Each week, join Maryanne Dersch, nonprofit revolutionary, as she interviews nonprofit leaders who are growing their influence to raise more money and do more good.
If you want to fundraise with ease, build better relationships with board and staff, or just need a shot of fresh ideas and inspiration, this show is for you.