Nonprofit411 Podcast

Nonprofit411
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The podcast for nonprofit professionals who love the mission and are still figuring out the rest. You care about the mission. You're also the one holding a dozen jobs at once, the fundraising, the board, the programs, the staffing, the wondering where next quarter's money comes from. This show is for you. Every episode brings in people who've done the work, and the thinkers who shape it. Nonprofit leaders and specialists, plus voices from the wider world of leadership and purpose, who can tell you what really worked. Real conversations, real help. What works, what doesn't, and what might be a good next try. Listen on your commute or your lunch break, and leave with one thing you can use. New episodes every week. Listen wherever you get your podcasts

  1. 5d ago

    Nonprofit Branding: Roger Starkweather on How Your Team Is Showing Up

    Nonprofit Branding: Roger Starkweather on How Your Team Is Showing Up Your brand isn't the logo. It's whether everyone around you tells the same story. Roger Starkweather is co-founder and CEO of ANEWbrand, a Seattle-born agency whose motto is branding for the greater good. He got his start in sales, selling rubber stamps door to door, and has built businesses of his own ever since, including one in construction. He and his business partner, Steven Picanza, have worked together in the agency world for fifteen years, and both have worked with SCORE, a nonprofit that mentors people starting businesses. Roger describes a project his team is working on right now that never leaves the building. The organization's own groups were arguing among themselves, so ANEWbrand came in with workshops and surveys to say what nobody inside could. Sarah connects it to the mergers she's seeing across the sector. When two people who each own a house get married, building a new one together is easier than moving into either. If your staff, board, and supporters would each describe you a little differently, start here. In this episode Why Roger calls brand guidelines an operating system, and what happens when nobody feeds itMarketing as the road brands drive down, and return on experience as a way to measure what dollars can'tThe internal side of a brand, when staff and volunteers need the same clarity your donors doA few ideas to apply at your nonprofit Read the top section of your homepage. Does it say why you exist before it shows a single pretty picture?Give branding and marketing its own pillar in your strategic plan, with a budget line that can stand up to it.Put Roger's question on your next team agenda: how are we showing up today? Any hesitation is worth a conversation.Resources Mentioned Connect with Roger ANEWbrand: https://www.anewbrand.co/Email: roger@anewbrand.coConnect with Sarah Nonprofit411: https://nonprofit411.orgLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/nonprofit411The Generosity Roadmap, a free class: https://nonprofit411.org/generosity_mapChapters 00:00 Introduction02:03 The hobby question03:09 Why nonprofits, and why now05:49 Is branding a real investment?06:15 Your brand is an operating system07:34 What a clear brand does for fundraising10:12 The road brands drive down11:38 Return on experience14:36 Competing on a world stage16:02 Thinking like a retailer17:45 The biggest challenge: the budget19:16 Evolution or revolution20:57 Do nonprofits invest enough?22:49 Signs it's time25:05 When the brand problem is internal26:18 Mergers and the new house28:00 How am I showing up today?29:25 Where to find Roger

    Nonprofit Branding: Roger Starkweather on How Your Team Is Showing Up

  2. Oct 20

    LinkedIn for Fundraisers: Michelle Benson on Being Found By Funders

    Michelle Benson spent 18 years chasing funders, then crossed to the other side of the desk and watched them go looking instead. Michelle Benson is the founder of Culture of Philanthropy, online training that teaches fundraisers, CEOs, communications staff and consultants how to be found on LinkedIn by the people they want to reach. She was a fundraiser for 18 years and has spent about ten on the funding side. She joins Sarah to explain what changed when she stopped chasing high value funders and started building a way for them to find her. She tells it from inside a trust fund. Two colleagues came in every morning to a flood of applications, most of which missed the criteria, and had to wade through the weak ones to reach the strong ones. So the fund closed its open application process. Those same two people were handed the giving criteria and, by her account, fifteen million pounds to place, and sent out to find charities themselves. The quality of the pipeline went up. So did the mood of the two people doing the work. If your whole pipeline runs on cold outreach, this is the second string. In this episode Why funders are closing open applications and going out to look instead The algorithm as a sniffer dog, and what your words and actions send it after Why a post with plenty of likes can still be a post that failed A few ideas to apply at your nonprofit Write the goal down before you touch LinkedIn. Something as specific as four new corporate funders at around $20,000 in the next 12 months. Describe your best supporter and your worst one, then write your profile for the best one. Your profile is what the algorithm reads. Give every post one job, then judge it against that job. If the job was clicks to your site, likes are not the score. Resources Mentioned Connect with Michelle Culture of Philanthropy: https://www.cultureofphilanthropy.coLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-benson-creates-digital-pipelinesConnect with Sarah Follow the show on Apple Podcasts: https://podcast.nonprofit411.orgNonprofit411: https://www.nonprofit411.orgLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nonprofit411The Generosity Roadmap for Nonprofits, a free class to explore the systems that keep community at the heart of fundraising: https://nonprofit411.org/generosity_mapChapters 00:00 Introduction 04:20 Eighteen years of chasing 07:14 "My job is to be found" 14:33 The algorithm as a sniffer dog 25:18 When likes mean the post failed

    LinkedIn for Fundraisers: Michelle Benson on Being Found By Funders

  3. Oct 9

    Fundraising Goals: Jo McPartland on Selling the Why, Not the Item | Nonprofit411

    People don't say yes to the item. They say yes to the reason you're asking. Jo McPartland is the fundraising coach at Dutch Mill Bulbs, a fundraising company founded in central Pennsylvania in 1960. She ran fundraisers as a teacher and as a volunteer leader before she moved to the other side of the table. Dutch Mill Bulbs works with hundreds of groups every season, and Jo coaches them through it, from Scout troops and churches to sports teams and animal rescues. One group Jo works with has to travel for every field trip. They hit their goal every single year. The kids could say they're raising money for buses. Jo's point is that they aren't. "It's not gas, it's not transportation. That's the means to have that experience." If your goal feels too big to say out loud, start by dividing it. In this episode Why so many groups start with "whatever we can make," and what changes when they pick a numberThe one sentence every volunteer can say: what it's for, how much, and how to helpCelebrating halfway, and the pink ribbon tulips that support the National Breast Cancer FoundationA few ideas to apply at your nonprofit Divide your goal by the number of people asking. Six or seven sales each is a couple of neighbors and a coworker.Name what the money makes possible, not what it pays for.Give supporters two ways to help, in person and online, so a grandparent in another state can still say yes.Resources Mentioned Connect with Jo Dutch Mill Bulbs: https://dutchmillbulbs.comFundraiser Goal Calculator: https://dutchmillbulbs.com/goal-calculator/Pink Ribbon Tulips: https://dutchmillbulbs.com/product/o-pink-ribbon-tulips/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jo-mcpartlandConnect with Sarah Nonprofit411: https://nonprofit411.orgLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/nonprofit411The Generosity Roadmap, a free class: https://nonprofit411.org/generosity_mapChapters 00:00 Introduction01:05 The hobby question02:17 From teacher and volunteer to fundraising coach03:43 How a bulb fundraiser works06:56 The groups Jo loves working with09:55 Choosing the bulbs12:10 Start with the goal13:35 It's not the item, it's the why14:54 Smaller numbers feel doable16:39 Celebrate the wins18:15 Pink ribbon tulips21:30 What groups run into23:30 The group that hits its goal every year25:34 Say it more than once, in more than one place27:10 Not gas money, an experience27:36 Tell them how to help29:16 Where to find Jo30:00 If I were starting from scratch

    Fundraising Goals: Jo McPartland on Selling the Why, Not the Item | Nonprofit411

  4. Oct 2

    Donor Stewardship: Brad Ton on Why a Human Note Beats a Polished One

    The update your donors remember is rarely the polished one. Brad Ton is a senior account executive at FundMiner. He studied sports marketing at Indiana University and sold tickets for the Chicago Bulls and the Indiana Pacers before a sales boot camp through TechPoint, an Indianapolis nonprofit, introduced him to fundraising through OneCause. After eight or nine years in fundraising technology, he moved to the donor relations side, where he works with community foundations and hospital foundations on what happens after the gift. Sarah describes the email she suggests to the rural nonprofits she works with. Open a blank screen and write that you just saw Susie come in, over the moon, because they finished her porch. Brad's first reaction was that there's no ask in it. Send that out. Then he pointed out that before they hit record, Sarah had asked for his mailing address so she could mail him a handwritten note. "That's everything," he said. If stewardship keeps waiting for a free afternoon, this conversation is about sending it anyway. In this episode Why donor relations gets treated as work that doesn't raise money, and why Brad says that couldn't be further from the truthSarah's porch email, and why the less fancy the update, the betterTen handwritten notes or 500 newsletter emails, and what makes a touch point countA few ideas to apply at your nonprofit Count last week's new donors. Write each one a short note about one thing their gift touched, with no ask.Keep a running bank of small stories as they happen, so impact updates and year-end reports never start from a blank page.Put stewardship on the daily list, not the someday list. Brad keeps his short, works it in order, and crosses things off.Resources Mentioned Connect with Brad FundMiner: https://www.fundminer.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradton/Connect with Sarah Nonprofit411: https://nonprofit411.orgLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/nonprofit411The Generosity Roadmap, a free class: https://nonprofit411.org/generosity_mapChapters 00:00 Introduction01:40 The hobby question04:02 From ticket sales to nonprofit tech08:24 Fundraising isn't begging09:40 What happens after the gift12:05 Technology that frees us to be human13:08 The porch email13:57 Why stewardship gets pushed aside15:21 One email, one reader17:30 A bank of stories18:07 Making it a habit19:08 The bar for human connection20:02 Ten notes or 500 emails21:45 Count your new donors23:13 Technology as a habit tool24:35 Human is better than done25:25 Video messages, stumbles and all27:34 Where to find Brad28:12 Stack days

    Donor Stewardship: Brad Ton on Why a Human Note Beats a Polished One

  5. Sep 25

    Corporate Partnerships: Dan Drucker on Moving Past Sponsorships

    A sponsorship pays for one program. A partnership can change what your organization is able to do next year. Dan Drucker spent more than 35 years in corporate B2B sales and marketing, the last twenty or so at Canon, running sales and marketing for the US. He retired at the start of 2024 and founded Philanthropy Fuel, where he helps nonprofits build corporate partnerships. He writes The Fuel Tank, a free weekly newsletter. He volunteers at an animal shelter, and he and his wife are birders. Dan tells the story of a conversation he had with the head of employee volunteerism at Goldman Sachs. He was asking her about her work when it occurred to him to ask whether the bank's financial experts ran financial literacy workshops in underfunded communities. They did. It's one of the biggest things they do. He was already working with a hospital system in an underfunded community near him. He introduced the two. That match existed before the call; nobody had asked the question. If the only thing you've ever asked a business for is a check, this conversation is about everything else you could be asking for. In this episode Why a sponsorship keeps an organization living paycheck to paycheck, and what a partnership does insteadThe translation test: the two-word question that turns your impact into something a business can useSkills-based volunteering, and why twenty scientists beat twenty extra hands on a volunteer day A few ideas to apply at your nonprofit Take one line from your last appeal and ask "so what?" until it describes something a business gets. "We planted 10,000 trees" becomes a hands-on volunteer experience their employees will ask about.Write down every business you already know: current sponsors, vendors, volunteers' employers, board connections, recurring donors. Those calls are warm. Start there before you research anyone new.Look past the CSR officer. Employee engagement, HR, marketing, and volunteer services all have a reason to say yes, and they're easier to reach.Resources Mentioned Connect with Dan Philanthropy Fuel: https://www.philanthropyfuel.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/druckerdan/The Fuel Tank, his free weekly newsletter, comes out every Sunday. Sign up from his website or LinkedIn.Connect with Sarah Nonprofit411: https://nonprofit411.orgLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/nonprofit411The Generosity Roadmap, a free class: https://nonprofit411.org/generosity_map Chapters 00:00 Introduction01:03 Photography, Birding, and Paying Attention03:31 Thirty-Five Years on the Corporate Side04:57 Two Sides That Don't Speak the Same Language07:13 Start by Looking Inward11:59 The Translation Test16:07 Your Sponsors Are Your First Stop20:04 Reaching Beyond Your Region22:17 Sponsorship or Partnership25:08 Skills-Based Volunteering30:15 Joint Research With Health and Education31:42 Where to Start Today

    Corporate Partnerships: Dan Drucker on Moving Past Sponsorships

  6. Sep 18

    Burnout Isn't Inevitable with Abbey Harlow | Nonprofit411 Podcast

    Abbey Harlow works with rural nonprofits, and she'll tell you burnout isn't a personal failing. Abbey Harlow founded Harlow Nonprofit Consulting in 2022, after twenty years in nonprofit strategy, fundraising, and facilitation. She came in sideways: music venues, a semester interning at a Smithsonian museum, then fundraising jobs at museums and performing arts organizations. She works from rural Vermont, where she grew up and lives now, and she helps stretched teams move out of survival mode. Abbey walks through an exercise she runs with rural leaders. Write down everything you did in the last week. Sort each item into one of four quadrants: urgent and important, urgent but not important, and so on. Then look at what surprised you, and which quadrant took more of your week than you meant to give it. The last question is the one that does the work: what could you have delegated, and if there's nobody to delegate to, what could you have not done, and how would that have felt? Most of us keep carrying tasks because we assume something bad happens if we stop. Naming the task makes that assumption testable. If the only advice you've been given about burnout is to take better care of yourself, this conversation offers a different place to look. In this episode: The three things rural leaders named when Abbey surveyed them: funding, isolation, and burnoutWhy the burnout conversation starts with a sector-wide belief about mission work, not with the individualThe four-quadrant exercise she runs with leaders, and the question at the end of it A few ideas to apply at your nonprofit: Write down everything you did last week and sort it by urgent and important. Look for the quadrant that took more of your week than you meant to give it.Pick one task you've been carrying and ask what would actually happen if it didn't get done. Test that assumption before you keep paying for it.Try one micro boundary. One leader Abbey works with stopped answering email the minute it arrived, and found that some things resolved without her. Resources Mentioned Connect with Abbey Harlow Nonprofit Consulting: https://www.harlownonprofitconsulting.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harlownonprofitconsultingRural Nonprofit Leader Summit: https://www.harlownonprofitconsulting.com/rural-nonprofit-leader-summit Connect with Sarah Nonprofit411: https://www.nonprofit411.orgLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nonprofit411The Generosity Roadmap for Nonprofits, a free class to explore the systems that keep community at the heart of fundraising: https://nonprofit411.org/generosity_mapChapters 00:00 Introduction09:47 Funding, isolation, burnout11:57 Squeezing water from dry sponges19:22 Burnout starts with the system20:49 The four-quadrant exercise29:23 What every rural leader should know

    Burnout Isn't Inevitable with Abbey Harlow | Nonprofit411 Podcast

  7. Sep 11

    Kind Persuasion: Madeleine Nance on Asking Without the Ick

    Kind Persuasion — with Madeleine Nance Your supporters have already told you why they give. Most organizations let it evaporate. Madeleine Nance has spent seventeen years in the nonprofit sector. She started in-house in Australia as a development director, working inside three organizations that ranged from an animal shelter to one of the country's largest national charities. She then spent seven years as a fundraising copywriting specialist, and now runs Kind Word, where the work is mostly strategy and training. She joins Sarah to explain where fundraising copy actually starts: not with words, but with the person who is going to read them. She walks through a real example. A woman being interviewed for an animal organization mentioned, almost in passing, that she keeps old towels in the back of her car, just in case she comes across an injured animal that needs help. That one sentence tells you more about who gives to that cause than any donor persona ever will. Put it in an appeal, and the next supporter reads it and recognizes herself. If your appeals sound like everyone else's, this episode explains why, and what to do about it. In this episode: The name cover test, a five-minute check on whether your copy sounds like anyone at allThe four steps of Kind Persuasion: I care, I feel this, I trust you with this, I'm inThe one phrase to listen for in every supporter conversationWhy demographic personas miss what actually moves peopleHow to reframe the ask so it stops feeling like a favor you're begging forA few ideas to apply at your nonprofit: Cover your logo and read your last appeal cold. If a stranger couldn't name your cause, the words aren't working yet.Start a spreadsheet. Every time a supporter tells you why they give, write down their exact words. In a few months you'll hold language more persuasive than anything you'd draft alone.Listen for "I'm the kind of person who…" Everything that comes after it is usable.Open donor interviews with easy yes-or-no questions, then follow with "tell me more." People warm up as they go.Decide what feeling you're after before you write, whether that's warmth, outrage, or heartbreak, then build toward it on purpose.Resources Mentioned Connect with Madeleine Kind Word: https://kindwordreview.comJoin Madeleine's newsletter where she shares Kind Persuasion strategies for cause leaders: https://resources.kindwordreview.com/profileLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madeleinenance/ Connect with Sarah Nonprofit411: https://www.nonprofit411.orgLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nonprofit411The Generosity Roadmap for Nonprofits, a free class: https://nonprofit411.org/generosity_map Chapters 00:00 Introduction06:03 Where Copywriting Actually Starts14:11 Tapping Into What People Care About21:14 The Name Cover Test28:01 Persuasion Without Pressure

    Kind Persuasion: Madeleine Nance on Asking Without the Ick

  8. Aug 28

    Gold Mines of Stories - with Don Martelli, PR Bunker | Nonprofit411 Podcast

    Gold Mines of Stories — with Don MartelliEvery nonprofit is sitting on a gold mine of stories. Most never mine them. Don Martelli is a former Boston Globe reporter and longtime PR agency executive who now leads PR Bunker, working with mission-driven, impact-focused organizations. He helps nonprofits tell the stories their communities need to hear so they can engage the people who fuel the mission. He joins Sarah to explain how nonprofit PR actually works: how to find the one human story that carries your whole mission, how to place it with the right reporter at the right moment, and how to turn a single piece of coverage into a campaign that raises real money. He walks through a real example. A woman named Lisa, once homeless, now helping others through the same organization that housed her. That one story, told well, raised nearly a quarter million dollars in a week. If PR feels like a black box, this episode opens it. In this episode: The "micro that fits the macro" method for finding a story reporters actually wantWhy the most positive stories are the hardest to place, and how to place them anywayPaid, earned, shared, and owned media, explained simplyHow to pitch a reporter in 250 words or fewerWhy a fractional expert often beats hiring in-houseA few ideas to steal: The story is the headline. If you have to sell it, it isn't a story yet.Keep the pitch to one paragraph, then follow up until you get a yes, a no, or silence. Silence is a no.End or start each week by asking your team, "What happened this week that made you feel good?" Those are your stories. Someone has to own collecting them.One good story, repurposed across your site, newsletter, socials, and a podcast, is a marketing campaign, not a one-and-done.Connect with Don PR Bunker: www.prbunker.comLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/donmartelliThe PR Bunker podcast: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-pr-bunker/id1839463900Connect with Sarah Nonprofit 411: www.nonprofit411.orgLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nonprofit411The Generosity Roadmap for Nonprofits, a free class to explore the systems that keep community at the heart of fundraising: https://nonprofit411.org/generosity_map Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Nonprofit 41102:57 The Power of Impactful Storytelling05:56 Telling Impactful Stories through PR09:06 Advice for Nonprofits on PR17:23 The Role of Consultants in Nonprofits24:09 Utilizing Impactful Stories in Nonprofits

    Gold Mines of Stories - with Don Martelli, PR Bunker | Nonprofit411 Podcast
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The podcast for nonprofit professionals who love the mission and are still figuring out the rest. You care about the mission. You're also the one holding a dozen jobs at once, the fundraising, the board, the programs, the staffing, the wondering where next quarter's money comes from. This show is for you. Every episode brings in people who've done the work, and the thinkers who shape it. Nonprofit leaders and specialists, plus voices from the wider world of leadership and purpose, who can tell you what really worked. Real conversations, real help. What works, what doesn't, and what might be a good next try. Listen on your commute or your lunch break, and leave with one thing you can use. New episodes every week. Listen wherever you get your podcasts

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  • Creator
    Nonprofit411
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    55
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Nonprofit411
  • Show Website
    Nonprofit411 Podcast