Explore every episode of the podcast Rainmaker Fundraising
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| Practivated: Your Virtual Fundraising Coach | 12 Aug 2025 | 00:39:21 | |
Every fundraiser on the planet has, at some point, wished they could have a prep conversation with a donor before they actually sit in front of them to make an ask of any kind. But that’s silly. That’s not possible. Instead, most of us settled for half-baked role playing with a colleague from time-to-time. And that was helpful. Sort of. But it was never exactly what we needed. It was never dialed in as much as many of us wanted. The result? Many of us still walked into donor visits and meetings nervous, unsure of ourselves, and unprepared to navigate […]
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| Nonprofit Leader Burnout | 22 Jul 2025 | 00:53:15 | |
“How are you?” Simple question, right? If you lead a nonprofit organization, a ministry, or work inside one, this probably feels like a loaded question. A trap, if you will. What we all know, but what so few are willing to admit, is that burnout is at an all-time high in our sector. As Nathan LaGrange, Executive Director at Oasis Rest International says, leaders don’t set out in their careers to flame out. No one wants to burn out, to harm their most precious relationships, or end up on the brink personal and professional failure. But it happens. https://youtube.com/shorts/ksKb5a8B_GI?feature=share In […]
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| Driving innovation at charity: water | 17 Jul 2025 | 00:31:47 | |
With access to clean water remaining a pressing issue in our world, charity: water stands out as a beacon of innovation and change. Brady Josephson, VP of Marketing and Growth (and a semi-regular guest on The Rainmaker show), shares insights into how the organization is transforming the way it engages with the world, driven by a relentless mission to provide clean water to every person on the planet. In our conversation, Brady the power of curiosity, a trait that fuels his (and the entire team’s) approach to innovation at charity: water. Working alongside the organization’s founder Scott Harrison, who embodies […]
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| Fundable & Findable with Kevin L. Brown | 07 Jul 2025 | 00:24:20 | |
Should you invest in branding, OR, should you invest in fundraising? What creates greater impact for your cause? The answer often depends on who you ask. There are plenty of fundraising consultants who will tell you that investing in brand is a useless exercise, and all you need to do to be successful is invest in fundraising. Buy more direct mail. Spend more on paid ad programs. Hire more consultants. Do more events. If you’re not careful, you’ll invest in a grab bag of tactics that may not move the needle for you on revenue. Sadly, too many nonprofits do […]
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| Virtuous 2025 Benchmark Report | 25 Jun 2025 | 00:46:37 | |
Do you know the 7 key donor performance metrics that drive organizational fundraising success in your nonprofit? My friends Gabe Cooper and Carly Berna from Virtuous help us dig into those KPI trends in this conversation about the Virtuous 2025 Nonprofit Benchmarking Report. Some of the insights we cover in this conversation include: The importance of donor retention, and the key difference between overall retention and net donor retention Challenges facing the nonprofit sector, and how doubling down on relationship, personalization, and automation can help offset some of those challenges Why you have to start leveraging data and automation (including […]
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| A Journey Into Generosity | 22 May 2025 | 00:44:32 | |
Do you know what sets the most generous fundraisers apart from the rest?
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| What does it take to be a great fundraising organization? | 19 Feb 2025 | 00:32:07 | |
What does it really take to become a great fundraising organization?
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| The Rise of Sustainable Giving | 04 Feb 2025 | 00:46:25 | |
Is your nonprofit leaving long-term donor value on the table?
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| Digital Storytelling for Nonprofits | 19 Dec 2024 | 00:35:57 | |
Are you telling stories that truly inspire donor action? Chapters
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| Major Gift Fundraising as a Trade | 03 Dec 2024 | 00:34:54 | |
Could treating fundraising like a skilled trade transform your results? Chapters
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| Embracing Failure: Learning from Setbacks | 23 Oct 2024 | 00:31:30 | |
How can failure become a catalyst for growth in nonprofit leadership? Chapters
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| PR and Fundraising: Working Together to Raise Your Profile and Revenue | 07 Oct 2024 | 00:36:22 | |
Are your fundraising and PR efforts working in harmony—or getting in each other’s way?
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| Nonprofit Institutional Rot, with Jim Langley | 07 Sep 2024 | 00:36:19 | |
Is your organization suffering from quiet decline—and would you even know it if it was?
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| Generous Relationships Are Key to Major Gift Success | 03 Sep 2024 | 00:35:33 | |
| Nonprofit Failures with Erik Tomalis | 09 Jul 2024 | 00:25:46 | |
| Exploring Failure with Clay Buck | 25 Jun 2024 | 00:43:35 | |
| The Biggest Hiring Mistakes Leaders Make | 12 Jun 2024 | 00:37:06 | |
| Crisis Fundraising Lessons from the Front Lines | 01 Apr 2024 | 00:46:19 | |
| Transforming a fundraising program | 20 Mar 2024 | 00:38:21 | |
| Do this one thing to integrate brand and fundraising effectively | 05 Feb 2024 | 00:25:52 | |
| The future of fundraising is relational | 10 Jan 2024 | 00:36:54 | |
| Know Your Calling. And Do It. | 19 Sep 2023 | 00:45:40 | |
Tracy Thomas is a rabblerouser. A change leader. A force. She’s also a loving mom, a caring wife, and a committed believer. Tracy and I sat down to have a frank and honest conversation about what it’s like to be a woman in executive leadership in the nonprofit sector. As Senior Vice President of Advancement […]
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| Why Soliciting Asset-based Gifts is Essential to your Nonprofit's Success | 27 Aug 2023 | 00:11:06 | |
| Creating the Perfect Donor Communication | 24 Jul 2023 | 00:42:16 | |
| Rethinking Nonprofit Marketing | 05 Jul 2023 | 00:51:28 | |
| Nonprofit Digital Strategies for Growth | 06 Mar 2023 | 00:41:25 | |
| How to build a THRIVING nonprofit culture | 23 Feb 2023 | 00:45:06 | |
| YES! There IS a better way to fundraise | 09 Feb 2023 | 00:41:05 | |
| 2023 Fundraising Trends & Predictions | 04 Jan 2023 | 00:32:56 | |
| The Nonprofit Generosity Crisis | 14 Nov 2022 | 00:46:42 | |
| Increasing Mission Impact | 04 Nov 2022 | 00:39:16 | |
| How one charity achieves 98% retention | 28 Sep 2022 | 00:43:07 | |
| Farming and Fundraising | 06 Sep 2022 | 00:33:33 | |
Over my 25-year fundraising career I’ve often heard it said, “fundraising is like farming — you plant the seed, allow time to take hold, and then eventually reap the harvest.” But as Joel Eaton, Founder of Preface and I discussed, there are a multitude of other ways that fundraising and farming are similar. In this […]
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| Infusing B-School Thinking into Nonprofits | 05 Aug 2022 | 00:34:51 | |
“If we believe so much in our missions and what we’re trying to accomplish, we have a moral obligation to provide the time and space for our employees to get the continuing education necessary to be the best they can at their jobs.” I loved this quote from Andrew McIndoe, Vice President at The Heritage […]
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| Nonprofit F-Words | 07 Jul 2022 | 00:59:39 | |
If you’ve spent any time at all in the nonprofit sector, you know there are some subjects that are taboo. Some subjects that are difficult to discuss in public spaces, and others that are purely unpopular. Our guests today refer to those topics collectively as “Nonprofit F-Words.” No, not THAT F-Word. I promise. In this […]
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| Gift Planning and Donor Legacies | 02 Jun 2022 | 00:30:22 | |
Gift planning and legacy giving conversations don’t just have to be about death and mortality. In fact, they can and should be beautiful conversations about how donors can care for the long-term needs of their families, AND, how they can make significant impact for the causes they care most about. Kristi Brennan, Chartered Advisor in […]
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| The Truth About Leading Change | 25 Apr 2022 | 00:41:02 | |
Everyone pretty much everywhere is talking about change right now. Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, change seems to be the word of the day. And if you’re not talking about change, you might be talking about transformation. That’s just bigger change, right? What so many of us get wrong about change and transformation efforts […]
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| Social Media Strategy, with Julia Campbell | 14 Apr 2022 | 00:42:49 | |
What’s the role of social media in today’s nonprofit landscape? Why do you need to think about social media within the broader context of your overall marketing and fundraising strategy, instead of as a stand-alone effort? Should social media replace your other marketing tactics, or should it augment your existing plan? How should your nonprofit […] | |||
| Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership | 22 Mar 2022 | 00:46:30 | |
Dr. Patton McDowell has spent his entire professional career leading organizations and developing high-performing leaders across the nonprofit sector. You might have caught my conversation with Patton a few weeks ago on his show, Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership. If you didn’t, you should check it out. We had an in-depth conversation on the impact […] | |||
| Using behavioral research to shape your marketing and fundraising | 14 Mar 2022 | 00:48:06 | |
Katie Lord is Vice President of Nonprofit Development at Proof Positioning, a market research company that uses emotional research to better understand donors and motivate them to act for nonprofits. Katie and I talked recently about the disconnect between marketing and fundraising in nonprofits, as well as the impact of behavioral economics and emotional research […]
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| Culture Drives Philanthropy | 10 Mar 2022 | 00:47:37 | |
Jenny Soderholm has invested her entire career in healthcare philanthropy. As Chief Development Officer at Children’s Minnesota and President of Children’s Minnesota Foundation, Jenny is focused on fostering a broad and deep culture of philanthropy that advances her organization’s ability to serve more children and families across Minnesota. As we talked recently, Jenny shared some […]
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| Overflow(ing) with generosity | 28 Feb 2022 | 00:37:09 | |
What does a Bay Area pastor know about nonprofits and charitable giving? Turns out he knows quite a lot. At least if that guy is Vance Roush. Vance is Founder of Overflow.co, a platform created to help unlock generosity across the globe. Overflow is a platform that helps generous individuals give to charities and ministry […]
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| Embracing a fundraising mindset | 14 Feb 2022 | 00:36:15 | |
Do you have a theology of fundraising? This was a fascinating question that Michael Mitchell posited on the show recently, and it led to a great conversation about what’s really important in our craft. Michael is Director of Development and Discipleship at Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO). In our conversation, Michael talked a lot about […]
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| Food Bank fundraising with Rebecca Hendrix | 07 Feb 2022 | 00:29:54 | |
Rebecca Hendrix is Chief Development Officer at Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas. She joined us on the podcast recently to talk about food bank fundraising, engaging donors throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and how to deal with the various challenges facing the nonprofit sector today.
Some of the highlights from our conversation include:
Your mission is critical. Your resources are finite. You need a partner that can deliver customized, scalable, and relevant donor communications that increase response and maximize net long-term revenue for your cause. ... | |||
| Passion for your mission drives success | 31 Jan 2022 | 00:46:28 | |
Kevin Feldman is Director of Development at The Salvation Army, Lake County, Indiana. He also advises small and emerging nonprofits on all things fundraising-related.
Kevin also runs a one-person development shop and has spent years fine-tuning his approach to donor engagement and fundraising. We sat down recently to discuss the state of fundraising amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and how that’s changing the nonprofit landscape. Kevin had some great insights about the work and how we ought to be thinking about it. Here are some of the key insights we discussed:
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| LinkedIn and Your Nonprofit, with Anthony Jones | 24 Jan 2022 | 00:36:29 | |
Anthony Jones is Founder of LinkedInOnePercentClub and formerly led all digital marketing, fundraising and social media strategy at Ducks Unlimited. He’s one of the most prolific digital marketers in our sector, and an all-around great guy.
Recently, Anthony made a HUGE move, leaving a 15-year career at Ducks Unlimited and launching his own company to help people like you and me improve our personal brands on LinkedIn. In this conversation, Anthony and I talk about the importance of building your personal brand, why LinkedIn is the most important platform for personal branding, and how nonprofits can leverage LinkedIn for growth as well. Our conversation hit key topics including:
Don’t forget to check out Anthony’s FREE mini-course on personal branding on LinkedIn. | |||
| The challenge of feeding 1 million people every day | 20 Jan 2022 | 00:41:43 | |
In our first episode of 2022 we sat down with Andy Carr, Vice President of Development and Marketing at Feed My Starving Children.
Feed My Starving Children is a Christian international hunger relief organization that will provide 370 million meals to people in need across the globe this year. That’s more than 1 million meals per day. In our conversation with Andy, we covered many topics, including:
Andy is a dynamic, engaging speaker who is leading monumental growth at Feed My Starving Children. Take a listen — we’re sure you’ll find value in this conversation! Your mission is critical. Your resources are finite. You need a partner that can deliver customized, scalable, and relevant donor communications that increase response and maximize net long-term revenue for your cause. You need Altus Marketing. | |||
| Integrated approach raises $20+ Million for Freedom Alliance | 29 Nov 2021 | 00:42:30 | |
We recently sat down with Tom Kilgannon, President of Freedom Alliance.
Freedom Alliance is a nonprofit organization founded to support our nation’s combat wounded and deployed troops and their families. One of their greatest contributions to the military community is their scholarship fund for the dependents of military personnel who have been severely wounded or killed in combat. To-date, Freedom Alliance has given out $20 Million in college scholarships to the dependents of America’s fallen and injured heroes. In our conversation with Tom about Freedom Alliance’s fundraising strategy and how they achieved this huge accomplishment of funding $20 Million in scholarships, here are some of the great insights Tom shared:
Tom shares some great insights in this episode on how this organization is making a huge impact for America’s veterans and their families, alongside thousands of incredibly generous donors. | |||
| The Storytelling Fundraiser, with Russell James, J.D., Ph.D., CFP | 22 Sep 2021 | 00:51:31 | |
Welcome to the 100th episode of The Rainmaker Fundraising Podcast!
I’m thrilled to have had the opportunity to visit with Russell James, J.D., Ph.D., CFP for this milestone episode. If you know Dr. James, you know this will be a great conversation. If you don’t know him yet, you’re in for a real treat! Dr. James is Director of graduate studies in charitable planning in the Division of Personal Financial Planning in the College of Human Sciences at Texas Tech University. His research into human behavior and charitable giving has shaped how institutions large and small engage major donors and maximize revenue all across the U.S. Dr. James recently published a five-book series, the Fundraising Myth and Science Book Series. In our conversation, we talk extensively about one of those books, The Storytelling Fundraiser. This new book series is also the foundation of a great new training program that Dr. James and Greg Warner at MarketSmart have partnered to bring to market. We covered so much ground in this conversation. It’s an in-depth review of the book and the foundational thinking that went into it, including:
These are just the top 10 highlights from our conversation. You owe it to yourself to pop some popcorn, grab your favorite beverage, and settle in for this great conversation. You’ll learn a ton, and be able to apply it immediately to positively impact your fundraising efforts! Dr. James is sharing his new book series for FREE with the world. You can download electronic copies below: The Epic Fundraiser: Myth, Psychology, and the Universal Hero Story | |||
| NeighborShare, with Diana Zhang | 20 Sep 2021 | 00:42:01 | |
Diana Zhang left a lucrative career as a hedge fund executive in the midst of the pandemic to co-found NeighborShare, a new platform created to support front line heroes in the nonprofit sector, allowing them to match real community needs with donors interested in supporting them.
Discovering that 40% of American families can’t afford even a $400 emergency, Diana and her partners launched an organization designed to help provide this kind of emergency bridge funding to individuals in need, through everyday community heroes like nonprofit case managers, social workers, nurses, etc. She and her team of 25+ volunteers are on a mission to both disrupt and support the nonprofit sector by thinking differently about solving emerging needs in communities across the U.S. As a first-time founder of a nonprofit, and career for-profit executive, Diana and her team are applying start-up business principles to NeighborShare while diving deep into community-building, connectivity, and honing their values to deliver the greatest value possible for local nonprofits and the individuals and families they serve. Your mission is critical. Your resources are finite. You need a partner that can deliver customized, scalable, and relevant donor communications that increase response and maximize net long-term revenue for your cause. You need Altus Marketing. | |||