Like any powerful fundraising tool, surveys can be both your best and your worst idea. They are a fantastic way to make people feel seen and valued… … unless you ignore the results, ask transactional questions that put people in the wrong frame of mind for philanthropy, and confuse everyone in your organization by taking the results too literally. In today’s episode, Louis goes over a framework to help you design and follow up on surveys to maximize your fundraising results. (We’ll try to...

Many nonprofits chase the elusive pursuit of “scale.” More donors. More revenue. More budget. More growth. We’re all for growth. After all, this is the Donor GROWTH podcast.   But the truth is, often times acquiring more donors is mostly an exercise in optics. Big numbers look good; but that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily meaningful.   In fact, you can do a lot with just 1,000 donors.   On today’s episode, Mike and Louis take the “1,000 true fans” theory developed by Kevin Kelly and apply...

If you’re still feeding ChatGPT generic and simple prompts, chances are you’re getting generic results. Commodity content. There’s a better way. But you’ve got to trick ChatGPT a little bit. On today’s episode, Louis and Mike walk through a few hacks to get better results when playing with ChatGPT. GET CONNECTED Follow Louis Diez on LinkedIn Follow Mike Duerksen on LinkedIn Join the Donor Participation Project here—a community of fundraisers who get together every month to co-create...

It’s about time we introduced ourselves.   On today’s show, we’re telling you the dark business secrets of how Mike is building his fundraising agency.   We get into:  Why build a direct response agency—and the pitfalls of direct response.The difference between having a “practice” and having a “business”.When it makes sense to hire a fundraising agency, and when it makes to do it all in-house.Creating a coaching program to help small shops…and a lot more. Come along for the ride! GET...

It’s about time we introduced ourselves.  On today’s show, we’re telling you the dark business secrets of how Louis is building the Donor Participation Project and DPP Consulting. From how he started a booking service for Jazz musicians, to creating a series of experiments in network building—you’ll see how everything Louis tried and failed prepared him to successfully grow DPP to over 3,500 members.  We get into:  How DPP got startedHow to attract your first 1,000 true believersThe...

How can we reward fundraisers for their performance—without paying a commission on funds raised?   How about everyone else working in fundraising operations, from database managers to other crucial admin roles?   Is there an ethical way to provide incentives for our team? There are no easy answers, but this is a conversation we need to start having more and more. GET CONNECTED Follow Louis Diez on LinkedIn Follow Mike Duerksen on LinkedIn Join the Donor Participation Project here—a...

A few months ago, we started a company.  We tried to solve a pain point for nonprofit leaders who want to build trust at scale using content—specifically, short form video that is authentic, responsive and not boring. We spoke to many of our ideal clients.  Leaders at large NGOs and Universities. They gave us great feedback.  The loudest, clearest feedback of all? No sales.  So on today's podcast, we're taking you along for a post mortem where we go through:  The story of how...

Will the financial outlook in 2023 mean less donors will give? Will crypto donations actually become a thing? Will trust in the nonprofit sector continue to decline? Will mega donors be more—or less public—about their philanthropy? We have no idea. Still, we forge ahead and make wild predictions for 2023 we have no business making.  GET CONNECTED Follow Louis Diez on LinkedIn  Follow Mike Duerksen on LinkedIn  Join the Donor Participation Project here—a community of fundraisers who...

Today we're joined by special guest Dan "Indie" Long from the St. Baldricks Foundation to explore the topic of the creator as a fundraiser. How are creators like nonprofits? How can they use tools of individual fundraising to grow their revenue? How can nonprofits learn from the content creator mindset?  We get into that—and more—with somebody who used to make a living being a full-time creator, and now works with creators to raise funds for childhood cancer research. GET CONNECTED Follow...

Last week we talked about how AI might change the way we create fundraising communications—and our fears around nonprofits creating commodity content. This week, we talk about 7 other use cases of AI that we're really excited about. From creating smarter asks, to standardizing gift entry, we get into how the biggest promise of AI might just be to give you back your time to do the things only humans can do: build messy, unpredictable, 1:1 relationships with donors. GET CONNECTED Follow...

Will the rise of AI replace the job of some fundraisers?  Will robots be able to write donor communications that stir the heart and lead donors toward greater generosity?  What is the real value fundraisers will bring to the table as more and more tasks will be done by marketing automation and AI tools? On today's episode, we test out some AI tools and talk about the increasing value of building trust with our supporter communities.  GET CONNECTED Follow Louis Diez on LinkedIn  Follow...

Louis has collected all best practices when it comes to creating appeals—and on today's podcast, he's sharing his Fundraising Appeal Checklist.  It's the same checklist that has helped many organizations consistently achieve strong results.  But...does a checklist work for fundraising?  Think about it this way. There are two types of checklists.  The first is like a list of instructions (think of McDonald’s), specific steps that you need to follow.  The second is like a reminder of...

Fundraisers in small nonprofits often envy their counterparts in larger institutions.  Sometimes for good reason: they have more budgetthey have more supportthey have nice officesthey go to a lot of conferencesthey have name recognition and people return their calls BUT…there is a downside to being big. And an upside to being small.  On today's episode, Mike and Louis encourage smaller nonprofits to lean into their small-ness and use it to their advantage.  Because if you're small, you don't...

How do you change paradigms?  In today's show, we get into the growing importance of creating engaging online content to grow and nurture a community of supporters.  From the old paradigm: Command and control mindsetLow context, “I know better than you” approachScarce contentTo the new paradigm: Building influence and trustHigh context: building in public, I value your thoughtsRich contentSo how do you change paradigms? "Thomas Kuhn, who wrote the seminal book about the great paradigm...

Low donor retention. It's the issue plaguing the entire sector, or at least that’s what we say. We all beat ourselves up about it. We say “if only nonprofits care more about their donors, we wouldn't lose so many of them every year." If it really is such a big problem, then in the words of Peter Drucker: "The most effective way to manage change successfully is to create it. This requires the organized abandonment of things that have been shown to be unsuccessful, and the organized and...

In this special episode of Donor Growth, we do a live consulting session with podcast listener Ranger Kielak. He's the president of the Northern California Herpetological Society—a membership driven nonprofit org that provides reptile and amphibian education, as well as aiding in rescue and rehabilitation of captive species. In fact, they once put a rescued snake on a plane and sent it to the Denver Zoo. Ranger's got questions about growing membership and monthly giving, and Louis and...

We're all told to remove as much friction as possible from the giving experience to make it easy for donors to be generous.  But what if not all friction is bad friction?  What if the right kind of friction actually creates affection, and develops a deeper relationship? On today's episode, Louis talks about the difference between bad friction and good friction—including some specific cases like friction in direct mail to friction in major giving. GET CONNECTED Follow Louis Diez on...

Here's a familiar story.   A charity looks for a “rainmaker” —a fundraiser who is so charming, so outgoing, and so cunning that they will bring in millions. Or a nonprofit seeks out a star marketer who will take their message to the next level, and bring a flash of inspiration to the team for a viral digital campaign.  But what if transformational fundraising isn’t about the one-in-a-million person?  Or idea?  Or advertising campaign?  What if transformational and sustainable fundraising...

On today's show, Louis and Mike answer some questions posted on The Ask—the new Q&A platform launched by the Donor Participation Project.  We get into: The ideal format for donor surveysHow to ensure fundraising campaigns are accessible Ideas for post-campaign kickoff outreach for non-attendees ...and more!  GET CONNECTED Follow Louis Diez on LinkedIn  Follow Mike Duerksen on LinkedIn  Join the Donor Participation Project here—a community of fundraisers who get together every month to...

Have you ever played The Game of Constraints?  On today's episode, Mike walks through a fun exercise to play with your team where you imagine a scenario that might seem impossible or unlikely. Then you brainstorm as many ways as possible to overcome the problem. You’ll be surprised how quickly you can free your mind from thinking: “We can’t do that!” to“This is tough, but maybe not impossible” to“Here’s one way we could respond that would solve the problem”It’s a great way for your...

You've heard the saying: ask the right people, for the right thing, at the right time.  But what does that look like in practice?  On today's podcast, Louis gets into a framework he created to ask donors for the right things. GET CONNECTED Follow Louis Diez on LinkedIn  Follow Mike Duerksen on LinkedIn  Join the Donor Participation Project here—a community of fundraisers who get together every month to co-create solutions that increase donor participation. Get access to the 5 Minute...

"Donor relations is the new fundraising." Agree or disagree? On today's podcast, we invite you to consider the following: every enduring business and organizations grows through word of mouth. And how do you generate positive word of mouth? By treating your donors well, making them feel valued, and showing impact. Other than starting a solicitation program that didn't exist before, investing in donor relations is—often times—the greatest growth opportunity for nonprofits. ABOUT THE...

Here’s a common pain point for many fundraising leaders: we’re spending too much time on the operations of the shop, and not enough time connecting with donors.  But there is a way to reclaim some time.  It’s not sexy. It’s not glamorous. It’s kind of a pain to implement at first. It’s for sure never a priority. But it will—in the long term—make your life and your work so much more effective.   And that’s standardizing our operations with a series of SOPs, trainings, FAQs, templates and...

What do successful fundraisers have in common? Louis and Mike share some traits they observed in their mentors over the years. Successful fundraisers: Obsess about being as clear, simple, straightforward and plain-spoken as possible. They know that’s a service to their team mates and their donors.  Obsess about what their community of donors and supporters cares about. Take full responsibility if people didn’t react to the message or approach, and then work better at understanding the...

Two thirds of people in the US play video games. And if that isn't surprising enough, games and streamers raise millions of dollars for nonprofits every year. Could your organization benefit from this highly participatory, grass-roots, community-building type of fundraising? On today's show, Louis gives a primer on the world of gaming, esports, streaming—and how it all ties back to philanthropy. And you'll hear about the National Videogaming Giving Day, a way to showcase your...