If every donor brought just one more, how fast would your nonprofit grow? Double. Triple. Explode. That’s the power of referrals — and the key to sustainable, scalable growth.

In this episode of The Million Dollar Nonprofit, Tom Kelly reveals how to build a donor referral engine using AI and automation. You’ll learn the Identify, Incentivize, Integrate framework to find your best evangelists, motivate them to share your mission, and make referrals easy to track and reward.

Tom breaks down how to use ChatGPT prompts to identify high-engagement donors, create low-cost recognition-based incentives, and write ready-to-share referral messages your supporters can send via text or DM.

Plus, he shares a real-life case study of a food bank that grew new donor acquisition by 28% just by adding referral links into their thank-you emails.

Don’t rely on hope — build a system that multiplies your mission.

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Most nonprofits treat peer-to-peer fundraising like a one-off event—a 5K here, a birthday fundraiser there—and then let it fizzle out.

But what if you could turn your supporters into mini-fundraising powerhouses who continually bring in new donors, and use AI to scale it all effortlessly?

In this episode, Tom Kelly shares a proven framework:

Recruit. Resource. Repeat.

You’ll learn how to:

• Use AI to identify your most engaged and socially active supporters
• Build easy plug-and-play toolkits to help them fundraise confidently
• Automate re-engagement so top fundraisers keep coming back

Plus, hear a real nonprofit success story that turned 50 fundraisers into 1,200 new donors—with one-third becoming recurring givers.

🎯 Don’t just run a fundraiser—build a growth engine.

When a supporter hosts a fundraiser for your nonprofit—whether it’s a birthday campaign, 5K, or classroom challenge—who usually gets thanked? The donors. But the person who did all the work—the one who rallied their friends, shared your mission, and raised the money—often gets little more than a quick “Thanks for hosting” email.

In this episode of The Million Dollar Nonprofit, Tom Kelly reveals how to automate thank-you campaigns for peer-to-peer fundraisers so every supporter feels like a hero without you manually sending 200 emails. Using the Recognize. Reward. Repeat. framework, you’ll learn how to keep your most passionate fundraisers engaged—and coming back year after year.

Tom breaks it down step-by-step:

• Recognize: Build an automated thank-you flow that celebrates fundraisers both personally and publicly with email sequences, shoutouts, and tags.
• Reward: Send low-cost but high-impact tokens of appreciation—certificates, swag, or shoutouts—to make fundraisers feel truly valued.
• Repeat: Close every thank-you sequence with an invitation to return next year, turning one-time hosts into long-term advocates.

You’ll hear how one cancer nonprofit automated a 3-part thank-you campaign—immediate gratitude, recap with totals, and next-year invite—and saw 67% of fundraisers sign up again.

What’s the real difference between a good volunteer and a great one? A good volunteer shows up, helps out, and goes home. A great volunteer spreads the word, brings their friends, and tells your story better than your staff does.

In this episode of The Million Dollar Nonprofit, Tom Kelly breaks down how to turn your volunteers into donor advocates—people who don’t just give time, but also help you raise money and expand your reach. With the simple framework of Equip. Encourage. Elevate., you’ll learn how to empower volunteers to become powerful ambassadors for your mission.

Tom shows you exactly how to:

• Equip your volunteers with advocacy kits—ready-to-share posts, prewritten texts, and quick donor invites they can share in seconds.
• Encourage them with impact-driven messaging and feedback that shows how their advocacy directly fuels your mission.
• Elevate your top advocates with public recognition, shoutouts, and small appreciation gifts that inspire others to step up.

You’ll also hear a real-life example of a youth nonprofit that equipped just 50 volunteers with shareable fundraising content—and those volunteers brought in 120 new donors, with several becoming recurring givers.

If you’ve ever wondered how to make your volunteers part of your fundraising team without adding more work to your plate, this episode gives you the blueprint.

You’ll walk away with 3 actionable steps:

Volunteers don’t just give their time, they can give you reach, donors, and momentum. Equip them, encourage them, elevate them, and watch your fundraising grow.

How often do you contact your volunteers? Not just when you need them—but to thank them, encourage them, and invite them deeper into your mission? Most nonprofits are great at recruitment—but terrible at retention. They treat volunteers like gig workers, people who clock in, do a task, and leave.

In this episode of The Million Dollar Nonprofit, Tom Kelly shares how recurring volunteer outreach can change everything. You’ll learn to set up a consistent, warm cadence of communication that keeps volunteers feeling valued, without making you sound robotic.

The 3-step framework—Rhythm, Relate, Repeat—helps you build a system that engages volunteers at the right frequency, personalizes messages at scale using AI, and automates sequences so outreach happens seamlessly. Tom walks you through creating a 12-month volunteer communication calendar, crafting emails with personalization tokens, and building recurring sequences that drip gratitude, storytelling, invitations, and feedback requests—all automatically.

You’ll also hear a real example of a community theater that automated quarterly outreach, boosted volunteer retention by 37%, and converted several volunteers into donors. This episode gives you the tools and prompts you need to keep volunteers connected, appreciated, and engaged year-round.

Whether you’re managing a small team or hundreds of volunteers, this system helps you nurture relationships, increase retention, and turn helpers into long-term champions—all while saving time and energy.

Tired of chasing down volunteers with endless reminder emails, last-minute shift swaps, and chaotic spreadsheets? You’re not alone. Most nonprofit leaders spend way too much time coordinating volunteers—and it doesn’t have to be that way.

In this episode of The Million Dollar Nonprofit, Tom Kelly shows you how to build the easiest volunteer coordination system ever, using nothing more than AI + Google Calendar. No fancy software, no steep learning curve—just a simple system that runs on autopilot.

You’ll learn the 3-step framework—Schedule, Sync, Support—to move your volunteer coordination out of chaos and into clarity. Tom covers how to set up color-coded calendars, automate reminders via email and SMS, and even use AI to handle last-minute cancellations by suggesting replacements.

You’ll also hear a real-world example of a food bank that used this system to boost attendance by 26% and cut staff coordination time in half. By the end, you’ll have a roadmap for freeing up your time, reducing stress, and giving volunteers the clear communication they need to show up ready.

Whether you’re running a gala, managing weekly shifts, or coordinating hundreds of volunteers, this system will help you simplify scheduling, improve reliability, and keep everyone on the same page—automatically.

Most nonprofits think of volunteers as helping hands—but the smartest leaders see them as something more. Volunteers are not just free labor; they’re future donors, champions, and even board members. The question is: how do you move people from “I’ll help for an hour” to “I’m all in for the mission”?

In this episode of The Million Dollar Nonprofit, Tom Kelly introduces the Volunteer Loyalty Ladder, a simple three-step system—Welcome, Wow, Win—that transforms one-time helpers into lifelong supporters. You’ll learn how to roll out the red carpet for new volunteers, create experiences that “wow” them and keep them coming back, and invite them into deeper commitment when the time is right.

Tom shares practical examples, including an animal rescue that used this exact system to turn 22% of its volunteers into financial donors within a year. You’ll also discover how to automate welcome sequences, create low-cost wow moments, and craft the perfect “ask” that moves loyal volunteers into monthly giving, committees, or leadership roles.

By the end of this episode, you’ll have a clear roadmap for turning volunteers into champions who don’t just give their time, but also their treasure—and fuel your nonprofit’s long-term growth.

If you’ve ever found yourself training the same volunteer on the same task for the tenth time, you know how exhausting and inefficient it can be. Not only does it drain your time, but it also slows down your events and leaves volunteers confused. The good news? Volunteer training doesn’t have to be manual. With the right tools, you can automate it once and use it forever.

In this episode of The Million Dollar Nonprofit, Tom Kelly reveals how to automate volunteer training using ChatGPT and Loom so every volunteer gets clear, consistent instructions—without you repeating yourself. You’ll learn a simple three-step framework: Script, Show, Send. First, let AI write step-by-step training scripts for your key volunteer roles. Then, record short training videos with Loom that bring those scripts to life. Finally, automate delivery through your CRM so every new volunteer instantly receives the exact training they need.

Tom also shares a real-world example of a school PTO that used this system for their silent auction. In past years, volunteers were left guessing what to do. But once they automated training with ChatGPT and Loom, check-in took half the time, checkout was error-free, and volunteers called it the smoothest event they’d ever helped with.

By the end of this episode, you’ll know how to stop training 100 times, and instead, train once—then let automation do the heavy lifting. Because when volunteers feel prepared and confident, your events run smoother, your stress level drops, and your mission gets a major boost.