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Nonprofit budgeting beyond the annual budget starts with a surprising shift: stop treating the numbers as a deadline and start using them to guide decisions! Peyton Burch of Martus Solutions and John Tiso of JMT Consulting explore how shared ownership, stronger revenue assumptions, and ongoing forecasting can turn budget season into a leadership advantage.

“We don’t have the budget!!!.” Conversation over. Idea shelved. Everyone back to their spreadsheets.

But what if that familiar response is hiding the problem your nonprofit actually needs to solve?

Peyton and John challenge the annual scramble to produce a budget, secure approval, and move on. Their conversation connects nonprofit financial planning to the decisions leaders make every day: hiring staff, funding programs, responding to revenue changes, and keeping the board informed.

As John puts it, “The budget is a mirror of the organization and the team and the processes and the systems.” When the numbers stop working, the underlying issue may be communication, data quality, or assumptions that nobody has revisited.

The duo explain why revenue forecasting deserves closer attention, how financial literacy strengthens department-level participation, and why reforecasting should become a normal response to changing conditions. They also explore the cultural shift that happens when program managers understand how their decisions contribute to organization-wide financial goals.

Peyton offers a memorable priority: “So the time needs to be spent in conversations and being strategic, not in building a budget spreadsheet.”

There’s a milestone, too! Peyton announces that Martus has reached 1,000 customers using Sage accounting platforms, including 600 added over the previous three years, with JMT closing the 1,000th deal.

Watch the full discussion for a fresh perspective on collaborative nonprofit budgeting, and bring this conversation to the people who build, approve, and work within your financial plan.

Key Takeaways:

- Test revenue assumptions; accurate expense estimates cannot compensate for unreliable income projections.

- Make budget ownership a leadership responsibility shared across finance and program teams.

- Build financial literacy so department managers understand the consequences of their assumptions.

- Communicate funding and expense changes immediately, then reforecast as needed.

- Reduce spreadsheet maintenance to create more time for analysis, collaboration, and mission decisions.

00:00:00 Stop Blaming the Nonprofit Budget
00:01:47 Budgeting, Reporting, and Financial Planning
00:04:16 Martus Announces 1,000 Sage Customers
00:07:26 Turn Financial Technology Changes Into Growth
00:11:24 Why Budgets Fail: Revenue Assumptions and Ownership
00:14:16 Move Beyond the Once-a-Year Budget
00:15:48 Financial Literacy and Department Participation
00:17:06 Build a Culture of Collaborative Budgeting
00:19:39 Structure the Budget Process Into Manageable Steps
00:22:10 Connect Leadership, Finance, and Program Goals
00:24:02 Shared Assumptions, Trust, and Strategic Conversations
00:26:55 Communicate Changes and Reforecast Promptly

#TheNonprofitShow #NonprofitBudgeting

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A donor offers land. Wonderful! Then comes a condition: your nonprofit must farm it for the next 50 years! Suddenly, “thank you” needs a little company . . .

Planned giving legal support for nonprofits can help turn complex donations into gifts your team is prepared to accept. Jamie Holzer White joined us to explore noncash gifts, donor confidence, and why bringing an attorney in early can keep generosity moving.

Jamie, J.D., LL.M., Vice President of Legal Services at Crescendo Interactive, explains how legal expertise can help fundraising teams identify obligations, shape realistic expectations, and protect relationships before a promising gift gets tangled in surprises. When should counsel join the conversation? “And my answer is always early.”

The opportunity extends well beyond cash. Jamie estimates that probably 90% of the gifts she encounters are noncash, with examples ranging from publicly traded securities and business interests to cryptocurrency and farming equipment. She also references Dr. Russell James’s research linking consistent securities giving with roughly six times the contribution growth of cash-only fundraising.

But opportunity needs an operating system. Gift acceptance policies should help staff understand which assets the organization accepts, who approves them, what due diligence is required, and how receipt and liquidation work. Jamie recommends reviewing policies at least annually, with more frequent reviews where changing assets warrant attention.

The conversation also explores independent donor counsel, concerns about paying donors’ legal fees, and ways local planned giving councils may connect nonprofits with legal expertise. Separate attorneys can support a shared goal: “They complement each other, but there are different interests that are being represented on both sides of the table.”

Watch to discover how stronger preparation can help your team welcome generosity with confidence, and give the “Department of No” a more productive assignment.

Key Takeaways:

- Involve qualified counsel before donor expectations harden.

- Define approvals, due diligence, and handling procedures for noncash gifts.

- Preserve separate representation for donor and nonprofit interests.

- Review gift acceptance policies annually; update sooner when needed.

- Train staff and board members to communicate the gift process confidently.

- Explore planned giving councils for legal connections and possible pro bono support.

00:00:00 Planned Giving: Who Belongs on Your Team?
00:02:19 Legal and Tax Expertise in Gift Planning
00:04:00 How Legal Support Helps Shape Complex Gifts
00:05:25 Major Gifts Beyond Cash
00:07:03 Noncash Gifts and Fundraising Growth
00:08:55 When to Bring an Attorney into the Conversation
00:11:49 Legal Costs, Donor Capacity, and Unhappy Heirs
00:13:24 Who Pays for the Donor’s Attorney?
00:16:33 Gift Acceptance Policies That Build Confidence
00:19:44 Policy Reviews and Team Training
00:22:21 Separate Attorneys, Shared Giving Goals
00:23:12 Finding Legal Support and Building Capacity

#TheNonprofitShow #PlannedGiving #NonprofitFundraising

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Managing multigenerational nonprofit teams takes more than a shared mission. Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z bring different experiences to nonprofit leadership, fundraising, and daily operations. But assuming someone’s age tells you how they communicate (or whether they embrace technology) can send your management strategy sideways before the meeting even starts!

Our Co-hosts, Tim Sarrantonio and Julia Patrick, explore how communication standards, clear decision ownership, and better feedback help four generations work together without turning every difference into a workplace showdown.

The conversation gets wonderfully specific with a fish tank. Tim explains RACI—Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed—through his family’s fish-feeding responsibilities. Multiple people can perform tasks, but one person remains accountable for the outcome. Translate that to a campaign, board meeting, or finance deliverable, and suddenly “I thought somebody else had it” becomes much harder to hide behind.

As Tim puts it: “And then once people understand the rules of communication, I think a lot of the friction goes away.”

Julia shares a leadership approach that gives employees room to think: bring two or three possible solutions, then work through them together if support is needed. Tim also challenges overreliance on feedback scores and makes the case for listening long enough to hear what people actually mean.

Their discussion connects staff retention, leadership access, and hybrid work to a fundamental human need. Tim points to the most important question: “I've worked for people younger than me, older than me, and really it comes down to, do you see me?”

Key Takeaways:

- Define communication channels before preferences become organizational friction.

- Use RACI to distinguish task responsibility from final accountability.

- Help employees make decisions by requesting two or three proposed solutions.

- Combine feedback measures with conversation, observation, and patient listening.

- Make leadership accessible while keeping decision authority clear.

- Approach hybrid work through team needs and individual circumstances.

00:00:00 Four Generations, One Nonprofit Mission
00:01:29 Learning Across Generations Through Play
00:02:27 Generational Labels and Shared Experiences
00:04:44 Why Workplace Stereotypes Get in the Way
00:09:25 Set Communication Standards Before Friction Builds
00:12:34 RACI: Who Does the Work, Who Owns the Outcome?
00:15:50 Finding the Right Balance of Team Feedback
00:17:47 Beyond Feedback Scores: Listen and Observe
00:19:41 Help Employees Feel Safe Making Decisions
00:23:20 Give Teams a Place to Practice and Experiment
00:24:21 Staff Retention, Leadership Access, and Authority
00:26:12 Hybrid Work: Balancing Flexibility and Connection

#TheNonprofitShow #NonprofitLeadership #NonprofitTeamManagement

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Funding women of color-led nonprofits in the South means looking closely at who receives philanthropic investment, and who keeps being overlooked. Carmen James Randolph of the Women’s Foundation of the South shares how funding, leadership support, and regional collaboration can build health, wealth, and power for women, girls, and gender-expansive people of color.

These leaders are holding communities together. Is philanthropy giving them the resources to keep going and grow?

Carmen explores the relationship between Southern generosity and unequal access to funding. Drawing on 28 years in philanthropy, she describes how racism, patriarchy, and judgments about “worthiness” can influence which organizations receive support.

She also shares accounts from nonprofit leaders whose work appeared in funding proposals without resources reaching their organizations. For grantmakers, fundraisers, and boards, that raises a business question: are funding relationships strengthening the organizations doing the work?

WFS approaches that challenge as a regional public foundation that raises and invests money, connecting donors with community organizations across the South.

Leadership support is part of that investment. After opening in August 2021 and encountering Hurricane Ida within 30 days, WFS changed its approach to engaging exhausted nonprofit leaders. Care and connection came before another listening session.

“What would freedom look like for you in your work?” Carmen recalls asking participants at a two-and-a-half-day retreat.

Their responses helped shape WŌC @ Rest and ongoing capacity support. Carmen reports reaching 131 leaders across six states, with support addressing succession planning, effective teams, boards through crisis, messaging, and branding.

“We have to think more collaboratively and understand that we’re all in this together,” she says.

Watch to discover how regional relationships, more inclusive funding decisions, and investment in women of color leaders can strengthen nonprofit operations and community outcomes. Learn more about WFS at https://womensfoundationsouth.org.

Key Takeaways:

- Examine how funding criteria can overlook women of color-led organizations.

- Ask foundation partners whom they fund—and whom they cannot fund.

- Build capacity support around needs identified by nonprofit leaders.

- Treat rest and peer connection as investments in leadership.

- Align personnel policies with the values your organization promotes.

- Connect leaders across states to exchange strategies and resources.

00:00:00 Regional Philanthropy and Community Change
00:01:52 Building Health, Wealth, and Power in the South
00:03:10 Why a Regional Foundation for Women of Color
00:05:40 Connecting Donors and Community Organizations
00:06:20 Building Organizational Values Into Personnel Policies
00:07:56 Hurricane Ida Changes WFS’s Approach
00:09:34 Rest and Connection as Leadership Investments
00:11:08 Capacity Support for 131 Leaders Across Six States
00:13:28 Generosity, Race, and “Worthiness” in Southern Philanthropy
00:17:30 Underinvestment in Women and Girls of Color
00:20:00 Shared Benefits, Donor Narratives, and Family Leave
00:27:02 Finding Overlooked Grantees and Following Through

#TheNonprofitShow #WomenOfColor #Philanthropy

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How can you improve the year-end donor experience before the giving rush begins? Bloomerang Chief Marketing Officer Ann Fellman showed us where a donor’s path to giving can get difficult and what to do after the gift arrives!

This Nonprofit Power Week finale follows the donor journey from campaign message to donation page to the first welcome. Ann asks teams to walk through their website and giving process with fresh eyes: Can a first-time visitor quickly understand what the organization does, where a gift goes, and what difference it makes? Does a recurring donor have an equally clear path?

Then comes the thumb test. Pick up your phone, scan the QR code on a direct-mail appeal, and try to give one-handed. Tiny text, unexpected steps, or a difficult form can turn an interested donor’s moment of generosity into a frustrating errand.

A small team does not need to rebuild everything before December 31. Ann recommends choosing one or two improvements with the greatest effect on the donation experience. As she puts it, “Pick one thing to do it and do it really well.”

The work continues after someone clicks submit. Ann describes a young event attendee who made a $25 gift partly to see how the organization would thank her; she had more to give, but wanted to experience its response first. The lesson for fundraising teams is to plan the welcome, impact update, and next contact for every new donor, whether the first gift is $10 or $25.

Ann also explains why a recognizable look, voice, and message should carry from direct mail and email through to the donation page. Donors may encounter only a few pieces of a campaign. Each one should help them know they are in the right place.

Watch for a focused way to strengthen this giving season—and build the relationship that carries into the next.

Key Takeaways

- Test the full giving path as both a new and a recurring donor.

- Use a phone and one thumb to check QR codes and donation forms.

- Fix the one or two points most likely to stop a completed gift.

- Segment messages around whom you want to reach and what they need to hear.

- Plan the thank-you, impact update, and next contact before gifts arrive.

- Keep campaign identity consistent across mail, email, ads, and landing pages.

00:00:00 Nonprofit Power Week finale
00:01:47 Ann Fellman on sharing sector knowledge
00:04:39 Why the giving season needs an after-gift plan
00:08:24 Test the donor journey before year end
00:10:07 Try the one-thumb donation test
00:11:56 Choose the fixes with the greatest donor impact
00:13:54 Segment messages before building the campaign
00:14:53 What a $25 gift can reveal about your welcome
00:18:10 Keep campaigns recognizable to donors
00:20:33 Connect mail, email, ads, and donation pages
00:23:28 Do one or two things well

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How do you retain first-time donors after their first gift? An event can take months to produce. The room responds, new supporters give, and the team celebrates. That moment deserves celebration, but the donor journey has barely begun! . . . .“It’s just starting.”

During Day 4 of Nonprofit Power Week with Bloomerang, James Goalder examines the follow-up, engagement, and measurement that keep a promising donor relationship moving.

So what happens next? James urges nonprofits to send thanks quickly and address donors personally. He recalls donating $25 to more than 1,000 organizations as an experiment, then receiving correspondence addressed to “Dear Donor” or “Dear Friend.” A timely acknowledgment can still feel impersonal when the organization fails to use what it knows about the person who gave.

He also challenges teams to offer engagement beyond another message. A tour or volunteer experience, where appropriate, lets supporters see the work behind the numbers they heard at an event. Those visits can deepen understanding and reveal interests that a donation record alone cannot show.

When it is time for another conversation, James recommends looking across giving history, event participation, volunteering, capacity, and interest. That fuller picture can help a fundraiser decide whether a recurring gift or a larger individual ask fits the donor.

Finally, James put donor retention rate on the leadership agenda. James shares cost estimates he has heard: about $1.30 to raise $1 from a new donor, compared with about 25 cents to raise $1 from an existing donor. He also recalls that only about 20% of a roughly 100-person conference audience knew their current retention rate. His point is direct: “If you’re not measuring it, you’re not going to pay attention to it.”

Key Takeaways:

Treat the first gift as the start of a managed relationship.

Send prompt acknowledgments that use the donor’s name.

Offer tours or volunteer experiences when the mission permits.

Use participation and giving data to shape the next conversation.

Track donor retention rate and discuss it with leadership and the board.

Examine recurring giving alongside major-gift opportunities.

00:00:00 Nonprofit Power Week: From First Gift to Retention
00:01:51 Why the First Gift Starts the Relationship
00:04:08 How Quickly Should You Thank a Donor?
00:05:28 The Cost of “Dear Donor”
00:08:48 What Meaningful Donor Engagement Looks Like
00:10:32 Tours and Volunteering After an Event
00:17:38 Using Donor Data to Plan the Next Ask
00:22:34 Why Leaders Should Measure Retention
00:26:27 Growth Opportunities Among Existing Donors

#DonorRetention #NonprofitFundraising #TheNonprofitShow

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How can nonprofits improve donation conversion without losing sight of the donor relationship? During Day 3 of Nonprofit Power Week with Bloomerang, Kirsten Wantland examined what happens when someone is ready to give . . and what can still get in the way!

Kirsten starts with a deceptively simple move: record how each donation came in. A supporter who has given digitally seven times may respond differently to a direct mail appeal than someone who regularly returns a mailed gift. That history can guide segmentation and help a team decide where a more costly channel deserves its budget. If your records are incomplete, Kirsten says you can begin tracking today and learn as the data builds.

Then comes the ask itself. Donors can better picture their contribution when an appeal connects an amount to a clear purpose. Kirsten discusses giving ladders with examples at $50, $75, and $200 . . .and why descriptions beside those amounts matter more than a list of numbers alone. Specificity can reveal which part of the mission first draws a donor in. Over time, fundraisers can introduce that supporter to the organization’s broader work, including opportunities to provide unrestricted support.

“The best thing you can do as a fundraiser is reduce the friction,” Kirsten says. The conversation turns to online donation forms, unnecessary decisions, payment options, and the steps that can interrupt a gift after a donor has decided to make it.

The episode wraps with trust between appeals. Kirsten recommends showing donors what their support accomplished and making “kindness deposits” through updates and recognition. If the only message a supporter receives is another request for money, the organization misses a chance to build a lasting partnership.

Key Takeaways:

Record each gift’s channel so future appeals can reflect observed donor behavior.

Start tracking now if historical records are incomplete.

Connect suggested gift amounts to specific outcomes donors can understand.

Use interest in a particular program as an entry point to a broader relationship.

Review donation forms for extra decisions and steps that could interrupt completion.

Report impact and recognize donor milestones between fundraising asks.

00:00:00 The Ask: Making It Easier to Say Yes
00:01:45 Track How Donors Choose to Give
00:02:47 Segment Appeals by Giving Channel
00:06:05 What If You Haven’t Tracked Gift Sources?
00:08:23 Make the Impact of Each Gift Specific
00:12:37 Specific Asks and Unrestricted Support
00:16:24 Remove Friction from Donation Forms
00:18:45 Give Donors an Easier Way to Pay
00:22:43 Earn Trust and Show the Receipts
00:24:23 Make Kindness Deposits Between Asks
00:26:05 Invite Donors to Participate

#TheNonprofitShow #NonprofitPowerWeek #NonprofitFundraising

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How do you build donor trust online when supporters can research your nonprofit through websites, rating platforms, social media, and AI?

On Day Two of Nonprofit Power Week, Katie Gaston, Director of Product Marketing at Bloomerang, explains how credibility, emotion, and evidence can turn donor consideration into confident action.

Katie identifies two very different donor mindsets. One donor feels moved and wants to give immediately. That person needs a fast, friction-free path involving QR codes, mobile payments, and simple donation forms. The second donor studies the organization, reviews its leadership, examines its results, and compares outside sources before making a commitment. Serving both requires more than a compelling mission statement.

Katie uses the classic modes of persuasion (ethos, pathos, and logos) to create a clear nonprofit trust strategy. Ethos establishes character and credibility. Pathos connects through emotion and human stories. Logos supplies the numbers and measurable results that support the organization’s claims. “Trust really comes from showing with evidence, not just telling a donor why they should give,” Katie explains.

The conversion data makes this an operational issue. According to M+R Benchmarks, fewer than one in 50 website visitors completes a donation. Research cited during the conversation also indicates that impact messaging on a donation form can increase conversion by as much as 25%, while a visible security indicator can increase conversion by as much as 126%.

Katie, and host Julia C. Patrick, also explore how inconsistent messaging and mass-produced AI content can weaken authenticity. Donors are already asking AI platforms about nonprofits, making it important to test what those platforms say, examine their sources, and ensure the organization’s website communicates a consistent story.

Key Takeaways:

Design separate pathways for immediate givers and research-oriented donors.

Answer three website questions quickly: What do you do, why does it matter, and how can I help?

Combine organizational credibility, emotional storytelling, and measurable results.

Add impact messaging and visible security signals to donation pages.

Test the website with people outside the organization instead of relying on internal assumptions.

Ask AI platforms about your nonprofit and examine which sources shape their answers.

00:00:00 The Nonprofit Trust Test
00:02:19 Two Very Different Types of Donors
00:06:08 Ethos, Pathos, and Logos in Fundraising
00:09:40 Three Questions Every Nonprofit Website Must Answer
00:10:36 Why Most Website Visitors Never Donate
00:11:11 Donation Page Changes That Lift Conversion
00:14:10 Consistency Builds Organizational Trust
00:16:34 When AI Content Weakens Authenticity
00:19:39 Communicating Trust Without Saying “Trust Us”
00:21:26 Test Your Website Instead of Assuming
00:23:45 What AI Is Telling Donors About Your Nonprofit
00:26:21 The Three-Part Trust Framework

#DonorTrust #NonprofitFundraising #TheNonprofitShow

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