When you’re looking for your next fundraising position, how do you evaluate which opportunities are most aligned with your professional goals? What questions should you ask in your conversations with hiring managers to learn more about their culture and evaluate whether the role is a good fit? In this podcast episode, Karen and Matt are joined by special guest Paul Towne, VP of Executive Search with Cooper Coleman. As a search consultant who works exclusively with non-profit and social impact organizations, Paul has extensive knowledge about how to interview for the right roles and identify which opportunities will be the best fit for you.

Welcome to January! In these first weeks of the year, you’re likely still finishing out the year-end season, thanking donors for gifts received, and assessing your performance compared to your goals. At the same time, you’re working on communication plans and strategies for the year ahead. In this episode, Theresa Tapocsi and Edie Dahlen, two of our Client Experience Leaders, join Jeff to discuss what fundraisers and leaders need to know right now while you’re wrapping up from year-end and getting started on your top priorities in 2024.

One of the most common complaints we hear from passionate fundraisers is that they don’t feel supported by their managers. Even though fundraisers leave organizations because of this, management skills continue to be undervalued in the non-profit space. In today’s episode, Karen and Jeff talk through some of the obstacles that may be holding you back as a leader for your fundraising team, and how you can take steps to turn things around. For anyone managing a team of frontline fundraisers, we hope you’ll tune in to this episode for strategies to help you be the kind of manager who inspires your team to do their best work.

In this episode, Jeff and Diana interview two members of the team at the American Brain Foundation (ABF) – Jane Ransom, Executive Director, and Lisa Dahlberg, Philanthropic Advisor – to learn how they responded to an unexpected – and anonymous – $100,000 gift. Their efforts to connect with this donor ultimately led to a multi-million-dollar commitment for ABF. Listen in to learn how a transformational gift like this is possible for your organization.

When you have a healthy donor pipeline, there will come a time when you need to transition a donor relationship to another gift officer. It’s important that you have protocols in place so that the transition feels seamless to the donor. On this episode, Karen Kendrick speaks with Diana Frazier, Senior Client Experience Leader, and Kara Ansotegui, Director of Client Engagement Services, about their top tips for how you can meaningfully transition a donor relationship in a way that honors the donor and strengthens their connection to your organization.

When moves management was first introduced as a strategy to help fundraisers manage their caseloads, it was a step forward in putting some much-needed structure around the donor pipeline. But now, some non-profits have taken the idea too far by creating metrics that have caused fundraisers to forget about how actual relationships work. In this podcast episode, Richard and Jeff share an alternative approach to caseload management that will allow you to move your focus back to your donor.