Back-to-Basics continues this week with the topic with diving into the ultimate realization of playing the long game: Planned Giving. Planned giving is the convergence of some of our favorite topics - value alignment, having meaningful conversations and telling incredible stories of quite possibly our most rabid fans. We discuss a starting point, Pro Tips and even provide a glossary of terms for those words you've never been brave enough to ask about in a staff meeting. If we can do it, so can you.

Meet Jenna and Nancy. When you meet two brilliant disruptors who are incredible teachers, good humans and have a heck of a fun time doing it all, it makes you want to come over and join their table - stat! They're chatting through how to remove that icky feeling from asking for money, and these native Kansans are doing it with authenticity and joy. If you're looking to shore up your training and confidence for more solicitations this year, then this episode is for you.

We kicked off our new Friday series Back to Basics last week focusing on Annual Giving...but naturally we added a We Are For Good arc on how build upon the basics. This week we're diving in the science AND art of major giving ❤️ We'll talk strategy, structures, examples and infuse that We Are For Good arc into this conversation too. Tune in Friday for Basic to Basics: Major Gifts.

Meet Eric. This musician chased his passion for doing good, telling a compelling story and weaving it all together through brilliant creative into building Cosmic, a Social Impact Creative Agency. He's talking us through how to build a Digital Media Platform to promote your cause and stepping us through the Engagement Pyramid. He's also talking through vision statements, and we're trying not to maintain our composure and refrain from drooling all over Cosmic's heart-stirring manifesto. If you're looking for an incredible digital storytelling episode, this one is your jam.

Meet Cameron. This digital marketer and fundraiser helps hundreds of charities fundraise more by creating journeys that guide donors from their first interaction to becoming lifelong advocates. And the answer isn't a complicated one. It's threaded through an intentional donor journey. Cameron believes too many people neglect the power of capturing an email and using it the right way to build this journey. So he's helping us map one out to get started. His personal story of philanthropy is reason enough to tune in 🎧

Meet Birgit. She's our modern-day Renaissance woman in philanthropy. As founder of the African American Development Officers Network, Chair-Elect of Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Global and executive director of foundation relations for Georgia Institute of Technology, she's a triple threat in the development sector - in the best way! We're talking about the power of diversifying the talent pipeline in philanthropy and why "inclusion" should be a word we're all fighting to embrace and infuse as evergreen values in our organizations.

Meet Vik. The charity: water co-creator may be the queen of branding, but her other superpower may just be found in galvanizing community for good. And she's going to change everything about the way you think about monthly donors. And when you’ve built a movement of rabid fans who collectively infuse more than $20 million a year via this methodology, you’ve got the chops to preach. We're talking about the starving mindset so many are employing in the nonprofit sector and how to break out of it with this awesome mama, creative genius and simply a really good human.

Meet Kyson. This gritty optimist got his start in social good when he co-founded a startup aimed at tackling Malawi's illegal charcoal trade.Today, he and the Philanthropy Together team are working to empower us all with the knowledge of giving circles to build powerful communities for good. There are many in our sector who aren’t familiar with Giving Circles 🙋‍♀️🙋‍♂️ Tune in as we dive into this powerful community-building strategy. Kyson also throws down some wise counsel on democratizing and diversifying philanthropy through giving circles and collective giving. If you have passionate ambassadors, volunteers or rabid fans - this episode is for you.

Join us as we celebrate 100 podcast episodes! 😍🎉🤩✨😁 Jon and Becky share their biggest lessons learned over the last 100 episodes, and the transformational power of community. With each connection we make, the world has gotten smaller and our dreams have gotten bigger. Tune in for a sneak peek at an exciting project we've been working on! We're so grateful you're here, friends.

Meet Kiersten. She's a force for compassion as the founder and publisher of Philanthropy Women and through her clinical social work. Her passion and knowledge on justice and equity run deep, and she loves sharing stories about women donors and their allies who are advancing social change. We're talking 2021 women giving trends and discussing the intersection of philanthropy and gender equity. It rocked our world, and we know you'll get a lot out of it too.

We finished unpacking 10 steps to make your website irresistible to donors in last Friday's episode, and there were some serious questions and interest around creating a freebie and welcome series from our attendees. So we decided to break it down for those who might be stuck. You might be asking, "Well, I got their email address. Now what?" No worries, friends. We got you👊 Join us as we outline how to create an irresistible freebie then breakdown how to employ a drip email welcome series to engage your donors from the beginning. And do it genuinely and with heart. Let's do this!

Meet Julie. She's a change agent, a challenger, a bonafide fundraiser, and a risk-taker. aka: she's clearly our people. The former top 1% performer of the United Way of Greater Los Angeles is now a nonprofit coach, and she's here to talk about the grit and courage needed to ask for major gifts. We're talking about how to Change What You Believe, Change How You Fundraise, and Change the Size of Your Impact. Our minds were blown. Tune in!

Meet Mike. You're about to meet one of the world's most kind, giving CEOs. When your company's mission statement is "we exist to give generously," you know everything that comes afterward is going to come from a pure place. We're sitting down for a founder's story about a socially good company that's turning the water bottle industry on its head, and each measure of success is getting poured back into incredible philanthropic missions. It's a thought-provoking discussion about doing business differently.

Our websites are the front door of our organizations, but how much effort and time are we spending optimizing them for our donors to fall more in love with our mission and make a gift? In today's world - you can't afford not to make your website irresistible to your donors.

In our second week of our two part series, we're completing the final five quick steps to take your website through a super fast refresher to seriously boost your traffic and online donations. Join us as we talk about selecting the right visuals, creating a welcome series and explore how to gather feedback. Even better, we’re going to unpack this course alongside our buddy Dana Snyder at Positive Equation in a FREE online challenge that started this week, so tune in!

Meet Nathan. As one of the world's foremost experts on the intersection between Artificial Intelligence and philanthropy, we're diving into the future of fundraising and how A.I. is less scary than we think. In fact, it could be simply brilliant. Join us as we visit with this expert who's leveraging A.I. already to help inspire a worldwide increase in generosity.

Meet Angela. When you meet someone with a Harvard PhD in Education Leadership, you settle in because you know innovation and genius are going to collide. And yes it did! We're talking to Dr. Jackson about venture philanthropy (what is it?) and exploring how we can leverage our missions to breakthrough to social entrepreneurs. It's a fascinating discussion about developing innovative technical solutions to help missions partner with big dreamers.

Our websites are the front door of our organizations, but how much effort and time are we spending optimizing them for our donors to fall more in love with our mission and make a gift? In today's world - you can't afford not to make your website irresistible to your donors.

Over the next two weeks we are walking you through 10 quick steps to take your website from 'wah-wah-wah' to 'WOW!' and set you up to raise more money online. Spoiler: it’s not rocket science. But little shifts can make a big difference. Even better, we’re going to unpack this course alongside our buddy Dana Snyder at Positive Equation in a FREE online challenge next month, so tune in for details and scroll down to the Freebies section for all the links!

Meet JD. This serial entrepreneur and big-hearted founder stumbled into founding his company, ThankView, during an attempt to make writing his wedding thank you notes more enjoyable. Today, the sincere personalized video company helps 1,500 nonprofits say thank you through the creative use of video. And as you can imagine, the stories that come with them are incredible. We're talking the power of thank you, and you'll come to see how big JD's heart is and why he's one of our favorite people.

Meet Alphonsine. She may be the world's bravest sister. During the 1994 Rwandan genocide, her parents and two siblings were killed in the conflict leaving her to raise three younger siblings under the age of 10. It's a harrowing story of survival, chasing educational dreams and eventually landing her dream job at Cisco. Today, she's talking about paying her good fortune forward through a new nonprofit benefiting Rwandan children, and she's even brought a board member into the discussion. Love and hope reign supreme in this chat.

Getting clear-eyed and full-hearted toward a mission and vision holds the power to fuel your work, gives clarity of when to say "heck yes" and provides an out when you need to give something a hard pass too.

You've likely heard in our podcast intro that our vision is "to create an impact uprising"... but what the heck does that mean anyway? The answer just might surprise you - even if you are a ridiculous idealist, like us.

In this Friday Convo, Jon and Becky give a peek behind the curtain of what's motivating us to show up and cultivate community here, and what's to come on the horizon. You better believe we have a seat ready for you at this table. Won't you join us?