Missions to Movements
Missions to Movements is the nonprofit marketing and fundraising podcast that helps you grow recurring donors, scale monthly giving programs, and build digital campaigns that convert.
Hosted by Dana Snyder—speaker, strategist, and founder of Positive Equation—this show is packed with actionable nonprofit growth strategies, social media tips, and fundraising best practices.
Each week, you’ll hear how organizations are increasing donor retention, building thought leadership, and using digital fundraising to drive real impact. If you want to learn how to attract monthly donors, master nonprofit marketing, and transform your mission into a movement, this podcast is for you.
Missions to Movements
IMPOSSIBLE > Reasonable Goals: What IF Thinking 10x Can Clarify What Matters Most?
How can a 10X mindset replace incremental goals with focused, brave action that scales monthly giving and clarifies what to stop doing?
• 10X mindset versus incremental growth
• letting go of low-leverage work
• applying bold goals to monthly giving growth
• risk reframed as focus and resource questions
Resources Mentioned:
- Join the Sustainer Slack Group — completely free.
- The Mini Monthly Giving Mastermind + Retreat
- "10x Is Easier Than 2X" - By Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy
Message me on LinkedIn (Dana Snyder) or Instagram (@positivequation) to learn more.
Already have a monthly giving program? The Mini Monthly Giving Mastermind starts in January and is just for you.
Register now for the FREE Monthly Giving Summit on February 25-26th, the only virtual event where nonprofits unite to master monthly giving, attract committed believers, and fund the future with confidence.
Let's Connect!
- Send a DM on Instagram or LinkedIn and let us know what you think of the show!
- My book, The Monthly Giving Mastermind, is here! Grab a copy here and learn my framework to build, grow, and sustain subscriptions for good.
- Want to book Dana as a speaker for your event? Click here!
Hi there. Do you ever hear something or see something or read something that you just can't unhear, unread, unsee? And I am recording this live in the moment, very much off the cuff. There is no editing involved in this episode. This is me been listening to a couple podcasts, reading some books, having some conversations. That's all really accumulated into something that I shared in my email newsletter, the mastermind memo today. I am recording this as my in-laws are like 30 minutes down the road, I think, coming in for the weekend. And I just had to pop on the mic because sometimes things just are percolating inside you and you have to get them out. And I hope this helps somebody that's listening today. But I've been thinking a lot about the new year. I've been thinking a lot about our sector. I've been thinking a lot about the organizations I work with and capacity and in my own business as a solo entrepreneur. And I think I've gotten a lot of inquiries recently about we love your marketing. It's amazing what you do. Teach us how you do this. And I want to make sure that everybody understands it is me. I have a part-time like director director of operations and partnerships, hallelujah, cat. And we have a VA. And that's it. And I bring on additional contractors as needed. But I will say, before I brought Kat on two years ago, it was like just me, pretty much. And what a huge transformation that has happened. And I'm sure you can reflect on this if you have brought on additional team members to support you. But the premise that I kind of forgot about this year that made a monumental impact was over the summer when I read the book X is Easier Than 2X. So the premise is right, 10X growth. So let's say going from one to 10 million is actually easier than just one to two million. And when I first read it, I was like, yeah, okay, these are really smart guys talking about this premise. How is this actually possible? And what's so interesting was then I journaled and I shared about this in my in the newsletter, as I mentioned today. But I realized, oh my gosh, like I've been doing this. And maybe you feel this way too. Like you forget you've already 10x'd yourself. But in the new moment, when you're living in the present, it feels so audacious and so impossible to strive for the next 10x thing. But what I think I have been kind of craving that, I mean, this year has just unlocked, I think, a lot in me of wanting to try and really elevate as much education about monthly giving as possible and sustainable revenue. And so I've been really, really focused on how do I get this message and information to more organizations. And we are constantly told, and I've probably even been somebody who said this too, the the reasonable goal, just get like 10 more monthly donors, just get 2% more. But this concept of 10x has been percolating. And I love this quote that they share in the book. A 2x mindset is an extension of your past. A 10x mindset is a declaration about your future. Can I like rewind, pause, rewind, take that back? A 2x mindset is an extension of your past. A 10x mindset is a declaration about your future. And the only way to make your present better is to make your future bigger. If we only plan for the 2x, the 5%, the whatever it is, the nominal change difference, then we're only going to put the things in place to get there, to reach that. And not that that's not successful, but I'm in the audacious space. I'm in the wonder. I'm in the whimsy. I think whimsy is going to be my word of 2026. It's not forgetting the curious, the whimsy, the big, the audacious. And when I think about past me, so an extension of my past, and I've been in business next year is nine years. I had no email list. I had no podcast. I wasn't doing any speaking engagements. There was definitely no monthly giving summit. There was definitely no book. There was not even an inkling of any of those things happening. I didn't even dream that those types of things could happen. And then that's now like the present. Like those are, I've lived through those things. And so now the 10x, and I want you to just consider like, how does this, how is this relevant to like where you're sitting in right now? And I'm just sharing like this is literally spitballing with you right now. 10X thing, the Monthly Giving Summit itself was an idea of a 10X thing. We're going from 4,700 of a goal, which we achieved last year, to 7,000 registrants we hope for this year. So the tactics, the things that I'm doing to get to that number are different. I just, I am launching. This is I have never been heard before, um, except for in very, very, very small pockets of groups, but I am transforming my mastermind that I've signaturely ran, which is a very done-for-you program, building your monthly giving programs with you into a builder, a monthly giving builder web app experience. It's coming in February. It's going to be released during the Monthly Giving Summit. Surprise for those of you that are listening. But to get that out into the world, that has stretched me in so many ways. That is, that is going to be 10x growth. I just booked a booth at AFP icon, which like kind of scares the bejeebies out of me a little bit, but is also extremely exciting. And I love the idea of cultivating a really cool space in San Diego. So if you're going to be there, let me know in April. I am looking to just like partner in a brand new way to explore, I don't know, where I'm going to spend my time. We're hiring a part-time marketing person. Like it's scary. It is scary. It is risky to consider some of these things. But then what I love in the basically this book came back into mind. I read it in the summer when I was on a little trip to Anna Maria Island. It had me really thinking big then. And then I kind of forgot about it because life was lifing. And then I just listened to a podcast episode with Jasmine Starr and Amy Porterfield. They are big names in the entrepreneur space that I look up to a lot. And they had one of the authors, Benjamin, on the book. Doctor, I should say. Don't forget the doctor name. And one of his questions, or one of his statements, rather, it was kind of a statement and a question. Was he like to over inflate the losses and the risks? But how risky is it really? Is the worst thing that could happen. And and acknowledge those. And once those are out on the table, it's like, okay, okay. Yeah. That that feels doable. That feels worth testing. Because if we focus on the 10 X, it doesn't, it shouldn't add pressure. It's going to hyper focus you. It is hyper focusing me to what I'm saying yes to and what I'm saying no to. And it forces you to truly ask different questions about yourself. What no longer deserves your time? What resources would you need? Do you need to accomplish this? One of my favorite stories he shares in this podcast episode is this man who has a business where he's a property manager. So if you have an Airbnb property or half a dozen or however many, he comes in and he property manages those units for you. And he talks about how this guy said he managed, I'm, I'm not going to be accurate, but I think it was around 60 properties at the time. And their original goal, I think, was to get to 100 or something. And so they're like, what if you 10x'd it? And they ended up because of this new goal, he hired two new, two, and oh, oh, the goal also is to 10x it in 60 days. Like that also seems crazy, right? Seems crazy. But he hired two new salespeople, gave them this goal, asked what resources they needed, and they didn't fully get there, but they nearly achieved it. And the the past self would have been like, that's ridiculous. We would never have achieved this. But because they made the goal, they put that, they focused and they're able to put the right things in the place to make it happen. I'm gonna have Pai on from World Central Kitchen to talk about this, but this aligns so much with what just happened with them, I feel like. So World Central Kitchen had this amazing, this big audacious, that's called a big hairy, audacious goal, a B Hag. If you've never heard that term before, for Giving Tuesday, which was 20,000 new monthly donors. We've given to them before. So we've received this email with this goal that they had. I caught up with Paige after the fact. Did they hit that goal? No. But what did happen for the first time ever, they activated around monthly giving on Giving Tuesday. And the results were still wildly incredible. Millions in new annual recurring revenue, thousands of first, like first-time supporters joining the kitchen course. Also, when they released their name of their monthly giving program, it focuses you, it rallies the team, it gives direction. So here is my question for you. And this is again, I've just been like in my own head a little bit thinking about this and how it relates to my business, but also my clients. I've been going back to people who attended the monthly giving retreat this year and the goals that they had set and where people where they stand on accomplishing those. If you aimed for 10x instead of 10%, what would you remove? What would you let go of? What would you focus on? What would be possible? What would need to happen? And is that actually so outlandish, right? Like, is that actually so impossible or not? Because it's gonna happen. If you set it out there, and it might not be the total, like full amount or the complete 10x, let's just say it's 8x, still, I mean, not dang. That's incredible. It's how do we continuously 10x ourselves? And I've just been really motivated and inspired by that message recently. And I hope this inspires you in a way wherever you are today and thinking about it. I'd love to hear from you. I'd love to hear from you on how this resonates, how this hits with the season that you're in and the planning that you're in as we're all talking to our boards and we're making decisions with our teams. You can always message me on LinkedIn, just Dana Snyder. You can send me an Instagram DM, positive equation with one E, and reach out and let me know. The biggest way that I am hoping to channel this and in support of the nonprofits, like, and if this is you, if you are down, if you want this accountability and support, the sustain our Slack channel I mentioned um a couple episodes ago is completely free. It is completely free. Join it. There is now 300 people in there, which is incredible, all focused on growing their monthly giving program. And let's think with this 10X and encourage each other with this 10X mentality. And then second is the mini mastermind I put together. I just announced today the retreat location. It's in Sarambi. Kat and I went there and had our offsite uh last week. It's just about 25 minutes south of the Atlanta airport in Chattahoochee Hills. It's this beautiful countryside with horses roaming around and these super cool, like little communities that's been built around, and there's an inn and the food, like when I tell you the this sounds so goofy, but the lettuce is the best lettuce I've ever tasted in my life in a salad because everything is farmed to table. And it's just an invite. The mini mastermind is my new annual program where I will work with you virtually, one-on-one, quarterly, and we're gonna have monthly curated calls, literally for organizations where you already have a monthly giving program. So you could have 50 or 500 or 5,000 monthly donors. And I'm going to curate little small groups based upon those sizes. So if you've attended the summit before, I have case study rooms that are based upon monthly donor size. It's gonna be very similar to that. And we're gonna work together all year. And then this retreat, which is likely gonna happen the first week of May, is what I'm thinking at the beginning of May, um, is we get to meet together. And right now I have it set where there's 10 spots for the retreat. The mini mastermind can have many more people than that, but the retreat itself right now is an intimate gathering of 10. If we get way more excitement to attend, I like to still keep it very intimate. So it still won't be big, big 10 to 15, I think would probably be the max. But it's meant to encourage and challenge being alongside other individuals that are there to support you in it and also have these big aspirations. The energy is just so powerful. And so if you were down for nature trail brainstorms, if you were down for poolside cocktails and breakthroughs and conversations and I'm planning a dinner under the stars where we sit next to a fire pit soflight, it's still gonna be lovely weather in May. And we're gonna brainstorm. And there's accountability because then the virtual part is right afterwards. So it's not just a come and take things away from that moment, but we're gonna have the virtual experience community afterwards. And that's why I shifted the experience in this way and also made it really attainable from a pricing perspective. So the mini mastermind is$199 a month. Um, and there's a just 10% discount for an annual payment. And then the retreat is separate at$3K. That's what that's priced at right now. And that includes everything. Like you travel, you show up, that includes your stay, that includes the meals, that includes the activities, that includes like all the programming. And so, and I I don't know. I just wanted to record this. I this is coming top off of my head, and I hope that it resonates in some way, shape, or form. Um, but let me know. I'd love to hear from you as we are nearing the end of the year. I have a really great episode coming up the end of this year that's going to recap pop moments from episodes this year as kind of a recap roundup of the year. But I'd love to 10X in 26 with you in whatever way that means. So, with that, have a lovely rest of your day or evening or morning or whatever you're listening to this, and I hope to hear from you.
