Small Nonprofit: Fundraising Tips, Leadership Strategies, and Community-Centric Solutions
Welcome to Small Nonprofit, the podcast designed for leaders, fundraisers, and advocates in the nonprofit sector who want to create real change. We provide small nonprofit organizations with strategies to enhance their fundraising campaigns, improve nonprofit governance, and implement ethical fundraising practices that resonate with today’s values-driven donors.
Hosted by an experienced nonprofit consultant, Maria Rio, this show delves into the unique challenges of nonprofit fundraising and community-centric fundraising, providing tools for donor engagement and major gifts fundraising.
👤 Who Should Listen?
This podcast is perfect for anyone involved in a small nonprofit seeking practical advice on fundraising strategy, nonprofit leadership, and board accountability. Whether you're looking for innovative fundraising ideas for nonprofit organizations or trying to create an impact measurement framework that demonstrates your organization’s value, Small Nonprofit is here to guide you.
🎤 Core Topics We Cover
Community-Centric Fundraising: Learn how ethical fundraising practices can strengthen donor relationships, enhance donor engagement, and align your organization with values-based major giving principles. We’ll help you shift from a donor-centric model to one that prioritizes the community.
Systemic Change and Governance: From participatory budgeting to nonprofit board of directors best practices, we explore how to navigate the nonprofit industrial complex and embrace structures that foster diversity in nonprofit leadership and board accountability.
Preventing Nonprofit Burnout: Tackle topics such as nonprofit burnout prevention and learn how to cultivate a healthy, anti-oppressive work culture that supports your team’s well-being.
Nonprofit Storytelling: Understand how to measure your nonprofit’s effectiveness through nonprofit impact measurement strategies and leverage nonprofit storytelling to create compelling narratives that attract donors.
📣 Engaging Conversations and Real-World Advice
In each episode, we bring you insights from experts in fundraising consulting, nonprofit grant writing, and capital campaign strategies. From interviews with fractional fundraisers and major gift officers to deep dives on fundraising tips and innovative fundraising ideas, we offer actionable advice that you can implement immediately to strengthen your organization’s impact.
💰 Learn How to Build a Sustainable Nonprofit
Every nonprofit leader faces the challenge of achieving financial sustainability. Our episodes address critical fundraising strategies for nonprofit organizations, providing insights on volunteer management, capacity building, and nonprofit marketing strategy. Gain access to tools that help you execute successful fundraising campaigns and build a foundation for long-term growth.
🤝 Join the Movement for Systemic Change
At The Small Nonprofit, we’re committed to transforming the nonprofit sector from the ground up. Our focus on systemic change and community-centric fundraising aligns with our mission to support nonprofits in creating equitable, sustainable communities. By addressing topics like values-based decision making and nonprofit transparency, we’re working to build a more ethical, inclusive sector.
❤️ Stay Connected
Subscribe to Small Nonprofit on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or your preferred podcast platform. Don’t miss an episode as we explore everything from fundraising tips to nonprofit social media strategy, and learn how you can become a stronger advocate for your organization’s mission.
Episodes
330 episodes
Vu Le's Equitable Grant Making Continuum: Stop Wasting Time on the Wrong Funders
Some funders are quietly draining your organization's capacity before they even decide whether to fund you. This episode breaks down the difference between funders who treat nonprofits as true partners and those who bury you in 140-page applica...
Digital Fundraising: Finding and Converting Supporters into Donors
If your nonprofit is still pouring most of its energy into grants and social media, this episode is your wake-up call. Email marketing is one of the most underutilized and highest-return fundraising tools available to small nonprofits. When it'...
Beyond Survival: How Nonprofit Mergers and Collaborations Can Move Your Mission Forward
The word "merger" makes a lot of nonprofit leaders flinch — and honestly, that's understandable. When you've poured years of your life into building an organization, considering a structural change can feel like waving the white flag. But here'...
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The Great Wealth Transfer Is Here — Is Your Nonprofit Ready?
Planned giving is one of those things that lives permanently on the "we'll get to it someday" list, and that someday keeps getting pushed back. But the Great Wealth Transfer is already happening, and nonprofits that aren't at least laying the g...
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How to Build Culture of Innovation at Your Nonprofit, Even When Times Are Hard
We found the cure for your organizations' "we've always done it this way", and we are sharing it with you today.On this week's episode of The Small Nonprofit Podcast, Maria sits down with Andrea Silverstone (CEO of Sagesse) and Carrie Mc...
Fractional Executives: Your Secret Weapon?
If you've been hearing the word "fractional" thrown around and nodding along like you totally know what it means, this episode is for you. Fractional work is one of the fastest-growing models in the nonprofit sector, and it's not just for fundr...
Donor Relations: Overcoming Fundraising Anxiety and Building Real Relationships
Fundraising fear is real and it's holding a lot of nonprofit leaders back from doing their best work. Whether it's the dread of being seen as pushy, the worry that donors don't want to hear from you, or the nagging feeling that you're just not ...
Dignified Storytelling: Stop Treating Clients Like Props
What if the storytelling practices you're using are actually harming the people you're trying to serve? Many nonprofits believe that sharing clients' most traumatic moments is the only way to raise funds, but what's the real cost of this approa...
Major Gifts Fundraising: Getting That First Donor Meeting
Getting a first meeting with a prospective donor can feel like one of the biggest hurdles in major gifts fundraising, but it doesn't have to. This episode breaks it all down in a way that's refreshingly practical and zero percent intimidating. ...
Earned Revenue AND Increased Impact? Licensing Your Nonprofit Program
What if the program you've spent years perfecting could fund your nonprofit and serve exponentially more people... without you burning out trying to do it all yourself? Most executive directors don't realize that the SOPs, worksheets, ...
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Executive Director Burnout: Why Finding Your People Is The Most Important Strategy
In this raw and hopeful conversation, you'll hear about the physical and emotional toll of nonprofit leadership and the intentional steps one ED took to not just recover, but to build an entire community dedicated to sector wellness. Laura Iste...
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Moves management: From supporter to donor
What if the biggest challenge facing nonprofits isn't moving donors from $100 to $1,000 gifts, but getting people to make their first charitable donation ever? In this episode, we explore a critical gap in the nonprofit sector: getting people t...
Nonprofit Leaders Building Community and Finding Joy Through Restorative Circles
Nonprofit leaders are navigating an exceptionally difficult moment. Political uncertainty, financial uncertainty, the weight of leading through crisis, you name it. It's easy to feel isolated, numb, or like you're carrying it all alone. But the...
Nonprofit Storytelling: Showing Impact When Results Aren't Quantifiable
Not every nonprofit mission comes with neat, quantifiable results. If your organization works in mental health, activism, research, or addiction recovery, you know that impact isn't always a tidy before-and-after story. But donors still want to...
Mission Drift vs. Emergency Supports: The SNAP Benefits Case Study
What do you do when a government shutdown threatens to leave 70% of the families you serve without food? For Growing Up Green Charter Schools in Queens, New York, the answer was clear: respond immediately, mobilize resources fast, and support t...
How Latino Fundraisers Are Fighting Back: Systemic Racism, ICE Raids, and Building Power Through Fundraising
Armando hears the same heartbreaking story over and over: talented Latinas been doing their white boss's job for years, training replacement after replacement, but they're never considered for the promotion because they "lack training." Meanwhi...
Nonprofit Advocacy: Playing the Long Game
Feeling overwhelmed by current challenges in the nonprofit sector? In this episode, host Maria Rio sits down with Robyn Schwartz, historian-turned-fundraiser and co-founder of Dumbo Octopus Consulting, to explore how understanding historical pa...
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The 8 Reasons People Donate (And Why Your Anniversary Campaign Isn't One of Them)
Ever wondered why some donors stick around for decades while others disappear after one gift? Join Maria Rio and Caitlin McBride as they break down the eight psychological and social reasons people actually donate to nonprofits. They tackle eve...
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Dignified Storytelling: Never tell another sob story again
Nonprofits are constantly told to “tell powerful stories” to move donors, but what happens when those stories come at the expense of the people you serve? In this episode, we dive into the messy, important questions behind ethical storytelling:...
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"Somebody Has to Say It": Standing up for yourself and your sector
Ever wondered how to critique the nonprofit sector while leading an organization within it? Join Maria Rio for a conversation with Amber Hamilton, President and CEO of the Memphis Music Initiative, who went viral for saying what
Writing Emails Donors Actually Want to Read
Ever wondered why your nonprofit's email list is stuck at 400 contacts after decades of work? Join Maria Rio for a conversation with Jess Campbell, founder of Out in the Boons, who shares an uncomfortable truth: your email list is probably shri...
How to ACTUALLY change hearts and minds
What's the one thing you wish the public understood better about the problem you're solving? That gap between what people know and what you wish they knew? That's your narrative change work, and it should be driving every communicat...
Fundraising for “The Perfect Victim”
There's a reason some fundraising stories feel easier to tell than others. Stories about animals, "grateful" clients, and non-political solutions raise money quickly because they tap into what donors already believe about who deserves help. But...
When Funders Try to Silence Your Advocacy with Maria Rio and Caitlin McBride
What happens when the money your organization needs comes with a muzzle attached? In this bold and necessary conversation, Maria and Caitlin tackle one of the most uncomfortable truths in the nonprofit sector: funders using their financial powe...
Leading While Latina: Identity, Power, and the Politics of Nonprofit Work
What is it like to lead a nonprofit when you’re constantly being told you’re “too much” of one thing and “not enough” of another? On this week’s episode of The Small Nonprofit Podcast, Sharonne Navas shares what it’s been like to navigate a pre...
