Meet Amy. She's the rockstar executive director of Shoes That Fit providing new athletic shoes to underprivileged children nationwide. You may think why shoes? But when a family has to choose between rent, utilities, food AND shoes, shoes often come last especially recently as families struggle during COVID-19. Their mission is to tackle this variable, as one of the most visible signs of poverty in America, by giving children-in-need new sneakers to attend school with dignity and joy, prepared to learn, play, and thrive.

Meet Jake. Every wondered what possesses someone to run 50 miles? For Jake - it's about passion. After learning about the plight of women and children who are trafficked around the world, he redirected his career in persuasive sales firmly toward helping the nonprofit sector. Join this convo with someone who's knocked on nearly 100,000 doors and is leveraging those corporate sales methods for good.

We're pretty sure Mark was one of our first WAFG friends. He found us early on from darn-near-halfway around the world, and our mutual admiration for each other's work endures. Jon and Becky were honored to join Mark's Purposely Podcast where we talk through business growth, how we check our mental health, and why we love growing global community. Do us a favor; hit subscribe on his podcast or listen to an episode or two. It's a good listen for the head and heart.

Ya'll. University of Wisconsin Foundation & Alumni Association has a STORY! Tune in and hear what happened when its students sent more than 32,000 personalized videos to alums during the pandemic. [insert jaw drop] 🤯🥰👏!!! Aimee describes herself as a "philanthropy enthusiast committed to radically personalizing the donor experience." Come meet this rising star in the donor relations world🤩

Meet Manuela. We met this L.A. founder in our Community and in PRO, and we positively fell in love with the simple beauty in her nonprofit's mission. After rolling up her sleeves to work on the frontlines of orgs she believed in, she moved from a homeless foundation to running Prince's foundation (yes, you read that right. "That" Prince💜☔️) before starting her own foundation, "In A Perfect World" empowering young people around the world to take action and be kind. She's talking about how to co-create natural empathy in Generation Alpha and how she's seen education be the great equailizer of human vibrancy. Her life 's story is fascinating, heroic, empathetic and reveals one of those amazing founders stories where top brass is first in line and deepest in the trenches - for good. Inspiring! 💡

We're concluding our final episode in our Friday series, Donor Engagement: Kindergarten Style with this week's discussion about why Small Things Matter. Relationships that are triggered by process may be reliable, but they can also feel mechanical. We're talking about exerting effort and delighting in the small things that creates true connection and deeper engagement 🎉 Tune in, we're bringing principles, case study examples and Pro Tips too.

Meet Josh. He believes it's time for your annual report to undergo a makeover. In fact, he believes your annual report has tremendous potential to get your donor engaged and actually reading that report by leveraging digital reports, polls, videos, and the kind of attention-grabbing features you couldn’t include with your basic print version. Tune in and hear about the future of digital publications. We're also chatting about important annual report elements and the importance of digital storytelling🎧

Meet John. He's tired of seeing donor advised funds sitting around unspent. He's democratized the DAF world, and he wants you and your kids to be an active part of the giving community. You see, once he recognized a need to make giving more accessible and more effective, he launched Charitable Impact which nurtures generosity within each person and bring resources for creating change in the world to everyone. In short, it's a super cool giving platform that makes even a $5 feel like a serious investment in philanthropy. Together, we're talking basics (what the heck is a donor advised fund?) but also talking about how to make our personal philanthropy intentional rather than reactive.

We're diving back into another Friday series discussions, Donor Engagement: Kindergarten Style. This week we're discussing how to Share Equally. What happens when we democratize our good work, share frameworks, pass the microphone and share our seat at the table? Only the best things! 🎉 Tune in, we're bringing principles, case study examples and Pro Tips too.

Meet Simon. He's a global brand expert who's on a mission to see social good brands embrace a radical, reimaged and reengineered way to do business based on the idea of collectivized purpose. By showing how we live, work, and grow together in new ways that restore and protect the social and living systems on which all of our futures depend, he believes the future of nonprofit is bright if we can be brave enough to seize it. This is the future of collaborative leadership. We have to build together. Tune in and prepare for your jaw to hit the floor - like ours did. Preach Brother Mainwaring🙌

Meet Sally. She began her career on the advancement team at her alma mater, Washington State University, before running one of the country's largest and most respected development recruitment firms today. Her true passion is great leadership, which drives her to get the right leader in the right seat to inspire successful teams. She's talking us through how to recruit top talent and what the Great Resignation means for those entering and leaving the nonprofit sector.🎧

We continue to arm ourselves with graham crackers and apple juice to fuel these Friday series discussions, Donor Engagement: Kindergarten Style. This week we dive into Using our Listening Ears (said in the least condescending way possible). How are you consciously finding a way to listen not only to your top donors - but ALL donors, employees, & volunteers? Don't fret - we're breaking it down🎉 We're bringing principles, case study examples, and Pro Tips too.

Meet Rebecca. She's bringing her expertise in building donor experience events to the table for a conversation around virtual and hybrid fundraisers. Her advice: it's all about empowering modern fundraisers. She's breaking down the 4️⃣ different types of events, when to diversify the event and when to allow it to stand firmly on its own. Virtual? Hybrid? In-person events of the future? We're breaking it down here💃🕺(you saw what we did there, right?!)

Meet Mark and Ted. They know two how to build two things incredibly well: brand and culture. There’s an invisible threat most companies don’t realize is crushing their growth and success: culture. All too often, leaders think they have a “brand problem,” but oftentimes, it's really their culture. Mark and Ted are talking us through the six components of a "Marquee Culture” and navigating us on what to do with broken cultures. Tune in and learn some cool ideas their company is implementing to build culture.

We've been hearing great feedback from our new Friday series, Donor Engagement: Kindergarten Style. This week we dive into what we can learn from Playing Nicely in the Sandbox. Development is a team sport. Internal relationships are vital to your success, and external relationships can be creatively advantageous too (seriously, we're sharing some awesome examples!)🎉 We're bringing principles, case study examples, and Pro Tips of how to infuse this into your culture.

Meet Lola. She's the director of the African Health Institute and the Program Director for Child Well-Being at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. She is a powerhouse of ideas, experiences, and knowledge with a passion for closing the inequitable gaps we are all too aware of in our communities and across Africa. Today's chat centers on data, humility, and listening.

Meet John. He's got a couple of titles: social impact professor, executive director of Georgetown University's Center for Social Impact Communications, 🐵Jane Goodall's personal advisor, and a social strategist, just to name a few. He's breaking down the key elements of nonprofit storytelling and teaching us how to embrace a story's blur. No shock he's bringing incredible stories to this convo. Tune in🎧

Are you aware that everything you ever wanted to know about NEXT LEVEL donor engagement is found in those time-honored lessons learned in kindergarten? We're launching a new Friday series, Kindergarten Principles Build Thriving Nonprofit Cultures. This week we dive into what we can learn from The Golden Rule. We're bringing principles, case study examples, and Pro Tips of how to infuse this in your culture to each discussion, so you know who's implementing this well and who's harnessing innovation to connect with their donors and communities. Join us, and we'll kick it old school🤓 We'll bring the graham crackers!

Meet LaVal. As CEO of South County Outreach based near L.A., it's his goal to transform the organization’s Food Pantry into a place where people who are in short-term crisis situations can feel like they are shopping for nutritious, healthy food in a normal grocery store environment without having to pay. He's sharing the unique way his org pivoted during COVID as well as insights for nonprofit leaders. It's an uplifting conversation about the power of local community and infusing dignity into our mission delivery.

Meet Caroline. She's a Marketer on a Mission, and today she's walking us through how to build a year end campaign. The time is now! She's giving an overview of the year end campaign, then double-clicking on how to design and power one. She's giving tons of creative examples of how to engage, and she's sharing her secret sauce for connecting on social platforms: show up like a friend. Boom! If you haven't framed out your year end campaign yet, there's still time. Tune in🎧