Small Nonprofit: Fundraising Tips, Leadership Strategies, and Community-Centric Solutions for Canadian and American Nonprofits
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
344 episodes
First-Time EDs: The Messes, the Fear, and What Actually Helps
Most leaders don't talk about what actually happens the day you walk into an ED role. They talk about the vision and the strategy, not the fact that your admin manager just quit, the reserves are empty, and you're going to have to let people go...
Donors Can't Find You. Here's How to Fix That.
Search engines were never built with equity in mind. The organizations that show up first are the ones with money for ads, not necessarily the ones doing the most impactful work. For small and grassroots nonprofits, that means decades of good w...
Values Alignment 101: The Fundraiser's Guide to Picking Funders
Ever felt pressure to chase every funding opportunity that crosses your desk just because the deadline lines up and the dollar amount looks good? This episode is your permission to slow down. You'll learn why "does this person have money" is th...
Taking Care of the Caretakers: Compassion Fatigue Is Real and Here's How To Fight It
Most nonprofits pour everything into the people and causes they serve, and forget the staff doing that work every single day. This episode flips the script. We're talking about what it actually looks like to take care of the caretakers, especia...
You Don't Have to Love Donor-Advised Funds to Have a Strategy for Them
Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs) are the fastest-growing way to give in Canada, the US, and the UK, and most nonprofits still don't have the words "donor-advised fund" anywhere on their website. This episode isn't a case for DAFs. It's a case for hav...
Plain Language, Real Impact: How to Communicate So Donors Actually Listen
Posting on social media and hoping donations follow? You might be setting yourself up for disappointment. In this episode, we get into why social media is often a top-of-funnel tool, not a direct-response one, and why that's not a bad thing onc...
Getting Off the Grants Hamster Wheel: The Skills You Already Have to Diversify Your Funding
If your fundraising calendar is back-to-back grant deadlines and event planning, you might be stuck on a treadmill that's working against you. Grants and events share something that doesn't get talked about enough: they're two of the highest ti...
What to Do When Your Fundraiser Quits to Maintain Momentum and Find the Right Candidate
Your fundraiser just handed in their notice. Now what? Before you dust off that three-year-old job description and blast it out, there are a few things you need to know. Fundraiser turnover is one of the most disruptive events a small nonprofit...
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Burnt-Out EDs (And What to Do Before You Reach Your Limit)
A burnt-out Executive Director doesn't just affect themselves. The team feels it. The culture shifts. The bold, brave decisions that your community depends on? They stop happening. And yet, so many EDs stay well past their limit because the too...
Sorry Isn't Enough: A 5-Step Framework for Nonprofit Accountability That Actually Repairs Harm
Most nonprofits are good at issuing apologies, but terrible at actually changing. There's a difference between saying "I'm sorry" and doing the work of repair, and that gap is exactly where trust goes to die. In this episode, we get into what a...
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Donor-Centric Fundraising: The Real Price of Keeping Donors Comfortable
You've been told that keeping donors happy is how you protect your revenue. What if that's actually the thing bleeding your organization dry? In this episode, Maria Rio makes the case that donor-centric fundraising isn't just a values problem, ...
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Why Hiring a Fundraiser Too Soon Is Costing You More Than You Think
Hiring a fundraiser feels like the obvious solution when revenue is tight and the need is growing, but doing it before you're ready can set everyone up to fail, including the person you just hired. Before you draft that job description, there a...
Living Wages: How Nonprofits Can Adopt Dignified Work Practices
The Changemaker Wellbeing Index reports that 31% of nonprofit workers experience food insecurity — and for frontline staff, that rises to 48%. The very sector working to end poverty is, in many cases, perpetuating it through its own payroll. Th...
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Volunteer Engagement: Getting and maintaining large commitments
Your volunteers are giving something money can't buy, and most nonprofits are treating that gift like an afterthought. When you start seeing volunteers through the same lens as major donors, the way you recruit, steward, and engage them complet...
Succession Planning for Executive Directors: When to start, and how to do it right
Most nonprofits don't have a succession plan for their Executive Director because the whole thing feels risky to bring up. What if the board thinks you're already halfway out the door? What if there's no time, no budget, or no one ready to take...
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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