The Influential Nonprofit
You want your nonprofit to make the biggest impact possible on those you serve and to do that you need a community of support. Each week, join Maryanne Dersch, nonprofit revolutionary, as she interviews nonprofit leaders who are growing their influence to raise more money and do more good. If you want to fundraise with ease, build better relationships with board and staff, or just need a shot of fresh ideas and inspiration, this show is for you.
Control, Avoidance or Trust?
When a donor goes quiet, should you follow up—or let go? This episode explores how to tell the difference between trust, control, and avoidance, and how to act without trying to control someone else’s choice.
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Key Takeaways:
The same action or inaction can come from trust, control, or avoidance; examine what’s driving it.Follow up to offer useful information or an invitation, not just to relieve your own uncertainty.Acceptance means recognizing reality and responding; avoidance means trying not to experience something uncomfortable.Do your part, then respect where your agency ends an...Sharri McIntyre: Avoiding Burnout
Burnout isn’t a badge of effective leadership—and rest doesn’t have to mean stepping away for weeks. This conversation explores practical ways to delegate, challenge assumptions, and help teams navigate change with greater care.
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Key Takeaways:
Burnout can grow when leaders assume they must do everything themselves or always be available.Rest can be built into everyday routines through small, restorative actions.Delegation works better when people receive clear instruction, a demonstration, practice, and feedback.Teams can reach the same goal in different ways; allow room for varied approaches.Notice burnout signs early a...What Makes Us Say Yes?
Why do people say yes or pull away even when the choice seems logical? Explore how trust, safety, autonomy, and the freedom to say no shape meaningful decisions.
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Key Takeaways:
Decisions are shaped by trust, safety, desire, fear, and past experience—not logic alone.Uncertainty can feel like danger, but discomfort does not always mean something is unsafe.Clear agreements make expectations mutual; boundaries clarify what you are and are not available for.A meaningful yes requires the genuine freedom to say no.Your responsibility is to create the conditions for a choice—not to co...Allison Wyatt: Building Your Personal Board
Running a nonprofit can be lonely, and your board of directors may never think about your growth as a leader. In this episode, Allison Wyatt explains how to build a personal "circle of champions," so you always have someone to call when things get hard.
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Key Takeaways:
Your board of directors supports the organization, not you. Your growth as a leader is up to you.Each seat on a personal board fills a different gap. A sponsor opens doors, a coach keeps you accountable, a mentor saves you from trial and error, and a f...Stop Looking for New Donors, Activate the Ones You Have
At 60, Maryanne discovered her hair had been naturally wavy all along — she'd just never created the conditions for it to show. In this solo episode, she turns that surprise into a fundraising lesson: your next donor, partner, and big idea are probably already in your orbit, waiting to be activated.
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Key Takeaways:
Capacity is usually present; conditions are what's missing."I need more" often means you haven't fully seen or used what you already have.Most people give because they were asked — the connection-to-action gap is usually a missing invitation, not a missing audience.Your...Jeanine Becker: Aligning Personal Growth with Strategy
By gathering the right people around a bold vision instead of trying to carry everything alone, nonprofit leaders can completely transform their strategy. In this episode, you’ll hear how shifting paradigms, redesigning meetings, and embracing generative conflict unlock new levels of impact, funding, and sustainability.
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Key Takeaways:
The way leaders see their role and their ecosystem determines which strategies they even recognize as possible.Vision doesn’t have to mean more weight for one person; it can become lighter when leaders intentionally gather others around the work.Treating meetings as spaces for inquiry—not jus...The Surprising Power of Doing Nothing
Tired of chasing donors and over-following up? Learn how stepping back, releasing control, and trusting the “edge of your agency” can transform your donor relationships.
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Key Takeaways:
Obsessing over the perfect number of follow-ups misses the real issue: you cannot control another person’s timing, readiness, or decisions.Your responsibility is to communicate clearly, create safety, and make the next step obvious, not to force movement or manufacture urgency.The moment you cross from honoring someone’s agency into trying to control their response, you’ve shifted from influence into pressure and risk pushing the...Why Donors Pull Back
Scarcity-driven fundraising tactics-chasing, over-following up, pushing too soon-might be quietly sabotaging your donor relationships. In this episode, Maryanne Dersch shows you how to shift from pressure to flow.
Key Takeaways:
Tony Martignetti: Easy and Accessible Planned Giving
Scared of planned giving because it feels too technical, expensive, or “only for big institutions”? In this episode, you’ll learn how even the smallest nonprofit can launch a simple, effective planned giving program in just one week—without a big budget, complex gift vehicles, or a team of experts.
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Key Takeaways:
Small and mid-sized nonprofits can be highly successful with planned giving by focusing on simple, practical actions instead of waiting for perfect materials or large teams. Launching planned giving is less about a formal campaign and more about starting real conversations with your most...The Power of Not Going it Alone
What if you didn’t have to choose between trusting an expert and trusting yourself? In this solo episode, Maryanne unpacks how to find the right guide to navigate uncertainty—without ever giving up your agency, autonomy, or judgment.
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Key Takeaways:
You can lean on someone else’s expertise without giving up your own authority; a good guide supports your decisions rather than replacing them. Endless research often becomes an attempt to eliminate uncertainty, but uncertainty can only be navigated, not removed. Many obstacles come not from reality but from the “stories” and assumptions we’ve absor...Becoming a Regulated Leader
What if your leadership wasn’t defined by urgency and chaos, but by calm, clarity, and presence? In this episode, you’ll learn how to become a regulating presence whose nervous system quietly shapes the entire culture of your organization.
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Key Takeaways:
You cannot regulate another person’s nervous system, but you can become a regulating presence that others naturally attune to. Your energetic state is contagious; how you walk into a room can either escalate panic or invite everyone to breathe and settle. Calm becomes accessible when leaders design predictable, consistent, and psychologically safe en...Becoming a Regulated Leader
What if your leadership wasn’t defined by urgency and chaos, but by calm, clarity, and presence? In this episode, you’ll learn how to become a regulating presence whose nervous system quietly shapes the entire culture of your organization.
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Key Takeaways:
You cannot regulate another person’s nervous system, but you can become a regulating presence that others naturally attune to. Your energetic state is contagious; how you walk into a room can either escalate panic or invite everyone to breathe and settle. Calm becomes accessible when leaders design predictable, consistent, and psychologically safe en...Can You Trust Yourself?
When do you ignore the red flags your body, brain, and intuition are screaming at you—and what does that cost your leadership? In this episode, learn how to stop outsourcing trust and start making calm, confident decisions rooted in your own inner knowing.
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Key Takeaways:
Self-betrayal rarely comes from a lack of information; it comes from overriding what your body, observations, and intuition are already telling you. Instinct, intellect, and intuition are three distinct but complementary information systems, and wise leadership means giving each a “seat at the table.” External pressures—from family, boards, d...Why We Struggle To Trust
Learn why your nervous system keeps mistaking uncertainty for danger—and how shifting from hypervigilance to trust can transform your leadership, fundraising, and everyday decisions. This episode shows you how regulated leaders create calm, confidence, and influence, even in the middle of crisis.
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Key Takeaways:
The nervous system’s primary job is safety, not truth, so it often creates stories that feel real but aren’t actually based in facts. When uncertainty arises, the brain rushes to “fill in the blanks,” which can trigger anxiety, catastrophizing, and unnecessary conflict in leadership and fundraising. Hypervigilance can look li...Living Life Fully Expressed
Discover how to close the gap between who you are on the inside and how you show up on the outside. In this solo episode, you’ll learn a practical, seven-step framework to live fully self-expressed—through your choices, boundaries, presence, and the courage to speak (or stay silent) with intention.
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Key Takeaways:
Self-expression is much more than “speaking up”; it’s about living in alignment so your daily choices, boundaries, and presence reflect who you truly are. Continually suppressing your truth widens the gap between who you are and how you show up, leading to...Christine Lester: Creating Sustainable Impact
Discover how a longtime educator-turned-nonprofit leader uses governance, compassion, and community empowerment to build organizations that truly last. In this episode, you’ll hear stories from hospices, classrooms, and European projects that reveal what sustainable leadership looks like in the real world.
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Key Takeaways:
Strong governance and clear structures are critical for nonprofits to compete with larger institutions and remain sustainable over time. When leaders actively identify and nurture the potential in others, they can create learning pathways that help people “leap forward” despite limited opportunities. Third-sector organizations are still businesses at their core; they re...CLASSIC REWIND: Release Resistance and Raise More Money
Key Takeaways:
Identify and acknowledge your resistance, such as being overly attached to outcomes or trying to fix others. Understand that fear has a role but should not drive your actions. Reframe negative mindsets and stories into more positive, empowering narratives. Make the unconscious conscious to change unhelpful thought patterns. Practice surrender, trust, and gratitude to cultivate a receptive state. Engage in joyful, playful activities that activate your whole being. Take inspired action aligned with excitement and purpose, rather than obligation. Maintain a sense of sovereignty and commitment to the process over the outcome.Â
“Fear has...
The Benefits of Full Self-Expression
What happens when you stop people-pleasing, raise your standards, and actually live in alignment with your truth? In this episode, you’ll learn what it really means to be fully self-expressed—and how to practice it every day in your work, relationships, and leadership.
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Key Takeaways:
Self-expression is less about speaking louder and more about aligning your outer life with your inner truth. The pain of constantly holding back comes from the gap between who you are and how you show up in the world. Boundaries and agreements are powerful tools for honoring what you v...Why Donors Stall — And What Most Nonprofits Miss
Most nonprofits push harder when donors go quiet. In this episode, you’ll learn how to trade pressure for emotional momentum, so stalled donors start moving again—without more follow-up fatigue.
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Key Takeaways:
Donor silence is usually a signal of an unmet emotional need, not a verdict on your worth or your mission. Interest and readiness are different stages; rushing from enthusiasm to “the ask” often triggers a stall instead of commitment. Emotional connection must be nurtured intentionally over time. Information and activity alone cannot sustain donor momentum. Clear, simple next steps build confidence and keep...Why Every Fundraiser Should Sing Karaoke
Discover how karaoke becomes a surprising laboratory for courage, authenticity, and leadership. In this episode, you’ll learn eight powerful lessons from the karaoke stage that can radically shift how you show up as a fundraiser, leader, and human being.
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Key Takeaways:
Courage comes before confidence; action is what generates the confidence you’re waiting for. Releasing attachment to specific outcomes creates space for authenticity, deeper relationships, and “magical” results. Most people are not judging you nearly as harshly as you judge yourself; they are usually rooting for you to succeed. Discomfort is often evidence...Amy Fass: Building and Scaling Your Nonprofit
Learn what it really takes to scale a focused nonprofit, build long-term corporate partnerships, and play the long game in fundraising without losing sight of the people you serve.
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Key Takeaways:
A narrow, concrete focus, like providing brand-name shoes, can dramatically amplify a nonprofit’s clarity, impact, and support. Strong corporate partnerships grow slowly from shared values, deep listening, and customized collaboration, not one-size-fits-all pitches. How support is delivered matters as much as what’s delivered; respect and flexibility turn shoes into symbols of dignity and belonging. Individual donors and family foundations are the stabi...CLASSIC REWIND: Quantum Physics for Fundraising
Key Takeaways:
Energy shapes everything. Energy is the foundation of all outcomes—your energy affects your thoughts, words, and ultimately, your results. You broadcast what you carry. As a leader, your thoughts and emotions are felt by others. Your energy influences how people respond to you. Attention creates direction. Where you focus your attention determines what grows. Choose to notice what works and who shows up. Choose alignment over effort. When your internal state aligns with your purpose, you move with clarity and don't need to force outcomes.Â
“Your thoughts, your emotions, your presence, it's all br...
Cherry Yang: Automation for Bigger Impact
When your nonprofit outgrows spreadsheets and sticky notes, your impact can stall. In this episode, discover how smart, accessible data systems can free your team from copy‑and‑paste drudgery and unlock real capacity for relationship-building and growth.
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Key Takeaways:
Resilience in the face of uncertainty can become the catalyst for building an entirely new, impact-driven business. As organizations grow, decentralized spreadsheets eventually break; a centralized database becomes essential to scale programs and funding. The most effective systems are co-created with the people doing the work, so they’re intuitive, low-friction, and actually get used. ...Elise Woodworth: Getting The Best From Your Board
Struggling with a passive or confused board? In this episode, you’ll learn how to transform tension into clarity, turn board members into passionate advocates, and use thoughtful questions to unlock real leadership and fundraising support.
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Key Takeaways:
Many board-staff problems trace back to a lack of clarity between governance and operations, and defining that line can immediately relieve tension. Framing conversations and changes around what the organization needs, rather than what any one person needs, helps boards step into true leadership. When board members are equipped to speak passionately about the mission, their per...The Extinction Burst: What’s Really Happening When Donors or Teams Test You
When you finally set a boundary, and everything seems to explode, it doesn’t mean you did it wrong; it may mean it’s finally working. In this episode, you’ll learn how to recognize and ride out the “extinction burst” so your new agreements, standards, and leadership can actually stick.
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Key Takeaways:
Boundaries define what you will no longer tolerate, while agreements define what you are actively choosing and saying yes to; both are essential for healthy leadership. When you change a pattern that has benefited others, the first response is usually not compliance...Why Trust, Not Pressure, Grows Relationships
In this episode, discover why impatiently “watching” your donors actually blocks generosity—and how to shift into “watering” relationships with trust, patience, and consistent care. Learn the WATER method to move from transactional fundraising to transformational connection.
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Key Takeaways:
Lasting donor relationships are built by tending to them consistently, not by pushing for quick outcomes or instant results. Anxiety-driven behaviors—like over-checking email or over-following up—often come from fear and self-doubt, not from what donors actually need. Adding value without expecting an immediate gift shifts relationships from transactional to transformational and builds deeper trust. Trustin...Dave LeVan: Surviving a Merger
Dave LeVan is President and CEO of Water for Good. They transform lives by providing access to reliable water, sanitation, and hygiene in needy communities. He recently led a merger with Lifewater International.Â
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Key Takeaways:
Successful mergers start as honest conversations about where each organization wants to go and what assets they bring, not as a rushed decision to combine. Fear of change is universal, even among leaders who specialize in transformation, so acknowledging loss, grief, and uncertainty is essential. Over-communicating the “why” behind big changes, long after leaders are tired of saying it, is wha...The Donor Flow Problem No One Talks About
Key Takeaways:
The Donor Flow Framework moves donors through four stages: Aware, Interest, Connect, and Act. Awareness and interest are often handled well, but true giving comes when people feel personally connected. The real gap is in the Connect stage. Without structured opportunities for meaningful interaction, donors may like your work but won’t feel invested enough to take action. Small, consistent, and low-risk events like lunches, behind-the-scenes tours, or after-hours experiences turn interest into real relationships. Regular, predictable opportunities make engagement repeatable and sustainable. Fundraising is about influence. Meeting people where they are, providing value first, and cre...Sally Mildren: The Art and Science of Connection
Sally is the founder and CEO of Commonwell Marketing, a heart-centered marketing and leadership firm that helps nonprofits and rural health organizations stand out. A former brain injury rehabilitation therapist turned marketer, Sally brings a rare blend of art and science to her work—applying the neuroscience of belonging, trust, and human connection to marketing, communications, and leadership strategy.
Key Takeaways:
Sally’s work sits at the intersection of neuroscience and marketing, showing that effective nonprofit communication isn’t about doing more, but about doing less with intention—simple visuals, few words, and a clear emotional hook con...JD Bauman: Is Your Nonprofit Making Maximum Impact?
JD Bauman is the executive director of Christians for Impact and co-author of a new book on effective altruism, All the Lives. You can change how you turn good intentions into real impact. It shows how you could move beyond. Feel good philanthropy, I make a maximum Impact on problems that you care about. JD spends most of his time helping analytically minded Christians find careers that have maximum social impact or donate effectively.
Key Takeaways:
Passion is what brings people into mission-driven work, but it’s not enough to create meaningful change. JD emphasizes that wi...Naomi Hattaway: Navigating Workplace Transitions
Naomi Hattaway is the founder of Leaving Well, a practice devoted to helping organizations treat leadership transitions not as crises or cleanups—but as acts of cultural maturity. She works with mission-driven teams to address board development, succession planning gaps, and workplace transition support. Through interim executive leadership and advisory services, Naomi's work lives at the intersection of trust-building, systems change, and the radical belief that how we end things matters just as much as how we begin.
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Key Takeaways:
Leadership changes are often treated as crises even though they are normal and predictable. Nao...Myths I've Stopped Believing and You Should Too
Key Takeaways:
Fundraising rooted in pressure and extraction erodes trust over time. Sustainable support grows from community, shared values, and genuine connection. When relationships lead, generosity follows naturally. Over-following up and manufactured urgency often reveal anxiety, not strategy. Constant pressure weakens credibility and exhausts donors. Abundance thinking creates calmer, more effective leadership. Caring about a mission is not enough to spark giving. Donors contribute when they feel seen, heard, and connected to something meaningful. Relationship transforms passive belief into active generosity. A “no” rarely means disinterest or lack of care. Staying curious and honoring dignity preserves long-term trust. Valu...Heidi Kerr: Strategic Marketing
Heidi is a nonprofit communicator passionate about helping civic tech, human services, and food access organizations tell clear, human-centered stories. She believes marketing carries great responsibility and shapes how communities understand and access support. As the founder of Heidi Kerr Strategies, she loves building thoughtful campaigns and social videos that earn trust and inspire action.
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Key Takeaways:
Marketing in nonprofits is not just about fundraising but about shaping how communities understand and access support. When treated as strategy and education, it becomes core to the mission, not an afterthought. Short-form, phone-shot videos often outperform h...Perry Radford: Beyond Burnout: The Hidden Cost of Misaligned Nonprofit Values
As a fundraising consultant and coach, Perry helps nonprofits develop strategies, systems, and relationships to improve their fundraising yield. She believes in creating environments that nurture all gifts - time, talent, treasure, testimony, and ties - honoring how each person is uniquely suited to make a difference within their community.
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Key Takeaways:
Donors are partners who bring time, talent, treasure, testimony, and ties. When relationships are rooted in shared values and trust, financial support follows naturally. Sustainable fundraising honors the whole person rather than treating giving as a transaction.Scarcity culture fuels burnout, fear, a...Why Follow-Ups Don't Work
Key Takeaways:
Chasing a yes often comes from anxiety, not intention, and people can feel that pressure immediately. When you stop needing a specific outcome, your tone relaxes and trust increases naturally. Your role is to help others decide freely, not to manage your own fear through follow-ups.Momentum shows up as shared energy, mutual curiosity, and agreed-upon next steps. Chasing looks like one-sided check-ins, escalating urgency, and tension after sending messages. Learning to tell the difference protects your time and preserves relational integrity.People avoid giving honest answers when saying no feels costly or awkward. Explicit permission...Why You Need To Embrace Your Inner Coach
Key Takeaways:
Lasting fundraising growth does not come from better tactics alone but from changing the internal narratives that drive behavior. Coaching addresses fear, money stories, and self-doubt that silently undermine even the best strategies.Fundraising leaders often carry invisible baggage that affects how they show up with donors and teams. Coaching builds awareness, emotional neutrality, and sovereignty by separating facts from stories and reducing reactive behavior.Effective fundraising leaders coach boards and staff through fear, avoidance, and shame rather than simply training them. Through questions, accountability, and normalized discomfort, coaching creates ownership without blame.Over-functioning leaders burn...Hear Yes Faster by Meeting Donors Where They Are
Key Takeaways:
Fundraising nos and prolonged indecision often reflect emotional readiness, not the quality of the ask. Letting go of over-attachment to a yes allows fundraisers to listen more clearly.The Map of Consciousness offers a practical way to understand donor behavior without ranking people as better or worse. Effective fundraising adapts presence and strategy to a donor’s current emotional state.Lower emotional states call for safety and acknowledgment rather than solicitation. Courage is the turning point where donors become open to clear, values-based asks.Repeated follow-up does not move donors emotionally; trust and presence do. When a...The Five Love Languages of Fundraising
Key Takeaways:
Centering fundraising on genuine care, honesty, and alignment creates trust and long-term support rather than transactional gains. Actions from authentic relationships feel meaningful, while actions solely for money feel manipulative.Loving donor relationships are honest, authentic, and aligned. They are not transactional or performative, and both the donor and organization benefit from shared values and mutual yeses.Applying love languages in fundraising—words of affirmation, quality time, acts of service, meaningful gifts, and shared experiences—builds connection without pressure or manipulation. Each interaction should reflect respect, care, and intention.Listening, personalization, and alignment are critical. Engaging only...Supercharge Your Year With 90 Day MOST Plan
Key Takeaways:
90 days is long enough to get something done, but short enough that there’s some urgency to it. The 90-day MOST stands for Mission, Objective, Strategy, and Tactics. It accounts for having an overall vision and creating simple strategies to implement each quarter. We need to have a clear vision so that we know what we’re looking for. Before creating a plan, take time to create a vision board. Visualize what you want to create in your life and depict it in your vision board. Once you have a vision, determine an objective. Then, create three...Smarter Goals, Bigger Wins
Key Takeaways:
Reframe goals as guides, not judgments. Traditional output-focused goals can create pressure and burnout; goals should inform your direction, not define your worth or success.Wrap up the year holistically. Reflect on wins, surprises, and growth beyond numeric targets, release what no longer serves you, and recognize internal and relational progress as real achievements.Make goals human-centered, not just metric-centered. Reframing SMART goals to be Supportive, Meaningful, Aligned, Relational, and Tension-free ensures they strengthen trust, connection, and values alongside traditional metrics.Measure relationships, not just money. Track trust, reciprocity, affinity, consistency, and advocacy to prioritize connection...