Philantherapy - Tales from your Fundraising Therapist

In many ways, fundraising in Europe looks very different than it does in the U.S. But, in other ways, nonprofits in Europe face many of the same challenges that American nonprofits face. In this episode, we interview Jimmy Westerheim, the CEO & Founder of The Human Aspect, a Norwegian mental health-focused nonprofit that struggled with sources of revenue as they were starting out. Hear how they managed to get high-profile corporate funding from companies such as Facebook and came up with other creative ideas to support the incredibly important mission of their organization. 

On this episode, we are joined by Julia Smart, Fundraising and Development Specialist with the Flourish Arbonne Foundation, a unique foundation that provides grant support to nonprofit organizations in several countries - the U.S., the U.K., Australia, and Canada. The foundation went from supporting hundreds of nonprofits with small grants and multiple grant cycles to supporting one nonprofit organization in each country with large transformational grants. Julia also discusses the shift to focusing solely on youth mental health and how that focus became more important than ever during Covid-19. 

This week, we are joined by Doug Smith, VP for Advancement and Shea Healy, Major Gifts Officer, both at Stonehill College. Doug has almost 30 years of experience in philanthropy while Shea graduated from college just a few years ago (class of '17). They share their experiences with fundraising from very different perspectives and we discuss everything from the importance of stewardship, donors as investors, the post-covid fundraising landscape to what it's like to be a younger gift officer and what personal characteristics lend itself to success in the philanthropy field. 

The U.S. has been facing an affordable housing crisis for decades. On this episode, Greg Bradbard, the President of Hope through Housing and Sr. VP of National CORE joins us to discuss the affordable housing crisis, his nonprofit’s mission to fight this systemic issue and the importance of shifting priorities during a crisis. Learn about their philanthropy efforts and how they span across the very unique sectors of social services, real estate development and community revitalization. To learn more about Hope through Housing, visit: https://hthf.org. 

 

What do you do to keep up fundraising momentum after your capital campaign has ended but a pandemic has begun? Kelli Rafferty, Director of Philanthropy and Community Engagement at Elliott Health System in New Hampshire, shares her approach to this challenge on this week's episode. She shares her experience with maintaining a strong connection to her community through the involvement of senior leaders and volunteers and the consistent approach of relationship building and storytelling during this unprecedented time. 

 

For many nonprofit organizations, special event fundraising is often a big part of annual philanthropy goals. Lorelei Mitrani, Director, Special Events at the Prevent Cancer Foundation joins us this week to discuss how her foundation transitioned from a heavy rotation of traditional in-person events to completely virtual while actually increasing fundraising revenue. 

If you are working with a nonprofit board, you don’t want to miss this episode. Dan Murphy, Vice President and Chief Philanthropy Officer for Dignity Health Foundation Inland Empire and Glendale Memorial Health and Nancy Bussani, System Vice President, Philanthropy Strategy and Governance for CommonSpirit Health join me to discuss how to maximize board fundraising and prioritize relationship building and major gift cultivation as the key to board success. There’s a lot of practical information here that will help you create a more effective and efficient fundraising board.

Eric Brown, the Vice President of Social Marketing/Events for Outsuite Marketing/O.S. Social joins us this week to discuss how nonprofit organizations should be using social media to further their cause and raise more money. We discuss the challenges that philanthropy teams face when approaching social media and listeners will gain some practical knowledge about different platforms, how to create content, how often to post and more. 

Philanthropy professionals and nonprofits in general often struggle with the concept of marketing. This week's podcast is part one of a two part series on marketing and social media and features Shane Pendley, the President of Outsuite Marketing and OS Social as he shares his thoughts and some practical tips on best practices in marketing and what this means for nonprofits. 

Shannon Duval, Senior Vice President of Philanthropy and Robert Faughnan, System Director, Major Gifts and Campaigns from CommonSpirit Health, one of the largest healthcare systems in the U.S., join us this week to discuss the challenges and opportunities of healthcare fundraising during a pandemic.