People in Fundraising: A Nonprofit Podcast by Tim Wilson

People in Fundraising, ep. 147: Skip Nordhoff, Huts for Vets & Fletcher School at Tufts University

I'm honored to share today's "People in Fundraising" conversation with fundraising leader and U.S. Marine Corps veteran Skip Nordhoff! We worked together for several years at Harvard Business School, and in our interview, Skip speaks highly of many people from his time there, including Anjali Raina; Flo Amoroso; Josh Merrow; and Dean Nitin Nohria.
Skip also discusses: * How he entered the fundraising world, from college recruiting and corporate recruiting to considering being an independent school teacher.
* Why "service to others beyond yourself" is one of Skip's core beliefs, leading him to be commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps after graduating from Denison College. Skip went on to serve 7 years on active duty, flying helicopters on overseas deployments, and 21 years in the Marine Corps Reserves.
* The mentorship and encouragement of Boston-area fundraising leaders Diane Robbins (who hired Skip for his first development role, at Wheaton College) and David Woodruff.
* Skip's recent involvement as a new director of Huts for Vets, a nonprofit that offers wilderness therapy retreats for veterans and active-duty service members. Skip was introduced to this amazing organization by Ryan Del Grosso, who Skip knew from the Harvard Business School Armed Forces Association.
Thank you Skip for a moving, powerful, and enjoyable conversation! It was terrific to reconnect with you and I know our audience will appreciate hearing about your career in fundraising.

People in Fundraising, ep. 146: Chris Schuler, venture philanthropy and glioblastoma awareness

I am grateful for LinkedIn to connect with people who are passionate about improving the lives of other people. Today's guest, Chris Schuler, is such an example. Without LinkedIn, we likely would not have ever met. It's an honor to share his story with our audience. In our interview, Chris discusses:
* How the untimely passing of his father, Donald, to a form of brain cancer (glioblastoma; GB) fundamentally changed Chris' life and his work, prompting him to become a strong advocate for GB awareness and research funding.
* His nonprofit and community volunteer roles, including with Scouting America.
* His view of how venture capital investment and venture philanthropy can drive innovation to improve and expedite patient outcomes across a range of cancers and other diseases.
Thank you, Chris, for a wonderful and energizing interview! I look forward to sharing your thoughts and experiences with our audience.

People in Fundraising, ep. 145: Stephen Rowe, Co-Founder of Apra Australia; Pyro.Solutions

"People in Fundraising" is thrilled to welcome its first guest from Australia, Stephen Rowe! At the time of our interview in April, Stephen was nearing completion of his 13-year career in fundraising advancement at Australian National University.
As he later posted on LinkedIn, "The fundraising sector has taught me that the best outcomes happen when you combine strategic thinking with genuine human connection - whether with major donors, grateful scholarship recipients, or a colleague navigating the complex needs of a university."
In our conversation, Stephen discusses these and other topics:
* How he entered fundraising in 2007 via an online ad in New Zealand, and how the skills needed aligned with Stephen's university studies and skills.
* The inspiration for him and other prospect researchers to co-found Apra Australia almost a decade ago, and how this chapter has grown in membership, conferences, and other offerings.
* The general cultural attitude toward philanthropy in Australia, which is generally that donations from private citizens are not as expected or prevalent as funding from local, state, and the federal government systems.
Thank you, Stephen, for a great conversation! I wish you the best in your future pursuits.

People in Fundraising, ep. 144: Ilana Xinos, Exec. Director, North American Bison Discovery Center

I am very excited to share today's "People in Fundraising" interview with a guest whose work exemplifies local and regional nonprofits' impact on their communities. It is an area I have wanted to focus on more frequently. Ilana Xinos is the Executive Director of the North American Bison Discovery Center in North Dakota, and she eagerly describes her responsibilities this role (fundraiser, tour operator, stewardship, marketing, board oversight, tractor driver!, etc.) over the last decade.
Ilana also shares:
* Why the Center is called a "Discovery Center," and not a museum - and how it has grown and evolved in its various operations in the last 30+ years, including traveling exhibits and planned virtual offerings via its website.
* Her take on why the bison holds such a sway over the American cultural consciousness, its history on the North American continent (at the peak of population in the 1870s, there were at least 60,000,000 bison before mass slaughters drove the number to less than 500 a decade later), and subsequent recovery and conservation efforts.
* As her role focuses more on fundraising, what skills she feels confident in as a development officer, and where she sees need for training, networking, and best practices from other orgs. on how to continually improve the Discovery Center's fundraising.
This was such an informative interview, and one of my most enjoyable over the nearly 150 conversations so far! Thank you, Ilana, for your time and the enthusiasm you brought to our segment!

People in Fundraising, ep. 143: Evan Wildstein, Good Nonsense and the Social Impact Staff Retention Project

Nonprofiteer Evan Wildstein joins "People in Fundraising" to talk about his career in the social impact world. Among his many contributions to the fundraising world, Evan is the author of "The Nonprofiteer's Fundraising Field Guide," a 75-page manual released just over two years ago.
In our terrific conversation, Evan discusses:
* His current title, Chief Decent Human Behavior Officer and how this title came about.
* What led Evan and another "People in Fundraising" guest, Michelle Flores Vryn, to launch the incredibly illustrative Social Impact Staff Retention (SISR) survey in 2014. This annual survey "collects data on nonprofit worker engagement," per its website.
* In our interview, Evan specifically notes that - more than compensation, opportunities for advancement, or other factors - flexibility in one's schedule, in the form of remote or hybrid work, is "double-digit" higher among all other considerations among nonprofit survey respondents when they are thinking about joining or leaving a nonprofit.
* Thought leaders such as Bob Greenleaf and Parker Palmer. Bob popularized the concept of "servant-leader," and Parker authored, among other works, "An Undivided Life," which explores the dynamic concept of humans "seeking wholeness in our ourselves, our work, and our world." Evan describes why these theorists, and others, are meaningful to his life and work.
Thank you, Evan, for an outstanding and illuminating conversation! I know our audience will enjoy hearing your thoughts on wholeness and bringing one's full self to nonprofit work, and how interwoven our careers and personal lives can be.

People in Fundraising, ep. 142: Abbey Harlow, Owner of Harlow Nonprofit Consulting

Abbey Harlow is the first "People in Fundraising" guest to represent Vermont. Closing in on getting at least one nonprofit leader from each of the 50 U.S. states! I appreciate Abbey's willingness to chat with me, as we weren't even 1st connections on LinkedIn when I reached out to invite her on the podcast. Abbey's focus on small nonprofits and her specialties in development and communications strategies were very interesting. In our conversation, Abbey discusses:* What about working with small- and medium-sized nonprofits, "distilling their complex work into simple and moving stories," as Abbey writes on her firm's website, are most appealing and challenging for her.
 
* What led Abbey to launch her own nonprofit consulting company, and the types of nonprofits and projects that she works with. 
 
* Being an avid reader. I asked Abbey for her thoughts on this quote from Emily Dickinson: "There is no frigate like a book...to take us lands away; How frugal is the chariot...that bears the human soul." On Abbey's company website, if you have a StoryGraph account, you can find a list of books she is reading. 
 
Thank you Abbey for a delightful conversation! I am grateful to share our just-audio conversation with the "People in Fundraising" community, and for followers to learn more about you and your work. 

People in Fundraising, ep. 141: M. Jay Duggan, CEO of Launch Legacy Consulting

Jay Duggan joins "People in Fundraising" from Georgia, and he was one of the many terrific guest leads sent my way months ago to get representatives from about a dozen states that had yet to be repped on this podcast. I really enjoyed talking with Jay about many development topics, including:
* Jay's decision to leave institutional nonprofit work to start, in the summer of 2021, his own firm - Launch Legacy Consulting. It has an awesome website! Launch has since become a Duggan family operation, with his wife Cherie as a co-founder and son Jon joining recently as Director of Philanthropic Strategies.
* Launch Legacy Consulting's focus on both Major Gifts and Planned Giving prospects and strategies. What attracted Jay specifically to planned giving, based on his background in insurance. 
* As a father of five, what Jay hopes his children will take from seeing him balance or integrate work and family life - as well as what he hopes they will understand about why he works in nonprofit fundraising.
Jay's passion for and expertise in Major and Planned Giving, in advance of nonprofits' missions, shine through in our conversation. Thank you, Jay, for a wonderful and engaging interview!

People in Fundraising, ep. 140: Marianne Pelletier, Managing Director, Staupell Analytics

What a delight to welcome fundraising legend Marianne Pelletier to "People in Fundraising!" I first saw Marianne present at a NEDRA conference in Boston in the early 2000s, where she described in fascinating detail how she determined the estimated revenue of a small, privately held ice cream stand in a Boston Metro West town!
To my young prospect research mind, Marianne's joy, curiosity, and determinedness in a search for a difficult answer was illuminating: those traits are ones that are difficult to fake and to teach. They are ingrained in how someone is wired, and Marianne brings those traits in abundance to her work.
In our conversation, Marianne discusses:
* How she entered the fundraising profession, specifically in prospect research and management.
* What led her to leave the institutional shops to co-found Staupell Analytics, a prospect development and fundraising operations consulting firm.
* Some of the most common queries and questions that Marianne and her team, including prospect management rock star and season 1 guest Ruthie Giles, get from clients concerning donor modeling, data mining, and portfolio challenges.
* What keeps her curiosity going as a nonprofit leader with more than 35 years of experience.
Thank you, Marianne, for a delightful conversation! I am honored to share part of your career journey with our audience. I appreciate the expertise and kindness that you bring to our profession and people in fundraising.

People in Fundraising, ep. 139: Jay Frost, Host of "Philanthropy Masterminds" podcast presented by DonorSearch

Jay Frost is a visionary nonprofit leader and prolific podcast host, who is generous with his time and warm in his ability to spotlight nonprofit professionals through his "Philanthropy Masterminds" podcast series (link in comments). Many in our world know of Jay and his work through that podcast (supported by DonorSearch) and other podcasts, including "Frontlines of Social Good" and "The PM Podcast," as well as through conference presentations and publications. To welcome Jay on "People in Fundraising" is a professional and personal delight. As Jay and I talked, I found many commonalities in our personalities and interests. He is someone I really admire and am grateful for his time in sharing insights on many topics, including:* Jay's entree into nonprofit development with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). We also discuss current federal funding cuts to anchor institutions like the NEA, and the risks these cuts pose to the nonprofit world and our society.* Jay's career since his NEA days, working with veterans such as Brian Lacy, Helen E. Brown Brown, and Bill Tedesco of DonorSearch, which presents Jay's podcasts. * His personable approach to interviewing guests on "Philanthropy Masterminds," and how he loves giving a platform to people to share their stories, including about their childhoods and personal development. * Jay's response to a theory presented by Annie Midori Atherton in a recent Atlantic article "Your Friends Don't All Have to Be the Same Age," which exposes the growing trend of "the age stratification in American culture," which "confines people to a narrow worldview. A society that mingles more freely across generations would be less lonely and less ageist." I thought Jay's work on his podcasts is a beautiful antidote to age stratification, and Jay discusses his thoughts on this alarming trend and how he seeks to counter it.* I ask Jay about some of the artwork visible behind him in his podcast episodes - in particular, two framed pieces, one of Groucho Marx, and the other of Charlie Chaplin. Jay movingly shares where these pieces came from, and their significance in his life.There is so much interesting and enjoyable content in Jay's conversation, and I know my audience will enjoy seeing and learning from Jay as we switch the interviewer/interviewee chairs to have this legendary nonprofit thought-leader and podcast host be interviewed! 

People in Fundraising, ep. 139: Jay Frost, host of "Philanthropy Masterminds" nonprofit podcast

Jay Frost is a visionary nonprofit leader and prolific podcast host, who is generous with his time and warm in his ability to spotlight nonprofit professionals through his "Philanthropy Masterminds" podcast series. Many in our world know of Jay and his work through that podcast (supported by DonorSearch) and other podcasts, including "Frontlines of Social Good" and "The PM Podcast," as well as through conference presentations and publications.
To welcome Jay on "People in Fundraising" is a professional and personal delight. As Jay and I talked, I found many commonalities in our personalities and interests. He is someone I really admire and am grateful for his time in sharing insights on many topics, including:
* Jay's entree into nonprofit development with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). We also discuss current federal funding cuts to anchor institutions like the NEA, and the risks these cuts pose to the nonprofit world and our society.
* Jay's career since his NEA days, working with leaders such as Brian Lacey, Helen Brown, and Bill Tedesco of DonorSearch, which presents Jay's podcasts.
* His personable approach to interviewing guests on "Philanthropy Masterminds," and how he loves giving a platform to people to share their stories, including about their childhoods and personal development.
* Jay's response to a theory presented by Annie Midori Atherton in a recent The Atlantic article "Your Friends Don't All Have to Be the Same Age," which exposes the growing trend of "the age stratification in American culture," which "confines people to a narrow worldview. A society that mingles more freely across generations would be less lonely and less ageist." I thought Jay's work on his podcasts is a beautiful antidote to age stratification, and Jay discusses his thoughts on this alarming trend and how he seeks to counter it.
* I ask Jay about some of the artwork visible behind him in his podcast episodes - in particular, two framed pieces, one of Groucho Marx, and the other of Charlie Chaplin. Jay movingly shares where these pieces came from, and their significance in his life.
There is so much rich and enjoyable content in Jay's conversation, and I know my audience will enjoy seeing and learning from Jay as I turn the chair to have this legendary nonprofit thought-leader and podcast host be interviewed! Thank you Jay for a wonderful conversation!