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46% of nonprofit CEOs say burnout is “very much” a concern, so what needs to change for nonprofit leaders to stay in this work? For a very special final conversation in my Atlanta CEO series, I’m bringing ALL four leaders together to talk about relationships, community, visibility, sustainability, and what it takes to lead an organization right now. Carolina, Tammy, Chidi, and Kenita get into why CEOs need a public voice, how to separate your identity from your job title, succession planning, letting your team own pieces of the vision, and the most important leadership skill… subtraction! We also talk fundraising and challenge long-held nonprofit norms around overhead, wellness, and what funders choose to support. And we end with a reminder I think every nonprofit CEO needs to hear. Resources & Links Connect with our guests on LinkedIn: Carolina García Jayaram, Chidi Asoluka, Kenita Smith, Tammy Tibbetts This episode is presented by The Monthly Giving Builder.  Generate your comprehensive monthly giving plan and build your program step by step - with a guided companion working alongside you from start to finish.  Now is the time to start making your plans for GivingTuesday. Visit GivingTuesday.org/participate for resources and inspiration. Save the date for our next Monthly Giving Summit on February 25, 2027. Apply to speak here! Applications are now open for the 2027 Mini Monthly Giving Mastermind and Retreat. If you have built a monthly giving program, join our high-touch peer coaching community for nonprofit leaders who are ready to break through. Supercharge your monthly giving program and apply for my Monthly Giving VIP Intensive session. Only 2 spots are available this fall! Let's Connect! Send a DM on Instagram or LinkedIn and let us know what you think of the show!My book, The Monthly Giving Mastermind, is here! Grab ...

Did you know that 88% of nonprofits operate on less than $500,000? Kenita Smith started H.O.P.E, Inc. with no nonprofit experience, no donors, and no grants, AND grew the organization from $11,000 to nearly $900,000 (!) Kenita founded H.O.P.E after her own experience as a single parent trying to finish college, and one of her biggest growth strategies was getting out and telling that story. Whenever she spoke, they raised money, so she made it a goal to speak somewhere every single month. We talk about why Kenita went years without paying herself, the pressure she felt to prove the organization was legitimate, and why 100% board buy-in is non-negotiable for a growing nonprofit. Plus, after helping more than 100 parents graduate and coaching 58 nonprofit CEOs, she shares what she’s building toward next. Resources & Links Connect with Kenita on LinkedIn and learn more about H.O.P.E, Inc. on their website. This episode is presented by The Monthly Giving Builder.  Generate your comprehensive monthly giving plan and build your program step by step - with a guided companion working alongside you from start to finish.  Now is the time to start making your plans for GivingTuesday. Visit GivingTuesday.org/participate for resources and inspiration. Save the date for our next Monthly Giving Summit on February 25, 2027. Apply to speak here! Applications are now open for the 2027 Mini Monthly Giving Mastermind and Retreat. If you have built a monthly giving program, join our high-touch peer coaching community for nonprofit leaders who are ready to break through. Supercharge your monthly giving program and apply for my Monthly Giving VIP Intensive session. Only 2 spots are available this fall! Let's Connect! Send a DM on Instagram or LinkedIn and let us know what you think of the show!My book, The Monthly Giving Mastermind, is here! Grab ...

Once a CEO, always a CEO? That's not how my current guest sees it. Tammy Tibbetts started She’s the First at 23, became its first employee after landing two $25,000 grants, and spent nearly 17 years leading the organization through growth, workforce reductions, and ultimately a merger with Girl Rising.  Her biggest lesson from that entire arc? The unglamorous work you’re doing every day is building the muscle you’ll need for the challenges you can’t see coming yet. We talk about what Tammy learned from some of her loneliest years as a solo CEO, why strong boards should be looking after the CEO as a whole person, and a question we don’t talk about enough: what comes AFTER the CEO title? Tammy makes such a good case for why former CEOs can bring an entirely different level of perspective to philanthropy, chief of staff roles, and other seats at the table. Resources & Links Learn more about Tammy Tibbetts on her website, and check out her Merger Diaries series on LinkedIn. Learn more about She’s the First and Girl Rising. International Women’s Forum This episode is presented by The Monthly Giving Builder.  Generate your comprehensive monthly giving plan and build your program step by step - with a guided companion working alongside you from start to finish.  Now is the time to start making your plans for GivingTuesday. Visit GivingTuesday.org/participate for resources and inspiration. Save the date for our next Monthly Giving Summit on February 25, 2027. Apply to speak here! Applications are now open for the 2027 Mini Monthly Giving Mastermind and Retreat. If you have built a monthly giving program, join our high-touch peer coaching community for nonprofit leaders who are ready to break through. Supercharge your monthly giving program and apply for my Monthly Giving VIP Intensive session. Only 2 spots are available this fall! Let's Connect! Send a DM on Instagram or LinkedIn and let us know what you think of the show!My book, The Monthly Giving Mastermind, is here! Grab ...

When a high schooler at NewComm manages a $10,000 budget, the money is real. So is the authority, and so are the neighborhoods they're designing solutions for. Chidi Asoluka spent 16 years as a classroom teacher before founding NewComm, a civic design studio where high schoolers from historically marginalized communities pair literature with real community challenges. He joins me in Atlanta for a special in-person CEO Series episode to share how a dream about Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon became an English elective in Philadelphia, then a summer program for 11 students, and now serves more than 150 students in the Bronx, with Brooklyn coming this fall. We also talk about the bank CEO who paid his full Georgetown tuition, why success shouldn't require erasure, how senior "managing partners" help run the organization, and how the Net Gala, the first project students funded with their $10,000 budget, became NewComm's annual fundraiser. Resources & Links Learn more about NewComm and follow along on Instagram. Connect with Chidi on Instagram and LinkedIn. Watch Chidi's TED Talk This episode is presented by The Monthly Giving Builder.  Generate your comprehensive monthly giving plan and build your program step by step - with a guided companion working alongside you from start to finish.  Now is the time to start making your plans for GivingTuesday. Visit GivingTuesday.org/participate for resources and inspiration. Save the date for our next Monthly Giving Summit on February 25, 2027. Apply to speak here! Applications are now open for the 2027 Mini Monthly Giving Mastermind and Retreat. If you have built a monthly giving program, join our high-touch peer coaching community for nonprofit leaders who are ready to break through. Supercharge your monthly giving program and apply for my Monthly Giving VIP Intensive session. Only 2 spots are available this fall! Let's Connect! Send a DM on Instagram or LinkedIn and let us know what you think of the show!My book, The Monthly Giving Mastermind, is here! Grab ...

What if the boldest thing philanthropy could do is to hand an organization $250,000, and $50,000 directly to the individual to support the whole leader? My next guest runs a foundation around that exact idea.  Carolina García Jayaram, founding CEO of the Elevate Prize Foundation, believes that strategic visibility can be just as catalytic as funding, especially for social entrepreneurs trying to grow beyond the people and communities who already know them. We talk about Elevate Prize’s “Make Good Famous” philosophy, what relationship-based philanthropy looks like, and how Elevate Studios helped one storytelling series generate more than 3 MILLION views and 100,000 new YouTube subscribers. Resources & Links Connect with Carolina García Jayaram on LinkedIn and Instagram. Learn more about Elevate Studios, the Get Loud Award, and the Elevate Prize Foundation.  This episode is presented by The Monthly Giving Builder.  Generate your comprehensive monthly giving plan and build your program step by step - with a guided companion working alongside you from start to finish.  Now is the time to start making your plans for GivingTuesday. Visit GivingTuesday.org/participate for resources and inspiration. Save the date for our next Monthly Giving Summit on February 25, 2027. Apply to speak here! Applications are now open for the 2027 Mini Monthly Giving Mastermind and Retreat. If you have built a monthly giving program, join our high-touch peer coaching community for nonprofit leaders who are ready to break through. Supercharge your monthly giving program and apply for my Monthly Giving VIP Intensive session. Only 2 spots are available this fall! Let's Connect! Send a DM on Instagram or LinkedIn and let us know what you think of the show!My book, The Monthly Giving Mastermind, is here! Grab ...

When World Central Kitchen shows up within hours of a disaster, that response didn’t start that day. The relationships, infrastructure, and funding were already in place, and more than 80,000 Kitchen Corps members are a huge reason why. Monthly Giving Manager Lindsey Latham joins me to share how WCK turned an already successful recurring donor base into a true community, including a monthly newsletter that catapulted their open rates to 40-45%, along with a 4-part welcome series designed around stewardship. We also talk about their $500,000 monthly giving match, why it keeps matching gifts through the end of the year instead of just once, and what nonprofits with an unnamed recurring donor base can learn from their retention first strategy. Resources & Links Learn more about World Central Kitchen and Kitchen Corps and connect with Lindsey on LinkedIn. Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green This episode is presented by The Monthly Giving Builder.  Generate your comprehensive monthly giving plan and build your program step by step - with a guided companion working alongside you from start to finish.  Now is the time to start making your plans for GivingTuesday. Visit GivingTuesday.org/participate for resources and inspiration. Save the date for our next Monthly Giving Summit on February 25, 2027. Apply to speak here! Applications are now open for the 2027 Mini Monthly Giving Mastermind and Retreat. If you have built a monthly giving program, join our high-touch peer coaching community for nonprofit leaders who are ready to break through. Supercharge your monthly giving program and apply for my Monthly Giving VIP Intensive session. Only 2 spots are available this fall! Let's Connect! Send a DM on Instagram or LinkedIn and let us know what you think of the show!My book, The Monthly Giving Mastermind, is here! Grab ...

Use code: MOVEMENTS for 25% off Monthly Giving Builder Join the Sustainer Slack Group (FREE) Is monthly giving on your year-end fundraising plan, or is it just one email? In this tough love episode, Dana Snyder shares two quotes from Emma Grede that changed how she thinks about her work: "If everything feels important, you haven't made a decision" and "The work you avoid would probably change your life." If your nonprofit says it doesn't have time to start a monthly giving program, this episode is for you. Dana shares: Why "we don't have time" usually means monthly giving isn't at the top of the listWhy one monthly giving email at year-end is not enough, and how to build a full season of asksHow leading with a recurring ask can raise one-time gifts tooHow St. Jude turned a booth at Create and Cultivate into new supporters, and how to build visibility before year-endA 3-step challenge: cut one thing this week, choose who owns monthly giving, and block time on your calendar in the next 7 daysJoin the free Sustainer Slack group at positiveequation.com (click Resources) to share your plan with other nonprofit peers. Ready to build a monthly giving program? Use code MOVEMENTS for 25% off the annual plan of the Monthly Giving Builder. On October 22nd, Monthly Giving Builder users get a live coaching call with Dana to work on their year-end plan. Coming Wednesday: our final Monthlies winner, World Central Kitchen, and how their 80,000 Kitchen Corps members fund day zero disaster response. This episode is presented by The Monthly Giving Builder.  Generate your comprehensive monthly giving plan and build your program step by step - with a guided companion working alongside you from start to finish.  Now is the time to start making your plans for GivingTuesday. Visit GivingTuesday.org/participate for resources and inspiration. Save the date for our next Monthly Giving Summit on February 25, 2027. Apply to speak here! Applications are now open for the 2027 Mini Monthly Giving Mastermind and Retreat. If you have built a monthly giving program, join our high-touch peer coaching community for nonprofit leaders who are ready to break through. Supercharge your monthly giving program and apply for my Monthly Giving VIP Intensive session. Only 2 spots are available this fall! Let's Connect! Send a DM on Instagram or LinkedIn and let us know what you think of the show!My book, The Monthly Giving Mastermind, is here! Grab ...

During a funding crunch, Lucy Madden, CEO of Letters to a Pre-Scientist, recorded a video asking volunteers if they could spare $5 a month to help the organization finish the school year. That first ask brought in 300 monthly donors, and today, more than 90% of Stamp Squad members have also been penpal volunteers. We get into why this worked so well, including how Lucy embedded the monthly giving ask directly into required volunteer training, and how their word-of-mouth momentum is now spilling into fundraising, too. Recurring revenue changed Lucy’s mindset about what was possible. And her biggest lesson for anyone building a recurring program? Get your tech right! Resources & Links Connect with Lucy on LinkedIn, learn more about Letters to a Pre-Scientist, Stamp Squad, and follow them on Instagram. Want to make Missions to Movements even better? Take a screenshot of this episode and share it on Instagram. Be sure to tag @positivequation so I can connect with you.  This episode is presented by The Monthly Giving Builder.  Generate your comprehensive monthly giving plan and build your program step by step - with a guided companion working alongside you from start to finish.  Now is the time to start making your plans for GivingTuesday. Visit GivingTuesday.org/participate for resources and inspiration. Save the date for our next Monthly Giving Summit on February 25, 2027. Apply to speak here! Applications are now open for the 2027 Mini Monthly Giving Mastermind and Retreat. If you have built a monthly giving program, join our high-touch peer coaching community for nonprofit leaders who are ready to break through. Supercharge your monthly giving program and apply for my Monthly Giving VIP Intensive session. Only 2 spots are available this fall! Let's Connect! Send a DM on Instagram or LinkedIn and let us know what you think of the show!My book, The Monthly Giving Mastermind, is here! Grab ...

If you've ever wondered whether a membership model could work for grassroots organizing and not just traditional fundraising, today's guest is going to show you exactly how. The African American Roundtable (AART) won this year’s Monthlies award for Strongest Sense of Community, and Executive Director Markasa Tucker-Harris is joining me to share how AART created a five-tier membership structure, inviting donors to “be the work.” That shift has influenced EVERYTHING, from fundraising and staffing to storytelling and retention, including how they think about dedicated membership roles, relationship-building with donors, and creating pathways for members to organize more people into the movement. Markasa also shares why AART’s churn stays low and what nonprofits considering a membership or recurring giving model should do first. Resources & Links Learn more about the African American Roundtable and their upcoming events. My book, The Monthly Giving Mastermind, is here! Grab a copy here and learn my framework to build, grow, and sustain subscriptions for good. Want to make Missions to Movements even better? Take a screenshot of this episode and share it on Instagram. Be sure to tag @positivequation so I can connect with you. This episode is presented by The Monthly Giving Builder.  Generate your comprehensive monthly giving plan and build your program step by step - with a guided companion working alongside you from start to finish.  Now is the time to start making your plans for GivingTuesday. Visit GivingTuesday.org/participate for resources and inspiration. Save the date for our next Monthly Giving Summit on February 25, 2027. Apply to speak here! Applications are now open for the 2027 Mini Monthly Giving Mastermind and Retreat. If you have built a monthly giving program, join our high-touch peer coaching community for nonprofit leaders who are ready to break through. Supercharge your monthly giving program and apply for my Monthly Giving VIP Intensive session. Only 2 spots are available this fall! Let's Connect! Send a DM on Instagram or LinkedIn and let us know what you think of the show!My book, The Monthly Giving Mastermind, is here! Grab ...

Recurring giving now makes up 27% of ALL online revenue, and for many nonprofits, 30-40% of total online revenue can arrive in the final three weeks of the year. Is your monthly giving program actually positioned to take advantage of all that attention and generosity? Today’s episode is your front row seat into my Q3 State of Recurring Giving webinar, where I brought together the team from STella! alongside fundraising leaders from Habitat for Humanity Omaha and the Canadian Cancer Society to share what they’re doing heading into year end. We also get tactical about the channels and tools driving that growth, including Google Performance Max, paid search, SMS, Fundraise Up, UTMs, and AI. Canadian Cancer Society generated an additional $171,000 from pre-donation upsells, while one recurring donor upgrade test produced an average increase of $14 per donor! And if you’re wondering what to do before Q4, we end with four VERY practical actions. Resources & Links Learn more about STella!, Habitat for Humanity Omaha and Canadian Cancer Society. Read the Neon One 2026 Recurring Donor Report and the M+R Benchmarks 2026. This episode is presented by The Monthly Giving Builder.  Generate your comprehensive monthly giving plan and build your program step by step - with a guided companion working alongside you from start to finish.  Now is the time to start making your plans for GivingTuesday. Visit GivingTuesday.org/participate for resources and inspiration. Save the date for our next Monthly Giving Summit on February 25, 2027. Apply to speak here! Applications are now open for the 2027 Mini Monthly Giving Mastermind and Retreat. If you have built a monthly giving program, join our high-touch peer coaching community for nonprofit leaders who are ready to break through. Supercharge your monthly giving program and apply for my Monthly Giving VIP Intensive session. Only 2 spots are available this fall! Let's Connect! Send a DM on Instagram or LinkedIn and let us know what you think of the show!My book, The Monthly Giving Mastermind, is here! Grab ...

Your next donor may never visit your website! Peter Byrnes, CEO of Fundraise Up, is joining me to explain agentic giving and the shift he sees happening RIGHT now from discovery, to recommendation, to delegation.  Donors are already asking AI tools where they should give, and soon they may be asking those same tools to actually make the donation for them. We get into what nonprofits need to do now to become easier for AI to find, understand, and trust, including why consistency across your website, annual reports, financial information, and outside sources matters more than ever.  We also talk about Fundraise Up’s free Agentic Giving Readiness Assessment, how to audit what AI is already saying about your organization, and why the goal isn’t to panic — it’s to prepare. Resources & Links Check out the Fundraise Up Agentic Giving Readiness Assessment. Connect with Peter on LinkedIn. Learn more about Peec.ai. This episode is presented by The Monthly Giving Builder.  Generate your comprehensive monthly giving plan and build your program step by step - with a guided companion working alongside you from start to finish.  Now is the time to start making your plans for GivingTuesday. Visit GivingTuesday.org/participate for resources and inspiration. Save the date for our next Monthly Giving Summit on February 25, 2027. Apply to speak here! Applications are now open for the 2027 Mini Monthly Giving Mastermind and Retreat. If you have built a monthly giving program, join our high-touch peer coaching community for nonprofit leaders who are ready to break through. Supercharge your monthly giving program and apply for my Monthly Giving VIP Intensive session. Only 2 spots are available this fall! Let's Connect! Send a DM on Instagram or LinkedIn and let us know what you think of the show!My book, The Monthly Giving Mastermind, is here! Grab ...

Global Catalyst is on a mission to mentor girls around the world to become powerful advocates and confident leaders. They went from just 7 monthly donors in July 2025, to growing their Girls First community by 500% to 35 monthly donors. As a girl mom, this episode with Courtney Stricklin Burgan hits deep to my heart. In her role as VP of Engagement and Communications, Courtney leads a passionate team of fundraising and storytelling professionals, and we're going to get into every single detail of how she did it. You’ll discover why donors started choosing $20, $25, and even $33 a month, how they steward their community with birthday cards, anniversary emails, sticker packs, and personal outreach, and why Courtney sees monthly giving as “major giving in a different way.” Resources & Links Learn more about Global Catalyst, follow them on Instagram, and connect with Courtney at [email protected].  Check out Courtney’s book recs, Dungeon Crawler Carl and I Am A Girl From Africa. This episode is presented by The Monthly Giving Builder.  Generate your comprehensive monthly giving plan and build your program step by step - with a guided companion working alongside you from start to finish.  Now is the time to start making your plans for GivingTuesday. Visit GivingTuesday.org/participate for resources and inspiration. Save the date for our next Monthly Giving Summit on February 25, 2027. Apply to speak here! Applications are now open for the 2027 Mini Monthly Giving Mastermind and Retreat. If you have built a monthly giving program, join our high-touch peer coaching community for nonprofit leaders who are ready to break through. Supercharge your monthly giving program and apply for my Monthly Giving VIP Intensive session. Only 2 spots are available this fall! Let's Connect! Send a DM on Instagram or LinkedIn and let us know what you think of the show!My book, The Monthly Giving Mastermind, is here! Grab ...

Planned giving does not have to be complicated OR expensive, and you don’t need an estate attorney to get started. What if your nonprofit already has planned giving prospects sitting inside your donor database, but you just haven’t asked them yet? Tony Martignetti worked with a historical society who mailed just 250 people about planned giving. SIX donors responded that they had already included the organization in their wills! We talk about how Tony built St. John’s University’s planned giving program to $20 million, why your best prospects are often your most loyal long-term donors, and why he recommends starting with donors around age 55-60+ and older. And yes, monthly donors absolutely belong in this conversation. Someone who has supported your organization month after month for years can make an incredible planned giving prospect. Resources & Links Connect with Tony on LinkedIn, tune in to his podcast Nonprofit Radio, and learn more Planned Giving Accelerated. This episode is presented by The Monthly Giving Builder.  Generate your comprehensive monthly giving plan and build your program step by step - with a guided companion working alongside you from start to finish.  Now is the time to start making your plans for GivingTuesday. Visit GivingTuesday.org/participate for resources and inspiration. Save the date for our next Monthly Giving Summit on February 25, 2027. Apply to speak here! Applications are now open for the 2027 Mini Monthly Giving Mastermind and Retreat. If you have built a monthly giving program, join our high-touch peer coaching community for nonprofit leaders who are ready to break through. Supercharge your monthly giving program and apply for my Monthly Giving VIP Intensive session. Only 2 spots are available this fall! Let's Connect! Send a DM on Instagram or LinkedIn and let us know what you think of the show!My book, The Monthly Giving Mastermind, is here! Grab ...

If you've ever wondered what's possible with zero full-time paid staff and zero development budget, this episode is for you. Magical Creatures Sanctuary is a 100% volunteer-run farmed animal rescue on Hawaii Island that cares for more than 100 rescued animals, and today, 48% of their individual donor revenue comes from recurring gifts, with an 83% donor retention rate. Executive Director Jill Vanderhoef joins me to break down their Adopt a Magical Creature sponsorship program and how even a $5 monthly gift can create meaningful stability. Plus, Jill shares EXACTLY what’s working for them on Instagram and TikTok and why emotional connection, before-and-after storytelling, and paying attention to the questions your audience is already asking can help create content that brings supporters closer to your mission. Resources & Links Learn more about Magical Creatures Sanctuary and follow them on Instagram and TikTok. This episode is presented by The Monthly Giving Builder.  Generate your comprehensive monthly giving plan and build your program step by step - with a guided companion working alongside you from start to finish.  Now is the time to start making your plans for GivingTuesday. Visit GivingTuesday.org/participate for resources and inspiration. Save the date for our next Monthly Giving Summit on February 25, 2027. Apply to speak here! Applications are now open for the 2027 Mini Monthly Giving Mastermind and Retreat. If you have built a monthly giving program, join our high-touch peer coaching community for nonprofit leaders who are ready to break through. Supercharge your monthly giving program and apply for my Monthly Giving VIP Intensive session. Only 2 spots are available this fall! Let's Connect! Send a DM on Instagram or LinkedIn and let us know what you think of the show!My book, The Monthly Giving Mastermind, is here! Grab ...

How do you walk into the end of the year with your monthly giving program finally built? More than HALF of the nonprofit professionals who joined my recent monthly giving webinars either had no recurring giving program or had started one and stalled.  And after analyzing feedback and behavior from more than 1,000 nonprofit leaders, I found that there are three primary barriers keeping organizations from making recurring giving the front door to fundraising. I also take you behind the scenes of how I use Claude and MCP connectors to analyze webinar registrations, purchasing behavior, and participant feedback in a single afternoon. Plus, why another webinar, workbook, or framework won’t solve the problem unless it helps your team produce the actual program name, landing page copy, email sequence, and board-ready plan. Resources & Links This episode is presented by The Monthly Giving Builder.  Generate your comprehensive monthly giving plan and build your program step by step - with a guided companion working alongside you from start to finish.  Now is the time to start making your plans for GivingTuesday. Visit GivingTuesday.org/participate for resources and inspiration. Save the date for our next Monthly Giving Summit on February 25, 2027. Apply to speak here! Applications are now open for the 2027 Mini Monthly Giving Mastermind and Retreat. If you have built a monthly giving program, join our high-touch peer coaching community for nonprofit leaders who are ready to break through. Supercharge your monthly giving program and apply for my Monthly Giving VIP Intensive session. Only 2 spots are available this fall! Let's Connect! Send a DM on Instagram or LinkedIn and let us know what you think of the show!My book, The Monthly Giving Mastermind, is here! Grab ...