AFP ICON Series: Doug Trout - Mission Driven Hiring and Fundraising Leadership

In this AFP ICON edition of From the Nest, Charity Jen sits down with Doug Trout, Managing Director at DRiWaterstone Human Capital, to talk about what it takes to build and sustain exceptional nonprofit leadership. With a career dedicated to advancing mission-driven organizations, Doug brings a recruiter’s eye and a fundraiser’s heart to conversations around hiring, team culture, and what makes a candidate stand out in today’s evolving landscape.

Doug shares what trends he’s seeing in nonprofit hiring, how organizations can better invest in their people, and why leadership pipelines matter now more than ever. If you’ve ever wondered how to find the right people—or be the right person—for transformational nonprofit work, this episode is packed with insights.

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Some notable moments from this episode:

00:00 – Meet Doug Trout of DRiWaterstone Human Capital

01:18 – Trends in nonprofit hiring and leadership

02:35 – What makes a strong candidate stand out

04:05 – Creating organizational culture that retains talent

05:40 – Advice for leaders navigating career transitions

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

S1 (00:25):
Welcome back to From the Nest, where fundraising ideas take flight.
I'm your host, Charity Jen, and this episode is part
of our AFP icon series. There are 1 to 1
conversations with nonprofit leaders who are walking the walk. These
interviews are not polished soundbites. They are real talk from
people in the trenches sharing what's working, what's hard, and

(00:48):
what's next. Let's dive in with Doug Trout, CEO of
Dry Waterstone Human Capital. Well, Doug, thank you for stopping
by and being on the podcast. We're here at Icon
clearly this very large and extensive Of conference. Yeah. But

(01:09):
really appreciate you sharing a little bit about your experience.
I would love to just kind of kick it off hearing, um,
you know, how often, you know, is this your first icon?
Have you been here before? And what do you what
do you really love about it?

S2 (01:24):
I have been here. This is a this AFP is
really important to our firm. And we've been rooted in
the not only in the nonprofit and social sector space
for 25 years, but we've been really committed to the
fundraising industry as well. And so this is where it
all happens. This is where you this is the front
lines of it and want to stay in tune to

(01:44):
industry practices. And also just it's an incredible group of people.
And these are these are the greatest examples of people
who are committed to impact that you can be around,
and all kinds of different, um, causes and interests and
problem solving and, and that mixed with business practices. And, uh,

(02:06):
it's a it's I think it's awesome. This is this
is just a great, great place to be.

S1 (02:11):
Yeah. How many times have you been?

S2 (02:12):
Only I think this is only my second one. I
was in Toronto. I don't I can't remember if I
had gone like a decade or two decades ago, but, um,
this is the second year in a row. I did
go to Toronto last year.

S1 (02:25):
Okay. Okay. What would you say about this one specifically
has been, um, the most exciting or some, some takeaways
that you have?

S2 (02:35):
Yeah. I mean, this is probably fairly unoriginal, but I'm
really interested in the AI stuff.

S1 (02:40):
Ah, yeah.

S2 (02:40):
I'm really curious to see where this is all going, um,
and how it can benefit. I'm a little worried that
about the, you know, the job elimination part of it, like,
all this efficiency potentially means fewer jobs, but at the
same time, it it opens up new doors, I think,

(03:01):
for organizations in a way that they've never seen before. Um, and,
and if that means that they can raise more money
and they can do more things, then I think that's
a good thing. But that probably is my biggest interest
so far is, is where AI is going right now
in the industry.

S1 (03:16):
Yeah, yeah. And have you found, um, have you found
some nuggets that you're going to be taking back?

S2 (03:21):
I have, yeah. Yeah, I definitely have, uh, there I've
been very impressed with, um, you know, organizations that are
not nationally focused, they're not big who are utilizing talk
to a number of people and, um, they're utilizing AI
and really productive ways. And I think that's impressive. I mean,

(03:45):
when you can be scrappy and you commit yourself to
utilizing all these various types of products and packages, I
think it's super, super cool. And of course, the big
organizations are doing it too. But, um, I'm really more
impressed with kind of the regional ones or the state
organizations that have kind of figured out a way to

(04:06):
blaze trails and be more efficient on that front. I
think it's pretty cool.

S1 (04:10):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well that's great. Yeah. Yes. Um, what
has been your favorite part of the conference so far? Well,
other than the, like, learning in the eye.

S2 (04:20):
Yeah. No, no. Well, I mean, you know, I'm a
I'm on the AFP D.C. chapter board, and we have
a great group of folks who are out here, and
it's a really neat group of people. And I really,
really like hanging out with the AFP DC folks. I'm
always looking for them in, uh, sessions or and we
have we're able to get together in the evenings. And

(04:43):
so I think honestly, that's a really great part of
this too.

S1 (04:46):
Yes, yes I agree. I have well of course, we
had our our DC chapter happy hour yesterday and and
I agree like just sitting down, you know, with everyone
in a kind of like an informal setting and talking
to them about, you know, what where they are, what
they've learned, some of their challenges. Um, yeah, we have
we have a great we have a great group of people,

(05:07):
if I do say so.

S2 (05:08):
I think so too. I think so too.

S1 (05:10):
Yeah. So yeah. Well, Doug, thank you so much for
stopping by and, uh, for being on the From the
Nest with Charity Gen podcast.

S2 (05:19):
I love it, I love it. Yeah. This has been
super fun.

S1 (05:22):
Yeah. We'll continue the conversation back in DC. Look forward to. Okay.
Thank you. Thanks for listening to From the Nest where
fundraising takes flight. If you enjoyed this conversation, don't miss
the rest of the incredible voices we met at the

(05:42):
AFP icon conference. You can hear from all of the
nonprofit professionals, innovators and change makers by visiting charity. And
if you need more tools and insights from the field,
head to Charity comm to explore the resources I've gathered
from AFP icon and beyond, including strategy, tips, templates and more.

(06:06):
And if you haven't yet, check out my latest book,
Digital Fundraising Transformation The Insider's Guide to Revolutionize Your Strategy
and Raise More. It will help you supercharge your nonprofit
marketing and fundraising efforts. Until next time, keep lifting each
other up.