The Intentional Fundraiser Podcast

If you vanished tomorrow, would anyone else in your building

know how to talk about a donor with warmth?

I've watched two organizations, same size, same budget, same tactics. One had a major gift officer carrying every donor relationship alone. The other had a program director who told donor stories unprompted, because she'd been invited to sit in on a visit once and it stuck.

Same resources. Completely different trajectory.

On this w...

He asked to sit in on hiring. She almost said yes to that too.

Here's what changed her mind.

On this week's episode, I tell the story of a major gift officer whose biggest donor had slowly taken over her evenings, her weekends, and nearly her hiring decisions.

We walk through the power dynamics that show up in almost every major gift relationship, the red flags worth naming early, and the reset language that protected both her dignity...

A gift once took eleven months to close. Not because the donor said no.

Because one person was carrying five jobs.

On this week's episode of The Intentional Fundraiser, I tell the story of a major gift that stalled for nearly a year, and what finally unstuck it. Spoiler: it wasn't a better pitch. It was the right people in the room.

We talk about:

• Why cross-functional collaboration is non-negotiable in 2026
• Who belongs at your majo...

Her gala cost $40K. Her dinner cost $200.

Guess which one got a bigger gift.

On this week's episode, I tell the story of two events that happened the same spring, one an eleven-month gala, one a Wednesday dinner for eight people.

Only one of them led to real major gift conversations. It wasn't the expensive one.

We walk through the 3P framework I now use with clients: purpose, people, program, plus the follow-up system that turns a goo...

6:30 a.m. Calendar chaos already.

By 10 a.m., she hadn't talked to a single donor yet.

Six months later, same alarm, same portfolio. Totally different morning.

On this week's episode of The Intentional Fundraiser, I walk through what changed for a major gift officer named Renee, and exactly which categories of work she handed off to AI and automation, and which she never will.

In this episode, Working Smarter: Automation for Major Gift...

A gala put them on stage. Then ghosted them for good.

Three community leaders invited up front, never contacted again. Zero gifts. One hurt feeling that traveled fast.

On this week's episode of The Intentional Fundraiser, I tell that story next to a very different one. A major gift officer who spent four months building trust with a community before she ever made an ask.

No agenda. No pitch. Just curiosity, and a lot of listening.

The ...

What if your major donors wanted to commit longer?

Most of them already do. They just haven't been asked.

In this week's episode of The Intentional Fundraiser podcast, I'm talking about one of the most underused strategies in major gifts: recurring and multi-year commitments.

Not because donors resist them.

Because most fundraisers don't have the language to invite them in.

Here's what we cover:

• Why predictable revenue lets your orga...

$5k a year. For 12 years.

Then she sold her business.

The fundraiser said, "congratulations," and changed the subject.

Sixty days later, with one different question, that same donor transferred $400,000 in appreciated stock before the sale closed.

Same donor. Same relationship. Different question.

This week on The Intentional Fundraiser, I'm pulling back the curtain on what most major gift teams are quietly missing in 2026: asset-based...

Your CEO is not your critic.

They might be your scariest internal customer.

Once I understood that, everything changed.

For years I walked into meetings with my ED ready to defend my portfolio. Why hadn't the gift closed. Why we were behind. Why the donor needed more time.

I left those meetings smaller. He left them more anxious. And the donor at the center of it had no idea any of it was happening.

Then I learned the move that changed...

$150,000 gift. One question.

90 seconds.

"Who is this changing for?"

A development director walked into a meeting with a fund-of-funds founder and a 12-page impact report. He flipped through it in ninety seconds and asked one question:

"Who is this changing for, and how do you know?"

She closed the report. Told one story. Showed one chart. One photo. Nine minutes.

Six days later, the $150K gift came in.

When she called to thank him, he s...

"You brought me a brochure, not a conversation."

A donor said that to one of my clients.

It changed how we prep every donor visit now.

In this week's episode of The Intentional Fundraiser podcast, I share the story of a $250,000 ask that became a $400,000 partnership plus two warm introductions, all because we changed one thing.

We stopped presenting.

We started designing.

Inside the episode you'll get:

• The five-part co-design meeting...

A $100,000 gift, made in a kitchen.

The major gift officer wasn't there.

Another donor was. ☕

She invited three friends over for coffee. She told them why she gave. She didn't pitch. She didn't ask. Six weeks later, one of those friends called me ready to make a major gift.

That moment changed how the major gift officer thinks about major gift strategy.

🎙️ On this week's episode of The Intentional Fundraiser podcast, I unpack peer powe...

Bad metrics ruin good fundraisers.

Slowly. Quietly. Cycle after cycle.

And almost nobody on the team is allowed to say it out loud.

In this week's episode of The Intentional Fundraiser, I'm sharing why the metrics most major gift programs lean on, raw visit counts, dollars to goal, dials made, often miss the actual work.

I'm walking through:

→ The hidden cost of using lagging indicators to coach behavior

→ Five leading indicators worth ...

Pruning isn't loss. It's care.

For years, fundraisers have been told that a bigger portfolio means a healthier pipeline. In my experience, the opposite is usually true.

A focused list closes more gifts, and a focused fundraiser feels more human at the end of the week.

In this week's episode of The Intentional Fundraiser, I walk through the four lenses I use to decide who stays on an active portfolio, who graduates to stewardship, and...

"Fuzzy is the enemy of yes."

That line came up this week while I was recording the podcast.

And I cannot stop thinking about it.

Most major gift offers I see in 2026 are not failing because the relationship is weak or the mission is unclear. They are failing because the offer itself is fuzzy. A program description with a price tag at the bottom is not an offer. It is a proposal. And sophisticated donors can feel the difference.

In thi...

Two donors. Same problem.

Completely different outcomes.

One development officer waited too long to call. By the time she reached out about a delayed project, the donor had already pulled back. A significant gift quietly disappeared.

The other officer called early. She was honest. She said, "Here's what happened, here's what we learned, and here's what we did to fix it." The donor's response?

"I really appreciate you telling me that. ...

Too many tools? Too little clarity?

And not enough hours to manage it all?

This episode is for you.

On this week's episode of The Intentional Fundraiser, I talk about what a healthy major gifts tech stack actually looks like, and what to do about everything that's built up around it.

We cover the four core tech categories that matter for major gifts work, a five-criteria framework for evaluating any tool in your stack, where AI genuine...

AI won’t replace your voice, but it can help amplify it.

I’ve been talking with so many fundraisers who want to try AI but worry their donor communication will start sounding robotic. I get it. Authenticity matters more than ever in twenty‑twenty‑six.

On this week’s Intentional Fundraiser Podcast, I’m sharing how I use AI to draft and refine messages that still sound like me, while saving precious time for dee...

My calendar used to tell on me.

I’d get to Friday and realize I’d spent the whole week in meetings, email, and “urgent” internal stuff… while my top donors barely heard from me. Sound familiar?

In my latest episode of The Intentional Fundraiser, I share how I started treating my calendar like a major gift strategy tool, not a suggestion box. I walk through the three time blocks that changed everything f...