Thought Leadership
Articles on fundraising strategy, board leadership, and what it actually takes to raise what your mission is worth. Written from twenty years inside this work.
Category
Growth for Mission vs. Growth for Relevance: Are You Growing for the Right Reason?
Two reasons nonprofits pursue revenue growth — and only one produces a goal worth building a strategy around. This article names the difference, the cost of getting it wrong, and the intelligence work that earns you the right to set a credible goal.
No One Gives to Your Building. They Give to Your Vision.
The most common capital campaign mistake: leading with the building instead of what the building makes possible. This article explains how to lead with vision — and includes a test you can use to find out if your case is ready.
AMRAP: Building a Culture of Philanthropy Through as Many Relationships as Possible
The most durable donor relationships aren't built around one gift officer — they're built around an entire organization. This article explains the AMRAP principle and why it's the structural antidote to turnover-driven donor loss.
The Donor Scrum: How to Get a Stalled Major Gifts Team Moving
When a major gifts team loses momentum, a strategy meeting rarely helps. This article introduces the Donor Scrum — a 30-minute weekly format borrowed from tech that produces measurable movement fast.
Head, Heart, and Imagination: The Missing Piece in Your Major Gift Pitch
Head informs. Heart moves. Imagination compels. Most major gift pitches have the first two and miss the third — the spark that helps donors see themselves as partners in a future, not just funders of a need.
Multipliers: Your Most Underused Donor Acquisition Channel
Your secret major gift weapon isn't your board — it's your most deeply committed donors who introduce their peers. This article explains what Multipliers are, how they're different from board members, and how to find and activate them.
Reliability Is the Strategy: What Actually Drives Major Gift Growth
After working with 23 nonprofits across six time zones, one pattern surfaced consistently: fundraising performance is more about reliability than brilliance. Here's what that means in practice and why it matters more than the next bold move.
The Trust Equation: How Major Donor Trust Is Actually Built
Trust isn't a vibe — it's built in specific choices. This article breaks down the four dimensions of the Trust Equation and shows how to use them to diagnose exactly where a major donor relationship is strong and where it's quietly eroding.
The Inner Gift Game: The Four Psychological Barriers That Sabotage Fundraisers
The barriers that undercut fundraisers aren't skill gaps — they're psychological. This article names all four, shows what each looks like in the room, and offers the reframe that lets you move through them.
Two Lanes, One Goal: The Framework That Gets Board Fundraising Unstuck
The single most common reason board fundraising stalls is lane confusion — staff and board driving in the same lane and colliding. Here's how to set the lanes and what changes when you do.
The Three Conversations Every Board Member Needs to Have
Sustainable board fundraising culture is built on three conversations, in order: the one you have with yourself, the one you have with a donor, and the one you have as a board. Skip any one of them and the work never sticks.
Not Every Board Member Fundraises the Same Way — And That's the Point
One-size-fits-all board fundraising training works for no one. This article introduces six board fundraising archetypes and explains how helping each member find their lane is what finally lifts board fundraising off the ground.
The Frankenstein Committee: What's Wrong With Your Board Fundraising Committee and How to Fix It
Part oversight body, part fundraising group, part event planning team — stitched together with no coherent identity. Here's how to diagnose which failure patterns are active and choose the model that will actually work.
Your Board Doesn't Have a Fundraising Problem. It Has a Role Problem.
Most board fundraising efforts fail before they start — not because the people are wrong, but because nobody defined what the board is actually supposed to do. This article introduces the Two Lanes framework and shows exactly what happens when the lanes are clear.
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Once a month, the deep thinking you don't have time to do yourself — on fundraising strategy, donor relationships, board leadership, and how to raise what your mission is worth. Practical frameworks. Real-world tools. Ideas you can put to work the same week.
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Speaking & Facilitation
Shannon speaks and facilitates for nonprofit leaders, boards, and development teams. Three signature talks, available as talks or workshops.
