Claim OwnershipThe Build Good Fundraising Podcast
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© 2025 The Build Good Fundraising Podcast
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Fundraising isn't easy, but it should be simple. We take the mystery out of fundraising with practical tips and strategies to help nonprofit leaders grow their revenue and impact so they can do more good in the world.
113 Episodes
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Send us a text Giving Tuesday isn’t just one day on the calendar— it’s a chance to build a core pillar of a larger year-end campaign. In this episode, we sit down with Rapinder Dhinsa from Make-A-Wish Canada to learn how she turned Giving Tuesday into a powerful, multi-year growth engine. Rapinder shares how her team built a campaign that got stronger every year — layering in new channels, integrating matched gifts, and weaving Giving Tuesday into the broader year-end strategy to maxi...
Send us a text Imagine building a huge organization on the back of “$5.38 buys a meal for a neighbour experiencing homelessness”, when a meal is just the doorway, not the destination. It’s a situation many nonprofits find themselves in. Their programming has changed and evolved, but their core value proposition and fundraising offers haven’t—because they are tried, trued, tested and proven. In today’s episode, The Mustard Seed’s Philip Calvert sits down with Mike to pull back the curtain on w...
Send us a text Think asking for money is scary? Michael Mitchell has been there, done that, and sweated through enough awkward asks to keep the deodorant industry in business for a lifetime. After two decades of nervously asking for everything from $90 to $9 million, he's discovered something unexpected: asking can actually be kind of amazing. Yes, asking someone for money feels about as natural as dancing at a board meeting. Even seasoned fundraising professionals get tongue-tied. But ...
Send us a text Fundraising appeals are packed with bad habits that refuse to die—bolded words, underlined sentences, multiple hard asks, and financial symbols littered throughout. The data is clear: none of this is actually helping. So what does? This practical, no-fluff session recorded live at the Build Good Summit will strip away ineffective tactics and replace them with a proven, behavioral science-backed approach to crafting appeals that work. This session isn’t theory—it’s specifi...
Send us a text Monthly giving has been the buzzword of the nonprofit industry for the past few years. But most conversations about recurring giving lack substantial data and evidence about what really works to increase recurring revenue. While it can be inspiring to see examples from complex organizations that are seemingly "doing it right", growing your recurring giving program often isn’t as complicated as some would have you think. In this workshop session, you’ll take a hands-on loo...
Send us a text When emergencies happen, donors respond. But too often, that generosity fades just as quickly as it arrives. While acquiring new donors is important, how can we better cultivate and steward those who have already given? How do we bridge the gap between crisis-driven giving and long-term donor commitment? And how do we engage supporters in a way that reflects the evolving expectations of Canadian donors? This session recorded live at the Build Good Summit explo...
Send us a text Imagine the impact you could make if your organization had predictable, repeatable, and scalable revenue? In this session recorded live at the Build Good Summit, UNICEF Canada will share how they created and scaled Paddington’s Postcards, an innovative monthly giving subscription that sends postcards from all around the world to Canadian families making a monthly gift, while teaching children about philanthropy at the same time. This session is perfect for anyone (beginne...
Send us a text In this short session with the Canadian Cancer Society and FundraiseUp, you’ll hear why people are less forgiving of nonprofits than they are consumer brands when they're letting go of their hard earned money. The nonprofit sector as a whole remains years, if not decades, behind ecommerce in their efforts to remove friction from the transaction. But new data shows that it's imperative to address this mindset shift with urgency. Don’t miss out on next year’s Build Good Sum...
Send us a text This fast-paced excerpt from a workshop at the Build Good Summit dives into journey mapping as a powerful strategy to cultivate donor relationships and build a supporter-centric organization. Designed for forward-thinking leaders in social impact, the session offers hands-on insights into using journey mapping to create a seamless, tech-enabled approach to engaging donors, advocates, and supporters. Participants will explore the essentials of 21st-century journey ...
Send us a text Most fundraisers ask: Who do I send this appeal to? But the better question is, What appeal do I send to this person? We all recognize people are different—yet fundraising relies on a one-size-fits-all approach. Traditional segmentation—internal labels, past giving, or vague attitudinal groupings—fails to capture what truly drives a donor to give. And it’s not as simple as testing Issue A vs. Issue B to see which one "wins." That’s still a one-size-fits-all approach in di...
Send us a text Fundraising is at a crossroads. Donor trust is eroding, retention rates are plummeting, and yet, charities continue to rely on the same high-volume, bottom-of-the-funnel tactics—more asks, more urgency, more chasing. But what if the solution isn’t asking more, but becoming something donors want to say yes to? On today’s episode, we listen in to a recorded session from the Build Good Summit where we explored why trust is the most valuable (and perhaps only) asset fundraisers hav...
Send us a text The way we’ve been doing fundraising events might be all wrong. We often focus so much on what happens at the event that we miss the bigger picture: what happens before and after matters just as much—if not more. In this episode, we explore how to use the fundraising flywheel to make your events work harder for you and leave less money (and momentum) on the table. We get into: Why your event shouldn’t be a one-night stand (for your fundraising strategy).How to think abou...
Send us a text After longing for the kind of event we wanted to attend, we decided to create it ourselves. Today, Hannah and Mike walk through why we’re launching The Build Good Summit, an in-person fundraising summit in downtown Toronto happening May 22-23, 2025. The lack of world-class fundraising conferences in Canada has left fundraisers with two choices: spend thousands of dollars to attend conferences elsewhere, or miss out altogether. We’re putting an end to that. When you attend...
Send us a text Today we're celebrating our 100th episode! Come sit down for a fireside chat (complete with Diet Coke) to share the honest story of how this podcast started, where it's headed, and what that means for BuildGood—and for you. Mike gets real about why the original podcast strategy was completely wrong—and why that might’ve been the best thing that could’ve happened. In today’s chat you’ll also hear how BuildGood has grown from a solo consultant to a team of 15 passionate fun...
Send us a text Today we’re launching the Build Good Summit, and introducing the first speaker—Nathan Hill from NextAfter. Nathan and the NextAfter team recently analyzed how the fundraising of 211 nonprofits impacts donor retention. And in today’s chat, he’s sharing 3 key things you can do to retain more donors—backed by research and actual donor data. If you want to get fresh ideas to grow your revenue—and get together with other fundraisers who are doing interesting and innovative things to...
Send us a text Today, BuildGood’s resident fundraising copywriter delivers a masterclass in how to craft fundraising copy that leads people toward greater generosity. Hannah Vermeer gets into simple, easy and effective ways you can change the words you use in your fundraising—and changing the words you use is free. It costs you nothing. Whether it’s making your donor feel like they have an important and meaningful role to play, or crafting copy that’s easy to read and emotionally...
Send us a text If you’re tired of riding the revenue rollercoaster—where your nonprofit’s cash flow is always dependent on a few key fundraising campaigns during the year— your big opportunity is building a strong monthly giving program Growing recurring giving not only smoothes out your cash flow year round, it also increases the lifetime giving of your donors. And it’s a direct pipeline to mid-level, major and legacy gifts. But building a strong monthly giving program requires some thought ...
Send us a text “Always be testing”. That’s popular fundraising advice. After all, the only way to get new insights to grow your fundraising is to try new stuff, test, iterate and optimize. But how do you decide what to test? How do you set up a proper A/B test? And how do you make sure you learn something meaningful from it? That’s what we get into in today's chat with Ronen Tal, the Director of Integrated Marketing and Fundraising at Nature Conservancy of Canad...
Send us a text Social media isn’t working for most nonprofits. If you’re watching your engagement drop while spending hours on content creation, you're likely about ready to give up on social media for good. And no one would blame you. That’s why we’re continuing our series on new donor acquisition by talking about these challenges head-on. We’re talking to Brynne Krispin from Cause Fokus about how to tap into the power of empathy to actually find supporters online through social media. In ou...
Send us a text In our ongoing series on new donor acquisition, we’re talking to one of Canada’s most sought after advertising specialists about how to use Google ads to boost your fundraising. Kevin Harwood manages more than $10m in ad spend for nonprofits across North America, and is at the forefront of what is working…and isn’t. On today’s show, we get into: How to think about online advertising (hint: it’s not about an immediate return on your investment) What option...
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