What the Fundraising

When modern technology fails to solve an organization's friction, the root cause is rarely the software; it is the human systems behind it. This episode reframes digital transformation, proving that operational harmony relies far more on culture, mindset, and people than on shiny digital products. Meet Tim Lockie, who brings over 20 years of experience working inside and outside the nonprofit sector. As a human-centric tech and AI expert, Tim has spent his career helping organizations bridge the gap between technical infrastructure and human behavior.  Today's conversation dismantles common software marketing myths, pointing out how buying products without updating organizational habits leads to widespread adoption failure. Moreover, using an orchestra analogy, Tim explains that while individual tools act as instruments, organizations struggle with orchestration, often spending less than 3% of budgets on staff support compared to software. To fix this, he advocates appointing "first chairs," or dedicated leads, to guide teams from basic software support to true success. Finally, the discussion warns that AI will amplify existing organizational habits, making poorly run teams play bad music faster while noting that smaller teams can achieve paradigm shifts rapidly when they prioritize mindset over mechanics. In this episode, you will be able to:  Identify the Root Cause of Technology Failures Evaluate Common Tech Marketing Myths Formulate a Human-Centered Resource Strategy Implement the "First Chair" Operations Model Predict the Cultural Impact of AI Adoption Get all the resources from today’s episode here.  Support for this show is brought to you by Donor Perfect. Our friends at Donor Perfect really understand fundraising on so many levels. Stay aligned while working online with a seamless and secure payments experience for your donors and your team. Empower donors to give where they are, whenever they like, automate data entry, and process online, monthly, and mobile payments, and accept payments over the phone. Connect with me:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_malloryerickson/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatthefundraising YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@malloryerickson7946 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/mallory-erickson-bressler/ Website: malloryerickson.com/podcast Loved this episode? Leave us a review and rating here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-the-fundraising/id1575421652 If you haven’t already, please visit our new What the Fundraising community forum. Check it out and join the conversation at this link. If you’re looking to raise more from the right funders, then you’ll want to check out my Power Partners Formula, a step-by-step approach to identifying the optimal partners for your organization. This free masterclass offers a great starting point.

In this episode of What the Fundraising Podcast, What happens when we stop thinking about fundraising as simply asking for money and start thinking about it as relationship building, connection, and philanthropy? In this episode of What the Fundraising Podcast, Mallory Erickson talks with Jay E. Davenport, Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations at Penn State University, about building a culture where alumni engagement, fundraising, leadership, and philanthropy are deeply interconnected. Drawing from his 32-year career in higher education, Jay shares how his experience at VCU shaped his philosophy around “base building”, nurturing relationships with people at every level of the fundraising pyramid and creating meaningful opportunities for engagement before a financial gift is ever expected. Jay also shares how he approaches leadership and change management within an institution with deep history and tradition. Rather than abandoning what has worked, he believes in “innovating on behalf of tradition”, and finding ways to improve existing practices while honoring the institution's legacy. A major focus of the conversation is Jay’s 1,000-day planning framework, which translates a big organizational vision into clear priorities, responsibilities, and milestones. He explains how this approach gives teams clarity about where they are going, how their individual work contributes to the larger mission, and what needs to happen next. In this episode, you will be able to:  Understand why donor engagement should come before the financial ask. Think beyond major gifts and nurture lifelong relationships across the entire fundraising pyramid. Build more connected and integrated alumni and donor experiences. Lead organizational change while honoring institutional history and tradition. Use a 1,000-day plan to turn a big vision into actionable priorities. Create clarity around roles, responsibilities, and organizational priorities. Develop a culture where the entire team sees itself as part of fundraising. Prioritize relationship building as a leading indicator of fundraising success. Recognize and celebrate your team in ways that are meaningful to them. Shift from asking for money to connecting donor passion with institutional need. Get all the resources from today’s episode here.  Support for this show is brought to you by Donor Perfect. Our friends at Donor Perfect really understand fundraising on so many levels. Stay aligned while working online with a seamless and secure payments experience for your donors and your team. Empower donors to give where they are, whenever they like, automate data entry, and process online, monthly, and mobile payments, and accept payments over the phone. Connect with me:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_malloryerickson/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatthefundraising YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@malloryerickson7946 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/mallory-erickson-bressler/ Website: malloryerickson.com/podcast Loved this episode? Leave us a review and rating here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-the-fundraising/id1575421652 If you haven’t already, please visit our new What the Fundraising community forum. Check it out and join the conversation at this link. If you’re looking to raise more from the right funders, then you’ll want to check out my Power Partners Formula, a step-by-step approach to identifying the optimal partners for your organization. This free masterclass offers a great starting point.

Mallory Erickson and Cindy Wagman pull back the curtain on what it really looks like to build partnerships between coaches, consultants, and technology companies in the social impact space. Cindy Wagman is a nonprofit consultant, educator, and founder of the Nonprofit Fractionals Network. After years of working as an in-house fundraiser, Cindy began consulting in 2015 and later built a business focused on helping nonprofit professionals transition into fractional consulting while creating sustainable businesses without burnout. Originally recorded as a webinar, this conversation explores why tech companies want to partner with coaches and consultants, what you can gain from these relationships, and how to determine whether a partnership is actually aligned with your business and values. Mallory and Cindy share their own experiences navigating partnerships, sponsorships, speaking opportunities, referral revenue, webinars, and emerging AI partnerships. They also talk honestly about what makes these opportunities worthwhile, what can become a drain on your time, and how to protect your intellectual property when technology becomes part of your service delivery. Whether you're just starting to explore partnerships or you've already worked with technology companies, this episode will help you approach these relationships with more intention, discernment, and agency. In this episode, you will be able to: - Identify why technology companies partner with coaches and consultants and what they are ultimately hoping to gain from those relationships. - Evaluate potential partnerships based on your own business goals, values, audience, and desired outcomes. - Understand the different ways partnerships can support brand visibility, audience growth, revenue generation, and impact. - Approach speaking opportunities more strategically by thinking about lead capture, audience growth, and how to make the most of the opportunity. - Think critically about referral and affiliate partnerships, including transparency and disclosure around referral revenue. - Understand how AI is creating new opportunities for coaches and consultants to scale their impact while maintaining the human value of their work. - Ask better questions about intellectual property, privacy, data, and how your content is being used when partnering with technology companies. Support for this show is brought to you by Donor Perfect. Our friends at Donor Perfect really understand fundraising on so many levels. Stay aligned while working online with a seamless and secure payments experience for your donors and your team. Empower donors to give where they are, whenever they like, automate data entry, and process online, monthly, and mobile payments, and accept payments over the phone. Connect with me:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_malloryerickson/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatthefundraising YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@malloryerickson7946 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/mallory-erickson-bressler/ Website: malloryerickson.com/podcast Loved this episode? Leave us a review and rating here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-the-fundraising/id1575421652 If you haven’t already, please visit our new What the Fundraising community forum. Check it out and join the conversation at this link. If you’re looking to raise more from the right funders, then you’ll want to check out my Power Partners Formula, a step-by-step approach to identifying the optimal partners for your organization. This free masterclass offers a great starting point.

Have you ever wondered how to turn speaking opportunities into a meaningful part of your business? In this solo episode of What The Fundraising, Mallory Erickson gets candid about how she built her paid speaking business, what she did before people were paying her, how she decides which opportunities are worth her time, and why being a great speaker is only one part of building a sustainable speaking career. Mallory shares what she learned from years of unpaid speaking, how she used content partnerships to make early opportunities financially possible, and the role that webinars, word of mouth, testimonials, and a speaker reel played in growing her reputation. She also talks openly about her current speaking rates, the value of protecting her time and family commitments, and why she believes speakers should advocate for fair compensation while also considering equity across the sector. Most importantly, Mallory offers a behind-the-scenes look at the decisions she makes when evaluating speaking opportunities and the relationships that have helped her speaking business grow organically. In this episode, you will be able to:  - Understand how unpaid speaking opportunities can help build the reputation, experience, and word-of-mouth referrals that lead to paid opportunities. - Identify ways to make speaking opportunities more financially accessible early in your career, including content and platform partnerships. - Create the foundational materials you need to market yourself as a speaker, including a speaker reel and media kit. - Think strategically about your speaking rates by considering travel, preparation, lost business time, and personal commitments. - Create space in your calendar for higher-value speaking opportunities instead of automatically saying yes to every opportunity that comes your way. - Build stronger relationships with event organizers by being thoughtful, collaborative, kind, and easy to work with while still maintaining clear boundaries. Check out Mallory’s speaking media kit and speaking reel: https://malloryerickson.com/speaking-workshops/  Get all the resources from today’s episode here.  Support for this show is brought to you by Donor Perfect. Our friends at Donor Perfect really understand fundraising on so many levels. Stay aligned while working online with a seamless and secure payments experience for your donors and your team. Empower donors to give where they are, whenever they like, automate data entry, and process online, monthly, and mobile payments, and accept payments over the phone. Connect with me:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_malloryerickson/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatthefundraising YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@malloryerickson7946 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/mallory-erickson-bressler/ Website: malloryerickson.com/podcast Loved this episode? Leave us a review and rating here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-the-fundraising/id1575421652 If you haven’t already, please visit our new What the Fundraising community forum. Check it out and join the conversation at this link. If you’re looking to raise more from the right funders, then you’ll want to check out my Power Partners Formula, a step-by-step approach to identifying the optimal partners for your organization. This free masterclass offers a great starting point.

What does it actually take to write a book? In this solo episode of What The Fundraising, Mallory Erickson pulls back the curtain on her experience writing and publishing her book, What the Fundraising. From signing a publishing contract with Wiley before she even knew what she wanted to write, to getting pregnant, navigating a difficult pregnancy, becoming a new parent, and rewriting the entire book six weeks postpartum, Mallory shares the messy reality behind the finished product. Mallory also talks about the limiting belief she had that she needed a book in order to get paid speaking opportunities, how writing the book ultimately changed the way she thinks and communicates, and why she believes a book should be valuable because of its unique ideas and perspective, not simply because you can say you wrote one. She also gets honest about perfectionism, ADHD, the challenges of sequencing a long-form argument, using AI for feedback but not for writing, and the importance of having systems and support around you. Most importantly, Mallory shares why your book doesn't need to be perfect. It needs to sound like you. In this episode, you will be able to:  - Understand what Mallory's actual book-writing process looked like, including the unexpected circumstances that shaped it. - Recognize the difference between creating long-form social content and developing a cohesive argument for a book. - Identify how sequencing an argument can become one of the hardest parts of writing a book, especially when you have lots of ideas and information to connect. - Consider how a book can strengthen your thinking, speaking, podcasting, and overall ability to articulate your ideas. - Think more strategically about whether writing a book actually supports the business, career, or change you want to create. - Use AI as a tool for feedback and identifying gaps without outsourcing your unique perspective and voice. - Let go of the idea that your book needs to be perfect before you put it into the world. - Write something that actually matters to you and gives readers a perspective they couldn't get anywhere else. Support for this show is brought to you by Donor Perfect. Our friends at Donor Perfect really understand fundraising on so many levels. Stay aligned while working online with a seamless and secure payments experience for your donors and your team. Empower donors to give where they are, whenever they like, automate data entry, and process online, monthly, and mobile payments, and accept payments over the phone. Connect with me:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_malloryerickson/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatthefundraising YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@malloryerickson7946 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/mallory-erickson-bressler/ Website: malloryerickson.com/podcast Loved this episode? Leave us a review and rating here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-the-fundraising/id1575421652 If you haven’t already, please visit our new What the Fundraising community forum. Check it out and join the conversation at this link. If you’re looking to raise more from the right funders, then you’ll want to check out my Power Partners Formula, a step-by-step approach to identifying the optimal partners for your organization. This free masterclass offers a great starting point.