Beyond the Gala: Rethinking Donor Engagement

Update: 2025-07-09

Description

Episode Summary

This episode of Frontier.FM gets right to the heart of what it means to lead inclusively in an era of backlash and burnout. Naomi sits down with Mateo Stewart—aka The Bearded Leader—to unpack how organizations can foster authentic belonging, challenge assumptions, and rethink donor and employee engagement through a lens of equity and neuro-inclusion.

Mateo shares his deeply personal and unexpected journey into the world of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and offers a candid, systems-aware critique of the performative traps organizations can fall into—alongside generous, actionable ways forward.

What We Talk About

00:00 – Who is Mateo Stewart?
From hospital corridors to boardrooms and TEDx stages, Mateo's DEI journey began not with a mission—but with a reckoning.
07:00 – Is Inclusion Backsliding?
Naomi raises the red flag on visible pullbacks from DEI commitments. Mateo offers a behind-the-scenes look at what's really happening in executive boardrooms.
12:00 – The Business Case for Belonging
Why creating psychologically safe workplaces isn't an HR "nice-to-have"—it's a leadership necessity for innovation and long-term organizational health.
18:00 – Culture, Process, Tools
Mateo outlines his three-pillar framework for building inclusive workplaces that work—especially for nonprofits and lean teams.
23:00 – Reframing Generational Values
Gen Z? Gen X? Boomer? Doesn't matter. The future of work is values-aligned, and leaders need to meet people—donors and employees—where they're at.
27:00 – Donor Relations and Neurodiversity
Why your gala might be alienating a loyal donor, and how to rethink storytelling, communication preferences, and accessibility in donor engagement.
33:00 – Inclusive Design Fails (and Fixes)
The Diabetes Canada logo misfire, screen reader nightmares, and what your donation form might be silently doing to exclude supporters.
39:00 – Avoiding Tokenism
A hard-hitting reminder that people aren't props. Ethical storytelling means doing better by the people whose lives your org impacts.

Key Takeaways

Inclusion isn't a department—it's a leadership competency. Every exec, every board member, every manager has a role to play.
Don't assume donor preferences. Ask, adapt, and accept that one-size-fits-all storytelling won't cut it.
Accessibility is respect in action. If your digital tools or events are unintentionally exclusive, you're not just missing out, you're causing harm.
Representation without respect is exploitation. If your engagement strategy features the people you serve, ensure their agency and dignity are centred.

If you're ready to make inclusion a cornerstone of your fundraising—not a checkbox—visit us at https://www.societ.com/solutions/frontier/. Let's build workplaces and campaigns where everyone can thrive.