266: From Insight to Impact: Nurturing Donor Relationships with Tyler Mallory episode artwork

EPISODE · Oct 29, 2025 · 26 MIN

266: From Insight to Impact: Nurturing Donor Relationships with Tyler Mallory

from What the Fundraising · host Mallory Erickson

In an era of overloaded information, building genuine donor alignment is essential. Join with us and explore how curiosity, care, and flexibility help fundraisers uncover what truly motivates the donors. Let’s examine how AI can be a tool of support but never replaces the human connection at the heart of transformational philanthropic engagement.  Like most fundraisers, Tyler Mallory stumbled into the industry unexpectedly from a background of sales and business development. He is now a major gifts officer at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He is also experienced in working as an interim chief advancement officer and specializes in creating alignment between alumni, programs, and institutional needs.  In this episode, you will be able to: - Learn how genuine curiosity and flexibility help building lasting donor relationships. - Discover how to move past fear, pressure, and performance metrics that can block authentic connection. - Gain knowledge on how AI can support, but never replace the human touch in fundraising. - Learn how mistakes can be powerful teachers in shaping better fundraisers and leaders. Get all the resources from today’s episode here.  Support for this show is brought to you by Zeffy. Zeffy is a game-changing fundraising platform built exclusively for nonprofits. Zeffy is a game-changing fundraising platform built exclusively for nonprofits. Unlike other platforms that take a cut of your hard work through credit card and transaction fees, Zeffy is 100% free from transaction and platform fees. That means every dollar you raise goes directly toward fueling your mission. Trusted by more than 50,000 nonprofits, Zeffy empowers organizations of every size to streamline their fundraising with tools to collect donations, sell tickets, and manage donors all in one place. Getting started takes less than 15 minutes, and once you’re set up, you’ll have more resources to put toward what really matters: your cause. Give your fundraising team more confidence — one conversation at a time. Learn more about Practivated. 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 an era of overloaded information, building genuine donor alignment is essential. Join with us and explore how curiosity, care, and flexibility help fundraisers uncover what truly motivates the donors. Let’s examine how AI can be a tool of support but never replaces the human connection at the heart of transformational philanthropic engagement.  Like most fundraisers, Tyler Mallory stumbled into the industry unexpectedly from a background of sales and business development. He is now a major gifts officer at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He is also experienced in working as an interim chief advancement officer and specializes in creating alignment between alumni, programs, and institutional needs.  In this episode, you will be able to: - Learn how genuine curiosity and flexibility help building lasting donor relationships. - Discover how to move past fear, pressure, and performance metrics that can block authentic connection. - Gain knowledge on how AI can support, but never replace the human touch in fundraising. - Learn how mistakes can be powerful teachers in shaping better fundraisers and leaders. Get all the resources from today’s episode here.  Support for this show is brought to you by Zeffy. Zeffy is a game-changing fundraising platform built exclusively for nonprofits. Zeffy is a game-changing fundraising platform built exclusively for nonprofits. Unlike other platforms that take a cut of your hard work through credit card and transaction fees, Zeffy is 100% free from transaction and platform fees. That means every dollar you raise goes directly toward fueling your mission. Trusted by more than 50,000 nonprofits, Zeffy empowers organizations of every size to streamline their fundraising with tools to collect donations, sell tickets, and manage donors all in one place. Getting started takes less than 15 minutes, and once you’re set up, you’ll have more resources to put toward what really matters: your cause. Give your fundraising team more confidence — one conversation at a time. Learn more about Practivated. 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.

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266: From Insight to Impact: Nurturing Donor Relationships with Tyler Mallory

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This episode was published on October 29, 2025.

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In an era of overloaded information, building genuine donor alignment is essential. Join with us and explore how curiosity, care, and flexibility help fundraisers uncover what truly motivates the donors. Let’s examine how AI can be a tool of support...

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