Inviting donors to meetings you look forward to

What Hillary loves about this episode: It captures my clearest thinking on how to make donor meetings worth showing up for — and tests it alongside a young Indigenous woman fundraiser who’s done code-switching to fit white norms and is building donor relationships rooted in curiosity, respect, and shared work.Description: Many fundraisers dread donor meetings — and, truth be told, many donors do too. In this episode, Hillary Frances reframes the purpose of donor conversations and explains how to design meetings that both you and your donors genuinely look forward to. She breaks down why most meetings fall flat, the psychology behind “information-exchange fatigue,” and how centering a donor’s expertise can transform the entire dynamic.Hillary shares practical tools for crafting donor-centric agendas, choosing questions that invite real problem-solving, and matching meeting topics to different donor profiles — from family foundation leaders to venture capitalists. She’s joined by Wiliwili Foundation Founder & CEO, Koana Laimana, who reflects on her experience as a native Hawaiian woman in the fundraising field and how she facilitates donor conversations that are energizing, focused, and deeply relationship-building.Mentioned: Astro Teller, CEO of X, The Wiliwili FoundationGuest: Koana Laimana is the Founder and CEO of the Wiliwili Foundation, whose mission is to support community-led initiatives in Hawaiʻi by providing grants and resources to non-profits focused on culture, land, education, and the arts.Koana is a master resource mobilizer—she doesn't just manage donors, she is thrives in creating philanthropic pipelines that intentionally funnel much-needed wealth from the mainland directly to local changemakers on the islands. When she’s not connecting resources to the causes that need them most, you can probably find her chasing her two keiki, on the beach or in hula. Get in touch