All Episodes

Ep. 197- Be Thankful-And Watch What Happens

Episode 196- The Two Lists You Need Before Year-End

Ep 195-Lessons Learned (Part 2)

Ep 194-Lessons Learned (Part 1)

193-Should You Stay or Should You Go

192-Fundraising Lessons from Frozen II

Episode 191: The Golden Package Title: Every Package Is the Golden Package: Building a Culture of Donor Care

Episode 190: 4 Ways to Grow Your Gratitude Muscle

Episode 189- Christmas in August?

Episode 188-How long can you do this?

Episode 187-Surprise and Delight: How to Build Donor Loyalty with the “Little Wows”

Episode 186-Understanding Donor Listener Types

Episode 185-When Friends & Family Tag Along on Donor Meetings

Episode 184-Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast

183-Conversations with the Clarkbot

Episode 187-Surprise and Delight

Episode 182-Introducing the ClarkBot

Episode 181-Intensity of Purpose

#180: High Turnover in Development Jobs

#179: LeVar Burton on Relationships and Storytelling

#178: How much should you ask for?

#177: SMART Goals

#176: Slow is smooth and smooth is fast

#175: Robin Arzón on Mental Strength

#174: Basic script for every donor meeting you'll ever have

#173: Michael Lewis on How to Tell a Great Story

#172: What's the right amount to ask for?

#171: Purposeful Communication with George Stephanopoulos

#170: Add steps to the process

#169: Do you know your people?

#168: Where are you essential?

#167: Returning Tires at Nordstroms

#166: It's Thanksgiving Month

#165: Brian Tracy on Long-Term Relationships, Educational Selling, and Building Mega-Credibility

#164: Brian Tracy, the Winning Edge, Brilliant at the Basics & AIDA

#163: Thanksgiving Month, Giving Tuesday, Year-End

#162: Can you text your donors?

#161: 30 Tips for Connecting with others

#160: Everything Matters & Conversation Sandwich

#159: What level are you?

#158: 57 Ways to thank and steward your donors

#157: Why do we love our donors?

#156: Embracing Weakness to move from Strength to Strength

#155: How long should you cultivate before you ask?

#154: 13 things to keep in mind when making your pitch

#153: Becoming a Peak Performance Fundraiser

#152: Grab some thank you bread

#151: Finding your next (first) Million Dollar Donor

#150: Taking small steps to achieve big dreams

#149: Monica Vandeventer on your ideal donor

#148: Monica Vandeventer on Finding Your Why

#147: The Pixar Pitch

#146: Things to keep in mind when making your pitch

#145: These are the must reads

#144: Books you should read

#143: Setting Goals and Making Plans for their accomplishment

#142: Everything Matters

#141: Assertive Sales Position > "I don't want to seem pushy..."

#140: Basic Fundraising Advice for those who want a high view of fundraising

#139: Before you move onto bigger and better things

#138: Climbing a mountain takes time

#137: 5 Steps to having an Epic Year

#136: The Best Days Exercise

#135: Mission, Project, Year-End

#134: Major Donor Giving Secrets PART 3

#133: Major Donor Giving Secrets PART 2

#132: Major Donor Giving Secrets PART 1

#131: Hot Chocolate, Aristotle, and 3 Types of Friendship

#130: Potpourri of topics

#129: Thanksgiving to Giving Tuesday to Year-End

#128: How to make names magically disappear off your LYBUNT List

#127: Your Thanksgiving Strategy

#126: Reagan, Romney, Kobe, Shaq... and Fundraising?

#125: Self Assessment of where you're at

#124: Be curious and be bold -- that's why we ask good questions

#123: Good questions lead to better meetings AND better relationships

#122: What are you willing to do and what are you willing to give up?

#121: The antidote to being entitled and resentful

#120: Born to Raise, Born to Train, Answering the Question, "So what do you do?"

#119: Getting great donor reports by asking great questions

#118: Bow Ties and Connection

#117: Wrapping up 5 Themes from Major Donor Interviews: Part 5

#116: 5 Themes from our interviews with Major Donors: Part 4

#115: 5 Themes from our interviews with Major Donors: Part 3

#114: 5 Themes from our interviews with Major Donors: Part 2

#113: 5 Themes from our interviews with Major Donors: Part 1

#112: Pitfalls to Avoid, Ropes to Swing Over Them

#111: Moving the Marbles & Developing Your Mindset

#110: 5 Steps to Planning Your Way to Success: Part 5

#109: 5 Steps to Planning Your Way to Success: Part 4

#108: 5 Steps to Planning Your Way to Success: Part 3

#107: 5 Steps to Planning Your Way to Success: Part 2

#106: 5 Steps to Planning Your Way to Success: Part 1

#105: Welcome to Year End

#104: Ten Traits of Trusted Advisors

#103: Sacred Text on Gratitude and Gratitude Exercises

#102: The difference between a thank you call and a gratitude call

#101: Make your steak sizzle

#100: Great Fundraisers have Discipline

#99: Fundraising Like a Shepherd

#98: The levels of fundraisers

#97: Hey world changer! The fundraiser's guide to being empowered.

#96: Donor Relationships in a Changing Culture

#95: Being Vulnerable with your donors

#94: Who do you focus on now?

#93: Who should you be reaching out to during crisis

#92: Be Great

#91: Covid's Impact on giving and why now may be a great time to ask for a gift

#90: Impact of Covid-19 Stimulus Bill on Charitable Giving

#89: Your world just got smaller

#88: What does the Coronavirus mean to fundraisers?

#87: Potpourri of lessons learned

#86: Consistency Theory and why there's no such thing as underperforming donors

#85: Be awesome at thanking your donors, especially if a Coronavirus Recession is coming

#84: Wealth screening services suck and tips for finding major donors

#83: Be methodical so you don't have to be frantic

#82: Are you even speaking in the same language as your donor?

#81: My 40th Birthday and my life calling to help you

#80: Breaking down an hour long donor meeting

#79: Listening 75%, Talking 25%

#78: Why you can't just go around thanking your donors

#77: How can your donors know if what you are saying is true?

#76: Clark interviews Monica about getting started in fundraising

#75: Make it easy for your donors to choose you

#74: Fundraising is a spiritual act

#73: Getting started in estate planning

#72: Do you sell mission or projects?

#71: Do you have a Case of the Mondays?

#70: Are you already behind on your year and setting big goals

#69: Your Fundraising Calendar and running a pro development operation

Ep 68: Kobe Bryant and Intensity of Purpose

Ep: 67- Lessons from the road: Takeaways from two recent donor meetings

Ep: 66- Are you talking with your donors about including you in their will?

Ep: 65- What running 100K and other endurance events have taught me about fundraising

Ep: 64- Thanksgiving should come from genuine gratitude

Ep: 63- My simple daily prayer that makes life easy -- and the hard question I ask on sucky days

Ep: 62- Making Giving Tuesday your crescendo moment

Ep: 61- The obvious thing that happens when we ask strategic questions

Ep: 60- The * on the "if you're not early you're late" rule

Ep: 59- Stop Making Excuses

Ep: 58- Johnny the Bagger

Ep: 57- The endless moves generated by preparing for, going on, and following up on donor trips

Ep: 56- Planning for success as you close out your year

Ep: 55- I went to a fundraising dinner and there was one thing I really disagreed with.

Ep: 54- How are you watering down the experience you give your donors

Ep: 53- Things that erode at mental mastery

Ep: 52- Mental Mastery Part 2

Ep: 51- Mental Mastery

Ep: 50- 10 things about great stories, + Are you ready for #GivingTuesday

Ep: 49- 5 things that get my attention when looking at a list of donors I don't know

Ep: 48- How I became a Cubs fan, and how you get your donors to choose you

Ep: 47- How I got into fundraising and telling your epiphany story

Ep: 46- Doing the Next Right Thing (Closing more of the gifts you ask for)

Ep: 45- 3 routines to give you more donor interactions

Ep: 44- Clarifications on Giving Clubs and Getting Started with Planned Giving

Ep: 43- Giving Clubs and Getting Started with Planned Giving

Ep: 42- Goals (part 2)

Ep: 41- Goals (part 1)

Ep. 40 -Good Development Work is Methodical Work

Ep. 39 - How to Tell Stories that Resonate with Donors

Ep. 38 -10 Traits of Trusted Advisors

Ep. 37 -Do People Give to People?

Ep. 36 -5 Keys to Unlocking Major Gifts

Ep. 35 - Stop wasting your time on grants and corporate gifts

Ep. 34 -Are you ready for a Major Gifts Program?

Ep. 33 -Psychology of Winning.

Ep. 32 - What asking my wife to marry me can teach us about asking for the gift.

Ep. 31 -What Obama & Reagan can teach us about making a pitch.

EP. 30- 3 things to improve the quality of your donor meetings

EP. 29-Case Study: From $75 to Hundreds of Thousands

EP. 28- 13 tips to making a better pitch

EP. 27-Why you may need to quit your job.

Ep. 26- Getting over self-limiting beliefs

EP. 25- 10 things to keep in mind when you're ready to make an ask.

EP. 24- New Donor Onboarding Best Practices.

EP. 23- Going beyond the Thank You letter

Ep. 22 -Events are not fundraisers- Well not just fundraisers.

Ep. 21 -5 Reasons Donors Give

Ep. 20 -Book Recommendations & How to Peg Donor Listener Type

Ep. 19 - Past failure does not have to mean future failure

Ep. 18 - Are you "Pissing Off" Your Donors?

Ep. 17 - 5 things we can take from Starbucks

Ep. 16 - Do you know why your donors give?

Ep. 15 - You have a million dollar donor hiding on your list. We know how to find them.

Ep. 14 - If you want more profitable donor relationships, you have to have these.

Ep. 13 - In a 1 hour meeting you only have 7 minutes

Ep. 12 - How to keep your donors

Ep. 11 - My sordid affair with fundraising

Ep. 10 - Acres of Diamonds-Why you don't need more donors

Ep. 9 - Getting meetings...the first ask

Ep. 8 - Want better donor meetings? Do this 1 thing.

Ep. 7 - What we can learn from Nordstrom's.

Ep. 6 - 57 Ways to Thank and Steward Your Donors

Ep. 5 - 13 Tips to writing a good Thank You letter.

Ep. 4 - Keeping a healthy donor pipeline

Ep. 3 - Be a Johnny

Ep. 2 - Wealth Screening Services are a Waste of Time

Ep. 1 - Donor Listener Types