Ya'll. University of Wisconsin Foundation & Alumni Association has a STORY! Tune in and hear what happened when its students sent more than 32,000 personalized videos to alums during the pandemic. [insert jaw drop] 🤯🥰👏!!! Aimee describes herself as a "philanthropy enthusiast committed to radically personalizing the donor experience." Come meet this rising star in the donor relations world🤩

We're concluding our final episode in our Friday series, Donor Engagement: Kindergarten Style with this week's discussion about why Small Things Matter. Relationships that are triggered by process may be reliable, but they can also feel mechanical. We're talking about exerting effort and delighting in the small things that creates true connection and deeper engagement 🎉 Tune in, we're bringing principles, case study examples and Pro Tips too.

We're diving back into another Friday series discussions, Donor Engagement: Kindergarten Style. This week we're discussing how to Share Equally. What happens when we democratize our good work, share frameworks, pass the microphone and share our seat at the table? Only the best things! 🎉 Tune in, we're bringing principles, case study examples and Pro Tips too.

We continue to arm ourselves with graham crackers and apple juice to fuel these Friday series discussions, Donor Engagement: Kindergarten Style. This week we dive into Using our Listening Ears (said in the least condescending way possible). How are you consciously finding a way to listen not only to your top donors - but ALL donors, employees, & volunteers? Don't fret - we're breaking it down🎉 We're bringing principles, case study examples, and Pro Tips too.

We've been hearing great feedback from our new Friday series, Donor Engagement: Kindergarten Style. This week we dive into what we can learn from Playing Nicely in the Sandbox. Development is a team sport. Internal relationships are vital to your success, and external relationships can be creatively advantageous too (seriously, we're sharing some awesome examples!)🎉 We're bringing principles, case study examples, and Pro Tips of how to infuse this into your culture.

Are you aware that everything you ever wanted to know about NEXT LEVEL donor engagement is found in those time-honored lessons learned in kindergarten? We're launching a new Friday series, Kindergarten Principles Build Thriving Nonprofit Cultures. This week we dive into what we can learn from The Golden Rule. We're bringing principles, case study examples, and Pro Tips of how to infuse this in your culture to each discussion, so you know who's implementing this well and who's harnessing innovation to connect with their donors and communities. Join us, and we'll kick it old school🤓 We'll bring the graham crackers!

[cue the confetti cannons and heel kicks🎉💃] It's nonprofit marketing and branding day!! aka: the only topic we love chatting about more than our respective kids and dogs. You're probably thinking to yourself, "I'm not a marketer; this doesn't apply to me." Friends. IT MATTERS! But don't feel intimidated, because we're taking your hand, and walking you through the ins and outs of building your organization's brand ethos, top marketing hacks to bring your mission's story to life, and providing that subversive We Are For Good bent to the conversation on how to stand out while still maintaining our humanity.

Just when we thought we had Corporate American figured out, the world went and threw a global pandemic at us, and everything flowing from that experience has reshaped what we all know about corporate giving. Join us as Jon + Becky walk us through Back to Basics: Corporate Giving. We're talking through types of corporate philanthropy, CSR, reimagining corporate engagement and trends we see looming post-pandemic for employee-driven, socially-minded businesses. Spoiler: How you meaningfully partner with companies matters now more than ever.

Back-to-Basics this week is diving into one of the brightest spots in our sector: donor relations. We're talking all things stewardship, acknowledgment, recognition and engagement, but naturally we're putting that WAFG spin on them to ensure you're not diluting the experience for those who are not in your top 1%. In short, we're talking about how to love on your people while also showing impact. It's one of those awesome feel-good conversations - where you can also learn!

Meet Mark. This senior director of donor relations at Brown University believes the road to the next gift goes through stewardship. And the best way to accelerate that process is to strengthen the relationship between donor relations and frontline fundraisers. Join us as we talk about breaking down the silos in our fundraising shops and leaning into the future of donor relations. Mark is hysterical and made this conversation a complete joy. Come learn and laugh with us.

Meet Mike. You're about to meet one of the world's most kind, giving CEOs. When your company's mission statement is "we exist to give generously," you know everything that comes afterward is going to come from a pure place. We're sitting down for a founder's story about a socially good company that's turning the water bottle industry on its head, and each measure of success is getting poured back into incredible philanthropic missions. It's a thought-provoking discussion about doing business differently.

Meet Nathan. As one of the world's foremost experts on the intersection between Artificial Intelligence and philanthropy, we're diving into the future of fundraising and how A.I. is less scary than we think. In fact, it could be simply brilliant. Join us as we visit with this expert who's leveraging A.I. already to help inspire a worldwide increase in generosity.

Meet Angela. When you meet someone with a Harvard PhD in Education Leadership, you settle in because you know innovation and genius are going to collide. And yes it did! We're talking to Dr. Jackson about venture philanthropy (what is it?) and exploring how we can leverage our missions to breakthrough to social entrepreneurs. It's a fascinating discussion about developing innovative technical solutions to help missions partner with big dreamers.

Meet JD. This serial entrepreneur and big-hearted founder stumbled into founding his company, ThankView, during an attempt to make writing his wedding thank you notes more enjoyable. Today, the sincere personalized video company helps 1,500 nonprofits say thank you through the creative use of video. And as you can imagine, the stories that come with them are incredible. We're talking the power of thank you, and you'll come to see how big JD's heart is and why he's one of our favorite people.

Meet Gabe. He's a founder on a mission since learning the nonprofit sector was facing a generosity crisis. While major donors are pouring into the industry, the rank and file mid-level and lower donors are dropping off. And now Gabe's team is punching back through some seriously innovative and brilliant tech strategy that gives our annual giving programs hope. We're talking about leveraging marketing automation to treat ALL donors like major donors whilst building some seriously rabid fans in the process.

Meet Susan. She's on a mission to partner with families experiencing homelessness to educate their children and create pathways to success through her organization, Positive Tomorrows. As the only private school in America devoted solely to educating children experiencing homelessness, they’re leading the charge in developing a comprehensive educational system built to bring these students up to a level playing field. But they're also bringing fun and heart too. Tune in and get inspired.

Meet Mallory. This former nonprofit executive director hit rock bottom seven years ago as she burned out on the nonprofit grind. Her saving grace: discovering an uncanny connection between coaching and fundraising. Since then, her unique programs combine her technical fundraising expertise with rockstar coaching skills to address the fears and discomforts around asking for money. And she's got the secret sauce to transform your 2021 fundraising plan. Tune in!

It's our Season One Recap! Get ready for our Year-in-Review episode where you'll learn our favorite episodes, favorite mic drop moments and most embarrassing bloopers as we wind up the season and hit the high (and low!) points. We're going there...well, because that's what we do...to give you a peek behind the We Are For Good curtain.

Ok, only a small handful of us can really admit to liking the process of setting goals. We get it. We agree. But something happens when you really commit to a goal and see it through. This week we are diving into all the mindsets, tips and tricks you need to get a jumpstart on setting meaningful goals - and some of the best strategies we've found for reaching them too. Don't think for a moment we're talking just about professional goals here - you know to expect for it to get personal too. We're here you - let's do this!

Hold on to your butts (<- one of Jon's favorite movie quotes of all time), because these two empaths are diving deep into compassion today. Join Jon and Becky as they chat through how to flex your empathy mindset for good. Empathy gives us the ability to put ourselves in other people’s shoes so we can see and feel from their perspective, and this is a healthy value to self-explore at work or home. We'll walk through the 7 Tips to be More Empathizing and even explore some dismissive self-talk that's keeping us from connecting more deeply with our donors and our people.