Erica Cox has spent more than 30 years in technology consulting, and she says nonprofit AI adoption is the polar opposite of a large, singular transformation. The Chief Innovation Officer at Provisio Partners recommends small, controlled use cases that let a team fail fast or win fast while building the guardrails it needs.

The usual instruction is to clean all of your data first, then modernize systems, then consider AI. Erica says data readiness does not depend on organization size or a sophisticated platform. It depends on the minimum viable data required for a useful job.

In this episode:

• How to find a small AI use case inside a recurring process instead of starting with one large transformation project

• The minimum viable data test, including why asking staff to enter 100 fields can hurt both adoption and AI results

• How the Higher Learning Commission used runners, walkers, and bystanders to identify early adopters and bring more people in

• The guardrail behind Pacific Clinics' agent Hope, which had one identifier and no other information about a person

• Why a client kept staff at eight-hour days but helped them see ten kids instead of five and complete three grant applications instead of one

You will leave with a way to inventory AI already in use, choose a pilot, revisit governance monthly, and explain why responsible adoption can strengthen the human work your team does.

Episode highlights: (0:00) Starting with AI without a transformation (1:14) Small pilots beat the big transformation (3:14) The minimum viable data test (7:19) The runners, and permission to fail (10:31) How to inventory scattered data (13:18) What the agent named Hope actually does (15:37) Guardrails before sensitive data (19:19) Why AI is changing work so fast (25:38) Why ignoring AI can be risky (30:00) AI that strengthens human work (33:09) Where to start this week

Guest: Erica Cox, Chief Innovation Officer, Provisio Partners https://provisiopartners.com

Full transcript and show notes: https://www.anedot.com/blog/nonprofit-pulse-nonprofit-ai-how-to-start

More episodes and the monthly newsletter: https://www.nonprofitpulse.com/

If this was useful, follow Nonprofit Pulse wherever you listen.

Nonprofit Pulse is a podcast by Anedot that explores trends, insights, and resources that help nonprofits accomplish their mission. Hosted by Josh Breland.

Krissie Kelleher brings more than 25 years of strategic fundraising experience to Team IMPACT, and she says an annual fundraising plan is not a document. It is a decision about what you will do and what you will not do.

The answer is not a 40-page plan no one reads. Krissie starts with the few revenue drivers that matter, maps the work across the year, and turns ambitious goals into math the team can manage. Fear is not a strategy, and neither is hope.

In this episode:

• How to identify the 3 to 5 core revenue drivers instead of treating every idea as equally important

• Why 70 to 80% of revenue is often predictable, while the rest can be tested, shrunk, or removed

• What a $3.7 million Team IMPACT gala reveals once $750,000 in event costs are counted

• How a 12-month calendar becomes the strategy for campaigns, appeals, events, and stewardship

• Why the top 25 prospects and 30%, 50%, and 75% yield calculations keep a pipeline honest

You will leave with a one-page planning approach, a calendar your team can follow, and a quarterly review rhythm for changing course. Focus on relationships, not activity for activity's sake. Krissie would take a sit-down visit with a major-gift prospect ten times more than an event invitation.

Episode highlights: (0:00) What the plan says no to (1:26) What makes a fundraising plan work (4:58) Choose revenue drivers that matter (8:36) A 12-month calendar people use (12:59) Targets ambitious enough to manage (18:25) Planning mistakes to avoid (24:55) When to revise the plan (27:58) Fundraising beyond the development team (34:16) Staying focused amid shiny objects (43:37) Start with the one-page plan

Guest: Krissie Kelleher, CEO, Team IMPACT

Full transcript and show notes: https://www.anedot.com/blog/nonprofit-pulse-annual-nonprofit-fundraising-plan More episodes and the monthly newsletter: https://www.nonprofitpulse.com/

If this was useful, follow Nonprofit Pulse wherever you listen.

Nonprofit Pulse is a podcast by Anedot that explores trends, insights, and resources that help nonprofits accomplish their mission. Hosted by Josh Breland.

Luke Mickelson helped turn Sleep in Heavenly Peace into a volunteer-powered nonprofit with more than 300 chapters, and he did not want to become the bottleneck. The organization's national ambassador says founders do not always have to step back. They have to step differently, from daily operator to a role that protects the mission while local leaders carry it forward.

That transition demands a shared process, not hundreds of separate ways of doing the same work. It also demands an experience that lets volunteers contribute meaningfully, even if they have never touched a tool before.

In this episode:

• How Sleep in Heavenly Peace grew from seven chapters to 125 in less than a year, while its budget rose from $80,000 to $1 million in six months

• Why every chapter needs at least four core team members, rather than one or two people headed for burnout

• Why a jig that builds beds ten times faster with ten times fewer people can work against a volunteer-powered mission

• How public bed builds turn one person's 10 to 30 beds a year into a community effort that can build 300 or 400

• Why chapter presidents receive a weekly P&L and the organization presents its finances every quarter

You will leave with a framework for deciding what to centralize, choosing coachable chapter leaders, designing a meaningful volunteer experience, and preparing for the moment your organization outgrows you.

Episode highlights: (0:00) How to grow past the founder bottleneck (1:41) When founders must step differently (6:40) National standards, local ownership (9:49) A founder's job: vision, not operations (14:06) Keeping quality across 300 chapters (18:19) When growth breaks the system (22:33) Choosing leaders who can be coached (28:26) Volunteers who become long-term champions (35:13) Why radical transparency matters (41:40) Before your idea takes off (45:46) Where founders go from here

Guest: Luke Mickelson, National Ambassador, Sleep in Heavenly Peace

Full transcript and show notes: https://www.anedot.com/blog/nonprofit-pulse-how-to-scale-a-volunteer-powered-nonprofit

More episodes and the monthly newsletter: https://www.nonprofitpulse.com/

If this was useful, follow Nonprofit Pulse wherever you listen.

Nonprofit Pulse is a podcast by Anedot that explores trends, insights, and resources that help nonprofits accomplish their mission. Hosted by Josh Breland.

Dave Raley, Founder and CEO of The Center for Sustainable Giving, says recurring giving programs do not grow on technology pixie dust. Recurring giving has changed with the subscription economy, but too many charities still treat it as a checkbox.

The average recurring donor retention rate is between 78 and 84%, yet a recurring program can still plateau when nobody owns it or donors have no reason to stay. Dave explains how to make recurring giving a full-fledged discipline, not a side project.

In this episode:

• What The Joshua Fund changed to grow from about 1,900 to more than 4,000 recurring donors in two years

• Why Netflix and Spotify spend heavily to acquire subscribers, and what that says about donor lifetime value

• The difference between voluntary and involuntary churn, including the 20 to 25% of cards that go bad each year

• Why a $1,500 to $3,000 recurring donor is worth a call when a payment fails

• The "how many and how much" questions to answer by the end of today before assessing six technology criteria

You will leave with a way to identify the owner of your program, define a recurring value proposition, and start reducing churn with the resources you already have. Technology can be a barrier or an ally, but it will not grow the program for you.

Episode highlights: (0:00) Why recurring programs stop growing (1:06) Why resilient programs still plateau (3:44) Quick wins for a stagnant program (5:11) What Netflix and Spotify reveal (7:38) When recurring giving becomes core strategy (9:50) Who owns recurring giving? (12:49) A value proposition donors want to keep (15:08) Reducing churn and winning donors back (18:24) Growth without a big tech stack (21:20) First steps toward sustainable growth (24:42) Start with the program, not the technology

Guest: Dave Raley, Founder and CEO, The Center for Sustainable Giving

Full transcript and show notes: https://www.anedot.com/blog/nonprofit-pulse-recurring-giving More episodes and the monthly newsletter: https://www.nonprofitpulse.com/

If this was useful, follow Nonprofit Pulse wherever you listen.

Nonprofit Pulse is a podcast by Anedot that explores trends, insights, and resources that help nonprofits accomplish their mission. Hosted by Josh Breland.

Stephen Minix thinks nonprofit impact measurement starts with people, not a report or a platform. As Vice President of Community at UpMetrics, he helps investors, funders, and nonprofits move beyond transactional engagement toward authentic partnership.

An annual report that says everything worked is validation, not learning. Stephen explains how nonprofits can own their story, decide what success means for their intervention, and use information to improve instead of merely meeting a funder requirement. The work becomes more useful when teams can see themselves in the process.

In this episode:

• Why collecting every possible metric makes it harder to identify what actually matters

• How a single source of truth can replace disconnected surveys, budgets, marketing data, and spreadsheets

• What the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation event revealed by putting a story before the data

• Why Affirmative Athletics could move from the story to its data without putting Rob Thelusma on the back foot

• The $8 million funding loss that affected 12,000 kids across Los Angeles and exposed the cost of an ineffective data strategy

You will leave with a people-first approach to choosing useful measures, combining numbers with stories, and making room to change course when the data shows an intervention is not working. Start with the mission and values before looking for a tool.

Episode highlights: (0:00) When measurement becomes a burden (1:10) Make measurement work for your team (4:13) One source of truth, not scattered systems (7:20) From collecting data to improving programs (10:16) When numbers and stories work together (14:01) A shared framework with funders (17:46) From ad hoc reports to disciplined measurement (21:59) Data confidence for non-data people (26:39) Define the work before choosing a platform (29:49) Start with mission and values

Guest: Stephen Minix, Vice President of Community, UpMetrics

Full transcript and show notes: https://www.anedot.com/blog/nonprofit-pulse-nonprofit-data-impact-measurement

More episodes and the monthly newsletter: https://www.nonprofitpulse.com/

If this was useful, follow Nonprofit Pulse wherever you listen.

Nonprofit Pulse is a podcast by Anedot that explores trends, insights, and resources that help nonprofits accomplish their mission. Hosted by Josh Breland.

Laurie Hood has spent 20 years growing Alaqua Animal Refuge, a no-kill animal sanctuary in Northwest Florida, and she says nonprofit crisis preparedness begins long before an emergency. For Laurie, relationship building is not something to turn on in a crisis. It is work an organization lives every day.

When Hurricane Milton created an urgent need, Alaqua had less than 24 hours to organize hundreds of dogs from South Florida. The response worked because people knew its role, trusted its team, and could be assigned to work quickly.

In this episode:

• How Alaqua became part of a statewide disaster-response coalition before it needed to activate one

• What changed when hundreds of dogs arrived from South Florida and Alaqua was fully set up within 24 hours

• How more than 1,000 volunteers contributing 80,000 hours a year create readiness before the next call for help

• Why knowing volunteers' strengths lets a team assign tasks quickly, safely, and without chaos

• How to use AI as an intern to create a starting point for an emergency-management plan and identify community partners

You will leave with a simple first move: make one phone call this week, start one relationship in the calm season, and build the trust that turns goodwill into coordinated response.

Episode highlights: (0:00) The relationships a crisis response depends on (2:03) Build community before the emergency (4:18) Who needs to be at the table first (6:49) Making room for readiness on a maxed-out team (7:56) Why calm-season relationships matter (10:46) Earning a seat in emergency planning (14:16) Keeping volunteers engaged between crises (16:22) The cost of activating community too late (18:12) What a prepared response looks like (19:24) One call to start building readiness (21:05) Your first relationship this week

Guest: Laurie Hood, Founder, Alaqua Animal Refuge

Full transcript and show notes: https://www.anedot.com/blog/nonprofit-pulse-how-to-build-community-before-a-crisis-hits More episodes and the monthly newsletter: https://www.nonprofitpulse.com/

If this was useful, follow Nonprofit Pulse wherever you listen.

Nonprofit Pulse is a podcast by Anedot that explores trends, insights, and resources that help nonprofits accomplish their mission. Hosted by Josh Breland.

Tasha Van Vlack says nonprofit ambassador programs fail when organizations treat people as a marketing tactic instead of building community. As Founder & Co-Director of The Nonprofit Hive, she has seen why a Slack channel full of posts to share can turn committed supporters into a distribution channel.

The goal is not simply brand awareness. Tasha argues that ambassadors should create trust, belonging, and influence around the mission. That begins by defining the purpose, choosing the right people, and giving the group a role that is clear without trying to control every action.

In this episode:

• Why an ambassador program should be a community strategy, not a cheaper substitute for paid advertising

• How The Nonprofit Hive used a one-page overview, an internal owner, and minimum expectations for its cohorts

• Why 12 ambassadors may need to become 18 instead of being asked to do more

• The value of separate tracks for a TikTok contributor and someone connected to a local chamber of commerce

• How a second-Wednesday monthly rhythm lets ambassadors put 12 months on the calendar

You will leave with a practical way to pilot an ambassador program, define its role, and recognize people without making the work feel transactional. Start small, learn from the pilot, and refine it.

Episode highlights: (0:00) When ambassadors become a distribution channel (1:08) Why ambassador programs miss the point (4:45) When programs turn transactional (7:00) Define the purpose before recruiting (8:53) What a working ambassador program needs (13:13) Values before marketing goals (17:18) Ambassadors as community leaders (20:01) Scaling without burning out supporters (25:59) Building belonging beyond the task list (30:08) How to start a program that lasts (37:08) Start small, learn, refine

Guest: Tasha Van Vlack, Founder & Co-Director, The Nonprofit Hive

Full transcript and show notes: https://www.anedot.com/blog/nonprofit-pulse-nonprofit-ambassador-programs More episodes and the monthly newsletter: https://www.nonprofitpulse.com/

If this was useful, follow Nonprofit Pulse wherever you listen.

Nonprofit Pulse is a podcast by Anedot that explores trends, insights, and resources that help nonprofits accomplish their mission. Hosted by Josh Breland.

Debra Hertz says a nonprofit merger can make one plus one equal five, but only when the organizations share a clear vision and common values. As Managing Director and founder of The Strategy Group, she helps nonprofit organizations build strength, clarity, and impact through moments of growth, transition, and complexity.

A merger is not automatically a sign of failure. Debra explains why leaders should look beyond themselves to what is best for the people they serve, while being honest about the time, money, and champion the process requires. Culture must be part of the conversation early, because cultures do not simply merge. The dominant culture dominates.

In this episode:

• How Connecticut's two food banks became a larger organization that served more pantries and saved $1 million a year

• Why the strongest mergers begin with common values, common vision, and a realistic view of non-negotiables

• The difference between a boardroom conversation and broad discussion before leaders have done their homework

• Why a merger can take 7 to 8 months, while an unusually compressed process can take 60 days

• How community foundations and capacity-building grants can help fund the work of exploring a merger

You will leave with a practical lens for deciding whether a merger is a strategic opportunity, how to raise the question responsibly, and which early issues deserve attention before a commitment. Reimagine the future around mission and community impact.

Episode highlights: (0:00) When one plus one can equal five (1:22) Why mission-driven mergers are rising (4:24) A merger that strengthened impact (5:52) The misconceptions that cloud merger talks (8:06) Strategic opportunity or desperation? (10:00) Why cultures do not simply merge (13:48) How boards should start the conversation (17:16) Questions to ask before pursuing a merger (18:37) What the merger process requires (20:55) Mergers as a sustainability strategy (23:15) Reimagine the future around mission

Guest: Debra Hertz, Managing Director and founder, The Strategy Group

Full transcript and show notes: https://www.anedot.com/blog/nonprofit-pulse-nonprofit-mergers

More episodes and the monthly newsletter: https://www.nonprofitpulse.com/

If this was useful, follow Nonprofit Pulse wherever you listen.

Nonprofit Pulse is a podcast by Anedot that explores trends, insights, and resources that help nonprofits accomplish their mission. Hosted by Josh Breland.

Christina Tzavaras Edwards has trained more than 10,000 nonprofit professionals across 20 countries, and she wants leaders to build fundraising systems that run like an engine instead of betting the budget on one annual event.

She is not anti-event. She is against high expense, high time, and high people power for diminishing returns. A fundraising engine carries momentum through the year, gives donors more than one moment to participate, and creates repeatable campaigns that compound over time.

In this episode:

• What makes a $10K+ sprint campaign different: a clear goal, a defined audience, and less than 30 days

• How clients raised $20K in 20 days and $10K in 10 days with sprint campaigns

• Why recurring-giving sprints moved one organization from 12 to 120 recurring donors

• Why PayPal is not a donation tool, and how a poor donation experience can block recurring giving

• How email, a 3-to-5-part welcome series, and personal texts can outperform a social media campaign

You will leave with a practical first step for launching a sprint in the next 30 days, a way to choose a real goal, and a better case for reallocating time from reactionary fundraising. Forward momentum includes hearing no, falling, and getting back up.

Episode highlights: (0:00) Stop betting the budget on one event (1:12) Fundraising as an engine (4:48) What scattered fundraising has to stop (6:42) What to prioritize before the next campaign (8:33) The anatomy of a $10K+ sprint (12:06) Campaigns that earn repeat giving (15:36) Storytelling beyond the transaction (16:44) Building a digital giving engine (21:30) Scaling mistakes to avoid (24:01) The first 30 days of your first sprint (24:48) Forward momentum, even after no

Guest: Christina Tzavaras Edwards, Founder of Splendid Consulting, Splendid Consulting Sprint campaign class: https://splendidcourses.com/sprintclass

Full transcript and show notes: https://www.anedot.com/blog/nonprofit-pulse-fundraising-engines

More episodes and the monthly newsletter: https://www.nonprofitpulse.com/

If this was useful, follow Nonprofit Pulse wherever you listen.

Nonprofit Pulse is a podcast by Anedot that explores trends, insights, and resources that help nonprofits accomplish their mission. Hosted by Josh Breland.

Dacia Moore says nonprofit leader burnout is too late. A licensed professional counselor and Founder of Second Wind Counseling and Consulting, she helps people build sustainable mental wellness and challenges leaders to stop treating themselves like machines.

Mission-driven work can make it easy to ignore the indicators and push through. Dacia explains that strength includes asking for help, taking basic care of yourself, and recognizing that leaders are interdependent. The nature of the work may not change, but what leaders do to manage it can.

In this episode:

• Why Dacia cites 95% of nonprofit leaders as worried about staff, while one third are worried about themselves

• The 1-to-10 exhaustion check leaders can use to compare how they feel now with last year

• Why a client who went to bed at midnight and got up at 3 a.m. to work needed a different approach

• How lunch outside the office at least three days a week can create space away from the pressure

• Dacia's 15-minute focus and 10-minute break version of the Pomodoro method

You will leave with small, sustainable ways to notice burnout sooner, protect time, and build a culture where counseling, coaching, and an EAP can be used without shame. Start now. Little things matter.

Episode highlights: (0:00) When mission work makes self-care feel optional (1:26) Why leader well-being cannot wait (4:58) What leaders carry behind the scenes (10:24) Early warning signs leaders miss (13:17) How burnout changes culture and retention (15:20) Well-being practices that fit mission work (20:31) Small habits that protect your capacity (25:33) A culture that makes support usable (34:04) Boundaries in mission-driven work (39:37) Little things matter

Guest: Dacia Moore, Founder, Second Wind Counseling and Consulting

Full transcript and show notes: https://www.anedot.com/blog/nonprofit-pulse-nonprofit-leaders-mental-well-being

More episodes and the monthly newsletter: https://www.nonprofitpulse.com/

If this was useful, follow Nonprofit Pulse wherever you listen.

Nonprofit Pulse is a podcast by Anedot that explores trends, insights, and resources that help nonprofits accomplish their mission. Hosted by Josh Breland.

Karen Alonso believes nonprofit event planning is not about a singular focus. As Chief Advancement and Communications Officer at United Way of Southern Nevada, she designs experiences that can fundraise, educate, build a supporter base, and turn attendees into advocates for a cause.

The work continues after people leave the room. Karen explains why every event needs a mission connection, participation before and during the experience, and a timely follow-up plan. The payoff is not just a dollar total. It is whether people remember the mission and choose to engage again.

In this episode:

• How United Way of Southern Nevada brings more than 1,000 volunteers together for Fall Day of Caring

• Why a save-the-date sent six or nine months ahead helps protect a fundraising gala from calendar conflicts

• The personal photo experience that gave attendees images they later used as Facebook and Instagram profile photos

• Why calling every attendee within 48 hours, with no ask involved, prevents the next-year-only follow-up mistake

• How a Salvation Army emcee's story of addiction and homelessness made the mission more memorable than figures alone

You will leave with a practical plan for designing an event people participate in, talk about afterward, and connect back to the mission. Measure the experience through engagement, follow-up, and the relationships it creates, not attendance and donations alone.

Episode highlights: (0:00) More than a fundraising event (1:24) Mission-first event design (7:35) Engagement before and during the event (13:52) Interactive moments people remember (18:18) Turn attendees into lasting supporters (23:31) Stories that make the mission stick (29:08) Success beyond attendance and donations (32:22) Follow up while the experience is fresh

Guest: Karen Alonso, Chief Advancement and Communications Officer, United Way of Southern Nevada

Full transcript and show notes: https://www.anedot.com/blog/nonprofit-pulse-nonprofit-event-planning

More episodes and the monthly newsletter: https://www.nonprofitpulse.com/

If this was useful, follow Nonprofit Pulse wherever you listen.

Nonprofit Pulse is a podcast by Anedot that explores trends, insights, and resources that help nonprofits accomplish their mission. Hosted by Josh Breland.