Karen Graham is the founder of Karen Graham Consulting, with whose "20+ years experience in nonprofit leadership, consulting, and capacity building earned me a broad knowledge of how people, process, and technology can work together to create impact."

Karen was part of a team with NTEN and Lehman Associates collaborating on a survey of donor management system (DMS) satisfaction in the nonprofit community. The full survey materials are available at Karen Graham Consulting. Karen joins host Steve Boland to discuss the survey and the implications for organizations working with DMS' - which according to the survey is most nonprofits! Karen shares insights on the issues rated with highest and lowest satisfaction, the most commonly used DMS', and investing in the people operating the systems to understand the highest level of return.

Lesley De Paz is the lead consultant at Nonprofit Orchard, which offers a "step by step approach to align all aspects of my organization helping us to reach our potential."

Lesley recommends and uses logic models and theories of change to help nonprofits in their work. She joins host Steve Boland to talk about the difference between a logic model and a theory of change, how outputs are different from outcomes, understanding your own inputs to create change, and much more! Visit Nonprofit Orchard to see some examples of logic models, learn about templates, and find other resources.

Lynn Margherio is the Founder and CEO of Cradles to Crayons, which "provides children from birth through age 12, living in homeless or low-income situations, with the essential items they need to thrive – at home, at school, and at play. We supply these items free of charge by engaging and connecting communities." Cradles to Crayons uses a lot of volunteers - of all ages - to meet their mission goals.

Lynn joins host Steve Boland to talk about the importance of volunteerism as a component of building both service delivery and community support for nonprofit missions. The Cradles to Crayons "Giving Factory" (a warehouse where volunteers can give to their mission) has thousands of volunteer visits every year and Lynn talks about leveraging that commitment to further engagement in the mission work over time. Lynn talks about growing from faxes and spreadsheets to using a customized Salesforce implementation (more on Salesforce for nonprofits in this podcast episode), the importance of relationship and connection with volunteers, and much more.

Lynn also has a TEDxBeaconStreet talk about building an "army of empathy" including volunteers and building a culture of connection from a young age.

Bithiah Carter is the President and CEO of Give Black Alliance, which "seeks to create a strong Black community capable of advocating on its own behalf and identifying the necessary resources to support its vitality."

Bithiah joins host Steve Boland to talk about the origins of the Give Black Alliance and the tools they use to engage the community around understanding the impact of Black donors and conversations within Black movements. Bithiah shares about the Giving Black reports sharing information about specific cities and case studies, the #CouchConversations series available on their website, and a challenge for all communities to meaningfully engage in Black philanthropy.

Anne Nies is the Director of Science for Submittable, and Sam Caplan is the Vice President of Social Impact. Submittable is a platform to help "clients further social impact through programs that reach millions of people around the world."

Anne and Sam join host Steve Boland to talk about five specific principles that Submittable is deploying as it makes Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools available in their platform - both for nonprofits and those organizations that support charities. The principles include AI as; Empowering, Accountable, Transparent, Equitable, and Private & Secure. Anne and Sam discuss how these principles help their whole user community understand their tools and choices. There is more information at https://www.submittable.com/ai/

Shanna Birky is the Vice President, Customer Experience at Classy, "a giving platform that enables nonprofits to connect supporters with the causes they care about." Classy is presenting a webinar on election-year fundraising on May 1, 2024.

Shanna joins host Steve Boland talk about election year issues such as looking at specific dates this year to be aware campaign issues (primaries, debates, etc...) and timing your own events to avoid conflicts, developing a rapid response strategy, setting up specific campaigns on topics being discussed in elections, and being ready for "rage-giving" in unexpected issues that may arise as elections continue.

Matt Nash is the executive director of the Blackbaud Giving Fund, which has "administered over $1.6 billion in donations from passionate individuals and corporations to 195,000 nonprofit organizations around the world."

Matt joins host Steve Boland to talk about how small and mid-sized charities can be most open to finding and connecting with donors using tools such as donor-advised funds. Matt shares his thoughts about understanding the tools some donors may choose, asking donors to connect in supporting the work outside of contributions (such as volunteering, connecting to peers at employment-based sites) and stewarding those relationships over time.

Shaun Kulesza is the Founder and CEO of ShopRaise, which "help(s) causes engage supporters, build their brand and raise money through socially-conscious shopping." Shaun joins the podcast to talk about where shopping donation programs can fit into the nonprofit fundraising landscape, how ShopRaise works, and what charities should know about programs like this in their portfolio of approaches to raising support.

Host Steve Boland shares his initial skepticism of shopping programs, and Shaun addresses some of those concerns about when and how nonprofit missions may benefit from these tools. The conversation includes the changes in the landscape since the demise of Amazon Smile (and a reminder to remove those links lingering on your website!) and the importance of a range of options for a range of potential supporters for a mission-based organization.