Successful Nonprofits Podcast
With over half-a-million downloads, the Successful Nonprofits Podcast shares insights, tools, and tips to help you and your nonprofit thrive. Our incredible content is the reason we're ranked in the top 2% of podcasts globally.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 10
- Latest publication
- Sep 8, 2026
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- Earliest in this view
- Jul 7, 2026
Latest episodes
How to Deliver Bad News to Your Board (opens the original)
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If you're in the chief executive seat long enough, something will eventually go wrong. A cash-flow crisis, the loss of a key funder, a serious audit finding, critical news coverage, or an on-site disaster can test both your leadership and your relationship with the board. In this episode, I lay out a practical way to deliver bad news to your board without creating a second crisis. I share who to tell first, the six questions your written board update must answer, and how to structure an emergenc
How Nonprofit CEOs Get Buy-In Across Political Divides with Chandra Brown (opens the original)
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If you are a CEO responsible for moving your mission forward in a polarized environment, this conversation will sharpen how you lead. Your ability to communicate with people who don't share your or your nonprofit's values and views can determine whether your organization gains traction or stalls out. In this episode, I speak with consultant and former executive director Chandra Brown about how leaders choose words and framing that build alignment with board members, donors, policymakers, and com
Your Board's Fundraising Retreat: 6 Activities to Make It Count (Nonprofit Board Fundraising) (opens the original)
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Can one board retreat turn reluctant board members into fundraising superstars? Anyone promising that is selling something they cannot deliver. But a well-designed retreat can still move board fundraising forward. In this episode, I explain how to diagnose the real barriers first, then share six practical retreat activities that can help a board align expectations, understand its fundraising options, practice useful skills, map its networks, and make specific commitments. I also outline the post
The One Spreadsheet Every Nonprofit Manager Needs (opens the original)
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What recurring tasks does each person on your team actually own? It's almost impossible to remember everything a team member is responsible for, and a job description usually won't tell you. When that information lives only in someone's head, onboarding gets harder, performance conversations get murkier, and an employee departure can create unnecessary chaos. In this episode, I share my simple, one-tab staff task checklist I use when leading nonprofit teams. It documents each position's recurrin
Are Fundraising Events Worth Your Time? A 10-Hour-a-Month System with Mary Thompson (opens the original)
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Whether to spend staff time and resources on a special event is an important decision that rests with you as the chief executive. Fundraising events can consume hundreds of staff hours, sap your board's enthusiasm, and produce far less revenue than everyone expected. That is why many nonprofit leaders conclude events are simply not worth the effort. Mary Thompson offers a different answer. Mary is the long-time executive director of Apple Seeds Teaching Farm in Arkansas, and her organization pro
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