Abundant Vision Fundraising Podcast

Why Fundraisers Leave and How Quality Onboarding Keeps Them w/ Sue Frost

Fundraiser turnover costs organizations money, momentum, and donor relationships. Sue Frost set out to study it through graduate research on onboarding, and she found two

Building a Fundraising Career That Lasts w/ Sue Frost

The average fundraiser changes jobs every two to three years. Sue Frost stayed at Ohio State for 25 of them, working across athletics, the health sciences, professional s

From 6 Hours to 15 Minutes: The AI Workflows Actually Saving Fundraisers Time

Tom picks up where the last episode left off and gets specific about what's working in his own shop. He walks through the report that used to eat six hours and three peop

AI Won't Build Your Donor Relationships. Here's What It Should Do Instead

Thirty years ago Tom was working off a printed list of donor names and mail merges felt cutting edge. Today he's using Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini every week. In this epi

Abundant Vision Academy, Parts 9 & 10: Making the Ask, Closing the Gift & Stewarding Donors for Life

This is it. In the final installment of Abundant Vision Academy, Tom walks you through the moment every fundraiser has been building toward: making the ask, sitting in th

Abundant Vision Academy, Parts 6, 7 & 8: Running the Donor Meeting, Handling Objections & the Pre-Solicitation

You got the meeting. Now what? In this installment of Abundant Vision Academy, Tom walks through exactly how to run a donor meeting from start to finish, and why the firs

Abundant Vision Academy, Parts 4 & 5: How to Contact Donors, Handle Objections & Get the Meeting

Getting the meeting is half the battle. In this installment of Abundant Vision Academy, Tom gets practical and tactical on exactly how to reach out to donors, what to say

Abundant Vision Academy, Part 2 & 3: Meeting Prep, the Cultivation Cycle & Building Your Portfolio

You can't close a major gift you weren't ready for. In this installment of Abundant Vision Academy, Tom gets into the mechanics of preparation: what has to be in place be

Abundant Vision Academy, Part 1: First Things (Mindset, Confidence & the Abundance Philosophy)

Before you ever sit across from a donor and make an ask, there's work to do in your own head. In this episode, Tom opens the vault on Abundant Vision Academy, a major gif

Stop Apologizing for the Ask: Lessons from Henri Nouwen

Early in his career, a colleague looked at Tom Dauber's resume and said: "I guess you won't be able to scare people with the threat of hell anymore, will you?" Tom didn't

Three Questions Every Fundraiser Must Answer

A friend texted Tom asking how to raise money for her kid's lacrosse team. His answer? The same three questions he's used for 30 years — from asking his Sunday school tea

Back to the Relationship: Proximity, Presence, and the Future of Fundraising w/ Jason Lewis

In the final part of my conversation with Jason Lewis, we move from diagnosis to direction. If fundraising has drifted toward systems, scale, and transactional thinking,

Personalization Isn't Personal: Data, Scale, and the Supervisor Problem w/ Jason Lewis

In Part 3 of my conversation with Jason Lewis, we move into uncomfortable territory. If fundraising feels transactional, the issue may not just be external systems. It m

Are We Treating Donors Like Customers? w/ Jason Lewis

In Part 2 of my conversation with Jason Lewis, we move from defining gift theory to examining what may be distorting modern fundraising. If fundraising often feels trans

Fundraising Beyond Transactions: Rediscovering the Logic of the Gift w/ Jason Lewis

Most fundraisers have never heard the term “gift theory.” Yet it may explain many of the frustrations we experience in our work.In this conversation,  Jason Lewis and I

Bonus Q&A From the Brady Ware Webinar w/ Thomas Dauber

This bonus episode features the full Q&A from the Brady Ware webinar. Thomas answers practical questions about overcoming fear, stretching vision responsibly, building do

Fundraising With Confidence, Part Three w/ Thomas Dauber

In Part Three of the Brady Ware training, Thomas focuses on the structures and weekly habits that drive major gift momentum. You will learn a simple rhythm for donor enga

Fundraising With Confidence, Part Two w/ Thomas Dauber

Part Two continues the Brady Ware webinar series with a deep dive into leadership vision and the emotional steadiness required for transformational philanthropy. Thomas w

Fundraising With Confidence, Part One w/ Thomas Dauber

In Part One of this special three-part training, Thomas shares the opening portion of a webinar he delivered for Brady Ware’s nonprofit division. This session explores ho

How to End the Year Like a Professional Fundraiser w/ Tom Dauber

December has a way of messing with a fundraiser’s head. If you hit your goal, there is relief. If you came up short, it can feel like the year somehow failed. In this en