Nonprofit CourageLab

Why Raising An Extra $300K Is So Hard

Most nonprofits think to raise more you have to do more. “We need to raise 25% next year so we need to do another fundraiser.” Except that has a quick ceiling AKA an exha

Ask Julie: How to Ask for a Major Gift Without Damaging Donor Relationships

You value relationships. You genuinely care about your donors. And then it’s time to ask for $100,000 and suddenly you’re saying: “Whatever you can give would be great!

Your Strategy Is Keeping Your Revenue Too Small

You’re told to raise more you need to do more. I “did more”, raised $1.1M, and I lost sleep, and my hair fell out. I met the goal, but it cost me my health. 8 years later

Unshakeable Fundraiser Energy: Stop Backing Down in Major Donor Meetings

Ever go into a meeting with a major donor with a plan to ask for a gift, and something throws you off? You leave the meeting kicking yourself because you didn’t make the

Bold Fundraising: The Method That Raised $91M in Unrestricted Major Gifts

If you're constantly bending over backwards for difficult donors, accepting restricted gifts that create more work than they're worth, or letting wealthy people dictate y

Major Gifts Are Won (Or Lost) in the Summer

Have a big 6 or 7-figure ask coming up? Book a Big Gift 1:1 Strategy Session today. Let's plan your approach before the meeting, the ask, any written proposal, and the fo

Million Dollar Success Principles Part 2

Most nonprofits are sitting on more donor potential than they realize. In this second part of my live CourageLab coaching session, I walk through some of the fundraising

Million Dollar Success Principles Part 1

Stop trying to earn donor trust with polished updates. In this episode, I’m giving you a behind-the-scenes look at a training I recently led inside Courage Lab. These ar

Kill Your Gala Before It Kills You

This episode might ruffle some feathers. Good. Because we need to talk honestly about the real cost of galas, especially for small nonprofit teams that are already stretc

Profitable Fundraising Swaps I'd Make Every Time

Stop doing fundraising that nearly kills you. Seriously. In this episode, I’m walking through the profitable fundraising swaps I would make every single time after helpi

Ask Julie: “How Much to Make You Stop Asking?”

A donor asked one of my clients, “How much do I have to give for you to stop asking?” Oof. That question hit me right in the chest. And honestly, I think a lot of fundrai

The 6 Biggest Mistakes Keeping You Stuck at $300K Individual Giving

There are a handful of patterns I see over and over again when organizations get stuck around $300K in individual giving. Not because they don’t care. Not because their

The 3 Biggest Mistakes Stopping Your Board From Fundraising

If your board keeps saying they’ll help fundraise but nothing actually happens, this is for you. This is one of the biggest frustrations I hear from EDs and development

Ask Julie: $400K to $1M in Major Gifts (Solo CEO)

You don’t need more time. You need a better strategy. In this Ask Julie episode, I answer a question from a CEO who just lost their head of fundraising and now has to gr

Moves Management is Dead. Do This Instead.

Moves management is slowing you down. And it’s costing you real money. In this episode, I’m breaking down why the traditional donor life cycle is outdated at best and ha

No Shame Fundraising: How Audacity Raises Six Figures in 90 Days

You’re not stuck. You’re just playing it way too cool. If you’ve been feeling discouraged, checked out, or like fundraising just isn’t working right now, this is your wa

Why Nonprofits Plateau at $1M

If you’ve hit a million in revenue and suddenly everything feels harder, you’re not doing it wrong. You’ve just hit the plateau almost no one talks about. This episode b

The Successful Fundraiser Code

In this episode, I’m sharing something I’ve never broken down this clearly before: the core qualities and inner leadership skills I see in fundraisers who consistently cl

How This Development Director Raised $250,000 in 6 months in 2 hours a Week Without Chasing Grants

In today’s episode, I’m bringing you a really special conversation with someone I adore — my friend and Courage Lab grad, Sheena Grosshans If you’ve been around here for

Close Major Gifts With Courage (Interview from We Are For Good Podcast)

This episode originally aired on the We Are For Good Podcast in their Working Sessions series. I’m sharing it here on my own channel so you can dive into practical strate