Purpose & Profit Club® – The Nonprofit Fundraising & Marketing Podcast

Hosted by Christina Tzavaras Edwards

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Episodes

225

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Nov 2026

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About the show

Ready to stop fundraising the old way and start doubling results? Join nonprofit strategist Christina Tzavaras Edwards for bold, fast-action tactics that help you 2X your next fundraiser and build a community fueled by generosity. From leveraging the Social Street Team®: Influencer Marketing Method to mastering courageous fundraising asks, this podcast equips you with the mindset and strategies needed to spark deep engagement and sustainable growth—no extra workload required. Music by The Selmanaires, featuring "Selmanaire Rock." Visit http://www.splendidatl.com/podcast for more.

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60 recent

November 3, 2026Episode 22228 min

222: Five Reasons Why Your Year-End Appeal Isn't Raising More

You know your drive to work so well you stop seeing what’s on it. Your year-end appeal works the same way. You’ve written, edited, and sent some version of it so many times that everything looks fine, and somewhere in there is a revenue leak you can’t see anymore. In this episode, I share the five reasons year-end appeals stop raising more , including the two I catch most often in teardowns . I explain why most teams spend their time on the wrong parts of the appeal, what happens to your letter in the approval chain, and what NextAfter’s research found about donor-centered language and subject lines. I also share how one client grew from $300,000–$400,000 a year to nearly $1 million. Plus: the one test to run before you send or mail your appeal. Whether you do direct mail, email, or both, this one is for you. Topics: Why familiarity makes it hard to see what’s costing your year-end appeal money Where most teams spend their appeal time , and why it’s backward What happens to your appeal in the approval chain The 5 reasons year-end appeals stall, and the two I catch most in teardowns What NextAfter’s research reveals about donor-centered language and subject lines How one client grew from $300K–$400K a year to nearly $1 million The one test to run before you send or mail your appeal For a full list of links and resources mentioned in this episode, click here . It's not too early to start developing a strategy for the end of 2026! Snag Bloomerang's 12 Year-End Fundraising Checklists here . Got a fundraising question you want Christina to answer? Send the campaign problem, donor situation, email question, board issue, or fundraising advice you want a straight answer on. Christina is answering listener questions on upcoming episodes of The Purpose & Profit Club® Podcast. Submit yours at splendidatl.com/ask Resources: Easy Emails For Impact™ : The $5K+ Fundraising Campaign System Purpose & Profit Club® Fundraising + Marketing Accelerator The SPRINT Method™: Your shortcut to 10K fundraisers Instagram , LinkedIn , website , weekly newsletter [FREE] The Brave Fundraiser’s Guide : Stop getting ignored. Start raising more. May contain affiliate links

October 27, 2026Episode 22117 min

221: Recruit 5 Peer Fundraisers Before Giving Tuesday

Giving Tuesday is December 1, day one of the biggest giving month of the year. For a lot of nonprofits, it’s also the last day they really ask big. Giving Tuesday is one of the best days of the year to recruit peer fundraisers: the people who’ll carry your ask into their own communities all the way to December 31. I’ll show you why you only need five to start, what the 2025 Giving Tuesday numbers say about the so-called generosity crisis, and how small teams have gone from a few thousand dollars to multi-five-figure sums without adding staff. Plus: what happens to all those new donors on December 2, and what a house party can teach you about keeping them. Topics: Why Giving Tuesday is one of the best days of the year to recruit peer fundraisers How peer fundraising works, and why you can start with five people What last year’s Giving Tuesday numbers reveal about the so-called generosity crisis How small teams grew Giving Tuesday results without a bigger staff or audience Who makes a good peer fundraiser (and who doesn’t) The 30-day window most nonprofits miss with new Giving Tuesday donors How to use state giving days (Colorado Gives, Texas Gives) the same way For a full list of links and resources mentioned in this episode, click here . It's not too early to start developing a strategy for the end of 2026! Snag Bloomerang's 12 Year-End Fundraising Checklists here . Resources: Easy Emails For Impact™ : The $5K+ Fundraising Campaign System Purpose & Profit Club® Fundraising + Marketing Accelerator The SPRINT Method™: Your shortcut to 10K fundraisers Instagram , LinkedIn , website , weekly newsletter [FREE] The Brave Fundraiser’s Guide : Stop getting ignored. Start raising more. May contain affiliate links

October 20, 2026Episode 22027 min

220: Your Fundraising Emails Are Too Polite to Make Money

Here’s a sentence I could pull from almost any year-end appeal this fall: “Your support ensures we can continue serving more families.” Nothing wrong with it, but nobody will remember it, either. Over coffee, you tell me the real stakes: the grant that got pulled in July, the funder who said this is the last year. None of it makes it into your emails. In this episode, I explain why polite fundraising emails cost you twice and where that “keep it professional” instinct really comes from. I also share what my first baby taught me about following everyone else’s “best practices.” Plus: the client email that dropped me straight into a memory of my own kids, from a cause I have no personal connection to. If your appeal is written to get approved instead of written to get felt, this one is for you. Topics: Why polite fundraising emails cost you twice, and why “nothing wrong with it” is the problem Where the “keep it professional” instinct comes from (hint: not a bad place) What parenting advice taught me about following fundraising “best practices” The client email that worked on a reader with no connection to the cause How to talk about lost funding without donors thinking you’re going under The difference between guilt and honesty in your year-end appeal What to do when leadership keeps redlining your emails For a full list of links and resources mentioned in this episode, click here . It's not too early to start developing a strategy for the end of 2026! Snag Bloomerang's 12 Year-End Fundraising Checklists here . Got a fundraising question you want Christina to answer? Send the campaign problem, donor situation, email question, board issue, or fundraising advice you want a straight answer on. Christina is answering listener questions on upcoming episodes of The Purpose & Profit Club® Podcast. Submit yours at splendidatl.com/ask Resources: Easy Emails For Impact™ : The $5K+ Fundraising Campaign System Purpose & Profit Club® Fundraising + Marketing Accelerator The SPRINT Method™: Your shortcut to 10K fundraisers Instagram , LinkedIn , website , weekly newsletter [FREE] The Brave Fundraiser’s Guide : Stop getting ignored. Start raising more. May contain affiliate links

October 13, 2026Episode 21931 min

219: Monthly Giving Is the Wrong Year-End Strategy

Last week, I told you to ignore one piece of year-end advice: making monthly giving your year-end strategy. This episode is the why. I love monthly giving; our clients have built programs with 100, 200, even 400 active monthly donors. But making it the centerpiece of your November and December campaign is the wrong move for most nonprofits. In this episode, I do the math on what that choice can cost you. I share the question a client brought to coaching after a road trip deep dive into monthly giving. I also walk through the latest data from Bloomerang, M+R, and Fundraise Up on what donors actually do in December. Plus, I answer the “yeah, but” I hear from boards, EDs, and CFOs, and explain when monthly giving should be your big ask. Topics: Why I love monthly giving and still wouldn’t make it the centerpiece of your year-end campaign The simple math question that changes how you think about recurring revenue in December How a monthly ask can quietly downgrade the gift a donor was ready to make Why you can’t brand your way out of a fundraising problem What millions of transactions reveal about how donors want to give in December How to answer your board, ED, or CFO when they push for more recurring revenue When to launch a monthly giving campaign so it actually works For a full list of links and resources mentioned in this episode, click here . It's not too early to start developing a strategy for the end of 2026! Snag Bloomerang's 12 Year-End Fundraising Checklists here . Got a fundraising question you want Christina to answer? Send the campaign problem, donor situation, email question, board issue, or fundraising advice you want a straight answer on. Christina is answering listener questions on upcoming episodes of The Purpose & Profit Club® Podcast. Submit yours at splendidatl.com/ask Resources: Easy Emails For Impact™ : The $5K+ Fundraising Campaign System Purpose & Profit Club® Fundraising + Marketing Accelerator The SPRINT Method™: Your shortcut to 10K fundraisers Instagram , LinkedIn , website , weekly newsletter [FREE] The Brave Fundraiser’s Guide : Stop getting ignored. Start raising more. May contain affiliate links

October 6, 2026Episode 21820 min

218: The Fundraising Advice I’d Ignore Before Year-End

Between now and December 31, you’ll get more fundraising advice than at any other time of year: from your board, your inbox, LinkedIn, and that one org that raised $50K and wants to tell you how. Most of it sounds smart, but some of it will quietly cost you momentum, money, and time. In this episode, I walk through six pieces of year-end fundraising advice I’d ignore. One sounds like the most responsible thing you could do. Another is something I love, and I’d still tell most of you to skip it this year. I explain why adding a new tactic can hurt a campaign that’s already working. I also explain why “quality over quantity” is a false choice for your year-end emails (one executive director sent 33 emails and raised 80% more in two weeks). Plus: why you shouldn’t stop asking donors who already gave, and why neither Giving Tuesday nor monthly giving should carry your whole year-end. I also share the one question to ask before you add any new idea: Is this solving a revenue problem or soothing our anxiety? Topics: Why the biggest threat to your year-end campaign might be a good idea The year-end advice that sounds the most responsible , and what it can quietly cost you What 33 emails and 80% more raised in two weeks reveal about donor fatigue The “kind” fundraising habit that may be costing you major gifts Where Giving Tuesday really fits in your year-end strategy The strategy I love that I’d still tell most nonprofits to skip this year The one question to ask before adding anything new to your year-end plan For a full list of links and resources mentioned in this episode, click here . It's not too early to start developing a strategy for the end of 2026! Snag Bloomerang's 12 Year-End Fundraising Checklists here . Resources: Easy Emails For Impact™ : The $5K+ Fundraising Campaign System Purpose & Profit Club® Fundraising + Marketing Accelerator The SPRINT Method™: Your shortcut to 10K fundraisers Instagram , LinkedIn , website , weekly newsletter [FREE] The Brave Fundraiser’s Guide : Stop getting ignored. Start raising more. May contain affiliate links

September 29, 2026Episode 21725 min

217: The 'Mail-Only Donor' Myth That's Costing You Revenue

Somewhere in your donor file, there’s a group of people that’s been labeled “mail-only.” Nobody tested it, so it just became the rule. In this episode, I explain why that assumption costs you revenue, especially going into year-end. I share what happened when one of my club clients added email to an established direct mail program. Donors weren’t annoyed, and more gifts came in than mail alone could have produced. I also walk through the latest data from the 2026 M+R Benchmarks, Bloomerang’s Giving Signals report, and NextAfter. Email grew 16%, 69% of donors say email is their preferred channel, and nonprofits raise 30–40% of their online revenue in December alone. If your mail list and your email list barely talk to each other, this one is for you. Topics: Why mail and email get siloed by accident , and how that accident starts to feel like a rule nobody questioned The real math: for every $1 nonprofits raise online , they raise $0.66 through direct mail. Both channels drive real revenue, and both are growing Why "our audience doesn't respond to email" is almost never a channel problem; it's a content and cadence problem For a full list of links and resources mentioned in this episode, click here . It's not too early to start developing a strategy for the end of 2026! Snag Bloomerang's 12 Year-End Fundraising Checklists here . Got a fundraising question you want Christina to answer? Send the campaign problem, donor situation, email question, board issue, or fundraising advice you want a straight answer on. Christina is answering listener questions on upcoming episodes of The Purpose & Profit Club® Podcast. Submit yours at splendidatl.com/ask Resources: Easy Emails For Impact™ : The $5K+ Fundraising Campaign System Purpose & Profit Club® Fundraising + Marketing Accelerator The SPRINT Method™: Your shortcut to 10K fundraisers Instagram , LinkedIn , website , weekly newsletter [FREE] The Brave Fundraiser’s Guide : Stop getting ignored. Start raising more. May contain affiliate links

September 22, 2026Episode 21632 min

216: You’re Already Fundraising. So Why Does It Still Feel This Hard?

No one works in this sector because they feel lukewarm about the mission. So where does all that belief go when it's time to ask for money? In this episode, I'm talking about the fight, the nerve, the conviction, the inner fire that brought you into this work, and what happens to it over time. For newer fundraisers, fear sounds like "I don't know what to say." For established leaders, it sounds like donor-centric stewardship, more data, more awareness, not the right time. It speaks fluent nonprofit, and it's just as expensive. I share what it looks like when an organization has an espresso mission and decaf fundraising, why revenue is always a lagging indicator, and what it actually means to fight for your donors' yes before they've had the chance to give it. I also share what we do inside The Purpose & Profit Club® to reconnect leaders with that fight, and point it somewhere productive. Topics: Why the fight that got you into the sector goes lukewarm, and what it costs when it does How fear gets a very good nonprofit vocabulary in established organizations, and how to recognize it Why revenue is a lagging indicator , and what it means to act before you have proof it will work The difference between rejecting yourself on the donor's behalf and giving them the chance to say yes Why fundraising and communications working in silos is killing donations, and what integration actually looks like What The Purpose & Profit Club® does differently, and who it's built for For a full list of links and resources mentioned in this episode, click here . It's not too early to start developing a strategy for the end of 2026! Snag Bloomerang's 12 Year-End Fundraising Checklists here . Got a fundraising question you want Christina to answer? Send the campaign problem, donor situation, email question, board issue, or fundraising advice you want a straight answer on. Christina is answering listener questions on upcoming episodes of The Purpose & Profit Club® Podcast. Submit yours at splendidatl.com/ask Resources: Easy Emails For Impact™ : The $5K+ Fundraising Campaign System Purpose & Profit Club® Fundraising + Marketing Accelerator The SPRINT Method™: Your shortcut to 10K fundraisers Instagram , LinkedIn , website , weekly newsletter [FREE] The Brave Fundraiser’s Guide : Stop getting ignored. Start raising more. May contain affiliate links

September 15, 2026Episode 21542 min

215: The $16K Fundraising Campaign That Brought in 100+ Donors [Client Case Study]

Mars Sailors joined my coaching program, The Purpose & Profit Club®, as a graphic designer and marketing manager, not a fundraiser. The work already included telling the story of The Source LGBT+ Center across communications, social media, and email. What changed was learning how to connect those dots to donors. In this conversation, Mars shares how that mindset shift turned into a first full SPRINT™ campaign: a Give Out Day fundraiser that raised $16,000 , exceeded a $15K goal, included a $5,000 match , and brought in 100+ donors . Mars also shares the story behind the Build to Belong capital campaign, which has raised nearly $700,000 toward a $1 million Phase One goal to secure a permanent home for LGBTQ+ people in California’s Central Valley. This one is for every communicator, designer, or marketing manager who’s been handed fundraising responsibilities and isn’t sure they belong there. You do. Topics: How Mars reframed fundraising as a communications discipline , and why the stories he was already telling were halfway to a donor ask The Give Out Day campaign: a $5K match, 100+ donors, and exceeding a $15K goal with a campaign built around "Pride doesn't end in June" What it felt like to send that last email and have two donors independently close the $1,000 gap at the same time The Build to Belong capital campaign: $700K raised, a campus purchased, and belonging framed as infrastructure Fundraising in a politically turbulent climate , and why The Source doubles down instead of going dark Being named a PR Daily finalist alongside Make-A-Wish, Guide Dogs for the Blind, and MD Anderson For a full list of links and resources mentioned in this episode, click here . It's not too early to start developing a strategy for the end of 2026! Snag Bloomerang's 12 Year-End Fundraising Checklists here . Got a fundraising question you want Christina to answer? Send the campaign problem, donor situation, email question, board issue, or fundraising advice you want a straight answer on. Christina is answering listener questions on upcoming episodes of The Purpose & Profit Club® Podcast. Submit yours at splendidatl.com/ask Resources: Easy Emails For Impact™ : The $5K+ Fundraising Campaign System Purpose & Profit Club® Fundraising + Marketing Accelerator The SPRINT Method™: Your shortcut to 10K fundraisers Instagram , LinkedIn , website , weekly newsletter [FREE] The Brave Fundraiser’s Guide : Stop getting ignored. Start raising more. May contain affiliate links

September 8, 2026Episode 21427 min

214: The Slowest Path to Millions: 7 Signs You’re On It

Most established nonprofits aren't stuck because they're not working hard enough. They're stuck because they run fundraising like separate projects, not one connected operation. In this episode, I walk through seven signs your fundraising isn't compounding, why that disconnection is the slowest path to millions, and why it's also the fastest path to burnout. I also share what one client did differently that led to $50,000 more across their digital campaigns (no new channels, no additional budget). The only change was connecting their communications strategy to their fundraising. If you have the pieces and they're still not working together the way they should, this one is for you. Topics: Why fundraising runs like separate projects (not one connected operation) creates a revenue ceiling even for established organizations How adding more channels, events, and campaigns without optimizing what already exists keeps organizations stuck at the same level Why isolated wins don't compound, and what a repeatable, buildable result actually looks like The hidden cost of hiring execution before shared strategy is in place What the compounding path actually looks like, and how one client raised $50K more simply by connecting their communications to their fundraising Why the slowest path to millions is also the fastest path to burnout , and how to break the cycle For a full list of links and resources mentioned in this episode, click here . It's not too early to start developing a strategy for the end of 2026! Snag Bloomerang's 12 Year-End Fundraising Checklists here . Got a fundraising question you want Christina to answer? Send the campaign problem, donor situation, email question, board issue, or fundraising advice you want a straight answer on. Christina is answering listener questions on upcoming episodes of The Purpose & Profit Club® Podcast. Submit yours at splendidatl.com/ask Resources: Easy Emails For Impact™ : The $5K+ Fundraising Campaign System Purpose & Profit Club® Fundraising + Marketing Accelerator The SPRINT Method™: Your shortcut to 10K fundraisers Instagram , LinkedIn , website , weekly newsletter [FREE] The Brave Fundraiser’s Guide : Stop getting ignored. Start raising more. May contain affiliate links

September 1, 2026Episode 21347 min

213: No Gala. No Auction. No Swag. Still Raised 81% More. [Client Case Study]

What happens when a former midnight-shift postal worker with zero nonprofit background builds a health organization by ignoring every rule she never bothered to read? In this episode, I sit down with Kathy Ruiz-Carter, co-founder and Executive Director of the Lichen Sclerosus Support Network, for one of the most energizing client spotlight conversations I've recorded. Kathy sent 33 emails for her sixth annual summit, kept unsubscribes under 1%, and nearly doubled revenue to $29K with the exact same audience as the year before. Her organization has grown 30-50% year over year. She raised $1,000 in seven minutes from a single emergency email. And she built all of it while working solo, serving a community that deals with a deeply personal and stigmatized health condition. We dig into how she thinks about email as a daily conversation rather than a campaign tool, why she stopped feeling guilty about asking her patients to donate, how AI collapsed her timeline and dramatically changed her results, and why leaving the nonprofit marketing rulebook behind was the best thing she never did. P.S. If you're ready to grow the way Kathy has, The Purpose & Profit Club® is where we do this work together. Go to splendidatl.com/start to learn more. Topics: From monthly newsletter to daily emails : why more frequency means more revenue , not more unsubscribes Asking patients and service recipients to be donors , and why the guilt around this is costing organizations real money How AI collapsed her summit timeline and helped her go from $16K to $29K with the same audience Why radical financial transparency builds more donor trust than any campaign strategy The e-commerce and customer service mindset that outperformed the nonprofit playbook every time The emergency email that raised $1,000 in seven minutes, and what it proves about community trust For a full list of links and resources mentioned in this episode, click here . It's not too early to start developing a strategy for the end of 2026! Snag Bloomerang's 12 Year-End Fundraising Checklists here . Got a fundraising question you want Christina to answer? Send the campaign problem, donor situation, email question, board issue, or fundraising advice you want a straight answer on. Christina is answering listener questions on upcoming episodes of The Purpose & Profit Club® Podcast. Submit yours at splendidatl.com/ask Resources: Easy Emails For Impact™ : The $5K+ Fundraising Campaign System Purpose & Profit Club® Fundraising + Marketing Accelerator The SPRINT Method™: Your shortcut to 10K fundraisers Instagram , LinkedIn , website , weekly newsletter [FREE] The Brave Fundraiser’s Guide : Stop getting ignored. Start raising more. May contain affiliate links