Reflections on Generosity for Capital Campaigns

Hosted by Small Town Capital Campaigns

Business Education

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Episodes

152

Latest episode

Jun 2026

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EN-US

About the show

Kick off your week with a 5-minute reflection on generosity to ground yourself in the right mindset for capital campaigns. Each reflection includes a question to ponder throughout the week to aid your work.

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60 recent

June 15, 2026Episode 1524 min

152: Developing Discipline - Planting Seeds to Raise Awareness

"...this old man was one of the most useful citizens of the world in his humble way. He has made a greater contribution to our civilization than we realize. He has left a place that never can be filled. Farewell, dear old eccentric heart, your labor has been a labor of love, and generations, yet unborn, will rise up and call you blessed..."Let’s listen to the tribute from Sam Houston around 1847 upon Johnny Appleseed’s death.Reflection questions:What approach are you taking: scattering seeds or planting seeds with intentional outcomes in mind?If you are in the pre-campaign readiness stage, have you considered the more effective ways to raise awareness in your community and brought in community leaders and potential donors to help you determine and implement those ways?Reflection on quote:Capital campaigns are like a riding a wild stallion without a saddle and one key to success is developing discipline. This series unpacks those disciplines. We’ve discussed how understanding our beliefs around money can assist us in creating the necessary disciplines around asking for donations. We’ve discussed how indecision and procrastination can steal opportunities and the importance of prioritizing tasks. In this episode, we’ll discuss the discipline necessary to successfully raising awareness for our capital campaigns through the life and work of John Chapman; otherwise known as Johnny Appleseed. Like many, I pictured Johnny Appleseed as wandering aimlessly around the countryside, randomly sprinkling seeds that grew into trees and, against all odds, orchards. But that wasn’t the case at all.Johnny Appleseed had a purpose for apple trees. He believed that apple trees were important to cultivate as cider to be an alternative to unsafe drinking water. He then planned the process for planting seeds to grow into trees near villages and towns in Ohio. His labor of love had an intentional process with both immediate and generational impacts. In the same way, during a capital campaign, we too must be intentional in how we are raising awareness. We do not simply scatter seeds and hope our communities are paying enough attention. Instead, we consider the audiences, the people, who need to hear about our vision first. Then, we determine how we engage those community leaders, connectors, and potential donors in the planning process for the campaign. Further, we are intentional in what information we share with the community, information that creates confidence and excitement in the goal, and when we share that information. When we are disciplined in raising awareness, those seeds will have a greater contribution to the success of the capital campaign and a greater contribution to the small towns and rural communities we serve. What do you think? Send me a text. To explore small town capital campaign coaching deeper and to schedule an free explore coaching call, visit ServingNonprofits.com.Music credit: Woeisuhmebop

June 9, 2026Episode 1514 min

151: Developing Discipline - Prioritizing Tasks

"...This we must shed; this we must cast away, or else remain in misery..."In this second episode in our series on developing discipline, we are discussing the the effects of indecision and procrastination and the necessity of prioritizing the essential tasks of a capital campaign. This week, I’m reading the words of Cicero as weaved through several of his works, published between 89 BC and 43 BC. Reflection questions:What are the obstacles to completing your campaign tasks? Which discipline do you need to develop to prioritize campaign tasks?Reflection on quote:Why does it become so hard to stay disciplined in contacting potential and current donors during a capital campaign? To pick up the phone? To schedule the meeting? To follow up after the meeting? To write the thank you note? Perhaps we don’t know what to say. To which the discipline for indecision is to accept something said is better than nothing said. Perhaps, we are distressed from a past bad experience with a donor. To which the discipline is forgiveness of ourself or the other person. Perhaps, we are procrastinating and working on other urgent, more immediate tasks. To which the discipline is carve out time each day and prioritizing the campaign tasks. Otherwise, good and important tasks will steal the opportunities to move the capital campaign forward and keep us in distress. Without these disciplines, our campaign can stall and in our small towns, the lack of momentum is noticeable. The good news is that you can start fresh today and cast away indecision, distress, and procrastination and replace it with confidence and generosity. These works have entered the public domain.What do you think? Send me a text. To explore small town capital campaign coaching deeper and to schedule an free explore coaching call, visit ServingNonprofits.com.Music credit: Woeisuhmebop

June 1, 2026Episode 1505 min

150: Developing Discipline - Inviting Donors

"..Consistent with social learning theory, individuals tend to carry beliefs about money and money skills learned in childhood into their adult lives..."This week, I’m reading selected quotes from Money Beliefs and Financial Behaviors by Bradley Klontz, Sonya Britt, and Jennifer Mentzer, published in 2011.Reflection Question:Which money script have you been operating in and how might you develop a new discipline?Reflection on Quote:An experienced campaign volunteer once told me that a capital campaign is like riding a wild, unbroken stallion without a saddle. I’ve contemplated those words often as I coach clients. When faced with an unruly stallion, we can either let the stallion take control or we can develop the discipline to work with him. The same applies to capital campaigns. We can let the capital campaign spin out of control or we can develop discipline for the crucial elements of the campaign. So, this month, we are starting a series on developing that discipline. The first discipline we develop is becoming comfortable with inviting donors by unpacking our own beliefs around money before discussing generosity with them. During a capital campaign, these money scripts can allow the wild stallion to take over. Those with money avoidance scripts can struggle with even inviting a potential donor to find out more information about the project. Those with money worship scripts tend to engage in magical thinking around one major donor that will complete the campaign without engaging a broader base. Those with money status scripts can find crossing wealth classes intimidating when building a relationship with a more wealthy donor, and then approach that donor apologetically without confidence in the project. Those with money vigilance scripts may find capital campaign work too all-consuming and focus on tasks that don’t move the campaign forward. The good news is that, in my experience, once we recognizes our own money scripts, we can develop new disciplines in discussing generosity.Copyright: Klontz, B., Britt, S. L., Mentzer, J., & Klontz, T. (2011). Money Beliefs and Financial Behaviors: Development of the Klontz Money Script Inventory. Journal of Financial Therapy, 2 (1)What do you think? Send me a text. To explore small town capital campaign coaching deeper and to schedule an free explore coaching call, visit ServingNonprofits.com.Music credit: Woeisuhmebop

May 26, 2026Episode 1494 min

149: Patience in Planning - Hold Loosely to Wishes

"...Fancy is fruitful and promises fair, but, like the dog in the fable, we catch at a shadow, and when we find the disappointment, we are vexed, not with ourselves, who are really the impostors, but with the poor, innocent thing or person of whom we have formed such strange ideas..."This week, I am reading from Abigail Adams’ letter to Hannah Lincoln, written in 1761.Reflection questions:Have you become too firmly attached to the capital project you have envisioned and formed false notions of things and persons?Have you invited donors hear your wishes for the project and then listened to their input to make the project better?Reflections on quote:During the strategic, pre-development, and construction planning, we have grand wishes of what the project will be. We dream about our mission and how this building will further that dream. It is a beautiful element in every capital campaign. Unfortunately, we can move too quickly from the construction planning to the quiet phase of asking donors. And, in doing so, we can form false notions about things and persons; that, about the project and the donors who will fund the project. Then reality and disappointment will suddenly confront us when we are across the table making an ask to a donor who doesn’t have the same wishes for the project. Instead, we need to be to patient in planning, holding loosely our wishes and vision for the project until after we invite prospective donors to give their input into the project. Otherwise, we can become too firmly attached to an idea for the project that a potential donor won’t fund. When we listen to donor’s advice, we hold our wishes loosely and invite these donors to help us make our wishes and dreams for the project even more practical and life-giving to the small towns we serve.This work has entered the public domain.What do you think? Send me a text. To explore small town capital campaign coaching deeper and to schedule an free explore coaching call, visit ServingNonprofits.com.Music credit: Woeisuhmebop

May 18, 2026Episode 1484 min

148: Patience in Planning - Persuading Partners

"...The leadership of individuals or groups who can back their beliefs financially is particularly essential in the field of cultural amenities, in the fine arts, in education and research, in the preservation of natural beauty and historic treasures, and, above all, in the propagation of new ideas in politics, morals, and religion."This week, I’m reflecting on this quote by Friedrich Hayek from The Constitution of Liberty, published in 1960.Reflection question:As you plan for your small town capital campaign, how are you reaching out to potential donors, not to ask, but to persuade them to become a partner in the vision?Reflection on Quote:Today is our second in the series on having patience in the planning process of a capital campaign. Last time, we looked at the role of strategic planning and envisioning the future. This week, we will look at the relationship building and persuading partners. In my rural community, a local nonprofit was building a beautiful arts and culture building and, in the middle of the campaign, the building costs spiked, adding millions to the cost. I can only imagine the initial despair. But, that despair only lasted for a moment. This nonprofit went back to their lead donor, explained what had happened, and the donor then filled the gap. Why was the donor so ready to fill the gap? Twenty years. That is how long the nonprofit had been weekly reaching out to this donor to build a relationship, persuading this partner to join the vision of the nonprofit and the future of arts and culture in my community. By being patient in the planning, the nonprofit persuaded this partner to become a devoted idealist willing to change the community with their wealth. While planning for capital campaigns may not last 20 years, it is essential to bring potential donors into the planning process long before any ask will occur.What do you think? Send me a text. To explore small town capital campaign coaching deeper and to schedule an free explore coaching call, visit ServingNonprofits.com.Music credit: Woeisuhmebop

May 4, 2026Episode 1474 min

147: Patience in Planning - Envision the Future

"...Books which it would have been impossible for me to obtain elsewhere were, by his wise generosity, placed within my reach; and to him I owe a taste for literature which I would not exchange for all the millions that were ever amassed by man. This is but a slight tribute and gives only a faint idea of the depth of gratitude which I feel for what he did for me and my companions..."This week, I’m quoting a story from the Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie. Published in 1920.Reflection questions:If you are in the strategic and facility planning phase, ask — whose future are we designing this building or renovation for?Like Andrew Carnegie, are you sharing personal stories of your constituents to show the vision for the future?Reflection on quote:The strategic planning phase of the capital campaign is in my opinion often one of neglected phases. I’ve observed two opposite approaches to strategic planning prior to the capital campaign. Either, it is focused on the new facility details for projected growth without articulating the impact to clients as a part of the vision. Or, the strategic planning happens after the capital campaign is completed. This week, we are starting a series on being patient in the planning phase in order to have a more effective capital campaign.As Andrew Carnegie shared his vision to fund the building of libraries around the United States and the world, he began with his own story to show the impact his libraries would have on future generations on children like himself. When we are in the strategic and facility planning phrase, we are not designing buildings because we have to move locations or we have ran out of room for our administrative and program spaces or we have a waiting list. Instead, we are designing buildings to meet our mission for specific constituents. Each constituent with a specific story for their future. So, therefore, it is important to envision what the future will be for your constituents in that new building and renovations. And, luckily, on our small towns, we can often ask our constituents to be a part of the strategic planning process to directly from them. The takeaway for your capital campaign in being patient in planning: donors don't give to buildings, they give to futures. What do you think? Send me a text. To explore small town capital campaign coaching deeper and to schedule an free explore coaching call, visit ServingNonprofits.com.Music credit: Woeisuhmebop

April 27, 2026Episode 1464 min

146: Managing Stress - Grieve Too

.."And then with a cry from his soul despairing,He bowed him down to the earth and wept. But a voice cried aloud from the driving rain;“Arise, old man, and plant again!”This week, I’m reading a poem, Disappointed, written by Paul Laurence Dunbar, published in 1913.Reflection question:Has there been a disappointment in the campaign where you need to stop and weep before moving forward?Reflection on the quote:Capital campaigns are full of some many moments that can be also hard and taxing on the staff, volunteers and the organizations. In this series, we are looking at ways to manage the stress. Last week, we discussed the stress associated with waiting and how to use the waiting to nurture relationships with donors. This week, we will discuss areas of stress; that is, when something that seemed certain doesn’t happen during the capital campaign.Because of the length of a capital campaign, it is likely that something that seemed guaranteed will fall through. A grant is suddenly pulled. A donor experiences a sudden financial reversal and can’t give. A key member of the campaign moves, gets sick or passes away and can no longer champion the campaign. Or, a portion of the project has to be scaled back due to a lack of community giving. These disappointments can range from minor and yet build up to the reality best described as a “death by a thousand paper cuts.” Or, the disappointment is sudden and overwhelming. One way we can respond is to push through and act as though the disappointment didn’t happen. Yet, we can’t keep pushing without burning out. This poem gives a third way. Acknowledge the disappointment and pain. And then allow yourself a time to truly despair and weep. But, then have hope and arise again to the work of the capital campaign in your small town.What do you think? Send me a text. To explore small town capital campaign coaching deeper and to schedule an free explore coaching call, visit ServingNonprofits.com.Music credit: Woeisuhmebop

April 20, 2026Episode 1454 min

145: Managing Stress - Waiting and Nurturing

"...Waiting, then, is not passive. It involves nurturing the moment, as a mother nurtures the child that is growing in her womb...”This week, I am reflecting on selected quotes from Henri Nouwen from the The Path of Waiting, published in 1995 and Bread for the Journey, published in 1996.Reflection questions:When you are meeting with donors, are you listening with full attention and waiting with the donor to discover more about themselves and their potential capital campaign donation?Think about the areas where you are waiting, is there something you can do to nurture the donor relationship?Reflection on the quote:Capital campaigns are full of some many moments that can be also hard and taxing on the staff, volunteers and the organizations. In this series, we are looking at ways to manage the stress. Last week, we discussed feeling overwhelmed about the goal and learning into joy. This week, we will be exploring the seasons of waiting, which can be stressful. We wait for the right timing to ask. We wait for donors to decide to give. We wait for news about a grant application. We spend a lot of time waiting.Waiting is not inactive. Instead, it involves nurturing the moments of waiting. As we wait, we are active in nurturing relationships. We listen and wait while donors discover more about themselves and their potential donation to the capital campaign. We give them opportunities to explore our mission, our cause, and their potential impact more deeply. We share updates to engage their interest. If we become impatient and just move onto the next new potential donor relationship, while it feel like we are doing something, in reality, we will find that the moment, that new space, is just as empty. We wait, trusting that our patient work in nurturing relationships will bring about the fruit of generosity.What do you think? Send me a text. To explore small town capital campaign coaching deeper and to schedule an free explore coaching call, visit ServingNonprofits.com.Music credit: Woeisuhmebop

April 13, 2026Episode 1444 min

144: Managing Stress - Hold onto Joy

"...Life is so generous a giver, but we, judging its gifts by the covering,Cast them away as ugly, or heavy, or hard."This week, I’m reading a poem written by Greville MacDonald to his father George MacDonald in 1930.Reflection question:Who on your list of donors who have already given can you call this week to hold onto joy in the midst of your stress?Reflection on the quote:Capital campaigns are full of some many moments that can be also hard and taxing on the staff, volunteers and the organizations. In this series, we will look at ways to manage the stress. It is easy to become overcome by the enormity of the capital campaign goal and the number of donors who need to be cultivated and asked. When we are overwhelmed by the enormity of the goal and the number of donors who need to be cultivated and asked, this is when we must take the joy within our reach. One of the most beautiful ways to take hold of that joy is through stewardship of the donors who have already given. Rather than seeing stewardship as one more task in the campaign, instead it can be a way to manage the stress. By reaching out to donors who have already given to say thank you again and to give an update again, they will likely respond with joy and gratitude. That joy then gives further meaning and purpose to the other cultivation and asking calls on your to-do list.The day breaks, and the shadows flee away.This work has entered the public domain.What do you think? Send me a text. To explore small town capital campaign coaching deeper and to schedule an free explore coaching call, visit ServingNonprofits.com.Music credit: Woeisuhmebop

March 30, 2026Episode 1434 min

143: Authentic Giving - The Cycle of Joyous Generosity

“Giving brings happiness in every state of its expression. We experience joy in forming the intention to be generous; we experience joy in the actual act of giving something; and we experience joy in remembering the fact that we have given.”This week, I’m reading 3 quotes from the Buddha.Reflection question:How might your follow-up conversations change if you viewed them as helping donors complete their joy cycle rather than simply maintaining relationships throughout the campaign?Reflection on quotes:Today is our final episode in our series on authentic giving and avoiding transactional approaches. We’ve discussed the difference between transactions and authentic giving, donors demanding transactional approaches, and the roots of loneliness and guilt in transactional donations. Finally, when we give authentic giving opportunities, the donor experiences joy throughout the generosity cycle during a capital campaign. The writers from centuries ago understood things about human nature—about giving, receiving, and gratitude—that we're just now proving with brain scans and research studies.There's something beautiful about discovering that ancient wisdom and modern science keep arriving at the same truths. As a reminder, you can go back to the series on neuroscience and giving to hear about the science. These quotes show something we often forget during capital campaigns —giving isn't a burden we place on people. It's a gift we offer them.Think about your own experience. Remember the last time you gave something meaningful? That warm feeling you got? That was your brain releasing actual joy chemicals. The quote reveals this beautiful truth: we experience joy when we decide to give, joy when we actually give, and joy when we remember giving. Triple joy.But here's where we make an authentic gift feel like a transaction for donors. We work so hard to capture that first moment—getting someone to say yes—then we disappear and start talking to the next donor. We forget about joy number three. We abandon our donors before they can fully experience what they've done.When we follow up, when we share about the campaign and construction progress and the donor’s impact on that progress, when we help donors remember their generosity—we're not just being polite. We're completing their joy cycle. Start celebrating it throughout the campaign.This work has entered the public domain.What do you think? Send me a text. To explore small town capital campaign coaching deeper and to schedule an free explore coaching call, visit ServingNonprofits.com.Music credit: Woeisuhmebop