Are you leaving money on the table by viewing your fundraising events as purely transactional? Many nonprofits miss the crucial opportunity to use events—and even volunteer programs—as powerful platforms for donor stewardship and securing high-value corporate sponsorships.
In this episode of The Nonprofit Boost, host Amelia Baumann welcomes AJ Steinberg, founder of Queen Bee Fundraising, to dive deep into how you can shift your mindset from "we need money" to "let's build meaningful relationships." AJ, an expert in nonprofit events and fundraising strategy, shares her relationship-first philosophy for turning temporary volunteers into committed donors and securing long-term corporate support.
Discover the often-missed tangible and intangible steps you must take to cultivate a successful volunteer program, the power of a "know before you go" communication strategy, and how to create the organic moments that lead to fruitful corporate giving partnerships. Learn how to transform your existing board and committee relationships into warm introductions for new sponsors, and why leveraging your loyal customer base is key to securing your next major commitment. Plus, we discuss how to turn those invaluable volunteer hours into more revenue through programs like volunteer grants and Volunteer Time Off (VTO).
💡 What You Will Learn
Fundraising Events: How to use events as stewardship opportunities to attract and cultivate new donors and high-value supporters.
Volunteer Programs: The essential, non-monetary experiences—like clear communication and showing impact—needed to build a successful and long-lasting volunteer corps.
Corporate Sponsorships: Step-by-step guidance on how to assess your nonprofit's unique offerings and secure your first or next corporate sponsorship by leveraging your existing board and volunteer relationships.
Volunteer & Donor Connection: Why focusing on volunteer happiness and appreciation can lead to long-term donor retention—up to 80% of volunteers become donors!
Non-Monetary Value: Simple, non-monetary gestures, such as an employee engagement plan and personalized thank-you videos, that can solidify a longer-term corporate giving partnership.
Are your development officers spending more time wrestling with spreadsheets than building relationships with major donors? It is a common struggle: You want to pursue corporate sponsorships and increase fundraising revenue, but your data is trapped in disconnected systems that don't talk to each other. When your team is burned out by manual entry and "garbage in, garbage out" processes, your mission suffers.
In this episode, we sit down with Benjamin Dolar, CEO of Canvas Cloud, to dismantle the myths surrounding nonprofit technology. Ben shares his journey from the corporate consulting world to the nonprofit sector. We dive deep into why "saving money" on free tools often creates massive hidden opportunity costs, how to identify the fundraising software that actually serves your future goals, and why the right infrastructure is the secret weapon for unlocking workplace giving revenue.
The "Free Tool" Trap & Staff Burnout:Many nonprofits rush to grab every free application available to fix immediate pain points. Benjamin explains why this "band-aid" approach inevitably leads to a cycle of frustration and data fragmentation. You will learn how to identify when a tool is serving a point-in-time need versus when it is a scalable solution.
Escaping the "Data Silo Death Trap":If you are trying to scale corporate grants or matching gifts, you cannot afford to have your data living in different systems. We discuss the critical importance of a "relational system" that connects individuals to their employers. Learn how to stop missing out on corporate in-kind donations simply because you didn't know your existing donor worked for a matching-eligible company.
From "Profit Maximization" to "Mission Expansion":In the for-profit world, technology is used to generate better margins. Benjamin reframes this for the nonprofit sector: proper tech implementation gives time back to your staff. We explore how saving administrative hours translates directly into tangible impact and how to sell this investment to your board.
The "Win-Win-Win" of Workplace Giving:We break down the triad of value in corporate giving: the nonprofit wins funds, the employee wins a sense of purpose, and the corporation wins reputation. Benjamin outlines the exact donor stewardship strategies needed to minimize friction for these partners, including how to leverage automation so that payroll donations and volunteer grants become a seamless part of your revenue stream.
The $10 Million Stress Test:If a $10 million check landed on your desk tomorrow, would your infrastructure break? Benjamin poses the "don't do it twice" challenge. Learn why you should build your tech stack now for the organization you want to be in five years, rather than the one you are today. We discuss how to achieve a "single pane of glass" visibility that integrates fundraising tools with volunteer management to handle massive scale.
Moving Beyond Vanilla KPIs:"Dollars raised" is just the surface. We discuss the deeper metrics that indicate health, such as donor retention rates within corporate programs and engagement expansion (e.g., moving a corporate partner from a simple match to sponsoring a table at your gala). Learn how to use data to spot these upsell opportunities before they slip away.
Key Quote:
"When technology is done right, it really gives people time back... For nonprofits, that 'time back' isn't about profit. It's about: How do I use this time to serve? How do I use this time to create more impact? ... It made me realize that while I was working with nonprofits, every data point that I was looking at really came from a human story behind the scenes. It was a child being fed, a family being housed, a community being supported. All of that really motivated me... When you can give them better tools and smarter systems, it's not just about making their operations better; it's really about multiplying the effect and the impact that they have in their community."
Unlock the secret to maximizing donations with a smart matching gift strategy! This must-listen episode gives nonprofits the practical roadmap and insider tips they need to go beyond standard corporate matching programs.
Access the FREE Resource here:
↳ https://resources.doublethedonation.com/steps-to-matching-gift-success/
If you are ready to stop treating payroll donations as an afterthought and start treating them as a core pillar of your fundraising strategy, this episode provides the blueprint you need. From marketing ideas for nonprofits to technical implementation, we cover the essential steps to turn passive interest into active, recurring support.
Visibility & User Experience: Discover why placing payroll giving information front and center on your website (rather than burying them in menus) is the first step to increasing participation.
Leveraging Technology: Learn how integrating fundraising tools and plugins can remove friction from the donation process, allowing supporters to instantly identify if their employer offers companies with payroll giving programs or matching gifts.
Continuous Engagement: Understand why you must treat workplace giving as a year-round conversation rather than a seasonal campaign, and how to use marketing payroll giving strategies to nurture donors between major events.
Social Advocacy: Gain insights into using social platforms like LinkedIn to spread the word, empowering your team to share corporate giving opportunities with their professional networks to build peer-to-peer trust.
Connecting Purpose to Paychecks: Learn how to combat the "invisible" nature of automatic deductions by using strong donor stewardship to show supporters exactly how their payroll donation revenue is driving tangible impact for your cause.
"Payroll donors don't just want to give. They want to belong. Show them what they're part of every time you communicate."
Double the Donation: https://doublethedonation.com/