Relationships are everything. While networking may be a buzzword, intentionally building a community and making deep and meaningful connections can have vast positive professional impacts. But how do you get started?

Today’s guest has answers. Susan McPherson, founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies and author of the new book The Lost Art of Connecting, joins the podcast to talk about how she became such a prolific networker, the differences between networking and connecting, and the steps to take to build a network of meaningful connections.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• How Susan became such a prolific networker
• The differences between networking and meaningful connections
• The key to building a successful network of connections
• Following the gather-ask-do method of building meaningful business connections
• Work that people need to do themselves before they can build deep connections
• How building deep connections can help an organization or company grow
• Where to learn more

Resources:

Susan McPherson

• The Lost Art of Connecting

Quotes: 

“For introverts and shy people, meaningfully connecting is actually a little more tolerable and palatable and doable.”

“If we lead with how we can be helpful to others, the help will come back.”

“Every single one of us has secret sauces.”

For decades, fundraisers have been trying to understand some of the differences in philanthropic giving between men and women. And, while much remains to be studied regarding same-sex families, women in heterosexual households have increasing financial power. It is a crucial element in understanding decision-making about giving across households.

In today’s episode, you’ll learn more about that process as you listen to Jeannie Sager and Jaquie Ackerman of the Women’s Philanthropy Institute, part of the Lilly School of Philanthropy at Indiana University, talk about this year’s Women Give report. They explain what they were hoping to understand from the research, how it compares to previous years, and how the conversations couples have about philanthropy can affect their giving.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• The history of research from the Women’s Philanthropy Institute
• The focus of the Women Give 2021 report
• What the Women’s Philanthropy Institute was hoping to understand from the research
• The changing roles of women’s influence in household financial decisions
• The categories of giving decisions in a household
• Results of their survey
• How current joint and sole decision-making stacks up next to those decision-making choices 15 years ago
• How couples talking about giving affects their giving
• What was surprising in this year’s report

Resources:

Jeannie Sager

Jaquie Ackerman

Women Give 2021: How Households Make Giving Decisions

Women’s Philanthropy Institute

Quotes: 

“Joint giving is still the norm.”

“Most households seem satisfied with the way they make giving decisions.”

“Having robust conversations about giving results in robust giving.”

This episode was originally published in September 2019. 

As a charitable organization, how can you leverage the popularity of live streaming to fundraise? How do you find a live streamer to pair up with? And how can you build and have a successful relationship with live streamers?

Today’s episode features Alyssa Sweetman, the Charity Program Manager at Twitch. Tune in to hear her talk to Roz Lemieux, director of Blackbaud Labs, about how nonprofits and other social good organizations can work with live streamers, also known as content creators, to raise money on live streaming platforms.

Topics Discussed in this Episode:

• What is Twitch?
• Who is a content creator?
• How to get started with partnering with a live streamer, or content creator
• The kind of support or assets organizations should plan to provide content creators to build relationships and aid them in fundraising
• What makes for a good impact statement?
• How live streamers make nonprofit content engaging for viewers
• The most interesting fundraising live stream event Ally has seen
• The different ways content creators raise money on Twitch

Resources:

Twitch
Alyssa Sweetman
Article: How to Harness the Fundraising Power of Twitch

Today’s guest has a mission, and that mission is to teach the people who are doing good how to get noticed by using their words. Erica Mills Barnhart is the CEO of Claxon Marketing, and she joins the podcast today to discuss what people in the social good community need to be saying in order to get noticed in a good way.

Listen in to hear Erica discuss why a social good organization needs an elevator pitch, the biggest mistakes that she sees, and how nouns and verbs need to be used in a mission statement. You’ll also learn how to craft an effective elevator pitch for your organization.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• Erica’s background and professional focus
• What an elevator pitch is and why social good organizations need one
• The biggest mistakes Erica sees in elevator pitches
• How deep you get into the mission before you get to the how
• The size correlation
• Improving your mission statement
• How to use nouns and verbs in the mission statement
• Where the elevator pitch starts
• Resources for listeners

Resources:

Erica Mills Barnhart

Pitchfalls: Why Bad Pitches Happen to Good People

SSIR Article: Great Mission. Bad Statement. Why the social sector should worry more about words.

Quotes: 

“Think of it like an invitation. When the door opens, what’s the invitation?”

“There is very much an emotional piece for those in the social good space. We care about what we’re doing. Deeply.”

“There’s always two stories being told even if it’s one or two sentences. What you think the story is, what’s coming out of your mouth, and the story that’s heard and received.”

In today’s episode, you’ll hear from Joanne Pasternack, president & chief impact officer at Oliver+Rose and creator of Athletes’ Voices, about her work with athletes who want to engage in philanthropy. Listen in to hear about how Joanne is helping athletes and examples of athlete stories that she is particularly proud of.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• How Joanne helps athletes engage with the causes they care about
• What Athletes’ Voices does
• Examples of athletes’ philanthropic actions that Joanne is really proud of
• How people can find out more about Athletes’ Voices

Resources:

Joanne Paternack

Athletes’ Voices

Athletes’ Voices webinars

Quotes: 

“We are based on the philosophy that athletes could and should and can speak up on any issue that’s of interest to them.”

“In truth, there’s nobody better you could hire than somebody who’s been through everything and has worked over the barriers that have been in their way.”

“You might have kicked the own goal. But, like, what are you going to do next? What’s the next chapter?”