Funding challenges are nothing new—but in today’s landscape of fluctuating revenue streams and increasing demand for services, nonprofit leaders need smarter, more sustainable strategies to keep their missions thriving and safeguard their organizations against the uncertainty of today’s constantly shifting funding landscape.
Future-Proofing Your Nonprofit: Fundraising Strategies for Today’s Reality is an engaging 3-part virtual series designed for executive directors, development staff, board members, and nonprofit professionals who are ready to move beyond the exhausting and repeating appeals and start building real financial resilience. Across three interactive, 60-minute sessions, participants will gain practical tools and proven strategies to diversify funding, strengthen donor relationships, and embed fundraising into the culture of their organization.
This isn’t just another fundraising webinar. Each session is built around actionable strategies that demystify revenue diversification, sharpen your storytelling skills, and help create an organization-wide culture where fundraising feels like everyone’s job—not just one person’s burden. You’ll walk away with practical tools, fresh perspectives, and the clarity needed to grow financial resilience in uncertain times.
Why Participate:
Fundraising Isn’t Optional—It’s Essential.
The data is clear: nonprofits that invest in their fundraising capacity are far more likely to survive and thrive. Recent studies show that 57% of nonprofit leaders cite financial instability as a top concern, while nationwide donor retention rates sit below 45%—meaning most organizations lose more than half their donors every year (Fundraising Effectiveness Project, 2023).
At the same time, research confirms that organizations with diversified revenue streams, engaged boards, and intentional storytelling practices are significantly more likely to achieve their fundraising goals and maintain long-term sustainability (Nonprofit Finance Fund, 2022). Additionally, nonprofits working with fundraising consultants often see a substantial increase in their fundraising revenue. According to the National Association of Nonprofit Organizations & Executives, nonprofits see an average increase of 20-30%.
This series will help you:
- Move beyond reactive fundraising toward a proactive, diversified funding model.
- Build stories and messaging that don’t just inform, but inspire action.
- Shift your organization’s culture so that fundraising becomes a shared responsibility—leading to stronger donor relationships and greater financial resilience.
Curriculum & Learning Objectives
Session 1— Beyond Conventional Fundraising: Smart Revenue Diversification for Nonprofits
Chasing grants and approaching the same donor pool is exhausting – and increasingly unreliable. While you’re writing your tenth foundation proposal or making identical donor appeals this month, savvy nonprofits are building diverse revenue streams that fund their work without the constant hustle.
This session cuts through generic fundraising advice to show you proven strategies for creating sustainable income. You’ll learn how to identify which revenue streams make sense for your organization’s unique situation. Start building the financial foundation your mission deserves.
Session Objectives
- Identify at least three reliable funding sources relevant to your organization.
- Understand the fundamentals of building a customized individual giving program.
- Learn how to identify and cultivate new corporate and foundation partnerships.
Topics Covered
- Individual giving approaches: Strategies for acquiring new individual donors, cultivating mid-level donors, and developing recurring giving programs.
- Partnerships reimagined: Moving beyond sponsorships to explore employee engagement programs, cause-related marketing, and shared-value partnerships.
- Earned income opportunities: Exploring social enterprises, membership models, and other ways your nonprofit can generate income directly related to its mission.
Session 2— Storytelling for Impact: Communicating Your Organization’s Value
Generic mission statements and statistics don’t open wallets, stories do. But most nonprofits struggle to move beyond metrics to create narratives that donors remember, repeat, and fund.
This session cuts through the storytelling confusion with a proven framework for identifying your most powerful stories and matching them to the right donors at the right time. You’ll learn why your “best” story might be falling flat and discovering the counterintuitive elements that transform good stories into funding magnets.
Session Objectives
- Develop clear, concise, and emotionally resonant impact stories.
- Learn techniques for tailoring your message to different donor segments.
- Understand how to use digital platforms to amplify your storytelling efforts.
Topics Covered
- The anatomy of fundable stories: Moving beyond heartwarming anecdotes to stories that demonstrate clear problem-solution-impact progression and donor role.
- Messaging in a dynamic environment: Strategies for communicating your mission and impact in unifying voice.
- Donor-centric communications: Shifting from needs and statistics to the stories of impact.
Session 3— Everyone’s a Fundraiser: Creating an Organization-Wide Culture of Development
Your executive director or development director can’t be the only ones asking for money. In today’s competitive funding environment, organizations that treat fundraising as ‘someone else’s job’ are falling behind those where everyone, from board members to program staff, actively champions the mission.
This session tackles the real challenges: reluctant board members who ‘don’t like to ask,’ program staff who think fundraising ‘isn’t their role,’ and the internal resistance that kills fundraising momentum. You’ll learn concrete strategies to transform skeptics into advocates and build systems that make fundraising feel natural, not forced.
Session Objectives
- Turn reluctant board members into confident connectors using proven engagement frameworks.
- Equip program staff with simple tools to identify and cultivate prospects during their daily work.
- Create stewardship systems that build lasting donor relationships without overwhelming your team.
Topics Covered
- Board engagement in fundraising: Moving beyond “friend or foe” board recruitment to create specific, achievable roles that leverage each member’s unique strengths and comfort level.
- Staff empowerment strategies: Equipping all team members with confidence and tools to share your story and engage potential supporters.
- Cultivating enduring connections: Building donor retention systems that distribute relationship management across your team while maintaining personal connection and avoiding burnout.
Bonus Opportunity: Fundraising Optimization Support
Looking for more hands-on support? After completing the series, participants can level up with our Fundraising Optimization packages—a tailored consulting bundle designed to help your team audit current systems, identify gaps, and implement fundraising best practices.
Choose from:
- Tier 1 ($1,600) – Focused review of fundraising structures and key recommendations.
- Deliverables include review and reflection of organizational structures to examine fundraising capacity. This includes a comprehensive report detailing findings regarding the current fundraising situation, challenges, and opportunities. This report will also include an assessment of your team’s mindset and the prevailing culture of philanthropy within the organization. It will incorporate a review of existing development program procedures and plans to provide an understanding of current operations.
- Tier 2 ($3,200) – A deeper dive that includes a comprehensive analysis, collateral development (like templates, stewardship plans, or donor messaging guides), and coaching for your team.
- Deliverables include a comprehensive fundraising capacity report, which includes identifying best practices and inefficiencies in fundraising. We also provide donor engagement recommendations by assessing your newsletters, appeals, grants, CRM/donor tracking, and online efforts to strategically improve donor engagement and giving. Training (2, 1-hour sessions) will increase knowledge and skills to implement fundraising best practices through dedicated training for key staff of volunteers.
Details and Logistics:
- $45 for each session, or $99 for the full, 3-session series (save 26%!)
- Registration: July 14-August 14
- (3) 1-hour sessions via Zoom
- First meeting: Thursday, August 24 from 10-11am CST
- Meeting frequency will be every other Thursday from 10-11 am CST (August 21st, September 4th, and September 18th)
- Who can participate? Executive Directors, Development Staff, and Board Members
Meet the Facilitator:
Anne Ross-Weldy (she/her) is a seasoned nonprofit leader with over 24 years of experience in nonprofit administration, fundraising, and consulting. As Director of Capacity Building at New Chapter Coaching, Anne empowers organizations to build stronger leadership, activate boards, and drive sustainable growth—often through strengthening their fundraising capacity, diversifying revenue, and development practices. Her work in fundraising has generated over $20 million in support for nonprofit organizations.
Anne is a sought-after leader, who has supported hundreds of nonprofits to overcome funding challenges by designing fundraising strategies, coaching staff and boards, and supporting organizations in building resilient, donor-centered development. For 12 years, Anne shaped nonprofit leaders as an Adjunct Professor of Nonprofit Administration at Lindenwood University, earning the distinction of Adjunct Professor of the Year. Anne taught significant fundraising courses in major gifts, special events, fundraising and planning, prospect research, and grant writing; all to excellent reviews.
Anne is a featured speaker for national nonprofit conferences related to fundraising, and is a selected annual conference presenter for the Association of Fundraising Professionals St. Louis Regional Chapter.
She’s committed to helping nonprofits like yours thrive. Get ready to learn practical fundraising strategies and build a resilient funding future!
