We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits · We Are For Good

676. Shift 6 — The Modern Donor Journey: Modernize Individual Giving for Today’s Donor - Mike Duerksen & Dana Snyder

·35 min·2 clips

32% of nonprofits have less than three months cash on hand—friction in your systems is now a financial emergency.

Dana Snyder and Mike return to talk through the modern fundraising conversation. They start with a plain idea: the way you welcome someone into your community says a lot about what you mean, and recurring giving should come with recurring value. The conversation stays practical. They keep coming back to monthly giving, stewardship, and the responsibility to report back after someone gives. That first ask is only the beginning. It sets the tone for the relationship, and the rest of the episode keeps asking what it means to act like it. A thank-you email alone does not really do the job. Instead, the hosts stress that donors should be celebrated, reported back to, listened to, and engaged in real personal ways. Mike brings a concrete example from his time with Movember. Large numbers of Facebook fundraisers were creating revenue, but the real question was how to talk to those people while their campaign was still unfolding. The platform data mattered. It let teams know whether someone had just started, was halfway there, or had hit the goal, which opened the door to a more personal response. The episode keeps circling back to the same standard. If someone joins your organization, they deserve real welcome and care, not a transactional blast of gratitude. Monthly giving comes through as a sustainable model, not a gimmick. The work is consistency, because retention grows out of habits that keep showing up after the first gift. By the close, Dana and Mike leave the listener with a practical challenge. Make generosity visible, make stewardship feel human, and make the next ask feel earned.

As heard by us

Recurring giving starts with how an organization welcomes, thanks, and keeps showing up.

Recurring giving and donor stewardship are the center of this conversation, and the main point lands fast: the way an organization welcomes people says a lot about what it really values. Dana Snyder and Mike Dirksen keep it grounded.

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Why you'd press play

When the donor journey starts with the first welcome.

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