Fundraising as a Layer Cake with Sarah Olivieri [Episode 431]

Most nonprofits are trying to ice a cake that has not been baked. The grants are going out.

The Giving Tuesday campaign is on the calendar. The Facebook ads are running. And the foundation underneath all of it, the high-touch relationships with the people who actually fund the mission, is thin or missing entirely. Then leaders wonder why fundraising feels so hard.

In this solo episode, Sarah walks through fundraising as a layer cake. Major donors and high-touch relationship giving as the base layer. Scaled relationship fundraising in the middle.

Corporate sponsorships above that. Grants as the icing on top, and only after the cake is fully baked. She breaks down why this order matters, what activities to let go of when you are smaller, and the simple weekly email that keeps the whole base layer alive without a newsletter, a designer, or a marketing team.

 •Executive directors of small to mid-sized nonprofits are trying to figure out where to focus fundraising energy
• Founders running grant-dependent organizations who suspect the model is fragile
• Development directors who keep getting asked to run a Giving Tuesday campaign on top of a thin donor list
• Boards that default to grants as the answer every time the budget gets tight

• Audit which layer of the cake you are actually building. If layer one is not dialed in, stop adding new activities until it is.
• If you are smaller, let go of Giving Tuesday, Facebook campaigns, and new grant applications. Put that time into your top relationships instead.
• Pick one simple tracking tool. A spreadsheet works. A lightweight CRM like Close works. The tool matters less than the daily rhythm of using it.
• Send one plain-text email a week to your list. Wins, challenges, a signature with a donation link. That is the whole format.
• Before you research how to ask for money, build the relationships to the point that people start asking you how to give. Then learn the ask.