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Mid-level giving (often defined as gifts in the ~$250–$10,000 range, varying by organization) is increasingly becoming the make-or-break layer between broad-based annual giving and major gifts.

Many of you are likely facing reduced donor counts and struggling retention rates, even though your total dollars raised is holding steady or growing. This means you may be becoming more dependent on fewer donors. And you are not alone as shown in reports published by the Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP) that illustrate this dynamic trend.

Nonprofit boards carry enormous responsibility. They safeguard mission, ensure financial integrity, support executive leadership, and steward an organization's future. Yet one of the most important investments a board can make—a strong, intentional board orientation—is often treated as an afterthought or a box to be checked.

I had the opportunity to learn how Disney “onboards” its new cast members. Disney understands something profound about organizational culture: it begins on day one, and it begins with everyone. At its theme parks, every new cast member, regardless of role, begins their journey at Disney University.

Executives sweep streets alongside aspiring entertainers. Future operations leaders work the same orientation sessions as seasonal staff. This isn't about theater. It's about something far more strategic: building a shared foundation of values, language, and culture that unites everyone who represents the brand. The message is clear: You are part of something bigger than your individual role, and we will equip you to uphold it.

You’ve finished your meal at a restaurant and you’re ready for the check. But your server is nowhere to be found.

You glance toward the kitchen and see them flipping burgers on the grill. A moment later they rush past carrying a stack of dishes. Then they stop at the door to seat a new table before disappearing again.

Meanwhile, you’re still sitting there with an empty glass and no check.

At some point, most of us would recognize the problem isn’t bad service. The problem is that one person is trying to run the entire restaurant.

Yet this is exactly how many nonprofits structure fundraising.

A development director recently asked us a simple but incredibly important question:

“What does it actually look like to build a relationship with a foundation?”

Not in theory. Not in a textbook. But in real life.

Do you call them? Email them? Invite them for a tour? Wait until the application opens?

It’s a fair question, and one we hear often. For many organizations, foundation funding can feel transactional at best and mysterious at worst. You submit a proposal, hope it aligns, and wait for a decision.

We’ve all been there in life. Things are going great, cruising along, and we’re thinking “How did I get so lucky?” Then it happens: The Dip. It comes in many forms. An illness, a failure at work, the loss of a loved one…sometimes all in one week! The only thing in life we are assured of is tough times. Fundraising is no different.

Do you have a nagging concern about your team’s effectiveness?

Maybe meetings feel flat, with little engagement or shared purpose. Maybe your team generates plenty of ideas, but struggles to decide what to do next. Or perhaps new initiatives get launched, only to lose momentum because no one can sustain them.

Something just isn’t clicking… and you can’t quite figure out why.

If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone.

And here’s the surprising truth: Most team challenges aren’t caused by a lack of talent, commitment, or effort. They’re caused by misalignment.

In many teams, people are consistently asked to do work that drains them instead of work that energizes them. Over time, that leads to disengagement, frustration, and underperformance, even among highly capable individuals.

That’s exactly the problem Patrick Lencioni and The Table Group set out to solve with the Six Types of Working Genius.

In last week’s blog by my colleague, Gary Laermer, he explored why it’s so powerful to present donors with a blended ask that connects immediate impact with long-term change. When donors can see both the urgency of today and the legacy of tomorrow, something shifts in the conversation. It becomes less about a single gift and more about the donor’s lifetime impact.

But many of you may still have questions.

Over the years I’ve lost count as to how many times a nonprofit colleague has asked “do we have a donor for this program?” My response is almost always the same: “Please send me 3 sentences on the societal problem you’re proposing to solve and 3 sentences on how your program or project solves the problem, and I’ll get back to you.”

“I need my volunteers to fundraise more.” I hear this often from nonprofit leaders around the country. My response is usually a series of questions to dig deeper into what they are really saying.

Would bringing in more cash (yesterday) be nice? Of course. Could every board member please fill a table at the gala? Yes. (And a table means ALL the seats, by the way).

But what’s really at the heart of what “I need my volunteers to fundraise more” is a need for connections to the organization. Fundraising is a relational journey, from identifying prospects to stewarding donors, and volunteers play a critical role from the very beginning.