If you have been following the Fundraising Freedom Podcast, when I first started it I actually called it the Mary Valloni Show. And if you’ve been following for a while, you know that I follow the steps that I teach in my book, Fundraising Free

Episode 180 | How to Create a Personal or Organizational Budget That Actually Works for 2021

Dec 9th, 2020 26m 54s

Today we’re talking about how to create a personal or an organizational budget that actually works for you coming into 2021. I know that budgeting is something that some people love, and other people hate – there’s a love-hate relationship with

Episode 179 | The 20 Ways to Thank Your Donors in 2020

Nov 25th, 2020 38m 18s

Today, we are jumping into the topic of thankfulness. As we gear up for our Thanksgiving holiday this week, I wanted to be sure that we talked about how we can thank our donors. So, we’re going to talk about the top 20 ways to thank your donors

Episode 178 | How to Pivot With Sarah Olivieri

Nov 18th, 2020 27m 37s

My guest today is Sarah, Olivieri. Sarah is the founder and the heart behind the company Pivot Ground. She’s a nonprofit business strategist, an author, and a former executive director. I think she’s going to bring just a huge wealth of informa

Episode 177 | The #1 Reason Fundraisers Fail

Nov 11th, 2020 32m 27s

Today we’re talking about the number one reason fundraisers fail. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not because we didn’t work hard enough. The number one reason fundraisers fail is from internal conflict. As you know, right now we are dealing w

Episode 176 | How to Build a New Relationship with Money

Oct 28th, 2020 28m 59s

We are talking about how to build a new relationship with money today. In the last couple of episodes, I have been really practical in my messaging. But today, I wanted to take a little bit of a different turn on our conversation and talk speci

Episode 175 | 3 Things You Need to Include in Your 2020 Year-End Appeal

Oct 14th, 2020 26m

Today, we’re going digging into the year-end appeal and I’m sharing the three things you need to include in your letter. This is very specific for 2020. As you know, this year has been very unusual so that means that your year-end appeal needs

Episode 174 | How to End 2020 Strong (Your 90-Day Plan!)

Oct 7th, 2020 21m 10s

Today, we’re talking about how to end 2020 strong. And we’re really going to be talking about your 90-day plan. These last 90 days are going to end the year strong and allow you to really come into these final last months with some clarity, foc

Episode 173 | The 7 Questions to Ask Yourself Before that Next Big Meeting

Sep 30th, 2020 25m 20s

Today we’re talking about the seven questions to ask yourself before that next big meeting. If you’ve been following the podcast for a while, you’ve been following the seven steps that I teach in my book, Fundraising Freedom. On all the lesson

Episode 172 | The 10 Things Successful People Do To Accomplish Their Goals

Sep 15th, 2020 19m 11s

I want to share with you today some common things that successful people do. Number one, they don’t allow fear to cripple them. Now think about people who are public speakers, they do not let the fear of public speaking stop them from accompl

Episode 171 | Planning Virtual Events with Wendi Freeman

Sep 8th, 2020 33m 5s

Today we’re talking about virtual events, live events, all that good stuff with my guest, Wendi Freeman. Wendi is the founder and CEO of Be Bright Events. She has worked in the for-profit space, and she’s done a lot of work in the nonprofit spa

Episode 170 | The 3 Things You Need to Effectively Grow and Multiply Your Cause

Sep 1st, 2020 31m 57s

Today we’re talking about the three things you need to effectively grow and multiply your cause. The reason why I wanted to talk on this topic is that multiplication is really what we’re all about, right? When we join or when we start up an or

Episode 169 | How to Communicate With Philanthropists with Kris Putnam-Walkerly

Aug 25th, 2020 30m 56s

We’ve been talking a lot lately about a variety of different ways that you can raise funds and today, I wanted to bring a special guest on to talk specifically about working with philanthropists. Kris Putnam-Walkerly is a Global Philanthropy Ad

Episode 168 | Major Gift Fundraising with Ben Starling III

Aug 18th, 2020 38m 20s

My guest today is Ben Starling III. Ben is a former director of philanthropy, has worked on huge projects like the Museum of the Bible and Scripps Research Institute. He’s from Palm Beach, Florida, and he runs a business called Southern Philan

Episode 167 | The Industries That Are Booming During COVID-19 and What That Means for Your Cause

Aug 11th, 2020 32m 50s

In the past few months, we have been talking about how to navigate this new “normal” as we walk through the season of a pandemic. Over the course of these last several months, you’ve had to make a shift. You’ve had to start looking at different

Episode 166 | Making the Move from Live to Virtual Events With Philippa Fabbri

Aug 4th, 2020 43m 52s

Today I’m joined by Philippa Fabbri, director of communications, fundraising, and school design at the Elsen Academy in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape South Africa. What do you enjoy about fundraising? I wouldn’t say I’m passionate about fundrai

Episode 165 | What You Need to Do to Shift Your Fundraising Online

Jul 28th, 2020 38m 20s

Today I’m talking about moving to online fundraising. How do we still build relationships and still communicate and engage donors in the online space? First of all, I just want to share a few statistics with you. Only 3% of charities rated thei

Episode 164 | The Single Most Important Thing I Learned in My Thirties

Jul 14th, 2020 33m 30s

This episode airs the week of my 40th birthday and I’m pretty excited about it! I’m looking forward to the next decade and letting my thirties live in the past like they are supposed to. Today I want to take you on a walk down memory lane and

Episode 163 | 8 Words That May Explain Why You’re Stuck

Jul 7th, 2020 27m 33s

Today we are talking about the eight words that might explain why you’re stuck. As we’ve been talking about over the last several episodes, we’ve been dealing with a pandemic and trying to navigate not being in our offices and adjusting to wor

Episode 162 | Fundraising with Evan Cox

Jun 23rd, 2020 42m 14s

Today, I am joined by special guest Evan Cox. Evan works for Joyce Meyer Ministries and has a background in nonprofit work with the St. Louis Dream Center, Hand of Hope, and many others. He’s also an incredible copywriter. I’ve invited him o

Episode 161 | The 6 Basic Needs to Live Your Best Life

Jun 16th, 2020 26m 48s

I am a huge fan of you raising a ridiculous amount of money and changing the world. I know that’s what you’re focused on and why you’re here listening to this show but I want you to realize one thing. If you’re awesome at fundraising and awes

Episode 160 | The Fool-Proof Process to Achieving Any Goal

Jun 9th, 2020 30m 35s

If you’ve been with me for a while, you know I’m big into goal setting. I think this is why I love fundraising so much because it’s all about goal setting and can be very rewarding when you reach them. So today I want to talk to you about how

Episode 159 | How to Create a Rich Nonprofit with Marissa Nehlsen, Part 2

Jun 1st, 2020 25m 22s

I am joined today by Marissa Nehlsen, CEO of a 7-figure business, public speaker, coach, philanthropist, and an all-around incredible person. Like me, she is originally from North Dakota which makes my heart happy! What advice would you give

Episode 158 | How to Create a Rich Nonprofit with Marissa Nehlsen, Part 1

May 26th, 2020 28m 35s

Episode 157 | What You Need to Know to Get Someone to Say Yes

May 19th, 2020 28m 50s

Today I want to talk about the basics of fundraising. During this season where we are in the midst of a lot of uncertainty, I understand that people are being sensitive when it comes to asking for money. I want to take a step back and talk abo