431: Fundraising as a Layer Cake with Sarah Olivieri
About this episode
Sarah Olivieri discusses the layered approach to fundraising for nonprofits, emphasizing the importance of building strong relationships with donors before seeking grants and sponsorships.
Episode Description 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. In This Episode, You'll Learn The four layers of an effective fundraising program and the order to build them in Why high-touch relationship giving is the easiest to start and has the highest return on investment Why grants are the icing, not the foundation, and what that means for organizations leaning on…
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