The Intentional Fundraiser Podcast
Welcome to The Intentional Fundraiser Podcast. I'm your host, Tammy Zonker, and I'm thrilled you're here. I've spent nearly three decades specializing in major gifts. I’ve seen how major gifts often form the backbone of an organization’s financial stability, and yet, I know many of us find this area particularly challenging. Time and again, I’ve been approached by fundraisers and nonprofit leaders eager to establish or supercharge their major gift programs. It’s become crystal clear that there’s a growing hunger for training and expertise in this area. I’ve had the incredible privilege of working with nonprof...
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Story and Data: What Major Donors Really Need
<p>$150,000 gift. One question.</p><p>90 seconds.</p><p>"Who is this changing for?" </p><p>A development director walked into a meeting with a fund-of-funds founder and a 12-page impact report. He flipped through it in ninety seconds and asked one question:</p><p>"Who is this changing for, and how do you know?"</p><p>She closed the report. Told one story. Showed one chart. One photo. Nine minutes.</p><p>Six days later, the $150K gift came in.</p><p>When she called to thank him, he said something I think about every week: "I don't need...
Designing Impact Together with Donors
<p>"You brought me a brochure, not a conversation."</p><p>A donor said that to one of my clients.</p><p>It changed how we prep every donor visit now.</p><p>In this week's episode of The Intentional Fundraiser podcast, I share the story of a $250,000 ask that became a $400,000 partnership plus two warm introductions, all because we changed one thing.</p><p>We stopped presenting.</p><p>We started designing.</p><p>Inside the episode you'll get:</p>The five-part co-design meeting flow you can use this weekThe donor psychology that makes this work so wellThe tools...
Peer Power: Ambassadors and Giving Circles
<p>A $100,000 gift, made in a kitchen.</p><p>The major gift officer wasn't there.</p><p>Another donor was. ☕</p><p>She invited three friends over for coffee. She told them why she gave. She didn't pitch. She didn't ask. Six weeks later, one of those friends called me ready to make a major gift.</p><p>That moment changed how the major gift officer thinks about major gift strategy.</p><p>🎙️ On this week's episode of The Intentional Fundraiser podcast, I unpack peer power, ambassadors, and giving circles, and why peer voices carry more weight than staff voices in 2026...
Rethinking Major Gifts Metrics in 2026
<p>Bad metrics ruin good fundraisers.</p><p>Slowly. Quietly. Cycle after cycle.</p><p>And almost nobody on the team is allowed to say it out loud.</p><p>In this week's episode of The Intentional Fundraiser, I'm sharing why the metrics most major gift programs lean on, raw visit counts, dollars to goal, dials made, often miss the actual work. </p><p>I'm walking through:</p><p>→ The hidden cost of using lagging indicators to coach behavior</p><p>→ Five leading indicators worth tracking instead</p><p>→ Why AI inside your CRM should help you ask better questions, not de...
Pruning Your Portfolio to Grow Your Results
<p>Pruning isn't loss. It's care. </p><p>For years, fundraisers have been told that a bigger portfolio means a healthier pipeline. In my experience, the opposite is usually true.</p><p>A focused list closes more gifts, and a focused fundraiser feels more human at the end of the week.</p><p>In this week's episode of The Intentional Fundraiser, I walk through the four lenses I use to decide who stays on an active portfolio, who graduates to stewardship, and who pauses for now. I also share the language to use with leadership when you propose a leaner...
Crafting Offers for Transformational Giving
<p>"Fuzzy is the enemy of yes."</p><p>That line came up this week while I was recording the podcast.</p><p>And I cannot stop thinking about it. </p><p>Most major gift offers I see in 2026 are not failing because the relationship is weak or the mission is unclear. They are failing because the offer itself is fuzzy. A program description with a price tag at the bottom is not an offer. It is a proposal. And sophisticated donors can feel the difference.</p><p>In this week's episode of The Intentional Fundraiser podcast, I walk through...
Trust-Building Conversations with Major Donors
<p>Two donors. Same problem.</p><p>Completely different outcomes. </p><p>One development officer waited too long to call. By the time she reached out about a delayed project, the donor had already pulled back. A significant gift quietly disappeared.</p><p>The other officer called early. She was honest. She said, "Here's what happened, here's what we learned, and here's what we did to fix it." The donor's response?</p><p>"I really appreciate you telling me that. Most organizations only call when they want something."</p><p>The difference between those two outcomes wasn't strategy or skill...
A Modern Tech Stack for Major Gift Success
<p>Too many tools? Too little clarity?</p><p>And not enough hours to manage it all?</p><p>This episode is for you.</p><p>On this week's episode of The Intentional Fundraiser, I talk about what a healthy major gifts tech stack actually looks like, and what to do about everything that's built up around it.</p><p>We cover the four core tech categories that matter for major gifts work, a five-criteria framework for evaluating any tool in your stack, where AI genuinely fits in a major gifts fundraising context, and a simple ninety-day tune-up plan that...
Writing Donor Messages with AI, Not by AI
<p>AI won’t replace your voice, but it can help amplify it.</p><p>I’ve been talking with so many fundraisers who want to try AI but worry their donor communication will start sounding robotic. I get it. Authenticity matters more than ever in twenty‑twenty‑six.</p><p>On this week’s Intentional Fundraiser Podcast, I’m sharing how I use AI to draft and refine messages that still sound like me, while saving precious time for deeper donor connections.</p><p>How are you feeling about using AI in your fundraising communication?</p><p>Listen to “Writing Donor...
Take Back Your Week, Grow Your Major Gifts
<p>My calendar used to tell on me.</p><p>I’d get to Friday and realize I’d spent the whole week in meetings, email, and “urgent” internal stuff… while my top donors barely heard from me. Sound familiar?</p><p>In my latest episode of The Intentional Fundraiser, I share how I started treating my calendar like a major gift strategy tool, not a suggestion box. I walk through the three time blocks that changed everything for me, how to negotiate donor-first time with your boss and peers, and where AI can act like a junior assistant so you can fo...
