Investing In Relational Fundraising Work With Your Nonprofit

Nonprofit GrowthDevelopment
Written By Sherry Quam Taylor
Image of two nonprofit leaders meeting with a donor over coffee and conversation representing the importance of investing in relational fundraising.

If one of your goals is to scale philanthropy, diversify away from federal dollars, or build sustainability through relational fundraising…check this list to see if you’re REALLY serious….

 

You see, most nonprofits want to either diversify, grow, or build sustainability. But few budgets actually reflect the pivot into relational philanthropy.

 

Consider this list if you’re serious about INVESTING in relational fundraising work:

✈️ Ample travel to visit donors on a regular basis

☕ Meal and/or coffee budget for qualification and cultivation meetings

🦄 Top of the pyramid collateral (custom impact reports & donor videos)

🎯 Coaching if your staff has never sat down 1:1 and asked someone for money

🎪 Outside contractor to handle small dollar donors, events, or mar/comm

(Afterall, your fundraisers can’t just add more to their plates without you removing things!)

 

Last thing I’ll say about this. And you’ve heard it from me before…

You’ve got to spend money to make more money. Making these shifts goes beyond a $2,000 professional development allowance. You’ve got to stop doing things and start doing higher-ROI activities. You’ve got to be open to doing things differently.

 

Trust the process. 

 

How about you? Are you serious about diversifying revenue or buidling a sustainable organization for real? If you're ready to do that in 2026, just apply here for help.

Whenever you’re ready, here are THREE things you can do next:

👣 Follow me on LinkedIn where I share insider info daily — the same lessons I teach my clients about attracting larger gen-ops dollars and diversifying revenue.

🍎 Grab FREE Guides + White Papers — download robust resources you can use to push against the sector’s misconceptions, equip your board, and shift your team into High-ROI fundraising.

📈 Work with me to diversify revenue & secure the gen-ops gifts you need to grow. If you’re a business-minded nonprofit CEO with big growth plans but need to make charitable revenue from investment-level donors a bigger part of your budget, you can apply to work with me here.

Sherry Quam Taylor

Sherry Quam Taylor works with business-minded Nonprofit CEOs whose Strategic Plans require expansive budgets and larger amounts of general-operating revenue for growth. To become investment-level ready, Sherry helps leaders see their revenue potential and helps them see what may be blocking donors from giving in this way. Sherry’s clients know how to attract larger donors by solving the funding challenges at the root of the issue.

As a result of learning her methodology, Sherry’s clients become sustainable, diversify revenue, and know how to add significant amounts gen-ops revenue to their budgets. But mostly, their development departments and board have transformed into high-ROI revenue generators – aligning their hours with relational dollars and set free from the limitations of transactional fundraising.

Sherry attributes the success of her business to her passion for modeling radical confidence to the future CEOs in her house - her two college-aged daughters.

https://www.QuamTaylor.com
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