We at ImaginePod curate work and reset experiences for people doing high-impact work in a high-pressure world, and today we have three great resources to help you this week.

With gratitude for all you do, Abigail & Adriana, Co-Hosts, ImaginePod

1. Event: Co-Work in Somatic Sanctuary for Productivity & Connection on 8/20 Featuring “Grant Writing with AI for Small but Mighty Teams”

In the photo: Jen Dalton (on left) leads the Reset Moment and “Grantwriting with AI” mini training together with co-host Adriana Dakin (on right). Abigail Ahoude (in middle) will welcome us to this collaborative co-work space and kick off a Pomodoro work session.

Join the next session of The Impact Workroom on Thursday, August 20 via Zoom hosted by us. This session features guest speaker Jen Dalton who will guide you on how to use some of the tools of our time, including AI paired with detailed specifics and prompts to draft high quality proposal responses.

As a church pastor we work with says, “I don’t have the ability or energy to do all that’s needed … We lack infrastructure to look for grant opportunities.”

Indeed few of us have enough bandwidth to do all the grant writing needed in order to run programs with sufficient funding. Specific practices with AI can help you do the research needed and first drafts of responses, followed by next steps Jen and Adriana will show you.

RSVP Now

Leave with three best practices to follow and a PDF handout with grantwriting prompts you can keep using.

The Workroom combines a Reset Moment, Pomodoro work sessions, Mind Pause with mini training, and networking amongst ~40 participants from around the world.

It is designed to help you step away from the noise for a little while, get grounded, and make meaningful progress on something that matters to you, in community.

Watch to learn more:

2. Resource: What are the First 5 Fundraising Mistakes New Impact Founders Make? Learn How to Avoid Them

Giving USA found that individuals contributed nearly two-thirds of all charitable giving in the US in 2025. While that figure is in the US, the pattern behind it travels: in most places, the money that actually sustains a mission comes from people, not institutions.

Which makes one of the most common early moves — i.e. pinning the year’s plan to a single big grant — a costly bet. And it’s only one of five traps we unpack in our latest post, written together with our fundraising expert friends at Donorbox.

The rest will feel familiar: waiting for the “perfect” moment to ask, making your organization the main character instead of the people you serve, choosing fundraising tech on price alone, and celebrating that first big gift right before going quiet (donor retention sits at just over 43%).

None of these are signs you’re bad at this. They’re the standard detours, and each one has a simple shift that gets you back on the road. Read the full breakdown, then pick one small action you can take before Friday!

3. Favorite Analog Practice: “How to Journal for Anxiety & Overwhelm ☀️” in 10 Minutes a Day

Adriana here! In this extremely techie world of AI adoption for social impact, I’ve been helping mission-driven professionals take a couple key minutes every day, analog style, with a simple pen and journal or planner.

When you’re leading a community and a team with a mission, you need clarity, courage, and connection in practically everything that you do. Often you wear many hats if you lead a small but mighty team with a big mission, and in this ADHD-inducing world there just could be some cause for anxiety, overwhelm, and feeling like you’re not good enough to do it all.

So I’ve just created this new episode: “How to Journal for Anxiety & Overwhelm ☀️ Mental Health Journaling” with a great method for busy professionals to use in about 10 minutes a day, using the same three approaches I use myself.

In the process, you can see what truly needs you today, how to track your days and spot the patterns that can change, and how to catch the negative thoughts that anxiety travels with … and write your way to something true for you.

This journaling method works for ANYONE — please share it with your friends and give it a Subscribe / Like / Comment on YouTube to help it spread! I love comments. I have a whole “Journaling for Real Life” Playlist to help out and I’m so so happy that viewership is growing fast.

❤️ Thank you, friend! We hope to see you in The Impact Workroom session on Thursday. The sign up is quick. 📆 These happen every third Thursday of each month — mark your calendar to hold the spot if you’d like to be there! 💌 We share workroom invitations first via The Bloom’s international social impact enewsletter — join it if you’d like to hear earlier in the month.

Do you have news and opportunities you’d like to share with other mission-driven social impact professionals around the world? Write us hello@imaginepod.com.

Did you start an impact organization because you dreamed of comparing donation platforms, writing follow-up emails, and asking for money?

Probably not. 😅

But fundraising quickly becomes part of the job, and when you’re learning on the go, it’s all too easy to make choices that cost you both time and momentum.

Here are five of those mistakes I see new impact founders make most often, and a few simple ways to avoid them.

1. Waiting for the “perfect” moment to ask 🫣

Your website isn’t finished. The logo still needs work. You need better photographs. You’ve rewritten the campaign page four times, and somehow it keeps getting longer instead of clearer.

Meanwhile… nobody has actually been invited to give.

“Perfection” can feel productive because you’re technically busy doing things. It’s also a very convincing form of hiding. 👀

Trust me when I say your first campaign doesn’t have to be flawless. It just needs:

• 😞 A clear problem

• 🫶A believable response

• 🥅 A specific goal

• 💳 A simple way to give

You can improve the campaign as people begin responding to it. In fact, their questions may actually show you what needs clarifying faster than yet another afternoon spent moving paragraphs around.

At ImaginePod, we believe in Done > Perfect. Start while you are still learning. You will always be learning!

2. Making your organization the main character 🎭

So many early fundraising appeals begin with the organization’s backstory, mission statement, and strategic vision.

All before the reader knows why they should care.

Of course your organization matters. But people usually connect with the human or animal stakes before they connect with your org’s structure.

❓Ask yourself who is affected by the problem? What are they experiencing? Why does it matter now? What could change if someone steps in?

Begin there! Instead of opening with “Our organization was founded to deliver innovative, community-led solutions to…” 🥱

Your organization still has an important role in the story, but it is usually the guide – and certainly not the hero.

3. Putting all your hope into one big grant 🧺

Grants can be transformational! They can also take months to secure. And be restricted.

That’s why individual giving deserves a place in your fundraising plan from the beginning.

According to Giving USA, individuals contributed nearly two-thirds of all charitable giving in the US in 2025.

You don’t need thousands of donors to get started, either. Begin with the people who already understand why your work matters.

Write down 20 people who may be willing to:

• Make an early gift

• Introduce you to someone influential

• Share your campaign

• Offer useful feedback

• Become a monthly supporter

Some will give. Some will open doors you didn’t know existed!🚪

4. Choosing the cheapest fundraising technology without considering the full experience 🛠️

When your budget is tiny, the platform with the lowest feels often feels like the most sensible choice. But “fee-free” can hide trade-offs, especially when donors are prompted to add tips they may not realize are going to the platform (or can’t intuitively adjust).

That lack of clarity can damage donor trust. It has even prompted a multistate investigation into default donor tipping practices! 🕵🏼 So look beyond the headline fee and test the full donation experience.

📖 For example:

When donors told Young Adult Survivors United that their giving process was inconvenient, the organization knew it was time to switch. They chose Donorbox to give supporters familiar ways to give seamlessly and securely.

The goal is not to find the platform that appears to cost the least today. Instead, invest in one whose pricing, donor experience, and features you’ll still feel good about six months from now.

5. Celebrating your first big donation … then disappearing 👋🏽

The gift arrives! 🎁

Then, the donor receives their receipt and hears nothing more until the next fundraising campaign.

This is one of the easiest ways to lose a supporter.

In 2025, FEP reported that the overall donor retention rate sat at just over 43%. That tells us that most organizations are still, unfortunately, losing more donors than they keep.

But the donation is just the start of your relationship with a supporter! 🏁

1. 🙏🏽 Thank the donor promptly and tell them what happens next.

2. ✉️ Make sure to share a small update before making another ask.

3. 🔎 Let them see the progress and some behind-the-scenes changes their gift made possible.

Start smaller and start now 💛

Your first fundraising strategy won’t be flawless. It doesn’t need to be.

Focus on the need, make a specific invitation, choose systems that make the work lighter. Then keep showing donors that their support matters.

You’ll learn what works for your community as you go.

Done > Perfect, friends.🤞🏻

Here are resources to help you in different ways with smart individual giving using the Donorbox platform:

• Get a Donorbox account to try out

• Sustainable Support: How to Grow Your Monthly Donor Base

• Checklist: Planning a Successful Fundraising Event

• Internal Control Checklist and Template

• Donation Page Design Guide

💡Prompt question: Which of these mistakes feels most familiar? Choose one small action you can take before Friday – then share in the comments so we can cheer you on. 📣

In hundreds of conversations, coaching sessions, and workshops, I’ve heard:

• 😢 “I’m not good enough to do this role well”

• 😰 “I’m too tired and overwhelmed to carry on much longer”

• 💵 “I don’t know if I’ll be able to make payroll next month”

• 🛑 “I don’t know where to start”

• 😿 “I’m really lonely in this work”

However, for all its challenges, we are lucky to be living in 2026. We have access to each other as an amazing constellation of connections. We have tools that can reset and restore our energy and change outcomes from negative to positive in dramatic ways. These in turn can change what happens in our communities.

We also crave what’s analog and real in a digital world. Real paper journals with real pens. Hikes with friends. Getting together over a cup of tea.

Why am I addressing this analog need via YouTube videos?

It’s one of the best ways to reach people in a longer term way.

I want to provide incredibly helpful content you can watch at any time and wherever you are in the world, and experience connection with me while gaining momentum in your work. Video can be the next best thing to being in a room with someone. Our brains are wired for connection, and brain fog can lift quickly when we do connect well.

And as a professional, I also want to have income that’s not tied to hours or where I happen to be in any moment. It’s excited to be making daily progress toward becoming a Youtube Partner — the requirement is 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours. Every day, I love seeing how my subscribers and watch hours are increasing steadily like a rising river.

In a world where we need to communicate concisely and cut through a lot of noise and distraction, many of you may be active short-form or long-form video content creators as well … or wanting to be when you get the time or can hire an editor (I have an affordable one I can recommend if you do!). Below I’ll share some of my results and how the videos got there.

I’d love to hear what sparks energy and ideas for you! 💡

My Most Popular Video

Last month, I created a video on a favorite analog tool — journaling — that emulated a high-performing video by someone else in terms of its title, thumbnail, and hook (aka holy trifecta). (Yes I used em-dashes there and didn’t use AI!) This method is recommended in the YouTube coaching program I’m in.

However, I believe another very important reason for its success was bringing great positive energy to it. Right before recording my video, I did a 5-mile hike with women friends in hills above a lake. Endorphins! Highly recommend. Energy is palpable.

Stats at this moment: 4.7K views, 182 likes, 214 watch hours, +49 subscribers

My Newest Video

I don’t know about you, but my long to-do lists get buried if they are in apps, Apple Notes, task management systems, and notebooks. In our ADHD-inducing world, I’ve found that sticky notes keep important tasks front and center.

But hey, stickies can become a jumble as well. Yesterday I created a video showing a system and template that’s inspired by the order that chaotic restaurant kitchens achieve with a menu and ticket rail. No stats to share yet since it’s new!

My Video with Best Retention

I journal almost every day in my Full Focus planner, and started using “interstitial journaling” there as a mini method with momentum-building results. It’s clearly resonating with others too! They’re staying to watch it.

When you’re madly juggling many things, it can be hard to keep track of where you are in a project, what you just did, if you’re making progress, and what’s the best next step. This quick method will help.

Again, I first learned from a high performing video on this topic, one that had viral results on a small channel. I filmed mine in a spot that makes me and others comfortable — by a river with water flowing by. Highly recommend finding where you’re most comfortable!

Stats at this moment: 898 views, 65 likes, 47 watch hours, +18 subscribers

My Favorite Professional Growth Tool

For those who want more energy and a reminder about the bigger picture of why you do the work you do, I have a goodie in this video, called Tree Mapping. I learned it years ago from a coach with Young Women Social Entrepreneurs-San Francisco, and have used it practically every year since.

Stats at this moment: The stats need your help! 39 views, 1.4 watch hours, +4 subs

Easiest Video to Make

My YouTube coach had just advised in a masterclass, “I know this sounds goofy, but my best advice is to lower your standards and publish more content more quickly to be successful on YouTube.” Of course, there are still base quality levels and the idea needs to be a great one that helps solve a pain point. The point is that perfection can be the enemy of progress, so don’t let that hold you back.

I created this one last Sunday when I needed something quick and easy to publish, and in it I share a photo of my favorite starry night sky view while sitting next to a campfire this month with my family.

Stats at this moment: 149 views, 5.3 watch hours, +1 subs

I hope you enjoy watching! Please subscribe to my YouTube channel (click Watch on YouTube on one of the videos in the lower right) if you want to find out when the next video lands and if you’d like to help my channel growww :-)

I’d love to know what you think (write a comment on the video!) and always appreciate topic ideas for next videos.

I’m looking forward to recording my next journaling video, Journaling 101 for Beginners, on my couch surrounded by my jungle plants and holding a cup of tea.

— Adriana, Co-Host, ImaginePod and The Impact Workroom

P.S. We are working on the program for the next live session of The Impact Workroom. These take place every third Thursday of each month — mark your calendars if you’d like to be there! The registration for August 20th will come out soon.

Summer time … it’s so much, isn’t it? So far I’ve enjoyed a week in the woods by a lake with visiting relatives after my kids got out of school, a ceramics artist residency in Colorado (see the river-side video below!) where wildfires started after a lightning storm, some work from the road, care of my horse for her fractured leg (a hard thing to happen but she’s incredibly sweet about it), a team retreat on disaster planning, then a big family reunion where I helped coordinate so many meals and activities while also loving every sec of conversations with cousins.

Now it’s ONWARD! Back to work and it’s great. Simpler than vacation, ironically. I hope you’re well too!

— Adriana, Co-host, ImaginePod

1. Co-Work on 7/23: Reset Moment, Pomodoros, and Selena Coles for “Let’s Fund Your Movement” Mini Training

In the photo: Abigail Ahoude (on right) will welcome us to the collaborative co-work session that’s a “somatic sanctuary for productivity & connection”, Adriana Dakin (left) will guide a reset moment to focus and make a powerful decision for yourself, and featured guest Selena Coles (center) will offer a mini training during the mind pause between Pomodoro work sessions. Leave with your own “Funding Menu” ideas so you can fund your movement or bold project.

Hi there, Abigail here. Lately, it feels like every conversation, social media post, article and video is about AI in some way. And every product or message is about how you can:

—> Automate. Optimize. Be More Efficient.

Yet, in the middle of all of that, something else is happening too.

People are asking deeper questions about how they even want to live and work.
They’re stepping back from platforms that don’t align.
They’re experimenting with slower, more intentional ways of being.

There’s a real pull right now to reconnect with something more human.

That’s part of what The Impact Workroom is about.

Not just about getting things done in the middle of your busy, stressful day. It’s about creating a small pocket of time, together on Zoom, where you can focus, reset, and remember that you’re not doing this work in isolation.

It’s about bringing a bit of aligned human connection back into the mix of things. This is the motivation behind our efforts to curate work and reset rituals for people doing high-impact work in a high-pressure world.

If this type of monthly gathering is something you’ve been needing, you’re not alone because we’ve been needing it too, and so have over 100 other people who’ve already registered for it. We’d love to have you with us this Thursday.

Save your complimentary spot — thanks to our sponsor Donorbox! — here:

Join the Workroom

2. Focus: What is Interstitial Journaling and How Can It Help in Our ADHD World?

Adriana here again! One of my most popular new videos is this one 👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽 because via a SIMPLE method it really helps solve that pain point of being productive and focused in our distracting world where we have to pick up a kid from soccer, apply for a scholarship, get a grant proposal started, talk with a donor, get groceries for dinner, set up a call with the CPA re taxes, host the relatives this weekend, go for a run, fold the laundry, and on and on (right, it’s not you who’s crazy or losing it!) …

I hope my short episode (9 min) helps you too! And … please Subscribe, Like or Comment by watching it on YouTube — I’ll be super grateful and that will help it spread to others wanting relief from the feeling of not getting things done, and instead be able to focus in a bite-sized way that actually gets things done.

3. “Work with Me” Session: Pomodoro Style on the Colorado River with Bird Song

The Colorado River is absolutely incredible. So while I (Adriana) was there doing an artist residency with two great women friends in June, I recorded a work session RIGHT next to the river so you too can hear the birds singing, have coffee with me, see the water flowing and the gorgeous red rock canyon walls, and focus on your next important thing (whatever it is):

When I walked away, I was surprised how much it helped me to do that river-and-birds work session myself. I completed next steps needed for a team project.

What you don’t see in the video is that down the river, a 25K acre wildfire was burning in drought conditions, and a pre-evacuation order was about to arrive along with dense smoke. Many fires are still burning there in Colorado and Utah, and I’m sending my love to the people, towns, wildlife, and plants facing those climate challenges! I know this is happening around Europe, Africa, and elsewhere as well. ❤️

Thank you, friend! We hope to see you in The Impact Workroom session on Thursday. The sign up is quick. These will happen every third Thursday of each month — mark your calendars if you’d like to be there!

⏰ Thursday, June 4 · 9 am Pacific / 12 pm Eastern · live via Zoom
→ Register here: imaginepod.com/impactworkroom
📅 If you’ve already registered, you’ve received a calendar invitation

— Abigail & Adriana, Co-hosts, ImaginePod

1. Watch How This Minister is Planning to Rebuild Chicago’s South Side

A seventh grader on the Chicago South Side cooked spaghetti in a culinary program. It was her first meal of the day.

Learning this, what happens when a 70-year-old minister with a 10-year plan for the Chicago South Side and beyond decides failure is not an option?

David Davenport, founder of Davenport Community Development Corporation joins Abigail Ahoude and Adriana Dakin of ImaginePod to share how Feeding the Future and the AI Entrepreneurial Readiness program are confronting food insecurity, workforce gaps, and community disconnection — all at once.

In this episode:

• The moment David realized kids were eating their first meal of the day in a culinary class

• How Feeding the Future trained 90 kids last year

• Why monthly donors — not one-time gifts — are the key to sustainable community impact

• David’s 10-year vision to rebuild communities the world has written off

• What Martin Luther King taught him about prosperity — and why it still drives his work

Please share the conversation to inspire others!

P.S. We’re excited to have David joining in The Impact Workroom to plan out community building with monthly donors that sustain program work.

2. Two Paths, Same Greeting, “We’re Here Together”

Hi there, it’s Abigail.

I’ve always loved going on walks.

There’s something special about being outside, moving along a clear path, letting your mind wander wherever it wants, whether it’s in the quiet of the morning sun or at the end of the day after you’ve hit a few big milestones. It just feels so good.

Not too long ago, I used to go on regular walks along the Blackwater Creek Trail in my hometown of Lynchburg, Virginia. It was shaded by tall trees, with a creek running alongside it that I’d glance down at as I passed. There was a community garden dedicated to cancer awareness, winding off-trail paths, and the occasional appearance of foxes, rabbits, and even the occasional bear or two made an appearance each year.

Now I live in Cotonou, Benin, and my walks look completely different. I walk along Route des Pêches, where the ocean stretches out beside me under an intense and warm sun where endless rows of palm trees line the road, young men train for soccer, and a steady stream of cars and motos carry people through their day. It’s absolutely gorgeous.

Clearly, these two paths couldn’t be more different.

And yet, there’s one thing that feels exactly the same. Can you guess what it is?

As people pass each other, whether walking or jogging, they offer a small smile, a nod, a simple “good morning” or “bonjour.”

In both countries, both trails, and both cultures, there’s this unspoken exchange that says:

“I see you. We’re both here, doing this together, even if just for a moment.”

In a way, that’s exactly what The Impact Workroom is.

It’s a moment to pause on the path and say:

“I see you. We’re in this together.”

And if you haven’t yet registered, there’s still time to join us.

You can learn more and register here:

https://imaginepod.com/impactworkroom

I’m really looking forward to sharing that moment with you. I hope it becomes a highlight of your day.

Hope to see you on the path.

In this enewsletter, read Abigail’s story on the momentum and results particular organization directors created, crack the code with insider strategies to getting funding, and get the 3-2-1 framework for clarity in how you pitch and express ideas like a director in a variety of contexts.

— Abigail & Adriana, Co-hosts, ImaginePod

1. Abigail’s Story on Why Co-Working is Powerful

A story from co-host Abigail (originally posted on LinkedIn):

When Adriana Dakin and I first started ImaginePod it was spring of 2020 when no one really knew what was happening in the world or how to navigate the unexpected challenges tearing into our social and professional fabric.

We began facilitating collaborative learning and campaign cohorts that supported nonprofit leaders working on some of the worlds most pressing issues: death penalty repeal, environmental justice in the US midwest, voting rights in the US south, and more.

And then we began building collaborative courses and workshops for small but mighty teams around the world. The kind of organizations that have less than $1M in annual operating support, the number of team members you can count on one hand, and leaders who are on the frontlines of their programming on the day-to-day. Like one woman who helps the shelterless get access to the food and health resources they need while navigating life on the streets of Salt Lake City Utah, or another providing emergency medical care in Nairobi, Kenya.

The throughline from our work bringing together so many diverse impact leaders has been: “togetherness is powerful”. The ability to learn and discuss alongside fellow change makers in a space that has diversity of thought and experience, was a major driver in the well being and momentum these leaders created.

Over the past few years, I have pulled myself out of the work facilitating workshops and collaborative learning cohorts, but I’ve missed it dearly. I miss seeing the faces on the zoom calls, hearing the stories, seeing people discuss and ideate solutions to challenges, build networks, and end sessions with renewed energy and hope. So I’m honored and super excited to join the upcoming Impact Workroom Live Coworking session on June 4th, because I want to see your face and be in a focused work environment where we can all get things done together for our various missions and organizations.

Bring your list of priorities or those tasks you keep putting off because this is the environment where you can make it happen!

Kelly Southcott will lead us in a mindfulness exercise to help us fully arrive into the space before diving into our focused work time and then Maria Bryan from Donorbox will provide generous free resources and a mini training on community building during our mind pause. See you all there!

Apply Here (20 sec form)

2. Insider Strategies to Getting Funding

So … Now that you may have secured your spot in The Impact Workroom or invited a colleague, let’s work together on one of the heaviest burdens for social impact leaders: funding!

You’re already carrying the weight of your mission, your programs, community needs, economic uncertainty, and your budget. On top of this, the prospect of grant writing feels frustrating, time-sucking maze of different rules and portals.

I (Adriana) know it from advising people in numerous organizations and campaigns, and in-depth from organizations for which I write proposals. I also know it from my work at a community foundation with many rounds of grant deadlines.

In this 👆🏽video, I show how to build a repeatable, strategic pipeline so you are not starting from zero every time. Discover:

• The three hidden elements funders are always scoring: Fit, Clarity, and Proof

• How to build “constellations” of partnerships that multiply your impact and turn your proposal into a community solution

• Effective AI workflows to act as your research assistant, speeding up the process of finding the right grants and drafting responses without sacrificing your authentic voice and without changing your scope and mission.

Ready to ease the overwhelm and build a predictable grant system? This video is for you.

Hint: If you click “Watch on YouTube” on the video above, there’s a downloadable PDF resource called “Crack the Code: Strategic Blueprint for Grant Success” ready for you.

3. Sharpen Your Pitch with Clear Communication

There’s science behind clear communication, and understanding it can help you sharpen your pitch. I (Adriana) love this topic and helps me in the conversations I have with sponsors, partners, board members … and even my awesome kids.

As an impact professional, you already know that clarity is currency. Clarity about impact and your idea is exactly what secures funding. It earns buy-in and aligns your team without endlessssss repetition. Right?

However, when pitching to donors or facing board pressure, it can be extremely tempting to over-explain or ramble. Have you experienced this? Rambling subconsciously signals to your audience that you are unsure or misaligned. Plus you are asking them to do too much thinking, to find the gem of what you’re saying.

The video above 👆🏽 explores how communication is a science, providing neuroscience-backed tools used by top leaders to sound and be clear and decisive.

One of the most valuable takeaways for pitching is the “simplicity anchor”. Research shows that when speakers use simple, clear language during important meetings, listeners rate them as smarter and more trustworthy.

Conversely, attempting to sound smart with overly complex or technical language often has the opposite effect, making listeners assume you are insecure or hiding something critical. [Haha, like this sentence.]

You’ll love the simplicity and power of pausing for 3 seconds, conveying 2 points, and asking 1 question. Watch the full video to learn more micro language upgrades!

If you click “Watch on YouTube” on the video above, in the description find the “3-2-1 Clarity Framework Infographic PDF” and download it for yourself so it’s handy when you want reminders.

In a LinkedIn article last week we highlighted a grant opportunity and fellowships. One that we are excited to apply to by June 1st is the Mira Fellowship!

Thank you, friends! 😍 Have a great week ahead. Please send us a quick reply or comment to share what resonates with you or what you’ve been up to!

A few honest words on where we’ve been while MIA:

Adriana has been recovering from a winter respiratory virus by running and hiking this spring in the hills of California, and also joined an intensive YouTube coaching program to create a channel that helps impact professionals live their best lives with leadership development, guided resets, and more.

Meanwhile, Abigail has been navigating a big life transition — settling her family into Benin, West Africa. She loves it!

The step back gave us both space to ask: what does ImaginePod most want to be in 2026?

The answer, it turns out, is this: simpler, warmer, more centered, still useful. We’ve redesigned our focus, and we’re coming back with even more intention. This newsletter is part of that. Here are five things that might make your work and life feel a little more possible and a lot more clear + focused.

We will do our best to be consistent with weekly opportunities for you in your inbox, while still recognizing we are human … and life happens.

Thank you for still being here! — Abigail & Adriana, Co-hosts, ImaginePod

1. Invitation: Move Through Isolation & Into Focused Work in The Impact Workroom

🎉 We are excited to invite you to apply to the first session of The Impact Workroom! It’s our free live gathering on Zoom for mission-driven professionals who want dedicated time to work on the projects already on their plate … in a space that feels grounded, focused, and connected. Each month!

📆 Thu, June 4 | 📍 Zoom | 🪑Seats limited

The workroom opens with a guided meditation by Kelly Southcott, who’s based in the United Kingdom, to help you arrive and get centered. We then do two timed “Pomodoro” work sprints where you’ll quietly work alongside others on your own priorities.

In between the work sessions, Maria Bryan of Donorbox will lead a short training on building a meaningful monthly giving program that’s so much more than a series of transactions.

Think of it as focused co-working for people doing impact-driven work: space to make real progress, reconnect with your purpose, and remember you’re not doing this alone.

We’re thrilled to have the first applicants coming in already from our networks and The Bloom 🌱 !

Note: To ensure the right community, you do need to apply (via a quick form) in advance. Applications are reviewed and seats are limited.

Learn more here

2. Video Resources for Centering + Productivity: Adriana’s New YouTube Channel

Adriana here. This 👇🏽 is what I’ve been working on during my sabbatical from email. I recognize it’s such a gift to be able to join a coaching program and spend time learning … I think it’s like being at a spa.

Now I get to share it with you and find out for whom it helps and resonates. (If you watch one, please comment in YouTube so I know!)

You’ll see mine are filmed in nature so YOU can have an adventure while I get more healthy and happy! [As they say, “Sitting is the new smoking.”]

a) This week, filmed on my back patio with ancient oaks and fire pit around me, my new video is on my 2026-27 journaling system for mental clarity. Watch and share tips from what works in your system! We all have key hacks on what works for your own productivity.

b) One thing I keep hearing incredibly high performing professionals say is, “I feel like I have ADD or ADHD.” I created this video 👇🏽 while walking from a mountain top down to a gorgeous creek, sharing what I’ve found personally and in my work with impact professionals around the world:

c) And here 👇🏽 is my most popular video to date with my recommendation on what to address so your nervous system can regulate better and better, which in turn increases your focus, productivity, and happiness. Meanwhile, you’ll walk with me from a vineyard, through a jungle, down to the Russian River:

Plus you’ll find more helpful topics, such as somatic meditations in beautiful places, on my new channel!

Watch more & subscribe

3. One Shift That Makes Funders Say Yes

Adriana here again. By day, I get to serve as Strategy & Partnerships Specialist at a community foundation in California, and have the honor of reviewing many proposals. Plus, I’ve written many successful proposals and pitches.

My favorite people to write grants for are ministers working in inner city environments to mentor youth and offer skill building for careers on a path out of poverty. I work with one minister in Marin City, California and another in the Southside of Chicago. Ministers are good at talking about the bigger picture why, so I just listen and capture it straight from them, in their own raw words … but we all can do that. Channel your inner Reverend, as it were!

In contrast, I find that most funding proposals and pitches of other types spend ~80% of the space describing WHAT you do.

However, funders who say “Yes” to the big asks spend their attention on WHY this problem cannot wait, and whether you’re the right people to solve it.

So here’s the reframe to remember: Lead every proposal, pitch, email, and conversation with **the human stakes of the problem.** Then introduce your solution as the inevitable response. Your programs are evidence of the need. They are not the headline.

💡 This week’s prompt for you: Rewrite the first paragraph of your current pitch so it opens with the person most affected by the problem — not with your organization’s name.

4. Jobs Worth Your Attention This Week

We share great roles for impact professionals, across sectors and geographies. We know these are times when you may need a boost of spirit for your career. We highlight a job opportunity each week and a great source to find more opportunities.

New role: A Dev Ops Engineer role just opened at The Patrick J. McGovern Foundation. Find out about McGovern via this opportunity. $70K-$106K. This foundation is redefining what a tech-enabled, tech-forward foundation can be in these times. The position supports the tools + platforms the foundation builds for its grantees.

We invite you to learn more about this featured role and find more great job opportunities gathered by our friend here on his Nick@Noon Substack post:

See more job opps

5. A Funding Opportunity on Our Radar

Abigail here! We spotlight one grant, fellowship, or funding stream each week. You can quickly judge if it fits and whether it’s worth applying:

Research Grants on Reducing Inequality — Build, test, or increase understanding of programs, policies, or practices to reduce inequality in the academic, social, behavioral, or economic outcomes of young people ages 5-25 in the United States. 100,000 to 600,000 over 2-3 years, including up to 15% indirect costs.

In this LinkedIn article we just published to accompany this Substack post, we share seven more opportunities in fellowships, challenges, and cohorts that look exciting and game-changing.

When you apply for something that’s the right fit for you, metaphorical doors and real connections have the possibility of opening.

Thank you, friends! 😍 It feels so good to be back in touch. We hope to see you in the upcoming session of The Impact Workroom.

Please send us a quick reply or comment to share what resonates with you or what you’ve been up to!

Warmly, Abigail & Adriana

P.S. If you too are someone who needs a small group for accountability to get your emails and articles out & published, this is the one Adriana has just re-joined gratefully, facilitated by the very insightful : https://emca.tanyabrodycopywriter.com/ewag-sales — in each session we have time to write our next email, then get a review with great editing suggestions.

“Donors don’t leave because they stop caring — they leave because they stop feeling like they matter.”

In this Resilience Roundtable episode, amazing fundraising coach Angelica Suarez of Resilia shares a simple, powerful stewardship system with me along with an audience Q&A — one that you can use to boost your donor retention and deepen connection:

In the nonprofit sector, we’re getting better at storytelling — and it’s changing everything. Angelica reminds us that donors give more generously when they can see and feel the “why” behind our work.

Cheers! Adriana

P.S. Over in the video on YouTube you can give it a Like to help it spread and can also request a zipped file with this whole set of presents Angelica generously prepared from her work as a fundraising coach with Resilia for this conversation:

Did you enjoy the conversation?! Please give the conversation a Like in YouTube to help it spread — we spend a lot of time on them and hope they help you and others like you!

“ Impact is really important. When we talk about those partnerships, we have to partner with local communities. We want to look at what a sustainable model is and an ideal model for impact and really tie that in. That’s part of the major storytelling of how communities can lead with self-determination and resilience.”

In this episode of The ImaginePodcast, I sit down with the brilliant Leilani Yats, Executive Director of Seeds for a Future and Chief Experience Officer of Naturally Smart Travel, for an in-depth conversation.

Get your own copy of Leilani’s 3-part Donor Experience Model template exercise — it’s a Google Doc where you’ll be prompted to make a copy for yourself.

Joining in the Q&A part of the conversation are Keturah Shammah of Girls Education Mission International in northern Nigeria and Iton Egopija of Eco Encyclopedia — both of whom joined us through The Bloom network.

I was incredibly lucky to have met Leilani five years ago via a social ad when my co-leader Abigail and I gave our very first ImaginePod webinar training (when we thought, “I wonder when we won’t feel nervous any more about giving a workshop”). It’s been an honor to have had such an eloquent and brilliant impact steward joining and collaborating in so many of the live experiences we’ve facilitated.

Here she shares stories of intentional community engagement in Guatemala and the United States, the power of leaning into impact stories with donors, how she’s grown more comfortable with making asks, and how to do the long game of relationship building.

You’ll also hear and see how she created a year-end campaign on the Givebutter fundraising platform during ImaginePod’s Fundraising Summer Camp.

🧶 At the end, you’ll hear the name of one fundraising coach in Ohio whom she highly recommends bringing into the podcast for another Resilience Roundtable conversation. This is the start of #ImpactThreadB!

This conversation took place in October 2025. We prioritize live conversations with a Q&A audience, and then offer the recording later to catch up or re-live it. Do join the next live, interactive podcast conversation to talk about your organization and get input and ideas!

Learn More

• Seeds for a Future https://seedsforafuture.org — consider donating if you can!

• Naturally Smart Travel https://www.naturallysmart.me — look at the next tours coming up!

• ImaginePod https://imaginepod.com — join our next live workshop or podcast conversation

Meet Imène Ghernati, PhD — scientist, educator, nonprofit steward, facilitator, mother. She’s an Algerian French educator in the San Francisco Bay Area Peninsula who shares thoughtful perspectives in this podcast conversation to help others navigate these times — times with extreme funding challenges and changes.

This podcast conversation is the 💯 first in a series called #ImpactThreads — at the end Imène recommends the next incredible person to talk with — and it will be a global adventure seeing where the in-depth conversations lead in 2026. I will map it geographically and conceptually.

Watch the episode:

“We Are Nurturing the Next Generation”

Imène’s goal is not just teaching STEAM. She says:

“We’re nurturing the next generation of truth-tellers, change-makers, and nature lovers. Let’s ensure that learning remains a site of joy, play, truth-telling, liberation, and culturally responsible teaching — not silence and othering.”

As a flow funder for Kinship Earth, I was honored to be a sponsor for the STEAM Learning Institute’s field sketching workshop that Imène facilitated for educators last summer — see one visually in a video below.

These are intentional, connected, artistic, and scientific workshops that give educators activities and experiences to bring science to life with their students. The educators repeatedly come back to her sharing how the blend of science, art, and nature is tangibly helping their students learn and grow.

You’ll hear questions from the fantastic group of Q&A audience participants, who are themselves founders and stewards of impact initiatives. You’ll also hear Imène’s reflections and advice about finding donors aligned with your organization and its mission, and deepening relationships with them.

Imène is incredibly inclusive and one thing she excels at is inviting funders to the educator events she creates so they can live it and be connected to the work. What will she inspire you to create?

Mobilize Your Existing Resources

📝 Get your own copy of the exercise she developed to help organization stewards deepen and lengthen their roots in community relationships — Resource Mobilizers: Deepening Relationships with “What I Have”.

Learn More

If you are interested in making a big impact with a donation, please give to Imène’s year-end campaign — even a small amount adds up with others and helps to fund scholarships for K-12 teachers who can’t afford the full price of the upcoming workshops on January 7 and 14: https://givebutter.com/STEAMsupport

For an event called “Turn on Your Senses” with talented biologist and science illustrator Sami Chang on June 7, 2026, STEAM Learning Institute is looking for sponsors on nature journaling.

Also:

• See Imene’s nonprofit organization, STEAM Learning Institute and use the Contact page to reach out to her: https://www.steamlearninginstitute.com

• Watch her video Nature Journaling sponsored with Kinship Earth funding:

• Watch her video Beyond Belonging sponsored with Kinship Earth flow funding:

🌟 Enjoy!

— Adriana Dakin, Co-Host, The ImaginePodcast and Co-Facilitator of the ImaginePod Impact Incubator

We have a 🎁 gift bundle for our community as we head into the end of December and the end of 2025! If you’ve gotten the bundle already, please Comment or Reply about what’s helpful to you! And share this post with your friends and colleagues — sharing is caring. We ♥️ word of mouth.

Yes! 🎁 Bundle Please!

The story behind the bundle and what’s in it

In November, we offered workshop after workshop to help organizations start their incredibly important Holiday Year-End Campaign. Wooo! That was a November to remember. (I also had Strep throat … less fun!)

We took the last workshop recording, held in partnership with the Community Foundation of Mendocino County (where I’m Strategy & Partnerships Specialist), The Bloom, the Center for Excellence in Nonprofits, and our sponsors Givebutter and Donorbox, and created a training video *for this holiday gift bundle* in easy bite-sized exercises so you come away with your campaign created!

Now it’s safe to say that … 🫶🏽 GivingTuesday at the beginning December can be a tough day 😩 to cut through the cacophony of noise, BUT it’s a portal or doorway 🚪 to the whole incredibly important Holiday Season of Giving, and here’s why:

The stats are powerful about this

This is a month when 30% of all donations are made. And the highest # of donations are made in the last 3 days of this month — so it’s not too late to start a campaign or step it up to the next level.

This season is an opportunity for organizations and impact initiatives to bring in flexible and ongoing monthly funding for the important work you do.

In our Holiday Fundraising Bundle to help nonprofits and social impact initiatives make it their best season yet:

• #1. TRAINING VIDEO: Create your campaign (or improve it), includes demos of top free platforms and skill building to deepen relationships.

• #2. PLAYBOOK SLIDES*: Your own editable slide deck to with 9 exercises, templates, and examples to create your strong campaign quickly:

  • 🥵 My Challenges

  • 💰 My Money Beliefs

  • 💥 My New Powerful Story

  • 🎯 Who-What-Why Statement (and the Ideal Donor Who Gets You)

  • 🔥 12 Story Elements Framework — popular!

• #3. FUNDRAISING CLINIC: Next-level your campaign’s results by participating in a live, diagnostic 90-minute session to make this your BEST.

• … and more right here! https://imaginepod.com/holiday-bundle-2025

In the bundle, you’ll hear fundraising coach Angelica Suarez talk about the stats in a way that will help you talk with your board members, and how to steward donors gracefully to inspire generosity.

The bundle is packed with value, and that is one of the pieces of gold! 👑

Why this holiday bundle of gifts?

We’ve been seeing a widespread need for more hands-on, in-depth support for raising funding to meet the needs of challenging times and keep the connective tissue of our local society strong.

Yet nonprofit and impact stewards are also incredibly busy, so a recording accompanied by a playbook with templates done in one’s own time can be helpful.

You also might not yet have the fundraising platform of your dreams.

You want one that enables monthly giving for a 90% retention rate, options like an auction (aka holiday store), automatic thank you receipt, custom fields in the CRM, named tiers to help tell your impact story …

In the second half of December, for nonprofits and impact initiatives it’s all about next-leveling your current Holiday Campaign or catching up by creating one quickly, then getting some content pieces ready.

The need for next-leveling is why we have some live time together in gift #3 with a Live Fundraising Clinic (a couple times/dates to choose from) before year-end arrives.

To be honest, it’s hard to keep the energy going with positive psychology, and that’s why we have gift #4, with inspiring podcast conversations.

Soon you’ll be on vacation for the holidays, and that’s why we have gift #5 to inventory the past year and set goals for the new year.

If you need to get a campaign DONE and just haven’t had time, you’ll have an option to have me do it for you quickly — I’ve done many many campaigns so it’s a flash! ⚡️

START HERE.

We are so incredibly grateful to have friendships with you incredible and resilient changemakers. Happy Holidays and New Year!

These are difficult times for nonprofits, and if you’re feeling this, you’re not alone. As our partner Shana Peete of the Center for Excellence in Nonprofits said in our live podcast conversation with her last week:

“It’s hard out here right now. But nonprofits are the connective tissue for communities. We have been and continue to do the work holding communities together, making places so you want to live there.”

And behind the scenes, we are starting to schedule live podcast conversations for the New Year now! In the current moment we’re focused on year-end fundraising, but we will broaden out to other topics of interest to change makers.

If you’ve been meaning to find a custom training for your group or promote a role, event, or project to a social impact audience, please hit reply or comment to talk partnerships.

Let’s jump in now.

Cheers! — Adriana

1. Invitation: Three-Hour GivingTuesday Holiday Fundraising Workshop

Funding has changed in 2025, but your mission hasn’t, right?

Over the years, we’ve found that many want to create their campaign in December, but it’s so much better to do that in November so you can be ready.

With this FREE, focused, 3-hour workshop, you can stop waiting for perfect funding and better conditions — build it now.

Get your campaign live and thriving BEFORE GivingTuesday and the Holidays. Maybe you’re just starting it, or maybe you need to polish yours and want time and space.

🎯 After The 3-Hour Workshop, You’ll Be Ready To:

⭐️ Raise more, with more ease & inspiration
⭐️ Reconnect with lapsed donors
⭐️ Turn Giving Season challenges into strategy
⭐️ Access Givebutter (0% fees!) & Donorbox’s top tools

You’ll leave ready for December — the month that brings in 30% of annual donations.

🗓️ November 11, 13, or 19 (You Choose) · 💻 Live on Zoom

Join the Workshop

2. Watch: Results that Speak via Donor Match Fundraising, with Danilla Sands of UDRNC

In a recent podcast conversation, nonprofit CEO Danilla Sands spoke with me and a small group of Q&A participants. Watch:

Watch the full conversation here with Q&A audience participation.

Watch the Full Podcast Conversation

If you can bring in a matching donor, you can increase giving by 3x to 5x, and I’ll show how to do this via screenshare in the GivingTuesday Holiday Fundraising Workshop.

3. Save the Date: Community-Based Fundraising Placing People Over Donors with Chanda Lockhart

Save the date for Thursday, November 20th at 1 pm Pacific! This is especially for participants in our recent or upcoming workshops to inspire your GivingTuesday and Holiday Fundraising in the Season of Giving.

The invitation is about to come out. Would you like one?

You’ll get one if you’ve been in our Fundraising Intensive this Fall or an upcoming workshop, or REPLY / COMMENT to get an invitation.

Thanks and see you! I’m grateful to work in such an innovative and inspired community that helps each other grow.

Danilla Sands of United Disaster Relief of Northern California shares the steps she took, how she engaged her supporters, and what made the campaign a success for this much needed community-based organization.

At the end, hear from six other organization stewards in a Q&A as they introduce their work and a question for Danilla.

Exactly why does the donor match strategy matter?

Her organization serves clients who have nothing after surviving a disaster. Campaigns with a donor match raise 3–5x more donations, which means more support for the organization’s clients. Donors love knowing their gift will go further, and are especially ready to give during the Season of Giving at year-end.

As a Flow Fund Ambassador for Kinship Earth, I was honored to give Danilla a $100 donation that became $200 with the match, and to do that again this year. Her 2025 donor match campaign is here should you be interested!

Year-end is a time of year when 30% of all annual donations are made, so with the right strategy (such as a donor match), holiday season of giving campaigns can bring you results that make a difference.

In the conversation, Danilla talks with me about her background and vision, then shares how she set up the campaign. You’ll get to see the front end and the back end, plus hear behind-the-scenes suggestions for how to build relationships that can lead to matching donations.

PARTICIPANTS:

In the Q&A, hear what other inspiring organizations are doing:

• Monica Santoyo, Women for Change Coalition

• Sierra Van Zandt, Living Classrooms

• Lorree Lewis-Crandell, Creating a Pathway to Everyday Living

• Bailey Faustina, Health Projects Center

• Vanessa Segura, Health Projects Center

• Jordan Rosner, Connie’s Clubhouse

Each are participating in ImaginePod’s Impact Incubator workshops to implement their fundraising campaigns collaboratively.

LINKS:

• Learn more about Danilla’s organization here: https://udrnc.org/

• See their 2024 donor match campaign results here: https://givebutter.com/R7HKbR

• See their 2025 donor match campaign: https://givebutter.com/UDRNC2025

• Get your own free Givebutter account here: https://givebutter.com/meetimaginepod

• Learn about ImaginePod’s next free live fundraising training here: https://imaginepod.com/incubator-intro

Thank you!

— Adriana Dakin, Host of The ImaginePodcast

Shana Peete (at right in photo) of the Center for Excellence in Nonprofits (CEN) will share her on-the-ground perspectives guiding a well respected organization through momentous times.

She’ll also show how CEN uses the Givebutter fundraising platform to cultivate donors (as well as what not to do!) — in this live, authentic, interactive podcast conversation.

⭐️ To inform your own growth, you’ll discover:

• What’s been most valuable for CEN’s donor stewardship

• What the struggle has been from an insider perspective

• What Shana would do differently now

• How to strategize your year-end campaign

• Brilliant ideas to consider for your 2026 donor stewardship.

Adriana Dakin (at left in photo) and Imène Ghernati (in center) are co-hosts of this conversation and co-facilitators of the upcoming 5-Day GivingTuesday Holiday Fundraising Circle for organizations to move into motion with year-end donor stewardship.

We invite you to join us and participate in the live Q&A!

📅 When: Thu Nov 6, 2025, 11 am to 12:15 pm Pacific

💻 Where: On Zoom

🎯 Who: Nonprofit stewards — executives, staff, board members, consultants

💡 Why: Gain energy for the critical year-end fundraising season that’s starting now.

Share this with a friend who’d benefit!

Save Your Seat Now

Picture this: You’re heading into the busiest fundraising season of the year with fresh energy, proven strategies, and a community cheering you on.

Sound good?

Join me and Angelica Suarez of Resilia for a live, interactive podcast conversation on Thursday, October 23rd via Zoom.

This isn’t your typical webinar. It’s an intimate, dynamic exchange where you’ll get practical tools, ask burning questions, and connect with other nonprofit leaders navigating the same year-end sprint.

Here’s what you’ll walk away with:

Immediately useful resources from Resilia:

• 📆 Donor Stewardship Calendar so you create multiple touchpoints

• ✅ Donor Stewardship Checklist as your step-by-step guide

• 🙏🏾 Donor Thank-You Templates because gratitude is powerful

A conversation format designed for you: Angelica will share a short focused training, then we’ll open it up for Q&A where YOU introduce yourself, your work, and ask the questions keeping you up at night about donor relationships.

Why this matters right now:

You already know year-end is critical. But did you know:

• 30% of annual donations happen in the final months of the year

• A match donor can increase results 3x-5x

• Current donors are 2x more likely to give again than new prospects

• Potential donors are in your midst, embedded with you in your community

Do you want to show up for your donors and community in moments that matter most?

This conversation is part of our ongoing series running through year-end with our Cultivate Joy Challenge, which include:

The series supports nonprofit leaders with the inspiration, community, and practical tools you need when time is precious.

Who should apply:

Nonprofit stewards, development directors, executive directors, board members, and anyone wearing the fundraising hat (even if it’s just one of many you’re juggling).

💥 Spots are intentionally limited to keep the conversation intimate and interactive.

Why we’re doing this:

When you’re doing the serious work of transforming your community—through challenges and victories alike—you deserve to do it alongside others who understand the journey. Our brains are wired for connection and ongoing learning. Let’s use that.

This series brings together expertise in many areas — all to multiply your impact.

🙏🏾

Deep gratitude to our cohort and workshop participants who inspire this work, and to our partners making it possible with outreach and funding: Givebutter, the Center for Excellence in Nonprofits, Donorbox, and The Bloom.

Ready to join the conversation? The Q&A group is part of the magic of these conversations.

Join the Conversation

Please ❤️ this post, share it with colleagues who need this boost, and submit your application to join the conversation today.

From now until end-of-year 2025, we’re giving nonprofit and social impact leaders hands-on support to start and run your Year-End Season of Giving campaign — with confidence to engage deeply with your audience and raise more for your cause. It’s all in a bite-sized, step-by-step, inspired approach that cultivates joy.

At other times of year, we will run challenges that help you prepare and create more impact in other ways.

So … Join us if you (or someone you know) want to challenge yourself to the next level in this season while experiencing inspiring connection and no fear of rejection. This is for you whether you are new to creating a year-end or other type of fundraising campaign, or have done this with us or on your own in the past.

Newbies and OG’s are joining!

Long term, this gives you a supportive community and frameworks to build on for future campaigns.

What’s New: 💥 Live, Interactive Podcast Conversations

As a participant in the Year-End Fundraising Challenge of 2025, you'll get an invitation to live, interactive podcast interviews on key topics in philanthropy and fundraising. Challenge participants interact in live Q&A audiences and share about their own organizations for increased exposure. We call these Resilience Roundtables.

Here are a sampling of the interactive conversations:

You’ll hear Danilla Sands, who successfully ran a year-end campaign with a Donor Match Campaign last year after participating in our incubator, share behind-the-scenes tips to leverage donor dollars. She says:

"Thank you, too, Adriana. Thank you. If you had not brought Givebutter [a fundraising platform we teach] to us, I don't believe we would have raised as much as we did last year, so I highly, I highly recommend working with other like-minded people like we are today, and jumping on that platform."

You’ll also hear Celeste Flores, US & Canada Hub Director of GivingTuesday.org, with a presentation on preparing for that big day and the holiday season as a nonprofit.

What’s Included: So Much Good Stuff

And here are some of the resources you get in the challenge:

• Strong Motivation ⭐️ from the instructors and group of amazing like-minded impact stewards.

• Handy Checklist ✅ to help you complete and celebrate each step.

• Recorded Trainings 🎦 with proven frameworks and templates to grow your impact through fundraising, money mindset, resource mobilizing, storycrafting, event design + ... at your own pace and with strategies you can keep using.

• Live Weekly Check-Ins 🙌🏽 to transform powerfully and move forward steadily, embedding new concepts into your real work with other great participants.

• Demos of Top Fundraising Platforms 🍎 to choose what's best for your organization's needs and ability to harvest the fruit of your efforts.

• Live Podcast Interviews 🎙️ with inspiring changemakers where YOU will have a chance to talk about your organization too.

• Donation Prize 🏆 for everyone who starts their fundraising campaign (seed money!) during the upcoming Season of Giving!

• Private Coaching Session(s) Option ⚡️ to energize you with clarity and action-taking on your goal.

The journey begins right away (with immediate access to the course portal followed by invitations to live discussions) when you sign up for the challenge:

Take the Challenge

Are You Someone Who Wants to Know the Details First?

WHO: Nonprofit impact leaders and stewards who want collective inspiration + knowledge to create an innovative year-end campaign.

WHEN: The challenge opens for you when you join. Interactive podcast and live check-in sessions are Thursdays and Fridays.

WHAT: Weekly live group conversations and demos for collaboration; asynchronous videos and templates organized in 4 modules: Strategize, Build, Storycraft, and Invite.

WHERE: Zoom & our course portal.

HOW: Get instant access to Challenge materials, set up a FREE fundraising account on Givebutter or Donorbox, and optionally make a small Accountability Deposit that you'll win back upon your campaign launch.

With short trainings, strategic recommendations, and live discussions, you’ll build your campaign step-by step. Kick off your year-end fundraiser with confidence.

Along the way, you’ll gain a stronger network and strategies you can use long after the Challenge.

Your Facilitators & Trainers

"If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." — African proverb

Adriana Dakin (at left) is co-founder of ImaginePod, host of The ImaginePodcast and co-facilitates this Impact Incubator intensive on individual donor fundraising. She is also Strategy & Partnership Specialist with a Community Foundation in California. With a Masters in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, she has helped organizations raise millions and mobilize advocacy.

Imène Ghernati, PhD (in center) co-facilitates this workshop, and is a member of The Bloom and the Center for Excellence in Nonprofits. The founder of the STEAM Learning Institute, a nonprofit collaborative research initiative dedicated to fostering equitable education in the sciences and arts, she helps organization stewards think deeply and focus.

Abigail Ahoude (at right) is co-founder of ImaginePod and host of The ImaginePodcast. She leads trainings and hosts podcast interviews on fundraising and marketing topics in this Fundraising Intensive. She is a communications and coalition building expert in climate finance and just realized a long-time vision by moving from Virginia to Benin in West Africa with her family.

Take the Challenge

Thank you to our partners and sponsors for bringing this ImaginePod Impact Incubator Year-End Fundraising Challenge to increase nonprofit and social impact success in these times.

To connect you with strategic practices and platforms that power your growth in meaningful ways — so that you can overcome challenges such as lack of sufficient funding — I want to give you five current resources:

1. INVITATION: Live Podcast Interview with Danilla Sands and Audience Q&A on How to Boost Holiday Giving with a Match Donor

🎉 Want to boost your year-end holiday fundraising this season?

Join us for a live conversation this Thursday, September 25th at 9 am Pacific with the CEO of a nonprofit volunteer-based disaster relief organization in California.

Danilla created big results using a Holiday Donor Match Campaign on Givebutter. Learn how she did it—and bring your own questions for the Q&A! See the details and sign up here.

We put this conversation together to offer a case study that can be a game changer for you, if you too are interested in creating a match donor opportunity this season.

2. RAINMAKING: October 30-Day Challenge for Your End-of-Year Fundraising

The Holiday Season is fast approaching, and organizations are preparing for the year-end campaigns. This can feel downright daunting, unless you have community collaboration with others doing the same and a new infusion of ideas, strategies, tactics, templates, and scripts.

NEW: Each participant gets a Holiday Season Fundraising Checklist for the pleasure of getting things organized and checked off ✅

The journey begins when you sign up for the October challenge — you’ll think about your ideal outcome from increased funding, get a 30-minute “Power of Decision” Fundraising Coaching Session with a mini action plan coming out of it, and handy Checklist to track + celebrate your progress.

Short term, this experience gives you time & space to do something you may need and want to do anyway, plus networking. Long term, this gives you strategies and examples you can use next year too in every campaign you do.

By the end of the first session of the September Challenge, participants already felt less lonely and isolated in the work they do. One participant put it eloquently:

“The energy you put in is what you get out. Keep an open mind, and don’t let fear be part of your decision making factor in how we interact with the world around.”

3. TEMPLATE: Your Resource Mobilizers

One of the most useful tools I’ve seen is this one-page Resource Mobilizers template ⬇️ for you to inventory the relationship assets you already have access to or could create.

We use this template exercise in Module 2: Build Campaigns & Relations within our 30-Day Fundraising Challenge, and are seeing such great energy and concrete ideas coming out of it.

Watch the video with facilitator Imène Ghernati:

Get the template: Resource Mobilizers Template (you’ll be prompted to make a copy of the Google Slides).

4. TOOL: Volunteer Finder to Fill the Gap

One of the big challenges everyone experiences is having too much work to accomplish in any single day. Am I right? Sometimes, one’s local volunteers are too busy too. In our kick-off 1:1 session recently when the Treasurer of a Colorado organization joined our September month-long challenge, AJ gave me this tip:

Catchafire is working really well to bring their small-but-mighty organization skilled volunteers. (Note: I don’t have a partner relationship with Catchafire but want to share it.)

As AJ said:

“It’s an amazing tool like Fiverr but for volunteers. Your organization gets vetted as a 501(c)(3). They have pre-scoped projects to choose from. Some corporations cover employees giving volunteer time and many have a lot of experience and skill to draw from for creating things like logos and more.”

5. FEATURE: Online Auction aka Holiday Store to Employ a Give-Get Principle in Your Holiday Fund Development

In the next couple of days, I’ll share an example / demo of an auction that works as a holiday story to raise funding for a cause. Meanwhile, you can get a trial account on Givebutter — this is ImaginePod’s special partner link so we are tagged as your expert and then can support your growth as you have questions.

Organizations benefit from running an online auction (or store using the buy-it-now function) in a holiday fundraiser because it’s easier making the ask when you’re giving something in return.

Many of your donors are looking for gifts and experiences to purchase in the holiday season, and supporting a cause like yours at the same time is an added benefit. Friendly competition in an online auction also helps bid up what you’re offering, resulting in more funding for your nonprofit, school, fiscally sponsored project, tribe, or other type of cause.

Throughout the year ahead, we are partnering and collaborating with the Center for Excellence in Nonprofits, Givebutter, Donorbox, Resilia, GoHighLevel, Kinship Earth and others. Why? To bring you valuable experiences that help you guide your organization with greater focus, authenticity, courage, and impact throughout all the changes that are happening.

We connect social impact leaders with the strategic practices & platforms that power their growth.

In this inspiring conversation, Monica shares how she successfully curated and launched an online auction featuring incredible offerings.

It’s all in service of funding an upcoming 10-week cohort of women entrepreneurs that’s part of a big picture vision of ending social isolation and building a future where living up to potential isn’t just an ideal—it’s a lived reality.

From the wide array of online auction offers, I’ll highlight five standout coaching items that could help ImaginePod community members anywhere they are in the world:

• 2-hour Enneagram workshop, 10 participants, Conducted by Elke Kurtz

• Case of StoryCraft Interview: 30‑Minute Kickoff + 90‑Minute Deep Dive

• Power Hour x2: Leadership & Business Transformation Coaching with Sarah Foltz

• Constellation for One with Verónica Bañuelos

• Vision Board Workshop for Two with Brenda Bryan

I first met Monica through the Center for Excellence in Nonprofits, and later welcomed her into our ImaginePod Impact Incubator. She completed our cohort course and continues to engage with us through our weekly office hours, where she brings her energy, insights, and determination to every session.

Monica’s professional journey as a CPA in startups has given her a strong foundation for entrepreneurial leadership in the social impact sector. As an immigrant from Mexico, she has transformed her own life through education, mentorship, and resilience.

Toward the end of our conversation, she shares a moving story about how one woman at an Oregon university forever changed her trajectory—a powerful reminder of how one person can alter the course of another’s life.

We also dive into the unique value of online auctions, and what I love most about them: the Give-Get principle.

This reciprocal model makes fundraising a shared exchange of value—supporters give to a cause they believe in, while receiving something meaningful in return. Monica’s auction is a beautiful example of this principle in action.

At its core, Womxn for Change is dedicated to empowering entrepreneurs through leadership development, advocacy, and community collaboration. They create culturally rooted programs and identity-affirming spaces. Their work builds peer support, confidence, and collective power—laying pathways for true economic mobility.

You won’t want to miss this conversation with Monica. Her vision, courage, and commitment shine through every word.

🔗 Show Links

• Monica’s “Your Power” online auction and story

• Womxn for Change’s website

• ImaginePod Impact Incubator with Fall 2025 cohort application open

• Where to get your own free Givebutter account with online auction capability included

🕚 Timeline

• 00:00 - Intro to Monica and Womxn for Change

• 04:21 - What Are Great Items in the Online Auction

• 05:50 - Something Special in the Live Auction

• 09:19 - Purpose of the Auction Fundraising = Your Power Program

• 12:14 - Experiences & Logistics on Creating the Auction

• 17:02 - What Monica Loves About the Givebutter Platform

• 20:50 - Monica's Powerful Decision

• 22:52 - How You Can Help Monica’s Auction Succeed and Spread

• 24:00 - Screenshare of Monica’s Online Auction

• 29:11 - Screenshare of Auction Backend Dashboard

• 32:22 - More about Monica & Womxn for Change Community

• 33:08 - Someone Very Special Who Changed Monica's Life

🙏🏾 Gratitude

Thank you to partners and sponsors who are supporting the success of social impact leaders in our incubator — Givebutter, Donorbox, of STEAM Learning Institute, Kinship Earth, The Bloom, Center for Excellence in Nonprofits, of TechChange / Nick@Noon, and YOU — comment if you’ve enjoyed this conversation with Monica! It give us energy if you get something good from it.

As a “flow funding ambassador,” the funding I was honored to give from Kinship Earth to Womxn for Change helped start a Latina entrepreneur cohort in Portland. They kicked off their pilot cohort with six women — 100% Spanish speaking — and the coaches are “magnificent” with participants, as Monica says.

Coming from Mexico as a young person and eventually becaming a CPA, Monica knows first hand the challenges but also the benefits when there is a helping hand reaching out to pull you up.

Diversifying your organization’s income stream has always been critical and now even more so with widespread funding freezes. What we’ve found is that organization leaders and teams need ENOUGH TIME to accomplish their 7 + 7 for successful Fall campaigns, with individual donors as one of their income streams.

Designed especially for this season, facilitators Adriana Dakin and Iméne Ghernati invite you to a summer camp experience in partnership with The Bloom, where there are still a few spots left:

🏕️ 2-Day Fundraising Summer Camp: Build Your Fall Campaign with Confidence — 23 & 24 July

What does 7+7 mean?

You’ll walk away with the following 7 accomplished on Day 1:

1. Your Donor Journey Sketched

2. Your Money Relationship Mapped

3. Your Powerful Decision about Your Money Relationship

4. Your Blue Ocean Statement about Your Unique Mission, Vision, and Values

5. Your Campaign Published

6. Your Donor Persona Defined

7. Your New Network of Social Impact Peers

And 7 more accomplishments on Day 2:

1. Your Resources Inventory for Audience Engagement

2. Your Asking-for-Money Script to Customize

3. Your Campaign Goal to Accomplish with Community

4. Your Story about Organization & Campaign

5. Your Donation Tiers to Define Impact

6. Your Short Custom URL for Ease of Sharing in Conversation

7. Your Campaign Outreach Content in Email, Texting, Social Media, Conversations, Presentations, Online Groups & Networks, and Podcast Interviews

​Join it here.

Spend two intentional days designing your most values-aligned campaign yet — complete with a practical workbook, real examples from impactful organizations, and supportive space to think through what your audience truly needs.

If you're preparing for fundraising this year, this is a playful, focused, supported way to root your strategy in purpose and clarity, with a touch of summer warmth.

Get everything (templates, scripts, exercises, examples) in a workbook & covered live in productive, fun sessions with breakout rooms and a break every hour.

There’s no cost to you — the Fundraising Summer Camp is sponsored by our partners Givebutter and Donorbox.

Joana, a past participant, said:

"Thank you so much — it was incredibly energizing and packed with valuable insights! I really appreciated your thoughtful guidance and the hands-on approach to getting a campaign off the ground."

Do join us!

At the end, participants get:

1. An Invitation to Our Impact Incubator Office Hours — if you’re a fit, join us on Fridays for an hour of connection and community to inspire your forward progress into fall and end-of-year fundraising

2. Prizes — valuable incentives such as being highlighted to our international social impact network and a donation to your published campaign

3. The Funded Founder Course — 9 recorded in-depth sessions on short-form video storytelling and outreach.

If you’d like to join and haven’t yet, NOW is the time to get your spot. This is for you if it’s your first time creating a campaign or it’s your time to create your next campaign.

ATTENTION: NONPROFIT & SOCIAL IMPACT LEADERS

You (and a friend) are invited! In partnership with the Center for Excellence in Nonprofits, The Bloom, Givebutter, and Donorbox:

Create Your New Individual Donor Fundraising Persona, Message, and Traffic Strategy While in Community with Other Nonprofit Leaders … Whether This is Your First Campaign or Your Next Campaign

This is for you if you want to:

1. Attract the right “Ideal Donor Persona” to your cause

2. Be bold with your Messaging to cut through distractions and mobilize donations

3. Get Traffic to your campaign from those ideal donor types so you’re not the best kept secret and instead involve community in your mission and vision.

WHAT: FREE Fundraising Workshop (fundraising platforms partner with us)

WHEN: Wed, June 11, 2025 at 9 am Pacific / 4 pm UTC (for 3 hours)

WHERE: On Zoom

WHO: For Nonprofit Founders & Teams

HOW: Learn more and sign up here

🔥 BONUSES: Fundraising Playbook PDF *and* Ideal Donor Persona Template & Video

With your campaign and strategy in hand, you’ll be ready to soft launch and pilot a campaign this summer or fall, and have time to prepare for critical end-of-year fundraising — when 30% of all donations are made annually.

Sign Up for the Workshop

We look forward to seeing you there! Please share this with a friend so word spreads and you have a buddy to cross-pollinate ideas and celebrate progress with.