The Case for Slow Fundraising with Chad Barger

Summary

Podcast Summary: Nonprofit Nation with Julia Campbell
Episode: The Case for Slow Fundraising with Chad Barger
Release Date: July 15, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, host Julia Campbell dialogues with Chad Barger—fundraising coach, productivity expert, and founder of Productive Fundraising—about reimagining fundraising through the lens of “slow productivity.” Inspired by Cal Newport’s book, Slow Productivity, the discussion unpacks how nonprofit professionals can reduce burnout, focus on meaningful work, and increase fundraising effectiveness by doing fewer things, finding a sustainable work pace, and obsessing over quality. The episode is filled with practical tools, actionable advice, and motivational insights for fundraisers at every career stage.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

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1. The State of Fundraising & Burnout

[01:58–06:57]

• Burnout Crisis: The sector’s demand for “more with less” has resulted in rampant burnout and high turnover, with the average tenure of a nonprofit development director now at a mere 15 months.
• Shocking Stats:
  • “The average tenure for a nonprofit development director these days is like 15 months ... and the average time to close a major gift is still 18 months. So that's math. That doesn't math.” — Chad Barger [05:45]
  • Over 50% of fundraisers are considering leaving their current job, with 30% considering leaving the sector entirely.

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2. What is Slow Fundraising?

[07:05–07:53]

• Definition: Embracing a more sustainable, intentional fundraising approach to reduce burnout and create space for meaningful, strategic work.
• The Three Tenets:
  1. Do Fewer Things
  2. Work at a Natural Pace
  3. Obsess Over Quality

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3. Do Fewer Things

[07:53–11:21]

• Why It’s Hard: The pressure to do “all the things”—from legacy events to every strategy in the textbook—spreads teams thin and dilutes results.
• Data-Driven Decision Making:
  • Use metrics, especially ROI, to decide which activities to continue.
  • Chad’s Tool: “Solicitation Performance Index” provides a simplified way to assess the effectiveness of various fundraising methods. [09:43]
• On Legacy Fundraising Events:
  • “Why are we doing these things that don’t actually produce results and take all of our time and resources?” — Chad Barger [08:34]

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4. Work at a Natural Pace

[11:28–16:02]

• Ditch the Sprints: Fundraisers often oscillate between periods of high intensity and brief recovery, leading to unsustainable, burnout-inducing cycles.
• Rethink Timing:
  • Donors don’t care when your fiscal year ends—time communications (like annual reports) for when it makes sense for both you and the donor. [13:21]
  • Example: Prepare annual reports in the fall, send them at a strategic lull (e.g., January) to relieve pressure.
• Plan for 'Future You':
  • Consider workload flows and frontload or shift work as needed to maintain a healthy rhythm.

Notable Quote:

• “Find rhythm ... find a natural pace throughout the year. A natural pace. Separate what the donor gets from when I do it.” — Chad Barger [13:22]

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5. Obsess Over Quality

[16:12–19:56]

• Depth Over Breadth:
  • Devote time to making every campaign, letter, or event just 1% better each time.
  • Test approaches, personalize communications, and leverage learning.
• The Flywheel Concept:
  • Incremental improvements compound over time, feeding an ever-stronger flow of fundraising success.

Notable Quote:

• “What little teeny tiny thing—if every single time we did something, we made it 1% better? ... That feeds the flywheel.” — Chad Barger [17:48]

• Combatting Quantity Bias:

  • Quantity is a common pressure, especially from leadership and boards.
  • Beware of “pseudo productivity”—checking boxes for the sake of appearing busy instead of driving impact.

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6. Applying the Slow Fundraising Model in Small Teams

[19:59–22:03]

• Small Shops' Superpower:
  • Small teams have the agility to experiment, personalize, and quickly iterate on new ideas.
  • Testing (e.g., handwritten versus standard envelopes) is more feasible with smaller donor lists.

Memorable Moment:

• “Don’t say, ‘We’re small, we can’t do it.’ Say, ‘We’re small, we have the flexibility.’” — Chad Barger [21:44]

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7. Fundraising Landscape Post-Pandemic

[22:21–24:48]

• Evolving Events:
  • Large galas and in-person meetings are down; donors prefer intimate, informal gatherings.
  • Host regular, small donor events—like backyard barbecues—often outperforming large galas in both engagement and fundraising.

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8. Favorite Productivity Tools & Methods

[25:37–29:44]

• Capture Everywhere:
  • Figure out your productivity style (Carson Tate’s Work Simply is recommended).
  • Always have a capture method at the ready: digital to-do lists, voice-to-text in the car, even shower crayons.
• Inbox Zero & Email Management:
  • Use text expansion tools (like TextExpander) for quick, consistent email replies.
  • Limit unnecessary emails and embrace emoji/quick reactions.
  • Reminder: “Your inbox is full of other people’s priorities.” — Julia Campbell [29:46]

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9. Using AI & Automation

[30:06–33:14]

• AI as an Assistant:
  • Use tools like ChatGPT for summarizing emails, setting priorities, and drafting content.
  • Chad’s innovation: a custom GPT model trained exclusively on his own webinar transcripts for fast, consistently-voiced responses and blog posts.
  • Nonprofits are encouraged to create their own internal knowledge-based AI assistants.

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10. Final Advice & Motivation for Burned-Out Fundraisers

[34:22–35:16]

• Step One: Carve out 90 minutes to analyze what works for your organization using hard data.
• Next: Use your insights to advocate for a slower, more sustainable work model focused on impact and quality.

Powerful Quote:

• “There's craft and science and art in all of this, but most of us don't have time to focus on that because we're too busy doing all the things. Let's stop doing all the things.” — Chad Barger [34:22]

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Notable Quotes & Moments with Timestamps

• “The subtitle [of Slow Productivity] is ‘the Lost Art of Accomplishment without Burnout.’” — Chad Barger [04:19]
• “We come in, and we have big hearts. We want to serve, but there's just too much.” — Chad Barger [06:50]
• “Do fewer things at a natural pace while obsessing over quality. It sounds simple, but it isn't.” — Chad Barger [07:24]
• “My favorite example of a fundraising boondoggle is ... 300 records that it's just a name and there's no contact history.” — Chad Barger [19:11]
• “Add fewer things, make the things that are working 1% better.” — Julia Campbell [19:59]
• “Ditch the big gala—do six backyard barbecues a year; they raise more money, and it’s so much easier.” — Chad Barger [24:41]
• “Always have a way to capture [ideas]. Capture is usually the missing link.” — Chad Barger [25:44]
• “Your inbox is full of other people’s priorities.” — Julia Campbell [29:46]
• “Create your nonprofit GPT and use it for these kind of things.” — Chad Barger [32:29]
• “Find me 90 minutes to two hours ... block it, get out of the office, go with your data and figure out what works.” — Chad Barger [34:22]

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Productivity & Fundraising Tools Mentioned

• Solicitation Performance Index (Chad’s downloadable Excel tool)
• Cal Newport’s Slow Productivity (Book)
• TextExpander (Text expansion tool)
• Todoist & Notion (Task and data management)
• Custom AI/GPT models for nonprofits
• Work Simply by Carson Tate (Book on work styles)
• Analog favorites: Shower crayons, paper notebooks, post-its

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Links & Resources

• Productive Fundraising (Chad’s website)
• Chad Barger on LinkedIn
• Cal Newport’s Slow Productivity
• Work Simply by Carson Tate

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Conclusion

Chad Barger and Julia Campbell urge nonprofit professionals to move away from the “hustle harder” mentality and instead embrace a thoughtful, data-driven slow fundraising model: pare down your activities, adjust to a human pace, and invest in quality. The practical tactics and motivational reminders throughout the episode offer listeners a toolkit as well as encouragement that lasting impact comes from purposeful, not relentless, work.

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Listen if you:

• Feel burned out in nonprofit fundraising
• Want actionable, research-backed approaches to get better results
• Are searching for permission to let go of “busy work” and focus on what matters most!

Transcript

[Podcast Sponsor/Announcer]

This episode is sponsored by my friends at Bloomerang. You already know your donors care. You see it in every gift and every note that comes back with a check. What you might not know is what they're telling us right now in the data. Bloomerang's 2026 Giving Signal report surveyed more than 1,000 active donors. 91% say people need more help than ever, and 94% give more when they know exactly where their gift goes. The generosity is there. What's changed isn't the impulse to give. It's what donors need from you to say yes. The question is whether your organization is listening. Bloomerang's giving platform is built for purpose. To help you understand your donors, to help you act on the right signals, and most importantly, to help you raise more. Download the free 2026 Giving Signal [e-mail] that's B L O O M E r a n g.com and now on to the episode.

[Julia Campbell]

Hello and welcome to Nonprofit Nation. I'm your host, Julia Campbell and I'm going to sit down with nonprofit industry experts, fundraisers, marketers, and everyone in between teams to get real and discuss what it takes to build that movement that you've been dreaming of. I created the Nonprofit Nation podcast to share practical wisdom and strategies to help you confidently find your voice, definitively grow your audience, and effectively build your movement. If you're a nonprofit newbie or an experienced professional who's looking to get more visibility, reach more people, and create even more impact, then you're in the right place. Let's get started.

Hello, hello, this is Nonprofit Nation with your host, Julia Campbell. And today we're going to talk about the case for slow fundraising. And in a sector that constantly asks nonprofit professionals to do more with less, it's no surprise that burnout has become one of the biggest challenges facing teams today. But what if the answer isn't working harder or chasing every new fundraising trend? So this week I'm joined by my friend, fundraising coach, speaker and productivity expert, Chad Barger. Chad helps nonprofit professionals fundraise more efficiently and effectively. And he's the chief strategist and owner of the firm Productive Fundraising, which focuses on bringing actionable research based fundraising tactics to small and midsize nonprofits. He's also one of only 117 fundraisers in the world to achieve the advanced Certified Fundraising Executive ACFRE credential. That's so exciting. And he's a very prolific speaker. Traveling around the world, traveling around the country. When he's not going to lacrosse tournaments with his children. Chad, thanks for being on the podcast.

[Chad Barger]

Julia, always a pleasure. Great to be back. Ready to nerd out on what is working in fundraising.

[Julia Campbell]

Yes. I'm so excited. So a lot of you are familiar hopefully with Chad's website. I will give it a call, a shout out now. Productive fundraising. Also, I meant to check the downloads, but you are still the most downloaded person guest on the podcast. I think it's up to about 1500 downloads right now.

[Chad Barger]

Well, yeah, so I'll put the link

[Julia Campbell]

to that episode, the older episode in the show notes. So what inspired you to connect Cal Newport's concept of slow productivity to fundraising? Can you sort of talk about how this, this new keynote, this new concept came to be?

[Chad Barger]

Yeah, love to. You know, as you know, Julia, I think we share this. I'm probably a little nerdier than you on it, but I love personal productivity books.

[Julia Campbell]

I do too.

[Chad Barger]

You know, like getting things done, eating that frog, never check email in the morning, all of those. And you mentioned his name already. Cal Newport's one of my favorite authors. So last year he came out with a new book called Slow Productivity. He's a Georgetown professor, computer science. He usually like talks about the connection between technology and, you know, workflow and that kind of stuff. This one was a little different. And the subtitle really caught my eye. Subtitle is the Lost Art of Accomplishment without Burnout. And kind of his theory is like, we just have all these things now that we have to do and they get in the way of actually producing real work. So I read this book on vacation last summer and I've been searching for a solution for a while. Solution to this problem I have with all of my coaching clients that they're just like in non stop mode. Like just always go, go, go. Like it used to be like summer and winter. Maybe we're like a little slower and we could catch our breath. And that doesn't even seem to happen anymore. That's just non stop. And so this theory came across and I was like, this could be the solution. And there's three core tenants that I want to walk through with your audience today that we can get into in a little bit. But I was like, you know, the average tenure for a nonprofit development director these days is like 15 months.

[Julia Campbell]

Wow, really? 15?

[Chad Barger]

Yeah, it used to be like 18, now it's 15. And the average time to close a major gift still 18 months. So that's math. That doesn't math. You know, most people don't stick around long enough to actually close a. Close a big gift. And there's gotta be a solution. And I think some of the principles of this book might make that happen.

[Julia Campbell]

Read a report from Candid. They do really, really great reporting around compensation and, like, employee retention in the sector. And I don't remember the exact statistic, but it was like, oh, something over 50% of fundraisers were even thinking of leaving their job right now. And then they're. Of that 50%, it was like, 30% are thinking of leaving a sector all together, like you're talking about.

[Chad Barger]

Exactly. I think your study might be more recent than mine, but the Chronicle Philanthropy study back in 2023, they found 85% of fundraisers expect to change jobs within the next two years, and 31% expect. Plan to leave the sector altogether just because it's too much.

[Julia Campbell]

Right.

[Chad Barger]

You know, we come in, and we have big hearts. We want to serve, but there's just too much.

[Julia Campbell]

All right, well, let's dive in. How do you define slow fundraising and then walk us through the tenets?

[Chad Barger]

Yeah. So slow fundraising, we really want to think about kind of embracing a more sustainable slow approach, which we can use to reduce burnout, increase effectiveness. And the part I love is to create space for truly meaningful development work.

[Julia Campbell]

Yeah.

[Chad Barger]

Just not just go through the motions. Actually create change. So with that, we have three core principles. First off, do fewer things. Just do fewer things. Next up, work at a natural pace. And finally, obsess over quality. Do fewer things at a natural pace while obsessing over quality. It sounds simple, but it isn't. So we can dig into each one of those and kind of go from there.

[Julia Campbell]

Yes. So do fewer things. Like, first of all, this is probably the most difficult tenet.

[Chad Barger]

Yeah. And it's.

[Julia Campbell]

Why is doing fewer things so difficult for us? And, you know, what are some activities that we should consider stopping altogether?

[Chad Barger]

Yeah. So, you know, I teach fundraising at two colleges, and there I use the textbook Nonprofit Fundraising 101 in both of them. And, you know, it has 26 chapters.

[Julia Campbell]

Wow.

[Chad Barger]

So 26 ways, essentially, to raise money. And people read the book and they think, oh, I have to do all the things I have to do.

[Julia Campbell]

All 26.

[Chad Barger]

Yeah, all 26. Got to put them in motion today and do it. So they do that. And guess What? We have 26 things going, and we're not doing any of them well, just kind of going through the motions that's there. So that's really the first step, is to figure out what is it that moves the needle at your nonprofit where do you actually raise money when you put effort into something, what actually works? Because I find Pareto's principle 80, 20 rule. Yes, you know, 20% of your effort actually produces 80% of your results. I need you to figure that out, what actually works. And then we really want to double down on that. You know, what are you still doing? Because you have, you know, a founder, a board member that says, oh, that's the way we've always done it. We have to keep doing that. You know, we've had this golf tournament for 37 years. We can't stop now. Like, why are we doing these things that don't actually produce results and take all of our time and resources?

[Julia Campbell]

So what metrics should we use when we're evaluating whether an activity is worth keeping?

[Chad Barger]

Yeah, I really, for me, it boils down to return on investment. So for the time and money I put into something, what does it actually return? And I have a great tool. Julia, I'm happy to share with your audience. We'll make sure we have the link and get everybody. So it's a solicitation performance index. It's based on the way back research from the early 90s, a nine point performance index. Jim Greenfield's great work. Way back. And so it's a simple Excel sheet. You put in the amount of money I raised, the number of people I asked, the number of people that gave, and the amount of money I spent. And it does all the math for you. And you compare every way you raise money and it'll tell you, okay, your end of calendar year Appeal had a 300% return. Your golf tournament had a 27% return. Well, guess what? Maybe, you know, just looking at that, but yeah, really, what doing that we shouldn't be doing is key.

[Julia Campbell]

I think that's so great because that's data driven right there. So it's not like you're going to your boss and saying, I don't want to do the golf tournament. You actually have data that shows it takes this much time and this much return.

[Chad Barger]

Julia hates the golf tournament. This is, doesn't make sense to do the golf tournament. Here's the dollar, here's the numbers that show it exactly.

[Julia Campbell]

Oh, I love that. I love it. Anything with data I think is so, so, so important, especially for when you're making your case. Because I can see a lot of people, I could just see them in my head saying, oh, this sounds great, but like, you know, well, we'll talk about it at the end, how to make your case. But this. Okay, so the first. That's the first tenet.

[Podcast Sponsor/Announcer]

Doing fewer things.

[Chad Barger]

Right. The second, let's do more of that and less of the other stuff.

[Julia Campbell]

Yes.

[Podcast Sponsor/Announcer]

Next.

[Chad Barger]

Work at a natural pace. So I'm a former band nerd. So, like, I. We use the word rhythm sometimes, you know, so rhythm comes from music, but it also means, like, just steady, sustainable, repeatable. So, like, find rhythm. And when I find a lot of shops, well, many shops are just, you know, all out year round, and they're the ones that burn through a development director every single year because it's just not sustainable. But a lot of shops, too are like, they work in these sprints. So, you know, maybe the beginning of the year is a little slow. Like January, February, and then we're like all out, you know, spring event season until, like, we're recording in mid June, so, like, until about now. And then they're like, okay, take a little breather. And then starting back up in August, it's like all out, spread to the end of the year, like fall events and end a calendar year, Peel. And that's just. It's not sustainable. Right. You get to that break period and you're like, oh, right. And then, oh, I gotta do it again. So I like more. How do we find a natural pace throughout the year? A natural pace. And what I find is there's this connection that I have to make something and then immediately send it to my donors. Like, make it, send it, make it, send it. And that's not actually true. You can make something whenever it makes sense, whenever you have time, and you can send something to your donors whenever it makes sense for the donor experience. Are you kidding? So, like, classic example might be your annual report. You know, annual report. And I find people stress out about the annual report. So, like, you know, my fiscal year ends June 30th. There's this stress on my mind that I got to get the annual report out to them by August 31st.

[Julia Campbell]

Yeah.

[Chad Barger]

And then I'm yelling at finance because I don't have numbers, and there's all the stress. I guarantee you that 95% of your donors have no freaking clue when your fiscal year ends.

[Julia Campbell]

Right?

[Chad Barger]

And they are not sitting at home saying, oh, I have not gotten my annual report from ABC nonprofit.

[Julia Campbell]

Exactly. No.

[Chad Barger]

So do the annual report when you have time and send it when it makes sense. You know, maybe your June 30th fiscal year ends, you wait to put it together until September because that's like a slower time for you. And, you know, you'll have Everything you need. But you don't want to mess up your end of calendar year cadence. So you send it to donors at the end of January. You know, fill in the gaps with workflow, keep that steady, and then look at the donor experience. When does it make sense for them to get this so they have that? You know, we're doing the touch points at the right time. We're setting every up. You can do the same thing with your event. Maybe you have a March event and you do most of the prep for it in January because March is busy with other things too. So just finding that natural pace and separating what the donor gets from when I do it.

[Julia Campbell]

Love that because I. First of all, I'm going to order this book immediately.

[Chad Barger]

It's not too thick either, Julia. Look, it's like a. It's like a three day book.

[Julia Campbell]

I love Cal Newport too. I really, really like Cal Newport as well. And I love productivity books. Actually, my favorite one is Free Time by Jenny Blake. That's my absolute favorite one. I've even had her on the podcast. But to me, this is the hardest part for me, doing fewer tasks is fine because I'm. I. I want to do fewer things, right? So that's sort of sounds good to me. But working at a natural pace, I find that, you know, like you, there's conference season where you're on the road and you're constantly speaking, and I don't do enough planning ahead for future me. You know, future me tends to hate present me because I don't do enough planning for those sprints.

[Chad Barger]

Yeah, I think that that might be key for you, Julia. I mean, we're not talking to a conference speaker audience today, but I actually put this into play for me this year.

[Julia Campbell]

Oh, good.

[Chad Barger]

Conference season was nuts. Like, you know, it was a west coast year, so west, east, coasters, tons of back and forth. I did not do much other than conferences. And I really front loaded my winter because that spread it out, that created a natural pace. So I did most of my client work, business work, over the winter and didn't do much of that at all over spring. And now I'm transitioning back kind of that, that ebb and flow rather than trying to do all the things all at once.

[Julia Campbell]

Okay, all right. The third tenet. I love this. Prioritizing quality over quantity, right?

[Chad Barger]

So now we're doing fewer things. We're doing the things that matter, the things that move the needle, the things that raise the most dollars, and we're not working in these frenetics case Sprints and all this stuff so we're not exhausted. So now all of a sudden, we have the time to actually think about quality. Am I doing this the best possible way? Not just taking last year's appeal letter, changing the story and sending it, like, actually maybe doing a little more learning, trying things, testing. Can we do two versions of our appeal letter and see which one works better? Put something into play from great guests that Julia has interviewed, that we've heard, that we said, oh, that would be great if I had time to do that. All of a sudden, you have time to do those things to obsess over quality. And my favorite question here, you know, even if, like, let's say we do our fall event, it goes great. You know, we raised $30,000 more than last year. I'm ready to just close the books and be done with it. Take a minute and say, you know, this year's event was great, but what could we do next year to make it 1% better? 1% better? Like, what little teeny tiny thing if every single time we did something, we made it 1% better? There we go. That just. That feeds the flywheel. You know, a flywheel, it goes around, but it takes energy and reinvests it into it, makes it spin faster and faster without any more effort. That's what we want our fundraising machine to do. How could we make it 1% better?

[Julia Campbell]

Right? So why do. Why do you think non profits focus on quantity? And how can we stop? Because a lot of our bosses think quantity is what we need more. Especially, like, in what I teach in marketing. More social media posts, more emails, more blog posts, more press releases, just more and more and more and more. How can we, you know, if we. If we are a person that obsesses over quality, how can we really, you know, stay sane and. And convey this to our boss?

[Chad Barger]

Yeah, I see it all the time.

[Julia Campbell]

And our boards, too.

[Chad Barger]

Cal Cal calls this, like, pseudo productivity. Like, doing things for the sake of doing things, like, to look busy. And it's not usually like we're trying to, you know, fool our bosses or anything. It's just these are the things we've always done. We just keep doing them. I call them boondoggles. Like, what are these things we do that look like productivity but really aren't? My favorite example of a fundraising boondoggle is every development job I've ever taken. I get in there, I open the database, and there's like, 300 records that it's just a name and there's no contact history. There's no donor history. Just like somebody has entered a potential donor into the database.

[Julia Campbell]

Right. People think no context.

[Chad Barger]

Yeah, right. So, no, that. That's a boondoggle. That's pseudo fundraising. Like, doing the things that actually matter is what's really key. Yeah, it's as we said in the beginning, like, you gotta get your numbers, figure out what works, do the math, use the tools. And then I also find the calendar is a big issue. So finding time to actually focus, not multitasking, actually sitting down, having focus time. And that's, you know, block it on your calendar, fundraising analysis, deep work, whatever you want to call it. Maybe reserve the conference room if you have the flexibility. Maybe like go to a coffee shop somewhere where you're not going to be interrupted. You can actually sit down, do the deep work that's going to move the needle.

[Podcast Sponsor/Announcer]

No, that's so important.

[Julia Campbell]

Rather than adding more things, making the things that are working that 1% better. That's really. It's kind of blowing my mind because I need to be doing that too in my work. So how can a small nonprofit, just like a department of one, sort of compete on quality and incorporate all these tenants?

[Chad Barger]

You know, it's actually. It doesn't feel like it, but it's actually easier as well shop because you don't have all the other colleagues that are involved in things. So you don't. You can just do it. You have more freedom. And, you know, all of a sudden, if we're doing fewer things, you're a shop of one, so that makes life a lot easier. And you probably have a smaller donor base, like you're dealing with 500 instead of 50,000. So doing things like personalization and testing, know, that's all a lot easier. You can call in three volunteers to hand address envelopes for an afternoon and do it for your whole list or half your list and test it against the other. Is this actually worth my time? So I'm no longer a frontline development director, but all the organizations I volunteer with tend to eventually figure out what I do. And then all of a sudden, I'm their fundraising chair. So currently doing that with a chapter of the Appalachian Trail Clubs. And they have this. Their membership list is 200 people. So it's fun for me because I can test things. You know, I send a hundred people one thing and 100 people another thing, and I see which outperforms nice small shops. Don't say like, we're small. We can't do it. Say we're small. We have the flexibility. We can actually try things and it doesn't cost, you know, $10,000 to do it. I can go buy three books of stamps and try something.

[Julia Campbell]

Oh, right. And there's no, there's not really a huge committee and there's not sort of death by committee. And it doesn't have to go through 90 iterations and 50 departments.

[Chad Barger]

Your executive director is overwhelmed as well because they're probably doing half of the program work. So they really don't want to approve and read your letter anyway, so. Yep.

[Julia Campbell]

Wow. So you've been doing this work for a long time and you know, you're sort of focused on helping nonprofits become more efficient and effective. What do you think has changed the most in fundraising maybe over the last five years?

[Chad Barger]

Yeah, last five years I think I've seen the most on kind of the events and donor attention side. So, you know, I'm going to blame it on the pandemic and go from there. But it's a different world post pandemic with donor engagement and relationship. So I started my career in higher education and back then we all had visit goals. Like I had to have 150 donor visits per year. You know, it was tied to everything. A lot of places don't do that anymore. They now measure meaningful engagements because there's a group of donors that just won't meet with us. Most fundraising events like the big galas are still down from their pre pandemic numbers. I'm convinced there's 20% of the world that has still not emerged. Or the Hitches say, you know, I didn't have to do that for a year and a half. I don't want to give up my Saturday night and put on a tuxedo and do all those things. So meeting donors, where they're at and what I've seen work really well that ties to this concept. What is the most anti slow fundraising? It's our giant fundraising events. Right. Because we put all this time energy in. And when we do the math for most nonprofits, they are not the leading source of income, but they are the biggest suck of time. So and when we talk to donors now and we say, how do you like to learn about new causes? They overwhelmingly say, you know, I like to learn like maybe at a small intimate event at the home of somebody I know and trust. So what is that? That's like a backyard barbecue, a cocktail party, a game night history. You know, it's there 20 people. The person from the nonprofits there as well. Somewhere in the midd host says, Folks, as you know, we're having fun tonight, but I also wanted to introduce you to this great non profit that I'm involved with. Julia's here. I'm going to let her just tell you a little bit about what they do. Julia talks for three minutes and at the end the host says, you know, I'm a big supporter there. Many of you know I'm on the board. Here's why I really care. We'll follow up with you after this, see if you care too. But let's get back to having fun tonight. That's it.

[Julia Campbell]

Yeah. Keeping it, keeping it casual.

[Chad Barger]

Six of those a year instead of their giant gala and they raise more money. Like it's so much easier.

[Julia Campbell]

I love that. Being adaptable. You know, so much has changed. And like you just said, the donor experience has changed. Generational wealth is transferring and donors are behaving differently and, you know, finding about causes they care about in a different way. I want to hear about your favorite productivity tools. So I want to tell the story of how you always tell this story when you speak of having a crayon, like a bath crayon in your shower, because you do the best thinking in your shower. And then you sent me some bath crayons, which I thought was really sweet, and then a notebook that said, you know, thoughts I had when I was in the shower. So how can we like, what other tools do you have that are maybe digital, maybe analog that you really like for productivity?

[Chad Barger]

Well, yeah, let's. Didn't think we were going there, but I can always talk fundraising tools. Okay, so you're talking capture and that's the key thing. So I'm not going to give you, like, my system because we have different fundraising styles. So let's start there, figure out your fundraising style. And there's four different ones. There's a great book by Carson Tate called Work Simply I think I have, and it will help you figure out your fundraising style and it will suggest tools that are specific to you. So that's a great starting point. But the key thing for everybody is always have a way to capture. So when you're in a meeting, it's easy, you know, have a notebook or whatever it is. I like to have paper in front of me in a meeting because I don't like the digital screen there. You do you. But you know, you have notebook, you have that. Everybody figures that out the next one, like when you're active. So when you're driving, when you're exercising, some kind of tool there, that's Gotten a lot easier with cell phones now because we can do like voice to text but don't link it up. So when you do something it actually goes on your to do list. So with one button or one voice prompt I can say something and the next time I'm in my to do list, it's there, it's seamless. Right? And then yeah, Julia mentioned the last one. Where's, where's the last place that I get the best ideas? It's in the shower. So over a decade ago now I stole one of my kids bath crayons and it's still in there. I just write it on the shower wall like what's that great idea? And then once a week my to do list tells me go look at your shower wall and figure out what you're supposed to do. So capture it's usually the missing link. Most people have gaps, they're somewhere, they get a great idea, they think of something they need to do and then they forget it and then it comes back and it just kind of keeps haunting them over and over. So don't let that happen. Capture it.

[Julia Campbell]

When it comes to you, how do you manage? I'm just interested because I want to just pick your brain and I know everyone's different and I know everyone has different styles. How do you manage inbox overwhelm? Because I think from just listening to you talk about slow productivity and the three tenets, I think that's probably for most of us the number one barrier to doing deep work is we have to spend three hours in our inbox every day. So how do you manage that?

[Chad Barger]

Yeah, it's spot on average executive 116 emails per day. I spend 28% of their day dealing with their inbox. So yeah, I mean I'm an inbox zero person so I have it all processed. It's down to zero end of the day. My biggest tip there, I use a text expansion tool. So I use text expander but basically I have pre written templates. So you get all these emails that are basically the same. There's some version of the same thing. So when you write it, save it. So a text expansion tool. I have a keyboard shortcut so I can do like backslash Reply 1 and it has this template, it puts it in there, it's going to prompt me what's the person's name, what's this variable, what's that variable Enter and there it is, it's done. So templates, text expansion tools as well, things you frequently write, your sign off, your address as soon as you type the first couple letters, it automatically fills LRs. So it just kind of speeds things up that way. But it's taking that step back and saying, you know, have I sent this before? If yes, then maybe create a template. And the other thing too, with email, like, do I actually have to reply those nice little replies that just say thank you? Got it. You know, they tend to create another reply. Did you send one and then you get one back?

[Julia Campbell]

Yes, I know.

[Chad Barger]

Oh, it's like, they're like boomerangs, right? Yeah, yeah. So send fewer email, have templates. Think, do I truly need to do this? I actually love, like the emoji replies now because now you can do the thumbs up. Nobody ever replies to a thumbs up email, but if you send thank you or like a quick little sentence, they think they have to be nice and send something back.

[Julia Campbell]

Exactly.

[Chad Barger]

Doesn't have to be an email. I don't know.

[Julia Campbell]

And I don't know if it was Cal Newport who said this. It might be, but your inbox is full of other people's priorities and I needed to hear that. One time I thought, you know what? Okay, that's very true.

[Podcast Sponsor/Announcer]

Yeah.

[Chad Barger]

We're giving a third of our day to other people's problems. So.

[Julia Campbell]

Yeah, and the other thing that.

[Chad Barger]

But I love that quote too.

[Julia Campbell]

The other thing I do, you know, and we can talk maybe a couple of minutes about AI. I feel like we can't do a productivity conversation without talking about it. But what I, how I use it is in my Google Gmail, I actually ask ChatGPT now. It's connected with my calendar and my Gmail and my drive. What are my top five priorities this week or something on Monday. And it's been game changing. It will go through my inbox and say, oh, there's an email from like 3 days ago that you forgot about that you never answered. That looks like it needs a response. So it's almost like an assistant. And I found that that has made me much more productive than just combing through emails, combing through my calendar. Especially when you are, you know, you wake up Monday morning and you're, you're very. I'm sure you have your week planned out, Chad, but when I get up on Monday morning, I'm usually like, oh, no, what do I need to focus on for this week? So how do you use AI? I know I used to do the Sunday planning and then I just got lazy, but maybe I'll do it this summer.

[Chad Barger]

Yeah, well, no, I just do perpetual planning and a Friday, check in to make sure the next week's set up. But my biggest way, I use it. So I have a custom GPT created. It's fundraiser chat GPT. Fundraiser chat GPT is not allowed to access the Internet. He is cut off. He can only access his own knowledge bank. What is his knowledge bank? 25 hours of fundraiser Chad webinar transcriptions. That's the only knowledge he has. So I can literally copy and paste an email, draft a reply to this email and it's going to pull like five tips out of things I've done. And I have fabulous starting point, right? Fabulous starting point. So I encourage, and it's fabulous for social media too. Draft me a 1500 word blog post on the importance of donor retention with eight practical tips that small nonprofits can put into action to boost their donor retention rate.

[Podcast Sponsor/Announcer]

Amazing.

[Julia Campbell]

And it's all your intellectual property in

[Chad Barger]

my voice because it's the only thing it has access to. So I tell nonprofits you can do the same thing. You have a blog, you have 10 years of email blasts, you have all

[Julia Campbell]

this content, annual reports.

[Chad Barger]

Create your nonprofit GPT and use it for these kind of things. Shout out to our good friend Josh Hirsch. He helped me do this like five years ago and it's been a huge, huge blessing.

[Julia Campbell]

I love that I'm going to do that. I have a GPT, but I allow it to go on the Internet. So I should do the same thing because it has my books.

[Chad Barger]

You'll find random things that aren't you.

[Julia Campbell]

I know.

Okay, that's a really good point. I put in all my blog posts and my books and I should do the transcripts of my webinars. I think that's a great idea because then it can speak in your voice and then when you do get those emails, it can help you crash.

[Chad Barger]

I never hit publish instantly. I read it, I edit, there's always some tweaks, but oh my Gosh, it takes 10% of the time. It used to.

[Julia Campbell]

That is a great productivity tool. Do you use anything like Monday or Notion or Asana or any of those tools?

[Chad Barger]

Yeah, my. I'm always hesitant to to recommend tools because you got to do the work. What's your style? Only 20% of you have the same style of me. But yes, my to do list lives in todoist. That's my task manager. And then all of my data background is in notion. So nice. Todoist in notion is my system.

[Julia Campbell]

Yes. Oh, I love that. And Jenny Blake actually teaches a lot of courses on notion. So I've always been. I've just been interested in what other people are using. But you're right, I find that tools are so personal and sometimes I just use my phone and the to do list on my phone. And I love a pen and paper. I love a pen and paper. So I have notes all over my room. Post it notes. But, Chad, just. Thank you so much for being here. I think this is such an important topic. What is your biggest piece of advice for that burned out fundraiser? That's listening. What is sort of one of your biggest pieces of advice?

[Chad Barger]

Yeah, let's just, you know, start this process. It starts with evaluation. So you're burned out. You feel like you have no time. Find me a window. Find me 90 minutes to two hours sometime in the next month. Put it on your calendar, block it, get out of the office, go with your data and figure out what works. What works for your nonprofit. I'll send Jul a link to this solicitation performance index. Do the math, do the analysis, figure out what works, and then start making the case for operating a little slower, focusing on what works, finding that natural rhythm. And then once you do that, you can actually obsess over quality and get back to the craft of fundraising. There's craft and science and art in all of this, but most of us don't have time to focus on that because we're too busy doing all the things. Let's stop doing all the things.

[Julia Campbell]

I love it. Where can people find you online and

[Chad Barger]

connect Productive fundraising and fundraiser Chad on Facebook or LinkedIn Connect. Love to hear from you.

[Julia Campbell]

Yes, Fundraiser Chad. I love that. I remember when I first met you and we got connected and I love that you had that handle. I thought that was really cool. All right, Productive fundraising. Connect with Chad. I'll put all of the links in the show notes. And thank you so much for being here and just for constantly working to make the sector a better place.

[Chad Barger]

I say the same to you, Julia. Thanks for doing this. Love the pod. Love hearing from great thought leaders, people that challenge us to think a little bit differently. Always a pleasure and be awake from this.

[Julia Campbell]

Well, hey there. I wanted to say thank you for tuning into my show and for listening all the way to the end. If you really enjoyed today's conversation, make sure to subscribe to the show in your favorite podcast app and you'll get new episodes downloaded as soon as they come out. I would love if you left me a rating or a review because this tells other people that my podcast is worth listening to and then me and my guests can reach even more earbuds and create even more impact. So that's pretty much it. I'll be back soon with a brand new episode, but until then, you can find me on Instagram @JuliaCampbell77. Keep changing the world, you nonprofit unic.