Episode 205: Why is it important to change how you talk to funders?

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The Smart Communications Podcast

Episode 205: Why is it important to change how you talk to funders?
Date: February 18, 2026
Host: Farah Trumpeter
Guest: Dani Faulkner

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Overview

This episode explores why nonprofits should change how they talk to funders, emphasizing the need for language that reflects organizational values, community-centric fundraising, and honest storytelling. Farah Trumpeter speaks with Dani Faulkner—a seasoned grant writer and advocate for equity in fundraising—about her journey from playwriting to development, her innovative Reframe and Rise audit service, and practical steps to move away from jargon and extractive language.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Dani Faulkner’s Background and Journey to Fundraising

• Theater Roots: Dani began as a playwright, transitioned to grant writing when friends asked for help with artist grants in Maryland ([02:26]).
  • Quote: “It was writing, but it was writing something that I loved, which was about the arts. And then I found that other people hated doing it… For me, it was nothing. So that's how I kind of got into it. Just telling a story, but in a different way.” — Dani ([02:26])
• Authenticity in Grant Writing: Dani loves the narrative aspect, in contrast to the common view of grants as arduous and formulaic.
• Humor and Humanity: Dani’s background brings a “sharp eye, soft heart, and a deep commitment to amplifying black voices.” ([00:17])

2. The Problem With Traditional Grant Language

• Pressure to “Sound Fancy”: Both Farah and Dani acknowledge the tendency to use overly academic or jargon-laden language in proposals.
  • Quote: “I also feel like I need to sound fancy, to use your phrase earlier, but a little different. Like, let me write like I sound like I'm deeply academic and use big words.” — Farah ([03:28])
• Losing the Heart: Obsession with word counts and templates often strips grant language of genuine meaning and heart.

3. Reframe and Rise: Dani’s Audit Service

• Purpose: Helps nonprofits reevaluate and rewrite their fundraising language to be more authentic, values-driven, and community-centered ([04:13]).
• Playwright Skills at Work: Dani approaches proposal reviews with a love of wordplay, nuance, and meaning.
  • Quote: “As a writer, language is fun for me. I love a good rabbit hole. I will pick at something and say, does this mean this? Does that mean this? And for a lot of us fundraisers, we don't have that time.” — Dani ([04:13])
• Core Audit Steps:
  1. Gather Key Documents: Impact reports, newsletters, website copy, grant applications (both successful and declined) ([05:40]).
  2. Collaborative Review: Bring together comms, marketing, and development staff (not just development alone).
  3. Highlighting Exercise: Print materials, use highlighters to mark phrases that resonate, confuse, concern, or feel off.
  4. Group Discussion: Candidly debate language choices; seek clarity and honesty over being “in love with language.”
     • Quote: “No, this is not the time to fall in love with language. You really gotta hatch it to make sure that it makes sense and it's very clear.” — Dani ([06:55])

4. Breaking Down Silos Between Teams

• Unified Storytelling: Farah observes that comms teams rarely review grant proposals, and Dani advocates for dissolving these silos wherever possible ([07:10]).
• Strategic Alignment:
  • Tie audits to strategic planning or retreats, leveraging moments when staff are thinking expansively and collaboratively.
  • Use as icebreakers or regular meeting exercises: “Take a question every meeting and just say, here's a question we always get. Let's pick it apart together. That's a really easy audit...” — Dani ([07:50])

5. Tackling Organizational Resistance and Harmful Language

• Acknowledging Challenges: Many leaders fear changing what “works” (jargon, deficit framing) for fear of losing funding ([09:27]).
• Mental Health Check: Dani stresses the emotional toll of being aware of problematic language in your work environment.
  • Quote: “How are you sleeping? Because that's a lot to carry when you notice it and you see the patterns.” — Dani ([10:06])
• Responsibility as Educators: Remind staff that funders—often distant from community issues—may only see what’s in the proposal.
  • Quote: “For a lot of them, this is the first time, if anything, they're going to read about your community, your mission, the problems that are on, and you're educating them. So do you want that to be the first impression they have of what's happening?” — Dani ([10:40])
• Legacy and Integrity: Dani asks, “If somebody were to read that years from now, how would I feel? How would they feel?” as a foundation for rethinking proposal language ([11:03]).
• Begin With Auditing:
  • Don’t insist on immediate change. Start with diagnostics: “Let's just see what's going on.” — Farah ([12:00])
  • This approach lowers defenses and opens the door for gradual cultural and linguistic shifts.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “No one studies philanthropy in college. That's not a major.” — Dani ([02:26])
• “For some that are...having that, that back and forth, this is a good beginner...entry way to say like let's, let's take a look at things and see if we can make it better.” — Dani ([11:51])
• “Let's bring someone fresh in. Let's take a step back. Let's not commit to what we're doing. We just want to see what's out there.” — Farah ([12:00])
• “I'm an introvert. This is enough for me.” — Dani ([12:48])

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Important Timestamps

• 00:17 — Introduction of Dani Faulkner and her work/philosophy
• 02:26 — Dani’s background and entry into grant writing
• 04:13 — Introduction of Reframe and Rise, and why audit language
• 05:40 — Step-by-step breakdown of the audit process
• 07:50 — Connecting language audits to strategic planning and retreats
• 09:27 — Addressing resistance to changing language and organizational risk
• 10:06 — Dani on the personal toll of extractive language
• 11:03 — Considering organizational legacy and community impact
• 12:00 — Farah on using diagnostic audits as a gateway for change
• 12:48 — Dani’s closing thoughts

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Tone and Takeaways

The conversation is practical, empathetic, and humorous, balancing strategic insights with warmth and realism. Both Farah and Dani challenge listeners to re-examine their organizational language, foster cross-team collaboration, and approach change incrementally and humanely.

Key Takeaway:
Changing how you talk to funders—from removing jargon to centering community voices—is not just about winning grants, but about honoring your mission, your people, and your organization’s long-term integrity.

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Learn more about Dani Faulkner’s work at dannifaulkner.com and follow her on LinkedIn for ongoing insights.

Transcript

[A]

This is the Smart Communications Smart Communications Smart Communications Podcast.

[B]

Developing the Voices Developing the Voices of Determined Nonprofits brought to you by Big Duck.

[A]

Welcome to the Smart Communications Podcast. This is Farah, trumpeter, co director and worker owner at Big Duck. In today's episode, we're going to ask the question, why is it important to change how you talk to funders? And I'm delighted to be joined by Danny Faulkner. I first met Dani back in 2018 at N10's Nonprofit Technology Conference, or NTC, where she joined an informal focus group when she was at the Baltimore Community foundation and Big Duck was doing a project for CF Leads, which is actually a case study we can link to on our website. And we've stayed in touch and enjoyed conversations at other NTCs and around the way and on LinkedIn. And I'm so delighted to have her here as a guest. So Danny Faulkner, she her is a playwright turned grant writer turned development powerhouse who has built her career around equity, sustainability, and community power. Dani uses her storytelling routes to help nonprofits raise money without losing their values, their people, or their peace. Her work centers community centric fundraising, asset framing, and language justice, pushing the sector away from extractive habits and towards something more honest and humane. She brings 15 years of development and fundraising experience, plus a sharp eye, soft heart, and a deep commitment to amplifying black voices. Whether she's running grants, leading workshops, or challenging funder theatrics, Dani is here to make this work better for all of us. She also has a wonderful sense of humor. Dani, welcome to the show.

[C]

Thanks for having me. I sound fancy. I sound so fancy.

[A]

You are fancy. Own it and love it. Well, Danny, I know when we were prepping for this, we were talking about how your journey into fundraising wasn't necessarily something you planned. Though I often wonder, has anyone woken up and said, you know, in elementary school, when I grow up, I want to be a fundraiser. But I wonder if you could talk about your background and particularly I love that you come at this work from being a playwright. So can you talk a little bit about your background and the experiences that led you to do the work you do now?

[C]

Yeah, sure. No, no one studies philanthropy in college. That's not a major. I studied theater, playwriting, and I needed a job or something to do that wouldn't send me home. So I had other artist friends who were applying for funding here in Maryland. I'm in Baltimore, and there's an annual individual artist award you have to apply for. You have to write this big grant and a lot of my friends are scared of it. And I said, let me look at it. Let me take a look. The first one I did, let me take a look. I think my friend gave me a bottle of wine to finish it to say that I was hooked. I was hooked because it was writing, but it was writing something that I loved, which was about the arts. And then I found that other people hated doing it. Grants are not something fundraisers like to do. We love the events. We love, you know, shaking the hands, kissing the babies. But to sit down and really write, that takes a lot of energy. And for me, it was nothing. So that's how I kind of got into it. Just telling a story, but in a different way.

[A]

That's great. It's true. I think you're right about grant writing. In my years of doing both fundraising and communications for nonprofits, I had a very small window that I was grant writing, and I found it very annoying. I found, oh, these questions they're asking, and how many times do I have to answer it this way? And I also feel like I need to sound fancy, to use your phrase earlier, but a little different. Like, let me write like I sound like I'm deeply academic and be. You know, use big words. And you've recently launched a new service for grant writing that audits how people respond to proposals. That's called Reframe and Rise, and it helps nonprofits rewrite the narrative. I'm curious. Can you talk a little bit about the Reframe and Rise approach and maybe even how it taps into your skills as a playwright?

[C]

Yeah, sure. I think this is my answer to the problem I'm seeing with grant applications and some reports where you're so in that mindset of let me make it pretty and fancy that you're not actually saying the words you need to say. I feel like we've gotten to the point where we're so focused on the character counts and the word count that we're taking the heart out of it. And for me, that's the biggest thing, because words are very powerful. It's on the page. It's going to last longer than you are in that job. So for me, reframe and Rise was that way to fix that problem. As a writer, language is fun for me. I love a good rabbit hole. I will pick at something and say, does this mean this? Does that mean this? And for a lot of us fundraisers, we don't have that time. So that's my way to say, like, this is a way to do that. When you have the time to audit it, to say, almost the last time you looked at the language you're using, is that template, you've used it for five years, does it still serve you? And are you using that same language, that same terminology? And do you feel good about it? That's another thing. When you read it, do you feel good about what you just wrote? So, yeah, it's bringing the whole self into the work. When you're thinking about community centric fundraising, how you as a professional can do it. If you're a grant writer, great.

[A]

And let's bring it down a notch. When you're actually conducting a reframe and rise or R and R audit, what are some of the specific steps you take?

[C]

So it first starts with pulling some documents. If you have an impact report, an annual report copy from your latest newsletter, your website, it's a lot of language. So if you don't have your comms and marketing team in on this, don't do this. This is not. You need more people than just your development folks at the table. And then I say, try to bring in your latest grant application, either the one that was a winner or declined the freshest information. And then from there you're sitting old school. Print it out with a highlighter. Highlight phrases you like, highlight phrases you hate highlights. Highlight phrases that give you pause. I like to tell folks your application is going to someone that knows nothing about you. A lot of cases it's one person who's reading hundreds of things. So if you have a question, when you're reading it, they're going to have a question. So highlight those things and then start from there as a group. Pick it apart. Say, hey, this part, I don't like it. Do you like it? How do we say this? And have those people go back and forth? And that's where the time comes in. You really need that extra eye, that outside look. So those who aren't in love with the language, you say, oh, I love this. No, this is not the time to fall in love with language. You really gotta hatch it to make sure that it makes sense and it's very clear.

[A]

Well, I love that you're talking about bringing the development and communications teams together. We've definitely talked about that before. Some organizations I talk to, they laugh when I say that. And they're like, we have no comms team. We are all of the things.

[C]

And that's fair, right?

[A]

There's some people who are doing all the jobs or their comms person is like a volunteer on a committee. Other Organizations do have departments and teams and they do tend to operate in silos. So I love that you're talking about bringing those folks together for this process, which is so important because I don't know how many times the comms team ever looks at a grant. They. They are certainly looking at the annual report, and I'm sure that's a collaboration. But what about these things, like these proposals and how can comms teams lends their expertise and fuse that with what the development team knows? Well, I'm curious, speaking of bringing things together, what do you see as the connection between the work of an R and R audit and an organization's strategic plan?

[C]

Yeah, I mean, during that time of those planning sessions, that's when you hear the big ideas and big plans. For me, it's great because they're fresh and pure. They haven't been filtered down yet. People are speaking from the heart. You know, you don't have your finance eye on it to say, how much is that budget down? You're really just sitting together and saying what is possible? So for me, during that time, if you can do an audit, that's great because everyone's at a reset. It's a time to just say and reflect, like, does this work? Are we taking it to the next year, three years, or have you. And people are thinking reflectively, they're really thinking about, you know, what, what's possible. So if you can do it around that time when it's already set with your organization, I find that people are more open to it because they're already thinking in that mindset. So, yeah, I really try to set it around either retreat, a strategic planning. If you have a department retreat situation, this is a good activity to say, let's take this document and pick it apart together. It's a nice icebreaker. It's a different type of icebreaker. Take a question every meeting and just say, here's a question we always get. Let's pick it apart together. That's a really easy audit without, you know, going through the whole process. So, yeah, that's a really easy way to do it.

[A]

Yeah, I love that. I can imagine just saying, how would you answer this question? Maybe even everybody writes it on an index card or a post it. You know, you and I love to go analog. Let's get those highlighters and those pens out and see what they say. And first of all, you might get some new ways to answer that question. But interesting to see, does everyone answer it in a completely different way? Are we all saying kind of the same thing. So the branding person in me is curious about what could come from an exercise like that too.

[C]

Yeah, definitely.

[A]

Well, I imagine there could be people out there who are listening, who might be working in organizations with leaders or other staff who are afraid to change their approach and believe that they need to use a lot of jargon, maybe even exploitative framing, to get funding from grant makers. We certainly, I know, both see that in some of the things that we review out in the world. And I'm curious, what advice do you have? If someone is out there, they're working in an organization where they do see that language coming across, maybe when they do an audit like this themselves, or they just happen to see it pass by them, how can they make change from within? Any advice for those folks?

[C]

Yeah, I mean, I first come from a place of like, how are you sleeping? Because that's a lot to carry when you notice it and you see the patterns. And it's definitely. It's not a singular thing, I've found, but it tends to be. It touches on everything in the org. When you see language like that, that is the mindset. And that can be really dangerous to someone who's working in philanthropy and fundraising. So first I'd say, are you good? Are you all right? Do you need help? And from there, I think, really getting the idea and wrapping your mind around what you are submitting to a funder. For a lot of them, this is the first time, if anything, they're going to read about your community, your mission, the problems that are on, and you're educating them. So do you want that to be the first impression they have of what's happening? When I think like that, that changes the way I write something because there sometimes isn't another way to get to them, to explain or re educate them. You know, you might not see them again until a site visit. God forbid it's a site visit. That's another whole thing. But, yeah, you might not see them for another six, nine months, and they're only going with what you wrote down and for me, and thinking about my legacy and, you know, what I bring, not that it'll be a hu legacy, but what I'm thinking about is if somebody were to read that years from now, how would I feel? How would they feel? And that for me, does make it easier to take out the jargon, to really, you know, figure out a different way to come at this work. And that's why the audit for me is a good start. It's a good start to begin with to say like, this isn't working. I don't know how we can fix it, but let's try. And you might come out of it and say, no, this is not a good thing. We keep going, that's cool. But for some that are, you know, having that, that back and forth, this is a good beginner, you know, entry way to say like let's, let's take a look at things and see if we can make it better.

[A]

Yeah, I often find that too when people are afraid of change. Just starting with a diagnostic to say, look, I'm not telling you have to make change yet. Let's just see what's going on. Let's just look at it. Let's bring someone fresh in. Let's take a step back. Let's not commit to what we're doing. We just want to see what's out there. Sometimes people a little more open. Even if you know, going into it, you're about to recommend a lot of change, but that's a great approach. Well, I hope folks are out there and intrigued about doing an audit yourself or maybe even contacting Danny. If you want to get some great insights and some thought provoking posts, be sure to follow Dani on LinkedIn. We will link to her profile in the [e-mail] insights you can also learn more about her work on her website@danny faulkner.com Danny, before we go, you've just given us so much insights, but anything else you want to share?

[C]

I got nothing. I'm an introvert. This is enough for me. Thank you so much.

[A]

Well, thank you for, you know, giving your time to our, to our listeners and our community. Everyone out there. Have a great day and we'll talk soon.

[B]

Are you a fan of this podcast or Big Duck's other resources on nonprofit communications? If you are, we'd love to hear from you. Please drop us a line by writing to helloigduck.com to tell us what you're working on and what topics you need help with. We also welcome getting your feedback via reviews. You can review this podcast wherever you listen. We'd love to hear from you.

[A]

This is the Smart Communications Podcast Developing the voices of determined nonprofits brought to you by Big Duck.

[B]

Big Duck is an agency that puts smart communications in the hands of non profit. We help our nonprofit clients develop strong brands, strong campaigns and strong teams that advance their missions and achieve their goals.

[A]

Connect with [e-mail].