What the Fundraising – Episode 256

Hiring for Impact: Aligning Talent, Well-Being, and Mission with Kishshana Palmer
Date: September 4, 2025
Host: Mallory Erickson
Guest: Kishshana Palmer

Episode Overview

This episode features a dynamic and candid conversation between host Mallory Erickson and returning guest Kishshana Palmer. Together, they announce Kishshana's innovative new approach to nonprofit talent search and discuss how organizations can revolutionize hiring practices—placing wellbeing, alignment, and transparency at the center. The discussion dives deep into breaking the cycle of toxic hiring and retention, challenging sector-wide limiting beliefs, and reimagining supportive, sustainable search processes that honor the whole person and the health of the organization.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Kishshana’s Journey and the Launch of Management Co’s Talent Search

• Career Shift: Kishshana shares her transition from investment banking to fundraising, and her experience raising over $100M in the sector (02:27).
• Ongoing Demand: For years, leaders have reached out to her for recommendations to fill development roles. She resisted starting her own search firm, wanting to do it differently from traditional, “stodgy” methods (03:49, 04:35).
• Catalyst for Change: Her realization: the sector needs a fresh and humane way to connect mission-driven people with organizations—one that deeply considers the well-being of both (05:08).

Notable Quote:
"You cannot amplify, activate or accelerate mission if you're exhausted. Hello. Or if people are quitting and you have a revolving door, folks. And I do not want to accept the status quo of we leave every 18 to 24 months." — Kishshana Palmer (06:13)

2. Rethinking the Search Process: Wellness, Transparency, and Fit

• Holistic Approach: New search services will be bespoke, centered on matching talent to organization not just by resume or skills, but by considering their life season, personal wellness, and true fit (05:08–06:58).
• Breaking the Burnout Cycle: Kishshana emphasizes a proactive approach: "I care about the health and well being of the people who we know are raising capital for amazing organizations." (06:16)
• Beyond the Status Quo: Rejecting “revolving door” cycles and burnout as inevitabilities; treating searches as opportunities to build sustainable relationships (06:59).

3. Who Is This For? Leaders and Organizations Ready for More

• Who Benefits: Leaders who are tired of “the same old” and truly want to disrupt the status quo, focusing on retention and satisfaction, not just placement (08:28).
• Fit Over FOMO: Not every organization or leader is ready for this change; it’s for those prepared to invest in well-being and long-term talent alignment (26:01–26:19).

Notable Quote:
"Clearly the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. How's it working for you, friends?" — Kishshana Palmer (08:36)

4. Shifting Organizational Mindsets and Hiring Culture

• Dismantling Limiting Beliefs: Mallory notices how sector leaders often believe their geography, budgets, or organizational quirks make them unattractive to talent—but the search process changes this focus (12:24–13:17).
• Transparency as a Strength: Both women highlight the transformative impact of transparency in the hiring process, making environments attractive to strong candidates even during instability (13:45–16:28).

Notable Quote:
"I remember working for an organization before the pandemic and baby, that organization was falling apart... And I had to hire in that environment and I had to tell potential candidates we might run out of money in the next six months to pay. And I want you to know I still had finalists." — Kishshana Palmer (15:09)

5. The Mechanics: New Approach to Search and Onboarding

• Bespoke Services: Management Co’s search services can support a range—from helping organizations run their own process with guidance, to fully managed, highly curated searches (17:58).
• Leveraging Experience: Kishshana’s team consists of veteran fundraising professionals and actual hiring managers, bringing nuanced understanding to every placement (17:58–18:35).
• Practice Makes Perfect: Integration with Practivated, an AI-powered donor conversation simulator, offers candidates ongoing coaching, onboarding, and verbiage readiness—solving skill and confidence gaps (19:50–20:52; 17:58–18:35).

Notable Quote:
"If I had practice when I was in my first two years, I'd be famous because I promise you, I'd have broke the code on the lotto. I just, I want you to know that's the kind of confidence I would have had." — Kishshana Palmer (20:39)

6. Critiquing Traditional Search Firms

• Transactional vs. Transformational: Mallory critiques current search firms for being transactional—driven by turnover rather than thriving placements (21:04–22:46).
• Root Cause Analysis: Poor hiring often stems from failure to evaluate a candidate’s “will” (motivation), not merely skills—a mistake only visible later, but preventable with a more caring and holistic approach (22:46–24:47).

7. Wellness, Gifts, and Creating a New Future

• Wellness as a Necessity, Not a Perk: True organizational health requires supporting the whole person, not just filling the seat (26:31–28:26).
• Embracing Gifts: Kishshana highlights the difference between skills, talents, and gifts and how unleashing gifts at work can transform teams and missions (26:31).
• A Call to Courage and Creativity: Both women urge the sector to reject "the way we've always done it" and to embrace bold, creative solutions (24:47, 26:01–26:19, 28:26).

Notable Quote:
"Just because something is not easy doesn't mean it can't be easeful. I want professionals to not feel trapped in their work. I want organizational leaders to not lead from fear even when the terrain ahead is overcast." — Kishshana Palmer (27:04)

Memorable Moments & Quotes

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|---------|-------| | 06:13 | Kishshana | "You cannot amplify, activate or accelerate mission if you're exhausted. Hello. Or if people are quitting and you have a revolving door..." | | 08:36 | Kishshana | "Clearly the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. How's it working for you, friends?" | | 15:09 | Kishshana | “I had to tell potential candidates we might run out of money in the next six months to pay. And I want you to know I still had finalists.” | | 20:39 | Kishshana | “If I had practice when I was in my first two years, I'd be famous because I promise you, I'd have broke the code on the lotto.” | | 27:04 | Kishshana | “Just because something is not easy doesn't mean it can't be easeful. I want professionals to not feel trapped in their work.” |

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Kishshana’s Origin Story & Persistent Sector Problems – 02:27–04:35
• Why Wellness-Driven Search? – 05:08–06:58
• Who is This For? Defining the Ideal Leader/Org – 08:12–11:03
• Mindset Shift & Breaking Limiting Beliefs – 12:12–13:45
• Importance of Relationship & Candidate Agency – 13:45–16:28
• How the Search Service Works (Plus Practivated Partnership) – 17:58–20:52
• Critique of Current Search Firms & Need for Better Matches – 21:04–22:46
• Wellness, Gifts, and Rejecting Burnout as Normal – 26:01–28:26

Conclusion

Kishshana Palmer’s new search initiative aims to disrupt old hiring paradigms in the nonprofit sector by placing human experience, wellness, and organizational transparency at the core. By creating bespoke processes that prioritize both the health of talents and teams, and supporting incoming leaders with ongoing coaching and tools like Practivated, Management Co is setting a new, “easeful” standard for what it means to hire and thrive in mission-driven organizations. This episode serves as both a blueprint and call to action for leaders who want to transform not just their hiring—but their entire organizational culture.

For more resources or to get in touch about the new search offering, Kishshana directs listeners to managementco or developmenttalentsearch.com (29:08).