Ep. 122: Go All In: How Improv Transformed My Fundraising Mindset
EPISODE 122
Go All In: How Improv Transformed My Fundraising Mindset
About the Episode:
Today, I’m taking you behind the scenes of something new I’ve been doing—an improv class! I signed up on a whim, and it’s been such a game-changer for how I think about fundraising, storytelling, and even just showing up for donors. In this episode, I’m sharing what improv has taught me about committing fully—whether it’s to your energy, campaigns, or messaging—and why half-hearted effort (what I call “decaf energy”) doesn’t cut it. I’ll give you tips on how to shift into full commitment, bring contagious energy to your work, and how to adopt those unexpected plot twists we all experience as nonprofit professionals in your campaigns. It’s all about stepping out of your comfort zone, going all in, and creating magnetic moments that draw donors and supporters to your cause. Let’s dive in!
Here’s what you’ll learn:
How committing to your energy can transform your fundraising efforts
Lessons from improv: letting go of self-doubt, embracing imperfection, and staying in the moment
Why low energy (“decaf energy”) can hold back your fundraising campaigns and how to shift into full commitment
Practical tips to boost energy: movement, music, visual triggers, and more
The power of specific, bold storytelling to engage and excite donors
How to handle plot twists in campaigns and stay focused on your end goal
Ways to motivate and energize your board, donors, and supporters to take action
Think you’ve reached out to “everyone” in your network? Out of ideas to get noticed and get funded? Generate leads for your nonprofit or social impact business: https://www.splendidcourses.com/prospect
Christina’s Favorite Takeaways:
“Full calf energy takes commitment and cultivation.”
“Seeing one person be in low energy, everybody will match and mirror that.”
“You have to embrace imperfection in the process because commitment means committing to the thing, towards the action, not towards it being perfect.”
“Letting humanity in is a really big secret to creating a connection.”
“Commitment is as much an internal game as it is an external one.”
“If I let self-doubt steer my mission, it's going to come out half calf, and so is our fundraising revenue.”
“If you're deciding on a big, bold goal, commit to it. Talk about it often.”
“Mistakes are inevitable, but sometimes those mistakes add humor and humanity.”
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Today, we're going to talk about an improv class that I signed up for. I'm going to give you a little behind the scenes of why I signed up for it, and what I'm learning through that class, and how it can absolutely change the way you fundraise, the way you story tell, and the way you show up to your donors and prospects. So I just got through a coaching call inside the purpose and profit club, my coaching program, and I told them about this class and what I've really been taking away from this class. And I was like, I gotta share it on the podcast. Okay, so I signed up for this improv class on a complete whim. So you know this idea of overthinking, I definitely under, under think that idea, and I did it on purpose, because if I had thought about it too much, I would have talked myself out of even going to the class. So here's what happened. I have a neighbor who
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is, both of them, a couple, who they're actors. They're improv experts. They've been in the theater world for a very long time. And one of my neighbors shared, hey, this improv class is like, super beginner. It's enrolling soon. You guys, the teacher is amazing. If you're curious about it, enroll. And so I clicked on the link, and I was like, I don't know why, but add to cart. Here we go. And I think the why was a little bit of like, I just want to change things up. I just want to try something new. I have zero desire to be on a stage as a performer doing any of that, but I just want to like exercise, a muscle I've literally never exercised in my whole life. So I never did theater growing up. I love, like comedy. I love funny things, but as a consumer, as an attendee, right? Not as a on stage. And I just was, like, I just want to be a beginner at something. I just want to be in a room full of other beginners and just feel silly and just try. So that was good enough reason Add to Cart. Here we go. So I'm probably four classes in something like that now, at the time of recording this, and the group is maybe 15 to 18 people, adults. And we are such a diverse, diverse group on every way, shape or form, I would say we have a through line as beginners, as a lot of us are pretty introverted. But beyond that, there's it's just anything. It's a mixed bag on all of it. So I love that to start. And
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our teacher is guiding us through some of like, the foundational principles of improv, and we are literally doing so we are it's not like, she's like, teaching us and we're taking notes. She's like, telling us about a concept, and then we just workshop it, and then we go, and then we go, and one of the things she says that gets me so happy, and like, anytime I'm feeling tight about doing a thing in front of the class, she's like, the stakes couldn't be lower. And it just makes me giggle to myself every time, because it's like, literally, we're just beginners in this improv class. Like, if you screw it up, the stakes couldn't be lower. Like, no one's gonna die. Everything's fine, you'll live. And that's part of why I signed up, by the way, is I just wanted to get, like, comfortable with being uncomfortable in the in front of people.
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So one thing I've noticed, and she's talked to us about that's a foundational principle, is committing so committing to the story or the character or whatever the thing is that you're doing in improv is essential. So for example, we'll have like, a warm up exercise where maybe we're going around and we're all making an animal noise, like a roar or something like that. And what's interesting is, if people don't commit to it, it sounds like rar meow. Girl, did you guys just hear like my energy and everything drop? And sure enough, if one person does it, it becomes contagious. And like all around the room, it's just this, like, kind of mediocre, low energy, decaf energy trap that happens. And so she'll be like, All right, do it again. But commit, commit to it. Ra girl like, commit to whatever the thing is. And energetically, we're all feeding off of each other, okay? And so it requires you to step out of your comfort zone. It requires you to, like, get rid of the inner monolog of like, am I gonna sound dumb saying girl to a bunch of adults that on a Monday night, like, is this dumb? Who cares? And we go so committing to the character, not being in decaf energy is so essential, so essential. And what I see with a lot of nonprofit.
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Profits. A lot of fundraisers, whether it's a peer fundraiser, whether it's trying to mobilize your board or your street team, or just getting a kind of difficult campaign out the door and getting some traction, is a lot of times it has this decaf energy. You're not fully committed, and therefore your donors aren't either. They're like, Okay, right? It's not exciting, it's not magnetizing, it's not drawing them in. So think about throughout this episode, like, where is my decaf energy showing up? And where could I recommit? Or where could I commit for the first time, right? Where could I show up? Like, shoulders back and, like, just go for it and who cares? Like it's okay if I do it imperfectly. It's okay if I sound different than I've sounded before, because I've been showing up with TCAF energy, right? Committing to that storyline is so important I
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Yeah, so if you're not all in your donors can feel that hesitation. They can feel it in your digital content. They can feel it on the phone, in your text messages, in person, right? It sounds like things like
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using vague language, defaulting to we made a difference, right? Help today, versus sharing specific moments. We helped Sarah, a local mom, secure safe housing. I'm showing commitment to the story when I say that like you can help more local moms like Sarah versus that sort of we made a difference, a vague, sterile energy. So I have a friend that I hadn't seen in a few months, and I was walking down the street, and I saw him for a from afar. Okay, I saw him from afar, and he was standing with a group of people, and I waved, and I was just like, planted, what's up? And I was up there with my voice and my hands were gesturing, and my face was smiling, and I was in full calf committed energy, right? And what was interesting, what happened next, which is there was a woman he was standing next to. They were outside of a restaurant in a group, probably waiting for a table, and she started waving and smiling at me. She was like, super warm at me. And I didn't know her, but she caught my commitment to saying hello, being warm, so she mirrored that back to me, right? And it was so interesting, because by the time I walked up, I said hi to her, too, right? And so she didn't realize until, I think halfway through it, like, I don't know her, right? But she was like, I don't know. Maybe I do. And it was such an interesting moment. And it made me think about, like, had I just been in regular kind of default commitment, default calf energy, I would have been like, Hey, what's up? What's going on. And he would have been like, he may not have even heard me. She certainly would not have heard me, right? And so it's like, where can you show up on calls? Where can you show up in your campaigns, with that energy? And that energy is twofold. That energy does take commitment and it takes cultivation, like, sometimes you have to create that energy on the days you don't have it, or the days, or the moments, or the hours or the minutes that it's just not there. It does wax and wane. So I want to give you a couple of examples of how to do it. So if you're feeling a type of way and you're like, No, I'm definitely in decaf energy, but I need to be moving into full calf energy, because I'm doing X, Y or Z. What I would recommend is like, have something in your toolkit to get you there. So that thing might be a playlist, a hype song that works really well for me, that might be dancing by yourself, moving your body, moving your hands, shaking, shaking, ringing just your hands and your feet and wiggling, getting that stale energy off of you that may be taking some time in front of a mirror or not, and talking to yourself out loud, just running through it in that energy, not down here, right, right? Not be like, dear donor, hey, it's Christina calling from splendid consulting. Hey, it's Christina calling from splendid consulting. How are you? I was just thinking about you. Do you see how I shifted, like, really, just workshopping it and letting yourself again, just be imperfect. Think of some ways for me, sometimes again, if I'm feeling a little funky and I'm not feeling in the energy, I will move my body. I will listen to a playlist. I am looking right now at a candle that is lit. That candle to me has, like a minty, let me look at it, minty eucalyptus scent to it that makes me feel energized. It's like triggering in my brain. Now I've created that, like pathway, like, ooh, when I feel this way, I get to work, I get myself a nice cup of coffee. If I actually do need it, I may go out in the sunshine and just ground myself for a few minutes just to feel that on my face. That's it. It doesn't have to require.
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A lot of
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extra tools and bells and whistles to get into that mode, but it is like a step. So it's like, in that improv class, everyone ran around the circle and they were low energy, and it didn't sound so great, and the whole story was boring. And then, and then our teacher, I almost called our coach, and then our coach, our teacher, coaching us right, and saying, all right, one more time again, with commitment, really put your body, your brain, your voice, your hands, all of it into it. Now try it. And I want to offer it feels different, and it feels like you're doing it differently than before, because you are so, for example, if you're making a bunch of phone calls to donors, stand up and actually let yourself move your body. Maybe that's helpful. Put put some ear air pods in, and move your body so you're not feeling so tight and stale. Maybe that will help. Or if you prefer to sit, get into a different seat, be in, look out the window right like slightly change up your status quo. So you're again triggering to your brain and your body. We're doing this one different maybe there is a vision board or an image or something like that, you can look at for a moment that will give you that lightness or that commitment. I've shared this study before, but there's such a great study that showed that there were two sets of people who called potential donors for fundraising, and one set of people had the same script as the other set of people. And the only difference that they AB tested is one group had a picture, a visual representation, of a runner crossing a finish line. That's it. Somebody winning had nothing to do with fundraising, and those people close at so much higher of a volume than the people that didn't, it triggered to those true to their brain, those neural pathways of winning, and that winning shines in your voice. It shines in the speed, it shines in the commitment and the audacity of your calls and your asks, okay, so if you're like many of the organizations I've talked to lately, and you're like, listen, our board is pretty unengaged right now. It's really like pulling teeth to get them to X, Y or Z. I want you to think about, how could I have an energy shift with them. What would it be like to fully commit to whatever it is I'm asking them to do sometimes, when you're trying to mobilize your board, maybe it's for your end to help you fundraise. Maybe it's to kick off a spring event. Maybe it's to get 100% participation in something, right? You have to show them, you have to, as that camp counselor, show them that energy and that like excitement, so they get excited too. It's contagious. It's contagious. I had a teacher in elementary school, and she would say, yawning is contagious. So we had to take, we had to take chorus classes, and she would say, if one person yawns during this performance, everyone's going to yawn. And so she would say, yawning is contagious. Don't yawn, right? Because it is just seeing one person be low Energy, everybody's going to match and mirror that you
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so let's talk about persistence in this overall commitment. So in improv, I've learned that sometimes one person wants the story to go in one direction, but when you are literally kind of doing this live improv, there's no script your partner or partners could take it in a different direction, and your campaigns can go that way too, right? Where you're like, this didn't go exactly how I had hoped, or this didn't go how I thought it would go. And how can I commit to the end goal and stay in that calf energy, right? So this may be that, like, an appeal isn't performing how you wanted it to. This may be a fundraiser isn't performing how you wanted it to, and you want to think about, how can I pivot, adjust and show up, still in 100% commitment, even though we had this twist, sometimes I call curveballs. I call unexpected happenings, plot twists. Ooh. This is.
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Just a plot twist. Now, what right? I thought it was going to go this way. It didn't. So it doesn't mean I say the whole thing is done and over, and this is all we've got. How do I want to handle this plot twist? What's in it for us? What's in it for our organization? How can we show up to this? How can we double down on our efforts? How can I get people to help me right? What would that look like to invite people to help us navigate this plot twist. Where's the quick win in here? When you ask yourself those questions, you're gonna find answers. Okay? So you have to embrace imperfection in this process, because commitment means commitment to the thing, towards the action, the energy of commitment, not towards it being perfect. Really, really important. We're talking about this a lot in the club lately.
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Scared me.
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Really, really important. This is something we've been talking about a lot in the club lately, is letting it be imperfect. So in improv, we make mistakes all the time. Like, one of the other things, remember I said that the teacher says the stakes couldn't be lower. So if somebody flubs and they were supposed to roar, but they meow it instead, we just have a roarist applause. Sometimes we do that and we just congratulate, congratulate the person, or we'll just let them work through it, like it's totally fine. And maybe that's you. Maybe the first version of your campaign, maybe the messaging fills off. This happens to me all the time where it's like, you have your fundraising landing page, you have your straight team toolkit, and then you're like, you know what? I think we can I think we can iterate on this. Let's get this version out the door. And then you may have an idea. Drop in, and you're like, there it is. There's our plot twist, there's something I want to revamp, and not making that a problem, right? So making sure that instead of stopping when those moments happen, you commit to refining it, or you commit to keeping going, keeping the momentum up, and making sure that it's not too polished, right? And I think that's one of the pieces why improv is so so fun is because, as an audience member, it's not so polished. Don't you love it when, like, SNL, characters break character, and you can see them kind of start to laugh, right? It makes me laugh because I'm like, Oh my gosh, they're breaking character, and then I'm giggling because they're giggling. Letting the humanity in is actually a really big secret to creating connection.
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All right, I have to stop because I have to call. I have a call, and then I will finish this up.
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I.
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Before we wrap up,
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commitment is as much an internal game as it is an external one. So here's what I mean, in both improv and fundraising, that voice of self doubt shows up, and I would expect it to. Sometimes it shows up louder and bolder, and other times it's a little bit more on the back burner. Okay, so it's easy to question whether or not what you're doing is good enough, or if people are responding, or if you're not getting the response that you wanted, but the key is to staying committed, is managing that inner critic, that voice, and choosing to believe and stay fully committed in the process. So let me share an example. So before you send out a new appeal, just acknowledge and honor. There's a part of you that may feel a little doubt, doubt right, that may feel a little doubtful about it, particularly with my clients in the club, what we're doing is many of them are expanding. They're doubling their next campaign. They're pushing the limits of what they did and iterating on last year's playbook. Right? They're not just doing the same thing over and over again. That expansion will bring up some Is this okay? Can I even do this? How are people going to feel about it? Right? And so you can acknowledge that part of you that's like, ooh, this feels expansive, and I'm feeling doubt come up, and I'm not choosing to let that part of me steer my mission, right, because if I let self doubt steer my mission, it's going to come out half calf, and so is our fundraising revenue, right? So one tool here is power phrases. So I want to share some power phrases that will help you get back recenter. If you feel like, Oh, I'm getting a little off course, or I just need to figure out how to get into that full calf energy. Okay? And a lot of these are improv power phrases. So here's one, be in the moment. Be in the moment. Be here now. This reminds performers and fundraisers to stay present in their scene, in their campaign, in their conversation with their donor, their sponsor, their prospect. Okay, just focus on the real time, not the before, not the after, not the what ifs Be Here Now, commit to the choice once a decision is made, and improv actors are encouraged to go all in, right? Remember the example I gave you in the beginning, right? You don't want that kind of like, you know, it's kind of right, that energy commit to the choice. If you're deciding on a big, bold goal, commit to it. Talk about it often. Let's say your goal for your next campaign is $100,000 I want you to step into that goal and shout it from the rooftops. Don't say we hope to raise 100k I hope we raise 100k we're doing it. It's happening. Are you with us? Come help, right? That energy commit to the choice, make your partner look good. Okay, that's an improv one. So improv is collaborative, right? So you don't want to give your your partner some sort of prompt and then, just like, leave them flailing, right? You want to make them look good, so you're supportive with your scene partners, keeping energy positive and collaborative. So how this would look for you is, how can I make our donors, our program participants, our board members, our social street teamers, look good? What does that look like? What is that connection look like? What's in it for them? How can I show them that I've got their back. That would be a really great prompt. And I would be so curious what comes up for you on that make your partner look good. Go big or go home. If you just took that one power phrase and pasted that, put it on a sticky note and pasted that in your office. Go big or go home. You're going to do amazing things with your next campaign, no doubt, go big or go home, pushing the edges of the norms, pushing the edges of rinse and repeat fundraising, pushing the edges of comfort and sterile or formulaic storytelling. Go big or go home. Make bold choices. There are no mistakes only gifts. Remember when I talked about plot twists? What if you just decided there are no mistakes? There are no mistakes even a typo, even a misstep. There's no mistakes only gifts. So in improv, mistakes are inevitable, right? But sometimes those mistakes add humor, add humanity. Remember what I just said about SNL. It adds connection. Oh, there's real humans behind this, right? I sent an email today to my list, and I had a moment where I was like, did I just send that email out twice? And a panic feeling was like, I think I just sent this out twice, right? So it's the exact same email twice to the exact same audience, and in that moment, I was like, Oh crap. Like, had lots of negative thoughts. And then I was just like, well, human doing human things. I guess people doubly get it. And I had a meeting, and so I couldn't really check and see if I had and I just decided that humans do human things, and I'm human being today, and it's totally fine, and it just brought me peace. It was just like it almost made me giggle, of like, it's fine, it's fine. No one will die if they get two emails with the exact same subject line, they'll just have two chances to check out that email. Right? Where can you give yourself a little bit of that self talk? And the last power phrase I want to leave you with, bring the energy and prophecy and thrive on energy, and so does your mission. The more energy, the more enthusiasm, the more commitment, excitement, Audacity, the more people will be drawn to you, the more people will want to help your cause. The more volunteers you have, the less objections you'll hear, more yeses you'll hear. So where can you double down on the energy you're bringing? That's what I've got for you today. I want to leave you with two things. One is join our wait list for the club the next time we open up enrollment, I don't want you to miss it, so make sure you go to the show notes here in the podcast, and you can join our wait list to join my coaching program. This is where I teach nonprofits to double their next fundraiser or unlock an extra 50k in funding. So that's where you learn the social Street Team method. That's where you learn deepen all of the work that I talk about on the podcast, so you can join the wait list there. The second thing I want to ask is leave us a review. Last launch, I got to meet so many of you on calls, and it was so fun, and many of you said you've been enjoying the podcast. So please scroll down if you're listening on Apple, hit five stars and write me a review. I would love to hear what's resonant with you, and I would love to celebrate and hear what is working for you and what you're enjoying about the podcast that helps the podcast show up to more listeners, and it helps me see kind of cut through that fourth wall of the people listening. So thank you. Thank you cheering you on, and I'll see you next time you.