Ep. 146: Why Nonprofit Fundraising Campaigns Stall & How to Fix It
EPISODE 146
Why Nonprofit Fundraising Campaigns Stall & How to Fix It
About the Episode:
Your campaign launched strong—emails out, ambassadors ready, social posts scheduled. And then the momentum vanished. You’re not alone.
I’m sharing what no one prepares you for: the messy middle of your fundraising campaign. That moment when things slow down, energy dips, and you start asking, “Where is everybody?” If it feels harder to move donors right now, you’re right. The game has changed. Campaigns that used to work aren’t hitting the same, and it’s not because your cause isn’t worthy. It’s because “good enough” no longer cuts it. Your donors are behaving more like consumers. They need urgency, energy, and movement.
In this episode, I’m walking you through why campaigns stall—and what to do instead. You’ll learn how to spot the stall before it happens, how to inject new momentum when the buzz dies down, and why donor fatigue is often a leadership energy issue in disguise. This isn’t about working harder. It’s about leading differently. Let’s get your campaign moving again.
Here’s what you’ll learn:
The real reason your fundraising campaign is stalling out
How “donor fatigue” is actually leadership fatigue in disguise
Why good enough isn’t good enough anymore (and what to do instead)
The psychology of urgency and how to build it into every campaign
What donors really need to act now
How to reignite mid-campaign momentum with a simple but powerful strategy
What the best campaigns get right: movement, not maintenance
It’s not your stories—it’s how you’re telling them. If your amazing work isn’t getting the attention (and donations) it deserves, it’s time for a messaging shift. The Brave Fundraiser’s Guide guide gives you 10 done-for-you donor prompts to make your message impossible to ignore. Get it for free here! https://christinaedwards.krtra.com/t/xKuLs6tOiPZa
Christina’s Favorite Takeaways:
“Right now, fundraising is behaving more like consumer behavior than traditional philanthropy.”
“People move towards urgency and social proof faster than they're moving towards loyalty and brand recognition.”
“If your campaign doesn't have aliveness, doesn't seem new and different, doesn't have urgency built in, or social proof built in, it can feel invisible to your audience.”
“One of the things that I notice is many of you put all your momentum in November and December, and then you wonder why people also give most in November and December.”
“Donor fatigue is leadership fatigue and in disguise, because when donors feel tired of giving, it's often because the leadership didn't inject new energy.”
“Donors delay when campaigns feel stagnant.”
“The nonprofit sector isn't losing out because these causes aren't worthy. It's just because campaigns were underpowered by low leadership energy and the lack of a strategy to support the slump.”
“The best campaigns are built in movement, not maintenance. They're built in tandem with ambassadors, influencers, and straight teamers.”
“If you treat your fundraiser like a static event, it will behave like one. If you treat your fundraiser like a living, breathing movement, it will multiply in its own energy.”
Episode Resources:
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Christina Edwards 0:30Today we're talking about your campaigns. You spent all of this time, all of this effort, all of the people power, and you're really excited about it, and then it's stalled out. Okay, we're gonna talk about some of the most common things I see that are making campaigns stall out, and how to flip the script. Because this is a through line for organizations of every size and shape and cause area, and it's a real trend that I'm seeing, not in a good way, but a trend that I'm seeing where campaigns are stalling out and the organization isn't sure what to do, because in the past, you were able to do X, Y and Z, and that helped, and then you were able to kind of hit the finish line, and it's feeling harder than ever. So if you're stuck in what I call the messy middle, or you know about the messy middle, you know that the messy middle is something that is very, very predictable in your organization, in your campaign, where you're like, yeah, there's always that part where it just feels like a slog. It feels like where is everybody? Then today's episode is for you.
Unknown Speaker 1:32
So I want to tell you about two nonprofit leaders that I worked with recently. Okay, so both are smart, both are driven. Both are doing so much right. Both are putting their heart and soul into this work. Campaigns, launch ambassadors, recruited social media, scheduled emails, done on paper, it really looked like gold star, gold star, gold star, you're killing it. But into the campaign, donations started to crawl. Momentum fizzled. Energy vanished. And what happens at this point is, not only does this external thing happen, where again, you're hyped up to start, you're feeling good, and then you're getting that energy back at you, and so you feel good. And then you continue feeling hyped up, and you continue talking about it. And then that momentum, that positive energy is infectious, and then this happens, and that negative energy, that lack of input, that lack of response from the public, makes your energy, in turn, vanish. Okay? So they come to me saying the same thing, but in different words, like we thought we built it right? We did everything. I had an organization say to me, we did the same thing we did last year. Where is everybody right? Why aren't people moving? We just last year was awesome. We just replicated that right? And that moment, that feeling of frustration, it is happening across our sector, and it's not because, it's not because people don't care about your cause. It's not you, I promise. It's not because they don't care about your mission. That they only want to support. This is what I hear. They only want to support political causes. They only want to serve, support environmental causes. They only want to serve, support
Unknown Speaker 3:16
the social justice right like name The other thing that's not it. That is not it. It's because good enough isn't good enough anymore, not for donors, not for campaigns, not for movements. So today I'm breaking down why you're fundraising campaign stall and how we're going to flip the script. So let's set the stage. Let's talk about sort of the State of the Union, why this matters so much and why this maybe feels harder than ever.
Unknown Speaker 3:45
So right now, fundraising is behaving more like consumer behavior than traditional philanthropy. Now my business, my coaching, my programs, my consultancy, are built on my lived experience. It's like a picture. Sometimes I want to balance beam. I've got, like, one foot, one arm in on the nonprofit world, and one foot, one arm in the for profit world. And so I've always been able to kind of bring in what's working on one side over here to the other side. And right now, it doesn't feel like I'm well balanced on that beam. Okay? It doesn't feel like, Oh, these nonprofit ways of doing it are still applicable. No donors are behaving like they do in the for profit sector. They are making purchase decisions the way, and then they're carrying those behaviors over in the nonprofit sector to make their donation their philanthropic decisions. So here's what's shifting. Donors expect live momentum. They don't feel the movement happening. They assume it's not worth acting on. That is why I taught an urgency workshop just a couple of months ago. And if you did not catch that class, it is amazing. It was almost a.
Unknown Speaker 5:00
To our class, all about creating urgency in your campaigns. We will link to it in the notes. It is a very affordable price point, and if you're new to my programs, I highly suggest grabbing that class. It also lives inside the sprint method. So if you're in the sprint method, you know that urgency class is right there for you.
Unknown Speaker 5:19
Now, way, way, way back when I used to own a marketing agency, and, you know, we lived and breathed by a lot of marketing principles that worked. One of them was the rule of seven. The rule of seven simply states that the buyer, the pride buyer prospect, needs to hear the marketing message seven times before they make the decision. Okay, so imagine you're trying to sell me a new water bottle or a new lipstick. I'm gonna need to hear about that water bottle. I'm gonna need to see that lipstick on different lips, on a billboard, in a magazine, on the radio, hear a commercial about it, see an influencer talk about it, see it on social media before I finally go purchase the lipstick. Okay, here's what's crazy. That rule of seven has really ballooned up. There are different data and different studies to support this to about 17 touches. Can you imagine? Now? I'm like, Yeah, that's true. I think about some of the decisions that I've made, some of the purchase decisions that I've made from something really small, like, you know, new pillowcases to something large, like, you know, a car purchase or something like that. And I think about the way that I made those decisions, or maybe trying out a new brand for the first time, like, maybe you're curious, but it's not your go to it's not your Gap or your Nordstrom or wherever you like to shop, and you're like, I'm gonna, maybe, I'm maybe gonna try out that new brand. I'm interested in what they've got many, many times you were served their Facebook ad, you're hearing about it on a podcast promo, you're seeing an Instagramer. Talk about it up to 17 times before you finally go. All right, let's do it. Let's try them out. Okay, so I am lived experience of that. I lived a consumer, an example of that experience where I'm like, Yeah, I need, hey, I also need the reminder half the time, and here's a big distinction, this is good half the time. It's not that I'm like, oh, please sell me new brand. Please sell me new lipstick. Please sell me new water bottle. I need to know what makes you different. Oftentimes, I'm, like, already sold on the thing, but I'm just not in the zone to buy the thing.
Unknown Speaker 8:07
So, for example, I just purchased a couple of, like, summer items, some linen tops, and I think, and a couple of things like that from an online e commerce platform shop called quince. And I had seen their ad. I had seen maybe an influencer talk about their like, a top or something like that on Instagram. And then I had, like, opted into their email list, so I was, like, in their world, but I hadn't made a purchase yet. And the big driver after I sort of started to really warm up in their world, that maybe took a few days, something like that is I just wasn't at the point where I was like, ready. I knew that I wanted to try a few different things, and I wasn't at the point where I was like, ready to go through the whole site see if they had pants. I wanted anything like that. So part of the rule of 17 there was that I just needed a couple reminders. Like, hey, we're having a sale going on. Hey, come check out these linen pants. Hey, check out our new, you know, summer collection. Part of it was just the nudge to buy, and not the nudge to convince. Do you see the difference there? It wasn't so much that they had to tell me that their linen was the best linen, or that their colors are the best colors, or they're the best price and best value. It was simply, Hey, you forgot to do this. Christina, Hey, didn't you want this? So distinction there can be really important. Okay, so people move towards urgency and social proof faster than they're moving towards loyalty and brand recognition. And honestly, that example is a perfect example of that, because there are probably five other places I could try and go find some summer stuff in linen, you know, materials that I already know, like and trust, your Gaps, your Nordstroms, your etc, of the world. But I wanted to try this one because it's it wasn't. It went different. I wanted to try this one because I liked their style better.
Unknown Speaker 10:00
Right? So if your campaign doesn't have that aliveness, doesn't seem new and different, doesn't have that urgency built in, or that social proof built in, it can feel invisible to your audience. The hard truth here is that nobody owes you. This is hard attention. Nobody owes you urgency, right? You have to build it, particularly in the first half of the year, even like the first eight months of the year, you have to build it for them, because nonprofits are caught in this chicken or egg strategy. Where is it them, the donors, or is it us, the nonprofits that have trained our donors that to give at your end, okay? And then they give at your end, and it makes it very hard for you to see those donors kind of poke their heads out and the first other eight months of the year, right? And so you have to build the urgency. You have to give them a reason to, like, poke their head up and go, Yes, I'll donate today, right? You have to be the leader of that, and it's absolutely possible. But one of the things that I notice is many of you put all your momentum, all of your guts, all of your bravery, all of your juicy storytelling, all of your really like the hardest you know you run to the finish line, the hardest sprint you give you give it in December. You give it in November. You don't give it in the other months of the year. So you wonder why? You wonder why people also give most in November and December. That's the chicken or egg. Okay.
Unknown Speaker 11:38
So what is leading it look like most nonprofits think they're running amazing fundraising campaigns, but what they're actually running is a series of announcements, right? It's the difference of me, like popping open my front door and just like seeing who kind of comes in, like the door is open, versus me being like, come on. Party's on. Let's go. It's they're launching, but not leading energy. You're asking but not activating, right? You're waiting, but not creating the momentum. The sharper truth here is that donor fatigue is leadership fatigue and in disguise, because when donors feel tired of giving, it's often because the leadership didn't inject new energy, new stakes, new momentum, new stories, when it was needed most, that's not a donor problem, that's a leadership gap, okay, and the best news I have for you is that it's solvable. So if you've said to yourself, our donors are tired, they're overwhelmed, they're getting too many asks, I get it. I get it. It feels like you're sitting on a campaign that's not moving. The energy is dipped. The gifts have slowed down. But that donor fatigue, I want you to ask. Ask yourself, how is it also leadership fatigue? What could I do instead? How is this a mirror, right? So kind of letting that leadership, letting yourself see where leadership got tired First, leadership pulled back First, leadership stopped infusing the campaign with urgency, clarity, energy and donors responded to that vacuum, that cycle,
Unknown Speaker 13:47
most nonprofits accidentally teach donors to disengage. They announce the campaign. What happens? You come in hot, right? Send a couple of emails, post on social, and then you peter out. Stay polite and professional instead of energetic and compelling.
Unknown Speaker 14:05
Meanwhile, those donors are like, Well, maybe it's not that urgent after all. Maybe they don't need it that badly. I'll give later. I'll give next time. Not at all. And the worst part of that thought is that thought is not even recognized in the donor's brain. It's
Unknown Speaker 14:20
happening in the background, right? It's subconscious. They're not even thinking. Many of them, it's not that urgent at all. I'll give, I'll give some other time. It's just subconscious. So they're consuming your lackluster marketing message mid campaign, and they're like, yeah, cool, move on. Versus go. Look, go. Look at what the for profits do. They don't take that status quo. They're like, No, no. Christina, linen season is upon us. Our linen has dropped. Come, come, come, buy this thing you need it here.
Unknown Speaker 15:00
10 Reasons Why You need it. Here's five outfits you can make with it. Here's four discount codes. Here's three ways you can style it, right? They're like all of the different angles, all of the different values. To me, here's two shipping options, right?
Unknown Speaker 15:21
So this cycle of that fatigue, that leadership fatigue, that then informs the donor fatigue, looks like waiting for the big donation instead of the new momentum, thinking we already we already reached out. I don't want to bother people assuming everybody already saw it. Never assume that. Y'all Never assume everyone's reading your emails, everyone's reading your text messages, everybody's everybody's consuming all your content. We are not, we are not, and you're doing us a disservice by not giving a reminder.
Unknown Speaker 16:06
so what can you do instead? I'm going to share with you some examples of what this looks like and how you can get yourself out of it right, how you can get yourself out of that slump. So one nonprofit that had all of the right pieces, so you know, all of the campaign was live. It looked good. The ambassadors were lined up, the emails were scheduled. Maybe there was a donor match that was potentially going to happen. And then donations slowed. And behind the scenes, the energy wasn't being led out loud, okay, I teach this energy process inside both of my programs of how to keep your ambassadors and your street teamers engaged, how to keep your internal stakeholders engaged. If you say my board won't help my boards disengage, My ambassadors aren't getting back to me. That is a leadership problem, and that's okay, because we can give you the tools and support to solve that problem. It is not a them problem, okay, it is not a them problem. They're not broken. This is solvable. But maybe ambassadors behind the scenes were left guessing how to help, forgot about it. it wasn't even top of mind. Maybe the donor match existed, but people didn't know about it. No live updates were were being shared to keep momentum going. Okay, so it's all about flipping it and going, how can I reignite the energy publicly? And when you do this, everything changes publicly, right? Momentum is returned. Ambassadors lean in harder. They hit their goals. If they're peer, fundraisers, donors, re, engage faster, and what starts as a quiet stall out couple weeks into a campaign, couple days into a campaign, suddenly you're through. You're through, instead of letting that stop you. It's like a bump in the road versus a boulder in the road, where you're like, well, we got to get the car towed down so the campaign can then catch fire, raising more and getting more faster and becoming more visible than previously.
Unknown Speaker 18:45
so the reality is that you and I can predict this, and that's why, when we teach nonprofits how to have successful, profitable fundraising campaigns, we teach a process where we plan for this, we plan for this, and we plan a way through it so it doesn't stop you, because the Ambassadors will quit silently when leadership is passive, right? And there's not hype, when they're not hyped up, and they're not giving the tools to succeed. Donors delay when campaigns feel stagnant, they can feel this or the lack thereof of that hype, that momentum, that kind of goes quietly in the background. It's nearly impossible to revive if you wait too long. So don't, don't wait too long. The nonprofit sector isn't losing out because these causes aren't worthy. It's just because campaigns were underpowered by low leadership energy and the lack of the strategy to support the slump. If you are running a 5k or longer, let's go half marathon for this analogy, there's going to be a point during it where you're like, This is a grind. I can't do it right? You plan for that. Runners plan for that. They literally have strategies in place for the point where.
Unknown Speaker 20:00
They want to quit. It feels impossible. They can't do it anymore. They feel like this is a terrible idea. Their body's not capable. They plan for that, and that's how they cross the finish line. That's it. So we build in strategies for you to plan for it, so that you have momentum boosters when you need them. Momentum boosters mid campaign. Momentum boosters to finish out the campaign. So what separates stalled campaigns from skyrocketing ones? It's pretty simple. Y'all, the best campaigns are built in movement, not maintenance. They're built in tandem with ambassadors and influencers and straight teamers. They don't just play in the work and plus press play and it's and assume we launched the fundraiser, and now the people will come. Instead, they're energetically keeping that momentum up through the campaign. They hype up and build in momentum mid campaign, not just at doors open when you kick off the campaign, not just when the direct letters, direct mail letters drop,
Unknown Speaker 21:08
because if you treat your fundraiser like a static event, it will behave like one. If you treat your fundraiser like a living, breathing movement, it will multiply in its own energy. If you think back to a fundraiser that maybe you donated to, you experienced online. You were the recipient of emails or social posts and saw and one where you're like, damn, I want you to think about the energy behind it. I want you to think about like the people behind it, the people sending the emails, the people sharing the content. It felt energetically hyped. That's what's missing. And when donors feel this, just like set it and forget it, style of fundraising, they're out. They're out. Okay, they need the energy. Don't make this mean that you're that. Christina is saying you have to work 80 hours a week and stay hyped up and high vibe in order to hit your goal. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is you need to create a fundraiser using our campaign launch system, where you plan, you build an urgency, you build in momentum boosters, you keep your energy high, and you public facing. Are sharing that energy. So people want to be a part of the movement. That's a distinction. It doesn't take more hours to do that. Just takes a little bit of planning and some self coaching and some support from a coach to get through it. That's it. And then you just build the skill, and it gets better and easier each time.
Unknown Speaker 22:41
So the next time you think about your donors, especially the ones you're like Christina, I keep asking them, and I feel bad, and you know, I don't want to tire them out. They're fatigued. I want you to think, and why haven't they given? Right? That's what's on the other hand. End of that, that that lamenting, I want you to think, Huh, they're just waiting for a signal to move forward. They're just waiting for a signal to donate. They're just waiting for a signal to take action. I wonder how I could give them that signal. Or next time you're thinking, I'm trying the same Ambassador thing, it's not working. No one cares. They're lazy. Whenever it's coming up, I want you to think, what would be a reason for them to re engage? What would be a reason for them to re engage? You've got to get out of your own head and step in their experience and their why, and the answer will be clear as day. Will you lead them, or will you let your campaign become a good idea, a good dream that just goes quietly into the night. Don't do that. That does a disservice of you, because you are capable of hitting that goal. You're capable of exceeding that goal. That does a disservice to the people or community you serve, right? So you gotta get on out of your own way on that. That's why I love coaching so much, because we can support you to do that if you're done doing good enough fundraising and fingers crossed fundraising and you want to build campaigns that actually move people to action, raise money faster, create a community that wants to act with you. Then let's craft your growth growth plan. You can book a free call with me anytime, and we can talk about which one of my programs is right for you. We have the club for more established organizations ready to scale up to 1,000,00, 2 million, 3 million and beyond. And then we have the sprint method for emerging organizations ready to raise five figures in every fundraiser. I'm so excited for you to hit your next campaign goal. Layer in plan for plan for this layer and some strategies to address that slump that can naturally happen. Cheering you on. I'll see you in the next one.