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by Mary Hackett
Welcome to Hey Fundraiser, the podcast for nonprofit Executive Directors and major gift officers who are done guessing.Each week, host Mary Petersen pulls back the curtain on what actually works in major gifts. Not theory. Not whiteboard frameworks. Real scripts, real strategy, and the exact moves you can use in your next donor meeting. Mary spent 25+ years as a working major gift officer and built a methodology that closes 5 and 6-figure gifts in months, not years, by going deep with a focused portfolio instead of chasing volume.If you've ever frozen up before an ask, stared at a "wish list" of donors with no idea who to call first, or wondered why the industry keeps telling you a major gift takes 18 months to close, this is your show.You'll leave every episode with one clear thing to do on Monday morning. Hit follow and start building real momentum.
Latest Episodes
The most recent episodes — sign up to get AI-powered summaries of each one.
- 5 days ago42 min
How to Prep your CEO for a Major Gift Meeting
CEOs play a crucial role in major gift fundraising, but not all of them are natural fundraisers. In this episode, we’ll discuss how to prepare and coach your CEO for major donor meetings, including messaging, body language, and overcoming objections. Learn how to position them as the ideal storyteller and ambassador for your mission. 🪑 The Small Table Intensive. Half a day. Build or rebuild your major gift program around fewer donors and deeper relationships, using the methodolo...
- 1 weeks ago41 min
Special Episode FR Questions
This is a different kind of episode, and it might be one of Mary's favorites yet! No theory, no framework from the top down. Just three real questions sent in by fundraisers like you, answered live. Mary digs into how to do prospect research in-house with zero fancy tools (hint: your donor database already knows more than you think), how to translate big campaign priorities into asks that actually feel personal to a donor, and how to build a real system for stewardship and donor upgrades so ...
- 1 weeks ago33 min
I Just Taught My First Small Table Intensive. Here's What Happened
In this episode, I walk you through what we built together and answer the six questions that came up in the room, because I guarantee you're asking them too. Does the dinner have to be in someone's home? What do you do with loyal donors who won't return your calls? Can you invite people who have never given? And the big one: do you ask for the gift at the table, or the next morning? (The answer to that last one took me years and a lot of money left on the table to learn.) If you've read Smal...
- 2 weeks ago33 min
Ask Once, Thank for 180 Days: The Year-End Strategy Nobody Talks About
Your year-end success is being decided right now. Not by your appeal letter, not by your Giving Tuesday plan, but by what you're doing with your top donors today. In this episode, Mary steps back from the tactics and hands you the thinking that makes every year-end move actually land: ask a major donor once, then thank them for the next 180 days. The Year-End Major Gift Playbook: Mary's complete six-month strategy to crush year-end, with scripts, calendars, trackers, and her 20 best cultivati...
- Jun 26, 202631 min
The Summer Move that Makes Your Year-End Easy
Most fundraisers treat summer like the slow season. That's the mistake. Summer is the single best relationship-building season of the year, and what you do with your donors in July and August is what you'll close in October and November. In this episode, Mary makes the case for summer as your secret weapon and hands you the exact moves to use it. You'll learn the low-stakes cultivation tactics that actually deepen donor relationships (yes, the lemonade and the walk are strategy), and the on...
- Jun 19, 202648 min
How One AFP Chapter Creatively Supported Its Members
Mary shares highlights from her keynote at the AFP Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties Summer Symposium, a full morning with 110 fundraisers built entirely around major gift confidence. She covers the difference between cultivation and avoidance, the relationship rhythm that moves donors forward without feeling transactional, and why confidence isn't a personality trait – it's a skill set you can build. She also breaks down the three takeaways that landed hardest in the room: go deeper not wid...
- Jun 12, 202643 min
How to Activate Your Board for Major Gifts (Without Making Them Hate You)
Mary teaches the board fundraising framework from Small Table Big Philanthropy — the one that works because it doesn't ask board members to do anything that feels like selling. She covers the 3-questions exercise (30 minutes, dozens of new prospects), the 4 board fundraising roles (none of which require 'the ask'), the small table approach to activating board networks, and how to celebrate and reinforce board fundraising wins so the momentum continues. 🪑 The Small Table Intensive. Half a da...
- Jun 5, 202613 min
Summer Cultivation: Your Best Season for Major Gift Development
Mary makes the case for summer as the most strategic cultivation season of the year. She covers the summer small table strategy (the backyard dinner, the outdoor lunch, the informal gathering at a board member's home), the fall calendar booking strategy (book October visits now, while calendars are still open), and the specific summer actions that directly lead to Q4 gift closures. She also addresses the board's summer role — and why summer social gatherings are one of the most underutilized...
About Hey Fundraiser!
Welcome to Hey Fundraiser, the podcast for nonprofit Executive Directors and major gift officers who are done guessing.Each week, host Mary Petersen pulls back the curtain on what actually works in major gifts. Not theory. Not whiteboard frameworks. Real scripts, real strategy, and the exact moves you can use in your next donor meeting. Mary spent 25+ years as a working major gift officer and built a methodology that closes 5 and 6-figure gifts in months, not years, by going deep with a focused portfolio instead of chasing volume.If you've ever frozen up before an ask, stared at a "wish list" of donors with no idea who to call first, or wondered why the industry keeps telling you a major gift takes 18 months to close, this is your show.You'll leave every episode with one clear thing to do on Monday morning. Hit follow and start building real momentum.
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Frequently Asked Questions
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