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Hey Fundraiser!: Daily Summaries Delivered
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.
- Today13 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...
- 1 weeks ago13 min
What to Say When Major Donors Say 'I Need to Think About It'
Mary teaches from What to Say and her 25+ years of major gift experience on the single most common response to a major gift ask. This episode breaks down the in-the-moment response, the 48-hour follow-up, how to create structure without pressure, and the difference between 'thinking about it' and a quiet no. She also covers the 4 most common objections in her book: 'I need to think about it,' 'This is too much money,' 'I'm not interested,' and 'I want to talk to my spouse.' Full language for...
- 2 weeks ago10 min
Your Next Major Donor Is Already in Your Database
Mary teaches the 4 hidden major gift prospect profiles that live in almost every donor database — and the conversations that unlock them. She covers the 3-filter database review, the re-qualification conversation, and the staircase model that shows exactly how a $500-a-year loyal donor becomes a $50,000 major gift. This episode is full of practical language you can use this week. Mary shares examples from the book — including the "graduation day" moment when a long-time mid-level donor reali...
- 3 weeks ago13 min
The Mid-Year Check-In: Are You Actually on Track?
Mary walks through the full mid-year major gift program evaluation. This episode is built on the Engineer step of her 4-step system: the phase where you get crystal clear on whether your strategy is working. She covers the 5 metrics that actually matter, how to run a pipeline health assessment, the 3 most common mid-year diagnoses, and how to build a realistic Q3 course-correction plan that doesn't require working 80 hours a week. 🪑 The Small Table Intensive. Half a day. Build or rebuild you...
- 4 weeks ago15 min
The Stewardship Multiplier: How Great Thank-Yous Build Bigger Next Gifts
Mary teaches the stewardship system from Small Table Big Philanthropy — the one that turns $1,000 donors into $10,000 donors and $10,000 donors into $100,000 donors. She covers the 48-hour post-gift sequence (why a phone call beats a letter every time), the mid-year impact update format that actually gets read, the annual stewardship visit agenda, and the math behind treating donors like royalty vs. treating them like ATMs. Grab Small Table Big Philanthropy at heyfundraiser.com. If this episo...
- May 1, 202622 min
From Reading the Book to Doing
In this episode, I will share how shifting from large galas to small, intimate dinners can exponentially increase major gift fundraising. Discover her three-step strategy to build sustainable donor relationships and learn about her Small Table Intensive workshop designed to turn theory into actionable plans. #fundraising #donorrelationships #philanthropy #majorgifts #marypetersen 🪑 The Small Table Intensive. Half a day. Build or rebuild your major gift program around fewe...
- Apr 30, 202616 min
Small Table Big Philanthropy is Available TODAY!
Order Small Table Big Philanthropy at https://stbp.heyfundraiser.com/. This is the book your entire development team need. If you want to go beyond the book and actually build this out with me — live — I just opened registration for the Small Table Intensive. This is a 4-hour working session, limited to 30 organizations, where we don't just talk about the Dinner-Match-Upgrade strategy. We build it. Together. #fundraising #donorrelationships #philanthropy #majorgifts #marypetersen 🪑 The...
- Apr 24, 202627 min
Small Table Big Philanthropy: A Sneak Peek Inside the Book
A week before the April 30 launch, Mary does a live teaching from the heart of the book. She covers the small table philosophy (why intimacy beats scale in major gift fundraising), the three-part strategy (Dinner → Match → Upgrade), the staircase mindset ($1,000 → $10,000 → $100,000), and the courage it takes to invite someone into something bigger. This episode is part teaching, part behind-the-scenes look at how the book came to be, and part permission slip for fundraisers who are ready to...
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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