DeeplyAuthentic Donor Outreach
A 90-Minute Workshop for Heart-Led Fundraisers
Do you find yourself procrastinating on donor outreach?
Worrying about what to say and how to say it?
Or maybe feeling guilty for “bothering” folks?
Sign up for my Deeper Authentic Donor Outreach workshop Friday, January 9th at 12pm so that you can move forward with greater confidence, momentum, and ease in 2026.
Because when you’re grounded in your authenticity and your enoughness, your outreach starts to flow.
Find flow with more regular, joyful donor connections.
As fundraisers, we can often find ourselves “performing” -- putting on the mask of what we think our bosses and donors expect. Someone older, someone more experienced, someone who comes from money perhaps.
We may procrastinate on individual donor outreach for weeks on end, and when we finally do reach out, our language may feel stilted or boring. There’s very little of us behind it, and the responses we get back are tepid at best.
This whole situation stinks because we care deeply about our work and we want to be in real relationship with our donors. It’s painful time and again to be falling short of what we know we’re capable of and what we know we should be doing.
But what if the very things you’re worried about – your quirky humanness, your imperfections, or your newness at fundraising – could be the very key that unlocks real connection? Which then unlocks generous giving?
Here’s the thing. Donors are people just like us. They put on their pants one leg at a time, secretly worry that they aren't enough, and truly do want to make an impact.
You may have been telling yourself they don’t want to hear from you, but that’s not true. What they don't want is to hear from a corporate machine. What they don't want is to be treated like an ATM. And just like us, what they yearn for most is connection and meaning.
So let’s offer it to them!
If you can be brave enough to drop the mask… If you can be brave enough to invite connection as the open-hearted, work-in-progress human that you are, then “your people” will sit up and listen.
You will stand taller because you’re speaking with your own voice, sharing your own perspective, and being real about who you are. This realness then gives donors permission to drop their guard and show up as who they really are.
Imagine them saying, “I’m so glad you reached out,” “Yes please to that coffee date,” and “Wow, can you tell me more about that program?” I have seen this approach in action and I know that it’s possible.
It doesn’t take a multi-page strategic plan, a glossy Case for Support, or a moves management system installed in your database. All it takes is you and your willingness to show up as you.
Did you feel your shoulders drop just now? Because I did! Yes, this is a place of relief. A place of ease. And there’s a lot more where this came from.
So I invite you to join me...
We’ll gather to hold the “muchness” of this work with tenderness: our love, our fear, our courage, our dreams, our failings, and our brilliance. From this place, we will kindle our courage, feel into our strength, and break the binding grip of inaction.
This Session is For You If…
You’re young or brand new at fundraising and worried that no-one will take you seriously
You’ve been a fundraiser for a long time, but you tend to hide behind the scenes, wrestle with self doubt, or procrastinate something awful
You’re an Executive Director or Board Member who finally wants to come to grips with this fundraising thing after avoiding it for years
You’re fundraising curious, wondering whether this could be an avenue for your career
You’re any of the above, wanting to break free from the icky power dynamics and the transactionality that seem to be at play in fundraising
What You Can Expect
Unpack your current perspective – Reflect on your current approach to fundraising and any beliefs that are holding you back
Explore powerful mindset shifts – Discover new framing for your role that can make fundraising feel more easeful, joyful, and fully aligned with who you are.
Practical, actionable strategies – Learn and practice simple language you can use to build authentic connections with donors
Leave ready to take action – Identify one donor outreach you’ll commit to making today, without overthinking or wordsmithing.
What Others Say…
“Vanessa’s workshop was both refreshing and deeply inspiring, led with a rare combination of expertise and authenticity.
Her encouragement to show up as our real, unpolished selves dissolved the pressure to perform and opened a new field of ease, inspiration, and possibility.
She created space for joyful networking, genuine connection, and a deep, palpable sense of the potential for collaboration in service to the world.”
- Michael Thiele, Executive Director, Apis Arborea
Ready to join us?
If what I’m sharing resonates, I hope you’ll say yes.
This is not any ordinary webinar or one-off training. Deeply Authentic Donor Outreach is a space for reflection, connection, and personal transformation. It’s where we practice showing up with courage and humanity, and where we build skills to match.
The workshop is $97 and is capped at 10 participants to ensure a warm and personalized experience.
If you’re curious but unsure, I invite you to listen inward. And if it’s a yes — even a quiet, tentative one — I hope you’ll take your seat. I’d love to have you.