Nervous to ask your donors for donations?

Imagine being more comfortable and confident because you ALREADY have a great relationship with your donor.

Want to learn how?

Join us for:

Gen Z’s Guide to Donor Conversations

Learn how to build stronger donor relationships by phone, virtually, and at your nonprofit events during this three-part live virtual course.

Fundraising Vibe Check: Are You Feeling Prepared?

Can we be real for a sec?

Fundraising can be hard. You are talking to people you don’t know. You are trying to build relationships. You are trying to get to know people who seemingly have nothing in common with you and are often of a different generation.

Maybe you were in school during the Covid pandemic and didn’t get the normal college experience.

Maybe you work from home part of the time and do not get access to your manager that much to observe how they talk to donors or were never given a lot of training.

Plus, you see the new AI technological abilities and are worried that your job might be replaced by a machine!

And yet, you are tasked with strengthening donor relationships.

You are told to call donors on the phone, BIG YIKES. But you never know what to say. When you do call, you receive their voicemail.

You are excited because you actually got a donor to meet with you over a Zoom call, but then you get on, there are a lot of awkward silences, and it ends quickly without much progress in the relationship.

You go to your nonprofit organization’s event, but get SO uncomfortable going up to people to introduce yourself.

Look - do you want that main character energy and slay all day at your job?

Yeah, I thought you do. Well, read on for the answer to your troubles.

Wondering If This Course Is The Right Fit?

Are you a nonprofit professional responsible for fundraising from individual donors, but not totally comfortable with the role?

Watch this video to learn why you need to sign up for this course.

Are you a nonprofit executive who manages development professionals?

Watch this video to learn more about how this course will help support your team.

Course Details: Let’s Understand the Assignment

Gen Z’s Guide to Donor Conversations

is an interactive live training course designed to enhance your interpersonal communication skills with your donors.

Over three virtual 90-minute sessions, you will:

✅ Learn techniques to build rapport with your donors

✅ Observe how other people form donor relationships

✅ Practice your question-asking and listening skills

✅ Develop the confidence to make bigger and bolder major gift asks

Who Is This For?

This is perfect for you if you are a nonprofit professional (especially someone who joined the workforce in the last 10 years) who is regularly interacting with donors, but does not YET feel comfortable and confident building rapport with donors.

What Does the Curriculum Cover?

While AI may be an essential new technological tool, the role of interpersonal relationships is more important than ever. Your donors want to talk with a real person. And that’s what this curriculum will cover.

🗣️ Session 1: Phone Skills That Actually Work

Start strong conversations, leave memorable voicemails, and decode what donors are really saying.

💻 Session 2: Virtual Conversations That Click

Build real rapport on screen, ask better questions, and observe the nonverbal cues to your advantage.

🤝 Session 3: Event Chat Confidence

Join, exit, and follow up on in-person conversations at your nonprofit events like nothing could be more natural.

What Else is Included?

Besides the three live sessions led by Fundraising Expert Susan Kahan, there will be:

  • Real-time feedback

  • Homework that builds habits

  • Templates, checklists and prompts to make every conversation count

What are the benefits?

Can you imagine lowkey loving your job and loving talking to your donors. Gen Z’s Guide will help you to…

  • Build stronger donor relations

  • Increase donor retention

  • Raise more money for your nonprofit

  • Increase your confidence by changing your mindset that fundraising is a powerful thing (in a good way!)

What Should I Tell My Manager About Why This Course is Necessary?

  • Send them this page and make sure they watch the second video at the top.

    • Explain that it would be helpful for you to have training on how to do your job better so that you can raise more money.

    • Share that you sometimes get nervous because you don’t have a lot of experience calling people you don’t know.

    • Clear up that you want to be great at your job, but aren’t sure how to do that and need the tools to be effective.

(And to my CEOs, Executive Directors, and Senior Leadership out there - do you ever worry about staff turnover and low staff morale?

I get it - you’re busy. You have a lot on your to-do list. Somehow, managing, mentoring, and training your newer development staff gets pushed down on the priority list again and again.

But you know the cost it takes to recruit great talent, train them, and allow for them to learn the job and build donor relationships.

The cost of this program is a fraction of that.

This course is an easy investment for your organization to raise more money, retain great talent, and increase job satisfaction.)

When Will The Course Take Place?

There will be three LIVE virtual sessions conducted via Zoom. Each will take place between 11:00am-12:30pm CT. The dates of the course are:

  • Friday, June 13, 2025

  • Friday, June 20, 2025

  • Friday, June 27, 2025

In advance of each session, an agenda will be shared outlining participation instructions. Between sessions, you will be asked to do some homework to prepare for each session.

Not free for these dates? Add your name to the waitlist below.

Need Additional 1:1 Coaching Support To Implement These Techniques?

Sign up for the 1:1 Coaching Package as an optional add-on! Your 1:1 Coaching Session will be with Susan Kahan for 45 minutes to continue to develop your fundraising and donor relation skills! The session is 50% off the normal price when registering through this course!

Meet Your Resident Elder Millennial & Fundraising Whisperer - Susan Kahan

In Kindergarten at a school holiday assembly, Susan boldly approached the school superintendent said, “Hi, I’m Susan! You know my dad.” Decades later, Susan saw him again at a nonprofit event she was working and said (less boldly), “Hey - you may not remember me, but I met you when I was six.”

That journey - from fearless kid to occasionally awkward adult navigating the development professional-donor relationship and speaking to people of all generations - is exactly why she created this course.

Susan Kahan is the Founder/Principal of Sapphire Fundraising Specialists, and Resident Elder Millennial & Fundraising Whisperer (and Instructor) for Gen Z’s Guide to Donor Conversations. She has raised over $75 million and held more than 500 donor meetings. Some (lots) were quite awkward. But she has pushed through the discomfort to build genuine relationships that fueled her fundraising success. Read her full biography here.

And she’s ready to show you how to do it too.

Limited Spots Open Now!

✺

Limited Spots Open Now! ✺

Gen Z's Guide to Donor Conversations

Only $399.00!

Learn how to build stronger donor relationships by phone, virtually, and at your nonprofit events during three interactive live training sessions on
June 13, 20, & 27, 2025.

Successful fundraisers are able to push through being uncomfortable and gain the opportunity to get to know their donors.

You can do that, too.

This course will show you how, let you practice, and prepare for you to do it IRL.

✺ Frequently asked questions ✺

  • Absolutely! We'd love for you to participate in the course and strengthen your donor relations skills.

  • For the initial launch in June 2025, the maximum number of participants is 12.

  • The sessions will be recorded, but will be very interactive. If you’re not able to attend these dates, you’re encouraged to sign up for the wait list for the next course dates.

  • YES! YES! YES! To build interpersonal communications, YOU need to actually use them. That means speaking. That means active listening. That means having your video on. That means being vulnerable. That means getting comfortable being uncomfortable. If that is not for you, then this course will not be a fit.

  • While the focus of the course will be to strengthen individual donor relationships, people are people. Strengthening relationships with your contacts at foundations and corporations is essential to your fundraising success, so the skills built here will be applicable.

  • We’d be delighted to create a custom training for your team. Learn more about what a solicitation training might look here, and contact us to start the conversation!

  • Participants will be tasked with sending voice memos to the instructor to practice the skills learned in the course. They will be given prompts for the types of messages they should send each day.

    In addition, participants will report (verbally) to the instructor on your weekly progress of how many real donor calls and conversations you make.

    Finally, you will fill out templates to develop your custom talking points as it relates to your nonprofit.

  • You can transfer your registration to a colleague up to 2 days in advance of the program (June 11, 2025) at no additional charge.

    Participants can notify of their wish to cancel their registration in writing by email by May 30, 2025 and receive 50% refund of what was paid.

  • Let’s chat then! Email us with your questions.

Not free for the June 2025 dates?

Sign up for the waitlist here so you’ll know first about the next dates!