Episode 16 - Beyond the Annual Banquet with Haley Limo

Fundraising can feel overwhelming for many nonprofit leaders—especially when so much pressure is placed on annual banquets, galas, and constant financial uncertainty. But what if sustainable fundraising is built less on events and more on intentional relationships?

In this episode of Lifeline for Leaders, Kirk and Linda Thomas sit down with Haley Limo, founder of Least of These Philanthropy, to talk about major gift fundraising, donor stewardship, and how faith-based nonprofits can grow support without losing sight of their mission.

With more than 15 years of fundraising experience, Haley shares practical strategies that helped organizations dramatically increase giving through relationship-based fundraising—not by adding more events, but by building trust, stewarding donors well, and learning how to confidently ask.

This conversation covers donor retention, stewardship systems, fundraising mindset shifts, major donor strategies, ROI, leadership growth, and how nonprofits can strengthen long-term financial sustainability. Haley also shares why asking is biblical, how organizations can move beyond a “manna mindset,” and why strong donor relationships still matter more than AI or flashy fundraising trends.

If you’re a nonprofit leader, pregnancy center director, ministry leader, or fundraiser trying to grow support while staying mission-focused, this episode is full of practical encouragement and actionable wisdom.

Connect with Haley Limo:
Least of These Philanthropy, Haley Limo on LinkedIn

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

The organizations that do the basics well end up getting the bigger gifts and end up growing. And I feel there's a spiritual aspect to that too. You know, the Lord, I think, blesses us if we do well with little and then he'll give us much. And so I'm always trying to make sure that they're prepared and they're that taking care of the smaller dollars before we try to bring in the bigger ones because I think that's important mindset-wise.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Welcome to Lifeline for Leaders, a podcast created to strengthen and connect those serving in pregnancy care clinics and pro-life ministries. I'm Linda Thomas.

SPEAKER_02 0:32

And I'm Kirk Thomas. Each week we sit down with leaders, ministry partners, authors, and experts who shape the pro-life landscape, sharing practical insights you can use right away, and inspiring stories that remind you you're not walking this journey alone.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Our mission is to help you serve with confidence and resilience. This is your community, your support, your lifeline. This episode's lifeline is learning how to build sustainable donor relationships that strengthen your mission beyond the annual banquet. Today we're joined by Haley Lemo, founder of Least of These Philanthropy, to talk about major gift fundraising, donor stewardship, and practical ways faith-based faith-based nonprofits, say that three times, can grow support without losing sight of their mission. Haley, we're so glad you're here.

SPEAKER_02 1:27

Hello, Haley. Thanks for being on the show.

SPEAKER_00 1:29

Yes, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

All right, we're gonna dive right in after Kirk says a prayer.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

Oh, well, thank you, Linda. I'd love to say a prayer. Heavenly Father, give leaders wisdom to steward their mission well, courage to build meaningful relationships and peace as they trust you to provide for the work you've called them to do, and provide the resources that all these nonprofits need to help them successfully accomplish their missions. We pray these things in your name. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 2:02

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 2:02

All right, Haley. So sort of give us you've you uh my understanding you were an executive director and then you kind of moved into your own consulting firm helping helping nonprofits. So just give us the kind of overview of of where you've where you've been and where you're going.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

So yes, for sure. Well, so excited to be here. Yes, I'm Haley Lemo, and I have my consulting business, Least of These Philanthropy, where I focus specifically on helping faith-based nonprofits do major gift fundraising. I've been in the fundraising realm for about 15 years now, so pretty long time. I started as a major gift fundraiser for a very large nonprofit in the DC area. Our team was raising tens of millions of dollars a year. And I um had a very long list of donors that I worked with, and so I was basically on a plane almost every week, traveling coast to coast, doing in-person asks, doing major gift fundraising. And so that's kind of where I say I cut my teeth, and fundraising was in a very large organization and learned a lot and absolutely loved it. Fell in love with major gift fundraising. We didn't have typical galas or banquets, not that large nonprofit. We were bringing tens of millions of dollars, and it was just all simply from all of us getting out there, hustling, and being with donors face to face. So I loved that type of fundraising and realized that there was a lot of faith-based nonprofits, smaller nonprofits that needed to learn how to do this because the ROI is definitely a lot better than kind of a lot of the typical ways that people are currently fundraising. So after I left that organization, I became the CEO of a small pregnancy center outside of Washington, DC. Um, and while I was there, we tripled our fundraising in 18 months. Again, not from a banquet or a gala, just simply from me going and having coffee and lunch with people and asking for gifts and tripling that income very naturally. Um, so after that, my husband and I moved to the Texas area, and I've just been kind of doing consulting and helping people ever sit. So that's kind of a little bit about me and kind of where I got to where I am.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

Yeah, it sounds like you have an incredible amount of experience, and you've got a couple young ones. I could see why you needed to get off the plane, but you just you seem so young to have so much experience. That is truly amazing. You say on your website that you help organizations from a biblical perspective. What does that look like in the real world situations?

SPEAKER_00 4:26

Yeah, so it's such a great question. Um, well, as a strong Christian, I've definitely approached everything in my life from a faith-based perspective, especially when it comes to fundraising as well. I think a lot of times we think of fundraising in the sense of giving. Um, you know, giving is biblical, of course, we know that. But I think some people don't look at it as the same way that asking is biblical too. I think there's a lot of instances in the Bible where we see Jesus asking us to ask for what shall we need. I think in that, I think it's James 4. Asking you shall receive, knock on the door will be opened. And I think just kind of coming at our asks with our donors from that biblical and humble perspective is really important. And also kind of being able to steward our donors well, really cultivating our donors, really thanking our donors, thanking our donors whether or not they give the gift that we asked for, or they said, you know, not right now, or a different time or a different amount or something like that. And so I just think it's really important when we're kind of coming at the fundraising perspective to really come out with that biblical humility stewardship, but also being bold and asking as well, because I think that's something that a lot of people aren't comfortable doing in fundraising.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

Why do you think that is? Why do you think they're not comfortable asking, you know, in sales from a sales background? Sometimes it's because you don't really it's hard to ask for something maybe that you don't believe in. But everybody in this mission, we believe it, but it is uncomfortable for them. Why do you think that is?

SPEAKER_00 5:54

I definitely think it's some of it can be personality. Um, I can ask anybody for anything any day of the week. That's I think sometimes you have a little bit more outgoing personalities, but I've also seen some more introverted people be really, really good at fundraising as well. And so I think it's just a mindset shift. I know early on, a few years ago, I was in an executive director training and we were asked what type of fundraising um method we use, and someone said that they use the mana approach. And I was like, what is that? I've never heard this manna approach before. And they explained it like, oh, you know, we don't really ask people for certain amounts of money, we just pray that the Lord will provide what we need. And I said, Okay, interesting. And I realized a lot of nonprofits have that manna approach of they feel like they can't ask because they don't feel like it's biblical or a sense. Like they don't they feel like they're not trusting the Lord if they ask. And I wrestled with that for a little bit. I was like, I don't agree with that at all. And when I was reading, when I went back to my Bible and was reading about the Israelites in the desert, I was like, oh, I uh feel like the Lord kind of revealed to me like the Lord provided manna for the Israelites when they were in the desert, but he wanted them to be in the promised land that was flowing with milk and honey. And so I think the manna approach can be good for a time, but I think people stay in that desert mindset for a long time and they're not asking for what they need and they're not being given in abundance like God originally wanted for the Israelites. And so I don't know if that answers your question, but I feel like that's a little bit of a mindset.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

It doesn't it's actually very interesting the whole biblical perspective you put on that.

SPEAKER_02 7:22

Yeah, I have a follow-up to that, Haley. Um, so it it seems like to me that you've developed this kind of Teflon skin that the rejection kind of just bounces off of you. And do you feel when you're coaching or in your experience when you're coaching other nonprofits, is that something you can teach them to have that Teflon skin, or do you feel that it you need to have somebody in the organization that's born with that type of skin?

SPEAKER_00 7:47

I think you can teach it, and and I think it's a mindset shift as well. Something I like to talk about in my fundraising is cultivating cheerful giving. That verse, I think it's in Corinthians where it says, God loves a cheerful giver. And I think a lot of times we look at that as related to our donors, like our donors should be giving cheerfully, right? Like that's that verse is for them. But as a fundraiser, I see that as a verse for me to say, what can I do to help people give cheerfully? Because I think we all have organizations that we give to where it wasn't a great experience. We don't know if they ever got the donation. We never got a thank you note, our tax receipt was late or wrong. Seems like most of us probably have that type of experience. And then hopefully we've had an experience of giving to a nonprofit where it was joyful. Like they called you and told you they got your donation. You they cashed it in a timely manner. Like you got a tax receipt before January 31st, surprisingly, and it was bright. Um, and so I think teaching people to kind of have that perspective of like it's our job to cultivate cheerfulness, I think kind of helps with that a little bit to kind of realize that there's a lot that we can do to make sure people are having a great experience and to kind of put the responsibility on us as well to make sure that we're giving them that good experience. So I think that helps. But something else I coach on and tell people is that in fundraising, if you're an executive director or a development director, raising money is what you think about uh probably 24-7, or at least I do. I know I have nightmares about fundraising, like, oh, I asked for a gift and they didn't give it or so. I mean, I will literally have nightmares or good dreams about fundraising. Wake up and I got the gift. And that's just because I've been doing it for so long and that's my world. But I think we have to remember that donors, giving is not their whole world. They have jobs, they have families. And so if they're not getting back to you, if they have to say no to a gift, or if they don't have time to meet with you, it's not the end of the world. And so I think teaching fundraisers that it's not all about you is really important because I see that's where people kind of get hung up on. They get like personally offended if someone doesn't want to give to their ask, or personally offended if someone doesn't respond with a request for a coffee date, and then they throw in the towel and say, Well, I'm not gonna try again. And so I think it is about teaching them that like it's not all about you, it's about, you know, the nonprofit, it's about the donors, and kind of coming at it humbly, I think helps.

SPEAKER_02 10:01

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:02

And you mentioned, you mentioned a major gift versus fundraising and ROI. Can you dive a little deeper into those things and uh maybe include some of the personal approach, um, the networking type things that you do?

SPEAKER_00 10:18

So a major gift, I would say I identify a major gift can be different for every single nonprofit. For some people, it's like 5,000 and up, for some people it's 1,000 and up. I usually tell them to kind of look at their the cumulative giving of their nonprofit from the past 18 to 24 months and looking down at that 50 to 100 gift mark donors and like kind of see where they're at. So that's kind of what I would consider um a major gift. And usually when I'm talking about our when we're going and asking people for support, might pay, you know, I always say, like, I can go and ask someone for a gift that I've cultivated a relationship and maybe I'll buy them a coffee, which might be $10 or $20 these days, seems like coffee keeps going up. And, you know, you might walk away with the five or $10 or $20 or even $100,000 commitment from that. And so that ROI for major gift fundraising is a lot bet bigger, like average $200 to one versus Gala's events and different things like that across the board has an ROI of two to one and usually a lot more staff time and different soft costs involved. And so getting people to kind of think more strategically about building relationships versus planning events, I think is is kind of when that game changing and fundraising really happens.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

Is there a healthy way to do both to maybe continue the fundraising events, the banquets, things like that that the centers are traditionally doing and can just kind of used to doing and implementing a major gift strategy as well?

SPEAKER_00 11:45

Yes, I definitely never say don't cancel all your events. I think they're important, but I think it's important to frame it in a mindset. You know, so many people, if they don't make their gala, then they're not going to make payroll. And so you shouldn't be in that capacity. And so I think I try to tell people to not spend as much time on it, to like pass off a lot of the tasks that you can to volunteers and things like that. I see a lot of development directors spending time writing name tags or picking out flowers or choosing menu items and different things like that. All things that you can pass on, other people can do, but other people can't go and meet with your donors and ask for support. And so I always ask people the hard question when I start coaching them: are you an event planner or are you a fundraiser? Because those are two different things. And I think that's important to make that distinction. I think if we can switch our galas to more stewardship events, more bringing people into the fold, making people feel great, kind of getting the community involved is great, but definitely not putting as much pressure on we have to raise X number of dollars tonight or we don't eat, type of a mentality. So I think there's a healthy approach to both.

SPEAKER_02 12:47

Has um AI changed the fundraising game, Haley?

SPEAKER_00 12:51

Um, a lot of people would like to think so and would like to sell you lots of fancy technology that would cost a lot. Um, but I think not necessarily. I think the best part about fundraising is being uh being relational, right? Building relationships with people. Um and that's like what I coach on. You know, you're when you look at organizations or or think of the most successful nonprofit that you know of, like national organizations that have donors' names on buildings. Like AI didn't raise the amount of money to put those names on buildings, right? It was those relationships that development directors and executive directors cultivated for years to be able to get those size of gifts. And so even for small pregnancy centers or small nonprofits, you can use that same approach paired down to the size of your nonprofit to get those kind of gifts that would make that big of an impact for your organization by building those relationships. I think AI can be helpful. I think it can help with research, streamlining tasks and different things like that. But I'm very wary of CRMs and databases and things that say we'll raise X number of dollars from your list in X number of times, because it's it is all about relationships and AI can't build a relationship for you.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

If you're intentionally pursuing major gifts, what's what's a good place for a center to start? And is this only for the big centers?

SPEAKER_00 14:05

No, absolutely not. I mean, as is like when I came into the the nonprofit that I was working at, um, they had a budget of under $150,000 and we were able to triple it in 18 months. So I mean, that's a very small nonprofit. I had another friend that I helped her, she had raised less than $50,000 in her nonprofit one year, and then the next it was quadrupled. So no, you can use these tactics, building relationships, stewarding gifts while making asks works, whether you're raising $10,000 or a million dollars. Um, so they're just, you know, really good principles that you can use to kind of build relationships.

SPEAKER_02 14:40

Can you walk us through how when you're meeting with a new center with the, you know, developing strategies for for how they can effectively fundraise? Is that something that that template?

SPEAKER_00 14:51

Yeah, for sure. Definitely I love when I'm coming in and looking at an organization. I kind of like to look at it from top to bottom. I think sometimes people want me to come in and find their biggest donor and make an ask, help them make an ask the next week. But a lot of times we have to do what I call like setting up our shop and building our foundation first before we can kind of get to that. And so when I'm coming in, I'm kind of coming back to that biblical stewardship of making sure you're taking care of every dollar well, whether it's one dollar or a million dollars, looking at that first to make sure you are suited to take on those big donations. Sometimes when I'm coming into centers, I'm finding they're not writing thank you notes for just regular gifts or not thanking people well, they're not doing accurate tax receipts. And so there's a lot of that stuff that we have to kind of work out the kings first. Because as I've seen in my decade and a half of fundraising, the organizations that do the basics well end up getting the bigger gifts and end up growing. And I feel there's a spiritual aspect to that too. You know, the Lord, I think, blesses us if we do well with little and then he'll give us much. And so I'm always trying to make sure that they're prepared and they're that taking care of those smaller dollars before we try to bring in the bigger ones, because I think that's important mindset-wise. So making sure they have a streamlined donation process, even as small as like entering donations into their database, most people are doing it wrong, making sure that that's accurate, that they're tracking things properly, making sure that they have a good fundraising plan. Even as simple as making sure people are cashing checks quickly. When we think about the amount of time it takes, if the donor writes a check, they put it in the mail, then it gets to a small nonprofit, it might sit on the executive director's desk for a few days before they have time to get to the bank, cash it, clear it. And I'm sure every executive director has gotten that dreaded phone call with the donor saying, Did you get my check? Because it hasn't cleared yet. And so, you know, just things like that, like how helping them have rhythms to do the small things well, I think is really important. And then we go in and create a fundraising plan and look at how much money they've raised from other categories, what we can expect. And then we go in and look at their donors and say, Okay, like let's look at your donors, which donors are good major gift candidates, which ones do you have relationships with? How much could we reasonably ask for? When could we do that? Ask, writing proposals and then kind of setting them off from there.

SPEAKER_02 17:03

And what type of time frame does it take you to develop a strategy for a new nonprofit?

SPEAKER_00 17:09

It can take a few months to kind of get, I mean, a strategy-wise, you know, I could come in in a day and give you a strategy, but for someone actually blocking that out for a period of time could take a few weeks to a month. And, you know, I always say this isn't like a doing major gifts and building relationships as in a get rich quick scheme. It takes time to build relationships with individuals. And so, you know, I do work with people, I can work with them short term, but I like to work with people long term. I have one client of mine that I've been working with for almost two years now, and in that two years' time, they're up a hundred percent than they were two years ago. But it took two years to get there, right? You know, this isn't like let's send out a direct mail list and hope we, you know, get rich quick in six weeks. And so, you know, it takes time, I think, to do this, but then in the long term, doubling your donations in two years can have a huge impact for your organization. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:01

Yeah, I just uh is there a different strategy, Haley, for donor retentions versus donor acquisition when you're when you're working with you know longtime donors versus trying to go out and uh find new donors?

SPEAKER_00 18:14

Yeah, I um I don't do a lot of the donor acquisition because that's more marketing. So that is kind of a different ballgame, right? There's a lot of organizations that do that. And there's ways you can do that. But everything I'm coming in doing is is for donor retention, right? Because it's a lot cheaper to keep a donor than to get a new one. And your best major gift candidates are people who are already giving to you. It's that person who sent that thousand dollars in that you've never met before, that person who sends ten thousand dollars in every year that you've never asked for, it just comes in. Those are the types of people that we want to be targeting. Because if someone's giving you a gift without you asking for it, the chances are they could give double that if you asked for it. And I I tell people to reflect on themselves. Like the checks that you write to nonprofits that you haven't been specifically asked for, that amount is probably a lot smaller than if they built a relationship with you over a year and asked you to pledge a certain amount. And so kind of thinking about it in that process and then finding people in your database that's really good candidates for us to do that with as well. And you know, donor retention is important. And so that's why I do like to start with the basics and making sure they're like thanking people and entering donations accurately and quickly and tax receipts and different things like that. Because if you don't have the foundation, then you can't build the house. So I hope that kind of answers your question.

SPEAKER_02 19:30

There are any new, you know, any new fundraisers out there that the centers are aware of. You know, I mean, you know, I heard heard of one center down in Texas, one of my insureds that was doing a cornhole tournament, and they were they were inviting people uh, you know, from the public, developing teams, making it really competitive, where the center was seeing people from uh the community that they never would have seen on a traditional type of uh of fundraiser, and they brought in brought in some big numbers. Is there anything new that you you can see that uh tr that's trending with with small nonprofits to do?

SPEAKER_00 20:06

Events can be great for donor stewardship and getting new donors. So I definitely think like we need to be doing different things like that. I think like I've heard a buzzword in the industry, micro events has been huge, like getting some people to bring their friends and doing small dinners and things like that. I know people that are doing pickleball tournaments, I know people that are doing not golf tournaments, but what is like where you go and do golf in like the simulator.

SPEAKER_02 20:28

Yeah, like a top golf kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00 20:30

Top golf tournaments. People do top golf tournaments because I can bring in more of the women that may not typically engage. The amount of money though, sometimes you're spending versus bringing in, you know, your ROIs are still not as good as I would argue a major gift to ask, but they can be really great for general acquisition, for getting your name out in the community. And so I think there's room for doing all these things and having fun with it. I just don't want people to be relying on these events that if it they don't make a certain amount, then they can't pay people or they can't move forward in their mission.

SPEAKER_02 20:58

Fabulous.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

Haley, you have packed this episode full of great information. But if you could provide just one more lifeline, just one practical takeaway the listeners can go away with, what would that be?

SPEAKER_00 21:12

I definitely think that fundraisers should be giving themselves. I think they need to be giving to their organizations that they're working for and giving generously to other organizations as well. I think that's what we're called to do as Christians and especially as fundraisers. I'm not just passionate about asking for money, I'm passionate about giving as well. And so I think that's really important for us as fundraisers and executive directors who are constantly asking to be constantly giving. Um, because I just think it's biblical, number one, but two, so we can get that experience and we understand what we to be on the other end of it, to know what we like and what we don't like as a donor to other organizations. I think that's really valuable.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

All right, Haley. Well, thank you for joining us today. This conversation was really a helpful reminder that sustainable fundraising is built through intentional relationships, not just events, although those are needed. As well. And for listeners who may feel overwhelmed or stretched too thin, I hope today's conversation brought both encouragement and practical steps. And if you'd like to reach out to Haley, you can do so at Haley at lotlophilanthropy.com. That's Haley at lotphilanthropy.com. And we'll have that in the show notes as well. Until next time, keep leading with courage and compassion. Thanks for joining us today on Lifeline for Leaders. If today's episode was meaningful, feel free to share it with someone who might benefit. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a conversation.

SPEAKER_02 22:38

Remember, you don't have to walk this mission alone. We're honored to walk alongside you.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

See you next time.