EverTrue Studios is advancement’s media hub, serving up free, on-demand series, films, and podcasts, all created with fundraisers in mind. Whether you’ve got 10 minutes or two hours, tune in, get inspired, and raise better on EverTrue Studios.
This was a big year for EverTrue Studios! We created over 100 hours of free, on-demand original films, series, and podcasts. Here’s a recap of the best-of-the-best on EverTrue Studios in 2022.
A Story Untold
The Roadtrip to Better Fundraising
The RAISE Podcast
The Development Debrief
Mentorship Matters
Talking Shop
A Story Untold
Attempting to flee the Beijing Communist regime in the late 1980’s, Lisa Yu was accepted on a scholarship to the University of Wyoming. Her life was forever changed by the bluest skies she had ever seen, the wide open space of Laramie, and the grace and generosity of the UW community.
After graduation, Lisa savored countless campus mementos, photographs, and newsletters. She launched a successful career in California and always dreamed of giving back to the place that gave her so much.
But for 20 years, she fell through the cracks.
When new Donor Experience Officer Doug Hammond contacted Lisa, it was the first time she had received a personal message from the University of Wyoming Foundation. Through their conversations, Lisa’s dream to give back to UW became a reality.
This is Lisa’s story, and our second EverTrue original documentary that highlights the work of our Donor Experience partners.
A Road Trip to Better Fundraising
Brent Grinna, JD Beebe, and Lynne Wester hit the open road to talk through the speed bumps and roadblocks that every advancement shop faces — and how EverTrue can help pave the road to fundraising success by engaging more alums, identifying the right prospects to prioritize, and growing donor support.
Brent, JD, and Lynne cover how to treat people like people. They lean on data to help them out of tough roadside problems. They stop for inspiration breaks at the country’s top-performing fundraising shops. Follow their road trip here.
The RAISE Podcast
Every RAISE podcast conversation is so distinct – our guests riff on topics as varied as Ducati motorcycles, piloting planes, the Art of War, and servant leadership.
In 2022, we hit a few big milestones for the RAISE Podcast.
First, we hit the 100 episode marker, and we built a Mentorship Tree to map the impact of advancement’s top mentors. (Keep an eye out for the EverTrue Advancement Top Mentor badge on LinkedIn profiles!)
Then, we brought the RAISE Podcast community together around CASE Summit for an event at the Museum of Fine Arts in Chicago. It was amazing to share stories and meet so many RAISE Podcast guests in real life.
Additionally, the RAISE Podcast listener base grew by 57% this year, and our listeners tuned in from 10 different countries around the world. Pretty cool!
The Development Debrief Podcast
Over the past year, we realized that podcasting is a perfect way to elevate the advancement profession and share stories about the power of philanthropy, education, and mentorship.
So, we mined the podcast troves seeking advancement’s entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs; the one-person content machines who live and breathe fundraising and have so much to teach us.
We found ‘em. And we launched a podcast network, hosted on EverTrue Studios. The first podcast we welcomed to the EverTrue Studios Podcast Network was the Development Debrief podcast, hosted by Kathryn Van Sickle.
Kathryn talked to amazing guests like Karen Osborne about board diversification, Sue Cunningham about CASE’s impact on advancement, and Katy Hebert Kotlarczyk about how her rise to Vice Chancellor for Advancement affected her career, family, motherhood, and leadership.
Kathryn has published 117 episodes of the Development Debrief (and counting!) and we are so thrilled to host her on the ETSPN. Tune in here.
The Mentorship Matters Podcast
Who is running advancement’s top-performing shops?
How are they demonstrating a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion on their teams?
How are they fostering team cultures built on empathy and transparency while also holding everyone to the highest productivity standards?
This fall, we launched the Mentorship Matters podcast, hosted by Kim Nyoni. On Mentorship Matters, Kim interviews leaders from the advancement and nonprofit sectors, DEI leaders from the for-profit industry, and new and aspiring talent to explore how fundraising can be a destination profession that represents the mosaic of students and communities our organizations serve.
We have published 10 Mentorship Matters episodes featuring advancement leaders like Floyd Akins, VP at the University of Toledo, Dexter Bailey, VP at CalTech, and Laura Padron, VP at the UConn Foundation. There are lots more Mentorship Matters conversations coming in the new year – tune in here!
The Talking Shop Podcast
Erin Moran is a long-time advancement ops expert with a deep love for data.
David Lively has led advancement teams at some of the highest-performing fundraising shops in the country.
Erin and Dave have been friends forever. And every time they meet up for coffee (they both loooove coffee), well, they just can’t help it.
They end up talking Shop.
We decided that Erin and David’s coffee chats are too good to go unheard. So, we launched the Talking Shop podcast, on which Erin and David will break down the ins and outs, do’s and don’ts of modern advancement shops. Tune in.
Lots more to come in 2023!
EverTrue Studios is now home to 2 documentaries, 6 original series, 30+ binge-able quick tip videos, and over 250 podcast episodes. It’s all free, it’s all on-demand, and it’s all created with the goal of helping fundraisers build more relationships in pursuit of a better world.
It is a privilege to host advancement’s best video and podcast content on our media hub and to amplify the voices of the industry’s top game changers. We can’t wait to tell more stories on EverTrue Studios next year.
We’ll see you in 2023!