Episode 248: Productive Fundraising with Chad Barger

On today’s episode, I spent time with Chad Barger. Chad Barger is a fundraising coach, productivity guru and vlogger. Chad teaches charities how to optimize their fundraising, so they can focus on changing the world. He is the founder and managing director of the firm Productive Fundraising which focuses on implementing simple, effective fundraising systems as well as strategies to strengthen nonprofit boards of directors.


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Chad Barger [BAR-jur] teaches small charities to fundraise more effectively. He is better known to many as @fundraiserchad, a trusted guide to the fundraising tactics and tools that are working today. He is a sought after nonprofit fundraising consultant, trainer and coach. Chad has spent his entire career as a fundraiser. He has worked in large shops and small in a variety of sectors (higher education, social services and the arts). He has built fundraising programs from the ground up, rebuilt fundraising programs back to their former glory and taken stagnant organizations to the next level. The campaigns that he has worked on have raised in excess of $40 million dollars for the charities that he’s had the honor of serving.

Specifics that we covered on the show include:

  • What Chad brings to the table when it comes to productive fundraising and the area he focuses in particular (3:55)
  • How to help an organization that has a small team (7:04)
  • What led Chad to the path of fundraising and how did he apply his productivity tactics (8:22)
  • Chad’s thoughts on money and expectations (14:46)
  • How attuned is Chad on finding gaps in processes that people have in place (18:44)
  • How does Chad structure his time to allow him to put his best foot forward with his work and family (25:20)
  • What to do when something doesn’t go right or doesn’t work (30:55)
  • What’s next for Chad Barger? (32:40)
  • How to get people on board to do the “small things” (36:01)

“I’m a big fan of harmony over balance. That is the key. How do you maintain that harmony? It’s okay if one thing needs more time now and the other ones need more time later.” ~ Chad Barger

Relevant Links

The key takeaways from this episode is that personal productivity is (at least) half of the problem when doing fundraising. You have to pivot fix that first to create a strong foundation for their new fundraising system.


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