Drew Clancy

Why Fundraisers Need Trauma-Informed Practices: Aldervan Daly believes trauma-informed fundraising starts with one essential truth: fundraisers are helping professionals too. We often carry emotional weight from donor interactions, organizational pressures, and the constant demand to “push through”—yet very few nonprofits acknowledge the toll it takes. Working with licensed mental health clinician Lisa Schock, Aldervan emphasizes identifying triggers, understanding emotional patterns, and breaking harmful internal narratives—like the classic “no means maybe”. In fundraising, “no” is often reframed as a challenge, but in any other helping profession, no means no, and honoring that protects both the client and the practitioner. A donor’s “no” doesn’t mean you failed—it simply means today isn’t the day. #FundraisingLeaders #DrewClancy #AldervanDaly #HousingPlus #TraumaInformed #NonprofitLeadership #FundraiserWellbeing #DonorRelations

The CEO who sold his company for $7.5 billion had one secret weapon. It wasn't strategy. It wasn't money. It was storytelling. Ron Shaich, founder of Panera Bread, gave the same type of talk every single time: Where we've come from Where we are today Where we could be tomorrow That's it. Simple. Powerful. And it worked. He believed if his team was disengaged, that was on HIM as the leader. "Give people a bigger context. Tell a better story. Make their work mean more than the bottom line." Want to inspire your team the way great leaders do? Read the full article here: risewithdrew.com/how-great-lead…

Why Planned Giving Builds Real Stability: For Aldervan Daly, planned giving isn’t just a development tactic—it’s a long-term stabilizer. These gifts signal that donors believe your organization will matter not just today, but decades from now. But that only works if you stay connected. Planned gifts are revocable, and donors can quietly change their intentions if they don’t feel seen or valued. He also stresses leadership by example. If board members aren’t willing to complete a letter of intent themselves, how can a fundraiser credibly ask others to commit? And with the rise of donor-advised funds, Aldervan urges nonprofits to help donors designate beneficiaries before assets fall into “zombie DAFs” with no one named. Watch the full episode here: youtube.com/watch?v=W7su3t… #FundraisingLeaders #DrewClancy #AldervanDaly #HousingPlus #PlannedGiving #LegacyGiving #NonprofitLeadership #DonorStewardship #YouTubeShorts

What if the biggest threat to your business is something YOU can't see? Most leaders don't fail because they're not smart. They fail because of blind spots. Andy Grove, the legendary Intel CEO, shared a simple but powerful idea: 👉 Snow melts first at the edges — not the center. The same is true in business. The real signals come from the front lines. Not from the meeting room. If you want to lead better, start listening to the people you rarely talk to. Read more here: risewithdrew.com/how-great-lead… 📷

Seeing the Person Behind the Gift: For Aldervan Daly, major gifts are about people, not amounts. He learns donors’ patterns from the data, but the real work is meeting them—coffee, a quick hello, a face to attach to the organization. He treats someone whose monthly “medium” gifts add up to a major gift the same way he treats traditional major donors: with respect and attention. He also listens for quiet signals. A donor mentioning three grandkids heading to college may be telling you their capacity is changing, even if the wealth screen says otherwise. Aldervan builds trust through simple, consistent gratitude—short calls and handwritten notes with no ask attached. And he’s found that even millennials appreciate something personal arriving in the mail. Watch the full episode here: youtube.com/watch?v=W7su3t… #FundraisingLeaders #DrewClancy #AldervanDaly #HousingPlus #MajorGifts #DonorRelations #NonprofitFundraising #YouTubeShorts

“Please Forgive Me”: Finding Spiritual Peace Before It’s Too Late risewithdrew.com/please-forgive…

Think Like an Outsider: Andy Grove, Gordon Moore, and the Question That Changed Intel risewithdrew.com/think-like-an-…

Emotion makes decisions expensive.

James Clear on having high standards:

Art of becoming the 1%

Money Comes and Goes, Time Only Goes: Two Stories That Reframe Success: risewithdrew.com/money-comes-an…

Called to a Life of Service: Jeff Kramer traces his fundraising career back to a single formative moment at a Jewish summer camp in Los Angeles. During a traditional end-of-Sabbath program, he felt an overwhelming internal sense that his life’s work should be in nonprofit service. There was no voice, no vision—just a clear conviction that he was meant to serve others. He followed that pull into his first role as a fundraising intern at the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles, and never left the field. Forty-three years later, he’s still doing the work he felt called to as a teenager—now as Vice President of Development at Nova Ukraine, helping mobilize resources for people in crisis. #FundraisingLeaders #DrewClancy #JeffKramer #NovaUkraine #NonprofitLeadership #FundraisingCareer #CalledToServe #YouTubeShorts

Week of February 16, 2026

Lincoln, Vicksburg, and Stillness: Ryan Holiday on Seeing the Whole Chessboard

The easiest way to get ahead in life: