Most fundraising is misunderstood. It’s treated as performance—polished and polite, built around the idea that merit rises and money follows.
But anyone who’s spent real time in the work knows that’s not how it happens. Decisions get made in quiet conversations long before a proposal is submitted. Trust builds—or erodes—in ways that don’t match the logic models. And most fundraisers are left to figure it out on their own, learning the real rules through pattern recognition, repetition, and luck.
Kelly James and I wanted to surface that. So we made a podcast.
Funders on Fundraising is a series of candid interviews with funders—not just about their portfolios or program strategies, but about how fundraising actually works. We talk about what builds trust, what backfires, how people say yes, and what still gets said after the meeting ends. We also try to understand who they are, and what calls them to this work in the same way it’s called many of us.
Our first chat is with Sasha Rabkin, Chief of Program Strategy and Innovation at the Advanced Education Research & Development Fund (AERDF). In addition to funding $Ms to the field, Sasha’s a very accomplished fundraiser, so he was able to come at the discussion from both sides of the coin. Made for a fun and insightful conversation!
Each episode explores:
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Who are you, and what brought you here?
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How do power, trust, and authenticity actually show up—for better or worse?
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What would it take to close you?
It’s not a teardown. It’s an attempt to make the invisible parts of fundraising visible—so the people doing the work can navigate them with more honesty, precision, and control.
Thanks to all our guests for speaking plainly, showing up as themselves, and helping us chip away at the performance that surrounds this work.
The first episodes are live. You can listen here.
A big thanks to Chris Lawrence and Urbanist Media for producing it! And to Evan Greer for the theme music.