In this candid conversation, Greg sits down with Julie Upham to unpack what most nonprofits get wrong about retention—both of donors and staff. Drawing on decades of frontline fundraising experience, Julie shares:

• Why investing in people is just as critical as investing in donor strategy
• The concept of “passion points” and how it transforms leadership and donor development
• The underrated power of weekly check-ins, stay interviews, and skip levels
• How to prevent burnout and build a team culture people return to—even years later
• The parallels between growing donors and growing high-performing teams
• Practical tactics for donor retention in an era of shrinking giving bases
• The “moving finish line” problem in nonprofit fundraising
• What nonprofit leaders can learn from sports, feedback science, and parenting
• How Conservation International builds a culture of people-first leadership at scale
• Insights from the Bridge Conference and why professional development is retention fuel

This episode is a masterclass in sustainable impact—not just through strategy, but through people.

🔗 Learn more about Conservation International

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In this episode, Dorota Amin pulls back the curtain on how the World Food Program USA builds high-impact, long-term partnerships with global brands like Google, Palantir, UPS, MasterCard, and the John Deere Foundation.

Together with Greg, she explores how social impact organizations can be more than aid providers — they can be system builders, innovation incubators, and trusted strategic partners to the private sector.

From Google's weather forecasting in East Africa to John Deere’s trust-based innovation funding, this episode is packed with insights on how to create real, measurable change by aligning shared values, leveraging expertise, and building for the long term.

Key Topics Covered:

• Why partnerships—not donations—drive sustainable impact
• How the WFP is using predictive models to pre-position food before disaster strikes
• The 34:1 ROI of anticipatory action
• What makes trust-based philanthropy work
• Why nonprofits must behave like system builders, not just responders
• How to earn the right to innovate within tight financial guardrails
• Why corporate partnerships start with cultural alignment
• The myth of the "pitch" and the reality of co-creation

Why Listen:

If you lead a nonprofit, manage corporate partnerships, or work in CSR/philanthropy, this conversation is your playbook for creating enduring impact through private sector collaboration.

In this compelling episode, Greg Sobiech, CEO of Delve Deeper, sits down with Brian Colombo, Deputy Chief Development Officer at Amnesty International USA. They explore how Amnesty builds authentic, long-term relationships with donors by deeply understanding and reflecting their values. Brian shares insights into Amnesty's unique shared leadership model, the rise of retail accountability among younger generations, and how nonprofits can foster trust while navigating the pressures of financial sustainability.

Key Highlights:

• How Amnesty’s shared leadership model empowers members and strengthens the mission.
• The concept of “retail accountability” and its growing importance for younger donors.
• Why reflecting donor values is essential for long-term engagement and trust.
• The challenge of balancing authentic messaging with financial constraints.
• Strategies for fostering community, interdependence, and stronger donor relationships.

Why Listen?

If you're leading a nonprofit or navigating donor engagement, this episode offers fresh insights on building trust, fostering authenticity, and strengthening community connections to drive sustained impact.

In this powerful episode, I sit down with Ben Webb, International Justice Mission's leader in marketing and branding, to discuss the transformative potential of nonprofits. Ben shares his philosophy on creating empathetic connections between donors and beneficiaries, redefining the role of marketing as a growth engine in the nonprofit sector, and uniting fundraising and marketing under a shared mission.

Key Topics Covered:

1. The Empathy Bridge: How stories connect donors to the mission on a deeply emotional level.
2. Reimagining Nonprofits as Movements: Why success depends on everyone involved, not just employees.
3. Tensions in Nonprofit Organizations: Addressing the divide between fundraising and marketing and fostering alignment for greater impact.
4. Framework for Impact: Ben's five-step framework: insight-driven, concept-led, powered by stories, scaled by technology, and monitored for effectiveness.
5. Personalization in Storytelling: Connecting universal truths to individual donor segments for meaningful engagement.
6. The Power of Relationships: How building relevance and value can forge lasting bonds with donors.
7. Breaking Stereotypes: Moving beyond outdated tropes to tell authentic, resonant stories.
8. Operationalizing Empathy: Turning creative concepts into actionable, data-driven campaigns.
9. The Role of Urgency: Keeping the mission central and maintaining a sense of urgency in transformative work.
10. Transformative Value: The mutual growth and purpose that come from engaging in mission-driven work.

Takeaways:

• The nonprofit sector must pivot toward a people-centered, movement-driven model to stay relevant to future generations.
• Storytelling isn't just a tool for marketing; it’s the bridge to purpose and action.
• Aligning fundraising and marketing efforts is essential for creating sustainable growth and deeper engagement.

Today I spoke with Ben Greene, Chief Revenue Officer for Charity Water.

Their mission is to bring clean and safe drinking water to every person on the planet.

Whether you are in marketing - for a commercial minded - or mission driven organization - this conversation will be relevant.

Ben shared with me his marketing philosophy, which he calls “Look in, Look up, Look out”.

‘Looking in’ is about marketers not just owning - but dominating their most valuable audiences, their ‘superfans or superdonors’, with one simple message.

So much Marketing value - can be unlocked by looking IN first, and in this episode you’ll find out how.

Today I spoke with Jennifer Roberti, CMO at Save the Children.

They are on a mission to improve the lives of children through better education, health care, and economic opportunities, as well as providing emergency aid in natural disasters, war, and other conflicts.

This episode is all about the need for marketers to have a long-term vision and the importance of taking calculated risks.

Jennifer shared with me her insights on balancing the emotional and logical aspects of marketing, she emphasised the importance of both brand engagement and practical metrics. We also discussed the similarities between finance and marketing strategies when building for the long term and delivering outstanding results.

Jennifer's philosophy revolves around building long-term relationships with diverse audience segments and continuously innovating to stay ahead of the curve. She also highlighted the personal challenges of balancing work and home life in today's fast-paced, remote work environment.

Navigating the complex landscape of marketing leadership is difficult. It requires you to drive meaningful engagement for your organization for the long and short term.

From Delve Deeper, this is Narrow Lanes.

This week I am speaking with Francesco Deflaviis. Principal, Chief Advancement & Communications Officer at Partners In Health.

Partners in Health is an International non-profit that provides healthcare in the poorest areas of developing countries.

Francesco believes the only way for marketers to stay in leadership roles for 5 years plus, and have the runway to create lasting transformative value is to be polyvalent. This means that marketers can be useful in more than one way. This person must have both broad and deep expertise and experience.

He recommends that marketers get outside of their comfort zone, and take on many new roles, more often - to build up proficiency within areas where they currently lack experience.

For instance, Francesco believes that marketers need to be proficient in the application of 1st party data - to drive revenue growth. This is crucial because when 3rd party cookies go away, brands will need to embrace their own 1st party data if they want to grow.