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Kevin L. Brown
Maximize your nonprofit funding — brand first, fundraising second. 💪🏽💛
Kevin L. Brown is the Founding Partner & CEO of MIGHTY ALLY, a global organization that builds nonprofit and foundation brands to maximize funding and advance social justice.2 He is an Acumen Fellow and serves as an advisor for Greenwood Place.12
Kevin has extensive experience in the nonprofit and social enterprise sector:
- He leads product development and content creation at MIGHTY ALLY, aiming to democratize expertise for nonprofits.12
- He has worked with 230 clients in 50 countries, focusing on nonprofit branding and fundraising.3
- Kevin is also on the advisory board of the Roddenberry Foundation in the United States.4
Prior to his current role, Kevin has:
- Worked in the ad agency world, helping his first four companies scale toward acquisition.1
- Founded two businesses and creates content for over 75,000 LinkedIn followers.12
- Lived in Uganda, South Africa, and Southeast Asia for the past decade, advocating for justice in the Global South.12
Kevin's background includes experience at various organizations such as Impact Hub Network, Industrial Strength Marketing, and Rockhouse Partners.2 He is passionate about connecting doers and donors, and uses his expertise to help nonprofits become more fundable and findable.4
Highlights
You only have five ways to raise more money:
1️⃣ Find new donors (𝙝𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜) 2️⃣ Retain existing donors (𝙛𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜) 3️⃣ Increase average gift size (𝙛𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜) 4️⃣ Get donors to give more often (𝙛𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜) 5️⃣ Grow word-of-mouth donor referrals (𝙛𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜)
That’s it.
Donor hunting is expensive. ↳ Funder farming is much cheaper.
Hunting involves a lot of luck. ↳ Farming is mainly within your control.
Hunting is hard; every #nonprofit is doing it. ↳ Farming is a lot easier; many leaders ignore it.
Hunting has fewer proven formulas. ↳ Farming flourishes via relationships and brand.
Let’s dig deeper. ⤵
“Non-fundraisers tend to assume the only way to grow income is to add new donors to your donor pool. So there is a tendency at Board and Senior Leadership level to put too much focus on the new,” says Michelle Benson.
The reality is that it’s a lot easier to hang onto existing donors and increase their giving than it is to get new money from cold ones, according to Benson.
“The second assumption is 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘢 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘳, as if people donate and then automatically stick around,” she says. “Of course this is not true — fundraisers know good stewardship sows the seed to the next donation.”
Her final advice?
“Good stewardship also leads to the greatest #fundraising prize of all — donor askers or word-of-mouth among a look-a-like audience you want to attract,” she concludes.
“When your donors start to fundraise for you, your reach and endorsements increase while your costs decrease.”
The root of success here:
Fundraising (plus #brand) is farming, not hunting.
So less snare, more sow. Less chase, more cultivate.
💪🏽💛
Follow Kevin L. Brown to get fundable & findable.
Then repost ♻️ to help your network.
Your solo Communications Officer isn’t a unicorn.
They are not a miracle maker.
Yes, they’re outstanding. Yes, a Jill-of-all-trades.
But no, it’s not fair to think a one-person comms team can pull off countless jobs perfectly.
(Not without burning out.)
Even worse are the unrealistic expectations of a solo Director of #Fundraising and #Communications. That’s trying to milk two different departments out of one brave soul.
So nonprofit leaders, you have two options:
1️⃣ 𝗔𝗱𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 If you can only hire a generalist Communications Manager, all your marketing won’t be world-class. No shame — that’s probably all you can afford. Just stop comparing your brand to big charities with big professionals. Your Comms Officer is doing an incredible job keeping all the balls in the air.
2️⃣ 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘀 If you don’t want your brand to be second best at everything, put your money where your mouth is. Hire a copywriting expert. Hire a graphic design pro. Hire a social media wiz. And so on. Then your Comms Manager can be an orchestra conductor, bringing all these specialists together well.
Don’t just take my word for it. ⤵
“We often see one-person communications teams in very large organizations that should frankly know better and be investing a whole lot more,” says Nonprofit Marketing Guide (NPMG).
And the average comms team by nonprofit size?
– 𝗨𝗽 𝘁𝗼 $𝟱𝟬𝟬𝗸: 1.4 full-time staff – $𝟱𝟬𝟬𝗸 𝘁𝗼 $𝟭𝗺: 1.8 full-time staff – $𝟭𝗺 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗼 $𝟱𝗺: 2.0 full-time staff – $𝟱𝗺 𝘁𝗼 $𝟮𝟬𝗺: 2.9 full-time staff – $𝟮𝟬𝗺 𝗽𝗹𝘂𝘀: 4.2 full-time staff
So the choice is yours.
The overburdened Comms Officer is a systemic #nonprofit issue. They’re some of the most talented and tireless — but tired — people we meet.
Expecting one person to juggle it all? Expecting massive fundraising? Expecting a magical brand?
Time for a reality check.
Repost ♻️ if you agree.
💪🏽💛
Follow Kevin L. Brown to get fundable & findable.
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Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.