Leading the Shift: How CEOs Can Build Sustainable Giving at Scale

Written By Dave Raley

What if the boldest move your nonprofit could make isn't raising more money, but making sure people actually know you exist?

That's the curveball Kendra Davenport, President & CEO of Easterseals, throws at host Dave Raley in this episode of the Sustainable Giving Podcast. Easterseals serves 1.5 million people every year through a federated network of 70 affiliates, 38,000 employees, and markets spanning 48 states and D.C. But for Kendra, a three-decade nonprofit leader (and Operation Smile alum), the real battle isn't the money. It's awareness.

We step out of the mechanics and into the CEO's chair. Kendra gets refreshingly honest about the "big bet" that reshaped Easterseals' entire model — going all-in on Direct Response Television — the politicking it took to bring 70 independent affiliates along, and the moment they pulled their brand-new program off the air after just three months to retool. Along the way: a car that ran 40 years with zero maintenance, a first-ever Telly Award, and a whole lot of hard-won wisdom on leading change you can't mandate. Grab a coffee — this one's a keeper.

Key Topics They Cover:

  1. The big bet on DRTV and the "halo effect"

    Why Easterseals gambled on direct response TV knowing it'd take 3–5 years to pay off, and how it revived a dying direct-mail program while lifting digital and face-to-face by double and triple digits.

  2. Awareness is the real crisis

    One in four Americans is disabled, yet outside that community almost no one knows what Easterseals does. Kendra's fix: authentic, unscripted storytelling from real participants, the kind that earns awards and moves people to give.

  3. There was no choice…

    An aging donor base, the smallest average gift, a heavy direct-mail program — Kendra unpacks the organizational soul-searching behind diversifying into recurring giving before it was too late.

  4. Growing vs. truly scaling

    They're not the same. Kendra breaks down the capital, the board conversations, the ROI patience, and why the risk of not changing is the biggest risk of all.

  5. Leading change you can't mandate

    With 70 CEOs and independent boards, national can't issue directives. Kendra shares how she led through trust and influence and how to tell the difference between resistance to overcome and resistance that's telling you something true.

Also in this episode, they talk about:

  • Protecting the dignity of people with disabilities while still communicating need compellingly

  • Coming off air within three months and defending that call to a network expecting a splash

  • The "silver bullet" myth and why scarcity thinking keeps smaller nonprofits small

  • Keeping lots of "lines in the water" at once — corporate, planned giving, cause marketing, face-to-face

  • Kendra's bold vision: doing for disability what Susan G. Komen did for breast cancer

So here's the question worth sitting with: is your organization still hunting for the one silver bullet or ready to put more lines in the water and play the long game?

Key Resources:

Special thanks to our team at Sustainable Giving: Tom, Kirsten, Victoria, and Abigail.

Dave Raley
Next

From Membership to Momentum: How the San Diego Zoo Scaled Recurring Giving