From Corporate to Cause: How Dan Drucker Is Fueling Philanthropy with Connection and Courage

Tasha: [00:00:00] Good morning. Could you please introduce yourself and tell
us a little bit about your nonprofit origin story?

Dan: Sure. Hi, I am Dan Drucker. I’m the founder and facilitator of
Philanthropy Fuel. My nonprofit history is not really long as you know.
It’s really only been about a year and a half since I made a decision to dive in
and support the sector any way I could. I had spent about three and a half
decades in corporate B2B running sales and marketing for a division of Canon.
Like a lot of people during the pandemic, I got very introspective.
Started thinking about what’s next, what could be more fulfilling? And I decided
to kind of hang it up and retire. From corporate at the beginning of 20, 24,
several years earlier than originally planned. So it was a little bit scary, but, I
knew I wanted to start something and set off the next phase of my life, but I
didn’t know exactly what that was gonna be, other than I wanted to protect my
retirement activities.
More time with family travel, getting outdoors, photography, volunteering. And
as you know, I’ve been very active, volunteer [00:01:00] at a local animal
shelter. So, I looked into this whole, nonprofit thing and I started networking,
reading, learning, figuring out where I could help. I launched Philanthropy Fuel
in August of 2024, and really my first thought was that I’d be teaching
fundraising and development teams.
The business development skills I knew could translate over from corporate
B2B into fundraising, but what it morphed into almost by accident. Helping out
a couple of small international nonprofits that I connected with. One of them
through the Hive was helping these small nonprofits and midsize nonprofits just
build deeper and more innovative corporate partnerships.
And it’s funny, in that year plus since I started, I’ve definitely had the thought
many times about the impact I could have had and the fulfillment I could have
gotten if I’d done this earlier. You know? Yeah. And I feel the same way about
volunteering, but you can’t look back, you can only look forward.
And it’s an awesome sector. It’s got incredible people, but I also think it’s at a
crossroads right [00:02:00] now and change is needed. So I, I guess in a way,
maybe I did get into this at the right time.

Tasha: I think the sector is ready for some change in a way that a couple of
years ago, like even when I entered into the nonprofit world like it was.
Funding was, has always been tough, but it was, at least there was a little bit of
consistency on a government angle for a lot of nonprofits that kind of
bombproof them. Although some groups were already starting to talk about,
Hey, when the grant funding changes, with regards to women’s initiatives, what
are we going to do?
So like the conversations were starting, but who, man, things have really amped
up and I feel like you and I connected and you were transitioning out of your
role, and I feel like you’d asked me, Hey, can I start doing these chats? Like I’m
just new to the sector. I’m trying to connect with people who are doing this
work, and I remember being very much like, oh, yay.
Another person who appreciates and knows what sales can do [00:03:00] and
sees the connection deeply between great, personable salespeople and
fundraisers. They’re so in common. There’s so much in common, right?
Between those groups and so much that can be learned, I think too, from those
people who have sales backgrounds and vice versa, from fundraisers back to
people who are in corporate sales.

Dan: Absolutely. It’s so funny, fundraisers hate, and I was warned about this,
hate to hear and be compared to sales, like they’re just, oh heck, sales.
Fundraiser will be the first one to hate the stereotype about fundraisers that, all
we are is people who ask for money. And the truth is, when done right, and I
wrote an article for the Hive, and I know you got very excited about the topic
of, B2B and how it confessed over when done right.
They’re both really high level. Built on connection, relationship building, not
transactional, asking questions, empathy, looking for motivation. They’re both
very similar and when done wrong, they’re also both very similar, you know?
Yeah. When they get kind of gimmicky and transactional and just short term
thinking.
[00:04:00] So I think there’s just huge parallels between the two, and they could
both learn from each other.

Tasha: Absolutely, totally agree. And when you think of what your favorite
part has been since you’ve come into the sector, what would you say has been
your favorite part of being in nonprofit work?

Dan: I gotta say, Tasha, I am truly blown away by the passion and creativity of
the people in the sector have for solving problems. I probably have whatever, 3,
4, 5 conversations every week. And many of them are with new contacts and
most of them are founders and leaders of small nonprofits, and every single time
I learned something new. I mean, you’ve got your major buckets of problems in
the world to solve, and we all know what those are. Environmental children,
animals, underfunded communities, equality, women’s issues, health, all that
stuff, homelessness. But each organization comes at its slightly differently in
ways that I didn’t even know existed.
I met a guy last year, Nigel Fisher. We just connected on LinkedIn. I sent him a
video welcome and he was all excited to see that. So he is like, let’s [00:05:00]
talk. And he’s part of guitars for Vets. Now there’s a lot of organization that
serve veterans in the US. But this was just a couple of guys veterans that
understood that music and guitar in particular could help veterans with PTSD.
And they started offering 10 free lessons to any veterans who needed it. And
this thing just took off. It’s gotten so much bigger. Gary Nic is involved as a
spokesperson. I mean, who would’ve thought, coming at it from that direction to
help, a community in need and just really meeting all these people, hearing their
stories.
They’re usually deeply personal and they’ve focused their lives on making an
impact. It’s energizing. That’s what I love. So if you ask me my favorite part, it’s
so energizing on a daily basis, and I also get to meet people from all over the
world. Hear about their work and often learn about issues that I didn’t even
know existed.
Like with TSHED and, and Shafkat Alam in my little corner of the world here,
my little nice corner of the world, or I had no idea about the child poverty issues
in India and the brag pickers and all that. So you get to learn so [00:06:00]
much, so seriously. If I do nothing else for the next few years and just keep
meeting these kind of change makers, I’ll be fine.

Tasha: I love that. It almost feels like a cliche when you say, my favorite part is
the people. But it’s so true. This sector just has the most brilliant humans
attracted to doing this work, and their stories are incredible. And oftentimes
they don’t even think of their stories as incredible, which is surprising, right?
There’s a deep humility in this sector. That is beautiful. But also, the marketer,
the salesperson in me is frequently going, this is brilliant. Like, how does
everybody not know this? It is okay. I think your why, for why you do the work
you do is a huge part of what has others excited to engage.
Excited to jump in and Shafkat is, one of the coolest people I’ve met as well. So
much personality and passion in one person almost feels [00:07:00] ridiculous,
and he’s a generational nonprofit professional, right? His father’s legacy that he
is bringing forward into his own life and what a commitment to that.
And he’s just one of, I don’t even know how many, I probably should write it all
down at some point. And I know around the dinner table maybe, or partner feels
the same way. My kids and family and my husband are constantly going. How
do all these people exist? Because most of us don’t take the time to meet people
like that on a regular basis, and so we’re missing out on something incredible
that a little bit of networking can really pump up your day.

Dan: Absolutely, and I met Shafkat through the Hive, but I like what you said
earlier about they don’t even know it, or they don’t talk about, what they’ve done
and their impact. I really think unfortunately right now with all the chaos and all
the noise, it’s really a time for the sector to just be unapologetically bold.
Do not be quiet. Do not be modest. Tell people what you’re doing. ’cause you
need, it’s a fight for attention is really what it is. And there’s so many [00:08:00]
incredible missions out there, but if they’re not known, it’s gonna be hard to
survive.

Tasha: So this is a natural segue into the question I always ask, which is, what
do you think are some of the biggest challenges of this sector?
And you maybe are coming in from a cool lens too, with having had this long
career outside of the sector and now being here.

Dan: Right. Let’s see where to start. There’s quite a few, but you know what,
hopefully people understand there’s even more good stuff going on, but there
are a few challenges.
In the sector, and I think it’s kind of at a tipping point right now. There’s so
many small nonprofits. I’ve heard counts of hundreds of thousands globally,
tackling similar courses in slightly different ways, like I just talked about. But
it’s gonna be tough for even the majority of them to survive.
If they’re still clinging to the same old. So that’s my main answer. The most
challenging issue in the sector today is there needs to be change and quick
change to keep up with the changing environment, the changing landscape of
philanthropy, and all the crazy chaos. And too [00:09:00] many of them are
standing still, or worse, I like to say they’re burying their heads in the sand just
hoping that things get better and that ain’t gonna happen.
There is such a need to shift away from old methods and get innovative, and
innovative means in funding approaches, in partnerships, collaborations,
community building outreach. They need to flip that stupid overhead narrative
on its head and fight for the right to build infrastructure that works and to
secure, unrestricted funding that’s built on trust.
What else? They need, you know what’s a funny one? You talk about outside
the sector, but nonprofits need to trust each other. And work together more. And
you don’t see enough of that. They need to realize they bring so much to
corporate partnerships and not come at those from a deficit. And they need to
embrace the tools, whether that’s AI or other automation tools, stuff that’s gonna
make ’em more effective, maybe help counteract the resource issue, without
sacrificing the most important part of the work, which is building relationships
and understanding people’s [00:10:00] motivation.
So I think to do that, they need to spend less time. Listening to outside voices
and more time getting introspective and looking internally at the culture they
need to create and the relationships they need to build to make that happen.

Tasha: I think that’s so it super insightful and just important that.
We focus in on that trust building perspective. And for anyone who doesn’t
already know this about Dan, he is a Hive ambassador. It’s been wonderful to
work more closely with you, and he just facilitated a session for us. Recently
about this exact topic, about this building trust, right? And that is a trust
between nonprofits as well, which may be the thing we’re often neglecting.
And I wonder sometimes reputationally, because we know how important that is
and when people think about the sector. I feel that there’s this external for-profit
view that, nonprofits, of course, they’re like going out there and [00:11:00]
constantly collaborating on projects and that has just not been my experience at
all.
No lot of stall out, right? Like things maybe start to get talked about, but we’re
underestimating the fact that maybe in the long run, a collaboration requires less
resources from both nonprofits to build something bigger. But the initial
investment is actually enormous. And when you already have a tapped out team
who owns that, who takes on those responsibilities, and so I find a lot of
collaborations very quickly, don’t actually come to fruition the way I think for
profit imagines that they do.

Dan: I agree. I think the big ones, like the big global brand name nonprofits are
better at it. ’cause I’ve seen collaborations and partnerships between some of, the
known ones. I think the smaller ones are more hesitant. Maybe they’ve been
burned in the past, but I think it’s so necessary for them.
And when I see it happening. It’s great. I’ve seen, we are love nonprofit with
Phyllis is a good friend of mine and I introduced her to Hunter Beaton of Day
One Bags said they’re both handling foster care, issues in two different
[00:12:00] states and they’re helping each other. I mean, it just seems so natural,
right?
Why recreate the wheel?

Tasha: Absolutely couldn’t agree more and you’ve been now, over a year in
business, Philanthropy Fuel, and if some people aren’t following your
newsletter, it’s fantastic. Love the content that you’re putting out because, it
really speaks to me and I find it stuff that is not always being talked about in the
sector because it does have that angle of going, yeah, there’s business pieces we
can take away for fundraising and for relationship building, but.
As you’ve started to move into this consultancy practice how has peer support,
factored into that success and where you are at right now?

Dan: Yes, it’s interesting. It’s nothing I really thought about in my past life until
I started getting involved in the communities and everything, but it’s actually
twofold.
I think it’s first how it’s impacted me personally as I entered the space. Like you
said, I was an outsider, right? And second, what I found it’s meant for the people
that I’m trying to help, whether that’s clients or just. People that I’ve connected
with and felt [00:13:00] pulled to help them push their mission forward.
Prior to retirement, I spent a couple of years building up a network on LinkedIn,
thinking I was gonna go into sales consulting, or sales and marketing, coaching,
things like that. And then I very quickly decided I didn’t want to do that. And so
I was starting from scratch, right? And from day one, I made a decision that
everything I was gonna do to build this business.
Was gonna be based on just genuinely connecting with people, growing the
relationships that felt right. And nice thing is I get to choose, right? I get to be
discerning in that. And then just engaging sincerely at every opportunity. So
that started on LinkedIn, following some key people in the sector, learning from
them, engaging in their content.
And eventually taking those conversations offline. Either video or I guess video
is still online, but you know what I mean. Off LinkedIn to something like this or
live if they were local and just starting to build relationships. Then I started
slowly putting out my own content. The newsletter, as you mentioned, is a
weekly newsletter, and I watched my little nonprofit circles start to grow just a
[00:14:00] little bit and spent a lot of time engaging and again, took those
connections and grew those relationships where it makes sense.
And I jumped on all kinds of webinars and length and live sessions. As you
know, I am very active in the chats and that’s created a lot more connections and
opportunities, and it’s been great and all of a sudden. What you see is you’re
building these connections, collaboration opportunities start to present
themselves.
Ideas flows, support flows, confidence grows. Maybe this is surprising to people
based on my personality, but I had a lot of imposter syndrome throughout this
and I still get it occasionally. Like, who am I to talk to someone about corporate
partnerships in non-profit? Right? For that, I’ve been doing this for, six months
or a year.
I’ve had some really experienced folks in nonprofit tell me that I was bringing a
needed outlook to the sector, and that helped kept me motivated. But I gotta tell
you, Tasha, that’s for me personally, the best outcomes that sometimes I didn’t
know about for weeks or months afterwards were on the nonprofits.
I was helping. They become part of that little unofficial community. We all
have [00:15:00] those.
Yeah.
And as I promoted their mission or asked for help. There were people in my
network connecting with these founders and these leaders and collaborating on
different things to help them. And I didn’t even know about it until much later,
which is fine.
And I find out, I say, this is so great. That’s the beauty of networking and
connecting. It’s exponential. It’s compounded, whatever term you provide. So
it’s had a profound impact on me as far as peer support. Personally and in my
business and my brand, but it allowed me to help nonprofit friends in ways that
I really couldn’t have imagined by just connecting different people and
sometimes not even knowing about it.

Tasha: I think there’s something really important that networking, almost like
sales has a bad rap, right? People use the word as something dirty. Like you’re
only going into this with your own goals, your own things. You’re hoping for
that it’s only extractive, but. I always looked at sales when I was in sales as
going, no, do I have something that’s amazing that’s gonna help this client?
Then great, we’re a great fit and this [00:16:00] is gonna be a great partnership.
But one of my biggest strengths was frequently going, oh, this is not right for
you. The timing’s not right, not the right product. Hey, this other team over here,
this is the right team for you. ’cause we’re not gonna be able to support on X, Y,
and Z level.
That’s what really builds that trust component. And I think that’s very similar
when it comes to networking is instead, when you go into networking,
imagining what you can give back to the person you’re talking to, whether that’s
connections, whether that’s a resource, whether that is just encouragement
because let’s be honest, most of us need that in our day to day, especially if
you’re in a nonprofit, that’s a huge gift.
And gifts tend to find their way back around to you. And so even when I started
the nonprofit hive, but more largely when I’ve just seen how the network, like
the networking effect works for people within the hive, it does compound,
right? You participate, the people who participated the most have absolutely
gotten the most out of this. [00:17:00] And that’s so special. Like I’m jazzed for
them whenever they say to me, oh, this x, y, and Z happened because of this
small little introduction. And it took me less than five minutes to write a quick
email. I know that those returns come back around to me as well, and I wish
everyone looked at it that way through that lens.

Dan: It’s so great and that’s why I wanna network, not just with nonprofits. I
like to talk to other consultants. I like to talk to vendors that have cool products
and stuff because if I can introduce them to someone that I’m trying to help,
’cause my scope is kind of narrow, you know, then you’re more trusted and
you’re more helpful and you just growing that ecosystem and it’s awesome.

Tasha: Yeah, for sure. Now, my last question that I always finish up with is
what have you gotten out of being a member of the nonprofit hive? I know
you’ve already highlighted a few things and people that you’ve had so far.

Dan: I have my hive mug, by the way.

Tasha: Yay. Oh my goodness, that’s so fun.

Dan: Truthfully, what I’ve gotten outta the hive is opportunities.
It is opportunities to build relationships, develop supportive friendships, to
learn, to collaborate, to [00:18:00] express my views, which I really appreciate
and to grow. You mentioned it when you and I first met, it was actually a few
months before I launched Philanthropy fuel, and I told you I would join the
Hive right after I launched it.
’cause I felt I have to have a company before I, start networking. ’cause I have to
have something to talk about. And I think it was probably my first Hive
conversation and I was like, I didn’t need to wait. That was dumb. I could’ve
started day one because you can talk about anything. You can up with people
who have such a diverse backgrounds experience perspective.
You can go anywhere with those conversations. I’ve joined other groups before
in my prior life in sales and marketing and even early on in this career and,
LinkedIn groups, paid communities, things like that, and got very little
fulfillment out of them. I found them to be hands off with very little
engagement, very little structure, and I really, hate to say it, but I think a lot of
’em existed so that their founders of that community could push their offerings,
their thought leadership, their content, and it’s really a turnoff.
I found day one and I wish I remember who my first hive, I remember my
second hive chat. I don’t remember my first one. I gotta look [00:19:00] back.
But day one, the hive was different. The structure, the messaging, the vibe, the
engagement it really is a community. And that’s what I was looking for. It’s
really what I needed, yes, to grow, but let’s be real.
I left an environment in corporate where I was constantly interacting with all
kinds of people every day. Four year long, internal and external. Some of whom
I knew for decades, and then suddenly, boom, I’m on my own right. And it can
be lonely. So finding the nonprofit hive was huge for me. It gave me a sense of
belonging.
It felt like the right people, my people, which is why I got so involved and
became such a proponent and eventually, was invited by you to be a Hive
ambassador, which I both love, but I also take it very seriously because I want
others to get the same benefits I have and understand that this is a different type
of community building.
Than what they may have been exposed to in the past. And I love our
ambassador group. What a, just a great fun, emotional supportive group of
people. [00:20:00] It’s a community within the community, which is just as
important and it’s been rewarding to be a part of that. I have met just so many
amazing change makers through the hive.
Developed a relationships, friendships is, it just keeps growing. I’ve got more
opportunities to be an advocate for the nonprofit sector, whether it’s through
writing, through articles, hosting LinkedIn lives. We’ve got another one coming
up in November on generational differences, real or hoax or whatever.
Something along those lines. It’s a very satisfying and wild rides so far, so I
cannot say enough good things about the nonprofit hive.

Tasha: Well, thank you. And you know, the belief from others that there’s
something special happening here and that Yeah, I’m the founder, but you’re
probably not gonna meet me.
Right? We’re at that critical mass in terms of number of people that even if I
take every time slot every Thursday, I’m still not right hitting even a small
portion of members, but they are gonna meet someone amazing like yourself
and your first chat. Was September 12th with Matt Ratz, [00:21:00] who is a Oh
yeah.
Wonderful., Absolutely. Yeah.

Dan: Yeah.

Tasha: Similar person who’s been very involved and hilariously, perfect timing
to do this little interview because this is your 50th chat this. Nice. I know.
Exactly right. So you’ve almost done a year’s worth of conversations in the last
year. Just your dedication and I just am so appreciative of.
Similarly, what you bring that is unique and I think we all bring something
special to the sector that supports each other. We’re just not always looking at it
that way. And we, leaning into the zone of genius for you, whether that’s
corporate fundraising, building corporate relationships, looking at fundraising
from that different lens, that’s so important because I don’t think most
nonprofits, that’s a bit of an area of weakness for sure.

Dan: I agree. And it’s been a little bit of an eye-opener, but it also, it’s created
so many opportunities to help them in ways that they maybe they didn’t look at
before. And part of it’s just a mindset shift. Be confident in what you bring to a
partnership. Don’t come at this [00:22:00] from a deficit.
And like I said earlier, for the nonprofits, be unapologetically bold and put
yourself out there.

Tasha: Love it. And how can people follow along with you, get in touch after
they see this interview.

Dan: The easiest thing is jump on LinkedIn as you, you know, I’m all over
LinkedIn. I put out content most days and I’m always commenting and joining
so you can, connect with me on LinkedIn.
You can send me an email at dan@philanthropyfuel.com. I’m around. I’m
always around and I’m always willing to have conversations ’cause you just
never know when you talk to somebody what’s gonna happen. Love it.

Tasha: Alright, thanks so much for doing this with me, Dan, and thanks for just
being a supporter, cheerleader.
Everyone should have a Dan Drucker in their corner at this point. So

Dan: thank you, Tasha. Thanks for everything you do.