COURAGELAB™️ A 6-WEEK FUNDRAISING ACCELERATOR PROGRAM

If you had to double your individual giving this year, what would you need to do differently?

Would you make bolder asks?

Would you cut through the noise?

Would you rise to the challenge?

Would you make bolder asks? Would you cut through the noise? Would you rise to the challenge? 

COURAGELAB™️ A 6-WEEK FUNDRAISING ACCELERATOR PROGRAM

If you had to double your individual giving this year, what would you need to do differently?

Would you make bolder asks?

Would you cut through the noise?

Would you rise to the challenge?

Would you make bolder asks? Would you cut through the noise? Would you rise to the challenge?

Learn the strategies and practice the habits of the best fundraisers so you can overcome your fear of asking for more and raise major gifts.

This is your year to step up. Your mission needs you now. Next cohort kicks off September 2024.

Get to the next level in your fundraising like these humble, courageous nonprofit leaders:

Monica Morales, VP of Development, DivInc. // Raised $225k in 6 weeks

Stefan Gartrell, Founder & ED, Ripple Effect 22 // Raised first $10k gift in 2 weeks

Claire McNeill, Founder & ED, Shine Plano // Raised $35k from 4 donors in 6 weeks

Chris Duran, Director of Development, WCHS // Raised $60k in 4 weeks

Rhonda Sanco, CEO, Araminta Freedom Initiative // Upgraded $50k donor to 6 figures in 2 months

Nikki Tobia, Major Gifts Officer, Free Wheelchair Mission // Raised $450k in first year as MGO

Right now, you’re being pulled in a million directions—and you’re not bringing in the kind of money your org needs to fund your vision.

  • You’re showing up to all the team meetings.

  • You’re putting out fires at the venue for your next event.

  • You’re always searching for the next donor.

  • And you’re settling for $2k gifts that could easily be $10k or more (because you don’t want to seem ungrateful).

And I get it—you’re chronically understaffed and on the cusp of burnout. There’s a lot vying for your attention and it all feels important.

But your mission needs your full attention.

Your #1 job is to build relationships and raise funds. FULL STOP.

You need to focus on the 20% of your job that will net 80% of your results. That means you’re gonna have to start enforcing some boundaries and stop chasing shiny new donors.

And it means you need to focus your fundraising efforts on the people who’ve already bought into your mission: your current donors. 

Because the data overwhelmingly shows that donor retention is where it’s at. And it’s so much easier than constantly searching for the next best thing.

Maybe up until now, your individual gifts have felt Random:

  • Your donor is friends with the founder or board member and gave $2k.

  • Their wealthy great-aunt passed and they inherited some cash.

  • They just donated a random $8k and you don’t even know why.

That’s not a strategy. That’s literally waiting for a miracle. The good news is…

You can turn an annual $5k gift into $10k with ONE meaningful conversation with a current donor.

That’s doubling your individual giving with a couple of emails and an hour-long meeting.

That’s taking hours of work on low-ROI activities off your plate.

That’s doubling your individual giving with a couple of emails and an hour-long meeting. That’s taking hours of work on low-ROI activities off your plate.

That’s doubling your impact on a community of people who desperately need it.

That’s something you can do again and again.

That’s doubling your impact on a community of people who desperately need it. That’s something you can do again and again.

That is, if you make the ask.
Strategically. And frequently.

We make all kinds of excuses NOT to ask for more…

THE EXCUSE
THE TRUTH

"Our donors can't give more than $2,000.”

How do you know they can't give more? Have you asked? Did they tell you that? Usually, the answer is no. Stop assuming. Start asking.

“They must not be responding because they don't want to hear from me."

It isn't personal. People are busy and distracted. Don't give up too easily.

"We don't have any major donors. Where are these major donors?”

If you think that you need people like Oprah or Bill and Melinda Gates to get a major gift, you don’t realize all of the major donors you are overlooking. 😬

“Won’t I offend them? I don’t want to sound like I’m greedy or all about their money.”

Oh, I'm sorry - Were you planning on using that $10k for your yacht? No? Didn't think so. This isn't about you. What greed? This is about your community. If they’re offended, likely they are revealing the greed in their own heart.

Stop second-guessing and start inviting your individual donors to be a bigger part of your mission.

Individual donors with buy-in on your mission are the catalysts you need to 10x your organization’s impact. They also open the door to other opportunities and connections you haven’t been able to find on your own.

It’s time to start asking for the real real and stop accepting the scraps.

Psst… The money is just the beginning.

Start making calls, not excuses.

Start building relationships, not lists.

Start making decisions, not bottlenecks.

Start delegating to your team, not taking on more.

Start having conversations, not making assumptions.

Start taking ownership, not waiting for people to step up.

Start trusting yourself, not second-guessing.

Start raising money, not stalling for time.

IT’S ALSO TIME TO

Step more fully into the role of a leader and…

INTRODUCING
6-WEEK GROUP COACHING ACCELERATOR FOR AMBITIOUS NONPROFIT LEADERS READY TO GET THE COURAGE AND STRATEGY TO RAISE MAJOR GIFTS 

Live Coaching & Training by Julie Ordoñez

INTRODUCING
6-WEEK GROUP COACHING ACCELERATOR FOR AMBITIOUS NONPROFIT LEADERS READY TO GET THE COURAGE AND STRATEGY TO RAISE MAJOR GIFTS 

Live Coaching & Training by Julie Ordoñez

What is CourageLab?

CourageLab is a 6-week accelerator program for courage-seeking nonprofit leaders who are ready to level up their fundraising efforts with major gifts.

This hands-on program will walk you through the mindset, principles, and proven strategies for raising 5-figure gifts from individuals. 

This is the fire-in-your-belly, kick-in-your-behind, then hug-you-because-you-did-great kind of coaching and strategy you need to take your fundraising game to the next level.

Think personal AND professional development. (Because you’re gonna need both.)

Because it’s not JUST about being a better fundraiser. It’s about becoming a better leader in your donors’ lives and in the community.

NEXT COHORT LAUNCHING IN SEPTEMBER 2024

ONE-TIME INVESTMENT OF

$4997

Results are Typical

These are not cherry-picked highlights. These are realistic, everyday experiences inside CourageLab.

Every result is a different leader who had zero major gifts training before CourageLab.

What’s Included?

Live Coaching

1-hour weekly live group training calls for 6 weeks led by major gifts strategist, Julie Ordoñez

Get personalized feedback, pitch practice, donor role play, and Q&A

Training

Full access to major gifts course to answer all your Qs about how to have a donor meeting, make the ask

Donor Engagement Guides, Email Templates, and Julie’s full major gifts toolkit and training vault are yours

Community

Ask Julie and your peers any question M-F in the private Slack channel and get in-the-moment support

Get feedback on urgent matters, celebrate wins and learn from your peers

Here's what we focus on in the 6 weeks of LIVE coaching:

1

Week One - How to build a culture of generosity

Week Two - Asking for help and saying no

2

3

Week Three - Pitch practice and role-play with your peers

4

Week Four - Strategy for donor meetings

Week Five - Engaging your board in fundraising

5

6

Week Six - Major Gifts 2.0 - Planned giving, Leveraging Events, Non-liquid Assets

You’ll also get access to my entire Major Gifts Toolkit:

  • Donor Engagement Monthly Tracker

  • Engagement Checklist - Ideas on how to reach out and about what

  • Donor Research Guide and Template

  • Donor Survey Email Template

  • Donor Priority Chart

  • Pitch Framework - The Ultimate Guide to Making the Ask

  • Prepping for the Ask Checklist

  • Powerful Questions Cheatsheet

  • Ask Amount Planner

  • Determining Ask Amount Case Study

  • Making the Ask Meeting Guide

  • Donor Follow-up Checklist

Investment

VIP Option

ONE-TIME PAYMENT

$6997

BEST VALUE

Includes 1:1 90-Minute Strategy Session and 1:1 30-Day Check-in

Only 4 Spots Available

Regular Option

ONE-TIME PAYMENT

$4997

MOST POPULAR

Only 20 Spots Available

Stefan got a $10K gift from a volunteer, after just one email.

Results are typical.

CourageLab.

Results are typical. CourageLab.

Stefan shares how he implemented the donor communications system in CourageLab that created incredible results and got a $10K gift from a new donor within 3 weeks of CourageLab. Stefan had not been trained
in major gifs prior to CourageLab.

Monica exceeded her goal of $100K, after just one month.

Results are typical.

CourageLab.

Results are typical. CourageLab.

During CourageLab, she led her team in a new way and let go of distractions. She also raised $10K in one phone call from someone she thought would say no, her first $100K gift from another donor and asked for $250K and got close to double that instead!

Real wins from everyday nonprofit leaders like you.

Hey, I’m Julie.

Hey, I’m Julie.

I’m a change agent. A challenger. A bonafide fundraiser and risk-taker. But I’m not a (boring) consultant.

I don’t make a fancy plan that no one gets and certainly doesn’t know how to implement.

But I have personally raised $1M+ from individuals every year for over a decade, including last year.

It all started when I had a kickass mentor. I began my career at a community center as a one-person development shop and soon grew to study the fundamentals of fundraising under my mentor and friend, Nuka Solomon, at United Way. 

Within a few years, I became the top 1% fundraiser at United Way. In the process, I learned the true meaning of generosity and exactly why giving is a gift to the giver.

Today, I equip other ambitious nonprofit leaders with the courage to ask for more.

$300 Billion is on the table.

Read. That. Twice. 

Individual donors give well over $300 billion each year to nonprofits in the U.S.

Major gifts are where it’s at. So why don’t more people prioritize this strategy? Because it’s scary as hell and personal.

I get it. Asking for a lot of money from a rich person face-to-face can be intimidating. Especially when you have worked so damn hard to build these relationships.

It’s also the one thing standing in between you and the change you seek to make.

As your coach, I’ll teach you my exact methodology for increasing your ask and getting a “YES” from the individual donors you desperately want to support your mission.

I’ll also support you in letting go of the stuff that’s keeping your organization small.

If you’ve been struggling to scale your fundraising efforts for your nonprofit organization, I want to help you. 

Courage is the catalyst to making real change in our world today.

Ready to multiply yours?

Got Questions? Check out this video.

I’ll walk you through what CourageLab is, why I created it and more of what you can expect.

38 min. You can watch on 1.7x speed.

Prefer audio? Listen below.

Change what you believe.

Change how you fundraise.

Change the size of your impact.

Change what you believe. Change how you fundraise. Change the size of your impact. 

All inside CourageLab™️

Take a deeper look inside the Major Gifts Pro Course

Module 1: Building a Culture of Generosity

  • Learn the 5 keys to building a culture of generosity in your nonprofit

  • Mindset training to help you get an attitude of abundance

  • Donor Survey Email Template

Module 2: The Vital Few

  • Redefine fundraising as a form of leadership

  • Prep for the ask to ensure you aren’t leaving money on the table

  • Learn how to prioritize donors and determine your ask amount

  • Donor Engagement Monthly Tracker to help you stay on top of comms (plus a bank of ideas for “excuses” to reach out)

Module 3: Having Courage in Donor Conversations

  • Learn how to handle rejection (no vs. not right now)

  • Donor Research Guide and Template to help you better cultivate relationships and develop a more purposeful engagement strategy with your top donors

Module 4: Making the Ask With Audacity

  • Powerful Questions Cheat Sheet for potential and new donors and board members to build connection, get buy-in, and and inspire generous action

  • Pitch Framework that breaks down the formula of a clear, powerful, action-oriented ask

  • Meeting Guide to keep you on track toward your goal and gracefully get to the point

  • Donor Follow-Up Checklist and Email Toolkit with copy-pastable, personalizable emails to ask for the meeting, follow-up with gratitude, and close the gift

  • Learn how to use their passion, relationship, commitment—not just giving history—to determine and plan your future asks in the Fiscal Year Projections Spreadsheet

Module 5: Engaging Board Members in Fundraising

  • Develop a plan of action that plays to your strengths, maximizes your existing relationships, and gets board members playing a more active role in fundraising

  • Create a 5-star experience for your board members by asking for feedback and having conversations

  • Empower your board to engage with your existing and potential donors to expand your impact

BONUS Module 6: The Vault - Best Live Training by Julie

  • More than half a dozen additional trainings including the 3 Essentials to Becoming a World-Class Fundraiser

It’s not just about money. It’s about Impact.

Case Study: Morgan turned a recurring $250 into $15k

“I had thought about seeking out major gifts training for a while. From the outside looking in on testimonials from previous CourageLab folks, I thought their results were great, but I didn’t know going in if it would be the same outcome for me. 

I told myself stories that for XYZ reasons I probably wouldn’t get similar results but that I would learn a lot and be ready in the future.

I felt that I lacked deeper relationships with donors and figured that others probably had a larger donor pool with a higher gift capacity, so those kinds of results were easier for others.

I also wouldn’t call myself a bold person per se, but I knew that I needed to learn some of that mindset.

In total, I have $17k pledged, $15k of which is from one donor. Both of those folks had only ever donated $250 at one time.

I’m confident more will be coming in soon as I’m working toward getting more meetings as the year-end approaches.

Practicing the pitch was incredibly helpful. The frameworks I’ll use over and over. Plus, making yourself do it in front of people is always the best way to practice but easy to avoid on your own.

I used to feel hung up on how to structure an individual donor meeting. CourageLab™️ has really increased my confidence.”

– Morgan Zoellner, Director of Development, Dementia Alliance of North Carolina 

Case Study: Akili doubled donors’ gifts

“Before CourageLab my relationship with major gifts fundraising was very fearful and ego-based. I was worried about asking for too much and damaging relationships that existed before me. I feared I didn't have enough knowledge or experience to warrant asking for more.

“Followed up with the donor and they are pledging $5K this year and $5K next year. One of our goals this year - asking for more $10K gifts and multi-year gifts.”

Working with Julie transformed my relationship with asking AND giving. I'm focused on building relationships, providing an opportunity for people to invest in what matters to them most, and asking with the belief that no ask will break a relationship that I've worked to cultivate, even if the answer is no (for now!). $10K is now my standard major donor ask and I've positioned myself as a leader in the lives of my donors which I would not have had the confidence to do prior.” 

– Akili Phillips, Director of Development, Family Promise of Brevard

This is for you only if this sounds like you:

  • You have donors who give $2k, $5k and you know they could give more

  • You have a big vision for impact

  • You are ready to ask for $10k gifts from individuals 

YOUR TYPE? 
GET INSIDE COURAGELAB™️ AND START CONNECTING WITH YOUR PEOPLE.

Questions? Meet Answers.

  • Both. When you sign up, you’ll get immediate access to my 6-module Major Gifts Pro course and all the resources and templates inside. But the real magic is in the live weekly coaching and Q&A calls and Slack community where you’ll receive support and accountability M-F during business hours. You’ll get a ton of individual attention and learn a lot from your peers’ questions. And you’ll be held accountable to have at least one donor conversation or touchpoint each week. You can count on it.

  • Yes! The best time to get major gifts training is now while you are just getting going. You’ll build a solid foundation of the right habits that will serve you well for the rest of your career.

  • Most major gift programs take 6-12 months and overwhelm you with information in a dry course format. We move fast and get results quickly through customized 1:1 support and a proven, recession-proof major gift strategy that’s easy to implement and run with on your own for the rest of your career.

    Plus, you’ll develop other leadership skills and gain knowledge by tapping into the community around you—a community full of peers as ambitious, courageous, kind, and passionate as you are.

    I also guarantee results in 30 days or your money back. (I have yet to have to give anyone a refund.)

  • Let’s play this out. If you keep going in the direction you’re going and you don’t get major gifts training, what will things look like in 1 year? What will be different for you to be able to afford this next year?

    If you have donors who give $2k and $5k every year and you know they could give more

    If you have a bold vision for the future growth of the organization

    If you are ready to ask for major gifts

    I can help you raise $10k in a month or less or your money back.

    Typical results are clients 2x their investment in as little as a week or within the 6-week program.

    Can you afford to NOT invest in this?

  • No. We do not offer refunds.

  • Short answer: Probably, but I cannot guarantee future cohorts, and not at this price point.

    Long answer: If you don’t have time to make individual giving and major gifts a priority, it means at least one of these three things:

    • You’re doing too much

    • You’re doing the wrong things

    • You’re doing the right things, just not well

    You need to stop doing the things that don’t raise money. That might mean hard convos with leaders and your board. I will help you have those conversations. Sometimes what you really need is boundaries.

    We’re going to focus on building relationships with donors you love. This work is sustainable.

    There is no good time to invest in your training. There will always be something.

    You may be able to put off CourageLab. Can your community wait any longer?

  • No, it’s for leaders at any level who will be asking for major gifts and building relationships with donors.

  • Yes. In addition to the major gifts strategy one-pager, you will learn the keys of building a culture of generosity. Because your culture is your strategy. And you need the confidence, skillset, and habits to build a plan that works for your strengths and organization.

  • People who show up to every call typically 4x their investment in 8 weeks or less and double or triple their individual giving in 2 years. Long-term clients from 2018 and 2019 have doubled their individual giving and grown 50-100% in revenue each year. You will have a proven method to inspire $10k gifts forever.

  • This program is best for U.S.-based nonprofits. If you operate globally, but have a U.S. headquarters or fundraising hub, this is perfect for you! If you are located internationally, but have a registered 501c3 in the U.S., this is great for you, too.

  • Well, is there any other way to have a party? Yes! We love teams. Be sure to register each person for a separate membership. This work is personal, and each team member will need to participate fully. For 3 or more, reach out to Julie for a group rate if spots are available.

Get comfortable asking for more

COURAGELab

Investment

VIP Option

ONE-TIME PAYMENT

$6997

BEST VALUE

Includes 1:1 90-Minute Strategy Session and 1:1 30-Day Check-in

Only 4 Spots Available

Regular Option

ONE-TIME PAYMENT

$4997

MOST POPULAR

Only 20 Spots Available

The party starts in September 2024.
Are you in or what?

CourageLab™️ is not just about fundraising…

It’s about developing sustainable habits.

You’ll lay the foundation of all the habits you need to tune out the noise, delegate, and have the conversations that serve your cause.

It’s about keeping your commitment to the people you serve—and yourself. 

Most nonprofit leaders are motivated by external factors rather than internal ones. But to become the leader your cause needs, you need to be able to keep your word to yourself. This breeds self-trust. Your confidence soars. And that’s what’s going to help you get ready for even bigger things in the not-too-distant future.

It’s about becoming a courageous leader and person.

You won’t be the same person in 6 weeks. You’ll be better.

This is a room you want to be in.

One last thing…

One last thing…

This work is Personal.

This work is Personal.

You’re fulfilling your passion, and pursuing the path that’s less traveled by your peers. You set out to achieve a mission - one that’s personal. The journey of scaling your fundraising efforts through major gifts is going to challenge you to your core.

Enter only if your heart's in it, because courage calls for nothing less than your full attention.

WE KICK OFF IN SEPT 2024