Transform Your Nonprofit Into a High-Impact Change Agent
Join us for an essential conversation with Donald Summers, Founder and CEO of Altruist Partners, as he shares proven strategies for accelerating nonprofit growth and maximizing social impact. If you're leading a nonprofit and struggling to scale your mission, this episode delivers the roadmap you need.
About This Episode
Scaling a nonprofit is fundamentally different—and more challenging—than growing a for-profit business. In this episode, Donald Summers draws from his extensive experience helping hundreds of mission-driven organizations worldwide to break down the barriers holding nonprofits back and reveal the strategies that drive sustainable growth.
Whether you're running a small nonprofit dreaming of greater impact or leading a mid-size organization ready to scale, this conversation offers actionable insights on building the revenue, capital, and organizational capacity needed to create lasting change.
What You'll Learn
Key topics covered in this episode:
- The mission behind Altruist Partners and how they help nonprofits scale effectively across diverse mission types and growth stages
- Why scaling nonprofits presents unique obstacles that differ significantly from for-profit business growth
- The critical importance of sustainable revenue and capital infrastructure for nonprofit expansion
- How to overcome the stigma around adopting business practices in the nonprofit sector
- Proven methodologies for transforming small to mid-size nonprofits into well-funded, high-impact organizations
About Donald Summers
Donald Summers is the Founder and CEO of Altruist Partners, a social impact advisory firm dedicated to accelerating growth and impact for nonprofits and mission-driven organizations across the United States and around the world. Through Altruist Partners, Donald has helped hundreds of organizations solve their toughest challenges, generate hundreds of millions in new revenue and capital, strengthen their leadership teams, and deliver transformative social change.
As Founder and Executive Director of the Altruist Accelerator, the firm's nonprofit arm, Donald delivers the Altruist Growth and Impact Methodology to ambitious nonprofits and NGOs at every stage of development.
Donald is the author of the #1 New Nonprofit Release on Amazon: Scaling Altruism: A Proven Pathway for Accelerating Nonprofit Growth and Impact—a comprehensive, practical guide for nonprofit leaders ready to transform their organizations into well-funded, high-impact change agents.
His research and essays have been published by prestigious outlets including the Stanford Social Innovation Review, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Connect With Donald Summers
LinkedIn: Donald Summers
Website: altruistpartners.com
Perfect For
This episode is essential listening for:
- Nonprofit executive directors and CEOs
- Nonprofit board members and advisors
- Development and fundraising professionals
- Social entrepreneurs and impact-driven leaders
- Anyone passionate about scaling social impact
Ready to scale your nonprofit's impact? Listen now and discover the proven strategies that are helping mission-driven organizations worldwide achieve sustainable growth and create meaningful change.
Subscribe to The Million Dollar Nonprofit to never miss expert insights on nonprofit leadership, fundraising, and organizational growth.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Donald Summers?
Donald Summers is the Founder and CEO of Altruist Partners, a social impact advisory firm that helps nonprofits and mission-driven organizations scale their impact globally. He is also the author of the #1 New Nonprofit Release on Amazon, "Scaling Altruism: A Proven Pathway for Accelerating Nonprofit Growth and Impact." His research has been published in Stanford Social Innovation Review, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
What is Altruist Partners?
Altruist Partners is a social impact advisory firm that accelerates growth and impact for nonprofits and mission-driven organizations across the US and around the world. The firm has helped hundreds of organizations solve their toughest challenges, generate hundreds of millions in new revenue and capital, strengthen their leadership teams, and deliver transformative social change efforts.
What is the Altruist Accelerator?
The Altruist Accelerator is the nonprofit arm of Altruist Partners, founded and led by Donald Summers as Executive Director. It delivers the Altruist Growth and Impact Methodology to ambitious nonprofits and NGOs of all mission types and stages of growth, helping them build sustainable capacity for long-term impact.
What topics does Donald Summers cover in this podcast episode?
In this episode of The Million Dollar Nonprofit, Donald Summers discusses proven strategies for nonprofit growth including how Altruist Partners helps nonprofits scale effectively, why scaling nonprofits is inherently difficult, the unique obstacles nonprofits face compared to for-profit businesses, the critical importance of sustainable revenue and capital for growth, and how to overcome the stigma around using business practices in the nonprofit sector.
Why is scaling a nonprofit different from scaling a for-profit business?
Nonprofits face unique obstacles that differ significantly from for-profit businesses, including challenges around sustainable revenue generation, capital infrastructure, board governance, volunteer management, and operational capacity. Additionally, there's often stigma in the nonprofit sector around adopting business practices and growth-oriented strategies, which can limit organizational potential. Donald Summers addresses these challenges and provides practical strategies for overcoming them.
Who should listen to this podcast episode?
This episode is essential listening for nonprofit executive directors and CEOs, board members and advisors, development and fundraising professionals, social entrepreneurs, impact-driven leaders, nonprofit consultants, and anyone passionate about scaling social impact and building sustainable nonprofit organizations.
What is "Scaling Altruism" about?
"Scaling Altruism: A Proven Pathway for Accelerating Nonprofit Growth and Impact" is Donald Summers' #1 bestselling book on Amazon in the nonprofit category. It's a comprehensive, practical guide for transforming small to mid-size nonprofits into well-funded, high-impact change agents through proven methodologies, strategies, and real-world examples from organizations that have successfully scaled their impact.
How can nonprofits generate sustainable revenue?
According to Donald Summers, sustainable revenue for nonprofits comes from diversifying funding sources beyond traditional grants and donations. This includes developing earned income streams, building major donor relationships, creating recurring giving programs, establishing corporate partnerships, and implementing strategic fundraising systems. The key is creating predictable, renewable revenue that supports long-term organizational growth and impact.
What is the Altruist Growth and Impact Methodology?
The Altruist Growth and Impact Methodology is a proven framework developed by Donald Summers and Altruist Partners for accelerating nonprofit growth. It focuses on building sustainable revenue and capital infrastructure, strengthening organizational capacity, optimizing governance and leadership, and implementing scalable systems that enable nonprofits to expand their mission impact effectively and efficiently.
How can I connect with Donald Summers?
You can connect with Donald Summers on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-summers-56654a6/ or visit the Altruist Partners website at altruistpartners.com to learn more about his work, services, and resources for nonprofit leaders. You can also find his book "Scaling Altruism" on Amazon and follow his published research and essays.
What services does Altruist Partners offer to nonprofits?
Altruist Partners offers comprehensive social impact advisory services including strategic planning, fundraising and revenue generation strategy, capital campaign planning, board development and governance, leadership coaching, organizational capacity building, and implementation of growth methodologies. The firm works with nonprofits and mission-driven organizations of all sizes and mission types to solve their toughest challenges and accelerate impact.
Why do nonprofits struggle to scale their impact?
Nonprofits struggle to scale for several reasons: limited access to growth capital, over-reliance on restricted grant funding, inadequate infrastructure and systems, cultural resistance to business practices, board capacity constraints, difficulty attracting and retaining top talent, and the complexity of measuring and communicating impact. Donald Summers addresses these challenges in this episode and provides actionable strategies for overcoming them.
What makes The Million Dollar Nonprofit podcast valuable for nonprofit leaders?
The Million Dollar Nonprofit podcast provides actionable insights from experienced nonprofit leaders, consultants, and experts who share proven strategies for fundraising, organizational growth, leadership development, and maximizing social impact. Each episode delivers practical advice that nonprofit executives can implement immediately to build stronger, more sustainable organizations that achieve their mission more effectively.
How has Altruist Partners helped nonprofits achieve results?
Altruist Partners has helped hundreds of mission-driven organizations around the world generate hundreds of millions in new revenue and capital, strengthen their boards, staff and volunteer teams, build sustainable operational infrastructure, and scale their programs to reach more beneficiaries. The firm's methodology focuses on creating long-term organizational capacity rather than short-term fixes, enabling lasting transformation and impact.
What are the biggest mistakes nonprofits make when trying to grow?
Common nonprofit growth mistakes include scaling programs before establishing sustainable revenue, neglecting infrastructure and systems development, avoiding necessary business practices due to sector stigma, failing to invest in leadership and talent development, pursuing growth without strategic planning, and measuring activities rather than outcomes. Donald Summers discusses how to avoid these pitfalls and build a foundation for successful, sustainable growth.
💡 Try this in ChatGPT
- Summarize the article "EP #1 - Donald Summers on Scaling Nonprofit Impact" from https://blog.charityauctions.com/donald-summers-on-scaling-nonprofit-impact/ in 3 bullet points for a board update.
- Turn the article "EP #1 - Donald Summers on Scaling Nonprofit Impact" (https://blog.charityauctions.com/donald-summers-on-scaling-nonprofit-impact/) into a 60-second talking script with one example and one CTA.
- Extract 5 SEO keywords and 3 internal link ideas from "EP #1 - Donald Summers on Scaling Nonprofit Impact": https://blog.charityauctions.com/donald-summers-on-scaling-nonprofit-impact/.
- Create 3 tweet ideas and a LinkedIn post that expand on this Podcast topic using the article at https://blog.charityauctions.com/donald-summers-on-scaling-nonprofit-impact/.
Tip: Paste the whole prompt (with the URL) so the AI can fetch context.
