The best part of hosting Philanthropy Plugged In — the podcast series from the Women’s Philanthropy Institute — was getting to interact with some of the smartest, most interesting voices shaping the future of giving. With 12 episodes and more than 20 guests, the podcast generated a wealth of insights that can inspire anyone who works in or engages with philanthropy. Here were some of my favorite soundbites.

A COVID silver lining: reaching more supporters by going virtual

In Building Donor Relationships Online and Off, the guests discussed how COVID has transformed fundraising initiatives. Dorri McWhorter of the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago told a powerful story: "We had more people show up online than if we would have had an in-store event. It was just phenomenal to see how technology allows us to not only engage with the supporters, but we actually had supporters across the country participating as well because of the technology." This is certainly a COVID silver lining that can help shape future fundraising efforts across the board.

Even before COVID, technology “radically altered the way donors are able to interact with global organizations and the way in which global organizations that have technology are able to reach out and find new donors, interact with them, and create relationships.” This according to GlobalGiving’s Donna Callejon, in a great episode titled The Risks and Rewards of Digital Fundraising.

Women are masters of community-building, even from a distance

Social distancing hasn’t limited women’s ability to bring people together. In fact, women have skillfully used technology to create community long before the pandemic. In The Power of Community, Ashlei Spivey, founder of I Be Black Girl, explained: “One of the things that I'm really proud of is that we have always been really virtual.” In Reimagining Fundraising, Elizabeth Zeigler of Graham-Pelton said: “Women crave community — we crave being connected and we crave being together. And what will come out of this, I predict, is that organizations will become more proficient at skillfully building communities on virtual platforms so that coming together is not always the requirement.”

We give more by giving together

The Most Generous City in the Country was such a fun episode to host; I loved chatting with the founders of two Austin-based organizations about how to maximize generosity. Impact Austin’s Christina Canales Gorczynski talked about her collaboration with I Live Here I Give Here: "By working together, we end up doubling our network. And so right now, as far as growing generosity, that means that we can be in twice as many rooms as we are when we're just alone or working alone."

Social entrepreneurship isn’t easy, but it’s worth it

Technology is quite clearly transforming philanthropy. On Innovative Generosity, I went behind the scenes with two social entrepreneurs to hear about their apps and founder stories. I loved this line from Givly founder and CEO Tiffany Williams: "I will say that anytime there was a low moment, my mom calls them 'God winks' — and they're little things along the way that let you know you're on the right track, so just keep going."

Feedback-driven fundraising

I loved talking to Deanna Kearns about how The Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago is getting innovative with its fundraising, from dance marathons to gaming to Alexa. In The Future of Fundraising Starts Now, she said: "The future of fundraising is simple: allowing our donors to engage in the work that we're doing is really important. The power of our donors and the feedback they give will continue to allow us to make decisions strategically moving forward."

Raising the next generation to be generous

Several of our guests talked about the power of parents in shaping generosity. In this episode, Walle Mafolasire — founder of the Givelify mobile giving app — talked about when he was a kid, how his mom would say: “‘Walle, if I don't teach you how to give a dollar out of ten dollars, you're never going to be able to give $100,000 out of a million dollars.’” Another great quote from Walle, and important call to action for all of us: “I'm going to be counting on the dads also, to join our moms, in making sure that we're teaching the next generation how to be very generous with their time, with their talent, with their money — especially in times like today where we need philanthropy more than we ever have.”

Read the source article about the Philanthropy Plugged In podcast by Jeannie Infante Sager at LinkedIn.