Funders on Fundraising Podcast

Funders on Fundraising is a podcast about power, trust, and authenticity—and how money moves in the nonprofit sector.

Check it out on Apple, Spotify, or below!

Misty Avila Gereghty – Vice President & Chief Strategy Officer at the James B. McClatchy Foundation – Funders on Fundraising

Misty Avila is a longtime nonprofit leader and current funder working to build infrastructure for multiracial democracy in California’s Central Valley. In this episode, she reflects on how her upbringing in a restaurant shaped her understanding of power, what it means to bridge communities that rarely meet, and why she’s always been wary of the word “authenticity.” She talks about funders not being the audience, how she filters out scarcity thinking, and why she prefers text messages to formal emails. She’s honest about what gets her attention: people with vision, connection, and roots in the work. And she’s clear about what backfires—especially when funders treat process like protection instead of owning their decisions. It’s a conversation about access, networks, and what happens when we stop treating money like the most valuable thing in the room. Produced by Chris Lawrence and Urbanist Media Cover art by Ben Johnson Theme music by Evan Greer For more tools, workshops, and resources on building authentic fundraising relationships, visit: aspirationtech.org/htrm
  1. Misty Avila Gereghty – Vice President & Chief Strategy Officer at the James B. McClatchy Foundation
  2. Elizabeth Eagen – Former Senior Program Officer at the Open Society Foundations
  3. Kent McGuire – Former Director, Education Program at the Hewlett Foundation
  4. Michelle Shevin – Former Senior Program Manager at the Ford Foundation
  5. Sasha Rabkin – Advanced Education Research & Development Fund

Hosted by Kelly James, a former funder, and Geoffrey MacDougall, a career fundraiser, the show opens up honest conversations between people who shape where resources flow and those who work to secure them.

Each episode demystifies the craft of fundraising—how relationships form, how decisions are made, and how power and persuasion operate when money is on the table. Guests talk candidly about what excites them, what turns them off, and how trust actually gets built in real time.

It’s not about philanthropy’s performance. It’s about the people, the structure, and the tactics that make meaningful commitments possible.

Produced by Chris Lawrence and Urbanist Media

Cover art by Ben Johnson

Theme music by Evan Greer