Nate Hilpert started fundraising at 19. Since then, he has raised over $3 million, asked donors for money more than 3,000 times, and coached 300 people to fundraise.
Ten years into his nonprofit career, he took over an organization that was $235,000 in debt. A major donor said no, and told him why. Nate fixed what the donor pointed out, and the organization reached record revenue and record impact.
That “no” sent him on a research project. He interviewed 22 major donors who have given over $107 million combined, and built a donor-first approach called How Donors Decide from what they told him.
Today, Nate runs Reliable Fundraising, a 16-week program that helps small nonprofits build steady, donor-centered fundraising. He lives in the Austin, Texas area.
Our Experts
Beth Archer, GPC, RSM
Tammy Armstrong
Chris Barlow
Angela Barnes
Rachel Bearbower
Nikki Bell
Hannah Berger
Gregg Bossen
Jeff Brooks
Maria Bryan
Robin Cabral
Presented by Canva
Denisa Casement
Simon Choy
Claudia Cometa
Kelly Cristaldi
Kia Croom
Meena Das
Raffi DerSimonian
Christine Deska
Megan Donahue
Dan Druker
Roxanne Eflin
Allison Ehrich Bernstein
Shereese Floyd
Microsoft Tech for Social Impact
Caroline Fothergill
Brian Frankel
Danielle Gines
Caliopy Glaros
Ephraim Gopin
Meredith Gray
Chris Hammond
Jeremy Haselwood
Daryl Hatton
Nate Hilpert
Courtney Hodge
Micah James
Jas Jhooty
Chris Johnson, CRA, RSM
Floyd Jones
Susan Kahan
Dominic Kalms
Zac Kester
Josh Kligman
Cherian Koshy
Dr. Krista Kurlinkus
Brittany LaGanke
Marcelle Lee
Diane Leonard, GPC
Kristina Leroux
Kivi Leroux Miller
Kelly McLaughlin
Mariah Monique
Matthew Montoya
Madeleine Nance
Chelsea Paul
Julie Paynotta, GPC, RSM
Ligia Pena
Maggie Perry, GPC, RSM
Angela Pitter
Perry Radford
Alice Ruhnke
Brian Saber
Simon Scriver
Taylor Shanklin
Dana Snyder
Emilie Socash
Christian Spearow
Shelly St. John
Michelle Stein
Mitch Stein
A.J. Steinberg
Kurt Steiner
Dannielle Stewart
Kim Stewart
Lauren Swern
John Mark Vanderpool
Lauren Vanderpool
Lidia Varesco Racoma
Scott Veigel
Frank Velásquez Jr
Steph Vesely
Erica Waasdorp
Osamu Wakabayashi
Joe Waters
Jennifer Whitaker
Chris Wong