Episode Details

In this episode of The Responsive Lab, Scott sits down with Aaron Dolton, Chief Revenue Officer at Powered by Text. Aaron spent nearly three decades in for-profit sales and marketing before pivoting toward the nonprofit world, and that outside-in perspective shapes how he thinks about donor communication and what it actually means to make someone feel known.

You'll hear about:
• Why most nonprofit donor communication feels transactional and how to shift toward something more relational before any financial ask
• How Aaron's three-part SMS test with lapsed donors, built around prayer and care, outperformed what years of email campaigns had accomplished
• The difference between automating the trigger and automating the voice, and why that distinction matters for small teams trying to reach donors at scale
• How one broadcast ministry grew its house file by 27 percent and received a $200,000 check from a brand-new donor, all by spending months doing ministry work instead of asking for money
• Why nonprofits are slow to adopt texting despite donors asking for it, and what actually gets organizations unstuck
• The case for building a text-based community channel that your organization owns and that cannot be deplatformed

Links from the episode:
* For more info, text "Aaron" to 77007
* Learn more about Powered by Text: https://poweredbytext.com
* Learn more about Virtuous: https://virtuous.org/

Looking for technology that helps you build deeper donor relationships with less work from your team? Learn more at virtuous.org.