He needs no introduction… but I’m going to give him one anyway! I first met Paul Nazareth back in 2008 at the AFP Congress in Toronto. As usual, I was going around, reaching out to delegates to see if anyone wanted to have coffee and talk careers.
Paul immediately invited me to one of his networking events. I felt very welcomed right away. I remember it like it was yesterday: it was at the then-Marché in downtown Toronto, and a bunch of Humber College fundraising students were there as well.
That event was seriously the start of my own network-building journey, and I’ve stayed connected with Paul ever since. I’m incredibly grateful for his mentorship, insights, and the inspiration he continues to be. In this conversation, Paul shares his thoughts on the nonprofit sector, the habits that have shaped his career, and some hard-earned truths about philanthropy and fundraising that everyone should hear.
1. Who are you, and what do you actually do? My name is Paul Nazareth, and a LOT of people in Canadian fundraising have heard me speak or attended a course I’ve taught. But I’m not a fundraiser anymore. I was an advisor, and I still teach accountants, financial planners, and estate planners about the tax and law of donations. But I’m not a philanthropic advisor anymore.
What do I do?
I work with any charity, donor, advisor, or business that wants to convert MONEY into food, shelter, housing, and medicine. RIGHT NOW.
What I do NOT do is fundraising consulting. On my website, my pro bono services are called “fundraising INsulting.” I’ll give your board a TEDx-style talk on why you don’t need AI. Your fundraisers need to understand:
- Donations of life insurance.
- RRSP bequests.
- Online wills.
- Crypto capital campaign pledge payments.
Sure, there’s #GivingTuesday and #NationalPhilanthropyDay. But how many major gift fundraisers were paying attention to Canada’s first #DAFday?
2. What pulled you into the nonprofit world? Jesus and my Mom told me I had to sell chocolate almonds if I wanted to go to summer camp and not hell. I was a game seller and saw big cash at Canada’s Wonderland. I sold hundreds of tickets to RENT coached by Ed Mirvish in the 1990s, and thanks to Annual Fund(raiser) and global advancement Professor Maria Gallo, I left call centers and jumped into Planned Giving for my faith community, then a university, and then a bank.
3. Tell me about a moment that made you think, “Yes. This is why I do this.” The first time I talked to a donor who was trying to jam $1,000,000 on their credit card through their phone as Vice-President of CanadaHelps in 2015… I knew this had the potential for instant tap-major gifts. Capital campaign pledge payments of $250K are now done on a phone at lunch by foundation tech. It’s not that I promote them; these are the people who saved my soul. I now hang out with seven tech players, a charity phonebook, and rogue rock n’ roll conferences: https://paulnazareth.com/partners/
I have LOST that spark after almost 30 years in this business, Phil. I’m trying to find it in billion-dollar innovation and more 1:1 donor conversation workshops.
4. What’s something about working in nonprofits most people don’t understand? The “third sector” is a load-bearing wall in society. Funders and donors who whined about overhead and efficiency will need to FIND it as working in a nonprofit becomes financially impossible for ALL ages and stages. I had to quit a job I loved and created over a decade because it’s impossible for any nonprofit or charity to pay talent a living wage. Not because of any bylaw or rule… this is the governance of greed, the ethics of envy. Society is about to find out what happens when the carers… quit. Good news, Phil, you’ll still be able to find fundraisers jobs at Gas Station Foundations™️
5. What’s one thing you wish more fundraisers or hiring managers knew CPA’s….not just CFREs are required in the ingredients of a $100M Capital Campaign. And MFA-Ps are required for a campaign over $1 billion.
6. What’s a small, underrated habit that’s helped your career?
This shirt represents the question: “Why did that money we used to get go to someone else… and then come back to us minus a fee?” The answer is a billion dollars to PreyPal, Donor-Revised Funds, insurance companies, CanadaHelps, Benevity…
A fundraiser who has a very important job is my guerrilla artist-in-reticence. She anonymously made some designs I’m turning into T-shirts for my own alumni (and I TELL my mentors, peers, students, and nemeses who they are, and I’m grateful to them. You are one of them, Phil!
7. Finish this sentence: “The future of fundraising is…” Sh!tty weak capitalist gimmicks like tote-bag-giving-days and 5x matches on #DonateTuesday… to squeeze cash-money out of generosity. The soul of philanthropy will be saved by those willing to SHARE. Not just granting income, but sharing capital. Not pittance disbursement quotas, but human- and planet-needs-based DECENCY quotas. Any Gramma can tell you what’s decent; no government committee needed.”