Problem. Solution. Action: How charity: water Designs Experiences That Create Lifelong Donors

What if the most powerful fundraising tool your organization has is not a landing page, an email campaign, or a social media strategy, but a room?

In this episode of Sustainable Giving, host Dave Raley sits down with Brian Seay, Experience Lab Director at charity: water, for a rich conversation about what it truly takes to move people from passive awareness into active, lasting generosity.

Brian brings more than two decades of experience designing live events that inspire action, first on the artist relations and live events team at Compassion International, and now leading one of the most innovative donor experience spaces in the nonprofit world: The Experience Lab, a free, immersive exhibit housed at The Factory at Franklin, just outside Nashville, Tennessee.

Brian and Dave dig into the architecture of transformation, the psychology of the ask, and what separates a moment of emotional inspiration from a genuine long-term commitment.

Key Topics They Talk About:

1. What The Experience Lab is and why charity: water built it.

2. The architecture of transformation: Problem, Solution, Action.

3. The psychology of the ask and why slowing down matters.

4. What it takes to move people into recurring giving.

5. The role of artists and influencers in expanding a cause.

Also in this episode, they talk about:

• Hudson, an 11-year-old who came through the Experience Lab during a preview tour, spent four months raising $10,000 door to door and through his church, and handed an envelope of cash and checks to Scott Harrison on opening night

• Practical advice for leaders who want to create more immersive donor experiences without a large budget, including using virtual reality storytelling and making the mission visual through art and physical objects

• Why the story should never be about the organization: "We are not the core of the story. We are the response."

How might you design a donor experience in your own context, whether at a gala, an open house, or even a single meeting, that moves people not just emotionally, but into sustained, long-term generosity?

Key Resources:

• charity: water website: https://www.charitywater.org

• The Experience Lab: https://www.charitywater.org/experience

• The Spring, charity: water's monthly giving program: https://www.charitywater.org/the-spring

• charity: water on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/charitywater

• Brian Seay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-seay-11557a55/

• Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath: https://www.heathbrothers.com/made-to-stick/

• The Rise of Sustainable Giving by Dave Raley: https://www.imagoconsulting.com

• Dave Raley on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/draley/ 

Special thanks to our team at Sustainable Giving: Tom, Victoria, Kirsten and Abigail.