Write the notes that keep people connected in your work.
The Heartspoken Professional Circle is for small nonprofit leaders and relationship-driven professionals who know that people stay engaged when they feel seen, appreciated, and remembered—but don’t always have the time, words, or system to make that happen consistently.
You don’t need more communication to do.
You need to make the communication you’re already doing more personal, intentional, and memorable.
The Professional Circle gives you practical resources, examples, prompts, and guidance to help you turn ordinary correspondence into stronger relationships—with donors, board members, volunteers, clients, colleagues, and others whose trust matters to your work.
$90/year until 2027
You’ll complete your membership securely on Substack.
You know relationships matter. The hard part is tending them.
When you’re wearing too many hats, relationship-building is easy to postpone.
The thank-you note waits. The donor you meant to check in with slips off the list. You want to acknowledge a volunteer, board member, client, or colleague personally—but you’re staring at a blank card wondering what to say.
That’s where the Professional Circle helps.
Instead of starting from scratch every time, you’ll have a growing collection of Heartspoken resources you can reach for when you need an idea, the right words, or a reminder that this is a moment worth noticing.
The goal isn’t polished prose.
It’s helping another person feel: “I matter. They noticed. I’m more than a name on a list.”
That’s the kind of communication that strengthens relationships over time.
What changes when you have the right resources at hand?
You become more confident about when to write, whom to write, and what to say.
You begin noticing relationship-building opportunities beyond the expected thank-you note.
Your correspondence sounds like you, not a canned template.
And instead of treating personal notes as an occasional nice gesture, you can begin using them intentionally as part of the way you steward relationships.
For a small nonprofit, that may mean keeping donors connected between appeals, making volunteers feel genuinely valued, strengthening board relationships, welcoming new supporters, or reaching out when someone needs encouragement.
Inside the Professional Circle
As a Professional Circle member, you receive everything included in the Heartspoken Circle, plus a more focused collection of professional relationship-building resources:
- The Professional Circle Resource Library — a growing collection of professional strategies, examples, prompts, guides, templates, and downloadable tools designed to help you put Heartspoken correspondence into practice.
- The broader Heartspoken Resource Library and other benefits included with regular paid membership.
- A digital copy of my award-winning book, HEARTSPOKEN: How to Write Notes That Connect, Comfort, Encourage, and Inspire.
- A digital copy of Chapter VI, “Take It to the Office,” including the NOTES formula for creating meaningful professional correspondence.
- Twelve Letters Worth Writing in the Year Ahead — Professional Circle Edition, with three collections of prompts for personal relationships, business relationships, and nonprofit relationships.
- Professional strategies and examples for turning ordinary correspondence into a consistent relationship-building practice.
- Member discounts on selected Heartspoken courses and products.
- Full access to the paid archive of The HEARTSPOKEN Note and the continuing inspiration and ideas I share with members.
As the Professional Circle grows, new resources will be added to the dedicated library and member Perks area so you can find what you need without hunting through years of content.
Especially for the small nonprofit leader who wears every hat
If you’re the executive director, development person, volunteer coordinator, communications department—and sometimes chief envelope-stuffer—all at once, you don’t need another complicated donor-engagement program.
You need approaches that are personal, practical, affordable, and actually doable.
That is increasingly where I’m focusing the Professional Circle.
I’m developing resources specifically to help small nonprofits use personal correspondence to strengthen donor stewardship and retention, board engagement, volunteer appreciation, and the sense of connection that keeps people close to a mission.
Because retention isn’t only a fundraising metric.
It’s what happens when people feel connected enough to stay.
And yes, the principles travel well.
The Professional Circle is designed increasingly around the needs of small nonprofits, but the principles travel well. If your livelihood depends on trusted relationships—with clients, customers, colleagues, referral partners, or community members—the same Heartspoken approach applies: communicate personally, notice what matters, and make people feel valued.
You’ll complete your membership securely on Substack. Choose the Professional Circle option when you see the available membership levels.
What makes the Professional Circle different?
This isn’t a course you have to complete or a library you’re supposed to work through from beginning to end.
Think of it instead as a resource shelf beside your desk.
When you need to thank someone, welcome someone, reconnect, encourage, congratulate, acknowledge a loss, or simply remind someone that they matter—you have somewhere to turn.
Take what you need. Adapt it to your voice. Send the note. Strengthen the relationship.
A more human way to build relationships
I have spent decades watching organizations, businesses, boards, communities, and individuals succeed—or struggle—because of relationships.
The ways we communicate have multiplied and sped up.
The need to feel seen and appreciated hasn’t.
Join Now
The Professional Circle exists to help you make genuine connection a more intentional part of the work you already do—one thoughtful message at a time. The membership fee is $90 per year right now, but the price will go up in 2027.
Your membership is hosted through Substack and includes all regular paid-member benefits plus the additional Professional Circle resources described above.
You’ll complete your membership securely on Substack. Choose the Professional Circle option when you see the available membership levels.