Daryl Hatton

“As someone who has spent decades building fundraising and donation platforms and working with organizations at every stage of maturity, I’m used to books that either oversimplify the money conversation into basic techniques or treat donors as an ATM to be optimized. The Deep End does something more important: it insists that understanding money is part of the mission work, not a distraction from it, and it gives leaders the language and mental models to finally see their numbers as a narrative of impact instead of a source of shame. Alex’s journey from a scarcity mindset of “doing more with less” to naming true costs and refusing to make the mission smaller just to keep financial conversations comfortable will resonate with anyone who has ever stared at a payroll deadline and felt the weight of staff trust and program continuity on their shoulders. I also appreciated the book’s insistence that overhead is oxygen, not waste, and that creating reliable infrastructure is an act of compassion for both people working in cause and the beneficiaries of the organization’s work. That focus on sustainability and full-cost funding is where I hope the sector continues to evolve: toward engaging donors as partners in impact and active advocates for the mission, cultivating small recurring donors as future major supporters, and treating operational revenue and unrestricted cash as the backbone of long-term resilience rather than an afterthought. I look forward to seeing where Gord and Kathy take this series of books but this one, in particular, is a vital first step: a book that finally names the hidden financial realities nonprofit leaders live with, and invites them out of isolation into more honest, courageous leadership. For executive directors, board members, and fundraisers who care deeply about their mission but feel like they’re “in the deep end” with money, this book offers not just tools, but emotional validation and a path forward. It’s the kind of work that can change how a sector talks about financial health – from reactive, grant-chasing scarcity to intentional, impact-driven strategy – and I’m grateful to Gord and Kathy for putting so much of the hard truth, and hard-earned wisdom, on the page.”