Darian Rodriguez Heyman

Nonprofit Author & Mission-Led Consultant helping Boards leverage AI

  • AI & The Future of Philanthropy

    A Fresh Look at Fundraising: Adjusting Strategies to Today’s Reality

    Building a Fundraising Board

    Top Ten Fundraising Tips:

    So You Want to be a Social Entrepreneur?:

  • Please Inquire

  • San Francisco, California

Darian Rodriguez Heyman is an inspiring, dynamic visionary whose life’s work is “helping people help,” or supporting and connecting nonprofit, philanthropy, mission-led business, impact investing, and environmental leaders. Heyman previously served as Executive Director of Craigslist Foundation and created its Nonprofit Boot Camp, which he grew into the largest social impact gathering in San Francisco Bay Area history after only one year.

Today, Heyman continues his efforts inspiring leaders to action, connecting professionals to the resources and best practices they need to build a better world through his work as a consultant, coach, best-selling author, conference organizer, and via his frequent global keynotes. Never one to preach from an ivory tower, Heyman is an active practitioner passionate about sharing his hard-won insights and field-tested tactics. Heyman has delivered plenaries to thousands alongside the likes of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Apple Founder Steve Wozniak, and presidential candidate Ralph Nader. He has keynoted in Kenya, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, India, Australia, New Zealand, and all over the US. Heyman co-hosted both TEDxSoMa and TEDxPresidio and enjoys MCing programs and connecting the dots between speakers and topics. He often works with conference organizers to optimize their program and agenda, dialing up interactivity, outcomes, and approval ratings, and has led youth leadership, civil society, and green economy summits for the United Nations Environmental Programme and others. Past keynotes include AFP (the Association of Fundraising Professionals)’s international conference, the US State Department, Grant Professionals Association, and Conference of Southwest Foundations, plus a wide range of state nonprofit associations and universities.

Heyman is an incredibly engaging speaker that always leaves his audiences with actionable insights and useful resources, ensuring they’re able to work more effectively and efficiently after his talks. He brings energy and interactivity to any program, covering a wide range of topics. Candid, light-hearted, and right-on-target, audiences find him inspirational and provocative as Heyman delivers insights, trends, and useful tools and approaches to emerging and established audiences of nonprofit decision-makers, board members, foundation executives, philanthropists, and grantmakers, as well socially responsible business leaders, impact investors, and youth. No matter who he addresses, Heyman always looks to build on his history of helping people with visions of a better world make them real.

Background & Credentials:

A well-known social impact thought leader, Heyman authored the best-selling book, Nonprofit Management 101 (2nd ed.), hailed as the bible of nonprofit leadership, and edited Nonprofit Fundraising 101 (Wiley & Sons), the first truly comprehensive and practical guide to raising money for your cause. He is currently finishing his third book, AI for Nonprofits (Wiley & Sons, estimated release of August 2025), to share practical, tactical tips and tools from 55 industry experts regarding how nonprofits can responsibly adopt AI to advance fundraising, programs, marketing, and back-office operations.

Previously, Heyman co-founded Social Media for Nonprofits, the world’s only conference series devoted to social media for social good, and the successful Nonprofit Fundraising Masters series. Heyman also served as editor-in-chief of the popular online magazine for nonprofits Blue Avocado (blueavocado.org) and executive director of Numi Foundation (numifoundation.org). Building off his work helping the United Nations develop their Sustainable Development Goals for both climate and gender equality, he is also a passionate advocate for climate solutions, having been appointed as a Commissioner for the Environment by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Heyman also actively advocates for gender and reproductive justice, having co-founded the GenderSmart Investing Summit (now 2XGlobal.org), which recently set a goal to deploy $30B in the next three years, in support of women-led and -serving businesses, as well as having served on the board of directors at International Planned Parenthood Federation, Western Hemisphere (now Fòs Feminista). Heyman started his career by co-founding one of the first digital advertising agencies, Beyond Interactive, which peaked at almost 400 employees in over 20 countries.

Videos of Darian Speaking

Darian’s Sample Talks

A Fresh Look at Fundraising: Adjusting Strategies to Today’s Reality: While the pandemic is certainly not over, nonprofits have adapted and pivoted as result of recent dramatic changes, including America’s racial reckoning, rapidly evolving technology, trust-based philanthropy, and significant impacts on the modern workplace. These challenges also offer us new opportunities, and present myriad implications on resource development. Funding is the lifeblood of any social enterprise, so given competing calls for time and attention, how can mission-based organizations quickly, efficiently take stock of these trends and determine how to leverage them most effectively in support of their work?

Building a Fundraising Board: In this highly practical, tactical workshop, Heyman shares concrete tips and tools to engage nonprofit boards in a process that clarifies exactly what’s expected of each member—including fundraising efforts—creates consensus around board expansion priorities, that transforms board meetings to make better use of everyone’s time, and that helps gracefully transition off the “dead weight”.

Top Ten Fundraising Tips: Darian shares practical, tactical solutions from his books that help nonprofit leaders get dollars in the door. In this interactive workshop, which has been received incredibly well at dozens of venues across the world, Heyman provides concrete tips and tools for individual giving, foundation grants, corporate sponsorship, earned income, and online and peer-to-peer campaigns.

So You Want to be a Social Entrepreneur?: There has been a lot of buzz surrounding the term, but what exactly does it mean, and what does it look like in the real world? Heyman reviews the characteristics that differentiate leading social entrepreneurs from their peers and conveys the “tips for success” needed when applying innovation and an entrepreneurial mindset to social change work.

If you have any questions or would like to book Darian for your event, contact us directly.