Harvey McKinnon has been a fundraiser for over 40 years and is recognized as one of North America’s leading fundraising experts. His consultancy raises money for hundreds of non-profits in Canada and the USA. He is a seasoned trainer who has delivered fundraising keynotes at conferences around the world.
A frequent master-class trainer, he has authored six books – most recently The Healthy Nonprofit (2023) as well as How to Create Lifelong Donors (2020). His best-selling book, The 11 Questions Every Donor Asks, is a major gift training manual for fundraising departments throughout the US and Canada. He also co-authored the #1 bestseller The Power of Giving, which has been translated into nine languages.
Harvey has run many award-winning successful campaigns (including awards from Campaign and Elections) and he specializes in identifying wedge issues. He’s helped raise many hundreds of millions of dollars for a wide variety of environmental, International Development, social justice, and indigenous causes.
Harvey has produced a wide variety of award-winning documentary films that have been aired on the BBC, CBC, ABC, PBS, and many other networks worldwide.
In 2025, he led the Save the CBC Canadian third-party election campaign – a national digital effort that grew from zero into a large, highly engaged community 100,000+ that remains active today.
Harvey calculates he’s spent 100+ years on a variety of non-profit boards. His company Harvey McKinnon Associates (HMA) has offices in Toronto and Vancouver and works with dozens of non-profits in Canada and the USA.
Harvey McKinnon’s Activate Sessions
Building Power on social media, a case study: Inside the Save the CBC Campaign
What does it take to build a presence on social media when the other side has bigger platforms, friendlier media, and a louder outrage machine?
In this session, Harvey McKinnon walks you through the strategy behind Save the CBC, a national third-party campaign that used social media to defend public broadcasting and counter far right attacks. In just two months, the campaign built a large, coordinated organic outreach and engagement effort grounded in story, values, and loss aversion. At the heart of the work was a simple question: what do Canadians stand to lose if public broadcasting is gutted, and how do we tell that story in a way that feels personal, urgent, and hopeful?
You will see real examples from Reddit, Facebook, and other platforms, which led to more than 80 million impressions and high engagement in English Canada, during the 2025 federal election. You’ll learn of other successful campaigns and the strategies that work. And you’ll learn how to apply the same strategies and tactics to your own campaigns.
How to use words and language to win campaigns and raise more money
On the left, we suffer from the curse of knowledge. We are not effective in communicating with the public. We use words and phrases that alienate the people we have to win over. That gives the right a huge advantage.
We believe progressives must pay attention to research, and improve our communications. Using plain language will build bigger coalitions. And conveniently, raise more money for your work.
In this webinar with expert Harvey McKinnon, you’ll learn the three most important questions every donor or potential donor asks. And how to effectively answer them.
You’ll also discover 10 key communication mistakes that progressives make. And you’ll learn 10 alternative phrases that still reflect your values. You’ll learn about the dangers of “therapy speak”, seminar room language and how academic terms and jargon cause people to reject your message.
Harvey discusses strategies he’s used to win elections and campaigns – strategies that mobilize supporters and raise money.