Category Archives: Fundraising Fundamentals

PhilanthRecipe Redux: A Thanksgiving Side Dish Swap

cranberrysaucespoon blog post 11.25.13

I’m reviving PhilanthRecipe from 2011. Share a Thanksgiving side dish recipe!

Fourth quarter is busy and stressful. This is light and fun.

Got a Charity Cheese Sauce? Annual Fund Fritter? Or Nonprofit Nut Bread? Share it!

I’ll get us started with Amy Drum’s (my wife) recipe:

Compliance Cranberry Sauce
2 cups of water
1 3/4 to 2 cups of sugar
1 16 oz bag of cranberries

Combine sugar & water in a large saucepan and bring water to boil, stirring to dissolve sugar; boil rapidly for 5 minutes. Add cranberries. Cook, uncovered, over high heat 5 – 6 minutes until skins pop. Remove from heat and chill. If you want thicker sauce in order to mold, cook 10-12 minutes. To add a bit of flavor, you can add cinnamon sticks or orange zest and some orange juice.

Post the recipe to your favorite side dish in the comments, or share a link to one of your favorites.

Nonprofit Radio for November 22, 2013: Empower Your Volunteers & What’s Their Style?

Big Nonprofit Ideas for the Other 95%

I Love Our Sponsors!

Sponsored by RallyBound peer-to-peer fundraising for runs, walks and rides. Also sponsored by TBRC Cost Recovery, getting you money back from phone bill errors and omissions.

Listen live or archive:

My Guests:

Karen Worcester: Empower Your Volunteers

Karen and Tony at bbcon Karen Worcester is executive director of Wreaths Across America. They have grown their volunteer support enormously, by being hands off and supportive. (Recorded at bbcon 2013)

 

 

 

 

Maria Semple: What’s Their Style?

Maria 057 Low Res Color_crMaria Semple returns. She’s The Prospect Finder and our prospect research contributor. We’ll talk about the DISC assessment tool, to figure out whether your potential donors are dominant, influencing, steady or cautious. Plus, her 60-Second Style Stop.

 

 

 

 


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Dahna hello and welcome to tony martignetti non-profit radio big non-profit ideas for the other ninety five percent. I’m your aptly named host it’s friday, november twenty second twenty thirteen what’s on my mind actually is the fiftieth anniversary of the kennedy assassination were not about politics here or anything about so we don’t talk about conspiracy theories or one shooter, but it’s certainly on the nation’s mind today, i hope you were with me last week, i’d be thrown into ventricular tachycardia if i learned that you had missed professor denny elliot from the university of south florida, she edited the book, the ethics of asking. We talked about when you’ve got an ethical issue and fund-raising and how to resolve it this week empower your volunteers. Karen wooster is executive director of wreaths across america. They have grown their volunteer support enormously by being hands off and supportive. That was reported at bebe khan, twenty thirteen, and what’s their style maria simple returns she’s, the prospect finder and our prospect research contributor. We’ll talk about the disk assessment tool to figure out whether your potential donors are dominant, influencing steady or cautious, plus maria’s sixty seconds style stop between the shows. I have some thoughts on creative sorry between the guests there’s only one show you’re listening to one show, but between the guests on the show ah, creative. Thank you’s for your year end giving let’s do a little live listen love quickly before we go to that. The interview with karen wister, bridgewater, new jersey, sewell, new jersey and winston salem, north carolina all checking in live listener love to you i’m wondering if winston salem might be our friends at blackbaud the hosts of that bb con conference here is karen wooster. Empower your volunteers. Welcome to tony martignetti non-profit radio coverage of b become twenty thirteen. We’re outside washington d c at the gaylord convention center and my guest is karen wooster. She was the opening day keynote. She is ceo of wreaths across america. We’re going to talk about what that organization does. Why it’s been so successful and while you were ah fitting keynote karen brewster. Welcome to the show. Thank you. Thanks for having me, tony. Actually, i’m the executive director. Exactly. Director okay, he’s across america. Reason america is a five one c three. Our mission is to remember the fallen. On of those that serve and most importantly, to teach our children the value of freedom and i was so honored to be asked to come, we recently have begun working partnership with blackbaud just because we’ve had such good growth, and we want to make sure that we maintain a good personal connection with our supporters and the tools that blackbaud is is sharing with us will enable us to do that. You have had terrific success. Thie organization was founded in two thousand six is that right? Two thousand seven way came into being a five a one c three a little differently than most organizations we actually we’re a family project that began in nineteen ninety two the worcester family is a well known name and the christmas wreath business, and in nineteen ninety two we actually overbought product christmas trees and my husband, you know, it was late in the year to be put them on the retail market, and my husband recalled a trip that he had one toe allentown is a paperboy when he’s only twelve years old, and he thought it would be nice to be able to say thank you, because we live in a land of the free, and that enables us to do whatever we do, whether it’s it’s on the retail market or whatever, you know, have ah fund-raising group are just give back yourself. You couldn’t do that if you lived anywhere but the united states, so now he was headed to allentown, pennsylvania. No, i’ll international and he actually he wanted he wanted trip. There is a paperboy to allinson down in d c and he remembered that so he wanted to give those res too be placed on the graves there as a thank you for our freedom. You have to forgive me because i come from new york, so i have the new york accent and i have i have no access to do it. You’re right. I always said i’d say that two way needed translated, tony think new yorkers speak the most pure english in the country, but well, they’re very direct. I’ll see probably don’t agree. All right, so he was headed tow. I’m sorry. Go ahead. So he recalled. Well, actually recalled that trip that he wants. Valentine is a paperboy when he was only twelve. Okay. Wanted to see those? Res a za thank you to the fallen soldiers. And and he got permission to do that. He took a couple of kids with him and went down. It took them all day to place the reason the graves and it made a huge impact on him. And when he came home, this is a nineteen. Nineteen he he said, you know, we’re always going to do this. So from then on, it was kind of an accidental gift. And then from that point on, it became something that my family was dedicated to do just as a gesture of thank you for our freedom. Now did he have enough wreaths for all the graves? No, no, he only took five thousand well over there are well over two hundred thousand headstones. Okay, but what happened from that point we are family would make the journey every you know, holiday season. They would take time out. We made the re special from that point on and the family would go down on me with a few volunteers. And it was just a way that our family at the end of the year would say thank you for our freedom in two thousand five pentagon photographer was there at the cemetery when the reason relaid and he took a picture and put it on the pentagon news channel online, and it went viral. And so, by two thousand six of january two thousand six, my husband is funny because he’s never opened an e mail his life and all of a sudden, you know, i’d be checking his e mail and he all of a sudden had about six thousand emails coming off ones and long story shot the people wanted so badly to be involved in in the same show of gratitude that we were doing by placing grease we the ones to reef company started receiving and people working with non-profits will love this. We receive thousands and thousands like ten thousand dollars at once in the mail, and we had to hire somebody to send it back because we were for-profit company people in our listeners not only gonna love it, they’re going to be envious. Well, it was difficult to deal with because we actually did have to send you no send it back and but we did come up as a family with a program where every cemetery in every group that wanted to participate, what we did was we would send them seven reasons. One for each branch of the military and one for pow in my eyes and bye christmas holiday season of two thousand six, we had over two, well, roughly two hundred locations that received those res and at the same time that a family placed reason alinta nw, they place these result of the country. In addition, people wanted to join in just making the trip. So when we left to goto islands in that year instead of it being my husband and two sons and a volunteer truck, it was a whole convoy of patriot god, writers and veterans. And the trip took a week and we stopped at veterans homes and schools and were able to give the message to remember and be grateful. No, no matter what, what your religion, no matter what you celebrate too, just celebrate the veterans that make it so that we can celebrate and have the freedoms tell me, just tell me about the wreaths. What what types of reason? Or they were they made. Oh, well, let me let me just finish. I don’t want to wait, we actually became a five one c three in two thousand seven, just out of demand of people wanted to get involved and so we are operated. It’s totally separate from wooster wreath now was to wreath it’s still one of the largest donors every than in-kind donations but we are run by a board of directors that includes veterans and doctors and gold star moms and all that and so it’s very different and we have seen immense growth. We grow at about forty five percent a year in exit was crazy and it’s just because people want to participate. Alright, so before we get into that rapid growth and what you think, the reasons for that successor what i’m interested in the reeds are they are they live? Breathe there fresh. They’re made from chips, the the tips are picked that don’t have the trees. It’s funny that the gold star families, the goldstein family is a family that’s lost a son, a daughter killed in action, killed in combat, the service of the country. They have a real connection with the fact that it comes from lives stands of forest, the tips they’re made in, you know, buy handmade into the reason they’re adorned with just a simple red ball, which it’s just a gesture of gratitude. But it means so much to somebody who’s place their loved one, you know, buried their loved one in a cold, you know, hyde place to say that burst of life, that little and a gift from somebody, they don’t even know that each one of these reasons now we have reason sponsored, we continue to give the the ceremonial reason, but for individual graves they can be sponsored, and that meaning of life to them is so special it really is. And and so many of the families now journey up to maine and just spend time in the woods where the tips come from that we have a program, that it didn’t start out to be a program, but some of the moms came up and they loved to be in in the woods so much that my husband actually had some dog tags made for them with their loved ones, names on them, and they took him out in the woods, and they put him up in the branches of the tree. And that each every third year those reasons those chips are harvested from those trees made into res that go on another veteran’s grave and it’s such a just a connection to a life of living tribute that it means so much so yeah, they’re they’re all freshly made there. It’s, it’s, wonderful it’s a wonderful program. How do you place the reason? Trying to imagine our they laid on the on the ground or they’re placed it in most places that placed against the stones in some places. And if you go to greece across america daughter organ, you look at the pictures, the picture files, depending on where you are and by the way, this year we will have over nine hundred locations stateside and over twenty five abroad that will participate in reese across america program, we have about six hundred thousand volunteers and remarkable in seven years. I mean, six years, yeah, it’s crazy. Well, let’s talk about that. That rapid growth now, just that number of years you have annual revenue, i think is four and a half million dollars. There’ll be about six and and i’m looking at old stats i don’t i’m looking at the front looking but not looking at the future. One half alright, this year will be all right. So last year was four and a half, i guess. Yeah, and not a very big staff way have about five full time. Um, what do you attribute that kind of rapid growth, too? Well, i think everything that we’ve done way didn’t set out to start a five a one c three to begin with. So it’s very boots on the ground driven. We’re very attentive to the people that add the boots on the ground at volunteers were always amazed because every one of those over nine hundred locations somebody in that community has to say, hey, i want to bring res across america here where nonpolitical we’re nondenominational where all inclusive, we have very few rules so they can have it be very much in tune to the local community. And i think that helps that people in the community participate and every community has veterans. Every community has lost people in service has blue staff, families and gold star families so it’s easy for them to relate to the talking alternative radio twenty four hours a day. Do you need a business plan that can guide your company’s growth? Seven and seven will help bring the changes you need. Wear small business consultants and we pay attention to the details. You may miss our coaching and consultant services a guaranteed to lead toe. Right, groat. For your business, call us at nine. One seven eight three, three, four, eight six zero foreign, no obligation free consultation. Check out our website of ww dot covenant seven dot com are you fed up with talking points? Rhetoric everywhere you turn left or right? Spin ideology no reality, in fact, its ideology over in tow. No more it’s, time for the truth. Join me, larry shop a neo-sage tuesday nights nine to eleven easter for the ivory tower radio in the ivory tower will discuss what’s important to you society, politics, business and family. It’s provocative talk for the realist and the skeptic who want to know what’s. Really going on? What does it mean? What can be done about it? So gain special access to the ivory tower. Listen to me, larry. Sure you’re neo-sage tuesday nights nine to eleven new york time go to ivory tower radio dot. Com. For details. That’s. Ivory tower, radio, dot com e every time i was a great place to visit for both entertainment and education. Listening. Tuesday nights nine to eleven. It will make you smarter. Hey, all you crazy listeners looking to boost your business? Why not advertise on talking alternative with very reasonable rates? Interested simply email at info at talking alternative dot com now, on twenty martignetti non-profit radio, we have jog in jail and even though blue star families, a punctuation, simple words you have to find for us, okay? Bluestar family, a blue staff family is a family that has active duty service member go and gold sta is when when the service members lost lost. Oh, and by the way, i do want to say a lot of people don’t know that this last past weekend was actually go the american gold star mothers weekend national weekend. And so it was an honor for me. I was able to speak at that dinner and, you know, we all all of us that are involved in very much driven by the passion of those moms and, you know, all they wanted to do is remember, you know, they’ve lost their loved ones in service to country so that we can live freely, and i i’ll just tell you a little story of emotional story that happened to me in two thousand seven is this thing began to grow and take on a different rather than just a family saying thank you. We began listening to what the veterans and the moms wanted us to make our message when i was a talent, a national cemetery in section sixty. And for those that don’t know, section sixty is an area in the cemetery where a lot of the men and women who were dying in this current conflict of buried so it’s very it’s, tragically beautiful, because the family’s heir there, you know they’ll be, you go down there, and they’re these rows of tombstones. And there are little kids playing among the tombstones in the and the tombstones air adorned with of a beer can or, you know, somebody’s had or chain are it’s very it’s, almost alive still. So i was asked by a gold star mother who was going to be here first holiday without her son. And she asked me to meet her there. And i was happy to do so when we walk down to the section she had left your teenage daughter there to make sure that nobody else placed a wreath and we sat down together, you know, that downey’s and she put that wreath and she fixed it so tenderly, you know, she just it just meant so much. That was a gift to her son, you know? But when we stood up together, i’ll never forget she put her hands right on my shoulders and she looked me right in the face and she said, karen, i don’t want you to remember my dead son. I want you to remember his life because that’s what he sacrificed and it hit me like a ton of bricks, that no mother’s child should become a digit in a statistic. What she wants us to know is because we have freedom because she’ll never have a grandchild because he’ll never play football again because he’ll never see the dog that she was taken care of for him again and it’s, so important that people aren’t complacent about that. And that is what that kind of passion and that kind of commitment to those families is what makes our organization grow because anything else that we are in this country, we couldn’t be any organization that’s represented here. Bb con that raises money for good causes. The reason in this country that we can do humanitarian things is because we can go to bed safe at night and if we’re in a third world, country or country. This besieged by what we couldn’t do that, and we can’t do that, not because of the politicians in washington, but because of those families who put before that god before anything else, they put our safety and that’s a pretty done important mission and that’s why people can relate to what we’re doing. You’re fortunate to have so many hundreds of thousands of volunteers that’s really remarkable. How do you manage that many of? Well, so it’s amazingly easy, they do so much of the work themselves, they put the ceremonies together, you know, we have very simple rules, we’re not we’re not trying to tell people how to think we’re just telling people how to that it’s important that they dio and that they do remember, and so it’s not really that difficult to manage. We’ve got a crackerjack staff, we asked certainly get a little more high tech at what we’re doing, but i do want to say that one of the things when we decided to put this program together and we came at it from a unique perspective because we did some of the found his head of business background, and we realized that it was going to be very competitive going after those dollars, especially during the holiday season. So we came up with a program that we could work with other five on one c three organization. So we do what we do very much do that we work with the f w’s, american legion civilian patrols and in what ways because are already is old non-profit so maybe they could learn well, and i hope they give me a call because that holiday season is coming up and was so much going on so many natural disasters, a lot of the dollars that we depended on have been used up. What program is with no investment? They can go out and get wreath sponsorships for their local community offer al international cemetery, and a sponsorship is fifteen dollars, that will place a wreath, and i’ll tell you, people given to a non-profit want to see a tangible, you know, they continue to give two causes or for exploratory things and to improve medicines, but they don’t see riel results, you know, there, there on the loop, on seeing results. Those are also important to dio what people like about that program is they give fifteen dollars and a brief gets placed a gift goes to ah loved one. So when an organization signs up with us that res across america daughter, they can go out and do the sponsorships, and their organization retains a full five dollars, of the fifteen dollars, and with no investment, and the other thing is, is such a a way for people to get involved, you know, it’s something that they could do together, that sometimes when you’re so headlong into a mission, that something else that you could dio to still keep you together is a group, but just kind of give you breath and know that you’re making a difference because you can get consumed. And i think that one of the things that i’ve learned from being so involved in this five twenty three it’s not just that you remember, honor and teach but it’s, what you take with what you learnt, how you internalize it and how you put it back on your life. So you have to be a beacon for what you’re learning, and this is a great outlet for people who have gotten so emerged that they’re losing, they can’t. See the forest for the trees, so to speak. Good advice. How would you say you’ve? You’ve managed your growth in such a short number of years, just six years since you b kayman five oh one c three how have you managed that rapid growth? I think in one way we’re really fortunate because what we do is so focus and, like it’s, so easy, fifteen dollars comes in and everything goes out it’s really simple, and then the people had to do a place in the reason it’s, a local community that’s arranging the ceremonies and doing all that. The other thing a big part of what we do is getting those rays delivered, you know, you get the rees made and you know that they’re all going to go here, here, here and here to give you an idea of how fast paced it gets at the end, about ninety percent of what we do will come in in the month of november, over and have to be turned around, turned into res and then delivered and, you know, shout out to the professional truck drivers out there in the country because every single reef it’s delivered. Goes in the back of a volunteer truck that is phenomenal, and this year will be seeing over two hundred professional truck drivers hit the road to take those res from maine to california, you know, and that’s dedication to the american hero and that’s, everybody doing what they can do, and i think that’s so important, you know, one of the reasons that we’re able to manage you ask people to give what they have, you know? So we have volunteers, staff that will come in and help answer phones and do things like that, but, you know, make people comfortable in what they could dio like, i won’t ask the truck driver to handle the computer or vice versa, and so i think that’s, how we manage it is just the good will of people and, you know, the other thing that that we really we’ve had phenomenal growth. Social social media has been incredible for us, and one of the reasons is that were so open to sharing what other organizations are doing. If the u s always doing a fundraiser will put it on our pages and people would say, why would you do that when? You’re competing for dollars, and we’re very true to the mission of support in the military, and the thing is that every person that serves in the military, they’re not excluded from life. You know, i met a burgundy general last year who who lived his life and been in combat, he went through vietnam, you know, he went through the desert storm and he’s to come to cancer, so we’re not afraid to be in this together, so we’re very much about working with the other five onesie threes. We know that we all do well as we go forward together. So you know, if there is anybody out there that’s interested, they can just contact us it reese across america, do it all again. I really think we can help them. We can help each other put some dollars together for a bunch of good causes going into the holiday season. I see lots of partnerships you with your volunteers in basically just empowering them, but giving them a lot of flexibility, right? You with other they know better than may, i would never presume, you know, and i think that’s my dad would say, don’t get above the roots of your raise and i’m a reef make his wife remain, you know, i don’t presume to know, i don’t presume to know what a gold star mother who’s buried your son knows i need to listen to her, i’m not the one that set it up location, you know, somewhere in texas and has to deal with the needs of the local community. So i think that, you know, it’s always important to listen it’s always important to have people not not just make people feel like they’re a part of it, but actually have them be a part of it. And i think it’s those attentions to detail and you know, and i totally understand is that we’re not in the medical field where, you know, there are people that have to have that expertise. What we do is very simple. We need to just stay very aware that we have the best country in the whole wide world. It was paid for, so we need to take care of that memory. We need to teach that pay it forward to at kids and build the character of americans on duitz what we we strive to. Dio what’s the future i know much higher revenue for two thousand thirteen what’s coming what’s coming in the future of what else? I think where certainly at focus is becoming very much on teaching a cz we listen to the world war two veterans, they have so much knowledge, histories. Importance isn’t just to tell people what happened in the past. You know, the people that lived through world war two, when they saw the freedoms eroded and they saw things think you’re so different than but during world what teo, everybody in the country was involved. Every single family had somebody serving in the military, you know, it was a it was a different way for people to come to come together. Everybody was in it together fast forward to today, when only about one percent of the families are involved in the military, and that, you know, it’s all technology where that fewer people are able to keep us safe. But but the big fear is that the rest of the country will lose track of that and lose track of the value of freedom. So the importance of history is not just to tell what happened. Is to incorporate the lessons we learned so that the people making decisions for the future at destined to make the same mistake. So education, how are you going to be doing that? Education were taken. You know, we’re listening to the people that know you. Listen to the veterans. You listen to the people that lived through it, there’s a lot of wisdom and get into the twin and out to the kids. We have online curriculum. We have suggestions all the time. We have a group called the red hatters. Any time that kids get involved and go out and do the research themselves, we encourage them to go into a local cemetery and read the names from the stones of those who have fallen in their own community and then go research it and connect up with a personal story. You know, a good example. We have. Ah, world war two veteran on aboard. He was actually captured christmas eve nineteen forty four during the battle of the bulge. And he’s, a character president, watched survivor. You know, he’s been through it, and when we go on a trip, he’ll often speak to the school kids and we’ll put him up in front of a group of high school kids and that’s a tough crowd, and you’ll see those kids fidgeting and i’m not listening, and then he’ll start to talk and he just talks so plain and i remember one day he was saying that one day what’s his name, sir stanley would too sick, and he actually is he’s been knighted twice by luxembourg and belgium, and he gotta get up in front of the kids, and they were fidgeting away, and he actually that his unit had to surrender and they weren’t happy about that, but when they asked them to surrender and turn in their guns, it was they actually told them he used a different word, but they were told to urinate in the gun barrels, and when he said the other word for urinate, those kids all set up and started looking. He went on to say why, so it would rust the guns out so that even though they were turning those guns over to the enemy, they were, they were rendered useless. He went on to tell about he and another friend then escaped and how they survived for a few days, and he told about coming on enemy soldiers, and they will, they were sitting there. But they had to kill those soldiers to survive. And he was graphic and the kids just went deeper. And the story became so personal that by the time he gets done speaking, we would be trying to leave to go to a next stop. And here would be this eighty four year old man with teenagers, you know, eight deep all around him with questions road that’s teaching that’s connection because they have to understand the reality. You see that’s what the history should be taught about war, not what happened to what date, but what form the character, how what kind of a character is a person that goes through that that’s, the character of america. Can’t we just have about a minute left? In-kind i want you to say, just explicitly, it’s really wrapped up and everything you’ve been saying. But what is it you love about the work that you’re doing with these across america? It’s very emotional for me, it’s no longer it’s it’s a responsibility for me. Now i have six children. I live in a free country where we can i have a business and it came at a cost that is just so extreme that for me i love and i’m very, very close to those that serve in the military. And i’m very it’s very important that we preserve every to most people my age or today the closest we ever come to feeling that threatened was nine eleven. We’ll just close your eyes and get that sick feeling in your stomach again and don’t ever want you kids to have to go through that. So we need to be mindful of those that keep us safe, remember, honor and teach. Thank you, karen. Thank you very much for sharing. Thank you. Karen wister is executive director. Wreaths across america that leads across america. Dot or ge has been a real pleasure to have you as a guest. Thank you very much. Thank you. Stoney martignetti non-profit radio coverage of bb khan. Twenty thirteen. Thanks very much for listening. I was very glad teo, bring that interview today. The fiftieth. Anniversary of the kennedy assassination of course, the president’s grave is in arlington, and we have a live listener. Lots of live listener love going to arlington, virginia there’s a listener there, i wonder if that’s a wreath maker live listener love to you. I thought this was all fitting for this this anniversary live listener level, so to rockville, maryland, atlanta, georgia, montgomery, illinois, san jose, california live listen love to each of you and podcast pleasantries to those listening time shifted to the podcast. We’ve got lots of asian listeners and another north american listener, toronto checking in live listen love, too you’ve got lots of asian listeners and i will send live listen love shortly want to share some thoughts that i have? Ah, as we approach the end of the year about you’re thank you’s for end of the year. Gif ts i host a another podcast fund-raising fundamentals for the carnival of philanthropy and that’s a monthly and this month’s is about creative thank you’s for your year end e-giving there is a link to listen to that on my blog’s at tony martignetti dot com the guests for that were claire axle red she’s. Fund-raising consultant and also the executive director of one justice, julia wilson. If you’d like to get some ideas on creative, thank you’s for your year end e-giving listen to that podcast again. Link is on my block, and that is also at the chronicle of philanthropy website. We are sponsored by two very thoughtful companies. You’ve heard their names before rally bound. They make simple, reliable, peer-to-peer fund-raising software friends, asking friends to give to your cause. As a non-profit radio listener, you will get a discount from rally bound. You can speak to joe mcgee there. I’ve worked with him, and i’ve also gotten to know the ceo of rally bound family pinson two very good guys. Those are the two who i know from the company. Um, they are at rally bound dot com or triple eight seven six seven, nine zero, seven six i recommend them. If you’re looking at software for runs, walks or rides, is that peer-to-peer fund-raising also tea, brc cost recovery supporting the show. Yussef rabinowitz runs t brc. He will go over your past phone bills looking for mistakes when he finds them, which he does over ninety percent of the time. He picks up the phone and fights with the phone company to get you your money back. We’re talking about errors, services that you didn’t order and well above market pricing yourself recently recovered. He was telling me almost twelve thousand dollars for a small non-profit after finding a mistake that went back on their bill three years, so each month they were for three years, they were billed and he can get them. He got them almost twelve thousand dollars back. You only pay trc if youssef actually gets you money back if he doesn’t succeed, you don’t pay him. And that s so it really doesn’t matter how much time he spends reviewing your bills. I have known yourself for close to ten years. I’ve referred him many times and i think he’s worth talking to if you have phone service their a t brc dot com or two. One, two, six, double four nine triple xero xero sefer benowitz, trc cost recovery my pleasure. Now to welcome maria simple you know who maria simple is she’s the prospect finder? Of course she’s a trainer and speaker on prospect research. Her website is the prospect finder dot com her book is panning for gold. Find your best donor prospects now she’s our doi n of dirt, cheap and free and in true indeed, she’s going to stay true that this week you can follow maria on twitter at maria simple. Hi maria simple caldnear tony, how are you today? I’m doing terrific, lee. Thank you very much. We’re talking about thie the disk assessment tool. What is this thing? Disc. So i don’t know. Have you ever had a chance to take any of these sort of behaviour? Or personality assessment tools for yourself. The last one i took was from asking matters when andrea kill stead, cofounder of asking matters was on, and that was about the personality of the person you are asking for a gift and the askar is the solicitors personality. Okay, great. So you know this this particular tool? I of course heard of it for a long time. I know that a lot of career coaches use it, and people in sales and human resource is used it and so forth. And i had an opportunity to take the test myself for the assessment myself at the recent conference on philanthropy that was held here in new jersey, and a woman by the name of carol wiseman spoke and delivered the tool to us and talked about how to use not only how you identify yourself and and where you kind of fall into the tool and personality wise, but again, similar to the test you took to try and figure out. Well, what is the style or the personality of the person i’m talking to? So as a prospect researcher, i kind of found it all fascinating because i’m dealing with more of, you know, looking for those hard facts data, you know, that i can find on the internet and so this kind of weeds in a whole other aspect, interesting that their website doesn’t talk about prospect research. I love that you’re out in the world thinking about the world, you know, sort of from your perspective because the company doesn’t promote this as for non-profits at all, i didn’t see no and, you know, that’s? Why? I thought it was really interesting that that the conference actually set aside, you know, an entire afternoon to being able to really delve into this and understanding not only your own style, but how you might then position on ask to somebody depending on where they fall into the d i s c profile assessment, right? We’ll get to that, i’ll i’ll let you reveal it again. Ah, yeah. The company suggests this as a way of identifying talent within your organization and who to develop a za way of also is ah, way of hiring the right people for the right kinds of jobs that’s, the way they seem to position it right and that’s. Why? I think it is. You so highly by people in human resource is and more of a sales function because they are looking to get people into an environment and of understanding, you know? Well, how can they best, you know, sell on our behalf? And when you’re a fundraiser, isn’t that what you’re doing after all? Absolutely, yeah, i think there are people who don’t like that sales metaphor on i don’t like to take it too far, but i don’t weigh don’t mean sales in a pejorative sense, but you are your i absolutely believe you are selling the organization to people who already know it. You’re selling it for them to deepen their relationship or two potential donors who don’t know it at all, right? And you know this this really ramps it up, if you can imagine in a major gift scenario where maybe you’ve had a couple of conversations with someone, and now you’re at the point of getting that appointment on the calendar to make that ask, right? So you’ve done your donor research, you know, some numbers, you know, their capacity, you know, where they’ve given and at what other levels, and you even have a number. In mind that you plan on asking them for but how do you now couch that? Ask in such a way and deliver that? Ask so that it’s going to play into the way they best process information or the way they’re going to best respond to your ask. You know how? What? What are the things that you need to make sure you touch upon? Depending on what? What type of person you’re speaking to, what are the different types of personalities? All right, so disc stands for d i s c and the d means your dominant. You have? Ah, high sense of personal worth. You’re motivated by directness. And you really linked to a larger vision and a longer term, grander scale so that that is sort of a real general goaded me is okay, go ahead. Keep going. An eye is somebody who’s more people oriented, motivated by social recognition. And they’re really much more focused about connections and people. So how are people? You know who else is involved in the project? And how is this project going to impact people? Eyes for influencer. Influencer, right. S for steady. Uh, so that would be somebody. Who’s really much more of a pragmatic team player? They’re much more motivated by established practices, and they really want to make sure that there’s long term stability of the programming, right? So if you’re talking to a potential donor about something brand new launching or a change in programming, they want to see that that stability taking place going forward, ok, and then sees cautious or conscientious and so they’re much more task oriented quality control. They’re motivated by much more to it here instead, standards, and they can definitely relate to numbers. So when you’re talking to somebody who’s, see, you want to make sure that you’ve got all your numbers in line you’re able to quote, you know, percentage of people affected by your programming. Now the additional percentage is that will be affected. You need to be able to really talk about outcome measurements, things of that nature. These all sound good to me. I would like to be all for these. I wonder where you would fall into this. Can you guess where i might have fallen into the oh, you already got your results. I was going to say i took the assessment, but you have to wait for them to give you the results. They contact you back. You don’t get there. We took the test right on the spot today. Our unconference you had the benefit of that. I took it online and you have to wait for them. Tio, get back to you so i don’t know which i am. I did try to cheat as much as possible so that i could because i want in the quadrant. I’m sure they come out with little quadrant and at least i’m guessing i’m not sure i’m guessing they come out with a little quadrant c i already know how it works. Even though i’ve only spent fifteen, i guess he’s well, quadrant there’s a dot in the quarter. But i wanted i wanted dot in all four quadrants pretty close to the middle so that i could be among all four of these things. So i tried to game, which is possible. Yeah, and in fact, i don’t. There are all four of those in all of us except there’s, one where you’re going to be more predominant and the way carol explained it to us and couched the whole exercise. I thought was great, she said, this is more, like, really measuring your blood pressure, right? So it’s, not so much looking at your height, which, you know, for the most part, doesn’t change over time, but much more so over, you know, if i had taken this test twenty years ago, i might score differently than i did by taking the test just last week. I’m going to guess i’m going to hedge a little bit and guess that you are one of two either s for steady or c for conscientious, interesting i came out a very strong i really influencer i really i think that’s wrong, i think you took i think you answered the questions wrong, you’re not. So i know enough about this that you need to go back and do the assessment again. Trust me, you’re either a steady or conscientious you did a wrong in-kind results. Tony, i know you did it wrong. You need to go back and become either study or country interest because i can’t stand being correct. Well, you know, interestingly enough, i do have a lot of s and see in may, so you’re you’re right in that. All right, you’re being generous now. Okay, well, thank you for that. All right, so so we’re not only interested in what our prospects are or actually, if i’m going to follow the the language of last week’s guest, i would say potential donors and you and i might touch on that a little bit, but we’ll get to that not only the potential donors, but also what i am, right, and then how those two are going to relate to each other. Is that right? Exactly. So you want to figure out well, if now knowing that i’m an eye right, i might be much more inclined to go in and talk to a prospect and get a little bit more chatty than maybe say a dominant person might like to have me sitting there being chatty about other things so they might be much more, you know? Look, i only have fifteen minutes. Get to the point. You know what? What? How can i help? You have it’s going to effect to the overall long term vision of the organization. Whereas i might come in and start talking about who the other people are involved in the project. And you know what role they can play in the project? And i might be my style knowing my style and knowing that everybody doesn’t share that style. I need to adjust my conversation to match what what they’re they want to get out of the conversation because you’re about connections and people and the dominant person might not have time for that. But now, how are we going to assess what the personality type is of the of the potential donor? Well, you know, it’s funny that you ask that because i raised my hand and i asked carol wise in the exact same question last week, alright, look, carol, you know, i’m a prospect researcher, you know, and especially as a hired freelance researcher, if you will, i’m not on staff, i’ve never seen or met with most of the people in researching, how does this play in? And, you know, of course, by the time you’re ready to sit down and have a nasco you’re pretty well able to determine where this person is. And she said that there are even actually some things that you could pick up from somebody’s linked in profile, for example, that could help point you to something, so if you see, um, they’re linked in profile, for example, talks about accomplishments in terms of i raised revenue by x percent if they use, like a lot of numbers in their summary of their profile and describing themselves, she said that that might be a person that’s really more about the sea, you know, relating to the all about the numbers, you know, that when you’re going in to talk to them that you’ve gotta have all that data with you, we have just about another minute before break you got any other any other linked in clues that miss wiseman suggested, um, i think just in terms of also what types of associations or groups that they might belong, teo on lengthen also, if you see that they are more heavily skewed toward their field, being more in the sciences again, there they might be more of an ass or assi, if you see on their profile that they’ve been holding a lot of sea level positions. Ceo seo, you know that those people are probably a hi dee because they’re looking at longer term strategies and visions for their company. Okay, excellent, you know, these are going to be important because a sze yu said, no way, ask the same question. Okay, well, we’re going to keep talking about what’s, their style, and by the way, do they call these personalities or something else? I think they call them behavior styles looks for the tool here while we’re on the brake, and i’ll just double check what they call them, exactly. Okay, we’re going to go away for a couple minutes. Marie and i will keep talking about behavior styles, personally, styles, whichever it is, and then she has her, uh, her sixty second style stop also. So we got lotsa style. Stay with us. You’re listening to the talking alternative network. Oppcoll durney are you stuck in your business or career trying to take your business to the next level, and it keeps hitting a wall? This is sam liebowitz, the conscious consultant. I will help you get to the root cause of your abundance issues and help move you forward in your life. Call me now and let’s. Create the future you dream of. Two, one, two, seven, two, one, eight, one, eight, three, that’s to one to seven to one, eight one eight three. The conscious consultant helping conscious people. Be better business people. Have you ever considered consulting a road map when you feel you need help getting to your destination when the normal path seems blocked? A little help can come in handy when choosing an alternate route. Your natal chart is a map of your potentials. It addresses relationships, finance, business, health and, above all, creativity. Current planetary cycles can either support or challenge your objectives. I’m montgomery taylor. If you would like to explore the help of a private astrological reading, please contact me at monte at monty taylor dot. Com let’s monte m o nt y at monty taylor dot com. Talking alternative radio twenty four hours a day. Lively conversation. Top trends and sound advice. That’s. Tony martignetti non-profit radio. And i’m lawrence paige, no knee author off the non-profit fund-raising solution. Maria simple, the prospect finder we’re talking about what’s their style on what type of style is it? Is it behavior or something else? So it’s it’s quantified here is interpreting normal observable behaviour and it’s either adapted behavior or natural behaviour. So it’s really very much of a behavioral. Okay? And where were people going to find this? We haven’t given them the girl to take the assessment. Well, you know, i think there’s a number of places that people can take this online if you google disc assessment there’s a number of places, the site that i think it’s linked to the particular tool that i took is titi i success in sight dot com and i can share that link on your facebook page if you like, that would be ideal that’s a very good idea. Altum let’s see the right. So how mohr we going to deal with our style versus the potential donors style? Okay, so let’s, take each one of the styles, right? So a d if you’re soliciting them, you want to make sure that you’re very direct in some situations to make sure you’re letting them win and and dominate the conversation. And you’re not looking to really build a friendship with that person, and you have to use the time very efficiently. Um, if you’re soliciting and i, no matter what personality style your you’re soliciting and i you want to make sure that you’re more personal friendly, take time to joke around, have some fun ah, provide recognition and really, you want to focus on talking about people and have a more casual style when you’re talking to an ai now, knowing that you and i and i like how you described that have fun talk about people, you make that one sound that you make that one sound the best, don’t you? Well, don’t you want to be an eye? Because bias coming out now i wantto i like them all i want all okay, so it’s hard for me to make it going. Yes, of course i do. I don’t say a gn s okay. S is looking for security. So you you really need to slow down your presentation and build trust. Give them the facts that they need. Make sure you bring written material and refer to it during a presentation. You know, if you came. To me, and brought me a ton of written material, i would probably just gloss over. I would just want to hear all about the programming. Who else is involved, and the impact on people. Bring me a bunch of stats and reports. I just stickley’s right over, but i want that, okay, let me ask you about the steady before we go on. If, since they’re interested in long term stability, would a brand new project maybe not be the right thing to be soliciting them for supporting? I think if you’re talking about it and couching it in the way of continuing the long term sustainability of the organization overall on making sure that you are really showing sincerity and listening carefully to what they’re asking for and again sharing the benefits that minimize risk, they’re not risk takers. So if they find out a new programme is going to be too risky to the overall stability of the organization, then yeah, that could that could be an issue that could be something that you need to be prepared an objection you be need to be prepared to overcome. Excellent. Very good advice. Right. Okay, what we got for the cautious country interests? Okay, so for this he’s, they’re all about the data, right? So they do want the reports. They do want the numbers. Um, if you can use any kind of flyers with data if you have outcome measurements say it’s an extension of a program that’s that’s already taken place. They do want to hear about all of that type of data. You’re not talking to them on a real personal level, you know, they’re much more business focused, pragmatic on dh. Ah, you want to provide options for them as well, you know, so you need to be prepared to provide options, especially, you know, with the numbers. Okay, excellent. Anything else you wanna tell us about this disc assessment? You know, really? Just, you know, they’re just understand what types of questions maybe to draw out, um, you know what their style would be so trying to, you know, figure out where they might fall. So before you get that, ask as you’re having some additional conversations with them, either over the phone or in person, you know, asked them questions to try and determine. Well, it’s this person going to be somebody that i really need to make sure i’ve got all my facts and figures, or is there someone that’s really going to be much more interested in? Who else is a major donor and at what levels air they donating? And, you know, i want to be in at that level two, just another tool in the arsenal as you prepare teo to meet with potential donors. Absolutely. Um, let’s. See hyre just a couple of minutes left last week. My guest was denny elliot and she’s. A professor. Of ethics and journalism at the university of south florida and one of the ports that one of things we talked about was part something from her book the ethics of asking she has a chapter about language around fund-raising and we she and i talked about this. Her concern is the word prospect sort of objectifies people dehumanizes them and makes it easier for fundraisers, too, treat them in ways that might not be ethical and so that’s, you know, so her preferred frays is a potential donor. So i was wondering if you, if you have ever encountered that any objection to using mean prospect research is what you do and that’s a very widely known phrase, have you ever run into this before? Yeah, you know, and in fact, tony, when i’m doing live presentations on the topic of donor of prospect research, i will very often interchange saying donorsearch research on dh, what was the phrase that she preferred to use potential donor was her potential donor? Um, so when when i’m going through my training’s with other fundraisers, air with boards, i’ll talk about the person as a potential donor, actually the language i’d like. Even better than potential donor is investor okay, so i think that when you’re talking at that level and you’re talking about major gifts, these people are making an investment in the organization, so i will usually counsel my clients and their boards. Tio start incorporating the language of investment. I’ve got to ask you for your sixty second style. Stop what’s your advice on what what’s your style suggestion. Okay, so my style suggestion eyes all about shopping local we’re coming up on a big shopping holiday season on american express actually has a pretty neat initiative, so if you happen to be an american express card holder, there’s something called small business saturday, right, and so it’s the day after ah black friday on dh so this year, it’s on november thirtieth and so there if your card holder, if you go to american express’s web site that they have set up for a small business saturday and you register your card, and then if you spend at least ten dollars or more at one of these participating business small business location, they’ll actually give you a ten dollars one time credit on your statement, so encouragement to shop small shop, local that’s my my style tip for, uh, for this holiday season. Everything’s getting names way of thanksgiving that we have black friday your small business saturday, nobody’s claimed sunday there’s technology tech monday and now there’s ah e-giving e-giving tuesday, which we’ve had a short e-giving you don’t know how long? How much longer is this going going tio into general? Maybe you know what? Maybe we need to come up with something fun for sunday. I don’t know non-profit radio sunday we got to sell it, we got it and they’re simple sunday simple sunday maria sample sunday. Maria semple is the prospect finder. Her sight is the prospect finder dot com. And on twitter she’s at marie a simple thank you very much, maria. Happy thanksgiving and to you too. Thank you. Thank you very much next week there’s no show happy thanksgiving from everybody at non-profit radio. But on december sixth, brandraise to fundraise. Sarah durham is president of communications and marketing, president of the communications and marketing firm big duck and also scott koegler will be turned on december sixth ease, our technology contributor and the editor of non-profit technology news happy thanksgiving to you next week, our creative producer is claire meyerhoff. Sam liebowitz is our line producer shows social media’s by deborah askanase of community organizer two point oh, and there wrote producer of tony martignetti non-profit radio is john federico of the new rules. Our music is by scott stein, and i forgot to do live listen, love for everybody in asia, konnichi wa ni hao on your haserot to our listeners in japan, china and korea. Live listeners love out to you. We’ll be with you all in two weeks, one p m eastern at talking alternative dot com. E-giving didn’t think shooting. Good ending. You’re listening to the talking alternative network. Get in. Get in, cubine, are you a female entrepreneur? 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Dot talking alternative dot com, now broadcasting twenty four hours a day. I’m the aptly named host of tony martignetti non-profit radio. Big non-profit ideas for the other ninety five percent fund-raising board relations, social media, my guests and i cover everything that small and midsize shops struggle with. If you have big dreams and a small budget, you have a home at tony martignetti non-profit radio friday’s one to two eastern at talking alternative dot com. Are you concerned about the future of your business for career? Would you like it all to just be better? Well, the way to do that is to better communication, and the best way to do that is training from the team at improving communications. This is larry sharp, host of the ivory tower radio program and director at improving communications. Does your office need better leadership, customer service sales, or maybe better writing, are speaking skills? 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Nonprofit Radio for November 15, 2013: The Ethics of Asking

Big Nonprofit Ideas for the Other 95%

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My Guest:

Deni Elliott: The Ethics of Asking

Deni Elliott head shotProfessor Deni Elliott from the University of South Florida edited the book “The Ethics of Asking.” When have you got an ethical issue in fundraising and how do you resolve it? How helpful are the ethics professional codes?

We’ll talk about examples from the book and answer your questions. Use the #NonprofitRadio hashtag on Twitter, the Facebook page or this blog post to leave a question.

 

 

 


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Hello, it’s. Tony martignetti non-profit radio big non-profit ideas for the other ninety five percent i’m your aptly named host. Oh feels good, very good to be back in the studio after three weeks hiatus from the studio. Oh, i hope that you were with me last week. I’d go into ischemia if i learned that you had missed getting to the next level. Lawrence paige nani is the author of the non-profit fund-raising solution based on his work as an executive director and fund-raising consultant, he had proven strategies to get you to the next level of fund-raising revenue this week, it’s the ethics of asking professor denny elliot from the university of south florida edited the book the ethics of asking when have you got an ethical issue in fund-raising and how do you resolve it? How helpful or the professional ethics codes? We’ll talk about examples from her book and take your questions. If you’re listening live, you can join the conversation on twitter using hashtag non-profit radio on tony’s take two five reasons to promote the ira roll over now i’m very pleased to welcome to the show durney elliott she is a director and professor. In the department of journalism and media studies at the university of south florida st petersburg, she holds the point there. Jamison chair in media ethics and press policy and is the campus on buds. She’s written more than one hundred and ninety articles and book chapters. That’s a hell of a lot hyre my bio, this the number of words i’ve written, this is very impressive. She has authored co authored, edited and co edited books, including ethical challenges, building an ethics tool kit, ethics in the first person and the kindness of strangers, philanthropy and higher education. Her writing and her thinking brings her to the show. Professor durney elliot, welcome. Well, thank you. Are you in florida? At the moment? I am yes. Enjoying the winter weather of southern florida. We’ve got the winter weather of southern florida appear in new york practically. Oh, that looks to warm up here. You do a lot of thinking about ethics and and fund-raising, um what? How can we distinguish ethics from long? I’m sorry. How going to sing? Which ethics from law? Law? Legal. Oh, from law. Yeah. You know, that’s an interesting thing. And i decided that i just do a lot of thinking about ethics in my position as department head i’m involved in fund-raising and one way or another to bring some sort of needed resource is into the department, and as i ran too, ethics centers it when a dartmouth and one of the university of montana, sometimes i once felt like a combination of smoke and mirrors. I’m pretty familiar with the day to day in down and dirty part of fund-raising too, so it’s not just a matter of thinking about it, but it’s a matter of thinking about what what one is doing in practice and how it differs from the law is that in philantech p and fund-raising blank with most of the other areas in our lives latto develop law defines a minimal standard that, you know, if you drop below that minimal standard, that you could be held accountable by by statute, generally for your actions. But ethics asked you to think beyond that ethics, asi to think about what’s the right thing to do in a hole. Fear of what ethically permitted actions the law is much narrower, as as you’re saying, there are lots of things that are legal, but wood transgress ah, standard system of ethics, i think yes, sir, my my favorite example is, is just a really straight for everyday example for all of us and that’s it. Now, if you think about about truth telling and lying, you can count pretty much on one hand the situations in which the law prohibits you from lying. You know, you can’t lie on your on your income tax forms and you can’t lie when you’re i know a witness on stay on the stand in court, but but for the most part, we’re pretty honest people. If somebody stopped me on the street and asked me, you know what time it no, it says, according to my my smart phone, i’m going to tell them the truth about the time is i know it’s a baby, i’m going to be truthful with my students and with my friends and colleagues and that’s all in the realm of ethics that no, that goes way beyond what the law requires me to do. Where does morality fit into this? Well, you know that that’s kind of a conversation, probably for maybe even a different kind of radio. Show in that er for more than two thousand years of western moral philosophy, we’ve been thinking systematically about the nature of how it is that people should and should not treat one another. Uh, the word ethics comes from the greek jessica, um, meaning custom or convention, or how we expect people to treat us and the word moral comes from mores again, the latin word for custom or convention and how we expect people to act. And so, you know, i guess what i’m saying is fundamentally there’s really not a difference between least between how i will be using today ethics and the word ethics and the word morals. But that was some people say, oh, well, morals has to do with religion or sex and ethics is what you do in the workplace. I spend a lot of my time trying to integrate our lives and make sure that that i can help people think about how to be the same good person, regardless of what role they happen to have on the moment. And so i tend not to make an arbitrary distinction between morals, morals and ethics. Some professors have over or some philosophers have over the past two thousand years and some haven’t okay, well, when we have those people on there were still living than they can make that distinction, but okay, thank you. And you’re and the topic of the book, the ethics of asking that we’re talking about is, is, uh, your concerns about how fundraisers persuade people to give, right? Yeah, i think that that that when we talk about fund-raising or actually let’s even talk just about the act of giving of donating one’s extra resource is note to create public good as that person sees it, that act is super auditory act it’s ah, it goes beyond what somebody is minimally required to do. And so i think that that when we are working with people who are doing acts that are above and beyond what is minimally respected, explore other assembly expected of folks in private and public life, that there are special considerations on dh special obligations that folks have toward the givers toward the folks who are donating. Okay, um, and we’ll talk about some of those special obligations. How does a person who is a fund-raising professional i know that they are facing something that is an ethical issue. Well, first of all, i think it was the following. Okay, well, first of all of us, everyday face and we generally don’t think about it because we don’t have to, i don’t have to think about it, he’s my example of the stranger asking for time or directions, i don’t have to think about, oh, do i want the light of this person or not? Of course, i’m just going to tell him the truth. And so i think that that’s the only time that ethical issues sort of come to our consciousness or awareness, is when we’re feel like we’re caught between loyalties or caught between expectations are caught between doing something that seems best for our personal self versus doing something that seems better for another, okay, and in those conflicts of loyalties, that could be us as individuals, as you said, or could be, our institutions also conflict, right, right institutions and what may be best for a donor, right? Fundraisers have an interesting complexity of obligations. Ah, fundraisers when my fund-raising role as department chair, for example, i have obligations to the department and to the university as a whole. But at the same time, when i put myself in a position of of trying to extract ueno rie sources from people who don’t, who aren’t required to give them to me or to the university, to the department, i i take on new and special obligations to them as well. All right, we’re going to talk about some of these obligations, et cetera. We take our first break, and when we come back, durney elliot and i will continue talking about the ethics of asking hang in there. Talking alternative radio twenty four hours a day. Do you need a business plan that can guide your company’s growth? Seven and seven will help bring the changes you need. Wear small business consultants and we pay attention to the details. You may miss. Our coaching and consultant services are guaranteed to lead toe. Right groat. For your business, call us at nine. One seven eight three, three, four, eight, six zero foreign, no obligation. Free consultation checkout on the website of ww dot covenant seven dot com are you fed up with talking points, rhetoric everywhere you turn left or right? Spin ideology no reality, in fact, its ideology over in tow. No more it’s time for action. Join me, larry. Shock a neo-sage tuesday nights nine to eleven easter for the isaac tower radio in the ivory tower will discuss what’s important to you society, politics, business and family. It’s provocative talk for the realist and the skeptic who wants a go what’s? Really going on? What does it mean? What can be done about it? So gain special access to the ivory tower. Listen to me, larry sharp, your neo-sage. Tuesday nights nine to eleven new york time go to ivory tower radio dot com. For details. That’s. Ivory tower radio. Dot com every tower is a great place to visit for both entertainment and education. Listening. Tuesday nights nine to eleven. It will make you smarter. Hey, all you crazy listeners looking to boost your business? Why not advertise on talking alternative with very reasonable rates? Interested simply email at info at talking alternative dot com dahna welcome back to big non-profit ideas for the other ninety five percent. You should know that we are sponsored by two companies, responded by rally bound, which is peer-to-peer fund-raising for runs, walks and rides and also welcoming new sponsor t brc cost recovery. Getting your money back from phone bill errors and omissions and i have a little more to say about both of them toward the end. Um, denny, you don’t mind if i call you danny wright is not to be professor elliot does it? No, denny is fine. Tony. Thank you. That you edited this book. How how does that work with you? Everybody else does all the rating, and then you just say we need some commas and paragraph breaks. How does that work when you’re oh, i wish i think it would look like actually, after editing some books and writing some books on co authoring some books, i i’ve decided that that actually being sole author of a book is probably the easiest route out of all of those. How does this work? Yeah, well, with editing a book, basically. Ah, the editor, you know, is in charge of the overall theme and the big idea of the book, as you know, an ethics of asking. There are a variety of chapters on different aspects of fund-raising, including plan giving and prospect research and and, uh, friendraising, i think, is what i call it, but the right and so as editor, i was sort of in charge of the overall idea finding the right people, teo, to write or collaborate with me on specific chapters and ah, and then actually, the tough part is getting them to get things done on deadline, and then no writing the writing, rewriting and revising chapters so that there was, you know, kind of a flow to the book so that it feels like the chapters go together even though they were written by different people with different backgrounds and different ideas. Okay, i did get that feeling alright. So that’s your responsibility as the editor, i thought, thea, i thought the company that i thought the book publisher would do that for, you know, that’s you no book publishers don’t do too much these days except actually get them out and with any luck to a little marketing. Okay, um, we’re this fund-raising that we’re talking. About fund-raising is essentially building relationships, so your concerns they’re around how or some of your concerns around how professional fundraisers are going about that. Yeah, you know, and that that happens in so many different levels. I’m thinking, all right, for example, was planned giving that no, i most fundraisers would really like to tap into, uh, into funders who have an opportunity to buckley’s states or, you know, some of substantial, uh, capital or or property, and that is usually brokered by by an external third party. You know, an investor, an attorney, somebody who is both represents the interests of the giving client as well as works with split with potential sites for the gift. And so, you know, hell of what the relationship is between the organization that serves to benefit and the the middleman, the third party there is often a point of conflict prospects. Research can can be a an ethical issue in that i know from, uh, from my days not just at this institution, but other institutions of higher education that i never met with a potential donor without having a whole dossier on that on that donor andi on what are development office had decided the person was capable of giving on much personal information regarding that person, and and i always felt a little uneasy in that it was not clear to me. I mean, it was clear to me that that that as an agent on behalf of the organization, i certainly shouldn’t say mr so and so, you know, i don’t know if you are aware that i’m aware of, you know, of your three divorces, et cetera, et cetera, you know, i mean, i knew better than to do that, but at the same time, i thought, you know, what would he think if he knew that i had all of this information on him and was just not telling him that i had it? So that’s the prospect research level, and then there is the relationship level? Aziz aziz, you know, people give to people, and so the idea of building a relationship with potential givers is an important piece of it. But i think it’s really easy for for potential givers to misunderstand the intentions of a fundraiser, i think it’s easy for fundraisers to move into what i would call a seduction phase and that may or may not be true sexual seduction, but but the but the move from fund-raising where the giver potential giver and the development person are both working with common interests for the organization is a different matter, i think, ethically speaking, than a situation in which the fundraiser is trying to woo the potential. Geever wow, there’s so much there that you just laid out planned giving is the consulting that i do and have done for sixteen years, prospect research way have a regular contributor on the show. We talked about prospect research once a month, maria simple and the relationships you know, that is hitting home because i’ve been a fundraiser for sixteen years and buy-in planned giving you no, you deal with people who are often in their seventies eighties and often we don’t or widowers, um and, you know, sometimes it’s, it’s, it’s hard, i mean, i’ve been, i guess let’s talk about the last of the three things that you just laid out that’s, the one that hits the home it’s almost poignantly for me. Bonem you know, i’ve been in in lunch situations i don’t like to i don’t like to meet prospects over dinner and andi, i know that we’re going to talk about language, and that term prospect is a little off putting to you, and we’ll get to that. So i’ll say so. I’ll adopt your language on dh say i don’t like to meet donorsearch prospect, potential donors over dinner. It’s just something you know, that evening hour just feels like it’s over there over the line from a sow, but i do like to intimate yeah, that’s right? Dinner is more intimate can be and you wantto eliminate any possibilities of that. So always lunch. But i do like doing over meals. I do like meeting latto potential donors over meals and clients over me like that because there’s a shared were sharing, we’re sharing a space were sharing a meal we might depending on the person we might actually be sharing an appetizer sometimes that’s not too often, but sometimes so there’s that sharing of the physical space and the and the activity around at the other physical space also it’s a flow that we all know, we all know that the server is going to bring water and then i’m going, i’m going to always ask for water with no ice because that’s my, you know, so, but once we get that over, then the server is going to leave us with the menus, and we’re gonna have a few minutes and then we know the servers going to come back, and then the stuff is going to bring the starters, and then the servers going toe clear those and bring the entree and we’ll, you know, we’ll have about five minutes or seven minutes or so between the starters and the entree starters ending in the entree. So there’s a there’s a a common understanding of the flow, as well as the sharing of the space and sharing of the meal, right? And what? And actually one of the things that i’m hearing you say in this and if you don’t mind sort of picking this a part of it, but the but there are a couple of things that’s going on that are going on there, that when you’re in a situation in which you’re, you’re asking some buddy to do something that they don’t have to do, which would be a potential donor, that that one of the things that that you’re that you’re doing is setting up a scene that has a comfortable and known flow in ritual, and so the idea is that is that is that you don’t have neither you nor the potential donor have to think about the context, and so it creates comfort and and i’ll say it shared intimacy in the fact that you’re both comfortable with that. Now, if you’re meeting somebody over a meal who is coming at at this from from a different culture where it may be that that the rituals are not quite the same or a little at odds, um, it would be fun and exciting, but it’s going to be a different feel than something where you know, where you’re meeting with somebody from your same culture and where you know that the ritual is is well known. The other thing about meeting over a meal is that there is something no metaphorical and symbolic about the idea of eating, of nourishing one another. If you’re picking up the check, you are certainly nourishing, you know, you’re feeding that that person and that that is, um it is a highly symbolic act of, of nurturing and caretaking and so what you’re what you’re doing is showing the potential donor that that you’re going to take good care of her, you know, in the process of this transaction, you’re also making a very strong point that this is not it’s, not a business meeting. I mean, if i need to sit down with somebody and i know that there’s something difficult to talk about a meal is really not the place to do that well, okay, now, something difficult that requires privacy, right? Although i would say in new york, i know some restaurants that have quiet spots but still might still the potential donor or the donor, but i might even be thanking someone, so it might not be asking someone to consider gift, but i might actually be thanking someone on behalf of the client, but but, yeah, there are situations where i wouldn’t but yeah, and if it’s, if i know it’s gonna be a difficult conversation, then i wouldn’t do it in any public place restaurant otherwise, but i think you can do business. You said it’s, not a business contacts, but i think you can do business over a meal. You don’t think so. Handed business over a meal, but it’s a different but it, but it creates a different kind of of interaction and different kind of relationship. I’m just as an example, if i have a graduate assistant to or a graduate student who is obsessing over her thesis at the moment and this in a tough spot, i’m very likely to take her for a cup of coffee and we’ll sit and have a cup of coffee and talk about the situation, but just the fact that i’ve gotten her, you know, in a company in a comfortable place, i’m nourishing her, giving her, you know, getting her a cup of coffee, and we’re sharing that that sustenance together is going to create kind of an openness and a readiness that is different than if i’m meeting with a student about a problematic grade in my office, you know, there’s that i’m creating a different context, and so when i want a student to sort of relax and the opens and, uh, you know, i have be more ready to listen to what i have to offer. I’m going to feed them something? Yeah, okay, that’s what i’m suggesting you’re doing. With potential donors, yeah, you’re suggesting that i’m duplicitous that i’m no, no, okay, i know it sounds like i’m a little like i’m a little devious, this is no, okay, i mean, i do think that fund-raising get get friendraising gets devious, and i really would like to talk about that specifically, but don’t take it since i’m not a marine, and i know i’ve been called that for some devious, no, but but it sounds like you’re suggesting that some people do it for a different reason than the reasons i’m suggesting i do it. Actually, i’m suggesting that you’ve got all the right instinct. What i’m saying is that this is some of your behavior, so wait say that again, i’m sorry. What say it again? I don’t know what i’m saying is you have all the right instincts, the fundraiser that you want to get the potential donors someplace where the person feels relaxed and comfortable sharing something with you and is getting something from you, which which which automatically that creates a response of giving back? Yeah, that’s the part that i don’t think of the that i’m giving to them really with the organisation’s. Dollars? I’m not the one personally picking up the check, but that’s the part i’m not thinking of that i’m giving to them so they should be giving back. I think this, you know, does this come down to character? Some people might some fundraisers might take people out for meals with that intention with that thought that i’m giving to them, they need to give back so it doesn’t just come down to personal character. How s it? No, i excited. I don’t think so, because and i think and i think that what you’re saying is is that you do it just because you’re a naturally good guy, which i certainly believe you are and that and that that’s a matter of character. Where is people who do this intentionally to manipulate the donor? You know, get the donor glass wine letter, you know, feel, relax and, you know, and so on that maybe there’s something that shows less character in that i would say that every phone great fundraiser has the responsibility to think about how every professional act is perceived and or is likely to be understood by the potential giver that’s very helpful, i think. We have we have just a couple minutes before, before we take another break, i would. We solicited questions from listeners, and we got a bunch. I’m goingto i’m going to throw one at you from that we got from facebook. This is kelly on facebook. You’re in the middle of a capital campaign, and the organization’s plans change. Your executive director thinks the changes are no big deal. Do you notify donors who committed funds to the original plan or follow the executive director’s lead, which would be keep it quiet. Well, first of all, i think that i would wonder about an organization that that changes something significant in a kapin radcampaign midstream that no one hopes that a campaign doesn’t get announced until about fifty percent of the money is raised or pledged, and that no, that that pretty much every every detail has been tested out. Ah, in-kind on a variety of audiences first, but but okay, but so you find yourself in that situation, i think that that that any donor that has made a contribution that if the, uh, thean tense abila donation can’t be met, that there is unethical and probably in most places, a legal obligation to make it clear to the donor how things have changed and obviously moving forward, you need to be honest about where things are now and where they’re going. We’re going to take a break when we come back. Tony’s take two got some live listener love and more conversation about the ethics of asking with durney eliot, stay with us e-giving didn’t think dick tooting good ending things, you’re listening to the talking alternative network e-giving get in good. Are you suffering from aches and pains? Has traditional medicine let you down? Are you tired of taking toxic medications? Then come to the double diamond wellness center and learn how our natural methods can help you too? He’ll call us now at to one to seven to one eight one eight three that’s two one two seven to one eight one eight, three or find us on the web at www dot double diamond wellness dot com way look forward to serving you! Hi, i’m ostomel role and i’m sloan wainwright, where the host of the new thursday morning show the music power hour eleven a m we’re gonna have on shine the light on all aspects of music and its limitless healing possibilities. We’re going invite artists to share their songs and play live will be listening and talking about great music from yesterday to today, so you’re invited to share in our musical conversation. Your ears will be delighted with the sound of music and our voices. Join austin and sloan live thursdays at eleven a m on talking alternative dot com you’re listening to the talking alternative network. Durney hi, this is claire meyerhoff from the plan giving agency. If you have big dreams but a small budget, you have a home at tony martignetti non-profit radio. So glad to be back in the studio because i can send live listener love new york, new york, new bern, north carolina rest in virginia, houston, texas live listener love out to u k beck is checking in we got montreal and palma role maybe i pronounced that very badly, but you’re in quebec if your income back and you’re not in montreal. Yeah, that’s the name that’s the year that yours is the town that i’m trying to pronounce. Welcome, of course we’ve got listeners in china chung ching shanghai ni hao, seoul, korea always checking in always appreciative of korea annual haserot and there’s more live listener love coming tony’s take to my block this week is five reasons to promote the ira roll over now for your donors and potential donors who are seventy and a half years or older. This ira gift opportunity ends on december thirty first. It’s been extended a couple of times, but i wouldn’t bet on congress for any purpose, including charitable giving being extended, so i’m not too optimistic that this would be extended again. So let’s assume i’m assuming with all my clients that it’s going to end on december thirty first. It’s. A very easy way for donors who are the right age to make their year end gift to you. It’s. Very easy to promote, and i’ve got promotion ideas on the block. It’s also easy for donors to execute. They just fill out a simple form that there are a custodian, has. All they need is your organization name, address and tax i d number and that’s, part of what makes it so easy for you to promote. Not a lot of explanation. If you have potential donors who are the right age, i suggest you work the ira e-giving opportunity into your year end fund-raising plan and there’s a lot more detail on that. On my blogged at tony martignetti dot com, that is tony’s. Take two for friday, fifteenth of november, the forty fifth show of this year. Denny, do you mind if we take another listener question? Of course not. This came from booster advisor on twitter. What are your thoughts on hosting fund-raising event for people you don’t know who experienced a tragedy booster advisor, the person maybe thinking about maybe people in the philippines or something like that, any issues around raising money for people who you don’t know who you know of suffered i, uh, you know, and i’m not exactly sure what’s behind the question, so that may take a couple of different stabs at it, i think it’s fine to raise raise funds for people who have experienced trauma, traumatic events, wherever they are in the world, and i i think that that there are often questions about how those funds are being managed both in country as well as in the process of getting them from donors here. So i mean, so assuming that that the management details are worked out, i don’t see a problem with doing that. Uh, so i guess i’m kind of searching for what other? What, what other ethical issues there might be? Okay? You don’t you don’t really see this as that much of ethical. Issues, i mean, that the way the medal i see that the management problem management and legal in terms of management of funds that are intended for charitable purposes, the law has a fair amount to say about that, okay, right, right and well, and i know i’ve done not very popular work on breast cancer charities and how how money money is, well, how it doesn’t support services that are being implied, although maybe not, and not specifically said, and how, uh, breast cancer charity websites make it very easy donate and very difficult to find services. So the, you know, i think that that that one can raise money legitimately for any number of things. But i think that the process of fund-raising encourage an obligation to the potential donors that that money is going to be managed appropriately as the donor’s intended, and that the donors are very clear on what percentage of the money is actually going towards the charity as compared to take administrative cost. Talk about this use of the term prospect which, as i mentioned you, you have you have a chapter in the book devoted to language. What is it about that? Term that turns you often, and you prefer a potential donor. Well, it sounds like mining on, and i think that that when we, when we separate people by a label, whether we call them human subjects, i also do a lot of writing on research ethics and when we refer to people as human subjects that we’re putting them in a class that’s different from, um, no, those of us who are doing the research, those people who are actually doing the work and when we talk about potential people who are potential donors as prospects that that again, we’re setting them off it’s been in the class that that makes it easier to do things to them that we wouldn’t do to our appears for our family members are so sort of objectifies them exactly there no longer people were going that farm, and wei will know that there’s still people on? Yeah, i mean, like i was thinking of your human human subjects, we’re not referring to them as people were medical researchers going them human subjects, but in fund-raising i don’t know, i think, were warmer people over here on the fund-raising side than the medical. Well, you know, and be really honest, a lot of the work that i’ve done on on problems with charities and nonprofits and social service agencies start with the premise, but when people think that that they’re doing good things because they’ve got a really good and that they’re working towards that is raising money for an important cause that that that’s when the warning bell should begin to go off because we knew organizations traditionally don’t take a careful look at charities or fund-raising because, you know, it all sounds like it should be warm and fuzzy and the thing and it’s good people doing good stuff for the good of society. I mean, how many goods can you get in one sentence? Now, i believe that that people who do development work and i believe that people who work in non-profit tend to be pretty good people because they’re not in it for the money, so i didn’t appreciate that, but, you know, but it’s, the whole path to hell is paved with good intentions. That gets to be a problem that when folks think that they’ve got a really important end that are really important, you know? Cause that they’re trying to support sometimes they then the rules just because they know how, how good and important the causes that they’re working for. It’s it’s kind of an ends justify the means argument there’s a line in the movie the big chill that rationalizations are more important than sex try to get through the week without a good rationalization. You’re s o yeah, stretching the rules for a very good cause. When we’re talking, maybe about you mentioned breast cancer or hunger, we owe our working with disabled it’s it’s it seems pretty easy to do right well and and let me know you had said something before break about about whether i was at saying that you’re a devious, which i wasn’t in that case, but but let’s talk about deception for a minute, just because this is one of those areas where in my work over the years with with development folks and, well, fundraisers from from various sectors, not just higher education that excuse me, start that, that this is one of those areas where people think, okay, they’ve got a potential donor, and i’ll just bring an example that that just comes to mind from a capital campaign is a matter of fact. Some some years ago, so there was a ah a ah, a donor potential donor providing a whole lot of money for for a university to have a building built that would carry her her husband’s name, her dead husband’s name. And you know, and that was great. That was all. Everyone agreed completely with that. But this woman also really, really wanted a family fountain in a particular spot on campus. Well, they, uh the that the fundraiser working with the that actually they were more than one fun, but the development people who were working with this potential duitz donor i knew that in the no long term scale of things, that that where this woman one of the fountain was not going to be was not going to last more than about ten years, because if you look down the line, you know, there were other buildings that were going to go up on campus and this pristine spot that she loved and her husband had loved. I was not going to be that christine spot anymore due to the age of the donor the folks at the university this decided that that this particular donor would most probably be long gone by the time you know, the campus changed in a way that would make her unhappy. And so they decided that it was safe just to let this this potential donor believe what she wanted to believe. I find that unethical because, again, this woman is it was doing something that a super aga, torrey it’s something that is that is ethically ideal to use different language, she’s doing something that she doesn’t need to do. And i think that there’s a special obligation of the organization that would take her money, um, to make sure that she knows and really understands everything that she would find relevant to the giving of her gift. Damn, i think i would i don’t know that one that one really shakes me. I i would like to think i would quit over that if i was on that development team, and we were told not to reveal that the fountain isn’t going to last more than ten. Well, but why? I mean, she’ll never know the difference. It’s just wrong you she why tryto be more a little more articulate, that’s just wrong because she’s making a gift under under a set of assumptions and conditions that that the other side knows are false. That’s why it’s it’s almost. I don’t know if it rises to the level of legal fraud in the definition of fraud on statutes, but i know it gets pretty close to me if it does. If it doesn’t exceed that it doesn’t cross that line, i think that’s ah touching on fraudulent well, actually, and the the and the way that it was laid out in this particular situation. I mean, thie the building was going up with the husband’s name on it, and it was going to be a lovely building. And i know a lovely and permanent mark on campus for sure the fountain was by far, you know, a smaller, you know, seemingly incidental, not very important gift, at least from the university’s point of view, and they know they were going to put the fountain in. They just knew that the that the woman thought that the fountain would live on forever. You know what? Where they’re understood it wouldn’t yeah, they know something that the woman doesn’t that’s. That’s that’s ah, meaning in contract terms to me that’s a material term that the organization is omitting now i’m taking it out of the ethical and putting it in the legal. But to me that’s a material term that they’re omitting like to me, that would be the same as you’re renting an apartment and there’s is there’s lead paint on the walls and you don’t reveal that that’s that’s. Okay, gideon, this scenario because it’s the same kind of issue that comes up but it but it’s a very different set of facts. So we have another donor and the the ah ah, the donor, you know, wants to give money for the university, and it understands to be kind of old school and, uh, really doesn’t believe in co ed dormitories. Now, for any number of reasons, the university knows that no, that before long, even though there’s no specific thing on the books right now. But before long, all the all the dorms on the university will be co ed. And so no again does that is that information that has to be given to the the potential donor, you know, it’s it’s a change that that every university is making and some folks, in fact, some people at the particular university i’m thinking of. I said, well, you know, we can’t deal with all of the prejudices of all of our donors. And we can decide what’s relevant for the donor to know and what’s not. We got to go away for a couple of minutes more. Danielle. It stays with us, and i hope that you do, too. You’re listening to the talking alternative network. Are you stuck in your business or career trying to take your business to the next level, and it keeps hitting a wall? This is sam liebowitz, the conscious consultant. I will help you get to the root cause of your abundance issues and help move you forward in your life. Call me now and let’s. Create the future you dream of. Two, one, two, seven, two, one, eight, one, eight, three, that’s to one to seven to one, eight one eight three. The conscious consultant helping conscious people. Be better business people. Dahna have you ever considered consulting a road map when you feel you need help getting to your destination when the normal path seems blocked? A little help can come in handy when choosing an alternate route. Your natal chart is a map of your potentials. It addresses relationships, finance, business, health and, above all, creativity. Current planetary cycles can either support or challenge your objectives. I’m montgomery taylor. If you would like to explore the help of a private astrological reading, please contact me at monte at monty taylor dot. Com let’s monte m o nt y at monty taylor dot com. Talking alternative radio twenty four hours a day. Dahna podcast pleasantries going out to everybody who is listening to the podcast, wherever that might be from whether it’s, itunes or or elsewhere. There’s podcast dot d lots of people listening to the podcast in germany wherever you might be listening to the podcast pleasantries out to you more live listener love pompano beach, florida tustin, california welcome, andrx, les france i hope i did that well, bonsoir we’ve got germany listening live you’ve got kuwait listening live you got the netherlands listening live and i did come back yes live listener love to all our live listeners podcast pleasantries wherever and whenever you might be listening to the time shifted show denny, i’ve got some more, some more this inner questions that came in i got one from this’s from rory asking about corporate branding. How much of a charity’s brand is it ethical to sell? She puts selling quotes to accompany we might be comfortable with logos and branding at fund-raising events. But to corporate logos have a place in, say, university classrooms. Yeah, i think that’s ah, that’s. A really good question. And i would come down to me particularly are now just at ticket from hyre. Education, although i think we’re going extrapolated from that. But i think that the core mission of an organization and i know that’s what sound naive, but i think that that should remain pure in a certain way. That is that one should be able to conductor the mission of the university without having corporate brands on everything associated with the mission. But that is okay, teo, to brand things that air external here’s an example at my university in my department next year, we are starting a new graduate certificate program and food writing and photography. Now we are not selling the sponsorship of that program, but at but we do have an annual food conference of no culinary of communication conference that’s associated with that program that’s open to the community every year, a half day seminar and that we definitely are seeking sponsors for and so if there is, i think, a sense of ancillary sponsorship, but now, but it gets complicated because if we look at breast cancer charities no, it again, a zone area of where i’ve done some particular research that we have situations in which which some breast cancer charities exists because of their, you know, their corporate sponsorships and the relationship between the charity and the corporate sponsor becomes so tight that individual donors are often left out in terms of not understanding the importance of people, giving in a true philanthropic way that is now just to promote the common good. And that sometimes folks in need of service is that air being touted by the charity get left out as well. Have a related question about taking donations from organizations that are not not in direct contradiction to your mission but still have or may be perceived to have negative impact on society, the person asks says there are some cases that are obvious, like cancer charities not taking money from tobacco companies. But what about navigating gray areas on dh like arms manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies? She also suggests oil, oil pipeline companies are there right ones issues around us. Yeah, i think that that again gets problematic and the mawr complicated or society gets the more problematic it is. I do appreciate cancer charities that that no won’t take tobacco money, for example, but at the same time if they take pharmaceutical money from certain pharmaceutical companies, pharmaceutical companies are owned by chemical companies, which released carcinogens into the air. And so the question is of like, well, how far back are you willing to go? And i think that really what it comes down to for many organizations, is that it’s a matter of public perception, that if there’s no, if we can’t cancel charity doesn’t want to take money directly from eddie ah, now an organization that’s known to be cancer causing. But if you take it back one or two generations in terms of of no corporate ownership that nobody knows, i think that that’s not okay, um, i think that, um, that there should be limits in terms of of, um, of no donations that people take, but i think that that needs to be stated, because when we come to individual donors in my experience, uh, fundraisers and charities are quite willing to take money from folks, whether they, you know, just want to give out of the goodness of their heart or whether they’re giving for the tax break or whether they’re giving to, you know, re pay back some private since so so if an organization is going to refuse money on the basis of, uh, of how that money was made. I think that that needs to be stated clearly and transparently. We have to leave it there. Durney eliot, director and professor in the department of journalism in media studies at the university of south florida st petersburg durney thank you so much for me. Yeah. Funnel by your lunch. It’s been a real pleasure. No, no, no, i’m not i’m not putting myself in a compromising situation. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next week, karen wooster is executive director of wreaths across america. They have grown their volunteer support enormously by being hands off and supportive. We’re gonna talk about you’re building that volunteer base. Maria simple is back. She’s, the prospect finder and our prospect research contributor. We’ll talk about the disk assessment tool to figure out whether your potential donors are dominant influencing steady or cautious disc. Personally, i’d like to be all for those. So i wonder if i can manipulate the assessment. Our sponsors rally bound is a sponsor. They make simple, reliable peer-to-peer fund-raising software friends asking friends to give to your cause. You get a discount as a non-profit radio listener you can find them at rally bound dot com or just call and talk to joe mcgee he’s the person who will answer your questions and give you advice on setting up your campaign. And i’ve met their ceo. I’ve told you before shmuley pinson, you can reach them as i said, rally bound dot com or triple eight seven six seven nine zero, seven six welcome to t brc cost recovery our newest sponsor, youself rabinowitz, is ceo there, so we have ah, sponsors yourself wuebben with smelly pinson. Sam labbate liebowitz on the board muzzle toph, i love this. Yo steph! What he does is we’ll go over your past phone bills looking for mistakes, and when he finds those mistakes and he does over ninety percent of the time, then he fights the phone company to get your money back, talking about errors, services you didn’t order and what all you also finds is well above market pricing and gets you the money back and you only pay him if he actually succeeds. If he actually gets cash back, otherwise you don’t pay him. I’ve known yourself for close to ten years and i have many times referred. Friends and clients to him, and i’m very comfortable referring him to you, it’s, tb, r si dot com or two one, two, six, double four, nine, triple xero, which could also be six, four, four, nine thousand, but i like two one two, six, double four, nine triple xero. Our creative producer is claire meyerhoff. Sam liebowitz is our line producer shows social media is by deborah askanase of community organizer two point oh, and the remote producer of tony martignetti non-profit radio is john federico of the new rules. This outstanding music you’re hearing is by scott stein. I hope you’re gonna be with me next friday, once, two p m eastern at talking alternative dot com. E-giving denting, tooting, getting dink, dink, dink, dink. You’re listening to the talking alternative network. Get in. Cubine are you a female entrepreneur? Ready to break through? Join us at sexy body sassy sol, where women are empowered to ask one received what they truly want in love, life and business. Tune in thursday said. Known eastern time to learn timpson. Juicy secrets from inspiring women and men who, there to define their success, get inspired, stay motivated and defying your version of giant success with sexy body sake. Sold every thursday ad men in new york times on talking alternative that calms. Are you suffering from aches and pains? Has traditional medicine let you down? Are you tired of taking toxic medications, then come to the double diamond wellness center and learn how our natural methods can help you to hell? Call us now at to one to seven to one eight, one eight three that’s to one to seven to one eight one eight three or find us on the web at www dot double diamond wellness dot com way. Look forward to serving you. You’re listening to talking alternative network at www dot talking alternative dot com, now broadcasting twenty four hours a day. Dahna i’m the aptly named host of tony martignetti non-profit radio. Big non-profit ideas for the other ninety five percent fund-raising board relations, social media, my guests and i cover everything that small and midsize shops struggle with. If you have big dreams and a small budget, you have a home at tony martignetti non-profit radio friday’s wanto to eastern talking alternative dot com. Are you concerned about the future of your business for career? Would you like it all to just be better? Well, the way to do that is to better communication, and the best way to do that is training from the team at improving communications. This is larry sharp, host of the ivory tower radio program and director at improving communications. Does your office need better leadership, customer service sales, or maybe better writing, are speaking skills? Could they be better at dealing with confrontation conflicts, touchy subjects all are covered here at improving communications. If you’re in the new york city area, stop by one of our public classes, or get your human resource is in touch with us. The website is improving communications, dot com, that’s, improving communications, dot com, improve your professional environment, be more effective, be happier, and make more money improving communications. That’s. The answer. Dahna hyre

Nonprofit Radio for November 8, 2013: Getting To The Next Level

Big Nonprofit Ideas for the Other 95%

Sponsored by RallyBound peer-to-peer fundraising for runs, walks and rides.

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My Guest:

Laurence Pagnoni: Getting To The Next Level

Laurence Pagnoni largeLaurence Pagnoni is author of “The Nonprofit Fundraising Solution.” Based on his work as an executive director and fundraising consultant, he has proven strategies to get you to the next level of fundraising revenue.

 

 

 

 

 

 


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Hello and welcome to tony martignetti non-profit radio big non-profit ideas for the other ninety five percent. I’m your aptly named host. Oh, you know, i hope you were with me last week. I’d suffer falik yah leitess. If it came to my attention that you had missed priscilla rosenwald, author of when leaders leave, she talked us through her smart tips to plan and execute smooth leadership transitions this week, getting to the next level. Lawrence paige nani is author of the fund-raising the non-profit fund-raising solution based on his work as an executive director and fund-raising consultant, he has proven strategies to get you to the next level of fund-raising revenue halfway through the show on tony’s take two i have a charity registration reminder for you. I’m wagging my finger. We’re sponsored by rally bound, simple, reliable peer-to-peer fund-raising software rally bound dot com i’m very pleased that lawrence paige no knees book and his work bring him to the studio. He has spent twenty five years in the nonprofit sector and was an executive director of three non-profits he’s been a faculty member at the gnu heimans center for philanthropy and fund-raising we’ve had guests from there. And the coach is a group of executive directors with the rutgers business schools institute for ethical leadership. His book is the non-profit fund-raising solution. Powerful revenue strategies to take you to the next level. Lorts back. Tony, welcome to the studio. Thank you so much. I’m glad to be here. It’s. A real pleasure to have, you know, i love having live in studio guest. It just makes it that much more special. Congratulations on the book, it’s. Just it’s out this month, right? Yes, just a few weeks ago. And and delighted it. Dafs has robust sales so far. Excellent. Very good for you. I have to ask you this. I’ve wondered about this since i first saw your name, which is years. Why isn’t it panjwani wipe agnone? How did you i’m not martignetti why did you? Somewhere along the lineage, you went to pack no knee. Well, had that happened? It’s, my grand. My grandmother would like your question. It’s, lorenzo, antonio peggy oni that’s your your it’s, like a little birdie operate you’re you’re ah, expression of it is accurate. And but, you know, in american vernacular gets paige no knee. I hate that. I hate that your grandmother would love the pan uni i was a beautiful name. It is operatic. Um, the non-profit fund-raising solution. What is the problem? Well, under capitalization of the sector plagues more than seventy seven percent of non-profits they have a vision, but they don’t have the money to implement it. And many organizations spend years on a plateau under two hundred fifty thousand dollars trying to execute their vision for some small non-profits ah, humble budget is more than adequate and they’re doing good services and they are meeting their vision so don’t mean to imply that you need money too do your work and they’re amazing volunteer organizations. But for those organizations that that need money, i wrote the book in that spirit of trying to help them tio, to go to the next level which is such a ubiquitous question. I mean, i get that a lot on dh. I work only really in the planned e-giving and the charity registration niches. But even i am asked a lot, you know? How do we get to the next level? Can you help us get to the next level? So there are a lot of organizations that do want to go to increased fund-raising revenue it’s the number one question i get when i give seminars or oppcoll public trainings, and somebody inevitably will wander up to that micah’s i say in the introduction, and and ask me, how do you get to the next level? And on the one hand it’s a poetic question, but on the other hand, it’s for my sensibilities, it’s a business question with mathematical methods behind it, and the book tries to explain, um, that if you get your leadership understanding the vision for what the next level looks like if the board supports that vision, if you think about hyre level strategies and you work on changing the culture of your organization so that the organisational development matches that vision that’s the foundation there’s four aspects are the foundation for going to the next level, and then the rest is tactical most fund-raising is tactical. The strategy comes from the organization, and we’re gonna have time to talk about the organisational development as well as the strategies and tactics were because i love that we have the full hour together, so the symptoms of this problem are mean. Ah, event to event fund-raising or maybe sole source revenue streams? Yeah, most foundation grants have ah, three year limit. There are some exceptions to that, of course, places like the robin hood foundation, which see themselves as long term partners. Um, but event to event without any cash reserves. Um, and some organizations just go year two year like that and and and make do and with a little bit of luck and and providence, they they squeak by, but it’s hard to plan having an impact on your mission and on the sector, the the field of service, if you will, that you’ve chosen if you really want to help at risk kids, i have a better chance at getting into college or getting the right on the right employment that’s a great example, because it’s exactly it’s for you you do have to plan for years that’s a life cycle of a child. And if you’re you know, as you say, just getting by year to year, how can you plan for that child’s future? You can’t. You can’t plan for your own that’s, right? Um, do you think that since we see such a reliance on events i have a theory i don’t, but you khun you’re free to disagree that the reliance on events is so that people can avoid what they fear, which is having to sit across the table from someone and looked him in the eye and ask them for a gift. Well, it’s, funny as best as i understand it, and i’m always learning events were buy-in the history of them goes back to having an opportunity to thank your individual donors, they weren’t actually fundraisers unto themselves, and then they course morphed into that when in fund-raising when the event ah, is linked to individual giving and get in to get the individual giving program, they always raise more money, because the point is that the twenty percent of your individual donor base who gives eighty percent generally on your revenue since the recession, we see it’s maybe seventy, thirty um they need to be talked to individually and thoughtfully, and having tough conversations with donors is part of that territory, and i think a lot of people are, um, are shy about that. Money, of course, is one of the great taboos of life and so it’s fraught with ah, emotional issues. Um, you allude to cem cem research done by stanford about the dominant revenue source? We’ll flush that after us. Sure. Well, you often hear people say that they need a diversified revenue base. Yes, and i’ve heard that for years as a fundraiser, and as in the former executive director, i used to worry about how much time and energy that talkto have more than one or two revenue streams. So a few years ago, stanford university ah did research on one hundred and forty hundred forty one non-profits that that had gotten over the fifty million dollar, more annual budget, what they discovered was a surprise that those organizations generally had a dominant source of revenue and possibly a secondary source of revenue and wasn’t as diversified as smaller non-profits but they also said that smaller non-profits still needed to diversify until they got to that plateau ah, when or they got to that level, when they could break through for a dominant source of revenue. And the reason this is interesting is that those non-profits that got over fifty million, they knew everything there was to know about that dominant source of revenue if it was individual giving, say, for example, habitat for humanity. Their dominant source of revenue is individual giving, followed by in-kind donations, followed by foundations. They knew everything there was from about individual giving from ah, there, first acquisition, to plan giving and the whole continuum within those two ends. Yes, um, we are going, tio, take a break, and we’ll of course, continue with lawrence, and we’ll talk a little more about the the inflexibility that we’re talking about now and that sort of tradition of of dominant source giving. But then we’re gonna move on, and we’re going to talk about what it takes for the organization, too. Develop within before he can get to the next level. So hang in there. Talking alternative radio twenty four hours a day. Do you need a business plan that can guide your company’s growth? Seven and seven will help bring the changes you need. Wear small business consultants and we pay attention to the details. You may miss our culture and consultant services are guaranteed to lead toe. Right groat. For your business, call us at nine. One seven eight three, three, four, eight six zero foreign, no obligation free consultation. Check out our website of ww dot covenant seven dot com are you fed up with talking points? Rhetoric everywhere you turn left or right? Spin ideology no reality, in fact, its ideology over in tow. No more it’s time. Join me. Larry shot a neo-sage tuesday nights nine to eleven easter for the ivory tower radio in the ivory tower will discuss what’s important to you society, politics, business and family. It’s provocative talk for the realist and the skeptic who want to go what’s really going on? What does it mean? What can be done about it? So gain special access to the ivory tower. Listen to me. Very sharp. Your neo-sage tuesday nights nine to eleven new york time go to ivory tower radio dot com for details. That’s. Ivory tower, radio dot com e every time i was a great place to visit for both entertainment and education. Listening. Tuesday nights nine to eleven. It will make you smarter. Hey, all you crazy listeners looking to boost your business? Why not advertise on talking alternative with very reasonable rates? Interested simply email at info at talking alternative dot com oppcoll welcome back to big non-profit ideas for the other ninety five percent. Lawrence paige nani is with me. He is the author of the non-profit fund-raising solution. So before the break, we were talking a little about thiss dominant source so they knew their dominant source and maybe a secondary source very well. So it’s so it’s not so bad. Teo teo, be focused that way. No. Ah, it turns out that that that there are different levels in every revenue source of from an average level two quite skilled level. What they had a have, of course, in their dominant source of revenue was they had to have deep and abiding expertise. Ah lo, staff turnover amongst the fund-raising staff was very important for those organizations because the institutional memory of with their donors had to be preserved. It’s called development for a reason it’s a developmental process. So if you’re walking the walk with a donor through their lifetime of giving, if they get comfortable with a fundraiser, the chances of that fundraiser being able to raise more money are much higher now. Of course, that’s that’s ah juxtaposed to the chronicle philanthropies article this past year, which showed that the turn of the dissatisfaction amongst fundraisers with their organizations was extremely high. Yes, and i we talked about that on the show. Did you? Yeah, i was distraught to hear that. And because fund-raising is a noble profession, and when it’s not respected, the process is not respected than people expect returns too fast. Or they expect the fundraiser toe come in with donor’s ready to g o without having to cultivate them for your mission. And these are very irrational ideas dominate the conversations around fund-raising but it’s called development for a reason, and those non-profits that god above fifty million that had a dominant source were they had a patients to their culture, and they respected the cultivation process and they closed, you know, on on major gifts much more frequently than those that didn’t have that culture. What was the first organization that you were executive director of? Oh my, it was a soup kitchen for the homeless in richmond, virginia. And i’m guessing there are a lot of lessons you learned there. Oh, my goodness. I i on the in the book, i tell the story of how i forgot about the board. No, i didn’t. I didn’t technically forget about board. I attended board meetings. I prepared my reports. I i had the board book ready and met with the committee’s when they needed me, but in my soul they were superfluous, and what was really important was getting the programme metrics right and getting the fundraising going. But i came to see how the board ah, in my second executive directorship, here in new york, at harlem united, i came to see how the board khun give the organization a gift that the ceo cannot, which is the gift of longevity and survivability, and that great word that we use in the sector sustainability. So in your experience in west virginia, richmond in virginia, at the soup kitchen, were you sort of dragging the board along as you as you worked on the metrics that were important to you or you would just take kicking them was more my style. Okay, so clicking from behind? Well, there was the italian radio, the italian, more likable bull in a china shop. But ah, the urgency was, of course, that homelessness was extremely bad. The single room occupancy hotels in richmond, virginia, were closing. Ah, at a rapid rate, and the homeless shelters were were increasing. So we had a profound sense of urgency, and then right in the middle that the aids epidemic was becoming clearer to us. And so there was this sense of urgency, and we in fact founded three different organizations. Ah, as spin offs to to our non-profit but i came to see the value of board leadership and bored endorsement and and to recruit people that did add value. Not everybody is meant to be a boardmember and i had made the mistake of just recruiting volunteers that had a passion for the board without necessarily having the business talents. And skills that i needed to fulfill the mission that we were we were aimed at over ten to twenty years, and we’re going to talk later on about one of the opportunities that you’ve identified leadership counsels for maybe the type of people that you’re talking about not suitable for the board but have interest and passion. And so there may be another role for them. Yes, so let’s talk about the board now the board has to metoo it’s essential at the board be developed before the organization is going to get to the next level? Oh, yes, ah, a lot of ceos inherited inherit aboard when they take a job that isn’t necessarily up for the task, and they wait on the sidelines for something magical to happen with that board, and they don’t necessarily see themselves as an intervening variable to bring the board to the next level themselves. But i recommend in my book that they do see themselves as part of the change process for the board by meeting personally with board members by recruiting people who have the skills and talents that they be delighted to have in leaders and that’s not all. They’re not always easy processes. They take time, but you’re trying to develop a shared vision on the board, exact between the executive leadership and the the ceo executive director and the and the volunteer leadership that’s. Right? This could take a long time to align a vision. It can, but there are plenty of examples where it happens rather fast. I mean, the board share one. The board in richmond, virginia. The board of harlem united here in new york. They were united around the being thought leaders in the field of of ah, innovative health care for people who fell outside the health care system, the homeless and indigents. And they they i saw their revenue streams from the government, both federal and state, as needing to be reformed so that they could get the funds that were needed. For example, in nineteen ninety one there were no article, twenty eight healthcare, primary care, organised clinics. For people living with aids, they were only the peruse of mental health. So what the board did with the executive staff leadership is they formed a statewide organization called the adult they healthcare coalition. And they changed the way the revenue. Stream was structure so that article twenty eights could include primary care for people living with aids. Article twenty eight is a federal state of new york state state health. S o that you could receive third party medicare reimburse oka okay, it’s. An amazing revenue stream, extremely stable. And it helped people keep people out of hospital emergency rooms so you can provide care at a much lower rate. So sometimes revenue streams have that level of complexity to them. And you need a board that could understand the thinking behind them. And sometimes revenue streams are easier to understand. I mean, i think that’s why people often gravitate to foundation grants. They can look at a foundation’s website. They could understand the application process, and they throw there their hat in the ring to see if there are going to be, you know, lucky. Let zoho focus on again the achieving this shared vision across the board. So it certainly takes place in inboard recruitment board meetings and month after month. I mean what’s the what’s, the executive director’s role in trying tow align the board with this with a common vision. Well, one of my great teachers carl matthiasson, who was expert in board development hey used to say that a board will talk about anything and then he’d pause and he’d say, if you let them sound the point, the point was that the executive director, um, in in private dialogue with the board chair or the executive committee had to understand how to create an agenda that was consistent with where they were headed so that the organization didn’t waste a lot of time often times, you know, can you imagine tony in an average year, how many board meetings i sit in and listen? And so much of what boards talk about is not is in concert sequential to their their deepest desires and goals, paperclips and on dh office supplies a cz one example, you know, thinking ok and no on the worst, and the executive director doesn’t want to be micromanaged, you know, you hear that language a lot. Of course. On the other hand, the executive director is under macro managing, you know, and the the opposite, of course, of micro management is macro management and macro management is about the strategic alliance of the vision and here’s where you see a lot of executive director’s check out the and it leaves them vulnerable to being micromanaged, so i encourage in the book for the culture of a board to be robust and that the ceo see him or herself as part of a shaper or leader in that now lot of non-profit see, youse will read that and they would go well dahna you know, i’ve been doing of course i’ve been doing that for years, but when you look across the sector that’s not necessarily the habit off many ceos, they they often see themselves as just employees of the board and they and they abdicate that board leadership responsibility, yes, even though they’re not the named chair of the board, but you’re advocating that they still have a strong role in board leadership that’s, right? And some ceos who were former program directors and then that he became the ceo, they’re not by their character change agents. So what i’m describing is a character of a ceo that’s really a change agent because i’m interested in high performing non-profits that that solve the social problem that they set out to solve, whether it be reducing teen pregnancies or having more kids get through the school system successfully or or adult employment, for example. Um, so those ceos of those kinds of organizations generally are change agents and it’s not to say there’s something bad about the ceos are not it’s, just that i think that they have to think about a different place in the sector that might be better suited for their skills and talents. Okay, let’s, talk briefly about the gift of significance that you recommend from, um, from board members and you in the book, you have a calculation for what that ought to be boardmember boardmember and we don’t really have a chance to go through that calculation. But what? What? Why not a significant gift? Why? Why is it a gift of significance? Well, that’s a significant point. Most boards think about board trustee e-giving as giver. Get, um, and then there’s a third part of that is unsaid, which is give, get or get off. Get off! So i never liked that. And i taught at the united way here in new york city for many years i taught their board seminar and and did the given get policies and there’s wisdom? To that, and i’m not opposed to give and get policies, but i think there’s a ah much more thoughtful way to engage the process, which is to have a conversation about a gift of significance. What for you when you look at your philanthropic giving in the past few years, given your current income, what is a significant gift that stands out amongst all your, um, you’re you’re giving and the reason that this is a particularly good approach for trustee is that a trustee is stepping up in a leadership capacity toe inspire other donors to give by their giving, and they have to see the connection between how they think about their giving and what they want. The donors of the organization i do because the development director or the vice president, institutional advancement or the ceo needs to say my trustees have stepped up, they’ve made leadership gifts one hundred percent a hundred percent they khun cumulatively give um, you know, twenty six thousand seven hundred fifty three dollars, i’m that precise when i calculate the cumulative giving of aboard and reported back to two donors and the donor’s often laugh, but i’d rather give them. The real numbers to know that this is a real process if you’re if their boat donors of your trustees on your board, that can’t give a gift of significance. That’s not true, everybody can give a gift or significance. I mean, i’ve had its what’s significant to that exactly. I’ve had consumers of services that that social work, term consumers or program members on the boards that i’ve worked at, and and i’ve used the same principle with them, it could be five dollars could be fifty dollars, but for them, it’s a significant gift and it’s in phrasing it that way is a gift of significance. It captures the energy that we’re looking for around thinking about being ah fund-raising leader and, of course, ideally, too, from time to time, you want to ask the board to stretch beyond their normal giving, which is when you’re in a campaign or ah, special drive or there’s an anniversary, things like that. So continuing with some of the strategies that you recommend, um, you like like parlor gatherings over what’s a parlor gathering could be in an office conference room could be in your living room. Ah, parties with a purpose is, that is the general frays, and the purpose is the benevolence that the party ah it’s, not a party for a party sake it’s a party for a purpose. And the purpose is to sponsor and endorse and give money to the charity that it is. Ah, is the primary focus? They’re ninety minute gatherings. I describe the actual methods and rollout and is very user friendly chapter but ah lot of organizations keep waiting for that moment when they’re going to go to the next level and fund-raising, of course, is a practitioners art so here in the parties where the purpose you see avery practical method that you could roll out in two to three months, sixty to ninety days in fact, one of the smaller non-profits that listens to your radio program read the book their whole development committee. They’re all volunteers. Well, i love them because they’re listening. Yes, i don’t care what they do fund-raising wise. Frankly, lawrence, i don’t care if they bought your book or not. They’re there listening to the show that you could stop there. I love them, whoever you are, we love you. You know who you are. We love you, i’m sorry, i know it’s true and they they are going to do a party that when they called, i said, i’ll give you a free as i do anybody, i give anybody of free ah forty minute phone conversation about questions they have about the book, or i also come into organizations to meet with the development team or aboard team anyway, so i gave them a free consultation and they wanted to do a party with a purpose in the future, and i said, oh no, we’re going to have it before the year and we’re doing it now, and they’re going to be doing it right after between christmas and new year’s. Excellent. We gotta take a break when we come back tony’s take too. I’m wagging my finger about charity registration, and of course, laurence and i are going to keep talking about party gatherings and leadership. Council’s, hang in there with us. You couldn’t do anything to getting dink dink dink, you’re listening to the talking alternative network duitz e-giving e-giving good. Are you suffering from aches and pains? Has traditional medicine let you down? Are you tired of taking toxic medications, then come to the double diamond wellness center and learn how our natural methods can help you, too? He’ll call us now at to one to seven to one eight, one eight, three that’s two one two, seven to one eight, one eight, three or find us on the web at www dot double diamond wellness dot com way. Look forward to serving you. Hi, i’m ostomel role, and i’m sloan wainwright, where the host of the new thursday morning show the music power hour. Eleven a m. We’re gonna have fun. Shine the light on all aspects of music and its limitless healing possibilities. We’re gonna invite artists to share their songs and play live will be listening and talking about great music from yesterday to today, so you’re invited to share in our musical conversation. Your ears will be delighted with the sound of music and our voices. Join austin and sloan live thursdays at eleven a. M on talking alternative dot com. You’re listening to the talking alternative network. Kayman hi, i’m bill mcginley, president, ceo of the association for healthcare philanthropy. And you’re listening to tony martignetti non-profit radio. Big non-profit ideas for the other ninety five percent. We’re not live today, so i can’t send literal live listener love, but i bet i can guess who the live listeners are. New york, new york, california, oregon, texas, massachusetts has been checking in lately live listener love to everybody from those states and everyone else who is listening live and of course, going abroad are very regular listeners from japan, china and korea live listener love to you as well. Podcast pleasantries to the nine thousand of you listening through itunes stitcher player fm podcast dot d in germany, we have a lot of listeners in germany podcast pleasantries to everybody listening to the podcast tony’s take two. Are you properly registered in each state where you’re soliciting donations? I asked that question often you should be think of a massachusetts charity that sends email to connecticut and u s mail into new york to solicit donations that charity needs to be registered in massachusetts and connecticut and new york. Do you have a donate now button? Are you accepting gifts online in about half the states? It’s kind of a fuzzy area, but about half the states when that donate now button goes live you’re deemed to be soliciting and it doesn’t matter whether anybody ever clicks on it. It’s it’s the solicitation going out through the live donate now button that is what triggers the charity registration laws in a lot of states. I’m building an online solution that is going to automate the charity registration process. I’m going to be talking about it, maura going to blogging it. Mohr partners and i are in development on the site right now. Technical partners included, we plan to go live in early twenty fourteen and it is going to make the charity registration process easier, much cheaper and quicker and explain the details to you all all online. So it’s going toe really streamlined the process. There is no completely web based solution to this, and we’re building it. If you want to know more about that, you can sign up for some insider alerts. I’ll send occasional emails to insiders who want to know more. You can reach me through the contact page on my blogged let me know that you’d like to be part of that list and my blog’s is tony martignetti dot com that is tony’s take two for friday, the eighth of november forty fourth show of the year let’s talk more about parlor gatherings lawrence, you do is a very, very askew, said user friendly chapter you have a lot of very robust advice, and i’ve always liked the idea of a small, intimate gathering, so we’re goingto focus on my prejudice for these types of events, not to the exclusion well here on the show, and we don’t have a chance to talk about everything all the strategies that you have in the book, but the book is full of lots of fund-raising strategies i happen to like the i never heard them called parlor gatherings, but i like, i like that idea. Um, who should host these thes parlor gatherings? Generally? There’s one one host who has a good network of friends, were colleagues, family members and in turn out twenty five to thirty people. I’ve been it parties where the purpose parlor gatherings that have as much money as seventy five that’s a big parlour. Yeah, but they have, you know, they’re people with big names and they have big networks and s o mostly, the host is responsible for inviting the guests mostly the host now in some organizations where our host doesn’t feel that they could deliver twenty five to thirty, people, maybe they have a co host or i’ve done three hosts and each of them commit delivering, you know, ten people and and that’s worked very well, especially because they’ve had the support in partnership of two other people that they like, and they’re going to do it together, and they see it as a ah fun thing to do. I love the fact that most of the the expense budgets on parlor gatherings are a couple hundred dollars. We don’t put out a lot of fancy food. We use cheap wine or no wine at all, depending on the organization that always has to be thought through. Um, and we don’t spend money on trinkets or literature. Um, if the if the host once, um, paper invitations as opposed to just using ah elektronik invitation service like ping ah, the host then has to pay for the cost of that, not the organization. And um and as i said, they are usually planned in sixty to ninety days, okay? And you want you want nobody to talk for more than five minutes, that’s right, who you should talk. Well, it has to be somebody. Ah, that that people can emotionally connect with generally a client or consumer who is prepared to deliver and it’s comfortable talking to a group of those could be very tender, intimate moments when it’s, when it’s someone who’s benefiting from the services of the organization. That’s right, it’s seen i’ve seen tears in in colleges, scholarship recipients. But the cause is something causes you mentioned run much more deeply even than education. Yeah, i people who have healed from years of recovery, people who have been supported in their process of coming out of jails and prisons, people who i have ah been through adoption processes. I mean, their stories are extremely powerful, and telling a story is what you need to help them work on and prepare for, so that they have some flare on some theatrics to it where the the audience makes eye contact with them, and that that they have good hand gestures and that they’re articulate. And everybody, of course, has their own style. I’ve been where some client i’ve been to some parties with a purpose where the clients are very stove. Oj and they have a quiet manner, but nonetheless your grandmother would appreciate it slipping little italian, italian and there you are, italian listeners. Ah, they’re they’re quieter in their presentation, but nonetheless still powerful because they prepared still very moving, very moving video is often good at larger events, but in smaller events ah, the intimacy of the smaller room gives gives good stage two to two personal witness who else should be talking? Ah, well, the the some official from the organization of boardmember or volunteer or staff member ceo doesn’t have to be to say, you know, no, the ceo is more than happy more than welcome to think of him or herself, but again in a high functioning fund-raising culture, everybody should be empowered to talk about the money, and teo, talk about the money in a way that that other people get it and doesn’t have to be the ceo there. There’s a one of the stories i tell in the book is a first party with a purpose for a small agency in brooklyn substance abuse recovery agency. They never did any private fund-raising they’d always relied on government grants and their first time. Out, they raised twenty six, twenty seven thousand dollars. They had two clients tell their story and ah, boardmember, who never saw herself as a fundraiser, stood up and was crying after listening to the that the two consumers tell their story and she burst out with a five thousand dollar pledge and somebody else in the room matched it, and none of that was prepared. But it was prepared conceptually, because we do have a bias in who we invite, that we try to invite people that we know something about, that they have some means now we’re not. We’re not strict about that, but we do ask the question. Ahn do seek people who have that some level of affluence now, a lot of smaller non-profits say right off the bat. I don’t know anybody, you know, with the that level of affluence, and i say, okay, well, let’s work with what we have and but amazingly, they always find somebody who writes that eighty percent of the rooms check on dh rehearsing you like tio, you’d like to rehearse. These rehearsing is very important, you know, the penultimate example of steve jobs that before he passed away at at apple, his his launches of new products were legendary, right? That he practiced those for weeks six, seven weeks every single day of running the whole team through rehearsals and himself. And anything worth go doing is worth practising foreign preparing well for so don’t think you could just, like, call the client up the night before and say, would you speak tomorrow at our you know, party with a purpose? That’s not the way to do it? And what about the important follow-up to your parlor gatherings? Well, part of the second speaker or the third speakers role is to ask for funds and and, ah, pledge form has handed out, and some people fill it out right there and it’s collected as people leave and for those that don’t hand the pledge, forman follow-up is necessary first of all, follow-up is necessary for everybody to say thank you, wei have a rule of sending out our thank you notes and forty eight hours business hours which a lot of non-profits find, you know really? Ah, hi rule to meet but we think it’s important that people get both paper and email thank you’s and they get a cumulative understanding of what happened at the party because a lot of donors are going to leave and they’re not going to know the cumulative results that they participated in the twenty six or twenty seven thousand or five thousand or twenty five hundred was raised when i share that impact, you want to share that impact, and you want to let people feel the good vibes of that they participated in, that they made it happen. And so the thank you notes need to go out the the results need to be go out by both female and paper. And then, of course, the e-giving history needs to be recorded in your database and there’s no excuse for a non-profit whether they’re volunteer with no budget, not having a database, as i say in the book, you can go to e base dot or get a free database that was developed by the rockefeller family foundation at my website for the book the non-profit fund-raising solution dot com there’s links to free databases, or you could just use a good excel spreadsheet and stay organized or an access that a base that’s comes with your you know, your computer there’s no, excuse thes days for you don’t have toe spend, you know, ten thousand a month with razors, edge or something. Thank you for sharing those resources to. Leadership councils we alluded to these earlier what’s the role of a leadership council. Well, a non-profit has a board that that worries about its governance. Generally we say that the executive staff is supposed to be worried about one, two, three years of management, and the board should be thinking about five to ten years. The pentagon, of course, has a seventy five year strategic plan, so they know where they’re going to be. I would like our sector to know a lot more about where it’s going to be, but no pat, no matter how powerful your board is, you still need mork community endorsement for your organization and the leadership council gives you that it’s a non governance structure. Some people call it honorary councils or advisory councils. I like the term leadership council because it’s, what we’re looking for, we’re looking for them to be leaders and sometimes those leaders khun step up and say things that your board can’t say, or your executive staff can’t say about your cause. And as we saw this pit last year or two years ago with planned parenthood, there were many people on its leadership council who spoke up. In their defense, where they’re bored, needed to keep, ah, quieter, acquired or voice. So leadership councils are very important. And sometimes you put people on leadership councils who don’t want to do the heavy lifting of governance. And sometimes you put them on because you have good feelings about how they love your organization, and you want to maintain that relationship, but they’re not appropriate for the board. So it’s a it’s, a mix of characters. We’ll take a break for a couple minutes. Keep talking about leadership councils. Dafs you’re listening to the talking alternative network. Are you stuck in your business or career trying to take your business to the next level, and it keeps hitting a wall? This is sam liebowitz, the conscious consultant. I will help you get to the root cause of your abundance issues and help move you forward in your life. Call me now and let’s. Create the future you dream of. Two, one, two, seven, two, one, eight, one, eight, three, that’s to one to seven to one, eight one eight three. The conscious consultant helping conscious people. Be better business people. Have you ever considered consulting a road map when you feel you need help getting to your destination when the normal path seems blocked? A little help can come in handy when choosing an alternate route. Your natal chart is a map of your potentials. It addresses relationships, finance, business, health and, above all, creativity. Current planetary cycles can either support or challenge your objectives. I’m montgomery taylor. If you would like to explore the help of a private astrological reading, please contact me at monte at monty taylor dot. Com let’s monte m o nt y at monty taylor dot com. Talking alternative radio twenty four hours a day. What is our leadership council going to do? Lead endorse for legitimacy, credibility? They’re there to say we like these guys what they’re doing, we endorse and it there’s power by that association with their name, and they don’t even have to do anything just to have that happen. We do want people to do things on the leadership council. They’re generally a couple things. We want them to come to an annual gathering of the leadership council so that they could get their own personal update about the organization. Secondly, we want them to to meet with us individually, us being the development ofthis war, the executive office. We want to meet with them individually to talk about their own gift to the organization, plus their network of possibly doing guess what? Ah, party with a purpose for their network. So there’s a lot of in few inches integration of the tactics in part two of the book, while part one is all about the way you think about fund-raising part two is all about the the intermarriage of various tactics. For example, in a leadership council, i think i mentioned this in the plan giving chapter you could have a leadership council just for the people who are part of it playing give me that. There is a chapter devoted to plan giving. There is the only reason lawrence’s here. We’re not talking about that chapter it’s. The only thing that drew me to the book. I read it from backward. I read, i read that chapter first. The plan giving is, ah, well, many times non-profits overlook having a plan giving society for their donors that that give through their bequests or their wills or insurance policies or whatever the mechanism and having a leadership council of your plan giving group is very important. Um ah, there was a small client i worked with here in east haven, connecticut, the shoreline trolley museum. They’re in the in the midst of closing on a two million dollar campaign so that they could have proper buildings for their antique trolleys. They have one hundred antique trolleys, which tell the story of the trolleys from the eighteen hundreds. Amazing place. My kids love it and the ah, they never had paid attention to their legacy there. They’re playing e-giving ah, donors and we started to talk to them or and organized that group. And they have a leadership council now off their plan giving donor and twenty, twenty one people joined the first year. And i think four five have joined the second year, and they were unsung people who had thought about e-giving for the future where i think you would know better than i, but something like a low seven percent of people think about a plan gift. Whereas in there course of their life, like eighty five or ninety percent of people think about giving but upon their death, they generally just leave their money to their to their family. Yeah, there’s. Some small percentage of people that have, ah, charitable bequest in there will yes, when the leadership council is advocating and endorsing, who were they advocating in endorsing, too? Ah, to the press to other thought leaders conferences during the height of the aids epidemic, the leadership council that i put together at harlem united many of those leaders would would mention in their addresses about aids and howto compassionately. Respond. They would mention that they were on the honorary council of harlem united. It meant it meant legitimacy for them and for us that they would mention that it worked both ways you had ah, leadership council you site in the book that had fifty five members. Oh, yes, what that sounds huge. Yes. And i had the same response to the ceo, and he turned around and said, but look at my mission. I’m i have to represent, you know, thiss whole county and there were, i don’t know twenty four five smaller towns in this as county. And he represented three sectors, not just the nonprofit sector, but government and business and real estate was a big factor of that. So he needed a large counsel, and he saw the wisdom of that. And he i actually had a staff member hired to manage that leadership council, and it brought him it was a wise move. Um, it brought him a lot of impact because he he didn’t neglect his leadership council. A lot of times leadership, council’s air started. I see i go in and, um, auditing and organization. And i look at their letterhead and i see. I say, oh, you have an advisory council says here? Well, yeah, but not really learns i said, what do you mean? Well, we really don’t you know, that was a couple years ago, and it was so and so’s idea and and it’s just fallen by the wayside. You see there’s an example where the culture of the organization didn’t embrace the tactic tactics don’t raise money. Yeah, excellent on their own, they need a culture to nest in and if they’re if they’re if the tactic is in an organization where the where it’s loved and cared for it, then produces results, so then they get the crazy idea that oh, well, the leadership council never really did raise much money for us, totally disassociating themselves from ah lack of developing it and creating a plan for it. At harlem united, our leadership council was reviewed every year, and the plan was updated and revised and evaluated, and that was brought to the boardmember that the board? I’m sorry at a board meeting we we always had cochairs for the leadership council, male and female, pretty consistent about that for capital campaigns, male and female leaders of the campaign cabinet and those two leaders i would invite to come in and give a state of of the union of the our leadership council to the board, and it was and the board members would go to the annual gathering of the leadership council. The board members were asked to do that, and so there was nice synergy and harmony there no competition, we have just about a minute and a half before to wrap up, and so i want to spend that time asking what it is that you love about the work that you do well fund-raising is a noble profession and it’s a bridge builder between the idea that you have that will make the world a better place and the money you need to actualize the program. And so the methods of fund-raising are build that bridge, and and you love building bridges, and absolutely one of my old teachers used to say, if you build bridges, don’t don’t be surprised when people walk on them or walk over you, but nonetheless fund-raising is that bridge between the non-profits idea and the reality of making it happen? There are lots of very good. Ideas in the book it is the non-profit fund-raising solution. Powerful revenue strategy is to take you to the next level. Lawrence paige nani lawrence’s l a u r e n c e panjwani perfect. Thank you so much for being guests. Been a pleasure. I’ve been delighted to be here. And i wanna shout out just quickly to all by blogged readers. About forty, five hundred of them raise your block non-profit fund-raising solution dot com and you can sign up there to be on the block. Outstanding. Thank you again. Thank you. Next week, author denny elliot discusses her book the ethics of asking lots of fund-raising situations raise ethical questions and we are going to talk about them. Rally bound is a sponsor. They make simple, reliable peer-to-peer fund-raising software friends asking friends to give to your cause. There is support for you and for all the people who are asking their friends to give to your campaign. You can claim a discount as a non-profit radio listener go to rally bound dot com or just call them up and ask for joe mcgee. This is this is the type of organization there are they want to. Talk to you personally, ask for joe. I’ve talked to joe, i’ve met the ceo, shmuley, very good guys, call them up, talk to joe mcgee. He will help you get your campaign started. They are at triple eight seven six, seven, ninety seventy six. Our creative producer is claire meyerhoff. Sam lever, which is our line producer, shows social media is by deborah askanase of community organizer two point. Oh, the remote producer of tony martignetti non-profit radio is john federico of the new rules, and our music is by scott stein. I do hope you’re going to be with me next friday, one o’clock eastern. I’m talking alternative road casting at talking alternative dot com. E-giving didn’t think dick tooting the good ending, depending. You’re listening to the talking, alternate network, waiting to get in. Are you a female entrepreneur? Ready to break through? Join us at sixty body sassy sol, where women are empowered to ask one received what they truly want in love, life and business. Tune in thursday, said noon eastern time to learn tips and juicy secrets from inspiring women and men who, there to define their success, get inspired, stay motivated and defying your version of giant success with sexy body sake. Soul. Every thursday ad, men in new york times on talking alternative dot coms. Are you suffering from aches and pains? Has traditional medicine let you down? Are you tired of taking toxic medications, then come to the double diamond wellness center and learn how our natural methods can help you to hell? Call us now at to one to seven to one eight, one eight three that’s to one to seven to one eight one eight three or find us on the web at www dot double diamond wellness dot com. We look forward to serving you. You’re listening to talking alternative network at www dot talking alternative dot com, now broadcasting twenty four hours a day. This is tony martignetti aptly named host of tony martignetti non-profit radio. Big non-profit ideas for the other ninety five percent technology fund-raising compliance, social media, small and medium non-profits have needs in all these areas. My guests are expert in all these areas and mohr. Tony martignetti non-profit radio fridays one to two eastern on talking alternative broadcasting are you concerned about the future of your business for career? Would you like it all to just be better? Well, the way to do that is to better communication. And the best way to do that is training from the team at improving communications. This is larry sharp, host of the ivory tower radio program and director at improving communications. Does your office need better leadership? Customer service sales or maybe better writing are speaking skills? Could they be better at dealing with confrontation conflicts, touchy subjects all are covered here at improving communications. If you’re in the new york city area, stop by one of our public classes or get your human resource is in touch with us. The website is improving communications, dot com that’s improving communications, dot com improve your professional environment. Be more effective, be happier. And make more money. Improving communications. That’s the told you.

Thank You’s For Year-End Giving

Vine Diabetes UK video

Last week for The Chronicle of Philanthropy I co-hosted a Google+ Hangout on Air on creative thank you’s–and the legal requirements that accompany them–for your year-end giving campaign.

With me were:
Claire Axelrad, fundraising consultant at Clairification.com
Gene Takagi, Esq., principal of the Nonprofit & Exempt Organizations law group (NEO) and contributor to Tony Martignetti Nonprofit Radio
Cody Switzer, my co-host and web editor at The Chronicle

It was Halloween fun, valuable info and over 200 hung out with us!

I’ve got takeaways:
— if you’re a small, local nonprofit, use it to your advantage: visit your donors with small thank you gifts
— Claire bakes, so she brings cookies or brownies to donors’ homes to say thanks—that’s incredible!
— handwritten notes are very rare, so they’re special; use them for an informal thanks within 48 hours of the gift
— there are lots of inexpensive ways to give a sincere thanks—watch the vid, below
— if you use video and kids are included, get a simple release from parents (Gene had more on video, so watch below)
— all formal acknowledgements have to include name of nonprofit, date of gift and amount
— for gifts of $250 or more, add a description if it’s not cash and a statement whether your donor received something in exchange

Here’s the video. (It ends abruptly because the host computer rebooted and kicked us all off. Well, not all. Claire, Gene and I kept the show going, hoping that the recording hadn’t ended, but it had.)

Thank you Claire, Gene and Cody! And Margie Fleming Glennon at The Chronicle for organizing us!

p.s. Here’s Gene’s blog on our Hangout.