Big Nonprofit Ideas for the Other 95%
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Tony’s Guests:
My interview with Mrs. Naomi Levine, Executive Director of the George H. Heyman, Jr. Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising at New York University and a special advisor to the president of NYU.
In this interview, Mrs. Levine shares her views on the role and responsibilities of nonprofits and their boards, government oversight of nonprofits and fundraising as a profession.
Recorded last month at my show’s reception at the Helmsley Park Lane Hotel, she is outspoken and entertaining.
Claire Meyerhoff is Editorial Director at The Planned Giving Company.
Claire is a marketing and media specialist. On this show, she turns her expertise to savvy event programming that keeps your audiences excited.
Top Trends. Sound Advice. Lively Conversation.
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Here is a link to the podcast: 044: A Conversation with Naomi Levine & Excellent Events That Keep Audiences Awake.
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Durney welcome to the show. I’m your aptly named host tony martignetti, and this is tony martignetti non-profit radio on friday, june third. We’re always about big non-profit ideas for the other ninety five percent. Last week we had passed the cup to corporations and fund accounting software. It was john hicks first guest he’s, the president and ceo of j c geever, and he shared techniques to develop your corporate sponsorship strategy and build relationships so you can ask for corporate support with credibility and confidence. And the second guest last week was scott koegler, our regular tech contributor, the editor of non-profit technology news, and he was here reviewing fund accounting software, which is a back office necessity. Those in the know recognize that proper accounting is critical to keeping your board and the irs and others who are looking over your shoulders, satisfied. He reviewed packages like fundez easy and accufund and quickbooks this week i have a conversation with naomi levin she’s, the executive director of the george h heimans junior center for philanthropy and fund-raising at new york university, and she’s, a special advisor to the president of n you, mrs levin shares her views on the roles and responsibilities of non-profits and their boards. Government oversight of non-profits and fund-raising as a profession, this was recorded last month at my show reception at the helmsley park lane hotel. You’ll find that mrs levine is out spoken and entertaining. Our second guest will be excellent events that keep audiences awake with claire meyerhoff she’s, a marketing and media specialist. You’re going to turn her expertise to savvy event programming that keeps your audience, is excited and awake between the guests. It’ll be tony’s. Take two, we’re giving away two ipads, and i’ll explain the contest. Details on tony’s. Take two. All of that is this week, after starting after this break, so stay with me, grantmaking think dick tooting getting ding, ding, ding ding. You’re listening to the talking alternate network e-giving no. Things. Cubine dahna. 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. Oppcoll are you feeling overwhelmed in the current chaos of our changing times? A deeper understanding of authentic astrology can uncover solutions in every area of life. After all, metaphysics is just quantum physics politically expressed. I am montgomery taylor, and i offer lectures, seminars and private consultations. For more information, contact me at monte m o nt y at r l, j media. Dot com. Looking to me, mr and mrs wright, but still haven’t found the one. Want to make your current relationship as fulfilling as possible? Then please join us, starting monday, may second, at ten am for love in the morning with morning alison as a professional matchmaker, i’ve seen it all. Please tune in and call as we discuss dating relationship and more. Start your week off with love in the morning with marnie alison on talking alternative dot com. Talking alternative radio twenty four hours a day. Welcome back, it’s, time now for my conversation with naomi levine, pre recorded last month at a reception that i hosted at the helmsley park lane hotel here in new york city. We’re goingto play this through without a commercial break, and so here is that interview. Naomi levine is the executive director of the george h heimans junior center for philanthropy and fund-raising at new york university. For twenty two years, she was in use, senior vice president for external affairs, and helped raise over two and a half billion dollars for the university. She is a graduate of columbia law school. She was previously the national executive director of the american jewish congress. Now she is special advisor to the president of n u, and she chairs the board of the edgar bronfman center for jewish student life and the tab center for israel studies. Please join me in welcoming mrs naomi levine. Mrs levine, what do you see as the the non-profit role for our society? Let me put this in a kind of perspective that i always use. I don’t think that most people in our society recognized the importance of the non-profit world in our civil society, if you close your eyes for one minute and look at the skyline of new york city, do you hear me? Yeah, you will see that if you took away lincoln center, the hospitals, and why you, fordham, columbia and all of the other universities, medical centers, cultural centers, theatres, dance a group, you will see that this would be a very different society, and most people really don’t think about that when they think of the way we all run. They think a government, they think of the corporate sector, and they don’t think of the non-profits but why is that? That that means non-profits are not fulfilling their work in spreading their the message of their good works? I mean, do you think the blame falls on the non-profits for people not being aware, i think i would suspect so let me lead into that as we progress in our conversation. Because the truth is i’m not really sure i know that most people don’t realize it and what they don’t realise. Moore is not one of those organizations could exist without fund-raising they require financial support, and yet do you know a shingle mother who will say to their child, you know, dear, when you grow up, i want you to be a fundraiser. Nobody says that my own mother, my own mother in the last years of her life, when she was living at a place called cat a house in the bronx, i would come to visit her and she’d say to me now remember, when we go down for lunk, if someone asks you what you do for a living, tell them you’re a lawyer, not a fundraiser. She was embarrassed at her law review daughter was raising money. People think of it as selling cookies for the girl scouts, and you ask me why it is that i must tell you i’m not sure, but one thing i am sure if you let me adjustment, just put that on the table is that unless fund-raising is viewed as a profession a legitimate profession, that is talk. Within a university, not within all kinds of organizations that provide courses, but within the university, it never will be given the kind of status that it deserves. Dentistry at one point was nothing. You went to an apprentice, yet you learnt how to pull a tooth. That was the end. Lawyers like john adams. If you read his book, you know, he was an apprentice in a law office. But once causes were given within universities and got to stamp a university academical provable, they became professions. And the reason i created the heimans center is that i really want to see people take courses, learn and make this area a profession that even my mother would be proud off. So that’s hard to do. Let me tell you and you make a very good point that i don’t know any fundraisers who? It’s. For whom? It’s. The first career? No, no, no. In my office, we had a big staff and we had people who were from every discipline around. They were from journalism, from archaeology, from everything in the world. Nobody studied. And yet if you think about it, i know that i learned on our no. Doremus amount during those twenty five years and every time i prepare for a class, i learned more, i confess to you, i never spent time with my staff talking about ethics. What did we talk about? We talked about what? Your goal, how much money where’s the money, etcetera. Yet when i started to prepare the course on ethics and red doug white’s book on charities on trial and a few other things, i said, you know, that’s, a very important area, and i should learn about it, because if you don’t know the law and you don’t know the ethical component and you don’t know board governance and fiduciary relationship, you’re going to get trouble that’s perfect. And doug white was a guest on my show, talking about his book about ethics, but so now we’re talking about the fundraiser and fund raisers, and you’ve just made a great transition. How about the role of the trustees? What? What are they? Trustees? They’re not really fully aware of their roles, don’t you think with respect to the organization, trustees are also fund-raising if you sit on a board because it’s a nice, prestigious thing to do and it looks good in your obituary in the times, it is a wrong reason to be on a board boards have responsibility. They have the responsibility to keep their organization financially shaky. Sure, that means board members have to be fundraisers also, you know, larry tisch usedto have he was the chairman of gnu during the time that i was vice president, and he had a very simple and crash way. I assume of running his board. He used to say to me, look, we’re not harvey, we’re not princeton. When i put someone on the board, they not only have to be dedicated, decent people committed toe hyre read, but they have tai run my board by the three g’s that people have to give money, they’re not a big amount, but gives something to show their commitment so they have to help get money. And if they can’t do that, they should get off the board because boards have responsibilities. And when you talk about a boardmember they have to be, they have to understand their responsibilities fiduciary, legal, come to meetings to read an order to report readable what your report? There are a whole list of things. If this was a class that i could list for you, that boards have to do so. The relationship between the fundraiser and a boardmember is really a very close one. What was number three? You said he had three, three, three requirements. Get money where you get off the moca or get off the board. That was number three, not in a harsh way. I’m not suggesting you tell your board that i’m telling you, you have to try to persuade them to give and then had people onto your board that will set an example. I never suggested minto fund-raising they come in and get rid of that board members, you’ll be in trouble. On the other hand, you have tohave board training of the sharp pains. Actually, the corporation board i have been instructed to do that is to close are instructed to give bored training, training aboard and what their responsibilities are. Doug and i and ruth ellen reuben is here. We go around to different boards were invited to talk to them about their obligations under the law. Federal law. State law. I venture to say if i went around this room today and most of your fundraisers, air sit on board. You would not know a ll the laws that are involved in fund-raising state and federal. I learned that on lee when i started to teach i did know i know that when i was raising money don’t you think the trend also is that this is only gonna get worse at the booth state and federal level? That oversight from those levels of government is going to just increase among among non-profits i don’t like the fact that you used the word worse in my book, i would say that’s better, more, more. I know you advocate for even greater oversight. I know you do far more oversight and far more regulation. It is an area that everybody thinks so. We don’t have to regulate the nun. Profits are all very good people. The red crossed of good things university how dare we suggest that they be regulated more. Let me tell you that there is a cz much mismanagement, excessive salaries, all kinds of conflict of interest area occur in the nonprofit world that a car in a profit within the nonprofit sector fights your advocacy of deeper oversight. The non-profit schecter no it’s, not eager tohave. More regulation. I will confess to you on my staff in french. No, this for seven years i have gone up to albany fighting for one lousy bill. One bill that would say that if you’re hired as a professional fundraiser, you should take one course in the course of your entire career in law, ethics and board governance. I think you should do that. And every year it gets through the senate and assembly up in albany and then the non-profits come up and they argue against it in their mind. It’s a slippery slope. You’re going to start regulating your going to stock with more rules. We don’t want that. And the governance who don’t want to start up with such good organizations as the heart association of the red cross they vito and it drives me insane. Ken berger is going to be a guest on my show in in july. I think. It’s a july first show, the executive director of charity navigator. What you see is the role of charity navigator and similar rankings ratings of charities. Well, i think that anything that helps a donor get on understanding. Of an organisation is a good thing. I’m not in a position to discuss the details of those organization, but i know if their organizations around that help it donor-centric steam or been dealing more accountability, all those words and now on the table, when i started in fund-raising i’m a very old person of eighty eight years, so i have lived through different parts and different segments off fund-raising the fund-raising world, and in the beginning, you never heard such words. I never heard such words, but now you hear it more and more. So what canonizations like that play a role onda, of course, it’s controversial because the role that they play helps define what people decide to look at. And of course, donors now are more into is it in looking at outcomes, and that becomes very difficult. Teo measure donors are also interested in percentage of budget that goes to program versus administration, but for some charities, it could be very legitimate toe have a very high percentage going to administration because they’re doing things in, but if they’re going abroad and doing things on the ground in, you know, in other continents, i have always been very conservative, i believe that when a person gives money not more than thirty five percent maximum should go for overhead and the russian gulf of the program. Now there may be exceptions, and you may be right, but by and large, i think that people should feel comfortable in knowing that the book of their money goes to the project that they want to support. Now there are exceptions, and i think that when you sit down with the donor like we used to have to sit down with someone who gave us two million dollars for a chair, we had to explain that some of that would go for the over head of that school, you’ll have to be able to explain it, but we never never spent mohr than thirty five cents of thirty five percent that was maximum mr tisch required even less on you’ll have to be very open and honest about that thie audience for the show is small and midsize non-profits the tagline is big non-profit ideas for the other ninety five percent, what would you like to leave small and midsize charities? With what message? So small shops the lessons are not different, because how you raise money for a big organization and how you raise a trish more fundamentally are not different when we teach courses in our heimans center way, my approach is that the principles of generic and they involve developing relationships if you know your fund-raising you know that last year, out of the three hundred three billion dollars it was raised about eighty three percent when you include request come from individuals and individuals will give to small groups, and i’ll give to big groups, so the rules on how you raise that money, the art of the ass is the same in a little group, you use the same technique to get twenty five dollars, as you will use to get a million dollars, it is developing a relationship, knowing howto ask knowing how to divide your mission statement, knowing the process and the rules and fund-raising knowing what you’re bored should do and that should be and knowing the ethical issues, whether you’re dealing with a little group or a big road, which harder with a little good bye don’t knock it you also, perhaps will you social medium or with a little girl? I’m not sure i’m no expert on social media we brought on to our staff of the heimans center last year marchenese vanik she’s, an expert, and she has tried to persuade me that things like facebook and twitter and all that stuff have some value. I am totally illiterate there, but i respect the fact that the coming generations will use it more, particularly the small organizations, and i tell the small organizations, don’t ignore your financial status. Be sure if you can’t afford an audit, at least have very strict rules on how your money is handled. Doug white’s book has a whole list of cases in which organizations big and small got into terrible trouble because they weren’t careful and how they handle their finances. And that is true in little groups as well as bigger pond. That doug white book is charity on trial, but that but that goes back to the trustees, relationship and trustees obligations even for us, even for a small shop, there’s a board and maybe a board of only three or four people, but they have the obligation to be aware of the things that you’re talking about under the law. Whether you’re a big organization or a little, the charity’s bureau, which is the hand of the attorney general in the state of new york, will look atyou and look atyou carefully and don’t make mistake. I’m not here selling doug’s book i couldn’t give any i’m not interested in that. The only reason i pointed out is that it has in it the cases that are very imp fortune for you to understand, and you have to know all the people that got in trouble. Let me give you one example. The american red cross during the nine eleven tragedy, they got in a lot of money and they used a whole bunch of it for the purpose that nine eleven required. They had a little bit of money left over the director of the red cross, one of the most terrific people in the field use that money for the blood drive. She didn’t put it in her pocket, she was fired. Why was she fired? Because the law says if i take money from you for a and i use it for b you’re wrong. I have to use that money for a unless i write to you and i say to you, do you mind if i use it, etcetera? So they’re a little things like that that if you were a fundraiser in this room or a boardmember you have to be very sensitive to whether you’re a little group or a big group, we have just a minute or two left. What is it that concerns you most about the charitable sector over the next couple of years? One to two years? Where? What do you think about most what keeps you up at night? Xero well, i think that competition is very it’s going even increase and the government are cutting back drastically and so on the shoulders of the non-profits we have to provide for the help that the poor need, the abused women are the st joseph’s, full kitchens and all the social services that keep our society going. There’s a book that somebody called claire got eonni road that has wonderful chapters on how capitalism could not exist in this country, unregulated capitalism without the help of the non-profits we provide the helpful the people that fall between the cracks in our society and i worry that with the government cutting back and the competition the way it is it’s going to be hard and hard and harder also. Europe, which never was here before, is now facing the situation where their governments are cutting back. They never had a non-profit sector, they relied entirely on government support. Every university in europe is supported by the government. Oxford cambridge is so bone, everyone now ox it hasn’t office in new york, cambridge has an office in new york and everyone overseas we have more people in our class is now trying tto learn fund-raising from europe, asia, china every place that’s going to give you a great deal of competition and so i don’t spend nights worrying about it. I am certainly concerned about it and i would hope find may end that i’m too old to see the end of it. But i would like to see fund-raising fundraisers, given the recognition that they deserve, and each of you in this room have that obligation. I could be proud of what you’re doing to make certain that when you work in any agency, people know that without you, that agency is going to close that this is a dignified profession, and you have to carry that flag. Naomi levine is the executive director of the george heimans center junior junior center for philanthropy and fund-raising at new york university. Thank you very much, mrs living. Do we have time for where i think you have time for maybe just one or two is your question? Go ahead. Carol weaver, please just shout it out. I’ll repeat it. Go ahead, have a great fan of what you think about. It fundrasing coming together to create a voting bloc we are. Your economy. As i’m told, hyre grayce counting together issues. We could be a voice in albany for your force, which, of course, i’m very. And for other things, like maybe creating a bank. Non-profits jim, i think it’s the syrian say once you make a finger together, you make of this. If we have concerns go ross the industry, could we not consider and i can’t think of a better well, but there are s o the question is generally about how the non-profit sector could organize to be a more cohesive voting bloc now, but their organization, like independent sector, you know, so there’s that what else would you like to sell? Well, i can say is most of those organizations are run by their executives, as most organizations are in the average member plays a very minimal role in your right. If the average member played a bigger role and then insistent, i’m sure nothing. Then you would have more effective involvement in albany and other places, but you have the organizations around there’s, a million of them it’s just sort of my book there, not doing anything, uh, along the lines. And i think that should be done. Yeah. Does independent sector is that one of the groups that opposes broader on government oversight? So nobody should fortuny chelation hearts of then that would be a yes, doug white does, even though you panned his book, doug white support, sir, we’re gonna have dug it up for rebuttal after this. Is there another? Is there one more question way have time before mrs levin leaves. All right, please join me in thanking her again. Naomi living. That’s my interview with naomi levine, recorded last month at the reception that i hosted for the show at the helmsley park lane hotel. We take a break now and after the break. It’s, tony’s, take two, and then we’ll return. After that, with claire meyerhoff talking about excellent events to keep your audience is awake. Stay with me. Talking alternative radio twenty four hours a day. Do you love movies, then join me and share your pains about them on the radio. This is mike, a movie fan like you, starting may tenth. Join me every tuesday night at six pm for my new show movie time on talking alternative dot com. Call me live or email me at movie time radio. At gmail dot com. We’ll talk about all the blockbusters whose the best director and which movies air overrated, among many other topics. Join me for movie time. Tuesdays at six on talking alternative dot com. Duitz looking to meet mr and mrs wright, but still haven’t found the one. Want to make your car relationship as fulfilling as possible? Then please join us, starting monday, may second at ten am for love in the morning with morning alison as a professional matchmaker, i’ve seen it all. Please tune in and call as we discuss dating relationship and more. Start your week off with love in the morning with marnie alison on talking alternative dot com. 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 friday’s one to two eastern on talking alternative broadcasting do you want to enhance your company’s web presence with an eye catching and unique website design? Would you like to incorporate professional video marketing mobile marketing into your organization’s marketing campaign? Mission one on one media offers a unique marketing experience that will set you apart from your competitors, magnify your brand exposure and enhance your current marketing effort. Their services include video production and editing, web design, graphic design photography, social media management and now introducing mobile market. Their motto is, we do whatever it takes to make our clients happy. Contact them today. Admission one one media dot com. Talking. No. Welcome back, it’s, time for today’s edition of tony’s take two, i’m giving away two ipads to fans of the show and you can get details about this contest on my blog’s at m p g a d v dot com the first of the two is going to the first three hundred and thirteen people who liked the show that was those were the people who liked it before a certain date. It was may twenty third when we announced the beginning of the contest, so those three hundred thirteen people are automatically entered in the first drawing and that’s my way of saying thanks for being one of our early fans. If you want one of the first three hundred thirteen, then you can still win because we’re giving away the second ipad and the details of how tow enter the contest if you’re not already in from the first three thirteen, asai said, is on my blogged m p g a d v dot com. The contest drawing is going to be next thursday. Sorry. Next friday, june tenth, that’s at the association for fund-raising professionals new york city chapter there event is fund-raising day and as i’ve said previously on the show, we are a media sponsor for fund-raising day we’re going to be on the exhibit floor, i’ll be doing interviews for future broadcasts on this show of the interviewing, the seminar speakers or as many of them as we can schedule. There are something like seventy five or eighty seminar speakers can’t do them all in an eight hour day, but we’re gonna get a bunch of them and at the end of that day i’ll be drawing the two winners for the ipads. So join the contest, learning about it on the blogged and we’ll be making those. I’ll be doing those drawings on friday, june tenth at fund-raising day next friday, that is tony’s take two for friday, june third. Now i have a pre recorded discussion with claire meyerhoff about smart event planning howto program events to keep your audience is engaged and awake here’s that interview? I’m now joined by claire meyerhoff. Claire is a marketing specialist for non-profits we’re going to be talking about your five minute program, super streamlined events that keep your audiences informed, engaged and awake. Clare is a marketing specialist who works with fundraisers and nonprofit organizations she’s, a former broadcast journalist with lots of acronym big acronyms, cbs radio, x m and cnn and during those stints she covered lots of events either covered or attended hundreds of non-profit events, she combines that experience with her production skills to help non-profits design and execute programs that are entertaining, informative and concise. And we’re going to talking a lot about concise because the topic is your five minute program. I’m very glad that claire’s work brings her to the show today. Claire, welcome. Thanks, tony, thanks so much for having me, because this is a great forum to share with the non-profit audience about events which are so so important. Yes, i’m pleased to have you back clears a repeat guest and also the creative producer for tony martignetti non-profit radio clear, i think organizations don’t pay enough attention to planning their their events, their program. What advice do you have? Well, i think that in my in my little a world where i where i come up with little acronyms for things, the little names for things i’ve just come up with this is i was waiting to come on and that’s that i think the event and specifically the program portion of the event is the final frontier of fund-raising you could see that you can see why claire is the creative producer of this show, she’s waiting on hold to join the show and she comes up with final frontier fund-raising please go ahead. Elaborate. Sorry, it’s it’s, the final frontier of fund-raising is what’s what’s. The first step of fund-raising is just is just the ask the simple. Ask, you know your son is raising money for jump rope for hard, and he goes to the next door neighbor, and says, would you support me and that’s an easy one, right? Because that’s the neighbour, and not for very much money so that’s that’s a pretty easy ask so that’s, sort of the first frontier of fund-raising and then we go, you know, down the line for very sophisticated asked, and even, you know, planned getting and thank you she she mentions plan giving say so dear to my heart. Yes, the more sophisticated you know that’s sort of a deep frontier of fund-raising it’s a long time before you get that donor to the point where they’re goingto do a bequest a charitable gift, a new innovation so there’s, all these different levels of the ask and fund-raising and when you put on a fundraising event, that is the time of year where you’re celebrating your organization, you’re having fun with it. You’re inviting all these different people to come. They bought a ticket for thirty dollars, seventy five dollars, one hundred fifty dollars, six hundred dollars, depending on where you are and how fancy your event is. So now these people have come and they’re all dressed up spent a lot of time on the food and the orders and the decorations and we have balloons or should we have four kids? And what should the place look like? Should we have strolling singers and acrobats running around our event hall? So it’s it’s very events are very labor intensive. Start my clear greenlee labor intensive and then when i found from working with non profit organisations, is that the program part of the event is almost an afterthought. It’s something that happens maybe the week before or even i’ve seen it the day before where they say okay, well, who’s going to get up and speak and what? Are we going to say and who’s going to say what? And the program is really one of the most is more important than the little shrimp order bs that you serve? Or if you’re going to have caviar or little tiny hot dogs? It’s much more important what you actually say to your donor’s while you’re up, they’re on a stage and you have their undivided, hopefully attention. So that’s, why it’s so very important this is an opportunity for you to speak to donors, whether they’re long time dedicated donors or they are that donor’s guest at the event. So let’s say you have someone they’ve been coming to your event for ten years, and they are very good supporters. They’re in your hair in your special circle, they give you twenty, five hundred dollars a year and they are very important donors to you, and they have brought their friend, their neighbor, who they would like to introduce to your organization. So this is your chance to speak can not only your dedicated donors, but also your your new donors, your potential donors, potential friends of your organization so it’s really, really important? It’s almost more important to me than just about anything else, except perhaps the auction if you’re going to have an auction. Okay, so that’s really important. So so clearly now the program of those people you are on stage, you’re on the air, you know, let’s say your, you know, a newscaster, and you have five minutes or ten minutes to talk to your audience. What do you tell them? You tell them the most important news of the day or things that you think your particular audience is interested in learning about so that they don’t shut you off or turn you off. So think about your guests as viewers that are watching your little show about your organization, and so you’re recommending claire the five the five minute programmes you want, you want the program to be more important than whether the bunting matches the flowers clearly and you have the really the five minute program tell us about what buy-in organization should be doing at this gala in just five minutes. Well, there’s, a lot that you could do in five minutes and you have these people and they’re usually sitting there right there, the round tables in this big room at the d’hotel and they’re sitting there. And what i like to say is that your guess? Our donors and guests and friends, they’re not hostages, they’re not a hostage for the next five minutes ten minutes a half hour to your speakers and your program, they’re your guests and they could just get up and leave, but they’re much, much too polite to do that. So your goal is to keep them engaged and keep them informed and keep them entertained. And i think that that’s the perfect way say it and so what’s, your first step is you want to, you know, welcome that you want to greet them. That’s easy to do, you don’t have to say a whole lot to greet them. You don’t have to go on and on with the greeting. You just simply you know, thank everybody for being there. So that’s, the most important part is to thank everyone several times. Justus, you would thank a donor several different ways of very you know of a good donor. You would thank um, several different ways you’d call them you send them a note? You didn’t fight them to a little event. You thank them in a lot of different ways, whereas whereas we’re as we’re developing the program, who should be the key speaker who should be the first one up to say thank you? Well, the first one option to say thank you should be really quote the host of the event, whoever that person is that was kind of the most important person in bringing all these people together. So let’s just say this particular year you have a local person who’s very well loved. Maybe you have the local weathercaster from the tv station whose daughter has really benefited from your after school program that you’ve been running for years, and she’s decided this year to step up from doing something kind of simple to being the chair of the event. So let’s, just say she has been very, you know, she’s been key in planning this event and that’s why people are there, she should be the person that should get up and thank everybody, not the executive director of the organization, so it should be that key person that people are going toe really appreciate them getting up and saying thank you, so think, really think about and not just go to the default like, oh, we should have, you know, our event chair. Or we should have our executive director get up and speak so it could be, you know, anybody that you think is that person that everybody that’s in the room would be interested in having them thank them. So come up, come up with who that person is, and and that person kind of plays the role of the host and that is a simple little roll of just keeping keeping things moving along because it is a little program it’s a little show, just like when you watch jay leno, he is the host. He keeps the show moving along. Yes, the band plays. Yes, the guests come on and talk. Yes, there’s. Some other there’s a singer performing or something like that that jay leno was the host that he keeps things moving, so appoint someone the host i can think of another host isn’t isn’t there another host you might like to use as an example? Most of ah, a radio show, perhaps, who keeps things moving along and has guests and they come in and is there possibly? Another example besides jay leno. Oh, what a coincidence. Oh, thanks, carrie grayce non-profit radio show on the planet. As far as i know, i didn’t ask you to say that part. Thank tony keep things moving along and he decides what the show is going to be like, and he can keep things moving along and makes people feel welcome. And most importantly, tony martignetti is a radio host. What he wants to do is keep people entertained and engaged and informed and staying on. Dh claire, i have to tell you, just clear to my role we just have about ninety seconds before the break and you had just explained who the the first guests should be. The main host should be thanking everybody in just a ninety seconds til we have before a break what should come after that person in your five minute program? Well, in my five minute program, i could probably do that. I’ll run the whole program down for you in ninety seconds, and i’ll do it head into the brakes. So your first thing is someone greet, greet the crowd. The next thing is they tell them why they’re they’re so tell them something important about what’s going on right now that they might not know about. So you know you’re here because because this year we’re launching this major endeavor where we wantto, you know, we serve fifteen schools now, and by this time next year we hope to be in every school in the county and that that takes a lot to do that. So tell them something very important give them some news about why they’re there and why it’s important then the next thing that you khun dio is is simply give someone a gift and that’s my favorite way tio, to build a program around the gift. So say it’s an after school program and you have a teacher in the program who’s really done fantastically she’s done wonderfully. And her dream is tio, you know, take the kids, ice skating or something and do these different things for the kids. But she needs a certain amount of money to do it that’s outside of the normal budget. So this is a great way to honor this person. Plus explain a little bit more about your mission so you can say, you know, we have our guest. Of honor tonight is, you know, mary katherine stewart, and she is the director of such a program and she’s been here for twenty years and she’s done extraordinary work and we would like to say thank you to her tonight. Then she comes up and you say, and we have a gift for you, mary, catherine and it’s, something that she doesn’t know about. You know, we know that you’ve been dying to take the kids to the brand new skating rink, so here is a gift certificate from the skating rink. They’ve agreed to do this and that and the other thing, and claire, we have to leave it there. We have to leave it there. We’re gonna take a break and we’ll pick it up after giving a gift. This’s, you didn’t run a few more than ninety seconds. My guest is clear meyerhoff taking over the show she’s, a marketing specialist for non-profits. Please stay with us getting anything, ending the ending you’re listening to the talking alternate network e-giving duitz cubine dahna. 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 huntress people be better business people. Buy-in are you feeling overwhelmed in the current chaos of our changing times? A deeper understanding of authentic astrology can uncover solutions in every area of life. After all, metaphysics is just quantum physics, politically expressed hi and montgomery taylor and i offer lectures, seminars and private consultations. For more information, contact me at monte m o nt y at r l j media. Dot com looking to meet mr and mrs wright, but still haven’t found the one. Want to make your current relationship as fulfilling as possible? Then please join us, starting monday, may second at ten am for love in the morning morning, alison. As a professional matchmaker, i’ve seen it all. Please tune in and call as we discuss dating relationship and more. Start your week off with love in the morning with marnie alison on talking alternative dot com. Talking alternative radio twenty four hours a day. Dahna welcome back. We’re in the midst of the five minute program with my guest, claire meyerhoff of marketing specialist for non-profits and claire, we were so far have covered the greeting, why we’re gathered, give a gift what are the other elements? Just briefly of your five minute program and they will dive into a little detail? Well, the other elements of the five minute program are basically what you feel like you absolutely have to include so that’s where, you know, you’ve decided that well, we have our board chair is retiring this year. We need to honor him or we have a new director. We need to have him speak. He has to speak. If he doesn’t speak, you know the world will collapse. And that’s that’s what’s really important with the program is to completely tryto limit the number of people that are getting up in speaking. And then the next challenge is to limit the amount of time that they are speaking. So if you could give people something to do rather than just give them this open ended, we would like you to speak that’s your first step in in controlling on and that’s something. To do was probably give a gift. Let’s, let’s, explore that. There are two things i definitely want to dive into e-giving the gift and sharing your timeline, but let’s talk e-giving the gift. What do you mean by that? Well, in the giving the gift is this is a way for you to do it numerous things with one simple gesture, one simple action, and that is you can have the, you know, the giver of the gift could be an important person. So let’s, just say you have a new executive director and it’s important to introduce him to your crowd, but you don’t really want him to speak for ten minutes and give his resume and his vision for the future because you’re going to bore your audience with that. Yes, so instead you can have your new executive director give that gift to the woman that has done a great job for your after school program for the last twenty years. So this is where you if you have an honoree, in other words, you’re saying this is this would be a great opportunity to honor that honoree by having that the special person give a gift to the honoree is that what you’re talking about? Exactly? It gives everybody like something to do, as opposed to just an open end, and we would like you to speak or we’re going to, you know, give you this award, so please get up and speak for a half an hour, and boris altum also tears. So if you have this honoree that’s, a way to introduce them, so you let’s just say it’s, the new executive director, and and she has come from, you know, let’s, just say you’re in st louis and she’s come from new york city, and she used to run some big organization, and now she’s with you and and you want to let people know that so that you introduce her? You say we’d like to introduce our very new executive director she’s part of all our exciting plans for the future and she’s come from new york and and she’s done this and she’s done that and it’s a better way should do it rather than have the person talk about the selves, because when people talk about themselves, it’s one of two things it’s either they you know, go on. And on and on to tell you how great they are or their humble like hopefully most people are, and they don’t like talking about themselves. A lot of people have said to be really don’t like talking about myself, so let someone else do it. And in this case, it’s your host of your event so they could say we have our new executive director. I’d like you to introduce her to you, she’s come from new york where she ran this, that and the other thing, and we’re so excited to have you we could not possibly dream of ever having a wonderful person like this here in st louis helping our organization. And we’re gonna we’re gonna put her right to work by announcing who our honoree is this year. So then your your first honoree, really? Your new executive director gets up and then they know all they have to do is say, oh, thanks saying that night so happy to be here in st louis. I love it here already and there’s so many great people here, and i’m going to tell you about one of them right now. And that’s mary katherine stewart who? Is our executive, you know, our director of our programs and is doing it for twenty years done such a great job, we have a gift for you, it’s exciting, you know, trip, you can take your kids on whatever it is you give her, and then the executive director gives the gift to your other honored person. Now all your other honored person has to do is say thank you for the gift you have to say anything else and look at the things you’ve done now in a very short period of time for your audience, your donors, you’re dedicated donors and your potential donors, your new friends, they see that you have great people working for you. They see that you’re very generous and that you have your act together, that you went out and got a gift for this person, that you could afford to do that, that you’re not dying in this economy, like so many people are cutting back, you actually went out and got a gift for this person. Perhaps the gift has something to do with another sponsor. So in this case, i’ve come up with this skating rink where thie person the honoree is going to take her kids from her program, and so now that skate rink gets a nice big thank you in front of the whole crowd of people. So you’ve now brought in another spot, sir, and you’ve, you’ve highlighted somebody else. We have a right and a small amount of time. Thank you. And you’ve also explained a little bit more about your mission e-giving should have something to do with way have to move on to the next topic i want you to share your ideas on, and that is you alluded to it the value of the timeline, but we just have about thirty seconds. Claire what’s what’s the value of the timeline and who should we be sharing it with? Well, a value of the timeline is that it keeps everybody on schedule, so someone needs to be appointed a producer of an event, and that should be someone with experience doing something like that. They don’t have to be a professional producer, but just someone that knows how to make the trains run on time and everybody knows somebody like that and you say we have five minutes. How are we going? To fill that up and they come, they just do a little run down timeline. What happened? You know, from the you know, the first minutes of the second minute, second minute of the third, fourth, fifth boom and if you try to make it five minutes on paper in reality it might be about ten minutes long. We have to wait. We have to stop there. I’m sure there’s also value in sharing that timeline with the people who are going to speak so that they see you speak for one minute you’re on for two minutes and all of this adds up to your five minute program super streamlined events. My guest has been clear meyerhoff marketing specialist for non-profits you can contact claire through my for the facebook page on the website because she’s, the creative producer, and that’s the way to reach her if you’d like more information on her five minute program. That was my pre recorded interview with clear meyerhoff, who has so many good ideas that she was challenging my own timeline for this show that week. I want to thank naomi levine for being a special guest at the shows reception last month and being the guest on today’s show and also clear meyerhoff next week is going to be a show from the archive, but i don’t know which one, so when i make that decision, the best way for you to hear about it is to keep up with what’s coming up and sign up for our insider email alerts. You could do that on the facebook page, just the name of the show on facebook dot com and you can sign up there to get weekly alerts and you’ll be the first to know what next week’s show is going to be. Well, you’ll be second, i’ll be first, then we’ll be third first to me, then i tell sam liebowitz the producer he has to know and then he’ll bu but it’s early, you’re still number three is not bad, its much quicker than waiting until next friday to find out much, much quicker what the show is always on itunes you khun subscribe. Listen, any time on the device of your choice, you’ll find our itunes paige at non-profit radio dot net the creative producer of the show is claire meyerhoff and the show’s line producer as well, as the owner of talking alternative broadcasting is sam liebowitz on our social media is by regina walton of organic social media. Next week, we will be at the a f p fund-raising day conference live doing. I’ll be doing live interviews for later broadcast, so that’s, why next week will be a re broadcast, and then after that, you’ll hear the interviews that i’ll be doing next friday. I hope you’ll be with me next friday, one o’clock eastern here on talking alternative dot com. Durney duitz e-giving thing to do. You’re listening to the talking alternative network waiting to get in. Duitz things. You could 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. Do you love movies, then join me and share your opinions about them on the radio. This is mike, a movie fan like you, starting made tenth. Join me every tuesday night at six pm for my new show movie time on talking alternative dot com. Call me live or email me at movie time radio. At gmail dot com. 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