Transcript for 169_tony_martignetti_nonprofit_radio_20131122.mp3

Processed on: 2018-11-11T23:07:23.165Z
S3 bucket containing transcription results: transcript.results
Link to bucket: s3.console.aws.amazon.com/s3/buckets/transcript.results
Path to JSON: 2013…11…169_tony_martignetti_nonprofit_radio_20131122.mp3.584191605.json
Path to text: transcripts/2013/11/169_tony_martignetti_nonprofit_radio_20131122.txt

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? 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 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. Soul. Every thursday ad, men in new york times on talking alternative dot com. 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. You’re listening to talking alt-right network at www. 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? 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. Talking.