And welcome to Tony Martignetti Nonprofit Radio. Big nonprofit ideas for the other 95%. I’m your aptly named host and the pod father of your favorite hebdominal podcast. Oh, I’m glad you’re with us. I’d get slapped with a diagnosis of heteronymous diplopia. If I saw that you missed this week’s show. Here’s our associate producer, Kate, to introduce it. Hey Tony, here’s what’s going on. Podcast on Athens Area Humane Society. As part of the worldwide podcast on, we make space for Cheryl McCormick, CEO of Athens Area Humane Society in Athens, Georgia, to reveal her secrets to enormously successful planned giving fundraising at a small nonprofit. On Tony’s take 2. Thank you Here is podcast on Athens Area Humane Society. It is a genuine pleasure to welcome on on so many levels, Cheryl McCormick, PhD to nonprofit radio. Cheryl is CEO of Athens Area Humane Society in Athens, Georgia. And a board advisor to Wild Paws Midwest Animal Sanctuary. She’s a co-author of the book Identification and Biology of non-native Plants in Florida’s natural areas. The Humane Society is at AthenshumaneSociety.org and Cheryl is on LinkedIn. Cheryl McCormick, welcome to Nonprofit Radio. Thank you, Tony. Number one fan. You are the number one fan. You took it out of right, took the words right out of my mouth. You are the number one fan. You’ve been listening to this show for years, years. Uh, it’s incredible, and you were in my planned giving accelerated course. Uh, we got to know each other then through in 2021, even better. I’ve been down to Athens. I’ve visited the Humane Society. I loved it. I the surgical center, the beautiful pet accommodations that you have, the outside spaces. Uh, yeah, I’m your number one fan. Uh, all right, so it’s, it’s, it’s reciprocal. Um, so, and I love your, uh, animal. I, I did not know you were a co-author of a book, so you’re all about animals and plants. Yes, I am an ecologist by training, and, uh, that informs everything I do and my perspective in the world. I know your PhD perspective on plant gifts, oddly enough. Interesting. All right, so we’re gonna talk about what, what influences your perspective on plant gifts, but yes, I know you’ve got your PhD in ecology, uh, your bachelor’s degree is in environmental science. So, I don’t know, fair to say, uh, fellow tree hugger? Absolutely. Good, good. I’m glad. I’m very glad. All right. So we’re gonna talk about, uh, Athens Area Humane Society and specifically your, your work in planned giving, uh, for the society, which has been gangbusters. Um, but I want to explain to folks why we’re focusing on a charity, uh, an individual charity. We have never done this. Never. I turned down lots and lots of pitches. You know, please profile our good work, our exemplary work, uh, our CEO’s leadership of our, our transition and, and our charity, and I routinely turn those down to a, to a, to a single one, every one. So why are we focusing on this nonprofit? Because This show, this episode is a part of something international called Podcast Th. Podcaston. And I thought it sounded like fun. It’s, it’s an, uh, it’s an invitation to devote one episode of your podcast open to podcasters throughout the world. Uh, to an individual nonprofit whose work you love, and I thought, well, I know Cheryl very well. I’ve visited the Athens Area Humane Society. I know she’s doing incredible work with Planned Giving, which of course is near to my heart. I’ve been doing planned giving, devoted to it since 1997. I’m publishing a book on planned giving this year in September. So I thought, OK, I’ll, I’ll join the podcast, on. I’ll join this international, I don’t know if it’s a movement, it’s an event. I, I’ve never heard of it before, so I can’t say it’s how many years old, I don’t know, but I thought, all right, this could be fun. So this episode alone, we’re focused on a nonprofit and, uh, the plan giving work there. So, That’s why, that’s why we’re doing this, and that’s why Cheryl is, uh, the perfect guest because I just, I know her so well and, uh, she’s a CEO for Pete’s sake. And I love, I also see, I love seeing women in senior leadership roles. Absolutely. Uh, there’s not enough of it. All right. All right, that’s enough of my talking for, for a while. Tell us about, uh, Athens Area Humane Society, Athens, Georgia. Let, let us know about the institution. What’s it about? Oh, thank you, Tony. Well, um, I am so honored to be the leader of this awesome organization. We’ve been serving this area in the Classic City, home of the University of Georgia for over 126 years. So we are a mainstay, a treasure in this community. Uh, we are a no-kill facility. Uh, we are donor and community-supported, which is very important to me personally and informs everything I do in, uh, philanthropy work. We, uh, unite pets with Forever Homes. We have a beautiful clinic as you alluded to. Uh, we perform nearly 10,000 spay neuter surgeries, uh, a year, and we serve up to 39 of Georgia’s 159 counties through, uh, either our free monthly vaccine clinics and or our, uh, Full Belly Food bowl program. And, uh, last year, we distributed nearly 215,000 pounds of food. So that tells you probably a lot about uh the need and uh the state of pets and pets families in not only Georgia, but it’s mirroring a lot of what our colleagues are doing around the country. And, uh, if you are in Atlanta or the Classic City, I hope you’ll stop by, give me a ring and we’ll, we’ll sit down and talk about planned gifts and give you a tour. You’ll love the tour. Yes, um, look at like plan giving is in your DNA. Like you’re inviting the world to come, come chat, come chat with us about a convert. We’re gonna get there. All right, we’re gonna get there. I say, uh, you’re giving me chills again. Um, uh, we’re gonna get there. Tell us about the, the institution, you know, like budget-wise, employee-wise, things like that. Thanks for asking about that. We, um, about 2/3 of our employees are full-time. We have, uh, 33 employees, so pretty small. Our budget is, uh, approaching 2.75 million. So kind of squarely in the small to mid-size. We fit your audience, your intended audience. Perfectly. We are the other 95%, which is um why I pay assiduous attention to what you’re offering. I love, I love Tony non Tony Martignetti Nonprofit Radio. The advice is solid. It’s pragmatic, it’s actionable. Guests are really great, which is why, uh, I wanted to get involved with the accelerator. Um, I had the benefit of a year off and while I was pursuing my, uh, CFRE, um, I took a course at one of our better known, uh, national, um, institutions. Yeah, I know you told me that everybody would know the name. Yes, yes, um, and it was very, very heavy on, on corporate tax law and very detailed in terms of estate planning. Uh, which was fine. The audience was not my peers. A lot of them were a state attorneys. A lot of them were, uh, PGOs at major institutions, and I, I didn’t feel like I was positioned for success in my own work at a small nonprofit. I was really trying to get at. How to structure the processes, the systems, how to know your donors, where to start in a small nonprofit that usually doesn’t have any of, of these programmatic milestones. And so when you’re starting from scratch, you often don’t know how to start at all. Um, so there was a, a gap in there and, and through you and, you know, my peer group at the time through the accelerator. Man, I, I, I got everything I needed and I hit the ground running and I saw the results. Within a year, I had already secured $1.7 million in gift commitments. I know, incredible. Um, and you’ve, you’ve taken it multi multiples of that. We’ll get to, we’ll get to that, we’ll get there. Um, share, share your, your, your philosophy around plan giving. What, what, how, how do you, how do you think about it? Yeah. How, how do you think about it? How does, how does it fit into the, the overall fundraising at, at Athens Area Humane? Yeah, thank you for asking that. That’s a great question. We are deeply relational in our, um, Philosophy and, and in everything we do, we take donor relations very, very seriously. My, my personal philosophy about planned gifts is, you know, I have seen probably a lot of us have experienced the transformation in our organizations through, uh, a bequest or other vehicle that comes in and maybe we didn’t know anything about this donor. It just shows up on our door, probably like 90% of, of gifts, right? And we lost the opportunity to thank the donor, to get to know them and what they really cared about. Um, and I, I just feel like Tony, you know, that’s your last philanthropic expression of what you cared about in this world, how you wanted to make a difference in the world. Um, and the inability to, to, you know, thank an individual and their family for putting you and your organization on par with family through their last philanthropic expression of generosity is, um, gosh, that I, I live for that, right? You, that is your opportunity to get very close to the donors in your portfolio. And make sure that, uh, their impact in this world, they are remembered for what they cared about most. And I, I take that very seriously. And I, I feel like, Tony, a lot of us get hung up on, you know, the The details of a solicitation. What specific language? How do I ask? That has nothing to do with it. You’re not talking about death. You’re not talking about like, what is this, the magic sentence. It’s about getting close to your donors. When you have that solid foundation, yes, you need a gift gift acceptance policy. Yes, you need to know what they care about through segmentation, but, you know, this is the ultimate expression of a relationship. So, you know, it’s dating before you marry. It’s a be a long, long walk. But when you get to know your donors so well, what makes their heart sing, what they love about your organization, and usually, you know very well, Tony, these are not, you know, A top hat wearing, you know, everybody’s stereotype of, of what a wealthy person is. These are your most loyal, usually lower, right, in the, the base of the pyramid. They’re your most loyal donors. They’ve been with you for 5, 1015, 20 more years. And so, you know, you already have some sort of relationship with them. And then inviting them to be a part of, of a long term legacy, wow, that’s just an honor. It’s an honor to steward. It’s an honor to ask to be a part of their life, and it’s an honor to be remembered. Yeah, that’s my philosophy. Outstanding. All right, there’s a lot packed in there. We’re gonna, we’re gonna pull on a couple of those threads, um. The deep relationships, you know, the, talk about how, how you get to know folks through. Their, their planned giving journey. I mean, you know, uh, uh, you’re, you’re absolutely right, and I, uh, you know, you, I guess you learned the lessons well. You know, these are your most loyal committed donors. We’re, this is, plan giving is not a donor acquisition program. We’re, we’re talking to folks who have been with you, as you said, for 5 to, could be 30, 35 years. These folks may have been giving and, you know, they may have lapsed a couple of times. I’m not, you know, nobody’s saying it’s every single year for 30 years or something. They may have lapsed a few years, but as long as they’re current, as long as they’ve given in the past year or two, I, I, I absolutely agree with you. Um, they, they are that kind of longevity. They are great plan giving prospects. So the depth of relationship that you have with folks through your planned giving conversations, whether they’ve made their commitment or not, they, they may not have said yes yet to share the, like the, the, the, the joy of these relationships. Yeah, gosh, uh, so many to choose from. There, uh, uh, you know, I feel like organizations, uh, my size, smaller, we are in such a sweet spot to, uh, to really get close to donors in a way that maybe large institutions, they’re just not geared for that, right? So, yeah, that’s an advantage. That’s an advantage for the, for the small and mid-size orgs. It’s time for Tony’s take 2. Thank you, Kate. Thanks so much for listening to nonprofit Radio. We are grateful to have you, our 13,000+ listeners, weekly, weekly listeners in, in your small and mid-size nonprofits. It’s the audience that makes us. It’s the audience that we do the show for. If I didn’t think the show was helping small and mid-size nonprofits, I’d, I’d stop doing it. So, it’s, it’s for you. It’s for you that we produce this show. So every once in a while, I like to say thank you. Because you’re what keep us going. And when we get ranked, like, uh, what’s that, million podcasts, you know, top 10 podcasts in fundraising. That’s because you’re with us. So. It’s a, it’s. It’s a win-win. I don’t really like that win win. It’s symbiotic. You’re helping us We’re helping you Yeah. Symbiosis. I like that better. Every podcast ought to be symbiotic. Everyone should be helping their listeners, and the listeners should be continuing to listen. I hope that’s true. I hope that’s true for other podcasts, but we know for a fact. It’s true here, nonprofit radio. We got the symbiosis. Thank you for listening. I’m grateful that you’re with us. I’m glad we can help you. That is Tony’s take 2. Kate. Yeah, thank you for being with us week after week. We’ve got just about a buttload more time. Here’s the rest of Podcast on Athens Area Humane Society with Cheryl McCormick. If, uh, if somebody is giving, uh, a, a gift that is significant to them through a planned gift vehicle, how many times do they get to, you know, uh, at a larger institution, a library, a hospital, a university, they’re not talking to the CEO, they’re not talking to the, you know, the, the head of the pyramid, where the leadership at a smaller institution is accessible. And quite frankly, Tony, uh, we As leaders of small organizations, it’s our job to bring in resources to the organization and to garner that community support and hold it dear and to establish relationships with our supporters. I gotta, I gotta, I gotta stop you for a sec because I, I have a great anecdote about the, the value of that CEO donor connection. I just heard this morning from a client that I work with. The, the donor framed the thank you letter that came from the CEO. They framed it. The a letter, it’s just a letter. It’s not a certificate of, you know, suitable for framing. They framed and hung the letter from the CEO thanking them for their gift. So, you know, leaders don’t think that, you know, oh, my, my signature, my letter, it, it’s not that big a deal. It is. You’re the CEO of the, of the institution that they’re considering or they’ve made the commitment to, as Cheryl said, put right alongside loved ones. Husband, wife, partner, children, grandchildren, you’re up there with them or they’re thinking about it again, maybe they haven’t made the commitment. The CEO time, the CEO attention, it’s, or executive director, whatever the title is meaningless. The senior leader, that, that attention granted is, is, is enormously valuable and meaningful to your donors. Sorry, I can’t underestimate that point enough, especially in planned giving. If somebody is going to think of your organization, uh, in, in this very important ultimate gift of theirs, they want to have confidence. In leadership’s vision, in the stability of the organization, and have a high degree of trust. You are, as the leader, you are the face of the organization and the representative of the organization’s values. If you don’t get close to your donors in this way, you’re missing a a grand opportunity. Yeah, that, thank you for saying that. And I, and I mentioned it, Tony, because one of the, the most transformational, uh, gifts that we actualized here in the last 3 years, um, came from a donor who just walked in, uh, fortuitously. His wife had recently passed, and he wanted to give a gift in her memory and approached a much, much larger organization. And, um, his assessment was it wasn’t enough to make them. Inspired by the gift, even enough of them to acknowledge, and we just went crazy. And so, so, you know, we invited him back. Our whole lead team was there. I asked, you know, what did, what did Elle, his wife, what did she care about most? And that was the conversation, and it was very emotional to to him. It was beautiful for us. We crafted a donor offer that allowed him to remember his wife in exactly the way he wanted. That led to, uh, several major gifts, but it also ultimately in stewarding that gift and actualizing it and reporting back on the impact so quickly and so meaningfully. Uh, he included us in, in his estate as well. And I mentioned that, Tony, because I, I think a lot of small organizations, because it involves, you know, the concept of mortality, which we’re all going to experience. There’s something very different and very scary about planned gifts, but it, I, I just think of them as deferred major gifts. And so, yeah, this is not a death conversation. Uh, no, allay that fear, right? What, what are you talking to people about? Yeah, you know, I, I, I, I think the most important thing that I do, I am so passionate and enthusiastic about this organization. Um, I’m not leaving any opportunity on the table. And so when I’m getting to know somebody, I let them know that, you know, I’ve left the Athens Area Humane Society in my own will, and my life is not complicated. It’s a very simple will. I have it right here. And, and I, you know, it’s here, the documentation is here, and so I can, I can share my excitement about how I want to leave. This organization whose work I genuinely believe in, my dreams and hopes for that, and then I may ask them, how do you want to be remembered? You know, that’s not about death. That’s about life. That’s about dreams. That’s about hopes. And, you know, if you have a relationship with your donor already, that’s a very easy conversation. And even if you don’t, you know, you’ll, if you’re walking with them in their philanthropic journey, you will intuit. I have a genuine belief in this. You’ll intuit when there’s an opening for that conversation. And then, you know, maybe your conversation is something like, hey, you know, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that, you know, many of our supporters like to remember the Athens Area Humane Society in their will. Have you considered leaving us in your estate? Let’s, let’s talk about that when, when the that’s, that’s it right. There, there’s, there’s the solicitation. If, if folks are wondering, how do I solicit planned gifts. Rewind 30 seconds and listen to what Cheryl just said, because there’s a, a perfectly humane non-death question. Planned gift solicitation. You just said it. Yeah. And you know what, even if I, I usually leave that as a parting thought, and then, you know, maybe follow up because there I can tell when they’re, when I’ve rung a bell, their eyes will start scanning. They’ll lean in a little bit. It, it’s a, how many people in your life will ask you. Tony, how do you want to be remembered? Like that’s a very profound conversation, and that’s about trust, right? It’s also about vulnerability. That might be something that they’ve always wanted to share with somebody, but it feels too vulnerable or maybe judgmental to have with their own family. So, you know, they feel seen, they feel heard, and even if they’re not considering us in their will at that time. They may down the line in ways that, you know, I, I’m not aware of. Brilliant. All right, let’s get, let’s get to the numbers. Uh, since, uh, so you finished the plant-giving accelerator course in 2021. We, we were all wrapped up together, the whole class of, it was 17 or 18 folks. Uh, we wrapped up at the end of 2021. Since then, What’s your, what, what’s your known, I mean, a lot of planned gifts, the value is unknown. What, what’s the, what’s the value, you know, don’t be humble because it’s, it’s extraordinary for a, a $2.75 million dollar a year agency. What’s your, what’s your planned gift known total so far? As of today, we’ve secured $10.3 million in in incredible. It’s like it’s like 3.5, 4 times your whatever, 3, 3.5 times your annual budget. Yeah, I mean, this is securing the, the future of our organization. And, and these are just, I, I, I think I had a conversation with you once before years ago about, you know, maybe it was Russell. Russell James, who said for every gift that you’re aware of, there might be 6 that you’re not. And so I know that they’re out there. And so, you know, we have a very robust, um, comprehensive marketing plan around planned gifts just to get people thinking about their Yeah, uh, uh, about their philanthropy, their giving, and that you don’t need to be a wealthy person to do it. Absolutely not. Yes, that’s another point that you made that I wanted to tug on a little bit. Yes, this is for your modest donors, your folks who make small gifts, and, and I use the word small, that doesn’t make them small people. I’m not coming. On their character. I’m just saying that they give small gifts. Some people prefer to say modest gifts. This is not only for your major donors, not only for your wealthy board member donors. You’re, you’re leaving a lot of money on the table if you’re only talking to folks that you believe are wealthy about a planned gift. This is the ultimate gift for any donor, any donor. I say nearly anyone could afford a $1000 gift. In their will. And that’s way below the national average, which is about $35,000. But even a $1000 gift, if that’s what it is, and I’ve seen those, uh, that actually, that’s the smallest gift by will that I’ve ever seen is $1000. Even that, you know, a lot, in a lot of our nonprofits, that’s a, that’s, that’s a significant gift for the year. It gets you into the, the, the giving circle or the president’s Society, whatever. But that’s, uh, you know, that’s an outlier. That’s way below the average and almost any person in the US could, could do a $1000 gift in their will. So, by no means, uh, I’m just, I’m just amplifying what Cheryl is saying. Um, by no means only for your wealthy donors. You’re, you’re making a big mistake if those are the only folks you’re, you’re, you’re, uh, you’re prospecting plan gifts from. All right, talk about your robust plan giving marketing. Plan that you have that is educating folks and encouraging gifts in wills or other types of, uh, planned gifts. What does that robust marketing plan look like? Oh, thank you for asking. So, uh, every January, you know, we, we have a budget that coincides with the calendar year. So we plan our, our fundraising and marketing activities throughout the year. And so we chunk it off into quarters. And so we make sure that every quarter we are reminding our community about the power of uh planned gifts, but that includes everything from Uh, a branded video where I’m talking about planned gifts, um, and it’s super fun, of course, it involves pets, but the pets are just a, you know, a sidekick. It’s, uh, it makes people sometimes more receptive, you know, to the, to the message. Um, everything we do, Tony, you know, that might be normalizing gift conversations. Uh, of course, we have, like many organizations, we have it on our website. Um, we have promotional, uh, materials that we might put in a donor offer. Um, everything we do from our email signatures, if you send me an email, on the bottom, it’s gonna say, you know, thank you for, you know, um, considering, you know. The Athens Area Humane Society in your, in your will of estate plan, our business cards have that tagline. She’s holding up, she’s holding up her business card. What does your business card say? What, what does it say? This is my, uh, cat Franklin, and he is reminding everybody to please remember the Athens Are Humane Society in your will or estate plan. Everyone can that’s on the back of your business card, right? Yeah. The whole side is devoted to Franklin and planned giving. Outstanding. Yeah, very simple. Business cards, email signatures. Yes, and, um, you know, what I, what I really learned how to master in the planned gift accelerator was, uh, lead generation and prospect, uh, communications by looking through your CRM. So with a, with a little searching, I can send a letter inviting that conversation. So, you know, everything from, you know, email marketing, social media, we’re a little, you know, that, that we’re not broadcasting out, you know. To the world, right? Just like everything else, our communications are segmented and they’re targeted, they’re strategic. But just normalizing that conversation, so the more you talk about it, the less hang up you have about it, you know, you’re the, the obstacle about death, the obstacle about mortality, it just doesn’t come up. Yeah, it’s not right. It’s not about death. It’s about the life and longevity. Of Athens Area Humane Society. And you’re also asking folks how they would like to be remembered. Wow. All right, I get chills again. This is the third, all right, once before we, we went on mic, I got chills, then I got chills before it. Now I got them again because I’m, I’m, I’m like, oh, I, I am. I’m overwhelmed by the, by the success. 10, I don’t want to cut it short, $10.3 million. What? 10 $10.3 million in known. Known planned gift commitments. By the way, I think you heard that from me, not from Russell James. For every gift you know about, there’s another 7 to 8 that you’re not, Tony, I’m already robbing you of your like, no, but if there’s anybody I would love to be confused with, it’s Professor Russell James at Texas Tech University. He’s, uh, by the way, Russell James is, is, has written the foreword for my book. Of course he has. That just makes sense to me. The book which you have contributed to. So folks, if you wanna, if you wanna read about Cheryl’s philosophy of planned giving and, and donor, just, I don’t know, donor centrism doesn’t just really capture it. Just being humane, humane to people, authentic. Uh, presenting as her authentic self, like, so she’s a contributor to the book, uh, Planned Giving Accelerated, which Russell James wrote the foreword to. Cheryl is a contributor. Uh, I didn’t rise you to co-author, but if I had known, if I had known you already co-authored a book, I could, I could, I could have brought you in. It’s co-author. All right, so it doesn’t rise to the level of co-author, but 2, 2nd edition, Tony, in the 2nd edition, the 2nd edition will be co-authored, um. So, no, but I’m, you know, I’m, I’m overwhelmed by the success of your small, I mean, in the big scheme of nonprofits, under $3 million a year budget. I mean, to me, that’s a small nonprofit. And you’ve got outsized planned giving results. Well, you know, and it’s not like, you know, I’m, I’m swimming in, you know, donors that are extremely affluent. If we can just focus on those loyal donors, they want to come beside you on this journey. And it, it, you know, every nonprofit leader out there feels passionate about their organization. If you are authentic to your point and let that enthusiasm show and build that trust and confidence over time, my success, I don’t think is exceptional. Um, I’m just probably a little more Maybe, um. Extroverted is not even the word. I’m just genuinely in love with this organization, and I know every nonprofit leader shares that enthusiasm. Don’t be afraid to let that show, you know, your, your donors want to see that in the leadership. We’re gonna leave it right there, Cheryl. That’s beautiful. Cheryl McCormick, PhD. The, uh, Athens Area Humane Society in Athens, Georgia is at AthenshumaneSociety.org. You can connect with Cheryl on LinkedIn. Cheryl, genuine pleasure. What, I, I’m over, uh, yeah, I overwhelmed. I’m saying it too many times. Thank you. Thanks for sharing. Thank you, Tony. You have been, uh, a silent sidekick throughout every nonprofit organization I’ve worked for through the podcast. I love it so much. Thank you for being a, a trusted ally and a friend. Wow. Next week, sell your nonprofit. I know it’s the host’s fault this time. Sell your nonprofit. We said it was gonna be this week, but You, you, it’s the lackluster host. That’s the only explanation. I forgot. I get a timetable. Podcast on is on a timetable. I forgot that last week. If you missed any part of this week’s show, I beseech you, find it at Tony Martignetti.com. Our creative producer is Claire Meyerhoff. I’m your associate producer, Kate Martinetti. The show’s social media is by Susan Chavez. Mark Silverman is our web guy, and this music is by Scott Stein. Thank you for that affirmation, Scotty. Be with us next week for nonprofit Radio. Big nonprofit ideas for the other 95%. Go out and be great.