Transcript for 408_tony_martignetti_nonprofit_radio_20180921.mp3

Processed on: 2018-10-24T15:15:22.753Z
S3 bucket containing transcription results: transcript.results
Link to bucket: s3.console.aws.amazon.com/s3/buckets/transcript.results
Path to JSON: 2018…09…408_tony_martignetti_nonprofit_radio_20180921.mp3.513999228.json
Path to text: transcripts/2018/09/408_tony_martignetti_nonprofit_radio_20180921.txt

Hello and welcome to tony martignetti non-profit radio big non-profit ideas for the big non-profit ideas for the other ninety five percent i’m your aptly named host. We’re live from the foundation center in new york city, it’s our third show in residence here at the foundation center on foundation center month on non-profit radio oh, i’m glad you’re with me. I’d suffer the embarrassment of micro kyliyah if you lift off with the idea that you missed today’s show building relationships with family foundation family foundations could be outstanding funders and partners for your non-profit but how do you get started when they say we contribute on ly to pre selected organization ? How do you start and stuart a strong relationship on our third show in foundation center month ? Our guests are a foundation expert, a foundation executive director and the foundation grantee. They’re susan, she aroma from the foundation center stewart post with um erin goff family foundation and danielle gondo at meade alliance. We’ll take audiences from our take audiences from our questions, and we’ll take questions from our audience is as well, we have live audience. Thank you for coming. Thank you so much for being here in the studio, we have our youtube audience, although you to thank you for being with us on the live stream youtube, your questions are welcome as well. Just put them into the comments and we will see them and we will answer them. I’m tony steak, too a little more on foundation center month were sponsored by pursuing full service fund-raising data driven and technology enabled tony dot m a slash pursuing capital p wagner, c p a is guiding you beyond the numbers. Wagner, cps dot com bye tello’s turning credit card processing into your passive revenue stream. Tony got m a slash tony tell us and by text to give moflow donations made easy text npr to four, four, four, nine, nine nine. I’m excited to introduce our guests. I love this. Seated next to me is the senior social sector librarian at the foundation center. Susan sure, oma has been here since nineteen ninety five she’s at est aroma and the foundation center is at fdn center, a lot of which is her on that twitter stream in may two thousand five, she gave an inexperienced speaker and fairly new consultant a very early break. She invited me to present planned e-giving at the foundation center two thousand five. I was very grateful i’ve spoken here about ten times through the years, and now here we are, working together on a foundation center month on non-profit radio and non-profit radio month at the foundation center, so thank you, i’m not a thief, he’s, the executive director of the merengue off family foundation before marrying goths, stuart post was senior program officer at the brooklyn community foundation, overseeing the arts, human services and workforce development portfolios. He’s worked at brooklyn museum and in the brooklyn borough president’s office. Stuart chairs the board of brooklyn community bail fund, and he lives in queens. Isa brooklyn heights, brooklyn’s in the house, danielle guindos has almost twenty years of non-profit experience. She was appointed executive director of reed alliance in july. She manages read alliances collaborations with schools throughout the five boroughs of new york city that benefit more than fifteen hundred children each year. She and stuart should be holding hands. Reliance is, um erin goff grantee. They’re at reed, alliance, dot or ge and at lead alliance join me in welcoming our panel, please. All right, susan. Sure. Oma. What is it ? Tell me, what ? Senior social sector library in what’s. A workday. Like for a senior social library in senior social sector library. Okay, so i basically spend at least forty hours a week helping people and organizations find money. It’s it’s a real super privilege helping them. How ? How are you doing this ? Ah, well, your foundation center today, this is an example of our flagship library. Anybody can walk in off of wall street, and we will help you find grantspace going to teach you about the philanthropic infrastructure here in america and abroad. We have a network of libraries that do that philanthropic infrastructure. That means finding money. Yeah, as in when you come in here and say i need two million dollars to fund my dream, we’re going to start asking you questions about your dream and well, before you leave, you’re going to have a sense of where that money could come from, and you’ll have a very good sense of how to find it. So we do this actually one on one in our libraries, and we also work with you online. We have a wonderful ascot. Online library feature so there is no excuse for anybody with a smartphone or a computer access to the internet. Instead of calling our receptionist, you can hit us up through our chat service and we will work with you. Basically monday through friday from nine thirty to five o’clock, we let you get into your offices and then by nine thirty in the morning, you should have some fund-raising questions on your mind. Way want you to be talking to us. I can stay online with you for an hour and around a half where you can ask me a hundred questions a day. So no question is too odd for us. Ok ? And the one on one is is outstanding. You can come here or to any of the they’re not called coordinating sent coordinate library were called threat self-funding information network partners. You could go to any of the funding information network partners throughout the country which you could find it foundation center dot ord and they will help you. They will sit side by side with you and teach you how to use their software. Show you how to do the searches. It’s really incredible when she says one on one, it is it’s, not they don’t hand you emmanuelle on dh send you send you off and you can use their premier product foundation directory online for free here or in any of these centers throughout the country, and get help on how to use it. And like susan said, you will. You will walk out with a lot more information about where potential grants come from then you had when you when you came in, so check out foundations and outstanding resource when you don’t have time to talk to people, you can use our website, we must have over twenty various web properties these days. So there’s something for everybody. Thank you, stuart. You won’t tell us a little about mary-jo off family foundation the merrin got family foundation is about ten years old. It was created by a successful, generous new yorker who made him steven arundhati, my boss, who made his money new york and wanted to give back to york and the focus is on public school students, mostly working with the development programs and basically it’s an opportunity for us to help level, and we feel very strongly that. What we’re trying to do with our grantmaking is to change, we do about three million dollars a year, i don’t know where big enough to change the world, but for three million dollars with changing pompel and it seems like that personal focus is appropriate for family foundation because we really are truly a family foundation family foundation’s come in all shapes sizes, there are some that involved in for six generation of the founder. I’m working with a living donor. I’m working with living donor who has decided opinions about where the funding should go. I’m living with that working with that donors or daughters and it’s really, truly a family affair in two, three, four generations and might look very different. But now, it’s very exciting to work with the people who created this, then frankly, helped them shape what are working. Thank you. All right and read alliance is a grantee of america. Oh, no, it’s not not yet. Not yet taking up. Uh, no. But stewart and i have worked closely together. All the information i was given this grant. So i think there’s something coming my programming, but program that i’ve led in my previous rolls and other organizations have been supported by the miracle family foundation, and so stuart post and i have developed a relationship that weaken talk about today over the course of that time that hopefully will continue now that i met reed alliance, which is an organization dedicated teo leveling the playing field in educational equity, and we do that through improving the trajectory of underserved early elementary students ask public school students mainly, but we also serve students in a small portion of catholic schools and frightened charter schools. Um, we do that through the power of team leadership, providing individual one on one tutoring in foundational reading skills. And so what we’re doing is providing meaningful after school employment for nearly a thousand teens in high schools in new york city, across all five boroughs that work individually after school and over the summer, with more than a thousand and early elementary students, kindergarten, first and second grade across all five boroughs. And we’ve shown over the eighteen years of our existence that this work this works the power of pairing a near appear tutor with a younger student has been tremendously impactful, and so we know that more than eighty five percent of all the early elementary school students who have participated in our program improved their real level by more than one grade level and that’s a land three months. Our programming is is very finite. Perform that programming in forty five sessions, and so in three months we make a tremendous amount of movement. And as one of the largest employers of teens in new york city, i find that to be incredibly monumental because there’s, no way one works without the other on so that’s. One of the reasons why i am very proud to be now leading an organization that works with these two very important constituencies. Yeah, then you know, we’re going. We’re going to start to go broader, okay, and we’ll have a chance to talk about your married programs. As we as we go, i want turn to susan, because family foundation’s, yes, you’ll need the mic. Family foundations can be. Enormously generous, teo the non-profit grantees potential grantees, but, you know, we’re here to talk about getting this relationship started and keeping the relationship going. So for for the non-profits that a little nervous about approaching foundations or don’t really know how to get started ? You’re you’re you’re coaching people nine thirty two, five, seven, five days a week you said i believe you. What what are some of the top questions you get ? Frustrations you here ? How can we help people get started in a process that may be a little off putting to them or discouraging to them, even if they’ve already tried and having been successful ? Okay, so the first thing is how many foundations are there in the us who’s out there who were ignoring in terms of asking for money ? So we have one hundred forty thousand grantmaker zen foundation directory online professional this week, like two hours ago, i checked and there are ninety six thousand three hundred seventy nine independent foundations. So if we looked at family foundation’s this’s, the group that we’re talking about today, i’m going to guess that by next thursday, when we update our product foundation directory online professional and this is actually a homework assignment for everybody in the room sometime towards the end was an advertiser’s going homework. No don’t no homework, no home, an anarchist there’s, no homework, allright, no homework. But by next thursday, i’m going to be up to look into our database, and i’m making a little pledge to myself that i’m going to guess that out of the ninety six sales and three hundred seventy nine independent foundations that’s something like forty to fifty percent of them, i will discover to be family foundations. These foundations are difficult for us to get to as prospect researchers if we look at the entire pool of foundations, we know ninety percent of them don’t have websites. So for those of you who are googling to find foundations to support your work, it absolutely doesn’t work like that. Ninety percent of foundations don’t have women’s rights, and i we have a national center for family philanthropy in the us. One of their survey said that seventy seven percent of family foundation’s don’t have websites, so family foundations are difficult to get to. You have to do the research to figure out who was in your neighborhood you also have to know who’s got the money in your neighborhood, whether that’s a neighborhood in new york or the whole west coast of the u s you have to know who’s got a family foundation, they are difficult to get to the convention and say pre selected route. All right, so how do we start to do this ? Research ? Okay, so you’re gonna figure out who you know in the community, you’re going to ask your board members to help you, you’re going to ask your favorite friends in the fund-raising community and the non-profit management community to help you. I would recommend running a search in foundation director online who gives toe arts in new jersey, who gives to food banks in southern california or in one particular neighborhood in los angeles. Then you’re going to ask yourself, do you know any of these trustees, officers and donors ? You know any of the employees of these family foundation’s ? If you’re using our product, i’m going to recommend you turn your linkedin account on there’s. No excuse for any of us these days not to have over five hundred people we know unlinked in if you’re using our product and you have your linkedin account turned on. You will know immediately if you know where you know somebody who can introduce you to somebody on the board of one of these family foundations. So it’s about who you know it’s about targeting your research correctly. I came with paper today. Just let me tell you chan’s like over one hundred tips on how to get to know these family give you after eight years doing let me give you little host inside the podcast inside tip guests never read the papers, they’re green. You see how many time you know the stuff off the top of your head ? You see how many times you referred to the paper xero thinking it just a little podcaster protect don’t worry if your guests bring paper because they’re not gonna look at it so but if it’s comforting, i know it’s comforting, it’s reassuring, right ? I do biographical histories on people who run foundations. I look at their family members, i find out who’s i’m dealing with. I try to look a philanthropic track records so by the time i’m going toe and i don’t really recommend i’m not supposed to recommend family foundations who i know, like seven would be seventy five percent great prospects to you. But i lied you most of the way there. So you have to do enough research and the family, the family members, the rest of the trustees and officers you have to know whether or not you fit into their philanthropic pattern of giving so let’s, keep going. Stop that’s abila ok, ok, stuart, do you get do you get you still get ah lot of enquiries, even though even though you are you contributed only to pre selected organizations, you still get increase that are off topic and not pre selected things come in over the transom all of the time. People reach out all of the time and actually just back-up to what susan was saying, i would rather than go to family members that we get we’re staffed foundation on the only staff member if there’s a staff person always trying to get to the south person rather than two trustees, if there is no step trust using only choice. But i would suggest that the point of entry is other granted then you have a relationship with any of the london organizations of a given family foundation reach out to them and say, hey, what can you tell me about the marron got family foundation or this guy ? Stuart from i would say everything that hasn’t come in through family member is come in two other grantee partners and because our current granted partners and because we have really nice relationships and ongoing relationships with the r grantee partners when danielle reaches out to me and says, and she’s done it many, many times, and many are you saying, i don’t know, i’m not i’m not saying okay now, it’s really welcome because she’s, a practitioner she’s the expert, are not. I learned a thing or two or three about youth development practices over the years, but i’m not the one doing the work, danielle and her colleagues of the ones doing the work and because daniel and i will talk more about this have a very sort of even planed relationship when she reaches out no, when she reaches out to me and says, hey, there’s, this group doing great work, i think you’ll enjoy them. Ilsen and as long as there’s something, but i see is a potential fit. It’s. Very easy to have coffee with somebody. It’s very easy to have a phone conversation with somebody if i get something totally over the transom but doesn’t have daniel’s name or other grantee partners and i can think of three or four off the top of my head have done this and we’ve gone on to fund their organizations. But if i get a a cold inquiry, if it’s something that’s a bit, i will respond and say, this is what we do it to tease it out a little bit more. Okay, we’re goingto daniel insect. But what ? What what’s ? Your advice for making that cold inquiry. Just be direct on this. A real pet peeve of mine when i was talking about this earlier is folks might reach out to me from my previous life at bergen community foundation, where i found the arts programs. It was a dept, very different granting partner pool. Then it will be. Oh, hey, stuart would love to get together with you said rather thin that and these are folks who i haven’t heard from years and it’s like oh, is it about the mary got family foundation. Because if it is, this is what we find see a fit with what you’re doing if i’m all let me know when i’d love to get together and invariably i never hear from those people again. All right, so you prefer honesty ? Stuart love to get together, you with you to talk about our work and how i think how i think it fits with marren ghosh self-funding programming, even if we end up not funding something or something’s not right quite the right fit. It’s a learning opportunity for me knowledge is power, the more i know about what’s out there, the better grantmaker i’m going to be and don’t pretend that you want to ask about how are you what’s going on in your life don’t want to talk about grantmaking i’m here to talk about and i’m here to find the right partnerships us okay ? All right, danielle, your advice about now she’s got one story. I’m gonna give you a chance to practice the phrase quite the right that you stumbled on that. So quite the right. Quite the right. You want to practice that one ? Quite the right. Yeah, the phrase when you were talking is what i say quite the right you tried. You tried twice quite right there. You okay ? Um, okay. Advice on honesty. I’m sure you agree with stuart, right ? Honesty is honesty’s best be straight forward. But how about the well, let’s let’s talk about that ? This is an ideal opportunity that those first couple of enquiries that you you approach stuart, you know, or others, you know, what’s your advice to your peers. Well, honesty, transparency number one. If you’re working in an organization, whether you’re the executive director in some sort of ah, you know fund-raising role you should believe very strongly in what you’re doing so that’s going to come through. And i think that’s always served me well in any role that i’ve been in when i’m selling so to speak and organization or the work of an organisation, if i don’t believe in it it’s going to sound inauthentic and no matter how much you try, people will be a listening that that’s number one but number two absolutely be directing the honest i think one of the first things that i learned early on is a professional in non-profit sector and i’ve had roles in development and in program, which often at small to midsize non-profits also means fund-raising is recognizing that if you’re talking to someone who works at the foundation of family foundation or otherwise, their job is to provide funding right ? So don’t worry about the act they’re used to it that’s their job. So get get over without you were nothing seriously that’s excellent. Yeah, so it’s a little a little more. You’re the ones doing the work it’s our jobs to fund that work canto identify that work and, uh, i welcome the opportunity to learn now, obviously everything’s, not a fit, but again, that knowledge is power and we get to approach our workers is not sound like a shameless commercial, but we approach our work with a profound respect for what you’re doing and really try to keep the hoop jumping, which is unfortunately endemic to the foundation application process. We keep that to a really minimum, then we replace it with an ongoing relationship alive and what i’m working with, what we call jen to the four daughters who each have a relatively small grantmaking pool that initially i worked very closely with them on it now are is now it’s been five years there. They really been wonderful students and have very decided opinions about what they want to do. So it’s a little bit less hands on. But my main buy-in piece of wisdom, if you will to impart to them is the relationship begins with it. It’s an ongoing relationship that is a small family foundation. It’s my job to maintain that relationship and bring in the family members as appropriate. And the family members are very, very interested in becoming part bilich let’s. See fremery questions, uh, any, uh, any livestream questions, anything ? No direct questions from the live stream, but we do have some good comments. Someone says outstanding tip to talk to donis that are already funded and another comments or here is shot. The person with three organizations and parental thanks, mom way have amy latto tourists. Rios, who thinks what things also is going to sing this’s an unbelievable resource. Thank you so much. So keep these candid tips. All right, we have we have a question weighted mike to come to you, please. Thank you. This is wonderful, and i have two questions if i may start with one and then we’ll see if there’s other very egalitarian on non-profit radio. All right, if that’s the case that you have a preference in the initial outreach, email or phone zoho email always always you cast the second that was an easy one got a second one is and this is i was a bit of a surprise of going to a current funding because i’ve always taken had the fear that if i introduce somebody else to a thunder there’s a finite amount of money am i eating into the part that i’m trying to get me going on the road ? A my introducing you to my competition ? Yes, we’re in a funny position that we’re not endowment based. If we were endowment based, i could say that we’re spending three point or one too million dollars this year, not a penny over. We’re not the actually very proud of the fact that when i joined the foundation five years ago at exactly this time of year, so it was towards the end of the county you’re on warren a counter year e-giving was about one point six million. Basically, my job is to go is to foster these relationships and port back to the family about the cool stuff the champion. And i report back to the family and a very sophisticated way, their texts and semi blurry photographs that i take with my cell phone and forward on and relatively riel time about the cool stuff that’s happening. There’s so much cool stuff happening. So, uh, so i guess it would it would depend on the foundation then if if they weren’t endowment based foundation, they had they had a capt spend each year. Yes. Then you would be introducing. You’re so it’s gonna depend on the mention my perspective. So do the research again. You’d be able to tell that by doing your research, what type of condition is it also ? Is tio the point of this discussion ? It is all about the relationship. So i’ve done that with stuart because i knew that that that’s not going to jeopardise my relationship with him or the funding that i had secured from america family foundation. I knew that because we have this equal kind of relationship where i’m able tto have those conversations with him ? There are other foundations where i would never have thought tio introduce someone else as a potential grantmaking or someone and that also is very discreet that, as you all know, we can’t do our work without partners. And so anyone that i have introduced as a potential of interest, it would be someone who may have supported enhanced the work that they were funding, which i thought is an important point to make. And and i would just like to clarify, we’ve come to the figure of three during half million dollars that’s something that we’re very comfortable with, so i don’t want teo present this is like, oh, yeah, send me everything where we want to review everything out there because the troopers were comfortable in the three, three and a half million dollar level, but because it’s, not endowment based there’s always room for another twenty five thousand dollar grant here, there is there room for another fifty twenty five thousand dollar grants ? Of course not, but within the the goose ish budget that were working within, uh, we’re comfortable with that amount, but it’s us somewhere. Okay, well, we can take more questions. After a short break gonna take a break i got a little business for our sponsors pursuing they have a new book and it is fast non-profit growth feeling from the start ups, they take secrets from the fastest growing startups and applied those methods and practices to your work in your non-profit it’s free, like all the pursuit of resources, are it’s on the listener landing page, which is that tony dot m a slash pursuing capital p for please. When you see piela there’s, a new accounting rule on how you account for each contribution kayman the tax law, you have to decide whether it’s a contribution or in exchange transaction, what the heck does that mean ? What’s beautiful is you don’t have to know what it means, because wagner cp is on top of it. That’s what you want you’re supposed to be doing, um, you can read about it it’s on their blogged, and then talk to the partner at wagner who had been a guest on the show a couple of times which to place to get started is you go to regular cpas dot com tell us for credit card processing, i’ve been reading testimonials from non-profits that have referred business is to tell us, and those organizations are now getting a long stream of passive revenue. I’ve also been reading testimonials from businesses that air using tell us for their credit card processing, and they’re very satisfied. So my suggestion is think of the businesses that are supporting you now think of businesses that are perhaps run by your board members, family members and those said other businesses that are supporting you, would they consider switching to tell us where their credit card processing the way to get started watched the video, which is at the listener landing page ? Tony dot, m a slash tony tell us i get my name in there often, um text to give it’s like texting friends there’s no keyboards to memorize hoexter give has a conversation with your potential donors it’s conversational, and they lead them to the gift for your organization. It’s very simple, it’s affordable said not one the expensive services you don’t need to be a techie because text to give will walk you through the process for setting it all up so you can have this conversation with your donors now’s a good time to have your phone your phone handy, you text npr, four, four four, nine nine nine npr to four four, four nine nine nine. It’s time for tony take two its foundation center month non-profit radio are, as i said earlier, it’s our third week, we’re going to wrap it up next week. Where ? Ah, stewart stewart said, well, before we started off camera off mike were in residence, i like that i love eleven non-profit radio in residence at the foundation center, you can come back for next week. We’re gonna be talking about data driven decision making, and our foundation center expert is going to be graced, sato and if you’re in the audience here, you could meet grace because she’s in the back she’s going to be seeing me with us next. Next ride a as we wrap up, but so grateful to the foundation center for having non-profit radio in residence here for the month. I love it. Thank you. And, uh, special shout out against susan, who was so willing to work with me since january to get this done. Thank you. Ok, we’re going back going back to our panel. Susan sure. Oma she’s, the social sector librarian, senior social sector library. Don’t cut it short. Been here since nineteen ninety five that’s. Susan ? Sure. Oma and stuart post, executive director of the marriage got family foundation and danielle jindo, executive director at reed alliance. Okay, then. You know, we were with you. We’re talking about breaking the ice during the research, making the recommendations. What other advice do you have for your peers ? Um, that i mention tenacity ? Many, many stewart said many, many, many right two nations oh, tenacious d that’s tio way. I’m, you know, the kind of person. And i think in order to be a fundraiser, you have to be the kind of person that here’s no and things no right now, but yes, later or no right now tell me how it could be a letting us later. I’m i would just caution everyone. Teo, you know, who’s making and ask if karen no do not get discouraged. It’s an important relationship to start. And even if you do get to know, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t stop communicating altogether, just like stuart had mentioned, you know ? He’s gotten, you know, folks who have reached out and said, oh, you know, we’re interested in talking with you about such a such a program but doesn’t entirely fit with what the parameters are, what his priorities are at this point on dh, then that’s it, they disappear into the either there isn’t even any follow-up and so to the exciting, strange and things can change, and to the extent you could continue to keep folks in the loop, i’m i’m a big believer in letting folks know what the news is put them on your mailing list, make sure they’re invited to things, even if it’s slightly outside the scope of what they might be interested in doing or supporting or attending, let them decide, but they will never know unless you tell them danielle that’s consistent with individual fund-raising too, you know when when you approach someone, you’ve asked someone for a gift, maybe you ask them for fifty thousand dollars and they gave you five thousand dollars. That doesn’t mean you cut them off or even if you, whatever you ask them for, they give you nothing. You know, i say clients six knows, and we’re halfway to her, yes, so that tenacity applies to your individual fund-raising itt’s parallel. If we’re talking about a family foundation or any institution no doesn’t mean no forever is stuart is suggesting and you still keep talking to people, you know you don’t you haven’t you don’t cut off your individual donors when they’ve turned you down don’t cut off your institution! I would say that relation if you’re the kind of person that is a social person and you like to build relationships and you like to keep up contact with boats and you’re good at keeping up your network that’s a natural right that will naturally fit within the scope of what you normally dio and if your offensive and you’re believing, believe very strongly what you’re promoting and that’s also a natural that’s not too big of a list and that’s what it takes to really not down some doors and genuinely thanking people can work wonders in another hat on the board chair of an organisation and somebody that we didn’t know from. Adam gave a very nice gift of ten thousand dollars. That’s, let’s, shout it out! Brooklyn community bail fund bruckmann gdpr she’d given ten thousand dollars and got the pro forma. Thank you so much. But it was somebody that we didn’t know who it wass so was board chair. I sent a hand written note or an e mail i get which say, very personal. We really appreciate this. And stuart posterboard chair. She reached out the executive director and i had coffee with her. She had given a cheque to a similar organization where she only got the pro forma uh, thank you. It turned out that we got another ninety thousand dollars. It was. And she was so, uh, touched by our having made that additional outreach. People want to people want to be thanked, and people want to be thanked genuinely. And in this hearkens back to what we were talking about earlier, these air all about relationships. People who work in foundations are relationships are people. People who support your organizations are people. And everybody wants to be recognized, not in us. It’s, miami sick advomatic way, but in a genuine pay, we really appreciate your help. Then that happens relatively rarely. And it doesn’t matter the size of the gift either. I think, you know. It’s important to remember that you know, if you have especially family foundation’s individuals that are supporting your work, he might have some of the level of five thousand whether it’s because that’s just the level that they fundez that’s what they can do with that time or fifty thousand, because that’s, what they could do with that time, each one is important to you being able to accomplish your goals and so a genuine and invite many invites us possible the things that they might like to see an invite to an event where you khun, simply just celebrate with them, or showcase some of the other work that you do, even if it’s not directly related to what they were supporting. Because that’s part of the relationship building you want them, tio feel like they’re part of your extended family and that’s how i think about the work that we do in the relationships we have your family, it’s, an extended family, we couldn’t do what we do without that support. And could you talk ? I’m taking over your job. You another anarchist, two anarchists and yes, could you talk about what ? The initial funding relationship, the genesis ? Of your initial interaction with the marron got family foundation was how that got started and how it led from organization organization to maybe another organization. Morning. Yes. So if i remember correctly, i believe the the executive director of an organization that i had worked at previously had been on the board with stephen arika of of another organization, they served on the board of directors of another organization reaching out to a trustee, right, and just threw that relationship building learns that he had a family foundation of what some of his interest may have been and invited him to events invited him to events to meet the constituents, the program that we thought he’d be interested in funding, and he was very was taken by it was actually young men’s responsible fatherhood program, and we had a number of the young men from that program at our annual gala that year and invited him to meet with him, and he talked to them. They had a very intimate conversation. I think that was the only reason why he was there. He is a very mission driven person. Andi was very impressed. And from there, i think stuart and i, we probably took it over in cash. We talked about the details you observe. I mean, one of the things that i do love about working with stuart and them arika foundation is he means it when he says that they are very interested in how the program runs and what’s actually happening on the ground. So the questions that stewart asked and the observations that he made on the site visits prior to funding the program and after the program has been funded, we’re not only, you know, helpful, but but also insightful. You know, they he understood enough about what makes the program work that they were helping us think further down the road about how to make it even better. Samuel, i’m gonna stop because you made me think of something that thiss was better. Do you think is stuart post story post non-profit radio ? You’ll see a rebranding next week, so come back to stewart post non-profit radio. We’ll have to scrap this backdrop. It will just exit out. If you have trouble, if things are not going, are we going the way we anticipate they were in the program that’s that your funding, uh what’s your advice tell me as soon as we know we’re waiting stuff happens, then we understand that stuff happens and, uh, if anything that’s going to make me respect in organization more and make stephen my boss respect an organization more because there’s, that level of trust the we can see, you know, this didn’t come out the way we thought it would be, and i’ll not infrequently have gotten emails from people saying, no, could we slightly redirect this ? Because what we thought wasn’t working, i mean, a proposal is a best guess, and sometimes best guesses go great, and sometimes they don’t and that’s fine, i mean, not everything is going to be ah, home runs, but by having, you know, that ongoing relationship where there’s trust which there’s comfort, and it also helps that i’m a staff person, it’s you know, i can get into weeds much more frequently than the family members who have their own lives and their own jobs in their own careers, and they’re busy people. So i can’t it’s my job, though, to get into those having those conversations and to be bringing in the family as appropriate. And of course, i’m always bringing family because it’s not my money let’s make something explicit, which is, you know, if you’re not honest and you try to conceal it, you’re going down a rabbit hole that is only going to be it’s going to be discovered. It’s going to be it’s going to be disaster in a crisis versus you’ve got a problem ? Uh, share it with your with your partner with your with your we’re partners in this the relationship ? Share it big frustration of doing philanthropy and philanthropy is a great gig, it’s a wonderful, wonderful privilege to get to do this work to go into communities that aren’t my own. Teo. Steve, the exciting things that are happening all over new york city, but i actually just are just totally be disarmed don’t be deceitful and dishonest. Yes, yeah. It’s, it’s a good thing i’ll help you through stewart. I know you do. I guess i shouldn’t be thinking you understand ? Uh, don’t don’t be dishonored. That’s what ? I think that also ties. Back to the other point that i made before in a couple of times, which is the authenticity, right ? The transparency if you believe that what you’re doing is meaningful, if you know that you’re doing the best job possible, the work we do is really hard and it’s our job also to to relay what some of those honest, real challenges are two funders too, so that they understand what you’re up against. And that means that the best guests that you propose which i love that sometimes doesn’t always come to fruition in the timeline that you imagined or you projected and having the conversation, the relationship is important to making sure that you maintain that trust and continue that i want to see if we have looks like you have some questions i have tio um okay, we have questions online, too. Awesome. Okay, william, you gotta go live. I mean, go go broad. Would you wanted ? Stuart said the word philanthropy. Give us the wide shot, please. Uh, exactly. Introduce the bear over here. I got sick. I got questions about our bear last week a few people asked what’s the bear in the corner. That’s phil. Phil, answer b, i believe, is that’s the foundation. So that is not my i wish that was my gig. Mike. My saying it’s. Not my bit. I do stand up. Comedy. Philanthropy is not my bit. Uh, but that’s phil in the corner. Well, welcome, phil. Uh, okay, so we have a couple of let’s go online, right ? Let’s, do an online question. You got something on your right ? Our question online is how can a non-profit discover whether a family foundation has a staff or if it’s on ly run by family members and trustees let’s give out to susan with that a plant ? Do we have the name of the organization without question ? Okay, person out who that was pen parenthesis again. Hoyle devoted to foundation center resource is, by the way. Yeah. Okay. So the question, wass when you’re researching foundations and you think you’re dealing with the family foundation, how do you find out if their staff members ? All right. So if you were using my favorite tool, which is foundation directory online professional and i have to put a plug in here for another tool that we produce that you can use free. Of charge at any of our funding information network partners foundation maps, though. So for those of you who do not like to read text ah, foundation maps is is a mapping tool that will literally show you who’s giving money to brooklyn or who’s giving money to south florida. But any rate you’re going to use foundation directory online for professional and the profile that we provide to you will tell you who the top staff members are. If and i also double check myself, i will go to a tax return and i arrest nine, ninety pf pf standing for private foundations, and i will check that tax return to see if it says there are no hired help on the on the team or if there is an executive director and i forgot to pick it up in our fto profile, that tax return is going to tell me who the top hired help is. It will give me their name and their job title so that’s one easy way to figure out if they have staff members of the foundation directory, online foundation directory online professional you and the nine, ninety and the nine, ninety nine. Ninety piela in case they don’t have a website, what if there’s a website it makes, you know, part of your research easier ? We know large percentage don’t have websites. All right, now we’re going to we’re going to continue, uh, ninety percent eliminations. Hyre yes. Just a minute. Wait for the microphone. Please wait for the microphone, please. There we go. First of all, i am very happy to see that this dahna treyz thiss uh, i i’m coming to a foundation center for a long time and nice sabat buy-in michael, i think susan salama. Uh, you see, sandy destroyed everything and it’s very hard. Tto re establish it and continuous what we like to do the most. And susan was helping us tow right. And my question off. Come. So, stewart, right. Ah, my agency with serving quinton brooklyn russian community. Eso can they come to you to see people support ? Well, let’s not even put stuart on the spot. Why don’t you talk privately after ? Okay, let’s, not let’s. Not even put to do it on the spot on and answer that dancer that question and then let’s, you want to say something ? Something, uh even though seventy seven point i learnt this. Today, seventy seven percent of private foundations don’t accept unsolicited requests, and we are among that seventy seven percent. But on our website, and we do have a website. I very, very intentionally put my email address on the website because people might want to reach out and again, things have come in over the transom all the time. And unless something is just plainly a dear occupant sales pitch on how i can raise more money, not enough fund-raising organization. If it’s a legitimate, uh, funding request, i’m going to respond to that very gracious let’s. Go in the back, ma’am. Yes. Say you find out that through research that one of your board members does have a contact with the board of the foundation, which you want to apply, what is the best way ? The leverage that contact ? If you’re i can only speak for our foundation and again, i feel if there’s a staff it’s always appropriate to go through the staff first, and there might almost be a sense that what you’re trying to cut in line ahead of where you should be, the appropriate, uh, chain of communications is go to the staff, and i wonder if you go to a bored person if that might, you know, screw it, bite you in the butt. All right, so we get some different we’re getting some different answers on i just wanted to assure you from the foundation center perspective, if you take any of her classes on fund-raising that is one of the things we’re definitely going to tell you that when you were having one of your board members, go bug the program, officer’s, head to another boardmember you have to cancel your boardmember to be very careful in their conversation with the foundation’s board, so if if they have paid staff like program officers, that the program officer doesn’t feel like you’ve gone above their head, so if you’re dealing with foundation that has very direct application procedures, just follow them and use that board contact, you know lightly. You don’t wantto take anybody, all right ? Actually, uh, staff should be looked at is a firewall. The reason why family foundation often times wants a staff person is to present this to prevent being bombarded with requests and having potentially uncomfortable conversations with me. It’s never going to be an uncomfortable conversation. Because it’s my job, it’s where you’re a straight shooter, it’s either potential fit. Tell me more that’s. Not at all what we do. Good luck with your fund-raising every else online ? Yes. Okay. From the big children’s foundation is asking if you are reaching out to a foundation for the first time and you discover there is a fit in mission and in funding focus. Is there a right amount to ask for susan ? Okay, so if that person was dealing with me in one of my conversations, i would ask them if they had done their research. Have they use foundation directory online ? Professional toe. Look at the size of grant paid out to non-profits that do what they do. That’s going. You always have to make the right. Ask so. We need thio essentially go through the last. Three years of the grantspace list of that foundation and try to figure out what the amount size is going to non-profits that air in your type of category and size range that the research is going to help you with that ? Okay, i would. Argh! You don’t talk about money at all. Have the conversation first to see if it’s a fit never send an uncertain with us. I don’t want to get a letter of inquiry, and to me that feels like someone who hasn’t really done their homework. I’m much more receptive, receptive to hey, we do this, you do this. Could we meet for coffee ? Could we set up a phone call ? Could we get together to talk about it ? And in the conversation i can talk about the kind of things we like to do with our grants and hear about what your needs are and then have that conversation to see if it’s a fit. But when i get just a letter of inquiry than unsolicited, an unsolicited letter of inquiry it’s very rare, that that’s a fit because they never took the time to have that conversation, which i’m very there’s, no relationship. Way spent all this time talking about relationships on dh, right out of the box. You’re asking me for money. Yeah, nice to meet you. You know, we have fifty thousand dollars, but with the odds that that’s going to succeed. But if somebody reached out and said, i’d love to sit down to talk to you about the potential of getting a grant from you, that’s, totally way, we have more questions. Let’s, go over here. This question is both for daniel and for stuart. So you kind of spoke about continuing that relationship even if you get a no response. And i was curious in your experiences if it would ever be appropriate to kind of approach of family foundation and say, you know, this isn’t a great fit, but could you recommend other foundations that you might know of that might be a good fit ? Is that kind of a conversation that one ? May i ask a question ? Okay, i’m going to actually, just we’re running a little bit at a time and a lot of questions, so, danielle, you want to take that say, yes, i asked that question all the time of any thunder, and stuart and stuart is nodding way. Stuart is not your only what ? Listening to the audio story there aren’t really big on value added and that’s what i’m trying to do, but let’s go over here right up front. Use your mic like the previous question, but if a fan dish of the foundation says that, give a onetime grant only you’re talking about a relationship. Should we just forget about that that’s a great question, it says one time only on you got funded. What would ? What would you do ? Down from my perspective ? I’m the kind of person i was feel like someone’s, always in the extended family, so you don’t know where that relationship is going to lead. So just like her questions, they might recommend someone else’s consisting that funding. They can connect another partners they can connect to the other other grant. So if you’re going tio reach out to them again, would you ? Well, i was trying to make sure that you could, like, use your relationship and asked them, you know, it’s been about two or three years since you funded us. I know you’re one time. Could we propose a different program ? Would that be a better fit ? Or would you mind if we, you know, do you think it would be a good idea for us to submit for the same programming again ? We have this gap on and then leave it up to them to say now that’s not gonna work, they’re still in your extended family don’t know where it’s going really fund-raising people have an honest conversation with them there. We just have time for one more question. You got your shot, let’s. See if there’s anybody else ? Anybody okay, give him the second third. This is third question because you had to in the first time, second time. Third question. What bonus has been great ? Very quick question. I want to make sure i have clarity on this that you’re saying my phone call to you to introduce myself actually is instead of an l a y. So if you like what we do, we would jump right to the proposal stage, and i’m saying that correctly, we’d be having a ponderous way we just had. Daniel started her drop with two months ago, and i knew that i would hear from her. I knew that she was moving on her last gig, and this was the sex. She went from the initial organization to a second organization, and we were one of the first funders, and it was a real home run, and we were extraordinarily proud of a program that we really help too kick up to kick off, and i’m so very riel sort of pride of ownership, if you will and i we had a relationship, and i knew that i would be hearing from danielle and from what i had heard about the organisation, it didn’t sound like it was a bit for us, frankly, but i this is a friend, this is somebody who i like. I’m not going, not somebody who i can say, no, i won’t meet with you. Of course, we met with her, but as we talked, it was the rial sort of creativity off over coffee, and i wrote ridden my bike jars and shorts and a t shirt, and when it’s informant like that, you could just have a really relaxed conversation in brooklyn and, you know, in brooklyn and queens, and it was an enormously sort of creative, fun conversation where i quickly picked up on what daniels needs were, and she understood what are sort of sweet spot is, and i really think there’s a great grant for us to help develop college access program among the high school kids we’re currently getting pain, it’s, all i have to stop you there, it’s all the relationship it’s also it’s, a relation having an honest kind, there’s a take away, that’s it. Okay, it’s, time for the give away, get your phone, get your phone, whether of course, live stream or here in the audience, you’re getting you’re getting a copy of this book. Braided threads rated threads. Historical overview of the american non-profit sector here’s the number you’re gonna text, too two five two, which is in north carolina area code, in case you’re wondering not not too far from where the hurricane just hit, actually, right where the hurricane did. Just hit. Two, five, two, five, one, five, seven, nine, eight, seven. The book, braided threads, is by dr robert penna itt’s, a sentence that’s in the title historical overview answers questions like, how did non-profit how did we get to where we are ? How did it evolve through history ? It’s not strictly chronological, he was on the show, talking about it just last month, there’s not strictly chronological, but you know, if you’re interested in how we became what we are as a community, he starts with queen elizabeth the first. All right, so you got the number you got. Two, five, two, five, one, five, seven, nine, eight, seven, you got it. Okay. First five people to text, they’re gonna win and you text family, family, that’s it. Ok, we’re moving on next week, its foundation center month on not proper radio. We’re gonna wrap it up with grant decision making, using disaster philanthropy as our example will find out what the ingredients are and how the sausage gets made inside. Foundations join me again in thanking our panel for today, susan, sure, oma, stuart post and danielle jindo. Awesome. Thank you very much. If you missed any part of today’s show, i beseech you, find it on tony martignetti dot com. We’re sponsored by pursuing online tools for small and midsize non-profits data driven and technology enabled. Tony dahna slash pursuing capital p with your c p a guiding you beyond the numbers waiting to cps dot com bye tello’s, credit card and payment processing. You’re passive revenue stream tony dahna in a flash, tony tell us, and by texting you mobile donations made easy there’s, another text opportunity npr, to four, four, four, nine, nine, nine. Our creative producers. Claire miree off shows social media is by susan chavez, mark silverman in the audiences are web guy this music is by scott stein of brooklyn, many thanks to tracy kaufman, susan she aroma and william lee here at the foundation center. Thank you so much. You’re with me next week for non-profit radio big non-profit ideas for the other ninety five percent go out and be great. Hyre