 We've got Tina Lopez, CFRE. Tina's a really cool leader in the film and philanthropic space. But what we're going to talk about today is why we need to be participating in philanthropic organizations that support the sector. And specifically, we're going to be talking about AFP because Tina is the president of the local chapter. So we want to thank all of our presenting sponsors. A lot of these sponsors that you see are very active with trade organizations and professional organizations like AFP. In fact, I was doing an interview with the Big Planet Philanthropy, which is the big AFP conference in Florida. It was the first AFP conference to be held, state conference post-pandemic. And they have nine chapters, Tina, nine chapters. And I saw three of our sponsors' logos on their boards. So yeah, our sponsors do a lot. Again, I'm Julia Patrick, CEO of the American Nonprofit Academy. Jared Ransom is not going to be on today because she has no power in her office. Her power went off. We've been having some storms here in the Southwest. And her neighborhood has succumbed to a big power outage. So we will see her back shortly. Again, Tina Lopez, wow, wow, wow, CFRE. You're going to be talking to us today about how critical it is to be participating. And I want to get it off the table right now. Why should we be concerned about this? Why is it important that we have these organizations in our sector? Well, thank you, Julia. I'm honored to be here. And to answer this, I just think that professional associations offer education, resources, access to all the leaders in this space to ask questions to that really elevate our profession and adds credibility to what we do in our communities. And I just feel that and others feel this way too wonderfully that we have to invest in our profession by investing in these associations. And so, yeah, I just, I think it's, for me personally, it has helped my career. It has really given me access to people that have so much to offer and so much knowledge. And I've just learned so much. And honestly, it's how I stay abreast to all the current things that are going on in our sector. So it's just, it makes sense. I don't know how you cannot be involved with it when you're a fundraiser, especially. Yeah, especially. Well, let's talk more about AFP because this is where you are now the Phoenix Chapter President. I'd love for you to explain what AFP looks like on the national landscape and then also with your chapter. Give us some ideas kind of so that we can understand what's actually going on with AFP. Sure. Well, globally, so as AFP is a global organization, and so it would be AFP Global. And then within that, there are chapters all over the world. And Arizona actually has three chapters. We have the Northern Arizona Chapter, the Greater Arizona Chapter, which is the Phoenix Area, us. And then we have the Southern Arizona Chapter. And we collaborate together for our state conference, which unfortunately we didn't have last year for obvious reasons. And we actually didn't have it again this year for the same reasons, because we usually have it early in the summer. And at the time of the planning, they just decided to forgo it. So we hopefully will be having it next summer because it is one of my favorite things. But global also has a conference every year. And it rotates around the country. This year, I believe it is in Portland. Sorry if I got that wrong. It's either in Portland or Minnesota. But I wasn't able to attend this year. But they did do it virtually again this year. But global has so many resources to offer, not only to just if you go to their website, Joe Public can go to their website and get templates and resources and job postings. I mean, anybody has access to it. But then becoming a member, it also gives you further access to a lot more resources that are more detailed. But the average person could just go and find what they need. You don't necessarily have to be a member to access the information. And then as far as our local chapter, we are always looking for the latest and greatest speakers to come and talk and give us information, especially last year during the pandemic when we were all navigating this. Nobody really knew what was going on. It was wonderful to have the community that we have to reach out to. And we kind of worked through it together. And it was just really great. So honestly, I feel like AFP added so much value and support last year, especially during the pandemic. So tell me about your leadership. First of all, how many members do you have in your chapter? And is that similar to other chapters around the world? What does it cost a month or a year to be a member and kind of give us some of the logistics? Can anyone sign up to be a member or do you have to have a CFRE? What does that look like? Right. So there are different types of memberships that organizations can sign up as a group if they have a large team rather than paying for each individual membership. They can buy a group membership. And then they have our professional membership, which is the standard membership. And that's what most people are. That one is $325. And of that, $75 goes to our chapter and then the rest goes to Global. They, Global does provide members with resources such as there's one particularly that I love that is called, have you heard of Corn Fairy? They're like, they're a organization kind of like the Myers-Briggs kind of where they offer like a personality strengths kind of finder situation. But they offer that for free. You can take it and it'll tell you where you should focus your professional development on. Like what areas you need improvement so that it helps really fine tune like what, you know, in a world where we're so busy, which webinars do we take? What do we participate in? It kind of helps kind of fine tune that, which is great. But as far back to memberships, we have a young person's membership too that's a little less expensive for people that are kind of starting out in their career. And we understand that not in, especially if they're working for like a smaller nonprofit, it's, you know, gives them a little bit of a discount. So there's all different types of memberships that people can look into and find one that is right for them. And then right now, just so a little plug, for new members that have never been a member of AFP before, there is a $50 discount through July 31st, if you sign up. So. And that's not just your chapter, that's Global? That's for Global. So it's off of the global end of things because they take the bigger portion of the. Yeah, sure. Okay, that's great. Well, that's good to know. That's like perfect timing. Yeah. I wanna get into a little bit more about your board leadership. And, you know, in the nonprofit show, we talk so much about board leadership. We get so many questions about it. Talk to me about being on a board for in essence, you know, a professional development organization. What has been your journey? What did you do to serve? Were you on the board before you became president? What does that whole thing look like? Yeah, so there's different ways that people can get involved with the board at AFP. You can serve on a committee and you don't even have to be an AFP member to serve on a committee. That would be a great way to kind of, maybe dip your toe in the water, say you're not really sure if you wanna join, but you kind of wanna see what it's all about. You can join one of our committees and serve on that and see, you know, if you like it. And hopefully you will and you would join. And so we have our committees and I actually did join the board about four years ago and also helped with the state conference in 2016, which was our last state conference here in Phoenix. And I was the membership chair and I did that for a few years and then I was asked to serve as our president. And so last year my position was incoming president and then this year president and then next year I'll be past president. But, you know, I think everybody's, you know, it can be kind of whatever you make it. And, you know, it is interesting because I do talk a lot to our board this year about, you know, we always in fundraising one of our greatest challenges is getting our board to be invested in what we're doing, right? So it's kind of the same thing. When you're on a board, we have to practice what we, what we're preaching. So yeah, we kind of do have to remind ourselves sometimes like, oh yeah, we want them to do that, you know, but board members to participate when we, for our jobs and we should be doing, you know, practicing the same thing in our board service. So luckily this year we have an amazing engaged board. We probably have one of the most diverse boards that we've ever had. Everybody's just super 100% all in and just really making things happen this year. We're really kind of have hit the ground running coming off of last year, which was unfortunately not the best year for anybody really. We did lose about 15% of our membership last year. And we feel that a lot of that has become, but it was, that's kind of nationwide what they're seeing for professional associations and especially within AFP. The first thing to go when budgets get cut is usually stuff like that, unfortunately. Well, yeah, because it's one of those things too. I would imagine that a lot of, pardon me, a lot of people felt like, you know, I can't, I'm not going to these meetings. I'm not physically, you know, getting the same value or I'm getting a different value. Yeah. Before I ask you the next question, are your terms always one year? They are, however, one of the things that we are trying to implement and talk to, when I asked everybody who's on the board this year to serve on the board, I kind of asked to, even though the term is one year, if they would commit to two, because it's so hard when you have a board and then everything changes the following year and you just have turnover and there's like kind of no continuity. So what we're trying to do now is when you serve as a chair of like a committee, that you agree to be the chair of the committee this year, then you would find your chair for the following year and serve with them on the committee for the next year so that they at least have some support and point of reference. Good. I think that's very smart. I really do. I think it also makes it easier to say yes, Tina. Yeah. Because you're not feeling like you're just inventing everything or trying to learn on the job. And then all of a sudden the term's up and it's like move on. So yeah, I think that's really smart. Good for you. You mentioned when we started that it really has impacted your career and this leadership has helped you in many ways. Could you kind of expand on that and share with us what that looks like? Sure, sure. Well, I just have to say the quality of people that I have met that are affiliated with AFP is, I mean, they're the best people, you know, and they're always, what I love about AFP is the people that I have met are not of the mindset of scarcity. They're always willing to share. They're always willing to tell you what they know and help you. You know, there's so, I'm just always amazed at the number of people that are willing to kind of, you know, have coffee with you, go to lunch, you know, have somebody to bounce stuff off of because, you know, when you're in a leadership role, especially at different organizations, sometimes, you know, it's lonely at the top when you really have people to bounce stuff off of. So I have found for myself is that I have a group of, you know, colleagues that we go to lunch on a regular basis and we talk and we share different ideas and, you know, what are you using for your database or, you know, just different things that we deal with in development. And, you know, it really has enriched my knowledge and built my confidence in, you know, how I can show up in my own roles. And so, you know, I just think that the members that are affiliated with AFP are wonderful. I think that by being affiliated with AFP, it kind of gives you a level of credibility when you, you know, add that to your resume. And when people see that you are, you know, a member or if you're on the board, I think that that, you know, people seem to really respond to that, especially if you're in a job search situation. It really has helped me. So let me ask you this. Do you feel like when you go to these meetings that there is that undercurrent of job, you know, search or people scoping out, wow, we need to add this? Or, you know, kind of like the recruitment process? Or do you feel that that's not really a part of it? You know, I think there is an element there. I mean, I have been to workshops where I've heard, you know, people talking to other people about positions. And we always do try to highlight, you know, openings of our different nonprofits in the valley. In fact, this year, we have surpassed all, like we have had so many posting, job postings this year through AFP that we've surpassed any other year that we've done job postings as far as like financially. So yeah, it's, I would say that it is really an opportunity for people that are either looking to fill a position or looking to maybe change a position. So I mean, I wouldn't say that that's the primary. No, no. But there is definitely opportunity there if that is something that people are interested in. Right. Okay, now let me go to the next level of that question. And that is, is there an undercurrent of trying to learn about somebody's donor portfolio or getting information about that? Like, how do you navigate that? Well, let's say you, Tina Lopez, you're the development director of a wonderful organization in our community called Duet. Everybody finds out that you scored a big time donor and donation, say legacy gift. What happens? I mean, are people asking you for information or how that went about? And what does that look like? You know, I not really, I mean, I have worked with colleagues before where if we want to maybe have a door opened for us and we know that this organization may have had a relationship with them to see if they'd be willing to do that. It is a little, you know, delicate, you know. Yeah, you have to walk that line carefully because, you know, you don't wanna breach confidentiality and you know, that kind of thing. But, you know, there is, there are people that do try to collaborate. And if there is a partnership that would make sense for, say, a foundation to know about a certain organization, I think, yes, that is definitely a possibility. I would say it's probably more the exception rather than the rule. But yeah, I mean, I definitely think that there could be opportunities to collaborate in certain situations. Now, I can see why you're the president because you answered that beautifully with a lot of applause and a very great, you're very gracious, so that's cool. I was just always, I'm curious about that because, you know, that is one of those things everybody knows when you achieve a big gift that goes through any community like wildfire and then everybody wants to know, well, how'd you do it? You know, what's the backstory and all that? Okay, I'm really interested in this aspect as well, which we've been kind of talking about, but challenges in leadership, as you are seeing them right now with your members, you've had such a bizarre time to lead this organization where you've had to go remote and you've had to just shift everything. Going forward, what do you see that this is going to look like? Are you gonna do hybrid or is everybody ready to go back to IRL and real life? What does that look like for you? So for the remainder of the year, we are going back, we're going fully in person and we're still kind of bouncing the idea around of having a virtual component depending on what it is. We haven't really fine tuned that yet, but definitely all the rest of our workshops for the rest of the year, we have two remaining like big workshops like lunch and workshops that we used to do that it will be held at the Hyatt Downtown one on August 4th and one on October 6th. So we will be in person. Our national philanthropy day luncheon will be in person. I think the challenge though, as far as leadership is concerned, I just think that honestly, I am concerned about the future of our leadership. I feel like a lot of people are leaving fundraising. There's a lot of burnout. I think after last year with the pandemic and people kind of doing a lot of self-reflecting and people kind of faced with their own potential mortality, people really just started looking at what was really important to them. And the trends are showing that a lot of people unfortunately are getting out of fundraising or even leaving like sectors entirely and doing what other things completely. So I am concerned about the future of our sector as far as like having leadership and quality leadership and bringing the next generation up and if that's what they want to do, but I just, there is kind of an undercurrent like rumblings that I'm hearing and like I've attended a couple of seminars where they're talking about this and it is concerning. Yeah, it's interesting. You know, it's fascinating because to hear you say that kind of gives me the chills because obviously we've been talking about that and hearing that too on the nonprofit show. I know Jarrett Ransom has been dealing with that with her clients. I'm hearing that with the people that I engage in and it is frightening because when things calm down for many sectors it was amped up for the nonprofit sector. You know, we saw our demands go up. And many times and many occasions our revenues go down but now as we're coming out of this recovery I'm just hearing this compassion fatigue, this exhaustion, not tremendous disenchantment but more just, I can't do this anymore. I'm exhausted, you know. And my whole thing is, is this a contemporary thing? Does a respite situation help? And I'm not talking like, you know, taking Fridays off. I'm talking about, you know, serious alignment to your home and time off and all that versus just leaving because I think the abandonment of our sector, you're right. It's gonna have huge, huge implications and it is a frightening thing to be witnessing and to be talking about. You know, we don't have much time left and as we are looking at exploring how leadership really can be developed and our sector can be encouraged. I want to talk a little bit more about the here and the now on how we can get involved. I mean, you mentioned that there are chapters everywhere. I had no idea we had three in our state. I had no idea. I mean, Florida has nine chapters. Yeah, I think they're bigger than us as far as like more. It's funny because back east too, they have a lot more involvement in AFP. I think out in the West it's a little different. Although I will say that the Orange County chapter is one that we do inquire a lot with because they really have done a great jobs with their chapter. But yeah, so as far as the chapters in the state, we do collaborate with them and work together. And we're actually talking about our conference next year. And so I've had some conference calls with both chapters. The Northern Arizona chapter, I will say is the smallest of the three. They only have, I think like 32 members. But, and then the Southern Arizona, there are very strong chapter as well. And the Tucson chapter is very strong. And both chapters have wonderful people to work with. But yeah, I mean, anybody can really get involved. And we are hoping that with the challenges that we're seeing in our sector, that we can add value and get people excited about what we're doing. Yeah, I think that's such a good point. I think it's like, this is something that we wanted to talk to you about because we do feel that if you are contemplating a change or navigating the sector, professional organizations can really help you with that and give you some ideas. I think also too, it gives you a freedom maybe to discuss something that you wouldn't discuss at the office. You can hear what other folks are going through in your community or your region. And I think that's always a positive thing. Whether it's new ways to tackle something at your job or specifically making a transition with the whole, career or location of where you're working. So I think that's really, really important. Now you would recommend that everybody go to the AFP Global website first to look at what's available in their community and then go from there. Absolutely, I think that the global is a good place to start so you can kind of see what is on there and what they offer. And then as far as our chapter website, it's kind of a weird, so our website is kind of integrated as part of the global website. So it's probably easier to be honest with you to just Google AFP Greater Arizona and it'll take you to the website rather than me reading it because it's a super long. Like it's community.afp.net.org forward slash AFP Greater Arizona chapter. Yeah, gotcha. I understand the problem here. Yeah, I think it's, to check out AFP Global, we have viewers from all over the world watching us. And so I think that's a really great opportunity to take a look at what's going on and maybe even look at, if you don't have an AFP chapter in your community or region, what it might take to get going. Do you have any idea how old the AFP chapter is in your community? Are the Greater Arizona chapter? I know that we've been around a while because if you go to our website, you can go back and see like all the national philanthropy days and I know it goes all the way back to the 80s. So I apologize, I do not know what our founding date is, but I do know it goes back several years. As far as joining to a side note, you do not have to live in the community of the chapter that you join. You can join multiple chapters. So I don't think, you'd have to look into this, but I don't think you have to pay, like once you join global, I think that you have the opportunity to join other chapters and I don't think you have to keep paying that full fee, but look into that. Right, but we have some members in our chapter that actually live in other cities in Arizona. They don't necessarily live in the valley. So you can join any chapter. I love it. Well, it has been wonderful to have you on today. Again, everybody, I'm Julia Patrick, CEO of the American Nonprofit Academy. Jared Ransom, the nonprofit nurse herself was ready to go sitting in front of her camera in her studio and her neighborhood lost power. We're having some storms here, really across the Southwest today. And so everybody is very happy because we're getting some rain, yay team, but that comes with some other issues. So we will be joined by Ms. Jared herself tomorrow. We wanna thank all of our presenting sponsors. Without you, we would not be here having this amazing discussion. Wow, Tina Lopez. Again, you are one of my favorites of all time in our sector. I wanna say personally that I've really been able to witness your growth and how you've really impacted our sector. And so I'm really proud to know, to say that you're doing great and that you have taken on this leadership position. Here's Tina's information. Check out AFP. It is a great organization whether you are an active fundraiser or not or you're just somebody that has a connection to the sector. I think it has a tremendous amount of value. And so you don't want to miss that opportunity, definitely. Hey, Tina, we end every day with our mantra to stay well so you can do well.