 and welcome. It's a fryer or if you want to call it, it's Friday want want, but I do like to celebrate every day. So if you join me on Mondays, I also say happy Monday, because I do think every day should be celebrated. Today, we are thrilled to have you back for another episode of the nonprofit show. And today, because it is fryer, it's an ask and answer dedicated episode thrilled to have the support of fundraising Academy at National University. And of course, LaShonda Williams joining us today. So LaShonda, I'm sorry, I thought we fixed your name here. LaShonda Williams, MPA CFRE trainer at Fundraising Academy. We are thrilled to have you here. Joining us back. You're not a new face, but you're also not an old face because I don't think there's there's much too old about you. You come with so much wisdom, so much insight into the sector. And before I, I move forward to thank our sponsors, I would love for you to share a little bit about yourself and your role at Fundraising Academy. Would you do that for us? Quickly, I'm super excited to be here once again with you, Jared. It's always a pleasure to join everyone in this virtual space and share some expertise. I've been with the fundraising Academy as a trainer this month marks exactly one year. So we have done some phenomenal things over the year, provided a plethora of training for individuals who are in the philanthropic sector and or considering the philanthropic sector on a variety of topics ranging from ethics to managing your boards, all into digital platforms, multi-channel communication, all the things that help our organization have the essentials they need to not only exist, but to thrive throughout the lifeline or the of the institutional organization. My role has been very pivotal or intricate intricately involved in a lot of the the training modules and creating them as well as most recently with Cultivate. What an honor and a privilege to be a part of such a dynamic team that was able to put on a phenomenal conference back on June 1st in San Diego, sunny San Diego. We had lots of positive feedback and we're definitely looking forward to doing it again next year. So that's just a little bit about me, but let's dive into what these nonprofit leaders want to know. Thank you, LaShonda. I so appreciate that. And because I'm working from home a lot more these days, I get to have the daytime television in the background. And if we were on Kelly Clarkson, she'd be like, right? She does that like fireworks celebration. So congratulations for one year. Really excited. Also, thank you to our amazing presenting sponsors that keep us going and growing. So a huge shout out to our friends at Bloomerang, American nonprofit Academy, fundraising Academy at National University, nonprofit thought leader, your part time controller, staffing boutique, nonprofit nerd, as well as nonprofit tech talk. Thank you so much, Julie and I are so extremely grateful for your continued support. If you heard earlier, we are past 850 episodes. Again, thank you to these sponsors marching towards 900. That's 900. And you can find all of our previous episodes. You can download the app and find it, you know, just right there on your smartphone. You can still find us on streaming broadcast platforms, as well as podcast platforms. So go ahead and binge watch or listen, whatever you choose to do. No judgment. We would love to have your support. Okay, LaShonda, you're ready. You're you like warmed up, right? You know how this works. So for viewers and listeners, this might be your first time. But we save your questions that come to us on many different platforms, whether it's social media, email or sometimes during our live conversation. We save them for our dedicated Ask and Answer episodes. Again, thank you to Fundraising Padmint National University and to the representatives, the trainers like you, LaShonda, that bring your wisdom to these questions. So we're going to start with the first one. Dominic Tampa, Florida wants to know, I watched some of the episodes about cause selling. First of all, thank you, Dominic. I'm glad to hear that you have. And I'm wondering if it is a mistake to bring a member of our team from programming to meet with our donors. He is wonderful, but he's not a fundraiser, nor is he trained in cause selling. What do you recommend? Great question. Excellent question. And Dominic, thank you again for making sure that you tune in and you're checking out all of our cause selling module options on the portal with the Fundraising Academy. One of the things that we often talk about is the effectiveness of peer to peer fundraising. And depending on your donor and how you've cultivated that relationship, that will give you some insight as to who you may want to bring to the table when you prepare for the Ask. You can never go wrong when inviting someone from programming, specifically if you are seeking funding in that particular area of programming, because they will have expertise and be able to answer questions that you may not know. So granted, the individual may not be a fundraiser. However, he or she can bring some very essential resources to the meeting. And, you know, you may want to give the individual a little bit of background on what it is that you have been sharing with the donor and what the overarching goal may be and what his or her role will be within that conversation. And in order to make yourself a little more comfortable, as well as your colleague, you may want to kind of rehearse some of the conversational pieces or the points of discussion so that both of you are prepared and you both feel very comfortable. But you definitely can bring in someone from programming whenever you are preparing for the Ask because they have that essential knowledge and they can provide stories that you may not be able to tell, you know, in terms of impact and the intricate details that make a big difference. A part of fundraising is not only building a solid case for support, but also demonstrating the impact that your organization has had on the individuals that are related to your cause. So bring your program person on. Yeah, bring them along. Dominic, I'd love to add also that when I was working full time as an employee in the development space, right, I would often have program staff, board members, you know, even the participants of the program themselves, if appropriate, right, to come in and share their personal experience. So I love your insight to this, LaShonda, and I also love the preparation, right? Like so much goes into the preparation before you make that presentation, you know, like really having a full holistic concept and everyone understands previous conversations, you know, what's been talked about? What are some of the highlights that we certainly want to talk on, you know, talk to and about with this donor. So great insight LaShonda and Herve Ball. Have you ever brought like a client, a participant with you to a conversation like this? Absolutely. And it proves me very effective. I can think of several instances in which I've engaged, not only individuals who are part of programming, but also as you mentioned earlier beneficiaries, my area of greatest experience has been in higher education and being able to, from a stewardship perspective, connect those donors with some of their, their recipients of scholarships and endowments has been especially meaningful. In fact, when creating those intimate spaces for them to engage with the donor has led to not only successful stewardship, but also subsequent investment because once the donors are able to identify specific things individuals that have really been impacted, it creates that heightened sense of the joy of giving. And it also leads to their desire to want to strengthen the relationship and continue forward because our role as development professionals is to share the joy of giving and we can do that by sharing directly how that impact is being made on a day to day basis. Yeah, thank you for elaborating and hitting that curve ball out of the park. So great job. Okay, good luck Dominic. We're going to move to Sheila in Boston. Sheila writes in, we have board members suggesting that we contact specific businesses to get them to cover the cost that we have monthly. For example, our utilities, they seem to think that this would work. I can't find anyone else doing this type of ask. And I don't see how it would even work. Take it away, LaShonda. What do you have? Sheila in Boston, Massachusetts, what a very interesting cause to suggest support for. So there are a variety of different ways that come to mind that you may want to consider. And I think in this particular instance, it depends on the funding of your organization and or your revenue streams. So from what you're describing, it sounds like you all are in need of operational funds and that's unrestricted gifts. So one suggestion recommendation as an alternative would be to have a campaign specifically for operational expenses and or those unrestricted dollars, which will help create the opportunity to offset any deficiencies that you may have as it relates to utilities. If your board is very consistent and persistent with identifying sponsors for said utilities, work with your development team along with your board and let's identify, you know, who would some of those prime companies be that already are invested within your organization that may be interested in helping from from an operational perspective. You may want to approach it as an ask as just an unrestricted gift or another option could be a sponsorship. So developing sponsorship packages where there's opportunities for those companies who are supporting you specifically for those said utilities to receive various types of recognitions. But it's really going to be up to you all in how the org and structure is. But I would definitely recommend some form of a campaign for unrestricted gifts. And rather than asking for, you know, sponsor my organization's electric bill for January or February, I would look more so into just holistic sponsorship and having it be unrestricted sponsorship along with some benefits and some various levels for recognition and mic drop. Now, I agree. And I like to add to this. LaShonda, I always say cash and is king, but really unrestricted cash is king, right? The more unrestricted funds we have Sheila, the best and and I have seen something perhaps similar to what your board members are suggesting when it came to a paddle raise at a gala. Now, this was a smaller organization, right? And they literally when they did the fund in need or the paddle raise, whatever you might call it during that time, you know, they would say it costs, let's say $1,000 for easy math for our office rent every month, right? Like who will support one month of office rent, right? That that ask in and of itself granted at a gala during a paddle raise with already committed individuals, they were able to secure, I want to say 16 months, right? Oh, wow. Again, it was restricted, right? So dedicated only to rent for that time. That is the only time I personally in my 20 plus years have seen this happen. And dare I say, successful, right? But I love your answer, LaShonda. That's typically what I advise and coach on as well is let's really look at the operating cost, right? How can we share this in a transform transformational thank you. Yeah, yeah, transparency, transformational, you know, manner to say, look, here's all the cost because it does take overhead operating to fulfill your mission, right? And so sharing that, I think, you know, in a sense is what LaShonda was sharing much more succinctly that I can get out of my mouth this Friday morning. I love it. So, Sheila, we hope we've given you some insight to this and gives you something to take back in an educated manner to your board to see what might be successful. I would love to hear. Right. Definitely, Sheila, follow up with us. We want to know what happens next. Yeah. Come back and spill the tea. OK, name withheld Salt Lake City. Are you hearing of anyone taking time for sabbaticals? I honestly feel that I am burned out and yet I don't want to leave my organization. I work in programming and I need a break, but I want to be strategic and whatever I do, I want to return stronger and healthier. First of all, big hugs, right? Yes, definitely. I feel you all that all of that. LaShonda, what are you seeing in this arena? Is it really? So I've seen a variety of different things, you know, seems like post COVID everyone has really had a hat and sense of self care, which is very important because you can only be as effective with your organization or to your organization as you are health wise. And so it's important that first and foremost that you have acknowledged the fact that you're approaching burnout and you don't want to get to that stage because then it's not a good environment for you, nor is it a good environment for your employer. So what I would recommend and it depends on the office infrastructure is first evaluating what that work schedule looks like. Perhaps there may be some flexibility with remote days as opposed to coming in. You know, the new the new norm is hybrid approaches. However, if you really want to just simply take a step back, you know, transparency is key, as we just mentioned a few moments ago with Sheila. And I would say have an honest conversation with your immediate supervisor and share some of your concerns and most importantly, effectively convey that you are committed to the mission and you want to appear as your best authentic self in every way and every day. And that may require that you may need a little more time than your vacation pool currently is comprised of. And I'm positive if you are genuinely expressing yourself in a manner that is compelling because we provide cases for support as development professionals for our organization, but sometimes we fall short when it comes to ourselves. So put together your great case for support. Speak with your supervisor and the environment that we're in right now does support mental, personal, spiritual health, and it is a priority. So be very candid, be very transparent and most importantly, also be open and perhaps recommend some transitions while you're out in some mechanisms in place so that your employer is comfortable that nothing will fall through the cracks. Yeah, great response, LaShonda. Thank you for elevating so much of this, you know, really to the forefront. What I would like to add name withheld is I know here in my community, we have a funder that funds sabbaticals and it is fantastic. So first, you know, I would recommend to do a search with your funders in your community Salt Lake City, see if there's any funders that do provide sabbatical support. And of course, there's, you know, requirements within that sabbatical to meet, you know, to meet the overview of what they're providing. So I love that. But what I want to take, you know, a focus on right now is your immediate health, right? Are there boundaries can set into place right now? As LaShonda said, you know, a hybrid, you know, option, maybe, you know, you work four days a week, you take one day off, maybe you set times where you check your email because I know for me, that's like playing a game of dodgeball 24 seven, you know, and I'm just like moving that ball, trying not to get hit in the head. So there's so many ways. I'm going to give a shout out to a professional colleague, Miko Whitlock, who is with Mindful Techie. I think that's the company name. I'm sorry if I didn't get that right. But he is a phenomenal professional who has experienced burnout himself and then therefore has shared this in a way to really, you know, help other professionals put these boundaries and and help safety nuts in place. So shout out to you, Miko. Love what you're doing. And if this can help you and any of you watching and listening, you know, again, look into the sabbatical and immediately right now, look into what you can do today, tomorrow, next week to start changing this so that it doesn't continue and perpetuates more. So the other thing I'll add, LaShonda, is this person is probably not the only one on the team feeling that, right? So I do. Exactly. Speaking up and sharing that might also, again, elevate this to the forefront for the entire culture of the organization. So we're with you. Absolutely. Yeah. And take care of yourself. First and foremost, absolutely. OK, I'm going to go with Jose and I hope that's properly pronounced. San Antonio, Texas. We are looking at developing a personal development budget for our team. Perhaps a sabbatical. I mean, may we suggest that on the previous one? OK, should we determine this cost on a per person basis? Perhaps we let each staff person do their own thing or make it a group charge. In essence, our training would impact everyone at the same time with the same topic. LaShonda, what are you seeing? There are a variety of different ways to tackle this. First, it's wonderful, Jose, that your organization is dedicating time for professional personal development and having a budget for that. I would say what I've seen before with consistency is having whatever that or that organizational budget is, hypothetically, for the sake of round numbers and easiness, that budget is ten thousand dollars and you have ten employees and each employee would have a thousand dollars. But with that in mind, in order to ensure the effectiveness and achieve the overarching goal, which is to be stronger, to be better, I would recommend adding a mechanism in there that when individuals are submitting their request that they're providing a little bit of insight about what it is specifically that they're doing, how the purpose and the benefit and be prepared to share, you know, when they get back. So that's just my take on that. Sharing is really important. Cross training of any sort can be beneficial to your organization long term for sustainability. And also it helps with building teams and developing support systems and mechanisms in place to create an opportunity for, you know, really authentic, transparent communication and cross training experiences are very important as well as in organizations. Yeah, again, Mike drop, love it, you know, great insight here. What I will add to I often see see personal and professional in my own life overlap, right? And so I don't think you can go wrong with either. And I'm a huge advocate for all of those things, right? I actually have a client that I'm working with and every quarter, LaShonda, I just love this. She brings it like she makes it a self care day. And so upcoming, she's got, you know, a massage therapist coming in with the massage chairs. They're doing a deep clean because, you know, clutter and organization is also. Yes. So really looking at this in a lot of different ways, personal. I'm also moving into professional. There's so many great opportunities out there. The nonprofit show, right? The portal of fundraising academy at National University. You can get a lot of insight from that as well. A lot of your foundation like community foundations, maybe your alliance of nonprofits, look into these organizations because there's some great, gosh, information. There's some great opportunities. And again, right? The way of the world right now is hybrid. So some of it might not be in person. It could be right here, Brady Bunch style, right? In our in our little square. So I also, you know, echo LaShonda's kudos to you because I do think that looking into developing a personal development budget is important. So whether you let each staff person choose or you do it as a big group, I don't think you can go wrong. I'm also a big proponent for like asking your team, right? Like, what is it that they want because you want them to get the most out of it as possible? Big curveball again, LaShonda, you ready for it? I am ready, batter up. OK, when was your last personal development and what did you do? Let's see. Do you feel like you're 17 magazine and you're like. Whoa, that is a good one. Let's see, I'm going to have to take a moment to think about what was my last I read something recently. It's been so I'm going to sound kind of like I need to have my nerd glasses on, so literally just push them up. You already got them on, right? The last thing I read it, it was, you know, leisure, but I decided to do it for me, and that was the latest edition of Achieving Excellence in Fundraising. So now you're making me think I need a little more. Well, you've got a trip coming up, you shared with me. And again, because for me, my lines are blurred, personal, professional, right? Exactly. Yeah, really looking at that. I'm going to turn it on myself and I'm going to share. So I did schedule a spa day with some girlfriends that are, you know, in my community, professional employees doing amazing work. And I just said, hey, I know I need some connection, right? Maybe due to could we get together, play hooky, use this creative space to really nurture ourselves or, you know, our souls or minds or creative energy. So, Jose, that's what I'm looking at for me. Again, it goes, you know, from LaShonda's answer to my answer, it shows that your staff members might also have different answers of what they choose to do. And, you know, I'm jealous because, Jared, I've been trying to get my sorority sister together to do a paint show, you know, a paint lesson and we were supposed to do it last weekend, but I could not coordinate. So kudos to you to making that magic happen because I was looking forward to a little Pinot's palette. But yeah, I'm still waiting. Well, I hope you get it and you're welcome to join us for the spa day. Absolutely. I would love to have you join us. And I count me in and I'll definitely see you in September. Yes. Yes. Well, thank you. LaShonda Williams, MPA, CFRE, trainer at Fundraising Academy within National University. So glad you're here for today's conversation. Again, Afriye, ask and answer episode. These were good questions. Would you agree? They were great questions. And I'm hoping that the responses that we've given will help them with elevating their organization and being, you know, more successful in all that they do in providing balance, as well as, you know, securing philanthropic gifts to elevate their cause. So we're very excited to be a part of the conversation. Yeah. Thank you. And if you have a question that you want to send into us, please do. We would love to get you and your question on in a future episode. Again, gratitude to our amazing presenting sponsors that allow us these friyes to answer your questions. So thank you to Bloomerang American Nonprofit Academy, your part-time controller, nonprofit thought leader, Fundraising Academy at National University. Snaps to you, LaShonda. Appreciate you joining. Also to Stapping Boutique, nonprofit nerd as well as nonprofit Tech Talk. So grateful to have your support. So grateful to have your investment, not just here on the show, but literally the community at large. It's been an amazing conversation. And as we move into the weekend, LaShonda, what do you have planned this weekend? Anything really? So this weekend, I'll probably do brunch with my mom in church on Sunday, and those will be the highlights. Nice. It will be a very relaxing weekend. I love those just kind of go with the flow weekends. Yeah. So for me, I'm going to turn the tables as well, right? So Julie and I don't get together often in person. We live in the same community. We are having brunch, and I'm really looking forward to seeing her in her favorite IRL in real life, excited to catch up with her. And then I'm attending a graduation, a personal development graduation, mind you, on Sunday. And so really excited to support my friend that has dedicated his weekend to this. So I hope that all of you that have joined us today really have enjoyed today's answers, the questions. Again, if you have any questions, send them in every Friday. Friday is our Ask and Answer episode. And we will always have a representative from Fundraising Academy at National University. It might be LaShonda, it might be Hana, it might be Muhe, it might be someone else, but I guarantee you they're bringing their all every Friday. LaShonda, it's been a pleasure. We got kudos from someone we both know. So thank you for letting us know that we are rock stars. We saw that and we appreciate you as we end every episode. We want to remind you, all of our viewers and our listeners across the world, to please stay well so you can do well. Thanks, LaShonda. Thank you, Jared. See you next time. Bye bye. Bye bye.