 Welcome to the non-profit show. You know, this is one of my favorite days, but it is Friday, or as I refer to it, Friday. And it's one of my favorite days because we reserve this day every week for Ask and Answer. So we're really honored to have the ongoing support from Fundraising Academy at National University that joins us each and every Friday in this Ask and Answer episode. So thank you to Fundraising Academy and your support in this. Also just want to remind all of you, if we haven't met yet, I'm Jarrett Ransom, your non-profit nerd and CEO of the Raven Group. And we may have Muhy Kwaja joining us a little bit later today. Muhy is a trainer at Fundraising Academy. We are often joined with a Fundraising Academy representative, a trainer there. So hopefully Muhy will join. Sometimes we have a little bit of technical difficulties, but again, glad that all of you are here to join us today for this Ask and Answer episode. 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They're here to help you do more good in around and throughout your community. So no matter where you are, they're here to help and support you. If you missed any of our episodes or you wanna go back and listen to a question that I'm going to read aloud and answer for you today on our Ask and Answer episode, we've got you covered. So you can still find us on all of these amazing platforms. And in just several hours after this live conversation, this episode and this conversation will be uploaded into the platforms later on today. So check us out. If you're watching, you can go ahead and take that smartphone and scan the QR, grab the app on your smartphone, go ahead and download that. I love it because it will let you know it does that push notification and it lets you know that today's episode or whatever day episode has been added to the archive. You can still find us on the streaming broadcast as well as podcast platforms, which I've been listening to more and more of the podcast platform. So go ahead and check us out there as well. We will continue to upload our episodes on these platforms and you'll find them as you listen. So thank you for that. Okay, how Ask and Answer works? It's again, one of my favorite days and I know it's one of Julia's too. So we read the question aloud and then we answer the question. And then I'll also encourage any of you watching and joining me today for this live conversation. If you have a question that you would like to ask me in regards to the nonprofit sector, go ahead and utilize the Q&A at the bottom of the screen. You can send in a question live and I will go ahead and take a look at that and do my best to answer it on the fly. So we're gonna get started. This one's coming to us from Nashville, Tennessee, which I was there not too long ago. Thank you to the Raise One Cause conference that was held there in Nashville. So this one is a name withheld. I am a CEO and it seems that our board is applying so much pressure on our development director that I am afraid she's going to quit. Any strategies on how to keep the peace and build a stronger relationship so we don't burn through our talent. Well, name withheld in Nashville. I wanna say thank you for this question. There's no right size answer but one of the things that I really would like to elevate as I respond to this question is the pressure that your development director is receiving from the board. So if this is coming to them through a committee conversation, maybe there's a way that someone can serve as a buffer. If the board is directly guiding, if you will, that development director, I highly encourage you to step in and make sure that the board member knows that the development director truly reports to the executive director, perhaps that's yourself, the CEO, or if there's like a chief development person. So really make sure that you can collect some sense of like a boundary there. But what I also really encourage you to do is to take a look at your strategic plan. Cloud is your development plan, roll into your strategic plan and what of those elements can you share with that board member? Because chances are the board member has all best intentions in mind, right? They truly are there to be of service and to help. And maybe they are unaware or unfamiliar of what the goals are for the strategic plan of the organization and even more so into that development plan. I've served in this role many times. I've experienced this many times. So it's a very valid question. It is definitely something that happens quite often in our industry. And again, really leaning into it in a space of, I'm sure that the board member has all best intentions in mind and how might we educate them and inform them of the current goals of the development director of their team, what they're working on and perhaps how that board member and all of the board members can help to support the plan as it's created currently. I think that's a really good opportunity to move forward. Another thing I would recommend is, take these suggestions from the board member. Hopefully they're providing suggestions and not just pressure and ask how that might be worked into next year's plan, right? So we don't wanna completely stifle the creativity the passion, the energy from that board member but let's truly honor the plan we have now and then let's see how their suggestions will work into a plan to move forward into the next year. So name with held Nashville, Tennessee. I hope that helps you and I hope that helps your development director. Burnout is real and so I really do think making sure that you create some boundaries would be helpful and probably much appreciated. All right, our second question we're moving into Saul in Tampa, Florida. And Saul sends us a question that I think is fascinating because just this week we had Eric Ressler on and Eric shared branding information. So you might wanna go back and listen to yesterday's episode with Eric but Saul wants to know we need to refresh our brand. How would we go about finding an advertising agency or a marketing firm that would take us on pro bono and is this even an option? So great questions Saul, a couple of things here. One, you've probably heard this before but you get what you pay for and so I'm sharing that only in the essence of be mindful of people's time, their skill set, their expertise. This is very much something that you would want to put a budget around. It doesn't have to be a very large grandiose budget although it might require that, right? Where we're talking 40, 45,000, maybe 50,000 and upward to do a brand strategy and all of the elements that it goes into the branding. But if you're starting out because I'm not quite sure Saul where you are in your organization if you're starting out from a grassroots organization maybe you just filed your 501C3 which if you did, congratulations. But perhaps you're looking for your first logo or perhaps you're looking for the colors you want to use, the tone, the voice that you want to use in your branding. This might be a great opportunity to seek a community pro bono event. There's a lot of organizations and even some co-working spaces. Perhaps you have this in your Florida community Saul but there's some co-working spaces that will lean into the expertise of the community leaders and champions. You might be one of the lucky organizations to find this opportunity where there are pro bono services being offered. So I know I started off saying be careful what you pay for, right? Because you get what you pay for. But there really are events that are coordinated for this effort. I've seen this when it comes to creating a brand and the logo, I've also seen it when it looks at building a website. And so, you know, a more grander project if you will. So you might want to check into your local communities and see if there's any type of an event like this. Sometimes they're called hackathons, which is, you know, which is fine. But again, it's just experts in different areas that galvanize their support, their energy, their effort together to serve the nonprofit community or even, you know, startup community. So you might be one of those lucky organizations. And again, branding can take on so many different forms, so many different levels. What our guests yesterday also shared is that the brand is, you know, it's not a set it and forget it. So when you are looking at this refresh as you are, you know, you might really want to take a look to say, okay, what are the previous evolutions that we've gone? And then where is our long-term that we want to go? So I would highly recommend that you talk to several branding agencies or advertising agencies, get, you know, really a full scope of work from them as well as the budget. Because I do think that this is something you will want to put some dollars towards. And from there, you can decide, you know, what fits your budget? Are you looking for full pro bono? Or maybe the agencies that you talk to, Saul, are willing to do partial pro bono, right? So there's a lot of conversations that can be had there, but wish you all the best and would love to see what happens with you. Would love to see that brand refresh. So, all right. Moving over to Dayton, Ohio, Marion wants to know, we're considering a board liaison for our nonprofit. However, who's the best person for this job? Is this ever a board member or is it always a member of the nonprofit's team? I've heard that it is often the CEO's executive assistant. Marion, spot on. I have also seen it predominantly in that executive assistant space. And so that individual is often managing the CEO's schedule and therefore the board's responsibilities, their accountability efforts, schedules, things like that. So I do often see that board liaison also in that executive assistant space. I've not personally seen it from another board member. I think the board chair takes on a lot of that responsibility and even perhaps a vice chair if you have that role within your leadership of your board as well. I've also seen a third party person come in and serve as the board liaison. So this is someone that has been hired. They've been recruited and secured, truly to serve as that board liaison. They help to run the meeting, they take the minutes, they make sure that the documents are captured and sent out to the board as required and as appropriate per the conversation. So those are the two areas where I have really seen this, Marion. So again, definitely that executive assistant, as you mentioned, but then also a third party person. And this could be someone that's a 1099 contract employee, someone that really understands how an organization works and functions, how a nonprofit board meeting works and functions has that time and the diplomacy. I think that's a big characteristic for this role has the diplomacy to really serve in those areas. So I hope that's helpful. I love hearing organizations take on board liaisons. It's one of Julia's favorite conversations. So she has been privy to serving on boards that do have or have had board liaisons, Marion. So she's got some great insight there. I hope that I'm channeling some of what Julia would have said. I myself, Marion, have not been in an organization that has had a board liaison, a true dedicated one. However, that executive assistant, again, often serves in that role. So although it might not have been named that per se, we might have truly have experienced that as part of kind of what was happening and what was going on. Welcome to Muhy, who is joining us, Muhy Kwaja. So glad to have you here, Muhy. We are rocking and rolling in our questions, but I would love to get your vision on this, your perspective, Muhy, because I know you've served with other organizations, you've managed board meetings before. So we have a guest and Marion, and our sorry, our guest Marion in Dayton, Ohio wanted to know if about board liaisons. So they're considering a board liaison for their nonprofit, but they're not sure the best person to serve in this function. So have you seen the board member serve as a board liaison, Muhy, or is it always a member of the team per se? And then Marion also goes on to say that we've heard often it's the CEO's executive assistant that serves as a board liaison. What's your perspective on this, Muhy? I feel like I need to quote Julia because I feel like she loves this question and she gets it a lot, right? I feel like it's coming to full. Yeah. So in my perspective, I definitely think that it's helpful that there is a board liaison. The executive director, I think CEO is primarily the main point of contact. However, if there needs to be a staff person that's assisting in the process, whether it's in development or the assistant to the CEO or executive director, I think that's fair, but the board liaison could also be like the secretary of the board that they're playing an additional role to communicate with the staff. So I've seen it play out a few different ways, but I think that there's nothing wrong with encouraging boards to be more active. I know that's been a challenge at a lot of nonprofits that they're not as coordinated. They're busy with their own lives and other commitments, but they love the organization and are sitting on the board and just need a little extra coordination. Yeah. Yeah, I've seen this too. And I was sharing as well. I hope I was channeling Julia properly because she loves board liaisons. And I was sharing that I've really not seen this in its full built out kind of experiment. And I've seen it as you were sharing, it could be the secretary, it could be another board member kind of serving in that role but not in a technical board liaison title, so to speak. So I appreciate your perspective on that. I'm curious how often you see this really utilized, Muhy, because again, from my experience, I don't see a lot of board liaisons. What do you see? Yeah, I don't think it's as common. And for the organizations that are maybe struggling with their board, I think it's worth trying to see if it makes it any better. But in my experience, it's mainly been the executive director. And maybe in an unofficial way, their assistant is helping out significantly. But I haven't seen it as a formal position. Yeah, okay. Well, I appreciate that so much, absolutely. All right, well, as we move forward, this one is for you, Muhy. So right on cue, my friend. Carrie in Boise, Idaho, watched two of the drill down series where you mentioned the lie button, the spy button. Can you please review these concepts again and explain how we need to look at these data points? Definitely. So last year, but unfortunately not this and some year, but unfortunately not this. This is talking about donors in your portfolio, in your CRM. You can create this report to see who has given previously, but not this calendar year. And it's a really critical data point because you wanna focus on retention. It's easier to get a previous donor to give again than it is to acquire a new donor. So these are the reasons why you wanna be looking at lie button, spy button, and you can develop certain cultivation strategies and stewardship strategies based on lapsed donors. So I would encourage when major gift officers are creating their portfolios to look back five years, even longer if you have the data to see who are people who gave significantly, try to figure out what inspired those gifts. When we were at the Red Cross, it was very disaster focused, an earthquake hit somewhere internationally and somebody gave because they once vacationed there and felt in ship to that land or there was a hurricane that went through the Gulf Coast in the US and people were supporting the recovery efforts. But you wanna look into how can you then convert disaster donors into annual donors because disasters have been all the time. So that was a strategy in play at the Red Cross, but I'm sure there are similar parallels to organizations that you may be at carry. Yeah. I'm curious, Moohi, I also love the lie button, the side button reports. How often do you visit them? Because I definitely mention it's a great time to look at it for fourth quarter, right? Like who are the individuals that gave last year or some year, but haven't yet given this. Do you also look at those reports quarterly to see, okay, if someone gave in February or March, we really don't wanna wait till Q4. We wanna contact them truly at that year lapse which really would have been in a February, March, Q1. So are you pulling these data points up often or like how often do you refer to them? Yeah, of course. So I definitely love looking at it in Q3 of each year just to make sure that year end giving is captured and whether they gave in February or December, making sure you get that commitment again. I do like looking at it at the top of the year as well because then you get that holistic calendar look like you're talking about. But me personally, I pay more attention to it at the end of the year, just because my own capacity at my own organization, one person development team, right? So if I had more capacity, that would definitely be part of the strategy to be looking at it more often. But where I'm focused is making sure that squeezing every opportunity for people to give in the last part of the year. Yeah, I appreciate that. Another question I wanna ask you, Mouhi, is I really appreciate that one person development team. I'm very familiar with that as well, right? That is a real thing for many of us in the sector. How have you tapped into board members or have you to also utilize their time and talent in capturing these gifts from a Leibnz or a Leibnz report? Let's say you pull the list and you're like, wow, there's 150 people and I didn't expect that. Calculating how many of these can I call in a day before the end of the year? Have you leveraged your board members? And if so, how? 100%, I have even created portfolios for my board members saying- Fantastic. For this person personally, or they live in your vicinity, reach out to that, right? And created board portfolios. Some had 10 people, other had 30 to 50 people. So it was more so their way of sending out thank yous, making sure that those people considered making a gift in subsequent years and just building a stronger connection. So many people at American Muslim Community Foundation, maybe they gave on a crowdfunding campaign or they were connected to me personally or another co-founder. But as board members, we wanted them to get in the habit of thanking our donors, reaching out to our donors and just sharing more about our programs and services throughout the year, touching base in Ramadan at the end of the year and just to be a stronger point of connection for our supporters. I think that's fantastic. And I really appreciate hearing you say, you've even made portfolios for your board members to help manage some of these relationships. So I think that's really important. I had a wonderful conversation yesterday with an organization's board member that had been tasked to make some follow-up phone calls. They had pulled a new donors in the last 90 days and the organization was struggling making phone calls to all of these individuals. And I said, well, how about asking some of your board members to do this, right? And one of the board members that did say yes and made some phone calls, she absolutely loved it. She said it was so refreshing to talk to the donors, to hear their story about how they were connected to the organization or to the founder. And so again, just to elevate that board member's experience, I think that goes a long way for both the supporter who's hearing from the board member but the board member who gets to talk directly with that supporter. So I just think it's a win-win. We'd love to see and hear more of that. Definitely. Yeah. All right. Well, I'm glad you could answer this question, the lie-bunt, side-bunt question for Carrie. Again, Carrie, it's also one of my favorites. So it provides, this data point provides a lot of information for you to really move forward in your fundraising goals. So have fun with this report. Again, I mean, it's just, it's probably one of the reports that's bookmarked in any of my donor databases because it's one that I pull regularly. And in fact, Carrie, some of them will actually be a template for you in your donor database and you don't have to do much of the creation of the report. You simply say, pull the lie-bunt report and voila, there it is. So, Muhi Kwaja, so glad to see you this fry yay. Muhi serves as a trainer at Fundraising Academy and also co-founder of American Muslim Community Foundation. You have a lot going on right now, Muhi. I absolutely love watching your social media, your LinkedIn, and also I think in December, we have you back talking specifically about the donor advice funds that you have helped to create at American Muslim Community Foundation. So thank you as always for being here, being of service and sharing your skillset and your expertise in our fry yay ask and answer. Always glad to have a representative from Fundraising Academy at National University joining us for these days. You know, we still say Friday is our favorite day asking these questions, answering these questions. So we also have some favorite partners. So I wanna say thank you to our presenting sponsors that allow us these opportunities. So thank you so very much to Bloomerang American Nonprofit Academy, Fundraising Academy at National University. Again, where my friend Muhi joins us from. Also thank you to Nonprofit Thought Leader, your part-time controller, Staffing Boutique, Nonprofit Nerd as well as Nonprofit Tech Talks. These companies, they are here for you and your mission to help you elevate your mission around your community. Please do check them out. They're phenomenal partners. They believe in you. They're on your team. And as we wrap up another fry yay Muhi, we end every episode with the same mantra and we encourage all of us to reap the benefits of this, but we encourage you to stay well so you can do well. Thanks for joining me and I'll see everybody back here next week. Have a great weekend.