 Welcome everybody to another episode of the nonprofit show, you know a lot of times and this is not really planned Is it dear? It's just kind of funny how the two of us work together. You lead us in, right? I know, right and so today I'm letting you relax I'm leading in because you are in the hot seat my friend Take a cocktail well don't drink before we start talking asking you questions because you know This is serious stuff today. We're doing a masterclass and we're calling it funding at a glance This is a really interesting thing that Jared talks about she lectures about she works with clients on and I'm really thrilled to get her Intelligence and grace with us today again I'm Julia Patrick CEO of the American Nonprofit Academy and today our guest in my co-host the brilliant mind Jared our ransom nonprofit nerd and CEO of the Raven group. We would not be here Jared knife We didn't have these amazing partners and they include Bloomerang American nonprofit Academy your part-time controller nonprofit thought leader Fundraising Academy at National University staffing boutique nonprofit nerd the nonprofit nerd herself and nonprofit tech talk you can find nearly a thousand episodes of The nonprofit show on streaming Podcasts and then our app it's a lot a lot of information and you know in nearly 1,000 episodes, you know, we get to hear from the two of us rarely in this Context is a masterclass and so this is really a nice thing for us for me personally because we don't often just get to talk with one another for this entire time so Jared our ransom nonprofit nerd CEO the Raven group I personally think she's like one of the great minds of the nonprofit sector Across this nation and so to get her to work with me every day in this capacity is Remarkable we are very different. We have a 20 year time span of difference and yet We're very similar. Don't you think you're it's kind of a funky thing very different. But yeah, very Yeah, our passion is similar our commitment is similar The way we might go about certain solutions might be slightly so different I still think they're they're on a parallel track, but it might be you know kind of just right next door to the other So it's really fascinating and I think that's really a testament truly Julia There's so many amazing leaders that have served in our sector of all different generations for You know every single day, so yeah, it takes all of us It really does take all of us to to pour our hearts into this sector You know and I love the way you phrase that because one of the things that we talk a lot about is diversity of thought action indeed and so You know to everybody rowing in the same direction But they need to be using different tools. They can't all have the same oars in many ways, right? And so that's what I love about this And it's really cool to be a part of you the only thing I don't like is it in recently in this last year We've started to dress alike Well, you know when you start spending so much time with someone that's what happens Apparently that also happens for animals and their dogs, so I don't think that we're quite at that level, but we're doing a great job Well, yeah, that's like when I have to like retire for permanently Okay, now you are a fundraising guru you work with a lot of organizations you coach organizations and individuals and You know, this is like the end of the year where I feel Jared a lot of folks are like, holy crap. We had a goal Are we gonna make it? Yes, you know, they don't know until like the end of the year or the quarter Maybe if they're lucky if they're super lucky the month and so I think what you're here to talk to us about is Understanding where we are at any point in time and how that can help us navigate Where we need to be where we want to be and you start off by talking to us about Figuring out what it is we need to know So it's not as simple as just saying you met your goal or you didn't is that where you're going with this? There's so many data points on this and I love that our guest yesterday Crystal cherry mentioned You know board members are allergic to fundraising and I just thought that was so funny And she's right a lot of people are allergic to fundraising and so when it comes to what we need to know when it You know for our revenue goals. There's so many pieces that come come together So here we're going to talk about your CRM data so that your donor database your year-over-year data And what is all of the data we're pulling to build a plan that we can continue to work Julia? I just had this conversation Ironically with bloom ring. They asked me to come on and do a Hour long webinar. So I did that you can you can find that webinar online So this is kind of scratching the surface to that full hour But then also I talked to an organization here in our community Julia that in the fourth quarter is Transitioning their donor database and they were a little worried about should this be the time that we do this And so I shared again a lot of what I'm sharing today with our viewers and listeners With them on okay, here's how you can more or less safeguard your data from a previous CRM so that you can capture that to move it to a new CRM you can cross-reference reports and You know data to make sure that it is pulling accurately. So yes First of all is really get to know your CRM and we often still have people ask what it's a CRM So it's your customer or your client relationship management database also referred to as a donor database Thank you to bloom ring. They're a fantastic donor database one that I actually have my hands in quite a bit And so I'm able to really reference these talking points into that System, but there's so many other systems that you can look at Knowing your year over year like where are you this year as opposed to last year the previous year? And then what I'm really coaching on to Julia is because of the pandemic You know we used to only go back three years. I'm recommending you go back five years now Like truly go back five years in this year over year Data point to see are we meeting the mark? Are we missing the mark? Why why are we you know? Like what's working? What's not working? and then also really using the data to build that picture to build your plan because that data and we've talked About this in all of our episodes right data is sexy But you have to know the data and if you're an organization like the one I just referenced that is moving your data from one system to the other You might be really worried about your data integrity And is it accurate? Are you going to have that historical data that you've previously? You know had to lean on so there is a lot to think about Julia when it comes to funding at a glance and it's not just Your year-end goal. It really is like you have to keep your finger on the pulse throughout every single month, right? So let me let's go back to that data because one of the things I find so interesting is that You know with the pandemics and you and I agree on this Very early that you know, yeah, we had the global health pandemic, you know COVID But we also had civil unrest epidemic an epidemic that really involved Wellness and mental health and in in our societies. We had an economic crisis really that became You know something that just really shifted so a lot of inputs and now We have these these data points that are going to look quite a bit different As we navigate forward. So how do we temper that with? You know just an asterisk that says yeah, this was a kooky year But it's really been a kooky three years. I mean, how do we look at that and still understand that the data points Are are part of where we where we've been and where we need to go I absolutely think you're you're on to what I coach right and it really is around Making note of what was that monumental moment that took place The pandemic a lot of funds were taken from Arts and culture and I shouldn't say taken but really shifted Truly to the human service right like basic food clothing shelter And you know the extra curricular items that we might think of like arts and culture Although still very critical in our society You know where we really shifted those funds into higher need segments of our non-profit to Help people survive day to day So making a note of that the other note we have coming up Julia is a presidential campaign Yeah, so go back to the last presidential campaign the one before that how did that affect Either positively or negatively your fundraising What shifted those moments of of call to action right like what what was happening in that time Make a note of that. I always say, you know, like definitely put it in your database But this is something that I think also should be shared with your board because if your board's not Understanding the ebbs and flow, you know, not just quarter to quarter or year every year But we're talking four years over four years, you know, there's a lot of different metrics that play a part into How well we're doing right well and think about how Our service levels have changed because of the pandemics Because of a changing society because of the digital nature Of our society So more we're in a period of transition Unlike no other and so to understand this information I've got to believe is even more important And so I want to go to the next level of data points that you talk about and you know early on The nonprofit show man, I'm telling you like first couple months You taught us the liebunt and sidebunt So Refresh our memories on this and then let's keep going through Some of these data points that that we need to be looking at All the time not just the end of the year is what I'm hearing you say Yeah, and when I first learned early in my career 20 plus years ago liebunt and sidebunt I had no idea what that stood for right. It was acronym soup. I had I had no clue So last year but unfortunately not this and then some year but unfortunately not this the beauty of of these two reports They are often built in as a template into your CRM So it truly is often like the click of a button Maybe a couple of buttons to pull this data But this is something that you know, you definitely want to go to Something else we've talked about julia over, you know, our almost thousand episodes Is the tenure of a development professional within an organization Also why this data is critical is because if you are new to an organization These are some data points that I recommend you pull within your first week two weeks on the job, right? also If you're moving to a new CRM pull these again from your new CRM So there's a lot shifting But that liebunt and sidebunt those are my two go-tos like really might go-tos all the time You also really want to be familiar with that donor retention rate and we've talked about this with various guests on our show Sadly, that is decreasing the rate that we are retaining donors keeps going down. This is not good news, right? Like again, if we were to run a restaurant or any other business the way we run our donor retention rates We would not stay in business. So that's something we need to take a look at major gifts That amount Julia changes for every organization I've heard from organizations their major gift level has been identified at a thousand dollars Whereas other organizations are upwards of twenty five thousand dollars. So The way you define a major gift for your organization is different, but here's the cool thing That can shift, right? You can start at a thousand move it to twenty five hundred take it to five thousand Like really stair step it as your evolution of of maturity of an organization or maturity of fundraising But you need to know What is our major gift and I have to tell you Julia? I presented to a board of directors Similar to this kind of conversation I turned to the executive director and I said, what is your major gift level? They did not know it like they could not rattle it off the top of their head Yeah, I was just gonna ask you that like How many organizations have really stopped? taken a deep breath and figured out what this number is because It's somewhat of an arbitrary number, right? I mean you don't just look at your average Don't you isn't it more? I think A little bit more wise to sit down and say this is what we want To be a major. Do you do you think that or should it just be a statistical point in time? I do so so if no one like if they haven't identified their major gift level yet I do say then let's pull your active donors. What is the going donation that you're getting consistently, right? What is that average gift amount? What is a significant dollar amount that would really be you know moving it from transactional to transformational What would that dollar amount do and maybe it is twenty five thousand, right? But do you have the current donor activity now? That warrants twenty five thousand Maybe not so how do where do we start and how do we move the needle needle to where it needs to be? So there's a couple of ways you can identify your major gift amount But again, I really like to you know remind everyone you can change it and you can change it strategically you know to really let That evolve as your fundraising practices Evolve because as we started off kind of joking with our guest from yesterday crystal cherry She said board movers are allergic to fundraising, right? So once they become immune to this allergy You might actually see your fundraising dollars go up. Yeah, I love that, you know I think it's such an important discussion to have because it really sets you on the track of understanding Where you want relationships to go and how they will go And it just moves you forward. I think to another level of thinking One of the last data points I want to talk to you about is direct mail And we've been having guests recently on different Different parts of our sector in the nonprofit world Really champion direct mail and say hey look, you know, yeah, we're living in the digital age But we're still doing great things with our direct mail Um, and so could you talk to us about that a little bit tracking those things? Yeah, I'm still a fan of direct mail Also, you know, one of the things I like to mention when it comes to this julia is we are all inundated digitally, right? There is so much noise. There's a lot of digital inundation constantly But what we're starting to get less and less of Is snail mail, right? We are starting to get less and less of snail mail now except for your Presidential campaign time. That's when your your mail actually increases. You get a lot of postcards You get a lot of mail during that time. That's around the political campaign But I'm still a huge fan of direct mail and I think if you do it strategically It will warrant a nice roi now if you're looking to Uh, you really, you know, raise the money from your existing donor base That's where you're going to see your best roi if you're looking to make your direct mail an acquisition campaign You're looking to gain new Um, supporters, you're going to see a lower roi But the acquisition campaign of a direct mail appeal is the long game, right three four five years Mailing to those same people to acquire their support But before talking julia sending direct mail to your existing donor database, there's some organizations that'll send simply one a year Right, there's others that send quarterly now. There's some that in the fourth quarter They will send four, you know, so it really just depends on your organization But you have to know your data you have to track What comes back from the mail on this both digitally because you point them to online donations As well as remitting a check in the envelope that you've enclosed So there's a lot going on with direct mail. Some people Absolutely love it and it's a point of their strategy other people have let it go by the wayside Or only use it sparingly in like a once a year you know, I think that um Right now man and knowing that we were going to chat jared Um, I've really been attuned and I'm always attuned to this because I think just it's you know, what we do But I'm really attuned to the the number of uh mail pieces that are coming in Now we we work and we interview 300 people a year obviously So, I mean a lot of those people that we interview automatically put us in their their system and you know We get I get a lot of mail Um, but what I am always excited by is like I would call it kooky mail like mother's day You know sending something for mother's day or for easter or a spring kickoff or valentine's day Things that aren't just the normal direct mail like everybody squeezing in Starting, you know promotions around thanksgiving and then christmas or hanukkah. I mean, you know That's where it just is it's so busy But looking at something that's different That absolutely Sticks out of the mailbox, you know, and you're like wow, okay Um, because it also seems to me donors have to parse out What they're gonna give, you know during the q4 and the holidays are okay I'm gonna give you know a little bit here here and there, but how many solicitations do you get for mother's day? Right Well, it depends right and I always say for that it's dependent on your mission So if you are an organization that has an awareness month You might want to increase your communications including your direct mail during that month The other thing I really like to do and it's not quite direct mail But it's probably a cousin of direct mail is anniversary letters So sending out an anniversary card to your supporters In that origin month that they started giving to your organization It's similar to a birthday card, but often sadly We don't know the birth dates of our donors that seems to still be a really hard piece of data collection So if your donor database is solid and you feel really good about that data You can do something similar of a direct mail campaign, but do it as an anniversary card to your supporter And I love that Well, those you can do monthly right? So it's not you're sending out to everyone at one time You're going month by month by month. So it's a smaller project Well, and I think it's really um It's a wonderful connecting piece Because I think a lot of times we give and we We just forget or you know to talk about that journey that the organization has been on And and what your impact has been over the years is super powerful because again As you know as a donor a lot of times we give and we don't really know what's going to happen or we don't really know What's what's being navigated but to share this and be a part of that I think it's also healthy for the organization because I realize that this would be somewhat of a pro forma piece That wouldn't change that much But I think it forces the organization to say okay, what is it that we've achieved? Where have we moved the needle? What are we doing as opposed to just Wrapping it all up for the you know for the year-end report. I think it's I think it's a healthy thing on both sides If that makes sense. Yeah, it's a great touch point and again like it really works for organizations that are confident in their data, right if you did a migration and you're like Sure if this person started to give in 2012 or 2019 like Might not be the best best strategy for you to employ, but again, you have to know your data Well knowing the data and in understanding how we're going to use it Um, let's kind of finish up our chat with the concept of the dashboard and and I'm going to ask you to physically hold up The the report that you use and the dashboard Because funding at a glance. I mean is a great concept and it's a really great tool But it's a physical thing as well And so you created something years ago and you've massaged it and and we can get this from you by going to your website Yeah, so this is just a printed copy of it where it has all of these various data points year over year over year You'll see this one is showing simply three years, but you can Pull that out five years. You can even make it electronically. So Yes, I sharing is caring So if you want this document, let me know happy to send that to you also shared it With the bloomering webinar that I recently did But this also goes with your digital dashboard in many places, right? So that donor retention is often in your digital dashboard of your crm Year over year that's something too that if you're working in a robust CRM platform, you do see that year over year data point So this is just a really good opportunity to collect the data in one place I then go on to say take a look at this To see what's working. What's not working Where do we need to note any kind of a historical moments that might have shifted either up or down or fundraising? This is such a good tool to help set that plan And I always say it can get overwhelming But if you set three goals, right like from this from this plan you say, okay Here's where we need to focus our energy and effort, you know, this section isn't looking too hot We want to increase that then select three Areas that you want to you know see an increase for next year our next quarter Create a plan around that right because you have to know What you're working with and again the tenure of our Development professionals, right if we're talking 18 months for a development director to hold their position Having this data for the next development director is critical because it really it it holds the mission Of the non-profit in integrity right and we're here for the mission. We're not here for our personal gain We're here to support the mission So what can we do to leave the organization in a great place? And I really think this is a tool that will help to do that It's also a great tool Shockingly that the board members love because guess what there's charts and graphs and numbers And there's tangible things that your board members can really sink their teeth into Right because I think all too often this is like a year-end Um issue that we might not even get this information until february or march Depending on when we close the books and you close the books and then it's like punitive It's either like kiss or cry. You got it. Whoo. Yay team or you didn't yeah, and nobody understands the why Right, and I think this is you know a generative issue Of why we have such abysmal retention rates not only for our donors, but for our teams and the development director may That stat comes from afp. That's a real number that's being tracked. It's not just an imaginary thing So this is a shocking part Um of one of our our systematic failures within our sector. Don't you think You know that I do yeah, and for maybe others that don't know afp association of fundraising professionals So that's really you know, uh the go-to Organization international that really helps to set some of these standards. They do some phenomenal research Um, and yeah, you're right afp association of fundraising professionals, you know has shared the Scary sobering data right that nonprofit fundraisers are not staying Long that 18 month tenure is really what we're seeing and it's not just a pandemic issue I mean this has been a no it's that that they've been tracking for a while So yeah, it's really years. Yeah a couple years. Well, you know, of course, Jared I love being able to chat with you and learn from you as as our viewers Know you and and get to hear from you But this is really magical being able to get a masterclass getting this information from you to understand How we can be less frustrated and more on target and understanding how we make decisions Where we can effect impact and really understand How we're moving forward as opposed to just well, we missed it this year Or nobody loves us. I mean being a lot more intelligent and strategic is what this is all about Jared Ransom the non-profit nerd CEO of the raven group Check out the raven group.com t-h-e-r-a-y-v-a-n-g-r-o-u-p.com And you can see a lot of these tools that Jared has has come up with through her Wonderful career and um, I always like to say amazing nerd brain So well, well, thank you. It's fine. There's not many people I know I know a few but there's not many people that will raise their hand and say I absolutely love to ask for money Right, but I'm one of those people. I absolutely love to ask for money. I love to take the fear out of fundraising I love for us to create educational moments and information to move forward because that's what's going to make it a success Exactly and you know, it's it's um It's hard, but in many ways it's not that hard when you have a plan and you have a process and you have measurement Right, and I think that's I think that's where you and I are on the same page and that we really you know, um Try and promote that again. I'm julia patrick c e of the american non-profit academy been joined by jared Ransom She's been in the hot seat So she has been like co-host hot seat a little bit of everything today Again, we are so grateful for the support of our partners and they include bloom rang american non-profit academy Your part-time controller non-profit thought leader fundraising academy at national university Staffing boutique non-profit nerd and non-profit tech talk again. These are the folks that have been with us For more than 900 episodes now marching towards 1000 And uh, what a journey it has been my friend as we start to wrap up 2023 I love your message today because now's the time to be looking at this stuff Not at the end of the year That's right Well, yeah always I think it's it's a great tool that you can take a look at Every quarter every month and really just keep your finger on the pulse. Thank you. I love it fundraising at a glance Hey, everybody. Thank you for joining us Um on another episode of the non-profit show as we like to end every episode We want to remind you to stay well So you can do well. We'll see you back here tomorrow everyone