 So thank you. Welcome to all of you. Thanks for joining us today for another Ask and Answer episode. We are so thrilled to have you joining us. And of course we are thrilled to have Fundraising Academy with National University as the underwriter and supporter of every Friday and these Ask and Answer episodes. So make sure that you tune in each and every Friday. We have Tony Bell here with us. Tony serves as the Senior Director Relationship Center with Fundraising Academy at the National University. And Tony, again, like I'm always so honored to nerd out with you, my friend, have these high level conversations. And again, just grateful for the continued extended partnership with the National University. So thank you for being here. Oh, Jared, you know, I love being here so much and our like-mindedness is so evident, even in the way that you introduced me. So even by saying Tony serves as, because I really do have this servant leadership mentality. And so I appreciate every opportunity to engage in conversation with you and so thank you for welcoming me. Absolutely. And if you notice, we have a similar color scheme today. And as Tony says, that's because we're just that much in sync. So again, Tony, this is this is going to be a great conversation. Again, we want to thank all of our presenting sponsors and for those of you watching, you can see their logos on screen. Those of you listening, I'm going to give a verbal shout out to Bloomerang, your part-time controller, Fundraising Academy, Nonprofit Nerd, American Nonprofit Academy, Staffing Boutique and Nonprofit Thought Leaders. These companies lean into your mission, to your community. They're here to serve you and to serve your community. So if you have not checked them out, please do so in about 28 and a half minutes. That would be the best time to really reach in and dive into these conversations with our partners. We have fantastic collaborators and truly here to help you forward and advance your mission. So if you missed any of our almost 600 episodes, you can find us on plenty of places, including Roku, YouTube, Fire TV, as well as Vimeo. And if any of you are podcast listeners and Tony, I'm curious, are you a podcast listener? I am not. Okay, well that surprises me, but I am. I love listening to them. It's one of my morning rituals that I have a couple of podcasts I tuned through. But if you are a podcast listener, please go ahead and queue up the non-profit show wherever you stream your podcast. You can find us in all of our shows, just as you're witnessing and listening to here. So for those of you that are regulars, welcome back. Those of you that might be new, I want to go ahead and let you know what you're going to experience here. Each and every Friday are, as we like to call it, Friday, we go through a series of questions that our viewers and audience members have sent into us. We take turns, you know, answering and adding on to each other's answers. So Tony, I'm going to read them aloud and I'm going to pass them to you first, my friend. Are you ready? I'm ready. Okay, great. Well, this is Maggie in Zambia. Wow. You know, one of the things we've said over the course of the last three years is we are the nation's only non-profit webcast, but really I've been, you know, touting for really international. So thank you, Maggie, for proving that. Exactly. Yeah, I really appreciate. So Maggie, Maggie writes and wants to know, can you give us some insights into the mind of American donors when it comes to funding overseas NGOs, we want to connect with US donors in a stronger way. First of all, I'm floored, Tony. This is a fantastic question from Maggie in Zambia. So go ahead. What would you say to Maggie here? So one is I, you know, I appreciate the question like you and I appreciate Maggie's global citizen approach to their fundraising strategy. There are many philanthropists who, you know, became passionate about causes and really live philanthropy in their own backyards. And then started to expand those contributions, again, time, talent, treasure, whatever that might be, more globally as they start to embrace and realize that we really are global citizens. And I think that the timing is right to, you know, to take a look at how you can engage, you know, donors from from the US. I would say that the strategies that you might consider are the same strategies that are successful for fundraisers in the US, and that is relationships and transparency and authenticity. And really connecting with a donor's passion. You know, it's the one part of the question that, you know, that it was like inside the mind of American donors. I thought, wow, there's a title for for a book or for, you know, a nonprofit show, right? And I think that that right there was just quite the statement of, you know, inside the mind of American donors. But that's what I think of immediately, Jared is, you know, now's a good time because folks really are thinking of themselves as global citizens. And media now allows us to have a better, and when I say media, however you, you know, indulge in that, but gives us a greater opportunity to have an understanding of what's happening globally. And what the impact is to us locally, based on what's happening other places in the world. And so, you know, and that realization that what's happening, you know, other places in the world does indeed impact us locally and our own backyard. So that's where I would start the answer to this question is, is with with that kind of response. I'm a bit an awestruck because I couldn't have said it better. One of my dear friends actually from childhood is she is running, you know, an organization in the northern Dallas area and all about global citizenry and I had to witness during that episode with her I had really heard that term, but I had heard the term like local globalist right. And so I definitely consider myself a local globalist as well as a global citizen now that I know that term. I couldn't agree more, and I personally Maggie have worked with an organization that does have relationships internationally, but I will say that they also had a chapter, or you know, like a home base if you would in the states. So that connected to the Americans that connected, you know, kind of the the international relationship there, if you have an opportunity for, you know, us to come visit not necessarily us although I'm always up for travel and my passport is ready. If you ever have an opportunity for us to see your program in action. I really, you know, would invite you to invite others to come see your program to be in your community, your village there and and see the great work that you're doing so I think this is a fantastic opportunity. And Tony, if you want to co write this book, let me know and we'll work on that next. A little tip that I might share with Maggie real quickly Jared is the importance of storytelling and and telling your story or through video, you're telling your story through video so I would just share that with Maggie that if they, you know if they haven't thought about that or looked at how they might invest in that. This is also a dynamite way of, of, again, sharing your mission of until you can get some, some folks, you know, kind of, of here for those those face to face conversations. Great addition. Thank you Tony and we wish you the best Maggie I hope I hope that our answer has helped to shed some light so thanks for sending that in. Hi, so this one comes to us from Seattle and I'm sorry it's either Marcia or Marsha but either way we're so glad to get your question here. So this one wants to know about board term limits. How do you feel about term limits for our board members. I think it is a good idea, I am concerned that with the limited number of people who volunteer might be wise to shelve this requirement for now. Hmm, so what are you thinking when it comes to board terms Tony. So, so I would answer because it's not even so much how I feel but I think there's data that supports that board terms are good business that it's a best practice, you know, for for nonprofit organizations. You know, I've had the pleasure years ago going through training at board source board source is a great organization. If I ever have a question about anything related to boards. That's usually the first place I go right. It's like go where the experts are on a particular topic and they certainly are are the experts so. So I believe there's there's plenty of data and kind of case studies around why this is a best practice for nonprofit organizations. Some of the natural things that come to mind of course is just the organization getting stagnant because there isn't an opportunity for new leadership new vision new voices. It allows opportunity for greater diversification and inclusion with, you know, with with board terms and board limits. And it can be framed and again this is where I would really recommend, you know, spending a little time on the board source website but there are ways that you can write the language in your bylaws for term limits, that I mean that, you know, someone's rolling off and in two years and never shall they return, you know, so, so there are there are ways to, to write, write those term limits so that you don't have to be so concerned about about the volunteer versus, but it does, you know, it does underscore the fact that board member, you know, solicitation retention is something organizations always have to be thinking about, you have to be thinking about a pipeline for board members. So all of that has to be kind of the natural day to day thought process of the leadership for, for the organization and then lastly. Where do they go. So, once, once a board member has termed. Again, you don't want to give them like a parting gift and say thank you so much. You help for your. You know, you want to find other ways for them to stay engaged in the organization so that might be through advisory boards or, or some other structure within your organization that allows them a place to kind of settle in and continue to contribute. So I think you brought up stagnation because I see that often, and I would also address, you know, the possibility of conflict of interest and so if you have a board member who stays on, you know, and on and on because Tony, I've heard this I've heard many board members brag to say, Oh, I've been on the board since it started 25 years ago. Where's the red flag. And then they'll say, and I know where all the bodies are buried. I'm like, Oh, gross. That's even worse. So yeah. You are so right. Yeah, we have been around the same blocks together. And so I am a huge proponent of not only having term limits, but adhering to them, right, like having them in bylaws, and saying, Oh yeah, this is what our bylaws say but actually it's about maintaining and compliance with your bylaws. And that I know you're laughing Tony because you've seen it where it's like, Well, this is what it says but you know, we really love Joe so we're going to keep him on for another two years because who else is going to serve as secretary. Right. No, no, I know and, and my giggling is, is, you know, wanted at the reality of that but also just kind of look the larger, again, kind of topic that sits in there and we're writing new episodes of the nonprofit show today. But, but you know, again, the management of bylaws that's not just so when you said that I was kind of laughing. You know, thinking that it's not even just that piece of bylaws but just management and ownership of bylaws and, and following that kind of rule of law for your organization is often a missed a missed activity for a lot of boards. You know, but the stagnation I you know for me, I would say not only, you know the conflict of interest but the stagnation, you know, having new leadership having new perspective bringing in diversity equity inclusion, you know and a justice lens, I think that's really diversifying by way of age and sector and business market all of that is so very important. And you know there's, there's a need to bring in new opportunities for new leaders and even though someone hasn't served on the board before our previous board before I really do think that this is a great opportunity for us to engage them. I also loved and wanted to record to again just say thank you Tony, for bringing up an advisory council or maybe a committee member, you know, keeping them engaged because they truly are advocates and ambassadors so you want to keep them engaged in a way that makes sense so I'm a proponent for board terms and I'm also a proponent to adhere to those board terms. And I also want to say before we wrap up this topic, you know, a big thank you to those folks that serve as board members for organizations, it's not an easy role. I mean you are a volunteer for an organization with the highest level of accountability. So, so you know even though questions come in about board members and, and we made giggle about some of the behaviors, right so much gratitude and respect for folks that serve as board members for nonprofit organizations, not easy. Yes, you're right. Thank you thank you for that. Absolutely. Well sorry, and Raleigh North Carolina which is one of the Carolinas that I'm from. So excited to see this come in from Raleigh. Our executive team is considering travel to another nonprofit in our region, but outside of our state. We want to learn new things and share programming ideas. It would be a cost for sure but we might gain some gain some amazing insights. Can you help me sell this to the board. So, one congratulations right it's it's let's learn by you know by experiencing best practices from others and how can those, you know, work to benefit our organization right ultimately helping us be better, you know, just better serving our community. I support the whole concept of best practices and learning for others. In terms of, you know, how do you sell this to the board, I would probably start with a concept paper and you can think that you can Google that and get all kinds of examples of concept papers that will allow you to really explain to us why this is a valuable investment for the organization. So that would be my one recommendation a concept paper, and make sure whatever concept paper you're using or template includes a budget because you're going to want to share with your leadership. So what are the financial implications of the activity, what, you know, and explaining really what's the ROI on that investment for your team to go and do that so first I would say Bravo. I love the thinking, right, you know, look, look beyond your, your own region, you know your own backyard to see what's going on and what's successful in other places, so that you can mimic that. In terms of selling it, you know to your leadership, just, you know, again, put together a document that really kind of states that the reasoning the value and the investment. Yeah, I love the concept paper I think that's fantastic it takes me back to my master's program. And I would also add you know I love competitive and generic benchmarking. This is something that you can add into your opportunity. I agree with the ROI right like really selling what is the return on investment for this experience and how will you track and measure this experience maybe throughout the course of a year. So if you can, you know, include that in your concept paper, you know share the cost share the purpose share the ultimate goal and how you will track and measure this experience or engagement. That's fantastic, you know, one of our, one of our other great guests that we've had on with the Dave Thomas Foundation for adoption was Rita Sornan, and proud to say she'll be joining us again in November. But you know, even for such a very large foundation Tony she's all about collaboration. She's all about sharing best practices because I to believe and I know you do Tony, we're all in this together are you wouldn't have said the term global right for previous question. So really you know looking at how this can impact your community. Ironically Tony one of the things you and I talked about in the green room chatter was how our questions come in from different regions and how different, you know, communities and organizations approach an opportunity differently. So even though this is in another state, I don't know if it's a neighboring state or several states away. I do think it'll help you, you know, step away from your project, and help to see things clearly, hopefully you know differently, and maybe even, you know, in a new way that you're like, it was right in front of us how did we not see this. I think this is a fantastic opportunity. Maybe this is something, you know, sorry that you can build into your budget. Every other year, every three to four years to say, we want to do competitive and generic benchmarking this is what it looks like and this would be our pilot experience and engagement to see if this is somewhat something worth our investment for future. And I would also just want to recommend to as you're putting together the concept paper and the value of this investment. Keep in mind the value of the team building that will occur also in this investment right so you're going and you're kind of learning best practices and how you can take that back to your organization and and be better for your community as a result of it, but also think that you're better as a team, as a result of the experience. You know, nothing builds teams, you know better, well, I'm sure someone can say yes there are other things but shared shared experiences and in my opinion, are really terrific team building exercises and so this of course would be a shared experience amongst the team and and so I just point that out to think about those other benefits that might not be so apparent when you're when you're putting together the value of the or tangible and I think I think that's certainly great so. Okay, well we wish you the best and name with help from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Can you give me some advice on how long I should have served in a leadership capacity before applying for an executive director position. I feel that this might be a good time to move up the ladder in my career. Take it away. But that's a tough one. I mean I found, I find this one tough because I just think there's so many variables so. And that was me saying variables not breaking up on the Internet I was like, variables like. That's for that, you know, confirmation there to never know. So, you know so you know what other leadership leadership skills are you bringing, you know from past experiences but if we're talking specifically in the nonprofit sector. You know, I think if you look at a lot of job postings, it's going to say at least five to 10 years of leadership experience for a CEO or executive director role. Even smaller nonprofits are going to tap into other skill sets of yours that they're going to find super valuable, and are going to be willing to give you that runway to build some of the other leadership skills that you may not bring initially. So there's there's lots of variables around that. No Jared I can't come up with a good solid like this is what I recommend. I would just say you know continue to invest in professional learning and professional development, so that you are super prepared. If that 10 your requirement is is an obstacle as you try and advance. There are tons of variables, absolutely and when I serve as an interim, you know, executive director what I like to do is it really depends on the size of the organization, the strength of the organization. Is this their first executive director is this you know, replacing someone that's had a 10 year 10 years ship, you know, really what is the organization going through and where are they currently. Tony you were so right there just so many variables. One thing that I'm not familiar about right now but I see it trending and I would love for any of you that might be in this type of partnership to please let us know because we'd love to have you on is a co leadership capacity. And so you might have, you know, a CEO this experience and this could be part of the succession planning and name withheld until Oklahoma. This might be a great opportunity for you to be that co CEO or co leader to serve in that true capacity. So, as the succession continues to plan and continue to build. So that's something we're thinking of as well. But you know, in addition, Tony I want to add on because I love that you said you know, continue to invest in your professional career trajectory, but make sure that your board and your leadership is aware of your desire for this that awareness is really important. So that if there's an opportunity with your organization, they know that you have interest and maybe might find value in investing further. I'm so glad that you said that right you need to let people know. That's what you're interested in what your goals are and you will find that a lot of people will support you in that. Yeah, you know, I would also say before we wrap up, you might want to look into an executive coach, and that's something that, you know, could also support you in this effort to really guide you in this trajectory to see, you know, where you can invest some more time some more learning, as you continue to grow in this way so I'm a huge proponent for executive coaching side note I do offer that service but there's plenty of us that do. And I really just I mean I work with a coach myself and I think that it's, it's definitely a great value for sure. Yeah. All right, well I hope we've answered you know name withheld that question for you there. It's a good question and again just like Tony, you know commands all of the board leaders I want to commend you for having that desire to step up and lean into a greater purpose and and service for your community so thank you. Yeah, Tony it's always amazing to be here with you on these fry yay as we like to call them ask and answer episodes. Again Tony serves as the senior director with the Relationship Center Fundraising Academy at the National University. You will see Tony or another representative of fundraising Academy, each and every Friday as we move forward with our daily nonprofit show but our dedicated Friday episode is truly here for you your questions so go ahead and send them in there's many ways you can send them in to us and we look forward to receiving them. So, thank you so much Tony it's always a pleasure having you. Thank you I likewise I really enjoy the conversations I really enjoy the, the questions and it's just, it's, it's just terrific to be here so I'm always super honored and, and always, you know, appreciative to be one of the many ambassadors of other work being done at the fundraising Academy and that National University so thank you. Well, thank you and we are honored and appreciative to have fundraising Academy as one of our presenting sponsors, along with blooming and your part time controller, nonprofit nerd American nonprofit Academy staffing boutique and nonprofit leaders. We truly cannot do this day in and day out without the investment, and the just, you know, community support from our leaders so thank you thank you thank you for all that you do and thank you Tony for joining us. I hope you have a fantastic weekend. Hope all of you have a fantastic weekend. Join us on Monday and until then, stay well so you can do well. Thanks Tony.