 Everybody welcome to another episode of the nonprofit show. Now, you know if you're a viewer or a listener to the nonprofit show Fridays are one of the best days of the week for many reasons. Jared Ransom my co-host coined it, you know, she calls it Friday here because we get excited about our Ask and Answer episodes with our friends from Fundraising Academy It's a lot of fun. It's a different time and energy for us because folks from all over the world write, call in, ask questions, and then we discuss those with somebody from Fundraising Academy. For example, LaShonda, I was at an event yesterday, a small luncheon with the mayor of the city of Phoenix because we have the Super Bowl coming and it was kind of an update on where things are going and somebody came up to me and said, hey, can you ask this question on an upcoming episode of the nonprofit show? So, you know, it's these questions come to us from all forms and fashions. Today LaShonda Williams is going to be joining us. She's one of the interpretive minds of Fundraising Academy. So welcome, my friend. Thank you so much, Julie, for having me. I'm very excited to join you again today and hear what the constituency have questions about. Well, thanks. You know, it's never a dull moment here. We get a lot of different questions and our questions come to us, like I said, day in, day out from all different ways. And we want to thank our sponsors that help us have this discussion that's so robust every Friday. They include Bloomerang, American Nonprofit Academy, Your Part-Time Controller, Nonprofit Thought Leader, Fundraising Academy at National University, Staffing Boutique, and the Nonprofit Thought Leader. National University Fundraising Academy has really taken over and owned this day. And so every Friday, we get the voice and the wisdom of somebody different from their organization. And that is really fun for us. So we want to make sure if you want to find any of our other episodes, you know, that you can get to us on Roku, YouTube, Amazon Fire TV, and Vimeo. If you want to listen to us via podcast while you're mowing the lawn or doing laundry or commuting to work, queue us up wherever you'd like to get your podcast content. Lashonda, we just got notified by our producer, Kevin Pace, that the podcast itself just surpassed 10,000 downloads, which for us is exciting because while we've been doing this for three years, The Nonprofit Show, we're just going to be starting our fourth year shortly. We've only been doing the podcast technology for one year, less than one year. That is amazing. It applauds to you all. And everything that you do, the content is amazing and reflective of what's happening in the nonprofit sector. So way to go. Well, thank you. I know it's not just my mom and our producer, Kevin Pace. Right. It's not just your immediate family, but it's your extended family, the nonprofit community, and that is a tremendous milestone to be celebrated. Thank you. I like, I like thinking about that, the extended family. OK, well, are you ready? Because Althea from Wilmington, Delaware has a big question. OK, let's go for it. It's a big question and it's a very interesting question. Althea writes, a donor from overseas outside the U.S. has made a big donation, but we really don't know much about him. Is there any reason not to spend the money now or should we wait until we find out more? We need it for operations now. Is this an interesting question? This is a very, very interesting question. You know, as of late the past several years, I want to say the past two years post COVID we've received in the nonprofit sector, a surge of tremendous transformational gifts from a variety of donors. You know, some of them have been familiar with the organization or their team has taken on the responsibility of researching organizations that fit the linkage and the interest of the set donor. Now, when it comes to large gifts, transformational gifts or any gift, the first thing that comes to my mind is thinking about from the cost selling cycle, the pre-discovery phase, which is where you would normally investigate and find out more about your perspective donor. It seems as though based on the information shared that this gift was one of those one off outlier gifts. Meaning the individual may not have had any relationship with the organization prior to the gift. And in that particular instance, I also think about gift acceptance policies and knowing more about the donors. And so it's very important to obviously be very grateful and demonstrate the gratitude for the gift, but you must know more about your donors. The reason why you want to know about your donors from an ethical standpoint you want to ensure that those said funds that have been given by the said donor are in adherence to your gift acceptance policies and they're not any potential ethical challenges that would bring bad a bad look to your organization. You also want to make sure that you know as much about your significant transformational donors so that you can further deepen the relationship because imagine the initial gift being sizable and with adequate cultivation and learning more about that that donor. Opportunities are absolutely infinite for growing and making sure that you retain that donor long term because transformational gifts are phenomenal, but what's most important is maintaining a long term substantial relationship for the sustainability and life of the organization. So definitely invest in identifying more information about your donor now. And I promise you your donor will appreciate that later in the long term. You know, I love what you said and it was so articulate because it like drew the arc of, you know, starting with that gift policy, which is super important and I don't know about you, LaShonda, but I fear that a lot of nonprofits in this country don't have those. They don't have them until something like this happens. And then they're like, Holy cow, you know, not to pick on the tobacco industry, but the tobacco industry just wants to make a big gift. Right. You'll love the money, but you don't love the cancer, right? Exactly. It's hard. I mean, it's like we work so hard. We want the money because we want to put it, you know, to good use and employ it in the way that we know will help us reach our mission vision. You know, goals and the values that we stick to, but you're right. I think you got to kind of like pump the brakes. Exactly. Because you want to do your research, you know, that is most important because your organization is viable. And apparently the donor obviously sees the value in the organization, but we want to make sure that it's in adherence to the highest ethical standards as far as the organization's brand. Because the last thing you want is to have accepted a transformational gift and then to later find out that there are some ethical implications behind how the individual, you know, has garnered their wealth or the source of that revenue. So it's really important to do as much as you can on the front end immediately after receiving the gift. And even prior to this announcement about the gift because I'm certain at some point there will be an announcement about the gift. And so you want to minimize any potential conflicts and ethical challenges along the way. So definitely do the research now. You know, my first thought is that all of these things should be in place. And then you pick up the phone. And you immediately call that organization if it's a foundation or a person to whomever it is, you can get to to start that dialogue as well to find out, you know, what's the situation and what, what's their story and and do they want like how do they want to be recognized Exactly. These things attached, because a lot of times these things are done, you know, anonymously, and then you, you have parameters to disclosing what has occurred. Exactly. And you know, even with anonymous gifts, there is still a level of information that your organization must maintain. And when you're thinking about anonymous gifts, it's from a standpoint of public recognition. However, your organization should be very familiar with all of its donors and having basic information about the donor's profile. What is their linkage to your organization, what are specific areas of their interest and then what are their abilities as it moves forward. And most importantly, as you're talking about recognition, you know, in the instance where individuals may not want public recognition, but you also still want to steward them by sharing with them how their gift has been impactful with your organization. So, yes, the more you know, the more we grow and then the more your organization can continue to garner additional support. I love that the more we know the more we grow. You're awesome. You're a smart cookie sister. I love being on Fridays. It's super cool. Okay, well, we gave you so much information. Two things. I'm dying to know how much this gift is. Me too. I'm on edge. You need to reach back to us and let us know what you did and how it worked because you know, Lashonda, I think it's one thing with the two of us chatting about this. But I bet if you took this to your development team or your C-suite or your board, no matter the size, you're going to have a whole host of different opinions. Absolutely. And that's stressful in itself trying to navigate internally what you have to do. So, yeah, really interesting. I love this question. Okay, well, let's go to our next question and that comes to us from Sammy in Corona, California. We hired a manager of marketing and communications. She wants to rebrand our logo and lots of other things that we've worked hard on. A lot of volunteers helped put these things together. We don't want to kick their work to the side of the road just because we hired a pro who has new ideas. We've had this question like this before. It's a big, big deal. And I think it comes because a lot of PR agencies will do pro bono work, right? And so if they're going to engage and do pro bono work, they don't want to show up and say, oh, yeah, everything's great. Right? Because that's not in their best interest. They want to shake things up, do something that they think is better. It's such an interesting and stressful thing for an organization to go through. It really is, you know, and when I'm thinking about this, Sammy, you know, it's a situation where you obviously want to be very mindful how you manage the delicate situation. But it all begins with thinking about your organization, the mission, the purpose, the brand, and the reason why you exist. So thinking about those foundational things will help guide your decision making. And the first thing that comes to mind is the importance of volunteers in all facets of an organization. Having buy-in internally and externally helps with your overall organization's brand. Now, we absolutely love our pros, but we also rely on volunteers for our day-to-day operations. And so in my mind, meeting in the middle would be one thing that we often do in the philanthropic space is holding a focus group. You can never go wrong. And including some of those very same volunteers in the focus group that your pro will facilitate so that he or she can get some background knowledge on where you are with the current brand in the mindset. And the thought processes of those said volunteers that participated in that process. And then your pro can also guide the conversation to elevating the brand based on some of those foundational principles that those volunteers are able to provide for your organization. And then it demonstrates the value in the volunteer, and it also demonstrates the value of having the professional with guiding the conversation and framing it in such a way that it is inclusive of the majority of the thoughts. I agree with you. I think that's a really, I think that's a smart way to go. I also want to caution folks that I think there's a lot of times, and it's whether you're for profit or nonprofit, is that you develop internally fatigue. You're like, you have to see that e-news letter. This is my, I'm speaking here. You have to see that one more time, looking that way. But you have to remember that our constituency is getting barraged with things. And it's perilous to start all over again with new messaging sometimes. Exactly. I mean, so, you know, while we might be sitting in our cubicles thinking, oh, this is so boring. Maybe that's not the case. Maybe we need to tweak other things and keep the branding more sacred. Exactly. But by some of these other things that we're doing, right? Because, you know, our constituency, they follow us for a reason. They are obviously attached to what we've had in place. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to be better and to grow. But, you know, from an organizational structural standpoint, you know, sometimes, like Julia mentioned, you know, when you change branding, sometimes you will lose some of your supporters. So you want to really approach it with caution and we're preparing to kind of rebrand and restructure things in the organization. It's important to have a variety of voices participating in that process comparable to a feasibility study when you're preparing for a capital campaign so that you can have the buy-in, you can have the input, and you're making decisions that are prudent and they're based on your constituency, considering all of the variables and factors. Yeah, it's a big, big topic. Yes. It can get very emotional, very messy and very expensive because of this, you have to change. I know that, you know, National University and Fundraising Academy, you all are in a period of changing your branding. I mean, we will probably see some branding changes over the next year. And that is, I'm sure, I'm not sure I am positive. It's an incredibly heavy lift for the overall organization. And so, yeah, make sure you're thoughtful on this before you jump into that. Okay, it's a really interesting day because we go from marketing to magicians. Okay, I've never said that. Okay, magicians. Say it again three times. I know, super crazy. Rowan from Provo, Utah writes, we're planning an event with a nationally known magician this spring. We want to put it on our social media, but the magician is saying we have to get his permission. Really? Don't nonprofits have different copyrights than private companies? We want this problem to disappear. Wow, Rowan. I know you would love to make this magically disappear. However, you're not going to be able to pull a rabbit out of the hat on this one. So there's so many things that come to mind when I'm thinking about this, you know, first and foremost, you know, congratulations to your organization and securing a national musician to help with elevating your organization's endeavor. But this makes me think about leadership management and, you know, thinking about the whole CFRE and under the leadership management domain. When you are seeking contractors, it is important whether it be for any type of service or product that you ensure that everything you need is included in that said contract. And it sounds like we got a little excited about the fact that we secured the individual and we didn't think about what it was that we needed as far as deliverables. And with most contracts, you have all of your deliverables on there. And I've worked in instances with entertainment individuals and viewed some writers and, you know, with the writer it provides all the specifications that they want that they need that are on their must have lists. At the same time, when we're employing them, we need to have our must have list to be added to that said writer. And so with that you would assume that it will be okay to promote the the actual event and the fact that the individual be present, but we cannot make assumptions and this is the example of where we cannot make assumptions. What I will say at this point because apparently the contract is, you know, in place is to go back and speak with the musician and talk to them about the importance of the organization, its mission, and how important their participation is in your particular endeavor and supporting it and then ask if there is something specific that they already have prepared that you may share on your social media. And hopefully that musician will be amenable. If not, then you'll have to go back to the drawing board with that contract and say, what do we need to do to amend it. You know, I would say that it's probably the case that the magician and his marketing team or his entertainment management team, once his, I'm assuming it's a man, but it could be a woman. His or her image and branding. Exactly. Faintaint. Exactly. It's probably more like these are the images you can use. And only those. And probably some of the nomenclature, like, you know, Mike, the magician known for the best, whatever. Exactly. Disappearing act. Yeah, a lot of times they have monikers, and they want the person's name with that moniker always attached. Exactly. That's simple. And also, I mean, the bigger a brand, the stronger it actually is for your organization to to understand that because they're probably supporting it. Right. Right. Absolutely. You know, yeah, so you want to have that linkage. You want them pushing it out. You want that talent agency management company, whatever you want your nonprofit. And then you want media to be able to pick up on it. And so I probably not contentious as much as you think it is. It's probably just to your point, LaShonda understanding what the contract. Exactly. And, you know, again, with all professional entertainers, they do provide you with their, their deck for lack of better terms. And so, you know, sometimes we want to be a little more specific, as Julia mentioned, then they want to be because of their said brand. And that's where your branding teams will have to meet in the middle, we hope, and that you'll come up with something that could be amenable for both parties involved for the betterment of the organization. And, you know, it might be too that they just have like amazing items that make your marketing just super fabulous, right. Exactly. They might have tools and reach that you don't have. Exactly. And that's why it's so important. You know, that's why you really have to talk about these things in the beginning stages because you know what you mentioned is absolutely right. With it being a national entertainer, obviously they have followers. And so that's where you're looking at the contract and you're saying we really need you to have X number of posts on your social media by this day and this time. So you really want to be very specific to maximize the opportunity to benefit your organization because you don't want to lose a moment and then, you know, obviously they're they're in they're covered with the entertainer. Good job. Rowan, again, we've given you a lot of a lot of new ways and different ways to think about this. I don't think it's the problem as much as I think it's an opportunity. You just got to change your mindset on this one. Rowan will probably never tune in again because we kind of shamed him a little bit. But anyway, follow up tips. You know, he's excited about his event and he's ready to post on social media and they're like, no, no, no, we must approve the social media content first and I can understand that. I can too. Let's get a Byron in Los Angeles. Byron writes in whatever volunteers has been on social media posting pictures of the events they're helping at yateen. We have a policy that no children should be photographed. Yeah. Are there any other nonprofits having the same problem. What else can we do. This is a big, big issue for volunteer services. Yeah, go forth and share with us your Wow, this is this is this is a wonderful day of volunteerism and internal support and how to approach things in a very diplomatic way but also meaningful in order to ensure the advancement of your organization. So first and foremost, obviously you want to demonstrate gratitude to your volunteers and their enthusiasm, because the last thing we want to do is curve enthusiasm for your organization. But in addition to that, you know, because most organizations that have implemented volunteer programs, they have a training process and with the training process. It includes the specifications of the things that we'd like you to do as a volunteer, and then also ways that we recognize our volunteers. And unfortunately, there are instances where we also have to have in the event that we're not adhering to some of these things that you know are potentially not as great for our organization. As we'd like them to be that in the event that there are some violations of policy here are some of the said recourses. And so with that, you know, you know, working in higher ed for almost 20 years, you know, I've always had to deal with photos of someone at some point or another. So to cover us, we always get the media release forms. However, specifically when it comes to children, if the policy of the organization is no children, that is the policy. So it is up to you as the administrator to adhere to that policy and administer the policy accordingly. What I would say is to have a revamp meeting with your volunteers prior to the event, or subsequent events and go over the policies. And one of the things I'm not a parent but I can remember being a child I would always ask when I was told no is why. So, explain to your volunteers, you know, that we have this policy in place, but the reason behind that is we want to protect the privacy of the children, you know, we want to make sure that they are comfortable. And, you know, adults is fine but not children and you know that may mean that you have to take a little more time with your photos and editing and cropping. But if you cannot adhere and respect their privacy then we'll ask you to refrain to do so from doing so. And in the event that you do, then we'll have to ask you to remove that from your social media. Right. Well, that policy. Oh, well, and the thing of it's a legal issue. I mean, it is definitely a legal issue for the organization, and especially in California where their laws are, if I'm not mistaken because of the entertainment industry are even more strict. I mean, and we have two factors we have under the age of 18 and under, and then under the age 21 and under so they're two different levels here. And you've got to be really honest because it's a baby. Absolutely. Because the legal implications aren't just for the organization it can also be for the individual who posts. And so you want to really make sure that you spell that out very clearly that there's not one just one person that's potentially liable it's it's all of us as a collective, because as an agent via a volunteer. You know, I think one of the things that I think you can navigate around this is a very inexpensive way to do it and that's a step and repeat. Love a step and repeat. Yeah, and it's step and repeat for those of you in the you know that might not know what it is. It's generally like a vinyl sign that's, you know, pretty stationary in the entry. It might have logos on it. It might have absolutely messaging. I'm in front of a step and repeat in front of my studio in my studio. And then you can say okay volunteers, you know, time to take a picture and then it might have some hashtags on it. Absolutely. So that it helps brand up. What's going on. Exactly. That's super cool. The other thing is, I think you can maybe find a place within your campus or or pre think the volunteer activity if we're, you know, landscaping a playground. Okay, this is where and when we can take images. Exactly. And looking at those the work and the locations. You know, you have to think this all through is though it's a major production. And I think you're spot on with the step and repeat because the step the step and repeat is a voluntary participation activity where I say yes you may take my picture, because I'm literally standing there ready for you to take my photo. And so with that, you know, you can definitely mitigate any potential legal issues. And then obviously, you know, you let the individuals know they're involved in photography that you know we don't take photos of youth and then we ask you to step aside. So then you have the quality photos that you want, you're able to capture the event, and then you're able to adhere to the legal parameters. Exactly. And then one last thing before we let you go Byron. Also, you need to make sure that your site is is a an address that is for public records. So for example, if you're working with domestic violence. Those sites are never, you know, disclosed for security reasons. So that that goes into tagging functions and mapping. So you need to be thoughtful about that, depending on what it is. And, you know, what what's the the topic of service, because those again, you know, most people would never think about it. But that could really endanger, you know, a whole host of people. So, wow, LaShonda, I love, love, love your answers. I love your energy. I think you, my friend, keep me on my toes, because you always have a lot of great things to say and things that maybe I wouldn't have thought of. And so super cool to have you on. LaShonda Williams is a trainer with Fundraising Academy. She comes to us from the great state of Texas. And we don't always get to have her on, but we really try and get her on at least once a month. And so thank you to our friends at Fundraising Academy for getting you on. Thank you, Julia. It has been absolutely a wonderful opportunity to share with the broader community. And we're looking forward to the next opportunity. And we know that you're going to make the right decision. I love it. I think you're right. Hey, everybody, check out Fundraising Academy. You can find them online at fundraising-academy.org. They have a lot of really amazing tools. Most of them are free. They cover all levels of engagement with fundraising. And it's an amazing team over there. So be sure to check them out. As we wind up this really busy and exciting week, we want to thank all of our partners who allow us to have these conversations. They range from Blumerang to the American Nonprofit Academy, Fundraising Academy at National University, Nonprofit Thought Leader, Your Part-Time Controller, Nonprofit Nerd, and Staffing Boutique. They come to us each day with their trust and their support so we can have amazing people like LaShonda Williams on. So thank you. Thank you so much. Okay, LaShonda, are you ready to have a good restful weekend? I am ready for a wonderful restful weekend here in the Deep South. And I'm wishing everyone good health and happiness in this new year. And I would say to stay warm because it's a hell of a storm coming across our country this weekend. It definitely is. And I'm very thankful for the weather gear. Yeah, if you missed us in the beginning, we were all talking about boots and coats because it's going to be a chilly one. Hey, to all of our friends that come to us each and every day, we want to end this episode with our sign off that we really truly believe. And that is to stay well so you can do well. We'll see you back here on Monday, everyone. Thank you, LaShonda.