 Hello and welcome, we are thrilled to have you back here for another episode of the nonprofit show each and every Friday we reserve this show for our ask and answered. And this is underwritten by fundraising Academy so thank you thank you thank you for your ongoing commitment and partnership with us. You know we love your cause selling education model, and we really love our partnership with the national university so this dedicated episode is where we reserve many questions that come to us from you, our viewers and you are listeners so we save these and we place them on our Friday shows. We've been doing this now probably about two, two and a half years, and it's really been fun to see the evolution of the questions that come to us. So again, let's let's get us started. I'm Jared ransom your nonprofit nerd CEO of the Raven group. I live in Arizona I work nationwide and again one of our amazing partners has been the fundraising Academy with the national university. I hope that movie is able to join us he actually might join us live just on the fly, again having a bit of technical difficulties from South America. But again want to say thank you to fundraising Academy for joining us. And we also want to thank and give a huge shout out round of applause to our presenting sponsors. Many have been with us from the very beginning and if you are a longtime listener and you are you know that thanks to these presenting sponsors, we are marching toward forward and toward our 600 episode next week so thank you so very much to all of our sponsors that keep our show going and growing. I'm going to give these shout outs to bloom ring American nonprofit Academy fundraising Academy again with the national university. Also to nonprofit nerd, your part time controller staffing boutiques and nonprofit thought leader. So thank you so very much to all of our sponsors that have come with us on this journey. 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So again, all of these questions come in from you, our viewers and our listeners, and we find time and ways to really respond to the questions that you are facing the opportunities, perhaps even challenges that you're facing in and around your community with your organization. So this one comes from name withheld. And again, those of you that are longtime listeners and viewers you know that my co host Julia loves these name withheld. So Arlington, Texas, and it sets here we are hosting the leadership team of a similar type of nonprofit to our campus in late October, or November. It has been suggested that we have visitors sign a NDA which stands for non disclosure agreements before we start our tour. Can you please weigh in on this. So this is an interesting question and and I find this you know, really, I'm not quite sure how I would answer it previously to doing all of these episodes with a nonprofit show. First of all, I want to honor and recognize the fact that you are having the tour and that you're able to, you know, truly have people come into your organization I know that's new and I know that's something that many of us have been just craving and wanting more of so I love that you're also looking at collaboration and it might just be, you know, providing your space providing your, your intellect with them. Hopefully, you have opened your space to many other people as well for the tour. So I personally do not really see an NDA or a non disclosure agreement of need I don't think that that's necessary. And we look at bringing in, you know, individuals to our campus, you know, and sharing with them, some of the tools the techniques that you are sharing with your organization, you know, really looking at this to say, this is a great way to share your best practices, but I don't really see it as intellectual property of something that we might need an NDA signed for. So, my suggestion name withheld is that I don't think that it's necessary, unless you are truly going to bring in, you know, all of this intellectual property and lay it on the table while they're providing that tour. I mean, I'm so glad that you can join us we, I provided all of our viewers and listeners your background information I let them know that you're joining us from from another country and technology is always a challenge. But if you could dive in with me on this question, hopefully you've had a quick chance to read it. And let me know what you think when it comes to having visitors sign NDA is when they're coming in for a tour. What's your thought on this. Yeah, this is a really interesting one. And I think that if it is a similar organization just as this case is. Feel free to take the precautions, you know this is your intellectual property this is your mission this is how you accomplish your goals and if you're giving people the inside knowledge on how you operate as an organization and how you have that special magic. With your donors and your constituents. It's better to be safe than sorry. Yeah, yeah, you know and that's that's exactly what I said you know if you're kind of doing a generic tour that you do with maybe the general public, you might not need that NDA but if you are pulling back the curtains and you're rolling out the red carpet with a lot of intellectual property. That's exactly when you might want to consider that so name withheld in Arlington, Texas, I hope that both of our responses help you address this in a more, you know, a way to move forward in something that you're comfortable with as well as your governing board is comfortable with. So that's something to consider. So I'm going to read this and I'm going to ask you to answer this one first. So Aisha from Detroit, Michigan writes in and wants to know. Should we meet with prospective donors for coffee offsite, or should we meet with prospective donors at our nonprofit. We work in the arts and culture sector and don't really have a space for coffee or a meeting area per se. What would you say to that movie. This question and hopefully I might know Aisha from Detroit born and raised, you know, there's a slight possibility. But I think, you know, if your organization doesn't have the capacity or the area for meeting, but you still have things at your office that are relevant for your donor to see. Maybe it's like, hey, come by to the office and we'll give you a quick 15 minute tour, and we have a really close coffee shop nearby, and we'll go or a place to have lunch and whatnot, or you bring your coffee to go. And you have it on the go while you're doing a walking tour. I think that those are two good options for really trying to engage the constituent and donor in your mission. As arts and culture organization you may have work from your constituents if it's an after school program and the kids are doing art or whatever the case may be and those things will speak to your donor they want to see the impact that you're making. So I think it's okay to make shift it and donors are going to understand that you may not have the resources in your current capacity to have a place to host these things. So, I think it's totally okay to bring a donor to your office and to have a coffee with them there and make the most of it. Get creative. I love your hybrid suggestion there I'm working with a client now movie that has experienced and is experienced just extreme expansion and so even offices that used to house one person. Now house to people right or kind of had to have this floating office space. So, you know, they don't have the capacity truly to have any confidential conversations with prospective donors there's no, you know, boardroom with a conference table where you can sit in and have space. And so, you know, I think that, you know, having that option of the hybrid where, you know, bring your coffee, go on a tour, or do a quick meeting at the office so you can see. And I would say, you know, really, it's where your programs happen. It's not necessarily where you push paper, or where you're doing your administrative work, it's where the magic happens in your program. And so as you said if that happens off site in a school program. If that happens, you know, at a local theater, especially being an arts and culture, you know, use an opportunity to engage that space in a way that's meaningful. And also nowadays and I'm curious what you think of this movie is, you know, so many of us are used to this virtual connection. And so meeting in person. You can absolutely do that. And so maybe there's a way for that hybrid to also do, you know, in person but also doing a virtual reality where, you know, perhaps you give them a tour that's virtual, or you can share. You know, you can kind of integrate all of these various modalities in a way that suits the purpose of the meeting and highlight the programs because I really feel that is why, you know, the perspective donor is there is to see the program and where their dollars are going to go. What do you, what do you say to that. Yeah, you took the words right out of my mouth for it. I think, you know, getting them as close to the organization as possible and within your building within your office space. I think can be transformative if somebody is like wow I can't believe you guys are working like this. Maybe we should help you find a new office. And who knows they may have real estate connections or this that the other like leverage the situation to your benefit. That's the story of what you need and if you're expanding your staff or the constituents that you help and the beneficiaries need more services and area to expand their programs. Yeah, it makes sense to bring the donors into the office space. You mentioned the kind of you know like wow I can't believe you're working like this are in this space and I know you don't mean it negatively and I've seen so many organizations and it sounds like you have as well, where it's like, this is the very base of of an office right and often the carpet is ripped or the paint is chipped, typically nonprofits are working with a very basic office, you know, equipment and furniture and so even the office chairs, you know, for a prospective donor to come in and say, Okay, I see a lot of ways and how I can help you and I'd really like to help you improve your office setting, not only for your staff but truly for the program itself, especially if clients are coming in. So I love that you mentioned that and it might be a very humbling experience for the donor to see and witness that. Good stuff. Well, let's move into because I hope that helped you and perhaps you do know her I love that, you know, knowing that that that's your community as well so let's move into a sorry at Raleigh North Carolina. And this viewer writes in and wants to know about a transition and leadership so our director of philanthropy is retiring. Should we make appointments with major donors to have a goodbye meeting. Another option might be to make a joint meeting with our new director once they are hired thoughts. Go ahead take this one away. Yeah, so I think that if your director of philanthropy was retiring. You have noticed you should have started the hiring process for the new director before they retire so that it could be a joint meeting. Yeah, like I think that if the new directors there before the director philanthropy retires, that's like the best case scenario, and joint meetings would be fantastic. At least you can do a pass off, you could do an email intro you can do phone calls. You should do a retirement party and see which donors will show up. So there's a lot of opportunity there to maintain the relations and establish new connections and strengthen the relationship with the organization for the donor. A lot of the personality and the relationship is going to be there because of who the retiring director was that's you know it's hard to avoid that. But I think if the hiring process is done right and HR has their eyes dotted and tease crossed, then it should be where it's a joint meeting, it's set up, and there's a party and it's celebrated and there's a good transition. So all of those things are critical and important for the organization. I agree that that handover is very important and I'm going to take this further that it's not just when you know a director philanthropy retires I see this often in founders as well. When the founder moves beyond really that founder position, and they bring in an executive director or CEO or another leader. You yourself movie have maybe been in this situation with your organization and maybe you can shed some light on how that transition came came about. One thing I also want to mention before hopefully you will be able to share that story is, you know, the tenure of someone in development is not very long. I think that this individual is retiring perhaps that you know they have been in this position longer than that kind of 18 month national standard window. Which yes is very like jaw dropping when you're listening to this and you're thinking, did I just hear Jared say that the standard tenure of someone in that development role is maybe 18 months. You did and that is scary because that means there's a lot of transition, but having this opportunity of retirement and having this opportunity as movie just suggested to have a retirement party. I think is very valuable because you're right seeing the donors that make make the, you know, the distance to join that or make the commitment to join that party will speak volumes to the relationship of the person, as well as the organization. So, I kind of put you in the hot seat movie but again I know that you either founded co founded an organization I hope you'll share that, and then you now have kind of moved into another role within that organization. So, while not director philanthropy but in a founder's way how did you navigate that personally. Yeah, thank you for asking the question, Jared and I'm happy to talk about the real story of why I decided to step away from an organization that I founded and was working out full time. You know, I didn't, I put everything I had into American Muslim Community Foundation, and it is a fantastic thriving organization we have dedicated board members we now have a full time executive director we have part time staff donor manager nonprofit manager. So those three positions were hired. Once I stepped away and only went down to 10 hours a week. And now, you know, they're a fantastic team doing the work that we set out to do and they're looking at details of things that went over my head and I was like I'm going to focus on my skill set and do the things I like and other things fell to the wayside. I'm looking up those crumbles that I left behind, but it was like that to operate a multimillion dollar nonprofit to help families distribute their charitable giving. And now we're becoming a stronger organization, you know, sometimes you do have to put the car before the horse. So that's an example of that of filling a void in the community and helping a community distribute their charitable giving and now we've given out more than eight and a half million dollars in six years. So it's kudos to the team is kudos to the board members and the other co founders that they were able to see the foresight and you know not let us fall into the trap of founder syndrome and to see how amcf continues to evolve and we've made those transitions and introductions to our donors and organizations that we support so we hope that we're doing the right thing that we're taking the right steps. And we're still young organization, and there's so much more for us to grow and experience so that's what I'm most excited about I'm still committed you know one day I'll join the board I'm sure. I may not be a consultant for the organization but we're still working through those transitions and we'll get there when we get there. And who knows, even if the organizing grows I may come back full time, you know there's, there's an interesting story that we get to weave of creating this organization and I'm excited to see where it will go. Thank you for that and how did the transition with the donors go because I really do feel that you know a founder story director philanthropy that's retiring is very similar and the fact that these are really deep rooted connections and conversations. So, you know, there's this goodbye meeting suggestion from sorry there's this you know joint meeting suggestion from sorry. How did you handle that transition for you when that happened is that something that sorry might also want to be considered. Yeah, for sure like I had so many donors and organizations and people still reaching out to me and I had to empower the executive director and make those introductions and empower the donor manager to take over the donor and empower the nonprofit manager to take over the relationships with all the nonprofits so it was all about explaining what I did, first of all writing down the processes and steps of everything that I did and then the board really said wow you were doing a lot. And then from there it was making the argument like yes let's have an executive director who's more operational. I'll still focus on the fundraising build do a little bit of it but it's my responsibility. Let's hire a donor manager because I'm stuck in the weeds on providing reports for all the daffs and all of these things and my time should be focused on larger picture strategy. So, you know, I had to make the argument I had to show that this was the best step for the organization, and there was some concern from donors. Oh, you know, should I close my donor advice. No, no, we're growing we're expanding all of those things so there was definitely concern. There was definitely unease it's people's money it's their livelihood it's the charity that they want to give so they were concerned of like, what does this mean. And what I will say is our organization maybe could have handled it better like I'll be the most self critical of of AMCF out of anybody else. And I'm open to the criticism and how we can grow and I think that's the only way that will will become stronger. So I think that, you know, we hired an executive director, they went on maternity leave one board member had to come in and step in who was transitioning out of the board. There's a lot of challenges and internally, some things fell to the wayside as well and we've had to pick that back up but it's a learning process and and now, you know the executive directors back full time. And it's a well oiled machine and we're focusing on customer service and delivery. That's the main thing is like how can we make this experience less challenging because there have been challenges and we need to be real with that. We're building up to it, making the differences, empowering people to take things forward. I think those are all the things that we did that we thought worked, and we're continuously learning and reiterating and that's all we can do is give it our best. I love the empowerment piece and I do think that that's a big one sorry can take away is that the retiring director philanthropy can truly empower, you know the new director and and and lay confidence in the donors so if they say, should we stop donating. No, absolutely not so thank you for addressing that and in such such an honorable way with a personal story so thank you. We don't have much time but we're definitely going to answer herbs question here from Omaha, Nebraska, and herb wants to know about swag so here we are. Would you give us your opinion on swag for donors, I have heard swag is short for stuff we all get. And I'm not sure this is even true, or a value to donors. It's interesting her because I've heard that it's not just stuff but it's another word that you can put in there that we all get, but it is definitely a swag bag. What are you seeing by way of this right now moohi when it comes to swag bags for donors is this a yay and nay it kind of like in the middle what are you seeing. Yeah, well you know I'm continuously learning every day because I didn't know the acronym stood for I just knew what it was that hilarious stuff we all get, or if you, you know, the other S word, another word that I can't say here. I'm glad you picked up on that. You know, we used it a lot at the Red Cross, but other donors who don't appreciate it will let you know they'll be like you know spend your resources elsewhere and then you take them off the swag list. But for others it's a good reminder it's a good. You know what I like to say teardrop of just like here we're thinking of you and little drip and like get your organization top of mind. So I think it's helpful I think that little trash keys and things. You know they may end up in the trash but at the end of the day if it's something that is unique is well branded and could be put to good use, then go for it. I love that you said it and and you're so right the donors that don't want it they'll tell you that they don't want it and I think that's very okay it's just like the donors that say, don't mail me you don't have to mail me until my final you know letter at the end of the year. I think when we focus on cause marketing for this swag or the stuff we all get you know maybe it's a t shirt and we've talked about this before on the show that you know you wear out into the gym well now that's become marketing or maybe you know it's it's a pendant or something to where you know it really puts your organization first and it also helps in a branding awareness. Stickers right now are all the rage for a certain demographic myself included, you know that I either put them on the side of my car, or I put them on a water bottle and so really depending on your donor demographic and what kind of swag you're wearing, I think that's that's doable. You know my swag new he and I know you know it are these notable glasses, and sure they might get, you know, in the trash at some point or they might get shared with a child at some point but to me it's all about that marketing and the playfulness so I would really consider, you know, what would be relatable for your organization herb and how might your donors, you know, receive that so again thinking of, you know, is it is it a key chain is it a pendant is it a sticker so it doesn't have to cost a lot of money, but maybe there is something that you can give that also increases that cause marketing awareness again, with just getting the word out and letting other people in the community share and become an ambassador for your organization so I do know that many of us have a lot of chockies and I'm not one for for hanging on to those things I have a feeling you're not either especially traveling abroad, and so really being mindful mindful of that and your donors so I hope that that's that that is helpful. Well we're wrapping up our show I cannot believe it I'm so grateful that you could join us I did let our viewers and our listeners know that you're joining us from abroad, and I believe South Asia. So, I am in Columbia and head to Guatemala tomorrow so you know if I'm on the show again will be another country but you know just still live in this journey called life and taking a day by day. I absolutely love it and I love following your journey and having you share it so openly so thank you for that. And again, movie, thank you for joining us you're a trainer with fundraising Academy, also part of the National University and again co founder, which he shared with us with his transition story here with the American Muslim Community Foundation. And just grateful to have you on the show and to have your valuable expertise to share with us on this Friday ask an answer. Each and every Friday we bring this to you but each and every day we bring the nonprofit show to you thank you so very much to our presenting sponsors so I would be remiss if I didn't give a verbal shout out to all of our sponsors which are Marang American nonprofit Academy fundraising Academy with the National University thanks movie for joining me today. Also nonprofit nerd, your part time controllers staffing boutique and the nonprofit thought leader. Please check out these companies they're all fantastic servant leaders here to pour into you and your mission and your community. So if you have not checked out these companies. Do yourself a favor because you will love each and every one of them they are truly fantastic and we're just so grateful to have their ongoing support. I'm grateful again that you can join us again I know that there are some technical difficulties but hey, that's life these days that we that we joined with so thanks to you for joining us all of our viewers, I'm going to ask you movie and the rest of our viewers and remind you to please stay well, so you can do well. Thanks my friend and I'll see you back here soon.