 Welcome to another episode of the non-profit show. Today, we are joined by, you know, Santa has come to the show, which is really exciting because for those of you who have been, you know, strong supporters of the non-profit show, we are finishing up year three, more than 700 episodes, Santa has never come. No, I, you know, this I think is the first time I've been invited. And you know, whenever you invite me, Julia, I am there. You are, this is true, this is true. Jack Elotto, CFRE trainer with Fundraising Academy, AKA Santa, he is my main man. Today, we're gonna be talking about something that gives a lot of stress to a lot of people taking and passing the CFRE exam. This is something that is a great topic for the end of the year because this, I gotta believe Santa lands on a lot of New Year's resolution lists. And so we wanna really drill down and talk about this. And so we can't wait for Santa to share with us what he's got. For those of you who might need to be reminded or we've never met before, I'm Julia Patrick, CEO of the American Nonprofit Academy. Jared Ransom, the non-profit nurse herself, CEO of the Raven Group will be joining us back tomorrow. We are so blessed because we have received the holiday package every day of these fine sponsors. Bloomerang, American Nonprofit Academy, Kim, don't know my own business name. You're part-time controller, be generous. Fundraising Academy at National University, Staffing Boutique, non-profit thought leader and the non-profit nerd. Again, these are the folks that are with us day in and day out. If you missed any of our episodes or you wanna go back, refresh, or maybe you have a new issue that you need some help and education on, we got you covered. You can find our archives that are incredibly robust on Roku, YouTube, Amazon Fire TV and Vimeo. And since this last year, we have been putting all of our episodes into podcast format. So we have more than 300 podcasts available for you as well. So queue us up wherever you like to get your streaming content. Okay, Giacolato C-F-R-E, a.k.a. Nacho Santa. Nacho Santa. Nacho Santa. Hey, welcome my friend. We always love having you on the show. We love your energy. We learn a heck of a lot from you. But not everybody knows that you're one of the national leaders in terms of C-F-R-E education. And so we touch on this, you know, when we have you on, but today we're gonna really drill down on this. So let's get the ball rolling, Santa. What the heck is the C-F-R-E exam and how is it conducted? That's a great question. So the C-F-R-E exam is an exam of 200 multiple choice questions. I never knew that. I never knew so many questions. Yes, 200 multiple choice questions. And here's the thing, the score that you should achieve, the perfect score would be 800. A passing score is 500, which I think is about 62 or 63% of the test. How is it conducted? Now here's the wonderful thing. You could do it in person or you could do it virtually. And some people do prefer to do it in person and some people prefer to do it virtually. They could do it in their office or they could do it in their home office and they, you know, it makes them feel comfortable to be in that environment. When I took the test way back when, it was only in person. So now you could take it virtually. So certified fundraising executive and the test, I never knew the number of questions. When you go to take this test, I've got two more questions. Is it timed and is it one of those tests where when you take it, if you miss a question, it changes the course of the test? And I think that's called. Yeah, so here's the thing about the test is that you could flag questions. And then when you've completed or when you want to, you could look at those flag questions to answer them. The other thing is it is a timed test, but here's the thing, Julia, it's one of the study groups that I've conducted and all of the people I've worked with, no one has ever said they don't have enough time. In fact, I remember when I took the test way back then, I finished early. And what I did is, and this is a tip for people, I went back and started rereading all of my questions and then I started changing the answers. Don't do that. In fact, there's lots of research out there, especially from Cornell University, you know that university, that small little college up there in Ithaca, New York, they say that the number one problem people have is when they change their answers, they usually pick the wrong one. Go with your gut. So it's really important. Go with your gut. Okay, so then it just as a follow-up before we go to the next question, is this only given at like a certain dates and times or is it the sort of thing where if you're going to do the digital one, you could take it at two in the morning on a Tuesday. So if you go to an in-person place, then you have to find a location where the test is offered. And it's offered through a national company called Pearson VU. So you find that company and CFRE on their website tells you how to do all of that. It's really a very easy process. I remember I was living in Northern California and I took it in Santa Rosa. Okay, yeah. But here's another tip. If you're going to take it in person, go there the day before, you know, I'm all about reducing stress. So when I have to go somewhere, Julia, if I don't know where I'm going, that creates stress. So I went the day before, drove there, saw how much time it would took me to drive there, et cetera, what the traffic was like. And so that was not a stressor for me on that day. Yeah, where to park your sleigh? Who's going to the ring? I got, you know, I got all these reindeer and one has that big red shiny nose and everybody can see him. It's so irritating. And sometimes when I'm on my sled going, he blinds me too. So I have to be careful. Yes. It's tough. It's tough. Stop being sad and being peaceful. It's not an easy job. Well, and being a Santa, who's a CFRE, that's one heck of a heavy lift. It is. What is this process for becoming a candidate? You can't just like show up and take the test. Right. So you have to be certified. And if you go to CFRE.org, they will lead you through the process of certification. And here's the thing. As you proceed through certification, you look at your experience in fundraising. You look at your education. And here's my plug for the Fundraising Academy at National University. We offer continuing educations free. Let me repeat that free. Even Santa can take free webinars at the Fundraising Academy so that I could get those continuing education credits. Looks at your experience. It looks at what you've done around fundraising. And you don't pay for anything until you're ready to send that application in. Okay. So Pearl Hogan, the Executive Director of Fundraising Academy, was sharing with us last week that Fundraising Academy now has, and I'm gonna use the word system. I don't think this is the correct word, but you kind of have a registry or a role or a tracker whereby folks can put their requirements in and then that can go to CFRE. Is that correct? Yes. So you could track your continuing education credits on our site. I'm gonna give the site name. It's mylearningportal.org. Okay. Mylearningportal.org. You could go there and there are lots of tools and help to help you with this process. Awesome. And of course CFRE.org, lots of tools there. The thing that I like about CFRE, their site is that they want you to first assess your knowledge. Now remember, CFRE is in six domains. So it's really important that you assess your knowledge in each of those six domains. What are those six domains? Prospect research, securing the gift, relationship building, volunteer management, leadership and management of the nonprofit function and finally one of the most important ethics and accountability. So you go there and you assess what you know at each of these. Now for me, I was not, I didn't do prospect research. I didn't learn a lot about prospect research. So then when I determined, when I did that assessment, I said, I've gotta go and learn more about prospect research. And so that's what I did. And then the next thing that I did, which really was helping me, I created a study plan. And again, at their site, they will give you examples of study plans. So I said, okay, I'm taking this test on January 30th. I'm gonna work backwards and I'm gonna create that study plan. And that's what I did. Here's the other thing. My next study group, which is free, let me repeat that, Santa doesn't do very, the only thing I do is at Christmas, I get away free stuff. But this free study group is January 14th. And all you have to do is message me or find me on LinkedIn and I'll add you to the group. Okay, so let's then move on to that and let's get more specific about test prep. Because I mean, I'm assuming that if you can get into some sort of supportive environment, your chances for being successful go up because this is not an easy thing. You don't just like, okay, yeah, I think I need this, right? I mean, there's a high degree of peril and stress by deciding you're gonna do this. Not everybody's successful. So how does test prep work? And why should we even look at this? Well, once you've assessed, oh, my beard is getting a little ratty, I think, once you've assessed your skillset, what you need to learn, then you start there, you know, you start, you determine what is your learning style? Each of us has a learning style. You're a mom, you probably remember when your daughter was in high school, she learned certain ways. Let me tell you what my learning style is. Now Santa Claus, everything comes easy to me, okay? I'm just boom, boom, boom. I probably should take the law exam next just without any prep, because I know I could do it. Anyway, I determined that my learning style is reading a book and using a yellow highlighter, then going back and writing notes on that chapter. Yeah. Can I tell you what I really recommend, the three sources? Now you could buy all of the books that are listed at the CFRE website, but here are my three really important resources that I like. I think the world of the book Achieving Excellence in Fundraising. Okay. Volume five. I think if you buy that book and you can get it at Amazon relatively inexpensively, it will serve you for the rest of your life. I have three copies of that, volume five here and three copies of volume four. Number two is the CFRE Study Guide. Okay. That's the only book that CFRE publishes. I always tell my study group participants start on page 90 of that book. Do you know why? Because on page 90, CFRE tells you how to pass their test. How easy is that? So that's number two. And number three is the AFP CFRE Refresher Coursebook that you get from AAP. So those are my three really important resources that I think everyone should use to help them pass that test. That's like gold, Santa. That is amazing. Because I think that's one of the other things is that when you look at what the tools are for CFRE, for taking the CFRE exam, it's pretty vast. And it's hard to drill down and say, okay, where am I gonna make this investment, this financial investment this time? Because candidates are working people. It's not like, you know, so. And I know they have their work. They have their families. And you know, for Santa, families come first. Okay. Always come first. When people say to me, well, I have to take my child to his soccer match on Saturday. I said, go for it. I'll catch you up later. I would rather catch somebody up later than have them miss some important milestone. I've had people say they have weddings to go to. They have this to do it, go for it. Yeah. That's the reality of what fundraisers have to do because they're working, you know, within the community and that's what their donors are doing. I'm gonna pivot a little bit now because this is a really interesting thing. And I don't wanna lead with the negative, but what happens when you pass and then the next part of this is what happens if you don't pass? Because again, this is a rigorous test. They don't pass these CFRE designations out like candy. So how does this look? And if you could add the timeframe as well, like what would this journey be? Given that so many folks are gonna put this on their New Year's resolution list, what would this look like? When you take the test, you pretty much when you submit the test, you get an instant you pass or you didn't pass. Oh, you do? You do. It's instant and that is so fun when people call me up and they say, I just passed it, they said I passed. And I always say, wait for the official notification from CFRE. And honestly, no one who said they passed gotta notice that they didn't pass. So it's pretty accurate. Now let's say, now you and I've talked about this before, I do not believe that people fail at this test. They just haven't passed it yet. I believe in the power of yet. Yet is future focused. Okay. I love that. Focus on the future. So you have to wait 30 days to retest. And I have talked with several people, not maybe not a hundred, but close to a hundred people who haven't passed the test yet. And I talk to them and I say, what do you think happened? There are lots of things that happen. It's not about their knowledge. It might be other things. Fear of failure, imposter syndrome, something you and I talked about, anxiety, stress. They've had a bad day. I've heard stories, you know, driving someone hunked at them and it just didn't come together. But it wasn't the best fact that they didn't know the material. So I believe in the power of positive affirmations. I told you earlier that someone who passed the test just a couple of weeks ago sent me a note saying, I feel like an imposter. And honestly, Julia, I didn't know what imposter syndrome was. I had to look it up. And it's the belief that you don't deserve something. And who typically has this? Women and people of color. White men do not say to me, I feel like an imposter. And I believe that one way to overcome this is by positive affirmations. When people, when I always ask them, when are you taking the test? And they'll say January 20th. I say to them, I want you to repeat after me. I will be a CFRE on January 20th. I love that. And I want them to say that over and over and over again. And sometimes I say, you might, like one of my study group people said, they should go like this, I will be a CFRE, you know, have some tactile thing as it relates to CFRE. I believe in it. And I believe that determination, persistence and focus are the most important thing. What did Benjamin Franklin say? Knowledge, education, nothing replaces persistence. And I believe that. So in this test prep persistence, what does that look like? I mean, is this like a one day thing or a 12 month thing? Like how should we be looking at this when we're planning to be successful with the CFRE? I look to successful people. And last year, I had an ex-felon from your hometown who passed the test. And I said to him, what did you do? How did you prepare for this test? And he told me he studied for 80 hours. Okay. And how he did it. What he did, he took my study group and he studied for 80 hours. He read these books. He did Google searches. He, I do a PowerPoint and I send it to people in the study group afterwards. He reviewed that, he did that and he was successful. I love stories like that. I've had felons. I've had a Catholic priest. I've had people who work for Jewish nonprofit organizations. In fact, I'm gonna talk to someone tomorrow who's in Florida who works for a Jewish philanthropy and she just passed the CFRE. So all across the board. Yeah. It's great. Do you think that 80 hours should be something that we look at as a, I mean, do you think that's an average that we should say, okay, when we look at our calendar and we back it out, do you think you feel confident that that's a good? I do. I love that 80 hours. You know, if it's one hour a day, if you're taking the test in 30 days, then you're gonna have to increase it. Maybe you're spending more time on Saturday. You know what else I like? One of the things that I love, when you get your CFRE, Julia, it gives you power. Yeah. Or it gives you power with your donors. It gives you power with your peers. It gives you power with the people you work for. It gives you power and it gives you self-confidence that you've mastered something. Just like a bachelor's degree or a master's degree or a PhD would do that. I love that about CFRE because it's empowering people. My word for 2023 is power. Yeah. Yeah. I love it. Well, let me ask you as a follow up to that. This isn't a one and done. Like what's the management and the administration of not only taking that test and achieving a passing grade, but then how do we navigate the maintenance of that? Good question. So every three years, you have to renew your CFRE. You don't have to take the test every three years. And I get that question on, do I have to take this test again? Yeah, yeah. You don't have to do that. But here's what CFRE wants you to do. It wants you to be continuing your education. And I love that about CFRE. You get those continuing education credits. One of the places you get them, mylearningportal.org at the funder is in your care. Okay. And that is, again, you take these courses or attend conferences, whatever, then you have to do like a documentation type of thing and that goes to CFRE. And then they do that. Jack, do you know what the cost of this sitting for the exam and what the application fees are? Yeah, it's $700 for people who are members of AFP or HP or one of the 26 different associations in the United States. Like educators have one association. So it's 700. If you're not a member of any of those, most people are a member of one of those. It costs more. Yeah, okay. All right. And then to re-up or whatever that were, to achieve that continuity, what is that fee? Do you know? I don't know it off the top of my head. And I just went through it at last April. You think I would remember? I can't remember. I apologize, but I'm sure it's on their site. They're sure. But it's not the full 700. No, no, it's not 700 again. And people, like I used to forget to track everything. Like when I attend a webinar or I go to the fundraising Academy webinars once a month, I put it on my calendar. And then when I go back to recertify, it's all right there on my Google calendar. So it's- So I gotta ask you this, Santa, as a guest of the nonprofit show and you come on and you basically train and teach, does that ever count for some of these continuing education credits? Yes, it does. I mean, it matters to me. I put all, you know, I've been on the nonprofit show, I don't know, a dozen times this year. And I put it, I put all of those, I put those into my certification that I'm giving back to the community. You know, you said it early on, what are your educational goals for next year? Maybe it's the CFRE or maybe it's classes at the fundraising Academy or maybe it's AFP webinars, whatever it is. I love this thirst to continuing learn. You know why I do this? People say, why is you spending your Saturdays? I don't know, watching football or baseball or whatever, which I do sometimes. But why do I do it? When you who are working at a charity in Phoenix do better at your charity because of some thing you've learned in CFRE then you're making my world better. Absolutely. I believe that. That's why you do it. What is your, one of your themes at the end of the show? Stay well so that you could do well or something like that, I apologize. Exactly, no, no, you're right. You know, so stay well so that you do well. Your goal at the nonprofit Academy is to let them do well. And they do well by coming today to this by getting their CFRE, by going to a webinar at the fundraising Academy or AFP or BlackBot or any of the sponsors you have of this show. Yeah. Yeah, we're gonna do well. Yeah, I think the continuing education credits and just the process of always learning, especially in this time of the nonprofit sector where we have endured so much significant change in really like 48 months, you know, because the nonprofit sector has not always been at the forefront of change. We've been a little stodgy and with COVID and all of these changes in society, things have been shaken up quite a bit. And so, yeah, I think it's really important to learn about this and understand. Well, Santa, I have, this is like the highlight, a highlight of the year, benevolent Santa. Some might think you resemble Jackalotto CFRE, trainer extraordinaire of Fundraising Academy, but Santa never reveals. So I guess we'll have to, you know, I don't know. Think about that a little bit more. Check out fundraising-academy.org or mylearningportal.org. And you will be able to get access, free access to a lot of the things that we've been talking about, which really dovetails into the success of achieving your CFRE designation. And amazing, amazing. I almost want to call it Jack trade secret. Because if you know about this and if you know how to manage it and it really does change the trajectory of your career. Oh yeah. You know, so I think it's really cool. I really, really do. Hey everybody, again, I'm Julia Patrick, CEO of the American Nonprofit Academy. The nonprofit nerd herself, Jared Ransom, CEO of Raven Group, will be back with us tomorrow. Again, we want to thank all of our amazing sponsors, Blumerang, American Nonprofit Academy, your part-time controller, Be Generous, Fundraising Academy at National University, Staffing Boutique, Nonprofit Thought Leader, and the Nonprofit Nerd. You know, Santa, it's really an interesting thing. Our sponsors are not involved in our editorial direction. They never push us on who to speak with, what to talk about. They join us because they believe in what we're doing. And it is a really powerful thing because we have free reign. And when we can talk to somebody like Santa, you know, the week of Christmas, I'm just saying. You're great. And you're doing such a great service. I'm so proud of your 700 shows. Thank you. Thank you. I'm so proud to be part of that process. I think you have been very much a part of the process. Fundraising Academy and the leadership was one of the very first folks that stepped up and said, yeah, we like this idea. We don't always say things that you guys agree with or, you know, row in the same direction. But yeah, it's been a super cool, super cool thing. Well, as Santa and Nacho Alotto said earlier, we do have a sign-off and we created this from the get go and we really believe it and it goes like this. Stay well so you can do well. Santa, thank you so much. Ho, ho, ho. You're a busy dude, so get those reindeer fed and we'll go, we'll see you next year, my friend.