 Welcome, thank you for joining us. We are thrilled to have Needy Doshi with us today, co-founder with Paybee. And you were gonna talk to us today, Needy, about auction strategies post COVID. But before we dive into that conversation, we wanna make sure that all of our viewers and listeners know who we are as well. Julia Patrick is here. Where else would she be on this money? Julia is the CEO of the American Nonprofit Academy. I'm Jarrett Ransom, Julia's personal nonprofit nerd, but I can be yours too, because I do like to remind all of you, there's plenty of this nerdiness to go around. I'm the CEO of the Raven Group, and Julia and I are both extremely honored to have the continued support and investment from our sponsors. You can see them on the screen here, but for those of you listening, thank you to Bloomerang American Nonprofit Academy, your part-time controller, non-profit nerd, fundraising academy, the non-profit atlas, non-profit thought leader, as well as staffing boutique. Many of these companies have been with us now for three years as we continue to broadcast these shows live and our recordings, which you can find on Roku, YouTube, Fire TV, Vimeo. We have over 500 episodes recorded, but over 800 video elements. So that means that our executive producer has condensed many of these lovely guest conversations into smaller snippets and just kind of bite-size information nuggets. And if you miss any of these, you can also listen to us on the podcast. So wherever you stream your podcast, we are now on 20 plus streaming platforms. So make sure you go ahead and queue up the non-profit show, and we would love to be in your ears or in your car as you're driving, walking, exercising. And so really thrilled to have the continuation of these episodes. Absolutely. Hey, Nitty, we're really excited to have you on. I think that whenever we get a founder or co-founder of something, that's really special because we get to get into the mind of somebody that's doing something really innovative. Talk to us about Pavey, because this is where we need to be, I think, no pun intended. Ta-da. Ta-da. Ta-da. Right, so Pavey started about five and a half years ago, and we started with a single mission that, hey, we wanted every donation to go through. So a lot of times we noticed that there was a donor, there was a charity, the donor loved the cause, and they said, oh, how can we help? And the charity said, go to our website and make a donation or send us a check. And the donor said, totally, I'm gonna do that when I get home. And then, well, life happens. And unintentionally, the opportunity is missed. So again, I've been on the board of nonprofits. I've been a volunteer for many of them. And I'm like, oh, God, this would have been just so much easier. The moment was right there. It should have happened and why didn't it? So that's the reason why we started Pavey. We wanted to make sure none of these opportunities get missed. So we started with a tagline of donation in the moment of inspiration. So whenever a donor is inspired, they should be able to take action no matter what. So we started with, we realized that, hey, people don't always have cash or check on them, but they always, always have their phone. So can we use the phone to help them make donations? So we started with QR codes on donation boxes and T-shirts and flyers. This is when QR codes were not sexy. We were like, oh my God, QR codes, who's gonna use them? And we're like, no, there's a lot of value in it. So, and well, today everybody uses QR codes. They made them come back to talk about sexy, right? Like they definitely have made a comeback. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So you started this, I love that you recognize that the passion connecting to immediacy, getting that donor response, getting them going through the phone. And then over time, I mean, you started this before the pandemic and then all of a sudden you've got a new business, a new wrench comes in and you've got to think about events. So talk to us about how that then focused, or I shouldn't say focused, but became a major piece of what Paby's doing. Quite a wrench, huh? Yes, totally. So we were doing donations, soon our charities, oh, can you do reports? Can you do tax receipts? Can you do accounting? And I want to do a bake sale and I want to do a walkathon. So we kept expanding our scenarios. Then it was, can I do tickets and auctions in a funded need and we were supporting entire events. And then with the pandemic coming, all our in-person events got canceled within like three days. Like every one of them and my co-founder and I, we got into depression for like three days. Oh my God, it's the end of the world. And you know, all that we built means nothing. And then we're like, man, this is really boring. I think a lot like both you ladies, like this is really boring. Let's build something, right? Let's give our charities a way of doing virtual donations, you know, whatever set up they are in. So we got to building, within six weeks we launched a virtual gala and tool set, right? So you could have a video, you could have a chat. They could bid and pledge it right there on the same screen. And then they could also finish their payments and then get a tax receipt. So that's what we started out. And within six weeks, we had our first event which had up pretty well. I mean, we had, I think about 250 people who joined and then that gave us the confidence. Oh, there's something in here. And then I think the biggest change with us came when Oakland Zoo, a lot of you might know about the zoo, they were on the verge of shutting down. And we approached them that, hey, what if you did a virtual event? Because again, they didn't have enough money to keep sustained their animals and everything they were gonna shut down. So they said, okay, let's do it. And within 10 days, this event was put together. They had 1600 people join. Typically at the event, they have 300 people, right? Based on the room size and capacity, they have 300 people join. This one had 1600 people join. And within 90 minutes, they raised half a million dollars. And they had a donor who said, I will match. If you can raise over 500K and he matched and they got a million dollars and they were all set for the year. So. Wow. It was amazing. That is an amazing story. Now, is that what we can all expect, right? Like, is that the magic, I don't know, pixie dust that happens? So I think what virtual has opened up is the ability for everybody to join, right? Suddenly, now it has democratized events. It's not just, you know, for people who can afford the expensive tickets to the dinner and the black tie suit, right? No matter where you're joining from, you could be in another part of the world and you're still supporting the cause. And that's what matters the most, right? So yeah, if you have the relationship with your donors and no matter who it is, right? Even if they're donating $10, they're giving you their time, which I think is something charities are starting to recognize, right? The relationship is most important than the money they have. So given that all you've, you know, obviously been so receptive of yourselves as a company to new things and different things and changing things, what would you say is kind of the current situation right now with auction strategies? Because, wow, I mean, Jared and I have been in like a headspin situation seeing how many different things, to your point, got started and then, you know, some were better than others. What's it like now that we're in year three going into your three of this? Yeah, into three years. Again, we continue to see innovation, right? And creativity in events, which is what excites us the most, right? So to give you examples, again, all virtual events started off with a Zoom like an experience that, hey, show them a video and the executive director comes on board. And then very soon charities realized that, hey, this is virtual. And again, nobody really knows if you're live or not, which everybody here, we're live at the moment, but you can never say it, right? It could be a video recording that you're playing. And that gave them the ability to edit, to reach out to wider talent, record content, trim it, fit it into the time period, because again, virtual events, time span is a lot lower than in-person events. And in-person events, you have the ability that, hey, somebody's walking off the stage and then now they're handing the mic and then they're coming on. Virtual, you don't, you have to be go, go, go, right? You have a good run of show and you put up a fantastic event which is condensed, which is concise and people enjoy watching, right? So there was virtual and we'll talk, I guess, in a moment about all the creativity we're seeing, but from virtual, then it went to hybrid, right? Because charities realized that, hey, we don't want to lose out on our virtual audience who we built a relationship with. So this year, I'd say year three, charities are either choosing those who had the virtual experience and the bug with them and they loved it. They want to hold on to that, right? So it's hybrid and a lot of charities still going back to in-person. They want to get back to partying and get people together and meet and dress up and all that, but we're seeing a combination of both. It's either in-person or hybrid, let's say at this point. You know, speaking of that in-person, that is definitely something that is coming back and I served as an emcee for a concert, a benefit concert and it had just what you're talking about, the live plus the virtual, right? And I feel like that's here to stay. And I don't know in what capacity. I don't know if maybe at one point we'll have, you know, where everything is in-person and then there's a separate virtual or maybe that's recorded and then shared. Like, I don't know, but do you think that this tandem hybrid, whatever people want to call it, do you think that's here to stay or do you think at one point we'll separate as we've had this evolution of, you know, what you just described? Like, do you think that will ever separate? I mean, I'm a big prominent of keeping it all together. Okay. You can get more people at your event against strength in numbers, right? The more people you can get, the more energy you build, the more you raise, people get influenced by the people donating, right? That, hey, yeah, we're in this together. We have a goal that we are marching towards and everybody participating, right, all together. I think what really helps is having the right setup. So again, at pay-we-at-least, it's very important to us to make sure that each donor feels like the event is catered to them and to their setup. Like nobody sitting at home should ever feel that, hey, I'm just watching a telecast of people walking around in the room with a, you know, a glass in their hand and a glass of wine. Again, that's not right, right? They should feel like, hey, this event was produced for me for my environment and they should enjoy watching it. And then they should get to participate, bid, pledge, just as well as somebody who's in the room who's raising their paddles, right? So we've built technology to give that kind of experience to donors sitting at home as well. So they have a good time too. And well, at the end of it, the charities are benefiting from the best of both worlds. So one of the things you talked about with Julie and I before we actually opened the digital doors was about efficiency with technology. Would you be willing to dive deep into that sexy subject? Because I do think there's so much to talk about that, but you, your co-founder and the entire PABY team really sees this as a value add for the charities. So would you, you know, I want to open up that box and just kind of let you take it on, but let's talk about that efficiency with technology. Sure. So just to step back a moment, right? My education and background is in HCI, which is human computer interfacing. So how can humans best use technology to assist them, right? So how can we make things really, really easy for users? Right? And again, that's one of the big things that I bring to this company. So at PABY, for us at every instance, we're thinking about what is the environment? What is the donor doing at this time? And how can technology be of further assistance? So to give you an example, right? So our system generates paddles. I don't know if this is also on video as well, but our system generates paddles via a PDF with the name of the guest on it, with any that they are on, right? And the name of the event, their logo. And then at the end of the event, it also has a QR code that they can use for self-checkout. So they never have to wait in lines, right? So this is something we generate. We started with these. Then very soon we realized that, hey, people take these and they hand it over at the time of checking and people will stick it in their armpit and then they'll go have a drink. Then they'll go participate in silent auction and by the time they have to get to their table, they have lost them and they don't know which table they need to get to either, right? And volunteers are frantically running around trying to find the paddles. So like, okay, that is a problem. How can you solve that? So then we keep up with this other format, which is a little tent card, right? This has the name of the guest as well. It has the table, it has the paddle, it has the numbers so they can participate in silent auction. It can go in their jacket pocket or in their purse. And then when they have to sit down, like, oh, I have to get to table number one. And then they get there and the paddles can be stacked on the table. On the table. Then donors can get to the top and start participating and go by the emotion and the drive and pledge more. So this is just an example of, again, it's a simple solution, but thinking about what is the context and why is this problem happening? How can we make that more efficient? Okay, I've got a witness. I'm on the rubber chicken circuit, man. I go to a lot of events have, of course not during the pandemic. That solution right then and there would have made my life as a participant so much easier. Because when you do have the paddle and all that stuff and there is a silent auction, it's hard to be participating with that because of all the stuff that you've got. And if you're in a ball gown or high heels and there's a crush of people, yeah. I love that. Very smart. Very, very smart. I have not seen that being used. So super. That can also go in the program. It's small enough. Like you said, it can go in a jacket pocket. It can go in your purse. So it seems so novice. What a simple solution, but what an amazing solution that finally has hit the stage. I love it. It's so needed. One of the things we've talked about, Julia, is exactly what Nitty had just shared. It's really that focus on relationship, right? That return on relationship. And whether you have this in person or you have this with that virtual hybrid, making this event connect with your audience, regardless of location, is really what hits the mark. And where we've seen the greatest success from so many of our guests to come on and talk about that. Let's talk about what the future holds. Like are there new approaches besides the amazing paddle that you just shared in the table tin to the, you know, like this is the seat. I think the only way to make that better, Nitty, would be on the inside of that card. You have the layout of the room. I love that idea. Right, like you have it. Yeah, you have the small schematics of like, okay, here's where the tables are. And also a lot of charities now at events, they'll have like little booths, right? Like this is where the wine stall is and you can get wine here and this is where the raffles are. Or if you want to get merchandise, I love your idea of the map. Okay, I don't feel that anymore. Just the other day, I started a children's book with your part-time controller and now I'm helping you here. But let's do dive deep into the future because event season, believe it or not folks, right around the corner. So, okay, I'm gonna have two approaches to this, right? So charities who started virtual, and especially the ones who was smaller saw a lot of benefit in continuing virtual, right? Because the costs are a lot lower. They don't have to spend on the room and food and they can just focus on content and continuing the relationships with their donors, like again, making phone calls, right? Before they went, hey, are you gonna show up? Because again, getting donors to show up is the hardest part of any event, right? Like that's it. Everything else can be handled with technology, with planning, preparation, everything, but getting people to come show up is the hardest thing. So a lot of charities have continued to stay in the virtual setup and focusing on relationships and they're seeing amazing creativity right over there. So we are seeing charities do celebrity dictionary. They'll have a celebrity come and draw, right? And everybody's trying to guess, you know what I'm saying, right? We had one charity which did a whole drag queen makeup competition. So they had 12 different participants who they sent makeup kits to. Everybody was on stage and they're all doing makeup, right, live. And then they would have like a singing competition and then they would be lip-syncing and then people would vote with a dollar. So they would make a pledge to vote. And the more you wanna support them, the more you pledge and the charity is obviously ready. Money, money, money, yeah, love that. And it was just so much of fun and the crowd was so engaged. So they did an awesome job, right? Another team, which similarly they had music bands. So they had different bands coming in and they were performing and the parents were supporting and that was amazing too. A lot of our PTAs do movie nights, right? So a way to bring the entire family together, you know, on Friday nights, everybody's watching movie. And then there is a donate button on the side if you'd like to support them, right? Again, ways of continuing to keep up the relationship even outside events, silent auction, running silent auction every quarter. It just doesn't have to be connected to an event. Just run a one-off silent auction, you know? If folks are donating experiences in silent auction, amazingly well. Like the zoo, for example, they had have a lunch with the baby zebra, right? And bring 15 of your guests and do that. It did amazingly well, feed the baby monkey, right? So in the virtual slash in person, those things are doing really, really well. I think those experiences is still really the top one. You know, like there's so many things that people can purchase and do on their own, but there's often experience opportunities that are once in a lifetime that the charities are truly instrumental in making that happen. I love your examples. I love the makeup. I mean, I can just see that, you know, for a certain demographic and audience. One of the things I love, and I know you shared with us earlier before we went live, is that you too have children. I'm a really, really big needy on sharing philanthropy or modeling philanthropy with our children. How have you seen this virtual space connect, as you said, with the entire family unit and beyond generations? So at events now, we actually have whole families joining. We have one education institution out of the Bay Area and their Gala has now changed its format to include the whole family, right? So now we have a watch party mode, which basically means you could put up an event on TV and then everybody else could be chatting and bidding and pledging on their own devices, right? And then they could close their donations as well on their devices. So this brings the whole family together, right? And we actually have auctioneers who say that, hey, kids go to a different room and participate so you can bid and pledge on your own without having your parents watch on you. The zoo, again, to give you an example, my son sat and he had never been to a zoo. He's a pandemic baby, right? Well, he started, he was a year old when pandemic started. The first time he saw the zoo was on a baby event, right? He saw the whole event was at the zoo and in the background, you could see flamingos and you could see elephants and giraffes. He saw that and then when it was his birthday, like I wanna go to the zoo, right? That's amazing. Pretty early on, that kind of becomes a part of it. He watches kids who are less fortunate and he's like, well, what does this organization do? Right? And then I'm telling him, hey, getting them food or getting them water. I think it sets some level of empathy. I don't know how much, he's too little, but still like, right? Just being lucky for what he has. Yeah. One of the things we've talked about in the nonprofit sector is that our donors are aging out. And so it's so critical to bring in a new wave of donors, a new wave of generations. So I do really think silver lining, you know, the pandemic, plural pandemics, but the global health pandemic and really engaging now as you just spoke to the entire family unit is kind of a blessing in disguise because we now have demonstrated and modeled philanthropy, civic engagement beyond the ballroom. Hashtag beyond the ballroom, right? Right. So we're really looking at that. This has been amazing and I'm sad to look at the clock and know that our time is winding down. What's next for Paby? Like what is next on the horizon? What are you looking forward to, you and your team and share with us about that? Yeah, so we feel this is the first time there's been true innovation in this industry, right? In the charity space. If you look at Gallas, there's never been so much change and nothing could have pushed this change apart from the pandemic, right? Pandemic could really, really put us in the corner and then we had to think of creative ways. But this has opened up events in a way where again, it's just, I think it's just getting started with everything that we are seeing in our charity. Like we think great pride and well joy in telling charities that, hey, if you have a creative idea, if you have a unique idea and if you need help executing, reach out to us like we will brainstorm and we'll build technology if you don't have it but we'll make it happen for you, right? So I am super pumped about what's coming and maybe when we meet in a year I'll have a hundred different ideas to share with you. I hope I do. I cannot wait. Yeah, I've said that too. Our sector has long overdue for this shakeup. We have done so many things, you know, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat and we're overdue for that disruption and innovation and it continues. So talking to you about this, I am super excited, stoked for the event season. Cannot wait for the flood of invitations to come in and the ability to really see what so many leaders have done, you know, when we had to pivot. I know that's not the year of 22 or the word of 22 but we're still doing it. Agree. You know, we really are. And I think it's really important to hear from people like you who, you know, were pivoting themselves. I mean, as a new company and looking at technology and then expanding how it could work with us and how we could work with it has been really remarkable. So I can't wait to see how you navigate this post COVID. I mean, I know we're still in COVID, we're still dealing with it. But as we mentally and physically start to open up to looking at this, it's really been interesting, Midi, to hear your comments and looking at this forward life where we are gonna have virtual events. And I also really appreciate you saying, you know, you can have things in between that you don't just have to wait for that once a year gala and put all your eggs in that basket. I think that's super powerful. And that's a great message for us to hear so that we can be a little bit more creative but have more sustainable revenue. So very, very interesting. Here's your information, paybee.io, check them out. You've got a lot of really interesting ideas and points on the website. It's a great site. And so I would expect nothing less from a tech company, of course. But yeah, been really, really fun. I think we need to, you know, get Midi back on as we've gone through this first kind of reopening of the market to see what has happened, what's working and what people are going to be looking at. Cause this conversation, yeah, the conversation is not over. I mean, this is, we're moving forward with understanding how technology is involved in our events. Far more than just, oh, the microphone needs to be better. I know, I know, that's always the thing. This whole fill tech industry, philanthropy technology is fascinating to me. And I do, you know, to what you were saying earlier, you know, I feel like finally we're starting to embrace new technology. Finally, we're starting to say, okay, yes, let's consider something new. So we definitely need to have you back on. Would love to have a stronger presence with paybee as we move forward throughout the year and truly into our event season. So thank you for your time. Thank you for having me. This was a lot of fun. It's been great. Hey, everybody, just to remind you, I'm Julia Patrick, CEO of American Nonprofit Academy, been joined today by the nonprofit nerd herself, Jared Ransom, CEO of the Raven Group. We wanna make sure that we thank all of our presenting sponsors without them. We would not be here. Bloomerang, American Nonprofit Academy, your part-time controller, the nonprofit nerd fundraising Academy, the nonprofit Atlas, nonprofit thought leader and staffing boutique. As Jared mentioned, we've done now more than 500 episodes. And a lot of these folks have been with us pretty much since day one. So I think I forget that sometimes, Jared, because they're just always with us and, you know, walking in partnership, but that's pretty amazing. As we end every episode, we want to remind ourselves and our viewers, stay well so you can do well. We'll see you back here tomorrow.