 Welcome to the non-profit show. We are so thrilled that you're here for another episode of the non-profit show, but a fryer is an ask and answer episode. So thank you so very much to Fundraising Academy at National University that allow us this dedicated day of the week to answer your questions. All of you are viewers or listeners that send in questions. We save them and we reserve them for Fundraising Academy and a trainer from Fundraising Academy at National University. So today we are graced by the presence of Muhi Kwaja. We have him, he is a trainer at Fundraising Academy. Also, Muhi is a co-founder of the American Muslim Community Foundation, has a lot of great expertise and experience under his belt. And if you listened to, was it just last Friday we did the question, the ask and answer episode in San Diego with you and LaShonda? Was it? It seems like many moons ago, but it was just last Friday. I really enjoyed hearing your story, your professional career path in Fundraising. And so for those of you that might not have tuned in to that Friday, don't worry, you can go back and listen to it. But glad to have you here with me. I'm Jared Ransom, your non-profit nerd, CEO of the Raven Group. And again, we are so very honored each and every day to have the ongoing support from our amazing presenting sponsors. Many of them have become family and friends of us as well. So shout out over to our besties at Bloomerang, American Non-Profit Academy, your part-time controller, non-profit thought leader, Fundraising Academy at National University. Again, where Muhi is joining us from. Also, we wanna say thank you to Staffing Boutique and Non-Profit Nerd and Non-Profit Tech Talk. These companies allow us these conversations like the one we're about to have. But each and every day. And so we've produced over 800 episodes thanks to their support. Really just so grateful to have them with us. So if you haven't heard the latest and the greatest, you can download the app. So just go to your smartphone. And right now, actually you can scan the QR code. It will bring that up. And in a couple of hours, our executive producer will have the show live and uploaded to the app. And you will receive a notification. If you are watching us on broadcasts and podcasts, don't worry, we have not left those platforms either. We're still there, so you can queue us up on the broadcast platform and as well as the podcast platform. So without further ado, Muhi, the housekeeping is behind us. And as you know, the flow of today's show, we have essentially four questions, I believe. And then I also just wanna reiterate for those of you that are watching live and have joined us live, if you have a question that you want to toss out to Muhi and I, without any preparation, we will do you a solid and our best to answer that question live. So go ahead and use the Q and A at the bottom. I think you can access that as a viewer. So feel free to send us a live question if there's something that's just burning and you don't wanna start your weekend without having an answer. So Muhi, my friend, are you ready? All right. So let's do that. So we'll start off with Wendy and Reno Nevada sends in a question that wants to know, how do you feel about advisory boards or task forces? We are thinking about setting one up for an upcoming capital campaign that has a limited timeframe. It would be separate from our regular board of directors. Great question, Wendy. Muhi, what have you seen in your career? Yeah, I've seen several ad hoc committees established, whether it's for say an event and they wanna have a host committee or if there's something a little bit more long-term like a capital campaign. In an ideal world, something like a capital campaign is running for maybe even three years up to five years. So that's a big commitment. And I would also suggest obviously having all of your board members on deck, having advisory members help with that. So it definitely makes sense to create something like that for a capital campaign. There's many people, influential people who will allow you to open their networks and better get you in front of their friends and family who would like to support it makes sense to me. Yeah, I'm also a huge proponent. So I echo everything that Muhi just said. Wendy, and I also suggest really looking at how we are doing all kinds of different committees. So you could look at an accounting committee, a finance committee, maybe even an auditing committee looking at that. So it really goes beyond capital campaigns, a specific event committee, whatever that might look like to really help you reach the goals of what you are looking to achieve. And Muhi, I love that you mentioned, especially for the capital campaign. I've been involved in some feasibility studies and within those studies, we always ask, are you interested in playing an active role in the campaign? And so Wendy, essentially what that question is doing is asking that donor, that supporter, if they're interested in joining the task force. So all great ways to really engage some of your volunteers and supporters. So I'm a proponent and I say don't shy away from it. Regardless of the limited timeframe. So leverage the amount of support and the time and the generosity from people. So, all right, wish you the best. Name withheld coming to us from Dallas, Texas. Do you think it is appropriate to have another person such as an administrative assistant run a CEO social media? We have an older CEO who is not engaged but as the communications director, I am pushing for this exposure. I'm looking for someone to help with this task and think this is this position who understands the CEO's activity and calendar. Oh, this is a fantastic question, Muhi. What is your thought on this? Yeah, I think as long as communications are in align with the CEO's approval, since it is their kind of space online, you know, you could try to make a social media account that is attached to the organization on behalf of the CEO. So it's not necessarily a personal online presence but it's a business online presence. But I think in terms of having the administrative assistant help, honestly, there's like services like Hootsuite that can allow you to schedule it. So if the administrative assistant doesn't see it in their purview of things to do, maybe they have too much on their plate already, at least having conversations with the CEO, with the admin assistant maybe once a week, once a month to kind of say this is the direction we're heading in. We want you to promote this and that for the organization. We want you to do a quick 30 second video, coordinating those details and then maybe somebody on the marketing team takes the lead to schedule all of these things. So I can see it going both ways but I would be prepared to maybe do it within the marketing team if you need to and utilize it in a service like Hootsuite that can allow. Yeah, great advice. I love, you know, Hootsuite is a great resource. There's so many others. And so, you know, maybe it does reside within the marketing communications or the development team because you know, you know, how you want it to be shared and I love your response to, you know, lean into the admin assistant to gather the support. Maybe the videos, maybe a testimony or, you know, a quote, something like that. I'm a huge proponent for having the CEO, the executive director really involved on social media platforms and my number one platform for this, I'm gonna go out on the limb and say it, you know, it's definitely LinkedIn. And so I feel that the more the executive and the executive team as well as all staff really are active on LinkedIn, it helps to grow your overall brand awareness, the recognition of your agency, your organization there. You know, when it comes down to events, I think it really is a great opportunity to, you know, leverage volunteers, corporate volunteers and with corporate volunteers often, you know, comes corporate dollars. So it really does help to engage that platform. So I'm a huge proponent for this and I have, you know, a MUJI advocated absolutely what this viewer has requested is, you know, if the CEO is not active on social media, essentially how else can we get them there to have that presence? So I love this question. You make a great point with LinkedIn. So in that regard, if they're not that active on these sites, the admin assistant may need to work closely with the CEO to see who is your personal and professional network on LinkedIn. Of course you can do things like an email lookup, who's in your network, those types of things. But with something as building connections online, I would want the CEO to be more engaged on, yes, this is a personal connection, a business connection, confirm this person so that they build their connection wisely. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I think to, you know, name withheld from the admin assistant standpoint, you might also be able to, you know, look from a late 10 standpoint, who are the other supporters of this individual that you're looking to meet with, right? So really that's six degrees of separation. So when I think of social, I do include LinkedIn and I will say that is by far my number one social media platform. So all right, we're moving from Dallas to San Diego with another name withheld. And this is an interesting question and I think it's a little bit of a personality difference but here it goes. I have a donor who I honestly don't click with. I am thinking they want a different person, maybe someone younger. Should I take another person from our development department to our next meeting and see if there is a better fit? Please don't use my name. So, Muhy, I'm reading this question really about, you know, like portfolio management and maybe that donor is within a development professionals portfolio, but the person is not quite jiving. So have you had this personally, this experience? Yeah, you know, it definitely happens. Sometimes you may be sitting across the aisle from a political spectrum, from a faith-based perspective and social justice perspective. So I think that is not uncommon, but what I would say with relationship management with fundraising and development goals, focus on what's common, right? They're supporting your organization, you're working for the organization, you're helping fulfill the mission through these supporters and that's the commonality. That's where you should be able to find the secret sauce to building that relationship further. You know, if you have other people on your team that you think would be a better fit, that's totally fine. And the goal to shift your portfolio, make sure it's a warm handoff, you know, providing around the support that may be needed and background to the next manager. And hopefully, all of that information is the idea to see how they can just pull up the profile and see all the historical touch points, from email, phone calls to letter, the donation. So I think, you know, another point to consider in fundraising academy and national university have in our cost selling cycle the social status, right? What type of action can be made based on their responses? How can you better understand their needs when you're doing the prospecting and cultivation? To maybe look up what these other typological nuances are in building a relationship, we see who on the team would be a better fit for the social style of the donor. Great resource. And I feel like you just gave an overall life lesson, right? Which is to focus on the commonalities because many times in life, whether it's a family, you know, Thanksgiving dinner or whatever we happen to be sitting at a table and maybe, you know, we're not quite on the same page in a lot of different areas, focus on those commonalities I think is really important. You know, ironically it was just coaching with a client and they had divided up their donors based off of a portfolio management system. And based off this one donor, he should have been reporting to the director of development but he wasn't really responding to her. And he was responding more and greater to someone else on the team, actually another gentleman. So they really like just hit it off when it came to conversations. And so, you know, I really coach to say, first of all fundraising, I believe is a team sport, right? And so one person should not get all of the celebration and all the accolades, it really takes a lot of support, you know, for that. But if the donor is more like resonating with this other staff member, have them, you know, move to that portfolio because that's gonna be best for the donor and that's probably going to be best for the organization. And so to me, that creates a win-win. So I hope that helps. I love your responses to this as well, Muhy. And so, you know, really looking at so many ways I think that you can manage those relationships. So good stuff. All right, so we're moving from San Diego. I feel like we've been all over the nation already this morning, but we're going to Miami, Florida in Marcella. We have a large donor who recently passed away and some of our development team think that we should post a blog article about how their generosity impacted our nonprofit. Some in our group think this is not appropriate. What do you think? Take it away. Yeah, thanks for writing in Marcella. This is a great question, you know, in terms of legacy, in terms of support, in terms of stewardship, right? I think it's appropriate to acknowledge, you know, a donor, especially if they are a major donor, significant donor to your organization, as long as it's done with class, right? As long as it's really talking about the impact that they created and maybe there were specific touchpoints that they attended the events and you had meetings with them and were able to showcase how beneficiaries were impacted and how their support made a difference. So if they were a grateful donor, I think that there's no problem with highlighting the impact that they make, you know, it shouldn't necessarily be a call for others to support the organization because they did, unless that's something that the family wants and respecting the family's wishes. I think beyond public recognition, you could also do sending a gift basket or flowers or some sort of recognition to the family, even if it's just a card expecting your sympathy. All of those things will go along quick. Yeah, great advice. And, you know, and I would add to that, Marcella, to say, you know, speak to the family and if they, you know, have any wishes, any desires, what your question doesn't allude to is that, you know, there's a memorial or a tribute gift to the organization. If there is, you certainly might want to, you know, again, ask the family if writing an article would be something that they would desire. So I would see this also, you know, from a standpoint of, again, as a philanthropy facilitator, which we just had Claire Axelrad on talking, you know, about that, we're essentially still facilitating the philanthropy of this donor. And so now I see it as work with the closest family to really continue, you know, to share that legacy. So I love what you said, Muihi, really focus on that impact, focus on the generosity, if it's the attendance of the events, if they've really been, you know, involved in, you know, just so much positive impact, that's what you would want to focus on. So I also agree that it's appropriate, right alongside with Muihi. I think it's wonderful. So you might want to consider this, and this is another kind of like equity thing. You might want to consider this for all of your donors, right? Like, I don't think we can just do it for one. And so where and when do you do that? Like, what is that line that you say, okay, this is a donor or this is a supporter that I believe we need to consider what that looks like. And maybe build that into your whole, you know, stewardship gratitude plan. So any additions on that, Muihi? I think it's a great question. No, I think you hit it really well in terms of how gracious you can be and what you want to keep as their lasting legacy for the organization. Yeah. So Marcella, we wish you the best, you know? Hope that this gives you some insight and answers on that. There's so many great ways, I think, to continue to honor, you know, the donor. And so yeah, both of us, you got two thumbs up from both of us saying we do think it's appropriate. Great questions, Muihi. I feel like every week, you know, in every year, the evolution of these questions continue to evolve and there's just so much going on in our nation. Many of our nonprofits, as you know, are finishing up their fiscal year. And so I'm gonna toss you this curve ball right now, Muihi, unplanned, unscheduled, unwritten, unscripted. What would you advise to our viewers and our listeners that are looking at the end of a fiscal year and the start of a new fiscal and a final, like, stretch suggestions or tips? Yeah, you know, I think take a last look at your laps donors. You have another three weeks to try to make a connection. You should be considering budgets for managers, right? What is the review performance review for your staffing? Is there any room for increases in salary for your team, pay equities, super important? I think that managers should be bringing up the conversation more than employees, right? Just in the upfronts about all of that. So I think the time of year often reflects those performance reviews and opportunities for professional growth and seeing what the PPI's are, readjusting for the next year. What are you setting the goal that where all the metrics reached, exceeded, the score of some and how can you reset some of a lot around performance metrics and then also all of your investments, which donors respond, which donors you wanna see the end, which donors you wanna move out, maybe push to the annual fund and move in some more prospects to see if they're good for your portfolio. Yeah, great advice, because it's right around the corner, believe it or not, right? Like we're sitting now early June and we just have, like you said, a couple more weeks. So those laps donors, absolutely. I love a good libut report. I've gotta just own up to that. So last year, but unfortunately not this, that to me is always your lowest hanging fruit. Those are the individuals that gave to you last year and they just have not given to you this year. So you can pull that by way of fiscal, by way of calendar, you know, there's so many ways you can pull that report, but that is a good one and I would echo your sentiments on that. Muhy, thank you. Again, for those of you watching and listening, today our representative from Fundraising Academy is Muhy Kwaja with the amazing letters behind his name, which are MPA, CFRE and CFRM. He is a trainer at Fundraising Academy, doing some great work with our friends over at National University. So check out National University. Muhy's also active on LinkedIn. So for the executive assistant or the admin assistant, right, that wants to know, maybe how should I do this CEO thing? Take a look there, but so much great happening, Muhy. And another curve, while I'm curious, how is the hiring for the American Muslim Community Foundation going? I think you were, the last we chatted, you were hiring a director of finance? Yeah, so if you know anybody that's a CPA or accountant or has a strong background in finance, we need somebody on our team to just take a closer look at the budget and the numbers and process payments to the over 600 nonprofits in our network that have gotten more than $10 million over the last seven years. So we have a small but growing team. It's fully fractional, you know, all of our staff members are part-time. So if you're looking for something, you know, 10 to 20 hours a week, hit up American Muslim Community Foundation and apply for that role. That's fantastic. Yeah, thank you. Thank you for sharing. And again, thank you to our amazing sponsors that allow us these conversations and the Ask and Answer Friday episode. So again, thank you to Bloomerang American Nonprofit Academy, your part-time controller, non-profit thought leader, fundraising academy at National University, staffing boutique, non-profit nerd and non-profit tech talk. These companies are here for you. I always like to remind you that their mission is your mission. So they wanna help you do more good. Muhi, it's been a fantastic way to spend a Friday and to end the week with you. So thank you so very much. And thank you to those of you that joined us for today's Ask and Answer episode here at the non-profit show. We hope you have a restful weekend. We will be back on again on Monday. So join us there. As we end every episode, we want to remind you to stay well so you can do well. Thanks for your time, Muhi.