 Hey there and welcome, we are so glad you're here. It's another day and another episode of the nonprofit show thrilled to have back with us, Meredith Terrain joining us. She's a trainer at fundraising academy with National University and she's brought to us the top 10 questions that your donors will ask. So if you notice this is drill down day one, know the answers and we will have drill down day two with the next five set of questions tomorrow. So don't miss tomorrow as well. We also want to remind all of you who we are, if we haven't met you yet, Julia Patrick is here. She serves as the CEO of the American Nonprofit Academy and we have Julia to thank for creating the nonprofit show, which she thought would be a two week endeavor. We are now marching towards our 1,000th episode. That's 1-0-0-0. And I'm Jarrett Ransom, honored to be alongside you Julia for this wonderful journey. Also nonprofit nerd and CEO of the Raven Group. Together, we are so honored truly genuinely pleased to have the ongoing support from these amazing partners. Shout out of gratitude to our friends over at Bloomerang American Nonprofit Academy, nonprofit thought leader, fundraising academy at National University, 180 management group, your part-time controller, staffing boutique, JMT consulting, nonprofit nerd as well as nonprofit tech talk. Again, thank you to these companies. They have helped us to produce a plethora of episodes and here's where you can find them. So go ahead and scan that QR code, download the app. You can also find us on the broadcast and podcast platforms pretty much anywhere you stream and consume your entertainment. The nonprofit show is right there for you to queue us up. Well, Meredith, we are thrilled to have you with us. I'm saying welcome back because you and I just did the Friday or Friday ask and answer episode together for everyone watching and listening again. Today we have Meredith Terrain joining us. She's also founder of the Allied Group and again a trainer at fundraising academy. So welcome back Meredith. Well, thank you. It's a real pleasure to be here and be with you all again. Thank you. You know, this is a really interesting thing. We don't do the drill downs very often, only a couple of times a year. They're very unique because they're a two-day show. Basically there's so much content and got to put it into two days. And what's interesting about this is you're going to help us to kind of get behind the brain, if you will, of our prospective donors. And these are the questions that they're thinking and they're kind of ruminating about. They might not be asking us these questions but they're asking themselves about these questions and kind of setting the stage for how we could respond to them and understand maybe what some of these questions are. So we have 10 big questions. They're very different and we've had to break them up into two days. So the first question is, what does your organization do? And I think this is fascinating because we think, oh, everybody knows what our nonprofit does, right? But maybe not. Yeah, so this is a really great question and it's one that we tend to get as fundraisers, right? It's like, it is the first one. I mean, folks want to know what is it that your organization does and what they're not just looking for like your mission statement here. What they really are kind, but what they're really trying to understand here is, who are you helping? What difference are you making in the world? So it's one of those questions that I always try to advise folks and I would say for all of the questions we're going to talk about today and tomorrow, I think one of the best exercises you can go through as a fundraiser is that process of creating your case statement, right? So that's where you're really going to answer and define all of these questions. I mean, you are literally building your case for support there. So this first question here is not just simply, hey, what is your mission statement? I mean, your donors are looking for information about what population do you serve? They're looking for information about what impact are you making? They're also looking for not only wantotative answers but qualitative answers, right? So not just like not just the descriptive answers but they wanna know some data and facts here. Yeah, yeah, I really appreciate that. When we will talk through our conversations, Julia, we keep referencing 1.8 million nonprofits that are registered in the US. So starting off with this question, like what's your organization do? I can imagine maybe, and we talk about this, Julia, there's some preconceived notions. Oh, we know this organization essentially, as a food pantry or as a soup kitchen, but the chances are there is so much more depth and breadth that the donor's unaware of. Right, it's an interesting thing and it kind of leads us to question number two because again, this might be something they don't outright ask, but you might be able to tell if they're looking at their watch or they're kind of a little like, not in the moment with you, how much time is this gonna take? And if they're thinking it, do we address it? What's your strategy here, Meredith? So you are absolutely right. You said something, Julia, that I think is really important to just make a distinction about. This is one of those questions that most donors, most folks won't actually come out and ask but it's a really important question because we think about it this way. Whenever as fundraisers we're asking folks to make an investment in our organization, typically we're thinking financial, right? So we're really good about defining what is the impact they're gonna make but we have to remember that we're not only asking them to make a financial investment, we're asking them to make an investment in their time as well. So every time they come to meet with us, it's not only giving their treasure, but it's giving of their time. So one of the things that I would recommend to folks typically is before you even meet with this prospect or this donor, it's a real good consideration for you to tell them in advance. Like when you set up the meeting, send a calendar invite and say, hey, I'd love to have 30 minutes of your time or maybe it's 45 minutes. There are times when we bring in donors to do site visits. Oftentimes we see this with hospitals or with higher education like university campuses. In those cases, it's really unlikely that you're gonna get through an entire site visit in 30 minutes or 45 minutes. Sometimes those meetings could be four to six hours depending on what you have on your agenda. So you really wanna make sure that you're being considerate to your donor here and letting them know in advance how much of their time you're asking for. For a lot of folks, they consider their time to be more valuable than their money. Yeah, sure, yeah. I love this. I go about it that way as well, Meredith, where I'll say, I'd love 30 minutes of your time or I would love to chat with you for maybe 45 minutes to an hour, like being upfront. And I know this isn't this question, but I also add in if I plan to make an ask or not, right? Like I will even say, I would love 45 minutes of your time. I'm not going to ask you to make a commitment, a financial commitment. Like I think the more we are transparent and upfront, we continue to develop and earn their trust and rapport. Do you include that as well, Meredith? I'm curious. So absolutely, and I love it that you brought that up and reminded me on that. So for two reasons. So one, I think that exactly what you said, particularly if you're not gonna make an ask, then you can kind of set the tone upfront and it sort of eases everybody's anxiety, right? So not only oftentimes as fundraisers, we tend to have a little bit of anxiety when we know we're making an ask, but our donors kind of feel the same way. I think the other thing is if you are intending to make an ask and you tell your donor that upfront and say something along the lines of, I'd love to have 45 minutes of your time to discuss how you could support our program or how you could make an impact here. If your donor takes the meeting, you've already got one foot in the door. They know why you're coming. If they don't wanna make a gift, they're probably gonna decline the meeting. So if you are honest upfront and say, I'd love to talk with you about making a gift and they take the meeting, it means they're interested in it. Yeah. I love that you added this. I think that's a layer that, it also speaks volumes about who you are as a professional fundraiser, right? I mean, it just speaks to the whole way you do business. And I think that we know people do business with people that they like. Yeah. And trust, right? No life and trust. Well, and I feel like this stuff tells perfectly. Our question number three is, how much money am I prepared to give today? And I love that we just talked about, let's be honest and transparent about the time it's going to take and if we intend to make an ask or not. And so again, these are questions that we are perceiving our donor, the person we're meeting with, is probably asking, they may not come out and say this though, right? So like, how do we address, how much money am I prepared to give today? So you're right, this couldn't be a more fitting question based on what we just discussed, but a couple of things here. So at Fundraising Academy, we teach the cause selling cycle. And we try to reinforce to fundraisers that fundraising is methodical and process oriented, right? It's not haphazard. So I think a lot of times people who aren't in the industry tend to think that it's a lot of whining and dining and just having organic conversations over coffee. There's much more that goes into it. So behind the scenes as fundraisers, we should already have an indication of what the wealth capacity is for that individual that you're meeting with. And also we have an indication of what size of gifts or how frequent their gifts are to other similar organizations. So from the donor's perspective, they might be asking themselves, how much am I prepared to give today? But as the fundraiser, we should already have that same kind of indication on our end based on our research. So, and I think that the best policy really overall is to not make any assumptions. I think what you wanna do is just be really transparent and honest with your donor and have that organic conversation. And it's okay to let them know that, hey, I saw that you gave to XYZ Foundation last year. Tell me, what were you trying to accomplish there and did your gift accomplish that goal that you had? And then you can kind of segue that into, these are some of the projects or programs we have here. And what we really need is maybe it's $10,000 to fund a project. And then you can start to have that conversation. At the end of the day, what you're looking for is that you can help your donor meet their philanthropic goals and they can help you meet your program goals at the same time. Yeah, right. I love it. Go ahead, go ahead. You know, if you've just jumped in, we're talking about the 10 big questions that donors are gonna be thinking about or asking and maybe to themselves in their own head. And this comes from the textbook that Fundraising Academy uses and has created. You can tell my textbook has all sorts of notes on it. But this is a two-day exploration because there's so much going on here. So we're drilling down this day, five questions tomorrow, another five questions, they're remarkably different. And again, these are kind of the questions that the donor or prospective donor might not articulate but it's going through their mind, right? It's part of their decision-making process. So I think this is a really interesting way for us to kind of explore this relationship with our donors and the process. You know, Meredith, I love that you said, people think, oh, it's just whining and dining in the case of Gala season, get them a little tipsy and then have them raise their paddle. But it's a lot more than that and it has to do with so many issues. And I want to get to this next question and the donor asking themselves and maybe the donor, the nonprofit, where and will my gift make an impact? Kind of goes almost back to question number one, what is it you're doing and what would you do with my money? Yeah, absolutely. So this one is very similar to question one number one. And one thing that I think, you know, I would caution folks to just remember here is exactly like what we're talking about right now. These questions may not always come out very directly. So your donor may not ask them exactly like this and they may not necessarily ask them in this order. So it's possible that when you're in the beginning of your conversation and you're kind of talking about, you know, what is your organization? What is it that you do? Maybe that discussion or dialogue kind of dovetails right into this one, which is, you know, where and will my gift make an impact? I think that what I would caution people to do and to remember on this one, particularly fundraisers is that you wanna really focus in on, again, that qualitative answer there. So what is it that your organization does in a very qualitative way or holistic way, but also this is the place where you want to really key in on quantitative data and facts. So if you have numbers and data and metrics that support the impact that you're making. So if you work with the food shelter or I'm sorry, if you work with like the food pantry and you're able to say that, you know, last year or last quarter, we were able to feed, you know, 50% of the families in our community that needed it, those types of data and facts can become really, really important to your donors. Some of our donors view their donations as investments. They're very analytical. So what they're looking for there is reassurance from you as the fundraiser that there will be a return on that investment. So I always try to tell folks, you know, think of this in a quantitative way. You wanna really be keying in on that data, data facts metrics, because that's gonna help you to really build a persuasive argument to your donor that there will be a return on their investment. Yeah. You know, I wanted to go back and honor and acknowledge what you had said in the last answer. You know, it's not just winding and dining. There's a lot of information. There's a lot of research, a lot of preparation that goes into it. The portal for Fundraise Academy, you know, it shares the model that we're talking about here, but so much so like to honor the fact that these donors, supporters, community champions, they do make investments in other organizations within the community, right? And so to acknowledge their gift in other ways, thank you for being such a wonderful community champion. I know that you've given to, you know, the botanical gardens or the children's museum, whatever that case may be. And we can bring this back into the impact here. You know, like the impact that you've made on the children's museum has been significant and the impact you make here with a gift of X amount, right? Like I just love that you brought that up Meredith to honor the contributions that this person, people are making, not just with this single entity, but within the community, because often these donors are giving to multiple organizations. Yeah, yeah. So let me give you like a brief example, Jared, because that's a great, it's a great question and point. So I do a lot of work sometimes with military and veterans organizations, and I work particularly with higher education facilities that are supported by the Department of Defense. So they're a little unusual in the sense that, you know, the folks, the military members that go there, they don't pay tuition, they don't need scholarships. So sometimes I've had questions before from donors who say to me, why do you need my donation? The US government doesn't have the first claim to my philanthropic dollars. Like the Congress should be funding this organization. So when we're talking about, you know, where will my donation make an impact? So one of the things that I like to do, and you reminded me of this, Jared, is, you know, it goes beyond just the internal walls of the college or the university, talk about the community. So, you know, we're able to point to data and facts that show what kind of economic impact that university has on the local area, how many jobs it employs or provides to the local community. What is the infusion of economic dollars into that local community? So these are all things that, you know, can help you to kind of build a case for support again, as to why, you know, how the impact is so great that this individual is making through their donation. Yeah, I love that. I really, you know, bringing in the community, the ripple effect of this investment, it means so much, you know, like how can we bring this back to so many different positive ways of how this investment donation, support, gift, like we're using a lot of these words interchangeably. I'm really curious about this fifth question. And again, for drill down day number one, we're going through five of the 10 questions. So I believe we're on number five, which is, is this mission unique and my best investment? And I feel like this also goes back to number one, which that question was, what does your organization do? And I feel like number five question is, how is it different? How is it unique from other organizations similar here? And when I think here, immediate community, right? So I'm curious how you answer this question. So this is actually one of my favorites, right? This is one of my favorite questions, because again, I think it's a really good exercise for boards and for organizations and fundraisers to kind of go through all these questions behind closed doors, right? Before they meet with their donors to be prepared to answer these. And it's as a consultant, when I come in and I work with organizations as an outside counsel, it's sometimes it's hard news to deliver to them to say, your mission is a dime a dozen, right? How many other organizations are doing similar work? So really what is it that sets you apart? And one of the exercises that I like to go through as campaign counsel or as an outside counsel and as a fundraising consultant is to help boards and fundraisers go through this exercise where they are identifying three main things, right? So that's appeals to emotion, appeals to logic and appeals to credibility. So if you can build an argument and you can say, this is what we do about our organization that's really unique and how does it appeal to their emotions? So you wanna look for things that pull at the heartstrings, right? So that's why sometimes pictures and quotes can be very effective at that, appeals to credibility. So if there's a big funder that came in and supported your organization, make sure that particularly if it's somebody who's well-known in the community, make sure you share that information as long as that person has given you the permission, the permission, right, to share their name because that gives you a level of credibility. And then the last one of course is that appeals to logic or appeals to reason that goes back to those data and facts. So the most persuasive argument we can build as fundraisers will effectively use all three of those. So anyways, that being said, I think that this is one of those questions it's one of my favorite ones. It's one of my favorite exercises to go through with organizations which is what sets you apart? What makes you unique or different? Because there's almost certain to be another organization that has a very similar mission. So you wanna be sure that you can answer that effectively. You know, I think this is one of those questions that is every board member and every staff member should be able to answer because I think it speaks to, it covers so many things, right? If you can answer this, it shows your excitement. It shows your commitment. It's again, it's the economic impact. It's the stewardship. It's like the whole thing. And it seems to me that if we started this conversation internally and we had this and into your point, you know, running an exercise around this, so many other issues that we have when we're out there championing our organization would be answered because we would know how to articulate this, right? It would make us all better champions of the organization when we have drilled down on this. And so I think it's just such an interesting question that not only are our donors thinking about this, but, you know, funders, policymakers, people wanting to join the board or maybe C-suite staff looking to, you know, change their career towards an organization. To me, this is just like such a big, big question on so many other levels. And so I'm thrilled that you kind of end today with this. You know, we've gone through a lot of questions today and I think it would be great to recap it because tomorrow we're gonna add a whole another five that you might not even expect, right? So what does your organization do? How much time is this gonna take me? You know, think of that watch, somebody looking at their watch. How much money am I prepared to give today? Like what could I do today or what might compel me to do something today in terms of my own economics? Where and will my gift even make an impact? What does that look like? My investment, what does that do? And then is the mission unique and frankly my best stewardship of my own dollars, my own investment, if you will. Tomorrow we'll look at another 10. Again, this is such an interesting part of God. You know, I whacked myself in the head with this huge book. This is a big book, everybody. It's super heavy and robust. I love this tool, Meredith. I think it's really great as evidenced by my sticky notes. We'll work with you again tomorrow. We'll go through these next questions and then really give everybody an idea of what it means to be thinking about your prospect and not just yourself. Not just what's going on in your own head, but what's going on in their head. Meredith Terain, trainer at Fundraising Academy, founder of the Ally Group, coming to us from Tampa. Yes, Tampa, Florida, yep. Tampa, Florida, fabulous. Jared, this has been really great. You know, we don't talk about the mindset of the donor. We talk about the mindset of the fundraiser more than we talk about the mindset of our donors. Isn't it interesting? Yes, this is interesting. I love that we have two days to dive deep into this and these first five questions, you know, will lead to the next five questions, a total of 10. And I feel strongly we as fundraisers within our whole department of a development team, even as you said, Julia, you know, our board, our staff alike, like I feel we should know, we should go through the practice of all of these questions before we ever meet with a donor. It helps you to prepare, right? It gets out the nervous jitters, whatever you might have, but it also really like, I think you can lead into many of your conversations, your statements, you know, with answers so that the donor gets the answers that maybe they're asking, but not saying out loud. Right, you know, Jared, it's funny that you would say that because when I was building this deck, I thought very similarly to you, I thought this should go through all the people giving tours, you know, and the staff. And, you know, from the receptionist to, you know, the CEO and board chair, this should be something that they are familiar with so that they get into that mindset of being able to answer questions, honestly, with integrity and really champion the organization. So really an interesting way to rethink things. And Meredith, I'm thrilled that you're with us again. Again, I'm Julia Patrick, CEO of the American Nonprofit Academy, been joined today by the nonprofit nerd herself, Jared R. Ransom, CEO of the Raven Group. Again, amazing sponsors that join us day in and day out. They include Blumerank, American Nonprofit Academy, nonprofit thought leaders, staffing boutique, your part-time controller, 180 management group, Fundraising Academy at National University, JMT Consulting, non-profit nerd and non-profit tech talk. Again, tomorrow we'll have part two where we will, don't worry, we'll reframe and we'll revisit very quickly these five questions that we talked about today. But we'll go again into some more things that are buzzing around in the minds of our donors so that we can be more present with them, understand what they're thinking about so that we can actually be more effective in our fundraising journey. Very interesting information, Meredith. And I've got to think too, if you're armed with this information, you're gonna be a lot more confident. Yeah, absolutely. Yep, absolutely. And it's like you said, I mean, it's a great exercise to go through before you meet your donor, right? But just know that these are questions that are at the top of their mind and you really should be prepared for all of them. As you go through that cause-selling cycle, you do your research in your pre-approach, you go through the discovery process where you're meeting with your donor and kind of fact-finding, you should feel prepared to answer all of these. Yeah, I love it. Well, it's been great. Tomorrow will be even better because we'll get to hear a whole nother set of questions and really figure out what's the best way to answer them or approach them. And even if they're not spoken, if you can tell that maybe it's at the point in time of your conversation to bring it up, I think that's also, you know, magical as well. Leaning in as they say and leading with some of those answers that maybe somebody didn't expect to get or they had a different expectation of what the answer was going to be. So a lot of fun. Again, everybody, thank you for joining us for another episode of The Non-Profit Show. As we leave every episode, we leave you with this message and it goes like this. To stay well so you can do well. See you back here tomorrow.