 Thank you for being here, excited to have all of you joining us, either live or on one of our recordings. We are thrilled to have Floyd Jones from Give Butter to share with us how we might lean into transformational fundraising. But before we dive deep with you, Floyd, we of course want to make sure that our viewers and listeners know who the faces and voices are that they are seeing and hearing. Julia Patrick is here, CEO of the nonprofit, sorry, of the American Nonprofit Academy. I'm Jarrett Ransom, Julia's personal nonprofit nerd, but I can be anyone's personal nonprofit nerd, CEO of the Raven Group. We are also proud to announce all of our presenting sponsors who are here with us every single weekday as we continue to broadcast live and produce over 500 archives. Thank you so very much to Bloomerang, American Nonprofit Academy, Fundraising Academy, Nonprofit Nerd, Your Part-Time Controller, the Nonprofit Atlas, Nonprofit Thought Leader, as well as Staffing Boutique. We love, love, love your investment and are so honored to have your contributions into our sector. As I mentioned, we have over 500 episodes, over 800 video elements. So our executive producer slices and dices and puts these into bite-sized information nuggets and you can find them on Roku, YouTube, Fire TV, as well as Vimeo. If you're a podcaster, go ahead and cue us on up. Just say the non-profit show and hopefully that little person that lives inside your phone will put the non-profit show on your podcast list. We are on over 20 channels right now for the podcast platforms. So this conversation that we have with the bestest, amazingest, goodest, give-butter representative. We are so honored to have you here, Floyd, to represent Give-Butter, but to truly represent the sector. So welcome, my new best friend. Hello, hello. I'm so happy to be here. So excited to be chatting with you all and sharing more about transformational fundraising. Can't believe it. I love it. Okay, talk to us about Give-Butter, how you started, kind of give us the old Reader's Digest version, if you will. Absolutely. So I'm not sure Reader's Digest is long or short. So if you can cut me off, but if I go along, Wendick is like, tend to do that sometimes. But so Give-Butter, we are actually now in six and a half years of operation, which is so exciting to see and witness. It's really funny looking back at it, because I was employee number six, and we are currently approaching almost 46 employees, which is like so insane to see and so insane to witness and be a part of. Give-Butter really started with our three core founders in school. So fun fact, we all went to GW, but Max, Laurent, and Ari really were the genesis of this platform. And one of the things that they continue to iterate on is thinking about how do we figure out a unique and easy and seamless way to give, right? Like they were on a college campus, a lot of the students wanted ways to give back that were easy. They wanted ways, you know, to make an impact and be able to donate on their phones, everyone's on their phones and their cell phones and whatnot. But a lot of the donation platforms at the time were very clunky. It took a lot of time for it to actually make the donation go through. A lot of students were using Venmo and these mobile wallets and whatnot. And they continue to ask the question, how do we design a better way to give? And then that's really where the genesis of Give-Butter was created. We thought about calling it Give-Better, but we're a fun company. So we like puns, and that's where we say Give-Butter, and that's how the name really stuck. And so fast forward, almost six and a half years later, we are the number one fundraising platform currently according to G2. We just found out two weeks ago, which is really, really exciting. They called us the momentum leader in the sector. We also are one of the easiest platforms to onboard admins. But one of the things that I love, love, love the most about Give-Butter beyond the awards is our people, because our people have brought us to this point. Our community has brought us to this point. One of the things that we always say is that we are product-led growth. And it's so funny, because even on my first day of working at Give-Butter, Macs, our CEO continued to just iterate to me over and over. People product, people product. And I'm like, what does that mean? But over time, I've really seen it. It means that our people drive the growth of our product. So every single thing that we iterate and we bring to the Give-Butter platform has been voted on by our users. We have things called our roadmap. People actually say, hey, we want this feature. We want this. So that's how we brought, and Ben, though, that's how we brought in live stream fundraising and so much more. So, yeah, that's Give-Butter in a nutshell, 100% free platform. People product, people product. So let's talk about people. Let's dive deep into the deep end here. We're not even going to jump into the kiddie pool, the shallower pool. I already got my floaties, okay? So be ready. We are ready. Straight through the high dive. What is the connection, the community connection, and the people connection that Give-Butter truly allows? And just, really, as we look at overall connection in our philanthropic state, in the nonprofit community, what does that look like? Such a good question. So it's so funny because one of the things that you even mentioned, Jared, is how you and I met, right? You just reached out to me on LinkedIn and just chatted me randomly because you were interested in who I was. You weren't interested in what you could get. You weren't interested in the things that I could offer. Although, to be perfectly honest, sometimes we do reach out for those reasons, which is not always bad. But one of the things that I really value about this relationship and the way that you reached out to me was because it was incredibly genuine. And that's what community connections are all about, right? And to be honest, that's what transformational fundraising is all about. Sometimes we look at our donors and we're like, okay, well, ding, ding, ding, I need my donor or ding, ding, ding, I need a dollar, okay, somebody? But no, you're focusing on actually being with your donors, getting to know who your donors are. I'm reading this book, I'm reading this book currently, and it's really talking about, well, I'm reading The Power of Now. I posted about it on LinkedIn the other day. But really, it's emphasizing the idea of being in the present moment, right? And honoring the feelings that come up for you in the present moment, not dwelling on them, but honoring them, right? And so one of the things I keep thinking about is, yes, our feelings are incredibly important to us. But what about the feelings of our donors? How do our donors want to feel? What do our donors want to experience, right? And so making community connections is really about understanding your donors. So what does that look like tactically, right? That means actually reaching out to them before a gift is ever made. That means saying, hi, I saw you signed up for our mailing list, or hi, I saw you attended our webinar, or hi, I saw you attended an event. Who are you? I want to know more about who you are, just like Jared did, reaching out in my inbox. And now we're about to be, we're about, we're going on a walk together soon, like, let's get coffee, we're going to talk, like, because now I know her, right? So I love that so much. And Julia, you know, we've really coined the phrase here that return on relationship. And it's about the people. And, you know, so, so happens, we're still living through global pandemics, plural, right? The global health pandemic, we have social injustice, we have political divide, we have environmental crises. And so really, you know, there's so many wedges that I think are driving people apart. And if we can come back together to, you know, truly allow these conversations to build upon community, as you said, the power of now, which I just posted a request, I have too many audible credit, I need to download. So I'm going to download that one. How has that changed, though, Floyd, over the pandemic, right? Of course, only meet in person, not everyone has a bingo card, like you, my dear friend of how many places and spaces can I work from 100%. But how do we do that during COVID? Such, such, such a good question. I was literally just talking about that this morning with one of my colleagues and saying, there's been so many beautiful blessings of that have come forward during this time where there's more need to be online and more ways to connect online. But there is something that you miss, you know, when you're in person, there's something you're missing the essence of a person, right? So here's how I thought about reverse engineering this, right? So I actually lead a small group, part of a men's group, and I lead a small group within that group. And one of the things that I've loved so far, since being, since being a leader is our small groups, building a microcosm within the grander framework, right? So what does that look like in your donor, in your donor community? And I keep bringing it back to what does this actually look like? Because I love a good webinar and I love a good talk, but it's like, okay, what about me? So I always think about in your actual organization, maybe you're doing donor segmentation, and I always preach about segmentation. So maybe it's the people who have given to you on social media, maybe it's the people who've given to you the event, maybe it's your large donors, but it's about bringing them together based off of their current interests. And guess what, this is all about transformational fundraising, it's all about the people at the center, you're bringing them together according to their needs, according to their desires, according to their wishes, and then your sparkling conversation around that, you're saying, hey, we need a virtual event, how can we come together and plan an event? And another thing I was thinking too, I hosted a hybrid event a couple of months ago, and one of the things that I did was we had VIP sections and whatnot, but what that meant was people got together in a Zoom room before the actual event began, and we talked about the topic, we talked about what are people excited to see, we talked about what are you excited to experience in this event and whatnot. So finding ways to take something that feels so sparse like being online and making it smaller, because people want to actually feel like you know who they are, and you can do that intentionally when you have curated experiences like that. I love that concept, because I agree, I think the online world, while it's super powerful, it can give people a pass. Oh yeah, I've logged on, I was there, but you weren't really there, you weren't really participating, and so I love navigating to that group, because it's like in college when you have a seminar versus a lecture, you can kind of check out, yes, yes, yes. You can show up hungover, right, but when you're at a seminar and there's only like four to six of you in that little room with the professor, you got to perform. You got to be on, and that makes me think about when I was on RA, hello I was on RA of course, but one of the things that I did was set the ground rules, right, so every single thing that you do in my opinion is about intention, right, what is your intention when you're having this small group, right, so anytime I've made a group, I set ground rules and I said, hey, if you are able, please turn your camera on, if you are able, please make sure you're making a contribution and you're making a statement, if you are able and there's a pre-work or a pre-reading or something, please read that because you're not inviting them into this space and you're saying, hey, when you come into this space, I don't want you to just watch this space, I want you to interact, right, don't let this be a passive, be present, hello power of now, okay. Love it. Well, let's talk more about, you know, how our people propel this and you've given us so many amazing ideas even into our third year of the global health pandemic, you know, we're still looking for ways to deepen our connection, so what does this look like to you, how, like, how do we let our people propel us? Such a good question, I always say, you know, there's always that saying that says, you know, if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together, and really when you think about the work that our sector is doing, right, the change maker, the social impact sector, we're really focused on tackling big goals and tackling big problems, so I always say people, people, people need to work with you and need to work alongside you, so what does that actually look like when it comes to fundraising or in your work? It's peer-to-peer fundraising, that could be one example, right, like maybe you have a campaign to accomplish a specific goal that your community has rallied around, now you find people say, hey, who are going to be the champions, who can I, who can I ask to be champions, so anytime I've done a campaign and I still tell people to do this, right, choose who your captains are going to be, right, I mean, my first campaign that we raised, you know, I think the first campaign I ever did raised around $15,000, right, and one of the big things that I did when I was like fresh out of college was say, who can be a cheerleader with us, right, who can come alongside us and do this with us, hey, you're the team captain of this neighborhood, you're the team captain of this neighborhood, you're the team captain of this neighborhood, because it's about ownership, right, ownership drives the ship, okay, somebody, so if people are coming along with you and they're walking alongside you, they're going to say, hey, I am now personally responsible for helping make this goal take place, and that's why it goes back to community connections, right, you see how it all ties together, you can't create a connected goal unless you make a connection first, right, and when you make the connection first, right, and guess what, you already have your organization's mission, right, if you have a strong mission, people are already going to come together for that, but now these connections are microcosms of that, you're going to say, hey, yes, maybe we're trying to end childhood hunger, but this specific person likes to work with urban kids in an urban environment, perfect, now you can help lead this New York City branch, you can help lead this Baltimore City branch, come together around their interests and let them propel the mission forward, because guess what you are, if you are a development leader or an organization leader, I always say you are a bridge, okay, you are a bridge, your donors, your partners, your volunteers, they all want to do good work, you are the bridge to get them to the good work, you shouldn't be the only one with the shovel, okay, you can't be the only one planting the seeds, pouring the water, you can't be the sun, okay, so you are the bridge, lead people to do the good work, okay, while you are the master facilitator, getting them to where they need to be, right, you just took us to church, yeah, I'm like, hey, I'm like, hey, brother, absolutely, no, I know, and it's so true, and to speak to that, you know, to have these microcosms, cause, what is them, microcosm, microcosm, you got it, you got it, microcosm, yes, you know, it's really important, the quote that comes to my mind is people support that in which they help create, and so if you have these microcosms, nailed it, with these neighborhood groups, and you're able to, you know, rally, cheer lead, advocate collectively, right, then you're able to really use the propelled passion that we just experienced from you personally, hopefully that's instilled, you know, in so many others, you have this other saying that these are our partners, right, people are our partners, they're not our piggy banks, 100%, say it, say that, yeah, that is fantastic, what, how do we make this happen, because I do feel, and Julia, I know we've talked about this before, how many times organizations go to the same well, the same, they can help at some point, that well is going to be dry, because they're going from like big banks, and not as a true investor, part of your community, part of that cheerleading, we're going to lose them, are we going to turn them off? 100%, there are so many different analogies that come to my head when you bring this up, so first I think about your organization itself, right, think about the other core people in your office, the core leaders of the organization, who have helped you build the organization from the ground up, right, imagine if you only talked to your marketing team when you needed them to make a flyer, imagine if you only talked to your development team when it was okay, it's time for a campaign, it would not work like that, right, everyone needs to know what's going on, when it's going on, how it's happening in sync and in time, so they can put the pieces together, right, think about your family, right, you wouldn't talk to your manager that could be contentious, you wouldn't talk about somebody in your own household when it's time to take out the trash, right, no, the person knows when they're feeling the trash, okay, this thing is getting full, it's almost time, and when that thing happens, okay, it's time to take this trash out, right, so what I'm saying is in how that translates into your organization, we oftentimes, especially development leaders, I'm telling you, I'm not going to speak from somebody on the other side, okay, I work with the grassroots organization, I work with the organization with a budget of zero, and we build it to 150,000 in a year and a half, right, like I know what this is like, because I've actually been in the trenches and done it, what did I do over communicate, right, someone who makes a donation to your organization wants to know what that donation is doing, right, they want to know how their dollars are going to work, and it's up to you because why, you're a bridge, you see how all these things are connected, right, you are a bridge, you're letting them know, hey, don't worry, you got one step closer on this bid, you're almost at the promised land, hey, don't worry, you're two steps closer now, you know what I'm saying, you have to let them know every step of the way, how they are actually making this change, how are they actually being a part of the change, everybody loves charity water, why, I'm still a charity water, I get emails every single day, okay, they let me know that I build this well, okay, let me tell you, and I make me feel like I'm abroad with them, right, and even though I don't have a shovel with them, I'm still in the trenches because I've made a contribution, feel like I'm supported because I'm with them in the process, right, that is what it means to be a partner, that is what it means to have somebody walk alongside you, not to say ding ding ding, it's time for a donation, uh-uh, it does not look like that, especially today, right, especially when there's so many different things, so many competing priorities, whenever I speak to groups, I always say, why does your organization matter, and why does it matter now, right, why does it matter right now, because there are so many different things, and even if they're not making a contribution, that's not going to pay itself, so how are you coming up and contributing, how are you part of making sure that they understand that this contribution is what transformative and not transactional, okay, yeah, what about, you know, you spoke about communication, is there ever too much communication, like I know the whole cadence of ask, thank, report, repeat, and you just continue, ask, thank, report, repeat, ask, thank, report, repeat, when is it too much, when is communication too much? That's a great question, like I said in the beginning, everything is about intention, right, so what are you intending in this email, what do you want your donors to get from this email, what do you want your team members, your volunteers to get from this email, what are you hoping that they receive in this communication, because sometimes people do send emails flippantly, I'm like, not the same old same old, my fingers are tired of scrolling, huh, no, what are you intending from this communication, because if your intention is coming from an authentic and pure place, it's going to be received, right, and people actually want to know, they can pick up on that, now that is not dismissed strategy, that is, because you guys have some amazing people on this call, let me tell you, I was watching Maria, Brian, I was taking my notes too, right, it's important to match the intention with the strategy, right, and you have to pair those things together, but it always starts from the intention, and also, when you have the right intention, you'll also be able to see, hey, I messaged this person last week about something similar, is it fitting, is it sticking, and then the other thing I was going to say, and I mentioned this earlier, but it's about segmentation, if you're giving the same message to every single person, like, one size does not fit all in your donor communication, right, you need to know, hey, these people, they targeted me on social media, did you check out my latest social media posts, hey, look at what the latest things are happening, this person is a campaign donor, how are you updating them on your specific campaign, so it really, there are nuances, but to make a long story short, because when I only got a few more minutes, it's about intention. You know, I love that, because I think when you start from that point, it's very easy for you to edit, you know, you can say, okay, the intention is this, so we don't really need to talk about that, or we don't need to rehash this, or, and it is a little bit more of an upfront investment, because you have to be quiet, you have to center yourself, and you have to say, what is the end goal here, why am I doing this, and then you can determine what are the better pieces, you know, it's kind of a roadmap to life in many ways. And you better say that thing, because that's what it's all about, right, how you show up in your fundraising is how you oftentimes show up in your life, right, and I love, love, love what you just said about, you have to steal yourself, right, you have to calm and get to a place of center first, and then that will determine your trajectory, right, I always say alignment determines your assignment, right, if you can first get in alignment, that will direct your steps, that will direct where you need to go, who you need to go to, and when you need to go, right, so the same thing matters for communication, oh, and one other thing I was going to say, I was talking to Julia Campbell yesterday, actually, she's amazing, and we were talking about social media and talking about like the noise, right, like there's always so much noise, and you have to ask yourself, what role am I playing, am I adding to the noise, or am I offering a space of like the spike, am I offering a space where people can come in actually dive a little bit deeper and get to know us on a deeper level, right, and so the same thing goes with whether it's your communications via email or communications via social media, who do you want to be, who do you want to show up as, how do you want to show up, and what is your intention in showing up, right, and then that will now come through across your various platforms, that will dictate your cadence and everything else, so. We could talk for hours, and I know that we'll one day on that talk that we're going to take. Gif Butter has been, as you said, I mean, recently with the award, or the recognition, it's come such a long way. Floyd, I can tell you, I've been on so many forums, you know, Facebook groups, what have you, community boards, so many people are saying, who do you use for this, who do you use for that, and inevitably Gif Butter is up there, and I've heard so, so many great things from leaders across the globe that have used this platform. I think it speaks, of course, to the volume of your passion and how much you really connect and have that commitment to people, right, and that is so important. So Floyd Jones, Community and Partnership Lead with Gif Butter, if you heard earlier, he was like employee number six, they now have 46 employees, all remote currently, although Floyd gets around and he has a bingo card and all the staff and probably, you know, a lot of the partners as well. I know we're looking forward to seeing you at the conference coming up next month in Vegas, and just cannot wait to deepen our connection and really use our passion to propel, you know, so many, so many other leaders here, here in our community. So thank you. 100%, I'm so glad to be here, so glad to be speaking with everybody, and just continue to remember, be transformational. That's, it all starts inside. So 100%, thank you. I think that you have been a wonderful way for us to start our day. Here in the West, we're starting our day. For those of you in the East, you're kind of already moving through, but this has really been magical, Floyd. Thank you so much. You know, these are the things that Jared and I need to hear. We try and share these mindsets, if you will. And it's a really important time, I think, in the philanthropic world to be talking about mindset, because we've been in such a time of crisis and upset. And sometimes the only thing that can protect us to move forward is our mindset. So you have done some beautiful work with us here today. Floyd Jones, again, givebutter.com, check them out. They got a lot of things cooking. Again, if you don't remember who we are, you just tuned in. I'm Julia Patrick, CEO of the American Nonprofit Academy. I've been joined today by the nonprofit nerd herself, Jared Ransom, CEO of the Raven Group. We want to make sure to thank all of our presenting sponsors. Without them, we would not be here having the magical wisdom of Floyd Jones join us today. We want to thank Blumerang, American Nonprofit Academy, Fundraising Academy, the Nonprofit Nerd, Your Part-Time Controller, Staffing Boutique, Nonprofit Thought Leader, and the Nonprofit Atlas. Again, they are all partners with us. And as Floyd said, march with your partners. And I love that. So we want to say thank you. We're marching. We are marching. So good. Power, power marching. Hey, as we end every episode, we want to remind everyone, and I think ourselves, stay well, so you can do well. Floyd, thank you so much. This has been magical.