 Welcome everybody to another episode of the non-profit show This is day two of a drill down series with superstar Lashonda Williams from fundraising Academy and these two days We've been talking about communicating gratitude and the actual thanking of Donors and how we navigate this. It's a I mean Lashonda. It's a bigger issue than two days I got to say Exactly. It is an ongoing conversation That's never ending because you can never say thank you enough and there are a merry-out of different ways to say Thank you based on the various donors that you're dealing with whether it be Segmenting it out or customizing it But thank you you can never say enough and you want to make sure you have the necessary touch points to strengthen the Relationship and keep it going and keep it going. Well, let's dig in because we've got day two part two of this And again, if you don't know who I am I'm Julia Patrick CEO of the American Nonprofit Academy Jared Ransom I co-host will be joining us shortly She's the CEO of the Raven group and again, we are here today because of our amazing sponsors And so we want to say thank you to them Boomerang 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 if You want to find any of the 800 episodes that we have produced Over the past three years we're now in our fourth year you can do that through our streaming broadcast You can listen to us if you like podcasts or you can download our super sexy new app Just take a shot of this QR code and you can find us Reaching out to you with what has gone on that day. It's a really cool cool tool And I want to thank my team at the American Nonprofit Academy who created it spearheaded by Kevin Pace. It is an amazing thing All right, speaking of amazing Lashonda Williams backed for day two. I think we need day three and day four on this topic because please do Yeah, you said some things to me yesterday Pardon me that took my breath away Lashonda Williams trainer at fundraising Academy You can find more information about her and and the team members that she works with at fundraising dash academy dot org Lashonda yesterday you started off with the four Ps and the elements of a thank you and the thing that blew my mind is I think I was like gift I was post gift Specific I was thinking this is what you do after you've received the gift and you were like no no no no This is what you do as you walk the journey with this donor and I'm like, yeah, duh I don't know why it was like all in my mind post gift post gift And so you said we need to be prompt we need to be personalized We need to be passionate and we need to be positive and that was the framework for our discussion Yesterday and I just wanted to kind of revisit that briefly because it factors in to the things that we're going to talk about now And one of the things that I need help with understanding the difference between customized and personalized because there's a pretty big difference Yes, indeed. There really is so when you're thinking about customized you want to think about segmenting so when you have a variety of Donors that fit in a particular category you may want to customize those messages Meaning for donors, it may be in a giving society for example Stating to them specific things related to the benefits of the giving society and the impact of that said giving society In addition to that when you're personalizing it that is when you are acknowledging the individual in their specific individual goals and Aspirations as they relate to being impactful with your organization This is an opportunity to reflect on the relationship that you've built through needs discovery When you learned how they wanted to impact the organization Some of their passions and you want to connect their passions with the organization and how they can be impactful and how their gift has been a Tremendous resource to growing the organization in achieving its goals So I love that you've talked about this and I've got a question is a follow-up When you talk about the customized market, you know segmenting that market that you have And you mentioned specifically maybe more campaign oriented or program oriented Do you ever do this by donor amount? So it depends on the organization and the structure So you have to be very mindful of resources and when I'm speaking of resources I'm talking about the time available the number of people that you have in your shop And then also how much will it cost you in terms of getting this done? So it just depends on the organization In the perfect world we'd be able to handle it all However, if you are a small shop, you want to identify what's going to be the most effective and efficient way to thank your donors There are instances where you may have categories of annual fund level gifts Leadership level gifts and then major gifts and depending on the type of gift will determine The type of personalization and those said thank you touches And so also to also determine who would be your signature on the message So you can have multiple touch points And some gifts may require more touch points than others But ideally you want to treat all gifts as though they were a major gift because The donor may have the propensity to give More and it could actually be a test gift You never want to minimize any gift because all gifts do matter because they help elevate Your organization and move you forward on your path to succeeding with your mission Yeah, I love that and I love that you brought up You know that thank who who's doing the thanking and what is the signature? I think that's brilliant because undoubtedly How do we communicate? Up, you know the the chain of command when they might not Have any contact with that leadership, but ultimately they will or they should or they might want to I mean Yeah, I think that's brilliant that you brought that up because that's one of those things that we We don't often talk about and then I feel like sometimes in our portfolios. There's a little bit of I don't know Not jealousy, but like it's mine that list is mine and Right the ownership. It's yeah ownership. That's a better ownership of the relationship because you have invested in the relationship and cultivated and nourished it and now that it has become actualized In terms of a gift it kind of transitions the way that we want to engage However, we also want to be mindful that the relationship ultimately is owned by the organization And we are acting agents Therefore we must respond in the best interest of the organization as opposed to our personal preferences Yeah, thank you for for um Reminding us of that because I think that's the ego And that's the personalized side Of things that get messy and get in the way and you're right ultimately It's our donor is being stewarded by the organization and not just that that personal relationship that we think we might have Another piece of this is is like now. We're kind of like going old school and then we're going to go new school after the phone thing but Picking up and calling a donor and I have to witness to you. I served on a board for years and we had a thank-a-thon twice a year and the board members would go to one of our fellow board members offices that had a phone bank And we would each be given a stack of names and numbers Generally, we did this on saturday mornings not too early And then we would just call and thank people whether it was leaving a message or we would You know speak to them directly and we would just say you know, we would identify ourselves As board members and all we're doing is simply calling to say thank you and people would be so shocked They would try and give us more money and we'd be like, you know We're gonna have to have someone call you because we can't We're not taking you know donations. We're just literally calling you calling to thank you It was always one. I think of my most favorite days It it was a little stressful to begin with everybody was a little nervous And then you start making those phone calls and you just really became I don't I almost want to say engaged Absolutely, it is the perfect level of engagement I tell everyone all the time whenever preparing your thank yous you want to start with a nice script You want to get comfortable with the script, you know, do a little role playing with your colleagues I used to manage a call center and we did solicitations as well as Thank-a-thons and there is nothing better than being able to call a donor and saying Thank you because in many instances in the world that we live in most people are very accustomed to a lot of evening Solicitations and so a thank you call is a breath of fresh air and one of the things about your thank you calls We mentioned earlier customization This is the opportunity to segment out those phone calls and identify donors that may have given to a specific program and identifying Those specific attributes of the program and the accomplishments and having one particular individual being assigned to call Donors that have given to that specific program Marked I love that because you know, I don't think we were that sophisticated. I think we were just given like, you know Probably letters like you take a b c and d and you take But I love that because then that makes the um It it also it makes it more of a genuine conversation Exactly some folks that might make it a little bit easier to have the conversation or actually dial the number It does make it easier because then the individual that's making the thank you becomes the quasi expert on that talking point And then of course, obviously you want to equip your board members and anyone who's making phone calls If you're doing a thank you time frame like a thankathon You want to equip them with basic information about the organization However, you want to prepare them to be the expert on the program to give the donor insight on the The updates Some of the advancements how their gift is benefiting How many people the the gift has benefited and then some of the forthcoming outcomes and simply culminating with thank you Your gift is appreciated Another avenue to consider when sorting out those calls could be by gift amount I mean more more instances than not those higher dollar gifts You may want to have your executive director or your president of the board to call Which creates that opportunity to really strengthen the relationship and demonstrate the power of A more sizable gift and it also is a talking point from An administrative level to talk about more in depth about the overarching goals and the future So it gives that donor not only a thank you for what you've done But this is what we're planning on the road ahead And thank you for joining us on this journey. It will keep you informed as we continue to make progress I love that, you know, um Again, it's a genuine thing. I got two follow-up questions and one is Is it okay just to leave a voicemail and to say These things that I mean in a very truncated version very short and sweet But to say we're just calling to say thank you and You know Because of you we we've done some great things and we hope to see you On our campus or at our event or whatever. I mean, how does that play out? So when I when I've hosted think of thons, we did leave voicemail messages However, the caveat with the voicemail message because you only have a small window of time When you're sending or leaving a voicemail message, you also want to follow up with an email immediately prompt To let them know I did reach out to you. I left your voicemail message We hope that you've received it. Please let us know if there's a better time when I can call you back To speak with you Okay, so again, you want to alert them because you know with voicemail messages again today Think about it. We're more tech savvy and so we're more in tune to text messages Then we would be to listening to a voicemail and then there have been instances where individuals have subscribed to text messaging services to send out thank yous However, not as personal as that voice to voice communication Right, you know, that's super genius yet again hair and fire moment I never thought of that and I think that's really smart Because again, it's um, it's positive. It's engaging And if if that donor wants to communicate great if not It doesn't seem like it's like you're hammering them Exactly it puts them back in control of the situation because when you're when you're going through the donor cycle And preparing for the solicitation the donor is in control They they set the tone and the pace of the relationship and how quickly or how modestly it will move around Do the donor cycle? Yeah, I love it. Now. Here's another question and again this somewhat this might seem like it's coming Out of left field, but it does weave into this and I I'd love for you to chat with us about using the donor's name The right way you mentioned it yesterday Um, which again, I thought was genius making sure that early on in the cultivation piece You ask what's appropriate and I'm wondering what this looks like to you and and how we should navigate this because It can be really uncomfortable It really can but that is the power of relationship building and the power of Learning and discovering things about your donor From an electronic standpoint. We mentioned many people make gifts online and with your online giving form You can have a space that says please identify your your preference in terms of how you'd like to be addressed You can have multiple boxes one Well, your formal salutation and then the informal name so that you have both And then when the when the relationship gets to the point where it's assigned to an rm Then during the discovery phase the rm can have a conversation About how the individual prefers to be addressed if they're more of a formal person or a less formal person and It's not discriminating because there are many high net worth Individuals who simply prefer to be called by their first name And so again, it's an individual preference And it's our responsibility to ensure that we're acknowledging donors in the manner that is their preference Many of my solicitations that i've done in the past have been Quasi informal because we want to make that connection with the individual And make it very personalized And when you have a signature of someone who is a high level administrator within the organization It creates that personal effect that individual and makes them think Oh, the president of the organization sent me a letter Or left me a voicemail and that gives you that warm fuzzy feeling That is not one that will make someone be upset about the informal messaging or the name use However, it will make them feel as though they have a relationship with the person that's sending the message But in the end it's all about acknowledging and recognizing donor preferences You know, it's so interesting that you'd say that because I had just in the last 24 hours that occasion I was briefly introduced at an event to a fortune 500 ceo Who's done some amazing philanthropic work? I wrote him a thank you note yesterday morning And I addressed the envelope with his more, you know, his first Last name his title all that And then when I opened up my note card to write I was like, oh, do I write mister? Or do I write his first name because I had a very I mean, I had probably 120 minute Chat with him, right very small But I didn't know how formal or you know Have a commonality And so I I was like the way I addressed it in my own mind was okay I did the formal greeting and salutation on the envelope On the inside I just wrote his first name because it was it was a weird thing But it speaks to What we're talking about exactly From the external envelope A male piece is a formal piece and that is definitely where you want to have this proper salutation and recognition However, personal messages are that they're personal And again depending on the donor and the demographic. So for example with myself I've dealt with donors who are relatively young and those that are really seasoned and sophisticated And so because I know my donors there are instances Where I have a donor who's very seasoned and sophisticated that says call me by my first name And then I have others that simply are very formal and proper and I acknowledge them as such And so the personal note may say Mister or misses, but then there are other instances will simply say julia So you want to make sure that you know Beyond a shadow of a doubt how they'd like to be addressed in instances where you're uncertain Always use that salutation on the note if you're uncertain because you'd rather the individuals say to you Lashonda, don't worry about calling me missus. Please just call me julia Rather than you say dear julia and then julia says lashonda Our relationship is not that Would allow you to call me by my first name. My preference is to be called So you always want to err on the side of caution when you're not certain You know, do you feel like there are regional regional differences in our country? So for example, maybe in the south or The east were more formalized in the west were less. I mean, do you do you see that as a Part of our drill down with our different cultural parts of our of our communities That is a wonderful point of reference because the individual that's a seasoned donor that I mentioned to you We're in the southern states and it's a part of that southern culture And you want to make sure that you're very respectful to your seniors The last thing you want to come off as someone who is not respecting your seniors So from a southern hospitality standpoint, we're always using those misers and misses especially for those That are our elders and it's a sign of respect And even when you think about it from a religious standpoint most religions The elders are respected and greeted with a specific salutation just because of their wisdom and knowledge And again, this goes back to what I just said when in doubt always be formal because you can never go wrong with the formality You'd rather be more formal and be asked to take off that jacket than coming in without a jacket. It's saying you need one You are a southern belle and you can use that reference That is hilarious because you're right. I feel that way too about like professional designations So for me like, you know a chef like you would say chef or reverend or a physician doctor You know also within certain institutions I know with higher education a lot of times they would say president smith, you know as or chancellor or you know pulling together those titles and I think that's got to make the person who's earned that title feel better You know exactly it's giving reverence to that achievement, you know And is is is great as it is and wonderful We will want to personalize and say julia But if julia has earned her phd We want to acknowledge that until julia has said you do not have to call me doctor And again, these are all personal preferences I can recall working at an institution where the president preferred to be called by her first name And then there are other instances where the entire faculty would Say I expect to be addressed as doctor And so you want to acknowledge you want to give reverence to that Because the last thing you want to do is have someone think that you aren't respecting them and respecting a donor is very very important And it goes to it speaks also to the donor bill of rights, you know when you talk about the prompt With the the designation providing the information the impact all of that is in alignment With the donor bill of rights being acknowledged and how he or she would like he she they them would like to be acknowledged It all falls under the donor bill of rights. Yeah, very interesting you know, I think sometimes we don't think about it, but then We we reap the repercussions of a bad decision or not even a bad decision. Just not being thoughtful Right. It's like all of a sudden We wonder like well, why didn't this work out or I thought I did everything right, but it can be these little things That become big things Exactly and that goes that goes it speaks to the importance of the discovery process When you are cultivating the relationship with the donor Making sure that you're asking open-ended questions Especially those when it comes to recognition Because a donor will be very clear about how he or she would like to be recognized If they'd like any recognition at all when we're talking about from a public standpoint So you want to make sure that we're respecting their privacy and respecting how they're being recognized Both in writing and in public So that leads me to my next question because now there's like a whole you know What we've been talking about oftentimes has been more private. It goes through Our snail mail, you know Mailbox at the end of the the drive it goes to our email account But what about thanking somebody and social media where you're going to have A wider distribution within a community. What do you think about that? Social media is a wonderful way to further your cause and also to garner additional support First and foremost, we want to make sure that we have the donor's permission Before putting their name out in the universe. I can remember when I was working with the former institution and we received a gift from an anonymous donor of a sizeable amount And we immediately wanted to share with the broader community. However, the donor wanted to remain anonymous So first you want to make sure that you have permission But once you have permission When you are formulating or crafting that That message you also want to Secure that donors buy in so you want to give them a chance to look over it first to be okay with it because it's not only The organization's brand, but it's also the individual's brand and you want to make sure that the messaging is reflective That of recognition in the way that the donor would like to be recognized and that's for individuals When you're thinking about crowd funding more often than not you have those wonderful donor roles Some are recurring rolling donor roles. Some are stationary donor roles on your gift form The donor should always have the right to opt in or opt out on the donor role And so for those that like to be recognized they can click the box of Their amount being displayed as well as their name being displayed But there may be instances that a donor will only want to share their amount and not their name And that creates an opportunity for them to demonstrate that their gift has power To reach the overarching financial goal. It also shows support So you want to make sure that you have donors permission before posting names? Yeah, I love that and I think that donor role concept is Is something that far too many of us kind of skip past because we think oh wow Well, everybody's going to want to be recognized and everybody's going to want to have their name listed Um, but that's not always the case and names change and relationships change and so Careful, you know about that as well. Well, this has been Pardon me. You choked me up yet again Um, it's really been cool to learn from you about this because the concept of thanking somebody Is multifaceted it comes in a lot of different ways. You need to be thoughtful about it And what I've learned to you learn from you over the past two days is that it's not a one-off It's an attitude. It's a mindset and it's part of the journey That might end up having far more impact than we ever know The attitude of gratitude will only elevate your organization and you can never say thank you too many times ever Well, I'm going to say thank you to you. LaShonda Williams trainer at fundraising academy LaShonda is one of those amazing voices that fundraising academy has throughout this country all different manner of talents and people That train and educate those of us in the nonprofit sector LaShonda, I say this all the time if I hadn't met you all 30 years ago, I would have raised millions millions of dollars more from my community because I I just really could have used your tools and It's I'll say this julia But julia the platform that you've created is allowing you to indirectly Garner millions of dollars for organizations across the world Because you are sharing your knowledge and your knowledge is helping individuals be equipped to be even more efficient and effective With securing the gift. Well, thanks. That's a nice thing to say and uh, I appreciate that. I really really do Hey before we let you go Will you chat with us really quickly about cultivate 2023? It's coming up and I don't want to miss this opportunity because you my friend are going to be one of the speakers, right? Yes, I'm very excited. I'll be co-presenting with adriana O'Donnell and we'll be talking about donor trust through transparency, which is very important We just talked about that this goes through from the needs discovery All the way through stewardship all aspects of the cost-selling cycle the cultivate conference will be held June 1st, it's right around the corner in sunny san diego We offer two tracks for those of you who may be relatively new to fundraising Or right at the five-year mark and you're wanting to secure additional information in your toolbox And then for those of you that are administrators and executives that want to elevate your leadership to make your Giving and philanthropic culture even more effective. So we have something for everyone ranging from Data assessment and data matrix all the way to stewarding your donors So everything that you need to know to equip your shop In the middle of the year to reassess retool and move on. We're cultivating knowledge We're cultivating relationships and most importantly we're cultivating impact I love it, you know, and this is the perfect time because before we know it that heavy hitting You know year-end is upon us. So this is the time to learn because You'll have a little bit of leeway to get all propped up and ready to go into that closing season So I I think it's going to be great. I know that we will be there broadcasting For two days and so we're really excited about that as well Because again, we think it's going to be an amazing thing and hello Who doesn't want to be in san diego in june? I'm just saying say it never rains in california. It's storming in texas right now. So i'm ready to go Well, my friend you be safe because I know we talked in the green room chatter that you've got some dicey weather ahead of you. So Do be safe and as we end this fabulous two-day drill down with our friends at fundraising academy We want to make sure that we express our gratitude and that's what the topic has been for two days To bloom rang 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 Hey, this has been a lot of fun. You have really encouraged me. Of course. You've taught me some new things. I really appreciate that My pleasure and always remember the attitude of gratitude strengthens your relationships Love it. What a great way to sign off and as we sign off from the nonprofit show We want to remind you to stay well So you can do well. Thank you everyone. We'll see you back here tomorrow. Thank you la shonda You