 Welcome. And thanks to all of you that are here and joining us today on this holiday week. It is the day before Thanksgiving Wednesday and wait is today Wednesday, it is all day long. So I'm really excited to have our friend back with us Jack Alotto CFRE with fundraising Academy and Jack's going to talk to us about is CFRE right for your career and before we dive into that conversation with our friend Jack. I of course want to make sure that we honor Julia Patrick, CEO of the American nonprofit Academy for building and creating and having this idea of the nonprofit show as an episode and a platform for all of us. Julia is enjoying a day off today, but she will be back on Friday so make sure that you join Julia on Friday. I'm Jared Ransom also known as your nonprofit nerd even though Julia tries to claim me as her own, but I am the nonprofit nerd plenty to go around CEO of the Raven group. We are so appreciative and have a lot of gratitude to our presenting sponsors especially during this week of gratitude and thankfulness we really want to extend even more appreciation to our sponsors. I'm excited to have them in our corner, and I also like to remind you that they're not just here for us and the nonprofit show they're truly here for the sector at large. So they exist in around throughout all those fun prepositions in your community so check out these sponsors. They really are here to help you move your mission driven goals forward so if you haven't checked them out I encourage you to do so. And we are thrilled because one of our presenting sponsors fundraising Academy has Jack a lotto on their team and we are so thrilled to have you back. Welcome Jack. Thank you I'm glad to be back it's good to see you again and it's the day before Thanksgiving and I'm thankful for you, Jared I'm thankful for the nonprofit show and all the work that you guys do to advance our profession it's great. Thank you I you know we always love having you on and I like to refer to you as a as a fellow nerd as well. When it comes to this profession, I would love for you to share all things CFRE and let's just start if you would Jack by just telling us what does this acronym stand for and how might we use it in a profession. Well, CFRE stands for certified fundraising executive, and it's a credential. It's a credential that you work towards and it is pretty much the standard of excellence in our profession. Of course, other credentials out there, some specifically related to plan giving which are really awesome, and some that are even like an ACF RE, which is advanced certified fundraising executive and very small number of people in that. When I first got my CFRE you may not know this there were about 3000 of us. Now with the pandemic, a lot of people have decided and now it's the time to really up their game as it relates to our profession. There's about 7000. I didn't realize there was an advanced CFRE in a well. Wow. And it's a two year program I don't know much about it and I don't really feel comfortable speaking to but it's an awesome program as well. There are some out there. So I would like to know, Jack, when did you earn your designation of our CFRE and you mentioned that when you did there were only about 3000. Yeah, and I think I'm at least a CFRE for 10 years. I'm up for recertification in April. So once you achieve the certification, you must renew it and recertify every three years. The good thing is you don't have to take the exam when you recertify. Well, that is the really, really thing that that people work on want to pass that test. Well, let's talk about you know what are the benefits. And then we also have this word implications of earning this designation. And because you had shared a little bit about this before we went live, but really the value of this designation and how it might really up level our career. And then I'd love for us also to talk about how you've seen an increase over the last two years of seeing this truly as a benefit. I think the first thing it does when you achieve any credential, whether it's CFRE or any other credential, you show a level of confidence. You tell the world that I have achieved some level of competence. It also gives you credibility. Who does it give you credibility with your board, your coworkers, and most importantly, it gives you credibility with donors. And it tells the donors that you have achieved a degree of excellence in six domain areas in the fundraising profession. The last one, which is just as important is ethics and accountability, and donors want transparency. They want to see us as ethical and accountable professions professionals. And so it shows it shows commitment to fundraising. People who are here today watching this show are showing a commitment to fundraising, or if you come to one of the webinars at the fundraising Academy, or any other professional development things you do. It shows the world that you are committed to your profession. And that's what the CFRE does in particular. I'd like to know, Jack, if you happen to have this information, how many individuals do you think or know have paid for the CFRE designation, perhaps on their own? Or are you seeing an uptick in value of the employer really designating these professional dollars towards their workforce to achieve this designation. Yeah, it's funny you asked that question, because just yesterday, CFRE International published the results of a survey they did, and what they found is that 51% of CFREs, they surveyed all the CFREs in the world. And we're in most, if not all of the English speaking countries. I've had, by the way, I've had people in my CFRE study groups from Singapore, Hong Kong, the Congo. I just last week had a conversation with CFREs in Australia. So we're all over the world. This is a designation that is recognized internationally, which is great. But this survey that CFRE sent out, they found that about 51% of current CFREs say that their employer paid part of or all of the costs of achieving their CFRE, which for me, honestly, is a disappointing number. I know it's gone up since 2018, but it's still a disappointing number to me because what do we have when we work in a development department? We have a team. And I think it's so important for those managers out there, those people who are managing other development professionals to recognize and put some money into their professional development, especially if they go to you and say, hey, Jared, I want to be a CFRE because I want to learn more about marketing or securing a gift or relationship building, or actually any professional development thing. Put some money into your people and it will come back to you tenfold. I think one of the things you also said, and thank you for having that number, that is perfect timing that CFRE international provided 51%. So that that is real time data, essentially. I would like to know, because I feel that, and maybe you've seen this as well, because again, you know, Jack offers these study guides, study groups to many, many CFRE individuals that are studying to earn and achieve this designation. And so looking at this, oftentimes there are, I'm going to pick on the women, right, but women see this as an opportunity to help them gain reentry into the workforce. So this could be and I, when I use reentry, I'm really talking about, you know, moving from a stay at home mother role into their career again, or maybe they were caring for an elderly parent and re entering back into the workforce. And this designation can truly help to, I don't know, I don't maybe advance them or level where they were. Yes, and you know I love to tell the story of someone who was in my last study group, not the most recent one from who actually left the workforce to raise her children. She left the workforce, she got out of it she worked in development. And then when she came back after having been out, I don't know, 10, 910 years raising these children. They said to her, you know what you've been out of this profession so why don't you start as a receptionist in our office which was shocking to me. So that's where she said that's where she started and she said, when she got her CFRE she said, I wanted to do this, because I wanted to prove to them that I'm still competent at this profession. You know the other thing which is important you know what I said to her, well maybe now's the time for you to start looking for people who will value you as part of their team. And in connection with that, you may not know this but CFREs on average earn 17% more in salary, 17%. That is so significant. You know the other type of person, and this happened actually maybe four or five years ago, a guy who was in my study group said to me you know what I went to college, and I had a drop out of college, because I had to take care of my dad, who was dying. And, you know, things happen in our lives where things, we get interrupted, you know, we get interrupted in our education. And so he never went back and finished that degree and he said, I really want to get this certification, not as a replacement for a college degree, but but as a him showing this commitment to the profession and his own advancement in knowledge and understanding of this profession we work in. And he got it in the same way the woman who dropped out of the workforce and not you know for me, this is why I do these study groups, because I get so much joy. Well, and the benefits as you said so whether someone perhaps did not finish their college career or looking to re entered to the workforce after being away. That is a huge benefit but that number that you shared with us jack 17% of a higher salary or higher increase in pay that in and of itself is a wonderful benefit which What are the costs. So that's that that's a great question. So the cost for certain you know to get certified to take the test is $875. You belong to one of the national organizations like the Association of fundraising professionals AFP, or the Association of healthcare professionals, and there I think are like 23 or 24 professional groups that CFRE gives a discount to those members and $875 or $700 is still And then on top of that, you have to buy some materials to study. You know the test is six domains here's what they are prospect research, securing the gift relationship building volunteer involvement leadership and management and as I said earlier to ethics and accountability. So you have to study each of those domains to get to a passing score. The cost to buy the materials to study that could be pretty pricey. Now, I only recommend buying some of those materials, just because it's, it's, it's better and cheaper And not buying it all because you could spend over $3,000 in addition to the $875 so we don't want to do that. It makes me think you know when I was in college, I either wanted to share a textbook with with a classmate, or I certainly was the one buying the used textbooks when I could. And actually you can. Yeah, you can get like I so one of the books I love and I think every development professional should own is achieving excellence and fundraising. A fourth edition now you could buy that use, but here's a little trick that I like to tell you know Amazon owns audible.com and audible will give you a 30 day free trial on any book. So you can go and get achieving excellence and fundraising the audible and read it in 30 days now for me, I have to have a copy of it. I'm an old fashioned guy who needs a book, you know, to read highlight and to annotate. Yes, yes, you know, I know some people get older pages but yeah, well talk to me about the study group you've talked about it a couple of times or you've mentioned it. A couple of times, or you've mentioned it a couple of times. And I did not realize Jack that you're also working with individuals across the world. So in this designation, share with us if you would your role in the CFRE study group and cohort and how we can learn more about that. So I actually our next study group starts January 15. Okay, what it is it's, it's seven Saturdays. And each Saturday is an hour and a half. And what we review is each of the domains. So we do an intensive review of prospect research how to develop a prospect profile, how to find prospects, your CRM system, and then, you know, CFRE is a relationship building model. It's a lot like cause selling in that respect. The model we use at the fundraising academy. Yes, I can't miss putting my plug in for cause selling. So it's a relationship building model so the majority of the test like 48% of the test is about securing the gift and relationship building, which is awesome because let's face it it's that's what it's all about. Yeah. So it runs seven weeks I do two other things. So this year I tried something really interesting, I call it my yet group. Okay, and it's, it's, I do not talk about people failing the test in fact I rarely talk about people failing anything. I always say when I was in high school I remember I went to my mom and I said, Hey mom I failed chemistry and she said you did not fail chemistry. You just haven't passed yet. Yes, so it's the power of yet. So that's my thing when people come to me and they do and they say hey, I didn't pass the test. I failed the test I say you didn't fail the test you just haven't passed it yet. So I had this group of about 19 people who haven't passed the test yet. And yet, it's the power of yet. And so I also do that set a group we do those on Wednesday nights, 4pm Pacific time and I, you know I just love. It's so inspirational to me Jared to see the commitment persistence that people bring to this. And you know they may have not passed it yet once or twice, and they say but I'm going to do it. And I love that. And you know what I say to them. I am with you for as long as you want me there. They are so lucky to have you on their team and in their corner jack because and I love the power of yet and hearing this childhood story from your mom what a what a beautiful story and trajectory and cheerleading moment that we all need because, you know as you had mentioned the story of a previous gentleman that I did not finish his college career, because of, you know, a life interruption or just kind of a moment, but really looking at this designation, you can earn this or work towards earning this at any time is that correct so that's true. Yes, and you know something else, my study groups, they're free. There's no cost and in fact you could find my study group on their website. Here's here is the thing it's this is the thing that I do to give back to our profession. You know I'm fortunate as a consultant as a trainer at National University and the fundraising Academy, they pay me for those things. So it frees me up to do things for our profession, like you guys are doing. We're in the same boat where we you and Julia and me are in the same tribe. Yes, yes, you know and as well as the fundraising Academy, and some of your sponsors, like blue meringue, you know I mean we are in this tribe of advancing our profession. Here's the thing that I say, when we train people as to be better at fundraising, all boats get lifted. If they're working in homelessness. Less people will be homeless, because they'll be able to raise more money. If they're working in the arts, there will be more ballet and music. If they're working in social services, or feeding the poor. It benefits everyone. When people come to the nonprofit show and they learn techniques that make them better at fundraising or CFRE we are helping a big group of people. Yes, and thank you because I do believe bringing more value to this is needed. These shows these episodes are free your study group is free. Very much, you know, needed right now, and that's definitely something that, you know, I hope we can, Jack, get that 51% of an employer contribution up, and I would like to ask you probably, you know, the million dollar question, how do we do that how do we talk to our employer how do we talk to our boards, how do we talk to the CEO or whomever to say, this is the value of the designation this is what I bring to you in addition to my experience. How might we collectively increase this 51%. That's a great question, and I will tell you that the answer to that question is on the CFRE international website. Okay, give you the tools to speak to your employer, how you're going to be able to raise more money, you're going to be able to find more prospects, you're going to be able to close more gifts. You're about to start a capital campaign, you're going to bring credibility to those big gifts that you have to have to bring every single time I go through a study group chair, I learned additional things about fundraising. So every time I look at the achieving excellence in fundraising book, or you know, CFRE publishes a study guide, which is reasonably priced I think it's 45 or 50 bucks. Every time I look at that every time I read something in there, I learn more about fundraising, and it makes me a better fundraiser, and then I'm able to help other people be a better fundraiser. You know, I think if here's my thing and this may sound hard, but if you go to your employer and say I want to, I want time off to be able to go to the nonprofit show. I want to spend some time going to free webinars that the fundraising Academy does, or I want to study for the CFRE and they say no I'm not going to give you the time. Maybe it's time to think about another employer. I think that wants to invest in you. You know, what are the resources we have in fundraising, we have people, we have time, and we have a budget, put the budget into your team members guys. If you're a manager, put some money into their professional development. And not only that, let them decide where they want to go. Maybe they want to learn more about planned gifts. Maybe they want to run capital campaigns, maybe they want to be major gift managers, or major gift officers. Put money into that. My fortunate thing is I worked in healthcare philanthropy throughout most of my career. They invested in their employees. I went to every single thing that they would pay for. Absolutely. That is so good. You know, we had a question come in asking about the clarification for the 51%. So, Jack shared earlier that the CFRE International just did a study and found that of the CFRE designations or designations that only 51% of those that earned their designation received contribution from their employer. So that means the other percent did, you know, receive zero support, financial support from their employer to all out of pocket for those individuals. But 51% of those in the study for the CFRE International did receive financial support from their employer. And so that's what we want to increase. We want to have, you know, our employers really value these opportunities like the designation for CFRE, like the cost selling that you mentioned with fundraising Academy that in and of itself is a phenomenal model. I love the steps, having Tony on Tony Bell with fundraising Academy, learning the cost selling model was really phenomenal. I've been in the sector 20 years and as I told Tony, wish I had this 20 years ago. No kidding. I mean, it's, I love the cost selling model. I've pretty much trained in every part of it. It's great. Well, this has been phenomenal learning about the cost, the time, the process, the not yet having that group. I'm so thankful Jack that we have you in the sector. Your passion definitely shines through your commitment to not only the individuals but to philanthropy as a profession really shines through fundraising Academy is lucky to have you as are we at so glad that we're, we're here on the same team. So if you're interested in earning your designation with CFRE or you're interested in joining Jack for this January 15 January 15 study group 15 study group. Reach out to Jack. He's also on LinkedIn. I love seeing your updates on LinkedIn Jack where you're, you're giving your shout outs to your individuals that have gone through your study group and have in fact recently earned this designation of the CFRE certified fundraising executive. So, so thankful for you Jack. Thank you for joining us today. Julia missed a great conversation but again she'll be back on Friday so make sure you join Julia. I have the day off, but looking forward to the holiday and thanks again, again, a deep appreciation, gratitude and to our sponsors. Yes, thank you so much. I'm really lucky to have them on our team as well and in the sector, lifting up as you said all of these boats all of these boats need to rise together so thank you to all of our presenting sponsors that join us in these conversations each and every day. Jack, I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving and for you as well. Thank you so much for all of you that have joined us we are so grateful that that you have taken this time and see the value in these conversations just as much as the CFRE designation. I wish you all well I hope that you all enjoy tomorrow we will not be on so if you are one of our raving fans and you don't know what to do with your time. I hope that if you're not with your family that's right at least take some time to rest and reconnect into charge. So we like to end every episode and I will definitely end it as well today. Please stay well so you can continue to do well. Thanks so much Jack it's always nice to spend some time with you.