 and welcome to another episode of The Non-Profit Show. We're really excited, because we don't do this very often, but we have a two-day drill down. That means that we pick a topic that we think is a bigger conversation that's gonna take two days, and then we bring on one person to really work through this drill down. And we have my friend, Lashonda Williams, from Fundraising Academy on. Hey, welcome. Thanks, Julia. How are you today? Happy Monday. Happy Monday. You know, I'm great, great, great. Because I've been excited about this drill down coming up. I know that this is one of those things that is so important. And my husband and I, we've been together for more than 40 years. My husband always says that we are together because he wrote a thank you note to the CEO of a small savings and loan. He was interviewed out of college. And later that CEO said, you know, you weren't my favorite candidate. I didn't think you were a strong fit, but you were the only one that wrote me a thank you note. And so I said, this kid is coming with me. And it was for an institution out of town. And so we would have, our lives would have never met because we were, I had gone to a different town for school. He had gone to a different town for his job. And because of that thank you note, he's my ball and chain. Love it. Gratitude of gratitude that keeps giving. It's true. So anyway, long story short, I really do believe in this process. And LaShonda Williams, pardon me, got me choked up, believes in it too. And so we're gonna really be talking about this and enjoying this conversation. Again, I'm Julia Patrick, CEO of the American Nonprofit Academy. Jared Ransom, the nonprofit nerd will be joining us shortly. Again, we have to say our thank yous to our sponsors and they include Blumerang American Nonprofit Academy, your part-time controller, nonprofit thought leader, fundraising academy at National University. Hey, really quickly, my husband and I were watching a baseball game that was being broadcast from San Diego and National University had a big banner in the left field, I think. So we were all excited. We were like, wow, there they are. Right, and great commercials too. And really good. And they were running some of them. Yeah, it's like a new ad campaign. So anyway, we wanna share our love and gratitude to our friends over at Fundraising Academy, staffing boutique as well, nonprofit nerd and nonprofit tech talk. If you've missed any of our conversations, we are now in our fourth year, we have more than 800 episodes. You can get us on our streaming platforms, our podcasts, and now our new app, which is super cool. Our team at American Nonprofit Academy has created this. You can even scan the QR code directly if you're watching us in our broadcast right here from the screen. And you won't miss anything. Okay, LaShonda Williams, last we met, we were physically at AFP icon and we're gonna be rejoining you for another conference in San Diego, which we'll talk about in a little bit. But LaShonda, trainer with Fundraising Academy, welcome back, my friend. Thank you so much for having me, Julia, looking forward to the day of drilling down with the attitude of gratitude. I love it, and it is an attitude. And let's jump in because with this attitude, you're sharing with us that they're really four key elements. Yes, and they are all essential, the key. Oh, I'm sorry, go ahead. Go ahead. I get so excited, prompt, personalized, passionate and positive. They are all essential elements of ensuring that your donors and prospective donors understand that you appreciate their gifts and that you appreciate the impact and sharing that impact. So these four elements are very critical in not only with initial stewardship, but also they play a major role in retention. So I'm gonna ask you two things because I heard two things that I wasn't expecting to hear. And first off, this is, gratitude is not just extended once you get the gift. Is that what you say? Exactly, you're grateful throughout the cycle of the relationship. And I say that because in order for the relationship to even form, the donor has to, or prospective donor has to be open to the relationship. So you're saying thank you for taking my call. You're saying thank you for responding to my email. You're saying thank you for accepting the meeting. You're saying thank you for meeting with me. So you are having, you literally with consistency have an attitude of gratitude because the donor's time is very important and you want them to understand that you appreciate them as well as the potential impact they can have on your organization. Okay, mind blown because you know what? I was thinking, and I'm kind of embarrassed to say this to you. I was thinking that this was like, this whole two days was all like post-gift. And like completely, you've like literally shaken my mind because you are right. It should be throughout that out. Exactly, throughout like most of my, all of my correspondence when I'm interfacing with donors I always start with a thank you because there is some interaction that has led to a precipitating action and it would not be possible without their support. Okay, I really now this drill down means even more to me because it's a different perspective on this journey. Really, really interesting. Okay, you always rock my world, LaShonda. Well, that's why I said attitude of gratitude. Now we're gonna drill down on the post but you are very thankful throughout the process and you want to make sure that the donor feels valued and the perspective donor feels valued because if an individual does not feel valued the relationship will not mature. Think about it. You just gave the perfect example of you and your husband. He wrote that letter and that letter made a difference and you two have been together 40 plus years later. And that is what we'd love to see with our donors. We'd love to see them start with making that initial annual fund give transition into a lead gift, a major gift, the capital gift and or a bequest so that they can have the entire life cycle in the relationship is ever changing and evolving but consistent and sustainable. You know, so interesting. And I love that you framed it up this way because what we're gonna talk about then is a complete shift. And also I would dare I say it's almost like not only is it a shift but it just becomes a behavior and a habit. And one of the- Absolutely. Yeah, one of those first things you talk about the first P is being prompt. Communicating within 48 hours of the gift and I think we need to change that word gift to interaction maybe to be more- We definitely can interchange that word into interaction because a gift is, you know the closing of the relationship or the solidification of the relationship which is one aspect but even in that initial phone call. So thinking about it from both perspectives from the initial phone call or initial form of communication as well as that initial gift. You know, people often talk about is 48 hours really reasonable and sustainable. So in many facets, you know depending on your gift processing and or the receiving mechanism for your CRM for gifts you have that automated message that comes out within 24 hours, it's instant. But we're not talking about that instant message in the perfect world when your systems are in place and you have the resources available you want to be able to follow up secondarily because that automated reply is more so of a gift receipt. It means I have received your gift here is your proof of making that gift but to actually begin that thank you that is what happens within the next 48 hours. And that is when it's either a personal phone call or you're preparing a handwritten note. You know, many instances emails are convenient. However, one of the things that you want to be very mindful of if you are going to follow up with an email within 48 hours, your subject line is very important. It needs to be personalized. It has to be catchy. It needs to be something that won't get caught up in the day-to-day emails or caught up amongst the spam messages. So you want to make sure that you acknowledge that gift properly within the 48 hours. And again, this is beyond the automatic gift receipt when you make a gift online. Right, because you know, I mean, you and I know because we give, when you do get that it is like it's automated, you know that it's to- It's a form. Yeah. It's a whole list. Yeah, there's no human touch behind it. There's human programming. And so yeah, I agree with you. I love understanding that there's a difference between that immediate response and then that one that I almost want to use the word more genuine because it's- Right, and you know that initial auto response is almost trans, it's transactional. But you really want to shift from transactional to meaningful. And so that auto response is transactional and then you want to transition into a meaningful response which is where that 48 hour touch point comes into play. Okay, let's go on to the next P. And this one I think is such a challenge for a lot of us. And I've got some questions to ask you about this, but this is the other P is personalized. First name and gift amount. Okay, this is where I feel we can trip ourselves up because if we don't get this right. Right. It seems like everything else just falls. Talk to us about this. So personalization is making sure that that donor feels as though they're gift matters and you want to make that message personal. Having the first name makes it very, very personal. When you use first and last name with salutations it makes it very formal. However, you're trying to strengthen the relationship. You want to personalize it. When you write a note to your friend, to your loved one, do you spell out Mr or Mrs? No, you make it very personal. You say hi, LaShonda, dear LaShonda. And you want to include that gift amount along with details about the potential impact of the gift. Making sure that you get the name right because then that's acknowledging the individual's gift and making sure that you have the gift amount correct is very important because the donor has entrusted you with their asset, which is their gift. And you want to make sure that that information is right. It provides affirmation that the organization has practices in place to ensure that the gift's being allocated accordingly and it also makes sure that the donor has confidence that the gift has been received and that you are grateful for that gift. And that is what's most important as you're setting the tone for the relationship as it continues to progress. Okay, now this is my uncomfortable part of asking this question because you're a girl from the South, you've got your pearls on, you're proper, you know etiquette, but what do we do with like older donors who I feel like sometimes we haven't been invited to use their first name, like it seems disrespectful and or I never know how to do that. Now, as I get older, I have to admit, I feel like I'm on more of a parody and maybe that's just an age thing, but how do you know when you're not using Ms. or Mr. or Mrs. or Dr. and Mrs. or Dr. and Mr. I mean, how do we do that and know and feel confident again, so that we're getting it right and we're not blowing the relationship out of water? Exactly, and you don't want to blow the relationship out of water. So this begins by making sure that when you have your online gift form that you have those mechanisms in place to ask, you know, what is your preferred? You know, having the preferences available on your form letter sets the tone and it provides you with the information that you need so that when you're engaging with the donor you will know all of their preferences as far as name salutations, because those are critical because the last thing that you want to do is to make the donor a little teed off because you didn't use the appropriate name or you didn't spell their name right. Those little details are big deals to everyone because the last thing you want is to feel as though the individual's not speaking to you, you know, like that's not my name. Who are they talking to? Right, well, you know, Jared Ransom, she gets a lot of times she gets mailed to Mr. Jared Ransom because Jared doesn't seem like it's a male or female name, right? And so it's an interesting thing and we've talked about this before, she's like, it doesn't even get beyond, you know, the circular file, as they say, things get tossed out because they don't know me or they haven't chosen to figure it out. And so I really love that you said, you know, start with that entry piece and to ask those questions about how they want to be recognized. And especially I think with women, you know, my husband and I have different names and it torques him out when people call him Mr. Patrick and it torques me out when people call me Mrs. Jennings, you know. You know, in the age that we're in, I'm also pushing and thinking that we maybe need to include pronouns because we want to make sure that as we're personalizing messages that the messages are truly to the effect of what the donor preference is. Yeah, and I don't feel like it should be that hard. It just needs to be something that we're thinking about upfront and maybe seeing it and making sure that it's functioning the way we need it to function. Now, the next P that you get into and I really love this because I think sometimes we miss the boat on that and that's passion. How are your funds going to be used and what will their impact be? Once we've gotten through that we were responding on time, we're using the appropriate terminology for our donors, passionate. Talk to us about that, LaShonda. You know, demonstrating passion about your organization should be second nature for most of us as we're in this philanthropic space and because the individual has elected to support your organization, that indicates that they want to have a long of relationship and with that, based on the designation you want to ensure that you provide language that reflects the passion and the impact of that gift and so passion, meaning that you want it to be enthusiastic, you want it to be upbeat. Most importantly, you want to be able to demonstrate how that gift makes a difference. There are a variety of different organizations that have done a dynamic job with that via television commercials, transitioning that into written language is one way to move the donor, not only does it demonstrate gratitude but it provides them with a heightened sense of pride that they're able to make impact on the organization based on that said designation and it gives them something to talk about and also to smile about throughout the day, you know? Well, it builds another champion for your organization. Absolutely, because you're able to give them a little bit more information about the organization, they've done their research, you've shared information with them prior to making the gift but then they become an insider, they become a part of the organization and the key stakeholder once they've made that gift. And as you mentioned, being a champion means that you're going to equip them with the language to be able to articulate the importance of the organization, how their gift makes a difference and how other individuals supporting the same cost can help contribute to the overarching goals of the organization. So to be a little bit more specific, and again, this is a drill down, so I mean, that's why we're spending two days on this, are you saying that we should incorporate this language and these impact statements or metrics with data with these gratitude pieces immediately up front or is this gonna be something that we can trickle out, you know, as a moment of gratitude but not that official thank you? Like, do we separate those off or do we put those together? So it's a combination of mixed methodology. So the mixed methodology meeting with this initial letter, you'll give an overview of the impact. And obviously you have donor reports and you have impact reports which provide even more information. And as you're strengthening the relationship with the donor, when you're cultivating them and engaging them, you can share additional insight but you definitely want to make sure that after that very first gift that they understand that their gift has implications of making a difference with your organization, value to do so could lead to only having that one gift and that is truly transactional and that's not what you want, you're looking to build a relationship. Right, you know, before I move on to the next P, do you ever lead, and I don't wanna say with bad news but it's like, you know, we didn't get this done because we didn't have these funds or do you lead with we got this done because we got these funds, there's still a lot more to do. You know what I'm saying, like sometimes I think there's a sense of that the issue is so big that my little amount of money won't help, won't move the needle. Or sometimes I see organizations that seem so successful and so impactful. Again, it's like, yeah, they don't really need my money because they got lots of money. Do you see what I'm saying now? Yeah, definitely and that's why it's important to demonstrate impact. You know, one of the most important things to do is to reiterate the importance that all gifts, all amounts matter. And when you're thinking about those gifts that are smaller, increment gifts and you are responding and you're providing a follow-up thank you letter, the most important thing that you want to do is let the donor know that your gift is important and together, together we can achieve this goal. Everyone ultimately wants to be a part of something greater than themselves and smaller gifts is an opportunity to contribute to an overarching goal and demonstrate the power of the number of donors. So you definitely want to reiterate the importance of all gifts, all amounts because you never know what the prospective donor could become. They could transition into that donor who gives a bequest at a number that you never would have fathomed. So all donors, all gifts should be treated as though they were major gifts. So then again, as a follow-up, one last thing. Is it ever a good idea to actually say what it is like the overall, let's say campaign or amount is like where you are in the continuum of finishing a project or should we stay away from that? Do you say that? No, absolutely. Yeah, like thanks to you. We're 75% of our way to our goal or how do you feel about that? I think that that is spot on Julie, because as I shared everyone wants to be a part of something that's greater than themselves. And if your organization has set out a goal for $300,000 and you have donors that are giving it various increments, you wanna let them know that because of your gift we were able to achieve our goal, we had X number of donors who contributed to raising said dollar amount. In that message, you not only acknowledge the individual's gift, you acknowledge the number of gifts and how their gift collectively help you reach the overarching goal which is the total dollar raised. Okay, thank you for clarifying that because again, that's like one of those things like do we say that or do we not? I mean, it's a really interesting dynamic. And for me, I always feel like, well, maybe there'll be a donor that's like, well, hell they only need $50,000 to make the goal. Okay, I'm in or do you know what I'm saying? Like the psychology of helping finish a campaign. Oh, absolutely. And with digital fundraising, that definitely works. When you're sending out those messages and providing those set types of updates then you do get that donor that says, oh, well, it's only $50,000. Let me go ahead and make that gift or call in and let them know that I'm about to have this transfer solidified. So yes, letting them know the progress of a campaign throughout its cycle is very important and it's important to also acknowledge where the campaign is going and how the individual is contributed because you never know. The individual may want to make a subsequent gift once you've informed them as to where you are within the goal and the timeframe of that said campaign. Yeah. And the sooner you say thank you the sooner you create an opportunity for the donor to say, well, maybe I should give a little bit more because they said that my impact is at X and I really want to be at Y. Yeah, I agree. I think it's so interesting to have this conversation. The last P of the day on the way that we really should be approaching our gratitude and I'm gonna use the word mindset because all of these things have been tactical that you've shared with us today but they're also part of a mindset and that's positive. Make donors happy they participated. I always think of, I was taught early in my career the boy concept because of you. You know, what's the boy? Absolutely. You know, you did this, you are responsible for getting us to this point and it's the positivity. I'm really interested about that. And positivity is everything. You know, when donors feel appreciated when they feel like their gift has been recognized in a timely manner, when they feel as though their gift matters and you respond with a positive letter that's acknowledging their gift and it's also acknowledging the impact as well as the possibilities it provides hope and donors, everyone knows that gifts are based on two things, your head and your heart. It's an emotional time and you want to appeal to those emotions and reinforce the reason why the individual elected to make a gift to your organization. So you're affirming everything that they already felt and you're taking it one step further by putting it in writing and personalizing it in a way that's meaningful to them that'll lead them to want to continue to relationship with your organization. Yeah, it's really an interesting thing. I think especially in the nonprofit sector we deal with heartbreaking tough things that are difficult to talk about and so somehow we do have to make, we have to create a link between being positive and being impactful and not glossing over what we're talking about but saying, as difficult as this is, we should celebrate that we're moving it forward. We're moving, we're creating impact and I think that's hard to do for some of us. I really, really do. You know, when you, I think about television, we let the conversation about watching TV. You know, when you think about American Cancer Society is one example or even hospitals. You know, healthcare is very important to everyone but healthcare in instances when individuals are diagnosed with critical or terminal diseases it pulls your heart strings and they tell the story but most importantly, when they're soliciting they talk about the impact of your gift leading to research that can help resolve or mitigate those challenges. So the same concept when you have donors that are making a gift to your organization you wanna demonstrate the value of their gift. You wanna demonstrate the importance of the impact and most importantly how their impact is going to help remedy what the particular area is that you're searching for requesting funds for. So it brings it all together and it becomes a very positive altruistic moment for the donor as they're reading this message your gift of $100,000 or your gift of $100 has impacted this organization because of your support we are able to as a result of you becoming one of our donors now we can. So it definitely sets a tone of aspiration in achieving a goal so it sets you up for success. Yeah, I love it and I think this has just been a brilliant thing to talk about especially as we led with this is not just a post gift issue this is something that we need to have we need to be taking our and stewarding our donors on these journeys of gratitude. And so Lashonda Williams one of the amazing trainers at Fundraising Academy you can find all of the Fundraising Academy I wanna say materials there's just a huge amount of knowledge that Fundraising Academy has pulled together continues to pull together and then provide for free. You can find them at fundraising-academy.org and then they actually also have this amazing learning portal that's a part of their ecosystem for education and it's just remarkable. Again, free and certainly valuable. Lashonda, before we let you go I really would love to get a couple of minutes and we don't have much time but could you share with us about Cultivate 2023 and what that's gonna look like? Cultivate 2023 is definitely the training conference that you do not want to miss the title is Cultivate because we're cultivating knowledge we're cultivating relationships and most importantly we're cultivating impact. We'll have two tracks available for those that are relatively new to fundraising and then we also have a leadership track. There'll be a variety of topics covered ranging from looking at your data which is the foundation for prudent decision-making all the way to ranging into how to demonstrate authentic leadership. So we will have a plethora of material made available to everyone who comes out. It's definitely the training conference that you do not want to miss. The portal is up. We have a wonderful interactive platform available in Hoover and we're getting excited as we're counting down the days to we Cultivate. I love it now, not letting the cat out of the bag but you're gonna be one of the presenters, correct? Yes, I am excited. I'm honored to co-present with Ms. Adriana O'Donnell and we will be talking about how to build owner trust and loyalty and that's just one of the teasers during the Cultivate conference. So this is definitely the conference that you don't wanna miss in San Diego at the end of the month beginning of June. I love it. We will be there. We'll be broadcasting live on June 1st and then we're gonna also do on June 2nd our Ask and Answer episode that we do every Friday with Fundraising Academy but we're gonna shake it up a little differently and we'll be sharing that more as we move through the month but it'll be a lot of fun and something that's a great investment. Of course, going to San Diego in June is always a good idea if you ask me. Great idea, looking forward to it. I think it's gonna be amazing. Hey everybody, again, I'm Julia Patrick, CEO of the American Nonprofit Academy. Jarrett Ransom, the non-profit nerd will be joining us shortly. Again, we have a tremendous amount of gratitude for our sponsors of the non-profit show and they include Bloomerang, American Non-profit Academy, your part-time controller, non-profit thought leader, Fundraising Academy at National University, check out their sexy new ads. They're beautifully done, I just gotta say. Beautifully, beautifully done. Staffing boutique, non-profit nerd and non-profit tuk-tuk. These folks join us day in and day out. Hey, my friend Lashanda, I have tremendous gratitude for you. And I have even more gratitude for you, Julia. Thank you so much for having me on again today. It's really great. Now, tomorrow is part two of our drill down. We'll be getting into more strategies, how you can connect with your donors, what they're looking for, how do you build stronger relationships based on the concept simply of gratitude? It's really a basic concept, but for some reason we miss out on the strategies behind it. And so with this two-day drill down with Fundraising Academy, we'll really get more information and practical advice like we had today from Lashanda Williams on how to navigate that journey with your donors. Lashanda, you are a marvel, my friend. And you too, I feed off of your energy. So thank you so much for having me and we're looking forward to talking more about demonstrating the art, if you will, of saying thank you. Gratitude is everything. It is, it really, really is. And I love that you use the word art because it is an art form. Hey, everybody, as we like to end every episode of the nonprofit show, we want to share with you our message and that is to stay well so you can do well. We'll see you back here tomorrow with Lashanda for part two.