 Well, hey everybody, let's put our boots on the ground start the episode that we love love love Friday ask and answer here on the nonprofit show and you might be seeing a new face We are super super excited to welcome LaShonda Williams CFRE coming to us on behalf of Fundraising Academy is one of their trainers. We're gonna get to meet LaShonda in just a moment Not that we don't love all of our other voices LaShonda from Fundraising Academy, but you know how it is. It's like When there's a new kid that comes into the classroom, everybody gets excited. That's kind of like my day today So I'm super excited to chat more with LaShonda But before we do that, we want to make sure that we thank all of our sponsors Bloomerang American Nonprofit Academy, your part-time controller, be generous National University's Fundraising Academy, Staffing Boutique, non-profit thought leader and non-profit nerd. These are the folks that join us day in and day out now more than 600 episodes Well over 600 episodes who've been supporting us Most of these folks that you see or you just heard their names They've been with us from day one and we're now moving into year three. So pretty exciting If you'd like to hear more episodes or catch up or get reminded or refreshed You can find our archive on Roku, YouTube, Amazon Fire TV and Vimeo But wait, there's more as my co-host, Jared Ransom, likes to say. You can also now queue up the non-profit show on podcast So wherever you like to stream your content Look forward to the non-profit show and we'll join you wherever you are All right, LaShonda Williams coming to us from Texas How are you? Tell us how on earth you came into this ecosystem of the non-profit sector Wow, it is a wonderful story of love. I mentioned to you in the green room No pun intended that I was a part of a sorority And so I was introduced to philanthropic and engagement through sorority as an undergraduate student Pledge of sorority and immediately as I began my career, my first job was in education. I was a teacher And you know, when you teach, you go above and beyond and you see that there are disparities and so you tend to fill the gaps So I began working with students in fundraising as a teacher transition to work with the University of Houston Project, Rad Atlanta All of which have had an opportunity to be in a philanthropic space. I worked in the African-Americans department at U of H By our College of Business and now Perview 8th University and the annual fund. And in each of my roles, I tell everyone My mission, passion and purpose is to be able to assist students that are seeking economic empowerment through education. So it is something that is woven in me because individuals have invested in me and I feel very Empowered and compelled to pay it forward and invest the next generation. Okay, so backup. Are you telling me that you're one of those rock star women who does university fundraising? I am among those distinguished colleagues who does university fundraising. That is correct. So, you know, my opinion and Jarrett Ransom, my co-host, same thing and her brother actually is in this part of the sector. I believe that the total rock stars of philanthropy are those university development officers. I mean, they they raise more money. I mean, they they work with constituents across or like outside their community because oftentimes when you graduate, you leave that community and so they're able to, you know, rope people back in and get them interested and committed and the biggest sums. I mean, philanthropy today, you can't every day it comes into my mailbox and it's always like XYZ University just got this super, you know, donation investment. Wow, that's really cool. It is. I love it. I tell people all the time that it's not work. Again, it's mission, passion and purpose and it just makes it very easy for me. It comes natural and engaging alumni and being able to connect alumni as well as friends with areas of interest to support students. That's my passion. So it's it's it's a no brainer and it's very easy for me in that regard. I love it. Well, I can tell we're going to learn a lot from you. Now today is your first day. We're not making it easy on you. We're getting you in that hot seat. We're going to have you open up that beautiful brain of yours and give us good so that we can figure out the answers to so many of these questions that have come in. So you ready? I am ready far away. All right. Okay, so Michael from St. Louis, Missouri writes in Do you have any protocols on if or should fundraisers? Oh, this is an interesting question should meet at a donor's home by themselves. We're trying to come up with some guidelines for our expanding development team and thought we should address this. Hey, that's a really great first round question. Yeah. So Michael, we're very excited that you shared that question and my response is, you know, very simple. Once you because you've gone through the donor cycle, you've had the opportunity to get to know the donor. You have developed a relationship. And once you've developed the relationship, it'll naturally transcend into an opportunity to engage face to face. And obviously, you want to first and foremost make sure that the space that you'll meet face to face is a comfortable space. There are instances where donors may be comfortable with you inviting you to their home, but their instances may want to be in a public space. So you'll have to use your judgment as well as ask the donor what's most comfortable for them. And as it relates to particular protocols, obviously you want to make sure that your organization is aware of your visit and those individuals that may or may not accompany you and also inquire with the donor who else will be at the home. From a university standpoint, we have travel requests. And so with travel requests, we actually put in exactly the exact location where we're going who we're planning to meet with the timeline so that we have that on record. And as far as developing the protocol, it will be best to meet with your leadership team as well as those frontline officers to establish collectively what would be the protocol because you want to make sure that not only you are comfortable but the donor is comfortable as well. And you want to minimize any potential liability. So definitely establishing some protocols and there are a variety of ways to do that. And so think about your organization and how it be applicable to you. So, LaShonda, I mean, first of all, I love everything you said you've you've thrown some new things at me that I have never thought of or and I've never had to think of them. But my next level to this would be it almost sounds like you're advocating that there would be a second person with you from the organization. And I got to say, especially if you're a female. I mean, you know, in real estate, you would never show a home. Right. Without the ID. Yeah, I mean, you just wouldn't do it. So talk to me about that. I mean. So, you know, again, you know, once you've established that relationship, obviously the leadership team and others on your team will know that you have a relationship with that perspective donor. And it's very important that you, you know, properly bed at them meaning they've been qualified and you have their contact information you've been able to verify that they are the person that you've been talking with. And so that in itself is one mechanism to help provide some safeguards, but I would definitely for certain put mechanisms in place because you want to make sure that you ensure the safety of yourself as well as the donor. There have been instances where our frontline team have gone in tandem with a partner to visit individuals in their home just kind of depending on the relationship, the newness or if it's a new relationship or if it's an established relationship with the organization where there's a high level of comfort. But most important, you want to put safety first. So I would definitely say put some measures in place to ensure safety for everyone, not just the employees, but also for the donor. Yeah, I love. Wow. So Michael, thank you for sending that question in. I, we've never had a question like this. And, and when, you know, in our discussion, I'm like, wow, we should have had this discussion. I mean, it's it's a pretty basic thing to have. And maybe it's, maybe it's because we started the nonprofit show during COVID when nobody was going out. Exactly. Everyone was in a paradigm. And they're like, well, we can meet on zoom. And again, comfort level. If you're comfortable with closing a deal on zoom, then I say go for it because again, you when you're getting ready to close a gift, you want to make sure that all elements are in place that the timing is correct. You've done your assessment. You've pre qualified that the environment is such that you won't be interrupted. You'll be able to share the case and you'd be able to make the connection and seal the deal. So comfort is everything and always put the donor first, but let's also keep safety in mind. Yeah, I love it. Wow. What a fascinating question. I'm going to be thinking about this all day. I mean, because you know, LaShonda, you kind of sometimes I think, and this is just braggadocious, but sometimes you think, oh, I know all the answers or I've, I've seen all the questions. I mean, we're also talking the same thing. But that's not true. And it's an evolving sector. And so when we get a new question or a new thought, it's exciting. It is because we're like you said, we're in a different space, you know, pre COVID everything was face to face. We've had to transition to a hybrid world. And so with that, there comes some additional complexities and there also comes some additional conveniences. So I think that, you know, it's very great good to be flexible and keeping our decisions as we're making them donor centric and you can't go wrong. Yeah, I love that. I love that you said that. I think that's, that's it right there. Okay, let's go to William and Roanoke, Virginia. How do you feel about sending out a press release that announces a major donation? We are thinking about creating a template of sorts that would be sent to our local media outlets. Do you see any problems or issues with this approach to keeping our nonprofit in front of the media? Oh, gosh, William, that is another great question. So I'm going to start with first and foremost, we have to keep in mind donor privacy. So as long as your donor is comfortable with the announcement, I say seeing the announcement to the rooftop always have a press release ready, because it not only creates an opportunity to steward and recognize the donor in the way that he or she would like to be steward or recognized, it's an opportunity for you to create a heightened awareness about your organization. And last but definitely not least, it creates an opportunity for you to potentially secure additional support for that particular area and or initiative. So whenever you can share a profound story that helps add to your organization's brand by all means, you want to definitely sing your praises and steps, tell your stories, because who better can tell your stories than your organization. Yeah, yeah. Well, and my sense of it is, is that people like winners. Exactly. And we want to be a part of something greater than ourselves. Yeah. Okay, now devil's advocate, devil's advocate, go ahead. What do you say to those folks that are like, we don't want to be too braggadocious, because we don't want the community to think that we don't need money. So that is a wonderful question. And I will say one another way to think about it and I'm all about engagement. This is also an opportunity for you to engage some of your donors in a more meaningful way, considering hosting a salon or focus group and talk to them and ask them what they think about the organization and the frequency that you're sharing how they would like for it to be shared. And if in fact they think you do an okay job or should you put more information out there. So serving your donors and our constituents that are recipients of the said services that you may provide is another way that you can make an informed decision. I like that I appreciate that. You know, I follow with you and your camp and that is, you know, sing it to the rooftops because it's, it's really important to educate and share with folks what it is you're doing, but also that people are marching alongside of you. Exactly. You know, people want to be around other successful people, the more successful your organization is perceived as the more support you will continue to garner. Yeah, I agree. Now in your work with the university and I'm not asking you to divulge anything, you know, that you shouldn't but do you have like a structured. If it's, you know, a million to five we do this and if it's five to 10 million or do you have those things already predetermined or do you look at each donor and kind of come up with something that works for them. So it's a combination and in higher ed across the board, you will see institutions of higher learning will have a rubric for recognition levels, but again it starts with what the donors comfort level is, as well as the gift amount. And so there are instances where donors may make significantly larger gifts and they say I want to remain anonymous. However, you talk closely with the donor to get to know them and identify other ways that you can recognize them to make them feel comfortable with being able to share the story, because there are ways that you can share a fantastic story of garnering a significant gift in a way that doesn't disclose the the identity of the donor and in provide the recognition for the institution in a way that's meaningful and that can significantly garner additional support as well as most importantly help contribute to the overall brand of the initiative. Okay LaShonda and I warned you you're in the hot seat. So I got a hot seat. I got a drill down because I've, I'm just fascinated with your work and I, I can't wait to hear what you have to say. Can you give me a ballpark percentage of the number of donors who genuinely say that's okay. I don't need public recognition. Based on my experience, and I've been in development for a while now, they have been few and far in between, more often than not, the donor is perfectly okay with sharing the story. Yeah, more often than not there have been a few instances where we've had donors to say you know I want to remain anonymous and obviously we respect that, but more often than not my experiences donors are okay because one they support the cause. They want to help you to continue to garner additional support so that you can achieve your goals, and so that you can make significant impact in that particular service that you're providing or for that program that you're trying to fund. Right. Well, and I think you know if you've worked hard or you've been fortunate or you've been lucky, and you have the means to make a big, you know, financial contribution, you're probably really proud of that. Exactly. If you want to be like, hey everybody, look what I did. I mean, so. Yeah, and you know, in many instances, it's not that they're being braggadocious. I would say it's more so of, join me, you know, help support this organization because I know that your gift can make a difference just like mine and whatever gift level you're comfortable with giving. Right, right. Okay, cool. Well, that was fun. It was really fun to hear your, your comments. Okay, let's switch it up a little bit. We've got Kent from Provo, Utah, writing in and he writes, how often should a digital newsletter be sent out. We are having internal conversations about once a month versus quarterly. Oh, wow. Okay, Julie, you are giving me some really great questions that are top of mind. So Kent, I will say to you, first and foremost, think about what is manageable for your team, because you don't want to set a standard that you're not able to maintain. Second, I know that your organization is doing phenomenal work. How frequent are you going to be able to sum up all of the wonderful things that you're doing. And last but definitely not least, I always divert back to asking the donors, asking the recipients of said benefits. Holding a focus group is another opportunity to engage donors at a higher level with intimate conversations about the frequency that they'd like to be communicated with the types of information that they'd like to hear about, because this is not only an opportunity to share your organization's success story, but it's also an opportunity to include the wonderful soft ask at the bottom of your newsletter. And we don't want to miss an opportunity to allow someone to support initiatives that you put in place that have been successful to continue to allow them to grow. You know, I, I think that I love everything you said. But I have to say, where I get where I would push Kent is that you need to do once a month. Based on you know I love that that is my fallback rule. I'm a once a month or two like I completely wholeheartedly agree with you. You have to have the systems in place. And so again, it depends on the size of your organization if you're able to push out the information on a monthly basis, I definitely concur with you Julia. Let's get it out on a monthly basis because as the frequency also determines how often someone thinks about you. Well that's just it I mean 1.8 million nonprofits in this great country of ours. That's a lot of noise that's a lot. And I just worry that if you're not sharing what you're doing once a month, you're going to get lost or you're going to have to reintroduce yourself and don't make it a novel. Exactly. You know, you can say, okay, we want to touch on three to five things. Exactly. And do it well. Yeah, do it well and create a template. This is the other thing too. I was thinking when you were speaking with Shonda, you know, people think that they have to recreate a whole new fresh thing every month. And actually, that's disruptive. You've got to be consistent so that when somebody sees that branding and they get that message, whether just they're just scanning on their phone, or they're on their desktop. If you're lucky, they kind of are like, oh yeah, that's right. It's that time of month again. Exactly. Or what are they doing? Exactly. And you're absolutely spot on with that, Julia. You want to make sure that you maintain top of mind. You want to keep it consistent. And an opportunity also if you're in a smaller shop is identify some volunteers who would like to help as a contributor to your newsletter. So being very resourceful and engaging is a plus. You can never go wrong with that. Yeah, I agree. I hope that Shonda and I have twisted your arm to go to that once a month because I just feel like it's a missed opportunity. And I loved what you said, that soft, called action at the bottom of the newsletter or something that helps amplify what's going on. And I think that's really, really important. Well, hey, are you ready for one more, Shonda? I am ready for one more. This has been a fantastic round. Good. Okay. Anna from Tucson, Arizona writes, As the holidays approach we are seeing, are you seeing any fresh ideas for team holiday gatherings? Okay, interesting question. Due to COVID, we canceled the past two years of holiday parties. And now we're wondering what are some options going forward? Honestly, nobody's super excited about doing anything. I know. You know, listen, hybrid has made everything so much better and more convenient for everyone. We have become very, very creative as a result of going through COVID. I can understand some of the hesitation. However, we have to get to the point where we can transition back to how we will define our new norm. And for me, I would say the new norm is approaching events from two standpoints, putting on a face to face event that can also be functional and meaningful in a virtual space. So that if individuals want to be face to face, you have them. And then for those that their comfort level is not quite there yet, being able to align your program in such a way that even though they may be joining you remotely that they feel like they're a part of the program. So it's timely that you would ask this question because upcoming additions, my colleague movies going to do a presentation on events and how to reach your goals, which will tell you some specifics about how you can maximize the types of events that you want. And you know, in addition to speaking with your staff, I am completely an advocate for engaging donors as much as you can and as frequently as you can. I can ask you know what the comfort level is, and that can give you a gauge on how many people you may want to plan for for your face to face event, as well as talk to them about some of the things that they'd like to experience if it were hybrid so that you can have a nice balanced event that will create a meaningful opportunity for those that are present. And those that join you virtually, but it's time to kind of move into the event space and engage just a little bit more just a little bit. You know, it's so interesting because I think that art are, you know, when I read this, I see it and asking on behalf of almost like a staff, you know, a staff event, and, and I can, I think that our nonprofit sector, they're exhausted. You know, they have, they've dealt with a lot of pandemics, not just COVID, they've done social injustice, civil unrest, economic tumult, political strife, you know, the instability of people and how they're behaving towards one another. And so they're on the front lines of this crapola, if you don't mind me saying. And so I can see where a team holiday gathering might just seem like, you know, I don't want to do it. But I kind of like what you said, you know, maybe it is time to say look, let's rejoin and remember why we liked this. You know, how LaShonda made always made me laugh at the water cooler or yes, you know, maybe that I have jokes for days, Julie. I love it. You're my kind of gal. You know, but I also think there's a part of me, Anna, I'm thinking, you know, Anna and Tucson, Arizona. I know Tucson, it's a wide, it's a geographically dispersed. It's not like dense, right? So people have to travel in and I can, so I can kind of visualize that. But there's a part of me, LaShonda, that says, take that money that you would have spent on a team event and buy gift cards to, you know, a supermarket or find somebody that's a partner that you could, you know, distribute. And maybe that would have more value, which it goes against that team building concept. And so I kind of hate to say. Because I think, oh, we do. You know, as you're talking about this, this is giving me an idea of something that's kind of a no cost or a low cost, you know, comfort level, COVID, you know, concerns, something outdoors. You know, taking it back to childhood experiences, having those wonderful team games, volleyball, you know, the lucky shoe horse, don't do, please do not, whatever you do, do not play dodgeball. I did not like dodgeball. But, you know, playing some of those outdoor games. And then there's also instances where you can go to facilities that are outdoor facilities that are team building, and they have all kinds of adventure in tracks and trails. So you can do some things that are outside that kind of create some continuity for, for less concern, and also create space that you know if you want to maintain a certain distance that you can so think about some outdoor spaces in places that you can go that are low cost that can, you know, foster a fun environment where you engage with your colleagues in a meaningful way and do some team building while you're at it, you know, climb a rock. You know, I like that and what you said is, it made me think, you know, there are a lot of organizations that they've hired on new folks. And those people don't know one another except across a zoom. So I agree. I think, okay, I take back don't just cheap out and send the gift card. Yeah, you can scale down, not cheap out, scale down, you know, budget was, you know, just go down like maybe half of what the budget was. I know. And then the volunteer and organization together. Okay, you're right. And that's like really preaching to the choir, because that's, that's a good thing. That's a good thing. I'm reading before we let you go this amazing book I haven't finished it. It's called Wonder Drug. It's written by two physicians. And they talk about the scientific knowledge that's base and research that's based on how we behave and how we feel as human beings when we are empathetic. And when we give back and when we volunteer, I mean, actual hard data on how it changes us as human beings. And if you're absolutely right, even though we are in the nonprofit sector, when we give back, it changes us, it changes our physiology. And we'll get into that later. This book, Wonder Drug, check it out. It's available on Amazon. You can download it to your Kindle snippy snap and you're good to go. Hey, LaShonda, you have been a gem. I love all of the personalities from Fundraising Academy and you are part of a fabulous team. And we are delighted to have you on another episode of The Nonprofit Show. Ask and Answer is sponsored by National University's Fundraising Academy. And it's really fun because every Friday, Jared and I get to bring one of their amazing minds onto The Nonprofit Show and really dig down into some of these questions that come our way. So you have been just a delight and we're going to see more of you, my friend. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing more of you too, Julia. It's been great. Good, good. Well, we've had a lot of fun. Remember, you can always send your questions on to us. You can call us. You can email us. You can go on to TheNonprofitShow.com or you can even engage with us on social media and we'll queue up your questions for the fabulous folks at Fundraising Academy. Again, we want to thank all of our presenting sponsors who are with us day in and day out. We have Bloomerang American Nonprofit Academy, your part-time controller, Beat Generous, Fundraising Academy at National University, Staffing Boutique, Nonprofit Thought Leader, and the Nonprofit Nerd. These are the folks that were with us day in and day out as we said when we kicked off the show. And so please find some time to check them out because they are here to support you. Shonda, from the get-go of starting The Nonprofit Show, we created a sign-off and I'll share it with you today. We share it every day. And in the beginning we said this because it was about COVID, but now as we've been moving forward, I think it's about a lot of things. Mental health, physical health, relationship health, economic health. I could go on and on and on. But we always sign off with, stay well so you can do well. How about that? Profound, stay well so you can do well. All right. Hey, everybody, we're going to see you back here next week for another episode of The Nonprofit Show. We have a huge lineup next week talking about all sorts of exciting things. So please join us. LaShonda, you're a rock star. It's only because I have you to help me be a rock star. Without you, I'm just a backup singer. Hey, backup singers always have the best voices. You know that. You are absolutely right. And I tell people all the time that there are no small parts. They're only smaller actors because we all play a wonderful role in this wonderful world we call life. It's true. It's true. Well, you're a gem. We'll see you more. Hey, everybody, thanks so much. Have a great weekend.