 Welcome and thank you for joining us today. I'm thrilled to have each and every one of you. It is hump day and I cannot believe that it's like almost mid month. So where did the year go? Have no idea, but today we are spending our time with Sherri Kwam Taylor and Sherri will be talking to us about top year in nonprofit strategies. Thrilled to have Sherri back with us and we will hear from her here shortly. Make sure you know who you're talking to and who you're listening to. Julia Patrick, CEO of the American Nonprofit Academy. Thank you for creating this wonderful opportunity Julia because these episodes have been phenomenal. And it's just- I thought you were gonna say something else. Nominal, yeah. So it's just been amazing to continue these conversations and a high level with thought leaders, provoking conversations. I'm so grateful to serve alongside you in this pha nominal. I just wanna keep scaring you episode. I'm Jarrett Ransom, your nonprofit nerd, also known as Julia's private nonprofit nerd, CEO of the Raven Group and continued to express our gratitude to all of our presenting sponsors. These companies exist to help you do more good. They are here to lean in and elevate everything that you were doing in, throughout and around your communities. If you have not checked them out, please, please do. These are your friends. They are on your team. They will help you reach your mission-driven goals. So please do reach out to our presenting sponsors. We are so, so lucky to have them. Just as we are, Sherry Quam-Taylor. Welcome back, Sherry. Thank you for having me. I was thrilled to get the email and get on your calendar so quickly. Yeah. You know, we have always, we don't get to have you on enough. But when we do, we get like super excited. And cause we just love what you have to say. Thank you. Feelings mutual. Feelings mutual. Oh my gosh. Well, it's really cool. Check out Quam-Taylor. Make sure you get on Sherry's email list. She has these really interesting pieces that she sends out that I find very inspirational. She talks about different things going on. So yeah. Don't miss that. Okay. So we're going to talk about, we only have 30 minutes to talk about something so huge, but that's finishing the year strong. You've got four main tips. And tip number one, segment your donors, segment again. Okay. I know I have to talk fast on this show. We're going to get it all in. Okay. No problem. I don't need to tell anybody, probably the two of you are listening that we need to treat our $25,000 donors different from our $25 donors. It doesn't mean one is more important than the other. I'm not saying that, but our goal is that each one of our donors would be given their best gift to the organization and to lead them to give that best gift every year. So that's the job we have to do. Now, sometimes we are actually the ones that get in the way of that. And a lot of that aligns with our early, what do you call that? The pre-chitty chat. A lot of that aligns with our mark com and how we are maybe kind of doing a one size fits all communication approach to every part of, I'm always going to have a pyramid up, every part of the pyramid. And so how we communicate to that $25 donor, maybe they're giving $25 a month is very different. There's a different reason that they're giving than maybe an individual donor who writes a $25,000 check every year. But I see so much money left on the table when we are doing a one size fits all and everybody's kind of getting the same envelope at your end, everybody's getting the same insert. And we kind of wonder why they just kind of keep giving the same amount every year. And so the top part of the pyramid, the higher we go up, the more exclusive I want that to feel, the more customized I want that to be. They have different needs. Okay, so I got to ask this question because in the chitty chat chat, we were bemoaning the fact that too many development directors are also taking on marketing and communications. You'll hear us call it marcoms. And that's what they're trying to figure out how to communicate to this pyramid that you're talking about. Do I also hear you saying then that we need to bring somebody in to help us craft those messages and that strategy? Or should that be led by the development director? Well, it depends on staffing, but I got to tell you, if you have an amazing writer who understands fundraising, understands donor segmentation, I have mine that I recommend because she gets fundraising and it's an excellent storyteller communicator. They have, they should be able, like as you're getting ready to say, here's our, let's say it's a male to peel, here's our male to peel. Maybe there's a little insert letter. You might have five, okay, let's say three, different versions of that letter. Okay, my heart just went, uh-oh. I know, I know, but if I want, do I want a monthly donor to hear your steady giving for the last few years has allowed us to, you know, that's the confidence knowing that so much money is coming in every month. And they need, they need to be told that like, even though that might be a small gift, gosh, we greatly depend on that. Same as, you know, maybe a family foundation hearing something different or an individual donor hearing that like, they're a stakeholder. We're in partnership. So there is different tone that needs to happen and you must take the time to align not only what you're saying, but the channel that you're saying it. You know, silly example would be like, we don't go on Facebook and say, I'm looking for a major donor today. Who can give me 50K? You know, that's the wrong channel, right? So it's, I'll tell you, we get in the way when we don't take the time to release segment our appeals and what they look like and the messaging and the ask to align with their getting profile. Well, and what I'm hearing you say also, Sherry, is that will help to increase our return on relationship. So we're showing, which then increases our ROI, we're showing the value we're demonstrating where we're literally using words that demonstrate that return on relationship. So having this segmentation, so segment and segment again is tip number one and having three, maybe five of these, different letters, I think really good is to show that we know our donors. We know our donors and that will increase, I think, them to use your words to make that best gift year after year. Yeah. And if anybody fell off the chair when I said five letters, like, I mean, here's the first step. If you're like, we've never done that. Take one segment and pull it out and customize it. Okay. Take one segment, start there. Like, we don't need to go zero to 120 year one. Take one segment and speak to them, speak to their needs, speak to why they're giving, speak to their mission for giving. Start there. Start there. Okay, so then tip number two, make time for FaceTime. Oh my goodness. FaceTime has changed on how we look at that. But yet, what are your thoughts on this? Because it has changed and it is changing. And aren't we trying to stay on the pulse of this? Okay, I'm gonna say something really bold that ties to even like what we just talked about. But if people didn't fall off their chair before, maybe this is the fall off the chair. Not everyone, not all of your donors should get your year-end appeal. Okay. My hair is on fire now. Tell me more. Yeah, I'm not quite drinking the Kool-Aid, but tell me more. Here's what I mean by that. Like, I should have a little diagram instead of my pyramid. So, okay, so here's the thing. I want your top level donors. Let's say your top 30 donors. That's where I, you know that ladies, that's where I focus my time. They need to be asked. They need to be solicited. You need to be sitting down one-on-one, leading them through a stakeholder conversation, talking about an investment level gift every year. Don't, can I say wimp out or don't cheat by just sending the appeal to everybody? That one version of that, those five letters, three letters that I just said, for your top 30 donors, it might just say, we're so glad we're in partnership with you. Think, we can't wait to meet after the first year and share with you what your gift is doing. Those people need to be asked. And the number of organizations we're not taking the time to sit down and solicit their donors, whether it be in person, whatever state you're in, whether it be, you know, on Zoom or FaceTime, whatever it looks like, the number of fundraisers that are not taking the time to sit down and ask for that donor's best gift blows me away every day. And you're not getting their best gift. Okay. Now I'm drinking the Kool-Aid and I try to get what you're saying because I thought, what in the world, why do you cut it? Drop her now, whatever you do. Whatever you do. She's never coming again. Yeah, bring this shepherd's hook, but I get it. And I'm gonna tell you, and I'm curious if you've seen this, Sherry, especially as we talked about in the Chitty Chat Chat, those of you that missed the Chitty Chat Chat, but you missed some really golden nuggets. During this great resignation, and there's a lot on so many development officers' plates, I have seen more passive fundraising tactics being employed. So that is the email, that is the annual appeal, that is social media posts. And I keep telling my clients, passive is okay, but you have to take this active approach. So are you seeing that, Sherry? And is that why really this face-to-face, whether it's virtual, is really that best strategy to get the best gift? Yeah, I see that all the time. And we're not saying that those types of things aren't important, they're hugely important, but they're important for this group down here. And so if, I mean, I don't know, I've never had a fundraiser who has extra hours in the day. And so I want your top 30 donors yielding between 50 and 75% of your revenue. So where do you need to spend your time? And those are one-on-one asks. So I find that we're spending all of our time to attract and secure gifts through a lot of digital marketing, which actually yield an attract gifts that are small, again, important, but it cannot be the entire strategy. Because- It's one piece of the puzzle. It's one piece as you think about strategy. So carve out time. Do you think it's your top 30? Cause I heard you say like, look at your top 30. I'm assuming that number changes, but like Bloomerang has a wonderful report who's hot and who's not is one of that Bloomerang. Yeah, it has nothing to do with their physical appearance. It has everything to do with their engagement level, right? And maybe physical appearance, but it really has this engagement tracking ability most CRMs do or will. And so you can identify who are our top committed loyal as we call those here on our show, our raving fans who are raving fans. Yeah, you nailed it. And I think it's also like, yeah, it's not like, oh, we only have 29. So this strategy doesn't work. It's also a mindset of- Yeah, it's a mindset. Yeah, like these are people who, perhaps are giving the largest gifts to our organization. And they need to be communicated differently too. And so it actually is a, it's a relationship building thing. It's so many things, but I will tell you that most people, a lot of fundraisers just haven't ever learned how to do that. How would I sit down with somebody and like talk about we have a $3 million need this year? Like, do I understand the tough, the answers to the tough questions? But I want you sitting down having investment level conversations. People need to know how you're funded, how you were funded last year, what your budget looks like. It's not saying don't tell stories and don't do all the amazing, you know, communicating about your mission, but major donors are dying for more information and they're dying to know what impact their gift can make. And there's only one person who can tell them. I love it. It's a fundraiser. Now, so one and two blew me away. Like I said, we always- And she's already out of her chair. I mean- I know, my heart is racing and my hair is on fire, but in a good way. Okay, tip number three, the number one thing to do when thanking donors and I have to tell everybody the backstory for this. As you figured out, we have our chitty chat chat. We'll communicate with our guests before they come on. Sherry would not tell me what this is. So, Jared and I, this is gonna be like, okay, what is it, sister? I don't know. So here's my, this is what I'm like, pens up anybody writing anything, put it on the post-it, I've got post-its all over. Yep, ready? So here's it, it's more like, here's my number one rule, exceed expectations. Okay. If you get somebody saying, oh my gosh, you didn't need to do that. Glorious. The reason I say that is because, I mean, we could all tell a horror story on thanking or like, oh, that didn't, oh, my name was misspelled or oh, I just got the cookie cutter, like, you know, blah, blah receipt. This is the biggest misstep in the donor experience. Just like, and the reason I say that is the bar is so low in thanking. I'm gonna be a little frank. Bradley, yes. Bar is so low. And this is how we retain donors. We want best gift every year. How are we gonna get the gift every year if it's like cookie cutter, you know, like it wasn't, it was a print of the signature. The bar is too low. Just like where we started this talking about appeals and donor experience per donor segment. I want you to thank per donor segment too. Are you taking the time to customize based on their mission for giving? Are you taking the time to say, let's give an extra five minutes to this and let me mention that personal conversation I had with them. Let me actually bring up, I don't know, their parents that we were talking about or that their parents, you know, we've known them for a decade. Are you customizing it based on why they would give? Or do they feel like, oh, everybody got this? Nobody wants to feel like that. Are we still using handwritten notes on, like let's say you use a cookie cutter template to streamline some of the activity and then handwriting notes, signatures, sticky notes, things like that? 100%, like I'm a big handwritten, you know, I mean, probably because it's, a lot of it is a lost art. But, and what I'm not saying is we should be buying people gold watches or any of that kind of stuff. It needs to be mission appropriate, but it's easier to customize the thanking when we have taken the time to truly, truly understand why that don't are gay and how our mission aligns with their story and what would make them give again and really why we deeply value their partnership, the thanking and impact reporting must match that. And I just, I just feel like this is the area where we're all busy, we're all busy and it's like, are the thank yous out? Okay, on to the next thing. Get it done. I know I've been in that place before, but the retention statistics are like off the charts on quick thank yous and customized thank yous and the board writing a handwritten note off the charts. I wish I had the number in front of me. So take the time and exceed expectations. One other tip, I'll just, if I have time to give a tip. Yeah, yeah. I have had huge success, especially in these last 20 plus months, I've had a huge success in this area in with family foundations and actually corporate sponsorships. You know why? Because oftentimes I'll say, how did we thank that family foundation? Oh, they don't require anything. They don't work. Yeah. So what did we send them? Did we, how did we report impact? So I want you to exceed expectations. I want you to then take the time and be like, I'm gonna make a 60 second video and tell them what their gift is doing. And I am gonna send it to them. Because next year when those applications come around, who do we remember? Whose application goes to the top of the stack? So don't treat family foundations and even corporations who are sponsoring your events or whatever. Don't treat them like banks. Take the time and exceed their expectations. Your name will go to the top of the list. Thank you, Sherry, because I have heard that also time and time again, that just what you said, they don't require anything, okay? But we still need to inform, we still need to keep this relationship going. And I love that. Thank you for sharing that tip. If our viewers heard nothing, but that, that is an immense takeaway. Good, I'm so glad. I'm so glad. I love it. Now hard to believe, because our time is drawing to close, which freaks me out because I'm always just like, no, no, we want more time with Sherry. But you've got tip number four and I can see a lot of these things that you've talked about are putting us towards this direction. How do we set up for an even bigger gift next year? Yes, okay. So here's what I do. So I told you best gift every year. So every time someone gives a gift, how we respond to it is obviously setting us up for that next gift. And so one of the biggest complaints I hear is, oh, I don't know, they gave that gift and like we just never heard from them again. I don't know, they came, we didn't hear from them. So I want everybody listening to hear you have more control, not a bad control, but you have more control over this than you think. And so I want you to understand this concept of you need to lead the donor to their next step. The only way you can lead is if you know what the next step is. So even on this example, take those top 10 donors who give at your end, maybe you're just sending an appeal, okay, whatever, on the thank you, I want you to tell them what you're gonna do next. I am so excited to share with you what your gift is doing. I have a wonderful holiday and I will circle back with you the first week of March to share with you what your gift is doing, looking forward to it. Well, you just told them what you're gonna do next. And then I'm gonna lead them. And so now, oh, they're gonna call me in March. All right, that's fine, that'd be great, that's good timing. Lead them and tell them what you're gonna do next. And then tell them what their gift's been doing. No one else is doing that. And so then how do you start cultivating? And in that case, if they responded to the appeal, in that case, I would work, you just bought yourself from March until November to lead that donor to a one-on-one ask and a solicitation and hopefully an opportunity to grow that gift for their best gift. So why are we waiting till March? You know what, I said March because sometimes I'll say 90 days. I just kind of threw March up there. Sometimes, I'll say February, if it's like kind of one of those sleeper months where it's like, we're all exhausted from all the year in giving and it's like we're back at our desk. I'm just saying whatever month that is, I sometimes I'll put it out 90 days, put it out 60 days just so everybody knows what the next step in that donor experience is. And so, curiosity, right? Is this also based off of the segmentation? So every segment, every donor kind of has that 90-day cadence? You know, I work at the top of the pyramid. So I'm kind of probably very specifically talking about the top of the pyramid because we wouldn't say, I can't wait to respond to you in 90 days on like a $25 donor or we need a staff of 400 doing this. So again, I'll just segment and say, how am I responding to them? Or maybe with, let's say everybody who gave 500 under, can't wait to share with you this. Watch for that email coming out in here that talks about our spring blah. We've got to lead them and tell them what's coming next so that they stay engaged. We've got to hold that control a little bit tighter so it doesn't float off to La La Land and some years they give and some years they don't. You have control of that. And then we have to do it, right? Like, so if we say we're gonna follow up in March or whatever that date is, in the calendar, in the calendar. It's like open Google calendar right now, put it in. Yeah, absolutely. Believe the donor is what I'm saying there. Lead the donor to a better gift every year. Well, in that way, it's not a surprise. I know I've heard from so many development professionals saying, oh my gosh, I have so much anxiety about reaching out to this donor. But what you just shared, Sherry, is this ability to seed this conversation will be coming up. And that to me, it takes away any mystery and it is setting the path, setting the tone and really being clear on what the donor can expect through their journey. I love it. Yeah, and you don't need a script for that because you could, hey, I know I said I'd follow up in March. I just wanna give you a quick buzz and let you know. Yeah, tell a story, right? This is where it's like, if it's the heartfelt donor, we're gonna tell a story. If it's the CFO, it's like, you know what? I'm gonna send this to you. I got a one-pager. I see this amazing map because I thought you would like and I'm gonna send it to you after this, after this call. You know, speak their language. It doesn't have to be a 32-page report on gift impact. Nor should it be, right? Nor should it be, yeah. I guess that was obvious, but yeah, you're right. It's so important. I love this because I think to kind of echo what Jarrett just said was that it then puts your team on a trajectory of knowing what's moving forward as opposed to like, okay, first of the year, now what do we do? You are building a cadence and a rhythm towards how you're working and to your point. It's getting on the calendar. It's moving into your goals and your measurements. It's a logical path to maintaining the stewardship as opposed to like, okay, we have this big thing and we're exhausted. Okay, now start from zero. Yeah. And you know, great thing for a board member to do. Yes. You know what? Oh my gosh. We know that because Chris introduced us who was a board member for four years. Chris, we're gonna put on the calendar. Let's just chat real quick and then you're gonna call the donor and tell them what their gifts been doing. I mean, how easy is that? Again, your board member does not need a script. If they're engaged, they should be able to tell a story or they should have, you know, some they've gathered something from some mission minute that they had in their meeting what they're just saying, you know, and then tell them what you're gonna do next, right? It's like, and then say, great, well, I'll have Jarrett reach out to you here in the next few months before you go on that trip. Tell them what you're gonna do next. So it's so simple, but this whole, like, we don't have control of when they engage with us as you do. And that's why I always say you have way more control of the gift size and the timing of the gift than you think, if you're leading correctly. So I have a question and I want you now to take out that crystal ball that I'm sure you have behind you on that shelf or I'm hoping you do. And I'm curious if you can just, you know, impromptu speak about what you've seen in regards to philanthropy for this specific Q4 because we were all on edge last year for Q4 and really not knowing what was going to happen. We saw philanthropy increase. We saw the amount of people giving. We saw an increase of the people giving like that constituency based group. What are you seeing and what is in this crystal ball that you have Sherry that maybe look forward to? Well, my crystal ball says that I'm seeing everybody, everybody has continued to work really hard and it's continued to say, we're not doing it the old way. We're breaking the sector's misconceptions. We're pushing into new ways of doing things that frankly we knew we should have been doing all along. And so I see people, I guess that's it. I see donors responding to that. I see donors still responding to, oh gosh, thank goodness we're not having that gala again. We didn't like going to that anyhow. Can I say to that? Can I say that? So if you've been doing the hard work and you've been leading your donors out of transactional gifts into mission space gifts which everybody should be doing so that you don't have to do that event again or it gets to be a great cultivation or donor enrollment event, amazing. People who have said I'm making a change with my funding model, interactivities and maybe my work chart, they are going to still see solid gifts because they've been doing the hard work to really lead those transactional donors into relationships and mission-based gifts. And so I don't see gifts tapering off. I've never had more organizations fully funded way before the year end, never in my life. Wow. I love that. Yeah. I love that. Okay, well, you're just a rock star. Jerry, I... Oh my God, Jerry, I get so excited on the rare occasion that we get to get you to our cells for 30 minutes and we got to just cram all this stuff in. But here's Jerry's information. I mean, what a powerhouse. I learned so much from you. I'm reminded of things that I need to be rethinking. I'm reminded of things that I know deep in my heart, work, and that are natural. I love, love, love your attitude. And so here is Jerry's information. Kwam Taylor. Thank you for having me. I really do love being on with you guys. Oh my gosh, it's just the best. I mean, and even the Chitty Chat Chat was good today. Oh my God. It was good. It was good. Yeah. We might have to pull that out, you know? I have to... I know. Next time's topic. Next time's topic. Yeah, this is true. This is true. Well, hey, everybody. Again, I'm Julia Patrick. I've been joined by the nonprofit nerd herself, Jared Ransom, CEO of the Raven Group. Again, we want to thank all of our sponsors. I mean, our sponsors get behind us because we have people like Jerry Kwam Taylor on. And so super cool. It just is like, wow, Jared, what a great message today. Every day, I love our shows every day. I'm always learning something new. But this is like, gets to the meat and potatoes. It does. And it's a critical time right now. Q4, I mean, we're down to the wire. I don't even know how it's October, 2021 already, but it is. And as I said, it's hump day of the week. It's kind of like hump day of the Q4. I can't believe it. It is. That's a good way to put it. Yeah. Thank you, Jerry. And thanks to all of our presenting sponsors that allow us these unscripted opportunities. Julia, you had said this before. We are not governed by what we say or who we have on from our sponsors. Our sponsors are very generous and give us the autonomy to bring and, you know, have people say, people are tired of going to your galas. They weren't ready for this shakeup. It's true. Don't hurt me, event people. I like a good gala. I do, I do, but you know what I mean. You know what I mean. I don't know. I can't get into any of my ball gowns right now. So it's probably a good thing that we're not in a gala season. Hey, everybody. What a great day. Make it a great day for yourself and for your organization. And remember, as we end every show, we always like to really witness to you. Stay well so you can do well. We have a lot to do. We'll see you back here tomorrow, everyone. Thanks, Jerry.