The ENGAGE Podcast

When you want the best information available, your best bet is to gather expert advice across a broad spectrum of professionals in the field you’re interested in. And that’s just what today’s guest has done. 

Martin Leifeld, CEO of Martin Leifeld LLC, is the author of Five Minutes for Fundraising: A Collection of Expert Advice from Gifted Fundraisers, which shares tips from a wide range of social good professionals. Listen in to hear Martin’s discussion with host Steve MacLaughlin, which focused on building relationships with major donors and maintaining involvement and engagement with those donors over a period of years. 

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• Key pieces of wisdom for fundraising professionals who are just starting their journey into major gifts
• Building and nurturing long-term relationships with major donors
• Managing expectations within your organization about major donors 
• The 80/20 rule for donor relationships
• Strategies for attracting and engaging with different types of donors

Resources:

Martin Leifeld

Five Minutes for Fundraising video series

Supporters in Sight: A Look at Affluent Donor Personas

Top Event Strategies for Major Donor Cultivation

Using Nonprofit Data to Find Your Next Major Donor

 Quotes: 

“The book overall really focuses on major gift engagement – major gift engagement for professionals and volunteers.”

“You have to educate your executives, you need to educate your board, you yourself perhaps as an executive director or significant volunteer or having the fundraising responsibility – you have to be educated.” 

“It’s very rare that there’s some kind of shortcut where a gift mystically magically appears at our doorstep that can change the course of our organization.”

This episode was originally published on April 18, 2018 as part of Blackbaud’s previous Raise & Engage Podcast.

Burnout. We’ve all been there or know someone who has. While work-life balance can be difficult for anyone to maintain, professionals in the non-profit sector face certain challenges that put them at a greater risk for experiencing burnout. How can you prevent burnout on an individual level, and how can an organization’s leadership help prevent employees from experiencing burnout?

Today’s guest is Beth Kanter, consultant, trainer, and author of the book, The Happy, Healthy Nonprofit: Strategies for Impact Without Burnout. Listen to today’s episode to hear what Beth has to say about burnout, why nonprofit employees are at risk for burnout, and how it can be prevented.

Topics Discussed in This Episode: 

• What the term “burnout” means in the nonprofit sector and why it happens to nonprofit workers
• The stages of burnout
• How passion for a cause can be related to burnout
• How to recognize the symptoms of burnout
• How leadership can prevent burnout in their team
• The effect that the workspace can have on employee wellbeing
• The Pomodoro method for focusing
• How mobile phones and other devices can affect the feeling of burnout
• Different methods of self-care
• How to be inclusive of remote team members and keep them engaged
• First steps organizations and individuals can take to avoid burnout

Resources:

Beth Kanter
The Happy, Healthy Nonprofit

Quotes:

“I think we work in a field where scarcity mindsets lead. We don’t have enough staples in our staplers, or we don’t have enough staff, so I think this leads to trying to compensate by overworking.”

“Well-being is not something that’s foisted onto employees, right? They have to be engaged in it.”

“Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can.”

So you’ve gotten that first donation, now how can you retain that donor? A welcome series is what should be next. An email welcome series is different from a thank-you email, a newsletter, or other types of ordinary supporter email communications. Getting the email welcome series right can take effort, and it may be more important than you think. 

In today’s interview with sgENGAGE Podcast veteran and Blackbaud University instructional designer Jocelyn Wright, you’ll learn more about why a welcome series is important, why they are valuable even in an email overload world, and what the best practices are for developing an email welcome series. 

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• What a welcome series is
• Why you should send a welcome series
• Statistics about how supporters interact with welcome series
• The recommended cadence for sending welcome emails
• Whether different types of supporters need different welcome emails
• Best practices for developing welcome emails
• The type of information to include in a welcome series

Resources:

Jocelyn Wright

Blackbaud University Organizational Best Practices Curriculum

The sgENGAGE Podcast Episode 116: Storytelling 101

Quotes: 

“It’s actually a great way to get information in front of supporters in a format that’s more likely to be clicked on and more likely to be opened and interacted with.”

“This isn’t something where they’re getting a message from you every single day for 3 days and then you’re done.”

“Another thing to keep in mind with welcome series is they’re a great opportunity for experimentation, and you really should be testing different things out and seeing what works.”

Direct marketing is an important part of any social good organization’s strategy, but it’s critical that the program is well designed and reaches the right people with the right messages. Have you found yourself asking how to better use analytics to help drive your direct marketing strategy and measure results? That’s what today’s guest is here to talk about. 

John Wilburn, director of direct response for the National Park Foundation, joined guest host Christine Newman at bbcon to talk about how being data-driven and open to innovation has helped him develop a successful direct marketing program at the organization. Listen in to hear what John has to say about deciding which marketing ideas to test out, choosing which metrics to follow, and getting others in the organization on board with your ideas. 

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• What is direct marketing?
• How to decide which ideas to test
• Examples of ideas that worked well for the National Park Foundation
• Experiments John tried that didn’t work well
• How John uses analytics to drive strategy and measure results
• How to choose what metrics to follow
• Getting started using analytics
• Advice for getting the buy-in from others in the organization 

Resources:

John Wilburn

Article: What Fundraisers Can Learn from Direct Marketing

The Next Generation of American Giving

Quotes: 

“If you start seeing it enough from different nonprofits, that might be a good idea to try for yours.”

“For us, national parks really are the capital N capital P parks across the big vistas such as Grand Canyon, Yosemite.”

“I think big data’s sort of gone away in terms of the lexicon, it’s more about smart data, and that can be actually small data can be a smart data point.”

The new year is always a time for planning and looking ahead, and that’s true for organizations as well as individuals. Whether January marks the beginning of your fiscal year or the midpoint, creating a fundraising plan for 2020 will help you be more successful in attracting new donors and retaining existing ones. 

Today, Tanya Fitzgerald, senior marketing manager at Blackbaud, joins the podcast again to talk to host Steve MacLaughlin about the key aspects to a plan that sets your organization up for success. Listen to the episode to hear what Tanya has to say about what fundraising teams should be looking at, how they should think about giving in 2020, and how technology fits into the picture. 

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• What metrics fundraising teams should look at to improve performance in 2020
• How to bring 2019 end-of-year donations into your 2020 plan
• Managing communications according to the donor pyramid
• Showing donors what their gifts accomplish
• The importance of consistent messaging across channels in fundraising
• Personalizing donor communications for increased engagement
• Looking ahead with donor stewardship plans
• How technology fits into the picture for 2020 

Resources:

Tanya Fitzgerald

The Explorer from the Blackbaud Institute 

The Connected Office: Your Guide to Creating a Cohesive Constituent Experience

Quotes: 

“You need to really look into those numbers and those percentages and have them to set your goals.”

“It’s so costly to obtain that first-time donor, so you’re going to want to keep them and get them turned into an annual donor.”

“I really think that transparency is important. These guys want to see inside of your organization as much as possible.”

The U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the set of 17 global goals adopted by 193 U.N. member states to end extreme poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and protect our planet, provide a common roadmap for organizations to measure impact. And in particular, the participation of companies and philanthropic organizations will be critical to achieving the SDGs. But with 17 goals and 232 indicators, it can seem overwhelming to know where to begin.

In this episode, you’ll hear from Tiffany Washington, Impact and Integration Lead at DTE Energy, and Alexis Fish, Senior Business Analyst at Blackbaud who helps advise customers on impact measurement. Recorded at bbcon 2019, Tiffany and Alexis talk with host Rachel Hutchisson about why aligning to the SDGs is important, the role that companies and philanthropic organizations will play in achieving the goals by 2030, and how to incorporate the SDGs into business and philanthropic frameworks. Tiffany also shares the process that DTE Energy took to align to the SDGs and how they brought their nonprofit partners along on their journey.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• What the Sustainable Development Goals are and why they matter
• The role that companies and other social good organizations play with achieving the SDGs
• How philanthropic organizations can align their impact goals with the SDGs
• DTE Energy’s SDG journey 
• How funders and grantees can work together to align with the SDGs
• What resources companies and other organizations can look to when they want to incorporate the SDGs into their work 

Resources:

Alexis Fish

Tiffany Washington

The Future of Sustainable Business: Making the Global Goals Local Business

Educating on the SDGs

Quotes: 

“The SDGs, for one, it helps provide some benchmarking for common and best practices within the CSR industry.” –Tiffany Washington

“Communicate, communicate early and often.” –Tiffany Washington

“All of the UN SDG materials are free. They are an open resource.” – Alexis Fish

Sustainer giving programs provide donors an easy, automatic way to donate while also giving organizations a reliable source of income. In fact, research by the Blackbaud Institute revealed that sustained givers can increase giving to an organization by as much as 300% over two years. So, how can your organization take advantage?

Today’s episode, recorded live at bbcon 2019, is all about how to build and grow a successful sustainer giving program. Kristin Jackson and Bethany Taylor from Boise State Public Radio’s membership team sat down with guest host Christine Newman to talk about the success they’ve had building and expanding their sustainer giving program. Listen in to hear the keys to their success and get insights on how other organizations can do the same. 

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• How Boise State Public Radio started a sustainer giving program 
• Experimenting with a sustainer giving program to increase success
• Challenges that Boise State Public Radio faced in growing the sustainer program
• Finding the right messaging to attract sustaining donors
• Is it worth branding a sustainer program?
• How gifts and matching funds can attract more sustainers
• Strategies to increase sustainer donor levels
• The importance of “thank you” in keeping sustaining donors

Resources:

Kristin Jackson

Bethany Taylor

Sustainers in Focus - research reports from the Blackbaud Institute

Quotes: 

“I just felt like – clearly it could grow to more than that.” 

“That’s the biggest thing is just get comfortable asking.”

“If you’re in the middle of a campaign, your sustainers want to help. They don’t want to feel left out of your campaign.”

Culture is an important factor for organizations in having a healthy and high performing workplace. The right culture doesn’t just make the workplace more fun – having a cohesive workplace culture can save a company money and make them more effective in their goals in the long term. So, how can organizations more effectively hire people aligned with their culture?  

Today’s episode, recorded live at bbcon 2019, discusses just that. Tune in to hear William Vanderbloemen, CEO of The Vanderbloemen Group, talk with host Rachel Hutchisson about how to first determine your organization’s culture, and then how to strategically hire people that fit that culture. William also discusses how to make sure that hiring for culture still brings diversity to the workplace.  

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• The factors that go into determining an organization’s culture
• Questions that organizations can ask themselves to determine their values
• How organizations can understand if they have a good organizational culture
• How creating a cohesive culture helps organizations save money in the long run
• What to do when a new hire doesn’t fit the culture
• How to make sure you bring diversity in when looking for culture fit 

Resources:

Wlliam Vanderbloemen

The Vanderbloemen Group

More resources about culture on sgENGAGE: Expert Advice for Improving Culture & Morale at Nonprofit Organizations 

Quotes: 

“By definition, cause-driven organizations should have an easy time hiring because you’re looking for people that are aligned with your cause.”

“If your vision at your company is what you’re trying to accomplish, then your culture is how you as a team behave while you’re trying to accomplish this vision.”

“I think you’re going to see smart organizations in the future are going to focus on culture, not because it’s the hip thing to do, but because if you can get your culture fit right, you have a chance of keeping your employees a little bit longer.”

Peer-to-peer fundraising is an important part of a social good organization’s overall fundraising strategy. But as people increasingly become more committed to causes versus specific organizations, how can organizations engage and guide individual fundraisers who are campaigning to raise funds for causes close to their hearts?

In today’s episode, recorded live at bbcon 2019, Caroline Jones, founder of Knickers Model’s Own and 2015 JustGiving creative fundraiser of the year, joins host Steve MacLaughlin to discuss the journey and success of her crowdfunding campaign raising money for Cancer Research UK. Caroline shares her experience creating and properly supporting her campaign as a working professional, mother, and first-time fundraiser. Listen in to hear Caroline talk about the highs and lows of her journey, what fundraising efforts she took to differentiate herself, and what Caroline thinks other individual fundraisers can do to ensure successful campaigns. 

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• How and why Caroline started fundraising
• Connecting to a fundraising platform
• The growth of Caroline’s campaign
• Controlling authenticity and messaging
• Messaging appropriately for each platform
• Lessons learned from Caroline’s journey
• What tools individual fundraisers need

Resources:

Caroline Jones

2019 Blackbaud Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Study

Knickers Model's Own

Knickers Model's Own - JustGiving

Quotes: 

“It was only ever going to be the JustGiving platform.”

“It’s such an uplifting feeling when you’re in that very lonely place of being the sole fundraiser on your own.”

“You can’t do things in half measures.”

Long standing social good organizations have developed foundational fundraising and engagement methods that have provided for them for decades or more. As technology continues to shrink the world, increasing competition and changing the way we communicate with one another, how can business principles and skills help bring historically traditional nonprofits and other social good organizations into the future? 

Dorri McWhorter, president and CEO of the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, joined host Rachel Hutchisson to discuss how she modernized the organization and is bringing it to new levels of success. Listen in to hear about Dorri’s work, combining business skillsets with a nonprofit, and understanding the value of a cause. 

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• How Dorri modernized the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago
• Balancing a business approach in the nonprofit sector
• Importance of revenue in nonprofits
• Understanding and communicating the ultimate value of your organization and cause
• Advice for social good leaders looking to future-proof their organizations

Resources:

Dorri McWhorter 

Quotes: 

“How can we get to the problems and just start solving them?”

“It just so happens that we have this wonderful tax status that allows us to look at the business differently.”

“A business solves problems and we solve problems too, we just don’t frame it like that.”