The ENGAGE Podcast

Andrew Troup, Director of Giving & Engagement at Blackbaud, speaks with Brandolon Barnett, Head of Innovation & Philanthropy at Giving Compass, about the merging of artificial intelligence (AI) and social impact. What are the opportunities for AI and what are the potential pitfalls?

Topics covered in this episode:

• The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence

• Experimenting with user testing

• The donor’s journey using AI

• Leveraging AI tools for annual reports and donor outreach

• Creating consumable content for machines

• Importance of cyber security

• Risk of AI in job replacement

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Quotes:

“We really need to be cognizant of the risk of creating a kind of feedback loop. What happens when AI is learning from the data that’s online?”

“You would be surprised how many organizations of all sizes put out annual reports […] through their website or through pdfs that aren't easily machine readable and you really have to start thinking about, ‘Can ChatGPT or similar tools read our annual report?’”

“AI is really uniquely positioned to provide a lot of opportunity, especially for those that have not typically had that opportunity in the past to access or to leverage technology.”

PEAK Grantmaking President and CEO Satonya Fair is back on the Blackbaud Grantmaking™ Thought Leadership Webinar Series to share how her organization is embracing learning and unlearning.

Throughout the conversation, she shares what it means to be an emergent learner and to put down tools that no longer serve you so you can pick up new ways of engaging. She also discusses how learning cannot be an extra task on your list of goals—it has to be engrained in the work you do.

Join us for the first part of our conversation with Satonya and watch the webinar to hear the full discussion.

Dan Keyworth, vice president of Customer Success Modernization at Blackbaud, sits down with Dan White, principal counsel on Blackbaud’s Privacy Team, to break down the complex but important topic of data privacy for nonprofits. Learn more about the five key principals across global privacy laws that can help you develop an adaptable data privacy program.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Why do nonprofits need privacy programs?

• What is personal data?

• New laws and legislation

• Identifying themes across the laws

• Individual rights to privacy and transparency

• Key takeaways from laws passed in Colorado specific to nonprofits

• The Universal Opt-Out Mechanism

• Steps you can take to put a privacy program in place

Resources:

Blackbaud’s Privacy Resource Center

Quotes:

“This whole concept of data privacy stems back from the historical view of privacy as a human right and in the digital age, that’s evolved into a focus on personal data.”

“It’s important to understand what data you’re collecting, how you’re using that data, and where you might be sharing that data. If you don’t know that, it makes complying with these laws impossible.”

“Colorado is a good place to look at for a model for privacy laws that are going to go into effect. Oregon and Delaware are following in the footsteps of Colorado’s [privacy] laws.”

Heather Hiscox is on a mission to change the way we change the world. As an author, speaker, and consultant to nonprofit organizations and foundations, Heather has been on both sides of the grantee experience. Her time managing grant funding to be awarded as well as her experience applying for grant funding gives her a unique perspective on how to optimize value for both the grantmaker and the grantees during the application process.

In this conversation, Heather gives several tips for grant making organizations to streamline their processes and improve the user experience related to pre-award, communications, and follow-up.

Resources Mentioned in the Podcast:

• Pause for Change
• Humannature

• Margaret Wheatley and the definition of leadership and institutional power

• Vu Le, Nonprofit AF, and suggestions on improving the grant application

More content by Heather:

• How Grantmakers Can Improve Collaboration Through Empathy and Experimentation
• Collaborative Grantmaking: Rethinking How to Assess Impact
• 7 Tips to Incorporating Empathy and Redefining Impact

• Check out our latest webinar with Heather

They say that the only constant is change, and change is often brought on by crises. In this panel discussion, Blackbaud’s Melissa Furr talks with two veteran grantmaking professionals to discuss how their organizations manage their mission while staying in tune with the needs of their communities.

Lisa Tacker from the Two Ten Footwear Foundation and Beth Broomall from the Charles H. Dater Foundation share their best practices and advice for organizations on things to do before, during, and after a crisis to make sure your organization avoids mission creep.

When is the last time you took a bird’s eye view of your engagement strategy? From how many solicitations to send a year to maintaining your donor database and keeping your message aligned across teams, engagement can quickly become stale or ineffective without a tested strategy. In today’s episode, Kate Averett Anderson of the Blackbaud Institute sits down with fundraising experts Lawrence Henze and Nathalie Highland to discuss best practices for engagement and tools you can use to communicate with your supporters more efficiently. After the conversation, check out the free Development Planning Toolkit from the Blackbaud Institute to fill out your own Engagement Strategy framework and put what you’ve learned into practice!

This episode of the ENGAGE podcast features excerpts from the webinar Development Planning: Your Three-Step Guide to Engaging Supporters. Catch the full discussion, on demand, now.

Topics covered in this episode include:

• The pitfalls of an unexamined engagement strategy
• Breaking down silos for more effective engagement
• The benefits of reduced solicitations to supporters
• Tips for testing new approaches and conducting donor surveys

 Resources:

Development Planning: Your Three-Step Guide to Engaging Supporters

 Quotes:

“Through those direct and personal interactions with our staff and our experts, donors were given the opportunity to understand not just what we do, but how and why we do it. And so that has been a real benefit and jumpstarted our major gift program and has helped to spur our growth over time.” – Nathalie Highland

“I've always asked my clients to put me on their mailing list, and I would typically make a donation to them to see how they communicated with me as a donor. And I spent eight years tracking those communications. What I found was that there were some organizations that sent me at least at least 36 direct mail pieces per year!” – Lawrence Henze

As women wield greater economic power and harness their influence to lead change, their generosity is rapidly transforming the philanthropic landscape. What is possible when women are active participants in philanthropic work, engaging all the levers available to advance the public good? The Women’s Philanthropy Institute (WPI), part of the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI, increases understanding of women’s philanthropy through rigorous research and education with the vision of empowering women to use their wealth and power to uplift others. Following WPI's sixth national symposium All In, All Rise, WPI Associate Director Jacquie Ackerman sat down with three symposium participants to discuss how women’s involvement in philanthropy influences and strengthens communities, encourages greater strategic giving and builds a more diverse community of engaged citizens.

This is an excerpt of a conversation that was part of the Blackbaud Grantmaking 2023 Thought Leadership Webinar series. For the entire thought-provoking discussion, please watch the full webinar.

• Moderator: Jacquie Ackerman, Associate Director, Women’s Philanthropy Institute
• Dr. Monique Couvson, President and CEO, Grantmakers for Girls of Color
• Natanja Craig-Oquendo, Executive Director, Boston Women’s Fund
• Marsha Morgan, Board Advisory Member, Community Investment Network and Black Women Give Back honoree

• Woman’s Philanthropy Insitute
• Grantmakers for Girls of Color
• Community Investment Network
• Boston Women’s Fund
• Blog Post: The All-In Woman Philanthropist
• Full Webinar

How much impact does volunteerism have on our wellbeing? 

Hear from Jude O'Reilley, CEO of VolunteerMatch, as he talks with Blackbaud's social responsiblity manager Melissa Furr about how volunteerism is closely tied to personal health and wellbeing. Jude and Melissa share how you can incorporate volunteering in the workplace and acheive the feeling of being connected to something larger than oneself.

Topics covered in this episode:

• What is VolunteerMatch?
• A longing for community
• The four pillars of wellbeing
• Best practices
• Employee Input
• Physical, Financial, Emotional, Social, and Intellectual wellness
• VolunteerMatch's new campaign Get that Grin

Resources:

Get that Grin

VolunteerMatch

Edelman Trust Barometer

Quotes:

"One best practice is to think beyond the volunteer day."

"We shouldn't underestimate employees themselves being the key motivator for other employees."

"Most people rely on colleagures and their employer for information that they trust the most."

As part of our series on the Future of Nonprofit Finance, Blackbaud’s Sarah Curry sat down with George Werbacher, the Senior Manager for Information Security at Blackbaud, to discuss how nonprofit organizations can prioritize cyber security in 2023. George talks through how organizations can see data security as an investment and highlights how implementing controls helps the organization do more to drive impact. He explains how organizations can do a “threat model” to start an open dialog about where the risks are, including who is using data and how that’s being used.

Resources:

• Full Webinar: Speed-Round: Preparing for the Future of Nonprofit Accounting – Don't Get Left Behind!
• Compliance Risk Management for the Empowered Nonprofit 
• Internal Controls Toolkit

As part of the series Future of Nonprofit Finance, Blackbaud’s Sarah Curry sits down with Alex Wilson, the Co-Founder of The Giving Block to discuss why the conversation around cryptocurrency matters for nonprofit finance teams. They touch on some of the cryptocurrency trends and why organizations should think about owners of cryptocurrency as a donor demographic as well as a way to diversify revenue streams. 

Topics covered:

• Is cryptocurrency safe?
• How does it work?
• How is it tracked?
• How do taxes work?

Resources:

• Infographic: What Technological Era Is Your Nonprofit Finance Office In?