Real Talk for Real Fundraisers – Details, episodes & analysis

With summer vacations wrapping up and back-to-school season in full swing, it’s time to start taking a close look at your fundraising plans for the fall and year-end. 

Are you feeling prepared for the busy months ahead? We know how valuable this time of year is in your fundraising cycle, which is why it’s so important to focus on creating a strong strategic plan for your donors.

In this episode, Jeff Schreifels is joined by Debi Dunham, Client Experience Leader here at Veritus, and our special guest Jarrod Williams, Director of Development for the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh and an alumnus of our online academy.

Listen in to this episode to learn what steps you can take right now and in the months ahead to set yourself up for a successful year-end fundraising season.

Show Highlights: In this episode, you’ll learn about…

• What fundraisers need to do during the fall fundraising season to prepare for a successful year-end

• How to shift your efforts so that you’re using your time effectively in November and December
• Planning touch points that will cut through the noise during a busy time for your donors

It’s the most intimidating part of fundraising: asking someone for a gift.  

But that’s not the only thing that fundraisers need to ask for. You’re also requesting meetings, inviting donors to attend events, and asking them to share the personal drivers behind their giving.  

So, whatever you’re asking for – how do you do it in a way that honors the donor as a partner in your mission? 

We developed our Permission-Based Asking™ model as a framework for more authentic dialogue. No more guessing what your donor is thinking or making assumptions about what’s going on for them.  

This episode is a re-release of one of our most-downloaded podcast episodes on asking, featuring Karen Kendrick, our Senior Director of Client Engagement, and Debi Dunham, Senior Client Experience Leader. Listen in to hear some real-life examples of how a permission-based approach to asking can transform your donor relationships. 

Show Highlights: In this episode, you’ll learn about…  

• How Permission-Based Asking™ works to build collaborative dialogue  

• Strategies to practice and develop your asking skills in any context 

• Results from Veritus clients who’ve used Permission-Based Asking with their donors 

We’ve all been in meetings where the conversation gets sidetracked. Maybe someone present is very chatty and wants to spend the first half hour catching up. Maybe one individual has another topic they want to discuss, outside of what was outlined in the agenda. Or maybe no one is clear on why they’re there at all, so the conversation wanders until the time is up.

How can you make sure your donor meetings stay on track, while being respectful of everyone’s time and contributions? In this episode, Karen and Diana share their tips for how to effectively prepare for a donor meeting and what you can do when things don’t go according to plan.

Show Highlights: In this episode, you’ll learn about…

• How to prepare for meetings and set expectations with all participants

• What you can say when a conversation gets off-track

• How to use Permission-Based Asking to move the conversation forward in a way that feels authentic and honoring

• How to handle emotions that may come up, in yourself and in your donor

As a major gift fundraiser, do you feel you’re being supported enough so you can be successful?

Unfortunately, we run into many MGOs who are basically left on their own, without the support they need to build authentic relationships with donors.

In today’s podcast episode, Richard and Jeff discuss the five reasons MGOs fail – and you’ll be surprised that most of the reasons have nothing at all to do with the MGO.

We believe that the work of a major gift officer is one of the hardest in the non-profit sector, and that’s why we’re committed to providing you the resources necessary to help you be successful and find joy in your job.

Because when you do, it’s the donor that wins!

In most of the higher education institutions where Veritus Group has conducted data assessments, they’re performing terribly.

What’s wrong here?

Universities have resources. They have dozens (if not hundreds) of major gift officers, researchers, and stewardship officers. And yet what we find is that they don’t have real relationships with donors and alumni.

Some of them are still raising millions if not billions of dollars… yet they could be doing so much better forming authentic relationships with donors and alumni!

In today’s rebroadcast of an episode from January, Richard and Jeff talk about their experiences with university major gift programs, tell stories about their MGOs, what their challenges are, and ultimately what can be done to turn those programs around.

“You can’t be serious!”

This is the reaction Richard and Jeff get from many non-profit leaders when we tell them NOW is the time to start a major gift program.

Yes, even in the midst of uncertainty, your organization should either be starting or heavily investing in your current major gift program.

Why? Because this is where you’ll eventually see most of your NET revenue come from.

Need inspiration to do it? Well, in this podcast episode, our guest is Joyce MacDonald, the President and CEO of Greater Public Media. They’re the association for all PBS and NPR stations around the U.S.

Joyce has a great story of how she identified public media’s need to create a real major gift program and what she did to make it happen – and she’ll inspire you to do it yourself! It was no small feat, but Joyce is making it happen.

If you just read the headlines from fundraising news publications, you’d think the sky is falling and revenue from non-profits is tanking.

But is it?

If you actually get past the “doom and gloom” headlines, you’ll read that giving is actually up in 2020 vs. 2019!

What? Yep, giving is up.

In this episode, Richard goes on a rant about the effects of these negative headlines, and he urges non-profit leaders to not succumb to them by not reaching out to donors. Then, he and Jeff give you some practical steps to reach out to your donors and ask.

Why should you ask? Because they are giving!

This pandemic has been a stress test for many non-profits. The biggest threat to the future of a non-profit in times like this is the lack of multiple funding streams for a non-profit.

Today, those organizations that rely heavily on events, or corporate and government funding, are struggling. And non-profits that only rely on direct-response to bring in the majority of their revenue are reeling.

Why? Because having a diverse array of funding streams, especially those who promote individual donor giving, will help you get through economic downturns. And as you know, we’re in a massive downturn at the moment.

In this podcast episode, Richard and Jeff discuss why you need to diversify your funding, how to detect where you’re hurting, and how to create a plan to change it.

Pivoting is good, but it implies that once we get back to normal, we just go back to what we used to do.

Well, this pandemic is giving us the opportunity to not only pivot, but to permanently change.

Change what?

Change the way we evaluate MGOs and major gift programs.  Richard and Jeff believe that the old metrics that most non-profits use to measure major gift officers perpetuates transactional giving.

In this episode, Richard and Jeff discuss why we need to let go of the old metrics and suggest a few new ones that actually help major gift officers develop authentic relationships with donors.

Isn’t that what major gifts should be all about?

Find out what metrics every non-profit should evaluate that actually help you build relationships and go from transactional to transformational.

In this episode, Richard and Jeff are joined by Veritus Group's Director of Planned Giving Services, Bob Shafis. Bob will discuss with them why you should be considering several planned giving strategies now, and how to do it. 

They’ll also talk about the $2.2 Trillion Care Act that was recently enacted and how it will affect your non-profit.

Join Richard, Jeff and Bob for an informative discussion and get inspired to use planned giving as a tool that will help you now in this crisis and well into the future.