Nonprofit Hub Radio
Whether starting a nonprofit or taking an existing cause to the next level, The Nonprofit Hub Radio Podcast is about breaking down how nonprofits can grow. Each episode features an interview with a sector star with insight, stories, or ideas that can take your nonprofit from good to excellence. Join host Meghan Speer every week to make your good go further!
Nonprofit Hub Radio
Fundraising From the Ground Up
In this episode of the Nonprofit Hub Podcast, host Megan Speer is joined by Jess DiVito and Megan Frenz from Nonprofit People to explore the essentials of fundraising readiness as part of the "Nonprofit 101" series. Drawing from decades of hands-on experience, Jess and Megan share insights into how new fundraisers and nonprofit leaders—especially those without formal training—can build a strong foundation for sustainable fundraising. The conversation covers everything from clarifying strategy and understanding budgets to building a supportive team, creating donor-ready infrastructure, tracking key metrics, and crafting clear, compelling messaging. Whether you're starting a new nonprofit, transitioning into fundraising, or needing a back-to-basics reset, this episode is packed with wisdom, practical steps, and encouragement to help you move forward with clarity and confidence.
Get free nonprofit professional development resources, connections to cause work peers, and more at https://nonprofithub.org
Pledgeit is designed for nonprofit fundraising professionals who need comprehensive event management without the learning curve. Our intuitive platform handles galas, golf tournaments, peer-to-peer fundraising and auctions, with built-in automation and progress dashboards. No technical expertise required. Visit pledgeitorg slash nonprofit hub to learn more. Welcome back to the Nonprofit Hub podcast. I'm your host, megan Spear, joined today by two guests. We've got Jess DeVito and Megan Friends along with us from Nonprofit People and as part of our series on Nonprofit 101 here in July, we are talking about fundraising readiness and like the basics of fundraising. So if this is your maybe first fundraising job, or you're dipping your toes in, maybe it's new and you've made a career shift, or you're just out of school, this is the fantastic episode for you. So excited to dig into what they have to share, because there is no better way to start than their foundations. So, guys, welcome in, glad to have you here, Thank you. Thanks for inviting us. We're excited, absolutely, jess. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey in nonprofit that got you here today.
Speaker 2:It is a long, winding road. That is my concise answer. You know, I think, like many of us, there was not a plan to be here. Went to college, had a vision for what I thought I was going to be and going to do, based off of skillset, and really loved the work that I was doing. But, you know, came to realize that maybe it wasn't exactly what I thought it was going to be and I landed a job fairly quickly out of college, which was a great gift. But once I got there, realized again another confirmation maybe this wasn't where I needed to be.
Speaker 2:And luckily the company that I was working for landed a nonprofit client and I started working on that project with the nonprofit client and my eyes were opened and I started seeing things and truly love the mission, love the work and, just you know, at that point started to relentlessly pursue an opportunity within the organization.
Speaker 2:So did that for a little while and, you know, within three or four weeks was sitting in the seat at the nonprofit doing my new job. Won't say that I exactly knew what to expect or what to do, which is why this all lends into this conversation for today but started working in that organization and just found different opportunities, worked my way up, was promoted, worked on different campaigns, worked on capital campaigns, had all of the experience. But I will say that getting started in that nonprofit journey was, in hindsight, a challenge, because there wasn't a training program, there wasn't a robust budget for professional development, there wasn't mentorship available. You really just had to get in and start working, and so that's what I did. So I've been doing it for 20 years, went to a few different organizations and here we are.
Speaker 1:I love it, Megan. How about you?
Speaker 3:foundation to fundraising, I was just as intern. So that is how we met and that is how our nonprofit partnership started and that was, as Jess said, over 20 years ago. So we in that time have worked together in a part and have always found our way, you know, back in the same organizations working together, because we have collaborated so well together over the years. And it was kind of the natural next step in the last, the last five years, four years, five years to to do the thing. And you know when we so we started nonprofit people and we wanted the opportunity to be for other nonprofit fundraisers, what we didn't necessarily feel like we had growing up in nonprofit, if you will. We wanted to be the resource, we wanted to be the mentors, we wanted to hold the door open for the next generation and really support fundraisers in their own journey through that fundraising process.
Speaker 1:I love it Well, and that's what has brought us here today. So I will tell you my first job in fundraising, I also had no background whatsoever, but the sentence that I was told was well, you have some marketing background, so that's about the same thing. No, it's not 100%. No, it's not. There is nothing about a collegiate marketing program that sets you up for fundraising success, fundraising success. So I, man, I wish that I would have had the fundraising readiness background that we're going to dig into, because I agree it would have been super helpful in my first job.
Speaker 1:So, to that end, jess, let's dig in. Let's talk about, kind of the foundations of what it looks like to have a successful fundraising strategy when we're getting ready, whether we're and this could be true, you know, for organizations who have been around for a really long time, and maybe we're this is what we're seeing a lot of right now who were super grant funded and now, all of a sudden, have to diversify and figure out a new strategy. Or this could be for brand new organizations trying to figure it out from the jump. So talk about the foundation and what does that look like to start?
Speaker 2:well, Sure, well, you know it is peeling back the layers, right. So, as we mentioned, there are organizations that we meet that they've been doing this for 20 years, or organizations where it is one person who just had an idea, just received their 501c3 and they're out there doing the thing, and we've had both conversations right. And so you know, when we step into that opportunity, in the conversation with the nonprofit, we really do need to pick apart where they are and what they're currently doing, and what we sometimes have come to realize are that these building blocks are not in place. Times have come to realize are that these building blocks are not in place. So we have to peel back those layers to try to figure out you know what are the things that were missed, that we're going to set them up for success, because we're always talking about long game and we're always talking about putting these bricks in place so that you have this strong foundation and this strong structure. So you know where we really do start that conversation is.
Speaker 2:We talk about what is the strategy, and it's more than just your mission and vision, because I think so many, especially the ones that are just getting started, can tell you what their mission and vision are what's on their website and what they tell people they do. But it's so much more. As you know, you've talked to so many strategic planners it is more than that. It's talking to the stakeholders, it's learning about you know, what is the actual need in the community. Do you have that in place? So we talk to them about that, because without that piece leads to now how much does it cost to run your organization? What does you know? What is that budget?
Speaker 2:And we have had that conversation and it's a moment where we all hit the pause button when we ask them what is your budget? And some of them have said you know, we don't know. We don't know. We have this, you know, just unbounding enthusiasm to go fix the thing, to go, you know, make the world a better place. But it's all of these backend mechanics. So getting started with fundraising readiness is talking about what is that strategy? How much does it cost? What is your budget? And then, how are you going to do that? And that's really where we start the conversation. So fundraising readiness to us really looks like you know that conversation. And then we dig a little deeper. It's about your budget, your people, who are doing it. Do you have all of the tools and resources that you need, your community that you're building? So that's where we, you know, really dig in and get started.
Speaker 1:I love that call out. We actually just recorded a podcast episode this week with Carly Berna from Virtuous talking about this same thing, and this is a hill I will die on. I'm sure if you've listened to the podcast for any length of time, people know that this is like the hill I will die on. And that is that nonprofit is just a tax status. It does not impact how you run your organization. So you do still have to know what is the budget, what is my cost to acquire when it comes to donors.
Speaker 1:All of those metrics and pieces have to be a part of that strategy because we can't just be kind of pie in the sky hoping right, there has to be an actual business plan as we move forward. So I love that call out business plan as we move forward. So I love that call out. I think the other interesting piece and Megan, I'd love to get your take on this Once we know I think that's, I think the scary, that's maybe the scary part right Once we know how much we have to raise, we get that like panic moment. But strategy is what helps us get past the panic right. So once we know the budget, then what? How do? What do we need to put in place to move be?
Speaker 3:able to move past the shock of that moment. Absolutely yes, once you swallow that. Yes, I think it's the people, and what I mean by the people is the team who is going to do the work. You know we talked about different size organizations, different lengths of. You know if they've been around for 20 years or if they're brand new, but you know some organizations might have an entire development team at their disposal. Other organizations might be a one man shop and you know the executive director is wearing all of those hats. You know 10D. And then there are organizations that are a board. They're a board of directors and volunteers, and so, really, it's identifying who are the people that are going to be out there helping to raise this money.
Speaker 3:You know, we hear so often and it breaks my heart and when we do. You know we hear so often and it breaks my heart and when we do, you know we're an all volunteer organization or we're. You know we have an executive director and then it's just our board, but our board's not a fundraising board and it's like, okay, yeah, why do we think we're going to raise this money? Right? So we, you know it, really, this it's such an important piece that we. I think everyone just needs to take that step back. Sometimes, you know you, you get excited, you've got your mission, you're ready, you're out there. You're like we're going to go fundraise now. But but who is doing that? Who is fundraising and knowing what your people, resources are, so that then you can put those strategies together and work to everyone's strengths.
Speaker 1:So let's I want to break that down a little bit because I want to talk to each of those audiences. So let's say we're talking to somebody who is the one man shop, right? Maybe they're just getting started in fundraising brand new organization organization, or this is their first gig in that. I think sometimes at least for me it was hard to identify who else was in the process because I didn't want to ask. Like, if I'm responsible for fundraising, it feels wrong to ask for help in that, because everyone else has their job right. So how do we make sure that we get people on board in that process or, like identify even who those people should be?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was nodding, heavily nodding, yeah, and we see that a lot, megan, and you know I think that is Megan mentioned there's the pause and there is a true gift in that pause Because I think for so many of us when we were doing the work, you're just charging through the day and you're not really stopping to think and assess. And so I think in this situation, when you're looking around to say who are my people that are going to help with this process, it's a few different things but there should be accountability and clarity around job descriptions. And when we look at the staff, everybody is playing a part and a role in the fundraising process. They may not be the askers, they may not be the people that are out cultivating the relationships or doing you know all of the backend processes, but everybody in the organization should be playing some role. And if that means you know some form of customer service or identification or relationship identification, you know that is one thing. So clarity around making sure that everybody understands that within the organization the organization is only here because we are able to raise the money for the program, so everybody has to participate in some way.
Speaker 2:Now, realistically, where we usually start the conversation is talking about. You know if you have a staff or you're a one person team. You know, really looking at the board and talking to the board about what their role is in this process. And again, you know, not trying to force anybody into something they're uncomfortable doing, because so often we hear that my board won't fundraise and they get the X and oh, they just don't do it.
Speaker 2:You know how do we remove those barriers from what they think it is, when really what we know is it's just building relationships and getting people to talk about your organization and the work that the organization is doing and the impact it's making. That's really what it is at the root. So you know, to answer your question, it's stepping back and having that gift of that pause, taking a moment to assess who is in that internal circle. Do they understand their role? Do they know what they're being asked to do? So that's the clarity and the accountability and then giving everybody a role in that process. So then you know whether you're deploying based off of skillset or relationships or you know fill in the blank there that moving forward, everybody's moving in the same direction. It's just not this chaos and feeling like an island, because I think that's often. What happens to the fundraisers is that they feel like they're an island. They don't have anybody else to turn to, nobody speaks their language, so they get swept up.
Speaker 3:It's really an organizational mindset, right? So it's. And if it's an organization that's been around for a long time and that doesn't exist, then it's a whole culture shift which can take time. Yeah, um, you know, and so you. So you have to kind of understand where you're starting and then, you know, celebrate those little successes and wins along the way, and and it won't happen overnight.
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Speaker 1:So, in that process then, right, so we've identified the, the budget, what do we actually have to go raise? We've gotten over the shock value of that. Everybody's on board I? This is another place where people are like okay, but, but then what? Do I just host 17 golf outings? Do I need to go after major gifts? Am I, you know, wishing a prayer for my digital, like online fundraising? Talk to us a little bit about, kind of maybe the process for like. Then what? How do we go about it? What should even that structure look like in the types of fundraising we do, because there's so many options for how we go about that? How do we put that infrastructure in place so that there's an actual like breakdown of that process.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I think you know. First, it's starting with that infrastructure. Like you said, you know what tools do you have. Are you using social media? What forms of social media are you using? Are you using social media? What forms of social media are you using? Are you using them well? Are you using them consistently?
Speaker 3:Do you have a CRM? You know a constituent relationship management database? That is step one. That is your fundraising hub. Right, that is where it's the center, it's the heart of your fundraising. That's going to organize you, it's going to to help make you more efficient and effective as a fundraiser.
Speaker 3:So, do you have that in place? Are you using it to its fullest capabilities, so that then you know who are your, you know who are your donors, who are your people. And even, actually, a step, I'm going to go a step backwards a little bit and talk just for a second about compliance. Jess knows this about me I'm a goody two-shoes, the rule follower. I am a rule follower. So you know, do you have all of your you know registrations and permits in place that you need to have to be able to be out there?
Speaker 3:Fundraising and the importance of those, obviously beyond compliance, is just creating that trust and transparency among your audience and your supporters. So really it's starting there and then moving to that infrastructure of your CRM. And how else are you talking to your audience? And then you know, having the processes in place to accept donations and acknowledge donations and be good at that. The worst thing I feel like that you can do is start fundraising, not be totally ready, and then you know you don't want to disappoint your donors because they you want to keep them. The goal is these are your people. They're supporting what you're doing, they're supporting your mission and your programs and you want to. You want that relationship to build and grow, not disintegrate.
Speaker 1:That retention metric is more and more important every year, absolutely so. Ok, so just from your point of view, then right when we have point of view, then right when we have. I think part of that has to be tracking right, because if you're not, if you don't know how many donors you're keeping or how many you've acquired, or where you are to the goal best laid plans, right If you're. If you don't, if you don't actually have a way to track any of those things, what are some of those metrics that we should be? I mean, I just tossed out a few, but what are some of those things that we really need to start paying better attention to from the tracking standpoint?
Speaker 2:Well, you know we talked about the retention, but you know, when we start at the end and we talk about budget, what are you trying to get to? What we also like to dig around is how many people are you already talking to? Who is in your database right, and are we increasing donors each year or are your numbers going backwards? Are they giving more each year or are they giving less each year? You know, and I think that we can start talking about all of the KPIs, but I think, for nonprofits or fundraisers in this stage, the word that we always use is realistic. Be realistic in what your plans are and your goals, because what we often see is you know, there are times where organizations will come to us and say well, you know, we need to raise a million dollars, and we'll ask all of the questions, and one of the questions are well, how many donors do you currently have that are active? And then something like five, and we time out right, we hit that pause again and we hit the pause.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, unless those people are all Melinda Gates, then you're probably not getting a million dollars out of five people, Right?
Speaker 2:So you know, I mean it's all of those things, but I think, in terms of what numbers to watch and pay attention to is, are the number of people that you are talking to increasing? Are they converting? Are they actually you know, if you, if you're sending newsletters and newsletters and emails and they're following your social and you know that, are they actually giving? What are they responding to?
Speaker 2:So I would say that in this case, when you have an organization that's looking at the fundraising readiness and we're just getting started, start with those basics, because it can become overwhelming. Yeah, and we want you to stay in the realistic conversation. Yeah, and that's really big for us. We probably talk about that 2,352 times a day like stay realistic and what your plans are and your strategies, because ultimately, we don't want you to burn out. We don't want the disappointment.
Speaker 2:Yes, and you said it earlier about you know you kind of hope. It's going to happen and we had a very wise Megan and I worked for a woman who was very wise and did nonprofit for a really long time and she would tell us over and over again hope is not a strategy, over and over. Yes, so stay realistic. So when you're looking at those tracking numbers. It's you know. Stay with the basics. Are your donations increasing or decreasing from year to year, even from month to month? Break it down if you need to. Are you retaining your donors? Are they converting? Those are the things that we really try to get them to focus on before all of the others.
Speaker 1:Part of that, at least in my experience and working with a number of nonprofits across the last couple of years, there has to be both clarity within the organization about what the goal is, but also clarity in the message about like otherwise people don't care. If they can't understand what you do, then they don't have a reason to care, right, and so that that in and of itself, just building that kind of trust around the organization, building that kind of clarity so that your donors could actually say here's what they do that has to be a piece of this, and I've worked with so many organizations that come in and they're like, yep, we do X, y and Z and Q and five, and you're like I can't help you unless we get to that clarity. Megan, maybe talk to that just a bit about how do we define that, how do we figure out what's working and what that clarifying message is, so that people understand what we do and want to support it.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, you know. You're so right, megan, let's not overcomplicate it. Yeah, this is the problem. This is what we want to do to solve the problem and how we need your help, right? Let's try to keep it as simple and digestible, because we know that we don't have everyone's attention for more than what seconds at a time. So how can we truly keep that message very clear, concise, make it simple, and one of the things I think we all need to do is step out of that internal and you said it that internal organizational mindset, because the jargon and the you know, the too much, sometimes too much. Yes, does my, would my mother understand this? Would my grandmother? You know? Right, let's let's make it simple, because we kind of tend to put our blinders on and we're in our zone and we know what we're talking about. Maybe that internally, but externally doesn't make sense. Let's flip the script a little bit and test it. Test it on again, test it on your mom, test it on your grandma, yeah, absolutely. Test it on again.
Speaker 1:Test it on your mom, test it on your grandma, yeah absolutely Test it on people who have no idea what it is you do for a living. By the way, kids are fantastic for that. If your second grader can't get it, you're done yeah.
Speaker 3:One of my. I have to say one of my favorite things that my kids do. I'm going to digress here for a second and just say one of my favorite things that my kids do. I'm going to digress here for a second and just say one of my favorite things that my kids do is like that Mother's Day thing, like what does your mom do? And my kindergartner says, like I said last year, she gets money for her friends. So that's what I do.
Speaker 1:There it is, fundraising in a nutshell I get money for my friends.
Speaker 3:Oh, I love it. You got it right fundraising.
Speaker 2:In a nutshell, I get money from my friends. Oh, I love it.
Speaker 3:I know.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so. Yes, I love that, I love that. So tell me a little bit, jess, I'll toss this to you. You guys have worked with a ton of different organizations. Talk to me a little bit about, maybe, somebody who has put this into practice of like getting back to the basics here's where we start and then what came from that? Like a success you saw, or even just and it doesn't even have to be like a huge organization, we raised a million dollars in five months but like even just a personal story where you saw somebody really embrace this and move forward.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but we had a great opportunity to work alongside of an organization last year whose mission is to mentor young men in the Baltimore area and, you know, just smart and you know, excited about the work that they're doing, and dedicated and passionate. You know all of the perfect mix of what they need to get started, but didn't have the tools and resources to know, as you said earlier, like what the heck is next, what do we do next? Right, we have some of these basic pieces, but didn't know some of those components. So we were able to jump in and they'd been operating for a few years at this point, so had some success. Even, you know, did some large events, some large scale events, had corporate sponsors under their umbrella that they were working alongside of, but really didn't know how to level up at that point and what to do next. You know, and really getting in and working alongside of them.
Speaker 2:We were doing an assessment for them and you know, just sort of broke it down from everything of all of their revenue streams and how are they fundraising, to talking a lot about who are their people and how is the board involved in this conversation. What is the staff doing? And, you know, are they fully utilizing their time. Time is the most you know thing in nonprofit right. We all have a limited number of hours every day.
Speaker 2:So were they doing the things that we're going to focus on? You know, building those relationships, you know going deeper with the relationship. So we were able to really dig in with them at that point and assess what they were doing and, you know, took the time for them to go through every single piece and we put together an assessment for them. They started implementing it right away and the feedback was at that point, you know, we didn't know what we were supposed to be doing that developed into a fundraising plan that we put in place for them. So they are off and running now. They have, you know, not just the paper and the document in front of them which is going to tell them what to do next, they have the understanding and the clarity around how to better utilize the resources that they had already.
Speaker 1:So good, yeah. So if somebody else wanted to learn more about you guys and the work that you're doing, or be that success story, how do we find you? How do we best connect with you guys?
Speaker 2:Well, and Meg, I'm sorry. No, go ahead. You can find us. Yeah, we have a website. Obviously it's weknownonprofitcom, so you can find us there. We also are active on LinkedIn, which is Nonprofit People, and we have an Instagram page, so you can find us there. As always, too, you can email us. We always pick up our email right away. So it's Jessica at we Know Nonprofit and Megan at WeKnowNonprofitcom.
Speaker 1:I love it. So, as part of this whole season of podcast, one of the questions that we've been closing with is if you could give one piece of wisdom or encouragement to nonprofit leaders right now. What would be your little tidbit that you would share? Jess, we'll start with you.
Speaker 2:Mine is. I think the answer is stay human. Yes, stay in it. And you know, fundraising is about people and it's about relationships. So have the conversations good, bad, ugly, you know with your donors, you are asking for feedback. You know, learn about them, listen. Have a conversation with your team and your board. Learn about them, listen. You know, I think that we are moving in a direction that we're we're unsure what it will look like in the next few years and you know, I just always think that the genuine part and the real part of what we do is about people and the relationships that we build. So stay human first.
Speaker 1:Yes, megan, how about you?
Speaker 3:So I think to layer onto that, it's to celebrate all the little wins along the way. We know that this work can be overwhelming. At times it can feel very heavy. At times We've been in the chairs, we've been wearing multiple hats. So try to take that step back and celebrate every little milestone, every little success with your team. You know, enjoy it and every little success is a step forward.
Speaker 1:I love it. Thank you both for being here. Megan Friends and Jess DeVito from Nonprofit People Appreciate you guys sharing your insight as part of this Nonprofit 101 series. Thank you, and thank you for being such a good resource for all of the nonprofit people Appreciate you guys sharing your insight as part of this Nonprofit 101 series.
Speaker 2:Thank you, and thank you for being such a good resource for all of the nonprofit people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's our pleasure. This has been another episode of the Nonprofit Hub podcast. I'm your host, Megan Spear, and we'll see you next time you.