An Invitation to Rise: Meeting Today’s Greatest Fundraising Opportunity

Speaker 1 0:00
Before we begin, I’d like to introduce your MC, Clay Buck. He is a nonprofit coach who will be presenting an invitation to Rise meeting today’s greatest fundraising opportunity. For more than 30 years, Clay has built fundraising efforts into sustainable Read More

Speaker 1 0:00
Before we begin, I’d like to introduce your MC, Clay Buck. He is a nonprofit coach who will be presenting an invitation to Rise meeting today’s greatest fundraising opportunity. For more than 30 years, Clay has built fundraising efforts into sustainable systems of generosity, he has held nearly every position in the field, from development assistant to chief development officer, and everything in between. He begins a unique, he brings a unique practitioner’s perspective to his work as a founder and principal of the next river fundraising strategies, Clay partners with nonprofits of all sizes and missions and designs programs that are data informed, strategically sound, and deeply human, with a focus on individual giving, from first time gifts to major commitments. His approach blends system level thinking with authentic storytelling and sound strategy, ensuring that organizations not only rise more, but rise but make more money, but also lasting relationships with their donors. He also, he is also the creator of the Fundraising Planner, the Generosity Finder, and co-hosted the Fundraising Funny podcast. Hey, Clay, are you ready to take it away for today?

Speaker 2 1:28
I am so ready. Thank you, Eleanor.

Speaker 1 1:34
Good luck, Clay. Have

Speaker 2 1:35
fun. Thank you. Thank you, Eleanor. Thank you so much for that introduction. Thank you again to Bucks County Community College, to all of our sponsors, and to DonorPerfect for making this happen, but most of all, thank you to you all for being here. I know what a commitment it is, even to just take an hour or two, Danielle, with the GIF already. I love it, even just to take an hour or two from your time to spend, let alone two days to spend together in community, in learning, in advancing all of us forward, and being part of this. So, truly, thank you all for being here. I was gonna say, make sure you jump into the chat, and let’s get some community going, and talking, and engaging. Clearly, I don’t have to do that, because you’re already in there, which is wonderful. If you’re not, jump in, the water’s warm, but it’s so great to see people from all over the country, from all over the United States and Canada. Canada, you are loud today. Good for you for being there. We’ve got both coasts presents, we got north and south, we got everybody here, and nice to see all of you, and nice to see some, some friends and colleagues as well, so it’s I hope for all of you, it’s like it’s like coming home and being with family, that’s what this week is all about. I don’t need to talk about myself anymore. Thank you again for that warm introduction, but I did want to start with just a brief look at who all is here this week, just some demographics and numbers, there you go. Thank you for the that Canadian flag. There, good to see you all. We’ve got folks representing every type of nonprofit, every size of nonprofit. There are you have colleagues and friends in this room and in this online today, people that are doing similar work to you that are doing work in different arenas, so hopefully with the dialog and with what we’re all going to talk about for the next couple of days, you’re learning from each other, you’re seeing yourselves in what others are doing. We have folks, one of my favorites on this, of course, because we have all, I’m sure, been there is the I do it all segment. Yep, we understand that we’ve got development directors and assistants and communications. I’m sure we have folks from marketing and leadership from all different types of sectors and all different sizes and types of nonprofits, again from US and Canada. Great to see all of you, and thank you. All of you who are also DonorPerfect users and clients, we’re thrilled that you’re here. JP, nice to see you, Julie Gillis. Julie, let me just let me say this, just in context of who we all are today. Julie and I have known each other for, we’re not going to say how long, but Julie, let me put it this way. I’ve been in fundraising in some form since 1990 and Julie and I have known each other since before then. So, we’ll just leave it at that and let it go. But it’s nice to see good friends and colleagues from all types, and for folks I haven’t met yet, I’m so glad to be able to call you friend and colleague here soon, so with no further ado, let’s jump into starting this morning, because I wanted to talk and start us out with what are today’s greatest fundraising opportunities, and speaking of time in the sector, I am sure I know we’ve got folks, and I’ve already seen it in. Chat folks that have just started in this work that are new to this work, and I’m sure we’ve got folks that have been here for a while as well. And I will tell you honestly, from the first time in my career, I am saying I don’t know how to do this. I don’t have a roadmap for where we are today. We know now how to fundraise through economic downturns. We know how to fundraise through a global pandemic. We know how to fundraise in all kinds of variants, varying circumstances, but this is different, and it feels different.

Speaker 2 5:31
And I think I think it’s fair to say, for all of us, that we’re feeling it, and we can tell that there’s a little bit of a difference here. But what does that actually mean? And let’s talk about how we navigate it, because something has changed. Something has changed in the work that we do, in the nonprofit world that we do, in the work of fundraising, in the work of connecting with people. But I want to tell you this, and hopefully this will frame our conversation for the next two days and frame our conversation as we move forward through the rest of the year, and I know some of you, many of you are in just starting the last month of your fiscal year. Sorry to bring that up for those that are stressing that and fiscal year end campaigns, but we’re all at different points here. But something has has changed, and it has shifted, but I want to tell you, we are not experiencing a revenue problem, despite everything that you’re seeing, despite all the things about the economy, despite any sort of, you know, Winnie the Pooh, like dark rain clouds hanging over us, or what we’re hearing from any of the statistics. The problem isn’t a revenue problem, it’s not even an awareness problem, and despite the fact that I will mention this several times over the next two days, and I know others will as well, we’re not even experiencing a too few donors problem, even though we are seeing fewer households giving to charities, to charities being the underlying key important thing, the problem isn’t a number of donors, it’s not awareness, and it’s not revenue. What we are experiencing, experiencing is a meaning problem. This isn’t just fundraising, this is everywhere. Our colleagues in for-profit are saying this, our colleagues that are working in entertainment are saying this, our colleagues in any type of field are we’re seeing this everywhere that there is a problem, and we’re having a challenge with meaning to the point that the United States Surgeon General actually declared us in a lonely loneliness epidemic. Right, so, and I’m bringing, I’m sort of bringing the room down a little bit, I know, but I’m gonna, we’re gonna, we’re gonna bring it down a little bit and talk about the reality, and then we’re gonna lift it up, I promise. Okay, so stick with me. Right, in 2025 last year, half of us adults, over half reported feeling isolated or lacking companionship. 74% reported a lack of belonging, feeling like they belonged in their community. 68% feel like they didn’t belong in the nation. 64% in the workplace. Seven in 10 people said they felt like they needed more emotional support than they received. Those of us that are dog people, like the dogs are good, but we’re putting a whole lot of stress on those golden retrievers. You know what I’m saying, right? 84% said that they believe they can still create a good life, even if it looks different than other generations. So, there’s that little sliver of hope that drives humanity and keeps us going. But even so, we are experiencing and feeling this sense of loneliness. And, Rachel, I know I’m sorry that it makes sense to you, and I appreciate your saying sadly, because I do think we are feeling it, I don’t know if the village has dissolved, Madeline, but let’s talk about that. Thank you, Evelina, that’s a great question. Who conducted this survey? This comes from works that was done by the National Institutes for Health and by a couple of other federal organizations that put together these statistics on on on this, and is also bringing out the point that this isn’t just the US, the UK actually appointed a minister of loneliness. Thank you for bringing that forward. And right, it’s not just the COVID pandemic, it’s all of these things working together. Dr. Sanjay Bindra is a board-certified cardiac, cardiac. I’m not even going to try. He works with hearts, with human hearts, and he’s also a philanthropist and donor and board member and leader. And he said this: philanthropy, at its core, is not a financial system, it’s a behavioral one.

Speaker 2 9:36
Donor trust, like patient trust, is built on consistent signals of safety, empathy, and responsiveness, and when those signals break, when follow-ups don’t happen, when gratitude feels mechanical, or communication becomes sporadic, relationships weaken. I have spent the last 30 years trying to understand what we mean when we say fundraising. Is about relationships, and that’s what we’re going to talk about today, but in a little bit of a different framework, because Dr. Binda is Bindra is exactly right. These consistent signals of safety, empathy, and responsiveness, but what does that mean for us in the nonprofit sector, and in the work of fundraising and communication? So let’s hold that thought there on this this loneliness and connection epidemic, and let’s talk about the state of philanthropy. Actually, let’s start talking about the state of generosity, because I really want to frame this now, because the word philanthropy, the love of humankind, right? We all hopefully know that that’s where the root of this word comes from, philanthropy, meaning the love of humankind, but we still have kind of equated philanthropy and wealth, and they are not synonyms, necessarily, right? And we have put this role of philanthropy on this, this big world, and I’m sure that you hear it all the time, more major gifts, more dollars, more all of this, but let’s talk about the state of generosity and what that human aspect of giving is like, and where we are, because it’s different. Yes, it is different, but it’s not all bad, and I promise you that’s true. In late 2025 so we don’t have updated numbers on this. Here we are halfway through 2026 We don’t have new updated numbers on this, but very late in 2025 December of 2025 most Americans have donated to those in need within the past year. Indeed, from other informal surveys and other things that I’ve been seeing recently, when asked, people are saying they are still giving, it’s just we’re defining giving differently now, and people are looking at what giving means in a different way than the traditional role of giving to philanthropy. I am a southerner by birth, by training, by heritage. Certainly, every time I say this with southerners in the room or midwesterners, not to leave out any other part of the country, but this is really certainly a part of our culture. I’m sure it is in other places too. Some of you are going to know exactly what I mean when I say this, but if we lived in a perfect utopian society where every need was taken care of and everything was perfect, I guarantee you there would still be somebody who needs a casserole, and somebody who needs to make and deliver that casserole, and hopefully it’s got crunchy tater tots on top. Right, we are just generous by nature. A few years ago, Nathan Chappelle wrote this book, The Generosity Crisis. Nathan Chappelle, Brian Crimmins, Michael Ashley wrote this, and these statistics still hold true. They’ve since written a follow-up to it, but I wanted to share some of these numbers, because they are.. yeah, there we go, the Winnie the Pooh. Yes, indeed, it’s time for something rumbly in my tumbly. Right, two in 2,066% of American households gave to charity. By 2022 that number was less than 50% I have not seen a report on this within the last year or two, but less than half of American households are giving to charity. Less than 47% of donors who give to a charity will make another gift to that charity. In other words, that’s that retention society. Brandon, thank Thank you for that definition. That’s perfect. That’s really, really a great ad. I appreciate that. Right, trust in nonprofits’ ability to do what they say they’ll do is lower than ever, and it does continue to fluctuate. If you look at the trust, the Edelman Trust Barometer, we did come up a couple of percentage points in trust. Most Americans still trust, sorry, Canadians. I don’t have this from Canada Helps or Canada Gives, but in the United States, most Americans trust small businesses more than they trust the nonprofit sector to do what they say they’ll do. So that’s a lesson for us. There was an interesting survey that just came out. Forgive me, it was literally two days ago.

Speaker 2 14:05
I don’t remember the source off the top of my head right now, but I will find it before the week is out. Active donors actually trust nonprofits more than the general population, so if you ask a general population right, but when you ask specific donors to a charity, they will say yes, I trust that nonprofit to do what it says it’s going to do. So, in general, trust is trust is really fluctuating. There are now 1.9 million nonprofits in the United States, and I hear this statistic reported all the time, and it is true. There’s really like a million that are active, meaning fill out the 990 inactive fundraising, right, so your quote unquote competition, and that’s a whole other webinar for a whole other day, right, but your quote unquote competition is not 2 million nonprofits, there’s really only about 900,000 to 1 million that are truly active and out there engaging, but the point is the number of nonprofits can. Continues to grow, the number of charities continues to increase. There’s over 200 and I want to say it’s over 240 billion now in donor-advised funds, 1.3 trillion in private foundations. In other words, the flow of money is different than it has been. From Giving USA, we know this, that giving by individuals is by far the largest percentage of contributed dollars in both in Canada and the United States, individuals give far more than any other in terms of dollars than any other sector, foundations, corporations, etc. So, by far, individuals are the most active when you factor in bequests, which are by definition gifts from individuals, that number and percentage increases even more. We also know that giving, and when you look at this historically again from Giving USA, when we look at giving historically, it’s a lagging economic indicator. We will see other economic indicators like the Consumer confidence index, like the markets, we will see other indicators drop before we see giving drop. So giving tends to transcend, transcend economic downturns and economic stability for instability for a while. Giving by corporations is higher, yes, but corporations are giving less as a percentage of their pretax profits. Some of those requirements have changed, some of those corporate social responsibilities have changed. So, yes, we do see more dollars coming from corporations, but as a percentage of pretax dollars, it’s lower than it has been, just as we still see individuals at less than 2% of disposable income, and the gross domestic product. The biggest trend that we’re seeing, yes, yes, it does include this. Does include individuals in religious communities as well, giving to religion, so this is giving to all sectors. Yep, Maria, thank you for that. The average gift size has gone up, number of donors has steadily been going down, giving to charities, giving, and this is the key, and it’s why I keep underscoring, that’s why I keep underscoring to charities, because giving methodologies has changed. We are seeing a huge increase in donor-advised funds. There’s a massive increase in giving circles and collective giving, where people are coming together and pooling their money, and then giving those resources. We see high activity in crowdsourcing and giving through those direct means, and then there’s other activities seen as giving, and this is what I mean by the perception of generosity, in particular in some younger generations define giving as helping their friends. I actually did a donor interview just a few days ago, a young donor who had just graduated, and when asked about his charitable giving, he said, yeah, I really don’t do formal giving, because I’m not sure that that money’s going where it’s supposed to, that was an indictment, right there, but you know, the way I prefer to give is, you know, I offer my friends to crash in my guest room, or, you know, I’ll take them groceries when they need it, or so forth, so we’re defining giving beyond just that gift to charity, people are thinking about generosity in different ways. This is what Giving Tuesday, and many of you know that Giving Tuesday is an organization as much as it is a day, and Giving Tuesday’s Data Commons is a great source of statistics and numbers. So, what Giving Tuesday found is that most people can and do give in some way, and that crosses boundaries, that crosses ideology, lifestyle, community.

Speaker 2 18:51
It’s people are just defining giving. So I take a casserole to my neighbor, and I call myself a generous person. Again, this reiterates what we saw, individual giving accounts for by far the largest share of generosity globally. Donors do appear to be maintaining some commitment to nonprofit organizations. There’s some reduction that Giving Tuesday is seeing in that direct person to person support, but even so, we do also see fluctuations in that, what we call the big academic term, disintermediated giving, meaning not giving to a charity, but giving in different ways. People who give or volunteer or advocate for organizations do feel a stronger sense of community, belonging, and trust. This is a key. Yes, Stevie, there is a big shift to mutual aid, for sure. We saw that happen through the pandemic, and some of that has continued, where people are giving via mutual aid, where their money is going directly to a person, right? 74% of people worldwide give in some way, with fewer than 10% only giving money only, so Audre. That question is right on target, because people who volunteer consider themselves donors, they consider themselves giving of their time. People who advocate, who serve on boards, who volunteer in other ways do consider that giving as much as they do giving money. So, what about fundraising tactics themselves? Because I know that’s one thing we all come to these with. Josh, thank you, Joshua. How does political giving impact giving to nonprofits? It usually doesn’t. In fact, there’s actually some correlations. Most people that give politically also tend to give charitably as well. We don’t, but we don’t see the two really impacting each other. What’s interesting is, and we really are not allowed anymore to use political giving as an ability to identify donors, but we do see those trends in political giving. What’s interesting is that people will give politically differently than they give to charity, so you’ll see them give to a candidate who’s against a certain thing that they actually gave money to support, which is absolutely fascinating, because people are messy and confusing, and we like to say we’re logical, but we’re not, because we just, you know, humans are going to human, as Taylor Swift taught us, to paraphrase, there, so what about fundraising tactics specifically? How do we raise the money? Direct mail is still the workhorse of most individual giving, especially with younger generations. Think about it this way: a lot of younger generations didn’t have grandmothers that sent them newspaper clippings. I certainly did, but younger generations had grandparents that system sent them Facebook posts and forwarded emails to them. Right, we didn’t get that letter in the mail. So, direct mail is still very much the workhorse of most individual giving. Of course, face to face and major gifts is still the key driver in that layer. Depending on different reports, it’s somewhere between 13 to 20% of giving is happening online, so when we see giving happening online, it’s somewhere between. Thank you, William. Appreciate the confirmation there. Yeah, emails and Facebook messages. Ewelina, I miss getting clippings. My grandmother would stuff envelopes full of articles about people that I had never met, never heard, and I kind of miss them as well. Yes, right. About 13 to 15% of giving is to 20% depending on which reports you look at, is happening online. Rephrase that. That means that somewhere between 75 to 85% of giving is happening offline, where through mail events, person to person contact, etc. So don’t get me wrong, everybody should have an online giving strategy and page, and absolutely all of that, because there is no data that indicates that channel of engagement equals channel of action. So a lot of people are giving on, I do this, I get a letter in the mail, I give online. Do not send me an email, that’s just me, though. That’s my preference, because I’m ADHD, and if I don’t have the physical thing in my hand to do it, it’s not that was a gesture to a piece of paper. Sorry that that didn’t come across right, but right, if I don’t have it in my hand, it doesn’t get done, and half the donor perfect team just went, “Oh, we’re going to put stuff in his hands now, right?

Speaker 2 23:25
But people shift, and they’ll give online one time, and they’ll give it an event the next time. So I call it channel hopping, where people are giving across channels in different ways. Email does have a lower opener response rate than direct mail, but there is a higher response rate when we see mail and email going together. For every single one of my clients, we will drop. Thank you, Danielle. Yep, exactly. For me, my clients, we will drop a piece in the mail, and everybody that gets that mail piece also gets a follow-up email as well, so that multichannel approach is really key right now. We are seeing significant increase in DAF giving and giving to DAFs. The number one thing that we hear and talk with the folks that really work in that donor advised fund world, and we hear it all the time, right? We never know who the donor is. The DAF holders are reporting that they’re reporting that out, but sometimes you do just have to jump through some hoops to find out the name of the donor, but there’s something to that that donors are saying it’s easier for me to give to a DAF and then and then allocate it than it is for me to give directly to a charity. Significant increase in great results in with text and SMS when you have permission and you have that as part of your as your part of your strategy. Donner, a DAF is a donor advised fund, and we can talk about that in more detail on what a DAF is later on again, most. Major gifts are still happening in person and at events. There’s some shift in events. We are seeing some trends where, yes, the big gala is still a thing, great, but we’re also seeing a trend where donors are preferring small events, smaller events, house events, less formal events. I just did a gala a couple of years ago, where we encouraged everybody to wear tennis shoes and jeans, and it was one of the most successful galas of all times, because people felt really, really comfortable and had a good time doing it. Major gifts are still carrying fundraising results. In fact, we’re seeing this trend, as we said earlier, average gift is increasing with fewer donors, so we are seeing those major donors carrying the higher level of giving to define success as giving major gifts carrying results, but that doesn’t mean we should abandon abandon the mid and the low range, because today’s mid and low range donors are tomorrow’s major gifts, and again, events do remain very popular. Last year in Seattle, there was a conference, and we all had to walk past this window to get to the conference, and it really struck me, because this was an ad for an apartment complex, and the ad there, the banner on the building, said, ‘Bye, bye, virtual, hello human and I think that this is the trend and we’re hearing this more and more even in the advent of artificial intelligence and all that is going on with this world of less connection we are seeing a much increased need for that real human connection, because the question that we have to ask as fundraisers, as nonprofit people, is, do our strategies and systems, do those tactics that we talk about, are they placing more value in the on the dollars and the transactions than they do on the donors, are we placing more emphasis on the tactic and the tech than we are on the people and the communities we serve. That’s what I would love for you to walk away with from, from today, from this session, from this week, is behind every single transaction, behind everything that you do with these incredible DonorPerfect trainers this week, everything that you learn at each of these sessions, behind every gift, behind every transaction, behind every number is a human with a beating heart and a caring brain and an identity that calls them self generous, and that’s where the strength of this come from, so are we in a connection recession, as my dear friend Sam Swain called it, or are we, or can we lead a connection expansion through the work of generosity? When we talk about, and I’m sure you’ve heard this word, belonging, right? What’s the connection between belonging and generosity?

Speaker 2 28:03
Well, many people report that when they give, they feel a stronger sense of belonging. 91% of participants reported that when they’re part of collective giving, they have a problem. It has a positive. Peter Thiel is furious right now. Nathan, I live to serve, have a positive impact on their sense of community and belonging. Pro-social behavior, that is, giving or taking part in community, has been shown to reduce loneliness and increase social inclusion. Spending money on others produces greater happiness than spending money on yourself. Happiness gains are strongest when generosity also creates a social connection. Gift giving activities in the brain, so what we’re learning about neuroscience, gift giving activate centers in the brain that are associated with pleasure, trust, and social connection. In other words, there is a biological and psychological impact on us physically when we give that affects how we see ourselves in the world and how others see themselves in the world because this concept of belonging is a core human driver. Yes, Patty, the joy of giving, and it’s not just this emotion. There’s actually physiological reactions when we give, and what comes first, the physiological reaction or the giving, or both? We, as fundraisers, we, as nonprofit people, we get to provide this. This is what fundraising is to me, because we get to be a part of this generosity and this connection expansion by helping to create this sense of belonging through giving, because here’s the thing, you do not have to. Convince people to be generous. I’m going to say it again. You do not have to convince people to be generous or to give. We already want to. It’s hardwired in our DNA. It’s built into our brain. It is who we are. We have to give some way in order to survive, and I think sometimes that we’ve gotten into that as funders. Oh, we got to convince them to give. No, we don’t got to. We don’t got to convince them to give. Oh, some somewhere, somebody somewhere just went clays grammar. Get it together, son. We don’t have to convince them to give. We’re already programmed to give. You are giving in ways that you don’t even really recognize as giving right now, but you’re just giving as being a part. Your being here today is a gift. Your comments in the chats, these are these are gifts to each other as being a part of this community. What is what is belonging then look like the four pillars of belonging are this: it’s being noticed, right? Did somebody see me? Has I have I been acknowledged? Has somebody have I been named? Has my unique identity been honored? To be perfectly candid, this is why I’m watching the chat. I haven’t switched over to the Q and A tab yet. I will. I’m afraid if I do, I’m going to lose my place, but I will switch over to the Q and A. I know there’s some questions over there, but this is why I’m watching the chat and calling out some of you by name as I can, because hopefully what I’m doing is recognizing those of you. Thank you, Julie, I appreciate that. Right, those of you that have seen the name, and those of you that I haven’t named yet are conscious that I am naming people, and I might call on you, and some of you just went, “I don’t want to be in a splash zone, I’m out, right? And, oh, please don’t call on me, right? So, being named, being known, feeling understood, and seen for who you are, and being needed. Now, we’re going to talk about need being needed more in a minute, right? Because being needed is feeling integral, and that your contributions matter. Generosity, the act of giving, is not a solitary event. It is not something that we do alone. Yes, I’m sitting at my desk, and I write a check, or I give online, or I do something, and you know I’m in my kitchen alone, making the casserole and laying tater tots in a pretty pattern, right? Right, it’s, but it is a social activity, and this does anthropology, anthropology, anthropologically, it’s way too early for that length of a word. Anthropologically speaking, giving is what helped the tribe survive, right?

Speaker 2 32:52
We had to give, this person had that, and this been this person could hunt, and this person could gather, and this person could draw pictures on cave walls, and all of that, you got it, Alice. Anytime, any time, giving together is what helped the tribe survive the winters. It helped the tribe survive the hard times. Giving is being a part. Hypatia, if I could pronounce it, it would be better, wouldn’t it? Though, but thank you for that. Right, it’s what helped us survive and move forward. Acts of generosity are created by and also create pro-social behavior. The brain chemical, oxytocin, is responsible for producing pro-social behavior, meaning behavior that is part of society, right? And so it’s one of those things that to get more oxytocin, you do things that create oxytocin, and so it feeds each other, right? Oxytocin begets oxytocin. Acts of generosity also create that pro-social behavior, or, as Seth Godin put it, people like us do things like this. We actually, Americans do love tater tots. It’s, it’s true, you, Kimberly, you don’t put them in a casserole, you put them on top and you bake it, so it’s crunchy anyway. That’s a whole other story. We have more science now on this work than we have ever had before, and the work coming out of the Institute for Sustainable Philanthropy, particularly Dr. Jen Chang, talking about the identity that we bring forward when we give. Why people give is much less powerful than who people are when they give. Why people give is much less powerful than who people are when they give. I’m over here dropping some profound truth, and you all are arguing poutine versus tater tots. I am here for it. This is the most human moment that I have ever been a part of, and I don’t want to live in a world that is that binary, and we have to do either. Are I think we can have both and be happy. Be about it, right? Yeah, Johnny, I tend to agree, right? But seriously, seriously, why people give is much less powerful than who people are when they give. In other words, what is the identity that we are bringing forward? What is the identity that your donors are bringing forward when they give what their make your poutine with tater tots. Yo, I can’t handle this. Like we’re talking potatoes, which is wonderful and absolutely, absolutely perfect. This is what joy looks like. I love it. Right, who? Why people have potatoes as less powerful than who they are when they have potatoes. How about that? Right, what do we mean when we talk about identity? Is who is exactly what Jen was saying, who we are when we come forward in this act of right, in this act of giving. What does generosity look like? Well, the first step is the identity recognition, so our case for support, the stories that we tell. The first step is that identity of, oh, that’s me, I believe in that, that’s who I am, right? And this creates the potential for participation. Again, I don’t have to convince somebody to be generous, but I do want to activate that identity layer of them that says they believe in this type of world. Right, then we invite them into this opportunity to participate, because we’ve already identified their identity, who they are, and now we create the opportunity for participation. Here’s where, here’s where who I am can do something about this. That fundraising offer bridges the gap from a feeling, yes, this is me, this is who I am, into that action, and without this step, that resonance remains inert. We might have a lot of people who are aware, we might have a lot of people who care, but we don’t have people who are taking action until we offer them the opportunity to be a part of it. Then that behavior is in harmony with identity. This is what people like me do. Of course, I believe in a world where all wombats are safe, because that’s the type of person that I am, and now my generosity is creating this lived expression of belief. Of course, this is who I am, and this is really where I want to underscore, let’s stop thinking of quote unquote stewardship and retention and thank you letters as a separate entity, as this separate thing.

Speaker 2 37:39
There’s the ask, and there’s then there’s the thank you. This is all part of it, because that acknowledgement that your gift did the thing that you said it would do is what creates significance. That’s what creates that recognition of mattering, and that I’m important here, and the cycle completes, so we first, we first identify identity. You’re the type of person who cares. Then we invite you to be a part of it. You’re giving that action that the donor takes creates that alignment with who we are, and then we reaffirm who you are through that acknowledgement, and it becomes an act of significance, not just an act of identity. So, let’s take this and this opportunity, I believe, in front of us as fundraisers to create significance, to create mattering, is really one of the largest opportunities in front of us, the psychological term, and this concept of mattering is relatively new within the last decade. It’s coming, or so, maybe a little longer, and it’s really coming out of organizational psychology, and it’s.. I sure can. I think you mean this one, the progression of generosity, but I’m underscoring that last point. There is becoming meaning, right, and significance, and into that concept of mattering. It’s a relatively new concept, but the idea of mattering coming out of early childhood education and organizational psychology, where they’re finding that students learn better when they feel like they matter in the classroom, and for all of you that lead people, employees perform better and create and have a greater sense of purpose and work ethic, if you will, when they feel like their contribution as an employee matters, so let’s dig into this. This book, actually called Mattering, is truly phenomenal. It’s one that I would encourage to be on every fundraiser’s at least awareness list, if not on your bookshelf, because she poses the idea that we have lost track of our most basic. Human needs for connection and contribution. Now we often feel tempted to fill that void with counterfeit forms of mattering, chasing attention over connection, prestige over purpose, money over meeting. And before you say, “Oh yeah, social media and discount that, but it’s coming across in all kinds of ways. The rise in loneliness, burnout, and anxiety is the predictable consequence of a society that has forgotten how to make people feel valued. The rise in loneliness, burnout, and anxiety is the predictable consequence of a society that has forgotten how to make people feel valued. This is my challenge to you today, and it’s my challenge to us, is can we take on the responsibility of helping people feel valued, our donors, our volunteers, our boards, our colleagues, our employees, our fundraisers, our trainers, our software firms, our vendors can we take on the power, the joy of giving, and through the the immense potential of generosity, and turn that into a challenge for us to help the world remember and feel valued. What does this look like in terms of mattering? Mattering is that sense that who you are makes a difference here. It’s that emotional reward of alignment. It’s the moment a donor and an employee, a colleague, someone feels seen and known and significant. It’s that recognition of, do I see myself here. Do I feel welcome here? Did anybody invite me into it again? I’m going to refer to Sam Swaim. Many of you know from Sam from Swaim Strategies. Sam uses the phrase, ‘Is this for me? When you get a gala invite in the mail, when you get a direct.. Is this for me? It’s one of the first questions we ask. Is this for me, can I do something here that fits who I am? And did it make a difference that I showed up? I will tell you this honestly. You all being here has made a difference for me. Have been here with each other, and I see you all talking about potatoes, and we joke about potatoes, but what you’re saying is your presence here in discussing poutine versus tater tots mattered to me. It mattered that we have this. It made a difference that you did show up, because the science of mattering. Do people pay attention to you, or do they walk right by you? Do you have people who take an interest in your wellbeing. Do you take interest in other people’s wellbeing?

Speaker 2 42:45
We joke about social media. Sure, we joke about, well, you wouldn’t remember my birthday unless Facebook mentioned it, but even so, don’t you get a little tingle when you get a random happy birthday from somebody who may have been reminded by Facebook, but even so, somebody took a brief interest in your well-being. Are there people who would come to you for help, or that you would go to? Because becoming being somebody that has come to for help that matters, that says right, that says, “Hey, you matter to me because I’m asking your opinion. Listen, Pitbull, one of the greatest fundraising philosophers of all time, ask for advice, get money twice, right? Ask, asking, telling people that their opinion matters is just as important as saying their dollars matter. That person that you go to, or somebody comes to you, we love to be asked for our opinion. It’s what Radiohead said in that song. I want you to notice when I’m not around. I wish I was special. I want to feel special. Right, these are the critical elements of who we are, and in this loneliness epidemic, if you will, mattering matters more. The science of it is feeling that it be feeling value and adding value. Does my contribution take a difference, both internal and external reinforcement? Somebody outside of you saying yes, it made a difference, and you being able to say yeah, my being here felt important the value to self to others and the community psychological wellbeing, paying it forward and receiving it right, because there is a symbiotic relationship between the self and others, balancing ourself with others, and we all have that friend, we know that friend who we call self centered or self involved, or whatever it is, but that person is saying that they need something, and whenever we can give that to them and they give back to us, that’s what connection whoever authorized the gift nature needs to raise. Talk about affirmation and mattering, Laura. That’s brilliant. Yeah, exactly. It’s a little thing that matters, so how does philanthropy, how does generosity, and matter? See, I even contradicted myself here. That should say generosity and mattering. It’s the invitation into it. It’s the action we then create that belonging, and from belonging we create significance, right? Invitation activates that agency generosity creates the participation belonging informs that identity and mattering establishes that significance. So, what does this mean for fundraising? I told you earlier that I have spent the better part of my career trying to understand what it means when we say fundraising is about relationships, and in doing that, I went on. Those of you that do know me pretty well, I usually have a wall of books behind me, and I’m a bit of an obsessive reader, skimmer, let’s say, but I came across this book, and it completely revolutionized and changed the way I think about fundraising. It’s by the Jesuit or Franciscan monk Henry now, and it’s called A Spirituality of Fundraising. Regardless of what your faith background is, or what your faith spirituality traditions are, it’s a book that I would highly encourage everyone to look at. It’s, it’s short, it’s a quick read, it’s, but it’s absolutely moving, beautifully brilliant. And he says fundraising is proclaiming what we believe in such a way that we offer other people an opportunity to participate with us in our vision and mission. Spirituality of fundraising. Henry Now, and proclaiming what we believe. Fundraising is proclaiming what we believe in such a way that we offer other people an opportunity to participate with us in our vision and mission. Would you rather spend your time asking for a major gift or would you rather spend your time inviting people into being a part of something that matters? I don’t know about you, but I choose option B every single time, because fundraising isn’t asking people to give, it’s inviting people to matter, it’s an invitation into significance. The greatest fundraising opportunity that we have to rise to meet the challenge of it isn’t wealth or capacity or awareness, those are important. Don’t get me wrong, I come from the prospect development world, I believe in it heartily, but the greatest fundraising opportunity isn’t wealth or capacity or awareness, it’s significance for donors and fundraisers. How, how do we do this?

Speaker 2 47:35
The shared participation model, because development involves three essential partners, you, the nonprofit, doing the work, you hold the mission. The donor brings those identities and values forward as part of the mission, and the beneficiary, or the community, who is embodying and experiencing the change. Each of these have to work together in partnership. No one is greater than the other. The donor isn’t more powerful than the nonprofit or your program people doing doing the actual work or the beneficiary who is coming to us for help or the community that we were serving. We all have to operate in connection and in consequence and in equality with each other. None carry weight or dominance over the other, and we work together to solve these problems. What does the invitation look like? It’s the values rooted call to join. Hey, you believe in this, come join with us. The shared belief, these are the kinds of things that we all do together, the work in motion, the mission that is already active. It’s that aligned response when the donor says yes, it’s not a yes just to giving money, it’s not just a yes to being a part of it, it’s saying yes, I believe in this, and we and we share these values together, and then the transformation that we all experience together. Danielle, great point. Why me over just anyone? Why does this matter to me? So the shift we have to make, just as a quick, tangible example, we provide food and wraparound services to family experiencing hunger and instability. This is a true statement, but how about if we invited people into saying too many families go to bed unsure if they’ll eat tomorrow? Let’s talk about our programs and the work that we do in a way that we’re inviting people into it, so we’re in, we’re shifting from what we do to what people are facing, we’re shifting from outputs to empathy, from a fix to shared values, and the invitation is moving that, if that spotlight from activity and into transformation, so that I’m part of something that what I do counts, and I want to stay in this story, because this is who I am. This is what the invitation is creating, is being a part of something, and that I want to stay in this, and I want to be a part of it, which changes how we approach acknowledgements and responses. People don’t give to organizations, they give to affirm who they are. It’s not just an emotional. Emotional reaction, it’s an act of self-expression. Because this is what people like me do, this is what I believe matters. Belief and belonging and behavior equals identity in action, and the more clearly a mission aligns with someone’s story of who they are, the more natural generosity feels. This is also true. It’s not just for donors. I’ll go back to that last slide in just a second. We’re coming right up on the end here, I promise. Right, research shows consistently that employees thrive the same way when work has purpose and contributions are recognized, and people are not seen just as people are seen as people, not just producers, and when those needs are absent, engagement fails. Am I seen? Am I needed? Am I growing? And do I belong here? How can we reiterate and reinforce activating identity, reminding people who they are and what strengths they bring, anchoring emotion, and connecting daily tasks, and whether that’s for a donor or for a colleague into meaningful employees, so we stop feeling like workers and start feeling like participants. So, what if, and this is the question that I’m going to leave with you as we go into the rest of this two days together. What if our job isn’t to raise money? What, what if our job isn’t to raise money? What if our job is to create moments where people can see themselves in a better future? What if our job is to help people connect their values to their action? What if our job is to help people experience the truth that they belong here and that their participation matters, because if we do that, if we do that, then the generosity flows. So, I know there were some questions about previous slides. I know the slides are going to come out. We’ll answer that question about being able to to rewatch that.

Speaker 2 51:58
Thank you for that. That’s a very kind compliment, and I appreciate it, Maria Felix. I love that our job is to bear witness, absolutely. For now, I don’t want you to worry too much about the specifics, but hold the thoughts with you as you approach everything else. That our job isn’t just about raising money, but about creating significance. You all are significant and matter for being here. Thank you for being a part of this. I look forward to seeing you over the next two days. And Lori, I will hand it over to you.

Speaker 3 52:27
Thank you so much, Clay. That was a great opening to our first day here. Thank you all for attending our first session of the day, and we hope you had some great takeaways to begin it. We’re going to set the tone for what’s to come. And next up, we have Daniel Magruder with using your CRM as the heart of your donor engagement strategy. Beyond donor records, your CRM holds the story of your organization and the relationships that fuel your work. In this session, we’ll explore how to move beyond simply storing data and start using it to drive more meaningful donor engagement. We’ll see you in a few.