The Power of Connection: How to Unite Your Project, People, and Purpose for Lasting Impact

I’m Jennifer Conte. I’m the development director for the Elmwood Park Zoo located in Norristown, Pennsylvania. The zoo’s mission is to foster an appreciation for wildlife and the environment, and how we really do that is by engaging and doing edutainment, as we say, Read More

I’m Jennifer Conte. I’m the development director for the Elmwood Park Zoo located in Norristown, Pennsylvania. The zoo’s mission is to foster an appreciation for wildlife and the environment, and how we really do that is by engaging and doing edutainment, as we say, education through entertainment. We really want everyone who enters sewer gates to be an environmental ambassador. So when they’re out throughout their lives, if it’s turning off the water when they brush their teeth and maybe picking up some trash in the park, everybody do their part for an appreciation of the animals they see here and then abroad as well. Elmwoo Park Zoo is really unique because we like to say we’re the region Zoo. We have a lot of families that have been with us for generations. Our collection and our grounds are approachable and they’re accessible. We’re not over stimulating, we’re not overwhelming the way that our staff and our layout and our animals and our signage is displayed is to make you feel like you’re a part of the staff. We also pride ourselves of being a nonprofit that can support a lot of other nonprofits. So touching on the accessibility, we have a lot of great animal therapy programs, a lot of touch tours for visual blind and visual support. So we can host banquets we’ve had during COVID When it was first opening up again. We hosted proms here because it was an outside facility. And you know, we did everything we could say, Yes, use us, because we are your neighborhood Zoo. We want you to be here. So we need to reconnect and have people believe in us again and believe that we weren’t going anywhere. So it took, took a lot of work get here, but I think the transparency really, really sat well with with donors, donor engagement, by way, just your classic email and phone calls. But we also do the website, e blast that goes out to just our general membership visitor base, anyone who’s subscribed their emails, and then just segmenting it down to development, always memberships general and annual fuels. I thank every donor of the handwritten note, $5 to $40 million all are appreciated that goes right back into feeding the animals. Goes right back into the vet care, going into the future. We have 20 acres of land across a creek that bounds us. We’ll go over to all new North America. Over there, we’re going to do trolley rides around again, doing accessibility. So it might be 20 acres. That sounds exhausting, but there is different. You want to make sure that everything is approachable. Everything is accessible. There are pathways, strollers, wheelchairs, whatever it might be. So that will be very exciting.

Okay, everyone, wow. What a wonderful first day at the DonorPerfect community conference, I have been having such an incredible time listening and learning from all of our incredible thought leaders and speakers today. Can you just give up some love in the chat it took, it has taken so much to curate this incredible day of content for all of you, I’d love to see your favorite emoji, your favorite happy face, whatever it is to celebrate just how incredible this day has been. And if you are like me, you like to plan things very far in advance. So I love a good calendar hold. And so we want to give that to you right now for next year’s Donor Perfect community conference. So Donor Perfect community conference, 2026 go to donorperfect.com backslash conference, I am already signed up. It is already on my calendar, and I hope you will join me. If you have been having fun today, just like me, it’s going to be a blast next year too. Now I get to introduce truly, like one of my favorite people on this entire planet, our keynote speaker and my really dear friend, Floyd Jones, who is going to be talking about the power of connection, how to unite your project people and purpose for lasting impact. I’m going to read for Floyd’s bio, because he is so incredible, and I don’t want to miss a beat when it comes to all of the things that he has done for our nonprofit community for the world. He is a force. You are about to have a ball, but Floyd is the founder and CEO of backblack, an initiative that has raised over $2 million for black LED nonprofits. He’s a speaker, coach and community builder focused on helping nonprofits build sustainable, engaged communities that. Lasting impact. Throughout his career, Floyd has raised over 20 million for grassroots organizations and has transformed the nonprofit landscape through strategic community building efforts. His expertise has been featured on platforms such as ESPN, LinkedIn, blavity, the anthem, awards, variety, Black Enterprise and wired additionally, brands including Nike Whole Foods, visa and and NBA 2k have sponsored his initiatives, showcasing the value of this his approach, passionate about turning engagement into long term support. Floyd helps leaders thrive with strategies that drive meaningful change as the newly appointed global Chair of black philanthropy month. Please, please, please. Floyd is committed to uplifting change makers worldwide, empowering them to expand their influence and create lasting impact. And just as incredible as he is of a change maker, he is that person behind the scenes. Floyd, come on, join me up here, my friend. I am so excited to see you and to welcome you as the keynote speaker of this year’s community conference. Mallory.

Mallory, Mallory, thank you so much. Thank you. You’ve been crushing it today. I’ve been watching you. You’ve been doing your thing.

You know me and you, we like to be in the same places. Feel that energy off of each other, to do this together exactly. Thank you. Thank you. All right, don’t a perfect community conference. How are y’all doing? I want to see it in the chat. My girl crystals in the chat. Who else we got in the chat? We got joy in the chat. Who else is here? Who else is here? I want to see it in the chat. I want to see it in the chat. Come on. Kenny was here, Rebecca’s here, Debra’s here, Corinna is here. Man is here, Riley’s here. I love to see it. Y’all okay, if you’ve never been to a Floyd Jones experience, okay, you already know that I like to keep it engaged. I like to keep it interesting. I’m a regular speaker, okay? I’m a fun speaker. So before we do anything else, when they said that this year’s theme is on connection, the first thing that popped into my mind was this song. Okay? So I want you to stretch a little bit. I don’t know what you’re doing. I want to just stretch. Maybe turn your head to the left and to the head to the right. Maybe do one of your leaves. Okay, and get ready. Get set. Because what we is there oh

Come on now, see, we have to start with a bang, okay. If you are ready to connect, I want to see it in the chat. Say I am ready in the chat, who is ready? I want to see ready in the chat. Who is ready? Megan’s ready. Christina’s ready. Casey is ready. Judy is ready. Anna’s ready. I love to Julia is ready. Come on now. I love to see it well. Y’all, I am ready to and I am so excited, so honored, so happy to be here. My name is Floyd Jones. I am based in New York City. Any New York people in the house? What Alicia Keith said, New York? Come on now. Well, I’m based in New York City. I’m a speaker coach, community builder. I’m also the founder of back black, like Mallory said, and I love working with change makers. If you are in the room, listen, if you are in the room, this is the place to be, okay, you have made a decision to invest in yourself, to invest in your community, to invest in your people, to invest in your cause. Come on, somebody. And if you are making a decision, guess what, I’m here to invest in you. Okay, I’m here to invest in you. I love working with organizations like you all, because, guess what? I don’t know how you feel, but I don’t think that the world is seeing some dark days right now. We are seeing some dark days right now. And you might think I’m just a fundraiser. I’m just a program officer, obviously, Marketing and Communications. No, you are a world changer. Okay, you are a change maker. And you are a light bearer. Okay, you are a light bearer in a dark world. And guess what? If you have a light, your job is to shine. Your job is to shine that light. If you have a candle, your job is to lift that candle in the sky and say, Guess what? It might be dark for you. It might be dark for you, but I’m going to light your candle. I’m going to turn on your life. Because if I turn on your light, you can see better. If I can see better, like you can see better than somebody else can see better. Okay? And if we can all start seeing clearly, maybe we can start operating on one page. Come on somebody. If we can all start operating on one page, imagine what the world would look like. And I believe that if you are on this call, and I believe if you’re working with the people that are doing it perfectly, and I believe if you’re getting an amazing organization, then you are a part of the change that we need to see in the world. So thank you. And guess what? Let’s get set and let’s go. Okay, I believe I sent y’all here and y’all ready to go. Okay, so come on now, today we have packed agenda. All right. We are going to talk all things, how to connect with your passion, your people, your purpose. And you know, me, I just throw a couple extra ones in there. I have to put in your power, okay? Because it’s all about connection. It’s all about connection. Our world is in deep need of connection. I was reading a stat the other day that said we are living in the most connected time in history, and we are also living in the most disconnected time in history. We’re living in the most connected time in history, but we’re also living in the most disconnected time in history. People are yearning for something deeper. People want to be a part of something deeper, and we are giving them that opportunity here. So we’re going to talk about that. All right, let’s jump into this content. Because, you know, I could go off all day. I want to see in the chat in one word, how would you describe the community you’re building or want to build? There could be some people who are here just getting started. But how would you describe the community you’re building through your work? Talk to me about your community. Oh, Deidre said, safe. I love that. Santa said, inclusive, hopeful. I’m seeing. I love that I’m seeing dignified. Come on, somebody stable and resilient. Christine said, engage. I see well. I love intentional, carries and growing, empathetic, advocate, kind, hopeful, collaborative. I love, love, love that. Well, my hope is that you can walk away from today’s session understanding a little bit more about how to make that possible. Now, y’all, I have a little confession to make. My first community experience. Let’s just say it wasn’t like that. Okay, we’re gonna take it back to young Floyd back in the day, and I see some of my favorite people in this chat as well. So y’all don’t give away, if you remember, but y’all so my first, let’s just talk about this. My first experience. I remember it was when I was invited to play soccer. Okay? My mom was like, Floyd, we gotta get you out. We gonna get you on this field. And y’all don’t let this cute face fool you. Those were actually Husky jeans. It’s okay. I’ve graduated from the Husky phase of my life, but it’s gonna be fine. And my mom was like, We need to get you into soccer. We need to get you outside. We need to get you moving. Okay, so I remember I’ve had my nice little cleats, I had my high socks, I had my shin guards, I had my jersey, I had my inhaler. Okay? I had an asthma at the time, so I would run a couple steps and take a quick little breath. It’s fine, because we made it through. But y’all, you couldn’t tell me nothing. I was ready to go. I was making my way in and out those tongues during practice, okay? But y’all, it got to the date of the first game. It got to the day of the first game, and I was like, All right, I’m ready. And for some reason the coach wasn’t putting me in you know how they said, Put me in coach, and I was ready for the coach to put me in like, I have been training all season. Okay, I’m ready for you to put me in coach. Thank you very much. They finally put me in the game. Okay, finally get me in the game. I’m running. I’m ready to get this ball. I’m running, I’m putting the inhaler. I’m running, I’m putting in the inhaler. So don’t worry about me. I was ready to go. Okay, come on, fiscal asthma, have her. Thank you, Amanda, I see you. We’re here. Okay, y’all, they finally passed the ball to me. Finally passed the ball to me. And when I got that ball, I was so excited. I said, you can’t tell me nothing. I am running on this field. I have a goal with all my night huffing and puffing, but I know I said, nothing’s gonna stop me. Okay, I’m gonna get this goal. I’m gonna show them. They’re gonna put me in every single time. No questions asked. Okay, y’all I scored. I actually scored. And here I go. I’m thinking, My people are gonna be like this. I can’t wait to turn around see all my people yelling, sharing, talking about We are family. You know how I got that back in okay? But y’all tell me why. This is what they was looking like. These kids were throwing juice boxes. Okay? I saw parents going like this, shaking their head. So my mom is doing one of these discussions. Her head on the side. Y’all, it turns out I scored in the wrong goal. I fought in the wrong goal. Exactly. Not the wrong way, exactly. Okay, tell me what. Listen, I marched off that field so sad. I said, Mom, this is not, this is not my calling. This is, this isn’t for me. Why? Why? Why Why would you have me do all this? Okay, y’all, but you know my saying? I said, first you don’t succeed. You want to try. Try again. Okay, so tell me why. A few years later, this time, I’m in middle school, and you know, I said, I have an idea. You know, I have a little I have my little ideas. I said, I have an idea. I said, Okay, maybe soccer wasn’t for me, but maybe another sport will okay. I said, so what am I gonna try? I had all these different ideas. I had all these different thoughts. Because, listen, I don’t know if you remember Middle School gym class, but it was brutal, okay? And I said, I gotta, we gotta, we gotta get in here. We gotta fit in all right? So I said, You know what? We gonna, we gonna, we gonna try. We gonna try something. Y’all, let me tell you how that idea went. Exactly, exactly, because I decided to try kickball. I decided to try kickball. First of all, do you see this face? Do you see the wind up here? Do you see the passion in this space, Okay, y’all, I said we gonna, I said they never gonna count me out again. Tell me why I did all of this work, and they still caught the ball. This was me. This is me. I was just stressed out. I said not I did all this work, and y’all still caught the ball time, and y’all over the years, I couldn’t figure out, well, first of all, I couldn’t figure out why my hand eye coordination wasn’t hand eye coordinating like it was supposed to but I also couldn’t figure out why I so desperately wanted to fit in on these teams. Why did I so desperately want to fit myself into these circles that were just not meant for me at the time. Why was I trying so hard to be accepted into these groups? And I don’t know about you, and maybe that resonates a little bit, but maybe sometimes we’re trying to fit ourselves into front groups that aren’t quite right. Maybe we’re trying to fit ourselves into relationships that aren’t quite right. Maybe we’re trying to fit ourselves into into into scenarios and work environments that aren’t quite right, right? Maybe we’re trying to fit ourselves into these spaces that weren’t meant for us, and we wonder why we get burnt out, frustrated feeling low, right? And it wasn’t until lots of trial and error and lots of therapy that I realized that what I was feeling was disconnected. I was feeling disconnected and I desperately wanted to try and be connected, right? I wanted to fit in. Let’s just talk about fitting in for a second. All right. Did you know that social rejection triggers the same part of the brain as physical pain. Social rejection triggers the same part of the brain as physical pain. And the fear of being judged lights up the same part of the brain

as danger. It led to the same part of the brain as danger. So this is why we do what we do, so we can fit in, so we are not alone, and y’all, you’re not by yourself. This is something that has been happening for centuries. Okay? We’ve had to conform to survive. We’ve had to fit in to survive, right? We’ve had to do what we had to do. Listen, you don’t want to be standing out during the Ice Age. Okay? You don’t this is not the time to be unique, right? It was not the time to be unique during the Ice Age. You don’t be eating by No, mammoths, by no, by No, by no, snow storms. You want to fit in, right? But we’re not in the ice age anymore, and we’re not in the stone age anymore. Come on, somebody but tell me why our strategies are still stuck in stone. Why are strategies still stuck in stone? Why are we still doing one size fits all communications to our donors. Talk about where Donor Perfect well, how do we start acting perfectly to our people? Right? Why are our strategies still sucking? So? Why are we still asking people just do something instead of opposed to actually grow with us. Why are we building for transaction over actual transformation? Why are we building just for the money and not for the miracle that can happen because of the money? I always say relationship first, and then the revenue will come people first, and then the profit will come community first, and then the currency will come but we have got it some way along the way. We’ve got it all twisted and backwards, right? Because we’re trying to fit in. We’re trying to build the organization on the street. We’re trying to be at the organization on LinkedIn. We’re trying to build the organization that we see winning that award. But you are called to your community. You are called to your people. You are called to certainly, your assignment. Am I? Are you tracking with me? Are you tracking with me? You weren’t made to fit in. You are made to stand out. You are made to fit in. You have your mission for a reason. You are drawn to your organization for a reason. You are drawn to your calling for a reason. You are made to serve that purpose, not just be what everybody else is being. Are you tracking with me? And so I realized, what I realized is that fitting in and connection, true and lasting connection, is not about fitting in at all. It’s about belonging. It’s about belonging. I came across this quote from Brene Brown. And we call her sister Brene in our home, because we just she always speaks to the truth, okay. But Brene Brown said, belonging is being somewhere where you want to be and they want you. Let me read that again. Belonging is being somewhere where you want to be and they want you. Fitting in is being somewhere you want to be, but they don’t care one way or another. Belonging is being accepted for you. Fitting in is being accepted for being like everyone else. Before we jump in any longer, I want you to ask yourself a question, do your donors feel wanted by you, or do they just feel like you want something from them? Do you actually want to be around your community members, or do you want something from them? Do you want to be around your volunteers, or do you just want something from them, because your people can tell the difference. Your people can tell the difference. And so as I began going throughout my career, I realized I am not operating and trying to fit in any longer. I want to build for belonging. And one other thing that I want to say before we dive in, because I always say this, and it’s so incredibly true, you have to build for belonging. You can’t just build for a donation. If a donation is all that you want, then a donation is all that you going to get. But guess what? When there’s economic turmoil, when the tears are too high, guess what? The first one to go is your donation. You’re not building for a donation. You’re building for believers, because believers in your organization are going to take your organization to its breakthrough. Are you tracking with me? So I said, whatever I do in my life, whatever I do in my career, I’m going to build for belonging. I’m going to build for belonging. I’m just popping in the chat. I’m seeing y’all are tracking me up over here. All right, let’s get going before we get to Are y’all, are y’all here? Are y’all with me? I want to see it in the chat. Okay, Martha is here with me. I love it. Mike is here with me. I love it. I love it. Megan is here. Tesla’s here, and let’s see. Okay, let’s keep the party going. All right, so, believe it or not, lo and behold. Behold it low. Okay, my, one of my first fundraising job was at a sports organization. Okay, believe it or not, I always crack up because I was like, Listen, this was on my forte, but I also saw the power and the belonging that happens and the connection that happens in sports. And so when I found this organization, they are called the bolo Kids Foundation, and they provide free sports for kids all across the country. And it’s so funny, because y’all I remember when I got this job, they had no fundraising apparatus. There was no development operation, there was no donor list. They didn’t have any of that. Okay, my salary was fully covered by the chairman of the organization. Okay? Because they had no donors and people. They could call it. It was me. It was me and a dream. Okay? And so I remember when I first got start situated with the organization, I was like, You know what? Even though I didn’t always have the best experiences, I’m gonna work and make sure that we can create an environment for every child, okay, I’m gonna make sure that every child can play. I’m gonna make sure that every child has an opportunity. I’m gonna make sure that doesn’t matter what goal you score, and if you score on this field, the next field, you belong here. Come on somebody. And you know what? That’s what I’m gonna say. That is why we’re change makers. Where people see problems, we see possibility. When people say no, we see yes. When people close the door, we see an open door. Are you trying to let me that’s why we do what we do. That’s why we do what we do. That’s why connection and the field of connection is so incredibly important. Because the problems that we’re trying to solve, the world has already turned its back on. The problem that we’re trying to solve, people already said it’s impossible, the problem that we’re trying to solve, people already said we’re done with that. But you are showing up day in and day out and say yes we can. You’re saying yes we can. Okay, so anyway, let me get back. Y’all don’t get me started. Okay? Because for me, I can start anyway. We’re gonna bring it back anyway. So this organization that I started working with called the volo Kids Foundation, our number one job. Was to provide free sports for kids all across the country, and we just got the party started in Baltimore City. I’m from Maryland, okay? I grew up in Maryland, born and raised, alright? And we started in Baltimore City, and I knew that we needed to raise $5,000 because $5,000 was what it costed us to provide a free program for kids for eight weeks. Okay? We needed eight weeks, eight weeks to cover the cost of the field, the jersey, the snacks, and we were able to take care of 50 kids during that program. And I was like, Y’all, we need to start raising this money. But y’all, as I had mentioned, we didn’t have a development operation, we didn’t have a donor list. We didn’t have all these grand donors. So we were trying to figure out what we’re going to do, right? And I don’t know if we’re going to raise $5 or $500 or definitely got no 5000 and I was like, You know what I do? What I tell people not to do? I just put the number out and I pray, okay, post and pray. When we say post and pray, okay? But I said, we want to put this number out. We know how much we need to raise, so at least, let’s get the party started. Okay, but I had one ask of our donors on Giving Tuesday, I said, I asked our volunteers as our partners. I said, on Giving Tuesday, I want you to make a picture of yourself as a kid playing a sport. Okay, now, can we just have a moment real quick to just take it in, because you see, I still, I still got the smile. Okay, it was a soccer it wasn’t kickball, it wasn’t baseball, but the baseball had the best pictures. Come on somebody. I know that’s right, alright. Anyhow. So I said on Giving Tuesday, I need you to make your profile picture, a picture of you as a child playing a sport. I asked our volunteers, I asked the parents of the kids, I asked the program partners, literally, if you knew how to say the word sport. I said, Can you do can you do this for me? On Giving Tuesday, please. Thank you. But y’all, something powerful happened on Giving Tuesday, not only did the volunteers change their pictures, not only did the parents change their pictures as well, but people started commenting, and they were saying, I remember when I was a child playing a sport, and my child is now playing soccer, and people would share the post, and people who wouldn’t even ask to get involved, they started changing their profile picture as well, and changing their picture to them as a child playing a sport, And we started to see this first viral moment happened. And y’all on Giving Tuesday, we didn’t end up raising $5,000 we ended up raising over $30,000 in that day, over $30,000 in that day. And y’all something even more powerful happened? People, the volunteers, came back to us the year after, and they said, When is every child going to play again? Also remember what I talked about before, about how what you do matters. If you notice the tagline, look at the tagline in this campaign. The tagline is so every child can play. That became my motto. I didn’t even realize it until I’m talking to you right now. Sometimes the hard thing that you go through is gonna lead you to the breakthrough in the next season of your life, right? Sometimes the hardship is gonna take you higher in your life, right? You don’t know that you’re going through something right now, but it’s gonna be the thing that propels you in the next season of your life. Are you tracking with me? Okay, so y’all, we ended up raising over $30,000 in that day. But then, y’all, even more powerful, the volunteers came to us the following year, and they said, Hey,

we’re ready. We want to help raise money. And they end up raising over $60,000 the following year, and they came back the year again, and they end up raising over $90,000 and they came back again. They raised over $110,000 y’all, I am not even at the organization anymore, and they are still doing so every child can play. Guess how much they raised last year? Over $250,000 on this campaign. Yes, come on, Santa. You can tell. You can attest, volo is huge in Baltimore, over $250,000 they are still doing the same campaign. What did I learn? What did I learn? It is about connection. It’s all about connection. And so today we’re gonna dive even deeper about connection. And there are a few principles I have learned throughout the course of my career that you need to weave into your mission if you want people to connect. Okay, the first people need to connect with your passion. Y’all think I’m out here doing the most, and I am, rightfully so. We dancing, we laughing, we clapping, we emoji in and all the things, but people have to connect. I want you to feel what I’m feeling, right? I want you to understand where I’m trying to go with this, right? And you have to be able to go. And people need to know where you want to go. They can flow with you right. Track with me, right? So people need to connect with your passion. How I always say the five S’s, you gotta set an intention. You. You gotta set a goal. You gotta share your story, you gotta do segmentation, and then you gotta mobilize your supporters. So let’s dive into this. Intention is key. And I say this all of the time. Alignment determines your assignment. Alignment determines your assignment. I remember when I was going back and thinking about what job I wanted to take. It was actually between volo and another organization. It was between volo and another organization, and I was just like, I had no idea what drew me into volo, that I knew was going to be an uphill battle. I knew it was going to be even more things, but I was aligned, and I knew that I wanted to build community. And y’all, what did I just say? The campaign of what did I just say? The name of the campaign was called so every child can play. I didn’t even I wasn’t even always cognizant of what I was doing, but I knew that I wanted to create a world where everyone felt like they belonged. I learned in volo. I was going to do it through sport. Why is it so important? So many people and y’all, I have worked with organizations from here all around the world. Okay, my family’s from West Africa. We do work there. I’ve traveled to South Africa multiple times, and did work with an organization I had done work with organizations all around the world. Okay, and raise money for organizations all around the world. I see so many people, and they start by saying, I want to raise a million dollars, and I’m like Me too. Me too. But what does that dollar amount mean? What does it mean? I would say there has to be meaning behind the metrics, there has to be a purpose behind everything that you’re doing. There has to be a purpose behind what you put on the surface. Come on, somebody. So what is your intention? And as you’re preparing to do your next campaign, and as you’re preparing to plan and do whatever you got to do next year for your organization, what is the intention behind this campaign? Then you set a goal, then you set a goal. And this is where you have to ask yourself these questions, what do you need and why do you need it? Like, what do you actually need? Right now for us, we needed to put on a program because we knew the impact of the programs that I have on the kids. What do you need and why do you need it? How much will it cost to get you what you need? That’s another big thing. So many people talk about the program that they want to do, but when are you sitting down actually building on your budget? And I want you to think about all of the pieces of the budget, right? How much is the overhead? And I know overhead is a scary word, I must say it. How much is the overhead? Okay, because we got to get paid. Come on, somebody, right? But how much is a program cost? How much of the operation cost? How much do the tools that you’re utilizing, right? We need to actually understand and actually know. You have to get into the nitty gritty. Someone asked me, oh, what are your What are your basically, when I started rattling them off and letting people know I know at the back end of my hand. So how much will it cost to get you what you need? And then also a big question, Who do you need to be in order to accomplish this goal? Every single day, I write out in the morning. I journal every single morning, but I also start writing out three affirmations and three wins and three goals that I have for my day. And someone was just like, okay, you know, you don’t want to be too cocky. And I said, No, because so many people, especially people who look like me, we spent a lifetime discounting our wins, especially people in our sector. We spend a lifetime discrediting ourselves, not talking about our worth, not talking about the work that we bringing into the world. Come on, somebody the nonprofit sector is employing 10 to 15% of the entire workforce. We are making change. We are change makers, quite literally. So I am going to talk about my wins. I am going to talk about what I’m doing. I am going to talk about who I am, so I can know who I am, and I can operate from my purpose. Who do you need to be in order to accomplish this goal? Before we launch our first campaign? I remember that $5,000 campaign the night before, I was driving home, and I literally was like, I don’t know if we’re gonna do this. I was praying. I was calling like, I knew I was I’m not sure if we’re gonna actually make this thing happen. But what did I have? I have? I have my heart, and when I have my heart, that I have hope, and if you have hope, that you can make that hope come alive, you have to ask yourself, Who do you need to be to step into that goal and see it come to pass? And then you stay focused and you work on achieving it next point. Now I’m gonna spend a little bit of time here on segmenting your audience. Okay? Because this is really, really, really important. Every organization that I work with, every client that I have, I say, open up that database, because you need to know who your people are. It’s not one size fits all for all your people. You. It’s not one size fits all. So we dive deep into your donor base. If there’s anything that you take notes on, take notes on these next couple of slides. Okay, first, when I’m segmenting my audience and I’m looking at my donor database, here are the different categories that I’m actually looking at. Okay, one is recency. How long have donors been giving to your organization? Are they legacy donors? Right? Have they been giving for multiple years? Because, guess what? And also, can I just say something, these categories are not random. You can literally build campaigns around these categories. When I work with organizations, a lot of them say, well, we want to be able to grow our donor base, and we want to be able to have any more individual donors, okay, well, which, which ones are we? Are we talking about? Are we talking about the $20 donors that you found on social media, which are amazing and great, okay? Or are you talking about your major donors, right? Are you talking about corporate donors? Are you talking about program we need to know. You need to know determines your assignment, right? So first is recency. How long have been donors been giving? Second is frequency. How often do donors give, right? Are they giving monthly? Are they giving quarterly? Are they giving annually? Are they getting? Are they a one time donor? All these different things are important, so track how often are donors giving these things I’m about to tell you. I want you to take this list and pick a few of them right method. How are donors giving? Are they giving via social media? Are they giving over email. Are they giving over text, right? Are they? Are they giving because of a digital campaign? Are they a person who likes to give money in person? Are they giving via check, and they still do exist? Come on, somebody. People love a good letter writing campaign, but figure out how are donors giving? You need to segment who are my letter writing campaign donors. You need to segment who are the donors who are giving via social media. Campaign segment. Who are the donors who are responding to text one of my friends who I was learning from as I started fundraising, they would always tell me, your donors will let you know how they want to be communicated with meaning. If they’re responding via email. Keep on going down email. If you’re responding over a text message, keep on going over text message. It’s not rocket science. Next is amount, how much are your donors giving? And I’ll put low, medium high, but I want to put a quote around it, because this is so unique to your organization, right? What’s low to me might not be low to you. What’s high to you might not be high to me, right? But you do need to understand what that is, why, because you can start building campaigns around it, and I’m gonna show you how in just a second. Maybe you want to segment your audience by reason to why do donors give? Are they giving via fundraiser? Prompt, are they giving via media? Prompt, special event, right?

You had a chat. 

I just saw what you said. Margo. Margo, you can send me an email or send me something on social media, and I’ll send it to you directly. It to you directly. Okay, but why do donors get fundraiser, prime media, prom special event. Also track interest. What topics are your donors most interested in specific program, specific campaign or an initiative? Some people only want to give to your your scholarship fund, some people might only want to give to a specific program that you have. I know I’m like that for some programs, some programs, I’m like, Yeah, I really care about this program. I want to see it succeed, right? Well, for my alma mater, I don’t be donate. I mean, I love my alma mater. Don’t have to look at you see, but there’s specific clubs that change my life that I want to be able to invest in, right? So maybe you’re segmenting donors by what topics they’re most interested in, and the last thing is, what type of donor is it? Maybe you’re you’re you want to segment by. Maybe they’re a fundraiser for a peer to peer campaign, maybe they’re a corporate sponsor, maybe they’re a recurring donor, right? You need to know which segment you’re segmenting and why. Because when you’re building out your campaign, and I literally do this every single even today, my campaigns, we’re raising millions of dollars, and I still do this formula. For example, maybe you want four major donors right to get $5,000 each, and that’s $20,000 right? So you’re segmenting based on the donor amount. Maybe you’re saying um, Member Type, right? And you’re segmenting by Member Type. So you want 15 past fundraisers to raise $1,000 each. That’s $15,000.50 pass scholarship donors to get 200 Dollars each, that’s $10,000 so you’re segmenting by member interest, right? 100 past one time donors giving $50 each. That’s segmenting my donor frequency. So the main thing that I really want y’all to do is take when you’re going into your donor database, actually download your donor database, right? And actually go and segment based off of some of these categories, some of these category areas, okay, and then you can build a plan around that. I gotta keep going. I got two other topics, but we do have a free download. I’m trying to get trendy. Y’all, I was literally talking to Maui before I came downstairs, trying to get trendy. But y’all, I broke down all these different things and so much more. I’ll give you, like, five seconds. You can download this download, but we break down all the different segments, and then you have a workbook to plan. And you know what? If you download this and take a screenshot of your actual homework, right? I’ll choose one of y’all. I will do a session. I’ll give you a free session, and we’ll sit down and actually build your segmentation strategy out. Okay, don’t say Floyd, don’t give you nothing. Okay, it’s not just talk. All right, y’all alright. Can I keep going? Are y’all ready for me to keep on going? Y’all ready? Thank you, Emily, you’re doing the Lord’s work. Okay, test us. All right. Let’s keep it going. All right. Next, mobilize your your supporters, so you want to assemble your dream team, right? These are the fierce advocates. These are the people who are you know, they’re the means of the world, right? They’re ready to open up a door. They’re ready to be a champion for your cause, right? Champions. They’re superstar volunteers. And y’all know who your superstar volunteers are, the people who don’t miss a Monday, okay, who are always there at Food Bank, who are always put the side of a volunteer. Why is it so important? Why is it so important? Because these people care and you cannot teach passion. You can’t teach passion. You can train people how to fundraise. You can tell them what to do. You can ask them to share a post, but you cannot teach passion. And if people are showing you that they are passionate about your cause, believe them. Believe them next. Share your story, right? So I’m gonna show you all what I did, but you have to share an individual narrative, right? And it’s a two way conversion. It’s hooking a guide and power and result. So I’m sure you what that means, hook. You see the smile that’s the hook that’s going to bring your people in. Okay, not only because I got the big pearly whites, I got a little bit of dimples, but because who can deny a cute, smiling kid, right? And you’re automatically hooking somebody in because they can relate. They were a child who played sports once before too. That’s the hook. The guy is, Hey, I am volunteering for this organization. And free sports is something that’s not happening for kids all around the country, but you in power, have the power to make it free for every single child, right? And if you donate $50 today, the result, this child will be able to access this program for eight weeks. So you gotta create a it’s a pathway, and we’re going to talk a little bit more about the hook in just a second. So after you connect people with your passion, you have to dive deeper and connect with your people. So meet bird TLC. They’re an amazing organization based in Alaska. They’ve been working with the Alaska wild bird since 1988 Okay, and, you know, quick aside, so this is a little slowing. Again. I have lots of pictures. I love storytelling. But y’all, I remember the first time my parents were like, we’re gonna go to the beach. Okay. This is me. This is my brother, Wayne, okay. I remember the first time that we were gonna go to the beach. And y’all, Britney Spears, sometimes I run. Just came out, so I was literally having my sometimes I run. Moment in my mind, I was like, sometimes I run, okay, sometimes I hide. I was ready to be living, I mean, a local on this beach, okay? And so there’s a scene with birds, and I was like, oh my god, I literally get to reenact this birds on the beach moment. Y’all tell me why. This was me, instead of those birds walking in. This was not Sound of Music, okay, this was angry birds. They was attacking me. Nobody told me I shouldn’t walk with some bread. All of a sudden, my my best life, my little bread. And then they started attacking me. Okay, wow. It was a mess. Anyhow. So when I met bird TLC for the first time, I did have a little trauma, but we’re healing. Okay, we’re healing from it. It’s fine. Anyhow. So I remember bird TLC, they were looking for ways to grow their social media presence, and in the beginning, I was looking at their content, and their content was good, and, oh, all my all my Canadian family, I see y’all in the chat. Don’t worry, just sign up and then you can shoot me. Email, and I will send it to you directly. Okay, I see my Canadian family in the house anyway, so word TLC, I was looking at their social media in the beginning, and they were getting like 100 views, a couple of 1000 views, like it was a good amount. But I specifically remember we had a session, and in my session, all on social media, because, you know, I love to, yeah, I was telling people about adding hooks to their videos. Now I am not a super mega star, okay. However, I have had a few multiple videos go viral on multiple platforms, from Tiktok to LinkedIn and beyond. So I learned a thing or two, and Laura from burntlc posted yesterday, I watched the recording of social media strategies for success, and notice something that I had not been doing on our reels, adding a caption with a hook. I tried it yesterday, and I’m happy the results so far, this reel has had 20,000 plays, 798 reactions, 115 shares. Y’all, I was blown away. I was like, I know I’m good, but am I that good? But it’s a simple philosophy. You need to invite your people in, and a hook is a very easy way to do that. Yo, this is the video. This is the video they were talking about.

Just a quick video. I was watching this. This was doing it popping off. But you know what? Guess what? They know their community, all the bird watchers of the world, and all the people who love that bird population, they know their community, and they know them well. And the thing that always blows me away is that so many of us think there’s not enough donors out there, there’s not enough supporters out there. There’s not enough people who want to care about our cause. Y’all. We live in 2025 we live in the age of chat, GPT. We live in the age where everybody has internet, everybody has access to a phone. Okay? There are people who want to support you. Are you showing up? There are people who want to support you. Are you letting them? There are people who want to support you. Are you inviting them in? Right if bird TLC in Alaska can go viral multiple times, surely you can. And they were and guess what? It didn’t stop there. It did not stop there. All of their they started adding hooks to all their videos, and now their videos are getting 1020, 3040, 50,000 views. Some of their videos now even have up to 6 million views on them. 6 million views, y’all. The thing that even blew me away, even more is that Laura posted 980 times before that first viral post. Now they have over 13, almost 13,000 followers. Why is it that you post one time and you said, nobody responded, and you say, I’m done. Why is it that you send one email and your people don’t respond? You say, I’m done. Why is it that you send one outreach letter campaign and nobody responded? They said, I’m done. Laura posted 980 times before that first viral video, when people want to support you, are you letting them people want to support you? Are you inviting them in, and someone to set an example of a hook. A hook is exactly this. You see the writing on the campaign. Who knew some adult bald eagles behave like toddlers at mealtime. You’re in. It’s literally just inviting somebody in, all these little captions and hooks on the on the post. It’s called a hook, because it’s hooking people in in the world of infinite scrolling, you need something to capture your people’s attention, right? So, and also, it’s not just in fundraisers. She I mean, it’s not just on social media. It’s actually translating into their fundraisers right around Valentine’s Day, Laura actually said they posted a Valentine’s Day campaign on social media where people could give $10 or $100 and they’ll have one of their birds eat a worm on behalf of their of their ex. I’m not gonna show you the video, because that traumatized me for sure. Okay, but this campaign went literally viral. It was literally picked up by the Associated Press. It was picked up by BC BBC. They had donors from 41 states in over seven countries. She literally had to turn the campaign off because they were getting donors from everywhere, and they didn’t have enough birds to keep up the demand. And they raised over $19,000 and they call it love hurts, and this was their campaign page. It wasn’t some elaborate campaign page, it was just a donation page.

Y’all, you can make an impact. 

Okay, so how do you connect with your people? There are the three Ds of Connect. Connection. Y’all know me in alliteration by now. I hope okay. So these are the three Ds of a little of connection. One, go deeper. What is the actual story you want to be able to go deeper with your donors. They want to know about the wins and the ups and the downs. So go deeper with them. And then two, give them directions. Give them directions. Tell them how they can support you and y’all. One thing I’ve been realizing, if your only CTA on your website is donate, you’re doing it wrong. You’re doing it wrong because it takes people, on average, six to seven touch points before they take any kind of action. So why not invite them to join your newsletter? Why not invite them to connect with you on social media? Why not invite them to volunteer with you, right? But you have to give them directions, One Direction per campaign, because once people know your story, they want to help you soar through the third D is daily, and now you don’t actually have to post or can you know, connect daily, right? But you have to be consistent. Consistency is key. How often are you communicating with your community? And set a cadence and stick with it. People want regular updates, not just another Ask. Okay, so after you connect with your passion, after you connect people with connect with your people, then you gotta connect with your purpose. You have to connect with your purpose. So y’all, I find thank God. I finally found my calling in the arts. Okay? I finally found my calling in the arts, right? And I didn’t realize that, first of all, any former theater kids in the house. I saw somebody talking about the theater kids the fundraiser pipeline. And it’s a real thing, okay? It’s a real thing. Come on, Shirley, I see you, Sarah, I see you. I love that. I love that. But y’all, I finally found my colleague in the arts, and I realized that my passion for people and passion for art would lead me to speaking and fundraising. And as I mentioned, I’ve been able to raise millions of dollars throughout the course of my career. But one thing that I’ve noticed throughout all the work that I’ve been doing, is that organizations led by people who look like me often go under resourced. In fact, black LED nonprofits only receive one to 2% of funding globally. So all the billions of dollars of philanthropic funding that goes through black led organizations are only receiving one to 2% of funding. And it doesn’t stop there, right? 53% of black led organizations rely on one to two major donors. 31% of black LED nonprofits operate on budgets of less than $30,000 a year. 44% of black LED nonprofits have no full time staff members. But what did I say at the beginning of this call, I’m a change maker, and so are you. And when we see problem, when people see problems, we see potential and we see possibility, right? And so I decided to take a step, and I created back black, and our mission is to fund and fuel black led organizations and black change makers around the world. And I finally feel like I found a passion and I found my purpose. But like many of you on this call, just because you have a passion and just because you have a call don’t mean you have the cash to back it up. Come on, somebody, right? I didn’t have a lot of cash in the beginning, but I did have a lot of connection. I did have a lot of connection, and I use that connection. So what did I do? I did three things, and first, I told my story. I told my story. So I’m gonna go ahead and share a quick little video of that for you now.

What does the future look like? Is it subdued or is it sublime? Do we radiate, or do we decline, push through, or do we pacify? We fought for freedom. It wasn’t granted. We blazed our path, notwithstanding, chains, whips, sundown towns broke our bones and stole our crowns. No one to save us. This we know a tale as old as the wind that blows learning and growing. In spite of hesitation in self, we find our healing in liberation. Ask the black child of whom they descended, how far back can they really remember our history was stripped and we lament to get the glory in us all still stay cemented. Pen me in homage and dollars in equity. Pay your respects because I’ve come from royalty, sunlight, water, good soil and a seed, a bouncing for harvest of what we will receive together. We stand forever. We rise alien and spear without compromise, from Africa to America, beyond every quarter, we only get stronger as a second thing, shorter design for what stand down to from the runner on the track to the pharaoh in the tomb, our legacy transcends what could ever be consumed. Mean we and our children’s children’s children are the proof. We create the culture we drop things forward. We are our ancestors, greatest Memorial. The truth is under pressure. We crystallize in fact, and when we return, we go back to black.

It. So as I had mentioned, my number one job and my number one goal was to share my story, because, like I said, I didn’t have a lot of cash, but I had my story and I had connection. So I do exactly what I tell you all to do. I also sent an email. It’s so funny that I think you guys should see Mallory’s name, the first name on this email. But I did exactly what I tell everyone to do, reach out to your community. Reach out to your community, because your community will carry you when you don’t know where to go next, your people propel you when you don’t when you feel like you’ve lost your way, your people will be the way, right? Your people will be the way. And so I reached out to all my people. I said, y’all, I’m trying to figure this out, but I need y’all to do one thing for me. Okay, share this video. Y’all, y’all think I got new tricks. Y’all, I’m doing the same playbooks, right, but finding nuance. I said, share this video, right? Share about our campaign. At the time, I have been able to mobilize $100,000 in matching funds for organization. But y’all, the results blew me away. We had over 14,000 website views from that campaign. Okay? We had over 1 million unique impressions from our LinkedIn campaign. We became the first ranking on Google. If you literally type in back black, you’re gonna see AC, DC and me, okay, but the impact that really mattered. We were able to support over 770 organizations and raise over $1.3 million and we did it in just five weeks. We did it in just five weeks. So how do you connect with your purpose? You have to remember, why did you get involved in this work to begin with, you have to reflect what is keeping you connected to this work. And then you have to realize your power. You have to realize your power. You have to connect with your power, because when you know your power, nothing can stop you. When you know your power, you are on a different trajectory. It’s going to lift other people higher. It’s going to lift other people higher. And that leads me to the last point, which is connecting with your power. The thing that the last stuff that I’ll leave you guys with is, I don’t know if you guys have heard of the lotus flower, and I’m not talking about white lotus, okay, because child I show sometimes is a mess, okay, but I’m talking about the lotus flower. I’ll start and look up more about the lotus. I was like, wow, there are TV shows about this rare flower. There are documentaries on this flower. It’s even woven into so many different religions, right? But if you do deeper research and understanding of this flower, you’re going to be blown away. Why? Because lotus flowers are water plants, so they start underwater, right? They also can only grow in mud. Also, these lotus flowers are incredibly rare, meaning that they do the work alone, right? And so as I leave this conference today, and as I close out this session today, and make me think about this theme of connection that a lot of times we think that connection starts with other people, but connection starts with your self. You have to be connected to yourself. You have to be connected to your purpose. You have to be connected on your own. You have to know your work for yourself before anybody else will ever realize it. And sometimes you’re gonna be have to go through the dust, right? Sometimes you have to go through the dirt, sometimes you have to go through the mud. Sometimes you’re gonna feel like you’re broke down, but you’re not broken down. You’re about to bloom. You’re not lost. You are a lotus. You are not low. You are a lotus. Okay, if you are on this call, you are worth it. You have power, and you truly are a change maker who is going to change the world. Because you understand and you know that the power of connection starts with connecting with your self first. Y’all, thank you. Thank you for having me. Thank you for being here. Thank you for spending your time with me today. And if nobody tells you I love you and I am rooting for you, okay, let’s stay connected, and thank you again.

Oh, Floyd, you know I, um, I have seen that video so many times, and have had just so many opportunities to watch you shine and bring so much hope and encouragement to this sector and y’all, we are lucky to live in the time of Floyd Jones. Can we just I need to see the chat explode right now. So lucky to be alive in the time of Floyd Jones. And there is a lot that is really hard right now, but there are a lot of things to be hopeful about. And one of the things that Floyd just showed you is what it looks like to be that hope for the people who need to hear your message. And he modeled for you by bringing it in all of the beautiful ways that he does, he showed you exactly how to bring that light and that hope to your people. Floyd, I’m I’m so grateful to live in the time of Floyd Jones and to get to witness you and and the everything you’re providing for this sector, for nonprofits to move so many critical missions forward. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you so much, sister, and thank you to everybody here on this call. And I just love what you just said miles, that we all have the same power, right? My flavor is not your flavor, and that’s okay, but I want you to find out what your favorite is, because guess what? People they need that in the world. They need you. They need your light in the world. So keep shining. Thank you, my sister.

Oh, I love you so much. And even if you can’t sing, I always say, you know, following Floyd or bringing Floyd on, I’m like, I really need to do my like, vocal training. But it’s true, and you will never hear me singing. We’ll leave that to Floyd. But thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you to everybody for attending day one of the DonorPerfect community conference. Tomorrow is such a special day. Again, if you haven’t yet, please mark your calendars beginning at 10:30am pacific standard time where Lauren Sheehan, the president of DonorPerfect, and Moyes Mohammed, Director of Product, will open the day with building a stronger connection behind the scenes at DonorPerfect, followed by the DonorPerfect expert trainers who are amazing and who will be navigating you through DonorPerfect With session topics such as donor retention, donor data, insights and sharing gratitude for your supporters, so you do not want to miss all the information pack sessions. And I just want to say, you know, Floyd ended up ending this session saying something that I said at the very, very beginning of the day, which is that connection starts inside of you with your connection to yourself. And I just want to put a pin on that, because that’s how we open the day, and that’s how he closed the day. And what, what an important reminder that everything that we’re talking about, that all of the different strategies that all these amazing speakers today rolled out, none of them can happen without you. So thank you all so much for being you, for doing the work that you do, for moving money towards what matters most. We are so grateful for you.