Courage Is the Catalyst

Hi, I started this podcast because fundraisers everywhere are terrified to do their jobs. I'm the kind of gal who just gets right to the heart of the matter and years ago, I saw that there was such a gap in helping nonprofit fundraisers get person. Courage to ask for more. There was no one, no consultant, no trainer, no place to go to address the fact that we are overcome with fear in asking people with financial wealth for more towards our mission. And I, I thought, okay, if there's a gap here, I can help address this because this is a, a challenge and a struggle that I have dealt with in my own career. I've been fundraising for 13 years now in Los Angeles and all over the nation. And I've learned so much from the very best who raised seven figure gifts over the phone from people they've never met. I've also dealt with my own fear in fundraising and learned how to overcome that and how to constantly raise the ceiling for myself on what's possible. Our lack of courage friends is stopping us from changing our communities faster. It is stopping us from seeing global issues. Be completely eliminated. There are problems that we can solve in our lifetime. If we have the courage to ask people to join us in the fight, I am so convinced that courage is the biggest skills gap in the nonprofit sector. It certainly isn't work ethic. It certainly isn't passion. And it certainly isn't. Subject matter expertise, knowing what your community needs, its courage. And so there wasn't really a space where people could go and develop their personal courage and develop their fundraising skills. And it's such a prevalent problem, junior and, and more green fundraisers as well as people. Who have been doing this for decades? It's universal that we are afraid to talk to wealthy people about giving a large gift, whatever we consider a large gift for some that's $10,000. Maybe that makes you wanna throw up, asking somebody for 10 K to their face. For some that's a hundred thousand dollars or $250,000 or a million or 5 million. It's normal to be afraid it's normal. But when we are afraid, our world gets smaller and we get selfish. And so I wanted to create a space to have an honest conversation about how we must develop our own personal courage in order to change the world. We gotta do it. It's something that we personally have to take ownership over, and this really is a lab. It is meant for this to be a learning experience. I do not expect anybody to get this right, right out of the gate. If you have been making decisions, how much to ask for who to. Who to not ask based on your fear, fear of being rejected, fear of being perceived like you are out for someone's wallet, only that you are greedy, that you aren't grateful for. What people already give that asking for more is the biggest risk you can take. I want you to be able to embrace the trial in the. This is truly a courage lab where you can test it out. Let's test it out. Let's test courage out. Let's test out, taking calculated risks and expanding our threshold of the risks we're willing to take because here's the tough truth. This is a pill. That's gonna be tough to. We put our comfort before the mission all the time. And that is precisely why our organizations stay small. And I've done this personally. I remember when I was earlier in my fundraising career and I went to go and ask someone for a major gift. I got a meeting with this partner at a big. And we had a coffee meeting scheduled. I go to the coffee shop. That's right outside of his high rise building where his office was, we sit down, we talk, we chit chat and I had a plan and I mustered up the courage to ask him for $2,500. And I will never forget the look on his. It was like, he just became sunken and he was no longer smiling. And it was almost like what I just said was a total drag. And he said, sure, Julie, I can give you $2,500. And he reached into his suitcase. He pulled out a checkbook. Yes. He pulled out a checkbook and. He just wrote a check for $2,500 and he did not enjoy doing that. And I knew right in that moment, oh shit. I just left so much money on the table. And I disappointed this guy. I disappointed myself. He wasn't excited to give $2,500, but it was all that I was asking for because that was the level of courage that I had at the time. Are you getting. I know you can relate to this. Some of you you're comfortable in that 25 K 30 K space. And so that is the biggest gift that you're getting right now, because that's what you're used to. Not because it's what people can give. Not because it's actually what you need. So this journey. Courage and developing our own personal courage and fundraising skills. They're connected. It's not like courage and how you fundraise are two distinct things here. Your personal level of courage, it affects the way that you implement your strategy, or if you don't implement it at. Major gifts and asking individuals for 10 K plus gifts is the most effective way to raise unrestricted dollars for your organization. And yet we prioritize writing grants. We spend. Months and months writing a 12 to a 20 page document, a frigging dissertation to an organization, a foundation institutional, whatever it is, maybe we'll get money. Maybe we won't, maybe we'll get zero. We'll spend all that time and be granted nothing. Why do we do. We spend months and months planning a gala that if we're, we're doing pretty decent at, we might raise six figures, maybe seven, we spend so much time focused on government contracts and all of these ways to raise money tie, at least one hand behind our. It's not the most effective use of our time. When you raise major gifts, you can send a donor, maybe two or three emails and get a one hour meeting. And that's a 10 K gift. so what do you think is more efficient? What do you think is more of a sure thing? It's the one that takes the most courage, writing a grant proposal and getting rejected over email is not as personal as sitting across from someone face to face, asking them straight up for six figures and then receiving what they say to you directly. That takes guts. It takes guts and that's. We don't do it as much. It's not necessarily because grant writing is the best strategy for our organization. It's because we can handle the rejection because it's completely impersonal. It's another thing to go to a wealthy neighbor or friend and ask them for more. It's another thing. So if it's the most efficient way, then why don't we do it? We know that people have the money. We know that they're interested, especially if they've been a previous donor. We know that they care. What on earth is stopping us. It's our lack of courage. Humility is the root of courage. And we'll really get into that much more in later episodes, but it's about remembering it. Isn't about me. It's not about me. It's not about how I will be perceived. It's not about my reputation. It's not about my comfort level. It's not about doing what I'm used to or even doing what I'm historically good. This is why I always say, if you wanna raise more money and change the world, this is the place for you because no one changes the world. Without first changing themselves, donors are not inspired or. Invited to give more. When we are accepting the scraps, when we ask for more, it not only creates a greater impact in our communities. It impacts the donor asking them to give more is a gift to them. It is truly an in. We've got to transform the way that we see this, the way that we see fundraising, the way that we relate to major gifts, people want to be generous. They care so much, and they would be honored to receive an invitation from you to step up and lead by giving generous. So we've got to change the way that we relate to major gifts fundraising, the way that we see ourselves in our role in fundraising and in the community and how we relate to people who have money, all of this has to do with elevating your personal level of courage. And of course, We're gonna talk about fundraising skills strategy, because I'm a strategist. I'm big on strategy because on the flip flop of that, I have been courageous and not had a great strategy and it did not serve me. It didn't go well, I've been on both sides of this. I asked. Large six-figure gift. And the donor said, you know what? It's too soon. And I was so embarrassed and so deflated. I had to go back, uh, to my boss and tell them it was too soon. And I think it pushed the gift back, at least nine months. Because I was just jumping the gun in the relationship. I was moving things faster than they were developing organically. So I'm not suggesting that we ask for more blindly. Let's just go ask everybody for more right now. Not necessarily, but I'm willing to bet that you know who you need to. And how much you need to ask them for, and you don't do it because it terrifies you. You don't need to pay some consultant to come in and tell you who these major donors are, you know, who they are. It serves your lack of courage. It serves your. To not know who they are, you know who they are, and you have a better sense of what they could give and what they would be willing to give with the right ask at the right time and taking into consideration the relationship. All it takes is greater courage, and that's what I'm gonna help you do. I'm gonna help you develop your personal courage so that you can transform your community faster. I wanna help you raise more major gifts so that you can expand your impact. That is my why. I want to help you build your courage so that you can ask for more and you can do it with confidence, knowing that you are a leader in your donor's lives and that your mission is worthy of five, six, and seven figure unrestricted gifts from individual. So thank you for being here with me. I hope to encourage you. I have been told by friends and teammates that I am a spur and I spur them on. And so that's what this is gonna be. You're gonna get some encouragement and you're gonna get. A spur in your butt and it's gonna feel maybe a little bit like, Ooh, that hurts a little bit, but you need to hear it because I'm truly in your corner. And I want to see the world changed. I wanna see impact expanded. I wanna see the end of extreme poverty. I wanna see the end of the clean water crisis. I wanna see the end of human trafficking. I wanna see the end of homelessness. I know you do too. And how we get there is we build the courage and the strategy to ask for more stop accepting the bare minimum and the scraps. No more. My. So we are on this journey together. I will not let you settle for less. You're not alone. Don't judge yourself for being afraid. It's normal, it's normal. And we are going to develop that courage together so that you can grow your organization and your impact. See you next time.