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- [00:02]
A
This is Dr. Rob Harder with the Nonprofit Leadership podcast, Making youg World Better. What does it take to be an effective nonprofit leader today? What are the biggest challenges? What are the biggest obstacles? How should nonprofits fundraise in an economy that is constantly changing? All these reasons combined led me to start this show. And it's my hope that through this series, people can learn not only what it takes to be an effective nonprofit organization, but to hear from effective leaders who are who are successfully making a positive impact in their communities. We hope you enjoy the show as together we hear how they are making their world better. Hey everyone, this is Rob Harder, and you're listening to the Nonprofit Leadership Podcast. Thanks so much for tuning in today. So, fundraising We've had many conversations on this show about fundraising. I've had many experts come by and talk all about different ways you can look at fundraising differently, that you can be more effective with your fundraising. And today's conversation is no different. My guest today is Julie Campbell. In fact, maybe you were familiar with that name. She is the host of the Nonprofit Nation podcast. In fact, I met Julia. We were both at a conference last year. We were invited to be the two different representatives for a nonprofit seminar talking about AI and its application to nonprofit organizations. And it was just a great conversation, first of all, and a great seminar. But also it was fun just to connect with Julia and understand that she's been in the space for about 20 years. As I mentioned, she has her own podcast. In fact, I had the privilege of being on her podcast and I've said, you definitely need to come onto my PODC so my listeners can hear all the insights that you have. Because this is, again, her world. This is what she's been doing for a long time now, particularly when it comes to different ways to look at fundraising. And that's why I really wanted to focus our conversation on that today. So we're going to talk about everything from innovative ways of doing fundraising that she's seen to trends that she's seen across the nonprofit sector, specifically when it comes to fundraising. She'll talk about how nonprofits are adapting to the different changing landscape when it comes to fundraising. For example, there while there is some uptick in giving to nonprofits, it's usually only from a couple of key donors. The overall number of individual donors actually is still going down, sadly. So she's going to talk about how do nonprofits respond to that. So it's a really fascinating conversation. Again, because of her work as a consultant and she hosts a social media conference Actually online every year. She just has a lot of interaction with a lot of leaders from across the country, and she's got some interesting insights that I think may just help you turn the dial up and to the right in a good way when it comes to your own fundraising efforts. So, as always, so glad you're here. Thanks for tuning in. Now on to my interview with Julia. This podcast is sponsored by Donor Box. Donor Box, helping you help others with the best donation forms in the business.
- [02:58]
B
Welcome to the Nonprofit Leadership Podcast with Rob Harder. I'm Alex Budak. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. I'm a listener just like you. We're all on a leadership journey looking for ways to learn and grow. Each week. I look forward to hearing Rob's latest discussion with his guests. I invite you to join us and subscribe. Thanks for listening. Now here's Rob.
- [03:21]
A
Well, welcome back, everybody, to the show. So I've got a special guest, Julia Campbell. Julia, you know this name probably because if you listen to Nonprofit Nation, a podcast she's on, you maybe heard her speak at one time. Just a little introduction. So we got to know each other at a conference we both did in D.C. this is a couple months ago, and we're talking about AI in the nonprofit sector. And it just was so fun to connect with another nonprofit leader, another nonprofit podcaster. And so, Julie, it's so fun to have you on the show today.
- [03:48]
B
Yes, thank you. And it was nice to have you on my show as well. So it's lovely to meet another podcaster, another person passionate about this sector.
- [03:59]
A
Yeah, likewise. Now, that was a great conversation. I thought let's continue the conversation because, yeah, there's. There's always so much more to talk about. And. And again, you're in this all the time. You have all kinds of people on your show that really have some interesting conversations. So I thought let's just dive into it. You've got a good pulse on a lot of things. In terms of trends. I know you recently have done a social media like conference and kind of a marketing behind that as well. So let's just talk about trends. I thought maybe we could start there. Trends that are impacting the social impact sector and specifically fundraising. I think that's one that I think you and I talked about on your show, that that's always something that we are always wrestling with as social impact leaders. It's always a challenge. And so I thought let's talk about that social. Any kind of social impact trends you're seeing, but maybe specifically on the fundraising side, you could talk about, like the monthly giving rise or shifts towards digital or hybrid events. Anything that you feel like you're seeing right now that are really, you would say are significant trends.
- [04:59]
B
Sure. And I like to talk about trends in terms of things that are backed by data. So I actually, I just had Woodrow Rosenbaum on my podcast. He is the chief data officer for Giving Tuesday and runs GivingTuesday Data Commons. And they run a huge survey and they study millions of nonprofits across the sector. And the things that I feel, feel are very interesting when you go to Giving Tuesday Data Commons, and you're looking at trends across generosity and giving is that we are leaving so much money on the table. And Giving Tuesday found that we are leaving $52 billion.
- [05:43]
A
Wow, that's. That's a little bit of money.
- [05:46]
B
One is, like you were saying, the recurring giving. We are not instituting meaningful and intentional recurring giving programs. This is a huge trend if you think about Don as consumers and think about the way that we consume things. I don't know how many subscriptions you have on your particular bank account, Rob, but I probably have about 20 different subscriptions, whether that be streaming or Spotify or whatever it might be. I mean, everything is subscription model and everything is subscription based. And I prefer to do recurring giving rather than a big lump sum at the end of the year when I'm paying for holiday gifts and I'm doing teacher gifts and I'm doing all sorts of other things. So if you look at consumer behavior because donors are consumers, then we need to be doing more of a push to be putting people in our recurring giving programs. Also, what the data has found is that we're not asking enough. So I think a trend in the sector is that we're being very shy right now. We know that inflation is up. We know people are absolutely strapped for cash, and the sector as a whole tends to shy away from asking, but the consumer sector does not. So if you're looking at your email today, I just did some online shopping today. I'm looking at my emails. I get probably five emails a day from retailers now that, you know, I can unsubscribe, I can do whatever I want. They're not shy for asking for my money. And I just feel like the trend in nonprofits to be more introverted, more, have more imposter syndrome, feel like we're not worthy of asking. I would love for us to change that up and think about we're inviting people into our mission.
- [07:39]
A
That is so interesting. He's found that we're leaving money on the table, so to speak. And particularly now we'll may probably get into this as well. You know, we're right in the midst of the. The largest generational wealth transfer, you know, in history. In other words, there's a lot more people that have money now to give to nonprofits and organizations that our listeners want to. To receive those gifts. So is it something he feels like it's just happening now because of inflation, or has this been happening for the last couple years? Did he give any more background, like how long has this been happening, or is he just noticing now? It's a recent phenomenon.
- [08:12]
B
In my entire work with Nonprofits in about 20 years, I constantly see organizations thinking they're communicating too much. They're emailing too much, they're posting too much. They're. They're annoying donors. They're in the face of people. They are not worthy of people's attention. And I think we really need to get over this hump because if we are going to combat the trend in giving, which you and I actually talked about on my podcast, which is there are. Giving is up, giving in general is. But major gifts and larger gifts are up, and individual donations and smaller dollar donors and the number of donors are going down. And I think that's because we're not making a case for our mission. We're not making the case that ten dollars, twenty dollars, a hundred dollars can actually contribute to what we're doing. And we're also just not communicating enough. I constantly, when I teach social media and I teach email marketing, the number one question is how many posts are too much? And I think that is the wrong way to look at it. You are not posting enough to annoy me. If you're posting once a week, I'm probably not even seeing it. If you're emailing me even once a week or twice a month, I'm probably not seeing it. So really, we need to really reframe how we're communicating about the impact about what would be lost if we closed our doors tomorrow about our stories about the way that we are contributing to society. We need to really reframe it and stop thinking of it as annoying people and start thinking of it as inviting people in and really giving them an opportunity to give to something that they care about. So that's something that I'm seeing, and I think it's just been going on since COVID I remember in Covid, a lot of my clients, they just felt uncomfortable sending emails. And I said, you Know what? It's fine if you want to go silent, if you want to take a pause, but guess what? The need, like, I work with a lot of food pantries. The need increased like 50% to 100%. I said, you know, if I'm a donor, I need to know that. I want to know that. I want to know, hey, like, it's Covid. We know times are hard for everybody, but this is an opportunity to give back if you can. It's not manipulative, it's not unethical. It's just saying this is something you care about as a donor, and we know you want to be a part of it, and we just want to educate you on what the need is and what's really going on.
- [11:00]
A
You're. Well said and you're so right. I'm glad you mentioned that trend of where overall giving is a little bit up. Giving Tuesday that happened this past year was good and better than last year, but it's major gifts. It's a few people giving more, but it's those individual overall number of gifts. There's still, that trend line is still going down. And what you were saying is we're not making the case for people for that 10, 20, $30 or smaller gifts, if you will, that's what you would contribute. Of why people are not getting those gifts is you don't think we're really telling our story enough and we're not asking enough. Is that right?
- [11:34]
B
Yes, we're. I think that we think of communications as a press release. We have to. We think of it. Oh, it has to be newsworthy. You know, our organization won an award or our board chair was nominated for the Chamber of Commerce leader award or something like that. But really what donors want, they just want to know that there's a need and they want to know what to do, and they really want to understand it in the context, the bigger picture. So we have our little piece of the pie. If you're a small regional nonprofit, if you're a tiny little nonprofit in your town, but connecting your mission to society, to what's going on, connecting it to other causes, connecting it to systemic issues, people really want to understand that their $10 is definitely going to help a family in need. But how is your organization really working towards helping more people or contributing to advocacy that's going to help change legislative policy that will help make things, you know, maybe increase affordable housing? So I think especially with, with younger donors, and I know we're going to talk about that, they like to see the connection to what's the future. And you know, I think that emergency needs are incredibly important. Giving to emergency needs will never stop and is very important. But addressing systemic issues and addressing bigger picture issues of how this fits in to the greater good and how our nonprofit is collaborating with other organizations in a similar space. Donors, especially younger donors, really like to see that because they don't look at your organization as your organization. They look at it as a cause and a mission and a movement.
- [13:21]
A
You're absolutely right. And I think one of the things I want to talk about is another trend I've been seeing is there is donor fatigue now. And that's not necessarily unique to this time, but a certain certainly are seeing some of that again resurface. There's certainly economic uncertainty, we've talked about it before. But the cuts in federal funding put more pressure on social impact organizations that dependent on that. And then they're asking for maybe family foundations or individual donations from individual people or corporate donations. They're getting more pressure than to give to more organizations. How are social impact organizations adjusting, if you will, or working towards a long term donor retention and loyalty plan? Like have you seen people be successful with that? Because I think you're right in the sense of people may want to give, you know, they want to hear first of all that you're having more people asking for food. But I think oftentimes social impact organizations are not thinking long term and really coming up with a long term donor retention plan and being intentional about that. What are you seeing around that? How are successful social impact organizations doing that?
- [14:22]
B
Well, someone answer your question. But I want to also push back on donor fatigue. I don't believe in donor fatigue. I believe that donors are fatigued from being manipulated. So they're tired of bad communication. They're tired of commercials and ads and mailings that make them feel bad. So in that way, I do think donors, donors are tired of the manipulation. They're tired of the. The old Suzanne Summers ads with the children in Africa with the distended bellies. They're very tired of the Sarah McLaughlin ASPCA commercial with the kit with the animals in cages. People don't want to be manipulated and they don't want to feel badly. They want to feel like they're doing good. So I don't think donors are tired of giving. I do think they're tired of being manipulated and they're tired of communication that's not relevant to them. So people buying email lists and sending me, I donate to a lot of organizations so therefore I'm on a lot of lists that are potentially sold to other nonprofits and that I'm very tired of. It's like I don't want to be sold. I don't want to be a commodity. I want to give to the organization that I want to give to. But in terms of donor retention, I find that organizations are very focused on numbers and donor acquisition and who got this donor? And did it come from an event and didn't it come from a mailing or did it come from planned giving or did it come from a board member? And then what do we do with these donors after we acquire them? We don't want to annoy them. And I'm putting that in air quotes. We don't want to annoy them, but then we don't communicate with them, we don't tell them that they matter. We don't ask for their feedback, we don't send them surveys, we don't talk to them like they're people. And we don't actually convey that they, their gift is important to us. And what I see as a trend, and this is probably why donors are fatigued. They're fatigued of being treated like a data point on a spreadsheet, like a transaction.
- [16:33]
A
Transaction.
- [16:33]
B
Right. You got my money and you're never going to thank me again or you send me a receipt and if I only gave $5, guess what? I'm in your small dollar donor database and I'm never going to get a call from anyone. I'm never going to get a thank you letter. I think that's really where the sector is going wrong, is that we're not treating donors like a community and we're not trying to build this community of like minded people and get everyone to feel like they're part of something bigger than themselves. So while I don't think people are fatigued of giving, I do think they're tired of being treated like a transaction.
- [17:12]
A
But you're so right on the transactional versus relational approach to donor relationships and fundraising in general. I think you're right. Too often we do see it as a transaction rather than truly connecting with people as people. Right. Making that a relational outreach. And I do think with the increase in AI and things being more automated, and you're right, sometimes people get these lists and you get on some list, you have no idea how it's.
- [17:36]
B
There's no personal connection there and that decimates trust.
- [17:39]
A
It does, doesn't it? Well said. Yeah. And I like your nuance on donor fatigue. I totally understand what you're talking about. And I definitely think this idea that we're not really thinking long term donor retention, but those who are doing that well, that's a good thing. How are you? You seen social impact organizations that are good with measuring impact and then secondly, navigating new technology. I think those are two other things that I keep bumping into with people on my show, leaders I talk to. First of all, the measuring impact. Are there people that you have an example or two of people that are really doing that well and that even then the technology piece, ironically, you and I are at that conference, of course, and using the technology tools that are out there, the AI tools that are out there can be really helpful if they're applied in the right way. So maybe you could speak to both of those.
- [18:26]
B
Sure. So two organizations that I absolutely love and I always talk about when I speak. One is called Plumber Youth Promise. It is a very small organization in Salem, Massachusetts, and they place children in foster care in their forever homes. And then they also provide services for the kids aging out of foster care, because that's a very dangerous time when you're 18 and you age out of foster care and you age out of all the services. So for them, they're not trying to prevent kids from getting into foster care. Like, they're very clear about their mission. Their mission is, we will help any child in foster care that comes through our services. We aim to place all children in their forever homes, which. I love the term forever homes.
- [19:19]
A
That's a great.
- [19:19]
B
It makes me want to cry. I know. It always makes me want to tear up thinking of that. And then they provide services to the children after they age out. Their storytelling is next level. They are a tiny, tiny organization. I just got an email from them today of a story of a student that had. Or a child that had gone through their program, got in a forever home and is now 19, has a job and is making his first donation to Plummer Youth Promise and is so excited to give back to the organization that helped him. So their storytelling is truly, truly next level. And the impact is very personal and very small. I just think nonprofits think their impact has to be they. We think it has to be global. It has to be millions of people. We're saving millions of lives. But this one particular story and Life Changed is. Is so impactful and so wonderful. And you can just see it as a reflection of everything that they do. And then another organization that I love and they spoke at the nonprofit Social Media Summit, is Amira, am I R A H? And they save people from sexual exploitation and sex trafficking in New England, which when I first heard of them I thought they're sex trafficking in New England. I was so naive and stupid. And their stories, they don't share client stories, front facing client stories ever. But they share a lot of stories from the staff and from the program officers and from the executive director and the same thing. It's a very small impact, but they're constantly sharing like this woman has been in our program and is getting her GED, or this woman has been sober for 30 days, or this woman is now moving into an apartment. So it's those little impact stories, I think that really convey what they do and the impact that they're having. I think that for a lot of organizations we do struggle with measuring impact. And I've worked in domestic violence for years, domestic violence organizations. And the challenge is people asking us, well, are you stopping domestic violence? And it's like, well, that's not really our mission. We're aiming to educate people so that we can help them get out of dangerous situations. But there are so many systemic issues involved that we can't control. So focusing on just sharing the impact that you're having and then having those broader discussions about addressing the systemic issues, I think works well. And then in terms of technology, what I'm seeing is I think that there are so many ways that organizations obviously can use technology to save time and to become more efficient. And I just see, I see a lot of organizations, we were talking about this, very fearful of the age of AI and what that might mean. I just think having policies in place and being very firm and very concrete on your mission and your stories and what kind of sets you apart from everyone else and then knowing what you're using the technology and the AI for in this space, that's really going to help you. So having that North Star and then understanding how the tools are going to help you. But we could talk for an hour about AI.
- [22:46]
A
I love that. Yeah, okay, I like that. That's succinct. And yeah, we maybe come back to that because I think that is important to talk through. How do you maximize those technology tools without losing any kind of relational connection? And great examples, both of those I like sometimes. You know, it's interesting, isn't it? You're right. I find that I found myself in the past, even in social impact organizations in general do always have this pressure like we need to serve more people and have a global impact and have show all These people that we're impacting, and we lose in the middle of that. Sometimes just the one person, you know, tell that one story of this one foster kid, in this case, that those things stick with you sometimes. I've had donors even tell me when you have too many numbers you throw at me. Now, there's some data heads that love that. They want the numbers. Right. I do think it's important.
- [23:30]
B
And foundations and grants.
- [23:32]
A
That's right.
- [23:33]
B
You know, if you're applying for grant, they love that. But an individual donor.
- [23:36]
A
Yeah. Don't you think a story, one story, one person that sticks to them.
- [23:41]
B
Yeah, exactly. I think that a lot of people want to know the data on the problem. Like, is this a problem that's affecting our community? They want to know, you know, maybe how many people you served, how many people you've helped. But the stories are what makes it real. They what gives it context and what's really going to help people understand it and really comprehend the depth of the problem.
- [24:05]
A
Yeah, I think you said that. Well, I think. Yeah. To me, I find that if you, when it comes to, like, storytelling, particularly like video stories, tell the story and then you could add around that, whether it be a publication or if you have on your website, put the numbers there, too. But when you're actually telling the story and the video itself or things you just put on your social media, I think that's what you just want to really capture that one person that people can remember and think of your organization. So I love that. Well, then, speaking of other trends and things that you're seeing, because you do this a lot, particularly when it comes to social media, it's one of your specialties. Younger generations are really impacting the way social impact organizations are communicating. Right. And marketing things, particularly with Gen Z's and Millennials that are coming along. So I guess from your perspective, let's talk about that. How are their approaches, maybe their preferences impacting and changing how we both, you know, in a sense, communicate through social media, but also how does it impact fundraising specifically? What have you. What are you seeing?
- [25:01]
B
Oh, wow. I think nonprofits are struggling with the new age of social media. Social media now is a discovery tool and it's very customized. Your feed is customized to what you want. YouTube, TikTok, Instagram. It's customized to what you're interested in. So how can non profits fit into that? Like, how can we, like, insert ourselves into what people are already interested in without jumping on, like, fancy trends and entertainment and things like that? But I just think Being laser focused on what your audience wants to learn and the gaps that you're filling. So like, what do you want to be known for but also why does your audience come to you?
- [25:50]
A
We'll be right back. Are you looking for an easy and effective way to boost your nonprofit's donations? Well, look no further than DonorBox, the online fundraising platform that streamlines your fundraising efforts, maximizes donations and simplifies giving for your supporters. With Donorbox, you can create beautiful donation forms, accept digital wallet payments, track donations and send auto receipts. And the best part, there are no setup or monthly fees and no long term contracts required. So what are you waiting for? Visit donorbox.org today to get started. That is www.donorbox.org. That's really good feedback on that. I think. You know, when you think about these next generations, I've often talked to different organizations that are struggling with that and one of the pieces of advice and see if you would agree with this because this can you do so much of this work. I encourage people to find the people on your staff or potentially, you know, recruit a volunteer or a new staff person that is of the millennial Gen Z generation to do your social media because it's so native to them now again, they've got to understand what the mission is, what you're trying to accomplish. But would you agree in general, that's a very general statement. But to really lean into this next generation to help oversee that so that they on target and they're able to really maximize the impact of social media.
- [27:12]
B
I love that. So I just had Mitch Stein on my podcast. He's a huge DA expert and I learned everything about DAFFs from him. But the key with DAFs like donor advice funds is just another way to give. Right? It's just another way to give. I think we get all hung up and thinking about the technology and maybe there's lawyers involved. It's really not. It is a bank account that people set up to give money. So making it available to people, making it just an option, I think letting people know that this is a way that they can give, this is something that you are accepting at your organization. Just doing an anything else like, like a recurring giving, like you would do a recurring giving campaign. Just doing a campaign for dafts. You know, you might want to segment your email list. You might want to ask maybe major donors first. You might want to ask certain level donors. But I think just looking at it as this is just another way for people to give. It's joyous, it's happy. And it's like, not a heavy lift for people. So making it available, putting it on your website, putting it on your ways to give site, doing a campaign, letting people know that this is something that you can use. And in terms of corporate giving, corporations now, they're not really looking for like a logo on your program. They're not looking for a logo on your website. They want to be more integrated into what you're doing. So if you can feature them, like if, say, there's a major corporate sponsor for your gala, incorporate them into the programming, into your social media. Rather than just a logo, talk to the business owner and say, why is this cause important to you? Like, why do you want to give back to the community? What does this mean to you? And first of all, that's going to get so much more traction on social media, the video, than just posting their logo and saying, I cannot stand when people post a logo and say thank you to our sponsor. No one cares about that. It's not going to get any traction for them. It's not going to get any traction for you. But doing a video and just getting them more invested, also really showing them the impact of their donation. So if they donated to the gala, showing them how much was raised, how many more new donors you got, you know, what was the impact of the event that they sponsored? But talking to them more like a partner, don't treat them as an atm. Treat them as an actual relationship that you want to build on.
- [29:50]
A
And you're so right. Just to confirm that, I just recently had Caterpillar foundation on my show. I've had a couple other foundation, et cetera, and they would say the same thing. Don't just treat us as a transaction. You know, they. They are people and they want to know the impact that they're having with the gifts that they're giving to you as an organization. But you're so right. It's funny because it seems so obvious, but obviously sometimes we don't really. Maybe because we're just too busy. We're not being intentional at thinking about it. But too often it can just slip into this transactional approach. And so I'm glad you're reminding us of that. And then let's come back to AI because we talked about a little bit. And you know, when it comes to this fear, I think you and I even talked on your show about how there. I think there are some fears about utilizing technology and becoming more impersonal. Right. So going back to this whole point of being relational and so I think that's one of the reasons why some people are like, I don't want to do AI because it comes across as too impersonal potentially, or it's going to make our organization more impersonal. So how can we utilize AI for good, you know, for our organizations? What role in fact does say automation and hyper personalization play when it comes to a fundraising strategy? And again, donor retention using the tools that are out there, from what you've.
- [31:02]
B
Seen, oh my gosh, there's so many ways. So the first way that I would think you should use it is just if in your year end appeals or any of your appeals, if you're sending me an email that says hi Julia, which I would hope you would have the personalization function, hi Julia, if you haven't made your gift yet this year, there's still time and I've already made my gift. I get those emails a lot. And I think I don't get mad about it, but I think that's just not listening to me. That's not understanding that I did make a gift. And it's very easy to just segment out. And of course, like if I mailed a check and it didn't get in or whatever, but online donors are not really going to put up with that because it's like, no, you know, I made a gift and I don't know why you're still saying like I didn't make one. So there's personalization, there's segmentation. A lot of what the AI teach is around content repurposing. So say you have a 25 page annual report, which a lot of us do, you can put that into ChatGPT and say, could you pull out five bullet points for me and I can create a LinkedIn post or could you pull out a caption for Instagram and then of course you can rewrite it and you can iterate it. But thinking of how you can save time with the content you already have and repurposing it for social media, for email, for your website. We spend so much time on our direct mail annual appeal letters and we often hire people to write them or we write them and we spend hours and hours and hours on them. How can we repurpose that great content without spending hours on that? And that's what I really love of generative AI specifically is content repurposing and then brainstorming. Even give me 10 ways that we can raise money on Giving Tuesday that are unexpected or something. I mean, who knows, you can just put anything in there. But I, I do think we're not progress are getting it wrong is they're very, and they should be, you know, maybe distrustful because there are so many deep fakes out there. They're worried about their organization being either deep faked or they're worried about it being put on some website, or they're worried about it being represented, misrepresented in some way. And I think those are genuine concerns. But what I would say is we need to be leveraging these tools to save time, to increase the time so that we can make the phone calls and make the donor visits and write the real letters and the thank you letters and do the personalization that we need to do. Because if you're spending all your time in a database and uploading and downloading and connecting different technology systems and personalizing emails, that is not a good use of your time. You know, your time is best used in creative thinking, in reaching out to donors in personal ways. So, yeah, I think that, you know, there is a lot of skepticism, but I do think that organizations are dipping their toes into the water little by little and hopefully using it in ways that will save time.
- [34:17]
A
Yeah, no, I think you. Well said that very well. And I think maybe one other question on the technology side and really as it relates to fundraising, has there been any other innovative fundraising methods that you've seen people starting to really implement? And maybe not just this year, but the last couple of years that you feel like, oh, wow, that's a really, that's kind of an innovative idea. And whether that be using AI or not, what have you been seeing? Is there anything else that really stands out to you that have helped certain organizations really kind of get ahead, so to speak, when it comes to fundraising?
- [34:48]
B
Well, two things I saw on Giving Tuesday that I don't really know if they're super innovative now, but I haven't seen nonprofits using them a lot. I got direct messages on Facebook from organizations that I've donated to. So the American Red Cross and the American heart association both DM'd me on Facebook on Giving Tuesday and said, hey, we noticed you've gave to us before. It's Giving Tuesday. We got a matching gift. It was, I loved it. And text messaging, SMS messaging. So a few organizations that I've given to before. A couple that I'm a monthly donor to send me text messages. I mostly noticed this on Giving Tuesday and asked, you know, said we have a matching gift or we, you know, it's Giving Tuesday, we're doing a campaign So I know that organizations and nonprofits think that's intrusive, but I really liked it. I liked it because I thought, oh, it's a reminder. It was friendly. It was where I was, which was in my Facebook messenger. I'm on my phone. I did not think it was intrusive in any way. I looked like it as an invitation to give, and I just looked at it as like a reminder. Like, hey, you know, it's a reminder. There's a matching gift or it's giving Tuesday. It's our campaign. So I think that we need to be in more places where our donors are and not just relying on email and not just relying on direct mail because we need many, many touch points to get the message across these days.
- [36:22]
A
Well, it's been such a good conversation. We keep talking for a long time. I know we felt that way with your being on your podcast. So thanks for sharing your insights. You've obviously this is what you do as my listeners listen to you and they want to find a little bit more about you. Of course, I already say go check out Nonprofit Nation podcast, but how else can they connect with you? Where can they find you on the Internet?
- [36:42]
B
Yeah. Well, I love LinkedIn. That is my social media of choice. So just look up Julia Campbell. You'll find me and my website and my blog is jcsocialmarketing.com okay.
- [36:55]
A
JC socialmarketing.com okay, cool. Well, again, Julie, thanks so much for taking time. Thanks what you're doing too, just to impact the social impact sector. You're doing a great job. I love the energy you bring, the insights. It's been fun to collaborate with you.
- [37:07]
B
Yeah. Oh, thank you so much. It was so great to get to know you and I'm just so happy to be collabor collaborating on our podcasts.
- [37:16]
A
Likewise. All right, thanks again. Appreciate it. And all my listeners, thanks so much for tuning in. We will see you next week. Hey, friends. Well, I wanted you to know that this podcast can be found on itunes, Spotify, Amazon, Google podcasts, and wherever you listen to other podcasts. I also want to encourage you to like subscribe and share this podcast with others. This will actually help us get this great content out to more nonprofit leaders just like you. You can also join the nonprofit leadership podcast community, find other resources and interviews of past guests, all on my website, nonprofit leadershippodcast.org well, thanks again for listening and until next time, keep making your world better. This podcast is sponsored by Donorbox Donor Box, helping you help others with the best donation forms in the business.