#336- Values Driven Fundraising with Karla Altmayer

Summary

Nonprofit Lowdown Episode #336: Values-Driven Fundraising with Carla Altmayer

Released on May 5, 2025

In episode #336 of Nonprofit Lowdown, host Rhea Wong delves into the intricacies of values-driven fundraising with Carla Altmayer, the co-founder and co-director of Healing to Action, a Chicago-based nonprofit dedicated to ending gender-based violence. This comprehensive discussion explores community building, relationship-based fundraising strategies, challenges in the philanthropic landscape, and the pivotal role of organizational values in driving impactful fundraising efforts.

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1. Introduction to Healing to Action

Rhea Wong opens the conversation by welcoming Carla Altmayer to the show. Carla introduces Healing to Action, outlining its mission and foundational principles.

[01:21] Carla Altmayer: "Healing to Action was founded in 2016... It's a grassroots organization in Chicago working to end gender-based violence by building the leadership and collective power from communities most impacted."

Healing to Action emphasizes centering survivors from marginalized communities—Black and Brown survivors, LGBTQ individuals, those with disabilities, immigrants, and others from underinvested backgrounds. The organization aims to transform the narrative around survivors, positioning them as empowered leaders in the movement to eradicate gender-based violence.

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2. Building Community Through Underground Dinners

Rhea transitions the discussion to a strategic initiative known as Underground Dinners, a tactic analogous to the Jeffersonian Dinners model, rebranded as community-based dinners.

[03:04] Carla Altmayer: "One of the core tenets of Healing to Action is building relationships... When we're thinking about what we do as an organization, it's critical for our fundraising efforts to mirror that same environment of trust and mutuality that we create with our leaders."

These dinners serve as intimate gatherings where Healing to Action fosters authentic and meaningful relationships with both survivors and supporters. Unlike traditional fundraising events, these dinners prioritize connection over solicitation, creating a community of care where donors become integral partners rather than mere financial contributors.

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3. Transitioning from Transactional to Relationship-Based Fundraising

Carla shares her transformative journey from viewing fundraising as a transactional process to embracing a relationship-centric approach, influenced significantly by Rhea’s course.

[11:49] Carla Altmayer: "I really started to understand more about what your course taught me... you can actually build authentic relationships with your supporters. That was shocking to me that that's a possibility."

This shift involved moving away from conventional fundraising methods, such as large in-person events aimed at raising substantial funds, to more nuanced strategies like virtual gatherings and value-centered in-person events. The emphasis is on cultivating deeper connections, leading to increased donor loyalty and sustained financial support.

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4. Overcoming Challenges in Fundraising for Gender-Based Violence Causes

Rhea probes into the unique challenges Healing to Action faces in fundraising, especially given the low percentage of philanthropic dollars allocated to advancing women and girls.

[20:09] Carla Altmayer: "As of 2024, only less than 2% of all philanthropic dollars in the US go towards the advancement and betterment of women and girls... only 4% of that 2% actually goes into initiatives like leadership development for women and girls."

This stark statistic highlights the systemic underfunding of gender-based violence initiatives. Carla discusses the compounded difficulties stemming from political headwinds and the broader societal undervaluation of issues like reproductive justice and grassroots community organizing.

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5. Strategies to Engage Broader Audiences

To address these challenges, Healing to Action employs strategies aimed at broadening the narrative around gender-based violence and making it more relatable to a diverse audience.

[24:38] Carla Altmayer: "We define gender based violence as behavior that is intended to punish someone for not conforming to gendered expectations... When people start to understand how deep and rooted these expectations are, they begin to grasp the full scope of gender-based violence."

By expanding the definition of gender-based violence to include psychological and societal pressures, the organization helps individuals recognize these issues within their own lives, even if they haven't directly experienced them. This approach fosters empathy and encourages broader community support.

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6. The Role of Organizational Values in Shaping Practices

A pivotal part of Healing to Action’s strategy is the integration of organizational values into every facet of their operations, from programming to fundraising.

[29:02] Carla Altmayer: "We look at our values when we think of our programming and how our strategy aligns with our values... We are committed to saying, okay, how do we put these into practice?"

These values, co-developed with survivor leaders and board members, serve as a framework for accountability and guide the organization's interactions and decision-making processes. By embodying these values, Healing to Action ensures consistency and integrity in their mission-driven efforts.

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7. Building and Growing a Passionate Donor List

With a donor list comprising approximately 1,000 individuals—primarily friends, family, and board members—Healing to Action boasts a high conversion rate of 14%. Carla attributes this success to intentional relationship-building and maintaining deep connections with supporters.

[33:13] Carla Altmayer: "The first list of a thousand people is really friends and family and extended family and people we know... How do we plan to grow this? We're working on a strategy to think about how do we build in more thought leadership."

Future strategies include expanding their impact manager role to enhance communications, leveraging social media, publishing thought leadership pieces, and leveraging board members' networks through network mapping. These efforts aim to grow the donor list while preserving the authenticity and trust that underpins their current support base.

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8. Conclusion and Call to Action

As the episode wraps up, Rhea commends Healing to Action for their unwavering commitment to values-driven fundraising and discusses the importance of finding the right community fit.

[36:53] Rhea Wong: "Ultimately that's what it's about... you want to find your people and your people can only find you when you are clear and loud, unapologetic about, this is what we do, this is what we stand for."

Carla echoes this sentiment, emphasizing transparency and alignment of values as key to building a supportive and engaged community.

[36:38] Carla Altmayer: "We're saying, here's what we value. You're either in or you're out."

Rhea concludes with a call to action for nonprofit leaders to engage with their donors authentically and build relationships that extend beyond financial transactions.

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Key Takeaways

• Community-Centric Fundraising: Building authentic relationships with supporters fosters trust and long-term commitment, essential for sustainable fundraising.

• Values Integration: Clearly defined organizational values guide all practices, ensuring alignment and accountability within the team and with donors.

• Redefining Narratives: Expanding the definition of gender-based violence to include psychological and societal aspects makes the cause more relatable and urgent to a broader audience.

• Strategic Donor Engagement: Personalizing interactions and offering diverse ways for donors to contribute deepens their investment and loyalty to the organization.

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Show Notes:

• Healing to Action Website: healingtoaction.org
• Carla Altmayer on LinkedIn: Carla Altmayer
• Rhea Wong’s Fundraising Program: riawong.com/bag

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Don’t miss the next episode of Nonprofit Lowdown for more insights and strategies to elevate your nonprofit’s impact!

Transcript

[Rhea Wong]

Hey you, it's Rhea Wong. If you're listening to nonprofit Load On, I'm pretty sure that you'd love my weekly newsletter. Every Tuesday morning you get updates on the newest podcast episodes and then interspersed, we have fun special invitations for newsletter subscribers only and fundraising inspo because I know what it feels like to be in the trenches alone. On top of that, you get cute dog photos. Best of all, it is free. So what are you waiting for? Head over to riawong.com now to sign up. Foreign welcome to nonprofit Lowdown. I'm your host, Rhea Wong. Hey podcast listeners, Ria Wong with you once again with nonprofit Lowdown. Today I am delighted because I am speaking with Carla Aldmeyer. She is the co founder and co director of Healing to Action, a Chicago based nonprofit. And today we are going to talk about the power of community and how Carla's strategy is changing in this, I know we always say this unprecedented times that we are living in. So Carla, welcome to the show.

[Carla Aldmeyer]

Maria, thank you so much for having me. It's such a pleasure to be here.

[Rhea Wong]

I am delighted. And you and I were together when you were in my program and so we're definitely going to get into that. But before we jump all the way in, tell us a little bit about Healing to Action. What is it that you all do out there in the beautiful city of Chicago?

[Carla Aldmeyer]

Thank you so much. Healing to Action was founded in 2016, actually right before the first Trump presidency. It's a grassroots organization in Chicago working to end gender based violence by building the leadership and collective power from communities most impacted. It's really important for us as an organization to center survivors most impacted, meaning black and brown survivors, LGBTQ survivors with disabilities, immigrant survivors, and survivors from underinvested communities. And our organization is ultimately working to transform this narrative that exists about survivors being helpless victims, to show that survivors are actually powerful individuals in the movement and that through leadership development, they are able to really address the root causes in our society and ultimately work towards ending gender based violence.

[Rhea Wong]

Yeah, that is a beautiful mission, particularly now where I feel like a lot of us are experiencing a lot of things in the environment. I'm going to transition a little bit because when you and I spoke, you had talked about this strategy that you're employing called Underground dinners and that's very linked to the strategy I taught you called Jeffersonian Dinners. We rebranded that to community based dinners. But I'm curious because as I was thinking about it, I just think in this moment a lot of us are really hungry for community and we're really hungry for authentic connections. And so tell me a little bit more about these underground dinners and how this has helped to build your community and ultimately your fundraising.

[Carla Aldmeyer]

Yeah, I want to start with framing, like, why we were doing these dinners. And as an organization, it's like one of the core tenants of Healing to Action is building relationships, right? That is what makes us different and sets us apart from other organizations that work on gender based violence is that we build authentic, meaningful relationships with our survivor leaders so that they can develop their leadership and move into action in the community. When we're thinking about what we do as an organization, it's also critical for our fundraising efforts to mirror that same environment of trust and mutuality that we create with our leaders. That means just building deep and meaningful relationships with our community of supporters. They're not just donors. They are the key for building the power for our work. And I think about, like all of us in the nonprofit world, right? We all got into this work or we all become donors of this work because we care. We care so deeply about the world around us. We want to help and move the world closer to a vision where we feel safe, our humanity's honored. And I think sometimes in the nonprofit world, I can speak for myself, right? I get so caught up in the, like, I'm doing the work and I'm on the front lines, and yes, I am. But that's why donors are donating too, right? They care too. And so let's create a community of care. And that's one of the reasons of why we started to think about, if we're doing this relationship building at the programmatic level, this relationship building has to extend beyond this because we're really building the power for our work.

[Rhea Wong]

I think that is such a powerful insight because I think that a lot of people, myself included, often put the people that we serve and the people who donate into different buckets in our minds, and we somehow think that one does not apply to the other. And I'll just as an example to your point, we as a team put so much thought and effort into how we work with our young people in a way that was respectful, culturally sensitive and so forth. And we didn't spend even a fraction of the same kind of thought and energy towards our donors. So I really love that. And I think the call to action here is, if you're listening, you're a donor. Donors are also a really important constituent. So thanks for bringing that up, but let's dig a little bit deeper. So your why was that you wanted to build community not just with the folks that you were serving, but also with your donors. So talk a little bit about what was the first one that you did and how did you set it up.

[Carla Aldmeyer]

Yeah. And there's something that you said, Raya, that I want to just touch on the separation and the buckets. And that's actually one of the pro. That's one of the challenges, I guess, that we've, that we see happening, particularly with gender based violence. Right. Because people have been put into these buckets of you're a survivor, you're receiving services. Then this narrative of paternalism starts to form of I'm helping you, but not really understanding, like, how am I a part as a donor? How am I a part of this work? How am I a part of this movement? And because as an organization, we're actively working to ch. Challenge that narrative by saying survivors are the experts. We, again, we're trying to challenge that narrative too of the siloing of like donor, funder, survivor, participant, etc. So going from that to answering your question, I just want to mention that. But answering your question, the first one we did. So we, we did our dinner with two of our board members. We ordered a lot of food and we had, we invited some friendly faces. So some of them were former board members, some of them were major donors and people who had been engaged with Healing to Action but maybe lost touch at some point or another. And I remember one of our board members being really skeptical about the level of vulnerability that we were asking folks to step into. So the way how we framed ours is we framed our questions around the organizational values. Healing to action. In 2021, our Survivor Leaders developed organizational values with the board. And from that we have seven core values of the organization. One being we're survivor led and survivor centered. We work towards liberation. So what we did was we said, okay, in these dinners, we're going to frame them as questions. And so actually for one of the dinners, we did something like, you've seen that you have the power, like what does it look like to have the power to transform in your community? And just having that be a question. It's a values question. It's. It is. We get to tie. I know, Ray, you said don't talk about your organization. So it's talking about our organization without talking about it. But we.

[Rhea Wong]

Look, you can talk about the organization within these dinners, but it's not, it's not the kinds of presentations that I think a lot of us have seen where I'm like, I'm going to stand and talk at you for half an hour and I'm going to show you this fancy deck. It's much more about the connections between people. So please continue. I just want to be clear though, it's not that you're not allowed to talk about your organization.

[Carla Aldmeyer]

No, I appreciate that. It was so funny because I was definitely being like, very like Auntie ish about we're not talking about HTA and we're really. But can't we just say. And I was like, no, we're not. But that was our first time. We learned. But it was very. Everyone who attended felt the feedback was first. Wow, I wish I was in more spaces like this. Right. We don't get to have these kinds of conversations. I needed this. Some folks came from social justice, so they had that inclination, but other folks didn't. And they were like, I need the space too. I loved being able to be vulnerable with strangers. How amazing is that? And surprising for everybody. And then of course, I did follow up one on ones with everyone. Some people ended up following up with me and some people did not, despite me reaching out a couple, couple times. And that did not indicate necessarily not wanting to continue the conversation, but that indicated like, it was like I was still able to reach out to them to say, hey, how's it going? And they're like, hey, here's this. That was the first time. And we have learned lessons from our dinners. I think one going back to how do you talk about your organization without talking about it? We have had to say one thing we realized as we were doing these dinners is, is actually this is what we do in our base, right? We're organizing survivors in a, in one of the most segregated cities of Chicago who have different walks of life, who have different cultural experiences, who maybe never have never been to a different neighborhood. So we were like, we are doing this exact same work. We're aligned, having discussions around values without really saying you're right or you're wrong or this on an issue like gender based violence, which there's a lot of questions and difficult areas to discuss. So we realized, hey, we're doing this with our base. In our dinners, we started to explain like, here's why we're doing this. We want you to get a sense of what does it look like to step into healing, to action. And this is what it looks like to step into one of our, our meetings that we hold. And we do this every day. And so as people start to understand this is how you Actually do your work and we're getting to experience this. That became really much more powerful and became easier to follow up with. Folks and people, you can tell, like the eagerness to follow up on those one on ones increased.

[Rhea Wong]

Yeah, I love that because for a couple of different reasons. And I just want to unpack this because I think as a, as a society, as a country, I think we're. I think a lot of us are just really tired of the divisiveness. A lot of us are tired of the vilification and just like the screaming at each other. And so healing to action. I feel like this can be a really good tool to actually start to dialogue with people in a way that feels productive and constructive. And then the other point that I want to make is this is a really powerful tool to be able to start to open a relationship. It's not. You're. You're not closing a gift, you're opening a relationship. And so to your point, this is a very easy, low stakes way to take that first step forward. And then it's up to them to take the next step and the next step and the next step. But there's no coercion, there's no obligation. There's no. It's an invitation, not an expectation. And I think that's very aligned with the way that I know that you think about your work.

[Carla Aldmeyer]

That's right, Rhea. And I think something that I want to just share is when I joined your course in the fall of 2022, it really was to demystify the process of how to move away from this transactional understanding that I had around fundraising. And I want to share like, I did not start out as a fundraiser. I co founded this organization as a staff attorney at an immigrant justice organization. I had no philanthropic background. I had no idea. I still don't know what I'm doing today, but I'm learning every day. But I think related to fundraising, I really had a transactional notion of, oh, it's you, like, you give money and that's it. And I really started to understand more about what your course taught me, like two key things. One was you can actually build authentic relationships with your supporters. That was shocking to me that you. That's a possibility. And I always felt my money issues being. Feeling like money can't really be a part of the equation, but it can be, and you can have meaningful relationships like that. And the second thing that your course taught me was that there are, there is a way to actually systematize relationship building. But instead of centering, like how much money you're going to get from this donor, which again, it's important to do that really thinking about how relationship building should be central to the system that you're building around donor cultivation, donor stewardship. So yes, you have, you might have a system of thank yous, but if it isn't about relationship building, you're going to end up with something transactional and ultimately missed the mark. So I think because of that it was able, I was able to shift and understand again, I had this instinct of I know something hasn't happened with our donors, but I don't know really what. And before, before COVID and before the course, we had a one, one event, right, in person to raise $30,000. And then once I learned that like solicitation is only 3% of the work, right? And what, 7, I can't do the math. 90, 95 of it is cultivation and stewardship. That started to change, right? And we started to experiment with what is virtual events look like, what is lunch and learns at the time with COVID right? Holding a lunch and learn, a virtual lunch and learn doing. And we also started to do in person gatherings. So one of the things, Raya, that you had in your course was like, don't have an in person fundraiser unless if you're planning to raise six figures or more. We weren't clearly, but when we talked in our coaching sessions, you had shared like, if building community is important to you, then you should still have a gathering. Just don't make fundraising that's central to it. And so we started to do that in the fall of 2023. We piloted an in person fall gathering. Not a lot of donors came to that. And then last year we piloted a gathering where our leaders were centered. It was like a bazaar, a holiday bazaar where leaders who are entrepreneurs were selling their stuff. And we had over 100 people, 150 people attend. So we were feel, we felt, okay, we, again, it's about centering the relationship building, centering the humanity of people to really help people understand. Like we are trying to relationship build. And now when people come to our events, they're realizing, oh, I am not come, I'm not going to be asked for money. I'm really just here to show up and have a good time and relate. And we have seen, we have seen that increase in terms of donations, but that's not the priority is again, like, how do we build these authentic relationships and really help people connect with the work in a deeper way?

[Rhea Wong]

Okay, just because I like numbers. You said before the course there was, you were raising $30,000. What was the result after the course?

[Carla Aldmeyer]

So right now we've set up. So this is for our individual donors, by the way. I want to be really clear. Our organization has been, you know, I think before the course we were at like a five hundred thousand dollar budget. We are now at a million dollars. So that is also huge. Individual donors were trying to increase that percentage and grow that. So right now this year's goal is $75,000 and we are on track to meet that. So we've seen that grow slowly. And again, we're hoping to get to the six figure point next year.

[Rhea Wong]

Yeah, and you absolutely will. And I just also want to be clear, it's not that I don't think fundraising should not be a consideration in these events. Right. Obviously that is part of it, but that's, I think it's a question of design. How are you designing it first for community and secondarily for fundraising? Because if it's the other way around, I think you risk being very transactional and people will just feel like, I'm not going to go to the event because I know all they want is my money. And then what do I leave feeling? And the other piece that I think is really critical to your work is I have this theory and practice around consent based fundraising. Right. And so sometimes I feel, oh, like you're cultivating me for a gift. But, like, you never asked me if I wanted to be. Like, you never asked me if I wanted to keep going out on coffee dates with you or if I wanted to go on a site visit. And so I just think, treat people like grownups who can make their own decisions as long as you're very clear with them about do you want this or do you want that and give them a choice.

[Carla Aldmeyer]

I agree with 100% with that. And I do think that we are pretty transparent with the people. When we, for instance, for our underground dinners, we let them know, hey, we're inviting you because you've been identified as a top supporter of Healing to Action. We see your commitment. We want to know how you want to deepen your commitment. When I meet with individual donors, I'm telling them that too. Like, hey, how else do you want to stay involved with organization? What are you looking to learn? And I've gotten some surprising responses. I've had a donor who is one of our major donors and she has said, I actually want to volunteer too. Like, I actually want to feel your work and I was like, okay, let's do that. Whereas some people say I'm actually at the limit of what I can offer resource, financial resources, but. But I can open up my network. And some of this is. I do think that we are a small organization. Our base of active donors ranges anywhere from 145 to 160 people out of a list of a thousand. So we have deeper relationships with the folks who are active, that we have a sense, we've communicated with them, they have articulated, here's where I can contribute, whether it's opening a door or whether it's actual resources like actual funding and donations. So that's been part of the way how we've approached it.

[Rhea Wong]

Yeah. Yeah. I think it's a really important tenet to not assume that you know what people are going to say or do. And I always think of it like, you know that old stone soup story where it's like you have a stone, but everyone brings a little something and then we all make a soup. And I think we miss the mark or we miss opportunities when we assume happens when you assume it that, oh, this person is only going to be a donor, this person's only that, or if we count other people's money for them, oh, that person can't donate, you're like, okay, what opportunities are you leaving on the table? So I love that so much, and I'm really glad that you found that my course was helpful to you. Yay. I'm going to switch tax a little bit because I think that there's a lot here. So one of the things that we spoke about is the fact that as an organization focusing on gender based violence, primarily with folks of color and LGBTQ and all of the different people that you serve, how have you found it challenging, let's say, in this moment to fundraise either from individuals or foundations or corporations or I'm not sure if you have public money, federal or state money, but I'm just curious as someone who. It's not an easy cause to fundraise for in the best of times. And I think now with all of the headwinds coming out from D.C. like, it just feels more difficult than it's ever been. I know we always say unprecedented times. So just curious, how are you all thinking about fundraising?

[Carla Aldmeyer]

Yeah, I want to start out with maybe a couple of. I looked at a little bit of data to understand what does philanthropy look like for the advancement and betterment of women and girls. And as of 2024, only less than 2% of all philanthropic dollars in the US go towards the advancement of and betterment of women and girls. And only 4% of that 2% actually goes into initiatives like leadership development for women and girls. So I think, I think about like that the problem or the challenge for fundraising around gender based violence has always existed and now it's just exacerbated and potentially crumbling for some folks. I think particularly a lot of gender based violence organizations like rape crisis centers and anti violence organizations, they are experiencing 50% budget cuts because the majority of their funding was coming from federal or state grants that are now being cut. But I think again, where philanthropy is, there is a level of investment that in some ways reflects the status of how our society sees issues like gender based violence and reproductive justice. And this lack of investment almost communicates an apathy to thinking about, can we actually get rid of the root causes of gender based violence? And I, as an organization, we think we can, we think we can and we think it's possible, but those resources need to be invested. The other challenge I think that we face, particularly now in this political moment, is understanding what is community organizing. I think we are all familiar with the comments of former President Obama was like, what is a community organizer? All the skepticism around it. And the reality is that community organizing and grassroots organizing is really key towards, towards the advancing systems that support communities like the ones that we represent and are. And philanthropy also has room to grow there too. 3% of total philanthropic dollars go towards philanthropy, goes towards grassroots organizing. So I think about, like, where do we live as an organization? And we live within these two, not very highly prioritized areas of philanthropy. And part of that is also like thinking about how do we address that. And so I think for us it's really thinking about one, is just how do we build these relationships with our donors. We've invited some philanthropic partners as well, some foundation partners to these dinners to really help, help break down this notion of think, break down barriers of how people understand gender based violence. People think when they think of gender based violence, they think of domestic violence or a form of LGBTQ violence and that's it, right? Or it's only framed relationally. So I've heard like an elected official say, I know a woman and that's why I support a resolution to address domestic violence, right? So again, thinking about how do we break down some of these narratives that exist so that people can really see themselves in this issue? And that's really where our strategy of relation, meaningful relationship building, transparent relationship building, like you said, being really clear about here's what we're hoping for. Here's what we're hoping for you to see. And can you see this narrative and adopt this other way of looking at this, of this problem?

[Rhea Wong]

So can I follow up on that? Because I do have a question. So I think one of the challenges with certain causes is that it may not overlap with the, the reality of, of a person's life, right? So for example, like, I think we can all get behind like education, for example, like we've all been to school, we all understand what that's like. We might get behind the environment. Because I've taken a hike, right? When it comes to a very specific issue like gender based violence. If I myself have not been, if that hasn't been something that I've experienced in my life or someone that I know has experienced, how am I able to see myself in that narrative? Because I think writ large, like it is an important thing and there are lots of other important things in the world. So what has been your strategy there?

[Carla Aldmeyer]

I think one strategy has been to help people see that maybe you don't see that you're impacted or someone didn't tell you, but very similar to what you said, right, about assumptions. Just because no one's told you doesn't mean it hasn't happened. And helping people see that the silence and shame is so powerful that even we find ourselves denying something that might have happened years ago. I think it's also challenging. What do we mean by violence? So as an organization, we define gender based violence as behavior that is intended to punish someone for not conforming to gendered expectations. And when we share that definition, people begin to think, oh, this is not just physical violence, right. This is psychological. This is maybe telling a young boy to not cry, right? Hold your feelings and don't cry. When people start to understand how deep and rooted this, these expectations are, they start to be able to understand, oh, here is the violence that we're, here's what we're really talking about when we're talking about gender based violence. So offering this analysis in our newsletters this year we're going to be experimenting with more thought, leadership and framing. Again, given the discourse around trans liberation and gender rights, there is a need in a society who majority never really received sex ed. Right. There is a need for, to dispel some of the myths that have been so concretized for us and really help everyone see, oh, actually this is much deeper than just this traditional notion of domestic violence or like physical violence.

[Rhea Wong]

Yeah, I think that's, I Hadn't considered that. And I think that's really true and powerful. And I also think there's a very strong case to be made here around using storytelling as a centerpiece of the connection with people. Because, look, even if I have personally not experienced something or nobody I think that I know has experienced something like this, like, there's always something within the human experience that I can connect to and relate to. Oh, yeah. Like, I. I have the experience of being a woman in this world. And therefore, is there some experience or story that somebody can share that I can see myself in?

[Carla Aldmeyer]

That's. And that's one of the reasons why centering on the values of the organization has worked so well. Because if we say, when is a time that you felt liberation? Everybody can answer that, and everybody can start to see in each other that they've experienced a form of oppression, a form of privilege, and just allowing people to hear each other. The last dinner we had folks who maybe on the political spectrum don't necessarily align, but they were all very vulnerable in this space and all starting to see these threads of connection of, you shared this story about your grandparents, and you shared this story about yourself. And I have a child who came out of the closet. And I, like, just. People started to see the threads without actually worrying about who's right and who's wrong. And that's, again, by reiterating, like, the centering of humanity, we're all experiencing some level of pain. Creating the space for pain to be processed, healing, right and community and connection and support. I think has. Is impactful as a strategy, both not just for cultivation, but in. In the way that we do our work.

[Rhea Wong]

Oh, I love that. Okay, last question, because I know this is something that is really key and critical to what you all do. So I found it really powerful that you said that as an organization, you created your values in concert with your team and your board. And I think a lot of times people think, okay, we'll create this nice little list of values, and we'll put it away on a shelf somewhere, and then we won't think about it again until something happens that is against our values. Right. But more than anything, is probably like sitting on a shelf somewhere. So I'm curious for you, how is it that you've really put your values to work, and I want to say, designed your organization, designed your fundraising practices, designed your activities with these values at the center of these decisions?

[Carla Aldmeyer]

It's something that we're continuing to deepen and grow. But one thing that holds us accountable to Practicing the values is the fact that our survivor leaders. So survivor leaders are a base of participants because they, in conjunction with board members, developed this. There is a mechanism of accountability already built into. We built this together. Now we expect the organization to follow it. And with the commitment of the leadership, right, Me and my co director, Shereen Alamzadeh, we are committed to saying, okay, how do we put these into practice? So an example is one, we look at our values when we think of our programming and think about, okay, how does our programmatic strategy align with our values? We talk about our values with our base of participants and say, like, how do we see our values being in practice? How do we see them not in practice? Where do we have room to grow? We, in our last year in our staff meeting, we were doing this practice where we would bring in a value. And then, yes, we had that discussion at the staff level too, to say, where do we see this value showing up? Where do we see room for growing this value in showing up, both in organizational practices and our practices with our leaders? So I think one is one strategy is really continuing to talk about them, and then the second is again using them as a framework for developing a culture code or developing a practice guide or developing policy or practice. Right now in our development team is small, but it is growing. And our communications person has developed a very thorough consent form. Right. For all of our survivor leaders to say, here's why stories are used. Do you want stories to be used? This is your story. You don't yours. No one owns your story. So even just thinking about, again, having these values of being survivor led, what does that look? And how do we develop the systems around it? That's been the way how we've been practicing our value.

[Rhea Wong]

It's so interesting, Carla, as you're talking about it, I've been thinking about values not just in terms of how we live it internally and how we show up, but also how we use it as a mechanism to repel people who are not the right fit. And I think I always think about this. Good marketing attracts great marketing repels. And so when it's about marketing or it's about values, to be very clear about who you are and what you're about means that the wrong people will say, oh, that's not for me. And good, you should know that if it's not for you, and we're being super clear and super transparent and very unapologetic about, this is what we are, this is what we're not. Thank you for opting out that's the right choice. You're right. This is not for you.

[Carla Aldmeyer]

Yeah, I think you're right in some ways. I didn't think of it in this way, but I do think by saying unapologetically, here are our values, we put them on our impact report, we have them on our website, we're constantly talking about them to everyone externally, we're saying, here's what we value. You're either in or you're out. I also think that has created an opening for people because I don't think people really, while we are value centric humans, we're not always thinking about our values at the forefront of when we're making an action. Right. So this does help people to stop and think, what are my values? Are we aligned? And oftentimes I have seen people say yes, but yeah, you're right. Some people are going to say, I may be aligned with your value, but I'm not aligned with how you practice it. And that's okay too. But at least we are transparent about what we expect and we do want to build a community that is supportive and uplifting of our mission.

[Rhea Wong]

Yeah. And I think ultimately that's what it's about. Whether you're running a business or running a non profit, you want to find your people and your people can only find you when you are clear and loud, unapologetic about, this is what we do, this is what we stand for. If this is for you, join us. And if it's not for you, that's fine. There are a million and a half other nonprofits that you could join. Double click on that. All right, last question. I know I keep saying last question, but really, Last question you have. You said what, 150 donors.

[Carla Aldmeyer]

145 of 20. 24. Yeah.

[Rhea Wong]

Okay, 145 donors. Shout out to you. 145. But you have a relatively small list. You've like a thousand ish on your email list. So actually your percentage is really high. You have a 14% conversion rate, which is fantastic. So question for you. One, what did you do to build that very passionate list of a thousand people? And two, what are you doing to increase that list?

[Carla Aldmeyer]

So I'll be honest with that. The first list of a thousand people, it's really friends and family and extended family and people we know and people we've known in our networks and people are board members. So a lot of, again, there's a lot of like deep relationships across the organization. Some people have their parents on there, some people have cousins and Friends. Yes, it's a thousand and it's small but mighty, I would say. How do we plan to grow this? This is a question that we're asking ourselves right now. So we did just hire someone we call an impact manager. They are doing communications, so they will be rolling out more social media communications. But I do know that engaging folks in our newsletter is key. So we are working on a strategy to think about. Again, how do we build in more thought leadership? What are some offerings that we can have? We have a couple of reports coming out this year, so we are planning to post them on social media and have like a put your email to sign up on our list. We are working with our board to do network mapping. So that is something that we've been building our board every year to say, okay, who in your network can be deepen relationships with? Our board is committed to sharing out the newsletters, sharing out the impact reports. And then the last thing is again, these fall events that we're doing, we have noticed like a significant uptick from people signing up. I do want to say I was looking at our data from last year and from 2023 to 2024 because some of these strategies have come really fully into fruition in 2024 and we had a 40% increase of renewed donors and like we had a 35% increase in new donors just in a year. I also looked at like the total number of donations. So yes, we have 145 donors, but on average each one is giving about four times as more. It's again thinking about going wide versus going deep. We are an organization generally that is like we go deep. But yeah, how do we go wide with intentionality? It'd be great to have a list of 10,000, but if we can't maintain that authentically, then let's maybe try something that we can.

[Rhea Wong]

Yeah. And I'll just say one last thing here too. I think the fact that you have been so intentional about building the list and the fact that you are very values driven makes me feel feel like this small but mighty list really trusts you. And because of that high level of trust, there is engagement, there are donations. And so kudos to you. They love you. They want to keep coming back for more. And the next stage for you is how do we then build that impact, build that pipeline so that just more people know about the good work you're doing. And so this is hopefully a big step forward to helping more people know about what y'all are doing. I will make sure to put your information in the show notes if people want to get in touch with you. Carla, is there anything else that we should cover before we sign off?

[Carla Aldmeyer]

No, I just really appreciate this opportunity, Raya. And just if folks see our website, sign up for our newsletter and learn a little bit more about the context right now of gender based violence and how you can show up as an ally to survivors.

[Rhea Wong]

Fantastic. And final plug, if you're listening to this podcast and you are out here in the nonprofit community, please email your donors and please email your list hopefully once a week, but at least a couple times a month. I beg you. Thank you so much, Carla. Thanks for all the work that you do.

[Carla Aldmeyer]

Thank you. I appreciate it.

[Rhea Wong]

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