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Nonprofit Lowdown
#392- Fundraising Without Fear: Moving from Scarcity to Sustainability with Andrew Murphy
00:28:32
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A
Hey you, it's Rhea Wong.
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B
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.
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A
I'm your host, Rhea Wong. Hey podcast listeners, it's Ria Wong with you once again with nonprofit Lowdown. Today, very excited. We are talking with my friend and client, Andrew Murphy. He is the executive director of the Wisconsin Inmate Education association. And today we're going to talk through how he was really able to build a fundraising program from pretty much scratch. Would you say, Andrew?
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C
I would say pretty close.
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A
All right, so Andrew, before we get into it and this incredible story of how you really turn your fundraising around, tell us a little bit about yourself and your organization.
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C
Yeah. So I'm Andrew Murphy. I'm the executive director for wea. But W I E A or weah is the, the way we pronounce it. But what we do is we partner with Trinity International University to provide incarcerated men in the state of Wisconsin a bachelor's degree in biblical studies and a minor in psychology. And the vision is that through the course of those four years in the program, they're able to kind of experience dignity and value as human beings and then given this psychological degree to kind of paired with their faith based programming to help other guys in the prison system and really change the prison culture from the inside out. So, so it's really about equipping guys there rather than bringing outsiders in. And so it's what I've been doing for the last two years now and my dad helped start the organization and now here I am as executive director.
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A
I love that. And it's such powerful.
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C
We could talk forever about scoring at.
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A
Oh, I'm sure you can. I mean, you've shared some of the stories with me and they're just completely life changing and transformational. So thank you so much for the work that you're doing. But I want to talk about money because me, I'm always going to talk about money. So when we first started working together,
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B
is it like two years now?
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A
Could it be that long?
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C
Yeah, yeah, I think so. Yeah.
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A
So two years ago you had just started as Ed, more or less and you had no fundraising background. And you told me that you were sitting at a coffee shop and you knew that you should be doing something, but you had no idea what. So let's go back to yours. Take me back to that version of you. What was your day to day like actually before your current situation where you're busy with donors?
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C
I would say that stepping in as executive director, we've never really had. We had a short term executive director for a little while, but for the most part, it's been a volunteer board. And so coming into the role, there was a paper job description of here's ABC kind of roles and responsibilities, but it was a lot of kind of building the plane as you fly it. And so when it came to fundraising for me, I came from an insurance background. So the this was all new information to me. Other than a heart and a passion for the work that was being done, I didn't have any background on that. And so I remember that the coffee shop kind of experience of there would be days where I know I should be doing more from a donor standpoint, but other than reaching out via phone and email, it didn't really have a strategy. I didn't know how to best use my time to really cultivate that investment and that support. And so, yeah, I was having days where I'm like, okay, I'm trying to churn up some support and looking through emails and our donor list and making contact, but not knowing all of this background. Thought my dad, who helped start the organization, Mike Murphy, and he had a lot of financial experience, both in the private sector and in the nonprofit world. And so he had all kinds of connections and the man knew everybody and so he could connect with somebody and boom, they would support the program. And naively I thought that me stepping into this role, some of that support would kind of just organically flow in. And I'm not really gonna have to do much fundraising. I get to focus on kind of the program and the work, which is really what I would much rather focus on, because the donors, they're already set, it's already established, I don't need to do any of that. But as the days went on and the month went by and we started kind of just looking at it as a board, we were seeing kind of some of that drop off. It could be just donor fatigue. We've been around since 2017 that donor fatigue starts to set in. Relationships changed, people kind of come and go, but didn't really have a framework or a mechanism. I felt like I had all the pieces, I felt like I could articulate the vision, I could tell people about it, I could tell them compelling stories, but none of that really. It was all the pieces to the puzzle, but I didn't have the box to look at to put it together. And so I was kind of aimlessly throwing spaghetti at the wall in the beginning.
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A
Yeah. And I think that will resonate with a lot of people, particularly folks who come in after a founder. Because what we know about founders, they typically can raise a lot of money just based on their personality and who they know. And then once they leave, it's kind of like the proof is in the pudding. Like, do you actually have a program to fund? So let's talk a little bit about that because one of the things that we started to work on when we first started working together was the survey strategy. And I know that the survey strategy became a real engine for you, but you didn't just do it once and stop. So you really spun it into prison tours and dinner events. And each one had its own follow up survey. So walk me through how you would think about how is the survey part of a system that you built?
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C
Yeah, I think for us, because there wasn't a system to have, I need some guidance. I don't need anybody to tell me like all of the steps, but I need a starting point and then I can go from there. And for me, the surveys, what was so eye openening was a donor is only as good as how much and are in relationship with them. And so I had this great list of people but I knew nothing about them and I didn't really have a relationship with them. And so there was no way they were going to continue to support a program without that connection. And so the surveys were so helpful because it gave me a beginning touch point to engage with them and have a reason to reach out and ask some more information about why do they support wea? Why do they care about wea? What are their. And so it just began to just scratch the surface of this idea of I have to know who's supporting our program and it. And it can't be transactional because people are smart and they will know when you're trying to just give some flashy pitch so you can get a check and then you're never going to talk to them again. And and so that's where this, the surveys were, were a beginning point to really figure out who were those people that were invested in what we were doing. And then the second point was what do I do now, so the people have now responded to this survey and they've given us some information. And to what I said before, like, I don't necessarily need someone to tell me how to do everything, but I need a starting point. And the surveys were that starting point. Because after that, I began to look at us as an organization and say, okay, somebody comes into our organization, what do they do? I mean, we're a program in a prison. Like, there's. There's not. Unless you can teach on an academic level, there's really not a whole lot of volunteer opportunity. And so I had to get creative with how do I get people to come and see what's happening and to have a next step, because the survey is kind of step one to figure out if they're interested or plugged in. And then there's what's next. And so the. I started to do these prison tours, which a friend of mine in Oregon had already kind of started this program with his. And so I got that from him as an idea was, okay, well, let's. Let's bring a group of people, 10 people through the prison and come and walk the grounds, see the environment, talk to our students, and build that firsthand connection with these guys so that it's not just me telling you story after story, but it's you saying, oh, I remember so and so. And I remember what our conversation was like and the papers he was writing. And so now it's not just they're connected to me, but they're now connected to the work. And part of it is just the way the prison operates. I'm not going to bring 50 people through. They're just not going to approve something like that. So I have to bring small groups of people through of maybe 8 to 10. And I found that to be beneficial because it's manageable. I can manage eight to 10 people that come through. And so now they've gone through this tour. And so then I took that survey from the beginning and I reevaluated it and tweaked it a little bit to be more connected to the experience that they just had. So I can understand, like, what did you enjoy? What did you learn? What could we have done different? And that then is kind of that next step of, okay, if they're not a donor, how do we make that next step to, more importantly than anything, build the relationship? Because if the relationship is strong and they're invested in the work, the support will be there. I don't have to twist anybody's arm. I don't have to be give some manipulative, whatever. It's all built in and it's, it's authentic and it's real and people invest in that stuff.
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A
You're saying so many really beautiful things. One of the things I remember when we first, before we started working together is your board got on the phone with me along with you, which I love. I love talking to boards. And I think one of the things that they were questioning, like, why should we work with you, Rhea? Why this program? So I'm just curious, like, what is it about the approach that really convinced you that this was the right fit for you?
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C
Yeah, I remember the call and I remember working through how do I get everybody? Because we were a little bit in a, I don't want to say a scarcity mindset, but there was certainly like, okay, we've got this new executive director program expanding and we've really got to be careful about where we're spending money. And so the output without knowing a guaranteed return was a little bit of a risk. But I remember our conversation in that the consent component of what you talk about with donors, that I don't want to ask somebody for a gift in some capacity when they've expressed no interest. I'm not going to ask someone for a $10,000 gift when that's not something that they've even talked about. They're just wanting to learn about the program. And so the consent piece was kind of a building block of making sure that it's relational. And then the other piece was the relational component of it as well, that it's really about knowing who it is that's supporting your program and building that relationship. Because everything that we've done as an organization has always been rooted in relationship. We've never been ones to find board members by putting out some job description on a platform or online somewhere. It's always been somebody who knows somebody who has a relationship with them that can back and support them and they come in. And I think in some ways it's probably not the wisest way to do things if you're trying to just grow big fast or you're trying to triple your support, or it's not the coolest way to do it if you're trying to expand rapidly. But if you're interested in long term success and sustainability, it's slow going. It's one person at a time. It's two people at a time. And I think for the board, there were those components that really spoke to them that said, okay, this is legitimate it's rooted in the philosophy that we believe in as an organization and how we've built everything. This feels like the next right step for us.
- [12:11]
A
Yeah. I remember your board being so focused on making sure that the relational piece was front and center, because, look, at the end of the day, they are bringing their own networks into the mix. And. And I presume, like many places, Wisconsin's a small town. Right. And you're. If you develop a bad reputation, like, people are gonna know about that pretty quickly. So for me, making sure that we were operating with integrity and transparency and trust was going to be the number one thing to make sure that you all were successful. So, Andrew, I've seen such growth in you in terms of not just your skills, but your mindset as a fundraiser. And I'm wondering, can you walk me through a little bit thinking about where you started two years ago and where you are now in terms of how your confidence has grown, how your sense of abundance has grown?
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C
Yeah. I think 1. Having an understanding of what it is that our system is. How does WIA do fundraising? I think that was an unknown question that I was kind of on this quest, I think, when we started working together to figure out. Um, ironically, the. The. The DNA of that is rooted in, like I said, that relationship piece. It's like it was staring me in the face the whole time. I just. I didn't have somebody to explain it and articulate it in a way that I'm like, oh, yeah, that's how we do it. But I think it's understanding, like, the bigger picture. I think when I started, I had a very only view. I had really was from our organization's perspective. And so I think working with you and working with others in the cohorts that you have, it helped me to hear from other executive directors or development people that these are some of the challenges that they're having. And it may not be a struggle that we have, but it may be something that's going to come up down the line. And so I need to be thinking about that. And so it gave a broader view of what fundraising is like on different ends of the spectrum, different geographic areas throughout the country. And so all of those things informed me, and I felt like I got trying to think of. I'm never one to promote, like, the microwave approach of, like, how can we get this as quick as possible? Because I think shortcuts often lead to failures down the road. But I really do feel like the time that we worked together in the program and with all the other ED's and development people. I got a lot of knowledge in a very short amount of time, and it helped me to have a broader view. And so there was elements. And I think this is something I was just thinking about, is I remember in the modules, like, in the beginning, I think the early module, like, talks about, like, our philosophy with fundraising, which I never even thought about, because there's a book I love by Henry Nouwen called the Spirituality of Fundraising, and it talks about how it's not this dirty, negative people. People are partnering with you, and it's a beautiful thing, and you don't have to feel guilty about it or that you're being manipulative about it, because it's real. People need to support the work. And I literally just had coffee with a guy last week who's talking about fundraising, and he's starting kind of on a smaller scale, but he was like, I don't really like asking people for money. And I was like. I could hear all of the things that I was telling myself.
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A
Did you hear a couple years ago my voice in your. In your head? Like, it's not about asking for.
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C
I may have even done my best. I may have done my best Ria impression, but it probably did no justice. But it was really just hearing all of the things that he was saying. It was all of these. I don't want to call them lies, but I think misunderstandings about what fundraising is and taking away this component of it that feels like you're twisting people's arms, but rather inviting them into a journey. And I feel like that was what changed for me, that now I'm like, okay, I have language, I have a heart for the work that's happening. And now I feel like I've been let loose in the best way possible to. I can articulate the vision. I have next steps for people when they come in, and then I have ways to draw new people in. And I have systems. Now people ask me, like, if you were to, like, a year ago, let's say we had the support that we had, they'd be, how'd you get there? And I'd be like, I don't know. I wouldn't have an answer for them. But now, if someone's like, how did you get to the place that you're at? I could be like, I did this. Next year, we're going to do this. And I can articulate to the board a better picture of where we're at, how we got here and where we're going. And I Think as executive director, that was something that I needed to do a better job of. And I feel like I have improved in that have room for growth, but I've improved.
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A
I say this all the time. We can't build a fundraising program on vibes and feelings. Right. And I feel like so many folks are running on vibes, and I'm like. But like, if you're on vibes, that means at the end of the year, you're just hoping that maybe you're going to be budget or you're going to meet your goal. But without clear systems in place and transparency and visibility, like, you don't really know. I don't like surprises when it comes to money. So tell me a little bit.
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C
I don't think any nonprofit does either.
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A
No. Unless it's a big old check that they didn't expect. Sure, I'll take a surprise there. But aside from that, no. Okay, so talk to me, because you shared with me this really gorgeous story that you had received from, I believe, one of the prisoners. And you said the old you would have just blasted it out to 300 people on the list, and instead you sent it to 50, 15 of your top people. So what changed in terms of your, let's call it, discernment or judgment about how you're conducting your business?
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C
Yeah, it's funny because I never even thought about that until you brought it up, that that was a different approach. I just was going about the way that I've been kind of reoriented now. But one of our professors shared with me a story about our students, and it was one of those stories where it feels, like, too intimate and too beautiful to just let everybody have an opportunity to see it. Not that you're keeping information back, but you're making sure you're sharing it with the people who are going to receive it. And so I think the old me would have thought, this is a great story. Every single person is going to love this story. And part of it is I handle a lot of the communications for Weah. And so I've had feedback sometimes from communications that have gone out where somebody would be like, I love this. And then somebody else would be like, I am deeply upset about this. And it's like you kind of get caught in the middle of, like, oh, I guess I can't appease everybody. I guess every story isn't for everybody. And I remember something else that I learned when I was working with you was you talked about, like, owning who you are, like, owning your end of the market. And we're faith based education inside of a prison. So I've got to make sure, well, who is our audience? If, if that's our thing? I shouldn't be trying to approach somebody who supports overseas like, well, building in another country. Like that's. Those are two different ends of the spectrum. They're both beautiful philanthropic causes, but those are not. They're not going to hear the same thing. And so it was really this process of tailoring the message to who my audience is. And so it's like, okay, I've narrowed that down, but then it's now, how do I communicate that? And so those are the two kind of things that I thought through was instead of, here's this great story I'm actually part of our support comes through churches. And so I thought this is actually a great story that our churches that support us will hear and then they can share it with their congregations that they minister to. And that, to me, felt like it did justice and dignity to the story. It kept it in the audience that would receive it and steward it. Well, I haven't seen any return on it other than responses from some of these pastors. But to me, it was seeds well planted that then maybe get watered and grow a year from now, six months from now. But it felt like a better stewardship of the story and to the right audience, the rest is out of my hands. But it felt like a better way to approach it.
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A
Yeah. And to me, it's about being really intentional about how you're curating communications. Right. So it's not that to your point, you weren't trying to hold the story back, but you were like, how do I leverage it for the maximum return for what it is? So I think that's really powerful. All right, so Andrew, let me switch tax a little bit. If I'm out here listening to you, I'm like, sure, Andrew, like, this all sounds great, but let's talk turkey here. Let's talk about numbers. So your treasurer went from being the board skeptic to recently you said you had a board meeting and they said, whatever magic Andrew's got going on, let's keep it going. So you've had some tremendous success. You have a 40k grant pending another 10k in the pipeline, and you're running a positive year for the first time. So what did the board actually see on the financials that flipped their perspective about whether or not this was a good use of their time and money?
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C
Yeah. So we rebuilt our budget. Part of it was in conjunction with what I was learning in the program was we used to just take our. What we needed and we would just chop it up across these kind of different segments of our support. And instead we looked at, to say, like, where have we been reasonably over the last three or four years? And what's a reasonable jump? And so we did it very conservatively of like, okay, well, if. Let's add. Let's see if we can get to like, a 10 or $20,000 increase in this category or that category. But our individual giving was kind of that focal point for us because foundations are great, but they can change, and you just don't know what's going to happen there. But if you can build an individual support base, it's much more for sustainability purposes. And so we had kind of floated around that $90,000 mark of individual giving, give or take a little bit here or there. But as of more, in the last week or two, we've almost doubled that in terms of our. And which is fantastic. I mean, that's. We've. We've blown our budget expected out of proportions. We've had deficits in other areas that I haven't had time to focus on yet that have kind of helped to alleviate that, to put us in a healthy position. But the best part about it is when I look at those people that have come into the pipeline and helped to get us to the place that we're at, I know who they are. For the most part. I've. I've had an interaction with them. I, I can trace their support down to a survey or an event or a meeting or there's a tour. Like, I can, I can figure those things out. And so that when the next year rolls around, I, I can engage with them and we have things to talk about and we have a relationship. And so it's just set us up to be able to spend less time building a fundraising framework and more time building this program so that we can serve more men and eventually women, and we can do more. But we can't do that if we don't have the support to get there. And I think we're at a place where that's becoming more and more possible.
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A
I love that. So you're moving from we're sweating the end of the quarter to what can we build next? Which is a beautiful thing.
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C
Yes.
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A
So let me ask this last question, because I think this is really the fundamental shift that I see in you, which is that you went from not really operating in this scarcity mindset anymore. And I have to tell you that this is a fundamentally different person than the person I met two years ago who was sitting at the coffee shop sending cold emails. So what does it feel like for you to fundraise from a place of having breathing room instead of being in this survival mindset? And what would you tell an Ed who's listening to this who still feels like they're stuck in that scarcity mindset?
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C
Yeah, I think a big piece of it is not being in that scarcity mindset. It gives me. I think when we do anything out of fear, it's often miscalculation on some level. And I think when I was looking at the things that we were doing, whether it was fundraising, it was like, well, how can I not spend as much money as. Like, how can I keep this as kosher as possible, rather than what's the best thing for us as an organization? And I think operating out of that scarcity mindset, you start compromising things that you're not even aware of, that it may not be catastrophic. We're not talking about making a far left turn here along the way, but you slowly drift a little bit. It doesn't necessarily mean that the organization has changed, but you're making decisions about things out of a fear of, like, are we going to be here in five years? Are we going to be here in three years? All of a sudden, your ability to dream and have vision, which I think as executive directors, we're supposed to have vision for what's possible, where we can go. But when you feel handicapped by the support that's coming in or your mechanisms of fundraising, you kind of have to turn that part of your brain off. You're not allowed to dream and have that vision because you've got to focus on making sure the bottom lines are covered and the program funded. But now I have this time and I. That vision, I feel like, has been restored, where I have optimism and I have more passion and I have all of the things that I think equipped me for the position in the first place have come back. And I think that light and that excitement. I like talking about fundraising. I mean, the fact that I'm even here talking about fundraising, I'm like, if you would have told me two years ago, I would have done that. I would have said, oh, no, no, no, that's insane. And I feel that I've been able to do that. And I have confidence that the future is going to be bright for WIEA and the work that we've done together.
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A
Oh, my gosh, Andrew, that is such A beautiful note to go out on. My core belief is I can make anyone into a fundraiser and like it.
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C
Dang, you did a great job.
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A
All right, well, Andrew, this has been so great. I really appreciate you sharing your experience. If you had any last words of wisdom, someone who's maybe listening to this and thinking like, gosh, like maybe I' maybe this could happen for me. Maybe I should reach out and see if working with Ria might be the right thing. What would you advise to them?
- [26:39]
C
I would say if you're asking the question what you're doing is probably not working anyways and so you really don't have much to lose in that capacity. But I would also say that more than likely the way that your program is built and designed is it's flexible enough to fit into any organization. I think a lot of times there's like a one size fits all way of fundraising that gets pitched around. But I mean, we're a Bible based program in a prison in Wisconsin. I feel like that's kind of a niche. There's not a lot of very Nichy.
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A
No, no, no.
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C
And yet it works and it worked for us. And so I think those are the pieces where I'm like, take a risk. Chances are if you're asking the question what you're doing is not working and it's a program that has flexibility and a framework that can be adapted to the needs of your organization.
- [27:31]
A
Andrew, thank you so much for this. Thank you for all that you do and all of the beautiful work that you are doing and will continue to do in the future. I'm going to put your information in the show notes. So folks, if they want to get in touch with you and learn more about the amazing work you're doing in Wisconsin, definitely hit up. Andrew. Thank you, Andrew. And also if you are interested in learning more about working with me, I
- [27:52]
B
will make sure to put that information
- [27:53]
A
in the show notes as well. Andrew, thank you so much for coming.
- [27:56]
C
Thank you, Rhea. Thanks for having me.
- [27:57]
B
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