← Nonprofit Nation with Julia Campbell
Loading summary
Transcript79 lines
- [00:00]
Julia Campbell
You pour your heart into every single fundraising appeal. You juggle a dozen different tools trying to piece together a clear picture of your supporters. But what if your fundraising platform was built with a deep understanding of those challenges? That's the difference a purpose built giving platform like Bloomerang can make. Bloomerang customers aren't just fundraising. They are seeing a 27% larger one time gifts than the industry average. They're growing their supporter base by an average of 12% year over year. And that's the confidence to know who to ask and when. It's the joy of seeing your community rally behind you with greater generosity. It's turning passion into unstoppable momentum. Your purpose is limitless and your fundraising tools should be too. Learn how you can start raising more@jcsocialmarketing.com bloomerang that's jcsocialmarketing.com Bloomer B L O O M E R A N G All right, on to the show. Hello and welcome to Nonprofit Nation. I'm your host, Julia Campbell, and I'm going to sit down with nonprofit industry experts, fundraisers, marketers, and everyone in between to get real and discuss what it takes to build that movement that you've been dreaming of. I created the Nonprofit Nation podcast to share practical wisdom and strategies to confidently find your voice, definitively grow your audience, and effectively build your movement. If you're a nonprofit newbie or an experienced professional who's looking to get more visibility, reach more people, and create even more impact, then you're in the right place. Let's get started. Hello. Hi everyone. I'm so happy that you're listening to Nonprofit Nation. This is Julia Campbell and we're going to talk today about mastering nonprofit sponsorships. Now, if you're like me, and you are. I'm a former development director. But if you're a development director, marketing director, executive director, or board member, you've probably wondered, how do I land and leverage sponsorships for my events for my organization? So this episode is going to be your playbook. I have with me today AJ Steinberg, a fundraising powerhouse with more than 20 years of experience producing high impact nonprofit events and millions raised for mission driven causes. Her company is called Queen Bee Fundraising, which I love. And AJ Teaches organizations the art of securing corporate sponsorships that don't just support events, but fuel entire fundraising strategies. And AJ welcome to Nonprofit Nation.
- [02:55]
AJ Steinberg
Thank you, Julia. It's great to be here. Yes.
- [02:58]
Julia Campbell
So tell us how you started out in nonprofit work and fundraising and how you started your company.
- [03:05]
AJ Steinberg
Yeah, well, I think like probably the majority of us, I started as a volunteer many moons ago when dinosaurs were roaming the earth and we didn't have platforms and there was no Internet. So when I started doing events, we had good old fashioned paper and spreadsheets. So I realized as I started out as a regular event planner based in Malibu, California, and I realized that I did not want to get brides down the aisle. I wanted to raise money so good can be done in the world and shipped it over, became a cfre. So I understood better how the guest experience was and how we could raise more money. Not just have a gala, but put on the gala that transforms organizations. And then through that, because I had to do sponsorships, you have to do them with events, I really took a deep dive to understand the processes voicing successful fundraising and sponsorships and then wanted to make it simple so that organizations could take that information and use it themselves to succeed.
- [04:10]
Julia Campbell
So you started out planning really successful events. You've helped nonprofits raise millions through events and sponsorships. What is something that most organizations overlook when it comes to securing sponsors?
- [04:24]
AJ Steinberg
Good question. It's interesting. I just did a board retreat yesterday in San Diego and we had this conversation and it plays right into that team that you were talking about, how to get your team on board to sponsorships. The development team often overlooks the fact that they can't do it alone and they shouldn't do it alone. That their board, their committee, especially their honoree too. If you have that, what I call golden goose honoree, those are your team and they have assets that should be used for you to pursue sponsorships for an event and for the whole year. Now it's not just event sponsorships. We're looking at year long partnerships. We call them partnerships when it's over a period of time.
- [05:08]
Julia Campbell
That's interesting. So let's dive into that. What are some of the sponsorships? Partnerships? What's the difference? And how do we know which one maybe we need?
- [05:18]
AJ Steinberg
That's exactly right. Well, ultimately it would be great to have all of them. Right.
- [05:23]
Julia Campbell
Right.
- [05:23]
AJ Steinberg
And understand what assets we have. So let's start by saying most nonprofits approach sponsorships from we need money. I think that that's typical. So who do we go to? Because we need money as opposed to starting out by saying what do we have to offer that would be valuable to corporations and businesses in our area? That's the first thing. Because you need to stop and understand that it's a business transaction. Because sponsorship dollars are not from nice people or Santa Claus bringing In sponsorships down the chimney. Sponsorship dollars are marketing dollars. And why I say that is this is the round pie for a budget for a corporation or a business. And a donation is like 0.0005%. It's like, it's a hair of their budget. And marketing, as you know, is like 35%, 40% or more. And marketing is where sponsorship dollars live. So you have to think, what can we do in terms of offerings to businesses? What can we offer them that seems valuable to them, that we can even quantify the roi, the return on the investment for their sponsorship dollars? And then how do we build relationships just like donors? Because to keep your sponsors, it's a relationship, you have to nurture it, just like your donor cycle and your donor stewardship.
- [06:51]
Julia Campbell
That's so interesting. So it's. There's a lot of similarities to the way I get sponsors for the podcast. So the sponsor of the podcast right now is Bloomerang, and they're sponsoring the whole year, which is of course what you're saying you want to get to that point. I had to build that for a while. But what I didn't realize was just what you're saying. You really do have to make that case of why is this good for your marketing? How is this going to get your brand out there? How is this going to get your name out there? What kinds of things can we offer you that can put your name, your brand, your CEO, your products or services in front of the right audience?
- [07:35]
AJ Steinberg
And if you do a great job, once you bring them on, they will once again sign up year after year, just like that first donation as a development director is your most expensive donation to get because it takes that beginning, beginning, beginning. But once you have them, you're in that stewardship and relationship cycle. So you can. It's the same thing with sponsors. Now you have Bloomerang. You started out, I'm guessing, let's just say a zillion years ago, 10 years.
- [08:03]
Julia Campbell
Ago, four years ago.
- [08:04]
AJ Steinberg
Four years ago.
- [08:05]
Julia Campbell
Oh, with a podcast. Four years ago.
- [08:07]
AJ Steinberg
What about just being Julia Campbell?
- [08:09]
Julia Campbell
Oh, 15. 15.
- [08:11]
AJ Steinberg
So we're sort of in that world because I remember you from running into you years ago at. In Florida and all the places that we speak. And Bloomerang, here's. There's a Julia Campbell 15 years ago, and they don't know you. They wouldn't invest a year's worth of marketing budget. Then you build your brand, meaning you slowly grow your following. So now you have something to offer them. And it's not just that Julia Campbell has people who listen to a podcast. Julia Campbell has people. And this is. You're going to blush, but it's like people.
- [08:44]
Julia Campbell
Oh, no. Words of affirmation is my love language.
- [08:47]
AJ Steinberg
So, okay, well, here it is. So Julia Campbell is a brand that people love and trust, and they like her. They feel like they personally know her. They know, as I know, about your son's baseball games. And you're not shy about sharing. And because you are a person who has relationships with your followers, Bloomerang sees that. And Bloomerang is a relationship we all remember. Steven Shadick. Yes, yes, I know. So they want to invest with Julia because Julia has loyal followers, just like your organization. If you treat your donors and supporters well, you have volunteer days where they can show up and do something good in the world. Those are all things that sponsors can hang their hat on. And loyalty with you. And your brand is one of the things they recognizes that will give them that feel good glow and, and will help them build relationships in tandem with your support system.
- [09:44]
Julia Campbell
So you teach nonprofits how to become sponsorship ready. How can we evaluate our readiness? Like, when do we know we're ready and what are some of the things we need to do to be ready?
- [09:58]
AJ Steinberg
Well, you're not ready if you just sit there and say, okay, who are we going to ask to sponsor us? Because that is not the first. There's all these reasons that organizations get sponsored, and that's not going to go into all of them. But here's what you need to do. First of all, you need to assess how much money you need to raise. Because unless you know the end goal, you're just kind of going out and saying, we want to get sponsored. Typically, people will have some sort of an idea when it comes to a gala or an event. But for your year long sponsorship, pick a program set. This program costs us $250,000 a year to put on. And so let's get a sponsor specifically who can hang their hat on that so they can have ownership of it. So first what you do is you see what assets do we have? Either an event or a year long partnership. What do we have to offer to a sponsor that's valuable? Now when you do your galas, do not just say sponsor us. And at X make sure that you give them something that they can have ownership of. So we do pieces of the gala get sponsored. So we have the back of the paddles, which are just usually in hem. That is a. I just sold it for $15,000. $15,000 just to put their logo on the back of. And it's not a big fancy like children's hospital gala. It's a boys and girls club gala in a region. So we sell the valet. The valet sponsorship super valuable to real estate agents because it's the first things guests arrive and the last thing they see when they leave. Estate agent can actually hand out little gifts with their card to the guests and thank them for coming themselves. Super valuable cocktail sponsors, we have dinner sponsors, we have. We sponsor everything. The afterglow party. Anything that we do, we try and do that. So there is ownership and that the sponsors can feel that that's part of their event. Also, if you really want event sponsors, you have to put on amazing events. I'm just telling you, if your event yes, you might as well step away from sponsors.
- [12:01]
Julia Campbell
Well, it's like the podcast. If no one listened to the podcast and it was horrible, then getting sponsors would be a moot point.
- [12:08]
AJ Steinberg
Right? But you're not just giving your podcast as that partnership with Bloomerang.
- [12:13]
Julia Campbell
True, true.
- [12:14]
AJ Steinberg
Your endorsement, because you would not. Your people trust you. You wouldn't endorse anything that wasn't great. And it's great.
- [12:21]
Julia Campbell
That's a really good point. That's a good point.
- [12:24]
AJ Steinberg
So you have a lot to offer them. And also you're out there in the public. They know that your social media posts or when you do some kind of public appearances, that when you say, hey, and you know I'm sponsored by Bloomerang, it resonates with your people. So in a long way, you have to assess your assets of what you have to offer sponsors. Before you go, the next thing you need to do is get your team together and brainstorm. And that's the step that's missed, is that everybody sitting at your boardroom table has. I look at it as 10 little clouds of assets sitting over their heads. Everybody who's sitting at your board, most of you, Most of you, they have attorneys or their businesses have attorneys. They have CPAs, they have wealth managers, they have banks. They bought or sold real estate or rented a new office building. They've been spending money at an orthodontist for the past four years. Never your boards, businesses, because your boards. They're not just them people, they're business people. Usually whoever is sitting at that table, you should brainstorm in person. Zoom is okay. Please don't do it via email, but brainstorm who their assets are. And here's the next step. Tell them they don't have to ask and just brainstorm. You'll see them go. You'll say, because AJ Or Julia or whoever in the company, in your organization is the best at asking. Say, we just want a warm handshake. All you need to do is call your insurance agent and say, hey, Joe, I've been your, you know, you've insured me for 15 years. You know, I loved working with you. We've had a great business relationship. I've been on the board of the Boys and Girls Club for five years, and I'm passionate about that. AJ Steinberg is going to give you a call, and I want you to pick up the phone because she has a great opportunity for you. And that's it. They don't mention money. They don't mention anything. And it's a game changer in terms of them wanting to help you because that grumpy cat face you can't see, but, like, I don't want to help you with this anymore. That goes away when they feel confident that they don't have to. They're just tired. They're burned out. They're not trained in asking. Why would you send them to ask?
- [14:42]
Julia Campbell
I love this idea of ownership of a piece of the event rather than just putting. I mean, you will put their logo on all of the things, but rather than just having a big billboard. Not a billboard, a poster board. When you walk into the event with a bunch of logos on it, that's not, to me, as a business owner, as effective as I own this one, I have all the cocktail napkins, you know, at the bar. Like, that sounds great to me. I think having that piece of ownership, because then it's probably easier to sell it year after year. You can say, hey, I want to give you a first right of refusal. You did such a great job last year. We've other people that were asking about this, you know, do you want to come back on? But it's much more personal, a personal kind of sponsorship than it is just sort of a blanket. Like, give us $5,000 to support our gala.
- [15:36]
AJ Steinberg
Right. And then we like to add a little fun in there. So for cocktail sponsorships, instead of just saying, you get your cocktail napkin, which they do, of course, and they get to name a drink. And we usually will try to do an ice luge with their logo in it.
- [15:50]
Julia Campbell
Oh, my gosh.
- [15:51]
AJ Steinberg
For anybody who doesn't know what that is, sure, we end up spending maybe 6 to $800 on the ice luge, but the value in that sponsorship bumps it up thousands of dollars.
- [16:01]
Julia Campbell
Well, it's also very Instagramable There's a lot of, there's a lot of photos taken.
- [16:05]
AJ Steinberg
It's exactly right. Everybody wants to go and take that. So we're giving them something fun and memorable to hang their hat on.
- [16:14]
Julia Campbell
Okay, so I like to be devil's advocate and I like to play naysayer sometimes with my guests. I am a small nonprofit. I don't have any assets, I don't have a big following. What can I offer to sponsors?
- [16:33]
AJ Steinberg
You need to start with a goal because you have to build up to it. So if you don't have many followers, meaning supporters, and I'm working with that, you need to start building that. You need to do some free events. You need to start finding ways to build your email list. That's like a huge thing and your social media following. So there's two kind of things. Julia will know this much better than me. The email versus the social media both have value, but you need to start posting, you need to start having a consistent outreach on monthly newsletters and whatever it is. And you start need to start getting your name out there. Join Rotary, join Rotary, join Lance Club Kiwanis. Start getting your name out there. And especially when you start getting known by these groups, you meet people in business and then you start bringing people on your board who have business assets. And that's the whole thing. This is a whole other podcast that Julia will do with someone who's a board expert. But your board makes or breaks your sponsorships. If you have an active board who has assets to bring to the table, and we're not just talking about sitting there and helping you decide what color tablecloths. We're talking about a board who says, yes, I'm in the banking business and I will bring my bank with me.
- [17:56]
Julia Campbell
So another question that I have, how do you advise nonprofits in setting up sort of pricing and and tiers without undervaluing themselves?
- [18:07]
AJ Steinberg
Well, first of all, you have to sexy up your, your offerings. Don't just say your name will be seen by 300 people on a during a four hour event, which is typical. Tell them how long their exposure will be. So bring value to your packages. And once again, this shameless plug. But if anybody wants to get my sponsorship toolkit that has samples of sponsorship levels, sexy language, the brainstorming sheet to use with your all of that. I have two. I have a sponsorship toolkit and a board sponsorship toolkit that's specifically geared towards getting your board to help you in terms of getting the valuation. First of all, understand what the pocketbooks of your Supporters and your community can afford. Like I have one sponsorship, one client that just sold two $150,000 sponsorships. So that's not typical. That's an enormous company, you know, that's an enormous organization. But I have organizations that 5,000 is the most they've ever had and they're so excited. So what we do is 5000 is the second highest level for that organization. And then we do a reach, like a $7,500 and they may not get it, but it's like college. They always say, have a reach, have a this is my dream and then have a gimme. So we have all of that thing. I usually try for five sponsorship levels. I look and see what other organizations that are similar to mine in my area doing.
- [19:32]
Julia Campbell
Oh, that's smart. Do some recon.
- [19:35]
AJ Steinberg
Absolutely. Now also look and see who's sponsoring them. However, those people listed as their sponsors are not going to be your sponsors. Why? Because they have the relationships with those banks and those insurance companies. You will look and say, oh, a bank, an insurance company. And that's how you will. Oh.
- [19:54]
Julia Campbell
So think of it more as categories and buckets.
- [19:56]
AJ Steinberg
Yes, thank you. Well said. Categories. That's exactly right. So do your recon. Except realize that this is still relationship building and you want your own relationships. You want to have people who have, as we know as cfres, affinity, ability and timing are the three things that it takes for the first donation. That is what they teach you as a cfre. You'll pass the test if you know those three things. So affinity means they care about your mission or somebody at your organization. Ability means they have the pockets where the levels are asking. And timing means you've built the relationship and now is the time to ask. So those are the three things for. For the fundraising and it goes to sponsorships too. So I think that plays into the. Into your question about valuation is be aspirational with the first, the highest one, be realistic with the second one and then make sure that you're accessible for the third one.
- [20:52]
Julia Campbell
What is your sort of go to strategy for initiating contact with a potential sponsor that maybe you don't have that warm handshake with but you think would be a great fit? Is that not recommended?
- [21:05]
AJ Steinberg
Well, that's a cold call in sales, right?
- [21:08]
Julia Campbell
That is, we have to recognize it is a cold call. Yes.
- [21:10]
AJ Steinberg
Right. So it's a cold call. You can make cold calls. Is that a good use of your time? That's always my thing is your time is valuable and it's a limited asset. So how are we going to go for this? My comment is, and I'll give you an example of a cold call that worked out well. If you see that there is a great fit for your demographic at your event or for your organization support base and a business that you run across and you think that business. I've never heard of it before and my gala should absolutely know about this. That was my thought. So I ran across just during my research that there is something that is a concierge really high end travel agency that had just opened and you have to pay like $2,500 a year just to belong. That has nothing to do with your travel. It's because they're so specialized and they're so high end. So I cold called them and said hey, I just want to introduce myself, I'm an event producer and I have in Westlake Village which is known as a high end destination at the Four Seasons, a $500 a plate gala. And these people have been everywhere and are just literally dying for new experience experiences. And this is. They have unlimited travel. I put them together and that they ended up sponsoring one of our live action items as they actually gave us one of their years of concierge plus a trip. Wow. So yeah, you have to put. But it was only because I led with. I have a high end event with people who travel who are just dying to know you exist and they don't know you yet.
- [22:48]
Julia Campbell
What about recognition? Not just during the event, but do you recommend some kind of recognition like you were saying social media, email. Are these all included in the package that you're selling? Okay.
- [23:03]
AJ Steinberg
Yes. And the time period before because how long their sponsorship has legs is important in the value of the sponsorship. You know, just for an example, I have a sponsorship that was happened in May. It was for a Rotary club and the Rotary club is actually giving away the money they raised at the event this week. And so we invited all the big sponsors to actually go to the money giving away portion the night of giving so they could see what impact their sponsorship had in the community.
- [23:34]
Julia Campbell
How do we know when we're ready to maybe move from just one time sponsorships to more formal partnerships?
- [23:41]
AJ Steinberg
When you identify something to offer. So if you are doing two events or three events or if you're a symphony, I have symphonies that do year long sponsorships because they have 12 different concerts plus they have meet the artist things. When you identify things that you can offer that are more than one time even a wall that they can. If you have a building you can Paint their logos, you know, lovingly sponsored by xyz, whatever it is. If you have a van, as soon as you identify assets that are going to be around throughout the year or all year round, that is the time to really craft a great sponsorship. That's a partnership.
- [24:23]
Julia Campbell
Oh, wow. So you have a toolkit. Do you have a checklist? I love a checklist. And you've templates.
- [24:30]
AJ Steinberg
Yes, I've got templates and timelines and things like that. That's interesting about a checklist. There will be a checklist by the end of the week.
- [24:39]
Julia Campbell
I love a checklist.
- [24:40]
AJ Steinberg
Now I'm going to say, yes, I do have a checklist, because that's a good IDE idea. I hadn't really thought of it because I just do this so blindly, you know, you just go in and go.
- [24:47]
Julia Campbell
Boing, boing, boing, boing, boing.
- [24:49]
AJ Steinberg
It's part of my stuff. So, yeah, it should have a checklist. That's great.
- [24:52]
Julia Campbell
I love the strategy of talking to people about their marketing budget as opposed to their philanthropic budget, because these are marketing dollars at the end of the day and not pure philanthropy with no strings attached kind of dollars. What are some of the biggest pitfalls that you find when nonprofits are trying to transition? Because we're so used to talking to donors, we're used to talking to funders and grant makers, but now we're talking to a marketing person or a business owner.
- [25:25]
AJ Steinberg
Right.
- [25:25]
Julia Campbell
And you need, like, how should we reframe our what we're asking?
- [25:28]
AJ Steinberg
Right. You need to think how they think, which is super important, which is why when you write out, when you create your deck, if you're giving them a PDF that just lists in black and white the different levels, you're missing out. Because marketing people are visual marketing people. They don't read, they skim, they look and they do pops. I have all these samples in the toolkit. But if you have an amazing sponsorship deck or partnership deck, it is going to get you ahead of everybody else who's asking, standing out there with little paper signs going, choose me, sponsor me. And you're going to go right to the head of the line. Because they can see that you understand what branding is, what marketing is, and you will really do a great job with their brand once you have the sponsorship. So they don't speak their language, they don't send the rights. Not sending the right people to talk to the marketing people. You don't want to send someone who say, it's your board chair or somebody who's not good at just asking and talking, having a comfort level, talking about money is super important and understanding how to just riff on value. Practice in front of a mirror, be ready to talk to them how they like to be spoken to.
- [26:35]
Julia Campbell
Exactly. I think we treat, yeah, we treat our event sponsors like donors. I saw that a lot when I was a development director and you know, working with organizations just thinking that they have the same mentality as a major donor or a planned giving donor and it's just not the case.
- [26:53]
AJ Steinberg
So what we do too is how you treat them afterwards. And what. Yes, so, so what happens with sponsors is they won't be at your event. Most likely a lot of these people will get two. You know, your top sponsors get two tables. Never more than two tables. They are never, they have enough hard of a hard time finding 20 people who want to go to your event who are C level. And what happens is if you're not specific, they will literally send like the guy who takes the staples out of the staple machine. You know, they will send anybody to fill those seats. If you keep saying give us names, give us the names. So when my sponsors come on board, I know that they are a corporate entity and I will say in my onboarding email, thank you so much. We're so happy to have you on board. We have you down for two tables. If you're not going to be sending Sea level executives to our event, we would love you to gift back your table so that we could fill it with the honorees, family and friends or our special volunteers. They love that because it takes the.
- [27:53]
Julia Campbell
Strength, pressure off them from doing it.
- [27:56]
AJ Steinberg
They love that. And their table is still hosted by them. And I always have, I have a, I have a hundred silver frames and they, I always put people, whoever hosts a table that say this table hosted by. So if Union bank hosts is a presenting sponsor and they get two tables, those tables, even though Union Bank's not there, it still says these tables. You know, this table hosted by Union Bank, I take pictures of everything. I take pictures of every table that has a host thing. I get all of those tribute books that we print that are left over. We take them back to the offices. Then we take all the pictures that we took of where their logos are placed because they weren't there and we send them to them via email. We physically mail a tribute book which are the event booklets to each of the major sponsors with a little yellow post it note where their ad is in the tribute book and a personal thank you note. And then when they open it up and see their ad. They're also seeing who else sponsored you. They're seeing the story of your event and your organization which is in it. And they're also seeing the high level and quality of what you produce that night. And that's when you're gonna get a phone call about a week later saying, we're still feeling the love and we wanna just like you said, create a little bit of scarcity in fomo. We wanna make sure that this sponsorship is yours next year. So let's talk about that right now, thinking ahead, right?
- [29:17]
Julia Campbell
It's not just a one off, it's not just a transaction. It's really building that relationship, building that partnership. It's how we should be thinking about fundraising and donor development as well. Not just in this transactional what's in it for me way, but it really, how do we build that long term kind of commitment with the donor? This is fantastic. So what do you feel like the one thing is that nonprofits can do right now to improve their sponsorship strategy if they just tweak one thing?
- [29:50]
AJ Steinberg
Can we say three things really easy, because it's such a process. But first, you have to have your board and your committee involved and your honors.
- [30:00]
Julia Campbell
Can't do it alone. Can't do it alone. I do want to reiterate that to people.
- [30:04]
AJ Steinberg
I know we all try to do everything ourselves, but we can't. Secondly, reassess what you're offering them in your sponsorship packages. Take a look at what's being offered and people like me who are professionals, take a look and see what we're offering and copy it. There's no proprietary. Copy what we're doing. Scale down to whatever you're offering and then make a gorgeous deck. Don't hand them a Word document or a PDF of a Word document. Really put some effort into how beautiful your sponsorship deck is. So those are the three things that's so important.
- [30:36]
Julia Campbell
Don't start from scratch. This is what I tell a lot of my clients when we do their digital marketing audits. I say look at websites you really like, look at emails that really resonate with you. Look at social media content that you like, and you want a screenshot and stories. I mean, we don't really have to start completely 100% from scratch. There's so much out there. There's a lot out there that we don't like. And that's just as informative as the content and the templates and the examples that we do like. So why, you know, we need to be acting like Detectives and become more curious. And also just look at everywhere you go. If you go to a play, look at the playbill, look at your. You know, we have a little local newspaper here that is free. I know a lot of people don't have local newspapers, but look at who advertises there or what events are going on. I think starting from scratch is going to feel very overwhelming for a lot of people. So I love that idea of having templates and also looking for examples. Another question I have as we're kind of wrapping up, what trends are you seeing in nonprofit events right now? Like what's in, what's out, what's going on? What are we, what are we doing in this post Covid era?
- [31:51]
AJ Steinberg
Well, I'm seeing a trend and of course I am pushing this trend of getting rid of silent auctions.
- [31:56]
Julia Campbell
I have really cleaned up at a lot of silent auctions, only because I don't think people are as invested or as interested in them.
- [32:06]
AJ Steinberg
Basically how I look at events is it's relationship building with the people who have taken the time to show up in person. And especially when they're bidding on their phones. Why would you put them back on their phones during cocktail hour when you're supposed to be socializing and building community? So you've already got that buzz going when you go into the ballroom. And also it raises a little money, but it takes away from all the personal community building and excitement that happens. That actually is translated into money at your powers. And if you're going to be bidding mobile, which I hope you're not, but if you are and you're doing it, please close the bidding when people go into the ballroom. Do not keep it open so people are looking at their phone during your speech program. I don't understand that. What I've started doing as a compromise for my get my people who really do want to do online bidding is if they have mobile bidding and there's a stage program, what I do is I will have the MC get ups and welcome people. And he goes, okay, I'm putting a three minute clock on the screen. You have three minutes to do your bargain hunting on the silent auction. We're closing it in three minutes. So for three minutes it's fun. Everyone's going, oh, they're taking out their phones. And then he says, hold up your phones, put them in your purse, put them in your pocket. That's it. That's the trend is let's focus on really creating engaging, memorable, personable, intentional events and move away from. We've Always done it where it's a silent auction and children sing at us and things like that.
- [33:34]
Julia Campbell
Exactly. So trying to think more about the experience and less about, you know, let's just get every last bit in so we can make every last dollar. Because it really does affect the experience that people are on their phones. Like, I know several events I've been to, they do have text to give, but it's like you said, they open it up for 10 minutes. Maybe there's a QR code on the program. But yeah, the key is to get people. If you're in person, you want to be in person, right. You want to be talking to people and networking and oh, how did you find out about this cause and what brought you here and what stories do you have? And that's really the value of these events is that it's. And that's what's going to keep people coming back year after year is if they have that experience.
- [34:20]
AJ Steinberg
Right. The experience, the guest experience is what makes a successful event. It has nothing to do with cheap stuff that you can buy.
- [34:27]
Julia Campbell
I love that. Well, we are at our time, but thank you so much. What are some of your, like, trainings, resources, website? Where can people find you and learn more about queen bee fundraising?
- [34:39]
AJ Steinberg
Okay, well, it's just QueenBeeFundraising.com is the website and you can always reach me. And if you send me an email@ajueenbeefundraising.com that's ajueenbeefundraising.Com I can send you my sponsorship toolkit or my board sponsorship toolkit, and that would be a great thing. And I do half day workshops virtually and in person and do board retreats, so a little bit of everything.
- [35:04]
Julia Campbell
And I'm on your list. And that's how we got connected because I was reading about your Mastering Nonprofit Sponsorships training and I thought it sounded really interesting and I know it's something a lot of people want to learn about. So I do Recommend Getting on AJ's email list, following you on, or sending you an email and getting the toolkit and the templates. So thanks so much for being here.
- [35:27]
AJ Steinberg
Thank you so much, Julia. I appreciate it. Thank you.
- [35:36]
Julia Campbell
Well, hey there. I wanted to say thank you for tuning into my show and for listening all the way to the end. If you really enjoyed today's conversation, make sure to subscribe to the show in your favorite podcast app and you'll get new episodes downloaded as soon as they come out. I would love if you left me a rating or a review because this tells other people that my podcast is worth listening to, and then me and my guests can reach even more earbuds and create even more impact. So that's pretty much it. I'll be back soon with a break brand new episode, but until then you can find me on Instagram @JuliaCampbell77 Keep changing the world you non profit unicorn.