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The Fundraising Masterminds Podcast
103. 5 Reasons Your Annual Fundraising Banquet is Outdated (and How to Fix It)
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A
You're listening to the number one podcast for nonprofit leaders getting your nonprofit fully funded. This is the Fundraising Masterminds Podcast.
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B
You may think you're loving them, but really what you're giving them is a very old and outdated model.
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A
Well, this is just what we do. We do this every year. Everyone loves it. You know, why would we change it?
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C
It's great. Right?
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A
You know, the problem, though, is that people are coming to your event with checks pre written.
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B
I know.
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A
And they're not being challenged.
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C
Right.
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A
They are more interested in writing you a $50,000 that actually does something meaningful. Right. And they know, like, well, if you're selling tickets for a hundred dollars, for selling tables for a thousand dollars, it's not going to really result in a whole lot. Welcome back to another episode here at the Fundraising Masterminds Podcast. My name is Jason Galasinski and with me, my co host, Jim Dempsey.
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B
Hi, Jason.
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A
And I just wanted to welcome you to another episode. This is episode 103. We're going to be talking about five reasons your annual fundraiser banquet is outdated and more importantly, how to fix it. I love it. So we are going to be getting into this in just a minute, but I just wanted to let you know that if you are brand new to this podcast, welcome. This is a podcast that is for nonprofit leaders and we talk about development strategy, we talk about fundraising tips and tricks and all kinds of things. But actually we're not trying to be like a cool YouTuber Pearson, that just throws out the latest, greatest tips and tricks.
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B
Even though we are.
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A
We do try. I mean, look at the way I'm dressed, Jim. I mean, I'm trying to be cool here. But the most important thing about fundraising masterminds and is that we have a proven development model that Jim over at Crew has implemented for over 40 years. It's based on win, keep and lift. And we're all about developing partners for your nonprofit to be able to have sustainable growth right over the long haul. So you can look into this more as you check out some past episodes. Well, vision dinners are a common theme on this podcast. And that's because. Because as part of our development framework, winning new partners to your cause is something that we actively want to do.
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C
Right.
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A
And we found that the perfect vision Dinner is the best way to win new partners and just happens to be. It's a great way to raise six figures for a nonprofit too.
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C
Right.
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A
But this particular episode, we wanted to kind of zone in on some of you that are doing banquets. You do an annual banquet Every year. And we know there's a lot out there that are still in that. And some of them, you know, you might have a good rhythm. You might have. You might feel like you're doing everything right. You might even be raising a lot of money. But you may not realize that your banquet is outdated. So on this episode, we wanted to talk about five reasons why your annual banquet is outdated and how to fix them.
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C
Right.
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A
So let's get into it, Jim. Okay. First reason why your banquet is outdated is because, number one, you have the wrong mindset.
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B
Absolutely.
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A
Always starts with mindset, doesn't it?
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B
With us, it does, Jason, without a doubt, you're treating this event that you have like a fundraiser and not as a friend raising event. And it's so important that you focus in on not getting into people's wallets, but getting to their heart and capturing their heart. That has got to be the overarching strategy and the overarching approach, because when you focus in on people's pocketbook, they're going to see right through that and they're going to believe. Believe that you just care for them, for their money, and that you're treating them like an atm. And as we've said countless times that an ATM is not important until you need money. And then once you get that money, you move on and you don't think about ATMs again. And that's what our partners seem to feel like. They feel like ATMs when we are mistreating them and we are not loving them or caring about them. And that's the last thing we want to do.
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A
Now, hold on, Jim. I've been doing banquets for 25 years. We love our partners. They love us. You know, we got a lot of people that come out every year. It's the event of the town. We raise like $200,000 every year. We're doing well. What do you mean we have the wrong mindset?
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B
Well, first of all, Jason, it all comes down to what ultimately are you trying to accomplish. If you're trying to just raise money, you are putting yourself in a box and creating a ceiling that you're going to always bump up against. You're not going to get new partners there every year. You're not going to be raising the amount of money that you want because you are so focused on the dollars. And those people understand that. They don't feel loved, they don't feel appreciated. You may think you're loving them, but really what you're giving them is what we're going to talk about today, which is a very old, outdated model if you are just focusing in on telling stories about what you're doing, but not focusing enough on the outcome and the investment that's being made through their, their giving.
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A
Right. So the, the right mindset is what we refer to as friend raising.
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B
That's right.
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A
We want to focus on getting the right people in the room.
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B
That's right.
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A
And we want to focus on getting new people in the room.
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B
That's right.
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A
So our mindset is that the vision dinner is there to cast a vision to new people.
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C
Right.
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A
Similar to like how Billy Graham used to do evangelistic events.
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C
Right, right.
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A
He didn't fill a room or a stadium with a bunch of Christians already people.
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B
Already Christians.
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C
Right.
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A
He would tell people to bring their friends who were unconverted and. That's right. He would present the gospel in a very impactful way.
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B
That's right, yes.
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A
So what we're trying to do is we're trying to introduce your organization to people who have never heard of it before. And our job is to help them become converted over to your organization to get their very first gift.
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B
Yes, that's exactly right. Yeah. And if we are just focusing in on getting the same people back every year, all that is, is replication. We want to continue to multiply. We're seeing anywhere between 40 and 60% of the people that show up to our dinner are new every single year. Constantly having a blood transfusion every year of new partners in all the time. Yeah.
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A
You know, I always have debrief calls after our vision dinners and we typically have anywhere from 250 to 300 people in the room when we do dinner.
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C
Right.
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For the first time. And I typically ask people, you know, how many of those 2 to 300 people are first time donors.
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C
Right.
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And you know what the answer is?
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B
No.
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It's usually over 100.
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D
Wow.
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Between 100 and 150 are first time donors. And then, you know, the second question.
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B
I asked right after that, how much was new money?
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A
No. Well, that's a good question. But one of the questions, the follow up question is how long would it have taken to, you know, get 100 to 150 new partners? If you were using social media, doing.
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B
Your typical mailing, traditional methods.
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Right. And they, you know, a lot of times they stop and they think and they go, well, I usually, you know, I would have averaged like maybe 10, 15, maybe 20 a year or something. They can kind of conclude, wow, you probably saved me about five, six years.
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C
Right.
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Of a lot of work.
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C
Right.
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To get 150 new partners just like that.
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D
Yeah.
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B
In 21 weeks.
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D
Yeah. Yeah.
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A
So it's pretty, pretty revolutionary. Just the idea that you could use a vision to cast that vision to new people and have them invest for the first time.
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C
Right.
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And then from there, you know, we want to start to build that relationship.
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B
That's right.
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A
So first thing in your banquet is you've got the wrong mindset. You're thinking about it as a cultivation event. A lot of people do, like celebrations. They do. Volunteer recognition. They do. You know, it's more of a tradition kind of thing. They're, they're not. It's just part of what they do.
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C
Right.
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A
If you were to ask the director, they might say, well, this is just what we do. We do this every year. Everyone loves it. You know, why would we change it?
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C
It's great.
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B
Right.
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A
You know, the problem though is that people are coming to your event with checks pre written.
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B
I know.
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And they're not being challenged.
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C
Right.
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A
And even if you did bring in a compelling vision, they're probably still going to just write the same check. That's right. And then the ministry is starting to think along the lines of like, well, if I don't bring those people, then they won't write a check.
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D
Yeah.
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Because you have no relationship with them.
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C
Right.
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And so it's like, well, I need to bring them or they're going to think I'm not interested in their money.
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C
Right?
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B
That's right.
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A
So it's just a whole like, wrong way of thinking.
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B
Yeah, that's exactly right.
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A
So that's number one. Number two is you're not getting the right people in the room.
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B
So, Jason, I can't tell you how important it is to get to the right people. It really. Is it so often our dinners that I've been to banquets, may I call them over the years when I hear people say, well, combined, $100 came from that table or $50 came from a table of 10 or, or $150. Clearly they had the wrong people. Jason, tell our listeners what our average.
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A
So people who typically go through our program, and this is just our national average, obviously we train hundreds of organizations a year, but our national average is about $4,000 per table. In recent classes, we've actually been getting closer to 6,000.
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D
Yes.
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A
But I usually say, you know, let's go conservative.
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C
Right.
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A
Playing on 4000.
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B
Yes.
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A
But if you just do the math on what's 30 tables of 10.
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C
Right.
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A
You know, times 4,000, that's 120,000.
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D
Yeah.
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A
And then we typically go in with a $25,000 match. So that kind of puts you around, you know, the 140 range. Right. And so we typically.
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B
41, 45.
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A
Yeah. So we typically are saying, you know, plan on, you know, 100 to 150,000 for your first Vision dinner.
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C
That's right.
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A
That's our typical range, you know.
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D
Yeah.
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A
But for a lot of people, you know, they struggling to raise $10,000.
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B
Some of our listeners, I can, I can, can just hear them saying, $145,000 for your first dinner. I mean, I, I'm bringing in maybe 7 or 8 or 10,000 for my entire dinner. How are you getting 145,000 on your first dinner?
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A
Yeah, well, the one thing that I had noticed about the Shark Tank TV show is that you've got these four or five investors who, you know, they're successful business owners, they have the funds, they're actually looking to spend their money. They make it very clear on the show that they're looking to spend their money.
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C
Right.
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A
But they're looking to spend their money with the right opportunity.
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B
Yeah. Good investment.
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A
The whole show is about people presenting opportunities and them critiquing those opportunities and saying, I don't know if that's such a great opportunity for us.
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C
Right.
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A
You know, but they're, they're looking for that next Apple, you know, that next big thing. But really what they're looking for is they're looking for a great place to put their money that's going to get them the return that they're wanting to get.
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C
Right.
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A
And that return could be financial, it could be influence, it could be, you know, they might have lots of different goals, but they're looking for a good return. Yeah, well, believers are the same way. There are a lot of Christian entrepreneurs or business owners out there who have the funds, they have the resources. They might have a substantial savings account. They might have a donor advised fund. They might have something.
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D
Yeah.
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A
That the funds are there, but they're not writing big checks.
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D
Yeah.
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A
Because your tacky fundraiser is just selling tickets for $50 a pop.
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B
It's not exciting them, you know, really.
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A
And a lot of people don't, you know, that are in that caliber. They're not going to attend a dinner.
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B
They.
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A
Or they might if they're. Because their wife made them come and they're going to buy a ticket or they're going to buy a table and they'll just go through the motions, but you're not giving them anything exciting to get excited about those kinds of people, what we would refer to as the right people.
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C
Right.
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A
They. They are more interested in writing you a $50,000 check that actually does something meaningful. Right. And they know, like, well, if you're selling tickets for $100 or if you're selling tables for a thousand dollars, it's just. It's not going to really result in a whole lot happening.
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B
Well, if you haven't given them a reason, Jason, a good reason to write a 25 or a $50,000 check, they're just going to pass on it. They really are. And too many organizations doing banquets are not giving people a good reason. They may be giving them a good reason to write a 25 or $50 check, but certainly not a 25,000 or a 50,000. And unfortunately, I see that time and time again.
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D
Yeah.
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A
Some of the reasons that people don't get the right people there is that they're stuck in the past. You know, they. They tend to look at the dinner as a tradition. They want to recognize their donors, so they try to use the annual banquet as a donor recognition. They might give away awards or they might have volunteer recognition things. They might try to honor certain people. They might try to make it a fun night, but it's just kind of a fun evening to go to. They might talk about, you know, what ministry happened that evening. They might even talk about prayer requests or different, you know, almost like an.
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B
Update or recognizing the staff and things like that wouldn't necessarily be motivating.
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A
It's not necessarily bad.
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C
Right.
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A
If you care about the organization. Like, if I really care about crew.
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D
Yeah.
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A
And, you know, you invited me to hear an update on what was happening and all the internals. You know, I might be really interested in that, but, like, that's not the same as hearing a compelling vision.
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C
Right.
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A
What God is up to.
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B
Stories have changed lives and. And being challenged with something, with an opportunity.
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D
Yeah.
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B
That's truly going to make a difference.
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A
So the issue here is that tradition has really trumped growth.
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B
Yes.
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A
Banquets based on tradition feel outdated.
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D
Yeah.
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A
You're in a routine and you're not in a movement. Right. So to create a movement, you have to have growth.
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B
Yes, that's right.
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A
And you have to be, you know, replicating yourself.
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B
Well, you know, I think about so many of our events, Jason, where we see significant growth every year. And I just. Look, one of the things I enjoy the most is when those doors open. And I know you and I are always looking for that awe effect. What's. How are people going to respond when those doors open and when those. When those doors open and they've seen significant growth from the year before. It's just. There's a buzz in the room, and it's. It's like everybody wants to be part of a winning team. You know, if you. If you're a sports fanatic at all, all of us want to be part of that town, that city that has a winning team. And when you're helping a winning ministry, one that's making a difference, one that's growing, and that you see significant growth.
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A
So, number one, fix your mindset. Fix the way that you think about, you know, this as a. As a winning event.
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C
Right.
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A
Not as a replication or tradition.
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D
Yeah.
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A
And then number two, really start shifting your focus from having the same people there year after year and really focusing on getting the right people right. Right. Now, in our mentorship program, we show you how to get the right people in the room. Obviously, we're not going to go into all that because that would take, you know, weeks and weeks to. To do that. But if you want to know more about the Perfect Vision Inner mentorship program, you can click the link in the description below or in the comments section and you can learn more about how to get plugged in to the Perfect Vision Dinner mentorship program. Now, I know that we actually have a cohort starting the last week of October, and we're about four weeks away from enrollment closing down. So if you're interested in learning how to do a Perfect Vision Dinner for your organization for the spring of 2026, then this next cohort starting in October, is going to be for you.
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B
So now, Jason, you only do it twice a year. The course is only offered twice a year.
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C
Right.
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B
So making sure that you are in this class for a spring dinner is so critical.
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A
Yeah. So much coaching out there is just all about just giving the general idea.
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C
Right.
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A
And so there's a lot of very conceptual. Yeah, there's a lot of conceptual.
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B
Practical.
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A
We're really focused on the practical. We're really focused on week one, do this, week two, do this, and then we actually follow up with you. We check in, we make sure you actually did the homework. So we're pretty involved in the process. We kind of treat you like you're one of our guys, and we're going to walk you through that process of putting on your own Vision Dinner. You know, Jim, that we actually give away awards for anyone who joins our program and raises a hundred thousand dollars, they get an award. Wow. As just a way of saying congratulations.
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D
Yep.
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A
You know, you hit that milestone.
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D
Yep.
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A
On the last class, we had over 80 people. I think it was, it was like 84.
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B
Wow.
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A
There is only two or three that didn't get awards.
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B
So that's 80 ministries that raised over a hundred thousand dollars.
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A
Yeah.
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B
Unbelievable. Okay.
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A
And only two or three didn't get the award. Wow. Most of them did.
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B
And 100. I mean, it. And it doesn't just stop at 100,000. Right. You've got organizations.
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A
No.
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B
Raising 200, 300, 400, 500, even 600,000.
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A
Well, after, after the Perfect Vision Dinner is done, we have a three year program called the Winner Circle. And that's where we really dive into the depths of how to do development biblically as well as helping you with your second dinner, your third dinner, your fourth dinner. So we, I mean, we typically tend to raise about a hundred thousand dollars more each year. So like first year we're doing a hundred thousand. Second year we're doing 200. Third year we're doing 300 and so on and so on.
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B
So by year five, I could be raising a half a million dollars in my dinner.
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A
Yeah, you could. And we see it happen.
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B
Wow, that's.
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A
Sometimes it happens a lot faster than that.
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B
Yeah.
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A
So that's number two, not getting the right people in the room.
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B
What's the third one, Jason?
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A
Third reason is you're doing things too cheap.
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B
Oh, Jason, this drives me crazy, to be honest with you. Too many organizations just try and go on the cheap and they look for the cheapest way to do a dinner because it's spiritual or somehow they're being good stewards of God's resources because they're doing everything on the cheap. And that may work for little while because you've got people that know you and love you and they're willing to put up with that for a season. But I can tell you this, that you are not going to see the numbers that we see unless you start to look for a nice venue, serve a nice meal, and have an upscale program and an event where people enjoy getting on a suit and dress and see it as an upscale event. That's the only way you're going to attract people. You're not going to attract new people by just having this cheap event where you have a buffet and you serve your meal on paper plates and paper tablecloths and paper utensils. Those kinds of things are not going to get you a winning dinner.
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A
And some people, you know, they think, well, my church wants to donate the, the church gymnasium that's going to save us $10,000.
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C
Right, right.
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A
Why would I rent an expensive hotel when my church is just giving me a nice venue about?
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B
Because the nice venue is going to attract people in a church basement, is going to only attract a few people from that church, but very few others. You're not going to get a lot of new people. So you may think that you're netting some good money, but actually you're hurting yourself because the people who actually have money and the right people are not going to come to a church basement or gymnasium or gymnasium or anything or a fire station or a Kiwanis club because just because you are, you get it for cheap. You would make more by spending a little bit more money attracting the right crowd. That would make more, give much more than the cost that, that it took to rent that.
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A
I was on a call with a guy a few months ago, I won't say his name, but he was trying to show me the impressive venue that he found and he showed me the inside photos. But then he was like, you know, and I was kind of like, it's okay, it's a little, it's a little old looking. And he was like, well, you know the best part about this hotel or this venue is. And he showed me like the front side and it had like a restaurant bar on one side. It was a warehouse.
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B
Oh no.
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A
It had like a restaurant on one side and it had like a bar on the other.
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C
Right.
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A
And he was like, you know, I, you guys talk about having a reception and so I thought we could like start with people at the bar and we could kind of move them over to this side of the room. And then like when it gets ready for the big reveal, we can just move them to the center and then it'll be. And it's like, oh man, that is not what we're talking about.
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B
Jason, I, I know it's hard for some of our ministry leaders to understand that you have to spend money to make money, but spending a little bit more, another two or three thousand dollars to be able to get a good venue, that's going to bring in an extra 20 or 30,000. That, that 2,000 or $3,000 rental fee is going to be insignificant when you get an extra 20 or 30 thousand dollars in there. So important.
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A
Yeah. It's not just one thing. Right. Like if you get the right venue, but you don't get the right people, that's gonna work. If you get the right people, you don't get the right venue. It's not going to work. If you get the right people and venue, but you don't have the right program.
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C
Right.
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A
It's not going to work. So it's really all these kind of things that we've figured out, and that's really what makes the perfect vision.
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B
Once again, it's that recipe that you talked about. I mean, you could have some of the finest ingredients, and all of a sudden you. You use cheap flour or cheap, you know, sugar or something, and you don't get. You don't get what you want. Right, exactly.
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A
So doing things on the cheap is maybe something that your family and friends might put up with for a little bit. I know there's some organizations. Right. They start with friends and family.
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C
Right.
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A
And they're willing to do that for a while.
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C
Right.
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A
If you're really wanting to. To grow.
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D
Yeah.
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A
And you want to get new people in the room, they're not going to be impressed by showing up to a church gymnasium. They're going to be like, this seems hokey.
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B
I know, right?
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A
You know, so I, I know crew wouldn't be at where it's at today, you know.
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C
Right.
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A
And you just came back from a big, you know, 5,000 person event.
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D
Yeah.
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A
They didn't do things on the cheap.
- [22:50]
B
No, they did not. No. And in fact, you know, I think I told you about an event I did a couple months ago where we went to a very exclusive resort, a Ritz Carlton in Dallas. And, you know, yes, it cost us, you know, a few thousand dollars.
- [23:06]
A
I'll.
- [23:07]
B
I'll say that on the low end, but we raised. We raised $7 million at that one particular event. So I can tell you, you know, even at $100,000, that was a drop in the bucket for a $7 million event. So absolutely, you've got to see spend that.
- [23:25]
A
So far, you got. You got the wrong mindset, number one. Number two, you're not getting the right people in the room. Number three, you're doing things on the cheap. And the fourth one is you have no compelling vision.
- [23:36]
B
Oh, Jason, this is so important. I can tell you how many organizations just go through. They talk about, here's our staff, here's our facility that we have. We just bought some new equipment. We just put in new carpeting. Oh, we painted the walls that. I mentioned that.
- [23:54]
A
Bookshelves. Don't forget the bookshelf.
- [23:56]
B
We got new bookshelves so that would welcome people when they walked in the door. That's their definition of vision. And it's not going to excite anybody. Jason, you Know, scripture says without vision, people perish. And it's exactly right if you don't put a compelling opportunity. You mentioned about Shark Tank earlier. How many of the sharks would be buying a product that just was not exciting, was not going to yield return on investment, was just, here's an old pair of socks. Would you like to invest in an old pair of socks?
- [24:29]
A
Well, using that analogy of the investor thing, yes. And I've been in this shoes before because I've actually presented to VCs before.
- [24:37]
C
Right.
- [24:37]
A
So what do VCs, Jason? Venture capital, venture capitalist. So you go in to these, you know, venture capital guys, you're trying to raise money for your business, right? And a lot of times as a business owner or even a non profit, you know, leader, we're operating the weeds. So you know, we're thinking like, oh, this product is so great because of this feature and because we do this and because it has that and, and you know, the code is so great because we, you know, we use this framework and right? You, you have all these like value associated to your time and they could care less about. And they're going in and they're like, so what's the point of this, this thing, right? You know, who does this serve?
- [25:15]
B
But what's your net, how it's your income, what's your roi, whatever it is.
- [25:19]
A
You know, you're just like, blah, blah, blah, you know, you just don't. And they're just like, next. You know, they don't care because they only care about the bottom line. Like they care about what do you do and who do you impact and how does this product help them solve a problem?
- [25:32]
B
The outcome, whatever.
- [25:33]
A
Yeah, they're focused on the outcome. That's the point that I'm trying to make. And so when you do a vision, dinner or a dinner or banquet or whatever, you know, if you've got a vision, but the vision is like, you know, we want to hire this person, we need to upgrade the bathrooms, we need to do this, we need to do that. We got to get a, we got to get a bus so we can take the kids here and we got to do that.
- [25:52]
B
You're just thinking of recess, lighting, whatever.
- [25:55]
A
You're thinking of all the things that will make your job easier.
- [25:58]
B
Well, it's needs, Jason. You and I talk about that. There's a big difference between needs and opportunities. All those things you mentioned were needs. They're not opportunities, right?
- [26:08]
A
So when you are going into that and you're just talking about all that, they're Just thinking, okay, whatever. I've got to change my laundry. I've got.
- [26:15]
B
I've got needs to. I don't need to fund your needs.
- [26:18]
A
Right. And so what we want to do is we want to present an exciting vision. Now, an exciting vision is focus on outcome.
- [26:25]
D
Yes.
- [26:25]
A
Okay, so you have all these needs.
- [26:27]
C
Right.
- [26:28]
A
But like a just magically wave of magic wand and assume that just somehow all those needs got met.
- [26:35]
C
Right.
- [26:35]
A
What would happen?
- [26:36]
D
Yeah, yeah.
- [26:36]
A
What would actually happen? What? Like, would you make a better dent in your vision? Like, would more people come to Christ? Would more lives be changed then? If so, then, okay, put a number to that.
- [26:48]
D
Yeah.
- [26:49]
A
What, yeah. What would it have cost to make that impact?
- [26:52]
D
Yeah.
- [26:52]
A
Now that is something that's going to get someone excited.
- [26:55]
B
And they're thinking, if I gave you $20,000, what are you going to do with it? How's it going to be used? What is the end result going to be with that? And I can tell you that new recessed lighting or a new bookshelf is not going to excite people. They're going to be excited by changed lives and something that's going to make an impact in eternity.
- [27:14]
A
So you've got to have a compelling vision. And so many organizations, they talk about their needs, they don't talk about opportunities. Can you believe how many banquets that I've actually seen that they don't actually have a goal? Right. They're actually afraid to put a goal.
- [27:26]
B
Whatever you can give, we will take. You know, we will. We'll be satisfied with the end result. Whatever.
- [27:33]
A
There is one person we helped with at dinner, they weren't really in our class, but I gave them a few pointers and stuff. And I was helping him with the slides, and I was like, there's no goal in here. And they're like, well, you know, we don't want to limit what God could do.
- [27:47]
C
Right.
- [27:47]
B
We don't want to presume upon God.
- [27:49]
C
Right.
- [27:50]
A
They were thinking, like I. I said, you need to have a goal of like 100, 150,000. And they're like, but what if someone out there like, wrote like a huge check and, you know, we raised like 300,000. Like, we don't want to limit. We don't want people to just think only that, you know, do you know how much money they actually raised, please? It was like 65,000 or something. It wasn't even remotely close to what they.
- [28:10]
B
No. And in fact, when you don't give people a good reason, you don't give a goal to shoot for they're always going to be under that. It just, it's. It's 100% certain.
- [28:22]
D
Yeah.
- [28:23]
A
We have a principle in our program, and it's called people give according to what you expect.
- [28:28]
B
Yeah.
- [28:28]
A
So you set the expectation.
- [28:30]
B
That's right.
- [28:31]
A
And they give according to that expectation. If you have no expectation, then you're not going to get anything.
- [28:36]
C
Right.
- [28:36]
A
You have an expectation, but they don't have an expectation.
- [28:40]
B
Well, in the United States, we are very goal oriented. We are all about achieving. And you give me a finish line and I'll get there. I'll figure out a way to get there. And it's the same way. You give me a goal and I'll. I'll shoot for it.
- [28:53]
A
All right. Now, this last one might be a little controversial. I know Jim and I were having a little bit of debate over this one, but bear with me on this. Okay. The fifth one is you don't lead your partners to a holy moment. I'm not talking about, you know, singing Kumbaya and holding hands and giving each.
- [29:11]
B
Other hugs or what's your definition, Jason, of a holy moment? Let our audience know what is a holy moment.
- [29:17]
A
So the big thing here is that we really want to give people an experience.
- [29:22]
C
Right.
- [29:23]
A
That is going to set the tone, set the mood for the Holy Spirit to work. And that's really the point of our perfect vision enter is after doing 3,000 perfect vision enters. We. You kind of learn, you know, what works, what doesn't. You know, if you've talked to a wedding planner who's done 3, 000 weddings, they know, like, this is what people. Like this is what people don't, like, do this. Don't do this, you know, like, they know. And we're kind of in that same boat. Right. Like, we know what tends to move people's hearts toward a vision, and we know what doesn't. And so there's certain things we do and there's certain things we don't do. But the whole point is to get to this climax where really God can start working on people, people's hearts. And they pray and they ask God in a form of surrender, lord, what would you have me give? I. I do feel like this is something that I'm excited about. And they. That we really want them to partner with the Holy Spirit and have the Holy Spirit, you know, prompt them to give a certain amount.
- [30:27]
B
Jason, what does it look like when you don't get to that holy moment?
- [30:32]
A
Yeah, so not having that would be like, you know, you've Got your guests coming in with pre written checks. They already know, like, you know, I always write a check for $500 for this particular organization, I'm going to write a check again. Or you know, they go in with a certain mindset and they already know ahead of time, preconceived.
- [30:51]
B
They already know what they want to give. They're not allowing God to move then in other words.
- [30:57]
A
Yeah, what we're trying to, to do is we're trying to get their attention, we're trying to draw them in. Now this isn't like manipulating, but it's like, I don't know if you think about maybe you've been to a concert in the past with one of your favorite, you know, artists and you know, you're just there to have a good time and you kind of go into a certain expectation and then the next thing you know, like maybe the artist says like, hey, you in the purple shirt, you know, like, come up here and dance with me or something. Or next thing you know, you know, you're like, you're on stage and you know, this is like something different happens that you didn't expect.
- [31:29]
D
Yeah.
- [31:30]
A
And that might have like made your day.
- [31:32]
D
Yeah.
- [31:33]
A
Or maybe it terrified you. But in either case, right, you, you went into that concert with a certain perceived way that was going to happen and then something else happened you didn't expect and but you enjoyed it. That's kind of what we're trying to do with our vision dinners. We're trying, we're not manipulating them, but we're giving them an exciting opportunity that they didn't expect. You know, these people go into these fundraiser events with certain ideas in their mind. They kind of know how these things typically go.
- [32:01]
B
Certainly where we want to take people is to the point where they're communing with God, there is a connection and they are truly listening to the Lord. I can remember one event, Jason, in San Antonio, Texas and it was at a Hyatt and we had. People had spent the weekend and Saturday night it was one of those events that the audience had heard a tremendous program and those individuals were listening to God. They. We had people that during the collection time at the end when people phone out, we had couples huddling in corners because they were, they literally got up huddled in corners or at their table and they were truly seeking sacrificial gifts to make. So it's when people get beyond just what am I, what do I currently make? Or what is just a nice token gift, but it's really trusting God for Something big. And that is when you. You reach that holy moment when you and God are in sync together. And it doesn't happen all the time, but it's not when people come in with a preconceived number. And you may have some individuals that will come in that way, but it's your job to get people to that point where they abandon that number that they came in and they commune with God and collectively together come up with a number that in most cases is more, if not significantly more than when they first came in.
- [33:41]
A
So one of the last dinners that we went to recently, there is a couple. And, you know, we were opening the giving envelopes at the end when we count them, and there was two checks in the envelope. And the. The gift counter was like, that's weird. Why do they. There's a check here for the husband, and there's a check here from the wife. And then they asked, you know, that they found the husband and wife later when they were calling them and stuff, and they were thanking them for their gifts, and they're like, just wondering, like, why you had two checks. Why don't you just write one? And they were like, well, you know, my wife, you know, had an idea of what she felt like, you know, we wanted to give. But, you know, I was like, she had already written the check, right? You know, I was like, no, we need to double that. You know, and he. So he just wrote another check for the same amount and put it in there.
- [34:27]
B
I love that.
- [34:28]
A
But that's an example of how spirit can work. We see that time and time again.
- [34:32]
B
We do, yes.
- [34:33]
A
And so, you know, it's not, you know, it's not something we can guarantee will happen or anything like that, but we really do see this time and time again that when you get something exciting in front of people, they will. They will consider it, especially if it's the right people.
- [34:50]
B
Jason, I think that's one of those elements of the Perfect Vision Dinner strategy that. That is often overlooked, but is one of the most significant things. And I'm really glad you brought that up, because it is one of those things that separates the Perfect Vision dinner model from any other model, is that we get them to that point, and it's so exciting.
- [35:13]
A
Actually, there's a testimony that I really love you guys to listen to. I might just put it on right now, but it's a. It's one of the girls that was a CEF director. She went through the dinner, and I got on the phone with her after dinner. I was like, how did it go? And she spent more time talking about how this program changed her as an individual because it forced her to get on her knees and trust God more. And as she was describing the perfect vision in her mentorship program as more of a personal revival for her, you know, because it forced her into a dependence on God, you know, rather than like, I've got to make all this. Yeah, yeah, she did have to make certain things happen.
- [35:52]
D
Yeah.
- [35:52]
A
But that wasn't the takeaway of what she learned. What she learned is I had to depend on God to make this happen. And I grew my faith, and it put me in a better place, and it grew the faith of my partners, and it put them in a better place. And it's a win, win, win all across the board.
- [36:06]
B
Well, and I love that, Jason, because earlier we talked about a formula and a recipe, and yes, there are elements of that, but there's a point where there is only. Only way this thing is going to succeed is if God is in it. And that is where we take people. And I love that aspect of the perfect vision dinner strategy.
- [36:26]
A
So your banquet is outdated because you're getting the wrong people in the wrong place with little vision and no compelling appeal to your vision. And so the way that we help fix that, obviously, is to flip that around by getting the right people in the right place at the right time with the right vision, with the right appeal, and all that. Working together will create a moment for your guests where the Holy Spirit will work in their hearts. And we hope and pray that they will listen to that prompting and give sacrificial.
- [36:58]
B
That couldn't be summed up any better, Jason.
- [37:00]
A
Well, we've talked a lot on this episode about doing a vision dinner, updating your vision dinner. And if you are interested in learning more about how to do that, we actually have a cohort coming up starting October 27th, which is in five weeks, and the deadline is the Friday before that on the 24th. So just keep that in mind. But if you're interested in learning more about this program, I would encourage you to scan the QR code on the screen or click the link in the chat. It's going to take you to our application page, fill out the application application, and if approved, then you will have the opportunity to get into the perfect vision in our mentorship program. Now, keep in mind that we only do, like, two cohorts a year, and we have a lot of demand and very little spot open. So most likely, you know, being four weeks away, we might already be full, but do it anyways. You never know. We have people coming and going. Sometimes people drop off and we might be able to get you in there. But we would like love to work with your organization because this is such a pivotal program that can really help change the trajectory of your entire ministry. This might be the game changer that you need to really take your ministry to the next level. So check out the Perfect Vision inner mentorship program and and we'll see you on the inside there. Jim, any other thing you want to say about the five reasons why your annual fundraising banquet is out to?
- [38:22]
B
Yeah, it really comes down to finding the right formula and doing things the right way. There is a right way and a wrong way. Yes. You may say, well, Jason, why do I need this? I'm bringing in 200,000. My dinner and my 700 people, you know, are giving $200,000. Well, a 700 person dinner should be bringing in six or $700,000. And so finding the right formula is going to get you to the place you need to be.
- [38:53]
D
Yeah.
- [38:54]
A
Well, if you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe. We've got lots of episodes coming out, so you don't want to miss those. And let us know in the chat what you think of this episode. We'd love to have a conversation with you. And of course, thank you again for tuning into this episode. We look forward to seeing you next time.
- [39:10]
B
Take care. Sa.