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The Fundraising Masterminds Podcast
65. Why Matching Gifts Are Critical for Year-End [Year-End Fundraising 3 of 8]
00:39:04
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- [00:00]
A
You're listening to the number one podcast for nonprofit leaders getting your nonprofit fully funded. This is the Fundraising Masterminds Podcast. Let's just role play this for a second, okay? I'm the donor that has $10 million in the bank.
- [00:15]
B
Oh, Jason, you are my best friend already. My new best friend.
- [00:19]
A
You don't know that I have $10 million in the bank. You just know that I run a business or whatever.
- [00:23]
B
Right.
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A
And so. And you're the ministry leader calling to ask me to be a part of a matching gift. So.
- [00:29]
B
Hey, Jason, this is Jim Dempsey from XYZ Minist. How you doing? Now I've got something to share with you. I've got a really neat opportunity I think you'd be interested in.
- [00:42]
A
Well, welcome back to another episode here at the Fundraising Masterminds Podcast. We are super excited that you're here with us today. My name is Jason Galasinski and my co host Jim Dempsey.
- [00:51]
B
Hi, Jason.
- [00:52]
A
And we are in the middle of an eight part series on year end fundraising and today we are going to be talking about matching gifts.
- [01:00]
B
I love matching gifts, Jason. I know, it's a game changer.
- [01:03]
A
Yep. The episode title is why matching gifts are critical for your year end.
- [01:08]
B
Yeah, Jason, I love matching gifts. I, you know, in so many of our episodes I've talked about the importance of matching gifts. The matching gifts are a game changer. You know, we see it in the Perfect Vision dinner strategy. I use it very often with crew throughout the year. Many of our mailings, we're having three and four matches a year, but especially year. And it's a game changer because of the deadline that we've got of December 31st. Having a deadline just works so well. It's a hand to glove success story with a matching gift. And what a great opportunity we have today to share with our audience about something that really could revolutionize many of their development efforts.
- [01:55]
A
Yeah. So before we get into like how and all the specifics, what is a matching gift exactly and how is it, why is it so important?
- [02:04]
B
Yeah, well, you know, it really from my standpoint, I started using matching gifts in 2005. I really saw at that point we were as a, as an economy in the United States. We were going through a major recession and individuals who had normally been able to give significant amounts of money really were not able to give at the same level. So individuals who Normally normally give 10,000, we're giving 5. Individuals who normally give 5, we're giving 2,500. And so I wanted to look for a Way to provide additional funding for some of these people so that even though they weren't able to give at the same level, they were still able to feel like they were giving at the same level. So I started testing a matching gift where I would go to individuals who were major donors, and I would ask them if they would be part of a lead gift. So that means setting up a goal, and we'll talk about that in just a minute. But setting up a goal of a total amount that you'd like to raise. 25, 50, $100,000 and use that money to challenge a handful of individuals to be lead gift people. And their money would match the giving of everyone else who responded to the direct mail letter. Yeah. So it just became such a winning combination. And we saw the. The hydraulics on our appeals just go through the roof. It just added another level of momentum to our campaign.
- [03:50]
A
Yeah. Well, Jim, I understand the history of the matching gift. I've definitely heard you speak about it in the perfect vision inner context. And I guess one of my questions is, and maybe some other listeners are thinking this too, is there ever a time where the matching gift can be overused? Because it sounds like you use the matching gift, like, all the time. Yeah.
- [04:08]
B
Right.
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A
Like, well, what if we use it so much that people. It actually kind of works against.
- [04:14]
B
Yeah, it kind of numbs nums.
- [04:15]
A
Yeah. People get used to it. And then. And then when you don't do a matching gift, it's like, actually hurts you. Is that. Do you ever see that?
- [04:22]
B
Well, absolutely, Jason. I think there's a point where we can all go numb to something when it's offered too many times. Typically in crew, as an example, we are putting before people an appeal somewhere between 24 and 36 times a year. So we're doing a direct mail letter every month. We're doing a email E blast in the middle. So we might do an appeal at the end of the month, mid month. We're doing an E blast to people, and then we'll be doing some special appeals along the way. And I'm only typically doing it using a match probably four times a year. So four out of 36 or even four out of 24 is not overdoing it. And so, yes, the answer. Answer is yes. I think you have to be careful not to overdo a match that every single one of your appeals. Now, many of our listeners, I'm sure, do not mail 24 times. They're probably fortunate if they even do 12 times a year.
- [05:28]
A
Well, what's interesting is And I don't know if this is true or not. It probably is, but I got your year end appeal last year, but I have not gotten anything from crew that I know of since then.
- [05:39]
B
Yeah.
- [05:39]
A
So you must be targeting. You're not sending 24 mailings and emails to. To every single person on your list. Right? That's the context is more targeted.
- [05:50]
B
Yes. In fact, Jason, I mean, it makes sense. We don't want to just do a shotgun approach to our direct mail. We want to mail to people who are interested. So it's more of a rifle approach. And you didn't actually say it or not, but in all likelihood you probably didn't give to that mailing or you would have said, jim and I got it and I gave. And that's probably one of the reasons why you didn't get future mailings because we did somewhat of a test and your name was scooped up on that test and you didn't give. So we didn't continue to mail to you over time.
- [06:29]
A
That's an interesting idea though, because I think when you say things like we send out 24 mailings.
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B
Right.
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A
I think, well, gee, man, you must. People, your people must be getting letters all the time. That would drive me. That sounds like the local fire department, you know, that calls every 10 seconds and begs you to.
- [06:46]
B
Right. Or the police association.
- [06:48]
A
Right, yeah. Not. You're not that person.
- [06:50]
B
No, no. In fact, Jason, it wouldn't be a good steward of God's resources if we just kept blanketing to people who didn't want to get it. We are trying to determine who likes direct mail, who doesn't like direct mail, and we want to send it to those people who like direct mail and respond and respond frequently to direct mail.
- [07:11]
A
What about people who like getting stuff from direct mail but that aren't really ready to give at that moment. How do you determine those people?
- [07:19]
B
Well, mind reading is not one of our biggest gifts. And so it's very difficult for us to determine exactly what was on someone's mind. We won't just in most cases immediately stop putting an offer before for someone if they don't give once. But certainly after three times asking, we will move that person off. And we do a lot of what we refer to as NDA, which is new donor acquisition, will rent lists from similar organizations and we will test and see what we always will take our best letters and we'll send it to individuals who we think potentially are interested in what we're doing.
- [08:03]
A
Okay, cool. Well, anyways, that was a little bit Of a rabbit trail. But. But it's still important. Ask the question about the matching gift and just overusing the matching gift. So I think we do want to save the matching gift for kind of our special times, which we would say definitely during the perfect vision dinner and definitely during the year end.
- [08:23]
B
Yes, exactly. Yeah. And probably one or two times, maybe in the spring and potentially in the summer, depending on how your cycle of your ministry works.
- [08:31]
A
Okay, so let's talk about how to determine your matching gift goal.
- [08:36]
B
Yeah, typically what I'm looking for is I want to have a number that we predetermined, that I can go to a handful of major donors. You know, I am looking for those critical few. So those individuals who I've talked about so many Times that those 20% of the people who bring in 80% of the dollars, I'm going to identify a goal that will make it reasonable but attainable for people. So I might set a goal of 25,000 or 50,000. And if I'm using 25,000, I may identify five individuals, give $5,000. I might identify 10 people to give $2,500. I might even decide, I like to just ask two people to give $12,500 to get to that 25,000. But number one, the goal is for the pacesetters, those individuals who are giving, and they will be matching the gifts of everyone else on the back end. But I'm also using the 25,000 as an amount to stim. Motivate people for that. Now, one of the things that we've learned over the years, Jason, is that it is so important that you have a pre qualifying amount. When I first started in 2005, I really started just essentially matching every gift.
- [10:08]
A
Yep, that makes sense.
- [10:09]
B
And that's fine. That seems logical. Yes, right, Exactly. And that worked well. But unfortunately, what it didn't do was move the needle. I had people giving 10, 15, $20, and they were like, nice. My money is matched well. I really learned over time that it's my critical few that I really want to move the needle on. I want them to be moving off the dime. I saw that most of my giving congregated around 5001-0001-5002-0500, $5,000. And so I wanted to have an amount of money that it really motivated someone to give more, to get to that level, to qualify for the match. And, you know, some people go, well, gee, isn't it? It's important for someone who gives $10 to also feel like they're. They're included. In there. Well, it didn't get them to give any more money. But when I had a minimum. We are very competitive people in the United States and we always want to meet the expectations of people. And if our expectation is that for $1200 or $100 a month, my money gets qualified. If I'm thinking that, hey, I want to give $1,000, I can give an extra 200 and get it matched. What, what a no brainer it is to do that. So that's one of the things that we learned quite a bit from that.
- [11:47]
A
When we talk about matching gifts, we're not talking about that you have to go out and find one person to give 25,000. We're really talking about looking for, you know, a handful of people that could give a gift of 2,500 or a gift of 5,000, a gift of 10,000 and putting together a matching gift pool. It's more like a pool of funds. Right. And another important part about the matching gift is that we actually aren't, aren't expecting them or we don't want them to give ahead of time. That's another mis.
- [12:16]
B
Oh, yeah.
- [12:16]
A
Numer that people say is, oh, well, before I, you know, send out this appeal, I gotta like lock in my matching gift money and I need to get them to give that money so that I can match it.
- [12:27]
B
Yeah.
- [12:27]
A
And that's actually, that would actually discount the matching.
- [12:30]
B
It will, it'll work against you. There are a number of oversight organizations in the United States. The fundraising professionals organization. One is Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. And many of those organizations believe that if money is given in advance, it takes away the conditional nature of a match. A match is, should be conditional. In other words, there needs to be.
- [13:05]
A
Some risk that it may not be matched.
- [13:07]
B
Absolutely, that's right. So it will match every gift of $1,200 up to $25,000. The idea is that if you only raise in your appeal $24,500, that that's all those partners will give. So they, if you don't, as you, Mr. Partner, Mr. Donor, sitting in your recliner reading fund appeal letter, if you don't give, then we won't get the full $25,000. And so of course, if the 25,000 is given up front, that take conditional nature out of it.
- [13:43]
A
Well, because some people look at the matches just like semantics, you know, of like, well, they're going to give 25,000 anyways.
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B
Right.
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A
So we'll just collect their money and then we'll just say it's A match.
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B
Right.
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A
And that technically isn't really following the rules of what a match is. So when you're looking for a matching gift, you're really just looking for people to commit to matching. So you just need a verbal commitment. You don't even have to get it in writing. It's just, hey, Bob Jones, will you consider giving 2,500 or $5,000 towards our year end campaign as a matching gift?
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B
Right.
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A
And then they say, sure, I'll be willing to do that.
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B
Yeah. Will you commit to doing that? Right, right, exactly.
- [14:28]
A
Now, are you ever concerned that people won't follow through? Like, they, they might verbally say yes, and then they, and then when you actually go to get that commitment filled, they're like, back down.
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B
Well, Jason, there's a risk to everything we do. Do you know, I, I was just talking to somebody on the phone last night that said that she had challenged some people to give to her organization and they had said they were going to do it. In fact, they said checks in the mail and weeks have gone by and those checks have never been received. There's always a risk when you talk with someone and you ask for a commitment. That's why, especially in first gifts from someone, you want to try and get a check in the mail, take it and use that as I'd like to take a check today if I could and take that back to my office and make sure that the process is in there. Typically, when you're asking for matching gifts from people, you're asking people who have given in the past. So they've got a track record of giving, they've got a track record of being consistent.
- [15:32]
A
And if you're doing development correctly, you should know them.
- [15:35]
B
That's right.
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A
So you should have a relationship.
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B
Yeah. Yes. Have I had someone over the years make a commitment and not fulfill it? Yes. But you, you are going to people that generally you trust and are going to fulfill their commitment.
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A
There is risk involved with the match because, I mean, you have to ask people to make a commitment. You're not guaranteed to get the matching money. Right. And you're not guaranteed that they'll. Even if they say yes, they commit, you're not guaranteed to get it. That's why it's important that we ask people that we trust.
- [16:06]
B
Yep.
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A
So that we have confidence in that. And along those lines of asking people who we trust.
- [16:12]
B
Yeah.
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A
You know, I wanted to ask you, well, like, who do you actually go to to ask a matching gift?
- [16:18]
B
Right. Well, Jason, this seems to be one of those areas that confuses people more than anything. You know, common sense. You would think, okay, you just go to your largest donors or your largest partners. Yeah, but there's a lot of people that, that confuse this and think, well, why don't I just ask, you know, 2500 people to give $10, you know, to get, get my 25, 000.
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A
Really? People think that way?
- [16:43]
B
Well, Jason, I, there's a bit of exaggeration in that.
- [16:47]
A
Okay.
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B
But honestly you've got to, you know, because there are people that run ministries and, and they think, well, I don't want to always go to my major donors for things. So is there 109 level in there?
- [17:01]
A
Yeah. Okay, someone in between. Let's go to the all hundred dollars and see if we can pull together a bunch more.
- [17:07]
B
That's right.
- [17:08]
A
Let me, let me, let me see if I know the answer to that ahead of time. I've been hanging out with you for a couple years now. So I think that you would say that you know, going to those mid level people would be robbing them of the opportunity to give because you know, those are the people that we actually want to be giving towards the match. Yes, that's right. So if they're the ones contributing to the match, you've already gotten their gift.
- [17:31]
B
You've undercut. Yeah, you've undercut your, your key areas. And if growing and thriving ministry, you're not going to go to every one of your major donors, you're going to go to a hand picked few individuals who give it a higher level and that you can count on their gift.
- [17:49]
A
Would you recommend rotating like let's say you have 10 major donors.
- [17:52]
B
Yeah.
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A
You know, maybe you go to like five for the vision dinner and you have five for the other.
- [17:57]
B
I do, yeah, I do. I, I think there's probably some people that you may run into that would give to every opportunity. Some people just love being part of a lead gift. They love the concept of matching gifts and they're just great people to go to. I have got one to two individuals myself who I go to fairly regularly. And one in particular says Jim, you know, every time you ask me I say the same thing. I don't love matching gift efforts. I'll give because you tell me it works, but I don't love giving to it.
- [18:37]
A
Now why does he think that it's not effective?
- [18:39]
B
Why doesn't, he doesn't respond to it himself. So in other words, matching gifts don't stimulate him to give any more. But he knows based on what I've told him because I show him the results afterwards. I'll say, Joe, here are the results. Your gift of x thousand dollars really motivated a lot of people to give. And he'll go, great, that's terrific, Jim. I'm really glad it did that. And it really is a funny conversation. It's a funny volley that he and I have every time because he knows that he doesn't like to give to it. I know he doesn't like to give to it, but he loves to support me, he loves to encourage me, and he loves to see when something does work. So it's a funny, funny volley.
- [19:36]
A
Yeah, it's interesting that. I mean, I suppose when you get to a certain level where you have maybe, you know, a lot of income, right. Maybe you just aren't motivated by those kinds.
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B
And that's exactly right. He's the kind of guy that he rarely goes to vision dinners because, you know, he just thinks somebody else will take care of that. But he is extremely generous. He's extremely well off. He does just an enormous amount of charitable giving to ministries, helps launch many, many ministries. But he, there's just certain things he likes and certain things that he doesn't like. And it's funny, he knows that. I know, I know that he knows. But it's. We just, we kind of play the game together and it's a lot of fun.
- [20:31]
A
Well, actually, one of the things on my mind that I'm kind of wondering if we can go into this. I don't know if this is a little too detailed, but there might be some people that are uncomfortable, you know, getting on the phone and asking people for matching gifts. You know, it's, it's getting, you know, it's like, well, how do you actually do that? You know, like, do you send them a letter? Do you send them an email? What exactly do you say? Like, what's the wording? You know, do you say, like, well, we're doing a urine grand fundraising letter and, you know, we are doing a matching gift and we would like you to be a matching gift. I mean, that. How do you communicate the idea in such a way that motivates them to say, yeah, I'd like to do that?
- [21:12]
B
Yeah. Yeah. Well, Jason, let me go back to the numbers again and to try and make a point. Okay? A direct mail letter that you send out generally has anywhere between a 2 and a 5% response. Follow up the phone call, you get a 30% response. Meet with someone face to face, you have 50% or more response.
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A
Right?
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B
But yet Many, many, many ministries focus in on direct mail letters. Yeah, the least responsive of any medium that you can use. The reason being is it's the least invasive. You don't, if someone is deciding they don't want to give, you never know about it, they just don't give. There's no confrontation when you're on the phone. You actually have to be in the line. And of course, when you go face to face, you are definitely in the line of fire. And there are many leaders who are afraid of rejection because to them it's not rejecting the opportunity, it's rejecting them personally. That's the way they take it. Now, it should not be that way. And so as a result, many ministry leaders are very fearful of rejection. So they would rather send a low response letter that they don't feel rejection then go face to face. But Jason, it's a no brainer. If you want to give someone, if you want to get them to give to your organization and to that matching gift effort, you've got to have that personal interaction. It's got to be, Jason, will you prayerfully commit to giving $5,000 towards our matching gift? Can I count on you to do that? That's what it takes.
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A
Yeah, well, that, I mean, it takes a little bit of bravery and courage to do that.
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B
Absolutely.
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A
I know, you know, I've worked in customer service for a while, right. Used to run a software company for 20 years. And I remember there's a, I mean, this is kind of true with anything, but, you know, there'd be, you know, some issues with customers or someone is getting upset and, and you know, the customer service rep would say, you know, what do I do? Should I send them an email or should I, should I send them a text or. And I'd say pick up the phone and call them and talk it through. And they're like, yeah, I don't want to do that, you know, and it's like they're afraid, you know, to, to get on the phone. But, but I've just found that getting on the phone and talking to people, you know, even though they might send a really nasty email and sound mad, you get on the phone with them, they're like the nicest people on the planet, you know, and there's just something about it. So, so it's interesting how that works and I think it's important to communicate in a more of a real time manner. Especially when you're dealing with something like this, it's better to call them. So let's do something here. This might be interesting. Let's just role play this for a sec. I'm the donor that has $10 million in the bank.
- [24:16]
B
Jason, you are my best friend already. My new best friend.
- [24:20]
A
You don't know that I have $10 million in that. You just know that I run a business or whatever.
- [24:24]
B
Right.
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A
And so. And you're the ministry leader calling to ask me to be a part of a matching gift. So go ahead.
- [24:30]
B
Well, but Jason, you have already been a very generous partner or I wouldn't be calling you.
- [24:35]
A
Right.
- [24:36]
B
And so that's the exciting part. That's the track record. So. Hey Jason, this is Jim Dempsey from XYZ Ministry. How you doing?
- [24:44]
A
Hey Jim, it's good to hear from you again. How are things going with your wife and everything?
- [24:48]
B
Well, terrific. I mean, God couldn't be blessed. And I'll tell you, I was just looking over at some amazing results of some things that were happening with our ministry. People are just making decisions for Christ more than they ever have. You know, Jason, we were seeing for the longest time that every 10 people on average that we shared the gospel with made a decision for Christ. Nowadays, we are seeing every three people. So in this time when people think that the Generation Z is so unresponsive to the gospel and is so hard and fast, they actually are more open to the gospel than ever before.
- [25:35]
A
That's really exciting.
- [25:36]
B
Well, Jason, the exciting part is that you have been, you've played such a critical role in this. You and your wife, you're giving to organization and your sacrificial gifts have really played a major part at some point in time. Time. I'd love to unpack with you just all that God has done through you all. But just know that you've played a major role in that.
- [26:00]
A
Wow, that's exciting.
- [26:01]
B
Now I've got something to share with you. I've got a really neat opportunity I think you'd be interested in. You know, year end for many ministries is just such an important time of the year and we're gonna like other ministries. We're going to go out, out to our donor base, those individuals who've given throughout the year. We're going to go out with a year end letter and we'll probably follow up with an email to some of those individuals and we're going to ask them to be part of, you know, the, every, every student effort that you have helped to fund significantly. And I think people are interested in that. But one of the things that we're going to try this year is that We've been doing some research on matching gift opportunities, and we are trying to put together a fund, a matching gift fund of $100,000. And we are looking for four individuals who are willing to give $25,000, and they're going to. Those individuals will match all gifts given through people who respond to our direct mail and respond to our email campaign pain. And so I'm talking to four individuals, and you are one of those individuals. And I would love for you to be part of this, to help to fulfill and to put together this pool that will make $100,000. So I'm asking you today, Jason, will you prayerfully commit to being part of this matching gift pool with a gift of $25,000? Is that something that you'd be willing to commit to today?
- [27:41]
A
Yeah, I don't know if I can do it right now. Are you expecting that I need to give you the money right now for that?
- [27:47]
B
Well, the good news of that, Jason, is that it's October and we really. Anytime between now and year end. Now, if you needed even a little bit longer time than that, yes, we could certainly do that. But I know that most people, and you're probably in the same boat, you know, you're talking to your tax account accountants, and tax accountants are recommending that people give gifts as much as they can at before year end.
- [28:13]
A
Right.
- [28:13]
B
And so, no, don't feel at all obligated to give immediately, really, anytime. In fact, it. It really is best that you wait for the entire campaign to go through before giving your $25,000.
- [28:29]
A
Okay. Well, yeah, I mean, I think that should be fine. You know, by that time, you know, we should be able to pull something together. So you can count me in.
- [28:37]
B
Oh, nice.
- [28:38]
A
Have my commitment.
- [28:39]
B
Thanks, Jason. I appreciate that. And I'll let you know how the results are. We are so optimistic about what's going to happen. We're, you know, we're going to try and raise a half a million dollars in this effort. So to have 100,000 of that will really make a major dent in our every student effort.
- [28:57]
A
Great. Well, keep me in touch and let me know how it goes. I love to hear the results.
- [29:01]
B
Oh, thanks again for all you do.
- [29:03]
A
All right.
- [29:03]
B
That's it. You, Jason.
- [29:05]
A
Awesome. Well, that's, that's exciting. I mean, you make it sound so easy, you know, and obviously, you know, you're a larger organization raising a half a million at year end. You know, obviously we want to tailor it.
- [29:17]
B
Yeah.
- [29:17]
A
You know, based on your goals.
- [29:18]
B
Drop a few zeros if you need to, if your goal is $50,000, you know, and your, your match may be 10,000, your match may be 25,000.
- [29:27]
A
Right. So what would you, is there, is there like a ratio of, of match to goal amounts that you want to typically go for?
- [29:34]
B
Well, I, I mean, of course the ideal would always be 50%. If you could do that, I mean, how neat would that be that you're saying, okay, we want to raise a hundred thousand, we've got 50,000 in match. All you need to do, Mr. And Mrs. Jones, is give an additional 50,000 to help us get to our goal. But honestly, even if you can have a fourth of that, so if your goal is a hundred thousand dollars and you get 25,000 of that, you're still in, in pretty good shape. But in reality, Jason, a match that has a, has a qualifying amount is going to be better than no match at all. But normally it's anywhere between 25 and 50% of your total goal.
- [30:17]
A
So. This has been a great conversation, Jim, and I really think that our listeners are learning a lot about matching gifts and why, how it's important, important. And this is the third, you know, episode in our eight part series. So if you want to go back and listen to the overview, and I think the last week we talked about the cause concepts, right, you know, of the matching gift. And it's really important that you have that cause concept and that you know exactly what you're trying to do with your matching gift.
- [30:45]
B
Right?
- [30:45]
A
But then once you have that, you know, determined, then having the matching gift set up, I like how you had the 4 to 1 ratio of, you know, if your goal is a hundred thousand, you want to raise about a quarter of that, right, through matching gifts. That's really good. And one thing that I was just thinking about as we were getting close to the end of this episode is, you know, as we were role playing that, you know, I think a lot of people are nervous, especially, you know, smaller organizations, maybe newer directors, they know that those major donors are out there.
- [31:18]
B
Yes, right.
- [31:19]
A
But they are intimidated by them.
- [31:21]
B
Yes, absolutely.
- [31:22]
A
You know, it's, it's, it's, you know, if you've never run a business before or you've never been a CEO before, you've never been involved in business leadership. You know, going in and talking to a business owner or meeting with a CEO, it can be intimidating. It can be a little bit. Even if you know the guy is a nice guy, it's just, they just hold themselves a little differently or, and so we actually Created a brand new course. And we haven't talked. Talked about this too much, but this course is called Major Donor Mastery. And Major Donor Mastery is a online course that walks you through exactly the process of how to find major donors, what to say to them, how to approach them, how to have a meeting, how to put together a specific appeal for them. It's a pretty substantial course. I mean, this isn't like a little baby course or anything like that.
- [32:16]
B
It takes the guesswork out of things. It. There are certain items in development that are a process there. If there's a step by step. We never want to take God out of the picture. Ultimately, you can do everything right, and if God's not in it, you're not going to get your gift. But we go step by step and explain to you, at this point, you do this. At this point, you do this. Here's what you say in this situation. Here's. If they say no, what does no mean never or does no mean not now? And those are the kinds of things. We take all that guesswork out and it makes it so much easier, especially the people who are intimidated.
- [32:58]
A
One of the things that I just love about the program is that, like, you explain what to do, but then I think more importantly, you know, explaining how to do it right. You know, do a lot of role play, you give a lot of scripts and, you know, just walking us through exactly how to do it, you know, is kind of an art form in a sense. You know, knowing how to read body language and knowing what to say when and all that kind of stuff comes with experience. And you've got over 40 years of experience dealing with major donors. So I think that makes you qualified to be called an expert.
- [33:34]
B
Well, Jason, I know it sounds cliche because we hear this a lot. Yeah. But there are secrets out there that professionals, people who have done this for 40 years. I can tell you I have learned a lot, lot. And unfortunately, I've learned a lot of lessons by doing things wrong. And you are going to learn from my mistakes, and you are going to learn what I did right, what I did wrong, and how you don't make the same mistakes that I do. So we're going to reveal. I'm going to reveal a lot of hidden secrets and stories that I haven't told a lot of people about. So I think it's the kind of thing that the listeners are going to really enjoy.
- [34:17]
A
Well, enough said. If you are interested in learning about Major Donor Mastery, there is a QR code on the screen. You can Scan with your phone or go to the link in the description and check that out. And also, I know we do talk about the Perfect Vision Dinner. And this is just a quick reminder. I'm not going to go into, you know what it is because we do that a lot. But this is a reminder that we're about a month away from the next Perfect Vision Dinner program starting. The next one starts October 28th, and we're going to be here in no time at all. We're going to be starting the next program we typically sell out. So don't wait to the last minute to get into that program. If you're interested, go to our website, fundraisingmasterminds.net fill out the application, it's free to apply. And get your name in there, get the ball rolling because, you know, it is a process of getting into the program, but it's totally worth it. It's a 20 week program starting October 20th, 28th, goes all the way to the end of March. And that's Jim and I walking your team through. And that's a, that's a question people ask me all the time. Is it just me going through the program? The answer is no. We, we train your whole team. So we, we take five people, up to five people through even more. You know, we can allow more than five if you need to, but we're taking your team through, we're training your team. So a lot of people use this. Even if you know how to do a visual vision dinner, a lot of people use the Vision Dinner training as a way of getting their team all united and on board. So if you're interested in that, go to fundraisingmasterminds.net fill out the application, get it in there. And because we're starting October 28th is when that starts.
- [35:55]
B
Well, Jason, Spring is the most popular season to do a dinner.
- [36:00]
A
Yeah.
- [36:00]
B
And our fall classes leading up to Spring dinner are they, they fill up so fast. So my encouragement to our listeners is don't sleep on this one, don't wait till the last minute, jump on it as soon as you can.
- [36:15]
A
Yep, it's definitely worth it. Most of our students that are in the program are walking away with at least a hundred thousand dollars as a result of the program. You know, that that's our minimum baseline is, you know, we're trying to raise at least a hundred thousand, you know, so if you're at that point where you're, you know, you average less than that, it's going to be worth it. And if you're also at that point where you're kind of stuck and you feel like you just can't break free from a certain level, then the program is going to help you. So there's, there's something in the program for everybody. And I don't think even you would say that you've arrived and, you know, everything, you know, we're constantly tweaking and modifying things as we learn, and even the perfect vision in our program is looking a lot different than when we started a couple years ago.
- [36:59]
B
Yeah.
- [37:00]
A
So it's because we're constantly, you know.
- [37:02]
B
Adjusting, flexing, making it work. Well, Jason, you and I just interviewed a couple weeks ago a director of development of events for Pregnancy Medical center, and they could have been satisfied just sitting at $400,000, which, you know, there are some centers who would give their rights arm to get 400,000, but they felt like they were stuck. They came to us, their dinner, they raised $550,000.
- [37:33]
A
Yeah.
- [37:33]
B
Broke the $500,000.
- [37:35]
A
And there was their goal. That was their big threshold that they.
- [37:38]
B
Felt like they could, and they went over that. So don't ever feel like you, you know, you've arrived because you probably haven't.
- [37:47]
A
Well, Jim, any final thoughts that you want to say regarding matching gifts?
- [37:51]
B
Well, Jason, you know, just all overall, my final statement is I, you know, I think it, it goes without saying, but I believe that year end is, is one of the most important times of that. And I'm so glad we made this decision to do eight episodes on year end.
- [38:08]
A
Yeah.
- [38:09]
B
Because there's so many ministries who know how important your end is, but they don't know what to do. And that is one of the most helpless feelings you can have is that you know you need to do something, but you don't know what to do.
- [38:23]
A
Yeah.
- [38:23]
B
And so giving this step by step eight episode series to me is just so valuable and so helpful and I'm glad we decided as a team to do that.
- [38:34]
A
Well, thank you guys for tuning in to the fundraising Masterminds podcast. It's been great. This is the end of our third part in an eight part series. So we'll look forward to joining up with you next time to continue the series and we'll see you later. Have a great week.
- [38:47]
B
Take care.