66. Writing Year-End Appeal Letters That Actually Work [Year-End Fundraising 4 of 8]

Summary

Summary of Episode 66: Writing Year-End Appeal Letters That Actually Work

Release Date: October 9, 2024
Podcast: The Fundraising Masterminds Podcast
Hosts: Jim Dempsey and Jason Galicinski

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1. Introduction to Year-End Appeals

In Episode 66, Jim Dempsey and Jason Galicinski delve into the intricacies of crafting effective year-end appeal letters for nonprofit fundraising. Building on a series that began in September, this episode focuses on actionable strategies to ensure that appeal letters resonate with donors and drive meaningful contributions.

2. The Importance of Segmentation

One of the cornerstone strategies discussed is the segmentation of the donor base. Jim emphasizes the necessity of tailoring communications to different donor categories to enhance engagement.

• Jim [02:52]: “Don’t fall in the trap of just saying...having one fundraising appeal letter is...segmenting.”

Jason probes whether organizations should use different letters for various donor segments, to which Jim responds affirmatively, highlighting that personalization increases effectiveness.

• Jason [02:28]: “Do we want to have different letters geared towards different categories of people?”

3. Personalized Communication vs. Generic Letters

The hosts underscore the pitfalls of generic appeals that fail to connect on a personal level. Jim shares his approach to writing personalized letters by imagining individual donors within each segment.

• Jim [05:25]: “Rule number one...write to one person and not necessarily write a generic letter.”

Jason adds that personalizing letters prevents them from appearing impersonal and increases the likelihood of donor engagement.

4. Direct Mail vs. Email in Fundraising

A significant portion of the discussion centers on the efficacy of direct mail compared to email. Despite the convenience of emails, Jim argues that direct mail often yields higher response rates, especially among older demographics.

• Jim [06:25]: “Don’t fall in the trap of just saying...the biggest mistake you will make this year.”

• Jason [07:46]: “People have responded to direct mail a lot more and a lot more substantially than email.”

Jim cites the example of the baby boomer and builder generations, who prefer receiving physical mail, as a critical factor in deciding the communication medium.

5. Crafting the Content: Storytelling and Emotional Connection

Effective storytelling is pivotal in year-end appeals. Jim illustrates how narratives that highlight individual transformations can significantly impact donor emotions and motivations.

• Jim [10:10]: “...stories that are compelling...people will still respond to a story. They understand, they can relate.”

He provides a detailed example of a fictitious individual, Ali, whose life was transformed, demonstrating how personal stories can bridge the gap between the cause and the donor.

• Jim [11:30]: "Ali grew up in a traditional Middle Eastern family...he has now turned his life over to Jesus, is involved in small group Bible studies, he is leading others to Christ."

6. Effective Asking and Creating Urgency

The hosts discuss the art of making a clear and specific ask within the letter. Jim advises presenting tangible needs and straightforward requests to facilitate donor decision-making.

• Jim [22:31]: “We need your help to provide for even one meal a Day at a cost of X dollars. ...a minimum of one meal a month to feed someone like Freddie.”

Creating a sense of urgency is also emphasized, particularly in the context of year-end appeals, by linking donations to immediate needs and tax benefits.

• Jim [22:39]: “...present a clear and direct request...provide a sense of urgency.”

7. Utilizing AI in Writing Appeal Letters

An unexpected yet insightful segment covers the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in drafting appeal letters. While initially met with skepticism, both hosts acknowledge AI tools like ChatGPT can serve as valuable starting points for letter composition, provided the content is personalized and refined.

• Jim [15:28]: “You would be surprised how effective AI is now in writing letters for you...edit through and maybe make some things a little bit more personalized.”

Jason shares his practical experience using AI to generate draft letters, which he then customizes to align with his organization's specific goals and narratives.

• Jason [16:17]: “...use it as a starting point. We’re not saying like copy paste. We're saying use it as a starting point.”

8. Additional Resources and Further Learning

To supplement the strategies discussed, the hosts recommend additional podcast episodes for listeners seeking deeper insights into fundraising letter writing:

• Episode 27: How to Write an Exceptional Fundraising Letter – Focuses on the structural aspects of letters.
• Episode 36: 10 Secrets to Crafting a Compelling Fundraising Letter – Explores essential elements that should be incorporated into every appeal.

Conclusion

Episode 66 of The Fundraising Masterminds Podcast offers a comprehensive guide to writing effective year-end appeal letters. By emphasizing donor segmentation, personalized storytelling, the strategic use of direct mail, and the incorporation of AI tools, Jim and Jason provide nonprofit leaders with the tools necessary to enhance their fundraising efforts and achieve their financial goals.

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Notable Quotes:

• Jim [05:25]: “Rule number one...write to one person and not necessarily write a generic letter.”
• Jim [06:25]: “Don’t fall in the trap of just saying...the biggest mistake you will make this year.”
• Jason [07:46]: “People have responded to direct mail a lot more and a lot more substantially than email.”
• Jim [10:10]: “...stories that are compelling...people will still respond to a story. They understand, they can relate.”
• Jim [22:31]: “We need your help to provide for even one meal a Day at a cost of X dollars.”
• Jim [15:28]: “You would be surprised how effective AI is now in writing letters for you...edit through and maybe make some things a little bit more personalized.”
• Jason [16:17]: “...use it as a starting point. We’re not saying like copy paste. We're saying use it as a starting point.”

Transcript

[A]

You're listening to the number one podcast for nonprofit leaders getting your nonprofit fully funded. This is the Fundraising Masterminds podcast. A couple hundred emails a day, and I'm just trying to get through cleaning up my inbox. So I'm just like, delete, delete, delete, delete. Oh, this is kind of interesting. Nah, never mind. Delete that because you're in a different mode. One of the advantages of a piece of paper is that it can live a little longer.

[B]

Don't fall in the trap of just saying. It's so much easier, so much cheaper, so much more convenient to do an email. I'm just going to go with an email. Biggest mistake you will make this year.

[A]

Well, welcome back to another episode here at Fundraising Masterminds. We're so excited that you have joined us today. We know there's a lot of podcasts out there you could be listening to, especially around the time of October. And we are so glad that you're here because we're going to be talking about year end appeals now. Believe it or not, we actually started a series back in September.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Can you believe that already? It's already. It's already October 9th.

[B]

I push forward, Jason. I believe firmly that we need to start early. So I love it that we started back then.

[A]

So this is part four on year end fundraising, and this episode is called Writing Year end Appeal Letters that actually Work. So, Jim, this is going to be very practical stuff. I can tell.

[B]

Oh, absolutely. We're going to drill down today, Jason, because the content of a letter is so important. You and I have talked about this time and time again. A great majority of the people open up an appeal letter over their trash can, just waiting to decide. Is it going to just drop out of my hands into the trash can, or is it going to go in that elite category where it gets set aside to be decided at another time?

[A]

I mean, I'm not the only one that does that.

[B]

Oh, not at all. In fact, I'm that way. And millions and millions of others are exactly the same way.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. So, Jim, I am going to defer to you because you are the expert. I think you've probably written more year end appeals than anyone that I probably know in my entire life. Well, Jim, I'm really excited about this episode because the purpose of it is to learn the key elements of an appeal letter, especially in the area of storytelling. Yes. So, Jim, as we transition into just thinking about, you know, our cause concept, we have our cause concept identified. We've been thinking about, you Know the different ways that we can fundraise for the different, you know, categories.

[B]

Right.

[A]

But now it's time to actually sit down and write a letter.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

We're going to send this letter out to our critical few and other segments of our mailing list. My first question to you, and this might be getting off track, is, do we want to have different letters geared towards different categories of people? In other words, you know, the masses, the mid level, the, you know, upper level, and the major donors.

[B]

Well, let me ask a question back to you, Jason, then. Do you communicate differently with your wife than you do the greeter at Walmart? Do you have the same level of conversation, communications?

[A]

Absolutely not. No, exactly the same.

[B]

That's right. So you go up and give. Give a big hug to the greeter and say, hi, sweetie, how are you this morning? Well, I can tell you I do not, Jason, I have a different conversation with my wife. And as a result, you should look at having different versions. Now, that is not easy for every organization. Some listening to this broadcast may be just saying, hey, I am just happy if I even get a letter out that says dear friend. Now you're talking to me about segmenting my list so that a portion, my critical few get a letter that says Dear Jason and Jennifer. My mid level says Dear Jim and Diane, and my mask says Dear Friend. And each of those letters may have a different variation of appeal.

[A]

It's really not that hard because a lot of times the change of the letter might be the way you introduce the concept and the way you end the concept and possibly, you know, the appeal part. But a lot of times the letter has the same general principle of the story that you're sharing. Right.

[B]

It's not as easy as it sounds to be able to. Jason, you are a whiz in technology and a whiz in getting things done. And there's a lot of organizations out there that it's not as easy. In fact, theory is very true. You are 100% correct. I do it. I've got a massive team that does it. We hire people to take care of all the different variations, but not everyone can do it, that's for sure.

[A]

So I get it that, you know, ideally, you know, having one, you know, fundraising appeal letter is. Is great segmenting. Now, just a little trick that I do when I'm segmenting is I like to imagine people I know in those different categories. So instead of thinking like, oh, I've got to write this to major donors, and having that group of people be this abstract Thought, you know, just think of one person who qualifies as that and write the letter to them personally. Like you're talking to them or writing to them. Yeah, you know, I find that that kind of thing helps me a lot, you know, because otherwise you. You tend to address people very generically, like, hey, all of you out there and major donor land. I just want to give y'all a big. You know what I mean? It just comes across as very impersonal.

[B]

Yeah, that actually, Jason, is rule number one of the rules. Number one, if not in the top three of best ways to write an appeal letter, and really, frankly any letter, but especially appeal letters, is to write to one person and not necessarily write a generic letter because it's. You don't have the same style to everyone, but pick someone in that particular group. If it's the masses, write to one person in the masses. If it's mid level, write to one person. If it's a major donor, write to that one person in that particular way.

[A]

All right, so it is important to segment, if you can. It is important to write different versions of the letter. Let's talk about, you know, hard copy letters versus email. Yeah, I know a lot of people think, you know what, there's a lot of expenses involved in getting paper, maybe stationary, you know, paying for postage. That can. It can be a couple hundred dollars. You know, let's just send an email this year.

[B]

Aren't most people used to getting emails? And isn't that just a better way of doing things?

[A]

Right?

[B]

And the answer is absolutely not. If you really drill down in your donor base and I've done it, we slice and dice the donor base of Campus Crusade for Christ. I can tell you in a profile exactly what the donor looks like for the average typical donor of crew. And I can tell you they are typically people in the baby boomer and the builder generation. That's the greatest generation. So it's generally people who are born either before 1942 or from 1942 to 1962. And those individuals are going to be the bulk of the people that are going to be interested in funding and responding. And those people still like getting something in a hard copy versus an electronic version. That doesn't mean that you don't get some people in those categories who give electronically. That also doesn't mean that you aren't going to get some people outside those generations who are going to give. But development is all about. And. And not. Or. And so you need to do a hard copy and an electronic version. But don't fall in the trap of just saying. It's so much easier, so much cheaper, so much more convenient to do an email. I'm just going to go with an email. Biggest mistake you will make this year.

[A]

Yeah. Well, I can tell from my experience in writing letters. I do a lot of emails and I do a lot of direct mail. I do more emails than direct mail because I like to keep people updated in more real time with my organization. But I will tell you, by far, people have responded to direct mail a lot more and a lot more substantially than email.

[B]

That's right. There's just something special about getting a letter from someone, especially if you can personalize it. And it does say dear Jennifer and Jennifer Jason.

[A]

And I don't know if you've noticed this too, with, with you at crew, but I find that I'll send out a direct mail letter and I'll be getting gifts, you know, one or two months past when we send it.

[B]

Oh.

[A]

And I, I think it's because, you know, people open the letter and they kind of skim it and they think, oh, this is something I might want to do. And then they put it on their kitchen counter and then eventually, you know.

[B]

In their bill fold file.

[A]

Yeah. Or eventually their wife cleans the kitchen counter and it gets moved to a different stack and then that kind of gets sorted through and it's like, oh, yeah, I kind of thought about that and that that might happen one or two times before the gift is actually given, you know, and so that's actually one of the advantages of a piece of paper is that it can kind of live a little longer. I know with email or any kind of digital thing, a lot of times I'm getting a couple hundred emails a day and I just trying to get through cleaning up my inbox. So I'm just like, delete, delete, delete, delete. Oh, this is kind of interesting. Nah, never mind. Delete that, Delete. You know, and it's just like I'm. Because you're in a different mode, you know, versus at home you're, you know, you're going to read it on the couch or whatever. So it's just a different.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Thing. So I think that's one of the reasons why it works.

[B]

As you can imagine, in crew, we track everything.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So we've got codes for every response device, every envelope, every mailing that goes out. Not long ago we received a response card from 2020.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

And so I don't know how somehow that that got put in a drawer or something and got lost for four years and they turned that thing around and sent to us. Yeah, it. Fortunately that was coded or we wouldn't have known. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. Well, let's turn our attention to the content of the letter. So, Jim, could you. I know that we've done a couple podcast episodes on, you know, how to write fundraising letters before. We've done it more in a generic sense of like principles.

[B]

Right.

[A]

But could you kind of walk us through what would be the best year end appeal version of that?

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Well, first of all, I hope our listeners are going back to past broadcasts because our second broadcast in the series had to deal with cause concepts.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And it's so important that we really do look at the cause concept for that. We're going to. But bottom line, we saw from Jesus the examples in scripture that he was able to communicate his message much better and people remembered stories. Now again, that was part of that culture. It worked well. But I can tell you as a whole, even in modern day times today, people will still respond to a story. They understand, they can relate. There's a principle that exists out there that I've shared many times. It is people give to people justified by the cause. So if you can connect with someone through a story of a particular person, where you can actually include the name, you can include their personal background, you know, Ali grew up in a traditional Middle Eastern family. There was a one particular religion that Ali and his family worshiped. And he grew up in a society that was very disciplined and he thought of no other thing but this particular faith. In the middle of a dream, the person of Jesus Christ came to him. He was shocked and he was completely flabbergasted because he had not even known who the person of Jesus Christ was. But Jesus said to him in his dream, please, we need to turn your life over to me. He woke up sweating, went onto the Internet, started to investigate the person of Jesus Christ. He got connected with someone locally who was involved in crew. That individual connected him, gave him a Bible, connected him with the message and story of Jesus Christ. He has now turned his life over to Jesus, is involved in small group Bible studies, is leading others to Christ. That story is just so powerful and so important and it, the message needs to be communicated.

[A]

And just so our audience knows you're not just making that story up. No, you have to use where we, we. I had an episode a few months ago about the difference between manipulation and motivation. Right. And so we're not saying you need to make up a story that will manipulate people into giving. We're saying you need to find someone in your organization that has been impacted personally by your organization and you need to kind of take us into their life.

[B]

Right?

[A]

So at the beginning, when you were talking about, you were describing this kind of person. You don't want to write it like you're describing it. You want to write it like, describe how he thought about things. You know, take us into his.

[B]

If you can write it in first person, yeah, I spoke it and presented in third person, but if you can present that Ali in his own words said, I had no idea who Jesus Christ was, but when I found out, my life was totally transformed. Being able to speak in that manner is so important. So telling the story is critical.

[A]

Now we know if you think of the best stories, right? Movies tell the best stories. Movies come at it from a first person perspective. They're transporting us into the actual scenes. We actually feel the emotion of the characters, right?

[B]

There's usually a protagonist and an antagonist, right? And in this story, Ali would be the protagonist and the forces against him from coming to Christ would be essentially the antagonist in the situation.

[A]

Now I could hear people saying, you know what? I have the gift of leadership and I understand these principles, but I am not a writer. I cannot do this. Or you might think, I don't have time to think about this. But I'm sure there are people.

[B]

You need to find someone who has the skills.

[A]

There are people in your severe of influence or if you went to your board and said, I need to find someone who has the gift of creative writing. Does anyone know anyone, a young adult or someone in college who just has that creative energy, then you can communicate. Well, here's the. Here's the story. I know the story. I just don't know how to communicate. I don't know how to write it very well and let them help you.

[B]

I'm going to scare some people with this next statement, Jason, but. And I'm especially going to scare the writers out there. But you would be surprised. No, you would not be, but others would. People would be surprised how effective AI is now in writing letters for you if you give it the right information. Now, you'll have to edit through and maybe make some things a little bit more personalized, but even something as simple as ChatGPT or other AI devices can write some pretty good letters in this day and age. But there are letters, there are writers out there. And you can find effective writers well.

[A]

Along the lines of ChatGPT, because we do use that quite A bit for helping us with content. Yes. And the biggest thing that I've noticed with AI, I personally like XAI, but ChatGPT is pretty good too. They tend to work better the more that you define exactly what you want. So if you, you can't just say.

[B]

You know, write me an amazing appeal.

[A]

Yeah, no, you have to be very specific. And the more specific you are with it, the better a result you're going to get. But, you know, it's a good starting point. I know. One of the things I did in a fundraising letter I wrote recently for, I took a team of, of young adults on a mission trip to Zambia this summer, this past summer, and I helped them write, you know, eight appeal letters.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And one of the ways that I kind of helped get kind of a framework, you know, ultimately I ended up writing it, but I had them write because you always say people give, there's emotional givers and there's logical givers. And so I had them write in their own words an emotional reason why they decided to go to Zambia on a mission trip. So just give me, like, if you were talking to your best friend, you know, you're on the phone, you're just like crying and just share your heart of, like, the burden that you have and all this stuff, right? Like, just spew it all out on a piece of paper emotionally, right. You know, why do you feel called to this?

[B]

Right.

[A]

Just spew it out. And then I had them, you know, like a day later I had them write another letter and I said, now give me all the logical reasons why you think going to Zambia this summer makes the most sense, right? And tell me what you hope to accomplish and give it, just talk about it in a sensible fashion.

[B]

Right?

[A]

Right. Then what I did is I, I used chat GBT to give me kind of a starting point. You know, ultimately I, I ended up writing it myself, but I, I fed, I said, I want to write an appeal letter that's about two pages long, and I want to appeal to emotional givers and logical givers. And so I have an emotional letter and I have a logical letter. These are my ultimate things that I want to incorporate. Like, these are the, this is my cause concept, this is what I want to give towards, and this is how much we want to raise money for. And I just kind of gave it all the information and said, just combine all these things together for me, and it just, just, it just kind of spit it all out.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And then, you know, from there, of course, it usually is kind of weird and how it says things. Right. And of course, you can have it tweak or whatever, but it gives you. It gives you a starting point, you know, so you can. You can read it and go, oh, yeah, that's actually pretty good. That's not how I would say it. And so then it's like. So then write your letter. We're not saying, like, copy paste. We're saying use it as a. As a starting point.

[B]

And it really is always easier to edit a letter than to start from scratch.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And if it'll at least get you going, that. That's a great way to go.

[A]

Yeah. Now, I didn't expect that we were going to talk about AI and writing a fundraising letter. That's really not what we wanted.

[B]

Not.

[A]

Our normal people are probably cringing right now because, you know, we're just saying, use this as a. As a starting point, but give me some principles in writing. Now that I have kind of a base, I kind of know generally this story I'm trying to do.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

What are some of the main principles that really need to be in.

[B]

Well, first of all, you want to start with something that's gripping, something that is going to grab them. Typically, it's been said that the first lead sentence and the PS are the two things that people are going to read because it's the first thing at the top or it's the last thing that their eyes jump to. So those two things need to grab them. If we're talking about Ali's story, you need to start with a line or phrase that's going to grab them. When I saw Jesus in a dream, my life changed from that point forward. Something that's going to draw them in that's like, oh, that's pretty compelling. I'd love to read the next sentence and then begin to read from that point going forward. So it's important to have something that grips them, but you do want to, early on, get to the problem. And it's always important in any appeal to start with as early as you can. What's the problem that exists? Ali grew up in a family that was not open to the person of Jesus Christ, was in a very restrictive family, highly disciplined, and he did not know at all what opportunities existed for him under grace.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And talk about the problem that might exist in trying to get the gospel out in Middle Eastern countries. There are certain countries in the world that are closed to the gospel. The Middle east tends to be one of the most closed countries to the gospel. And as a result, we need to do everything we can to get the message out to people. So somehow weaving in there, that problem is going to be important.

[A]

Now you're talking from a crew perspective, right? Because that's what CREW is, an evangelistic organization.

[B]

It could be a rescue mission.

[A]

You know, rescue missions aren't reaching the Middle East.

[B]

No, no, no, no. Freddie was a. Was had for years. Freddie was a successful businessman. All of a sudden his business went under. He had a quick turn of events. His life was changed. He went from Armani suits to living under a overpass on the freeway. His life, he felt like he was in the bottom of the barrel. He went to Central Union mission in Washington D.C. there he found people who accepted him, who loved him, who provided food, nourishment, encouragement and the word of God. And his life was changed. We need an opportunity to present the gospel to people like Freddie. We need to have more Central Union missions. We need to make sure we're open 24 hours a day. We need to provide food. Those are the kinds of things that you'd be talking about for something in that sense. Then you need to explain the need that needs to be met. So if it's feeding people like Freddie, what do we need to do? Do we need to provide a meal? A meal at Thanksgiving, a meal at year end, a Christmas meal? Those are the things that are important. And then of course, use personal details to dialogue Fred's story and how. Freddy is an example of hundreds of thousands of people who are homeless in major cities around the United States.

[A]

So it's really important that the body explains the problem and identifies the solution. And then at some point in time you do want to actually ask.

[B]

Yes, right.

[A]

There is a proper way to ask. We have down here that you want to engage them in the solution.

[B]

Right.

[A]

What do you mean by that?

[B]

Well, essentially, if we're using Central Union Mission again, the worst thing you want to do is Freddie and others like him need meals and need encouragement, need a place to stay, give anything you can at this point in time that will help make a difference. Sounds good. Used a million times. Doesn't work, unfortunately. You want to make sure, as you said, you want to engage them in the solution. Freddie and others like him need a hot meal every single day, at least one, if not more. We need to be able to provide that. We want to have hot meals when people like Freddie need them. And we currently are not able to meet the demand for hot meals every single day. And so as a result, we need your help to provide for even one meal a Day at a cost of X dollars. You want to make sure that you present a clear and direct request. So it's not whatever you can give, it's a meal. Costs US $25 to provide a complete hot meal for Freddie and others like him. Will you please consider at least a minimum of one meal a month to feed someone like Freddie? So a gift, a monthly commitment of $25 a month, will feed people like Freddie at least one meal a day. So you want to be very clear and concise. Give them a specific dollar amount and you want to provide a sense of urgency. Now, this is where year end appeals. Just take it to another level. Number one, you're facing wintertime. That can be an urgency for a rescue mission. We're moving into colder times and there's people who die of frostbite. They need it. You're also moving into the holiday season where others are celebrating Thanksgiving together, Christmas together. Freddie doesn't have a family. Freddie would love to celebrate this with other people, provide an opportunity for Freddie. But we also have that urgency that the IRS has given us, that by giving your year end gift by December 31st, you are going to get a tax deduction that can be applied to this calendar year. And that makes a huge difference. And of course, it's so important that in your letters you're wrapping up that you're thanking the reader for that. I typically use something like thank you in advance for your partnership in helping us feed people like Freddy and others like him. So it's thanking them in advance for their gift that they've already given.

[A]

Well, I learned a lot on today's episode. And if you want to learn more about how to write effective appeal letters, just in general, we've also got two additional full length podcast episodes. Specifically on this, the first episode I wanted to draw your attention to is episode 27, how to write an Exceptional Fundraising Letter. And then we have Another one, episode 36, 10 Secrets to Crafting a Compelling Fundraising Letter. And the first one, you might say, what's the difference between those two? The first one is more focused on the structure of how the letters should be structured. I know we talked about that a bit today. Right. And then the 10 secrets on crafting is more about like 10 things that actually need to be in your letter.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And I know we didn't really dive into those very well, but if you want to learn more about like specifically what should I write beyond just what we talked about today, you can check out episode 27 and episode 36. Also just wanted to remind you guys out there that if you're getting a lot out of these episodes, would you please mind subscribing to our YouTube channel or us on Spotify? Believe it or not, Jim, I look at the data coming in from this podcast and can you believe that over 90% of the people listening on a regular basis are not subscribed?

[B]

Yeah, that just always blows me away that people value this enough, but they can't hit a little subscribe button. I mean, it's the easiest. There's nothing on the face of the planet easier than subscribing to YouTube.

[A]

So if you could do us a favor, if you, if you got a lot out of this episode and if you're getting a lot from this podcast, just push that little red button to subscribe because that tells the algorithm that you're interested. And it also will help get the word out. Right. Because the podcast is really geared towards people just like you. The ones that are listening.

[B]

There's. There's absolutely nothing other than it pushes it out to YouTube so the people like you.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

Get to see this.

[A]

Along those lines, we'd love to hear if you've done a successful year end appeal. Like, let us know in the comments if you have time to just write down some comments of year end appeals that went well or year end appeals that didn't go well. That would be really cool for Gemini to hear.

[B]

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[A]

Because we'd love to, especially if something.

[B]

Worked real well, let us know specifically what it was.

[A]

And one final announcement I wanted to say just before I let you go is that we are three weeks away from our next Perfect Vision Dinner mentorship program starting. Can you believe that already? The next one starts October 28th. In three weeks, we're going to be kicking off spring.

[B]

That's always our biggest demand time.

[A]

So it's a little. Sometimes people get confused because we refer to it as the spring class, but it actually starts in the fall. Right, right.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Because it's for our spring spring, you know, so if you're doing. If you would like to be doing Perfect Vision Dinner in the spring of 2025, usually we do it around April. And you would like some guidance, some personal guidance from Gemini to raise at least $100,000. A lot of our students raise even more than that. Some of them are raising 200, 300.

[B]

We even had 550,000 hours.

[A]

We had a guest a few weeks ago who got on here. You can look it up. Rebecca Ray raised $550,000 at her perfect Vision Dinner. So if you're looking to take your development efforts to the next level, and you're specifically wanting to target the spring of 2025, I would encourage you to scan the QR code on the screen or head over to fundraisingmasterminds.net and check out the Perfect Vision Dinner mentorship program. There is an application process, and it does take some time to kind of get in the door. So don't wait until, like, the last day to. Don't wait until October 27th, because you're probably not going to get in. You got to get your application in. We've got to have time to review it, and a lot of times we got to get board approval, and we got to make sure that you qualify, that your board is on board. Because we're not interested in just training one person and then fighting the board for 20 weeks. Yeah, we're interested in training your whole team.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So we go through a process in selecting who is the right person for this course. But I'll tell you one thing. If you are raising less than a hundred thousand or your organization is doing these types of annual things, but you feel stuck, you feel kind of at a plateau, or you want to get to the next level, that is what this Perfect Vision Dinner mentorship program is for. It's designed to be a very structured, disciplined system that has a lot of accountability, and Jim and I are personally involved. So it's not just a video course, but we walk you through the process. We hold your hand, we hold you accountable. We have a whole team of people behind the scenes that work to make sure that you're on track and you're gonna hit your targets. So it's an extremely effective program. We've got about 42 organizations that just graduated from the last program, and a lot of them have seen incredible results, and I would love to see you guys join that program. So check it out. Fundraisingmasterminds.net well, as always, we thank you so much for tuning in to the Fundraising Masterminds podcast. We will see you next time.

[B]

Take care.