68. How to Host a Vision Dinner With No Money: A Step-by-Step Guide

Summary

Episode Summary: The Fundraising Masterminds Podcast | Episode 68 - How to Host a Vision Dinner With No Money: A Step-by-Step Guide

Release Date: October 23, 2024
Host: Fundraising Masterminds (Jim Dempsey and Jason Galasinski)
Title: How to Host a Vision Dinner With No Money: A Step-by-Step Guide

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1. Introduction: Rethinking Traditional Fundraising Events

In Episode 68 of The Fundraising Masterminds Podcast, hosts Jim Dempsey and Jason Galasinski delve into transforming nonprofit fundraising by introducing the Perfect Vision Dinner—a cost-effective alternative to traditional galas. The episode opens with Jason recounting a conversation with a seasoned gala organizer who spends $300,000 on a gala event, including sophisticated elements like artwork valued at $50,000, only to net $100,000 from a $400,000 gross revenue (00:00-00:32). This scenario sets the stage for discussing more efficient fundraising methods.

Jason Galasinski [00:00]: "We've spent $300,000 on our gala in expenses to put on an event."

Jim Dempsey [00:27]: "That's amazing."

2. The Perfect Vision Dinner: A Game-Changer for Nonprofits

Jim and Jason express enthusiasm about the Perfect Vision Dinner, highlighting its potential to significantly boost fundraising without the hefty upfront costs associated with traditional galas. Jason shares a common concern among nonprofit leaders: the fear of launching a successful event without substantial initial investment.

Jason Galasinski [02:04]: "I have no money, so I can't do the Perfect Vision Dinner."

Jim Dempsey [02:04]: "It's like, this is my lot in life. It doesn't have to be that way."

3. Overcoming Mindset Barriers

The hosts address the prevalent "stinking thinking" mindset that prevents organizations from seeking growth. They emphasize the importance of moving beyond mere survival to thriving through strategic fundraising efforts. Jim uses an analogy to illustrate the pitfalls of inaction:

Jim Dempsey [04:58]: "Imagine if people that you have to cure cancer... they'd rather suffer with just six treatments of radiation."

4. Step-by-Step Guide to Hosting a Vision Dinner with No Money

Jim and Jason outline a step-by-step approach to hosting a Vision Dinner without initial funds, breaking down the process into manageable steps:

Step 1: Determine Your Expenses (00:00-17:38)

They identify the four major expenses involved in organizing a Vision Dinner:

1. Venue and Food: Costs typically range from $1,000 to $2,500 for deposits, with creative solutions like deferring payments through partnerships with country clubs or private venues.

   Jim Dempsey [13:33]: "Typically in most cases, you're going to have to at least put a deposit down."

2. Audio Visual (AV): Investing in quality AV is crucial to ensure the event's success and avoid technical failures that could diminish the program's impact.

   Jim Dempsey [13:33]: "We place a high value on having a sound system... the last thing you want... is a terrible system."

3. Printing Materials and Postage: Approximately $1,500 is allocated for essential printed materials like save-the-dates, invitations, and reminders.

   Jim Dempsey [13:33]: "The cost of that is going to be somewhere around $1,500."

4. Fundeasy Software: An event management tool that streamlines the process, which can also be deferred until after the event.

   Jim Dempsey [15:32]: "Fundeasy software... is a game changer."

Step 2: Secure Funding from a Major Partner (17:02-26:54)

The next crucial step involves engaging a major donor to cover the initial costs. Jim advises a targeted, personalized approach rather than a mass solicitation:

Jim Dempsey [20:27]: "This really needs to be a rifle approach."

Jason elaborates on identifying potential major partners, such as business owners or existing major donors, and explains the importance of presenting a compelling case that demonstrates the high return on investment (ROI) the Vision Dinner can generate.

Jason Galasinski [21:18]: "This is called leverage giving... if you give me $4,000, I'm going to return $100,000 in that."

Step 3: Implement the Mentorship Program (26:54-32:01)

To ensure the Vision Dinner's success, Jim and Jason introduce their Perfect Vision Dinner Mentorship Program, a comprehensive 20-week course designed to guide nonprofits through every aspect of planning and executing the event. The program includes:

• Mindset Development: Cultivating a growth-oriented perspective.
• Action Items: Detailed tasks and timelines.
• Program Creation: Crafting a compelling dinner agenda.
• Appeal and Messaging: Effective communication strategies.
• Print Materials and Follow-Up: Ensuring professional presentation and donor engagement post-event.

Jim Dempsey [26:54]: "What's going to take, Jason?"

Jason Galasinski [26:10]: "You’ve got to take the Perfect Vision at our mentorship program."

5. Financial Comparison: Traditional Gala vs. Vision Dinner (32:01-18:38)

The hosts compare the financial dynamics of traditional galas against the Vision Dinner model. Traditional galas often incur high expenses with modest net gains, whereas the Vision Dinner minimizes costs while maximizing returns.

Jason Galasinski [18:05]: "They make $400,000. They're spending 300 to bring in 400, so they net $100,000."

In contrast, the Vision Dinner requires an initial investment as low as $4,000 but aims to generate $100,000 or more, representing a 25:1 ROI.

Jason Galasinski [18:36]: "You're telling me that I can get started with $4,000? Bring it. I'll do that any second of the day."

6. Success Stories and Testimonials (29:42-33:14)

Jim and Jason share testimonials from organizations that have successfully implemented the Vision Dinner strategy. They highlight cases where nonprofits not only met but exceeded their fundraising goals, some achieving growth rates of 600-700%.

Jason Galasinski [29:42]: "They said, most of the reason why we didn't get there is because of us... they came back... next year we're going to do everything because our confidence in this program is much higher."

Jim reinforces the track record of success, noting that decades of experience have consistently yielded positive outcomes for participating organizations.

Jim Dempsey [32:26]: "I have not seen a dinner that didn't see success in decades."

7. Joining the Perfect Vision Dinner Mentorship Program (33:14-36:42)

The episode culminates with a call to action, encouraging listeners to apply for the upcoming mentorship program starting on October 28th. The program offers flexible payment options, including an upfront payment or a 12-month payment plan, making it accessible for nonprofits with varying financial capacities.

Jason Galasinski [35:35]: "Scan the QR code on the screen or head over to fundraisingmasterminds.net and look up the Perfect Vision Dinner."

Jim emphasizes the comprehensive resources available through the program, such as executive summaries, video testimonials, and reference lists, to assist nonprofits in convincing major partners to invest.

Jim Dempsey [29:42]: "It's a pretty good track record... we really don't have any dinners that haven't done well."

8. Conclusion: Empowering Nonprofits to Thrive

Jim and Jason wrap up the episode by reiterating their commitment to helping nonprofits transition from merely surviving to thriving. They stress that the Perfect Vision Dinner is not just an event but a strategic investment in the organization's future.

Jim Dempsey [36:42]: "Take care. Sa."

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Key Takeaways:

• Redefine Fundraising Events: Move away from expensive galas towards cost-effective Vision Dinners that offer higher ROI.

• Strategic Planning: Carefully determine and manage initial expenses to minimize financial risk.

• Leverage Major Partnerships: Engage with significant donors through personalized, face-to-face interactions to secure necessary funding.

• Comprehensive Support: Utilize mentorship programs that provide step-by-step guidance, resources, and community support to ensure event success.

• Proven Success: Benefit from a track record of successful Vision Dinners, with many organizations achieving and surpassing their fundraising goals.

• Action-Oriented: Encourage immediate application to mentorship programs to capitalize on upcoming opportunities and transform fundraising strategies.

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For nonprofit leaders eager to maximize their fundraising potential without incurring prohibitive costs, Episode 68 offers invaluable insights and actionable steps to revolutionize their approach through the Perfect Vision Dinner strategy.

Transcript

[Jason Galasinski]

You're listening to the number one podcast for nonprofit leaders getting your nonprofit fully funded. This is the Fundraising Masterminds podcast. He actually came to me very excited about the Perfect Vision Dinner because he said, I've been doing Gala's for 10 years trying to raise money. And he said, we spend $300,000 on our gala in expenses to put on an event. $300,000.

[Jim Dempsey]

That's amazing.

[Jason Galasinski]

They're doing all this fun fancy dancing. Like they're bringing an artwork that cost $50,000.

[Jim Dempsey]

Auctions.

[Jason Galasinski]

They're doing all these fancy auctions. And so they're spending all this money. He said, they make $400,000. They're spending 300 to bring in 400, so they net 100,000.

[Jim Dempsey]

Wow.

[Jason Galasinski]

And he's like, you're telling me that I can get started with $4,000? Bring it. I'll do that any second of the day. Welcome back to another episode here at the Fundraising Masterminds Podcast. We are so excited to have you join with us today. My name is Jason Galasinski, and with me, my co host, Jim Dempsey.

[Jim Dempsey]

Hi, Jason.

[Jason Galasinski]

And we are excited today to get into a very practical episode. This is a question I get all the time when I'm talking to people. They listen to the podcast and they say, you know that Vision Dinner thing that you're always talking about? I get it. I want it. I want to do it. It sounds awesome. But, Jason, I have no money, so therefore I cannot do the Perfect Vision Dinner. You know, I need to just keep suffering in my little corner. And there's no possible way for me to raise $100,000. You know, everyone else can experience success, but I'm perfectly content just being over here.

[Jim Dempsey]

Just barely surviving.

[Jason Galasinski]

Just barely surviving. It's okay. I'll take it for the Lord.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

You know, and that's kind of the mindset, my lot in life, the stinking, thinking mindset.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right, yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

That we always talk about. So here we are. We are less than a week away from the course. Starting starts next Monday. Can you believe it? Hard to believe. And. And I've talked to so many people on the phone and this comment comes up a lot, and I can't figure out if it's an excuse or. Or if they just genuinely don't want take the course or if they just like being suffering where they're at.

[Jim Dempsey]

So weird. They know they need help. They know where they can get help. They can get help through the Perfect Vision Dinner. But it's like, this is my lot in life, Jason. I am to suffer forever and to invest a few dollars to see a hundred thousand dollar gain. That's for somebody else. It's not for me. And it doesn't have to be that way.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah, no, it's. It's hard when you, I mean, imagine if you discovered the cure to cancer, you know, you were a lab technician or something and you, you spent your whole life and you were like, guys, I finally got it. You know, and you. And you finally are trying to like, get out there and push the solution.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

And try to get people excited. And everyone's like, you know, that radiation thing, you know, we really had it going, you know, or it's okay, you know, you can, I don't know, just.

[Jim Dempsey]

Imagine if people that you have to cure cancer. No, I'd rather suffer with just six treatments of radiation. Jason. Yeah. I mean, it just, it reminds me. The old story that I've heard, we probably all have heard so many times, is that a person falls overboard and is drowning. And they're asking, God, please save me. And all of a sudden someone comes by in a rowboat and they say, no, thank you, God's going to save me. It's no. And then all of a sudden the Coast Guard comes in. He says, no problem. God is going to save me. I'll be okay. And all of a sudden this helicopter comes in with a scuba diver already. Nope, God's going to save me. And all of a sudden the person ends up dying, and they're standing before God and says, God, why didn't you save me? He said, I sent a rowboat, I sent the Coast Guard, and I sent a helicopter. What more do you want? And I feel like that's where our people are at. We've got the perfect vision dinner. We've. That has helped thousands of ministries do a dinner that's successful to get people from barely surviving to thriving.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah.

[Jim Dempsey]

But yet nobody wants. They don't want to do it.

[Jason Galasinski]

Well, there's a bunch of people that want to do it. I know, but. But they have excuses.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

You know.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

We've always done it this way, you know, well, if I take your program, can I still keep my little pet? Whatever.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

Or, you know, the, the topic we're going to talk about today is I don't have any money.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

You know, so I can't. There is an organization that really needs help. Like, they, they're barely sort of able to pay their bills.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

They have a great vision.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

It's a ministry to homeless.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yep.

[Jason Galasinski]

And. And they have a Great vision. They have a great program. They. They literally could do a vision dinner, raise a hundred thousand and just explode. Right. But a lot of the board members have this mindset of if we just pray to God, like, it's the George Mueller mindset. If we just pray to God, we're.

[Jim Dempsey]

Not praying hard enough.

[Jason Galasinski]

He'll just. He'll just provide what we need. And this whole, like, idea of having a strategy and doing. Doing all this, we. That seems not. That doesn't sound like God. That sounds like man, you know? And so they would rather just wait on the Lord to drop money from the sky. Ironically, though, money doesn't drop from the sky. It comes from people. And ironically, it only comes from people when they ask the people. Right. So even though they're waiting on God to provide, the guy who, you know, when the money gets down to, like the hundreds in their bank account, he goes and talks to different people and they write checks. Yeah. And I'm like, that's kind of what we do, just on a larger scale.

[Jim Dempsey]

You know, it's funny you use the term George Mueller. People don't realize. If you did your research, George Mueller used to hand write 2000 letters to individuals. He didn't actually say, will you prayerfully consider a gift of. But he let people know about his needs and the opportunities out there. People just think, oh, George Miller just prayed it in. And money just miraculously came in. Money miraculously came in, but it was because he. 2000 people know about it every year. Yeah. This situation, I know, drives your dad crazy. Because your dad, you know, it's like, I've got this cured for cancer, but nobody wants to use it. He knows. He's seen the success. He's been in the middle of this.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah.

[Jim Dempsey]

And I know it drives him crazy.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. So today's episode, we decided to call how to Host a Vision Dinner with no Money a step by step guide. So this is going to be a very practical episode. But if you've been listening to us for any length of time, you know, we talk a lot about the Perfect Vision Dinner. And today's episode is gonna be all about the Perfect Vision Dinner. Because we are starting our Perfect Vision Dinner mentorship program next Monday.

[Jim Dempsey]

Wow.

[Jason Galasinski]

And this is your time. This is the time that you have to jump on board, you know? So if you have no idea what I'm talking about, if you're like, what is the Perfect Vision Dinner mentorship program? Well, I'm glad you asked. The Perfect Vision Dinner mentorship program is a 20 week program. That is a mentorship program that Jim and I personally walk you through step by step over a 20 week period. And we walk you through the mindset that you need to have, the action items you need to take. We help you identify who needs to be at the dinner, we help you create the dinner program, we help you with the appeal, we help you with all the different components of the program, we help you with the print materials, we help you craft the messaging, we help you with thank you letters, we help you with follow up, we help you with the beginning, the middle, the end, everything. I mean, you literally just need to show up and we will take it from there.

[Jim Dempsey]

We'll walk you through, we take your hand and walk you through the entire journey. We don't just give you a bunch of concepts and say be warm, be filled and have great success.

[Jason Galasinski]

So a lot of there, there are some out there who teach how to do similar types of events. They would call it like a banquet or a gal and they might have similar concepts. I would say nobody out there has the exact formula that we do because it's not the perfect vision and it's not Jim Dempsey.

[Jim Dempsey]

Well, nobody invests the time and energy that we do and builds a community. Our three pillars, we, we talk about video training, we talk about having a weekly training session, and we also talk about a community through our community app. Those three things combined together, that three legged stool make for a firm foundation.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. And then of course people say, well, why do we need to do a vision dinner? Why can't we just do a virtual dinner? Or why can't we just do a bikeathon or a bolo or something? Or you know, they just have, there's all kinds of events. Why a vision dinner? And the reason is because we have found after doing this for 40 years, we've been doing ministry for a long time. Jim works for crew, one of the largest Christian organizations on the planet with a budget of over $750 million. I think he has learned a thing or two about fundraising. And with me, you know, being involved with Fundizi, We've served over 4,000 ministries over the last 20 years and specifically in the area of helping them with events. So we've seen all kinds of different ways that people try to do things. And what we've noticed is when you apply the principles that we're going to teach you in the program and you do this type of an event and you do it a certain kind of way, then you raise exponentially more income than, than any other event. So. So, I mean, you can keep doing what you're doing if you like raising $20,000 or $30,000, but we're trying to get you to that 100, 200, 300. Some have even raised over 500,000 using our strategy.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

And I'm not just making these numbers up. I can give you a very clear Excel document that shows exactly how much people have raised, because we track all that stuff. Yeah. So, you know, the numbers don't lie. And we have seen tons and tons of people go through this program and do very, very well. Yeah. One thing that I do when I get someone on the phone is I love to share my screen. And I have a Excel document that shows every single person who went through the program. And I show them this is where they were, this is what they raised the year before. Then they took our training, then they raised this much, and it's usually about double.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

I would say probably like 90% of them are double, and the other 10% are almost double.

[Jim Dempsey]

And we're not talking doubling 30,000 to 60,000. We're talking doubling a hundred thousand to 200,000.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah.

[Jim Dempsey]

Or, you know, even in a case.

[Jason Galasinski]

Well, a lot of them, the percentages are like 6, 700%, because they're going from 10,000 to 120,000.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

You know, and we've had probably five or six that did that last year.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

And so. So anyways, it's a pretty big deal. And. And so it does feel like it's hard to sit here knowing that you have something that works and trying to tell people, you know, this literally works. This will change your life. And they're like, yeah, I'd rather just stay in my corner and continue to, you know, raise $10,000.

[Jim Dempsey]

They don't use those exact words, Jason, but that is the concept.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah.

[Jim Dempsey]

That. That is where they're going to end up. They're just going to stay in their little corner doing their own little thing.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. And I mean, we really. We really want to see you thrive. And. And that's one of the things that people have said to us.

[Jim Dempsey]

This is a ministry to us, Jason. This isn't a business.

[Jason Galasinski]

So people often who come into the program, some of the feedback they have said is, you know, we expected this to be a video course, that you guys are pretty much hands off. You know, you got us in there, and maybe we get to talk to you once. But they weren't expecting the level of involvement. I mean, we really care about each organization that enters into the program, and we want to be involved. So the premise of today's show is that if you're truly at the point where you really want to do a vision dinner and you genuinely don't have the capital to do it. Right. But you understand, if I could just get past this hump, then I believe these guys, they're going to take me to the a hundred thousand mark and then from there we're going to grow it out. We're going to build into the system and we're going to expand the ministry. So if you're ready to jump in. Right, but you just, you just honestly are like, I have no money in the bank, so I don't know. How does this work? We're gonna walk you through, step by step, exactly how you can do a vision dinner with no money to no money.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

All right, so here we go. Okay, step one is determine the expenses before and after the dinner. So. So, Jim, what are the four big expenses? We're not going to go into every expense.

[Jim Dempsey]

No, no, because that would overwhelm you. We, we've got what I refer to as the big four. The first one is venue and food, food and beverage, and that one. Typically, there's a lot of creative ways to work through a venue. Typically in most cases, you're going to have to at least put a deposit down. But a lot of venues will allow you to defer the cost. There are some that will need a final payment before you actually show up. But you can be very creative using a country club, a private club where you have a member sponsor. A lot of times they will defer that payment and push it on the members bill a month after the dinner. And that will allow you to take the proceeds from that. But it's typically the cost of that is about 1,000 to 2,500 for a deposit. Secondly, audio visual. Audio visual is so important. We place a high value on having a sound system and having equipment that's going to make this a very special event, one with excellence. We've jokingly said the last thing you want to do is work for 20 weeks to have an event, and then you've got a great program and nobody's able to hear it because you see it or see it because you've got a terrible system. Then number three is printing materials and postage. Typically that is one of the things that it is very hard to defer. Yes, you could try and put it on a credit card or a debit card, but most ministries, most nonprofits, don't have their own credit card. You may have a board member or major donor who's willing to put some of those expenses on the credit card. But let's assume you do not. The cost of that is going to be somewhere around $1,500 for that. But that gets you the three printed pieces that we feel are important. Save the date, invitation and don't forget.

[Jason Galasinski]

Right.

[Jim Dempsey]

And that is going to get you those hard copy. Could you do it electronically? Sure you could, but you'd be missing an audience that you really need.

[Jason Galasinski]

The biggest idea is that we need to secure a venue. We need to secure the food and we need to get people to the ven. And the way we get them to the venue is through printed materials and through table hosts. Table hosts obviously don't cost you any money.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

They, it requires time to be able to find them and talk to them and stuff like that. But there's not a lot of money involved in, you know, getting the table host.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

So those are the big, the big three.

[Jim Dempsey]

And then the last one of course is fundeasy software, which is an event management software, which is a game changer. We have found that the Fundeasy software helps facilitate our structure, which is. Relies a lot on the table strategy and it provides for an amazing experience on the night of the event. And that can be deferred as well too. So those are the big four. Now we're not saying that there are not other expenses. There are, there's a number of expenses, but most of those are fairly small, fairly easy to defer and extend till after the event. Buying table host gifts, giving your gratuity to your servers. Those kinds of things can be deferred until afterwards. And, and so Jason, this, of course, this is not. This 4000 is not exhaustive list of.

[Jason Galasinski]

Of expenses what you need to get started.

[Jim Dempsey]

It's just what you need to start it. Exactly. But we, you know, there's, there's other small costs. Buying door prizes by putting ferns on the side of your podium for the staging. There's a lot of other expenses, but we know that the total cost of your event is covered by the cash gifts that given that night and all the commitments, 90 days over the next 12 months is going to all be net income. And if you do your dinner right, that's going to be more than 2/3 of your income for that night.

[Jason Galasinski]

No, it's about a 10 to 1 return is usually what it ends up being, which is pretty good. I've talked to a person who's been doing gala's his whole life. He's kind of a celebrity type person. And he said, he actually came to me very excited about the Perfect Vision Dinner because he said, I've been doing galas for 10 years trying to raise money. And he said, we spend $300,000 on our gala in expenses to put on an event. $300,000.

[Jim Dempsey]

Amazing.

[Jason Galasinski]

They're doing all this fancy dancing, like they're bringing in artwork that costs $50,000.

[Jim Dempsey]

Auctions.

[Jason Galasinski]

They're doing all these fancy auctions. And so they're spending all this money. Do you know how much they net?

[Jim Dempsey]

Oh, I'd love to hear.

[Jason Galasinski]

He said they make $400,000.

[Jim Dempsey]

That's not, that's gross.

[Jason Galasinski]

Right? Gross. So they're, they're, they're spending 300 to bring in 400. So they net a hundred thousand.

[Jim Dempsey]

Wow.

[Jason Galasinski]

And he's like, you're telling me that I can get started with $4,000. Bring it. Yeah, I'll do that any second of the day.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right, right, right.

[Jason Galasinski]

How do you do that?

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah. To make this same. A hundred thousand dollars. Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

Right.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yep.

[Jason Galasinski]

And, and a lot of times we're, you know, again, $100,000 is just the starting point.

[Jim Dempsey]

Okay.

[Jason Galasinski]

So the, the, the main thing that you have to understand is the perfect Vision Dinner is a, it's a continual thing. Right. We like to think in three to five year blocks of time. So we want to use the first dinner to get your first hundred thousand. Then that builds to the second year, which gets you up to the 200,000. Then that builds to the third year, which gets you to the 250 to 300,000. And then from there you can, you have momentum. You can.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right. It's a flywheel that you've talked about before.

[Jason Galasinski]

And so you got to have your eye on the bigger picture. This is not just a one and done, straight one and done thing. And, you know, so get your eyes off of just these $4,000 that you can't fathom bringing in. Because we're going to tell you in step two how to get those $4,000, which is talk to a major partner. That's step number two. So the first step is determine your expenses up front, what you need to get started, then talk to a major partner. Now, Jim, you often talk about the best way to go to a major partner is face to face.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

Right. This is not something you're going to blast out an email and say, we're trying to do a Vision dinner. We need to raise $4,000. And if everyone could just give $10. Yes, you know, that's. No, no, no, we're not going to do that. You're going to identify maybe five potential people. People who are business owners, entrepreneurs, people who have given in the past, people who have given large amounts in the past, family members. You know, just. Just think about five people that kind of qualify, that you could get an appointment with them, go take them to lunch.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

Or out for a cup of coffee if you can't even afford lunch. And just experience. Explain to them that, you know, we have been listening to this podcast and they are talking about this Vision Dinner strategy, and I am sold on it. But. And we really want to get our ministry to the next level. Let me tell you what we want to do as a result of this. You know, we believe that if we could get to this level, we'd be able to impact these people and do this and accomplish that. Or you need to focus on the impact, right. And explain to them how this is going to work. And I'll tell you what, any kind of business owner or major donor understands the principle of investing or using money to make money, right? So they would gladly be happy to help you get something started.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yes.

[Jason Galasinski]

Right. With us with a small check for 4,000 or $5,000.

[Jim Dempsey]

This is called leverage giving, Jason. Business owners, entrepreneurs understand leverage giving. If you give me 4,000, I'm going to return 100,000 in that, and that's going to. What an incredible investment. If I said to you, you give me 4,000 a day, in 90 days, I'm going to give you 100,000 back, not in their pocket, but 100,000 to the ministry. There's few business owners that wouldn't get that and say, you got it.

[Jason Galasinski]

I mean, it's. Jesus talked about it with the parable of the talents. He said, I gave you five talents, and blessed are you who are returning ten times the return. You are blessed because of that. That's exactly what we're doing. We're asking someone to give us a small portion, and then we're going to take that money and invest it in the perfect Vision Dinner to grow the ministry. So I'm telling you, a major donor, this is not a hard decision for them.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

I've had multiple, multiple people do this, you know, where they. There was one guy that works for Young Life. He had a vision for young. Like their. Their thing was kind of dying out. You know, leadership changed. And. And he said, I want to take your Vision Dinner program. And he said, I've got a couple major donors that I think can Help us get started. But I want to understand from you exactly what we're doing, so I can explain it to him, you know, but once I explain it to him, which is basically what we're doing right now, once you understand the. The concept of why the perfect vision dinner works, then you can explain that to your major partner, and they will write you a check, you know, or, you know, break it up into two, you know, two twenty five hundred dollars, you know, gifts. Okay? So once you've determined the expenses, you want to, you know, find, you know, two or three people that you can go talk to, you know, explain the vision of the. Of the vision dinner. Right. And why it's important. And just a couple talking points I'd like you to maybe address. The presentation of, like, what's the best way to present the perfect vision Dinner? But the goal of step number two is just find five people. Identify some individuals who you want to be looking for. Business owners, entrepreneurs, you know, people who, you know are wealthy individuals who have a heart for your organization, especially people.

[Jim Dempsey]

Who are already on your mailing list who are major donors.

[Jason Galasinski]

Right. And so the. The next step is really meeting with them and asking. So, Jim, I'd like you to briefly talk about, you know, how to do that.

[Jim Dempsey]

Well, Jason, you alluded a little bit to the fact that this should not be a shotgun approach. This really needs to be a rifle approach. And you talked a little bit earlier about, are there five individuals in there? And, you know, as I've jokingly said many times, how do we eat an elephant one bite at a time. You could do it a number of different ways. You could go to one person and ask for the whole 4,000, or you could break it up. You could go to four people and ask for a thousand. You could even potentially go as low as maybe $500. I just find that finding, you know, getting too many people, you know, you don't need to find 400 people to give $10 to get this done. That's not the way to do this. But once you identify whether it's one, two, or three people, really it's best to go eyeball to eyeball with someone on this. You may have a great enough relationship with a board member, a major donor, that you could text or you could phone call this. But in many cases, this is one of those kinds of things. And you have to be serious about this. You have to really be committed that I want to do a dinner and I want to do it right, and it's going to cost us this amount up front to get us going. Can you help us be that person and do that? So going eyeball to eyeball and make your case. We've given you enough information in this video to say, here are our big expenses, here are our key pillars, but here's the potential that could come from that. You know, you've talked about a 10 to 1 return on investment. You know, even if it's 4 to 1, 5 to 1, what a tremendous investment that is. But to get a hundred thousand dollars for an initial investment of 4,000, make sure make your case and that we're going to do our best to do it right. And so going face to face is important now, Jason, doing it right is critical. And that's, that's not what we've done this video for. We're trying to say, how do you do an event getting your foot in the door with minimal cost.

[Jason Galasinski]

Right.

[Jim Dempsey]

But the thing that's really important is doing this right. And what's that going to take, Jason?

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah, well, I mean, if you really want to do it right, you've got to take the Perfect Vision at our mentorship program. Right. Which is an additional investment. Yes. So that would require you to probably have to meet with another major partner to say, would you be willing to cover the cost of this course? That's what happened with the Young life guy that I was talking about earlier is he had one major donor cover the cost of getting this stuff started, and then he had another one that just said, I'll just pay for the course for you. Don't worry about it. We'll get you in the door and we'll get you started.

[Jim Dempsey]

Jason, you know what I wish we could do? I wish there was some way of offering the Perfect Vision dinner with maybe a monthly payment to spread out those costs even more. So the upfront isn't a lot.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. And we do have two ways to pay for the program. Right. So we have an upfront cost and then that's one way to pay, pay everything upfront. And that's the cheaper option because there's no risk for us. You're the one taking the risk on us. The second option is monthly. So we have a 12 month payment plan. And that really is, I mean, a lot of people do the 12 month payment plan because essentially you're paying for half of it before the program and you're paying for the other half after the program. In fact, you're paying a little bit less than half because generally we're getting you to your dinner at about five Months.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

So that's why when you go to our website, we're saying we're going to help you raise a hundred thousand dollars in the next five months.

[Jim Dempsey]

What a sweet deal. You're making five monthly, small monthly payments.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah.

[Jim Dempsey]

And then you've got this dinner that's going to yield you a great return.

[Jason Galasinski]

Right.

[Jim Dempsey]

And then you've got the, the next payments all the way through.

[Jason Galasinski]

That's a sweet deal in my mind, in many ways. You only if, if we're talking about the bare minimum to just get started. Right. We're talking about $4,000 of bare minimum expenses to get you started. And then we're talking about, you know, half the payment of the vision dinner.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

It's all detailed on our website. So you can scan the QR code and it'll take you to our website and the pricing and everything is on there. And I would encourage you to. Actually, one thing that's on the website that's really helpful, that would be good to take to a major partner is if you scroll down past the pricing, there's a section that says executive summary. And we put together a four page PDF that you can click and download and print out. And most people take it to their board meetings, but you can also take it to a major partner because it just explains who we are, what we do, what the course is. And then there's videos that you can scan, QR codes to get testimonies.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yep.

[Jason Galasinski]

And then we also have a list of references of other classmates who have gone through the program that have taken the program and have said, anyone who wants to call me, you can freely call me at any time and I'll talk to them about it. So we've, we've had enough people go through the program and come out the other side saying, I would gladly do this a thousand times over. This was like the best thing I ever did. And so don't take our word for it. You know, I, I try to do my best to let other people, you know, share the word of satisfied customers. Yeah. I mean, that's why when you go to our website and if you scroll down to the bottom, there's like a lot of video testimonies. And you could look at that at one of two ways. Oh, this is really sales pitchy. Or you could look at it like, wow, a lot of people have gone through this program and have been satisfied. And I'll tell you, the videos that we have on the website are like a tenth of how many people have actually gone through.

[Jim Dempsey]

We don't pay any of these people for this. No, they voluntarily say they want to give these. Jason, can, can I make sure I, I understand what you're saying. Number one, you could raise $4,000 and do it your own way and hope for the best or you could raise $4,000 and pay a little bit extra to take the Perfect Vision dinner strategy and not guarantee, but pretty close to it. Getting a minimum of $100,000 for your dinner. That seems to, those are two options. I mean it seems to be a no brainer to me.

[Jason Galasinski]

But you want to minimize your risk, right? If you're, if you're going to a major partner and saying I am serious about doing this and we want to do it right and we want to do it the right way and I've.

[Jim Dempsey]

Got, and I'm using the Perfect Vision dinner strategy. That is what proven.

[Jason Galasinski]

Well, the partner is going to say to you, well how, if I give you this money, how, how risky is this venue? You know, if, if am I giving it to you and you're, and I'm just going to trust that you know how to do this or are you working with someone that is going to ensure that my money is going to be spent properly or if you've done.

[Jim Dempsey]

This in the past, what's going to be different than anything else you've done?

[Jason Galasinski]

So yeah, that's the beauty of the Perfect vision that our mentorship program because you can go to them and say, you know, we've got these guys who they've got over 40 years of experience doing 2,000 more than 2,500 vision dinners. Yeah, they know what they're talking about. They put together this 20 week program. They're gonna come onto our team and they're going to walk us through everything. They've got it all mapped out. It's super structured. We've got a 300 page workbook that's going to walk you through the process and everything is done for you. All you got to do is just follow the steps. It's a recipe. Just put together the recipe. Right. You don't have to figure out how to make bread on your own.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

Just follow the bread recipe and you'll make bread. And that's, that's what we're going to do through the Perfect Vision in our mentorship program. So going into a major partner and saying, having the executive summary with you and saying these are the guys that are going to help us get there.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

That's going to increase their confidence in the, your ability to get this Done.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

Right. And so your chances of getting that, you know, that money secured is going to be greatly increased.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

In fact, I would ask you the question what was how many people that you typically work with, you know, that they have a total flop and it does, they can't pay their bills. They can't, you know, they're, they're, they're homeless under the street. Because that's what everyone says. What if it doesn't work? What if I do all this and, you know, and then my ministry, everything goes wrong and now I can't pay my bills and now I'm homeless under a bridge.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah, Jason, I almost hate to even think about that, number one, because it's not up to me. It's up to the Lord. But I can say by God's grace and God's grace alone, I have not seen a dinner that didn't see success in decades. I really have not. I've had, not had a dinner that hasn't done well. And, and even Jason, and I'm not even implying that this would happen, but even if all it did was break even, the PR value and the potential for future gifts, your cash gifts Tonight, getting a second and a third gift over the next 12 months just increases exponentially, even if all you did was break even. But I haven't seen that in decades.

[Jason Galasinski]

We had two organizations in the last program that were, quote, unquote, failures in the sense that they didn't feel like they did as well as they could have done. But hold on, hold on before you yell at me. In other words, they didn't reach the a hundred thousand. We were throwing out the a hundred thousand target. They didn't quite, they fell short of that. You know, one raised 70,000, another one raised like 50,000. But they were organizations that were, they were like making nothing before. They were like they're at the 5,000 mark or 10,000 mark, and they, they still, even though they didn't quite get to the place that they wanted to, they came back during the, the feedback and they said, you know, most of the reason why we didn't get there is because of us. We didn't, we didn't apply everything. We were nervous about stuff. We were, we, we second guessed the model. And so we didn't do everything that you said. So they kind of were renewed and came back and said, you know, next year we're going to do everything because our confidence in this program is much higher than it was when we started. So they kind of self, admittedly, you know, said they didn't do everything. And then the second thing that they said was, it was totally worth it. We learned a ton. And next year we're going to do way better because they walked away with a bunch of new PR and a bunch of new partners that they can now go in. So even though they didn't hit their target, they still thought it was valuable and they had no complaints about it. And that's just two out of, like, the 40 people that were a part of the program. The 40 organizations. Right. The majority of them, like 38, you know, all hit the hundred thousand mark and beyond. Yeah. And of course, they all said the same thing. You know, we learned a ton. It was amazing. You know, stuff like that. So we really have a pretty good track record. And, you know, you do have to trust that. But if you are not convinced about the Perfect Vision Inner Mentorship program by now, and if you don't know, if you. If you feel like, yeah, I still need to talk to them. I still need to. I still have questions. Write your questions in the comments because, you know, we've only got a couple days left.

[Jim Dempsey]

The.

[Jason Galasinski]

The Perfect Vision that our mentorship program starts October 28th, and we would love for you to get in there, but you got to start moving quickly because we have an application. You've probably got to get board approval. You know, you. You've got to find this major partner that's going to cover the initial cost. So you've got a lot of work you got to do in the next couple days. But if you work hard in the next couple days, you can get in there and so scan the QR code on the screen or head over to fundraisingmasterminds.net and look up the Perfect Vision Dinner, and you're going to find all the information you need. Just click the link that says apply. Now, it's going to take you through. It's going to show you the two pricing plans that we talked about. It's going to have the executive summary. It's going to have. There's. There's a whole list of common questions that people ask, and then we've got video testimonies, and everything you need is right there. We're not hiding anything. So go ahead and just scan the QR code and we hope to see you on the other side. We really want to see you in on the Perfect Vision Dinner mentorship program. Starting this fall, we're going to be working towards a spring dinner, and we'll see you on the inside of the program.

[Jim Dempsey]

Take care. Sa.