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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.
- [00:10]
B
We don't want our partners to feel like they took a portion of my gift that was meant for starving kids in Zambia. And Jason used that money to send me a $25 or $50. Thank you. We've all gotten the little paper mache ornaments that I get those. And I'm like, thank you, trash can. And it's going right in there because it means nothing to me.
- [00:44]
A
Well, welcome back to another episode here at the Fundraising Masterminds Podcast. And Happy Thanksgiving. Can you believe that it's already Thanksgiving, Jim?
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B
Oh, it's amazing how fast the year goes by.
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A
Yeah. I mean, I hope that you guys are listening to this podcast on the way to your family or friends, because tomorrow is Thanksgiving.
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B
Yeah.
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A
Amazing. So we decided we were going to do a special Thanksgiving episode. We thought, you know, last week we talked about appreciating our staff and our internal people. So this week, let's talk about appreciating our partners.
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B
Yes. Our financial partners, Those individuals who sacrifice so much throughout the year to see our ministry exist.
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A
Yeah. So we. We just wanted to spend some time just really talking about how important it is to stop and. And appreciate our partners.
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B
Yeah.
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A
Even now, as you're, you know, driving to your family, you know, have some extra time to reflect, you know, there is a lot of reflection around Thanksgiving.
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B
Sure.
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A
And just spending some time thinking about, you know, going back and looking at the year and looking at who gave what and who. Who. Who allowed things to happen and being grateful for those things.
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B
Yeah. Well, to be honest, it's. It really is very humbling when you think about all the individuals, the sacrifices that people make and how many people. You know, I mean, Jason, I've been in ministry for 40 years. I think about, you know, I probably, out of my personal 125 people who help undergird our ministry, 75% of those people have been with us all 40 years. And to think that those. Some of those people have never missed a month in 40 years. That's astounding.
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A
Yeah. One thing I remember around this time a year ago, I had just gotten back from Zambia about a month before that.
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B
Okay.
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A
And I remember telling the Lord God, I would love to take more young people to Zambia through missions.
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B
Wow.
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A
And I said, I'm willing to take them, but I need you to bring them, because I don't. I don't really know who they should be or who they are. You Know, I've. I've tried, you know, everything on my own strength.
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B
Yep.
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A
So I. I kind of had a surrendering moment. And the cool thing is, is that this past summer, I ended up taking a team of 10 over, and half the people I didn't even know.
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B
Wow.
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A
They reached out to me.
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B
Yeah.
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A
They. They found us reaching the heart of Zambia through a friend of a friend or someone recommended. And it just kind of blows me away, like, sitting back, just looking back a year from now, thinking, God put this burden on my heart to take some young people over to Africa to show them, you know, the new. A different culture, to show them what God is doing, to encourage them to. To strengthen them in their faith.
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B
Right.
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A
And then, you know, to. To be here now a year later, thinking, wow, we took 10 people over. And you know how many partners rallied around that trip? Over 250 people.
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B
Unbelievable. And most of those people never gave.
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A
Before, and most of those people, I. I don't even know. They were all friends of these people. They rallied around. They helped fund the trip. And I. It just, you know, standing here today just kind of blows my mind, you know? And I know, you know, our ministry isn't as big as crew. I'm sure you experienced this, you know, tenfold over, but it's so easy to just keep moving on, keep focusing on, like, okay, I got to do this. I got to do this. We got year end coming up, and then, you know, now we want to do this. And we're always focused on the future when we forget how important it is to look back in the past and just reflect on what. Wow. You know, I. I brought this to the Lord a year ago, and look at what he did. He did this. And. And I know it was God because I did not know these people. And they contacted me, and that's what I told the Lord. I said, you know, you need to bring them to me. Cause I don't know, you know, I've exhausted my resources.
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B
Right.
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A
So I need you to bring them. I'm willing. I need you to bring them. And he did.
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B
Right.
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A
And it's just so cool to see the fruit of that, you know? So as a result of that trip, you know, we were able to build. The team was able to build another school building at the. At the venue. We were able to buy more desks. We were able to restock the. The books in the class. We were able to build a storage unit. I mean, they did. They did amazing with their fundraising efforts.
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B
So good.
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A
And so not only were we able to take them over, but we were able to just add on.
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B
Yeah.
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A
And it was just so cool to be able to see. And they loved, you know, being the hands and feet of Jesus. They're coming back on cloud nine.
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B
It was, yeah. A lot of things to be thankful for this year.
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A
Yeah. How about you? What were, where were you at a year from now? What were you praying for God to do?
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B
Oh, golly. I had just moved into a new position September 1st being Chief Development Officer and frankly I was, I was feeling pretty overwhelmed. The water level was reaching the nostrils and I didn't know if it would start to recede anytime soon. And by January I felt like I was finally starting to get into the saddle. And here I am heading into my year two thinking, can't wait for this next year to see what God's going to do because I finally feel like I've got my legs under me now. So it's just. Yeah, I was, I was feeling rather overwhelmed. Even as a guy who 40 years in development, but taking on a new role with a whole new staff, it was rather.
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A
Yeah.
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B
Rather overwhelming.
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A
Well, share some of the cool stories and testimonies. Just, just share like one really cool story that happened at Cruve this year that you just didn't expect.
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B
Well, you know, Jason, of course this, this trickles over really almost into 23, the early part of 23. But I mentioned this in one of our earlier broadcasts, but you know, we had a couple who had been sprinkling gifts of $1,000 all through for years and years and years. But it was time for this couple to sell their business and they handpicked those ministries that they'd been sprinkling gifts of thousand dollars and they spread out a single gift of $17 million throughout the ministry. And the campus ministry that I was at was departing from, moving over to the Chief Development Officer position. They benefited greatly from that. Well, as a number of other ministries and crew. So to just see this diamond in the rough, this couple that, you know, if, you know, or some, I'll have to say there were probably some ministries of crew that sort of maybe even ignored some of those thousand dollar gifts because they didn't realize it was a diamond in the rough. But I can tell you the ones that loved on those people really saw a tremendous return on that investment. So that was a real bright spot and frankly just an emotional lift for our entire ministry, from our Chief financial officer to our Chief Development officer to every division head that was part of that. It really lifted the ministry so what.
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A
Are some of the. What will be some of the impact that you'll be able to experience as a result of that?
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B
Well, Jason, I think I'm fine to be able to reveal that in 2026, the Jesus film will be releasing an. An version of the Jesus video. The Jesus video? Yeah. Jesus video was released first in 1979, so you can imagine it's a little bit dated, but even so, billions, not millions, billions have viewed that video. And millions and millions and millions translated.
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A
Film in all history.
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B
In all history.
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A
And there's more than 2,000 languages, I think it's been translated into.
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B
Exactly.
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A
I use it in Zambia.
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B
Yep.
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A
They. Bimba. Yeah, I've watched it in Bimba four or five times.
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B
Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Well, the good news, Jason, is that when we create an animated version, it's not human beings, but animated in the best possible way. We have got some of the best animators in the industry, some coming from Disney.
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A
Nice.
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B
That are going to be creating an amazing video. And guess what? Will automatically on day one, be the second most translated video of all. The new animated version of Jesus. Because we have translated that book comes straight out of the Gospel of Luke. And we have decided we are going to take it word for word again in that. So we can just immediately take all, you know, 40 years of translating videos, partners coming alongside, buying translations, not Even knowing that 40 years later that would turn into an animated video that probably will last another 40 years.
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A
Yeah.
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B
And that. That.
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A
That's so cool. So you're taking all the work that has been done in translation and you're just going to be repurposing.
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B
Repurposing it, exactly. Yeah. So it immediately, I mean, it's not just going to be released.
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A
Sounds like there's going to be some job openings at the Jesus film. Well, it's really cool.
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B
Yeah, it's. It's really neat. It's really neat. Yeah. We won't just open up with an American version right out of the box. The English version. I mean, it'll be in every. Every language that the live version was.
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A
That's amazing.
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B
Yeah.
- [10:25]
A
Well, we have a lot to be thankful for. You know, just God's doing amazing things. And despite, you know, what the media might seem to be, you know, a dark time in American, you know, history, there's still a lot of great things God is doing, you know, through believers. And I love just hearing all the great stories. So it's just so important that, you know, we take this weekend to reflect upon, you know, what God is doing. In your life. Reflect upon what he's doing in your family. Reflect upon what he's doing in your ministry. You know, and even if it's not like super huge wins. I remember a book my wife read a few years ago. It was written. I can't remember the author, but it was something to the effect of being thankful in all things. And she talked about how having an attitude of gratitude in every little thing, even. Even the bad things. You know, a lot of people I'm just thinking of, who's that girl that is, you know, paralyzed?
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B
Oh, yeah. Julie Erickson.
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A
Yeah, yeah, yeah. She even. Even she talks about how being thankful.
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B
Yeah.
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A
You know, in the pain of what she's going through, transformed her heart. So there's something about thankfulness. And today in our episode, we're talking about thanking our partners. So we want to talk specifically about, you know, who, what, when, where, how.
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B
Right.
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A
You can thank your partners.
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B
Yes.
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A
So let's get into some of the meat of this.
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B
Yeah. Well, Jason, the first thing that I have to say out of the blocks, and, you know, if you've listened to our podcast over the years, you've heard me say this again, but this is a stake in the heart of somebody who's been in development for 40 years, that a recent survey that I Learned said that 70% of nonprofit organizations never thank people for their gifts.
- [12:14]
A
Wow.
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B
Stake in heart. Yes. Just. I can't even fathom that when somebody sacrifices and they give and they don't even get a thing. Even just say, received your gift, thanks. Send an email, send a text, received. But to not say send a thank you, terrible just is not what we want. Now we want to talk about who we thank. Jason, it's. It would seem common sense that we would just help, just thank everyone, but in reality, we can't thank everyone. We talk often about the critical few, that 20% that brings in 8% of your dollars.
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A
I think it depends on how big you are, because I thank everybody, but I have a fairly small minute.
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B
Yeah, when you have 25 people supporting you, it just. Yeah, it's you.
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A
You can't easier to thank everybody.
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B
Jason, to be honest with you, I have 125 people on my personal support team, and I can't thank everyone. I mean, I thank generally in a blanket. But what we're going to talk about today is our very special specialized thank yous to people. So we will. I am not saying, you know, that you. Oh, no, no, no. There's. There's a certain percentage of people you never Say anything to. No, we want to do that. We want to make sure we thank people. But we're going to talk about who we're going to thank. Yes, you want to do the blanket thank yous. But when we begin thanking, year end is a great time to thank. We want to make sure, we recognize, we want to make sure that we do have that blanket thank you. And especially around Thanksgiving, what a great time to maybe even send a special thank you to some people. But what's the content of the thank you? Well, first of all, we want to remind people of a story of even one changed life. Remember, people give to people justified by the cause. Never inappropriate and always great. Today will remind them of the story of a changed life. This happened because of you. It always is great to point them back. But how do we thank people? Well, on a minimum, we probably should do at least a generic thank you to someone, to everyone. And that could be done via email. Now if you're a smaller ministry like yours, a couple hundred, you know, two, three, four hundred. Four hundred, which, four hundred donors or so, putting a blanket email out to people, thanking them, thanking them on Facebook, thanking them on Instagram, thanking them via email, no brainer. That should, that should be done. But then there's probably a targeted group and you need to decide is that going to start at the mid level, which is definitely gifts of a thousand and above that you maybe do a handwritten thank you note to people, maybe even a card that says Jason and your friends at reaching the heart of Zambia. That could go from a thousand to five thousand. But then you may actually do some very personalized or special notes. Might be from the desk of Jason Kalesinski and reaching the heart of Zambia and a type note with a little Jason down at the bottom, handwritten blue ink. But then there may even be a select group, 4, 5, 10 people gifts that you gotten 25,000 or more that you may even just write a handwritten note, go out and buy yourself some thank you note cards, say, dear Bob and Gina, just want to thank you so much for your partnership this year. It's meant the world to us that you helped with the van that we so desperately needed or actually the trucks that we so desperately need. Just having just returned from Zambia, I got the full effect of how important that that truck was. So there's, there's a handful of people that could get some really specialized gifts.
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A
Yeah.
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B
Now the next area is choosing the right gift. This is so important. It may sound like slam dunk, no problem, easy Right. Well, first of all, you want to make sure that, that you find out what is the right gift.
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A
Gift. Yeah.
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B
We don't want to think that. We don't want our partners to feel like they took a portion of my gift that was meant for starving kids in Zambia. And Jason used that money to send me a 25 or 50$. Thank you. I'd rather you spend that money on kids that are struggling in Zambia. You don't want them feeling that way. So you've got to find a balance. Somewhere in doing that, there's importance of finding the balance between valuable and expensive. Okay. So somewhere in there you want it to be important to them because the last thing you want. We've all gotten the little paper mache ornaments that I get those. And I'm like, thank you, trash can.
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A
Yeah.
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B
And it's going right in there because it means nothing to me. One of the things, ironically, that a real estate agent told me years ago and it stuck with me forever, is that real estate agents learned early on that ironically, something that people keep and they almost never throw away. Refrigerator magnets.
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A
I was just gonna say. I. It's funny that you say that because I can't believe you just said that.
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B
Yeah.
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A
Because I was gonna. I was waiting to tell you a story. Okay.
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B
Go for it.
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A
And you don't know this story. Y. I was, I was thinking as you were talking about, you know, thanking donors.
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B
Yes.
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A
Well, we have a sponsorship program at reaching the heart of Zambia because we have. We're trying to get all 300 kids sponsored for school.
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B
There you go.
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A
And when someone sponsors a child, we put together a welcome kit.
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B
Yep.
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A
You know, because we want them to feel well, number one, we want them. We want them to be appreciated. We all. We also want to give them some important information on how the sponsorship program works. So we put together a welcome kit that is a really nice branded package, has a T shirt in it. It has a thank you letter and a little bit of a brochure on how. How the ministry works and how important their sponsorship is to the child.
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B
Yeah.
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A
But we also include a prayer magnet.
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B
I love it.
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A
Isn't that crazy? I love it. It's a little four by six thing. We get it printed up at Walmart. It's super easy to make.
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B
Yep.
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A
And it just has a photo of their child, it has the name, their age, and it says thank you for praying for me. And there's a verse underneath. And we hope that they put that magnet on their fridge. Wow. As a reminder for them that Number one, they're making a difference in this person's life. And number two, just to remind them how appreciative we are that they're supporting this child.
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B
Absolutely.
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A
And they love that.
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B
Yeah.
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A
And so it does cost a teeny bit of money. Right. To make that. Those things. But I've never gotten the impression from them that they feel like, oh, why am I getting this stuff from you? You're just using my money to give me this stuff. Because they value it, because it means. It means something to them. And they put that magnet on, and they wear that shirt, and they. They love, you know, the stuff we send them. So.
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B
Well, I look in the side of my refrigerator, and I've got magnets from real estate agents that I don't even have a clue who they are.
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A
Yeah.
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B
But I need refrigerator magnets to hold pictures that I got from people that are dear to me. And my wife and I learned so early on. And we send refrigerator mag. We have for decades now.
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A
Because you guys are considered missionaries.
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B
We are missionaries. Right. And people love doing that. Jason, put on your memory cap. Let's go back to Jim Dempsey and Jason Galasinski into the early 2000s. This is not the first time you and I have talked about magnets. Jason, what is the first time you and I ever did a magnet together? Think back. Think of that refrigerator in your house in Tennessee. You and I did refrigerator magnets with a counseling center in Arlington Heights, Illinois.
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A
Was that you and I?
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B
That was you and I. Yeah.
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A
Yeah, I remember that it was.
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B
Who do you think? That good friend of ours who was the director. Where do you think that good friend got the idea of a refrigerator magnet?
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A
Okay.
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B
He got that for me.
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A
Okay.
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B
Yeah. You and I have. This is not our first foray in the refrigerator magnets.
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A
Yeah. Just so everyone knows, the ministry I used to work for, they. They had some things. It was a counseling ministry, and they. They had some, you know, definitions of things. One, one of their favorite definitions was a definition of faith. Do you remember what that is? Faith is believing the word of God.
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B
Right.
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A
And acting upon it, no matter how I feel, because God promises a good result.
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B
I love that.
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A
And as they would counsel people, you know, they would remind the people they were counseling of this definition. It became very popular.
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B
Yeah.
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A
And so they put it on a magnet and they sent it to their donors. I think even at one point in time, we turned it into a photo.
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B
Yeah.
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A
And that went out to larger gifts, larger partners, where they had. I think it was like an 11 by 16 we made it really beautiful and we framed it. I totally forgot about that. Yeah.
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B
Besides that quote, what else did they have on there that was extremely valuable? It was their logo.
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A
Oh, yeah.
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B
I know. Something sounds so simple. That was an easy. That was a softball I was trying to lob in. And so every time people looked at the refrigerator and saw that quote and loved it, they thought about the Biblical counseling Center. Yeah, absolutely. It's the same reason we have our face, our picture, our logo, our name on our refrigerator magnet. It's a constant reminder of that. And who doesn't love that? I go to the refrigerator 14,000 times a day and I open the door and see a refrigerator magnet with a picture of missionaries on there. So I love it.
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A
Yeah.
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B
Okay. So partners need to see our gifts as valuable and memorable. They should be an inexpensive gift, but it's something that they want to keep for the long run. And you want to find something that will remind them in the organization. Let me share with you an example that I've used before, but maybe there's a lot listening who've never heard me say it before. When I lived in the Washington D.C. area working for CREW, one of the organizations I helped along the way was a ministry called Christian Embassy, which ministers to members of Congress, generals and admirals in the Pentagon with ambassadors and embassies and in the judiciary branch. And it was a Washington based ministry. And there was, even though it was nonpartisan, non political, you could not have at least somewhat of a political bent in the sense that you're making a difference with leaders in Washington D.C. so early on I started purchasing Christmas ornaments through the White House Historical Society. I started buying ornaments way back. I can go all the way back to 91 and 92. I started buying ornaments for my critical few personal supporters, sending them one at a time. So one ornament became 2, 2 became 5, 5 became 10, 10 became 15, 15 became 20, 20 became 25, 25 became 30. They were whatever was the current president that they were hearkening back to. So it's not the ornament from the current president. They might say they might be recognizing a moment of Teddy Roosevelt, ftr, jfk. So it was, it was White House, but it was the ornament commemorating and recognizing that particular presence. Non political, non biased. It's just presidential ornament. And it may have not said CREW on it, but as people started building this, this mass number of ornaments, I started getting notes from people that said, jim, it's the day after Thanksgiving and I'm writing you a note to say once again this year how much we have loved and appreciated getting an ornament. I'm here with my wife unpacking 25 years of ornaments from the White House that you have sent. And we can't help but think of you and Diane and appreciate your ministry with crew. Boom. That was. That was a game changer. So when we moved to Florida six years ago to take a position with CREW headquarters, we couldn't be further from Washington, D.C. but I continue to keep those ornaments because people love getting that and. And people are into their 36 years of getting ornaments from us, which is pretty amazing, and some really value that. But those ornaments are about 15 or $16, so I couldn't send it to everyone, so I had to send it to the critical few.
- [25:01]
A
Well, I think you hit the nail on the head in that you don't want the thank you gift to be tacky. You're not sending a chocolate bar or a piece of candy or something like that.
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B
Bookmarker.
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A
Yeah, it's. It needs to be something that they would appreciate, that they would. It would. It would help them remember you.
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B
Yeah.
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A
Or the impact that they are having, but they would. They would actually be proud of it.
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B
They would.
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A
They would appreciate. They would put it up probably displayed.
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B
In their home or whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
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A
I remember a long time ago, probably 10 years ago, Rebecca St. James used to be my favorite, or she still is, but I know she's not as popular, but she was. Yeah, exactly. Rebecca St. James was, you know, at the top of her game. Christian recording artist. And I remember she was a big advocate for Compassion International.
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B
Sure.
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A
And I remember Compassion did thank you ceremony for her when she was kind of taking a break from her. Her career and kind of stepping back. Compassion recognized her because she was a major partner ambassador for them. Huh. She was an ambassador for them. And she was. Was, you know, kind of taking a break and taking a sabbatical. And she had just gotten married and, you know, was. Was going to be spending time with her family and stuff like that.
- [26:22]
B
Right.
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A
And Compassion put together a. An award ceremony for her and her whole family, and they gave her this gift, which I still remember watching the live stream. But it was. It was a huge, like, poster mural or something. And. And it was like. It looked like a mosaic, you know, those mosaics.
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B
Like little dots or little squares. Yeah, yeah.
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A
Little, little squares. And. And it was a. It was basically a portrait of her.
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B
Wow. Holding in these little squares.
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A
Yeah, yeah. And it was a portrait of her Hugging a compassion tower or like, you know, smiling next to a compassion child. But the. Every single dot of the mosaic was a child that she was influential in partnering.
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B
How cool.
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A
Because she had gotten over. I don't. It was something like a hundred thousand.
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B
Right, Right. So they.
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A
They created a hundred thousand.
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B
They got all the faces, all these faces.
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A
Yeah. And so this mosaic was all these little things that she was responsible for helping them get sponsored. And it was a picture. But then when you step back, you see her hugging a child. It just was great. Just broke down and started. And I guarantee you that thing is on a wall somewhere. She is proud of that.
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B
Yeah, absolutely. I love it. Yeah.
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A
So that. Those are the kinds of things that you can do.
- [27:35]
B
Yes.
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A
You know, I know you. That was a very special one.
- [27:38]
B
Yeah.
- [27:38]
A
You know, but. But, yeah, think about, you know, the people that make a difference and. And think about a way that you can really honor them.
- [27:45]
B
Yeah. Well, you know, if we're talking honoring crew has. We have a globe. It's a. It's a wonderful globe. It's. It's a. It's a hand holding a globe. It's God's hands in a globe. We give that to anyone who reaches a million dollars in giving to crew. And it's generally hand delivered by the president of CREW to a church or an individual, and they're very, very well received. But that brings up the idea of creative gifts for people. Some of the principles to think about in creative gifts is people love collectibles. People love things that can be part of a series or part of something that they feel proud to present. As you mentioned, when they unpack their Christmas tree, whenever they see their ornament on the tree like I used, they think of you or that or the organization. Now, generally, you want to be going to your critical few. That's your 20%. That bring up 80. Bring in 80% of your dollars. Depending on the dollar size, you're going to want to look for gifts of anywhere between 15 and $25. Now, you may have some people who are giving mega gifts that may need to get some even more specialized gifts, but that's generally your critical few. And that's generally a pretty good do amount. It's enough that they value it, but not so much that they feel like you splurged and went over. And then everyone else would be less.
- [29:13]
A
No, I love the photo magnet would fit that really well. And it's like $5. But then, you know, you pay for shipping or whatever. But then, yeah, you can focus on the impact. You can. You can show photos, make a collage, you know, but then, you know, have that reminder. But have it focus on them, you know.
- [29:30]
B
That's right.
- [29:30]
A
Not. Not trying to sell them on what you want them to do, but, you know.
- [29:34]
B
Yeah.
- [29:35]
A
This is the impact that you're having.
- [29:36]
B
That's right.
- [29:37]
A
You know, so that's a great thing for that category.
- [29:39]
B
Yeah. But other gifts that we've come come up with. And I actually put this out into the crew world and asked people what. What kinds of things have worked for you? People said jams and jellies that they hand delivered, of course, with a little card and with a little logo on there. Annual calendars that are specific to your organization. Harry and David box of pears. Now, it's going to be more expensive on there, but that's something. A couple that lived in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, said, Chapel Hill toffee, or countercultural coffee, which apparently is very popular in that area. Maple syrup. I had a good friend that used to deliver jams, jellies and maple syrups. And people, the receptionists used to laugh when they'd see him coming. They'd always call him the jam man. And so, God rest his soul, he's gone to be with the Lord, Died of leukemia and was a dear friend of mine. Unique gifts from travel locations. If you went to Zambia this summer, you could have potentially picked up some gifts that are unique to Zambia that you could have brought back for.
- [30:46]
A
Did actually bring back a couple bags of coffee for some of the major donors. There you go. You know, just. I can't send it to everyone. No.
- [30:53]
B
It's an expensive, expensive coffee.
- [30:54]
A
But I did send it to a couple people.
- [30:56]
B
Right.
- [30:56]
A
So, yeah, that kind of stuff is good.
- [30:58]
B
Yeah.
- [30:58]
A
I've also received some of the stuff I've received from other ministries in the past that I've given to. Is like a coffee cup holder. Like a granite.
- [31:06]
B
Sure.
- [31:06]
A
It just has their little. On it.
- [31:08]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [31:09]
A
And then you just put your coffee cup.
- [31:10]
B
I love those.
- [31:11]
A
I have one that's been sitting on my desk for 20 years.
- [31:13]
B
Yeah, yeah. I have some of those as well, too. Yeah. Coasters, right? Exactly. Books. Someone recommended the book Gospel Patrons by John Reinhardt. If you have have never read the book, it is a tremendous gift to give to your partners. It's stories of individuals who, throughout the century, made an impact in spreading the gospel at different times. There were business people who, through their gifts, made an impact at different times in revivals and everything else. Also, the book Praying Life and we've promoted over the last couple weeks the new book by Larry Onan, Intentional Living Giving. Great Gift. Gift.
- [31:53]
A
What do you think about the Bible, the New Testament, putting your logo engraved on the back?
- [31:58]
B
I mean, I think that's fine. Sure. Exactly. I mean, a lot of people have Bibles, but sometimes you never can have enough Bibles.
- [32:04]
A
Right.
- [32:04]
B
It's, you know, getting an inexpensive version that people don't feel like you splurged.
- [32:09]
A
Yeah. Well, especially if you're like a Bible translator.
- [32:11]
B
Yeah. If you're Bible literature, International American Bible Society.
- [32:16]
A
Yeah, sure.
- [32:16]
B
All those.
- [32:17]
A
Like, one thing is like, if you helped translation, you know, get translated or something like that, send them a copy of the translation that you helped.
- [32:25]
B
Yeah.
- [32:25]
A
You know.
- [32:26]
B
Well, I'll tell you one of the things that Jesus film used to do years ago, which was incredible back in the day when they, in the 70s when they used to be bring them in remote villages using 8 millimeter.
- [32:39]
A
Right.
- [32:39]
B
When those video, when those tapes got so worn they could never show them again, they cut up those little clips, put them in a little loose sight paper way and sent it with the Jesus film logo and said, this is an actual 8 millimeter film that was used in this particular country. And you're getting a clip of that. It's, it's almost like, you know, carving a piece of grass out of your, that field, that baseball stadium that you grew up with and, and you can, you can almost smell the grass. They could, they could see the wornness and, and you could look at it and you can actually see a picture of Jesus. Jesus or something from the Jesus film in that clip behind the light. It was, it was powerful. Homemade Christmas cards, Advent Bible study candy. I mean, it's corny as all get out, but one ministry that it's part of crew sends just little sampler candy to individuals and says, we're sweet on you. Corny is all get out. But people love it. It is just so important that we thank our partners. But yeah, Jason, we actually need to thank our listeners.
- [33:49]
A
Yeah.
- [33:50]
B
I mean, an amazing two years so far. It's incredible coming to the. Yeah. Coming to the end of the second year. And we love our partners, each and every one of our listeners who are part of this, that make for the success of fundraising masterminds. We head into year end, especially Black Friday. I think you have gotten something special.
- [34:10]
A
Well, we got, you know, it is Thanksgiving and Black Friday is coming up, so we'd love to thank all of you for your support. And so for this week only, we're going to do a Black Friday sale.
- [34:20]
B
Yep.
- [34:20]
A
We're going to give 25 off the major Donor Mastery course up from Wednesday when this releases all the way up until Monday.
- [34:29]
B
Wow.
- [34:29]
A
20. 24. I love that. 25 off major donor Mastery.
- [34:33]
B
Nice.
- [34:33]
A
We've got a QR code on the screen that's going to take you to the website and you can learn more about what's in the Major Donor Mastery program. We have over 40 hours of video content. It's a self paced. It's not the same thing as the Perfect Vision Dinner where, you know, it's a, it's a live program. This is self paced. You can buy it anytime. You can take it whenever you want. So this is a perfect time.
- [34:54]
B
Oh yeah.
- [34:55]
A
To, to buy it. You know, you might have some time over Thanksgiving to start watching and this would be a perfect thing to do over the month of December, going into Christmas so that by the time you hit January, you are filled up with lots of ideas on how to find secure. We talk about major donor appointments, getting.
- [35:18]
B
The appointment, what to say on the appointment, how to respond to that, and there's even a thank you section. But reporting back on the results.
- [35:26]
A
This is a pretty amazing program. And thank you for tuning into the Fundraising Masterminds podcast. You, for sharing the podcast with all your directors, for spreading it around. You know, I've, I've. We've started hearing stories of ministry leaders that are passing our podcast around and board members. You've got to listen to these guys.
- [35:45]
B
Yeah.
- [35:45]
A
And you know, it's a very humbling place to be at. Sure. We, we love what we do.
- [35:51]
B
Yes.
- [35:52]
A
To be able to take the experience that we have and to be able to share it with people like you and, and ultimately for us, us, it's not about how many views we have or how many sales we make. I know we, we push a lot of things from time to time, but for us it's, it's about the kingdom of God, the impact we want to build the kingdom. We want to impact lives, we want to change. You know, I, I often say, you know, if we, if we sit around and wait for the government to, to try to do some of the things we're trying to do, we're going to be waiting a long time. So we really look at what we do here at Fundraising Masterminds is a calling, you know, to, to help you get to the next level. Because if one more Christian school can get started. Yeah, that's just, that's going to be moving in that city. For decades.
- [36:39]
B
I hear people say we brought on two, three, four, five staff. We were able to open a new pregnancy center, we were able to get an ultrasound, all because of ideas that you gave us from this broadcast. That just, that makes my day.
- [36:54]
A
And that's just people listening to the podcast that doesn't include all the people that we're mentoring in the program. We've had hundreds of people go through in the last two years. And it's very humbling to see We've raised over $8 million in the last two years by the Perfect Vision mentorship program. And it's pretty humbling to be at. But, Jim, we just, just launched fairly recently a new program called Major Donor Mastery. I think we've been talking about it from time to time.
- [37:24]
B
Right.
- [37:24]
A
Well, Jim, we've been talking about thanking our major partners. And one of the things that I think would really bless you during this time is to is if we could give away some of the Major Donor Mastery programs on Black Friday. The week of Black Friday, leading up 25% off major donor Mastery. You got a QR code on the screen that's going to take you to the website and you can learn more about what's in the Major Donor Mastery program. We're going to give 25% off just because you were listening to the Fundraising Masterminds podcast. So thank you so much and we hope that you have a great Thanksgiving, enjoy your family, and we'll see you next time.
- [37:58]
B
Take care.