84. 5 Mistakes Your Nonprofit Makes Without Realizing It

Summary

Episode Summary: The Fundraising Masterminds Podcast - Episode 84: "5 Mistakes Your Nonprofit Makes Without Realizing It"

Introduction

In Episode 84 of The Fundraising Masterminds Podcast, hosts Jim Dempsey and Jason Galicinski delve into the common pitfalls that nonprofits often encounter unknowingly, hindering their fundraising efforts and overall growth. Released on March 12, 2025, this episode serves as a crucial guide for nonprofit leaders aiming to refine their development strategies and achieve sustainable funding.

Hosts Overview

• Jim Dempsey: A seasoned expert in nonprofit fundraising with extensive experience working alongside over 5,000 nonprofits globally, contributing to more than $2 billion in funds raised.

• Jason Galicinski: Co-host alongside Jim, Jason brings a wealth of knowledge in development strategies and relationship-building, pivotal for nonprofit success.

Main Theme: Five Unintentional Mistakes Nonprofits Make

Jim and Jason outline five critical mistakes that nonprofits often make without realizing, which can severely impede their fundraising and growth. Each mistake is elaborated with practical insights, real-world examples, and actionable strategies to avoid them.

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1. Lack of Dedicated Development/Fundraising Personnel

Key Insight: Many nonprofits fail to assign specific roles focused on development or fundraising, leading to ad-hoc and ineffective fundraising efforts.

Discussion: Jim emphasizes, “There’s no one focused on development” (02:08). Without a dedicated person or team, fundraising becomes reactive rather than strategic, often resulting in desperate measures such as car washes or bake sales that do not align with the organization’s long-term vision.

Example: A Christian school busy with daily operations—classes, grading, extracurricular activities—neglects to appoint someone to focus on fundraising. This oversight can lead to financial shortfalls, forcing the organization to scramble for funds when urgent needs arise (03:15).

Solution: Assign dedicated staff or resources specifically for development. This role should focus on cultivating long-term relationships with donors, planning strategic fundraising initiatives, and ensuring consistent funding streams.

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2. Fundraising with the Wrong Approach: Transactional vs. Transformational

Key Insight: Nonprofits often approach fundraising as a transactional exchange, seeking immediate funds rather than building transformative, long-term relationships with donors.

Discussion: Jim explains the difference between transactional and transformational fundraising: “Transactional versus transformational. People often get boxed into fundraising as quickly as possible” (07:09). Treating donors merely as sources of funds, akin to using an ATM only when money is needed, fails to engage them meaningfully.

Example: A music school consistently requests donations without fostering deeper connections. While fundraisers like ticket sales generate some income, they do not build lasting partnerships, limiting substantial growth (08:16).

Solution: Shift the focus from merely raising funds to developing genuine, enduring relationships. Engage donors through consistent communication, involve them in the organization’s vision, and cultivate their investment in the cause over time.

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3. Failure to Actively Seek New Partners

Key Insight: Nonprofits often rely too heavily on existing donors, neglecting the acquisition of new partners, which is crucial for sustained growth.

Discussion: Jim highlights the importance of donor acquisition: “Names are going out the back door faster than they’re coming in the front door” (12:04). Without a steady influx of new donors, organizations risk stagnation and financial instability.

Example: Pregnancy centers or community education foundation (CEF) chapters may host annual events but fail to attract new donors, leading to a depletion of their donor base over time (11:38).

Solution: Implement strategies to consistently attract new donors. Programs like the Perfect Vision Dinner Mentorship encourage inviting new partners, aiming for 50-70% new attendees each year, thereby expanding the donor base and ensuring financial growth (13:04).

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4. Inadequate Year-Round Relationship Cultivation

Key Insight: Many nonprofits concentrate their efforts around fundraising events, neglecting continuous relationship building throughout the year.

Discussion: Jim discusses the necessity of ongoing engagement: “Proactively trying to develop a relationship” (18:23). Relying solely on annual events leads to periods of inactivity where donor engagement wanes.

Example: After a Vision Dinner event, an organization may send thank-you letters or make brief follow-up calls but then cease further communication, leaving donors feeling neglected until the next fundraiser (14:29).

Solution: Adopt a structured approach to cultivate relationships continuously. Implement programs like the Winner’s Circle, which emphasizes monthly communications, personalized interactions, and strategic relationship management to keep donors engaged and invested year-round (16:11).

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5. Lack of Strategy to Challenge Donors for Increased Giving

Key Insight: Nonprofits often fail to encourage donors to elevate their giving levels, resulting in stagnant donation amounts and limited fundraising potential.

Discussion: Jim underscores the importance of challenging donors: “People like to be actively challenged to give more” (19:08). Without presenting opportunities for increased giving, donors may plateau or disengage over time.

Example: A donor contributing $50 monthly may see no outreach for increased involvement, leading to a lack of growth in their contributions. Organizations may mistakenly avoid asking for more, fearing donor attrition (20:35).

Solution: Develop a strategic plan to encourage donors to increase their contributions. This involves identifying major donors and presenting them with opportunities to contribute to larger, impactful projects, thereby fostering deeper engagement and higher levels of giving (19:16).

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Strategies to Avoid These Mistakes

Jim and Jason advocate for proactive and strategic approaches to fundraising, emphasizing the importance of vision, planning, and relationship-building.

Perfect Vision Dinner Mentorship Program

Overview: A 21-week intensive mentorship program designed to guide nonprofits through planning and executing successful Vision Dinners aimed at raising significant funds.

Key Features:

• Win: Focuses on attracting new donors, with the goal of having 50-70% new attendees at each event.
• Keep: Implements strategies to cultivate and maintain relationships with existing donors.
• Lift: Encourages increasing donors’ giving levels over time.

Outcome: Organizations participating in the program have seen substantial growth, with some raising over $800,000 annually by consistently applying the program’s principles (27:34).

Winner’s Circle Program

Overview: An exclusive three-year program for Perfect Vision Dinner graduates, focusing on long-term relationship-building and strategic donor engagement.

Key Features:

• Strategic Planning: Monthly communications and personalized interactions.
• Accountability: Regular check-ins to ensure implementation of strategies.
• Growth: Continuous development of donor relationships to foster higher giving levels.

Outcome: Participants in the Winner’s Circle have successfully built robust, engaged donor bases, significantly enhancing their fundraising capabilities (17:21).

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Conclusion

Jim and Jason encapsulate the episode by reiterating the five critical mistakes nonprofits must avoid to achieve sustainable growth and effective fundraising. They emphasize the transformative power of strategic planning, dedicated development efforts, active donor acquisition, continuous relationship cultivation, and challenging donors for increased support.

Key Takeaways:

• Win: Attract new partners consistently.
• Keep: Cultivate existing relationships proactively.
• Lift: Encourage donors to increase their contributions over time.

Jim aptly summarizes, “Fundraising over fundraising and transformational over transactional... focus on long-term relationships” (33:12). By implementing these strategies, nonprofits can transition from mere survival to thriving, fully funded organizations making a significant impact in their communities.

Call to Action: Listeners are encouraged to subscribe to the podcast on YouTube, Apple, or Spotify, and to explore the Perfect Vision Dinner Mentorship Program by applying through the provided channels. For more information and resources, visit the Fundraising Masterminds website.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• "There's no one focused on development." — Jim Dempsey (02:08)
• "Transactional versus transformational. People often get boxed into fundraising as quickly as possible." — Jim Dempsey (07:09)
• "Names are going out the back door faster than they're coming in the front door." — Jim Dempsey (12:04)
• "Proactively trying to develop a relationship." — Jim Dempsey (18:23)
• "People like to be actively challenged to give more." — Jim Dempsey (19:08)
• "Fundraising over fundraising and transformational over transactional... focus on long-term relationships." — Jim Dempsey (33:12)

This episode provides invaluable insights for nonprofit leaders seeking to refine their fundraising strategies, avoid common mistakes, and achieve robust, sustainable growth through strategic development and relationship-building.

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. What do you actually feel called to do? Most people don't feel called to just go to the office and turn on the computer and check their email and, you know, all that stuff. Right. So what is it that actually makes you get excited about what you do?

[Jim Dempsey]

Because people want to give to a big vision. They want to give to an organization that has a plan, has a strategy. Unfortunately, there's too many organizations out there that have no plan, have no vision. Their major goal is survival, and nobody wants to give to an organization that's just surviving.

[Jason Galasinski]

Welcome back to another episode here at the Fundraising Masterminds Podcast. My name is Jason Galasinski and my co host, Jim Dempsey.

[Jim Dempsey]

Hi, Jason.

[Jason Galasinski]

How are you today, Jim?

[Jim Dempsey]

Oh, I'm great. We got a great topic today.

[Jason Galasinski]

We're going to be talking about five mistakes that your nonprofit makes without realizing it.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah. I tell you, mistakes seem to be just. They pile up, and a lot of times people don't even know that they're happening. Jason.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah.

[Jim Dempsey]

When those mistakes are being made, all of us just get so busy doing ministry that we tend to just pass over some important things.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. And we. We actually see this quite a bit in a lot of the organizations that come to us.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yes.

[Jason Galasinski]

And they don't even realize that they're making these mistakes.

[Jim Dempsey]

Well, they're having problems raising money, and they don't know why, and it's because they're making these mistakes.

[Jason Galasinski]

Well, before we get into it, go ahead and hit that subscribe button on YouTube. And if you're listening to us on Spotify or Apple, you can subscribe there as well, because we have a lot of episodes coming. We usually do about one episode a week. And if you're a nonprofit leader, you're joining us for the first time. This is the podcast for you. So go ahead and hit that subscribe button and let's get into the episode.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

So the first mistake that nonprofit leaders.

[Jim Dempsey]

Make, Jim, is that they don't have someone focused in on helping to direct the development or fundraising efforts.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. So when you say development, do you mean like coding on the computer?

[Jim Dempsey]

That's exactly what I mean. There's no one focused in on coding.

[Jason Galasinski]

Did you mean like building. Development of developing.

[Jim Dempsey]

Of buildings and housing and land. And land development. Absolutely.

[Jason Galasinski]

Some people. Some people call it advancement. Do you like the word advanced?

[Jim Dempsey]

I hate the word advancement because it's focused towards higher education. And we. They are. They tend to like it because it talks about advancing the cause. But I don't believe that it, it focuses more on a, the process and not the end results, which is developing long term relationships with people. I'm not out to advance relationships with people. I'm out to develop relationships with people. So we even internally have some or parts of our ministry that use the term advancement and I'm not a big fan of advancement.

[Jason Galasinski]

When we say that you don't have someone focus on, you know, development, what we mean is that essentially you're busy doing your ministry. Right. We see this. So some examples of this might be that you're a Christian school and you're just busy running the school. You've got classes, you've got students that you're grading, you've got all kinds of activities going on.

[Jim Dempsey]

Chapel, you've got, you're taking them to march for life or taking them to missions, efforts overseas, whatever it is.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah, but you don't actually have someone focus on developing the funds for the organization.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right. And then all of a sudden at some point the rubber meets the road and all of a sudden it hits you, I don't have the money to finish the school year or I can't accomplish those things that I need to accomplish until I've got money. And then all of a sudden ministries panic and they start to do things that they shouldn't be doing. That's when they start doing car washes, they start doing bake sales, they start selling cookies, they start going door to door with things, all the things that they shouldn't be doing. Development is a long term process, Jason. It is a, it is a cultivation effort. Taking them through a journey with your ministry, a journey of getting to know you more and more. A period of, of lifting, a winning, keeping and lifting. And it's so important that you plan ahead for that. That's not a run as fast as you can then hit a wall and decide that you need money and then do something.

[Jason Galasinski]

So we work with a lot of schools, right? What would you say is a common thing that schools need development for? I mean like, don't they, don't the tuition pay for everything?

[Jim Dempsey]

Well, no, in fact, actually one of the biggest things that are the ministries, the schools that we work with is, is helping to make up the gap. What they call the gap. The gap between what actual expenses are and what tuition costs are. That is one of the biggest scholarships for individuals who can't even afford the tuition is a big element. Then you can also go on to expansion, kind of efforts. If you want to build a chapel or build a science lab or you want to music. Music or a sports program, all those kinds of things need money. And that's what, that's what we're.

[Jason Galasinski]

So it's really important that you have someone that's focused on forward thinking.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yes.

[Jason Galasinski]

And really thinking about, well, how are we going to develop partners that are going to buy into the vision that we want to have.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right, right.

[Jason Galasinski]

I think a lot of times, honestly, why people don't have this is because they just don't have a vision. Like, they're just. Their vision is just surviving dayto day, you know, but they're not forward thinking.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah. Well, Jason, you know, I've used marriage oftentimes too, as a. And to kind of talk about how similar it is to development. And it would be the equivalent of you just deciding through all your 20s and all the way into most of your 30s. And all of a sudden it occurs to you that, wow, I'm getting kind of old here and I have not dated. I am. I've got to, if I hope to have kids, I need to go ahead and start to process that. I've got to meet someone, developing a relationship with them and it's waiting in the last minute and then all of a sudden expecting to walk out the door and ask someone to marry them. That's essentially what we're trying to do when we just do fundraising and that's the last thing that we want to do. You've got to be thinking long term, how do I develop a long term relationship with someone that I can eventually date them?

[Jason Galasinski]

Right.

[Jim Dempsey]

Go through the courtship and marry someone?

[Jason Galasinski]

Well, that leads us to mistake number two quite nicely, which is you are thinking about getting funds the wrong way, right?

[Jim Dempsey]

Well, yeah, Jason, it's, you know, it's. It's the old fundraising versus fund friend raising. Or as I've talked about so often, it's transactional versus transformational. People oftentimes when they get put in a corner, as I said, they get boxed in a corner and they need money. All they think of is, how can I raise money as quickly as possible? So instead of thinking about a transformational relationship, they think about the transactional. I've used so many times the analogy of the atm. An ATM isn't important until you need money. Then all of a sudden you scour the earth to find an atm, you get your money and then you don't worry about an atm. Again, that is the way that we tend to treat our partners and they see that they know that when we only care about them for their money. And that is one of the. That's one of the biggest mistakes that a lot of ministries make.

[Jason Galasinski]

You know, there's a. There's a music school in our town that is actually quite loved and used by a lot of people. They have probably hundreds of students that go through the door every day, but they're in this small little building, and they're always kind of acting like they need more money. Right.

[Jim Dempsey]

They're barely surviving, probably.

[Jason Galasinski]

I mean, they're. They're doing okay. I. Yeah. I don't get the sense that they're, like, you know, dying.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

You know, but I mean, they just have a lot coming in and. But they. They really could use more space. It would be nice if they had a bigger building or, you know, I mean, they would thrive a lot with a bigger building.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

But they just don't have anyone, you know, that's focused on how can we grow and expand this. They're just busy every day just, you know, turning up music lessons and doing all the. All the stuff. And I think the people that are doing it love working with the students, and they love doing the thing, but there's no one actively trying to grow and expand.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

You know, which takes effort. So how that relates to mistake number two is that they do fundraisers from time to time, but it's more of a, oh, no, we're running out of money.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

You know, let's pull something together. And it's usually twice a year or something like that. And. And it feels like. Well, I mean, they have it built into a rhythm. So they do several fundraisers a year, you know, selling tickets or doing different things, and they usually try to work in some performances or whatever from the music school, but there's nothing actively dedicated to growing and expanding and forward thinking.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah, I talk about managing momentum. That's what a lot of ministries are doing. They're just barely surviving. They're one step ahead, and they're not, man. They're. All they're doing is managing momentum. The momentum is. Is continuing to drive things, and they can barely keep up with the momentum itself. And so it doesn't allow them to plan for going ahead well, and then.

[Jason Galasinski]

When they finally do a fundraiser, it's a fundraiser.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right?

[Jason Galasinski]

Right. They're selling tickets, they're doing something, and they. They. I don't know how much they make, but it's probably not very much, you know, maybe a couple thousand dollars or maybe 10 or 15,000 here and there. You know, it probably helps a little, but what we want you to think about is fundraising versus fundraising. Right. Fundraising is instead of focusing on raising funds, when you run out, you're constantly thinking about, how can I develop partners that will buy into the vision of this organization and be with us for the test of time?

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

That's where the real growth it is. I mean, we've exponential. I mean, we're. We're seeing people going through our programs, raising 1000-002000-00500,000. Big, big numbers. But it's because they're focused on. Well, number one, they've got someone actually doing development.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

But then, number two, they're focused on building partners for their organization that are going to buy into the vision of their organization rather than just, hey, let's do a fundraiser to fill in a little gap here and there.

[Jim Dempsey]

That's exactly right.

[Jason Galasinski]

Okay. So that leads me to the third mistake, which is that you're not actively looking for new partners. Yeah. This might be something where maybe you are, you know, doing some fundraisers.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

Maybe you are doing a little bit of development. Like we. There's quite a few ministries that come to us who are kind of stuck.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

So they're. I'm thinking of some pregnancy centers and some CEF chapters that we've worked with in the past. Right. Where they. They're doing some kind of level, basic level of development, but they're. And maybe they're doing an annual dinner, maybe they're doing a walk for life, but they are stuck.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

They don't have new partners coming in.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right. Yeah. Typically what happens is that names are going out the back door faster than they're coming in the front door. They're not netting. Having a net gain of new donors that are coming in. They're not focusing in on new donor acquisition. We certainly need to keep the names that we have. That's vitally important. But we've also got to make sure that we're bringing in people faster in the front door than we're looking. Losing them out the back door. I talk oftentimes about shutting the back door, but making the front door wide open. And that's what we need to do so often.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. So it's really important as an organization that you have a way of actively getting new people in the door all the time.

[Jim Dempsey]

That's right.

[Jason Galasinski]

One of the things I love about our Perfect Vision Dinner mentorship program is we teach you how to bring in new people every time. Right. Like, one of our goals with the Perfect Vision Dinner is that we're trying to get 50% new people in the room.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

Every single year.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah. And oftentimes we can see as many as 60 and 70% of new people every year. But yeah, we love at least 50% of the people in the room.

[Jason Galasinski]

And so that's the goal of the, of that particular program is to win new partners to our cause.

[Jim Dempsey]

That's right.

[Jason Galasinski]

And if you don't have a way of winning new partners to your cause.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

You're making a big mistake.

[Jim Dempsey]

That's right.

[Jason Galasinski]

You know, because you could have someone dedicated to development and you could be doing friend raising.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

But if you're friend raising with old relationships, like, I know there's a lot of CEF chapters that have a lot of great partners and they've been supporting them for 50 years.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

But they've got no new partners.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

And so how is that going to work, you know, 10, 15 years from now, Right.

[Jim Dempsey]

When you have sending out prayer letters to people or newsletters to people, you know, that's nice. But if you aren't constantly asking someone to consider opportunities with you or to lift them to a higher giving level, you're you. Chances are the attrition rate is, is going to come back and bite you because chances are you're going to be losing more people than you're bringing people in the door.

[Jason Galasinski]

So maybe you do have someone focus on development, maybe you are focused on fundraising and maybe you are winning new people. Let's see if you're making mistake number four, which is you are not cultivating relationships throughout the year.

[Jim Dempsey]

Absolutely.

[Jason Galasinski]

So much of development is relationships, you know, and so often what we do is we do an event like a walk or we do an event like a dinner.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

And then it's exhausting. And we just, we kind of get our fill of people and we just think, okay, we got the funds, got.

[Jim Dempsey]

That done with, don't need to do it again for a long time.

[Jason Galasinski]

Right. And let's go, let's go back to our ministry.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

And then they go back and they just start getting busy with things and they are not actively building relationships.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right. Year round. And, and what happens is, I see so often is that people get done with their dinner. They may do a thank you letter, they might also even make a thank you call. But then the partner doesn't hear from that ministry leader for eight months until it's time to start recruiting for a table. And you feel used, you feel taken for granted. Nobody want that to happen.

[Jason Galasinski]

Right. One of the things I Love about our Perfect Vision Dinner mentorship program is that we actually have an award. And when people raise $100,000, which is kind of our bare minimum.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

When you join the program, our goal is to teach you in a 21 week period how to plan and execute a Vision Dinner from start to finish with the goal of raising at least 100,000.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

Or if you're already past that, you know, our goal is usually double what you're currently raising because we believe that we've seen it time and time again, that if you follow the recipe, it works. But one of the things I love about it is after the Perfect Vision Dinner is over, after you've hit that target, we have another program that we don't talk about a lot on this podcast called the Winner's Circle.

[Jim Dempsey]

Absolutely.

[Jason Galasinski]

And the Winner's Circle is a three year program only available to our Perfect Vision Dinner graduates.

[Jim Dempsey]

You have to, it's by invitation only. And the only way you can be part of the program is by reaching certain levels. You have to have taken the Perfect Vision Dinner mentorship program and you have to hit certain financial goals that are established out there.

[Jason Galasinski]

But one thing that I love about the Winner's Circle is that the whole point of it is to focus on how to develop those long term relationships. So where we focus a whole entire year on just building regular communication. So we take all your new partners, we put them into a strategic plan, and then we teach you how every month to be communicating and to be building strategic relationships. So we have a systematic way of making sure that you're building relationships with everybody that is important to your organization and that is like super important that you're doing that because that helps them to feel like they are engaged with you in the ministry. That's what we want. We want them to not just give us money, we want them to partner with you in the organization.

[Jim Dempsey]

Absolutely. Yeah. That's great.

[Jason Galasinski]

So I love that. And if you're not actively building relationships, Jim, just for our listeners perspective, like, what do we mean by actively consistently building relationships? Like, what does that look like?

[Jim Dempsey]

Well, Jason, we've put together what we refer to as a three, three, three skip program. And it's talking about three letters, three phone calls and three visits throughout an entire year. So it is proactively, not reactively, but proactively trying to look for ways to develop a relationship with someone. So some people prefer getting emails and getting letters from people. Some people prefer phone calls, others prefer personal visits, sitting down with them and sharing those things with them. All those things will help you develop a long term relationship with someone. It ensures that you don't take it for granted and ensures that you focus in on proactively getting to know people better.

[Jason Galasinski]

Well, and we teach you all that in the Winner's Circle. And the thing that I love about our Winner's Circle program is that, you know, so often people know the right thing to do, but we really hold you to actually getting it done. So that's the whole point of our programs, right, Is we, we. You could go to a webinar on a weekend and learn how to do a gala, or you could learn all the things you're supposed to do. But then how many times do people just, they just go home and they don't do anything, Right? That's right. And our programs are really focused on every single week we give you, this is what you need to do. We do regular calls, we do regular check in and we're asking you, are you doing this?

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

Are you getting it done? And so, yeah. So just holding their hand and walking them through the process is really what people love.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

Well, let's talk about the last mistake, which is you don't have a strategy to challenge your partners.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

And what do you mean by that?

[Jim Dempsey]

Well, if you aren't strategically challenging people to move from one level to the next, then your people will go stagnant and you'll keep people at a plateau. And trust me, after a while, if people aren't challenged with new challenges and new opportunities, they're going to fade away into the sunset. Because people like to be actively challenged to give more. And so if you aren't putting bigger and bigger challenges before people, they're not going to give. We know that so many of our large donors, our major donors, mega donors, ultra donors, all give because they are challenged to give to something that's bigger than what they would normally be involved in. It helps them to be part of something exciting that's making a difference in our world. So it's so critical. And too many organizations go two, three, four, five years without challenging someone to give more.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah, it's actually almost like the opposite where it's like, hey, this person's given 50amonth. I don't want to call them because if I call them, they might change their mind. Yeah, they'll be like, oh yeah, I forgot I was giving you 50amonth. Let me cancel that.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

You know, how often does that happen?

[Jim Dempsey]

It doesn't. But in, in our minds, though, we tend to think it will happen.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah, we kind of, we kind of think like, oh, just leave them alone, you know, like, as long as they are fine, you know, that they don't know and I don't know and I don't want to remind them.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right, right.

[Jason Galasinski]

You know, so. But that's because you don't have a relationship with that person.

[Jim Dempsey]

That's right, yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

If you did have a relationship with the person, you probably wouldn't be thinking that, right?

[Jim Dempsey]

Well, sure, absolutely. And getting back to the dating analogy, if you go into three, four, five, six, seven years of being engaged and not taking someone to the next level and marrying them, you're going to probably end up losing that person. And it's exactly the same way.

[Jason Galasinski]

Well, those are the five mistakes. Jim, you want to review them real quick for us?

[Jim Dempsey]

Yes, I'd be happy to. The first one is that we want to make sure that you've got people focused in on development. Number two, we don't want to be asking in the wrong way. We want. We don't want to be focusing in on fundraising. We want to be talking about focusing on fundraising. We want to make sure that we are bringing in new donors all the time. Number two, we want to make sure we are cultivating the people that we currently have. And lastly, number five, we want to make sure that we are challenging people to higher levels of giving.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah, we actually kind of boil that down into three simple words to help you remember. We call it win, keep and lift one of the winning new partners to your cause. We want to be keeping them through cultivating relationships and we want to be lifting them to higher levels of giving over time.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

So that's really what you should be focused on as an organization. And if you're not actively doing that, then you probably are going to go flat and you're probably going to whittle away over time.

[Jim Dempsey]

That's right.

[Jason Galasinski]

Because an organization that isn't growing is stagnant. And a stagnant organization will eventually fade.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

And so we have to be really focused on the future. Right. We have to. And that really starts with a vision. I'm very big into telling my kids, if you don't have a goal for this year, you're probably not going to get whatever you're planning to get done. Right, Right.

[Jim Dempsey]

So it's like if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. That's exactly right. And so many organizations, we just get stuck in the day to day.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

And we don't take time to Just sit and think about, well, where do I want to go?

[Jim Dempsey]

Right?

[Jason Galasinski]

You know, so just a really good takeaway if, if you, if you haven't thought about this at all for your organization, it's just take some time to maybe find a coffee house or just somewhere that's a different location. Maybe go to the library or something and just find a quiet place with a pen and paper and just ask yourself the question, what would be my dream vision for this organization in the next five years if God opened up a floodgates of money, if the right people just started donating all the money.

[Jim Dempsey]

I needed, my school, what would my ministry, what would my youth effort look like in five years?

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah, like what, what do you actually feel called to do? Right? Like most people don't feel called to just go to the office and turn on the computer and check their email and you know, all that stuff. Right. So like what, what is it that actually makes you get excited about what you do as an organization and where do you actually want to go? Yeah, you know what, what is the big vision you want to accomplish?

[Jim Dempsey]

And because people want to give to a big vision, they want to give to an organization that has a plan, has a strategy. Unfortunately, there's too many organizations out there that have no plan, have no vision. Their major goal is survival. You know, they, they go paycheck to paycheck, don't really accomplish any major things. They might set a goal from here to there. They're a pregnancy center. They saw 600 women last year. They might want to get to 6:50, or they might want to buy an ultrasound machine. But there's no big vision to purchasing another center, to, you know, expanding their medical efforts, going out to a local college or university and opening up a center nearby there. There's just so many things that they're not looking at and nobody wants to give to an organization that's just surviving right now. Jason, these five things, is there anything out there that could help accomplish and ensure that we don't make these five mistakes?

[Jason Galasinski]

There is actually. We offer a program called the Perfect Vision Dinner Mentorship program. I've heard of that. And I mean, we talk about this a lot on the podcast, obviously, but it's actually, if you're listening to this and you're thinking, gee, I. This all sounds great, but I just don't know where to start. The Perfect Vision that are mentorship program, seriously is the place to start.

[Jim Dempsey]

Well, let's take them one at a time, Jason. What, what, how's, how is that. Let's start with the first one. How does it keep your development efforts focused?

[Jason Galasinski]

Well, one of the things we do in the mentorship program is. Well, first of all, it's a 21 week intense. I kind of refer to it as like a college program. Right. So it's not like just a video course that we just, you know, send you on your way and do it.

[Jim Dempsey]

And hope you do well.

[Jason Galasinski]

Right? No. So this is a mentorship program where we are, we are. You're joining a community of people. It's an intense 21 weeks where we walk you through the very, very beginning to the very, very end. And the goal is to bring you and your board and your team together and help you find and cultivate that bigger vision. Like what we were saying, you got to have a five year plan.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

We always say, how do you eat an elephant one bite at a time? So the perfect vision dinner gives you that ability to eat that elephant one bite at a time because you've got.

[Jim Dempsey]

Somebody who comes along, takes your hand and walks you down the journey of accomplishing this so that you do have that perfect vision dinner.

[Jason Galasinski]

Right, Right. So the goal of the mentorship program is to give you that vision, to give you some training on the fundraising model. Right, the fundraising model. We're gonna work with your board to help them find the right people to come to this. Because I always say, you know, we're not trying to get 300 of just anyone who can breathe, but we're trying to get 300 of the right people in the right room with the right program. You know, 2 hour and 15 minute program. And, you know, the goal of the program is to plan and execute Vision Dinner to raise at least a hundred thousand dollars. That's, that's our goal for you, is to raise at least a hundred thousand. The cost of it is generally around. It's about a 10 to 1 return on investment is what I say. So it's about a tenth of what you bring in.

[Jim Dempsey]

But if I'm an organization that last year raised 300,000, you're going to try and take me to, you know, another 50 to 100%.

[Jason Galasinski]

We see organizations joining the program that are stuck. They're not bringing in new partners. So they're coming in and they're saying, well, we're trying this and we're trying that, but we just, we're not getting any new people. How do we get new people? So that's a, that's a big piece of what we do. So every element in here, the winning, the Keeping and the lifting. We have three programs to help you with that. Win, Keep, and lifts. So the Perfect Vision Dinner is what I call the winning program. It helps. The focus of the Perfect Vision Dinner is to win new partners to your cause.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

Right. 50 to 60% new people coming in the door who have never heard you before. And it's an annual event, so we do it every year. So, like, the first year, you're gonna get a bunch of new people in, and then we're gonna put those kind of in our development system, which is the keeping. We're gonna teach you how to cultivate those relationships in the winter circle. And so while you're going through that and. And building those relationships, we're going to do another Vision Dinner, like the next year. And so we're going to take some of the critical few of that one, and we're going to use those relationships to invite more people, and we're going to get 50% more. And so every year, we keep growing and growing.

[Jim Dempsey]

It sounds like you're building an enterprise, Jason.

[Jason Galasinski]

I mean, that's kind of the goal, right. Is to.

[Jim Dempsey]

Absolutely.

[Jason Galasinski]

To get you to the point where you're not surviving, but you're actually throwing thriving. That takes effort to get there. It takes partners and resources, but it can be done. We've seen it over and over and over. In fact, there is one organization that you worked with. I won't mention the name, but it's a. The. The organization that works with the girls.

[Jim Dempsey]

Human trafficking.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah.

[Jim Dempsey]

Organization.

[Jason Galasinski]

I mean, we worked. You've been working with them for like, eight years. It started kind of small. Right. With just a husband and wife. And we've. We've built that up to the point where, like I always say, the first year, you know, you raised like a hundred thousand. Then the next year you raised like 250. Then we moved to 300. Then, you know, seven years later, they had an $800,000 goal.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah. With nearly a thousand people in the room.

[Jason Galasinski]

Right, Exactly. So, I mean, that's. That's how the Perfect Vision Dinner can really help you grow.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

Year over year. And if you implement everything that we're teaching in our programs, your organization can get to that point as well.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

So if you're at a place where you are really wanting to take the next step and really get started and go to the next level, I would recommend that you check out the Perfect Vision Inner mentorship program. There's a QR code on the screen that you can scan. You can also click the links in the description, but it's a great place to get started. We only offer the program twice a year. Okay. And it's an application only kind of thing. We get a lot of people applying now. It's quite a popular program. It's turned into our flagship program and there's a lot of interest. And so I would recommend that you would check that out. There's a lot of videos and resources on our website that will give you the information for that. But if you're interested in joining that program, you can fill out the application. It's free to apply, and then we'll set up a call, we'll make sure that it's right for you. We always.

[Jim Dempsey]

Jason, class sizes are limited, aren't they?

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah, the space is limited. We only train a small amount of organizations every class. So get your application in and hopefully we'll see you in on the next program.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah. Well, and this last year, I mean, it was amazing. In 2024, over $10 million was raised through the ministries that we helped. So $10 million went into the kingdom, which was so exciting.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. And most people in the program got the perfect vision in our award, which means they raised $100,000 or more.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah, we had some 6, 700,000 or more.

[Jason Galasinski]

It is definitely possible, I would say probably 80 to 90% of the people that join our program hit the a hundred thousand mark. And the organizations that don't, that's usually because they're not taking the program very seriously. Unfortunately.

[Jim Dempsey]

Unfortunately, we don't have many of those, which is good.

[Jason Galasinski]

We don't. Well, if you're interested in that perfect vision inner mentorship program, we are six weeks away from the next one starting, I believe the next course starts May 5th in 2025. We do two a year. We usually do one at the beginning of May. That takes us through to the end of September. And the goal of that is to do a dinner in October and then we start another program end of October, and that takes us through to the end of March. And we usually are doing a bunch of dinners in April for spring of 26 already.

[Jim Dempsey]

Unbelievable.

[Jason Galasinski]

I know, Jason.

[Jim Dempsey]

Last time I looked, a lot of the spaces were already taken. And so I think it's really important that people move quickly on this one.

[Jason Galasinski]

So don't wait. It does take some time, you know, to get your board on board and, you know, so get onto our website, check it out, fill out the application. Once you fill out the application, we will get in touch with you, make sure the program is right for you. So there's a whole process. And then of course we got to get the board involved and stuff like that. So it takes some time, but it's worth it. So get that process started as soon as you can. So if you like this podcast, remember to subscribe on YouTube. Also subscribe on Apple or Spotify if you're listening to us there. If you know any other nonprofit leaders who run organizations you think might benefit.

[Jim Dempsey]

From this, there is challenge with fundraising and struggling with the things we just talked about.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah, help them out by hitting that share button on YouTube or Spotify and just send them a quick text and say, hey, check out this podcast. I think you'll learn a lot. We'd really appreciate that. Jim, any final words that you'd like to say about this?

[Jim Dempsey]

No, I'd say, you know, bottom line is that fundraising over fundraising and transformational over transactional. We've got to make sure that you focus in on the long term and not just the here and now. And that's what fundraising does. And so you want to make sure that you are looking for those long term relationships. That's where the big money is going to end up coming from. Those long term relationships.

[Jason Galasinski]

Well, there you have it from the man himself. Well, that's it for this episode. We'll see you in the next one.

[Jim Dempsey]

Take care.