94. How to Build a Strong Foundation for Your Nonprofit

Summary

The Fundraising Masterminds Podcast: Episode 94 Summary Title: How to Build a Strong Foundation for Your Nonprofit
Release Date: June 11, 2025
Hosts: Jim Dempsey and Jason Galicinski

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Introduction: Laying the Groundwork for Long-Term Success

In Episode 94 of The Fundraising Masterminds Podcast, hosts Jim Dempsey and Jason Galicinski delve into the critical topic of building a strong foundation for nonprofit organizations. Drawing from their combined 60 years of development experience, Jim and Jason emphasize the importance of moving beyond short-term fundraising tactics to establish sustainable, long-lasting support for nonprofits.

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The Short-Term vs. Long-Term Fundraising Mindset

Short-Term Fundraising: Jim and Jason begin by contrasting short-term and long-term fundraising strategies. They use the analogy of a sandcastle versus a skyscraper to illustrate the fleeting nature of short-term efforts compared to the enduring impact of long-term planning.

• Transactional Focus: Jim shares his preference for steady, long-term commitments over one-time donations:
  “Would you rather have $1,000 now or $10 a month for a lifetime? I'll take the $10 a month for a lifetime.” (00:10)
  He explains that transactional fundraising—viewed as a necessary evil—often leads to shallow donor relationships and inconsistent support.

• Impulsiveness and Quantity Over Quality: The hosts highlight how short-term strategies often result in emotional, impulsive decisions and a focus on the quantity of donations rather than the quality of donor relationships.
  “It's all about short-term. It's selling cookies, it's having car washes… You just need money.” (08:04)

• Lack of Planning and Faith: Short-term approaches typically lack strategic planning and do not incorporate faith or prayer, leading to short-lived results. Jim underscores the importance of trusting in a higher purpose:
  “You're trusting your own methods, your own strategies. You want to control things. This is going to be solved. I don't need to pull God into this.” (12:45)

Long-Term Fundraising: Conversely, long-term fundraising focuses on building deep, meaningful relationships with donors, strategic planning, and sustainable impact.

• Relational Focus: Jim emphasizes building relationships before discussing financial contributions:
  “When you build a relationship, when you listen, you care about the person… You’re going to get a lot more money in the long term by doing that.” (15:40)

• Purposeful Planning: Developing a strategic plan with a clear vision for the next three to five years is crucial.
  “Having a three to five year vision that you can present to people.” (15:42)

• Integrating Faith and Prayer: The hosts stress the significance of grounding fundraising efforts in faith, ensuring that organizational goals are aligned with a higher purpose. Jim shares his personal reliance on scripture:
  “Faithful is he who calls you and he will bring it to pass.” (19:24)

• Sustainable Impact: Focusing on the long-term impact ensures that the nonprofit can continue to make a difference over time.
  “If it's not to make an impact in people's lives and to make a change in this world for the better, then the ministry or the nonprofit is probably not going to last very long.” (21:20)

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Strategies for Building a Strong Foundation

Jim and Jason outline several key strategies essential for establishing a robust foundation in nonprofit organizations:

1. Start with the End in Mind:

   • Visualizing the long-term goals and understanding the ultimate impact of the nonprofit’s efforts.
   • Jim illustrates this with the Old and New Testament teachings, emphasizing God's overarching plan:
     “We can see God's plan all the way through… God sees out into the future.” (23:41)

2. Create a Strategic Development Plan:

   • Developing a comprehensive plan that includes a development model to cultivate donors over time.
   • Jim compares developing donors to nurturing a long-term marriage, stressing the need for intentional steps:
     “You’ve got to take people along a continuum and along a journey from barely knowing you to giving their first gift to multiple gifts.” (25:36)

3. Faith and Prayer Integration:

   • Continuously involving prayer and seeking divine guidance to ensure the nonprofit’s mission aligns with a higher calling.
   • Jason references Matthew 6:33 to emphasize prioritizing faith in all aspects of the organization:
     “Seek first the kingdom and his righteousness and everything else will be added unto you.” (29:18)

4. Friend Raising Over Fundraising:

   • Prioritizing the cultivation of relationships over immediate financial gains.
   • Jim reiterates the importance of long-term partnerships over one-time donations:
     “$100 a month times 40 years… Do the math.” (31:20)

5. Building Sustainable Impact:

   • Ensuring that fundraising efforts translate into meaningful, lasting change.
   • The focus remains on creating programs and initiatives that have a significant, enduring influence on the community.

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The Perfect Vision Dinner and Winner’s Circle Programs

Jim and Jason introduce their specialized programs designed to institutionalize long-term fundraising strategies:

• Perfect Vision Dinner Mentorship Program:

  • A foundational program aimed at helping nonprofits secure their first significant round of funding by building strong donor relationships.
  • “The Perfect Vision Dinner is the bedrock of everything we do.” (31:42)

• Winner’s Circle Program:

  • An invitation-only, three-year coaching program that guides nonprofits through advanced fundraising strategies, including major donor cultivation, peer-to-peer fundraising, and planned giving.
  • Jason shares success stories, such as Brian, who raised over $200,000 after joining the program:
    “He’s just accelerating, did his second dinner and raised over $200,000.” (26:00)

These programs emphasize gradual, strategic growth akin to building a skyscraper—layer by layer—ensuring a stable and enduring foundation.

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Legacy and Sustainability

The hosts conclude by highlighting the importance of leaving a lasting legacy. They use Jim’s organization, which manages a $750 million annual budget and has a global presence, as a testament to the power of long-term planning and strategic fundraising.

• Jim reflects on sustaining a legacy through decades of ministry:
  “If you want to still be in existence 75 years from now, you’ve got to build that deep foundation.” (38:13)

Jason echoes this sentiment, encouraging listeners to adopt a sustainable approach:
“We’re not interested in just raising a quick… we’re interested in getting you long-term partners and to give you a long-term sustainable plan.” (35:37)

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Conclusion: Building Your Nonprofit’s Skyscraper

Episode 94 serves as a comprehensive guide for nonprofit leaders aiming to transition from short-term fundraising tactics to building a sustainable, impactful organization. By focusing on relationship-building, strategic planning, faith integration, and sustainable impact, Jim and Jason provide actionable insights to help nonprofits establish a strong foundation that can withstand the test of time.

Notable Quotes:

• “Would you rather have $1,000 now or $10 a month for a lifetime? I'll take the $10 a month for a lifetime.” – Jim Dempsey (00:10)
• “Seek first the kingdom and his righteousness and everything else will be added unto you.” – Jason Galicinski (29:18)
• “We are the number one channel for the nonprofit executives.” – Jim Dempsey (03:16)
• “If you want your organization to succeed… you've got to build that deep foundation.” – Jim Dempsey (38:13)

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Next Steps for Nonprofit Leaders:

• Assess Your Mindset: Determine whether your current fundraising approach is short-term or long-term.
• Engage in Strategic Planning: Develop a multi-year vision and create a strategic development plan.
• Build Relationships: Focus on friend raising over immediate fundraising.
• Incorporate Faith: Ensure your organization’s mission and fundraising efforts are aligned with your core values and faith.
• Leverage Mentorship Programs: Consider joining programs like the Perfect Vision Dinner and Winner’s Circle to receive guided support in strengthening your foundation.

For more detailed strategies and insights, listen to Episode 94 of The Fundraising Masterminds Podcast and explore their mentorship opportunities to elevate your nonprofit’s fundraising efforts.

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.

[Jim Dempsey]

Would you rather have $1,000 now or $10 a month for a lifetime? I'll take the $10 a month for a lifetime. Every time I have people that made commitments to my wife and I in 1984, $50 a month, $100 a month, those people have continued on. I mean, if I want that firm foundation, I've got to do the things that are going to keep a person for a lifetime.

[Jason Galasinski]

Welcome back to this episode of the Fundraising Masterminds Podcast. We are super excited that you are here with us today. Today we're going to be talking about how to build a strong foundation for your nonprofit. My name is Jason Galasinski, and with me, my co host, Jim Dempsey.

[Jim Dempsey]

Hey, Jason. I am so excited about this episode today.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. And Jim, you've got over 40 years of development experience in your background, and I've got 20. So collectively together, we have over 60 years of development experience working with nonprofits.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

And I think you are qualified to talk about this subject of building strong foundations for a nonprofit, because the nonprofit that you are the chief development officer for has a pretty strong foundation, I would say.

[Jim Dempsey]

Well, God has definitely blessed us over the last 75 years.

[Jason Galasinski]

Just so everyone knows, Jim oversees a $750 million budget, annual budget, not accumulative. Over 40 years. That's a pretty big budget to have to fundraise and develop for. And the organization you work for is 100% grassroots funding. You're not getting government grants or anything like that. So.

[Jim Dempsey]

And a great majority of it is individuals raising their own personal support. So we don't pay a lot of salaries to people from the standpoint that we don't amass a lot of money and pay people, individuals like my wife and I have to raise our own personal support.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. And so Jim knows a thing or two about development, about how to develop your nonprofit and to take it to the next level. So today we really wanted to dive into this subject of kind of short term versus long term. We kind of broke it up into two parts. So, like, part one is going to be about short term versus long term fundraising. And then part two, we're going to talk specifically about how to build a strong foundation for your non profit.

[Jim Dempsey]

This is going to be over two episodes, Jason.

[Jason Galasinski]

No, we're just going to have kind of two sections, part one and part.

[Jim Dempsey]

Two and the same. Great.

[Jason Galasinski]

Right?

[Jim Dempsey]

That's so terrific.

[Jason Galasinski]

Before we get started. If you would do me a favor and hit that subscribe button that is going to ensure that you get future episodes. Because if you're a nonprofit leader and you're running a nonprofit or you're new to this world, you're definitely going to want to get some sound advice. And I'm a little bit biased of our channel, but I think we have some pretty good advice on how to run nonprofits. How to.

[Jim Dempsey]

We are the number one channel for the nonprofit executives.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. So you definitely are going to want to be around for future episodes and you can check out our past episodes as well. Jim, there's really. In the nonprofit world, I find that there's really two different kinds of people. There are people who have short term visions and there's people who have long term visions.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

And as we're kind of thinking through this a little bit, the analogy that kind of came to my mind is like, you're either building a sandcastle or you're building a skyscraper.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

Sandcastle can look nice. It can be pretty. You can get like trenches of water around it. You can put flags on and get it all looking great. But as soon as the wave comes in, you know, the whole thing kind of erodes out and just falls to the ground.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right, right. Crater.

[Jason Galasinski]

A skyscraper is something that you put foundational poles deep down in the ground and you build that thing up and that the winds can come and that thing can sway and.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

You know, it's not going down without like a major, major, major, you know, know, force, you know, to bring it down. But the skyscraper is going to be around a lot longer than the sand castle.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

So when it comes to nonprofits, we really want to build a nonprofit that is going to outlive you.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

And have a strong foundation that will carry forward for generations to come, stand.

[Jim Dempsey]

The test of time, you know.

[Jason Galasinski]

So, like Bill Bright, for example, started CREW, the organization that you work for, in 1951. 1951. And he's. He's already gone to be with the Lord and moved his permanent residency off of this earth.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

And so in.

[Jim Dempsey]

The organization is bigger and better than it ever was.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah.

[Jim Dempsey]

Today.

[Jason Galasinski]

So I'm imagining that he probably couldn't even imagine, you know, maybe he could.

[Jim Dempsey]

Well, I think it was his hope and desire that the organization would be. Would continue. I remember he always said he didn't want to develop a monument to himself, but to continue on for as long as God would have us continue.

[Jason Galasinski]

That was a desire to really keep the focus, you know, like, so Many organizations, they pivot, right? Yeah.

[Jim Dempsey]

There's a term called mission drift where people will move off their mission. You know, you look at Salvation army to a degree, Red Cross, ymca, a number of those organizations that started as our Christian organizations have deviated from their original mission.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. So we want to build a nonprofit that will stand the test of time, that will be that skyscraper and, you know, avoid that mission drift.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

So we're going to be talking about that today. Last week we did an episode about starting a nonprofit. How do you know if you're ready to start a nonprofit?

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

So this actually might be kind of a good continuation from that topic. It's like, well, if you've determined that you're ready to start a nonprofit, then let's talk about the kind of non profit you want to have.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

Do you want to have a non profit where you're constantly reacting to things or do you want to have something that you have a strategic plan, you know where you're going and you're like building towards the future?

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

Right.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah. You've got that, that solid foundation. You've put that pole in the ground and said this thing is not moving.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. Let's talk about the short term mindset versus the long term mindset. Now these are kind of related to the areas of fundraising or getting funds. But the short term fundraising mindset has to do with transactional focus.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah, one area. That's right. One area of short term fundraising mindset is a transactional. I've used so many times that analogy of an atm. An ATM is not important until you need money and then you search all over the universe to find that atm. But once you find it, you get your money done with it and you don't think about it again. That is all about short term, that is fundraising. It's not friend raising and it's definitely not development. It's transactional. You have a transaction and move on from that transaction. And that's one of the biggest mistakes and why it is a short term strategy is that it is just helping to solve your problem right now. All of us have heard the term, you can, you know, give a man a fish and they'll feed for a day. You teach them how to fish and they'll live, they'll eat for a lifetime. The short term transactional is just providing for your needs today and not for the long term.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. Well, and it also, a lot of people that have this mindset of transactional, their, their focus on fundraising is that it's kind of A necessary evil.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right, right.

[Jason Galasinski]

Like, you know, I've got to do it because I got to do it, but I don't really want to do it. And they're kind of like, in a sense like resenting the fact that they have to fundraise. And that's where you get things like, you know, silly posts like, you know, hey, I'm going to save you some time by not doing an event. You know, I don't want to, I don't want to have to guilt you into something. So I'm just going to, you know, expect that you should give, you know, I'll do you a favor by, you know, by not doing an event. You just give me money and I'll save you the time from having to, you know, and that kind of thing, uh, that, that person there is, is focused on transactional. Yeah, right. They're like, I just need money. Yeah. So I'm just gonna, I don't care about you.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

I just, just help me, you know, do my job. And you know, that's, that's one area. Another, another thing that you see a lot is, you know, in grocery stores, you know, where they're like, would you like to top up your amount, you know, add another 50 cents and yeah. You know, and you know, give to the Ronald McDonald Charity Fund or whatever. And it's like, well, I don't know what they do, you know, but I guess it's supposed to help kids or something.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah. So you give a couple coins here or there.

[Jason Galasinski]

Right.

[Jim Dempsey]

Even, frankly, even selling cookies or selling products is very short term in, in that, you know, it's kind of difference between dating and marriage. Jason. Dating is a lot of short term interactions with people. Marriage is a long term relationships with people. So you could do a lot of dating or. But there's a point where if you want to succeed, you're going to have to marry someone and you're going to have to have that long term relationship.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. So you're focused on getting quick results, not sustainable relationships.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

So that's the bottom line. Another thing with short term fundraising mindset is shallow planning. So you're emphasizing short term goals. You don't have a plan for the future?

[Jim Dempsey]

Well, it's little or no planning at all. I can't tell you how many dinners I've gone to over the years where people have said, help us keep the doors open, help us, you know, just survive through the next day. Even help me pay my rent for February. You know, that's all short term methods of raising Money there. You're just thinking in the short term and frankly, nobody wants to give to the short term. They all want to give to something that's solid, that's strong, that's, that's, you know, rock solid in, in the ground.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. Another way to know if you have kind of a short term mindset is if you are emotional and impulsive. So you're making decisions based on urgency of emotions, you're reactive and you're not proactively.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

Engaging with people and having relationships.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah, yeah. You're just, you're, in a way, you're vacillating all over the place. You're all over the board. You know, one day you think you want to expand your pregnancy center. The next day you think you're barely able to keep the doors of your first building open. The next day you want to go medical. The next day you decide you're going to sell your ultrasound. I mean, it's, you're all over the board where long term planning, you're not tossed about around like waves in the ocean. You're not letting those, those waves stand tested.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. Another short term mindset thing is that your focus on quantity, not quality relationships. So it's all about. You refer to it as the myth of the multiples.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

I believe we had a podcast episode called the myth of the multiple. We did at some point in time. And the idea. Well, just tell us.

[Jim Dempsey]

Well, the myth of the multiples essentially says if you give enough, get enough people giving the same amount of money, then you're going to be able to achieve your goal. You know, if we can get 125 people to give $50 a month, all of our problems are solved. Well, we found over the years that just asking people to give the same amount across the board is a recipe for disaster. Some people, $50 a month may be too little for people. Some individuals might be too much for people. And so you've got to take into consideration individual people's position, their situation at the time, not just treat everyone exactly the same.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. Or another possible symptom of whether you have short term fundraising or long term is that you've neglected to bathe things in prayer. Oh, you don't. This isn't. What you're doing doesn't require any faith. This is something that you can just do on your own. It's like a quick fix.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

You know, it's, it's not, it's like, oh, I need a couple thousand dollars. I think I'll just, you know, post something on Facebook or I'll just try to, you know, do something on my own. But it's not, it's not like a faith stretching thing that you're, you're really having to agonize over in prayer.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah. You're trusting your own methods, your own strategies. You want to control things. This is going to be solved. I don't need to pull God into this. I don't want to pull God into this. I got this. All that is a recipe for disaster.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. And then finally, you know, short lived results.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

So short term fundraising mindset gives you short term results.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah, absolutely. And people want to give to something that's long term, that's sustaining over time. It's going to make a difference. It's great. And it's important that I'm going to reach one person today. But if I've got the opportunity to reach hundreds, thousands, even hundreds of thousands of individuals over a year, over a few years, that is going to sustain you.

[Jason Galasinski]

Well, sometimes we have people come to us and they say, I can't believe that you raise over a hundred thousand dollars or more at your perfect vision. Inner events. Like we only raised $10,000 or we only raised $5,000 and we tried to do a gala but it just didn't work. And it's like, well, you probably had short term goals. You probably were not asking the right.

[Jim Dempsey]

Way or didn't have any goals at all in that. Yeah, absolutely. And that's typically what we find is that there's so little clarity. Help me keep my, my school open. Help me keep my pregnancy center open this month, Help us pay the rent for April or May. That's, you know, all that is is a recipe for disaster.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. Well, that's a good picture. For short term. Let's talk about what it would look like to have a long term fundraising approach.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

So we've got six things here. Number one, we want to have a relational focus.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah. It's all about a long term perspective on things. I would rather actually people focus in on going deep relationally with someone before they even start talking about money. I understand there are outliers. There's exceptions where you worked for six months to get an appointment with Mr. CEO or Mrs. Megabox and you have to make an ask to those people. But you'll find that you have greater success when you build a relationship. When you listen, you care about the person, you find out what their interests are. You find out where their interests and your mission intersect and that you care about them. You're Going to get a lot more money in the long term by doing that and caring about them.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. Number two, purposeful planning.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

So what we mean by this is that you want to emphasize a vision with your plan.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

You want to have at least a three to five year vision that you can present to people.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah, yeah. It's planning with a purpose. It really is that you are looking to the future, but not just looking ahead. You're looking ahead with some purposeful position that you want to eventually get to the point where we want this to exist. We interviewed John Cooper, who was the executive director of Niagara Gospel Mission in an earlier broadcast this year. And John said that he wants to see the long term focus where these individuals are not only led to Christ, but also that they're sent out as missionaries into the world. And that to me is a vision with purpose.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. Logical and strategic.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

So making decisions based on logical and reality, not just a whimsical like this. Sounds good.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

So it has to make sense.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

Just like if you were to start a business, you have to have a product that solves a problem that people would want to buy. You can't just say, well, I want to create a business and you have this idea for a product, but you have no customer in your mind of who's gonna buy that product. Or you have a service that you want to provide, but you're the only person that you think might be helpful wanna use that service. So you have to have a strategic, logical plan in place.

[Jim Dempsey]

Well, I've seen too many ministries where the leader essentially pulls the number out of the air. Jason, I would love for you to give our organization a million dollars and they'll even present that. That, boy, I wish I had a million dollars. What I could do with that. Well, if they flip the script on you and say, well, before I give you a million, I need a plan for that. Well, just give me the million and then I'll show you how we use it. It doesn't work that way. People want to give after they've seen a plan. They don't give you the money and then expect you to show them the plan afterwards. It doesn't work that way, but too often ministries are that way. So they'll pluck a number out of the air. And your partners are not dumb. These individuals who give significant gifts, they've achieved great success because they've planned, they have strategies. And when you don't present that to them and you show them that you don't have a plan that You've just pulled a number out of the air they're not going to give to you.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. No, that's great. Number five, faith and prayer. So you got to rely on the Lord.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

You got to keep everything bathed in prayer. Yeah. So important that you are feeling called to this organization that you are serving. Right. If you don't feel called by the Lord, then, you know, what is your motivation? Why are you doing this? You know, and so people with a long term fundraising mindset, you know, long term development mindset, they are, they feel called to this purpose, you know, this is why they are on the earth. This is the, what they want to do, you know, like if you were retired and you had all the money in the bank in the world, you would be doing this, you know, because that's what God put you on the earth to do.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

And so it's so important that you feel called and that you are bathing everything in prayer. And we really want to be partnering with the Lord in our organization.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah. I can tell you this without a doubt. My wife and I would not be in ministry or not survived 41 years of ministry without being called and trusting in God for that. The scripture verse, it says, faithful is he who calls you and he will bring it to pass. We, that has been our rock, that's been our foundation. God called us. He will bring it to pass. When times have gotten hard, when they've gotten rocky, when finances have gotten difficult, I always lean into the fact that God's going to provide. I spent many a September and October concerned about what year end was going to be like because things got a little lean at that time of the year. And by the end of the year, God had provided. And I, at one point, I finally just had to say, it doesn't help to be concerned and to, you know, just be hesitant through the year. Is God going to provide? You know, I mean, if, if he hasn't, if he's provided the first 40 years, what's leading me to believe he's not going to provide for the next 40 years? But it's so important that you're assured of your calling. Because if you aren't assured of the calling, you can't be assured that he's going to provide.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah, well, the last thing is building a sustainable impact or a lasting impact. Right. So we always say that one of the ways that you can know if you have a good vision is how much you're focused on the impact it's going to make on people's lives.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

So if. If you're just focused on I need money because I need to build this and I need to do that, I need to get this building, that building. It's like, well, why are you wanting to get all these things or. Or do all these things? You know, if. If it's not to make an impact in people's lives and to make a change in this world for the better, then the ministry or the nonprofit is probably not going to last very long.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

Because people see through that. People give to people justified by the cause.

[Jim Dempsey]

That's right.

[Jason Galasinski]

With the focus on, you know, impacting people.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right, right, exactly. Well, one of the reasons we have kids, Jason, is to leave a lasting legacy. You know, you've got 10 kids, I've got two. Our goal is to, you know, train them up to be able to live a better life, to have a stronger walk with the Lord, to do better financially to than we did. And it's the same thing with our ministries. We want to have a ministry that leaves a lasting legacy. And I want to give to ministries that have a lasting legacy. When I look at Cruz rich, History of 75 Years of Ministry, that says to me, this is an organization that stood the test of time and I'm willing, I want to give to those organizations versus a fly by night organization that just started. And I don't even know if they're going to be an existing existence a year from now. So that legacy, leaving a legacy, a heritage, a rich heritage, is important to our partners.

[Jason Galasinski]

Right.

[Jim Dempsey]

Well, Jason, let's move on to the second part, which essentially is those strategies to build a successful foundation.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah.

[Jim Dempsey]

The first one is to start with the end in mind. And it is so important that we do look to the future. You know, we talked about the fact that planning is important to that. Seeing a vision is important that people give to that vision. And that always starts with the end in mind. You want to look down the road. The beauty of what of God's plan, the beauty of scripture, the Old Testament into the New Testament, is that we can see God's plan all the way through. When you're living it, you don't necessarily see that plan, but God sees out into the future. You know, there was a analogy was used over time, is that there's a difference between a dot and a line is that the dot is what's happening in the moment. The line goes on forever. And that's what God sees. We see the immediate. God sees the eternal impact on that. And we want our partners to be able to See the eternal impact that your organization is having.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. Second thing we want to do is create a strategic development plan.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

So what does that mean?

[Jim Dempsey]

Well, it's so important, Jason. Not only do you need a plan for your organization, how you intend to do ministry, you also want to have a plan for development. If we say that development is all about relationships, how do we move someone who we just met to the point where we have a long, deep, rich relationship with that person? And it takes time. When I first got married, I looked at people who were married 30, 40, 50 years and I thought, wow, could I ever get to that point? Well, here we are, my wife and I are getting ready to celebrate our 42nd anniversary. And 50 is not that far away from us. And I think, wow, that it was amazing. And just the, the joy, the ups, the downs of living life together with someone was just rich. I wouldn't trade it for a million dollars. And we've got to be looking at that with our partners. And there's steps along the way. A long term relationship doesn't happen. You've got to go through what we refer to as a development model. You've got to take people along a continuum and along a journey from barely knowing you to giving their first gift to their second gift, to multiple gifts. So a monthly commitment to mid level, to major, mega and ultra gifts. Those things are so important. And to get those people to include you in their will, to start to give you their assets, to sell their business and give you a portion of those proceeds, all those kinds of things take a lot of time and it takes a plan to get there. It's. It doesn't just happen.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. That you have, it doesn't just work by itself. You've got to have intentionality. You've got to have, you got to know exactly how to do that. And that's one of the things that we do in our Winner Circle program. We have a special three year coaching program that we don't talk about a.

[Jim Dempsey]

Lot on this podcast, but it's by invitation only.

[Jason Galasinski]

It's by invitation only. It's only for our perfect vision inner graduates.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yes.

[Jason Galasinski]

And so you've got to have gone through the perfect vision in a program.

[Jim Dempsey]

And had a good measure of success.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. And you've got to have a minimum of 100,000 raised. And we actually have an award that we give out to people who graduate to the program. Raise the 100,000 and then if you succeeded from that, then you qualify for the winner's circle.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

And the winner's Circle is a three year program where we walk you through exactly what you just said.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah. How to create a plan, how to develop it, and, and all the key projects, programs, strategies involved in that model.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. So it's a great program and it's, it's wonderful to see all our students accelerating in that and they're all doing excellent.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yes.

[Jason Galasinski]

I'm just thinking of one guy in our program, his name is Brian, who started an online Bible college many, many, many years ago. But he took our perfect vision in our mentorship program two years ago, raised his hundred thousand dollars, joined the winner's circle, and now he's just accelerating, did his second dinner and raised over $200,000. And he's just launching off like a rocket. And so that's really our goal for the Winter Circle members, is to give you that strong foundation, you know, so that we're teaching you not just the concepts, but we're actually telling you what to do every month. Right. You know, if we were running your organization, this is what we would be doing every month. And so people are just really doing well in that program.

[Jim Dempsey]

But the third area, Jason, I mean you can do all those things, but if it isn't bathed in prayer, if God isn't in it, and trust me, I've done enough dinners over the years that I can just walk in, I can tell God isn't in it. And it's amazing when I can, it's. That event is electric when God is in there, when God makes himself known. And it's so important that God is in that because I've done some dinners where I've done everything right by man's standards, by my standards, but it doesn't get the amount of money I had hoped it would get. And I've had times when it seemed that everything went wrong but God was in it and it succeeded. And so it's just so important that you bathe that in prayer because I can tell you when you start doing things right and, and you get Satan's attention. I had a, a World War II ace pilot say, you know that you're getting over the target when the amount of anti aircraft guns are sighted up on you. It's so important that way. So when you start doing things right, Satan's going to attack you. And oftentimes I'll say, well, it's actually kind of good that you're seeing all these things happen wrong because Satan doesn't want you to have this event. But it's so important that God is in it.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah, well, one of my life verses that I keep going back to over and over and over is Matthew 6:33, which is, Seek first the kingdom and his righteousness and everything else will be added unto you. And it's just that idea. If we put God first in everything, not just on Sunday mornings, you know.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

From 9:00am to 11:00am or whatever, but we're putting him first in our finances, we're putting him first in our family, we're putting him first in our free time. We're putting him first, you know, with what we watch, with what you do, you know, with what we say in our mind.

[Jim Dempsey]

Try and do that with our podcast. We try and do that.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah.

[Jim Dempsey]

With perfect vision dinner strategy, all those things.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Jim Dempsey]

Well, I love Proverbs 3, 5 and 6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your understanding and all your ways. Acknowledge him. I just, you know, it's so important that we put God first.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. Well, good. The next thing we wanted to focus on friend raising over fundraising. Now this is a big one. We have a whole podcast episode dedicated to this subject called Fundraising versus Fundraising.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah, it's one of our most popular podcasts. Podcast. And it once again, it's all about the relationship. You know, it's not about short term. Short term is fundraising. It's selling cookies, it's having car washes. And I don't knock those things for raising money. But I've found that if I want that firm foundation, I've got to do the things that are going to keep a person for a lifetime. You know, if someone gave me a choice, when would you, would you rather have $1,000 now or $10 a month for a lifetime? I'll take the $10 a month for a lifetime. Every time I look back at those individuals, I have people that made commitments to my wife And I in 1984. $50 a month, $100 a month. Those people have continued on over 40 years, Jason. I mean, $100 a month times 40 years, you know, that is. We're talking of 400 and 80 months that people gave you. Do the math. $100 a month. And that's one couple. So I'll take those over time.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. Well, good. The final thing in how to build a strong foundation for your non profit is to. Can you guess?

[Jim Dempsey]

Is host a perfect vision dinner strategy.

[Jason Galasinski]

Why is it that we always talk about perfect?

[Jim Dempsey]

It always comes down to that, doesn't it, Jason? But it is just so fundamental and, and frankly it's, it is a Pillar. It is a cornerstone of the, of our foundation.

[Jason Galasinski]

The Perfect Vision Dinner mentorship program is the, the bedrock of everything we do. And that's why we always say, you know, you might have been hearing about the Winner Circle, and you're like, I want to join that. You know, it's like, we don't let you join it until you do the Perfect Vision Dinner.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

You know why? Because the Perfect Vision Dinner is how you win new partners to your cause.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

And if you don't know how to do that.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

You will not know how to do the Winner's Circle.

[Jim Dempsey]

You know, it's like a fast forwarding a dating relationship. It's like asking my wife to marry me on the first date. She would have said no, there's no way I'd be married today if I did that. It, it takes time.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. So the Perfect Vision Dinner mentorship program is really the best place to start.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

You know, to build a strong foundation. In fact, we've helped many organizations that have been running for 25, 30 years, and they're doing their 30th vision dinner. They're doing their 40th vision dinner. You know, we've got, and you know, they've built this thing in.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

That's what the foundation is. Right. Is every year we do an annual Vision Dinner where we're always building and casting vision for the next couple years.

[Jim Dempsey]

And they're constantly finding those major donors, giving them off the top and going deep with those people.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yep. So we have a whole development system. You know, you might have been listening to this and saying, well, I would love to have a development plan, but I really don't know where to start. I don't know what to do. You know, I don't know who to go to. You know, if I search for it on Google, I just get a million different ideas and suggestions. And I know that that can be frustrating. So we tried at fundraising masterminds to give you the practical steps of what to take. It starts with the Perfect Vision Dinner. But once the Vision Dinner is over, you've raised that hundred thousand and you've got that base of people, then it moves to the Winner's Circle. Winner's Circle is a three year program where we focus on teaching you how to keep those people, how to cultivate them, and then we teach you about major donors, we teach you about peer to peer fundraising, we teach you about foundations and plan giving and asset giving and estate planning, wills, all that stuff. So it's something that you can't implement. All these things at once. So the way that we kind of approach the whole thing is let's just start somewhere and then we're going to walk you through the process of getting you to the point where you are sustainable and you're building a skyscraper. But we can't. If we just tell you everything all at once.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

In fact, the first time we started the Winner's Circle program, like the winner's circle 1.0, we tried to teach everything too quickly.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

And what happened was it just like overwhelmed everyone and nothing happened. So we decided we needed to spread this out over a longer period of time, focus on, you know, actually guiding people through the process. And it seems like that really is working well.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah. Skyscraper doesn't start with the 434th floor. It's starts with that, that foundation of things. And we start at the beginning, Jason. And beginning is that perfect vision dinner.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yep. So if that's something that you're interested in, we've got a QR code on the screen. You can check that out. It is by invitation only, so you do have to apply. We do one in the fall to prepare people for the spring, and we do another class in the spring preparing for the fall. The goal of the program isn't just to learn about it, but to actually do it. And so we want to make sure that you're all in when you join this. Believe it or not, there's a lot of people who just want to take the quick road. They just want to get the hundred thousand. It's like, well, just tell me how to do the a hundred thousand so I can move on. And it's like, no, no, no, we, we're, we're not.

[Jim Dempsey]

It doesn't just happen.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah, well, it doesn't just happen, but we're also just, we're not interested in just raising. Right. A quick.

[Jim Dempsey]

That's fundraising.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah, we're. We're interested in getting you long term partners and to give you a long term sustainable plan that's going to help you build that skyscraper so that you are, are fully equipped to run this organization fully funded for decades. So, Jim, you work for one of the world's largest organizations. $750 million budget.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

And that is a skyscraper.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

You know, it has a, it has a presence in every state in the.

[Jim Dempsey]

United States, every major country in the.

[Jason Galasinski]

World, and every major country in the world. So I would say that that qualifies as a skyscraper. It's not going down anytime soon.

[Jim Dempsey]

Deep and deep foundation.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. Very, very strong, deep rooted Foundation. And that was not something that you just flipped on a dime.

[Jim Dempsey]

Didn't just happen.

[Jason Galasinski]

It took a lot of hard work. It took a lot of strategy. It took a lot of people on their knees praying and begging God for this, but it also took a lot of strategic planning.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

You know, there was a lot of programs and initiatives that were started, and it. There was a lot of people who just kind of said, okay, we're gonna run with this. We're gonna work it. You know, we've got a system. We're gonna work this. And then there's, you know, when that something happens, you know, you pivot, you try to create more things. And so. But the. The point is, is that you're building.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah.

[Jason Galasinski]

Something. Yeah. You're actively working on it. It doesn't just happen.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

You know, because someone decided, I'm going to build a skyscraper.

[Jim Dempsey]

Yeah. Right. Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

So, yeah. Anyways, check out the Perfect Vision Inner mentorship program and fill out the application. If you're interested, we will definitely get in touch with you and see if the program is right for you. Let's talk. You know, we're available to have an introduction call and to talk through all these things with you, but we'd love to help get the ball rolling. Yeah. So anyways, that's it for this episode of the Fundraising Masterminds Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please let us know in the comments. Let us know by telling us what you liked, what you didn't like. Where are you at in the spectrum of things? Are you in the short term mindset? Are you in the long term mindset? You know, share this with your friends. If you know someone who is trapped in the short term mindset and you think this might benefit with them, just hit that share button and text them the link. It's so easy to share content these days, and as always, we'd love it if you would subscribe to this podcast because we don't want you to miss any future ones.

[Jim Dempsey]

Right.

[Jason Galasinski]

Well, Jim, any final words that you want to mention about this?

[Jim Dempsey]

No. Once again, just reinforcing the fact that if you want your organization to succeed, if you want to still be in existence 75 years from now, you've got to build that deep foundation. And that's what. That's what we're talking about today.

[Jason Galasinski]

Yeah. Well, that's it for this episode of the Fundraising Masterminds. We will see you next time.

[Jim Dempsey]

Take care.