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We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits
665. Working Session: Activate Your Board + Grow Your Pipeline with Rhea Wong
00:20:21
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- [00:00]
A
Year end is the biggest fundraising window of the year, and year board is one of the most powerful tools you have to close strong. Today, fundraising expert Rhea Wong joins us for a rapid fire working session on two things. One, how to activate your board before December 31, and two, how to turn end of year gifts, signals and conversations into a predictable, profitable 2026 pipeline in less than 30 minutes.
- [00:29]
B
Welcome to working sessions on the We Are for Good podc. In every session, we're tackling one essential topic and give you practical steps to take meaningful action within your mission. Today, we're bringing you the experts and playbooks to help you move forward with clarity and confidence. Let's get to work.
- [00:46]
A
Rhea, it's so good to have you back on the podcast. Thank you for being here. We tapped you because you are one of the powerhouses of this work, of this sector. And with just a couple weeks left in the year, I just want to start out knowing, like, what's kind of one thing that fundraisers should be asking their board members to do right now. And feel free to add in some courage nuggets in there about asking your board to do something at year end. Because we gotta.
- [01:16]
C
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I want people to think of their board members as their force multipliers, right? Because we're out here, we have the strategy, we have our staff members, but they're just like the wind in your sails. Think of them as like your number one salesforce. So I have three quick things that I think that you can do, which, you know, it's pretty easy. Lift, right? Because look, end of the year we're all busy, et cetera, et cetera. Thing one, make your own gift first. So if those board members are out here and they haven't written that check that they've pledged, like you need them to write that check because it is impossible to ask someone to support something that you yourself have not given to you. So that's thing one, thing two, easy nudges. So I know that there are board members who have a list of people who are like, maybe they contributed, maybe their colleagues, whatever, whatever. Now is the time to activate. So December is not the time to introduce new people, right? That is past. It's gone. Donor acquisition time is over. December is decision time. December is let's close those gifts. So ask them to send three to five warm nudges. Whether that's email, whether that's text, whether that's voicemail, but like, commit to 3 to 5 and be specific about that number of. Like, here are the List of people I need you to reach out to, draft the email for them or the text or whatever. The more you can lower the friction, the more likely it is that they're going to do it. And then the third thing is super simple. Have them post on social media about your organization, just like, hey, I'm involved with this. Here's what we're doing. This is really important to me. Like, hit me up if you want to learn more. Super simple. Oh, and then the fourth thing, super easy to do. Make sure that your board members on their LinkedIn profiles list themselves as board members. It's like such an obvious thing, but you'd be surprised at how many people don't do it. So, like, those are four easy things that you can do as a board member to help out right now. Now, if you want to get crazy, if you're like, I'm here for it, I can do all the things. Bring your board members in. If you have your end of your board meeting or whatever, or maybe there's like a little holiday party, fantastic. Before you let them have the booze, do a little phone a thon. Do a little phone a thon. Right? For people who have given last year but have not yet given, have them pick up the phone and likely leave a voicemail because no one picks up their phone anymore. Or send a audio message or send a text. Right? You're trying to cover as much surface area as you possibly can. Side note, also, you can have board members do thank you calls. So if you had a bunch of gifts come in from giving Tuesday, what a prime opportunity to be like, hey, you know what? I'm going to need two board members to make thank you calls. Here's the script. Get on it. So those are some of the easy ways that I think board members can be engaged in end of year fundraising.
- [03:57]
A
Okay? We've established the board members are the wind beneath your wings, and they are also ready and prime to be unlocked to help be those ambassadors for your mission. Those are such good tips. And I would also say that if you do not have your. Your nonprofit on LinkedIn, then there is nothing for your board to link to. So also start there, too. Excellent, excellent, excellent.
- [04:20]
C
Yeah. LinkedIn. I mean, you know, Beck, LinkedIn is like a gold mine. Everyone should be on LinkedIn.
- [04:24]
A
Totally.
- [04:25]
C
The thing is, like, gold mine. Make it. Make it parasocial, right? So, like, no one likes to feel like they're doing this in a vacuum. So, like, literally, if you have something coming up and you just need to get them in the same spot to be like, look, we're going to all, like the next 30 minutes, we're all going to do a thing and we're going to do it together. And then once it's done, that's all I'm going to ask of you for this month. Just wait till next month, but for this month, that this is what it is and it, and you can, like, make it a party. Like, remember when we were doing presidential elections and we were like, phone banking? Make it fun. Right, because they're also volunteers and they also have jobs and families and things going on. So, like, don't make it a drag, but use them to increase the surface area of the reach.
- [05:10]
A
Yeah, I think that's so brilliant. And to, to help your amplification go faster and to increase that urgency. I thought those were such good tips about have that script read, have that email ready, have everything ready. So it's very, very turnkey for someone. And the friction is very, very low.
- [05:27]
C
So it's like cut and paste. If I can, like, help you cut and paste.
- [05:29]
A
Oh, my gosh. And I feel like volunteers drastically appreciate that it makes them want to come back. And so I want to, like, put myself. You and I have both done major gifts. If someone is feeling discouraged because their board is not engaging, what's a small move they can make this week that is going to move that board member off of their heels? Come on, we got to get a.
- [05:53]
C
Board member or, or a donor board.
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A
Member, but also do both if you have one for each. Let's hear it.
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C
Oh, I, I have, I, I, I'm so glad you asked this question because I literally did a whole training about this. But a board member this week? Look, bottom line, you're not going to get anyone to do what they're unwilling to do. But I want to give you a couple of tips here. So one, instead of helping, replace every time you say help with take responsibility for, because then it reminds them of the commitment they made. Also, don't expect that by sending out a blanket email that you're going to get a response. Right. It's like the tragedy of the commons where you're like, we should all clean this yard. You're like, who's we? Like, what? As opposed to like, becky, can you pick up this piece of trash right there? You're like, okay, so this is where, and I know a lot of us default to email, but, like, pick up the phone, call the people, be like, hey, Becky, here's what I need from you this week. Blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Can you take responsibility for that? It is now on me to be like, okay, yes, I can or no, I can't. But it's not this general ask, because if it's to everyone, it's to no one. So I, I need you to, like, be specific about the thing that you're asking me to do. And it has to be clear that you're actually asking me, Rhea, to do it versus, like, oh, board members, can you do that? And, like, this is the mistake I see universally is that EDS send out blanket emails to their board asking for something, and it wasn't directed at anyone. It reminds me of. Did you ever take CPR class, Becky?
- [07:29]
A
Oh, yeah, absolutely. I was a lifeguard back when I.
- [07:31]
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Was 17, you know. Right. The number one thing they tell you to do is if, like, when you're giving compressions, you're like, you, Becky, stand by the door. Wait for the emt. You.
- [07:41]
A
Everybody has a role.
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Everyone has a role. But you, like, call people out. You're like, you, green shirt, stand by the front door. You, blue shirt, like, stand right. And you're like, okay, like, I have a role. Right. As opposed to, like, I just need help. Like, what does that mean? So you got to call out, you, green shirt, by the door. You have to be the general to this little army.
- [08:01]
A
And again, I think to be clear is to be kind.
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Yes.
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And someone is looking for how to tick off. I mean, this is the season of list. We are all ticking off our list. Not just the shopping list, but, like, what do I have to do to get out of the office? What do I have to do to fulfill all my commitments? What do I have to do to take responsibility for what I've committed to? So I really, really love that you said you may have something for donors. What's bubbling up for you on that?
- [08:27]
C
Buckle up, Becky. I got this. Okay, so like I said, December is not the time for new. Right. All of the work that you did the previous 11 months is all going to show up now in December. December. I said this on my call earlier today. December is the time for decision D is for decisions. And so what I want you to do, everyone listening to this, you need to triage your list. Okay? So look at the list of prospects that you have. You want to do reach outs. You want to do a two call close. Now, here's the thing. You're not trying to reach out to people who don't want to talk to you. You're not trying to reach out to people you have no relationship with. You're not trying to reach out to like hold people. This is your warm list. Call it down to like 10 people. 10. Today these 10 people, you're going to do two things. The first thing is you're going to reach out. Now the reason why most reach outs fail is that they lack relevance. There are check in calls. I'm like, what the hell is that? I don't have time for that. So what you need to do before you reach out is you have to create what I call an R4RO reason for reaching out. What's your reason for reaching out? Is it something that's happening in the news? Is it a milestone? Is it a match opportunity? Is it a new program? Are you trying to tell me what you do with my money? Like give me a reason for reaching out. Using this reason for reaching out, you reach out. You either reach out via phone in order to set up a call, you reach out via an email or with the R4RO asking for a 15 minute conversation. You can even do it via text, right? The initial reach out is just to set up a conversation. Now conversation one, you're not asking for anything. You're not trying to land a gift. Your only goal in conversation one is to get to conversation two. Now conversation one is an alignment call. First of all, you talk about the reason that you're reaching out. But then you use it as an opportunity to learn more. What's top of mind for you? What are you thinking about? What kind of issues are keeping you up at night? Right? Like you really need to listen. Then the bridge. Based on what I'm hearing, I would love to set up another call to present an opportunity that's aligned with all of the things that you told me matter to you. Would that work for you in call one? You then set up call two. Like, yeah, okay, that's great, great. How's Friday at 3:00pm? I'll give you a call. 20 minutes. Fantastic. Right, then call number two. You started off with based on what I heard you say, right? That demonstrates you heard me. You've created something for me based on this. You use their own words. Then you present the opportunity. There's a four part. You present the frame, you present the, the sense of urgency. Like why now? Why does this matter? You present what is this going to do? And then you make the solicitation with a specific number. Everyone wants to check it out. You got to put a real number and you have to put the date. And then you stop talking. Now before you do all this, you also come up with a list of 15 objections of what they might say. Everything from like, well, send me something in the mail or I have to think about it, or, you know, let's revisit this in January or whatever it is. You have to brainstorm ahead of time the 15 objections so that when and if you get an objection on the call, you're prepared and you're always trying to move the conversation forward. Now I will say this, this is a strategy that you can only use in December because of the urgency created by year end. So typically with major gift donors, there's a longer lead time in a more involved process. But there are some people who are looking to give by the end of the year, and you really want to shake the tree to find those people. So that is my advice for closing gifts in December.
- [12:24]
A
Did I ever tell you you're my hero? Did I? I'm gonna quote lyrics from Wind Beneath My Wings because that was such a genius strategy.
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C
So easy.
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It's so human. And for me, I love the active listening part because you're, you're truly hearing exactly what their dreams are and how they want to align them to their giving goals. And you're literally gonna be the one happen. You're listening, you are returning, and you're being bold. And the best part of what you said is to shut up as soon as you ask for that number. And believe me, your heart will be pumping. We've all been there because it's hard to ask for money over the phone at times, but I think that was such a genius level activation to do some really quick outreach at year end. And 10, we all have time to do 10 phone calls like that with 10 follow ups. You still have over two weeks left. So.
- [13:19]
C
Well, I will say I know people are already hearing like, oh, I'll probably get voicemail, that's fine. Like, that's because I think the mistake we all make is being passive. Like, well, they'll reach out to me if they're ready. I'm like, no, they won't. No they won't. Like, you need to reach out to them. And so if you get a voicemail, you use the greeting like, who you are, where you're calling from, what's the reason for calling? And then you say, I'm following up via email. So this is the pro ninja move. You're not expecting people to call you back based on the voicemail. You're using the voicemail as a prompt to get them to pay attention. And then you hit them with an email to follow up, offering two separate times and a scheduling link so that then you're decreasing the friction. So, like, it's psychologically about like these micro steps that you take. And at every gate that they say yes, you take it to the next level. And the mistake I think people make is that they think that one micro yes means like, oh, and yes, they want to donate. I'm like, no, no, no. Like, we gotta, like go on coffee dates. And you're like tiptoeing in. In a way that feels consent based. Right. Cause you're always asking for consent. Like, can, can we do this next step? Can we set up the next call? And if they're saying yes, yes, yes, that's giving the green light. So. But you have to ask the question. And I think too often we just try to go from 0 to 60 without asking permission of like, is this the right next step for you?
- [14:44]
A
Right, right. And we don't want to take our donors, like through warp speed to get to the very end. So I love those tips. I'll throw in one more pro tip. If you want to check out slybroadcast.com you can literally send somebody a free audio message that goes straight to their phone. It will not call them, but it's just logged in as a voicemail. It's really fantastic. So if you're not able to actually get the call in, like, get the message in there. Okay, so we want. We feel like we've gotten the board activated. Year end is humming. Year end generates so much activity. We've got all the gifts and the signal conversations moving. If a fundraiser sat down for like 30 minutes in early January, what would you tell them Rhea to do to set up their pipeline for success for the year?
- [15:34]
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30 minutes.
- [15:36]
A
30 minutes.
- [15:37]
C
All right. One thing that is just such an easy thing that I think we miss all of the time is retention. So I want you to look at all the people who gave not just in December, but throughout the year and really think, what can I do to make them feel special? Because donor retention, as you know, is the number one bugaboo. I mean, people are retaining it less than 40%. If they just held onto their donors, they would be way ahead of the game. Right. So I want you all to sit down and think about a stewardship workflow for the rest of the year to make these people feel special. If you have additional time, what I would do, and this is the strategy I teach, is create a short survey in order to start conversations to essentially shake the tree to See who is interested in a conversation, who's interested in learning more, who's interested in coming on a site visit. So I think we just don't create enough opportunities for people to raise their hand to say, yeah, I'm ready to take the next step forward. We, like, send newsletters, but we never ask questions. It's like, you know, playing tennis with a vacuum cleaner. We just, like, get sucked into the void. And you're like, I don't know what happened to that. I don't know who is return, like, who's reading it, whatever. And then I guess the third thing is I would look at my, my list, right? I would look at the prospect list, the major gift list, the mid tier, and the annual and overlay that with engagement information. So who's actually opening your emails, who is clicking your emails, who's showing up to things, who's volunteering, who's sharing your stuff on social, who's commenting? And really take those lists of people and put them into like, the hot list of, like, these are your hottest prospects because they're showing engagement. And like, one quick, quick thing, literally, I've been telling everyone this. In your signature on all the emails that you're sending out, just put a little link like, hey, interested in learning more about us? Click here to schedule a time. Because you're sending a million emails out every single day. You don't know who's out there saying it. And I think the fear that a lot of people have is like, oh, then like, random people will book time on my calendar. I'm like, I don't think that's. That's the problem that you need to worry about. Like, you are literally not getting enough donor conversations. So I would rather that you, that you have these big opportunities for people to get on your calendar because right now no one's on your calendar.
- [18:02]
A
Exactly, exactly. And I think you are just so wickedly smart at seeing the macro strategy and aligning it with these marketing variables that cut through. Because every single action someone takes on your behalf is a little beacon of engagement signal. You talked about it. Opening your email, like clicking on links through the email. Are they following you, Liking all your social posts? There's your rabbit fans right there. And they are waiting to be called in.
- [18:33]
C
Yeah. If you. Again, this will take a little bit longer than 30 minutes. But this is a homework assignment for everyone. In January, I want you to pick your top three best donors. Right? Not those don't necessarily mean the people giving the most. These are the people who like you would clone them if you could. And we all have those donors. I want you to invite them to an interview and just say, like, hey, this, this lady gave me homework. And I'm just like wanting to chat with you to understand more about your giving priorities. You use that conversation as a way to create an avatar to get into their heads. But the other thing is, I have a lot of students I work with who just use that as an excuse to get conversations going with people. Because the thing is, like, people love to talk, especially if there's no ask involved, right? They'll tell you literally anything you want to know about them. Use that as a door opener. Like, I was given this homework assignment. Everyone wants to be helpful, right? Would you mind if we had a 20 minute chat? This is not a solicitation, but I'm just really trying to understand the mindset of our donors that we can do a better job of giving you the information that you care about. Like, sure, great, I'll do that. And then just keep doing it over and over again. Get conversations on the books. That's it.
- [19:45]
A
Get conversations on the books. Ask them their story. Share yours. I just think this is where humanity comes together, where we already have shared alignment on our values, because they're probably giving to your organization. Go deeper. That's what I think 2026 is going to be about. So I knew you were going to come in here and bring down the house, and you did. Once again, my friend, if you want to follow up with Ria and connect with her, you can find her@riawong.com or you check out the nonprofit lowdown or you can find her on LinkedIn. Thanks for being here, everybody.