← What the Fundraising
What the Fundraising
310: Fear, Mindset, and Money: How Fundraisers Build Courage for Major Donor Asks
00:37:31
Loading summary
Transcript32 lines
- [00:00]
A
All of the tactics and the strategies in the world are fairly useless to your point. If, if you don't have the right mindset about it, if you don't believe that I should be sitting across the room with this person, you're like, I don't have the right to be in the room with this donor. Or you've got these unresolved beliefs about money that probably came from childhood and that's baggage we carry into the room. And so much of I think coaching and training is about helping people see those things and reflect. Like, hey, I hear you saying this.
- [00:38]
B
Hey, my name is Mallory and I'm obsessed with helping leaders in the nonprofit space raise money and run their organizations differently. What the fundraising is a space for real and raw conversations to both challenge and inspire you. Not too long ago, I was in your shoes, uncomfortable with fundraising and unsure of my place in this sector. It wasn't until I started to listen to other experts outside of the fundraising space that I was able to shift my mindset and ultimately shift the way I show up as a leader. This podcast is my way of blending professional and personal development so we, as a collective inside the nonprofit sector, can feel good about the work we are doing. Join me every week as I interview some of the brightest minds in the personal and professional development space to help you fundamentally change the way you lead and fundraise. I hope you enjoy this episode, so let's dive in. Welcome everyone. I am so excited to be here today with Michael Mitchell. Michael, welcome to what? The fundraising.
- [01:40]
A
Ah, thank you so much. I'm so delighted to be here.
- [01:42]
B
I'm so excited for this conversation. Why don't you tell everybody just a little bit about you and your background, your work today and what brings you to our conversation?
- [01:51]
A
Oh, sure. Yeah. So I'm a nonprofit guy. I've been in this space my entire career and like a lot of us, I didn't. Nobody, nobody grows up thinking, I want to be a fundraiser when I grow up. Unless you're one of those weird people whose parent is and then maybe you do. So I've been a fundraiser for 20 plus years in higher education and then international relief and development. Children, foster care, adoption, food, all sort of covered the gamut of all kinds of different nonprofit things. Today I lead an organization called the Fundraising Academy, and we help fundraisers who are stuck or who really are doing some things really, really well, but are trying to figure out how to create a repeatable system for fundraising. We help them figure that out. We help them break through so they can raise more money for their missions. And so that's been around since 2023 and it has been a full time standalone company for the last seven months. So that's boring background stuff, but we serve close to 50 nonprofits all over the US and Canada and just helping them grow their fundraising.
- [02:59]
B
Amazing. And I think, you know, you and I have always sort of felt aligned, I think, in how we think about nonprofits and their experience. And something I really appreciate about you is I think the way that you validate a lot of other people's experiences and so that they feel like they can get support from you. Like, one of the things I've really realized over the years is that there's sort of. Not to over categorize, but there's different types of sort of consultants and support. Right. And there's some versions that are about. I don't know if I want to. This is the right word to use, but are sort of about superiority. Right. That like, what they're sort of about is like, I am the expert. You do not know anything. And my job is to layer my expertise on top of you. And then there are other types of coaches and consultants and who are like, I have been in the muck you are in. I have felt the way that you feel, and there is a way out of it. And let's just go step by step towards that, which I've done and also helped other people do. And you're obviously the latter. And I so appreciate that because I always think about my. I remember early in my coaching career talking to people about fundraiser overwhelm and fundraiser fear and having a lot of consultants say to me, mallory, that's not what they need. Like, they're not overwhelmed. They don't really feel that way. Like, they just need another template. They just need another strategy. And I was told that can you talk about the mindset stuff less? And I was like, no. And also, no wonder no fundraiser is telling you about their fear. No wonder no fundraiser is telling you about their overwhelm, because you are dismissive of their experience. And so tell me a little bit about, like the empathy, why you feel like it's so important to bring that sort of like empathy and experience and connection into this work.
- [05:04]
A
Yeah. So without us comparing notes ahead of time, I love that you brought up the that kind of consultant. And I hope I never come across that way with anyone, but I have these vivid memories of sitting in a conference room with a consultant just rattling off all the things that we needed to do. And in this situation, it actually wasn't anything that we didn't know. It's like we didn't have capacity to do it. We didn't know what we could stop doing. And so, yes, I've, and for most of my career, I've been, even when I was starting to coach and consult, I was still a full time practitioner. So that was easy because I was in it too. It has been a journey as I've left that world. It's to try to make sure I hold onto it that most fundraisers today doesn't matter if you're in a big organization, a tiny organization, or somewhere in between. We all sort of just live on the verge of fight or flight. Our emotional systems are just dysregulated by this work. It is, it is. You just, you look at everything that's involved with it, the stakes associated with our mission. First of all, like the missions that we exist solve. Doesn't matter if it's animal rescue or food or kids. Like people's lives or lives in general are at risk, or at least at the very minimum, not as good as they could be. If, if, if only, if only our organization was hitting on all cylinders. And so there's that stake and then there's the fact that our organizations are dependent on fundraisers to raise money. And there's always more that they want to do than they can do. And then everybody thinks they're an expert on fundraising and there's probably, yeah, right. And unless you've done it, you just don't understand all of the different complexities. And it's funny, I laughed. Nobody goes in to the CFO's office and gives them feedback for the books and says, like, I wouldn't actually put the accounting together this way. That's not how I would do it if I were an accountant. And yet everybody does that with fundraisers. And I just, I have felt that, I have felt that overwhelm. I've felt like I don't, I don't know what to do. I don't know if what I am doing is right or wrong. And it's just overwhelming. And so I've just, I've never forgotten how I felt. And as I've gotten into this work to try to support fundraisers, I've just tried to remember, like, this is, this is where I was. I've tried to be the coach or consultant that I could have used 10, 15 years ago. And so far that seems to resonate.
- [07:38]
B
Yeah, I so appreciate that. And I feel like, you know, something that Getting certified as an executive coach really taught me also was just how much wisdom we have inside ourselves. And I think with fundraisers so often and nonprofit leaders like, we know the answer. And I used to say in my coaching, and I actually still talk about this in my work a lot. I'm like, my job is less about telling you what to do and removing all the muck and helping you remove all the muck in your brain that's making you believe you don't know. Because you know to your point about fight, flight, whatever in what the fundraising. I talk a lot about this oscillation that I see in the sector between FREEZE and flight. Flight being our scattered spray fire systems. Right. Are. We can't sit in the discomfort of thinking about that donor relationship for so long. So I'm going to create a coffee fundraiser and we're going to launch that tomorrow. And Right. That is our flight response. We are fleeing the discomfort of not knowing what might happen with that donor that we just put a $25,000 proposal in front of or being willing to reach out to another person who could do that. We're fleeing that discomfort and that anxiety by creating this like, scattered spray fire fundraising system. Or we go into freeze, which materializes a lot in the nonprofit sector in terms of perfectionism. Right. We're like, oh, no, no, no. What do you mean? Perfectionism is a. Yes. Protectionism for perfectionism is all about protection. I should rename it protectionism, which I now have done. Officially copyrighted trademark it's done protectionism. But it is. Perfectionism is a. Perfection and excellence are not the same thing. Right. And perfection is a delay tactic to avoid the vulnerability of putting something forward. It's saying, I'll be ready when, I'll be ready if. And so I so appreciate what you're talking about because I think what I hear in this is this safe space for people to downregulate out of the flight and have somebody who can sit next to them in the discomfort and come out of the freeze because they can tell them you are ready. Like, yeah.
- [09:51]
A
I mean, all of the tactics and the strategies in the world are free. Fairly useless to your point. If. If you don't have the right mindset about it, if you don't believe that I should be sitting across the room with this person you like, I don't have the right to be in the room with this donor. Or you've got these unresolved beliefs about money that probably came from childhood. And that's baggage we carry into the room. And so much of. I think coaching and training is about helping people see those things and reflect. Like, hey, I hear you saying this, and just like, it's cliche, but it's cliche for a reason. The idea is, like, we name it to tame it. And in coaching, if you can really get into the weeds with somebody about some of these things and you listen, what starts coming up in the conversation is like, oh, they say, I could never ask somebody for that much money. Oh, tell me more about that. What's an amount you could ask for, for? And why did you say that? It's not therapy at all. I'm married to a therapist, and so I feel like I could play one on tv. But there's all those things that are just below the surface that all of the behavior tactics, strategies in the world can't help if our mindset below the surface doesn't actually allow us to do them authentically. And so, to your point, we spin our wheels with bake sales and car washes and events and all these things because it's actually. It is uncomfortable to talk to somebody about money, and it is uncomfortable to ask them to do something that you don't know that they could say no to and face the possibility of what will feel like rejection, but not. And then on top of, there's this whole other layer that actually, as professionals, we feel like, I shouldn't admit that I'm afraid to do these things, I need to hide that, too. And so we're hiding under all these layers. I sometimes joke with people in coaching, the worst thing you can do when you go to the doctor is not tell them all the things. And walking alongside people as a fundraising coach, I sell them off and it's like, hey, listen, this is a safe space. Nothing you say is ever going to make me think ill of you. And if there's things that you've been afraid to say out loud, the faster you can say them out loud, the faster we can dig out of that together. And most fundraising problems are mindset problems. Not all of them. There's systems problems, there's process problems, but most to your point, they know what they need to do, but perhaps they need a bit of encouragement to find the courage to do it.
- [12:39]
B
I'm getting kind of emotional as you're talking, and I maybe can see my eyes turning red, but I think there's so many things about what you said, like, when I started the work that I do now, like five years ago, and I would talk about my experience as a fundraiser or how I felt. Or my self doubt or my fear, my discomfort. People would come up to me afterwards and whisper, like, I can't believe you said that out loud. Me too. And now it's really shifted in the last five years. Like, people are much more. But webinar chats were silent for a while, and. And then people afterwards would DM me on LinkedIn and be like, that's my exact experience. And I feel like, for me, it was, like, relieving to just, like, finally talk about the elephants in the room. Right. But for so long, I thought, I must be the only one who feels this way or I must be a bad fundraiser, because I've never, ever heard anybody talk about this, wanting to throw up before a major donor meeting. So it must be that I'm a bad fundraiser, because there's no way that good fundraisers feel this way. And I feel like, you know, with consultants like you and with each other, my deep hope is that more and more people can have these real conversations, because you're right, we can't solve the problem that we can't even say out loud that we have. Right? And until we're willing to say, yeah, I doubt myself sometimes, or I don't feel like I'm good enough, or the most heartbreaking one I hear is like, I don't think I'm charismatic enough to be a fundraiser.
- [14:11]
A
I'm an introvert. I can't work a room, so I can't be a fundraiser. It's like, who cares?
- [14:17]
B
Yeah, yeah. But all that, like, not enoughness, you know, which is, like, not really related to our skills, but to your point, is related to our beliefs about ourselves, which runs so much deeper. And it's always shocking to me that piece around a layer deeper. What you were saying, like, if we just go a layer deeper, and I'm like, oh, my gosh, like, what are we doing if we don't? We're just, like, layering, like, we're just opening tabs on our computer and downloading more free templates that we never use, and we're playing pretend fundraising instead of moving money towards what matters most. And it's shocking to me sometimes when people say, I love Mallory's work because she considers the whole fundraiser. And I'm like, what? Like, how is that groundbreaking, you guys? Like, how on earth is that groundbreaking? Like, it just sort of breaks my heart. The other thing I want to sort of, like, call out about you and everything that you're saying that I think is so important for people to understand and hear Especially consultants and especially people who are selecting consultants and programs is that what you can do for fundraisers is only possible because you are regulated. I think one of the biggest issues that we see in our sector is that when a consultant is dysregulated, when they're in fight, flight or freeze, they continue to perpetuate bad habits because they are in protection mode or they are in scattered spray fire mode, or they want the fundraiser to like them. So they're going to make every conversation super comfortable instead of asking a deeper question that might be more uncertain and more uncomfortable. And I just want to, like, commend you for that because I think it's a, an asset of a consultant that people never consider but completely makes or breaks where they can walk you.
- [16:14]
A
Yeah, yeah. I mean, what's the, what's the saying? A wound from a friend can be trusted. And I think a lot of times as coaches, as consultants, it's easy to become friends with our clients because they're cool people and they're doing cool things. And I have become really good friends with some of my. But they're not paying us to be friends with them. They're paying us to see the thing that they can't quite see. And sometimes that thing is in the work, right? It's in the processes, the systems, and, and that's one thing. But often it's, it's actually help. Help me see the thing I can't see in myself and call me out on it, call me out on my stuff, say, hey, Mallory, I notice when you do this, this happens and that's going to maybe sting a bit, but, like, that's, that's the job. When I go to physical therapy because I have lower back pain and I'm trying, like, my physical therapist is actually going to cause me some pain in our time together. But that's actually why I go back to that physical therapist again and again and again because they're going to give me a bit of pain, but they're in the, in the process, they're going to teach me a way to take better care of myself long term. And when you can zoom out and say, sometimes my, my role is to, to wound a bit and know that and not worry that I'm going to offend them. And that's a gift because it's hard to sit with people who have been where you have been, who are going to speak honestly to you, they're going to be for you, but also an objective outsider enough to be able to wound you from time to time. And yeah, the natural tendency sometimes for me is just to be all encourager and just, oh, look at all these things, that this is great, and just do more of this and that, that's fine. Sometimes people need that. But also we need to be willing to call people out for the stuff that is beneath the surface, that all the people in their life probably see it anyway. All my closest friends, they know all of my toxic traits. And sometimes in a coaching relationship, somebody will show you something as a gift, right? They trust you enough to let that out. And so then you just, you hold that. But every now and then you have to poke a little bit.
- [18:38]
B
It's so interesting because there's so many things you just said that I feel like are really, really important. One of the things that there are a few things that are coming up for me and I was made, I was taking some notes, I think if I were to recommend to fundraisers, listening to this call about how to select consultants and people to work with, not only should you just go run to Michael's website, but also you should be thinking about what you just said, which is you are a safe person, but you don't. But not comfort. They are safe with you, but not comfortable. And that's the magic, right? They can be their full selves, they can say the whole thing. They are safe to be their full, complete selves, but they are not always comfortable because. Exactly. Your job is to push. If you have a coach or consultant and you are comfy every single meeting, you are not getting coaching or consulting. You are getting a buddy, you know, who wants, who wants. And like, I don't want to pay for my friends. And so I think something I've said to clients a lot when people have been hiring me for coaching is you are not going to like me at the end of every session, I'll be super clear about that. And I want to make sure that you are ready for it because there are going to be some meetings where you are going to leave and you are going to hate me and you and because of course, I'm going to activate something. Your fight's going to come out, whatever it is, and you're going to direct it at me. And that is okay. That is my job so that we can get through and we can get to what we need to get to. And I think. But it's hard because same thing, I'm a recovering people pleaser. I want people to like me just like every human. So there's so many times where I'm like, oh, don't do it. You know, like, inside me, I have to self coach to make sure that I'm still showing up in service to them.
- [20:17]
A
Yeah, it's the same head game that I used to play in major gift fundraising, where I knew, I knew exactly what I need to ask that person. And I also knew I was going to feel uncomfortable asking it and I had to learn to just ask for it anyway and just put myself into, like, okay, I'm just going to. This is uncomfortable and I'm going to ask for it anyway. It's that same skill that actually is pretty helpful in coaching where you think it would be real easy just to shoot the breeze with this person and walk away from this and we're buddy, buddy. But it's like, no, actually, there's a courageous thing for me as a coach to say in this moment that's a bit of a risk. And in some ways, like, a good coach can model that for you, that you turn around, you go out and okay, I've seen this model in coaching now I know what this looks like with donors. When I need to be courageous in something, I ask or I say. So I think doing that work sometimes better than others through the years with different donor relationships has actually helped me. Not even the content of it, but just the process of putting. Saying the hard thing, asking the hard question, putting it out there. And there's this moment in fundraising where when you ask somebody to give, you've handed them all of the control. In that moment, you're out, over, you're walking the plank, right? And you've stepped off, and at that moment, you're completely out of control of the situation. Whatever they say next determines how this thing goes. And I think as a coach, sometimes that happens too. It's like, okay, I want to actually want to ask them the hard thing that actually I feel a little bit uncomfortable asking because I know it's a question maybe nobody's asked them before, but if they can really answer it themselves, something might unlock for them and they would see, wow, this thing that has me stuck isn't a skills gap, it was a courage gap, or is a mindset gap. I've got the skills. I know what to do. I just. Now I need to go and do it. And so those are the moments that you look for. Obviously you love the light bulb moments where people get something that they hadn't gotten intellectually before and those moments happen. But more often than not, it's. It's the point in the relationship where something Unlocks that was a belief or an attitude. And then you see how that turns the light bulb on. It's a gift.
- [22:50]
B
Yes. One of the things I sort of want to double click on in terms of what you're modeling here also, is the awareness that certain things are going to be uncomfortable. Because I think if we don't have that awareness, then when the discomfort comes into our body, we think something's wrong, right? So when we start to get uncomfortable in the donor meeting and we think, okay, we're doing something wrong, and we retreat, right? We're like, oh, that's bad. Like, get out of there. But if we go in, being like, this is going to be uncomfortable. And I say this to my kids all the time, right? Like, I'm just. Like, this can be. I'm not asking you to be comfortable. I'm asking you to be brave. And I think that difference of, like, the discomfort is okay. Like, it is okay. And I actually think, like, the two top skills I consider for fundraisers, and both of them require regulation, is curiosity and the ability to stand in discomfort. Like, if we can do those two things, we are. That brings out the best fundraiser in
- [23:51]
A
all of us, without a doubt, a hundred, a thousand percent. And that discomfort is actually a sign that you're on the right path. In the same way we were riffing earlier about how if, as a coach, we're comfortable, that's probably a bad sign in your fundraising. If all of your relationships with different people who give, if they just all just feel, buddy, buddy, and there's no discomfort where you're calling them to dig deep and maybe stretch for a cause that, you know, they believe in. Like, actually, I think that's a problem if I don't ever feel that discomfort. And so just being aware, one of the things we coach people is just like, in those moments when you feel that, just name it. This is normal. This is a sign that I'm doing exactly what I need to be doing. And I love the fundraisers that. Not that they've conquered that fear, but that they have said, you know what? I was afraid. And I asked anyway. And they actually start to, like, I'm gonna go put myself in those situations. And over time, it gets less scary. But I. Until January of this year, I've been asking for money for 20 years. I teach other people how to do it. I teach people how to regulate their own emotions as they do it. And 13 months ago, 12 months ago, I asked for a gift, and I was rattled the entire time. And I don't think the donor knew I was rattled because I've gotten good at regulating. But the whole thing, like, it still feels. There's some element of this feels scary. We're putting ourselves out there. There's a chance that they might say no. We can go down all the things like, oh, what does that mean for our mission? And we can catastrophize. There's probably a hundred reasons why asking for money feels scary, and they're beyond the scope of this conversation. But as a 20 year veteran of the space, I still have to do that battle every time I go and ask somebody to get up. And again, I've been doing this since 2006.
- [26:03]
B
Yes. But I think this is such an important point for people to understand, which is because I think otherwise. People think they'll be ready to do things when they don't feel this. And I also, of course, I experienced this, the tightness in my belly, because the fear. I want people to like me, of course. Like, I think if we as a sector can say this is a normal, physical, biologically appropriate response to what is happening and it is. Right. Like, that is so much of the research and what the fundraising is like. This is how your body should respond to an experience like this. It makes perfect sense. It is supposed to happen. I think if it doesn't happen to a certain extent, it. You should be checked out for narcissism. Like, I, like, truly, like, I think this is the most normal thing in the world and I actually think it's our refusal to admit it across the sector that is damaging to fundraisers.
- [27:00]
A
Yes.
- [27:00]
B
Yes.
- [27:01]
A
Absolutely. Yes. This is. Fear in fundraising is normal. Let's just like, plant that flag in the ground and say, like, if you're. If you're. If it doesn't feel scary, you're probably not doing it right.
- [27:14]
B
Correct. Correct.
- [27:15]
A
A roller coaster is a good example. I love a roller coaster. But a good roller coaster should scare you a bit.
- [27:21]
B
Yes.
- [27:23]
A
And fundraising as well. If you're doing it right, it should scare you. The part of the brain where that fear comes from can't tell the difference between, I'm in legitimate danger right now, I'm asleep at night and glass breaks in my house. I hear that sound. There's a part of my brain that takes over and it reacts. And the brain is not very good at knowing the difference between that middle of the night sensation that turns out was in a dream anyway, wasn't actually glass that broke. And sitting across from a donor because of, like, there's baggage in Our story, we have early stories that we tell ourselves about money from childhood, all those exact same things. The brain isn't very good, that part of the brain at differentiating between those two situations. And so part of it is just learning this happens and I'm going to name it and it's normal and okay, yeah, this isn't a sign that I am. I'm doing anything wrong here. And this is actually supposed to be a bit scary. And here are all the reasons that. And so the thing we. You talk about telling your kids some of these things. One of the things I tell my kids is like, you actually can't be courageous in the absence of fear. And so this is like, we're in a courageous profession. What do people, like, top peers, people have handling live snakes, speaking in public, asking people for money? When we enter this fundraising profession, we are entering into society's one of their top fears. And so, like, yeah, firefighters, courageous profession. Sure, you name them, but so are fundraisers. This is a courageous profession. And so that means, yeah, you're not running into a burning building, but you're going to run into some conversations that are going to feel uncomfortable. And in the same way, like, the fireman gets to literally run in anyway, we get to do the same thing and we get to practice courage.
- [29:15]
B
Yes. And this is where, you know, something we see a lot with, like, practivated is the muscle memory can build more regulation and agility and cognitive flexibility. But one of the big pieces is that then you're open, you're going to upskill. And when you do, there's going to be new muscle memory to build because the uncertainty is going to change. The complexity of the gifts are going to change. The amount is going to change as you grow. And this happens to me in my own work. Right. People are always like, oh, do you get nervous speaking? And I'm like, okay, I don't really get nervous for a webinar anymore. And I don't really get nervous for certain speaking. But you put me on a stage with lighting and 2,500 people. Yeah, sure, I get some butterflies, right? And I'm always. I'm always pushing myself to that next layer, and I need new muscle memory to help prepare for that. And so I just think, like, that piece around and the acceptance that, you know, the discomfort is a sign that we're growing, that we're on our growth edge and that we're really pushing things, I think is great. And one of the things I would just also sort of echo is that it's when we accept, experience discomfort, and we don't validate it or we don't expect it, that it leads to stress. Because then what happens is we experience the discomfort in our body, which we can handle. But when we tell ourselves we shouldn't feel that way, we're not good enough because we feel that way, we wouldn't feel that way if so, and so doesn't feel that way. Those narratives that then accompany the discomfort, that is what leads to stress, chronic stress and burnout. So if we can, at the discomfort, comfort stage, name it, accept it, love ourselves through it, walk through it with our partners and our clients and our consultants, then things can be uncomfortable and safe.
- [31:13]
A
Yeah, this work we do in fundraising is uncomfortable work. And it is scary to ask somebody to give away their money. And we do the whole profession and whole sector a disservice when we just sort of put on a good face and we say, no, it's not scary. No, if you just learn this technique or that, it's not going to be scary anymore. And then you learn the technique and it's still scary. And so then you don't do it. And it's like, no, no, no, no, no. Learn the techniques and then practice. And it's going to be scary, but over time, you'll learn to sit in it. It'll become less scary one day. But again, I'm going to use. I'm going to pick on this firefighter metaphor again. I guarantee you there's an element of fear every time a firefighter runs into a burning building. I don't know any firefighters. This is easy. Maybe you do, but it's always there. But over time, they've just learned to move through it and say, I'm going to trust my training. I know what to do in this situation. I'm going to go in, I'm going to run the protocol. I'm going to do all the things that I'm going to, but there's, there's some risk in it. And fundraising, Gosh, if I have a bad day, fundraising, no one's going to die. But emotionally and mentally, I feel all those things in that moment. And as the fundraiser, like, we need to be okay. Normalizing. Saying this feels scary, and that's okay. It's not a sign that you're doing anything wrong, actually. It's a sign that you're. You're actually headed in the right direction. If you're putting yourself in situations with givers, that feels scary, it feels uncomfortable, and that's okay. That Means you're doing the right thing.
- [32:51]
B
Yes. Amazing. Okay, we could talk about this forever, but I'm so grateful for this conversation and I know I've already taken more of your time. And so tell folks where they can go to connect with you to learn more about the Academy and how they could get your support. Because I just think what you're offering in this space is so unique and so special and so important, and so I hope that folks will go check it out.
- [33:16]
A
Yeah. Fundraisingacademy.com Some of you are listening to this and you're like, actually, Michael, what I need is knowledge. I need the head knowledge. And so you'll get that in the Academy and so come check us out. What we'd like to say is that we help people learn to move from accidental to intentional fundraising. And a lot of that is about systems and processes and it's informational, it's knowledge. But also what you're going to get is a group of people who are peers in the work currently in our community, who will also be in your corner cheering you on. And then you'll get coaches, you'll get people like me or Caitlin or Mike or Chris, and we'll be there cheering you on in your corner as people who, yeah, like, we know some things, we can teach you some things and strategies and tactics and processes, but what you're really going to get is this. This person who's been in the muck, who knows what it feels like. And on those days when you just need somebody to cheer you on, or what you really need somebody to do is to call you out for your stuff, is willing to do that. There's a lot of places out there where you can get fundraising content. There's also a lot of places out there where you can get fundraising community. There's something really beautiful that happens right at that edge of community and content process where we're growing together. So love to meet anyone out there that thinks they could benefit from either of those things.
- [34:36]
B
Amazing. Thank you, thank you, thank you for everything that you're doing for this sector and for who you are. I'm so grateful.
- [34:44]
A
Thank you.
- [34:51]
B
I hope today's episode inspired or challenged you to think differently. For additional takeaways, tips, show notes and more about our amazing guest and sponsors, and head on over to Mallory.com podcast. And if you didn't know, hosting this podcast isn't the only thing I do every day. I coach, guide and help fundraisers and leaders just like you inside of my program, the Power Partners Formula Collective inside the program. I share my methods, tools, and experiences that have helped me fundraise millions of dollars and feel good about myself in the process. To learn more about how I can help you, visit MalloryErickson.com PowerPartners Last but not least, if you enjoyed this episode, I'd love to encourage you to share it with a friend you know would benefit or leave a review. I'm so grateful for all of you and the good, hard work you're doing to make our world a better place. I can't wait to see you in the next episode.