March 25, 2025 • 35 mins
When it comes to nonprofit fundraising, relationships truly make the world go round. In this candid conversation with Dan Leal, CEO of Seedling Foundation, we dive deep into the art of balancing immediate funding needs with long-term donor cultivation in today's fast-paced, often disconnected world.
Dan shares how the pandemic revealed weaknesses in many organizations' donor relationships and digital fundraising capabilities. His practical wisdom on making meaningful connections resonates whether you're pursuing foundation grants or individual major gifts: "It's still about relationships and it's a matter of how you attain that relationship." Even a brief Zoom call or phone conversation can dramatically outperform email-only outreach when seeking funding.
Whether you're an executive director struggling with donor retention or a development officer seeking fresh approaches, this conversation offers practical strategies for authentic fundraising that honors your mission while embracing the power of genuine human connection. As Dan reminds us, in a divided world, our greatest fundraising asset might be finding commonalities that unite diverse supporters around our cause.
Key Takeaways:
• Relationships make the world go round—for both immediate funding needs and long-term donor cultivation
• Personal outreach (calls, in-person meetings) significantly outperforms email-only communication with potential funders
• Social media provides valuable opportunities to initiate one-on-one interactions with prospective donors
• When discussing operational costs, focus on program impact and outcomes rather than directly asking for "salary money"
• Major donor interactions require genuine interest in the donor's motivations, not just presenting your organization's needs
• Consider using AI (or "authentic intelligence") to discover fresh language and perspectives about your work
• Organizations with similar missions can differentiate themselves while still collaborating and sharing donors
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hey, nonprofit friends, welcome to the Spring
Forward podcast, where we talkabout all things nonprofit, from
board discord to grant writingand strategic planning tips.
If you're an executive director, nonprofit board member or just
someone heavily involved in thenonprofit sector, then this is
the podcast for you.
Let's spring forward intoexcellence.
(00:24):
This is the podcast for you.
Let's spring forward intoexcellence.
Welcome, welcome everyone toanother episode of the Spring
Forward podcast.
I'm your host, springRichardson Perry, and I am so
excited to be coming to youtoday.
We are going to be talkingabout fundraising and donor
stewardship in the nonprofitsector.
(00:46):
But before we get started, afew housekeeping things.
I remember a couple of weeksago I was talking to a good
friend of mine, shandalyn, andwe were talking about burnout
with nonprofit nonprofit leadersand we talked about a retreat
that we wanted to do, and so weare looking to you know, get you
(01:10):
guys in on this.
If you want in on the retreat,send me an email.
If you know Shandalyn Hilliard,send her an email.
Look us up on LinkedIn, onFacebook, spring Richardson
Perry or Shandalyn Hilliard, andlet us know and we will get you
on the wait list.
But without further ado, I wantto introduce our guest today,
(01:33):
dan Leal.
He's been a leader in youthnon-serving in youth serving
excuse me, non-profits since2002.
He is the CEO of SeedlingFoundation since 2017.
And so he's expanded thementorship programs for children
affected by parentalincarceration.
That's amazing.
I will say that prison ministryis big here in Texas, and so he
(01:59):
is a Texan.
He's up there in Austin withhis wife, kristen.
He has two adult sons and twograndchildren.
He's also a mentor himself.
He previously led theChildren's Advocacy Center in
Denton County for 15 years.
He was championing child safetyand justice.
So Dan has just a hugebackground in nonprofits and
(02:21):
youth advocacy, and so I'm superexcited to bring him on today
so that we can talk aboutfundraising and donor
stewardship.
So, dan welcome.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Thank you so much.
It's a pleasure to be here andan exciting topic for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
For sure, for sure.
And so we had a littlediscussion offline, he and I,
prior to this tap taping, and wewere just talking about how
important right now, in thismoment, diversifying your
funding is, and so we reallywant to dig deep into that today
.
Talk about fundraising, donorstewardship, all those good
(02:59):
things, and so I want to startwith this, dan talk about how
nonprofits can effectivelybalance the need for immediate
funding with cultivating thoselong term donor relationships,
because we know in the nonprofitsector, funding can be pretty
slow.
You got to apply, then see ifyou've been awarded.
(03:20):
So how do you balance that?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
awarded.
So how do you balance that?
You know, what's interestingabout this topic is there was a
while there, maybe during thepandemic and shortly after the
pandemic concluded, where I waskind of scratching my head, you
know, regarding thedisconnectedness that we were
feeling with our donors.
But where I've come to springis and to answer your question,
(03:46):
I think it's for both it reallyis all about relationships and
it does take intentionality onour part and you think, okay for
the long-term relationshipsespecially and that's true for
the longtime donors, to get yourmajor gifts, it revolves around
(04:06):
those relationships.
But I also think for the needfor money right now, it's still
about relationships.
So here's like an example solike and where you can get them.
So foundations, like we all wantthat foundation money as
nonprofits, because you're likeoh great, you know that money
(04:27):
comes in bigger chunks, but it'shard to gain the relationship
with the foundation peoplebecause some of them just take
the application or whatever.
But I think if we'reintentional about getting even
the face-to-face time with, like, the program officer of the
(04:49):
foundation, or if it's agovernment grant source, asking
questions, getting some time ontheir team's calendar or
whatever, it's still the same.
It just comes in bigger chunksfor the short term, and so I
think you've got to be workingboth.
You've got to be trying for theshort term and you've still got
(05:11):
to have your eye on thelong-term cultivation.
But both, either way, are aboutrelationships and it's a matter
of how you attain thatrelationship.
Is it the short Zoom call justto put a face with the name for
your follow-ups, or is it thelong-term, which is more of the
coffee or dinner or lunch typedeal?
But it's, relationships makesthe world go around.
(05:33):
So you still got to work onboth at the same time.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Yeah, that's true, and so many people were saying
this about the pandemic.
Was that connectedness right?
So they were losing touch withtheir donors, with their major
sponsors, and it was people weretrying to figure out digital
fundraising at that point, Like,how do we do this?
And it was really surprising tome, though, how many nonprofits
(05:59):
just relied on like in-personchecks.
You don't have like a creditcard system or like a you know
like a PayPal or something thatpeople can give online.
So that was.
That was very interesting to metoo that a lot of nonprofits
had to figure that stuff out.
And so it was really interestingto me, though, what you said
(06:21):
about the government grants,right, and so there's always a
contact person on the governmentgrants, especially those
federal grants.
And even if you just callbecause because, let me tell you
, you're going to have aquestion about something in that
RFP, because the wording isterrible and so you're going to
(06:41):
have a question, you call them,you ask them your question, and
then they usually get yourinformation like oh, oh, what's
your name, who are you callingwith?
And they will answer thequestion.
Who's really on the other sideof this computer?
Like?
(07:06):
I don't hear a voice, I don'tsee a face.
So I'm just going to answer thisreally quick and you're out of
my way.
But you pick up the phone, youcall, it really makes a
difference.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah, I agree, and we have to get over ourselves in
that regard because the world isteaching us shortcuts and
shortcuts are not always thebest.
So sometimes we as individualsfall into that email trap
because it's quick and easy, butfor fundraising it's not the
(07:36):
best way.
So what you're saying with thatperson as personal of an
outreach as you can do, and youand you have to check yourself
and if you have colleagues atyour nonprofit, hold each other
accountable to get those morepersonal contacts and what does
that look like in your donorrelation, meetings for that and
(07:57):
that's helpful.
So we don't individually getpassive in our ways.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
For sure, for sure, because it's easy to just kind
of be like oh, I'll just send anemail really quick.
It's easy, it doesn't take long,I don't have to be bothered.
But when you're, you have tothink about this, right?
When you're asking people forbig money, that's like if
somebody comes to you and theysay, hey, dan, I need to borrow
a thousand dollars to pay myrent or whatever right.
(08:24):
You're going to be like, okay,I need to borrow $1,000 to pay
my rent or whatever right.
You're going to be like, okay,first of all, you got to check
your bank account to see if youeven have it to give right.
But secondly, you're going tobe like, okay, so if I give you
this money, what happened thatyou don't have it?
Why do you need it?
And if I give it to you today,what are you going to do
tomorrow?
Meaning like next month, likeare you going to have the money
(08:45):
again?
Are you going to be coming backto me?
What is this?
Is this a recurring thing?
Is this a one-time thing?
What is this relationshiparound me giving you this money?
What is that going to look like?
And so you have to think aboutit in terms of that, as you're
asking your donors because thisis their money, this is their
hard-earned dollars that they'regiving to you and there is no
(09:05):
tangible return on investment asthere would be in a for-profit
business.
If they were investing in yourbusiness, they would be
expecting if I invest a thousandand you tell me my return would
be 100%, I'm going to getanother thousand dollars from it
.
Then, hey boom, we're allwinning.
You get the money you need upfront.
I get an extra thousand dollarsin my pocket.
But a nonprofit is different,right?
(09:29):
The return on the investment iswhatever the social service is.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Right.
And you know, another thingthat's happening today in
nonprofit fundraising that we'vegot to pay attention to is and
people think about social mediafrom the standpoint of oh, what
do my posts look like?
But let me tell you something.
I mean, you know this, I'mspeaking to the expert here, but
what's really the best thingabout social media is the
(09:56):
contacts that you get that openthe door for you to have those
one-on-ones.
So if I get a message, aninstant message, a DM, from
somebody who requests a meetingwith me, well, they're
interested.
And if they're a prospectivedonor and they've asked, they
(10:18):
say, can we grab coffee or do aZoom?
Then if it's in your ability,do grab the Zoom, because
they've made that personalapproach to you, they're
generally interested in yourcause and if you know they
donate to other organizations,grab the in-person, you know, or
even ask for it if you can getit.
(10:39):
But I think social media Ithink people are starting to get
it that that's the opportunity,especially with LinkedIn, to
grab those in-person meetingswith prospective donors.
I mean, obviously we've got touse discernment because we're
getting hit up by all kinds ofpeople that want to do business
with you for their for-profitbusiness.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
But man, the donor opportunity as a result of those
social media outreaches ispretty good it is pretty good
and a lot of people on theirprofiles they will have like
philanthropists or you know avidenvironmentalists or something
like that, and so those, andthen if you, if you take a
(11:19):
genuine interest in them and youlook at the their posts
themselves, the things thatthey're saying, the things that
they're commenting on, if you'retruly following them and you
look at their posts themselves,the things that they're saying,
the things that they'recommenting on, if you're truly
following them and truly engagedwith them, that is certainly an
opportunity for you to leveragesocial media for donor
stewardship.
Right, because this is how Danand I met.
Right, because Dan was talkingabout something about nonprofits
(11:41):
and CEOs and how.
I think it was something abouthow CEOs can stay connected to
their mission.
I believe it was, and I waslike this is awesome, like, and
then I started to really followDan and the things that he was
saying.
I was like I got to get him onthe podcast.
We can really talk about thisbecause there's there's just so
many little nuances to um,there's so many nuances to the
(12:05):
nonprofit world, you know, andpeople think, oh, I want to help
people, I want to do good,let's start a nonprofit.
I would say, pause for a secondand take a look to see if
there's already someone doingthis in your area and go and
volunteer with them and helpthem build their programs out,
because if you can help thembuild it, that is more resources
(12:30):
for you guys to be able toreally do some things, whereas
if you're starting another onein the area that is similar to
something that's already there,then you're taking resources
away from the both of you, right?
And so again, that's just justanother little tidbit that I'm
always thinking about, because Iget a lot of people that come
to me and say, oh, spring, Iwant to start a nonprofit, and
(12:52):
I'm like, okay, but let me giveyou the nitty gritty.
So so that's where we go.
But but another thing that whatI said earlier was like, when
you're talking about gettingmajor dollars from from donors
and really demonstrating whatyour impact is, and then in the
maintaining transparency abouthow you can use those funds, you
(13:15):
know what was a really good wayto do that, because you know
you have to get creative.
When you're talking to donors,but then to the point as well,
because they don't want to sitthere all day with just fluff,
and so how do you balance that?
What's what have you seen, dan?
Speaker 2 (13:32):
I think, just you know, obviously the first thing
donors want to know, obviouslywhat you do.
You know and how you do yourwork and why it's important.
I think focusing on the impactof your work is really important
.
And then when a donor asks youwell, what do you need and what
are you going to do with mymoney?
(13:53):
Sometimes as nonprofitdevelopment people or executive
directors, we get trapped intohaving that feeling that I've
got to do something extra withthis donor's money, especially
if they're a big donor, like Igot to do something extra to
impress them.
(14:14):
But, man, you've got to educatethat major donor, that prospect,
on what it takes to run yourprogram.
And a lot of times, especiallyin my nonprofit and a lot of
nonprofits, we're very peopleheavy.
Like it takes people to do thequality work that we provide.
Right, that is the mostimportant thing that my
(14:34):
nonprofit has is the qualitypeople that provide the services
to the people.
But you never say, well, I wantmoney for a salary.
No, you have to explain how ageneral contribution because
that feeds back into your peoplewhat impact that makes and how
much of inputs go into yourprogram in order to deliver
(14:58):
quality program and then, as aresult, what that will do for
people.
So don't get yourself hemmed into feeling like you've got to do
something new or differentbecause we're all struggling
enough for money as it is thatwe've got to do a best job of
communicating to the donor what,what general, what donations do
in terms of impact with whatwe're already doing in our
(15:20):
service delivery.
You know what I mean.
Like, what deliverables is itgoing to provide and why is it
so costly?
Like donors, appreciate thatinsight and understanding
because their donors are moreknowledgeable now than they've
ever been before.
Okay, so that's better, sodon't get trapped into.
Oh well, what do you?
(15:41):
What do you want me to do withyour money?
You need to tell them what youneed and why it's important to
deliver the services that you'vegot to deliver at your, at your
core mission.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Yeah, so, and you know that's so true, right?
You don't have to get super,super duper creative with it,
right?
You just have to be able totell the story of your
organization.
What is it that you're going tobe doing?
But another thing that stuckout to me, though, dan, was you
said, well, you don't want totell them.
You need it for salaries, right, and so I want you to expand on
that for me, because somepeople think that that's okay,
(16:13):
like I've seen that done, wherepeople are asking specifically
well, can you make a donation sowe can pay salaries, and so,
like, where do you find thatbalance?
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Yeah.
So I mean when you write agrant and you're going to write
into your grant budget thesalaries for the people, that's
what the grant budget's payingfor in a grant.
But I think no matter what youwrite in a grant or what you say
to somebody across the table,it's about the service.
So you're not being dishonest,because it does take people to
(16:46):
provide the service, but yourlanguage is about the service
that those said staff provideand what the result is of the
service.
You know what I mean.
So you aren't asking for thatsupport because it takes people
to provide it, but like, forexample, like the organization
(17:09):
that I'm the CEO of, seedlingit's a high touch organization,
right, because we're dealingwith people, we're dealing with
schools and mentors and mentees,and the lay person out there
thinks oh so you're a mentoringorganization that you know uses
volunteers to provide it.
(17:30):
It must be really inexpensive.
And why do you denote nations?
Because volunteers provide it.
So we've got to be especiallygood at explaining.
Because volunteers provide it.
So we've got to be especiallygood at explaining.
We're asking for your funds togo out in the community and
recruit mentors.
We're asking for your money totrain mentors.
We're asking for your money tovet mentors, which means
(17:51):
background checks and referencechecks.
We're asking for your money togo into schools and work with
the schools to find the kidsthat need us the most, and it
takes people to go in andencourage that to happen.
And really importantly andprocedurally is we need funds to
help us support those matches.
(18:12):
Well, because if we pour intothat mentor who, yes, is a
volunteer and do it with aprofessional staff that can
intelligently answer delicatequestions, be a mature person,
that that you know volunteer,can handle, can entrust, and
then that match lasts longerbecause we provide quality,
(18:32):
professional match support.
Then the result is that ourmatches last longer and there's
better results for our kids,because the longer the match,
the better result.
So I just said all that, whichis a lot.
But I said all that to say youknow, I am paying for salaries.
I didn't say that that way toyou.
I said this is what we have todo.
(18:54):
These are the stories we haveto provide.
I mean, it's people behind it,but I'm showing them the work
and the outcome.
And then, yes, they give me adonation and I'm going to use it
on my general operation tosupport some of those salaries.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
You just stated your logic model.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Yeah, for sure, it's just how you put it.
That's the words that you say.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
And for sure it is right, and that's why I wanted
to have you clarify that for us,because, of course, salaries
are needed for people to carryout the program activities, but
the way you convey thatinformation is not simply, oh, I
need money for salaries.
You, just like you said, youknow, just like you said, you
(19:41):
say, well, this is what we needto do, this is, this is the
impact of what we're going to doand, as a result of this, we
expect to see these outcomes.
Right, and so that's that's theway to do it.
I love it, I you know.
And that's another thing thatI'm thinking about too, dan is
because, right, when you'reexplaining these things, when
(20:01):
you're telling people who youwant to be donors, right, do you
have a different way ofstorytelling to someone who's
going to be like a major donor,as opposed to someone who's
maybe just given a one-timedonation or like a small,
recurring thing?
Like, what's the difference inyour storytelling for those
types of donors?
Speaker 2 (20:21):
You know, I think the story is similar, but here's
the thing With a major donor,you're likely going to be
putting more time into thosevisits.
You're going to be seeking thatface-to-face time and you know
what.
As much as it is about whatthat major donor telling them
(20:42):
about your organization, youknow what it is equally or more
so about.
It's really equally or more soabout learning about them and
what is their why.
Because if you genuinely get toknow them and what is their why
, then it informs you aboutreally where they would be more
(21:02):
inclined to make a gift and whatmakes them tick.
I think, man, I tell you it isone of the most important parts
about fundraising and you canfeel the difference with these
one-on-ones is your genuinenessand your genuineness in caring
(21:22):
about that other person acrossthe table.
So telling the story is onething, but caring about that
other person and genuinelycaring about them.
And sometimes and I had thishappen not long ago we feel
rushed because we're excited tomeet with that big capacity
(21:43):
donor, and it's a big mistake.
When you rush, you understandLike we're excited oh my gosh, I
may not get this person again.
That's your fear.
Honestly, what I've learned'velearned, man.
It's a big mistake we can makebecause of our anxiousness.
(22:03):
Well, truly, the time with thatperson is more important in the
genuineness, what that personcan set you apart over anybody
else.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
For sure.
And you know, I think we allkind of fall victim to that
sometimes too, because we're insuch a fast paced world right
now where everything is just go,go, go.
You know, we're always superconscious of people's time
because you know people are liketime is money.
So you don't want, you don'twant to waste anybody's time,
but then too you do want to takethe time to really sit down and
(22:37):
talk to them and tell themabout your organization, learn
things about them, because maybeyou know if they're especially
if they're a major donor.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
And if you send gifts out to your major donors, you
know, find out what it is thatthey like.
How can we appeal to you forbeing so generous to us?
Being so generous to us and soyou know, you can find something
out about them.
That's like a small token ofyour appreciation that will go a
long way and even perhaps havethem contribute even more the
(23:05):
next time around.
You know, Right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Yeah, and you know.
The other thing is that's whyit's so important to put those
notes into your relationshipmanagement system about what you
discovered and what you foundout, so that that information
becomes institutional knowledge.
And sometimes we get lazy and Ihave to have my development
team hold me accountable becauseI'm always doing this out of
(23:30):
the other, like Dan, did you putthat note in there, or did you
hit the BCC on the email thatyou sent?
Put that note in there or didyou hit the BCC on the email
that you sent?
And I'm guilty so often.
But you learn things with thesemeetings that then are
institutional information thatyou need to make sure everybody
else knows, because there may bethings, not just what the donor
does like, but what they don'tappreciate and they don't like.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Yeah, and you know you said something to me that
stuck out just now too was aboutthese donor management systems.
Right, these relationshipmanagement systems, because I
find a lot of organizations andI typically work with smaller to
midsize nonprofits system.
They don't have a way of like.
(24:15):
They may have like, an emaillist, oh, and they, you know,
they know specifically off thetop of their head oh, we know,
barbara gives us, you know,5,000.
If we ask her, and we know thatDan will give us, you know,
20,000, he gave us 25 last year.
He said he'll, he'll get up itto 30,000 this year if he sees
these things in the organizationor whatever.
(24:42):
And so they know off the top oftheir head, they're, they're big
players, but there's no likethere's no relationship
management system where they cankeep track of these things, to
put notes down and to really,because, because I guess in in
these, what I find in theseorganizations is that they're
they're so small that they'rejust trying to keep up day to
day with programming and thentrying to manage a relationship
(25:04):
management system.
They're like what, what's that?
Who has time for that?
We're doing A, b, c, d, e, f, gin one day and we really only
have time for A, b and C, onlyhave time for a, b and c, but we
fit it all in, and so, um, youknow, I wonder how would ai play
into this too?
What have you, um, have you atany point been using ai in your
(25:26):
nonprofit at this point?
Yet?
Speaker 2 (25:28):
interesting.
You asked that question becausewe have just been invited in my
community for an ai grant to beone of 20 nonprofit
organizations that will receive$50,000 to integrate AI into our
fundraising approach, and soI'm excited about that because
we're gonna be working on usingAI in fundraising.
(25:49):
But to this point you know, I amold school it's always the idea
of using AI, for example, towrite a letter, because I'm like
, or a grant, you know, becauseI'm like man.
It's got to be authentic.
It's got to be authentic.
I've been preaching authenticand you can start with something
and go edit, but my developmentteam has been using some of it
(26:14):
Because, you know, here's whereI think.
I think where I've made, whereI made the mistake before was
we're so invested in our workand we're so in our work as the
staff member that perhapssometimes AI will unveil unveil
some language that we weren'tthinking about, because we're so
much into the work we're likeman I didn't even think about
(26:35):
that.
So I think there's anopportunity for AI in
fundraising to help us thinkabout something that we weren't
thinking about because we're sofar in it and so used to using
the same language.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Yeah, that's a perfect example, and I always
like to say that AI is likethose sentence starters that you
used to see around yourteacher's classroom, like you
know I will do this, or you knowI can say that or whatever, but
it's like those sentencestarters that you would see
around the classroom and so it'sone of those things where you
know you put in some information, you ask for the help, and then
(27:10):
it gives you suggestions andthen you take that and you
refine it, you make it into whatyou need it to be, because
there is such a thing, as youknow AI language.
Like sometimes somebody wouldjust copy and paste something
straight from AI and you're likethis came straight from.
AI, like you can just tell youknow so like you said, there
(27:31):
still needs to be a level ofauthenticity for that.
Right, but it's not totally outthe window.
It is really really can be veryhelpful.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
So maybe we should change the word Spring.
It's nonprofit people.
When we say AI, we should sayauthentic intelligence instead
of artificial intelligence.
I love it.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
I love it y'all.
We're changing AI fromartificial intelligence to
authentic intelligence in thenonprofit world.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Hashtag that AI, authentic intelligence.
I love it.
Well, I want to wrap this up,but I want to one one final
question is this because youknow, like we said earlier a lot
of times, there can benonprofits with similar missions
right, doing similar things inan area.
So how can an organizationreally differentiate themselves
(28:24):
to donors, you know, but stillhaving that spirit of
collaboration in the nonprofitsector?
Because you know, whenever yougo to write a grant, they want
to know that you'recollaborating with other
nonprofits to use theirresources, so you're not so
resource constrained and sodependent on, you know, grant
(28:45):
funding, even though we are, andthat's just what it is.
But you know, how can youreally differentiate yourself
from other nonprofits that maybeare similar to yours?
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Yeah.
So sometimes it's not evenabout being completely different
, because sometimes you have anaspect of your program that's a
little bit different.
So we have a lot of the many ofthe same high level donors at
(29:16):
my small nonprofit as a muchbigger nonprofit in our
community that does similar work.
There is room and a heart forthose donors because they were
already giving to the otherbigger nonprofit that they also
have room to help us.
Now what makes Seedling uniqueis that we're providing our
(29:38):
services for kids who areimpacted by parental
incarceration.
So for those donors it alsoadds a uniqueness that's
attractive because they may beinterested in criminal justice
or you know things like that.
So actually it's not really beenbelieve it or not.
It's not really been aboutdifferentiating with that
(29:59):
particular organization, becausewe've actually we're actually
sharing some donors.
They haven't come to both, butthere are other organizations
and we want to be good liketeammates in town and not be
talking bad about anothernonprofit.
But there's another nonprofitin our community.
Like one aspect of theirprogram is the same as ours in
(30:22):
terms of a core service and oneis different.
The one is different.
People that are interested infunding tutoring, for example,
they'll give there, but for thementoring maybe that other
organization doesn't have thecapacity and so we can say, well
(30:45):
, we've got a little bit morecapacity here.
Yeah, they're really good atthat program, but this is what
we do and we have a little bitmore capacity.
You can actually talk reallygood about the other non-profit,
uh, but then then also explainsome differences so that the
donor can still give to thatnonprofit but then they're not
feel like they're duplicatingbecause you're explaining the
difference.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Right and see, that's where I was trying to really
figure out how to make donorsfeel like my dollars are going
to something unique, somethingthat's different, something that
this other nonprofit is notdoing, which, in your case, is
very unique.
Right, Because you're providingmentors and your focus is on
kids who have been impacted byincarceration parental
(31:28):
incarceration or, if they do,you work with juvenile
incarceration as well.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Or no, just the child who, uh their parent is
incarcerated okay, yeah, andthat's a whole like.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
That's a whole other thing, because prison ministry
has really been on my mindlately.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Yeah, and um, I was talking to my husband about this
recently and so I don't know,I've been praying about it, so
we'll see we'll see, but youknow what that's the cool thing
is, because when you have amission, it meant like, oh, this
is, this is another thing.
I know we've got to wrap upsoon, but here's another mistake
that nonprofits are makingright now Is you got to be open
(32:06):
to a lot of different publicsthat could potentially fund your
organization?
So when you talked aboutpresent ministry and churches,
I'm like that's a perfect matchfor seedling.
Even though seedling is notfaith-based, churches are going
to be interested in what we do.
We need as much as we can tomake our nonprofit attractive to
(32:30):
everybody, especially in aworld that is so divided yes, a
world that is so divided and sopeople have got to check their
personal stuff at the door.
Do you understand what I mean,without compromising your
mission?
Now, I'm not telling anybody tocompromise their mission, but
in this world it's hard enoughto get money.
(32:52):
So we don't want to divide yourdonors either, but rather you
look for opportunities forcommonalities, and that's the
world spring.
If we can all just show thecommonalities that we have in a
world that's always trying todivide, then why don't we have
such a much better place if wewere always trying to find
commonalities, or why people canall pitch in to help your
(33:13):
nonprofit.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Yeah, and I'm always, I'm always at the notion that
there is plenty of resources outthere to for everybody, right?
So, we just have to know how tosteward those resources, and so,
you know, this is.
This has been wonderful, dan,thank you so much for your input
on this, because this has beensomething that's really been on
my mind lately, too, in terms ofdonor stewardship and
(33:36):
fundraising, and and doing it ina way that, like you said,
doesn't compromise the missionof the organization but conveys
the message and the impact thatyou're truly trying to have.
You know, without, like yousaid, when I'm saying, hey, can
you pay for my salaries?
(33:58):
So I appreciate you, Dan.
Thank you so much.
If people want to connect withyou or get in touch with you in
any way, how would they do that?
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Yeah, just get on LinkedIn and find me there Dan
Leal, ceo of Seedling Foundation.
They can also email me at danat seedlingmentorsorg.
I love helping other nonprofits.
I love having coffee with otherEDs.
We're a very collaborativeorganization and we're all in
(34:27):
this together for the good ofour community.
So never hesitate to reach outbecause, in addition to
children's services, my otherheart is just helping other
nonprofit leaders to besuccessful and even learn from
my mistakes that I've made overthe years.
Right, because we got to behumble about that and we're
learning every day as people.
So let's just try to worktogether.
(34:50):
Apply what I've learned to helpyou through my mistakes or
victories.
Learn to help you through mymistakes or victories.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Thank you so much, dan.
I appreciate you.
Thanks, guys, for tuning in toanother episode of the Spring
Forward podcast, and until nexttime, guys.
See you later.
Hey, nonprofit friends, welcome to the Spring
Forward podcast, where we talkabout all things nonprofit, from
board discord to grant writingand strategic planning tips.
If you're an executive director, nonprofit board member or just
someone heavily involved in thenonprofit sector, then this is
the podcast for you.
Let's spring forward intoexcellence.
(00:24):
This is the podcast for you.
Let's spring forward intoexcellence.
Welcome, welcome everyone toanother episode of the Spring
Forward podcast.
I'm your host, springRichardson Perry, and I am so
excited to be coming to youtoday.
We are going to be talkingabout fundraising and donor
stewardship in the nonprofitsector.
(00:46):
But before we get started, afew housekeeping things.
I remember a couple of weeksago I was talking to a good
friend of mine, shandalyn, andwe were talking about burnout
with nonprofit nonprofit leadersand we talked about a retreat
that we wanted to do, and so weare looking to you know, get you
(01:10):
guys in on this.
If you want in on the retreat,send me an email.
If you know Shandalyn Hilliard,send her an email.
Look us up on LinkedIn, onFacebook, spring Richardson
Perry or Shandalyn Hilliard, andlet us know and we will get you
on the wait list.
But without further ado, I wantto introduce our guest today,
(01:33):
dan Leal.
He's been a leader in youthnon-serving in youth serving
excuse me, non-profits since2002.
He is the CEO of SeedlingFoundation since 2017.
And so he's expanded thementorship programs for children
affected by parentalincarceration.
That's amazing.
I will say that prison ministryis big here in Texas, and so he
(01:59):
is a Texan.
He's up there in Austin withhis wife, kristen.
He has two adult sons and twograndchildren.
He's also a mentor himself.
He previously led theChildren's Advocacy Center in
Denton County for 15 years.
He was championing child safetyand justice.
So Dan has just a hugebackground in nonprofits and
(02:21):
youth advocacy, and so I'm superexcited to bring him on today
so that we can talk aboutfundraising and donor
stewardship.
So, dan welcome.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Thank you so much.
It's a pleasure to be here andan exciting topic for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
For sure, for sure.
And so we had a littlediscussion offline, he and I,
prior to this tap taping, and wewere just talking about how
important right now, in thismoment, diversifying your
funding is, and so we reallywant to dig deep into that today
.
Talk about fundraising, donorstewardship, all those good
(02:59):
things, and so I want to startwith this, dan talk about how
nonprofits can effectivelybalance the need for immediate
funding with cultivating thoselong term donor relationships,
because we know in the nonprofitsector, funding can be pretty
slow.
You got to apply, then see ifyou've been awarded.
(03:20):
So how do you balance that?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
awarded.
So how do you balance that?
You know, what's interestingabout this topic is there was a
while there, maybe during thepandemic and shortly after the
pandemic concluded, where I waskind of scratching my head, you
know, regarding thedisconnectedness that we were
feeling with our donors.
But where I've come to springis and to answer your question,
(03:46):
I think it's for both it reallyis all about relationships and
it does take intentionality onour part and you think, okay for
the long-term relationshipsespecially and that's true for
the longtime donors, to get yourmajor gifts, it revolves around
(04:06):
those relationships.
But I also think for the needfor money right now, it's still
about relationships.
So here's like an example solike and where you can get them.
So foundations, like we all wantthat foundation money as
nonprofits, because you're likeoh great, you know that money
(04:27):
comes in bigger chunks, but it'shard to gain the relationship
with the foundation peoplebecause some of them just take
the application or whatever.
But I think if we'reintentional about getting even
the face-to-face time with, like, the program officer of the
(04:49):
foundation, or if it's agovernment grant source, asking
questions, getting some time ontheir team's calendar or
whatever, it's still the same.
It just comes in bigger chunksfor the short term, and so I
think you've got to be workingboth.
You've got to be trying for theshort term and you've still got
(05:11):
to have your eye on thelong-term cultivation.
But both, either way, are aboutrelationships and it's a matter
of how you attain thatrelationship.
Is it the short Zoom call justto put a face with the name for
your follow-ups, or is it thelong-term, which is more of the
coffee or dinner or lunch typedeal?
But it's, relationships makesthe world go around.
(05:33):
So you still got to work onboth at the same time.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Yeah, that's true, and so many people were saying
this about the pandemic.
Was that connectedness right?
So they were losing touch withtheir donors, with their major
sponsors, and it was people weretrying to figure out digital
fundraising at that point, Like,how do we do this?
And it was really surprising tome, though, how many nonprofits
(05:59):
just relied on like in-personchecks.
You don't have like a creditcard system or like a you know
like a PayPal or something thatpeople can give online.
So that was.
That was very interesting to metoo that a lot of nonprofits
had to figure that stuff out.
And so it was really interestingto me, though, what you said
(06:21):
about the government grants,right, and so there's always a
contact person on the governmentgrants, especially those
federal grants.
And even if you just callbecause because, let me tell you
, you're going to have aquestion about something in that
RFP, because the wording isterrible and so you're going to
(06:41):
have a question, you call them,you ask them your question, and
then they usually get yourinformation like oh, oh, what's
your name, who are you callingwith?
And they will answer thequestion.
Who's really on the other sideof this computer?
Like?
(07:06):
I don't hear a voice, I don'tsee a face.
So I'm just going to answer thisreally quick and you're out of
my way.
But you pick up the phone, youcall, it really makes a
difference.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah, I agree, and we have to get over ourselves in
that regard because the world isteaching us shortcuts and
shortcuts are not always thebest.
So sometimes we as individualsfall into that email trap
because it's quick and easy, butfor fundraising it's not the
(07:36):
best way.
So what you're saying with thatperson as personal of an
outreach as you can do, and youand you have to check yourself
and if you have colleagues atyour nonprofit, hold each other
accountable to get those morepersonal contacts and what does
that look like in your donorrelation, meetings for that and
(07:57):
that's helpful.
So we don't individually getpassive in our ways.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
For sure, for sure, because it's easy to just kind
of be like oh, I'll just send anemail really quick.
It's easy, it doesn't take long,I don't have to be bothered.
But when you're, you have tothink about this, right?
When you're asking people forbig money, that's like if
somebody comes to you and theysay, hey, dan, I need to borrow
a thousand dollars to pay myrent or whatever right.
(08:24):
You're going to be like, okay,I need to borrow $1,000 to pay
my rent or whatever right.
You're going to be like, okay,first of all, you got to check
your bank account to see if youeven have it to give right.
But secondly, you're going tobe like, okay, so if I give you
this money, what happened thatyou don't have it?
Why do you need it?
And if I give it to you today,what are you going to do
tomorrow?
Meaning like next month, likeare you going to have the money
(08:45):
again?
Are you going to be coming backto me?
What is this?
Is this a recurring thing?
Is this a one-time thing?
What is this relationshiparound me giving you this money?
What is that going to look like?
And so you have to think aboutit in terms of that, as you're
asking your donors because thisis their money, this is their
hard-earned dollars that they'regiving to you and there is no
(09:05):
tangible return on investment asthere would be in a for-profit
business.
If they were investing in yourbusiness, they would be
expecting if I invest a thousandand you tell me my return would
be 100%, I'm going to getanother thousand dollars from it
.
Then, hey boom, we're allwinning.
You get the money you need upfront.
I get an extra thousand dollarsin my pocket.
But a nonprofit is different,right?
(09:29):
The return on the investment iswhatever the social service is.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Right.
And you know, another thingthat's happening today in
nonprofit fundraising that we'vegot to pay attention to is and
people think about social mediafrom the standpoint of oh, what
do my posts look like?
But let me tell you something.
I mean, you know this, I'mspeaking to the expert here, but
what's really the best thingabout social media is the
(09:56):
contacts that you get that openthe door for you to have those
one-on-ones.
So if I get a message, aninstant message, a DM, from
somebody who requests a meetingwith me, well, they're
interested.
And if they're a prospectivedonor and they've asked, they
(10:18):
say, can we grab coffee or do aZoom?
Then if it's in your ability,do grab the Zoom, because
they've made that personalapproach to you, they're
generally interested in yourcause and if you know they
donate to other organizations,grab the in-person, you know, or
even ask for it if you can getit.
(10:39):
But I think social media Ithink people are starting to get
it that that's the opportunity,especially with LinkedIn, to
grab those in-person meetingswith prospective donors.
I mean, obviously we've got touse discernment because we're
getting hit up by all kinds ofpeople that want to do business
with you for their for-profitbusiness.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
But man, the donor opportunity as a result of those
social media outreaches ispretty good it is pretty good
and a lot of people on theirprofiles they will have like
philanthropists or you know avidenvironmentalists or something
like that, and so those, andthen if you, if you take a
(11:19):
genuine interest in them and youlook at the their posts
themselves, the things thatthey're saying, the things that
they're commenting on, if you'retruly following them and you
look at their posts themselves,the things that they're saying,
the things that they'recommenting on, if you're truly
following them and truly engagedwith them, that is certainly an
opportunity for you to leveragesocial media for donor
stewardship.
Right, because this is how Danand I met.
Right, because Dan was talkingabout something about nonprofits
(11:41):
and CEOs and how.
I think it was something abouthow CEOs can stay connected to
their mission.
I believe it was, and I waslike this is awesome, like, and
then I started to really followDan and the things that he was
saying.
I was like I got to get him onthe podcast.
We can really talk about thisbecause there's there's just so
many little nuances to um,there's so many nuances to the
(12:05):
nonprofit world, you know, andpeople think, oh, I want to help
people, I want to do good,let's start a nonprofit.
I would say, pause for a secondand take a look to see if
there's already someone doingthis in your area and go and
volunteer with them and helpthem build their programs out,
because if you can help thembuild it, that is more resources
(12:30):
for you guys to be able toreally do some things, whereas
if you're starting another onein the area that is similar to
something that's already there,then you're taking resources
away from the both of you, right?
And so again, that's just justanother little tidbit that I'm
always thinking about, because Iget a lot of people that come
to me and say, oh, spring, Iwant to start a nonprofit, and
(12:52):
I'm like, okay, but let me giveyou the nitty gritty.
So so that's where we go.
But but another thing that whatI said earlier was like, when
you're talking about gettingmajor dollars from from donors
and really demonstrating whatyour impact is, and then in the
maintaining transparency abouthow you can use those funds, you
(13:15):
know what was a really good wayto do that, because you know
you have to get creative.
When you're talking to donors,but then to the point as well,
because they don't want to sitthere all day with just fluff,
and so how do you balance that?
What's what have you seen, dan?
Speaker 2 (13:32):
I think, just you know, obviously the first thing
donors want to know, obviouslywhat you do.
You know and how you do yourwork and why it's important.
I think focusing on the impactof your work is really important
.
And then when a donor asks youwell, what do you need and what
are you going to do with mymoney?
(13:53):
Sometimes as nonprofitdevelopment people or executive
directors, we get trapped intohaving that feeling that I've
got to do something extra withthis donor's money, especially
if they're a big donor, like Igot to do something extra to
impress them.
(14:14):
But, man, you've got to educatethat major donor, that prospect,
on what it takes to run yourprogram.
And a lot of times, especiallyin my nonprofit and a lot of
nonprofits, we're very peopleheavy.
Like it takes people to do thequality work that we provide.
Right, that is the mostimportant thing that my
(14:34):
nonprofit has is the qualitypeople that provide the services
to the people.
But you never say, well, I wantmoney for a salary.
No, you have to explain how ageneral contribution because
that feeds back into your peoplewhat impact that makes and how
much of inputs go into yourprogram in order to deliver
(14:58):
quality program and then, as aresult, what that will do for
people.
So don't get yourself hemmed into feeling like you've got to do
something new or differentbecause we're all struggling
enough for money as it is thatwe've got to do a best job of
communicating to the donor what,what general, what donations do
in terms of impact with whatwe're already doing in our
(15:20):
service delivery.
You know what I mean.
Like, what deliverables is itgoing to provide and why is it
so costly?
Like donors, appreciate thatinsight and understanding
because their donors are moreknowledgeable now than they've
ever been before.
Okay, so that's better, sodon't get trapped into.
Oh well, what do you?
(15:41):
What do you want me to do withyour money?
You need to tell them what youneed and why it's important to
deliver the services that you'vegot to deliver at your, at your
core mission.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Yeah, so, and you know that's so true, right?
You don't have to get super,super duper creative with it,
right?
You just have to be able totell the story of your
organization.
What is it that you're going tobe doing?
But another thing that stuckout to me, though, dan, was you
said, well, you don't want totell them.
You need it for salaries, right, and so I want you to expand on
that for me, because somepeople think that that's okay,
(16:13):
like I've seen that done, wherepeople are asking specifically
well, can you make a donation sowe can pay salaries, and so,
like, where do you find thatbalance?
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Yeah.
So I mean when you write agrant and you're going to write
into your grant budget thesalaries for the people, that's
what the grant budget's payingfor in a grant.
But I think no matter what youwrite in a grant or what you say
to somebody across the table,it's about the service.
So you're not being dishonest,because it does take people to
(16:46):
provide the service, but yourlanguage is about the service
that those said staff provideand what the result is of the
service.
You know what I mean.
So you aren't asking for thatsupport because it takes people
to provide it, but like, forexample, like the organization
(17:09):
that I'm the CEO of, seedlingit's a high touch organization,
right, because we're dealingwith people, we're dealing with
schools and mentors and mentees,and the lay person out there
thinks oh so you're a mentoringorganization that you know uses
volunteers to provide it.
(17:30):
It must be really inexpensive.
And why do you denote nations?
Because volunteers provide it.
So we've got to be especiallygood at explaining.
Because volunteers provide it.
So we've got to be especiallygood at explaining.
We're asking for your funds togo out in the community and
recruit mentors.
We're asking for your money totrain mentors.
We're asking for your money tovet mentors, which means
(17:51):
background checks and referencechecks.
We're asking for your money togo into schools and work with
the schools to find the kidsthat need us the most, and it
takes people to go in andencourage that to happen.
And really importantly andprocedurally is we need funds to
help us support those matches.
(18:12):
Well, because if we pour intothat mentor who, yes, is a
volunteer and do it with aprofessional staff that can
intelligently answer delicatequestions, be a mature person,
that that you know volunteer,can handle, can entrust, and
then that match lasts longerbecause we provide quality,
(18:32):
professional match support.
Then the result is that ourmatches last longer and there's
better results for our kids,because the longer the match,
the better result.
So I just said all that, whichis a lot.
But I said all that to say youknow, I am paying for salaries.
I didn't say that that way toyou.
I said this is what we have todo.
(18:54):
These are the stories we haveto provide.
I mean, it's people behind it,but I'm showing them the work
and the outcome.
And then, yes, they give me adonation and I'm going to use it
on my general operation tosupport some of those salaries.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
You just stated your logic model.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Yeah, for sure, it's just how you put it.
That's the words that you say.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
And for sure it is right, and that's why I wanted
to have you clarify that for us,because, of course, salaries
are needed for people to carryout the program activities, but
the way you convey thatinformation is not simply, oh, I
need money for salaries.
You, just like you said, youknow, just like you said, you
(19:41):
say, well, this is what we needto do, this is, this is the
impact of what we're going to doand, as a result of this, we
expect to see these outcomes.
Right, and so that's that's theway to do it.
I love it, I you know.
And that's another thing thatI'm thinking about too, dan is
because, right, when you'reexplaining these things, when
(20:01):
you're telling people who youwant to be donors, right, do you
have a different way ofstorytelling to someone who's
going to be like a major donor,as opposed to someone who's
maybe just given a one-timedonation or like a small,
recurring thing?
Like, what's the difference inyour storytelling for those
types of donors?
Speaker 2 (20:21):
You know, I think the story is similar, but here's
the thing With a major donor,you're likely going to be
putting more time into thosevisits.
You're going to be seeking thatface-to-face time and you know
what.
As much as it is about whatthat major donor telling them
(20:42):
about your organization, youknow what it is equally or more
so about.
It's really equally or more soabout learning about them and
what is their why.
Because if you genuinely get toknow them and what is their why
, then it informs you aboutreally where they would be more
(21:02):
inclined to make a gift and whatmakes them tick.
I think, man, I tell you it isone of the most important parts
about fundraising and you canfeel the difference with these
one-on-ones is your genuinenessand your genuineness in caring
(21:22):
about that other person acrossthe table.
So telling the story is onething, but caring about that
other person and genuinelycaring about them.
And sometimes and I had thishappen not long ago we feel
rushed because we're excited tomeet with that big capacity
(21:43):
donor, and it's a big mistake.
When you rush, you understandLike we're excited oh my gosh, I
may not get this person again.
That's your fear.
Honestly, what I've learned'velearned, man.
It's a big mistake we can makebecause of our anxiousness.
(22:03):
Well, truly, the time with thatperson is more important in the
genuineness, what that personcan set you apart over anybody
else.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
For sure.
And you know, I think we allkind of fall victim to that
sometimes too, because we're insuch a fast paced world right
now where everything is just go,go, go.
You know, we're always superconscious of people's time
because you know people are liketime is money.
So you don't want, you don'twant to waste anybody's time,
but then too you do want to takethe time to really sit down and
(22:37):
talk to them and tell themabout your organization, learn
things about them, because maybeyou know if they're especially
if they're a major donor.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
And if you send gifts out to your major donors, you
know, find out what it is thatthey like.
How can we appeal to you forbeing so generous to us?
Being so generous to us and soyou know, you can find something
out about them.
That's like a small token ofyour appreciation that will go a
long way and even perhaps havethem contribute even more the
(23:05):
next time around.
You know, Right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Yeah, and you know.
The other thing is that's whyit's so important to put those
notes into your relationshipmanagement system about what you
discovered and what you foundout, so that that information
becomes institutional knowledge.
And sometimes we get lazy and Ihave to have my development
team hold me accountable becauseI'm always doing this out of
(23:30):
the other, like Dan, did you putthat note in there, or did you
hit the BCC on the email thatyou sent?
Put that note in there or didyou hit the BCC on the email
that you sent?
And I'm guilty so often.
But you learn things with thesemeetings that then are
institutional information thatyou need to make sure everybody
else knows, because there may bethings, not just what the donor
does like, but what they don'tappreciate and they don't like.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Yeah, and you know you said something to me that
stuck out just now too was aboutthese donor management systems.
Right, these relationshipmanagement systems, because I
find a lot of organizations andI typically work with smaller to
midsize nonprofits system.
They don't have a way of like.
(24:15):
They may have like, an emaillist, oh, and they, you know,
they know specifically off thetop of their head oh, we know,
barbara gives us, you know,5,000.
If we ask her, and we know thatDan will give us, you know,
20,000, he gave us 25 last year.
He said he'll, he'll get up itto 30,000 this year if he sees
these things in the organizationor whatever.
(24:42):
And so they know off the top oftheir head, they're, they're big
players, but there's no likethere's no relationship
management system where they cankeep track of these things, to
put notes down and to really,because, because I guess in in
these, what I find in theseorganizations is that they're
they're so small that they'rejust trying to keep up day to
day with programming and thentrying to manage a relationship
(25:04):
management system.
They're like what, what's that?
Who has time for that?
We're doing A, b, c, d, e, f, gin one day and we really only
have time for A, b and C, onlyhave time for a, b and c, but we
fit it all in, and so, um, youknow, I wonder how would ai play
into this too?
What have you, um, have you atany point been using ai in your
(25:26):
nonprofit at this point?
Yet?
Speaker 2 (25:28):
interesting.
You asked that question becausewe have just been invited in my
community for an ai grant to beone of 20 nonprofit
organizations that will receive$50,000 to integrate AI into our
fundraising approach, and soI'm excited about that because
we're gonna be working on usingAI in fundraising.
(25:49):
But to this point you know, I amold school it's always the idea
of using AI, for example, towrite a letter, because I'm like
, or a grant, you know, becauseI'm like man.
It's got to be authentic.
It's got to be authentic.
I've been preaching authenticand you can start with something
and go edit, but my developmentteam has been using some of it
(26:14):
Because, you know, here's whereI think.
I think where I've made, whereI made the mistake before was
we're so invested in our workand we're so in our work as the
staff member that perhapssometimes AI will unveil unveil
some language that we weren'tthinking about, because we're so
much into the work we're likeman I didn't even think about
(26:35):
that.
So I think there's anopportunity for AI in
fundraising to help us thinkabout something that we weren't
thinking about because we're sofar in it and so used to using
the same language.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Yeah, that's a perfect example, and I always
like to say that AI is likethose sentence starters that you
used to see around yourteacher's classroom, like you
know I will do this, or you knowI can say that or whatever, but
it's like those sentencestarters that you would see
around the classroom and so it'sone of those things where you
know you put in some information, you ask for the help, and then
(27:10):
it gives you suggestions andthen you take that and you
refine it, you make it into whatyou need it to be, because
there is such a thing, as youknow AI language.
Like sometimes somebody wouldjust copy and paste something
straight from AI and you're likethis came straight from.
AI, like you can just tell youknow so like you said, there
(27:31):
still needs to be a level ofauthenticity for that.
Right, but it's not totally outthe window.
It is really really can be veryhelpful.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
So maybe we should change the word Spring.
It's nonprofit people.
When we say AI, we should sayauthentic intelligence instead
of artificial intelligence.
I love it.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
I love it y'all.
We're changing AI fromartificial intelligence to
authentic intelligence in thenonprofit world.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Hashtag that AI, authentic intelligence.
I love it.
Well, I want to wrap this up,but I want to one one final
question is this because youknow, like we said earlier a lot
of times, there can benonprofits with similar missions
right, doing similar things inan area.
So how can an organizationreally differentiate themselves
(28:24):
to donors, you know, but stillhaving that spirit of
collaboration in the nonprofitsector?
Because you know, whenever yougo to write a grant, they want
to know that you'recollaborating with other
nonprofits to use theirresources, so you're not so
resource constrained and sodependent on, you know, grant
(28:45):
funding, even though we are, andthat's just what it is.
But you know, how can youreally differentiate yourself
from other nonprofits that maybeare similar to yours?
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Yeah.
So sometimes it's not evenabout being completely different
, because sometimes you have anaspect of your program that's a
little bit different.
So we have a lot of the many ofthe same high level donors at
(29:16):
my small nonprofit as a muchbigger nonprofit in our
community that does similar work.
There is room and a heart forthose donors because they were
already giving to the otherbigger nonprofit that they also
have room to help us.
Now what makes Seedling uniqueis that we're providing our
(29:38):
services for kids who areimpacted by parental
incarceration.
So for those donors it alsoadds a uniqueness that's
attractive because they may beinterested in criminal justice
or you know things like that.
So actually it's not really beenbelieve it or not.
It's not really been aboutdifferentiating with that
(29:59):
particular organization, becausewe've actually we're actually
sharing some donors.
They haven't come to both, butthere are other organizations
and we want to be good liketeammates in town and not be
talking bad about anothernonprofit.
But there's another nonprofitin our community.
Like one aspect of theirprogram is the same as ours in
(30:22):
terms of a core service and oneis different.
The one is different.
People that are interested infunding tutoring, for example,
they'll give there, but for thementoring maybe that other
organization doesn't have thecapacity and so we can say, well
(30:45):
, we've got a little bit morecapacity here.
Yeah, they're really good atthat program, but this is what
we do and we have a little bitmore capacity.
You can actually talk reallygood about the other non-profit,
uh, but then then also explainsome differences so that the
donor can still give to thatnonprofit but then they're not
feel like they're duplicatingbecause you're explaining the
difference.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Right and see, that's where I was trying to really
figure out how to make donorsfeel like my dollars are going
to something unique, somethingthat's different, something that
this other nonprofit is notdoing, which, in your case, is
very unique.
Right, Because you're providingmentors and your focus is on
kids who have been impacted byincarceration parental
(31:28):
incarceration or, if they do,you work with juvenile
incarceration as well.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Or no, just the child who, uh their parent is
incarcerated okay, yeah, andthat's a whole like.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
That's a whole other thing, because prison ministry
has really been on my mindlately.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Yeah, and um, I was talking to my husband about this
recently and so I don't know,I've been praying about it, so
we'll see we'll see, but youknow what that's the cool thing
is, because when you have amission, it meant like, oh, this
is, this is another thing.
I know we've got to wrap upsoon, but here's another mistake
that nonprofits are makingright now Is you got to be open
(32:06):
to a lot of different publicsthat could potentially fund your
organization?
So when you talked aboutpresent ministry and churches,
I'm like that's a perfect matchfor seedling.
Even though seedling is notfaith-based, churches are going
to be interested in what we do.
We need as much as we can tomake our nonprofit attractive to
(32:30):
everybody, especially in aworld that is so divided yes, a
world that is so divided and sopeople have got to check their
personal stuff at the door.
Do you understand what I mean,without compromising your
mission?
Now, I'm not telling anybody tocompromise their mission, but
in this world it's hard enoughto get money.
(32:52):
So we don't want to divide yourdonors either, but rather you
look for opportunities forcommonalities, and that's the
world spring.
If we can all just show thecommonalities that we have in a
world that's always trying todivide, then why don't we have
such a much better place if wewere always trying to find
commonalities, or why people canall pitch in to help your
(33:13):
nonprofit.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Yeah, and I'm always, I'm always at the notion that
there is plenty of resources outthere to for everybody, right?
So, we just have to know how tosteward those resources, and so,
you know, this is.
This has been wonderful, dan,thank you so much for your input
on this, because this has beensomething that's really been on
my mind lately, too, in terms ofdonor stewardship and
(33:36):
fundraising, and and doing it ina way that, like you said,
doesn't compromise the missionof the organization but conveys
the message and the impact thatyou're truly trying to have.
You know, without, like yousaid, when I'm saying, hey, can
you pay for my salaries?
(33:58):
So I appreciate you, Dan.
Thank you so much.
If people want to connect withyou or get in touch with you in
any way, how would they do that?
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Yeah, just get on LinkedIn and find me there Dan
Leal, ceo of Seedling Foundation.
They can also email me at danat seedlingmentorsorg.
I love helping other nonprofits.
I love having coffee with otherEDs.
We're a very collaborativeorganization and we're all in
(34:27):
this together for the good ofour community.
So never hesitate to reach outbecause, in addition to
children's services, my otherheart is just helping other
nonprofit leaders to besuccessful and even learn from
my mistakes that I've made overthe years.
Right, because we got to behumble about that and we're
learning every day as people.
So let's just try to worktogether.
(34:50):
Apply what I've learned to helpyou through my mistakes or
victories.
Learn to help you through mymistakes or victories.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Thank you so much, dan.
I appreciate you.
Thanks, guys, for tuning in toanother episode of the Spring
Forward podcast, and until nexttime, guys.
See you later.
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