What do you know about cybersecurity? You’re probably aware that it’s a threat, but if you don’t know what cybersecurity threats entail or how to increase your own security, how can you really protect yourself or your organization? Listen in to this BBCon excerpt to learn about some of the basics of cybersecurity, including what the risks and threats are, steps you can take to protect yourself, and how to implement policies at the workplace that protect your company.
Topics Discussed in This Episode:
Resources:
Cybersecurity Industry Standards
Security at Blackbaud Overview
Quotes:
“Additionally, 85% of the breaches that happen involve some sort of human element.”
“Bottom line, social engineering takes advantage of someone going about their usual day.”
“If you receive an email, phone call, or voicemail that feels odd, it probably is.”
Trends in giving and donor retention are an important topic in the fundraising landscape, and at this time of year, it’s a good idea to take a look at what’s been happening in the fundraising world. Looking closely at giving and donor retention now with help you get a handle on end-of-the-year giving and some clarity about what will be coming in the new year. Listen in to this episode to hear from Erica Wassdorp about current fundraising trends, how online giving has developed in different kinds of organizations, and how to handle benefits for recurring donors.
Topics Discussed in This Episode:
Resources:
Blackbaud Institute Retention Toolkit
Quotes:
“We have to tell them that they can make a difference even when it’s with a smaller recurring gift.”
“I think the other piece that has really helped with that, of course, is the whole digital, online opportunities.”
“The only promise you want to make to your new monthly donor is that they’re going to get updates from you.”
Are you dealing with problems in your organizations and wondering why you can’t solve them, or why you can’t solve them in a lasting way? Listen in to this excerpt from bbcon 2021 Virtual, where Sarah Beauregard, Senior Process Engineer at Blackbaud, discusses root cause analysis.
Topics Discussed in This Episode:
Resources:
Quotes:
“If we pull up the weed by the root, it won’t come back.”
“Also as a part of this step, we identify who those subject matter experts are that could help determine why this problem might be happening.”
“The real value here comes from engaging those subject matter experts on a guided conversation to get to that root cause.”
What do social good organizations need to know about corporate philanthropy? In today’s episode, you’ll hear from Julia Beltran, partnership specialist from Double the Donation, to learn more about corporate giving programs and how to promote them. Listen to the episode to hear what Julia has to say about common types of corporate philanthropy, data points on matching gift programs, and how to boost a companies’ matching gift percentage.
Topics Discussed in This Episode:
Resources:
Quotes:
“Over 65% of Fortune 500 companies offer matching gift programs, so quite a lot.”
“I think that people do engage in matching gift programs, but they don’t nearly engage as much as they could.”
“Engaging donors during the giving process, or like right when they’re about to give, is a great way to encourage people to submit matching gift requests.”
Volunteering is changing. Many volunteer opportunities went virtual because of the pandemic, and like other types of work, it may never look exactly like it did in a pre-pandemic world. So what does volunteering look like now? What resources are there for professionals in this space who want to learn more about how volunteering has changed and how to rise to those changes? In today’s episode, you’ll hear from Ben Sampson of WeHero. Listen to the conversation to learn more about what WeHero does, the latest trends and changes in the volunteering space, and how to provide new and different volunteer opportunities.
Topics Discussed in This Episode:
Resources:
Quotes:
“Workers are going to come out of this really wanting agency in how and where they work, but also that ability to really connect meaningfully with people.”
“One of the big pros that we noticed is we saw people from different countries, different cultures, connecting over a common cause and volunteering.”
“Adobe does a really good job of building a portfolio of numerous different kinds of volunteer opportunities.”
Is donor retention different when the donor is acquired online? In this episode, you’ll learn more about ways to improve donor retention for online-acquired donors. Joining the podcast today is Rachel Clemens, Chief Marketing Officer of Mighty Citizen. Listen to today’s conversation to learn what Rachel thinks about building relationships between donors and organizations, the role of segmentation, and how language factors into donor retention.
Topics Discussed in This Episode:
Resources:
Quotes:
“I always think about donor retention as part of the donation process.”
“It’s not a transaction. It’s a relationship.”
“The thing that comes to mind almost immediately is just getting their tech in check.”
The newest Blackbaud Luminate Online® Benchmark Report provides unique insight to online fundraising during its meteoric rise in 2020. Learn more about the shift to email engagement, how one-time online giving changed nonprofit revenue composition, and the steady march of sustainer donors. Joining the podcast today are report analysts Mike Snusz, Rachael Ahrens, and Deb Ashmore of Blackbaud’s Professional Services team as well as Erik Leaver, Principal Customer Success Manager. They also share their predictions for the next big online fundraising opportunity in this new guide.
Topics Discussed in This Episode:
Resources:
Blackbaud Luminate Online Benchmark Report
Quotes:
“Ultimately, I always like to have nonprofits know that the best benchmarks are your own.”
“Be prepared for emergency giving.”
“Those that grow the fastest have the most robust direct acquisition strategies.”
We are now just a little more than a month from GivingTuesday is getting closer all the time, you don’t need to stress if your organization hasn’t yet developed its plan. Today, Blackbaud’s GivingTuesday experts Matt Connell and Jackie Zimmerman join the podcast to talk about the value of Giving Tuesday, how organizations can start planning now for a successful day, and the GivingTuesday campaigns have inspired them.
Topics Discussed in This Episode:
Resources:
Quotes:
“While we should be giving every day of the year, let’s make sure that we especially give on this particular day of the year.” –Jackie Zimmerman
“If this, again, is your first experiment with it, you’re not the first people experimenting with it.” –Matt Connell
“Giving Tuesday is the day I make sure that my matching gift is used up for the year.” –Matt Connell
Digital communications have become ever more important over the last year and a half, and visual storytelling is a critical part of an effective strategy. Visual images help supporters visualize and understand what the organizations are doing, and how their contributions make a difference.
That's why today we are bringing back an ever relevant episode originally recorded at bbcon 2018 featuring Ira Horowitz, the founder of Cornershop Creative. Listen in to hear what Ira has to say about why visuals matter in storytelling, how to demonstrate to donors that they can be the heroes of the story, and how to match copy with the right visuals for maximum impact.
Topics Discussed in This Episode:
Resources:
How can finance and fundraising departments better work with each other? Why does it matter? Often, these disparate personalities find that working together feels chaotic, but it doesn’t need to be that way. In today’s episode, you’ll hear some ideas about how finance and development can build connections and better work together to support the mission.
Topics Discussed in This Episode:
Resources:
Financial Management Toolkit – Blackbaud Institute
Blackbaud University Curriculum For Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT
Quotes:
“The idea of everybody working together as a team in order to support the mission is immense in a nonprofit.”
“Nobody that is in finance in a nonprofit organization wants to see us go over budget.”
“I would think that the first thing you want to do is open the line of communication.”
Today, improving ESG (environmental, social, and governance) performance is no longer optional. People want to work for companies that are helping to change the world, consumers are making purchasing decisions based on how brands are solving social problems and addressing climate change and investors consider companies that are ESG laggards to be high-risk. Despite the imperative for corporations to be making social change a priority, many businesses continue the practice of "CSR lite," an approach that prioritizes communications and optics over meaningful and measurable change.
Join Paul Klein for a conversation about why it's more important than ever for corporations to shift from a checkbox approach to corporate social responsibility to one that contributes to solving social problems. They will discuss what social change leadership looks like today and how businesses can help solve social problems and benefit from doing so.
Topics Discussed in This Episode:
Resources:
[book] Change for Good by Paul Klein (ECW press) - coming spring 2022
Quotes:
“I think that the social dimension of business is the next frontier of what it means to be a business in society today.”
"There's a leadership vacuum at a social change level."
“So many companies don't take [being socially responsible] beyond the bare minimum and that's what CSR lite is. It's the optics, rather than the substance."
“To me, the essence of innovation is thinking about the fastest way to make the biggest difference at the lowest cost.”
What impact has COVID-19 and the racial justice movement had on corporate social responsibility (CSR)? The Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals (ACCP) partnered with Rocket Social Impact to research just that. Join Carolyn Berkowitz, President and CEO of ACCP, on today’s episode to learn all about it and what motivated their research.
Topics Discussed in This Episode:
Resources:
The Impact of Pandemic & Racial Justice Movement on CSR
Quotes:
“The expectations of CEOs and of senior leadership is significantly raising the game. They want to be reported to more frequently and want to have a greater hand in the [social responsibility] work.”
“There’s a heightened demand for measurement and there is not necessarily an increase in the internal resources to do that work… We’ve got to have the right people in the right places to do the volume of work that is expected and necessary to make change.”
“40% of companies in the survey said that they are making a long-term CSR focus-area shift. 64% of those are shifting or adding racial justice and racial equity as a priority.”
Federal grants complicate the budgeting process. You have to consider a lot of different scenarios, and you don’t have any room for error. In today’s episode, you’ll hear from Stacy Fitzsimmons and learn more about budgeting for Community Health Centers when grants are part of the picture. Listen in to learn about where to start with your budget, why you need to break costs into buckets, and how to get yourself audit-ready.
Topics Discussed in This Episode:
Resources:
eBook: Set up Your Community Health Center for Federal Grant Success: https://hello.blackbaud.com/budgeting-for-community-health.html
Whitepaper: Data-Driven Decision Making for Community Health Centers https://hello.blackbaud.com/Datat-Driven-Decisions-eBook.html
Quotes:
“With this type of budgeting, you’ll also be setting yourself up for success and making sure that all of your funds are traceable within the accounting system by your grant award.”
“Why I recommend this is that you will then be able to report against your budget by these categories when you’re asked to report against it.”
“If you have documentation that supports that expense entry, upload it with your entry so that documentation is right there.”
What is corporate purpose? What are the current rules for corporate purpose? And why do we need to redefine them? In today’s interview with Judy Samuelson, Founder and Executive Director of the Aspen Business and Society Program, you’ll learn about her new book, The Six New Rules of Business, and why she’s been on a mission to disrupt economist Milton Friedman’s narrative about corporate purpose.
Topics Discussed in This Episode:
Resources:
The Six New Rules of Business: Creating Real Value in a Changing World by Judy Samuelson
Quotes:
“I like to say single objective functions, whether it’s about stock price or customers, rarely ends well.”
“In order to do very much, to last for very long, you simply have to be balancing the inputs that are critical to the health of the enterprise.”
“Sustainability is not an end game either, it’s a mindset.”
“Today the responsibility of companies is defined way outside the gate of the business.”
“To solve the most complex problems we need to bring people together, we need to bring these remarkably powerful institutions that we call business together to collaborate to go deeper into systems and change the norm.”
GivingTuesday isn’t a new or unexpected event, but some organizations struggle to make the most of it. Whether it’s learning how to better engage supporters or improving results over previous years, standing up a successful campaign may seem overwhelming. With 2021’s GivingTuesday coming up sooner than you may think, Sophia Latto joins the podcast to give expert advice on what organizations can do to seize the GivingTuesday and make it a repeatable success.
Topics Discussed in This Episode:
Resources:
Blackbaud's GivingTuesday Toolkit
Quotes:
“It’s important to connect a personal story about real people with your impact for GivingTuesday.”
“I always think of GivingTuesday as being the kickoff to end of year fundraising.”
“Keeping it simple will help you keep everything streamlined.”
“Think in terms of engagement and build that relationship and that goodwill with your constituents before you hit them with hard asks.”
Over the past year and several months, change has been one of the few constants you can count on. Of course, change always happens eventually, but recently, everyone has been in a period of greater amounts of change than usual – and people are beginning to get fatigued. How can you prevent change burnout in your organization? By implementing change management.
In today’s episode, you’ll hear from Melissa Rancour, Principal Instructional Designer at Blackbaud University about why it’s important to talk about change management, the importance of the questions that need to be asked about change and what order to ask them in, and what to do with the questions once you know them.
Topics Discussed in This Episode:
Resources:
Quotes:
“All those changes we’ve experienced over the last 14+ months, most of those have been quick changes with no prep. Change management means we need some prep.”
“If you go through the questions process it can help you know if that change is going to ripple into a bigger change.”
“It’s because “what” impacts “when” something can happen.”
For years, the role of development operations teams has been perceived as a data and technology-focused position within the nonprofit world. As technology, nonprofits, and the way we fundraise has significantly changed over the last few decades, so has the role of the operations team. For organizations and leaders willing to evolve, this presents an incredible opportunity – both for the organization’s success and the individual’s advancement.
In today’s episode, Deb Taft, CEO of Lindauer and Luis Morales, senior director of information strategy at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, chat with guest host Ashley Sweeney of Blackbaud about the ways that today’s DBAs are adding value to the organization, how leaders can maximize this impact, and what operations team members should do to advance their career.
Topics Discussed in This Episode:
Resources:
Promoting Your Value as a Database Administrator
Confessions of a Database Administrator
Confessions of a Database Administrator, Part II
Quotes:
“The value I see the operations team offering is collaboratively ensuring that our clients, their colleagues, have the context they need to make strategic data-driven decisions.”
“The value of the operations team is different and differently valued than it was years ago as a profound driver really of nonprofits and advancement results.”
“The operations team can create value by enriching conversations.”
“It’s about more than just filling requests and mailing lists and reports. We are the subject matter experts for the organization’s data, integrations, trends, etc.”
“I encourage my team to work as an internal consulting company with different business units in the foundation are our clients.”
How has the future of social good changed since COVID? Much of the answer has to do with how the pandemic impacted leaders in the nonprofit sector. Here to talk about it is Marc A. Pitman, founder and CEO of Concord Leadership Group. Listen in to hear what Marc has to say about the effects of uncertainty on nonprofit leadership, what needs to be left behind as leaders and organizations move forward, and what isn’t coming back post-pandemic.
Topics Discussed in This Episode:
Resources:
Blackbaud Institute npEXPERTS 2021 eBook
Quotes:
“Anytime we start taking over the decision-making for someone else, we’re robbing them of their humanity.”
“Everybody was scared, but some leaders were able to continue navigating the ship, while other leaders were panicking in an unproductive way.”
“I hope we get over the butts-in-seats equals productivity mentality.”
Inclusivity matters. Diversity makes organizations stronger and better. So how do social good organizations engage donors of color? Joining the podcast today to talk about this issue are Brenda Asare, President and CEO of The Alford Group, and JoAnn Yoshimoto, Senior Consultant at The Alford Group. Listen to today’s show to hear what they have to say about why it’s important to engage donors of color, how to build trust with donors of color, and what you need to think about to understand different types of donors.
Topics Discussed in This Episode:
Resources:
The Mays Family Institute on Diverse Philanthropy
Quotes:
“When we go back and look at the genesis of what it means to be generous, people of color have been doing that all of their lives.” – Brenda Asare
“It's not as if there's one specific way to approach this community versus another community versus another community. Don’t use what we call a cookie-cutter approach, a one-size-fits-all.” – JoAnn Yoshimoto
“What I really dislike seeing in the field of fundraising is the smile that you put on when you're asking for a gift and then you turn your back and it's over. That's not how you create trust among diverse communities. You need to engage consistently, authentically.” – JoAnn Yoshimoto
“Fundraising doesn't happen in a bubble. It happens within a culture.” – Brenda Asare
“Nonprofits have the opportunity to create even more impact. But how can you do that when you are neglecting 30-40% of a population who have the capacity, desire, and readiness to give but you're not asking?” – Brenda Asare
The past year or so has changed things, including how organizations reach their goals and how they think about their employees. Here to talk about some of these changes is Kari Niedfeldt-Thomas, Managing Director, Corporate Strategy & Impact, CECP. Listen in to hear what Kari has to say about what companies have learned in the past year and a half, how CECP started their journey to racial equity and inclusion, and how they’re supporting other companies along this path.
Topics Discussed in This Episode:
Resources:
Quotes:
“But now, broadly, everyone in a company understands that that’s part of their work – how to get close to a society, how to be responsive.”
“The employee, certainly over the years has become one of the most important stakeholders, but in 2020, it became the most important stakeholder for a company.”
“Employees are your first community. And if you didn’t know it before you should know it now.”
“Companies recognize that they have core business needs and those need to be aligned with what’s happening broadly in society thru their partnerships and solving community issues.”
Systems make up the circumstances we live in, so changing the systems can change the circumstances. But how can you make systems change? And how can social good organizations that share common causes come together to make systems change?
Today’s guest is Dr. Sally Uren, CEO of Forum of the Future. In today’s episode, she’ll explain what systems change is and why it’s needed, how organizations can come together to make it happen, and how those organizations can measure their impact. Listen in to learn more about Sally, Forum of the Future, and the importance of systems change to address global challenges.
Topics Discussed in This Episode:
Resources:
Quotes:
“The process of driving systems change is really understanding how do we reconfigure the systems we rely on.”
“Where are those areas that we can focus on that if we really improve them, we can derive multiple benefits in multiple places.”
“What we’ve really begun to understand is that no one actor in any given system can solve for the big challenges in that system on their own.”
The story of philanthropy as multi-cultural people experience it is not being told. Today’s guest, Dr. Tashion Macon, is setting out to change the narrative and add nuance and truth to help evolve the philanthropy sector. Dr. Macon is the Senior Vice President of Marketing, Branding and Social Justice Strategy at Bridge Philanthropic Consulting. Listen in to learn more about what Bridge Philanthropic Consulting does, who the pioneers of African American and Hispanic American philanthropy are, and how organizations can adopt a more diverse approach in their fundraising strategies.
Topics Discussed in This Episode:
Resources:
Iconic Impact Series from Bridge Philanthropic Consulting
Quotes:
“You really can’t gain ground unless you have a ground game. And you need people. People create the ground game.”
“The framework of philanthropy in the multi-cultural experience foundationally begins at home. We’ve had to advance our own from within our own.”
“We are giving. Hispanic Americans are giving. Native Americans are giving. It’s simply not tracked or counted in the traditional philanthropic sense. And because it’s not, there is a myth that the community may not be ‘givers,’ which isn’t true.”
“The dominant perspective has not known how to engage [BIPOC], to dialogue, to dissect ways that are meaningful to the context of their lived-out experience, so that you can engage them in a way that is true. Part of that begins with culturally nuanced communications.”
“If there ever was a time to be authentic, it’s now.”
Protecting patient information is critical. But it is a delicate balance between minimizing a healthcare organization’s risk and enabling development staff to raise mission-critical funds.
In this episode Marti Arvin, Executive Advisor at CynergisTek, joins Blackbaud’s Liza Turcotte for a candid discussion on working together to create this appropriate balance.
Topics Discussed in This Episode:
DISCLAIMER: Nothing in this podcast is intended to be legal advice—please consult your organization’s own legal counsel.
Resources:
Quotes:
“The risk appetite of the organization is something that’s up to senior leadership.”
“As long as I felt my leadership had made an informed decision, I could sleep at night.”
“It’s not just HIPAA in all cases that you have to consider, so if you’ve made yourself aware of what the HIPPA regulations are, that may not be enough.”
High donor attrition is a fact of life for fundraisers—even those who excel at donor retention. To grow revenue, social good organizations must attract a steady stream of new donors each year to replace those that will be lost. However, your organization likely has supporters who, despite a lack of giving history, have engaged with you in some way in the past.
In today’s episode, Brooke Hansel, Nonprofit Principal Solutions Marketer at Blackbaud, discusses the challenges associated with acquisition, how to determine which supporters to steward, and the practical steps you can take to establish a more streamlined process for converting your supporters into donors.
Topics Discussed in This Episode:
Resources:
Quotes:
“It’s important, more now than ever, to focus your acquisition efforts close to home.”
“Acquisition is critical given the whole “leaky bucket” idea.”
“The more efficient we can be at doing this work, the more time we have to play.”
What’s the difference between fundraising and raising money? Many people may think of successful fundraising as simply getting donations, but that definition leaves out another important element: engaging smaller or future donors. Some may not be able to give large gifts, but they can still become an important source of support for an organization.
Listen in to today’s episode to hear Melissa Rancour, principal instructional designer for Blackbaud University, talk about what social good organizations can do to get others invested and talking about their cause, the effect this has on donor retention, and how it can reduce donor remorse.
Topics Discussed in This Episode:
Resources:
Blackbaud University Organizational Best Practices
Quotes:
“It’s all about time, talents, and treasures.”
“If we’re connecting with people in order to get them to share about our organization, and share with others, you’re connecting with them, so they share about your cause.”
“We need to look beyond just that money piece because we want those long-term donors.”