With the help of Muhi Khwaja, CFRE, our own Julia Patrick responds to viewer’s questions, including: Politics in hiring | Cultivate 2023 | Realistic fundraising goals | Hiring for-profit sales people | Board liaisons and more. . . Lots to learn! More about Fundraising Academy.
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Telecast Transcript:
Julia Patrick
Welcome everybody to another episode of the nonprofit show. We’re super excited today because we have our world traveler Mui Kawaja with us. He’s one of the expert trainers with fundraising Academy and he comes to us today from.
Muhi Khwaja
Cordova Spain.
Julia Patrick
And you even say that correctly, I just gotta say two points for that. Well, we we last when last we were chatting with you and reviewing on the questions that have come in. And you were. Coming to us from Jordan you it was during Ramadan, bless your heart, you just ended, you know your you’re fast as you are observant. And then we had no time to, like, get you on or you don’t get you a break really in between because we do go live at the same time. The sunset where you were at that point in time. And so for me, that was a really powerful thing to know that you. You know, you you. Lived your life of faith, and yet you lived your life of mission at the same time. So it was a. It was a cool thing for me, so I appreciate you being on during that time. I really, really do. Movie is one of the people that you can meet and learn and with and from at fundraising Academy and. It’s really an interesting voice when he joins us on ask and answered. And as you know, if you watch or follow us. We’re really privileged in that we get different folks from fundraising Academy on and so we get different perspectives. They’re all rooted in the fundraising Academy methodology for cost selling. But at the end of the day, each one of the trainers, they have their own experiences and their own opinions, and I think that’s what makes this. So incredibly rich. So now that I’ve fangirled out, let’s get on to the real business of of why we’re here. Again, we want to thank all of our presenting sponsors. They include Boomerang, American nonprofit Academy, your part time controller nonprofit thought leader, fundraising Academy at National University Staffing boutique nonprofit Nerd and nonprofit Tech Talk. We have grown so much since we started working with everybody and broadcasting. Now we’re in our 4th year. And what’s super cool? We’re so proud about this is that our team at the American Nonprofit Academy has built an app, and you can simply take a picture of this QR code, and then we will engage with you every. Day through your, through your phone and let you know what was presented. You can access our archives to it. It’s super cool, and of course you can still find us on our podcasts or our streaming broadcast, so we like to go wherever you are. At what point in time you are. Working on your life of service and mission. OK, Mui, you are going to be back in the states for cultivate, is that true?
Muhi Khwaja
Yep, it’s the reason why I decided to. Stop traveling abroad.
Julia Patrick
I don’t know. So for me, San Diego’s traveling abroad.
Muhi Khwaja
Fair it is a gorgeous. To be I’m not complaining that.
Speaker
I’m going to.
Muhi Khwaja
Be in probably the most beautiful place in the United States.
Julia Patrick
Talk to us about what we can expect and what’s going to be going on at cultivate, because for a lot of us we’ve been locked down and this might be one of the first opportunities we’ve had to rejoin IRL with some of our our cohorts.
Muhi Khwaja
Yeah, we have a leadership track. We have a new fundraising, new fundraiser track, real opportunity for people to meet in person, just go network and really cultivate relationships, and we’re going to have a fantastic day. Of panels and discussions and networking. So if you have opportunity for professional development, it’s. Only 99. Dollars for the whole day includes including your meals. So make weekend out of it for the day. Whatever you can do, I would. Love to host you there.
Julia Patrick
Yeah, I think it’s going to be really great. I know MUI and I don’t know if you know this, but we are going to broadcast live the nonprofit show from there, and then we’ll also extend to our Friday ask and answer there as well. So it’ll be a lot of fun and we we hope to to join you. All of our viewers there, and anyone who’s actually, you know, participating, I think it’s going to be really an amazing thing. So cultivate 2023. You can go to fundraising academies website fundraising-academy.org or you can take a quick snap of this QR code and we’ll be talking about this some. OK. Are you ready to get going on some questions? We have some good ones this week. I think we always have good ones, but Shane from Reno, NV writes several board members are asking about having a board liaison. Frankly, we don’t have the bandwidth or funding to add another person to our team. Do you have any ideas on how to accomplish this job description and put a board liaison in place?
Muhi Khwaja
Yeah, this is interesting. You know, Shane, typically in my experience that has been executive director so unsure what the dynamic of your organization is, what the org structure looks like. But I would say if there is no executive director. Your organization or if. But currently not part of their job description, then perhaps. Board president or board secretary leading the responsibility to connect with stone is this board to connect with the staff or with volunteers, or in what could happen? So when you come up with that job description? You know, it’s hard. To add to a new person, but the fact that you don’t have the bandwidth is also challenging. But in terms of? Communicating with the board, setting fundraising goals. Engaging the board members in fundraising. Maybe it falls on somebody in the development as well, so those are just some quick thoughts. I would love. To hear what you have to say as well, Delia.
Julia Patrick
Well, you know, moving this is like one of my big soapbox championship moment, championing moments because. I’ve served on boards where the Magic happened because of a board liaison, and I’ve served on boards where there was no board liaison, and I felt like it was just a completely mismanaged situation. So I’m super hyper about this piece of the puzzle, if you will. It is an administrative. Peace, no doubt about it. But it is also something somebody who champions Board functionality, right. And I think they become we the person that orchestrates effectiveness compliance. And really helps make things structurally sound so that the minute that board member sits down in their seat, they can start cranking out and being productive. Too many minutes of a board meeting are often wasted on what time is that 10:30 meeting? I mean, and it’s ridiculous. So for me, that board liaison. Piece is just. Super critical. And if you don’t have one, you should be working towards one and and finding the budget for it to your point movie. Most oftentimes it is associated with the CEO or executive director, and most often it’s their administrative assistant, somebody who already has access to the the talents and the structure of the organization and can navigate. You know, back and forth it should never be a board role because the the board liaison should. Never have a vote. So that’s something that’s something that, you know, your board secretary or some of these other positions.
Muhi Khwaja
Great point.
Julia Patrick
Yeah, they’re going to be voting members. But the board liaison really shouldn’t be unless maybe multi. It was like a. Temporary thing, right? They’re they’re filling in because. This role hasn’t been perfected or, you know, it’s vacant for a period of time, but. You know, Shane, there are a lot of courses on this. There are a lot of discussions. I know we at the American nonprofit Academy have done a lot of work on this on the nonprofit show. We have a lot of episodes about this, but I I can tell you that. I’m asked to serve on boards quite a bit just because of my work and my first question is always do you have a board liaison? And then my second question is, do you have a sound strategic plan? Because to me, when I look at an organization and if they don’t have those two components? I have to say we I I don’t think of them as, you know, real players sounds awful. Maybe but. You know, it doesn’t seem like they’re elevated enough to really get the work done so. I don’t know. It’s it’s, it’s a tough one, but I think it’s really important. So Shane, I hope that you. I hope that we haven’t. Made you feel badly because you know you’re not in this process, but I think it’s a really important one. So best of luck to you and go get him on that board liaison. OK. Randy writes in from Fort Worth, TX. What’s the appropriate appropriate if not conservative fundraising, annual percentage increase? We should plan on. I am working on a budget for a nonprofit who has not been good at setting realistic goals in fundraising. I’m a volunteer and working on their development committee.
Muhi Khwaja
Well, Randy, thank you for volunteering and being on the development committee. First and foremost, that is so awesome of you. What I would. Say is and this is my soapbox moment, you know? So like they think. Realistic goals is. Healthy things and the way that you go about setting realistic goals instead of just saying you know, 10% next year, you’re like we’re going to hit 5,000,000 because we did 3,000,000 this year like it doesn’t make sense, right? So if you look at your historical data. From three years from five years. Look at. What the data is telling? What percentage growth has there been year over year and then average of to say for next year it’s reasonable that with our current stopping with our current budget with our. Our current structure in place, this thing is likely. If you are going to increase the more than that, are you adding on more staff? What is the? How are you going to? Achieve that goal. With your current resources. So not to say that increases aren’t possible more than what your data is telling you, but be ready to spend the resources to make that.
Julia Patrick
You know I love that because I don’t know if anyone has ever. Said that. That you know, you, you grow, you’re going to need more resources. I mean, I think sometimes we don’t look at that. We just think, oh, wow, you know, we’re going to get all this extra stuff and then we discount what it takes to manage that. So I love that you said that. I’m, I’m curious when you when you look at this data. And you look at the year over year, I’ve got. Two questions for you. What would that trajectory be? And then let’s face it, we’ve been in a wackadoo situation because of the global pandemic and maybe we’ve had. You know, in an infusion of cash, that’s like a one time thing or how do we kind of look at this in historical context and. Accurate. Or maybe we? Can’t. I don’t know.
Muhi Khwaja
I think one thing you can do is take. Out any outliers, right? If there was a one time gift that was. 100K. And it didn’t repeat in the next year. You can remove that. When you look at your averages from year over year, another thing that is helpful is looking at the. Number of donors. The number of donations, or the number of. Donors that you have each. Year did it increase? Did it? What was the average gift size? All of these metrics will help. Determine what that realistic goal should be for the following year, and you should have more than just a. A number or say $3,000,000 like there should be a goal for your retention rate. There should be a goal for your attrition rate becoming lower. There should be a goal for the amount of donations increasing.
Speaker
OK.
Muhi Khwaja
All of these different metrics can play an important role in coming up with some key performance indicators for the team.
Julia Patrick
I love that you said that because what, what I really appreciate about that movie is that it doesn’t make so often what gets reported to the board is like a single number, and you’re the hero or. You’re the villain. As opposed to saying, OK, this is where we are in reporting. Every month and you know our goal is to get so many new donors or to keep, you know, reengage old donors or all of these stats. I think too if if you’re struggling, it can tell you or help guide you where you need to focus on. Not just as opposed as opposed to we need more money. Well, yeah, that’s the easy. That’s the easy thing to say. But yeah, I love that you said that. So before we move on, help help us again. With Randy, some of the areas that you would set goals for, number of donors.
Muhi Khwaja
Yeah, looking at how many donations came in their year prior, what the average gift size was, what your retention rate is and your attrition rate. Focus on increasing the number of donors and you can even visit again soapbox moment. You can even break it down like how many gifts came in between 1000 and $5000. We want to increase that number specifically the next.
Speaker
Here like.
Muhi Khwaja
This is where I. Knew it out. So Randy, reach out.
Speaker
Perfect.
Muhi Khwaja
I will help you with it.
Julia Patrick
Yeah, I really think this is the back end thing. That is so smart movie. And then and before I let you go, Randy with this question. What does it look like in terms of? Should this be reported out? You know, every month, every quarter to the board, to the CEO? I mean like how? How should we? Be using this information or tracking it. Is it like a one shot deal or is it a continual thing?
Muhi Khwaja
That’s a great question and what I would say with any key performance indicators, if this is part of your metrics, if this is part of your development plan, your strategic plan, you want to be visiting it quarterly. And then that. We see how you’re doing and see where you need to shift. Focus and energy.
Julia Patrick
Right. You know, you and I both know so often these metrics and these data points like show up when there’s no more runway to work on it. You’ve already landed the plane. The year is ending, and then it’s just such a beat down, right? So I like your idea of. Of working with those numbers and living with them throughout the year so that we have a better sense of what we’re doing and how we can make things work. Because otherwise that’s just not going to happen. OK, let’s go to our next question. And this comes from Jamie from Detroit, MI. And Jamie writes in, we’re not having luck. It’s searching for fundraising professionals. Do you think it would be wise to look at people who have been in for profit sales? You know, we’ve gotten this question a couple of times. Or should we just stick to the nonprofit sector for finding this talent? I like the idea of using the wording cause selling.
Muhi Khwaja
Well, Jamie, I will. Be in Detroit in a few weeks. Let me know, I’ll help out. Whatever you need. I think there’s a lot of trends that will build from the for profit relationship building to nonprofit fundraising and. It’s stopping that you are having no luck in finding fundraising professionals. You know they’re connected with the association of fundraising professionals. If you haven’t posted your job there. There is other professional networks and nonprofit sphere within Detroit. I think that there. Is a lot of right, you know. So I wonder what parameters you’re setting for this position, what the nations are. Range is with. So having a little bit more of that information or it might be harder to find somebody with. 18 years of experience to learn. As the chief. Development officer for a large scale nonprofit throughout the region, but I think. For, you know, early career, mid career, even you know. 5 to 10. Years there’s so. Much talent in the nonprofit community and fundraising community that I think maybe just setting more parameters around what type of person you’re looking for and. Hopefully you’ll be able to launch someone.
Julia Patrick
You know, it almost seems to me when I read this. That maybe. This is the first time they’re like, looking at hiring professionals because I agree with you we that we, we have a lot of networking things that are going on across this country for professional development for you know, advancement of the career with the sector, with within the nonprofit world. So yeah. Getting involved in those groups, I think is is just critical for a lot of reasons, not just for head hunting, but I think it’s it’s a, it’s an important part I mean. I don’t know about you. But it seems to me that it helps build our our professionalism. We can all make more money when we understand, you know how to be a professional part of. The sector and. I think it’s a healthy thing to do. OK. Well Jamie, I hope this helps. And cause selling. Yeah, that those are the two magic words, man. That’s definitely where we need to be. OK, now, you know, we I love this. When we when we do a name withheld. So I’m going to man up woman up and I’m going to tell you that I took this person’s name off because although Miami is a big city, it’s not that big. So the question that came in to us or during a recent interview for a development director position I was asked about my political affiliation, I found this quite odd. And somewhat offensive. I’m not pursuing this job, but could use some advice if this happens again.
Muhi Khwaja
Yeah, that’s an interesting one, you know. Political affiliation and maybe the organization has a few donors that are of a particular party and maybe they feel like political identity may get in the way. As a fundraiser. I know personally. For me it doesn’t, especially working with high net worth individuals. Sometimes they were on the opposite party line that I was, but it never affected fundraising for the mission. And I think if. If I were to be asked that question, that’s how. I would answer it. But it’s really interesting dynamic because you. Know whether the morals. And values of the organization aligned with that particular. Party that’s also something to consider. There are certain jobs that aren’t necessarily wouldn’t work for based on their mission, not aligned with what I prefer in terms of social justice or political affiliation or. So many other. So yeah that those are my thoughts on. It how about you?
Julia Patrick
You know, it’s interesting. Well, first of all, I saw that it came from Florida and so for right now, Florida is in. You know, in the news every two minutes for something political and my feeling is it’s only going to get more intense as we move into another presidential election season. So yeah, I can see. I can see this question maybe movie being asked more and more and for me it’s shocking because I have. I think I was always raised that there’s like the separation of church and state and these are certain things that you don’t bring to the table. You don’t talk about, you know. I really love what you said and I would have not thought of this, but to say, you know, when I work with high net worth donors, we focus on the mission. And so we transcend some of these these discussions and I think that’s that’s truly the way we should be leading. So I really like that you said that again, unless it’s, you know, a politically oriented you like. It’s an action, a, a pack or something that you’re serving, right? But no, I think I. This is probably going to be happening. I don’t know more and more. And it kind of makes me sad, but yeah, wow. I mean, we’re going into the season and and these things will probably become more and more discussed. So I love what you had to say and I hope that this. This advice helps with other areas you know, because I don’t know about you and me. But when you’re with a donor and you’re talking, you know, and you have a lot more experience than I do, obviously. But do these things come up the these political values or views, or is it kind of in code that when? You’re talking with somebody.
Muhi Khwaja
Yeah, in in my past experience. It hasn’t gotten brought up. You know, I’ve worked at the American Red Cross. I’ve worked at a few religious organizations. I’ve worked at a telephone. It just didn’t come up, but I could see certain instances when it could or sometimes even with. Board members, they’re working with their network of. Phones and they say. Hey, you know, can you come and support my organization? But then in return the favor is that that board number goes and supports a political candidate for that person’s friend then.
Speaker
All of these.
Muhi Khwaja
Things happen but. When talking through the impact and the mission and focusing on the organization. Hasn’t gotten in the way.
Julia Patrick
Yeah, you know, I I think that that’s it’s it’s just really you need to be thoughtful and you need to be thinking about you know these things as we move forward and maybe move to your point understanding. And I don’t like using the word script but understanding. Kind of like what your response would be and I and I think that’s probably those. Those are wise words probably for all of us to say, you know, how would we handle this because again as we move into a political season and especially for that person from Florida, Yikes. I mean, it’s going to be. You know a part of how they navigate their conversations, even at the supermarket. So I would imagine, so pretty tough. Well, hey, you know Mui Kawaja, we’ve we’re so excited that we’ve had you on today. Again, I would love your viewpoints and you have such a rich history in our sector. And you’re so gracious about sharing that knowledge and training and as a trainer with fundraising Academy, this is something that I know you do and and you really. You know, help lead us throughout this sector on how we can do better. It all comes down to fundraising, my friends and no money, no mission. You know, we got to get this. We got to keep this plane flying. And so these are the conversations that we need to have. MUI is also the co-founder of the American Muslim Community Foundation. Which is such an interesting. Sector within this, the US, the community foundations around this country do amazing work and we don’t always know enough about them. And so it’s always exciting to know that you’re going to come on and give us a different viewpoint. So we’re super excited that you could join us today from Spain, Cordoba, Spain. Oh, paella. Is there nothing better than paella? I just got to say.
Muhi Khwaja
Happy to be here as always. Julia, thank you for that.
Speaker
Well, you are great I.
Julia Patrick
Anytime that we get with you and I love having you on another episode of the nonprofit show. Again, we want to thank all of our presenting sponsors and they include Boomerang, American nonprofit Academy, your Part Time controller nonprofit thought Leader, Fundraising Academy at National University Staffing Boutique. Nonprofit nerd and nonprofit tech talk. Hey, everybody, we’d like to end every episode of the nonprofit show with our mantra, and especially as. We we leave. Lead into a weekend here on Friday. Ask and answer. We always leave our viewers, our listeners, our guests and ourselves. With the thought. Just stay well. So you can do well. Will he? Safe travels, my friend, and we will see you short.