Episode 31: Resources from the Past for Today's Fundraisers
Welcome to another edition of “Around with Randall”. Your weekly podcast on making your nonprofit more effective for your community. And here is your host, the CEO and founder of Hallett Philanthropy, Randall Hallett.
Appreciate your time again, on this episode of “Around with Randall”, I have in this pre-Oscar. Season been enjoying movies on TCM, Turner Classic movies. Maybe that's not your favorite station, but it's amongst my favorite stations. I grew up in a household where my mother watched, at that time, it was AMC, American Movie Classics then followed by Turner Classic Movies and nowadays I find myself watching many of those same shows that I enjoyed with my Mom 30-40 years ago. You might be asking why is this relevant to today's conversation? It's interesting; I have been mixing this idea in my head of some of the greatest films of all time and what's going on in philanthropy today. So, a little insight into my world and the reason why it's appropriate now is Turner Classic Movies plays famous movies, more consistently more well-known famous movies from the past because they won an Oscar -- maybe Best Picture. Maybe it was Choreography. Maybe it was cinematography, but they pull some of the best movies of all time. Some of my all-time favorites are Some Like It Hot with Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, and Marilyn Monroe -- just a classic, Casa Blanca, certainly with Humphrey Bogart. Anatomy of a Murder, with Jimmy Stewart –one of my all-time favorite movies, a courtroom drama and early George C. Scott appearance as a prosecuting attorney; Sunset Boulevard with Gloria Swanson and William Holden; The Man Who Knew Too Much with Jimmy Stewart; any Alfred Hitchcock movie like Vertigo, North by Northwest and Rear Window with Jimmy Stewart. Again, even musicals like Singing in the Rain with Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds. And you can tell, I watch a lot of these movies. When you ask people today, what are some of the greatest movies? They certainly list good ones. I would not deny that the works around the series of The Hobbit, or they mentioned movies like the Green Book, or they will mention movies usually made in the last 10 or 15 years. But how few people have a context of the amazing films that occurred in the 1930’s 40’s and 50’s, after the first talkie with The Jazz Singer in 1927.
Why is this all relevant? In some ways, philanthropy is driven by the information of today. I would also feel very similar as I do about movies. That there's some amazing things that are happening in the world of fundraising, that we should be paying attention to. The work that Donor Search is doing with Aristotle and predictive modeling likelihood, driving more of the conversation about who we reach out to is critically important. But some of the most important research, some of the most important lessons learned, came from studies that happened a long time ago. The further we get away from them, the more I am both mystified and stunned that most fundraisers haven't read them, don't understand them, and don't have any idea of the value that they bring potentially to their career and to matching what donors and philanthropists are trying to do with the nonprofits those fundraisers represent.
I want to take from two today and at the end, we'll talk about the tactical about what you might be able to do.
The first I would start with is a book by one of the all-time great fundraisers, Jerold Panas, who passed away a few years ago, it is called Mega Gifts. I use it all the time in context with educating boards, CEO’s and C-suites about what donors are trying to tell us. Jerold Panas did this study where he interviewed 50 men and women who were philanthropists, larger donors -- not 50 bucks. These are mega, major gifts or into principal gift levels. Then he interviewed over a thousand nonprofit leaders and the questions were generically, for time's sake here, very similar, in that, why is it that you choose to give? What engages you? What makes this worthwhile for the donor? And then the same question. Why do donors engage and give to the nonprofit leaders? What they found was is that the answers weren't the same. Nonprofit leaders thought it was about things like belief and mission and community responsibility or pride, interest in a special project, possibly service on a board or memorial opportunities.
What he found was donors told him very simplistically, that number one, they enjoy the opportunity to give they give because they were asked. They believe that their gift can make a difference. They also have such belief in the direction of the organization. It meets with their individual sense of morals, values and impact. There's fiscal stability, they want to know the organization is going to be there for a long time. That they have great respect for the institution and the organization is respected in the community. They also have respect for its volunteer leadership.
The chasm between those two perspectives is really important because I think centers us on the idea of two vastly different perspectives, donor-centered or organizational centered. Nonprofit leaders and this was done in 1987, but I don't think it's changed at all, would tell you that they know what they need, and the community should give to that. I'm not indicating that an organization shouldn't know what it needs, but if you want someone to engage at a high level, you've got to go to them and be donor centered. What is it they want to accomplish? Are there things you're doing that are priorities meeting with that level of expectation? In these podcasts, I've mentioned many times, one of my favorite mantras in fundraising practice, “Ask somebody for money, you'll get advice. Ask them for advice, you'll get money.” I don't know where the original quote ever came from, but it's one I didn't make up. I heard someone else say it a long, long time ago and it really stuck with me. That's what Jerold Panas’s book is really saying. It's really based on the idea that if we allow members of our community to learn more about who we are and we listen about what they're trying to accomplish. We can better understand how to move them into major gift and principal gift conversations. We can merge the two, but it doesn't start with just the organization. Mega gifts come because people are emotionally tied to what you're trying to accomplish and you were able to build a relationship based on trust, listening, and their interests and tie that all together in a wonderful package, Mega Gifts by Jerold Panas.
The other book or study from 1994, if I remember correctly was a study done by Prince and File. It’s called the Seven Faces of Philanthropy. This was more of an academic study. I think it's probably the most important one in our industry and I almost hear nobody talk about it. Really, what Prince and File did was look at thousands of donors and started a process of figuring out how they can categorize these donors into different segments. And then more importantly than that, what you can say to certain segments differently than another segment. So, and I'll talk about this here in a second. How do you communicate? What is it they want to hear? What activity would they be involved with? What is their psychological rationale for giving?
It's a complete dossier on every donor in America. You have to figure out which one of these categories they fit into and then change your communication, your particular conversations, what the impact will be, how you engage them based on these criteria and it's psychological.
What are the seven faces? If you've worked with me, you've heard me talk about this. For those that haven't, you might write this down. Prince and File broke these out into seven particular segments. The first is the “Communitarian,” someone who wants what's best for the community overall. The “Devout,” the religious that giving's a moral impetus inside of them. The “Investor” that it’s good business. The “Socialite” that giving's fun and it's filled with relationships and activities. The “Altruists,” feel like they have responsibility to make the world a better place. The “Repayer,” they give because they're saying thank you for something that's happened. The “Dynasty,” which is the family held tradition that the family or the family unit has been doing this for generations and it's learned as a part of their upbringing and a part of their growth.
Why is this important? Because what you learn is that when you're talking to someone like an “Investor” the idea of business plans is really important. However, if you're talking to the “Devout,” they don't care about business plans. This is about moral obligations. The difference between the “Repayer”, somebody who wants to say thank you for what's happened to them. I think about education and healthcare being primary areas, grateful patients and alumnus being primary in this area. Their engagement is based on how they can give back on what's happened to them and the reasons for their success in life or in health care for living. Versus a “Socialite” who will only probably engage when there's an immense amount of social activity. “Communitarian”, “Devout”, “Investor”, “Socialite”, “Altruist”, “Repayer”, and “Dynasty”, I would recommend The Seven Faces of Philanthropy by Prince and File, 1994 for anyone who's in this profession. I would also recommend Jerold Panas’s Mega Gifts from 1987.
How are these connected to the movies that I started with? Because if you ask younger people today, they've never heard of them. They don't know their value. They don't take the wisdom that has come from these and utilize them for their own professional growth, but also the value and impact of their organization or nonprofit they're representing.
So, what are the tactical pieces of all of this? The first thing is I would argue that if you haven't read these two publications, these two studies-- you need to do so. If you don't want to read the books, there are a whole bunch of places you can go online and find details about them.
So, you could read it, maybe the equivalent of a cliff note. I think there's more value in the totality of the research, but a little bit is better than none. The first tactical thing is recognizing that the most valuable things that could be beneficial to you and your career may not have actually only happened in the last 10 or 15 years. There was a time before that.
The second thing is I don't want as we become more technologically savvy, as we become more driven towards metrics and results, (things that I believe in are good for our industry and for the nonprofits when we represent), I don't want to forget that the baseline of what we do is based in the idea of relationships and getting someone to see our organization as a value add. These are two books, two publications, two groups of outcomes or research points that can really help you do that and make you more effective. Isn't that what we're here for? Isn't as a tactical suggestion, the ability for you to more greatly increase your ability, your understanding of relationship building overall, what we're aspiring to individually, organizationally?
The third thing is I would not just take these and learn them. I then would begin to apply them. If you are trying to figure out how to cultivate a particular donor, third tactical suggestion, try to put them in the shoes of Jerold Panas’s construct of the major gift, Mega Donor, figure out why they want to engage. Then even further break it down through The Seven Faces of Philanthropy into what kind of donor they might be. If you do your research, you'll figure out that certain types of communications, certain types of activities are more beneficial for certain people's perspective. Put that into your cultivation plans, put that into the value that you could deliver this person in terms of developing the relationship.
I want our industry to always be in the individuals they're in to always be lifelong learners. There's such value individually, personally, and professionally for someone who is continually trying to improve. So, the challenge, the tactical is for you to do that. These are two amazing studies that many people have never taken the time to sit down and read and to understand, and you would find great value in being better at what you do. If we just don't spend our learning on the last five years, but look at some of the greatest historical work that's been done, that's tried and true and will continue to be into the future.
Just a couple of reminders, number one, I want to thank you for listening or watching. I hope that you'll subscribe, like, or leave a comment and share. If you find this helpful, share it with a few other people in our industry. I really try to keep these between 14 and 16, 17 minutes, make them usable, make them tactical. I hope you feel that it's worthwhile. If it is share it with someone else. This is about me being able to share knowledge maybe that I've picked up along the way that might be helpful to you.
Number two, there's blogs on the website, 2-3 a week, a perspective on different aspects of our nonprofit world and the kind of the world in general and professional life. I would recommend that at hallettphilanthropy.com. If you want to communicate with me directly, and you have a comment about this podcast or any other, my homage to Clark Howard. R E E K S, meaning you think what I said stinks, reeks@hallettphilanthropy.com. Tell me what you think or if I'm missing something. If you have a suggestion for our show, you can email me at podcast@halletphilanthropy.com. If you're really interested, these podcasts are now on a YouTube channel that I was talked into by my team. I still question that this is a good idea, but nevertheless, they're there. You can catch them on the website or on the YouTube channel Hallett Philanthropy.
As I do each time I do a podcast. I want to conclude this is an amazing opportunity for those of us. And for all of us who want to make a difference in our community for what you believe in and what your organization believes in you’re important to the success of your community. You’re important to the success of your organization and your organization is critical to filling holes in the community for whatever it does as a nonprofit service to ensure your community is a better place.
Thank you for what you do. It's important. And there may be the mundane and the trial and tribulation with everyday work. But I'm telling you, in the totality of what it is, you're responsible for, it makes a difference. I hope you feel that value. I hope you know how important it is. Remember my all-time favorite saying, “Some people make things happen. Some people will watch things happen. Then there are those who wondered what happened.” We are people; we are in an industry of people and you yourself as being someone who makes things happen for people wondering what happened. And I don't know a better way to spend a professional life. I hope you feel the same. And I hope you'll join me again next time on, “Around with Randall” and don't forget, make it a great day!