Live Q&A – April 2023
Sami Bedell-Mulhern 0:02
and just welcome everybody to our April live q&a. Hopefully, we’ll have a couple more people popping in. I’m going to provide a quick little mini training based off of the events training that we had. But Patrick, do you just want to say hi to everybody?
Patrick Kirby 0:16
Hi, gang, how are you? It is finally here in flyover country, not snowing. And that I can be grateful for so happy spring.
Sami Bedell-Mulhern 0:30
Yeah, we’ve gotten from winter to summer here in Minneapolis.
Patrick Kirby 0:35
You got aggressive real quickly.
Sami Bedell-Mulhern 0:37
But so it’s a little weird being 80 degrees with snow on the ground like it is messing with my head a little bit. But
Patrick Kirby 0:44
it’s funny, it’s funny that this ties actually very well to donors, right. So if you’ve noticed in the last couple of months, that maybe people aren’t calling you back, if they’ve got sort of a crappy attitude, it was a long, winter long, cold. So all of a sudden, if you’ve noticed, in the last couple of days, that people are getting vitamin D in the neighborhood in which you are in, all of a sudden, they are very much happier people to have conversations with and that makes for friendlier donor conversations, friendlier events, solicitations, etc. You’re gonna find yourself in a better mood, regardless of whatever you read about in the news. So get ready. This is what happens in the spring, people get excited about it. So
Sami Bedell-Mulhern 1:26
I love that. I love that. Okay, well, if you have questions, go ahead and pop them in the chat as we go through this. Otherwise, I was just, we had a great guest expert training with Dean a couple of weeks ago, and he was talking all about kind of creating energy and excitement in your events. And I’ve been talking with a lot of my clients and just did a podcast myself on like how you can utilize your website for better visibility for your sponsors. And we’re all about generating content that we can repurpose, and we can use in a bunch of different places. So I want to just talk briefly about the concept of having your sponsors create a blog post for you on your website that you can use to generate more visibility for your sponsors and more visibility for the event. So I’m just going to kind of walk through one quick example. And then we’ll open it up for questions. But think about your title sponsor, let’s say you run a 5k. So I’m sorry, at least I should make you a host with me so that you can add these people in. Um, but Okay, hang on, hang on, hang on me co host. I can’t multitask. Okay, there we go. So let’s say you have a 5k event. And your title sponsor is, I don’t know, let’s just say it’s a bank. So you say to your sponsor, hey, we would love for you to write a blog post for us for this that we can use to kind of talk about our event and showcase you even more on our social media. So what could that person write about? So the company, let’s say that company has a team that’s running or they have multiple, maybe they’re having a competition within their company, and they have multiple teams that are running in your 5k, they could write about, they could highlight some of the training that their team is doing to prepare, they could write about the different teams, their names, and why they care about this mission, but really make it personal. So this is helping you in so many ways. Number one, you’re getting great content to talk about the event in ways that isn’t just hey, sign up for the 5k be a sponsor, right, you’re showing kind of the excitement around the event, you’re giving the sponsor more visibility, but not just, hey, this bank is a sponsor of this 5k. Here’s their logo plastered everywhere, they’re getting to show the personality, they’re getting to show the culture behind their teams, they’re getting to show the passion behind why they’re supporting your cause. So it becomes more conversational, it becomes more engaging. And then it’s something that both parties will be more likely to share on their social media. So now you’ve got all these snippets, you could probably take multiple snippets from that blog post to share on social media over the course of the weeks leading up to the race. That content will forever live on your website. So that sponsor is getting continued exposure. And even better if they become an annual. Let’s say they do it again next year. You don’t have to rewrite a new blog post, just update the existing one that’s there with some new information, some photos from last year, updating some of the fun things that they got to participate in. So now you’re really kind of using this blog post as a win, win, win, win win all around to continue to drive that awareness to that sponsor, but especially awareness to the event, how fun it is and other sponsors about how awesome it is to work with you because you care more about the relationship. It’s not just this kind of fight me and Show. Okay, thanks for sponsoring, we’ll slap your logo on here, we’re moving on to the next thing. And it doesn’t take a lot of work. If you don’t, if they don’t want to write a blog post, another great thing you could do is hop on a zoom just like this, and just interview and ask them questions, upload that video to YouTube, use that transcript to pull snippets out for your social media, and you have a blog post in a 15 minute interview with the sponsor. And that also still builds trust, because they’re seeing their face. They’re seeing your voices. And we all know that video is an amazing way to get in front of people, especially on social media. So that’s kind of my quick five minute thing. But this is kind of one of my new obsessions with events because it’s easy. And we all know, it’s really hard to market events in ways where it’s like, okay, well, we’re not just saying buy tickets. Now by sign up, register, get, you know, get your gala ticket show up. This is a great way to throw in additional value add. So Patrick, I’m curious your thoughts. And if you’ve seen this happen anywhere,
Patrick Kirby 6:03
you sparked like a million and a half ideas in that three and a half minute little puts there. One of the things I love most about this idea is that you can have individuals that aren’t the HR department or the PR department, write that blog or quote from the blog 100%. This does two things. Number one, it individualizes the business into people, it also then you get a really exclusive look on why they support you in the first place. So you personalize the support. The business owners, the business leaders see that their employees are engaged and employees who are engaged with nonprofits are more likely to get the nonprofits a corporate sponsorship and corporate sponsorship forever. Because they listen to their employees. They don’t, the best way to do corporate giving is that sort of ground up sort of mode. So you mentioned a 5k. If you go into their business and say hey, we’d love to have a kickoff meeting with you 30 minutes, we’ll bring some doughnuts, we’re going to let you know all the little details of it. They gather the troops. So you hop in during one of their teams meetings or their or their big team meeting. And just want to thank you for doing this. Here’s how you do it, blah, blah, blah. And you’re getting individual names who are at the business and hyping them up. How much do you know about us? What do you love about us and all of a sudden these people who do a really good job fundraising for you or really good job participating? Get excited about it. Start reposting you could actually build at the end of the event a collage of everybody who they have working for them tag in your posts, and saying listen, your one sponsorship garnered 15 social posts. And here’s a collage of what it looks like.
Sami Bedell-Mulhern 7:43
I love that well. And I want to take this a step further. So let’s say you do this this first year with just your title sponsor, your main sponsor, right, test it out with them, and then track all of the data track the engagement on those social media posts track, like you said, how much content did you create from that post? Then when you go back next year, yes, you can have this whole amazing like, look at what we did to your title sponsor. But now you have data to track it up that dollar amount. So now you can say, hey, so now we’re going to do this year, we’re going to allow our title sponsor to do a post and we’re going to allow our whatever, why am I losing words, title, presenting sponsor, you know how we all come up with these like names. So then whatever. So then now maybe this year, your presenting sponsor also gets to participate in this next year. Or you can say to all your sponsors, hey, if you want for an additional $250, write a blog post, and we’ll create all this content for you. So you’re generating more money for your sponsorships. But really, what you’re also doing is making your life a heck of a lot easier, because now you have all this content that you could share around the event that you yourself, do not need to create. So
Patrick Kirby 8:52
Vicki’s got a really interesting question, because this is this comes down to content creation, and how to do it in a very quick and easy way. So Vicki, your question is blogging is foreign to your organization trying to figure out how to start Great question. I’ll talk about what I’m obsessed about next, if you would be willing to listen to an easy way to blog that can get you from point A to point B to start. Right. So the hardest part about blogging and the hardest part about, you know, social posts in general, is that from whole cloth, it’s very difficult. But if you had something to go from or start with, you can edit it down and speak in your voice. Right. So Vicki, I would like you to unmute real quick if you’re open and willing to like what would you blog about if you had your druthers on what would you blog about?
Speaker 3 9:38
Well, so I was listening to Sammy, and it was like, okay, of course my brain went like this. Okay, and so it was all over the place. But one of the things that I was thought about so let’s think small, right, is that we are looking at a new sponsorship program. And so, one of the things we’re trying to say Okay, for $100 a year, what value will you get from that? And so and so some of the things that we have in there, because I’ve been working with a consultant, don’t touch on this, that what you’re talking about. And so I’m thinking, Okay, well, how do we incorporate that? Right? And so just so you know, blogging, to me was like this little teeny tiny thing that happened in a separate room somewhere, and then you posted stuff somewhere, you know, and that kind of thing. And so ironically, it was our manager, who recently said, you know, what, Vicki, you should be our blogger. And I thought, okay, she’s probably getting me trying to get me off Facebook. So anyway. So I don’t go there. But, you know, looking at with these sponsorships, perhaps having little interviews about okay, why are you sponsoring us? What is the value that we’re bringing to the table, and, you know, tell us a little bit more about your organization, it doesn’t have to be much. And that kind of thing. I’m just sitting here going, I don’t know that I have the time right now how ever. That’s, that’s the tricky part. For us. However, we do have an internship that we’re getting applications for. So we could work with our interns to sort of take this on as well. But anyway, that was my first thought. So
Patrick Kirby 11:18
so so this is a great, great discussion piece. For everybody listening. A blog does not have to be a recreation of Warren Piece, you do have to write 10,000 words. Okay, we’re blog. And I think that’s what gets most people mentally struggling is like, if I only write about 250 to 300, words, which is three or four paragraphs completely, or two paragraphs or whatever, if you’ve run on sentence, disease that I have currently, you don’t have to do a lot. It just has to get to the point. And there’s the piece of content. So for example, Vicki, this is a really good one. And I’ll give you the I’ll give you the framework on how I would blog about this is you find a business that you would be very interested in having sponsor you. In general, by the way, 100 bucks for a year, too low, I think 100 bucks a month. But let’s just we’ll, I’ll I’ll convince you of that later. Right. Your value is way more than 100 bucks a year. But let’s just say the 100 bucks a year, right? So if you go to that potential sponsor, not even a one who has underwritten you in the face, ask them two questions. Number one, what’s the best sponsorship you’ve ever had? Or what’s your best sponsorship experience you’ve ever had? And they might tell you, like, I’ve never had a good sponsorship experience, which by the way bells and whistles go, I’ll make it good for you. Or they will tell you the exact thing that made their sponsorship awesome. And you can mirror that and put a proposal in front of them to get them as much exposure as that much feel good sort of things. Your Blog could be about how you customize sponsorships to make sure that your partners feel as if they’re making the maximum impact. With with a with with their gifts. And yeah, what’s exactly, it’ll give you ideas for what’s missing. Yeah, exactly, Semi. So think about this as just a way that you’re engaging with them. And then you ask like, Hey, would you be interested in having a write up about your impact in the community or your thing? Yeah, we could could could you write me a couple of paragraphs or a couple sentences about what your best and your favorite sponsorship is? And they’ll give you the words that you get to use to rephrase within your blog itself. And the blog can be 300 words and say, you know, looking for a great idea on how to do a sponsorship, take it from our friends at so and so’s organization in the business who say this is their favorite this is their, this is what they don’t want. If you’re interested, call me.
Sami Bedell-Mulhern 13:56
So I want to go back. Because I love everything you’re saying. From like, the basic blogging perspective, if you’re like, Okay, we just want to get started with blogging because Patrick’s absolutely right, you do not need to have I’m gonna get a little technical here, you do not need to have long form blog. So here’s what I would recommend if you’re just starting. Think about this, the 123 things that are the core pillars of what your organization’s goals are. So that could be you know, the main problem that your organization is trying to solve in the community. So let’s say we’re working towards food, food scarcity issues, right? So it could be like, you know, we help, we ensure that kids have lunches year round, whatever, like maybe that’s the main goal. So that would be one thing. Maybe another one is something about the events that you do whatever. So pick, like 123 things, and then we’re going to create what we call pillar content around that. So that’s going to be one blog. blog post that is your Warren Piece, right? Like 1500 words, 2000 words, that is like giving everybody everything that they need to know about the programs that you do, right? So one long, long, long form piece of content, then you only have to do those once, right? Because those are the things that aren’t changing. Those are the things that are consistent within your organization. Those are the things that you’re constantly talking about. So that when you create these smaller pieces of content, they’re all linking back to that big one for all the information. So then that removes that like stress of like to tell everybody everything all the time, it’s like, okay, well, now I’m gonna, we’re gonna write a blog post about healthy snacks that you can have after school, and you know, and make them for your kids. So we’re going to have that be one of our short little blog posts. And it’s just going to be a quick little recipe and a fun little thing. And then, if you want to know more about how you can support kids and their healthy eating, it drives them to that pillar piece of content. Okay, so it relieves stress on your side from feeling like you have to do everything all at once, it’s still consistently driving people to the content that matters most for your organization. And those pillar pieces of content will give your will get the most traffic then. And then that sends signals to the search engines that this is an important piece of content on this website. So then that will start to rank higher. So then you’re not really worried about ranking all of your little blog posts. You’re worried about that pillar piece of content showing up? And I know that’s a little bit more technical. But does that make sense? It does, but where do we post? On your website?
Patrick Kirby 16:38
On your website? Oh, okay. Just new page. Here’s a blog. Yep. Vicki, give me give me one example. Because I think we can do this in real time, too. Because I think this might be you know, for everybody who’s logging on and watching this, I think a real time example of like, what this would look like to create would be a benefit. And then we can kind of say, What will you would edit or what you do? So Vicki, give me one reason why I should support your org. What do you do? I’m curious, like, if I’m interested, I’m interested. You seem like a really super cool person. I got 100 bucks, what’s that going to do for me?
Unknown Speaker 17:14
Right? Wow.
Patrick Kirby 17:19
esoteric, or very
Speaker 3 17:20
philosophical, because here’s the thing, the first thing I think about is this, this 1500 words that I have in every grant write about what we do. Okay, so I’m sitting there, and I’m doing what you just said, what, you know, pick one piece of that. And so I’m sitting here going, Okay, what is one of the most engaging things that we’re doing right now. And that is we are doing food rescue and reducing, we’re getting food to people that would normally be thrown away.
Patrick Kirby 17:48
Perfect. Okay. So by the way, the 1500 word thing that you do for all your grants, that’s the blog post that Sam is talking about, that you don’t have to recreate. It’s already done, you’re done. Okay, that’s your first blog. Congratulations, you’ve got your first long form blog. And now we get to talk about saving food that would be thrown away and given to people who could appreciate it. linking back to that original blog post. That’s all you need to do. So give me the top three reasons. Top three foods that may be thrown away that that shouldn’t be but are that are still great, or how, you know, give me give me one food that you find interesting that people throw away that could be used for something else.
Unknown Speaker 18:38
milk and yogurt,
Patrick Kirby 18:40
milk and yogurt. So maybe there’s a blog about hey, did you know the expiration date on milk and yogurt has a window of this. Your blog can all be that as a window. And all of a sudden, we take pride in one of our main objectives is to take this very healthy product and very safe product and get it into the hands of people who didn’t expect or couldn’t have this. That’s why you should support us click here to learn more. That’s it. That’s it. Anything Sammy? Because that mean that because
Sami Bedell-Mulhern 19:15
I think that’s great. And I think there’s two things to remember when you’re when you’re coming up with your content ideas. So one is to remove yourself from the equation because you know so much more about what your organization does than anybody else like we are we you need to assume that your readers no zero, those that know more will die, they’ll find the content that they need from you. So you want to kind of like piggyback like play leapfrog with your content, right? So exactly what Patrick said, like what are the things that we know we want to bring to light that we want to bring awareness of, but then it’s also as simple as talking to whoever runs your phones, what questions are they getting all the time? And even if you say to yourself, oh, we talk about is all the time people should know they don’t. So that’s where a blog is really critical, because it can be the place that you put those questions that you’re getting asked all the time. What are your board members asking you all the time? What are when you’re when your development people are out talking to donors? What are the reasons that they’re saying no? Or what questions are they asking you for clarification on blog posts. And always say why? So like, your example about yogurt and in milk, I could come up with five different topics. So it could be dairy products that you could be repurposing, why expiration dates don’t matter. Where you can go to donate your dairy products, what types? How should the content? How should the product be packaged? If you’re donating it? Can you donate things that have already been opened like that? Like if you just start to say, why? And ask yourself questions, and like break it down into smaller, smaller sections, now you have a whole series, you’re never going to run out of content ideas.
Speaker 3 21:04
Okay. My brain already went there. So that’s good. That’s just needed to kickstart because I and I think that’s why my store manager wants me to do this, because that’s how it works with me. So. Okay.
Patrick Kirby 21:18
And again, just to reiterate, don’t get bogged down in the length. Don’t get bogged down in the in the, in the Super details of it, just knock it out. Because you can always repost an edited version or an updated version of that same content. Gotcha. Yeah, just get started. Exactly.
Speaker 3 21:46
I do like the idea, though. And I’m sorry, I’m butting in here. I know, we have two other folks on here. But I think the sponsorship thing though, you really had me thinking about that. And I think the way to go about that. Granted, we have this wonderful template from a consultant, but I do think there’s some, you know, sponsors out here that we can have that initial conversation with I’ve actually had sponsored, say, don’t do anything. Use the money. Yeah. Right. Yeah, advertising or anything.
Patrick Kirby 22:16
Here’s, here’s another question too. Again, templates are fine. We got templates galore here in the old bootcamp, and they’re great, you should use them if they’re fantastic. But an interesting thing that you could ask is, how would you? Or what would you like to create as a sponsorship to make you feel great? Ask them, the idea that you have to create something that you assume that they want, without asking them what they really want? Is kind of asinine, to be honest, yeah. So ask them ask this company, ask the bank. Hey, bank, thanks so much for what you do in the community? How can we design a sponsorship that makes you feel like you’re a super rock star that you are, and that we can make sure that you feel good about your gift? Tell us? And then they’ll tell you like, well, I’d love to get my logo on the website. Okay, that costs us $0 I’d love to get a post on social okay, that cost us $0. And I’d like to get a shout out. Okay, that cost us $0. Good news, we now have 100% of your gift going to your organization to use for whatever you want, without the cost of any
Sami Bedell-Mulhern 23:27
question for you, too. Because when Vicki saying, Well, we have corporate sponsors that say, well don’t do anything, we want you to keep that all that money for yourself. That’s all well and good. But your thoughts on setting yourself up for long term success. Because what if that person that you have a great relationship with at that companies suddenly goes somewhere else or is no longer in charge of that giving and the next person who comes in isn’t that same, then you’re going to have to work yourself so much harder to get that sponsor renewal. So I still think, even if they like, get with stuff and things like that, but I don’t know, Patrick, if you have thoughts on like, ensuring that you have longevity, and still making sure that you’re still tracking things and get like being able to show the value if the next person is a marketing person who’s like, no, I need to know like what this is doing for me.
Patrick Kirby 24:18
Well, two things. Great question number three things. Great question. That’s the first thing number two, your Constant Contact, of updating on the impact of their gift is going to make a world of difference. You don’t ask them all the time you just update them. So hey, bank A just wanted to give you an update your sponsorship helped do XY and Z over the last three months. And we just wanted to say thanks. Oh, do you need anything else? Nope. I just wanted to stop by and say thanks. Then three months later, you call and say hey, listen, we had over the course of the year we helped this many people that couldn’t have been done without help like yours. I’ll send you an update on blah blah, blah and on email. Thanks for being a supporter and your constant tracking and updating, and then again, carbon copy the president, I just want to thank you. And in the end, whatever, make sure that everybody at that organization knows how awesome that their gift has made your community better, by just letting them know your impact. That that’s a simple because now you’re tracking. And again, putting them on the website, making sure that you’ve got documentation, hey, we saw an increase in this because of your gift, we saw an increase and so you go back, and then somebody magically disappears, that come back, say, hey, we have had such a great relationship with you over the course of the last two years, we wanted to continue that relationship. Here’s a couple of examples of what your gift has done, what your support has done, what’s meant for the community here, here, here. And here. You for them, all the updates and infos that you have had in the past. And poof, you’ve got social proof that you created yourself. Got to send it right to the inbox. Cool. And it’ll force you to have conversations that aren’t about asking for money or asking for things all the time, which is how you build really long term relationships back to Sammys. Point, how do you do this forever? Build relationships? That’s it. You got it. Cool. Cool. Who else has a question? I there’s more questions out there. I know that there are staring at two gentlemen here who might have a question.
Sami Bedell-Mulhern 26:23
Otherwise, Patrick, and I can just talk, you know, we like to talk. That is a fact we all know that. Or advocate, if you have another question, feel free to ask it. Sorry. No, don’t be don’t apologize
Patrick Kirby 26:38
over those that help themselves. I like Yeah,
Speaker 3 26:42
yeah. So I mean, you were talking earlier about, you know, the, the the piece about, you know, little pieces of that sort of thing. And I And so, we are finding that and so I want to figure out how to incorporate it. So we are finding that yes, in a lot of organizations due to the economy donations are down. But ours from from individual donors, they’re down. And so However, even in those organizations where donations are down, they’re still seeing individual donations of 40 and 50% of their revenue. Ours is 10. And so which is not good. And so, you know, how do you how do you incorporate a blog? Because, you know, we want people to feel good about what we do. Right? And how I mean, yes, we could be doing these things that we talked about earlier. But is there another strategy with blogs and blogging? That?
Sami Bedell-Mulhern 27:44
Okay, well, I want to ask a clarifying question. Yes. Um, what is the short term goal? And what is like, is there something that you’re needing to happen immediately, like in the next one to three months? Or are we looking for something that’s going to build out like six to 12 months from now? Okay.
Speaker 3 28:00
Yeah. Yeah, cuz, yes. So, you know, we’re, again, we’re expanding our food program and other organizations doing this type of work are seeing, you know, like I said, 40 to 50% support. Now, granted, food is unique anyway, right. But, you know, how do we get the word out? How do we let people know we’re doing this? How do we get people interested in our organization? I mean, we’ve we’ve tried to our programs were too diluted. And so now we’re focusing more, so that’s helped, right? And so and so I see us featuring each of the different programs and the impact, and the testimonials and the and the and that right, and all of that kind of thing. And so I’m just wondering if there’s a, you know, more managed approach that can be done around that?
Sami Bedell-Mulhern 28:52
Well, I have one quick thing to say, and then I’ll turn it over, Patrick, if you can get like three or four blog posts that are really, really impactful up on your website, are you guys taking advantage of the Google Ad grant. So the Google Ad grant is $10,000 a month that nonprofit organizations can get for free to promote on Google. So when you’re talking about visibility and awareness, as long as you know what people are looking for, and you’re trying to get those specific programs out to the right audience that I think can be really critical and helpful. Your blogs are going to be a much longer term strategy. So like, you’re gonna start to see impact from that, like six months to a year from now, which is why most organizations are like, well, we shouldn’t we can’t do it. What you do in your marketing today is going to affect you six months from now, if you do nothing, you will get nothing. That is my thing. Same with, as Patrick will say, if you aren’t having consistent conversations with your donors, they’re not going to come back and then you’re like digging out of the well. Right. So I would take a look at the Google Ad grant. There’s a lot of agencies out there that will manage those for you They’re not expensive. And so if you’re getting $10,000 in ad spend, and you’re paying somebody $500 a month, like, what does that do for your revenue over time, like your donations and your expansion and your in kind and all of that, like, that’s where you need to take a look at that strategy, you need to be hyper, hyper clear of what you’re trying, like, what is your goal, if you’re in the digital space, if you’re marketing online, and you’re not hyper clear on this is what I need to accomplish, you’re going to be throwing out. You’re just casting a net to a wide group of people, and you’re probably catching most things that are not even what you need. So I would say, as long as you’re hyper focused, having your blog, and then collaborations are my favorite thing, really be specific with partners? And say, Hey, can we do a dedicated social media campaign together? Can we do a PR piece together? Can we can Can you introduce me to people, so that we can work on building this thing together, take those champions and, and really build collaborations because if you can get in front of their audience, they already trust them. And it will help you that will help you short term faster and get more things going to your content.
Patrick Kirby 31:17
Cool. The other thing too, just just to piggyback off of what Sammy says, On the clarity, get your call to action to be very specific. So what you just said, what, what triggered me my ear was and then this and then this, and then this that people don’t care and they’ve haven’t paid attention. So when you’re writing or when your call to action are don’t if you if you use and then when you’re writing, yes, you’re screwed, got it. Use therefore, this, we are looking to make food scarcity, a non issue in our community, therefore your support will make that happen. Or that right? If you do if you the other way, like we’re trying to make food scarcity go away, and then we’re also trying to do this, and then we’re also trying to do this, and then we’re gonna start this and then you’ve lost them. Therefore, okay, therefore, that’s your link to your call to action. Therefore, we need your help. Therefore, your action makes this work. That makes sense. Yeah. niche down, you’re doing a great job niching down, remember, get nebulous, this is a great thing. And again, you’re fewer donors will be more dedicated than the masses that you will collect the old boots, and the tires that you collect from that wide net, just to kind of go off of Sammys analogy is that that casting is great to find people who have a an affinity for what you’re doing. And then hyperfocus what they could do to help with you, rather than continue to send that message. All right, great question.
Sami Bedell-Mulhern 33:06
Yeah, my other favorite analogy is like marketing is like dropping a pebble in the well in fundraising, right, dropping a pebble in some water, because like, it makes that splash initially, but then it kind of ripples out and you never know, like, who it’s going to connect to eventually, right? Like that one conversation that you have. If you have the right call to action, and you have the right messaging. And you say, can you connect me to or would you connect me to you never know who people know and who they’re willing to talk to? If they feel like you guys are the right. Joe just unmuted. So Joe, do you have a thought or question?
Speaker 4 33:42
I feel like I’m in a Spanish class trying to learn the language. And I know just enough to get myself in trouble. Yep. And I’m, I feel like I’m technically challenged in this well, even Facebook, even that, no, I know, we have a group of ladies that have a Facebook page. But as far as what I do, I don’t have anything like I am the the only person is in our organization here. No, I am the face of it, so to speak. And so I make a lot of personal contact from the radio station to the journal to to other people in you know, just, I just kind of go out and visit with the community rather than try to do something from a computer or laptop. Now I’m not saying that At this is what I’ve been doing since day one, since I’ve been working in this capacity. And of course, our our fundraising efforts are usually just one a couple of times a year work, you know, in what we do. And so and, and that we’re at the mercy of the weather.
Sami Bedell-Mulhern 35:24
What does your organization do, Joe?
Speaker 4 35:27
Is it okay to tell you what I am? Yeah. All right. Well, I’m the I’m the montgomery county coordinator for the Salvation Army here in Coffeyville. So I, I started doing something called Christmas in July. Yeah. And so this is, this is something we do one day. And we ring it, we ring bells, just like we do Christmas time. Except we don’t have to have a stocking cap on in our pocket.
Patrick Kirby 35:57
You could, but it’s gonna be.
Speaker 4 36:00
And people are complaining because it’s too hot. But this is what we, this is what we do. And I get, I get bell ringers, just like I do at Christmas time. And we’ll come out and ring one day, at a couple of places here locally, usually, because that’s where I have the highest traffic. And then I have a few organizations that sponsor them as every month. And I’d go and talk to him and tell him thanks. And every time I get a check in the mail, I personally send them a thank you.
Sami Bedell-Mulhern 36:36
You’re like speaking Patrick’s love language right now,
Patrick Kirby 36:39
melting over fanboying over you, Joe. This is
Sami Bedell-Mulhern 36:42
why this is why Patrick and I have like come together in such a great relationship. Because what you’re saying Joe is like, people tend to like gravitate to what they’re, you know, do all one or all the other. And what Patrick and I love is like bringing those together. So I think it’s great that you have some a group of people that are helping you with some Facebook stuff, and that you’re doing what you’re best at and going out and having conversations like it’s all about finding that marriage, and there’s no one size fits all that supports supports anybody
Speaker 4 37:14
this was like I said the? I don’t know. I heard it look at Facebook at all myself. And
Patrick Kirby 37:22
you’re good, you’re better off
Speaker 4 37:24
navigating it. I would like to. I would like to understand it better. I have grandkids that can help me. Yes, I’m sorry.
Patrick Kirby 37:33
So two points. Number one, yes, get your grandkids to help you navigate it. That’s easy. But really what you can do, because what you just told me is you’ve got volunteers galore. Ringing bells in the middle of July, you got businesses that support you every single month, guess what they can do? If you ask them? Could you snap a photo of you ringing a bell and post it on social media? Could you do that for me, and then post them a phone number, or an address where they can reach you to donate if they want to instead of online because they know that you’re gonna get a personal a bit of attention? Hey, called Joe at this number. Oh, great. So they will do it for you. But you have to be very clear on what you’re asking them to do, which is take a photo. And and and let them know where you are on this day. Let them know a couple of days ahead of time so they can plan. And then would you mind posting on social media. And then and then sending them my phone number or posting my number here or whatever if they’d like to give? That’s so good, right? Definitely. You don’t have to be on Facebook. Good. And they can help you do it. Now you’ve got an army. See what I did there. You’ve got an army of people who are going to help you socially. Get the word out on where they are, how long they’re going to be there, what they’re looking for. And if they’ve got any questions other than showing up and dropping some extra dollars in that in that kettle, they can call you directly and they know that you’re going to go and answer that call them follow up etc. You don’t have to do any of that. So Zack what Sammy said it’s the best of both worlds. But happened for you.
Speaker 4 39:15
Actually, I’m I’ve already done that ever since I’ve done the kettle campaign since 209. I’m born in 2009. My my name and my number is three more key on Young Living on the highway here. So I have no shame. Good.
Patrick Kirby 39:38
Yeah, absolutely. Well, again, the what the social posts will do though that’ll expand your reach expedite.
Speaker 4 39:44
I understand what you’re saying. So just do the same thing. I guess make up circumstances. Called give him my phone number call Joe. Yeah. Here’s what we put up on the on the Archies the Chamber of Commerce here is great, everybody is great in our community here to do things really there that you have the journal, the radio station, all of them, if I walk into a radio station, they’ll put me on the air. Love it, I call it got to do. And every time I walk in, or they even let me sing a song on Christmas, I left a bailing with the, with the DJ, and he rang the bell every time he talked about the that is the bell ringer. So I mean, cool. I’ve gotten but we I have a great rapport with our community. Like you said, this was something that maybe I could get them to do what you was just
Sami Bedell-Mulhern 40:41
so Joe, I’m gonna challenge you on one more thing. Because this is another topic I love to talk about. And that is the up and coming Gen Z population, and how organizations are going to continue to kind of build and grow and maintain their donor relationships. So it would be awesome. If this holiday season, you had like a little mini me who’s maybe like a younger millennial or somebody else that could come alongside you and continue to build those relationships that you have with those media partners. That could kind of be that personality that could show up at the radio station and sing songs because what you’ve done is incredible and build a brand. And build a personality around what you do. So it’s not just about supporting the Salvation Army, it’s about supporting Joe and supporting the hard work that you put into the community. So it would be fun to kind of see like, could you bring along somebody in this next season, that could be doing media to find
Speaker 4 41:46
that person? Because most of the people that are younger, are busier than I am. And the people that aren’t, or are me another one of me. I’m not disagreeing with you. But I’m just saying a lot of
Sami Bedell-Mulhern 42:07
turning into a competition. So you might say like, you know, those that are posting on social media, you might say like, Hey, we’re looking for, like maybe I don’t know, if you theme each holiday season or whatever, but maybe you maybe you say you’re looking for like your mascot for the year. And it could just like turn it into a competition or something fun and something engaging and kind of see who comes to you instead of you having to reach out and ask but also, my favorite people are the lurkers. So there’s the people that are like, watching everything you do, and you don’t even realize and all of a sudden you get a check for 500 bucks. And you’re like, I didn’t even know this person knew who we were. But it’s because they’re seeing all the stuff that you’re doing. And they are very personally attached. They’re just not somebody who is necessarily going to just throw their hand up and say, Ooh, me, me, me pick me like, right, like Patrick is that Nimi me guy, he wants to be on stages, talking all the time. I’m like the I love to do this kind of thing. But like, I prefer to kind of do it in smaller, intimate sessions, like, I don’t need to see you. So I’m not going to be the one that says, Hey, call me I’d love to come speak at your event. But if you asked me, I would. So I think it’s like if you can create a campaign or like a fun engagement thing that’s like, Hey, we’re trying to really engage with younger people in the community so that we can help them continue this great tradition of Coffeyville supporting its community. And you know, you’re going to start sharing some of that messaging and then just the see what happens. And then don’t be afraid to ask everybody and anybody, would you be interested in this? Or do you know someone who would?
Patrick Kirby 43:41
Yeah, yeah, another good idea would be to go to the high school, go to one of their tech classes, and ask him like, Hey, we’re looking, do you guys do service projects? Or do you have you know, an availability of kids who know all this kind of stuff? Joe is looking for some help you looking for some July elves. And I know you’re just got the summer off. You do an elf campaign, like an elf recruitment campaign, Joe, and you’re trying to find young people that right? And then you get to like, have them distribute out, they get to be a part of the ringing itself. But really, what you’re trying to do is, you know, teach each Santa how to make things more complicated than Lincoln Logs, right? So you got to bring in a generation of elves that are going to teach you how to get the word out. And then if you ask that class, if you ask that student government or the volunteer group that’s at the high school, I’d love to do a service project to how to figure out how we spread the message of this in July poor at the end of the year, when we’re we’re ringing bells everywhere outside. How do we do that? And you’re asking it because you’re a community mainstay. People are going to answer it. I guarantee it.
Sami Bedell-Mulhern 44:53
Yeah. Or even like if there’s a community college in town. Oh, yeah.
Patrick Kirby 44:57
Yeah, that’s a great one too. Yep. They got an eye I’ve
Speaker 4 45:00
done that before. And I’ve had a, I have a group of folks that have come and rang
Patrick Kirby 45:07
yet. But now you’re asked, but now your ask is, how do we spread this on social media? I’m not really the person to do it, but I need some help doing that. And that is a really, that’s an interesting ask because everyone’s got that skill set. But the whole younger generation has that skill set. They know what to know, know where to do it, right?
Speaker 4 45:25
Yes. Yeah. I love it. Yep, we like said, I, I’m, I’m, and I’m not trying to brag. I’m just saying I’m basically the face of the Salvation Army and coffee. And leave it and people’s. All I got to do say, Joe, if I’m dealing with taking care of a need or something, I said, Just tell them you talk to Joe with us. That’s all I gotta say. Yeah, I don’t have to sleep. I don’t have to say my last name. And even when I’m out. They know, they know who I am.
Patrick Kirby 46:04
There’s a delay. There, too. A lot of young people are Yeah, a lot of young people are gonna have a hashtag all ready to go for yet. Call Joe. Joe just called to hashtag just called Joe, it’s gonna happen.
Speaker 4 46:17
I do have some young people that are working with us now that are in some organizations that are could probably, they’re probably in their 20s. Right in that area. And maybe not quite 30. And they could probably if I just ask them, because one of them is here, here this week, and said, she just kind of walked walked in, and and had something that we were doing. And she said, when when another person came in, can I help you, I’ll help you take care of that. Oh, and she took care of it for me right there. It BAM without even hard ask them. I feel very strongly
Sami Bedell-Mulhern 46:59
that the build community with Gen Z now like now’s the time to build community with Gen Z, because they will have a capacity to give at a much younger age than millennials. And if you look at the messaging, and the conversations and the things that are happening within that generation, they are so much more philanthropic than any generation that I think we’ve had in some time. But but they are smart enough to know when they’re being sold to so it’s not about it’s different. Like you’re not going to, like you’re not going to have Gen Z ears that are going to come up to you Vicki and say we don’t care about the sponsorship, we just want to use the money, they’re gonna say, How can we create something together, they’re gonna want to be an active participant, and it doesn’t mean it’s gonna cost you more money. But like, then you have this opportunity like Mr. Beast just came out with, he just taught a class I think I was on. It’s not an article on LinkedIn. But he taught a class at some college about building a business because he’s like, 24 years old 25, and has like a multibillion dollar business that he’s created. And he’s teaching people that philanthropy is the core of like, when you go into business with a mind of service, good things will come to you. And that’s what he’s teaching. And there are a lot of people YouTubers that are out there, if you don’t know, Mr. Beast, he’s a fancy schmancy YouTuber who does these crazy videos that these kids watch over and over and over again, and they do all of this philanthropic work? So all this to say that, however you can utilize them, even if it’s now to be like, can you create these rules for us? Can you create these tic TOCs? For us? Can you help us with you know, user generated content? Can you come up with these ideas? If you just enlist their manpower right now you’re building support and community, they’ll stay engaged with you as you go, and as they grow, and be much more likely to give to you and that is the I think the future of sustainability for organizations. That’s my soapbox. I will step down now, but it is
Unknown Speaker 49:07
Thank you. Thank you very much. Ashley, gray Hill, thank you.
Speaker 3 49:12
You just you just created you triggered something when you started talking. So um, we are. So the alternative high school, right? A lot of organizations have those for folks, and we’ve had the leaders of that program reach out to us to say we are looking for some service projects from you guys. us to provide for them. It’s only an hour class. And so I just started thinking about this as you were talking about how I’m not saying commercial, but you know, short video. Yeah, yeah. Do you know where I’m going with that? And they could have fun with that they can learn about our organization. And you know, I think I just saw it here what it Zack say here, I think he said he’s got it’s for an hour, which isn’t a lot no 1230 to 130 It isn’t a lot of time. But you know, they could potentially be looking at. Gosh, I don’t want to say taglines, but you
Sami Bedell-Mulhern 50:28
know, but Vicki asked them to come up with. So you could say ask them to come up with like 15 different short form video, tick tock ideas, have them give you like 15 Different tick tock ideas. And then you go out and shoot raw video on your iPhone vertical, super easy. And say, we’ll provide you content that you can use for that, and then have them edit it and turn it into reels for you. Got it? Yep.
Patrick Kirby 50:56
That’ll take that’ll take them. 20 minutes? Not an hour. Yeah,
Sami Bedell-Mulhern 51:00
well, but if you’ve got multiple kids in the class, like they could create a bunch of different things for you.
Patrick Kirby 51:06
You could have them also research on stuff. They could give you some data, they could get like the blog post ideas. Brilliant. It’s a brilliant idea.
Speaker 3 51:13
Yeah, I just was thinking that too. Because it’s it’s, I think it’ll be great. Awesome.
Speaker 4 51:24
When you’re taking hold about doing video, now? Doesn’t that infringe on people’s privacy?
Speaker 3 51:38
video release? Yeah, awesome. You haven’t seen a video release?
Patrick Kirby 51:44
Also, yet? Or if they post it themselves to
Speaker 4 51:49
your? Well, like I said, I’m waiting out and in deep water.
Patrick Kirby 51:55
I guess. That’s, that’s something for you to ask your grandma. So Joe, do you have
Sami Bedell-Mulhern 52:01
volunteers have to sign like, do they have to fill out any paperwork or sign anything? Yeah. Okay. So you just put a line item in there that says by you that you authorized like our like we’ll take, we may take video or photo while you’re at working by signing this, you authorize our right to use it on our social media platform, you just create a boilerplate line that’s in there, and then you’re covered. And if somebody really has a problem with it, then you just take it down, but they’re not, you know,
Speaker 4 52:25
yeah. Well. The having a. And I’ve got guidelines from from headquarters regarding social media. Yes. And I’ve I really have, I’ve got it here somewhere.
Sami Bedell-Mulhern 52:45
Yeah. Just be real careful.
Unknown Speaker 52:48
Do this, you know?
Sami Bedell-Mulhern 52:50
Yeah, just be real careful with kids under 13. That’s kind of like the threshold where privacy really changes. So as long as they’re over 13, and they’ve signed a waiver.
Speaker 4 53:01
Cause, you know, sometimes I’ve got to share information, to maybe get something done. Because I can’t do it all myself. And so I have a place there that I have to say, yeah, it’s okay to do that. And I got asked that question now. But most people, it’s alright. Because we’re not, you know, we don’t talk about mentioned names, or anything like that. And so but anyway, yeah. Okay. If,
Sami Bedell-Mulhern 53:35
if that works out for you, let us know. Because we’d love to, you know, kind of chat with you more, because I know like, that’s something right that we hear from nonprofits all time corporations, people come to us, they want to volunteer, we don’t have anything. So figuring out how to use those volunteers in a thoughtful way in the digital space can be really, really great. So let us know how that goes for you.
Speaker 4 53:53
I know we had had a group of young people last Christmas that I believe were going to come and help us and something came up that it didn’t work out. But they I think they came out ring one time. And it was supposed to been more than that. But it didn’t work out. And so that there was all young people that were doing the maybe like community service type situation. And I think most every year, I think Vicki mentioned that, that there there are that the kids have to do some community service just to graduate. So anyway, so thank you very much. Appreciate it. For this this is great, man. I’ve got some Florida. Sure. Well, sure. I haven’t really
Patrick Kirby 54:44
keep coming back and bring your nonprofit friends or Chamber members come on, bring them in. Thanks again for for hopping on. Hope it was helpful. Again, kind of keep kicking in to that. The darling platform because there’s a ton of stuff instead of reaches there. But again, your gut instinct is is the best barometer of what you’re going to do. Joe never changed. Don’t go to social media, please don’t go on on tick tock, Vicki, get your niche down the way that you know it’s going to be great to compartmentalize and get those pieces. You’re gonna be fine. So this is great. Thanks again for another one, seven, thanks for hosting again and kicking us off with like, that was probably the most pointed sort of discussion that had some answers come from that was great.
Sami Bedell-Mulhern 55:32
That was fun. I love it well, and we will have this uploaded into the dashboard within the next couple of days. So you can watch this replay, we’ll have timestamps for where all the specific topics were so you can jump into those. But we do this every second Wednesday of every month at 1030. We’re always here, Patrick will be leading a little mini session. Next time on whatever sparks US based off of kind of the conversations that we’re having with all of all of you throughout the month. Awesome. So thanks for being here.
Patrick Kirby 56:06
Bye friends have a great one. God bless