Missions to Movements
Missions to Movements is the nonprofit marketing and fundraising podcast that helps you grow recurring donors, scale monthly giving programs, and build digital campaigns that convert.
Hosted by Dana Snyder—speaker, strategist, and founder of Positive Equation—this show is packed with actionable nonprofit growth strategies, social media tips, and fundraising best practices.
Each week, you’ll hear how organizations are increasing donor retention, building thought leadership, and using digital fundraising to drive real impact. If you want to learn how to attract monthly donors, master nonprofit marketing, and transform your mission into a movement, this podcast is for you.
Missions to Movements
Scaling Monthly Giving to 34% of Donors and $134K in Recurring Revenue with Meghan Walsh
When Roots Ethiopia first attempted to build a monthly giving program, it was cumbersome and collapsing under its own weight.
Fast forward to today? That SAME program has transformed into a fundraising powerhouse with 93% donor retention, 34% of all donors giving monthly, and over $134K in annual recurring revenue.
Meghan Walsh, founder and board chair of Roots Ethiopia is back on the show to share it all: the handwritten cards, real-time donor reports, and a simple $20/month offer that shaped their results.
You’ll hear all about the nitty gritty tech tools, donor segmentation tactics, and community-building efforts, why she’s moving all donation asks toward a “monthly-first” approach, and how she's preparing to scale even further with automations and new acquisition campaigns.
Resources & Links
Learn more about the incredible mission of Roots Ethiopia on their website. You can also connect with Meghan on LinkedIn.
Meghan is using Bloomerang, FundraiseUp, Handwrytten, and Small Shop Strategies.
Tune in to Episode 179: How Automations Can Save You Time + Increase Donor Relations to learn more about Rachel Bearbower.
The Recurring Giving Workshop: A Working Session to Increase Online Donations - 9/24 @ 2 pm ET - RSVP HERE!
This show is brought to you by iDonate. Your donation page is leaking donors, and iDonate's new pop-up donation form is here to fix that. See it in action.
Let's Connect!
- Send a DM on Instagram or LinkedIn and let us know what you think of the show!
- My book, The Monthly Giving Mastermind, is here! Grab a copy here and learn my framework to build, grow, and sustain subscriptions for good.
- Want to book Dana as a speaker for your event? Click here!
Today's guest holds a very special title. She is the first ever three-time guest on Missions to Movements and, honestly, it's no surprise, because when Megan Walsh shows up, she brings it. Megan is the founder and board chair of Roots Ethiopia, where she leads with heart, grit and so much curiosity. Her background as a cultural anthropologist shows up in the way she thoughtfully engages donors, centers around storytelling, value proposition and builds community from the ground up. And her work it's award-winning.
Speaker 1:Megan and the Roots Roots Ethiopia's monthly giving program were recognized during Monthly Giving Awareness Week as a winner of the monthlies celebrating the most creative and impactful recurring programs around the world. Now, since joining my very first monthly giving mastermind in 2022, megan has turned what she describes as a messy first attempt into a beautifully branded, deeply personal recurring donor experience, one that now sees 93% retention, 34% of all her donors give monthly and over 134,000 in annual recurring gifts. Yes, you heard that right. In today's episode, we talk about what's made these numbers possible, from personalized stewardship to CRM reporting, donor segmentation, her beloved Friday photos and she shares her vision for what's next and puts out a call for collaboration around donor acquisition. Trust me when I say this conversation is packed with so much inspiration and very practical gems. I couldn't be more thrilled. Please join me in welcoming back Megan Walsh.
Speaker 2:When we hit $100,000 a year, we had kind of this moment of celebration together. And it was at that point that when we looked at the trends, they are so positive for Rootsy Ethiopia and we decided in that moment that first we were going to party at $100,000 a year. But then I said I actually want to know more. And the reason I wanted to know more was not because Bloomerang was putting that in front of me, but because you and other monthly giving experts were talking about hey, what is your data telling you?
Speaker 1:Today's guest needs no introduction because she is the first three-time repeat guest on Missions to Movements, which is so exciting, so deserved. She was on episode I'm going back for the specific numbers it was 38, 115, and then now 200. This is the 200th episode I can't even believe that I'm saying that myself of this podcast. And, megan, I wouldn't want anybody else to do this celebratory podcast with me because we're celebrating you. Welcome back, thank you. Oh my gosh, so exciting. I am so pumped to share.
Speaker 1:This was a very exciting new year campaign. Try that we did with Giving Tuesday and RKD Group was all about Monthly Giving Awareness Week and you won the monthlies. The monthlies, for those of you that do not know, was part of a week-long Monthly Giving Awareness Week. That Giving Tuesday our KD group, myself and I'm sure many more partners are going to be joining in 2026. But it's a week to really celebrate and raise awareness about monthly and recurring giving, because it's really so, so, so important and crucial to our missions to have sustainable giving, revenue, fundraising, and we had our Webby's, our Oscars of the week, which was called the monthlies, and so we highlighted, we asked for inquiries, we asked for people to do submissions talking about monthly giving at their organizations, what they're doing, talking about their community campaigns that they'd ran and we were going to pick three finalists from the small, medium-sized, large enterprise organizations and Megan from Roots Ethiopia monthly giving program.
Speaker 1:The Roots submitted her application and there were, oh man, a dozen different judges that we all went in the back end and we read through the inquiries and we picked our winners and, to no surprise, on my end, megan, you won, and so I wanted to bring you on here anyways to talk about it. But as part of winning the monthlies was an episode on missions to movements to talk about your mission and what you're doing. And I'm going to ask just a really kind of broad question to kick us off and what was it that really inspired you to prioritize recurring giving for Roots Ethiopia?
Speaker 2:Well, dana, clearly, when I think about this question, the answer is the data led the way, because the lifetime value of a monthly giver is so great it is better than any other piece of data in the whole universe of giving, of giving. The other thing is the data on retention on monthly givers is so great. I knew for a long time, I knew that data and I knew I needed to develop a monthly giving program but, quite frankly, I didn't have the skillset and I didn't have the assets. I had tried to build a monthly giving program on my own and it just kept collapsing under the cumbersome weight of me feeling like I had a formula and a direction to go. So that's when I reached out to you.
Speaker 1:I know we worked together back in. It was 2022. It was 2022. I originally thought it was 2023, but it was 2022. It was 2022. I originally thought it was 2023, but it wasn't it was 2022.
Speaker 1:So this was seven groups ago of the Monthly Giving Mastermind, which blows my mind at this. When we're recording this, I'm about to go into the seventh round and I want to dive into something that you just talked about the data. So you are somebody who's really been great about proactively reaching out to your tech tools and asking for data that you might not be able to see. When did you realize that? Like, okay, I see the data that I mean, it's talked about a lot now I would say even more so than it was a few years ago on the importance of recurring giving and the lifetime value but when did it go from I see this data to knowing, okay, I'm actually going to prioritize it and do something about it, because I believe there's probably so many listeners that are at that stage of I see it, I see it, I know it's important. However, all of these other things are taking up my time.
Speaker 2:Yes. So that is a great question because you know I had committed to building a monthly giving program and I could see, oh my, the numbers of people who are giving monthly is increasing. I'm working with Bloomerang. I actually have their quarterly consultant service as part of my CRM service and it is with my quarterly advisor. Well, our first sort of point of something's really going on here, megan, is that over nine quarters we've been tracking monthly giving just by the number of people who are giving monthly and what the anticipated annual revenue is. That's my line item that I can track.
Speaker 2:When we hit $100,000 a year, we had kind of this moment of celebration together, and it was at that point that when we looked at the trends, they are so positive for Roots Ethiopia and we decided in that moment that first we were going to party at $100,000 a year. But then I said I actually want to know more. And the reason I wanted to know more was not because Bloomerang was putting that in front of me, but because you and other monthly giving experts were talking about hey, what is your data telling you? So in that moment the first thing we did was we developed a report and that report is sent to me. I actually just got it this morning. It's sent to me every month and the report is titled Potential Monthly Donors and it ranks donors by numbers of gifts, total giving and frequency of giving. And my instruction when I read that report is that I'm supposed to do two warm personal touches and then make an ask to convert those folks to monthly givers.
Speaker 1:Amazing.
Speaker 2:So that was the first strategic move that we made, but after that I had a whole bunch of questions about retention and growth, about understanding that monthly, not quarterly, not annually and so we built.
Speaker 2:I called my consultant, kirst, and I said, hey, kirst, can you do this? And she goes oh yes, it's going to take me some time and I think I'm going to lose sleep over this, but I'm going to figure it out, and she did so. I now have a line item on my quarterly workbook that tells me all the data that I need to know, and I believe there are six layers of data that I have that helped me really understand what is happening in monthly giving for Roots Ethiopia and what my lifetime giving is and what my retention is and what our average gift for monthly givers is. So I have all the things there that I can work with to continue to build the program. In addition, I'm using FundraiseUp as my fundraising platform and just this morning, because it's a brand new week, I have new data from them and I opened it up this morning and I looked at it. Last week there were 35 recurring gifts.
Speaker 1:Amazing.
Speaker 2:There are three pending through bank transfers. The total amount of those gifts for the week was $2,085. Amazing, when I do the math, that's $59.57 as the average gift. And then on that fundraise up report I can see what campaign was were given to and what actually brought them to Ethiopia. So look, here I'm using two dynamic pieces of information One that's really quarterly, but this fundraise up piece is weekly.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah. I am so freaking proud of you Like. This is amazing. This is not what 2022 Megan was doing.
Speaker 2:Oh, no, no, okay 2025. Megan still doesn't really know how to interpret data, but I'm smart enough to know I can get someone to help me do that also. Yeah, especially for the small organizations out there. Many of us are not data interpretation experts and we have these amazing CRMs that can do so many things.
Speaker 1:But you had the curiosity to ask the questions to find it. I think one of the problems and I actually talked about this semi-recently on LinkedIn was I do think there is a long way to go to make sure that you don't have to dive that deep. That information should be readily available and it should be in beautiful visualizations. It should be a clean dashboard. I am pushing tech partners to work on these things because in the subscription space, you know for certain there is no way Netflix is having to dive that deep. Like there is a beautifully built dashboard. You know that anything on Shopify or any of these other platforms MRRs, arrs, churn rates that is all one click to access. However, that just hasn't been normalized for us. Yeah, I want it on my dashboard. It should be, because I use my normalized for us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I want it on my dashboard. It should be, because I use my dashboard every day. Yeah, you are absolutely right about that, and all of us should be advocating for that, because we are the voices that our CRMs are going to respond to. For sure, please ask. But that has been key to growth is understanding past growth, yes, and applying those lessons.
Speaker 1:Can you talk a little bit about what those data points are? I know a couple 93, if this is accurate, still, percent retention rate 34% of your donor base gives monthly. I mean exceptional, unbelievable, incredible. Do most of these numbers and I know there's more you want to add to that but do they stem from the growth existing supporters that are just deciding now to be monthly? Is it a lot of new people coming in? Is it both?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So that is a great question and it is both. Let me use a small Mother's Day campaign as an example of what happened. I had I believe it was 19,. Just 19 folks Dial in here. I'm really talking about a small campaign with a small org 19 people gave. Of those, I had four folks who turned a gift into a monthly gift, who were existing donors. Okay, that's big, did you hear I had 19? Yeah, that's like strong data, yes. And then there were two brand new donors Brand new, never donated before, just sitting on your list.
Speaker 2:Who converted to monthly? Yes, just never gave a gift.
Speaker 1:What do you think it was about the messaging that that converted? I think people ask all the time what's the magic of one time converting, and that can be so difficult. I think it's often easier to bring people in right away as a recurring instead of having them switch. I think it's a lot more difficult. What do you think it was in the messaging of that campaign if you can talk about it that initiated that?
Speaker 2:Sure Well, the offer was great it was a $20 offer Okay $20 a month gift. Yes.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Yes, and the purpose was super relatable. I mean, it was a very clean offer, right? Give a mom a gift from you to help her start her small business. She's got the training. She's got the business plan. Love that. This will be the training. She's got the business plan. Love that. This will be the gift that will get her started.
Speaker 1:Yeah, simple, clear.
Speaker 2:Exactly the value proposition, you know. Thank you to the folks at NextAfter who talk about the value proposition all the time. The value proposition was really clear. I continue to work on that, this notion of what am I asking for, and do people get it when they go to my donation form? No friction, really clear. Offer, really clear.
Speaker 1:This is what your gift will do Okay, so did that? Open up a fundraiser pop-up that just had $20 selected. Open up a fundraiser pop-up that just had $20 selected.
Speaker 2:No, they had choices. It wasn't a one option. Okay, now I really love using their AI tool for making the right offer to the right person at the right time. So put that on repeat everyone, because monthly giving is part of that strategy. Okay, beautiful.
Speaker 1:I need to focus on the retention rate for a second, because the only way that monthly giving programs are monthly giving programs and successful ones is if people stay. How do you keep people engaged and loyal, and I think this is something that you are primarily a one-woman rock star show that this can all seem like unbelievable to people, but it is possible. How do you retain your supporters at this incredible level?
Speaker 2:We're currently sitting at 220 monthly donors Amazing. And I maintain these relationships and this retention with exactly that gratitude and personal connection. Every quarter I send a special video to monthly donors. So the monthly donor quarterly video is part of the special part of being part of the roots, part of the special part of being part of the roots, and I personalize the giving receipts so I change up, I try to do it quarterly. What that giving receipt talks about, like what happened that was special this past quarter and also I am kind of the queen of personal notes.
Speaker 1:You are.
Speaker 2:So if I have an address, there's a card in the mail. Unless you ask me not to mail you, there's a handwritten card and I write that and sign it and mail it myself. That's a heavy lift.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:So those cards go out whenever anyone joins. They go out just on a casual Monday like this morning, where I might just write three personal notes. I record it so I can remember who I sent it to and which card I used. Since I have a number of photo cards, I do record that in my in Bloomerang, bloomerang. Right now, my board members I have divided up the 220 folks and my board members are writing their own postcards to all of those donors Love it yes, and also I asked my board members to make phone calls.
Speaker 2:So, we do phone calls. If we have a phone number for a new donor to our monthly giving program and I will do just random. Hey, can you make a phone call and just thank them on behalf of the board, because I don't want this sort of to be only my voice and my gratitude. It's bigger than that. One fun thing that I did is I asked my Ethiopian team when I was in Ethiopia. I brought this handful of cards and I asked everyone to write a note of gratitude, and I love that I have here. You can see it. I have this stack of little cards and I can include them with like a sticky note. Okay, so I'm going to read one here.
Speaker 2:Meski, who works for us, said you can see the difference that you made in the life of a child through their smiles. Thank you, meski. So I can go through these and pick one that I might want to add to a thank you note. I mean this is genuinely. These are from our staff. I love this. Yeah, I mean just like we all sat at the conference table and they had an assignment. Yes, yes. So thinking about, I mean when you ask the question of like, how is retention accomplished? I mean being attentive is one of the ways that can be hard. You do have to call in your support system and also, to be honest, friday I got an email from someone who said I need to change my credit card. Hey, how do I do that? And she's a monthly donor, and you better believe. I responded right away and, luckily, the response that I could give her was her own donor portal access. She emailed me back within 10 minutes and said that worked great. Thank you, amazing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you set up the tools to be able to support you and her.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, and I could say hey. If that doesn't work, here's my phone number Call me. We'll do it on the virtual portal and I'll help you. And you know, I have to be willing to give that my attention in the course of the relationship.
Speaker 1:Is there and I partly know the answer to this two questions plans to automate some of these things to support you and B, another potential person to help support you now that you've reached this level, and when do you think that there should be a VA or a part-time or someone to come on and support you?
Speaker 2:Yes, so we're talking about right, the tech stack, and how do we optimize responding in a way that's still personal, some of which can be automated? So the answer is yes. Right now, I'm actually going through an operations kind of assessment and update with Rachel Baerbauer from Small Shop Strategies. Shout out to Rachel, because my brain doesn't think if this, then that.
Speaker 1:Very clearly I mean Rachel's a gift to the world of how her brain works.
Speaker 2:I have a skill set. That's my own unique skill set, and it's not like anybody else.
Speaker 1:It's not everything own unique skillset and it's not like anybody else. It's not everything. If you're a curious listener to learn about Rachel and automations episode 179, I chat with Rachel. She's incredible, Truly.
Speaker 2:She is. So back to the question like automating yes, I also saw handwritten demonstrated at a conference, dana, that I was just at, that you were also at, and I'm going to be using handwritten, for I did not know that I could like buy in bulk 500 postcards and have them written individually and specifically to one single purpose, which means I could do that. Somebody might ask like, megan, couldn't you write it off yourself? And you know the minute it's going to take you to email the note card. Yes, but what I want to do is I do want to build this asset so I can do press and set.
Speaker 2:That's right and I need that right.
Speaker 2:Yes, handwritten, because I want to make sure that my attention can be given to the high level work and not the detail of every single card has to be handwritten, so that's important to me Absolutely. I've also thought about other automations that I can do, like I have a one year anniversary automation that's all set up that sends out to folks who've been given for a year, no matter if it's monthly or other. But now I'm thinking about doing something like a three-month celebration email saying, oh my gosh, yeah, you've been here three months giving month after month, and here's the result of that. So I can definitely automate that. So there are pieces there that I'm going to maintain a personal touch and pieces where I'm going to continue to convey impact using some automations, and I once you got like the foundation done of retention, like I know you have an email welcome series.
Speaker 1:I know you send out emails once a month. Now you have a quarterly video. You have these handwritten touch points. The board is now involved. These things all didn't happen at once. It started and then it's evolved over the years when things have gotten in a good spot to be able to take on more and to be able to make the experience enriched.
Speaker 1:There was somebody that asked me a question at Festival del Fundraising in Italy. She's like you want us to say thank you every single month to these people? She's like do you think that's okay to email them so much? And I just thought it was so funny and I said yes, because check your stats and I'm sure you probably see this All those 220 people are not likely going to open every single email you send them. It's just reality. So they might catch half of them and in the half, those emails aren't always thank you. It's here's what you've done, here's what's happening. The message doesn't always have to literally say thank you in all of them. They just need to know what's happening and be kept up to speed.
Speaker 1:And so if you are thinking, listener about this seems like a whole lot of work for my team. Just start with what you can do. Start small. Start with, I would say the initial things are definitely an email welcome series that goes out in that first month, and then at least that in email a month, just an update. Here's what's going on. The receipts, I think is a whole extra tidbit that Megan's talking about where she has the ability within fundraise up receipts to customize a message that's updated quarterly, which is also a nice to have because it doesn't make it then just a receipt. It's also including this impact storytelling moment. This is incredible. So you have a lot of different touch points that create joy and that spark that gratitude. What would you say that you're planning on investing in now, like, what's the next step for the roots? Where do you see that you are looking for support?
Speaker 2:Okay. So I am slowly converting almost all of our asks to monthly first, which means converting asks. The asks are always going to highlight monthly giving as the first option. It won't be the only option, but it will be the first option. If I direct someone to the roots itself as their giving option, that is only monthly, I use that. I use that strategy, but now I'm expanding it across campaigns, across appeals. Yes, it across campaigns, across appeals. Yes, we've just gotten a little fist bump from FundraiseUp as a giving platform, who themselves are highlighting monthly giving as making the greatest impact. I have to give a shout out to FundraiseUp because I have to say that on the passive side of growing our monthly giving, without me having to make that pitch fundraise up. Actually, if I toggle on the AI, ask folks if they'd like to upgrade to monthly at the beginning of their gift and ask them again at the end. So I call that sort of the passive work that's working in the background.
Speaker 2:That is absolutely every month producing results. For us, the tech stack matters, it really matters, and so I told you we celebrated $100,000 a year about seven months ago, and already we're at 134,000. Wow, sorry, a year. Yes, I want to make sure I say that correctly. Yes 100,000 a year seven months ago. It's now about 134,000.
Speaker 1:Incredible.
Speaker 2:Okay, those are all the pistons firing and I will tell you on kind of, the literal work of acquisition has been slow and the other thing I'm doing is I'm actually doing this right now. I'm going to give a shout out to the Adventure Project, who did a great lead magnet with a quiz Roots. Ethiopia is perfectly situated to do that same kind of lead magnet and, with the help of my friend, lauren, at Every Shelter she also did that same method, lead magnet and I got a little bit of her help and insight. So we're about to do that for month and we will lead with monthly on that lead magnet.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I love how you're mentioning Lauren at every shelter and the adventure project. And what I have to say, megan, about what stood out so much about not only your monthlies application, but I've been working with you for years is your energy, your energy that you bring to everything, the curiosity that you have, the can-do attitude. There are so many things. When people ask me what makes a successful monthly giving program, I can tell you it's the tech stack. We can talk about the donation form, we can talk about making the ask. It's the person that is willing to reach out. And literally one of the top things I've been talking about this year since the Monthly Giving Summit is you have gone beyond the boundaries of Roots Ethiopia and are learning and talking to and sharing your own successes and challenges from peers, and I truly think if you want a successful recurring giving program, it is channeling your inner Megan.
Speaker 2:Truly.
Speaker 1:I mean asking questions going out. I think there are so many people who have never even thought to ask their CRM to help them find an answer to a question. Yeah Right, on a very simple stage, and that took thought, and you said I should know these data points, let me figure out how to find them. It wasn't like oh, I can't find it, let me give up.
Speaker 2:I would also say, dana, that I remember so strongly. The one sort of the best piece of advice you gave us in the monthly mastermind is exactly this. You said you have to be out there talking about your monthly giving program. It cannot just sit in a capsule on your donation platform in your CRM Visibility yes, the visibility. And I still struggle with when where, how?
Speaker 1:Oh man, I'm so excited to talk to. Megan is coming to the monthly giving retreat and we are talking a lot about visibility at the retreat and I'm very. There's so many untapped things for you with that.
Speaker 2:Yes, okay. So when you talk about my energy, a lot of it is well. I mean, this is what it looks like to decide. I'm going to build a robust monthly giving program. There is no other way to do it. You have to be curious. You have to look for others examples that you love. You have to feel ready and willing to ask people questions and then also to pay people for their expertise. Yes, yes.
Speaker 2:Listen, folks. It's not hard to do that Once you can demonstrate to your board. Look at this outcome. This is why I'm asking for this next step.
Speaker 1:Yes. So two final questions to wrap us. I could talk to you about this forever. One what has the shift been from oh my gosh, now, three years ago, from an organization perspective, the impact, what's now possible that maybe wasn't before. How do you feel as a leader in the organization versus how it was three years ago, having this recurring community?
Speaker 2:I have a million dollar dream that's what I'm calling it and I have a goal to get to 900 donors overall and $900,000 a year. This is a big goal. It's a big stretch. I can't even believe I'm going to tell you this, but 2025 looks awesome. So far for us. Yes, because I have really focused on growing this small organization. So we don't have any staff in the US, so that is the to hire an executive director. To be honest, that is the big goal. I am just doing amazing work and I can demonstrate that often, yes, and vigorously so. Monthly giving is an engine of growth, absolutely. Period exclamation point, and I just gave the numbers a,000 to 134,000 in seven months, and think of that in terms of retention not just as one-time gift right.
Speaker 2:Okay, the lifetime giving for these folks is fantastic.
Speaker 1:Yes, I just want people to sit with this for a second and to think about where are you at? What's holding you back, Megan? What held you back? Do you think originally?
Speaker 2:I didn't know what to do. I mean, it was like a. It was like a chasm of I need this, I need that, I didn't need the other thing. How do I do it? How do I build it? Do? I need a video.
Speaker 3:Do I need.
Speaker 2:I have to build a webpage. I don't know how to build a good webpage. I mean I just like it was a chasm of. I know the good monthly giving programs have elements that make it really appealing and interesting and I needed to get those elements and I needed an expert to help me know start to finish, how do I build it? Because then I could launch it and that's exactly what I did, dana, you helped me build it. I mean we didn't set this up right. I mean you and I didn't set this moment up for me to say this, but it is also the truth.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't know where you'd be. I would hope you'd be somewhere great three years from then, I mean.
Speaker 2:I definitely wouldn't be here, because I needed the roots. I needed the roots to take life. You know I needed it to be born and to grow and you know I'm doing my annual upgrade campaign with my current donors. I do that every February. I'm doing an acquisition, I'm asking folks to become monthly donors. My task list on my calendar says you know, I have little notes when I think about it oh hey, ask Nan if she'd like to become a monthly donor. You know somebody who's given a few times, who I've had a few emails with. It's like oh, this is a really warm moment to ask her.
Speaker 1:You are literally executing the things I talk about Tentpole moments of making specific monthly giving asks, and you have it evergreen. Now You're talking about recurring. You are putting it all into practice and I love to see it. It's the best thing. You also recently attended SubSummit, which I know is a really big stretch. I've talked about it on here, I think, a couple of times, but just a couple of months ago it was a or it is the largest subscription conference in the United States, and so we were in the room with and I have to do a shout out Megan asked a question to the co-founder and co-CEO of FabFitFun, literally one of the largest, if not the largest, subscription box in the country.
Speaker 1:I think at one point they said they had one out of. Was it one out of 10? Women in the US all had a FabFitFun box at one time, which I mean I did, so I guess that's probably true, and I was so excited and I took a video of you asking that question. Attending something like that, that's so outside the comfort zone, but it's an enriching learning experience. And there were, I want to say, 20 something nonprofits total, and then we had a dinner with probably 12 or 13 of us. What was the biggest takeaway from something like that?
Speaker 2:Well, there were a lot of takeaways. A lot of it was data centered you have your data and understand it, because it can help you think through next steps. Also think originally, through next steps. Also think originally. Like you don't have to be cookie cutter, because moments are changing and the way folks are doing things do require some new thinking and some courageous thinking. Right, yes, but I would say there was a stack of ideas around the subscription economy, and one of my favorite ones was thinking about how to convert our online store into an opportunity for some special pre kind of boxed gifts that we could do during certain times of the year. Our store is very small, but we have some very special items, and so we're thinking about ways to grow revenue in new ways. Like that could be generating some great gifts for folks and income for our work and for, like, the moms who are going out to build skills. Like we have. Some of those moms make some items, yes, that we sell, and so I'm thinking of curating some special opportunities.
Speaker 1:Such a good idea Through product Right, which was new for us. But an additional revenue stream or a bigger revenue stream, yes.
Speaker 2:Precisely, and one thing I know about product is it calls in a different community Sometimes there's crossover but a unique community and to think about how that community could become invested in making a difference through its Ethiopia.
Speaker 1:That's right. That's right, it's an acquisition channel.
Speaker 2:So SubSummit you got me thinking about that because that was, you know, a format that a lot of companies are using, and I think we could do that.
Speaker 1:I think you could too. We're going to also talk about that at the summit or at the retreat. Okay, final question for you, and one of my favorites to ask is what's one thing that you would like to ask for help or support on?
Speaker 2:or support on. I know the answer to this question because I know you ask it all the time and I'm ready for it Because we have a million dollar dream. What I would really love to do is for someone who is running an organization that's larger than Roots Ethiopia.
Speaker 2:You consider yourself a mid-sized organization you're over a million dollar revenue and if you have an acquisition campaign that is working, that is unique, that is bringing in donors monthly donors in particular I would love to talk with you, and here's why I realize that I am talking with peers and folks who are, you know, a couple hundred thousand under what we're raising all the time, weekly, practically Giving advice, giving ideas, talking about lead magnets, talking about our Friday photo, which is a fan favorite, encouraging all kinds of taking all kinds of action. But I'm not asking up the ladder. So that's my goal. I'm asking for you, folks up the ladder to say hey, Megan, I would love to talk with you about what's working for us, because that is how I learn best.
Speaker 2:We've just been talking about being curious and asking questions and learning. I mean, that's the way that I get ideas that I can, on our scale, implement. So that's the one thing that I'm looking for right now Perfect.
Speaker 1:No better ask Same. That's how I've learned too. That's what sparked me joining a mastermind in 2021, all those years ago, and that led me to create the mastermind If I had not gone through it myself, because I wanted to learn from peers who were just a notch ahead of me, never would be sitting here talking to you.
Speaker 2:That's a lucky thing for me, dana, because you have been an incredible mentor, and the reason I signed up for the retreat in August is because I recognize that we need to elevate at another level, and I can't imagine a person to sit around a table with better than you and a group of women all stoked and excited to see each other succeed. That's right, that's what we're going to do.
Speaker 1:That's what we're going to do. That's what we're going to do, and have some really good food and drinks around it and have a good time.
Speaker 1:Megan, thank you so much for always being open and sharing your experience, and congratulations again on winning the monthlies. It was an honor to see your name come across. And listeners, don't forget, monthly Giving Awareness Week will be back in 2026. The Monthly Giving Summit will be back February 25th 26th next year. I can't believe we're in planning phases already, but really, really, really, truly. I hope you take what Megan said to heart and think about how you can put some of these things into practice in your organization and, if you're already there, share this episode with a friend that you think could really learn some things from it. So, megan, appreciate you, as always.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode of Missions to Movements. If you enjoyed our conversation and found it helpful, I would love for you to take a moment to leave a review. Wherever you're listening, your feedback helps us reach more change makers like you and continue bringing impactful stories and strategies to the show. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button, too, so you'll never miss an episode. And until next time, keep turning your mission into a movement.
