NewsPod Special Series: BDOG Kickoff With Sacramento Region Community Foundation's Kerry Wood.

What if the secret to a thriving nonprofit sector lies in the power of trust and flexibility? Join me as we uncover the potential of unrestricted funds and trust-based philanthropy with insights from Carrie Wood, CEO of the Sacramento Region Community Foundation and their Big Day of Giving event. We explore the shifting dynamics of giving, especially in a post-COVID world, where younger donors are stepping up through giving circles and engaging with philanthropy in unique ways. Discover how the anticipated wealth transfer to the next generation could redefine the landscape of charitable giving, and learn why empowering nonprofits with operational flexibility is crucial for long-term stability.

In addition to understanding the trends that are shaping philanthropy, we dive into the community's vibrant spirit of giving. With Big Day of Giving's Plus One Campaign, the foundation is making philanthropy accessible to all, with minimal barriers to entry.  Even the smallest of actions and thoughtful contributions can create a meaningful impact in the Sacramento region and that's what BDOG is all about. To contribute visit BIGDAYOFGIVING.

To learn more about the Sacramento Region Community Foundation, visit the website HERE.

Hear Barry Keller's story of support for the Impact Fund HERE.

Thank you so much for listening! We appreciate you. Please visit the website to sign up for our email updates. https://www.nonprofpod.com/ And if you like, leave me a voicemail to comment on the program, leave a question for us to ask in the future or a message for me, Jeff Holden. I may even use your voice mail message in a future episode. https://www.nonprofpod.com/voicemail. Thanks again for your support in listening, commenting and sharing the great work our local nonprofits are accomplishing.

Transcript

Jeff Holden: [00:00:00] This nonprofit News Pod is the first in a special four-part series being brought to you by the Keller Family Pathway Fund. Each of the four episodes will feature a topic of interest relative to the Sacramento Region Community Foundation's Big Day of Giving. Coming up on May 1st with the very definition of philanthropy being the desire to promote the welfare of others expressed, especially by the generous donation of money to good causes.

It makes sense to start our series with the person that runs an organization that does just that they distribute the philanthropic gen generosity to our community nonprofits. Today I have the privilege of speaking with Kerry Wood, CEO of the Sacramento Region Community Foundation about giving trends and what easing as trends in philanthropy.

Kerry, welcome. Thank you for having me. You have got to [00:01:00] be excited. Big Day of Giving is less than a month away, and you've got more nonprofits registered than ever before. 

Kerry Wood: We are so excited every year. It feels a little bit like Christmas when Big Day comes around. May 1st is our big day this year, and we're just incredibly thrilled to welcome so many new nonprofits.

We're almost at 900 this year. 

Jeff Holden: Oh, that's amazing. And that's, that's the most ever, if I'm not mistaken, right? It is. We've broken all records. You know, most people don't realize that Big Day of Giving is a program built and originated by the Community Foundation for the specific purpose of getting the entire community involved in raising totally unrestricted funds for local nonprofits.

Correct? Correct. Tell us a little bit more about what that unrestricted means. 

Kerry Wood: Unrestricted dollars are very difficult to come by for many nonprofits. Uh, many donors feel that by giving to a specific [00:02:00] program or something very specific for a nonprofit that. They are giving money that, that the nonprofit needs.

And in many cases that is very true. However, unrestricted dollars allows a nonprofit who are the experts in what they do to determine where the need is greatest in their organization and for those whom they serve. So it's very powerful when a donor gives unrestricted dollars. And Big Dave giving is one way that we encourage that.

Jeff Holden: And if I'm not mistaken, in a lot of cases that could even go to administration, which is where the challenge is. If somebody gives a restricted fund to a piece of the service that that nonprofit provides, that's great, but if they don't have the administration and operational capacity, they can't provide the service.

Kerry Wood: Absolutely no margin, no mission, right? It is very difficult to run an organization if you can't keep the lights on, if you don't have the [00:03:00] supplies to do it, or the staff to do it, and the list goes on. So there's a lot of operational dollars that are needed to carry out the mission that are many, many nonprofits are charged to do.

Jeff Holden: You're now in your 13th year with Big Day of Giving, correct? Correct. That's amazing. You know, I bet you can attest to many changes that have taken place as trends change in philanthropy. Yes. I mean, just surviving through Covid Alone was a massive shift in protocol. Incredible. Tell us a little bit about what you're seeing now post Covid.

Kerry Wood: You know, during Covid, we've, we were unbelievably shocked to. See the growth that took place in that year. We had been raising about $8 million on Big Day of Giving over the last couple of years prior, and in that one year it grew to 12 million. So that was just an incredible boost to the level of what we knew was possible to [00:04:00] raise for this day.

And since that time, there has been incremental growth and you know, we have seen people step up and, and continue to be generous. Through that time and beyond, 

Jeff Holden: we're also seeing a, a change in the dynamics of some of these defined roles of giving. So maybe start with some of them, trust-based philanthropy.

What does that really mean? 

Kerry Wood: Right. There are a lot of terms that are tossed around out there. Uh, trust-based philanthropy is a, it is a process by which a funder or a donor. Basically trusts the, the nonprofit to carry out the work of their mission. So what that shows up like could be that the grant reporting.

That requirements become less stringent. We know that there's such a burden on nonprofits [00:05:00] sometimes when an organization or even individuals want to, uh, report back on how their funds are used. And while that is not unreasonable, what sometimes happens is that the requirements are so complicated and so onerous that it just.

Makes it very challenging for nonprofits to do their work. And that's one example of trust-based philanthropy where the information that's required becomes much more reasonable. And there is that trust in the nonprofit to do what they say they're gonna do with the dollars, 

Jeff Holden: uh, and execute properly as they should.

And then they'll see it on the impact report after the fact. 

Kerry Wood: Exactly. And multi-year funding is another trust-based philanthropy. Category. Uh, we encourage businesses and individuals, corporate foundations, private foundations to give multiple years in a row. It really, really helps a, a nonprofit budget. It helps them [00:06:00] plan and it's, it's.

Sort of the epitome of trust-based philanthropy. 

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm. How about younger donors are, are we seeing a change in, in, in just the general age of contributors? 

Kerry Wood: We are, we are seeing that, you know, while some of the larger dollar amounts might come from some of the older generations, what we're seeing is a quantity that's higher among.

Younger donors. We have seen an increase in that, especially in in our area where we see giving circles and a lot of other groups coming together to support a cause or causes.

Jeff Holden: It's been said, [00:07:00] my peers as what would be baby boomers are leaving this huge wealth transfer, which is a lot of money coming into the hands of those who are either inheriting it or accumulating it as a result of parental discretion. What does that mean to nonprofits going forward? 

Kerry Wood: Well, we're always talking about next gen.

Donors and whether it's, you know, the next generation of family businesses, of philanthropists who have made it their life's work to be generous and really passing that on to the next generation who will be accumulating a lot of this wealth is.  Not always the easiest thing, and not everybody has the same sort of inspired look at, at what they do with their dollars.

And so one of the, the toughest but most important jobs of a nonprofit collectively all [00:08:00] nonprofits is to build relationships with those. Next generation family members, whether it's family business owners, whether it is the donors that we already have, and getting to know their families and, and building relationships there.

That's really critical as we look at that wealth generation and wealth transfer coming not too far away. 

Jeff Holden: No, no. We're in it. I mean, as the baby boomers are aging out, the high end is, is upper seventies, so Right. A lot going on there. Women in philanthropy? What's happening there? 

Kerry Wood: Well, you know, I have to say that women are, women are very generous and in many cases, this is not all, this is, and this is not meant to be a generalization, but in many cases women make the decisions in a household that there, where there might be a partner or family members, there's women are incredibly generous and they too want to get involved.

What we're seeing are [00:09:00] trends in giving circles where women have come together and really looking at how they can collectively give an affordable amount to then have that result in something significant for nonprofits that they collectively believe are very important to support. So, you know, I think it just continues to grow.

We see women. Continue to be involved and not just giving, but volunteering as well. 

Jeff Holden: And women tend to live longer, so at some point they've got all of it to do something with and ultimately the decision then becomes theirs. Correct. How about donor advised funds? And for those who don't know, maybe a brief definition because we see a lot of that now in philanthropy.

Kerry Wood: Mm-hmm. So the Sacramento Region Community Foundation [00:10:00] manages. Hundreds of donor advised funds. There are all, are other organizations that, that have this as an opportunity for someone to create a fund. That's really a, the best way to describe it is it, it's a charitable fund, almost like a charitable checking account of sorts.

You open the fund and then you can decide from there where to support. Where to put those dollars, what nonprofits to support. 

Even nonprofits have donor-advised funds so that they can keep track of some of their, their giving for specific purposes. 

Jeff Holden: We're seeing some trends as well in volunteerism too. [00:11:00] Do you see that through your work with the community nonprofits? 

Kerry Wood: The way that we see it is through Big Day of Giving because it is an option when someone does go to a specific nonprofit and want to give the $10 or more, uh, through Big Day Giving.

They can also donate hours. And we've seen that increase year over year where more and more people want to give of their time as well as their, as their dollars. 

Jeff Holden: Well, that's great to see because so many of the organizations really need the volunteers to perform the work that needs to get done. So that's encouraging 

Kerry Wood: throughout the United States, billions and billions of dollars in what would normally be staff time that nonprofits would have to pay. But [00:12:00] thankfully there are volunteers out there that. Make that, make that not so onerous. 

Jeff Holden: What does the Sacramento region look like in terms of its philanthropy or, or giving?

I mean, we have somewhere in the neighborhood of just 14,000 nonprofits. Is that all right? And surely not all our thriving, you know, with robust funding. What do you see in general from your perspective? 

Kerry Wood: Well, one thing to clarify too is the, the number that you gave, you know, could include. Churches and PTAs and Little League, and there's a whole plethora of different types of organizations that have called themselves and have registered as a nonprofit through the Big Day of Giving.

We have 900 and now, you know, several hundred more that we would consider very active nonprofits in the, in the community. What we're seeing is [00:13:00] more collaboration than we used to see ever before. We're seeing like. Minded and also similar mission Nonprofits coming together. Funders are looking for that more now than ever.

How are you collaborating? How are you working together? How are you strengthening one another's mission? So that's something that's a trend we're seeing and wanting to see more of. When someone comes to us and says, where do I go to open up a nonprofit? We ask them to please consider not doing that

to. Organizations that have similar mission and and vision as they do. 

Jeff Holden: Well, I know in our regular weekly episodes, it's a question of every executive director or CEO that we speak with. How are you collaborating? Who are you collaborating with? And in many cases, there's organizations they're unfamiliar with that we're actually able to connect them with.

And we've seen organizations that [00:14:00] now have somewhat of a collective. Working together in that particular field, whatever that service is that they're providing. Mm-hmm. Or three or four or five may now go do a grant application together with a distribution after the fact, which I think just makes everybody stronger because you realize that you're not pulling and tugging on each other when those Exactly.

Distributed clubs and organizations have been popular historically, and I'm talking about the Rotaries and the Kiwanis and Elks Clubs. What are you seeing here in Sacramento today? What's happening with those organizations? 

Kerry Wood: Well, it's funny you bring that up. Starting July one, I'm going to be the president of the Sacramento Downtown Rotary Club, and so I've learned a lot over the last few months as I gear up for that role about service clubs in general and Rotary.

You know, as this is no surprise, memberships in service clubs have gone [00:15:00] down. Year, over year, over year. This the, the Sacramento Rotary Club, for example, used to be 500 members strong. Now we're about 200, 250. And so, you know, we're seeing people aren't joining like they used to, but the, the people that are involved are incredibly dedicated to the community and really want to do good.

So we're, you know, that. Trend is, is a bit disturbing because we, we know there's that collective impact when people come together and, and, and, you know, have like-minded people around you to, to do good with. So hopefully things will start to stabilize. 

Jeff Holden: Well, and that's the, that Sacramento Rotary is a big club.

Yes, as a big organization with a lot of legendary names in the community. 

Kerry Wood: Yes. 

Jeff Holden: Yeah. What about demography and gender-based giving? What's happening that you can share there, that you're seeing. 

Kerry Wood: Hmm. You know, we, we have found that the, the folks that are more senior will give to more traditional organizations. They tend to. Contribute to veteran organizations, sometimes [00:17:00] more toward larger nonprofits. When I see the grants and the grants re grant requests that come through, only knowing some of the donors as I do, I see that their, their support continues to really focus on some national organizations locally, larger organizations.

You know, again, veterans and, and basic needs tend to be real focal point. You know, as, as we look at some of the younger donors, one of the things I love to see is that there's trending towards supporting smaller organizations, smaller organizations that they can have a greater impact in. So their a hundred dollars may, may go a lot further than it would a very large nonprofit.

Jeff Holden: and all of this is for the benefit of. The interested party in Big Day of Giving. So they're, they're hearing, you know, the, the differences we've got our legacy organizations, the the ones that have been around forever, that we're all very, very familiar with. And then we also have those very nuanced organizations that serve a very particular niche in the community that.

Is overlooked often by some of the bigger organizations. And it's great to see that we've got some of those younger donors now looking at servicing or supporting those organizations doing those very niche services that need to be addressed in the community. Yes, and I think also as we learn so much more.

Whether it be, [00:19:00] you know, healthcare and or mental health and mental wellness. Mm-hmm. We're gonna see more of that. It's, it's just, we don't need them to set up another nonprofit. We need them to join with one of those other organizations so that they can blend together and do greater together as opposed to, in a fractured sense.

Exactly. Let's close with something that you are doing for the first time ever. The foundation itself is participating with a fund That's part of the big day of giving is, is that correct? 

Kerry Wood: We have an impact fund. So we, community foundations in general, um, have multiple kinds of work that we do. So, you know, managing the funds, granting dollars out, working with philanthropists, it's, you know, one side of our business.

The other side we call community leadership, and that is where we, with a lot of input, determine where. Believe we can make the greatest impact. And the focal point [00:20:00] now for our foundation is health equity, and so we are looking specifically at addressing food insecurity in Yolo County Mental Health Services for Youth and Education Equity, and to.

Support all of that. We have the Impact Fund. And the Impact Fund is, is a way that the community can support our work in the these three areas. 

Jeff Holden: And is the Impact Fund one of the funds that you can contribute to on Big Day of Giving? 

Kerry Wood: Yes. And all year long. 

Jeff Holden: Okay. Yeah. As all of them actually can be contributed to all year long.

Yes, 

Kerry Wood: exactly, exactly. Because we have a, an online portal called Giving edge.org, and that is part of Big Day of Giving, but it runs all year long and you can give the dollars, go directly to the nonprofit and it's a, it's a great service and you can go in and [00:21:00] research. You know what kind of nonprofit you're looking for, who were looking for board members, what, what audiences they serve.

So it's a really helpful database 

Jeff Holden: as a contributor to Big Day of Giving May 1st. Things have changed. You've opened it up now to where. Almost anybody can get involved. Just give us a, the minimum contribution. You said it earlier, but I wanna make an emphasis of it because it gives everybody the ability to understand I can do this too.

It's a couple Yes. Starbucks coffees. Exactly. 

Kerry Wood: Yeah. So over the years, we have decreased the minimum amount to give. We want to make this as accessible to as many people as possible, that everybody. Almost everybody can be a philanthropist. So for $10, that's the minimum you can give to any nonprofit of your choice that are registered as part of Big Day of Giving.

Jeff Holden: Okay, so I'm gonna put you on spot now. Last year was, [00:22:00] how much did we raise? 13.2 million. Oh my gosh, what a tremendous amount of money. And what is the expectation? Do you have a number that you're shooting for as a goal for this year? 

Kerry Wood: We, we don't try to be evasive in that answer, but we, we also don't set goals like that.

Certainly the competitive side of us would love to beat last year's number. You know for sure, you know, we're, we were excited to, to exceed the a hundred million dollars mark last year in total funds raised. So wouldn't it be great if we could get to, who knows, 125 million? But I am not, you know, we're not putting a, a figure out in that way.

What we really wanna see are donors, new donors. People who've never, never given through big day of giving. That's what we wanna see because those relationships are so invaluable to our nonprofit sector. 

And we really, we've tried to make it easier too. We've now, this year we, we offer PayPal and Venmo and Apple Pay, Google Pay.

There's just every way that we can think of to, to make it easier, remove the barriers. So that's a new thing this year for us. 

Jeff Holden: And, and to, to be very clear too, cash is no longer king. It's much easier. And, and, and pretty much mandated to go this way because nobody wants that cash floating around. 

Kerry Wood: And we, because it's been an online giving day, we have not accepted cash in the past, but it's been somewhat one dimensional.

So we're really excited to offer [00:24:00] all the platforms out there, uh, that people are now used to paying with. 

Jeff Holden: Well, and it's so easy to do it with. Just a click of a phone. Right, 

Kerry Wood: exactly. Very easy. And it's a lot of fun and it's difficult, right. You know, you think, gosh, I've say I have $50 and I have, there's 900 nonprofits to choose from.

You know, it can be a difficult decision, but it also helps one step back and think. If this nonprofit were to go away, how would I feel about that? And that, I know I use that as a, as a, a way to determine where I give my, you know, my giving priorities are. 

Jeff Holden: Well, that's a great way to look at it too. Where do you send people to on Big Day of Giving with their contribution?

Where should they go? 

Kerry Wood: They should go to Big Day of giving.org. And it's very easy. In fact, if donors have given through Big day, have given before [00:25:00] their history is populated so they can go back and see, where did I give last year? 

We're calling it the plus one campaign, and we're really hoping that people will consider giving one more dollar than they gave last year to one more organization, encourage one other person to join them, and we think that that collective impact will make a huge difference this year. 

Jeff Holden: Carrie, thank you so much. Best of this, best of luck to you guys this year and raising more than the year prior. I know we're not setting a goal for it, but you know, objectively we would like to see something like that as you engage more and more people.

For [00:26:00] all the reasons we spoke about in, in the conversation of why somebody should be engaged and and involved, and what a great, great representation for Sacramento and we see what you are doing with Big Day of Giving. 

Kerry Wood: Well, thank you for having me, and thank you for spreading the word. 

Jeff Holden: Happy to do it. Big Day of Giving is only weeks away.

And we're happy to bring you these topical conversations related to the Community Foundation's Impact Fund focused on health equity. This program was supported by the Keller Family Pathway Fund. Barry and Linda Keller proudly support the Sacramento Region Community Foundation's Big Day of Giving through their Keller Family Pathway Fund.

Why they believe giving is an emotional experience. Often making the choice of where to give a difficult one with expertise, experience, and deep understanding of the philanthropic environment. The Sacramento Region Community Foundation team is uniquely skilled in vetting organizations their [00:27:00] greatest needs, and helping local people and businesses give back most effectively.

The Keller Trust, the Sacramento Region Community Foundation and invest in its impact fund, ensuring their contributions will be used wisely. Thank you Barry and Linda for your gracious support of the Sacramento Region Community Foundation's Big Day of Giving.