Ep. 3 - Crisis Mode: How to Lead When the Money Stops

What happens when the grant you’ve always counted on disappears? We sit down with Teresa Mills, CEO of Peace at Home Family Shelter, to unpack a calm, practical roadmap for nonprofits facing sudden funding cuts. From building a pet sanctuary that keeps survivors and their animals safe to rebuilding donor trust after tough seasons, Teresa offers clear steps leaders can use right now.

We start with radical transparency that steadies your inner circle, board, staff, and core donors, without alarming the people you serve. Teresa breaks down how to communicate early and often, frame the real gap, and invite supporters to stand with you. Then we get tactical: how to identify mission-critical programs, rank ROI, and protect the services that change lives. You’ll hear how to diversify revenue so no single grant or gala dominates, and why small, steady reserve-building transforms your ability to weather delays, shutdowns, and policy shifts.

If you’ve ever questioned whether events are worth the grind, this conversation will resonate. Teresa shares how cutting a signature event freed up time for deeper donor relationships, monthly giving, and a simple stewardship luncheon that actually strengthens community. We dig into the mechanics of booking donor meetings, what to say on the phone, and how executive directors should lean into fundraising every single day. Along the way, you’ll get practical scripts, post-event follow-up tips that convert attendees into supporters, and a reminder that hope and focus are strategic assets.

Looking for one step to take this week? Call five core donors with a candid update and a clear plan. 

If this conversation helped, follow the show, share it with a colleague who needs it today, and leave a review so more nonprofit leaders can find it.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Welcome back to the Ask Allison Podcast. I'm Allison McElroy, a certified fundraising executive for over 30 years, located in Northwest Arkansas, who loves helping people reach big goals. I mix heart, humor, and my experience to lift others up. Thank you again for listening today. I know you have lots of choices, but I'm glad you're tuning in. I'm so glad you're here. Today, my guest is Teresa Mills, and we go way back probably 28 years, 25. You're aging me, Allison. A long time we have been friends from our early years trying to figure out what to do. We would meet at the little Chick-fil-A and we would discuss and analyze. And um, it's just been a friendship that has blessed me all these years. I'm glad she's here. And Teresa, um, without further ado, tell us who you are and what you do.

Peace At Home’s Mission And New Pet Sanctuary

SPEAKER_01 1:07

Well, thanks, Allison, for having me on your show. I do feel like we should have some Chick-fil-A between us for old time's sake. Yes. Um, I'm Teresa Mills and I'm the chief executive officer for Peace at Home Family Shelter, which is a domestic violence organization that serves Northwest Arkansas. And I've been at Peace at Home for over 15 years, if you can believe it. I cannot believe it.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

15 years. Well, um, and she's done, y'all, she's done amazing things at Peace at Home. It is one of the outstanding organizations that I've had a privilege to work with over the years, but also just be aligned with. And um, as we know, it's much needed in our area. And um, I just can't say enough about Teresa's leadership and the organization. It's it's outstanding. And those of you who haven't heard about it, take a look on the website and uh see what all they're doing. One of the most exciting things that just happened in 2025 or at the end of 2024, I can't remember, um, you've added a pet program for yet. Tell us a little bit about that because I know it's been the the greatest addition to your services.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

We did. So we serve, of course, victims of domestic violence and their children. But one of the things that we figured out was that families were not going to leave their pets behind. You know, there's a strong occurrence between domestic violence and animal abuse. People who hurt animals also do the reverse. And so one of the things that we were able to do, thanks to a legacy gift that we received from a donor, was to build a pet sanctuary on our grounds so that animals who are can be with their people when they're staying at our shelter. So it's been a really wonderful blessing and thanks to endowed giving through legacy planning.

The Funding Cliff And Sector-Wide Cuts

SPEAKER_00 3:05

And that's one of those things that we should all recognize. But until this pet sanctuary came up, I had not thought of that as one of the aspects of escaping a situation or leaving a situation. If you think you can save yourself, but you're leaving your pet behind and you know they won't be able to withstand whatever's horrible things are happening in the home, you're gonna stay because you don't feel like you can, and you can't just leave with a pet and not have somewhere to go that doesn't take a pet. Absolutely. So it just, I'm just was so my heart just exploded over that because I just had not thought that through. Like, and until you're in a situation like that, you don't think of those things. And so y'all are helping people to understand there are so many layers of instances and consec, you know, consequences, uh hurdles, things that you have to jump to to try to better yourself or get out of a situation. And that is one of those key elements that is gonna help more uh people who are experiencing that kind of abuse to be able to get out of it if they can bring their kids and their pets and whatever they need to do to get get away. So absolutely. It's all members of the family. Yes, absolutely. I hope we get to in later on down, we'll talk about legacy giving a little bit, and that can be the example. But um right now, I wanted you to be my January um guest because so many of our friends, so many organizations, not just in northwest Arkansas, but all across the United States, are suffering from um not just funding cuts because times are hard and individuals are cutting back their giving. But we have had a lot of people in Arkansas, and I think it's happening in other states too, wake up to find out um, you know, a couple of months ago that in 2026 they will not have resources and funding that they've always gotten from their states or the federal government. And they are literally trying to decide how to keep the doors open. And I know that we've gone through this before and other times. And I just thought, you have weathered this kind of storm, and I wanted you, I wanted us to talk about a lot of these organizations just need some practical tips, realistic expectations, ways that they can go back to their board and explain, you know, this is what's going on and this is how we do it. It's not, you know, sometimes board members mean well, but they might have the wrong idea for how to solve a crisis like this. But I thought we could be a good therapy session today. Let's do it. And just help organizations, because because there are several in our area. I know um the domestic violence uh organizations, but also um the children's safety centers, children's advocacy centers, children's shelters, children's uh uh children's house here in Northwest Arkansas. Anyone that's experiencing a victim of crime act, there there was a huge amount of funding for that that also dried up or was redistributed. And no one really knows why it was redistributed. Or maybe you do. I don't know, but we've just, it's like one day we were told, hey, we're not gonna do that anymore, and y'all are gonna not gonna get that funding. So we've got children, families, victims of domestic violence. Um, I'm sure there are many others that I don't even, I'm not even aware of that are gonna lose that funding. And it's to the tune of six figures in some instances. It's not just like uh, you know, you're gonna lose$20,000. There's a couple of organizations that are gonna lose like$600,000.

Crisis Leadership: Radical Transparency

SPEAKER_01 6:56

Right. I, you know, when I think about 2025 in particular, it's really been a paradigm shift in terms of the support that the federal government is providing to the nonprofit infrastructure across the country. And it can be really terrifying because there is so much that has happened as a result of changes in federal priorities and where money is being invested. And it has really caught a lot of agencies unaware and ill-prepared. And it can be very scary right now. But I think the important thing to know is that this isn't just your agency. This is really across the nation. You're not alone in trying to navigate this. Um, but you can do it. We have had nonprofit philanthropic work before federal money, and we will continue to have great nonprofit philanthropic work even without federal money. Like it can be done.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

It can be done. And what's the hard pivot is is how you do it when it's a sudden thing and you aren't as prepared as you've meant to be prepared. Absolutely. Um, and and that's the reassuring thing we want to say is you are not alone, everyone out there listening. You're not alone. This is going on, and hopefully today we can give you some helpful tips, some encouraging wisdom, something that we can share. And if anything, if it doesn't help you at all, just know that you're not alone is like the big message of today. But um, we can all figure out ways to navigate this. Um so I know you've had this experience before. Um, I wanted you, if you're able to, tell us a little bit about when you changed your job and took the job at Peace at Home, just a little bit of that history and what you walked into.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

Uh, I certainly walked into an agency that was struggling. I think, you know, they had recently completed a large capital campaign that's always exhausting for staff. It takes a lot of resources, it um people can get burnt out in that moment. And um, and unfortunately, the capital campaign coincided with the 2008 financial crisis. And so when I came into the organization, they had built this beautiful new building, but did not have pledges that had been fulfilled. And so we still owed money on this building that had been built. And we had a much larger budget, but hadn't adjusted to the reality of that much larger budget and the needs of a much larger building. And so I think that when I came into Peace at Home, there was a lot of neglect um around maybe the day-to-day operations and the staffing and the diversification of funding because there was so much energy that was placed into this capital project, which was important and essential and that created a vulnerability that also coincided with an economic crisis and it caused some real pain points. I mean, I will forever remember uh opening up the bank account that first day and realizing that Peace at Home had less money in its checking account than I had in my checking account. You know, I'm a nonprofit professional married to a school teacher. That's a scary reality. It's um my word. So those, so, so those early days were were very rough and fraught, but we got through them, you know, steadily, carefully, rebuilding those relationships with donors, rebuilding the agency for it's it's new reality. And and that that work just hadn't been done.

Rebuilding Donor Trust And Relationships

SPEAKER_00 11:06

How did you like do you remember you know, after you picked yourself up off of the floor from the shock and the awe of what was going on? Do you remember the first thing you thought, I'm gonna do this first? Like when you when you were able to kind of calm down and say, well, I have some work I've got to do. Um, what do you remember the first steps you took in that moment?

SPEAKER_01 11:29

I think the first thing was communication with the board of directors. Because I think one of the gaps that had happened is that that communication had not been transparent in the same way that it probably needed to be. And so board members were unaware of the reality that we were facing. Board members don't like to be surprised, Allison.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

Oh, goodness, no. Not a lot of times, uh not in this way. They might like a surprise party for their good service or their birthday, but this is not the kind of surprise a board member likes. Right.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

And and so I think that I just approached communication with the board and with the staff just in a sense of radical transparency, not in a way that would create panic, but this is where we are. This is this is the reality, and we're gonna have to shore up support. I think the next most important thing was I got on the phone with our closest donors and had that same conversation with them. This is the reality, this is what we're facing. Um, will you stand with us?

SPEAKER_00 12:41

We've come so far together. Were some of those donors people you had not even met yet? Or had you because you were development director first? I was. So you knew a lot of them, but were there some that had not even met you yet? I would say uh probably about 50 to 60 percent of them.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

I had never met them, did not know who they were, had no history with them. Um, and I'm kind of cold calling them, saying, Their name's Teresa. Let me tell you what's going on. Yeah. Yeah. We should probably meet. Um, but I was pleasantly surprised how happy donors in particular were um to have that FaceTime with me, to take that time and meet with me. And I think one of the things that's always a surprise for leaders is they feel like, oh, we can't ask this of a donor, we can't ask more of them. We've already asked them to support this project. Um, and your closest donors, they're staying with you. And you just, you just have to let them know what your real challenges are and ask them to opt in.

SPEAKER_00 13:53

I I always say this. If you continue to communicate with those that are closest to you, um, and you're transparent and you treat them as a part of your family, your your organization's family, that to me is the biggest relationship builder. And most of the time, you typically don't have to make the actual ask right because they are in there saying, What do you need to what does what does the shelter need? Because you have had that open door conversation and those moments, the good and the bad, to say, like, and and that's the thing. If you're communicating with them all the great things that are happening, that's even better. Instead of just talking to them when there's a crisis. But it's like a continuous, hey, wanted to keep you update and let you know someone graduated yesterday, they've been in the shelter for the or wanted to let you know we're getting a big cut this year, and I love to keep you abreast of everything before it's, you know, because I'm, you know, I we we know it's probably gonna be in the news. I just wanted to let you all know first. It makes such a big difference because they feel a part of the like they're linking arms with you, and we're gonna do this together. And how can I help? Um, it's just such a big part of, and I think some people worry about sharing that kind of stuff with a donor.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Yes. I I think that you have to be, it's early and often. I think you can't, you can't go it alone, especially not in this climate right now. You need your strongest supporters to stand with you. And in order to do that, they have to have a real understanding of what's going on. You, it's a relationship. It's a donor relationship. In order for it to be a relationship, it can't just be transactional. It's got to be a genuine relationship where they feel valued and heard. And you're sharing with them the great work that's happening because of their philanthropy.

Messaging In A Crisis Without Causing Panic

SPEAKER_00 16:03

Yeah. And I mean, when you said that, we're just sharing with them. That's that's the whole thing. And and why sometimes we get into these ruts because we don't share enough or we don't make sure that that's part of our calendar is keeping everybody abreast of what's going on, good and bad. Um, and I think they all want to hear the stories and they all want to be feel like they're a part. And so um, I I know there were probably, well, probably not with Teresa, y'all, because she's amazing, but were there any, was there anything you could look back on and think, well, we probably shouldn't have done that in the crisis mode?

Prioritizing Core Programs And ROI

SPEAKER_01 16:41

Every day, every day there was something that we could have that we could have done better or differently, of course. I mean, my goodness. Um, but I think I think you just have to recognize that that's part of it. You're not gonna do it perfectly, but you do a little every day. I think it's equally important that you not try to do everything all at once, that you are structured about it and strategic about it, because then you you spread yourself too thin if you're trying to do everything all at once. But of course you're gonna make errors. Right and you communicate those errors and how you address those, particularly with your donors. Donors like knowing that you can handle adversity, that you can pivot, that you can take a hard lesson and figure out what you're gonna not do the second time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:37

And once again, you can say, well, we thought this is what we should do. And really figured out very quickly this isn't gonna work in this crisis that we're having right now. And so we w I wanted to give you the next update that we're now going to do this because that what we thought didn't work. And just keeping them in the loop. That's right. There's nothing wrong with acknowledging responsibility, even when it didn't work out. Right. Right. And in that process, in that moment, um, you found that most, most of the people you talked to, board members and donors, um, rallied around you.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

They did. They did. They absolutely rallied around the shelter and its mission and were excited to be re-engaged. I think that's something that maybe is an unintended positive consequence of a crisis, is it's it's an opportunity to re-engage laps donors or maybe people who are not as connected to your organization. It is a wonderful call to action. It gives you something to have meaningful conversations about and to really know where people are in relationship to your organization. And so I think that there is an opportunity that crisis presents itself that sometimes gets lost in the worry.

Diversification, Liquidity, And Reserves

SPEAKER_00 19:05

Um, I got it here on my notes that I keep looking at um about building trust. And that's that's the word I was trying to say earlier. When you reach out to your board and your donors, when you're more transparent and more um meeting, like I'm telling you this is where we are right now. And uh when you do that, it builds a trust between both of you because you've been vulnerable 100%. And you've said you've laid it all on the table so they can see. Um, but it also is that thing about when you go in with that attitude, the donor comes back with how can I help? And what can I do? I I don't have you know that much money, but what what could I do? They they come up with ways because they want to be a part of the solution. And we it goes back to that thing, fundamental. Raisers always say, you know, if you want advice, ask someone for money. And if you want money, you start with advice. And I think a lot of us, if we would just start with the relationship and the transparency and the here, here's what's happening first, then the donor has a chance to settle with that and and think, oh gosh, how can I help? instead of being met with the, we need you to do this.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

Absolutely. And I think that this is something where many executive directors err in relation to their board of directors. I think lots of times executive directors feel like they have to go into board meetings with all of the answers. And they have to um put this strong front in front of their board, like I've got it, every everything's fine. You know, we're good. And they kind of put on a dog and pony show for board members. And so then board members don't actually know what's going on. They don't really understand where the pain points are or where the stresses are or what the economic reality is, because all they're showing is the in the veneer. And I think that's because executive directors sometimes get worried that board members are going to perceive problems as I can't do my job. You should find someone else to do this job. And so it breeds this I can't be vulnerable with you, I can't be transparent with you, because I'm afraid that you're gonna interpret that as incompetent. But what it does is it creates distress when inevitably there's an economic crisis or there's a personnel issue or there's something that will happen, and then board members are caught unaware. And then that is destabilizing to the relationship between the board and the executive leadership. And so you've really got to flip that, especially if you're trying to change organizational culture, because otherwise board members don't really know and they really can't help you if they don't know what the issues are. Right. And so I think when you're thinking about trust and vulnerability, I'm so glad you mentioned that uh that that's essential in terms of leadership, especially in crisis.

SPEAKER_00 22:32

It is. And I I think it's exactly what you're saying. Um, as a nonprofit executive, uh, there's a part of you that wants to show how strong you are. Right. And you hired me and I have the skills. But if you really think of it, we always get people on our boards that have expertise from the for-profit world and the nonprofit world. But a lot of times we line up that board matrix with who's good at marketing, who's good at financial planning, who's good at budgeting, right? Who's good, all those things. And we'll never use them. And never use them because we want to look like we know it all. Right. The whole point is you're rallying a team to give the expertise that because most nonprofits have a short bench, they've got the people in the seat that know what they're doing. But it's so nice to have some guidance from a set of board members that are coming in, rolling up their sleeves to give their expertise. Um, and and the thing is, most board members understand as they come to the table, there's some that don't, but most understand that their expertise is totally different from the nonprofit lens. Correct. That they can still offer a different spin on things to help the executive director. And and the executive director should not act like I've got this right. When that's why we assemble a board of directors. It's like, guys, I am good at so many things. But let me tell you what I'm not good. Funding cuts at the last minute. Absolutely. Yes, absolutely. And so we've got we're all gonna have to, you know, get together on how we're gonna weather this storm.

SPEAKER_01 24:10

Yeah, you don't need board members that are just holding down chairs. Like, what is their role and how are you engaging them and helping further in the mission? Um, that's that's how you keep engaged board members and build healthy culture.

SPEAKER_00 24:24

And they can help. It's so much more than just fundraising. 100%. I think they get they get leery about fundraising, but really there's so many other things that really lead to fundraising or are adjacent to fundraising, but it all comes together. And and when we can use their skills, you know, we could go on and on about boards and that's a whole podcast. That's a whole podcast about board members and how to to make them stay engaged and and contributing. But um, I I know we mentioned the like what you should actually do in the moment. And we've said reach to the board, reach to your donors. What are some other things that nonprofits could do right now? I noticed that some of the organizations in our area and and nationally too have begun to utilize the media and which is a scary situation also because sometimes the media doesn't relay the story just like you want them to. But in this case, I feel like a lot of the media has done a great job relaying the cuts um and spreading the word about what these organizations are gonna be losing. But are there some other ways? Like it would the media be one thing if they I mean, I know it's tricky with the domestic violence and shelter because you need to stay private and hidden.

Moving Beyond Events To Major Gifts

SPEAKER_01 25:45

Um but I think that I think the thing that I would caution about using the media or any this is any communication tool, I would say, is I don't think that it's helpful to give the impression that you're about to close for your beneficiaries. I would never want a survivor of violence to think that our agency is about to close due to funding. And so I would just want to make sure that whatever messaging that you're giving is inspirational and hopeful and not around we're gonna close tomorrow if we don't raise X amount of dollars. Panic and fear is not. Panic and fear is never away. Absolutely. Um, that said, I do think, again, this is a communicate early and often. Your stakeholders, your donors, your board, potentially the media, certainly need to be aware of what's happening. Um, I think also internally, things that programs need to think about is what is most mission critical. The reality is that you might have to make some hard decisions. You may not have the dollars to operate all of your programs either at capacity or um serving the same number of people. I mean, you might have to really think about that. So, one of the things that's so important is what's most mission critical? What has the best return on your investment? Um, because sometimes programs end up developing um activities or projects or whatever that maybe are secondary to their core mission or are nice but not essential. And so I think one of the most important things to do in a crisis situation is to really know where your money needs to be. What is the focus? And prioritize that and know what that number is. Know how much that is for you to do the most essential work and prioritize filling that gap than trying to do all of it all at once, because there's nothing worse than having 25% of all of your programs across the board funded with restricted dollars. Right. You want to make sure that you're fully covering the core of the work first.

SPEAKER_00 28:13

Oh, that's a great reminder. And you're right. As we um sail on and don't have problems, we start providing some other services that maybe we didn't provide in the beginning. Right. And so just taking a good look at what are some services that we've added that are wonderful and helpful and joyful, but right now we need to focus on making sure people are safe and have food. Or um we have the the all the essentials we need to do the forensic interview or the um medical sexual assault exam or whatever it is that is most essential. Most essential. Absolutely. And yes. And just taking, and that's hard to do because so many things seem like the thing that we need to do. But when you go through something like this, you've got to take that time to evaluate all the programs and what is a core program. Right. I love calling it the core program.

SPEAKER_01 29:13

Yes. And I think sometimes the best time to do that is when you're not in crisis. Right. And and and making sure that everyone is on board. And this is leadership, board members, donors, your frontline staff, that you really weighed in and everyone has buy-in on the front end about in the event of a catastrophic loss, this is where our prioritization is going to be. Basically building your continuation of operations before you're in crisis. That's ideal.

SPEAKER_00 29:48

Right. Right. Oh, that's such a good hint. Are there other things that come to your mind, other steps or other um like the next thing, like after we've we've listed these things, what is there something else that, you know, and then when we get get done and you're like, Alison, I've given you the whole list, you know, we can move to our next topic or our next thing.

How To Book Donor Meetings That Stick

SPEAKER_01 30:10

But I I think, you know, ideally you need to recognize that funding loss is always a possibility. Always. It's always right. It it seems really anything for great. It seems really acute right now because that there's so many agencies, legacy agencies that are losing significant federal dollars. Like this is we're in a a large shift in where philanthropy is going and where federal money is going. But but that said, healthy nonprofits are always thinking about do we have too much concentration in any one source of funding? Now, that could be a federal grant, that could be a special event, that could be an individual donor. Right. And what happens if one of those go away? And so I think a great strategy for board members is okay, let's map this out. We lose XYZ donor. How much of a gap is that? And where does that impact? And would we prioritize saving that program if that money wasn't there? And where could we pivot? Like having that exercise at a board meeting can be really, really helpful, particularly when you're not in crisis, to map out what that looks like. I really encourage nonprofits to map out their cash flow. They need to know what their liquidity looks like. Um, consider maybe having a line of credit at a bank that they could access in an emergency um situation so that they can continue to operate while they're pivoting through a crisis. I think you always have to recognize that funding changes. Right. Right. And you're not, you're not too comfortable. You're not, you're not thinking about um what next year's budget looks like and this grant that's eventually gonna sunset, or maybe your special event gets disruptive because it's COVID and you can't have it because you can't gather people, that you're always considering what it looks like so that you're better prepared to respond in the moment.

SPEAKER_00 32:30

Um, I know it's so hard for a lot of our nonprofits to put that little bit away for the rainy day or the crisis or the COVID or whatever comes up. I know that one, the organization that I worked for so many years, there was not a lot of extra funding at all. Even when I was hired, I would sit by the phone. I think you know, four to six months, I would wait after a board meeting to see if they were keeping me or not keeping me, because it literally was a strain to bring a person to do fundraising and uh raise awareness, you know, onto the team. And I remember one of our board members, um, a dear, dear, dear person, he knows who he is. Uh, he was one of the first board members for the fundraising arm of that organization. And he said, we need to put 10% back of every unrestricted gift. Absolutely. I think the lady that did our bookkeeping at that time, I think she hated when we would bring a donation in because she was already mad we needed all of it. Absolutely. We needed the whole percent, the whole hundred percent to run the building. And it drove her bananas that we had to put that, I th it it might have been 25, it was 25%. Oh gosh, yeah. So it was a nice, but fast forward to our capital campaign when some land came available and they were going to do a bargain sale. We had this little chunk over in an account that we were able to use to purchase that land 100% at a discounted rate, a much discounted rate. But we all we could do is look back and remember how hard that was. You know, so every hundred dollar gift, they got$75 and we put back that$25, 25% and$25. So, but it did add up. It was slow. And it was, like I said, it was excruciating for her trying to pay the bills and like you're talking about, she's looking at the account and thinking, if we could just keep it, you know. But in the long run, it worked out. And so sometimes it's 10%, sometimes it but boards can come up with is that the kind of thing you're talking about where they can start saving for because a lot of them really feel like they don't have any money to spare for savings.

SPEAKER_01 34:53

I think that this is where the exercise of what happens if we lose XYZ um donor or fundraiser or whatever becomes really important. It's like, oh, that's$50,000 out of our budget. What would we do suddenly? And that going through that exercise can help reframe the prioritization around building unrestricted liquidity. And it is a slow process, but even if it's$1,000 a year, you know, that little bit can add up over time and it's better than zero dollars that's available. Um, much like your own personal savings account.

SPEAKER_00 35:35

It's the same thing. It's like when Christmas or holidays roll around and you think, why didn't I put a little back all year? Sure, sure.

SPEAKER_01 35:42

And, you know, the I think the metric right now is that healthy nonprofits have six months of liquidity um laying around, and you think, my goodness, six months of liquidity, that's that's so much money. But just think about how much easier you would sleep at night, nonprofit leaders, if you had a month of liquidity or two weeks of liquidity. I mean, even if it's a small amount, it can really make a difference in your ability to weather.

SPEAKER_00 36:11

Right. Right. Just like, you know, one of the we we've mentioned these funding cuts, but we had a government shutdown. Absolutely. So everybody was behind on getting their government, the thing that they get, you know, just for their billing that they, the services they provide. So if you have this nest egg somewhere, and like we said, it's excruciating to do that when you don't have any money, but you have to start somewhere. Start small, start however you can, but use the board to analyze that situation. Yes. That's a great tip.

Board Stewardship And Post-Event Follow-Up

SPEAKER_01 36:44

That's how much money do we really need to be comfortable? What's going to help us sleep a little better at night? I think that's also a great conversation with your major donors. I mean, we have absolutely had major donors that have invested in building liquidity. Again, there's a great case for support right now around the need for reserves, need to have um money in the event of a future loss. Um, this is this is the time to have those conversations.

unknown 37:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:18

Oh my goodness. And like we're not saying it's a piece of cake and it's real easy to do, but this is the kind of thing that will help you to weather when these things happen. You know, it was the building crisis of 2008. Um, there was probably something else after that. There was a pandemic out. Then there was COVID. And when COVID happened, you know, none of us could have the things we always did. And all, you know, we couldn't do that. We couldn't see our donors face to face. So building during good times and during bad times helps you weather these storms. I I will say, one, um, as if we flash back to that day, um, our large corporation here that was started in Bentonville and has been so generous and so wonderful, they decided to be more structured and restructure their guidelines. I think that was in 2010. I think you're right. Yeah. And we were all invited to a meeting. And I I really thought there were some people that were just about to pass out there at that meeting when they found out that they weren't gonna fit in the in the guidelines anymore. And honestly, it's their prerogative absolute, and and they were being, they were trying to solve the large, they did the thing like you're talking about. They evaluated programs. What do we want to stand for? What is the greatest need in our area? And they weren't saying none of your needs are good enough. They were saying we've we've decided to be more focused. And it cut like so, you know, there were so many that got operations money from them or got grants that funded things. And I remember, I think I raised my hand and just said, is the pharmacy, are the pharmacy people going to be out in the hall for us after this meeting? Because we're gonna need some drugs to recover from the news, you know, to try to kind of, because we were all just sitting there. And that's the kind of thing, it's not always federal. It's not always one donor that has always supported you, passes away, and didn't leave you in their right estate plan. It can be a huge grantor, like a foundation that has always given you money that changes their focus, or a corporation that has always sponsored thing and they got a new leader in and they just they decided you don't fit in what they're passionate about or what matches well with their company values anymore. And so they pivot and they go to something else. And it's it's all of this that we have to be ready for. And none of it is good. But if we can figure out ways to redistribute some funds as we go. To prepare, and I know you've done a great job of that. And I know it probably was not easy to do that. Do you remember the day like when you had nothing and you're going to meet with everybody to say we don't have any money? And and this we've got to we've got to shore some things up. Do you remember how you said we need to do this so we're never in this situation again? Um easy. I mean, no, it wasn't easy.

Encouragement, Daily Actions, And Takeaways

SPEAKER_01 40:27

I think I think when I knew that like we were going to be able to make payroll without me having an anxiety attack, I did um the very next board meeting. I went and I was like, okay, what what is our reserve building strategy? Because we can't, we can't continue to live like this. I can't continue to live like this. This is the path to burnout and um turnover. Like this is this is not sustainable. So what what are we going to do differently? And the board was really open to um listening to me and and giving me some feedback and some strategies. And and it was painful when we had just had gotten over the hump and to think about, oh gosh, we're gonna really start investing in reserve building. But in terms of our ability to maintain full employment during downtimes and continue to expand programs even during downtimes, Teresa's ability to sleep at night. I mean, all of those are real benefits that happened as a result of that willingness to have hard conversations and invest in reserve building, and also, quite frankly, to be mindful of having any one gift make up more than about five to 10% of our annual budget. Really thinking about not that we would turn down a gift that was substantial, but that we what happens if we don't have this money? What does that look like? Are we creating a dependency on this one donor? And do we have the liquidity to continue this program in the absence of this donor? So that kind of board exercise on an ongoing basis is really important.

SPEAKER_00 42:18

And it once again, you're that donor's wanting to give that large gift, it gives you a whole reason to talk to them about would you mind if we put so much of this back in our reserve funds so that we can continue this program if for some reason someday something happens, we've saved up. And I'm sure they were always able to say, absolutely. I would love for that program to be on going on and on because you have it in reserves or whatever. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:46

Donors like strategic thinking on the part of nonprofits. And they really appreciate that.

Myths To Bust And EDs As Fundraisers

SPEAKER_00 42:52

Yeah. And I think that's what you are so good at, Teresa. Um, you have a strategic, not only just a strategic brain and thoughtfulness about how you go about things, but you're very calm. Like you have a calming voice. I'm saying that now because she's calming me. But like in a crisis, um, and and when you're not in a crisis and being able to be strategic about if a crisis comes, um, I can see how that would have been hard. Yay, we're finally making payroll and things are on the up and up, and we've got enough money generating through, and we're doing great. And then you say, um, okay, now we need to visit how we never want to be in a scary situation again. And I'm sure they all looked at you like, what? And but you're strategic and thoughtful and calm to say, I think we need to be really, really smart and start thinking about the future. I think I think that's huge. And she's just really good at that, y'all. She's really good that she's she's talked many a person down from the frantic, you know, what not to do in a crisis mode and and what to do. Um so we've talked about signs for an or that an organization needs a reset. Right now, it's not necessarily that they need a reset, they're being forced to reset because of yes. Um, and then we've talked about how Teresa stepped into the messy situation and the things she did immediately. And I'm sure if you needed to ask her again or if you wanted a a little like one step one, step two, step three, we could get that to you later. Uh, feel free to send me a message and I can get that information to you. Um she's talked about how she worked internally and externally to change the narrative and build, she rebuilded trust with donors and board members and staff members through that. And then um, some things were rebuilt and some things were refreshed, I'm sure. Absolutely. Those are all the things that you uh take away. Now, one thing I'm shifting my focus just a little because there's another amazing thing that Peace at Home Family Shelter has done. And uh several of us talk about this all the time. Um, there've been other organizations that have done it as well, but Peace at Home is the one that I have uh experienced firsthand, um, especially in our area. But I'm sure if you're listening from another state also, um, I hope you're listening somewhere in Massachusetts or um Washington State, wherever you are. We get stuck on special events. And my last episode, episode two, was with Casey Yokley, and we talked about the event, um, the the never the a never-ending cycle of special events and silent auctions and live auctions and runs and golf tournaments and galas, and we talked about all of it. We talked about why we need them, and we talked about there are good things that come from them. Certainly. We talked about um once again, diversifying the the bucket. So you don't want all your funds to be coming from your special event. And COVID is a perfect example. When COVID happened, we couldn't have our events, correct? So but there are pluses for having events. I've said them before. There's an awareness piece, getting in the glossies. It's a friend raiser. You get new people to the table, literally, if you're talking about a gala, where you can share your message. There's a way to celebrate philanthropy. Some events are low-key and more about celebrating philanthropy and awareness than they are gala and fru fru. Um, those are some of the great things. The cash is quick. I think that's why board members love events. It's easier for them to invite someone to that than to talk to them one-on-one about their commitment. It's visible, it's visible, it's flashy, flashy. And it, it, you know, there's there's wonderful parts of an event, but there's a lot of uh the real costs that aren't shared. And we've talked about that a lot with Casey. There's work that nonprofit professionals do that takes away from all of this that we're talking about, the relationship building and the one-on-one visiting and the uh, you know, being transparent. And um, there's a lot of that. If you're doing event after event after event, you don't get to do all that stuff. Correct. And um event heavy nonprofits, although in the moment, if they're all running great, it is some quick cash. It's more transactional because they usually get something in return, right? Like their steak dinner, or as Casey said, that rubber chicken dinner. Right. Like they get stuff in return and everybody's on a high, but it's also the quickest thing that can tank if something doesn't hit just right or a COVID happens, or so there's a real cost there. But when we're talking about, like if a a lot of nonprofits need to really step back and look at that event fundraising and scale that back a notch because what you've been doing and what we're literally talking about reserves and all that stuff, that was done without a bunch of like no one said, we're in a crisis, we need to throw a party to have a gay or a golf tournament. That's not what happened. And so I wanted you to share it is excruciate. Another excruciating thing about fundraising is when you decide that you're not gonna have as many events. And the board and donors that love those events say, well, then where's that money gonna come from? Can you tell us how could an organization pivot from being so event heavy to doing and may and tell a little bit about Peace at Home, how y'all have pivoted and where your money comes from if you're not having a gala every five seconds?

SPEAKER_01 49:04

Right. Yeah. So uh one of the first things I did my very first year at Peace at Home was I eliminated our signature event. Oh, I bet they loved that. I do not recommend um perhaps doing what I did, which was to roll up into a board meeting, the beginning of our fiscal year, and be like, we're not doing this event anymore. I refuse. Um, and then not fully have a strategy of how we're gonna replace that money. Right. Do not recommend that. That said, um, it was the right decision for us because it was incredibly labor intensive. Um, anyone who has schlepped around picking up silent auction items at 37 different liquor stores, you know, knows what I'm talking about. It's it is labor intensive. It didn't actually raise a lot of money after we had paid for everything. And donors or people who were attending the event, in some cases, because they had attended so many other events that were similar to ours, didn't even recognize that they were at a peace at home event. And I was like, no more. We're not, this is not the way we're going to raise money. Um, and so we really took a step back and decided that we were going to focus exclusively on individual donors. All of our time was going to be spent on one-on-one conversations, um, cultivating, asking, and stewarding individual donors. And we really just went through our database. I didn't have a development director, so this was this was just me. And we goodness. I just picked the top 25 donors in terms of their who was giving me, not even the most amount, but the most consistently giving to me, who was I could see increases in giving over time, um, people that seemed the most connected to Peace at Home. And I just made it my mission to engage with those donors as much as I possibly could. And that was the strategy.

SPEAKER_00 51:34

And that that means you didn't start engaging by saying, we're quite cutting our event. Will you give us$5,000? It was literally like, give me an example of how you began to engage. Like, um, I mean, you certainly have have alluded to this.

Closing Notes, Contact, And Next Episode

SPEAKER_01 51:48

It's like, I want to let you know that we've got 22 kids in shelter today. You know, this we've got a kindergarten class in in shelter today. Um, or uh, oh gosh, thank you so much for bringing Thanksgiving meals to the clients in shelter. We had such a great time. Or, oh, we've got a um a family that's about to go into their own apartment next week. I just wanted to let you know this this great thing that happened at shelter this week. I think it's just informing them, letting them be a part of the success and failing mission, you know, being part of it, um spending time with them. I mean, I drank so much coffee that first year. Oh, go ahead. Going and meeting with donors and just listening to what their experience with Peace at Home had been, where they thought Peace at Home needed to go, um, particularly donors who maybe had not recently had a positive experience with Peace at Home in terms of like the stewardship or follow-up or whatever, just giving them that space, acknowledging maybe some of those shortcomings and letting them know how things were going to be different moving forward. I mean, I don't know that I made an ask that first almost a year. I mean, I really just built relationships and built rapport and just engaged those people over and over and over and over. And so that when I was making, finally making the ask, we were old friends. It wasn't just, oh, I'm meeting you for the first time and I'm gonna ask you to represent this proposal. Correct.

SPEAKER_00 53:33

Pretty folder. Yeah. Correct. I've got one question about this because the question is so the event didn't happen and you spent a year, you know, doing these engagement without asking, had y'all already built your reserve to cover the event's costs? Um because you know, some people, their events are very successful. Like so.

SPEAKER_01 53:56

We we we had not. Um I um, and again, in hindsight, you know, I probably would have um not asked the board to take a leap of faith with me. Maybe we would have had a transitional year, right? We have our event, but we kind of recognize that we're gonna phase it out over the next two or three years. And in that same period of time, we're gonna kind of strategically build up um a pipeline for major donors and start a monthly giving campaign and invest in our CRM, like doing some of those like structural things. Um I again, this is what we did. It may not have been best practice. This is what we did. I was like, we're not doing this. I'm not spending a year planning a party. I'm gonna spend a year investing in the donors who are gonna who are gonna walk with us. Um, I think depending on the amount of money your event raises, um, that maybe is a more phased approach. And so you do have to kind of assess that and think about that and think about what your comfort level is. And if you have reserves that you could weather, you know, if you didn't have as large of an event or you had a scaled back event in a transitional period, then that's ideal. That was um, that wasn't our experience. Right.

SPEAKER_00 55:20

So what did you do? Did were you short that year? Did you like did you or did you just have enough to get by without that chunk?

SPEAKER_01 55:29

I think we were our fortunately, I guess maybe our event wasn't it wasn't raising that much money. I gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 55:37

It wasn't, it wasn't to the point where it was a huge portion of that budget. Correct. Correct.

SPEAKER_01 55:44

I gotcha. I think if you have a larger portion of your budget, then maybe that timeline gets expanded. Maybe that's an 18-month or maybe even three-year transition to pivot to other types of um fundraising kind of basics and balance that portfolio a little more.

SPEAKER_00 56:05

How many events do y'all have now?

SPEAKER_01 56:09

We don't really have events. We do have one small luncheon um that is there's no silent auction, there's no ban.

SPEAKER_00 56:21

I there's I think I got to go in 24. I didn't get to go this year, but I got to go in 24. And it's it's like I was talking about there are galas and golf tournaments and rums and silent auctions, live auctions, but there's also philanthropy events that are driven by awareness and networking and bringing people to the table. And that seems to me what y'all's was like. It was like a a luncheon where people could invite someone to sit at their table and their where their ticket prices it's free.

SPEAKER_01 56:53

It's free, it's absolutely free. It's really just about celebration. It's stewardship event, really, for us.

SPEAKER_00 57:00

When we think about this event, it's a stewardship event. Um I like, yes, that's exactly what it to call it.

SPEAKER_01 57:07

It absolutely raises some money. We cover our costs and we raise some money beyond that. But our goal is to share and celebrate how our donor community came together to do great things at peace at home. And not through the event, but through the major gift and the annual fund and monthly giving and the volunteer group that came out. Like those are the people in the room.

SPEAKER_00 57:33

Because our people absolutely have supported you for the year. Absolutely. Um, and I think I think that's what people who aren't in nonprofit, they don't understand how hard those events are. And they don't, they don't realize all the extra. So when it's a nice event like that and you're just worrying about maybe what you're gonna serve, where you're gonna have it, the the table people work out themselves. Um, you're not trying to get a bunch of donated products and all that. You're just trying to get it's an awareness piece, correct? Friend raiser. And so the expectations are we just wanna at least cover the cost of the dinner, correct? That the lunch that we're providing and the venue. Um, and if we go over, that's great. But this is our chance to still get that awareness part of an event, but you don't get caught up in the honorary host and the the corporate jargon of who's gonna rub elbows with who who. It's literally a celebration. Correct. And I think that is what I wanted to know is your other event that you, you know, said it's time for it to to sing its swan song and it lift, it wasn't such a huge part of your budget that it didn't create an issue to quit it. And so if if someone out there has a huge event that they know is needing to be refreshed or replaced, do the stair step approach instead of the I'm gonna come in and rip off the band-aid that we're not doing it. Have a plan, phase it out.

SPEAKER_01 59:09

Don't don't do like Teresa did. Actually have a plan and and do it more phased. But and there there are some events that absolutely they they raise dollars and they are aligned with your mission and they are they're they're wonderful. I think you just have to think about what are you not doing when you're focused on event planning? And are you missing out on ways to engage um donors or to build more than just transactional relationships if you're so focused on throwing a great event? That that's the cost you have to weigh.

SPEAKER_00 59:51

Um, one quick question I just thought of. A lot of nonprofits have been telling me how hard it is. You said you drank a lot of coffee. That here, how hard it is to get people to accept an appointment or make an appointment. Did you have any special technique when you would call to get them to say yes to meet you for coffee?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:13

I I think that because our agency was kind of in a at a crisis inflection point, and there was a lot of like we had some reputational damage and there was a lot of concern. Um, and I was the new kid. Like I was a new This was a lovely time. This was just a lovely time for you, wasn't it? It was. It it was uh my husband may have installed a punching bag um in my garage to help get me through. Um, but I think that donors were curious. They they had a lot of questions and they had a lot of feedback and they were in some cases really angry at our organization because we hadn't sent follow-up grant reports and we hadn't done what we said we were going to do. And so because of that, I kind of had an opportunity to get in the door.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:10

Yeah. Okay. I am gonna I'm getting really basic here, but I know there are friends out there listening that want to know: did you send an email to invite them to coffee? Did you make phone calls or did you like, did you do one thing first and then follow up with the second way? And what verbiage did you use? I'd like to give you an update. Like that's I think that's what people hear, especially right now, because they have that situation where the funding's been cut, they need to update. What did you use to say to get your foot in the door?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:44

I I overwhelmingly made phone calls. Okay. Um, now, of course, this is like mid mid-mid-aughts. This is this is a while ago. Um but certainly I when I could, I wanted I wanted people to hear my voice. Yes. I wanted to to talk to them. Um and it, I really just said, I know I I almost had the speech down. It's like, I know you've not had a great experience with our agency lately. And I want to let you know that I hear that, acknowledge that, and moving forward, you can expect blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever it was that we'll turn this report in, that we will, you know, send out donor tax receipts timely, whatever, whatever it was. Whatever. I just proactively acknowledge that, hey, your experience may not have been great, but I want to let you know that I'm here to do some course correction. And I would like to meet with you so that we can talk about what your expectations for our agency are. And that really um was powerful. And I was surprised at how many people said yes to that. Um, if you've got information about your donor in your CRM that says what their preferred method of communication is, please use that. Whatever.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:08

If they say don't call, of course, definitely email. But of course, yes. For the most part, um, and what's beautiful is if they don't recognize the number right away, you can leave that voicemail and they can still hear your voicemail, hear your voice and how you're sounding in this. Yes, yes. Um, I love that because I think a lot of people now don't want phone calls. And so we think we'll do the email, you know, hey, you know, hey girl, how are you doing? And that sometimes isn't as good a feeling as just picking up the phone. Right. Um, some people could send an email first that say, I'm going, I'm, I'm probably I'm going to call you in the next week. Um, and if I don't get you, I'll leave you a message, but just wanted to give you a heads up that expect a phone call from. So you could do that. But um, I I I know that there are people thinking this.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:58

I didn't mean to No, you're fine. I actually think that phone calls are making a resurgence because one of the things that we do with our board members right now is um we engage them in stewardship. And so we have them, whenever we have donors that have given it in the month, we have board members call them. And the number of board members who really just love talking to our donors on the phone and donors that are just over the moon, that someone took the time, a volunteer, a board member, not staff, a volunteer took the time to call them and not just send them a quick email or send them a quick text. The engagement and connection and the satisfaction for both the donor and the board member is really, really powerful.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:50

Oh, I love that. I love that. I know we're we we could, there are so many things we could talk about. Um, but I really know that that will help people. Just the way you got your foot in the door. I'm I'm sure when you quit the event, you were able to say to some of those corporate partners, I need to visit with you because we're thinking of doing away with the XYZ event. That's exactly right. And that's what you use. And I just need to talk to you and get your advice and explain what's what's been going on behind the scenes so that you can understand. And and when you I don't want you to hear it from anyone else but me.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:26

Yes. And I was surprised by how many of our individual donors that I thought would have a lot of resistance to giving up events that were like, oh gosh, that means that we don't have to go to another event that like, oh, like we we can we can just have a night home and we don't have to like get a babysitter and get dressed up and fight parking in downtown, and you know, that there was some liberation that they actually found.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:58

Years ago, my friend Hope Bradbury, who is a rock star in herself, you she was at the library and they decided no more events. She was done with them. People, I I think people's heads exploded. Right. But she she when she showed the board that you can raise the amount that you would raise in an event, you could talk to five people in on your your donor list and raise that much money with a cup of coffee, that's right, or a breakfast, or a tour, or a visit, or a relationship. When she explained that and then she proved it, absolutely. She literally proved it, and that's exactly what you've done too. And that's what we're talking about. The the money is not transactional. Correct. With an event, it's transactional. They get something in return. Everybody's wondering about whose name's gonna be the bigger font, all that. But when you can go to some of those same people and raise even more just from saying your money's gonna go straight to the program, none's gonna go to the chicken dinner or the red carpet or the golf fees, or it's all going straight to the organization, you do bump up the whole return on investment and the time and the energy. And then you are friends with relationships with your donors. Absolutely. So absolutely. I I'm not saying don't have any events. I'm just saying they can be philanthropic and friend raisers and celebrations of stewardship. They can be all the things, and you don't have to play the game. It is very hard to transition from that, especially in Northwest Arkansas, where events are life. But we're we're finding as our area grows, and we said this in the last episode, there are a lot of competing things to do. Correct. When our events started, there was nothing else to do here. That was the the party life or the afterwork life was to go to an event and wear your best or wear your luau shirt or wear golf in that golf tournament. But now we've got amenities in this area because it's grown so fast that the events now have competition with all the other things going on. Absolutely. So you just just take take time to consider that. Um, I am gonna say um just if you'll just give just a tidbit of hope, give some encouragement to these stressed organizations and um maybe one thing they could do this week just to put one foot in front of the other.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:33

And I think that it's hard right now. Like it is, it's hard. And there are many external forces that are testing our resilience. But I think what you have to remember is even if you have to scale back, even if you have to pivot, even if you um aren't able to do as much as you think you should do in this space, in this moment in time, you're not failing. You're still doing the work. You're doing the work. And even if the worst were to happen and your agency was to close tomorrow, the legacy of your agency is valuable. People are safer, they're housed, they've been supported and cared for because of the work that you've done. And so you've got to just keep on keeping on. And you can't let the external pressures prevent the mission and the work. We did great philanthropy before federal money, before signature galas, before online giving and the TikTok. We've done it. We did it. And we we will continue to do great life-changing work. And sometimes the best things that we can do is just focus on what we can control and let the rest of it be the rest of it. We don't make decisions based on the news cycle. Right, right. We just focus on the mission and the work. That's that's sometimes you have to let the rest of it go and focus on what you control. Right. I think the one thing that I would encourage organizations to do always, not just in difficult times, but always is to stay close to their donors, not transactionally, don't treat them like ATMs, but in that relationship way to avoid mission creep, stay focused on core programs, and uh communicate authentically and consistently. At the end of the day, tell people about your organization, ask people to support your organization and thank them for doing so. That's what you that's what you can do every day that will put you in a better position to move forward.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:21

I love it. I love it. And that's my favorite part. That is my favorite part of my all of my nonprofit work is the joy when someone who's passionate about something figures out that they can provide for the thing that they're passionate about, saving, solving, curing, helping. And when they they meet that match and they become a true champion and they light up when they talk about it, that that is what brings me such great joy in my work, and I know it does for you too. Yeah, it's transformative.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:58

I mean, it's it's you're helping connect donor passion with true community need, and you're moving mountains together. How can you not be excited to be part of that work?

SPEAKER_00 1:12:14

Right, right. Okay. We've got some rapid fire questions. Yeah, I'm ready. Okay. Um, what is the fundraising myth that you would love to bust?

SPEAKER_01 1:12:26

Oh boy. Well, gosh, this this could be its own podcast as well. Okay, I'll even take notes. I think number one always is we just need one big donor, one big grant, one big special event to save us. I think concentration is always an error. Diversification and spreading out your partners is always the best way to go. Okay. Um gosh, can I give you one more? Yeah, give me one more because there's a lot out there. There's so many. Um, I think this this is out my executive director is listening. Um, some executive directors believe that once they have development staff, that they no longer have a role in fundraising. This is a good one. Oh my gosh, I'm so glad you said that. And I cannot stand that. Um, executive directors have to be involved in fundraising every day, every single day. They have to prioritize what their development staff needs. If my development team is coming to me and saying, we need you to send so-and-so a thank you note because they just joined our mountain society. That's gonna be number one on my list of things to do. That's not at the bottom of the list of things to do. If I need to call donors, that's gonna be at the beginning of my workday because it's it's essential and you can't ask your development team to carry the load for you and sit back in a passive way.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:06

And let me just say that she totally could do that because her development team is amazing. They are amazing. Eva Terry, I've also known for one million years, and she is outstanding in her profession and practice. And so what Teresa's saying is even though Eva is a rock star in her own, Eva knows that Teresa is there to do the parts that Teresa needs to do. And Teresa knows that Eva will tell her when she's needed and will listen when Teresa has an idea of, I think I might need to do this. They are an excellent team, but that is such a good one. I'm so glad you brought that up because you're right. The development person is not the rainmaker. Correct. It's still a team effort. They are just the one that coordinates how the team is going to, you know, solve all the problems.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:03

Absolutely. I I always, yeah, I always say that I am a fundraiser who happens to be an executive director, not an executive director that dabbles in a little fundraising on the side. Like it is core mission work.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:17

It is. It totally is. And that for all of you executive directors out there, that is what you have to remember. You are still the fundraising. You are still a fundraiser who also dabbles in executive directorness.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:30

Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:32

Okay. Uh, an event trend that you hope disappears forever. Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:38

Um, so it's clear that I have some special event um opinions, but the thing that worries me most with special events, especially if you're going to continue to have this part of your workload, is you have to have meaningful follow-up after your event. That trend of throwing a great party and then not capturing that data, not knowing who's sitting at that corporate table, not sending thank you notes, not inviting them to tour your facility, not transitioning them away from just an event attendee. Um, why would you waste all of that time and effort and then not do the work to make them a donor in a different capacity? So the trend that needs to end is oh, we paid the caterers and now we're done.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:38

Like the real work has just begun. Right. Because you wanted the new friends and they all showed up at the table. And if you don't ever get to know them that year before the next event, that you're right. It's a whole waste of time, waste of energy. And um, I've given tips about that. You know, two weeks or either the Monday after the event, do these things. Two weeks later, do these things. Six weeks, eight weeks after, do these things. That and start getting trying to get those coffees with people you know. And if if somebody invited them, have them help you get them for the coffee or the tours and whatever. There are ways to do it, but that is a great one too. Oh, we could talk all day about myths that we want to bust and things that we could do better. Um, okay, I'm gonna, I know I had one thing next, but I'm gonna switch it just real quick. Okay. It's the Ask Allison podcast. Okay. So all my guests get to ask me a question that I don't know what the question is. So you get to totally cold, ask me cold anything you want to ask me. And hopefully I will know the answer or know where to find the answer. I feel like this is a lot of pressure.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:47

Um, I think one of the things that happens when things are difficult is that we lose sight of joy and gratitude and appreciation for the good. So I want to know, Allison, uh-huh, what's what's the good in your life right now? What brings you joy and happiness and um satisfaction?

SPEAKER_00 1:18:10

Oh my goodness. Because I'm, you know, I'm a gregarious kind of person. So I'm typically on the up and up. But um, aside from my husband and kids and dogs, you know, they always bring me joy. But I think right now, um, and it's it's one of those things, is finally feeling like I'm coming into my own. Yeah. I finally feel like maybe it's this podcast that it maybe it's getting back on the stage for acting that I had put off for so long. Um, maybe it was doing the work that I needed to do for my health and my weight loss journey. Um, I I don't know if it's there's one thing to pinpoint, but I have a joy right now that I finally feel confident. And Reman, stuff that you've been telling me about me for years, that you've got it all in you, Allison. You just need to be confident to share it. And I think I finally feel like I can be that person for others. And if it's through this podcast or just through working with my clients or um walking down the street, meeting people dancing in a where I'm not supposed to dance, I don't know. Um, I just get joy um from that and the connection of people. I really do. That's wonderful. Yes. I think um, even though times are hard for our nonprofit friends, I'm still finding joy in finding a way to get them some solutions and answers. Absolutely. But I I think just finally I have been meaning, and Teresa knows this, y'all. Back in the day when we had those Chick fil A meetings. I would say that I needed to do, needed to do, needed to do, but I finally, with this podcast, I I've been saying I needed to do it for probably five or six years and to finally just do it. I was making it too hard, which she also knows that I've always done. And I finally just said, and that's why I walked in here and said, I want to do a podcast. And they said, okay. And so I'm doing a podcast. And and I feel like I'm finally coming into what I was meant to do. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. That was a great question. Thank you. And I'll probably think of five more things later and I'll just add those some somewhere down the road. But um, so our takeaways, top takeaways, we've talked about it. The biggest one, I think, was in this time that we're in right now, talk to your board members, your staff, and your donors. Absolutely. I call them the inner circle. 100%. That is your inner circle, your board, your staff, and your top donors. They are the inner circle and they deserve to know the state of the union.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:02

Radical transparency, but not panic, right? You you are the calm. Um, and that you're you're asking donors to stand with you, right? This this is the moment, and and that you're you're giving them the opportunity to help you weather this.

unknown 1:21:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:22

Yeah, I love it. And then um Teresa, you know, we've already said she's the executive director at Peace at Home, but where could someone get in touch with you if they just wanted to ask you a question or follow up with, you said this, but how did you get your board to really hear you? Like, if is there an email address they could Sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:44

You could always email me at tmills at peace at home shelter dot com. Um, I am a Luddite and don't have things like Facebook or Snapchat or Instagram, but you can absolutely always find me through Peace at Home Family Shelter.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:01

Yes, and that and go to that website as well if you just need to know about the services. And please, if you are someone that is listening, that you know someone that needs the shelter, find a way to connect with them to find the best ways to support your friend. Or if it's yourself, find a way to get on that website and and get the services that you need. We that's that's what we want for you, most of all. Absolutely. Well, thank you all for being here today. Um, always tune into the Ask Allison podcast. It comes out on the 7th of every month at 7 a.m. because I love sevens. So um that's that for this episode. And I think that the February episode is going to be about wellness and taking care of ourselves. Fantastic. Most nonprofit uh uh executives and individuals tend to put ourselves on the back burner. So we're gonna talk about that. Uh, thanks again for listening. I know you can listen to a million things, but I'm glad you tuned in today. And just a reminder I'm here when you need me. All you have to do is ask Allison