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All mentoring organizations always need more of two things:
Mentors and Money.
November 15th officially starts the End of Year Giving season, so tune into our podcast to learn how to maximize your fundraising during the final days of 2024. Maintaining consistent communication with donors during this season is vital to ensuring their continued support with such critical funding at stake. Effective donor engagement can mean the difference between meeting or falling short of fundraising goals, which in turn can influence an organization’s ability to execute their mission.
We talk about this, and so much more, on this episode of You Can Mentor.
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Find all fundraising wisdom at www.nextafter.com.
A curious mind, a competitive drive, and an empathetic fundraiser, Courtney Krus leads client success at NextAfter. In this role, Courtney drives the strategy, testing, and optimization within organization’s fundraising programs; ultimately helping nonprofits grow more names, donors, and dollars for their cause.
Mentors and Money.
November 15th officially starts the End of Year Giving season, so tune into our podcast to learn how to maximize your fundraising during the final days of 2024. Maintaining consistent communication with donors during this season is vital to ensuring their continued support with such critical funding at stake. Effective donor engagement can mean the difference between meeting or falling short of fundraising goals, which in turn can influence an organization’s ability to execute their mission.
We talk about this, and so much more, on this episode of You Can Mentor.
--
Find all fundraising wisdom at www.nextafter.com.
A curious mind, a competitive drive, and an empathetic fundraiser, Courtney Krus leads client success at NextAfter. In this role, Courtney drives the strategy, testing, and optimization within organization’s fundraising programs; ultimately helping nonprofits grow more names, donors, and dollars for their cause.
Prior to serving as Executive Vice President with NextAfter, she led the digital marketing and fundraising for a broadcast, publishing, and education nonprofit. She has developed and directed multiple innovative, multi-channel fundraising and content marketing campaigns and led enterprise content strategies within the for-profit and nonprofit space.
Her extensive experience fuels her desire to help organizations embrace a culture of optimization and testing, and champion a donor-centric, data-driven philosophy. Courtney is also a board member for a local nonprofit and a momma to two boys.
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You Can Mentor. We help Christian Mentoring Leaders thrive.
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You Can Mentor. We help Christian Mentoring Leaders thrive.
- Come to our National Christian Mentoring Gathering.
- Join our monthly Learning Lab Leadership Cohorts
- Check out our books and shareable resources.
- Be a part of our Christian mentoring network.
- Find ways to get better through our coaching and consulting.
Find all at youcanmentor.com or follow us @youcanmentor on Instagram
Creators and Guests
What is You Can Mentor: A Christian Youth Mentoring Podcast?
You Can Mentor is a network that equips and encourages mentors and mentoring leaders through resources and relationships to love God, love others, and make disciples in their own community. We want to see Christian mentors thrive.
We want to hear from you! Send any mentoring questions to hello@youcanmentor.com, and we'll answer them on our podcast. We want to help you become the best possible mentor you can be. Also, if you are a mentoring organization, church, or non-profit, connect with us to join our mentoring network or to be spotlighted on our show.
Please find out more at www.youcanmentor.com or find us on social media. You will find more resources on our website to help equip and encourage mentors. We have downloadable resources, cohort opportunities, and an opportunity to build relationships with other Christian mentoring leaders.
Welcome to the you can mentor podcast. We help Christian mentoring leaders thrive. Share our podcast with your team. Sign up for our monthly learning lab cohorts for mentoring leaders and come to the National Christian Mentoring Gathering. Help us serve more mentors by giving us a 5 star rating where you listen to your podcasts.
Speaker 1:Find out more by following us on social media or going to our website at youcanmentor.com. You can mentor.
Speaker 2:Hi there. Welcome to the You Can Mentor podcast. This is Zach, and I'm with my friend, Courtney. Courtney, how's it going?
Speaker 3:Great. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Of course. Is it Courtney Cruss? Is that how you say it? Courtney Cruz.
Speaker 2:Cruz. Oh, man. I was close.
Speaker 3:Have, like, that a nice a better ring to that to Zach. You know?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Right.
Speaker 3:Is pretty nice. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Gordie Cruise is a I mean
Speaker 3:Good luck.
Speaker 2:That's a bold name you got going on there.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Well, it's an it's a new one within the last year. So
Speaker 2:Okay. Congratulations.
Speaker 3:I fully fully embrace it. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Super cool. Yeah. Well, alright. Well, I am going to introduce you. So I found this nice little bio on your website.
Speaker 2:So here we go. Alright. Courtney Cruz is the executive vice president of client success at NextAfter?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Ex I'm, just executive vice president at NextAfter, and I oversee
Speaker 2:Executive vice president. Alright. Sweet. Yeah. Well, she, is in charge of all of the strategy and testing and optimization within, fund raising programs, ultimate ultimately helping not for profits find more names and donors and support for their cause.
Speaker 2:Prior to serving with NextAfter, she led digital marketing and fundraising, for a not for profit, and we're super excited to have her here. So thanks again for taking time, Courtney.
Speaker 3:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:So tell us a tad bit about NextAfter.
Speaker 3:Sure. Yeah. NextAfter is a, digital first, fundraising agency. So what does that what does that mean? Well, we lean into digital to help lift all channels in revenue for nonprofits, and we do that really kind of in three ways.
Speaker 3:We are a research lab, which is unique and different, I think, within our space. So we do forensic research and applied research, as in we'll become donors ourselves and understand what's happening in the nonprofit space, how are organizations actually, you know, acquiring new donors, treating those donors, communicating with them, all of that to understand what's going on, but we then take that and say, okay, well, what's effective, what's not? And so that goes into our applied research where we're testing, you know, emails and landing pages, donation pages, paid media ads. You name it, we're testing it. We we believe that there is no such thing as best practices, and the reason why we we believe this is that we have to let our donors actually tell us what is most effective, most motivating to them.
Speaker 3:We can't just apply, you know, something because someone somewhere told us to do the thing. We wanna actually see if it resonates with our donors because, you know, donors for 1 organization are gonna be radically different in their motivation to another, and so, that's our research side, and then we've got an institute. Our institute is kind of our ministry to the nonprofit space because we know we can't work with every non profit. We love to just open source all of our research, and so anybody can access all of the learnings and research that we've done on the research side from our website. We do conferences and webinars, you name it.
Speaker 3:We're trying to get all of this data and inside out into the market so that more people can learn and so we can ultimately grow generosity. And then the third part of our company is our consultancy, where we are actively working day to day as an extension of a nonprofits team. So we say growing names, donors, and dollars. Pretty simple, but you get the idea. That's the whole, that's how fundraising works, and so, that's our role as an agency is to come alongside the organization, build and grow, and sustain a fundraising program for nonprofit, so.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, Courtney. Now I have been familiar with NextAfter since they've started because the 2 guys who started it are, some of my good friends. But can, you just kinda tell us some of the not for profits that, you have, worked with?
Speaker 3:Yeah. You know, I think, again, another thing that's a a bit unique for us is that because our our vision is to, you know, increase generosity around the world, we don't just work in one vertical. We only work with nonprofits, but with Huya, we don't work in just one vertical, so we're working with organizations from, you know, lots of faith based organizations, maybe it's TV, radio broadcasts, to even, like, emergency relief, like, Save the Children, to Catholic organizations, to higher education, institutions, to public policy, maybe even NPR stations or PBS, you name it, we're trying to work within all verticals just so that we have an understanding of what's happening in the nonprofit space, and, again, because we want to grow generosity, we don't want to just grow it in one vertical. And the reason for that is just grow it in one vertical. And the reason for that is that not every donor is for every nonprofit.
Speaker 3:I will say my personal background is in the faith based space. I, came from a ministry that did radio and broadcast. I was a higher education organization, and so my background really is within the broadcast space, so that's kind of, I would say, where my heart is at is at from a ministry perspective because I understand it so well, this, you know, intersection of faith and broadcast and content and all of that. So, that's really what I'm probably most passionate about, in in the work that I get to do. So
Speaker 2:Felice and Courtney. So today, we are talking about end of year giving. So we are Woah. Coming upon that Christmas season to where people love to to give gifts, and people love to give gifts, maybe even some donations. Right.
Speaker 2:So, so our goal today is to help not for profits. Anyone who they might have an end of year campaign, they might not, but we are, gonna be focusing on that today. So can you just, start us off by just sharing, like, why is an end of year campaign important, and all of that good stuff.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So year end is, it is, you know, literally at Christmas time, but it kind of is, like Christmas for nonprofits. Or if you want a sports analogy, like, it's the Super Bowl of fundraising, you know? And and for good reason, and it's actually my absolute favorite time of year. Folks who are in fundraising and work in nonprofits probably might be cringing or are nervous or, you know, kind of, like, shrugging their shoulders, you know, of what do I do, and I I find it thrilling for for many reasons, but but I would say, to see donors respond at this time of year is so empowering and such a reminder of, like, why we exist.
Speaker 3:You know, I I work with a lot of ministries who sometimes fear about asking for money, and I understand that. You know? There's you know, a lot of people will will try and throw, maybe even scripture at that or, but but my lens is is that, like, you know, giving is ministry, and, our job as marketers, fundraisers, nonprofit, you know, employees and and leaders is to empower our donors to give, to help them to give to the organizations that they care so deeply about, and year end is the best and perfect time to do that. We have a ton of data at NextAfter that really show what's happening in the nonprofit space and specific to year end. We just released our year end benchmarks, so, I'll even send that link out to you, Zach, so you can share it because I think it's really, really insightful to see what's going on.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's it's so good. Seen it? Yes. Yes. Like, it is remarkable.
Speaker 2:I'm like, oh my gosh. Like, all of this is happening and all of the data. And I was like, oh, wow. Maybe I should send that email or maybe I shouldn't even get asked at that time or maybe I should say this and not say that. But
Speaker 3:Right. Right. Right. But I mean, even just the latest data I saw from that benchmark, you know, it it changes here and there, but, like, 20 to 50% of revenue for nonprofits is being brought in during year end. 20 to 50.
Speaker 3:Yes. I know that's a large range, but take even on the low end of 20%. Man, like, it's a do or die, you know, for a lot a lot of organizations. And when we say year end, it might be good to kinda talk about, like, timeline. Like, what do you mean by that?
Speaker 3:Is that just, you know, December 31st? No. Like, we actually look at year end from November 15th all the way to December 31st, and the reason for that is we like to include other special giving days, like Giving Tuesday. Even Thanksgiving is a part of year end. Yeah.
Speaker 3:So that's that's kind of the the the critical importance is the fact that 20 to 50% of your revenue is going to come in during year end.
Speaker 2:That's a ton of money.
Speaker 3:It's a lot. It's a lot. No pressure. You know?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Right?
Speaker 3:Uh-huh.
Speaker 2:Okay. So if someone out there let's say that maybe they haven't taken it super seriously or they don't have, like, a specific kinda giving, like, hey. Here are the 1, 2, 1, 2, 3 things that we're gonna do. Tell me where someone would start if they haven't considered how to maximize end of year giving.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I I might take it from 2 perspectives. 1 is we're we're right on the brink of getting into year end, and and 2 is to think about this even from a higher level. So I'm gonna start with the higher level, then we can go a little bit deep into kind of where we at now. So I wanted to make sure that everyone hears this, is that, you know, year end does not happen in a vacuum, and what I mean by that is the work, the cultivation, the stewardship, what you've invested in your programs, how you're talking to your donors, how you're acquiring them, how you're treating them, the whole the whole impact of your year is the is is really, like, the result of December, because, you know, sometimes we think that we need to get the thing out in market and, at year end, and and they'll respond, and and there's a lot of merit to that.
Speaker 3:But, you know, donors are people, and, they're complex, and there's a lot of things, you know, vying for their attention and how we treat them leading up to the time we actually say, hey. Will you support our mission? It impacts so much of their of the reality if they're going to give or not. So I just want to put that out there that it doesn't happen in a vacuum, and so, you know, think about that even as you get into January. Like, what are we doing as a program to be intentional and, in stewarding and and and cultivating relationships so that when I go ask for a gift, their likelihood is so much greater because I've built that relationship up to this point versus just coming to them at a time when, quote, we need them.
Speaker 3:You know? I think that there's a there's a mental shift, Zach, that has to happen, and the way that we look at fundraising is oftentimes it's, like, it's about us. And, I just want to really encourage everyone to think about fundraising is about, again, like, the donor, empowering the donor, helping the donor, equipping the donor, activating the donors so that they can give to us because it's important to them. We are just the benefactors of it. So small soapbox, but I needed to go there.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. Yeah. For sure. 1, I know one of my favorite sayings is people give to people. And Yeah.
Speaker 2:If the only time that they hear, you know, they hear my name is whenever I'm trying to ask for money or December 15th, like, oh, hey. By the way, I know that we haven't talked in a year, but I need x. You know, that probably isn't gonna work out super well. Right.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 2:If if we can change from I need these people's money so I can do what I am called to do to how can I encourage and how can I cast what the Lord has called me to do and how can I invite them into this?
Speaker 3:Yes. Yes.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Because, like, because people have not not everyone, but there's a large population out there who have money to get. And they are looking for someone that they know they're looking for, someone that they trust.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like, okay. I am looking for someone that I trust who is passionate about these 1, 2, 3 things. For us, it's mentoring. Right? So they have to or they want to give away those funds.
Speaker 2:They might as well give it to you, but you have to give them an opportunity to partner with you as, you try try to do the Lord's work because you won't exist without them.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:Because they're paying our paychecks. Right. And but it's a partnership, so people give people.
Speaker 3:You got it. We we use, you know, kind of a funny analogy. I mean, maybe not so true now in my older adult life, but, you know, when you were moving from apartment to apartment as, like, a college student or a a a young adult and you had no resources at your disposal but your but your friends and, you need to call up someone to help you move. It's like, you know, hopefully, you've got a relationship with them before you say, can you help me move? That's where you're going to, you know, is the people that you've built relationships to instead of just always asking.
Speaker 3:You know? You don't wanna be that friend who always has the pickup to move your things around. Right. Things around. So, so that that's kinda just like that that bigger picture, and you're absolutely right, Zach, and people giving to people.
Speaker 3:And as we think about, you know, where we're at now and what what do we do about this season? How do where do I begin? How do I even start? A big thing I would just say is is, the channel of email could not be more significant to to the outcome of your year end than than anything, honestly, that you could do on your website or or social media. Email is king when it comes to revenue for nonprofits.
Speaker 3:We've we've done a lot of studies even looking at where does channel or where does revenue come from based off of channel, to a site. So you've got, you know, lots of channels pushing traffic to websites and direct and organic and search and, paid media, you you name it. And no matter what, even even when email has the least amount of traffic to a website, it drives the greatest amount of revenue. And so where do you start is starting to think about your email strategy. And when I say that, I'm I'm talking not just, okay.
Speaker 3:Where and when and how do I ask? An email strategy has to be comprehensive in cultivation and appeals, because, again, relationship, you don't want to just be that friend that is asking, asking, asking, asking, asking. It has to be something a value exchange. You have to be checking in on them, telling them that you're praying for them, asking them how you can pray for them, maybe, giving them some a resource. Maybe there's a, obviously, Christmas season.
Speaker 3:Man, there's so much content out there that could be developed, you know, especially around with faith based organizations, you know, around the birth of Christ. And so, you know, is it, a a short ebook that you could deliver to them? But the goal is cultivation and appeals, and I would start that in early November. Yes. I know we're, like, right on like, we're we're right here.
Speaker 3:We're in the moment, but don't delay. And I and and I think so many people try to get it right. I I'm gonna tell you, just just do it. Just go for it. Just start somewhere.
Speaker 3:And even if your first email is, like, a Thanksgiving email, like, that's a great cultivation piece, And ensure that in that cultivation email, you are you have no link to give a gift. It is not about a donation. It is strictly about adding value and deepening that relationship, maybe starting that relationship with your program and that file and that that person on the end of of of the email. And so that's the balance that I would look at is just trying to understand the the the division between cultivation and appeals. What I would recommend for that is is about a 6040 approach, so 60% cultivation, 40% appeal.
Speaker 3:That might be incredibly scary for some folks, so then maybe look at more of a fiftyfifty, or flip it and do fortysixty. But I I tell you that that percentage is so high because it's so important. We've actually run studies where we'll send an additional cultivation email for over a 6 period or a 6 month period. There was no additional ask, but at year end, by sending additional cultivation, more emails, yes, in the inbox, but their value add, they saw a 23% lift in overall revenue when it came time when you actually made the ask. So power and cultivation, can't underscore that enough, so email strategy is is is one.
Speaker 3:I think it's also, like, specifically as you think about when you should send them and, like, time of day or or days of the week. In our in our recent benchmark, we found that, 50 2% of year end emails were sent between 8 AM and 12 PM. Sure. It makes sense. Most people are in their inboxes.
Speaker 3:But, Zach, if everyone is sending at the same time, you know, how are you going to stand out and cut through the clutter? You know? So our recommendation is also is is actually to take maybe a diversified approach around when you send it. I think weekend emails are powerful, are magical. I was just talking with someone today.
Speaker 3:I received his Saturday email, and, again, it's a cultivation email. There's no ask in it. I look forward to it, which is so weird. No one's really opening their inbox looking forward to it, and I think that's exactly why those are magical is that there's so much being asked of people. And so what about giving to them during a time when they're, like, you know, active in in, in their inbox, and maybe work isn't on the top of their mind.
Speaker 3:And so I would just consider, when else could you send emails outside of 8 AM between 12 PM if everyone else is sending during that time? We want to, we say, cut through the clutter because there's so much buying for people's attention, not just us as nonprofits, but, man, think about even all of the, like, ecommerce sites and and whatnot. So email king.
Speaker 2:So I I was talking about this with Jeff, who, is Jeff the president of NextAfter?
Speaker 3:Yes. Yep. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I was asking him this was probably 2020. I was like, dude, when should I send an email? And he's like, when do you check your email? I'm like, well, whenever I wake up. He's like, tell me when, when 5:30?
Speaker 2:It's like, so at 5:30 in the morning. And I did, and I saw John. So, like, I typically send mine early, early, or I send mine at, like, 8:30 at night because whenever I put the kids down and I'm kinda trying to wind down, I always before I go to bed, I always check my email, which is probably a terrible habit. But
Speaker 3:like, swings that I can run back. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Right? Or I send it at, like, 4 o'clock because by 4 o'clock, I'm, like, tired and I'm burned down. I'm like, I'm just gonna check my email 18 times in half an hour because I don't you know, because I'm tired. But, but yeah. So that's awesome.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay. Anything else there?
Speaker 3:I mean, I think email's king. And then I would just think about, like, your donation page. I mean
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah.
Speaker 3:A lot of other elements, like organic social, paid social, if you can. I know that's really hard because it requires additional resources and investment, but, like, what else are you doing on your website? Maybe you could put a little banner at the top to even just, capture some of that traffic coming to the site, making it easy to get to the donation page. And then the donation page, I would just ensure that if you don't have a dedicated donation page for your emails when you're asking for money, Let's make sure that our primary donation page, the the main donation page on our websites, has relevant message, talks about this time of year. We we often ask questions of, you know, why and why now, when we are kind of coaching nonprofits on on on messaging, within emails and donation pages because we we have to have a reason reason for asking during this season.
Speaker 3:You know? And so ensuring, you know, that your why, that that messaging is tight. We could do a whole lesson, Zach, on value proposition. We won't get fully into that, which is a whole other, you know, extension of this, but we wanna make sure that, you know, that message is appealing to a lot of folks. We wanna make sure that, it's very clear what we're communicating, you know, what will my gift go towards?
Speaker 3:Let's ensure that people have a very clear understanding of that. Also things like, how can I trust you? If you say that you're the largest, ministry to do x, y, and z, that's great, that's amazing, or but but what's unique to you, and how can I believe that you're actually doing that work? So sometimes testimonials will help on donation pages or, you know, things like that, so I would just think about the experience on your donation page and ensure that there's there's a why there, which a lot of folks think that people are ready to give once they get to the donation page, but we know for a fact that is not true. And I and I tell you that because the data tells us that only 13.5 percent of traffic to the donation page is actually converting and making a gift.
Speaker 3:13.5. So they have not decided to make a gift once they get to that donation page even though they saw an email or social post, whatever the thing is, so we've got to continue to reinforce the why and then the why now. You know? December 31st, it there's an urgency there. There's a deadline, and people are motivated by deadlines and urgency, and so even just referencing December 31st, that that is your goal, and, again, why do you have this goal?
Speaker 3:What is that money going towards? It's just really important that we're very clear in what we're communicating to folks. So, you know, why why now? And ensuring that that value proposition is tight.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, like, I I always like to say, we need x by y for z.
Speaker 3:That's great.
Speaker 2:And that just makes it crystal clear. So it's, like, hey. If if you give this, then it will create more kids in our after school program, or it will serve more single moms, or it will send a kid to camp. So I just think that that's so that helps out a donor so much because you are being absolutely open about what you're trying to raise by when and for what.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And and, you know, I think, Zach, that that whole idea to that, we we start to assume people know what their gift is gonna go towards or even, like, what we do, even if they've been a donor for many years. But I can't underscore the importance of reinforcing all of that, because they might see it through a new lens at this time of year. You know? So, you know, that why why now and having great clarity and transparency, I think, is critical.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, Courtney. This will be my last question, but can, you tell me just some things that you have seen not for profits do? I don't necessarily wanna say do wrong, but the things that they could have done better. Maybe I'll say it that way.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Sure. Maybe, they could put their focus in other areas or you know?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3:I think that there's there's an interesting conversation actually happening right now because of year end, the year end season around important days of giving. So you might be familiar with, it's, you know, a day that has grown in popularity and knowledge and people just being aware of it is Giving Tuesday. Giving Tuesday is a national day of giving, that somewhere, somehow, someone made up, which is fine, I Listen, I'm all about it, but this is one of those things like someone said it and now it is and, and now everyone feels like they need to embrace it and what we're seeing and now in our benchmark study is supporting our kind of, like, is this really happening or is this what's happening in our space is that people are putting a greater importance on Giving Tuesday, and Giving Tuesday every year falls the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. And the reason why they created it was because of, you know, all of, the Cyber Mondays and Black Fridays, the con the consumers, and they're trying to, like, you know, kind of go against the grain and say, well, you just spent all this money in consumerism. What about this, you know, day to give back to causes that you align with and believe with believe in.
Speaker 3:Again, I love the idea behind it, but everyone feels like they need to put such a a focus on it that we actually lose sight of some of the most critical times a year. Because remember, we look at at year end as November 15th through the December 31st. And the reason why I'm concerned about this and that it's a an area where people are probably need to pivot some of their focus is that Giving Tuesday, while it is important, while I think you should be a part of it, brings in 5% of revenue. 5%. K?
Speaker 3:As opposed to December 24th through December 30th brings in 32% of revenue, And then even on December 31st, the very last day of the year, the last day of calendar year end, brings in 14% of revenue. So December 31st brings in nearly 3 times the amount as giving Tuesday, but what we're seeing is that organizations are only focusing in on GivingTuesday and not even sending communications from the 24th through 31st. And that's, that is concerning to me because, we we've gotten kind of, like, wrapped up in the hype of this Giving Day, which is important and you should be a part of, but we forget about the real critical time is December 24th through 31st, and so I just wanna, like, throw that out there because then we got that data back and it just made me kind of, in shock and awe of what's going on in this space, so we want to make sure that we're incorporating both Giving Days, but we want to prioritize our communications in that last week of the year.
Speaker 2:Yeah. For sure. I, I forgot how how I always did it, but I think I sent obviously, I had a goal and I sent an email like the day before, day before Christmas. Merry Christmas. I hope all is well.
Speaker 2:Then I think I sent an email on 27th and then I think I sent an email on, like, the the 30th and then then the 31st just to give people because there's so much going on. I mean, you've got Christmas, and you are trying to go out of town, and you've got parties and things like that. But and so I know for me, the my biggest lie is I just don't wanna bother them. But I have never had anyone come up to me, like, hey, man. You're bothering me with emails.
Speaker 2:Like, most people are like, oh, man. I totally forgot. Thank you so much. So it is super important to have, like, okay. I wanna make this ask on this day and this ask on this day and this ask on this day.
Speaker 2:And sometimes it is an ask, and sometimes it's just a, you know, hey, guys. How's it going? It's Zach.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Right.
Speaker 2:But yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, I think that's too that's it too, Zach, is that if we've done our work in cultivating that relationship, they're not when they see your name in the inbox, the goal is not to make them cringe and hit delete or say, oh, not another email from Zac again. That they're like, oh, what does Zac have to say? You know? Regardless of what's happening in in the season or busyness and all of that. And so, your strategy is awesome.
Speaker 3:That's fantastic. That's an easy implementation for most, you know, folks listening. I would say the other thing too is, like, diversifying how you make the ask. So, you know, and even who it's being sent from. We get lots of questions of, like, should all of these come from 1 person?
Speaker 3:We're like, well, no. I would send from probably 2 to 2 to 3 people at max, but maybe 2 so that you can diversify who's in the inbox, But, also, don't just have the one person. You know? Let's say that you and I are the senders of the emails, and I'm the one, who's only ever asking for money. I'm gonna delete an email from my name once I see it.
Speaker 3:Right? So we've gotta diversify what you're sending from each person. If Zach's only ever sending cultivation and I'm only sending appeals, well, we know who they're gonna actually listen to or read, you know, from. So that that's, like, diversifying who you're sending to and then how you're asking because what might motivate me to give maybe a story of impact that you're communicating versus why you might give, Zach, let's say, maybe it's, you've outlined what your goals are for the next year. That might not be motivating to me, but, man, this story that I just read really kind of got me and this is what's going to to, you know, get me to support the cause.
Speaker 3:And so you've got to make sure that your message is also diversified as you look to plan out that calendar, especially focused on that last week.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I mean, what I love about NextAfter is you guys have helped me so much in regards to how to set up my website, how to set up my donation page, how an email should look. Like, that was crazy to me. I'm like, oh, okay. Wait.
Speaker 2:If I add a picture, then people give this much, but if I don't add a picture, people give this much?
Speaker 3:Yes. What?
Speaker 2:That is wild. So, guys, if you're tuning in to the podcast, go check out NextAfter. They have a lot of awesome things for free, and you guys can learn so much about how to build relationships with people so that they can, support you and so that they can receive that kind of value and that kind of impact. So super grateful for y'all.
Speaker 3:Thank you. With honestly, like, I say it's our ministry. Like, we this is why we do it Yeah. Because we want to help as many nonprofits as possible. So Great.
Speaker 2:Thank you, Courtney.
Speaker 3:Awesome.
Speaker 2:Alright. Well, thanks again, for your time, guys. End of yours here. If, you guys have any questions, please reach out to me, zach@ucamentorzach, or check out NextAfter. They have a lot of awesome stuff.
Speaker 2:And if you guys only take away one thing, remember this, you can mentor. Thanks for tuning in to the You
Speaker 1:Can Mentor podcast. Give us that 5 star rating and share this podcast with your mentoring friends. Learn more at you can mentor dot com. Thank you.