Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Before we dive in today's episode, I want to take a moment to share something that's been on my heart, something I've been working on behind the scenes for a while now. I'm officially writing a book. This book is called let's Be A Practical Guide to Leading Through Change. And it's deeply personal to me. It's built from real experiences. The uncertainty, the challenges, the moments where I didn't have the answers but had to lead. This isn't just a leadership book filled with theory. It's about navigating uncertainty when there's no clear direction, building internal clarity when everything around us feels unclear, having courageous conversations even when they're uncomfortable, and leading with value, especially when it's the hardest to do so. I'm also going into topics that don't get talked about enough, like what it feels like to be challenged, overlooked, and even bullied as an adult in a workplace. And how those moments shape the kind of leader you become. This book is for anyone who's ever thought, how do I lead when I don't feel ready? How do I show up when I don't have all the answers? And how do I stay true to myself in environments that challenge me? If this is you, this book is for you. I'll be sharing more about the journey behind the scenes moments and opportunities for you to be part of it as we go. So stay tuned because this is more than just a book. It's a movement around how we lead through change together. Alright, let's get to today's episode.
[00:01:25] Speaker B: Opinions expressed in this episode are personal. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this streaming platform.
[00:01:35] Speaker C: Good day, wonderful people, and welcome to another edition of let's Be Diverse. I am your host, Andrew Stout. This episode is dedicated to all my loved ones who've supported me through this journey. Those who have left us will always be in our hearts and will never be forgotten. Our topic today is Human side of fundraising. Building relationships that create change. Our guest today is one fantastic human. Her name is Julia Davis. Julia, welcome to the show.
[00:02:00] Speaker D: Happy to be here.
[00:02:01] Speaker C: Julia, what's been energizing you these days? Give us the tea, give us the deets. What's going on?
[00:02:05] Speaker D: Well, I'm currently working with a few different programs that are doing fundraising on site at events, and we just hit a huge milestone in our fundraising efforts where we were really close to getting to $300,000 per week in donations. So that's been really exciting.
[00:02:22] Speaker C: Amaz. I'm sure we'll talk about some of the things or what got you there during the conversation. But congratulations on that. That is amazing. That's great work. And it seems like you are putting in the work and putting in the time and people are seeing that, noticing, and that's probably why they want to be part of it. So that's awesome.
[00:02:38] Speaker D: Yeah, it's been really fun.
[00:02:39] Speaker C: Thanks so much for sharing what's going on and congratulations again. Before we begin, I always have a fun, thought provoking question that I ask all, all of my guests to get things going. Are you ready for yours today?
[00:02:51] Speaker D: I'm ready.
[00:02:52] Speaker C: Okay, so your question today is what is your definition of happiness?
[00:02:56] Speaker D: Oh, that's a good one. I think happiness in my mind is having the freedom and ability to do what you love, what's important to you, and what you want to do on a daily basis.
[00:03:08] Speaker C: That is a great answer. Gives you a lot more flexibility, that's for sure. Thanks so much for, for sharing that with us to get us started here. Julie, who are you and what really
[00:03:16] Speaker A: drives you to do the work that you do?
[00:03:18] Speaker D: Well, I've been in direct marketing and sales for the last 20 years and have had a lot of experience in leadership and business development through that journey. And I got here by just answering an ad for a sales company 20 years ago and learning how to do sales and operations. And through that experience, I've been able to build upon that to be able to lead others, teach that skill set and be able to duplicate that in other people, organizations and businesses through just tons of trial and error. Right. So not every business is going to be a great business. And I've had the privilege of running a bad business and learning from that and then the privilege of running a better business and then an even better one. So I think through all those journeys and challenges, I've been able to really build a skill set to figure out, okay, what works and what doesn't work, and then help people, you know, just determine that and then move forward.
[00:04:07] Speaker C: You probably met some people who were not willing to get involved. And one of the things I've learned is the word, or being okay with the word no. There's going to be some. Some people are going to say no to you, but that's okay. It just may be a no, not right now. So it's somebody that you can always check in with a few months down the road. But I think if we get discouraged by the word no, then I think we're never going to get where we want to go.
[00:04:29] Speaker D: You're absolutely right. And that the nos are the only way to get to a yes. So if you read anyone's story of success or anybody who's good at anything, they missed more shots than they made. Like, if you think of any professional athlete, batting average, they're not hitting a home run every time they're at the plate. They're getting. They're getting strikeouts. There's people that set home run records that also have the most strikeouts. There's people that have made the most free throws but have also missed the most free throws. There's only one way to get better, and that's through failure.
[00:04:57] Speaker A: So.
[00:04:57] Speaker D: And if you look at failure as a learning opportunity and growth instead of something negative, then it just changes your entire mindset to understanding and appreciating the no versus dreading it for sure.
[00:05:08] Speaker C: Not being scared of hearing it is. It's is key for me, for sure. Just keep going on, keep moving, and keep plugging away. I appreciate your story, and you are one awesome human. So I'm super happy to hear your story. And hopefully there's gonna be some people that are gonna enjoy your story as well.
[00:05:23] Speaker D: And I think, too, Andrew, there's a really good book. It's called Success Principles by Jack Canfield. And he talks about something in that book that I always had written on my wall in when I ran a company. And it. It was swsw and it stood for Some Will, Some Won't. So what? Someone's waiting.
It was just a good reminder of, like, just keep going. Some Will, Some Won't. So what? Someone's waiting. So there's always somebody else that wants your deal, that wants your. That wants your product, that wants your idea. You just have to find them. And if you give up, then you never get it to the person who
[00:05:56] Speaker A: needed it for sure.
[00:05:58] Speaker C: So, Julia, at the heart of fundraising is storytelling and trust. How can leaders and organizations better share their stories in a way that connects emotionally and inspires people to become part of the mission?
[00:06:09] Speaker D: When it comes to fundraising, specifically, hearing from people that are benefiting from that service is one of the most powerful ways to fundraise. So if you're at a gala or you're at a. I don't even know if you're sending out mailers or you want some type of impact. A commercial hearing from people who have utilized and benefited from the service that you're offering is one of the most powerful ways. If you think about all the big charities, they do this really well, where it's like, sponsor a child, they send you a picture of the child, they send you the story of the child. They send you information about the child and what your money can do for that child. If you're, you know, thinking about make a wish. They have the wish. Kids talk about what their experience was, what they did, how they fell, where they went, and that, you know, not from the person trying to raise the money, but from the people that have benefited. If you think about, you know, one of the most effective commercials of all time, which was the ASPCA Sarah McLaughlin commercial, everyone can remember, I had to change the channel because it was so sad, right? The pictures of the dogs and the cages looking sad. It's like, who you're helping. This is the clientele, St. Jude's fundraisers that they do over the phone. It's not just people talking about St. Jude. It's families that have benefited from that organization that can tell you the impact of the money donated. And that is one of the most powerful ways to donate or to create a campaign for a donation platform.
[00:07:31] Speaker C: You're absolutely right. You hit it on the button there. Storytelling is huge. So if you're telling a story of how it benefited you, people don't necessarily want to know about what your company made in, in 2025.
[00:07:44] Speaker D: Right.
[00:07:44] Speaker C: They're not really interested in that. They want to hear the stories and the uplifting stories of people who have benefited. We have a charity where I am in Canada and once a year do a telethon. And the telethon does so well, and it just benefits and gives opportunities to families to get things for their children and have them up an opportunity that they may not have had if they didn't, if they weren't involved. So those things, those stories are inspirational and I love them.
[00:08:12] Speaker D: Absolutely. Yep. You're right on.
[00:08:13] Speaker C: So fundraising can come with a lot of rejection. I know we talked about it a little bit. And uncertainty and pressure. What have you learned about resilience and maintaining belief in your mission when the answer is not always a yes?
[00:08:26] Speaker D: If you have a good mission, the no's really shouldn't discourage you. It's really just they don't need the service that you're offering. So if, for example, if you are talking about, I don't know, childhood cancer and maybe people aren't affected by that, haven't experienced that thankfully, and they. They donate to a different cause. There's always a cause for somebody. You just have to find the people that relate to the one you're talking about. So the first thing I would say is you gotta qualify your donor. You gotta ask them, like do you or have you known anybody that blank, right. That has been in a food insecurity, that has had childhood cancer, that has had breast cancer, whatever your organization is? And some people are like, no, I haven't. And I'm like, okay, probably isn't our donor, right? This isn't somebody who can relate to the pain that is caused by this outcome. And somebody's like, yeah, actually, I have. Well, now I know that this person can feel on a deeper level what's going on, but it's. It's more of like a qualifying disqualifying than a rejection. Not rejection. So I think that if you're in a fundraising space, I think you got to look at it that way. It's like, is this person qualified to donate or unqualified to donate based on their own individual experience?
And that leads to you saying no to them sometimes and being like, you know what? This probably isn't something that you're going to relate to. And they can correct me, and they can say it is because of this reason. I'm like, okay, no problem. But a lot of times when people are like, no, I don't have anybody who's ever been affected by cancer. I'm like, wow, that's incredible. Like, how lucky is that, right? So amazing. They might be in the military and want to give to USO and other organizations in the military, and that's fantastic. So I think if you change your whole perspective on the rejection and say, is this person a qualified donor or is this person an unqualified donor because they haven't experienced this or don't have a compassionate viewpoint on this, then fine.
[00:10:10] Speaker C: As you were talking, it made me think of an organization, and I've been in these situations or I've been in these discussions or heard them where the company's trying to adopt a mental health program for its employees. And you get these employees and say, well, why do I need to sit in that? Because I am not. I don't deal with mental health, so why do I need that? And one leader, who I will never forget, get sat down with this particular person in this instance and said, you may not deal with it. And that's awesome that you don't, because there's some people that do. And he says, what it'd be good for is for you to have a little bit of an understanding of what they could potentially be going through. So then you, as you're talking to that coworker, if you see them murder away for a little bit, then you might have a Little bit more compassion for them instead of thinking that they just don't want to be out.
[00:11:01] Speaker D: Right?
Yeah, it's a great tip. Yeah, for sure. And the education helps, right? So if you give somebody the education on the charity, whether it affects them or not, and they still say no, it at least they walk away knowing something.
[00:11:12] Speaker C: Absolutely for sure. We can never. We can never stop learning. Right? So that's the. That's the key right there, for sure. So strong fundraising requires strong relationships, but those relationships need to continue long after a donation is made. How can organizations create a culture where supporters feel valued, connected and truly part of the impact?
[00:11:31] Speaker D: Some organizations do this better than others, but it's really a stewardship program after the donation happens. Where I think that the organizations with the lowest churn, let's say, on turnover on donors, are the ones that have an unbelievable stewardship program after the donation happens. So what I mean by that is maybe there's a phone call that happens from someone that says, hey, we just saw your donation come through. We just want to personally thank you and tell you the impact that this donation is going to have and help you understand that. And again, like your point before, you know, facts tell, but stories sell, right? So you want to tell them a story like, hey, this person had this situation and by you donating it, it solved this problem for them that really keeps donors around. And then seen organizations do a great job with email newsletters and just saying every month giving them a monthly update of hey, based on the donations. This is what we were able to do. This is who we were able to help. Your money has gone towards X, Y and Z. We. And you can do an additional ask. Right. We need this much more for the next thing or whatever it is. But keeping them in the loop with like a newsletter full of impactful stories I think is a really great. But a personalized, especially if it's over a certain threshold. I think anybody who donates over a certain amount, which you can determine based on your charity, deserves a phone call. Thank you. From somebody on the charity that says, we got your donation and we're thankful for it and this is what we're going to do with it.
[00:12:53] Speaker C: That communication aspect is so huge. You're absolutely right. Because if you're communicating what's going on.
Yes. Then people are going to. They're going to be more willing to get involved. And not just that, they're also going to mention, say, hey, I'm part of this organization, or I'm part of this fundraising campaign. They are fantastic. They communicate, they give us updates of what's going on. If you're ever interested in getting involved in it, I can connect you with the people who are running it. That's such a big way of getting people involved in it, because they're involved and they love it. So why not get someone else that they know involved as well?
[00:13:29] Speaker D: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:13:30] Speaker C: So looking ahead, what do you believe is the future of fundraising and leadership? What do organizations need to do differently if they want to create deeper connections and lasting change?
[00:13:42] Speaker D: I think in the industry that is so personal, I want to make sure that people don't get away from that personal communication. Like with all the AI out there and things going on, like, there's a way to utilize AI in fundraising that's very helpful in regards to helping write grants, you know, for, for their business and for their organization. Like, AI can be a huge tool in that sense where if you have an example of a grant you've written before, you can plug it in there, it can help you write the next grant, which saves tons of hours of time. But I think you want to make sure it's not too digital, where you lose that human connection. Because when you're asking people for money for a cause, there has to be a human level involved. So, so staying on that, we've had a lot of success with face to face fundraising, um, event style fundraising at retail spaces, because these are people that aren't thinking about this on a daily basis. Like, if you, if you go back in time, we used to all watch television and have a million commercials, right? Like we used to watch our TV shows. Five commercials every 10, 15 minutes and we would have. We couldn't fast forward, we couldn't fast forward through them. We could pause it, we couldn't do anything. We just had to sit there and handle it. Right now that doesn't exist, right? You can stream stuff, you can cut out all the ads, you don't have to watch any commercials. You can press skip on YouTube. Like you don't have to do any of that. So. So it really has created a challenge in advertising for a lot of these organizations on how do I get people to know about this? Where I think face to face, feet on the street type of fundraising is becoming more and more popular and more and more crucial to somebody's cause. Because how else are you gonna know except for sending a million pieces of mail, which is not cheap, and how many of that ends up. And how much of that ends up in the trash can? So I think what people are missing is look outside the box. Look outside the box in terms of fundraising. See if you can hire a team of people that can do event based fundraising for you so that you can get your message out and your cause out to hundreds of thousands of people a week. And you don't have to rely on the traditional forms of media, which is mail, print, billboards, things like that, which is kind of a thing of the past.
[00:15:44] Speaker C: I love when you talked about shows and commercials and I had a conversation with somebody the other day about the old sitcoms or the old shows. Not only do you had the commercial, but you also had the theme song to those shows.
[00:15:55] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:15:55] Speaker C: And you could think back to those shows and you can remember what the words were those shows and those were memorable. Then it made you think of those shows and then it made you think of situations or episodes and then it made you remember those ads. So that was kind of like, it was almost like a cue of what was happening in that half hour. And there's so many things that were memorable of it. So I agree with you 100 about the personal connection and I find you're absolutely right. That television, it's great, but because it's, everything is streamed, it is missing a little bit of that personal connection, for sure.
[00:16:31] Speaker D: Yeah. I think if you're, if you're asking people for large amounts of money, there has to be a personal connection for sure.
[00:16:36] Speaker C: So before we wrap up here, what is one takeaway that you'd like our listeners to take away from this episode?
[00:16:43] Speaker D: I think if you're in a fundraising position, number one is think outside the box. Just be creative. Think of different ways to drive revenue in to the organization that you're at. And the second thing is check on your stewardship program. Like make sure that anybody who donates feels valued and understands where their money is going. And then the third thing is just the SWS understand that not everybody's going to want to donate and that is okay and someone out there will. So you just have to have the stick activity and the belief that if you keep asking someone will stay say yes. But you have to have thick enough skin to not care about the person who says no. Because it's not personal. It's just a decision that they're making and they're forgetting about it in two seconds. You're the one holding on to it. So you just have to drop it and move on.
[00:17:25] Speaker C: For anybody who's listening, I'd like you
[00:17:27] Speaker A: to share follow this episode.
[00:17:29] Speaker C: Julie, I'd like to take the time to thank you for coming on today. Some of the things that I admire about you is your compassion, your grit, the impact that you make on everyone that you meet, your outgoing personality. And one of the big things I enjoy about you is your energy. It has been an absolute pleasure to have you on here today. Thank you so much for taking the
[00:17:48] Speaker A: time to chat with us today.
[00:17:50] Speaker D: Thanks so much, Andrew. I really enjoyed it. Thanks for having me.
[00:17:52] Speaker A: You're very welcome.
[00:17:53] Speaker C: On behalf of myself and my guest, Julie, I'd like to thank you all for listening today. And until next time, be safe. And remember, everyone, that if we all work together, we can accomplish anything.
[00:18:04] Speaker B: Opinions expressed in this episode are personal. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this streaming platform.
