Latest / We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits / 199. Community Week: Personalization, Segmentation, and the Transformational Power of Gratitude - Aimee Furrie

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199. Community Week: Personalization, Segmentation, and the Transformational Power of Gratitude - Aimee Furrie · We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits

• 0:01
  Becky Endicott: Hey, I'm John.
• 0:01
  Becky Endicott: And I'm Becky. And this is the we are for good podcast.
• 0:04
  Becky Endicott: Nonprofits are faced with more challenges to accomplish their missions and the growing pressure to do more work, raise more and be more for the causes that improve our world.
• 0:14
  Jonathan McCoy: We're here to learn with you from some of the best in the industry, bringing the most innovative ideas, inspirational stories, all to create an impact uprising.
• 0:23
  Becky Endicott: So welcome to the good community. We're nonprofit professionals, philanthropist, world changers and rabid fans who are striving to bring a little more goodness into the world. So let's get started. Hey, Becky, hey, welcome everybody.
• 0:39
  Jonathan McCoy: We are like scattered across the country, full disclosure, but we are so amped up because this week, you know, we are talking to members of our community that have inspired us, they've touched our hearts, and honestly, like, we just wanted an excuse to hang out with them. So that's what this podcast is. Today, we are talking to Amy fury. She is a senior Stewardship Program Manager for the Wisconsin foundation and Alumni Association. And truly, we met her in the community. She is a rock star that has been using the thank you platform. And so we had actually read about her case study about this incredible kind of video personalized stewardship program that they had in place. And we knew that they were doing awesome work.
• 1:15
  Jonathan McCoy: But Amy had bubbled up through the community because she is just loving on people in the community, encouraging us about our content. And we're like, Who is this incredible human. And as we dive in more, she has just got so much to share and to bring this space. And I'm excited to hear her story today.
• 1:29
  Jonathan McCoy: Because her story, I think just points to this life that she now gets to live specifically in the nonprofit philanthropy sector.
• 1:36
  Jonathan McCoy: Right now she's doing stewardship, but she grew up in a military home. And I want to hear this part of your story today, Amy, which really led you to being passionate about individuals, about local communities and culture. My wife and I talk about this all the time. But I think the people that get an opportunity to move around and get exposed to a lot of different people at a young age truly are just different, you know, and they do have a different worldview and a really beautiful perspective. And empathy is usually through the roof and just love for different people. And so I just love that that as part of your story. But we know you began your career at 2010 at the Oklahoma Christian university right down the street from where we record, the podcast here in
• 2:13
  Becky Endicott: Oklahoma hacking world is so small demit
• 2:17
  Jonathan McCoy: so small, worked with some of our favorite people in the world. Shout out to Michael Mitchell, if you're listening. And you know that has led you into this path that you're now in front of me. We're so delighted to have you on the podcast. Thank you so much for being here.
• 2:30
  Aimee Furrie: Thank you so much, John. And Becky, I'm excited to be here and to talk with you today.
• 2:35
  Jonathan McCoy: You bet. Well, I mean, this this special community week, and we want to get to know the person behind the incredible movement that you have started in Wisconsin, but give us a little bit about your story, I'd tell a little bit about your personal life. But please help us fill in the dots, you know, what has led you and what has made you really passionate to plug in and kind of do the work that you're doing today?
• 2:55
  Aimee Furrie: Sure. So, John, as you mentioned, I grew up in a military home. And as as many people either being familiar with it from their own experiences, or from knowing people that have a similar experience to mine, know that that often includes moving around a lot. And I learned that at a very early age, I was constantly meeting new people, I always moved within the continental United States. But I still found that there were so many different kinds of people, people with with different ways of thinking different backgrounds. And so I learned a lot about just getting to know people for who they are, and not making assumptions based on any type of superficial labels or experiences that that some people might put on particular individuals. And so just really getting to know people really well. And then another piece of being a military kid is you move often. And so you don't always have a lot of time you really dive deep into relationships quickly. And so that was something that I learned to do at an early age as well. And I found that as I got older, through school, through through undergraduate and graduate work, and then also in my career, I found that diving into relationships with people was something that I really appreciate it. And I found it to be a really helpful piece than working in philanthropy because that's what we do. You know, we are we are relationship builders that bring in funds. And so I found that that was something that was really able to help me connect my work into something that I was able to learn from an early age. And so I ended up actually starting my time, as you mentioned in 2010. I was still in the process of finishing my undergraduate degree at Oklahoma Christian and I, much like many other students was looking for work and I ended up finding a role in the advancement office didn't have much knowledge about what that meant, but I got plugged Did there and I just fell in love with the field, I learned about the impact that this work can can make on the community. And I was able to meet some really incredible people that wanted to change the world, and who wouldn't want to be a part of that type of community. And so that's really how I got plugged in. And, and I was so fortunate to work for some really incredible people that when I asked for more opportunities, they would provide them to me.
• 5:22
  Aimee Furrie: And so I could try new things continue to grow and my work there and get exposed to all different parts of philanthropy, because truly every every profession is somewhere in the advancement spectrum. And so there are all different kinds of, of opportunities in the field. And so that's really how I got started, in my work in philanthropy, and, and has been in a variety of roles ever since.
• 5:48
  Jonathan McCoy: Oh, my gosh, I'm so glad you said yes. To that calling. We can't move on.
• 5:51
  Jonathan McCoy: Because you have to say share, we were talking right before we got started that part of the culture shock of moving from Oklahoma, up north to Wisconsin, it's cold, but it was like ridiculously cold. And you have to tell our listeners just because it was just so funny. We couldn't hold it together.
• 6:10
  Aimee Furrie: Yeah, so you know, I almost can't believe it. Now.
• 6:15
  Aimee Furrie: I have to go back and look at those those memories that pop up on social media that remind you that something was real, because sometimes I feel like my memory just wanted to block it out.
• 6:25
  Aimee Furrie: Because it is truly unbelievable. I thought I was being pumped. But when, when my family moved up to Wisconsin about three years ago, to to, to pursue philanthropy, at UW Madison. The the newscasters were telling us not to go outside because it was so cold outside, they you truly could not breathe in the air because it would it was damaging to your lungs. And we would see these comparisons between Wisconsin and Antarctica as in the continent that people don't live on because it's too cold. Yeah, we were up here in Madison, Wisconsin. So, you know, we were we were bundled up and we were inside for a good chunk of time during the polar vortex is what it came to be known as. But yeah, it's been quite an experience. Madison is beautiful during the summer, tons of festivals, lots of great food, all of that is wonderful. But that that first winter, it was was a doozy, that's for sure.
• 7:32
  Becky Endicott: That is a trip.
• 7:32
  Becky Endicott: And as someone who is cold all the time in August in Oklahoma, when it's like 180 degrees, it feels like outside, my hat is off to you. But I will also say John and I spent a week at Madison Madison one year when we went to the Madison Institute, which is just an awesome immersive fundraising experience for healthcare professionals.
• 7:55
  Becky Endicott: And we fell in love with the city. I'm telling all of our listeners, you should make some time to go to Madison, Wisconsin in the summer. It's one of the most dreamy idyllic cities in the United States. But I have to go back to the story that you have weaved about being an army brat, you know, moving around, and the the way that you were able to see fast tracking relationships as a dynamic of you moving around, and then connecting the power of that in your career. I my head just exploded when you made that alignment. Because it tells me why you are so powerful and vibrant in the donor relations space. Because you understand how to quickly make a connection. And then you know how to like just I want to say evangelize and love and nurture that relationship really, really well. And so I want to compliment you on that because I I have seen you show up in the we're for good community I've seen you show up in the we're for good LinkedIn community, and the way that you love on people and the way that you connect and the way that you storytelling and amplify other people tells me why you are so vibrant and so successful in your area. And I want to talk about donor relations, because we have a lot of people that listen to this podcast who are in the donor relations category. And we love donor relations professionals because they are typically exactly who you are, Amy they're so good at seeing people.
• 9:26
  Becky Endicott: They're so good at loving on them. They're so good about picking the thing that needs to be lifted up and brought some attention and put a little bit of heartfelt pneus around it. So I wonder if you could talk to us a little bit about your job because you have this real passion for personalizing the donor experience. So share with us just a little bit about what you're seeing at UFW and how you're using and leveraging your donor relations know house to make these donor experiences so personal
• 10:00
  Aimee Furrie: Wow, thank you for that, Becky, I appreciate that.
• 10:02
  Aimee Furrie: And I'm so glad to be in this community of always supportive people, I think that there are so many like minded folks that that have that same just kind of tenacious spirit to be in community with one another. So my role currently at at the foundation here in Madison, the role that I'm in currently with actually creative writers, the pandemic was starting, I was in a role transition right as a pandemic was starting. And the goal was really to create a donor experience for annual giving level donors, that was superior to what we had been able to accomplish previously.
• 10:40
  Aimee Furrie: And we didn't know it at the time. But we were able to build out some new processes and programs to really elevate that annual giving donor experience.
• 10:53
  Aimee Furrie: And I think from, from my experience, in working in annual giving, and in gift processing, and with alumni relations, and in some of these different roles, it was so important to me to be able to not look at this as we are cheapening the experience for our major gift donors for our principal gift donors for plan giving donors, but rather that we are rising the tide for all of those annual giving donors. And we know that our annual giving donors include our plan, giving donors, our major gift donors, our principal gift donors. And so by elevating that experience for this largest segment of our donor group, we're able to not only provide that really unique experience for donors that previously hadn't been able to be communicated with in such a personalized way. But then also make sure that we are continuing that high expectation that we have for our major principle guests and plan giving donors as well. So that was something that we were able to really dive into, just just as the pandemic was starting, and didn't really know what it would turn into.
• 11:56
  Aimee Furrie: But I've been really excited about what we've been able to create.
• 12:00
  Becky Endicott: Okay, so for everyone listening, when the pandemic happened in the rest of us, I don't want to generalize, but a lot of us are trying to batten down the hatches and figure this out. Amy's team is like, how can we take this moment and blow it up to be the most incredible donor experience that anyone has ever had? I love your Moxie to like, just go for it in that way. And I would love if you could share some examples of what you all did. And believe me, we are drinking the Kool Aid of democratizing how you create a personalized donor experience for someone beyond your major gift donor. Because why wouldn't we want to bring somebody in early on that journey? I think you're so smart to do it in annual giving. Because if you can normalize that experience for someone, wow, they are going to be so invested early. So I would love to hear some examples of that, too.
• 12:53
  Aimee Furrie: Yeah, absolutely.
• 12:53
  Aimee Furrie: So right as the pandemic was started, and there was one particular project that that really kick started this new philosophy and this new process that we've been able to, we've been able to multiply this process through other campaigns since that first one, but in the spring of 2020, I want to I want to start the story where where it began in what the first iteration is pre pivot, as all of us would, would very likely be familiar with, like, how many times we've used the word pivot in the last 18 months, right?
• 13:27
  Becky Endicott: Yeah. Yeah, we are Ross Keller's all over the place right now.
• 13:31
  Aimee Furrie: Pivoting all over.
• 13:31
  Aimee Furrie: Most us, me, and I'm sure I haven't seen the numbers on it.
• 13:35
  Aimee Furrie: But I'm sure. So before the pandemic, you know, we had a plan like everybody else did for what we would be doing in our spring communication for our annual giving donors. And so the plan had been that in the spring, we would be soliciting our annual giving level donors, this would include retention donors, and the way we define that here is really looking at a little bit more than the past year. So about the last couple of years, if you had been giving it an annual giving level, you'd fall into that segment, we're soliciting on behalf of so many parts of campus, UW Madison has so many different areas that they really specialize in specific programs and centers and departments. So we're we're speaking on behalf of all of these different areas. So of course, to create messaging and copy and to get approvals. And all of that takes so much time there's so many people involved in this process. It takes months. So we've spent several months preparing for our spring solicitation plan, as as we always do in the spring. But as we all know, spring of 2020 was different. And we found out in the middle of March, that's when our organization went remote. I naively thought we would be gone for you know, a couple of weeks.
• 14:49
  Aimee Furrie: Couple of months. I'm still in my home office in the fall of 2021. Right but We really didn't know what was happening, we really didn't know what to expect. And we had a couple of options at this time, we could continue to move forward with all of this work that had been put into the spring communication, like we always do. Or we could decide that this was not the appropriate communication for this time for this audience. And what we chose to do was the ladder, we decided that, you know, during this time, we don't really know what's going to happen next, we don't really know the best way to ask for support for these particular areas. We know that a lot of our communities are hurting right now, people are scared, people are confused. And we don't want to one on one, we don't want to come off as tone deaf. But two, we want to make sure that we are adding value.
• 15:50
  Aimee Furrie: And we are communicating the right message to our donors and our friends during this time. So that's when we really decided that we were going to pivot, we were not going to use our our plan for those solicitations that spring. And we were going to shift to a message of high empathy, completely personalized, and connecting our our donors and our friends and our alumni, with our students who our student call center was going to have to close for, you know, temporarily due to the pandemic as well. And so we were able to find an opportunity to plug in those students so they could continue working during this time as well.
• 16:28
  Jonathan McCoy: Oh, incredible.
• 16:28
  Jonathan McCoy: And how evolved? I mean, was that decision making? Because I remember being, you know, in that same place of the question started to say, what do we do you know, how, what is our first response? And I think it was so glaring to look back now and be like, we would do what you would do to a friend or to a family member, you would check in on them, you know, you would see how they're doing, you would reach out in a personalized way.
• 16:51
  Jonathan McCoy: Of course, that's the right answer. You know, and I think it's hindsight has just confirmed that leading with empathy, and showing a heart and a human behind this institution was 100% the right way to do that. So okay, Amy, if my numbers are right, y'all sent out 35,000 personalized videos.
• 17:11
  Jonathan McCoy: What does that mean? Like? Work?
• 17:18
  Jonathan McCoy: How who is on these videos? How did you functionally do that?
• 17:22
  Jonathan McCoy: 35,000 I want that just sit with everybody for a second. And please tell us I mean, give us behind the scenes. How did you functionally do that?
• 17:31
  Aimee Furrie: Yeah, absolutely.
• 17:31
  Aimee Furrie: So you know, as I mentioned, we we had a plan to solicit that group of 35,000 people, right like, and that was already our plan. Well, now to just say, oh, let's just change our strategy.
• 17:43
  Aimee Furrie: We don't have the, the planning timeline, we don't have the runway to build out all these communication. And we have to, we have to do this very quickly, because it's really important that we're connecting with people right now. And so what, what we were able to do was, as I mentioned, we had student callers. And we were able to train these students that were already experts on the phone, they know how to talk to donors, they know how to communicate with our audience. So we really just did a little bit of training on using, you know, a new platform using a new tool.
• 18:19
  Aimee Furrie: But really, I mean, they were the talent. So we just gave them the tools to go out and do what they already do really well. So we were able to work with our, our students color program, our badger call students, as they are here at UW. And then we also were able to repurpose another piece that had been created for the spring. So as we all know, and working in philanthropy, data is so important. And if you don't have the data to back up your strategy, you can't do anything. And so huge shout out to all of our people that work in data and provide us with those with those tools. Because this work isn't possible without the work of those dedicated folks. So what we were able to do is repurpose the list that had been created for those spring solicitations. And then plug that into our Thank you platform. So because Thank you work so well and how we're able to upload and integrate our data into that platform. It made it pretty seamless for us to incorporate all of that information into the thank you platform. So that was really wonderful. Now once we had our students, we had seven students.
• 19:28
  Aimee Furrie: And what might come is a little bit of a surprise all together those students recorded videos, and it took them a total of 350 hours. So that's not 50 hours per student. And so if you're really breaking that down over about a month time, for 35,000 videos, we were we were really able to create this personalization at scale in a way that I didn't know it was possible until it was done. So that was a really exciting thing to be able to complete with with this team of students,
• 20:01
  Becky Endicott: I just think this is such a hallmark story of what you can do when you leverage tech. Because I think tech is very, very scary for a lot of nonprofit. And I understand why we've worked, you know, 20 years and fundraising shops and it, there were seasons where it was super clunky. And there were times where it would take, you know, a year and a half to onboard if you're getting a new CRM or something.
• 20:25
  Becky Endicott: But I have to tell you guys like and this is not a standing up saying you need to buy thank you that we love. Thank you. And we're an evangelist of it, because it's so easy. But there are tech tools like this that will allow you to scale, it will allow you to have personalized touch points like this. I mean, using your internal warriors, which your student callers and John Deere remember when we used to have the cowboy collars, like in our department back in the day, and they are some of the most, like effectual passionate people in alums love talking to them. Of course they do. This was the happiest time of their life. But I want to know, Amy, what happened when 35,000 personalized emails went out? I want to know what happened.
• 21:47
  Becky Endicott: financially. I want to know what happened with engagement. I want to know, like, just intrinsically What happened to your culture?
• 21:55
  Aimee Furrie: Yeah. So at first, we really didn't know what to expect. I have to tell you that first, that first batch of thank yous that that we sent out, I had no idea what to anticipate I had come from a background in annual giving, you know, being on sort of the other side of the table. And whenever people email you back, it's not always the the warm and fuzzy messages or questions or concerns. And so I really wasn't anticipating the type of response that we got from this communication. But we sent this, we sent these 35,000 videos out in batches. And I remember the first batch went out on a Friday afternoon. And Saturday morning, I was sitting at my dining room table in tears reading the responses from these people that were so grateful.
• 22:46
  Aimee Furrie: And we're so appreciative of these messages from the students, I forwarded them, of course, to all the students so they could have that ongoing communication, but it was a mermaid
• 22:55
  Becky Endicott: 101 There you go.
• 22:57
  Aimee Furrie: salutely Pat, you know, and it was clearly so meaningful to people. And, and people weren't responding to me, Amy, as the person that sent these on behalf of the university, they were responding to ADA. And you know, they were responding to max, they were responding to the students and, and talking to the students, they were sharing their stories, they were sharing advice. They were sharing, you know, pictures or videos from when they were in school, they were, they were sending back videos to the students. I mean, it was, it was so powerful. And so not only we saw this from the donors perspective, but we saw the students being impacted by two, which was, which was just as powerful. And so I would be remiss if I shared the metrics or the numbers without sharing some of the feelings behind it.
• 23:43
  Aimee Furrie: Because I think that that was so important and truly why, why this makes an impact is because it affects how people are feeling about the university.
• 23:53
  Jonathan McCoy: And you know, it confirms that see, Becky, just so delighted at those results, because this is what she teaches and preaches at every intersection is stop and take the minute to ask somebody their story and give them space, because people want to respond to that. And nonprofits traditionally are so accustomed to pushing, pushing, pushing messages. And maybe it took a pandemic to wake us up, you know, to say, we're actually a bunch of humans trying to figure this out with feelings and emotions and fears, and all these complex things happening at the same time. And so I love that your story has grounded us in that. And I hope that it becomes a fabric of how we all communicate moving forward because it feels like it's just the right thing to do like at a gut level to have knowing people and allowing people to just respond and get connected and be reminded of why they love your mission or want to be connected to your mission in whatever way.
• 24:45
  Jonathan McCoy: So how big cool is that?
• 24:48
  Becky Endicott: Taking a quick pause from today's episode to thank our sponsor, who happens to be one of our favorite companies to neon one, neon one provide software solutions to growing nonprofits, but they really do so much more than that. They're also incredibly passionate about creating community in the social goods sector. We believe in the power of community. We've seen the greatest philanthropic movements happen when people work together to achieve common goals. Neon one can help you do just that.
• 25:12
  Becky Endicott: They created hearing giving connections a community that brings fundraisers together and empowers them to learn from each other's experiences. With weekly checklist and an active Slack community. There's no better way to prepare for your year in success. Want to be a more connected fundraiser, join their community today at NEON one.com backslash we are for good, or follow the link in our show notes. And I just think that you have beautifully illustrated what we say ad nauseum on this podcast, which is digital global community is everything. And it is the wave of the future, everyone. And we have got to figure out what the tools are, where people are, where are they hanging out online. And we have to figure out mechanisms by which we are pushing and pulling that information in, it's not enough anymore, it was 1.0, before to want to push it out, to push it out from your foundation and just mass send it out. But having mechanisms in place where someone can respond is such a powerful tool, because we're listening, we just talked about this on the podcast a couple weeks ago on our kindergarten series, it's like listening is so critical to understand to your point, how to pivot, how to anticipate needs, how to find little nuggets, and diamonds in the rough. And it fosters such enriched engagement and relationships. I mean, I just sit there and think about if I'm a student in college, who has benefited from a scholarship isn't I send out a video talking about what that means to me. And a donor, whether it's my donor or anybody else's donor, a donor writes me back, and gives me counsel about what I should you know what I can do with my career, or tells me about their scholarship. Honestly, as a student, that's going to do a couple things for me, one, it's going to make me feel so supported. I'm going to feel so good about my future, Alma Mater, my university because it feels so familiar. It feels like the family is encircling Me, too. I just got an incredible person in my network. And that is the beauty of what we can do at the intersection of philanthropy and nonprofit, we simply create vessels to put those two hands together. And who can imagine the good that could come out of that. And so I want to know, just how did that change your culture during pandemic, because that was a very dark time. For a lot of nonprofits. We're doing more than we've ever done before. But yet you had something that came into your organization that was a chronic and chronic in the best way, reminder of why we do what we do every single day. I would love to know what the impact was.
• 28:01
  Aimee Furrie: Yeah, absolutely.
• 28:01
  Aimee Furrie: I mean, I think that it's something that like much of our work in in philanthropy, be it with if you're working in annual giving, if you're working in donor relations or or major giving, the metrics take a little bit of time. So we've had some time to reflect and give the donors that we have reached out to in the spring and summer of 2020, some time to circle back with us to reengage with us in their philanthropy. And so we've seen a few changes, and I'll share a couple of the metrics. But before jumping into that, I think that, culturally within our organization, we saw a huge shift in how we're communicating with people. So as you said, Becky, there are so many different ways that people have historically connected in philanthropy. And the pandemic probably pushed us in ways that maybe we weren't always comfortable when it came to reaching out to our connections were or donors or alumni in a way that we just hadn't done before. And so by by conducting such a large campaign that really reached all parts of the organization, we were able to have a proof of concept. And we were able to show by the numbers, that donors from every demographic are responding to video, that donors at every life stage are reacting to video communication to digital communication. And this is a way to be in touch with those people. And so in a time where we couldn't travel, we couldn't be in person, we couldn't meet people in a way that we so badly wanted to, we found alternative options. We, we had video calls, we sent out videos to people, we had phone calls, we you know you do video calls from your phone, like all of the different ways that we would pivot. But culturally, we were able to show that it works. And so that really allowed us to open up doors for our development officers, or donor experience officers or campus partners, faculty members to know that this is a way that they can reach their audience and people are responding. And so it was just so great to see that cultural shift during that time.
• 30:09
  Becky Endicott: What you've also done is given everybody else permission to use you as a case study for what works. And that is what I thank you for.
• 30:19
  Aimee Furrie: So I want to share just a little bit about how we know that that the campaign from last summer was successful, because I think that you know, we all know that that these types of highly empathetic, strong stewardship communications they feel really good But ultimately what we're looking to do is, is see how is that translating to dollars? How is this translating to the bottom line and, and as a foundation, our goal really is to raise that philanthropic support. So what does that actually mean for the numbers.
• 30:47
  Aimee Furrie: So, because we have had a little bit of time since that communication went out, we've been able to partner with our data team who did so much great work to analyze all of this information, and help spit out some of the impact that this communication had on on our bottom line. So of course, we were able to see, you know, over 12,000 video views, we had hundreds of email replies and video responses from these donors. But in the time, since that communication took place, we were actually able to increase our donor retention numbers, which ended up resulting in a $1 million increase in our annual giving pool that that we had not seen in several years. So that was a huge impact on on that bottom line, the donors that had received and interacted with this communication days, 75 to 100 days sooner, which meant that there were more opportunities to ask them for that second guest in the year.
• 31:43
  Aimee Furrie: And then we also saw that the size of those gifts were increased as well. So we just saw that, that these donors that were highly engaged, and if we engage with them, then they re engage with us. And so that was just such a powerful thing to be able to show and to advocate for the work of donor relations in the field.
• 32:03
  Jonathan McCoy: You know, if I can touch on that, I mean, I love that, you know, your data on this, I love that. It has such a feel good component, but you're like, oh, no, it's not just a feel good. It's like delivered. But I think what strikes me is that there's a lot of inputs happening at every moment, even the story of how you got connected, who knows if it was on LinkedIn, or on Instagram, or on a random Facebook post that maybe nobody liked. It's like, you may have seen something that planted the seed, you know, that led to the next action, and 100%, all that personalized effort, all this focused effort on checking in on people and touching base. And just the small moments, of course contributes to that, of course, it makes you more top of mind, like it makes actual sense. But it translates into those things. So I think no matter what seats you're in, there's days that I know, we post or we share things and you're like is this bike on?
• 32:55
  Jonathan McCoy: There's days when we have episodes that maybe we're like, why is nobody listening today.
• 32:57
  Jonathan McCoy: But overall, it's like this ecosystem, you know, and you just keep showing up in this consistency in a relationship.
• 33:04
  Jonathan McCoy: In all these different facets, it does add up to something truly revolutionary. And that is your story today. And I'm just here geeking out and waving my UW banner over here today. Oh, badger. I think this whole conversation points to community also, because this whole idea of just sharing what's working now, I mean, this is why it feels like in this moment, more than ever, we all need each other. I mean, we're not in competition, we're pulling together, we're trying to get more people to step into the philanthropy movement, whatever space they're in. And you have done that. So Well, Amy, and we just love the way that you showed up in our community. We're just so curious. How did you find we are for good? What did you think of this? Were you like, what are these two people doing? And
• 33:49
  Becky Endicott: what is going to go match?
• 33:54
  Jonathan McCoy: Where did you find this? So curious?
• 33:56
  Aimee Furrie: Yeah, that's a good question. And I don't know exactly where my first connection was. I know, it was on social media, which platform it was, I can't recall. But, you know, I think that, that the work that we do, there's, there's so much community connection. And one of the things that I really love about working in higher ed philanthropy in particular, is that there's not competition across the organization, the alumni that graduated from UW Madison, unless people got several degrees, which I know is sometimes the case. But we have, you know, we have a very kind of defined audience of people, we have alumni that went to our university. And so people that are working at other institutions, they have alums that went to their institution.
• 34:43
  Aimee Furrie: And so as partners and philanthropy, we can talk with our peers and talk about best practices, and share things that have been successful. And I don't find competition. In that work, I find so much collaboration and community. And so when I found the two of you, and as you were building this community, I was so excited, because I do think that there is so much opportunity, but when we are geographically far apart, it can be challenging to meet other people to find others that are in different sectors. So I'm in higher ed, but there are so many other communities of folks that are working in philanthropy that are doing great work. And so how do I find them? How can I connect with other people too?
• 35:22
  Aimee Furrie: And so you really created this platform where we can network with others in our field in a way that's so collaborative and, and in a way that we are we're really sharing ideas with each other, and just lifting each other up in a way to help everybody be more successful. So I think that that's just been really fantastic. I love listening to the podcast and, and hearing about folks and then go and going and connecting with them on LinkedIn or, or what have you to just learn a little bit more about other people in the community?
• 35:55
  Becky Endicott: Well, now I'm dead, a complete and total pedal on the floor. Because I mean, what you just said is like, so the ethos of why we wanted to do this, and I just want to thank you for getting it and for talking about there's no competition in this, if we can democratize the things that are working, all of us can run faster, harder, further, by having this knowledge. And I just think you're such a bright light, you are the reason why we built the company, it's such an honor to be able to just put a little spotlight on you and your amazing nonprofit and all of this good work that you're doing. And I just have to thank you've had a ton of experiences, we had no idea from Oklahoma before we got on this call, which is amazing. I want to know about a story of philanthropy that has come into your life, and and feel and maybe changed you in some ways your story that's bubbling up.
• 36:49
  Aimee Furrie: Yeah, yeah. So you know, when I think about a moment of philanthropy, there are so many stories about impact from from donors, hearing from beneficiaries, and all of those connections. But the thing that really has influenced me for many years now, and working in philanthropy comes from actually within an organization where I was working. And it's so important to me in how I view working in philanthropy. And so I want to share that that little piece with you all today. So as I mentioned, I've worked in annual giving for quite some time or for somehow in the annual giving sphere. And those that have some familiarity with annual giving know that a lot of it is a numbers game. There are there are big numbers, lots of mail pieces. Back before we had so much access to email, much more mail than than what we're doing now with email. And that oftentimes, involved letter stuffing parties with lots of students and lots of hands in the room of, of people folding and stuffing envelopes and putting in the pledge forms and putting in the reply envelopes and getting paper cuts. And, you know, that was something that we spent a lot of time doing. And when I started my career in philanthropy, that was something I spent a lot of time on. And I worked with, with students that were involved in that as well.
• 38:08
  Aimee Furrie: But the piece that is so influential to me now is the other people that were in the room, because so often when we would come together and have students and me as a brand new professional in this space, you know, taking time hours out of the day to fold and stuff letters, we also had our campus leadership in the room, and they would come for hours at a time they would spend their lunch break in there with us, they would come at the end of the workday and spend the evenings with us. And they would fold and stuff, just like the rest of us.
• 38:40
  Aimee Furrie: And the reason that this is so powerful to me is for a couple of reasons. One, because it taught me about the leadership of people in roles that had job titles that were much higher than mine, that were interested in taking part in those type of activities. But it was important to them as as leaders, none of these tasks were beneath them.
• 39:04
  Aimee Furrie: They were true servant leaders and lead with humility and, and wanted to be involved in those processes. So as someone that that has continued to build a career in philanthropy, that's something that's really stuck out to me. The second piece is that many of these communications went out to our annual giving donors. And I know that so often in the field, these are messages that are going out to donors that are giving, maybe very consistently, maybe year over year, but they're not giving at the same level as we're seeing for our major gift donors. And they don't always get the same attention. And what I was seeing was I had the president of the university, I had the VP I had, you know, all of these folks in the room, that we're seeing your letter and writing a note on the bottom and putting it into an envelope and sending it along.
• 39:52
  Aimee Furrie: And I thought that that too was so powerful to see that, that we value every single individual donor. It's not the major living donors. It's not the principal living donors. It's every person and every person counts and every donor count. And that was something that I saw, very evidently in my time and working with those folks. So that's something that I've really taken with me and my work in Plant Therapy, and then tried to just continue to build out those principles in the work that I'm doing. And and this, this communication that we were able to execute last year is just another example of something like that where we're really truly valuing every individual donor for the support that they have for the unit. versity
• 40:35
  Becky Endicott: I hurt you University of Wisconsin, that is exactly the kind of vibrant culture that we are talking about on the podcast. And that trickle down effect has such resonance from and I wouldn't say just with philanthropy in the way that you can build relationships with alumni with prospective students with employers who want to hire your students that transcends everything. That was a beautiful story.
• 41:01
  Jonathan McCoy: No, I was gonna say no wonder Amy is so welcome at this table. It's like you're leading with our core value number one of everyone matters and everything that you're saying. Yes. Okay. You listen to the podcast, you know, we end all of our conversations with one piece of advice. What is your one good thing that you would offer up? today? Maybe a secret to success or a good habit that you embody? Or would it be?
• 41:24
  Aimee Furrie: Yeah, I think my one good thing is, is that every opportunity find a way to empower people. And I think that this is something that I have really strived to incorporate in my work it at whatever level in the organization, I am even talking about that that example with other leaders in the organization. If you're working with students finding ways to elevate, elevate them, if you're working with colleagues, or internal or external partners, just finding ways to empower the people around you. Because I think that our industry is changing so much. And we're we're inviting new people to the table. And I think it's so important that we are intentional with celebrating work that other people are doing and finding those opportunities to empower them. So that can be that can be in person that can be in our video calls and liking and, and sharing on social media, or I just think there's so many opportunities that we have available to empower people. So I encourage everybody at every opportunity that you can find to empower people in your network,
• 42:28
  Becky Endicott: Amy fury, you are such a good human. And I will tell you that even as you've been talking even early on, I've just been thinking that your emotional intelligence is so high, your self awareness and your empathy are off the charts.
• 42:44
  Becky Endicott: I am not at all surprised that your one good thing was something that was really selfless and giving to people around you. I think that was an awesome one good thing. I think what you're doing in donor relations is totally cutting edge. And it's not that complicated. Friends, it's really not. It's when we go back to humanity, and we go back to treating everyone like they matter. The most incredible movements happen and occur. And I just think what you've done at U of W is such an excellent case statement on what happens also when when luminary leaders come up and give you the space to run and try some things I agree with you. This is the moment that everything is changing. Don't be scared of the change, embrace the change, I really think it's going to make your life and your work so much more fulfilled, so much more enriching. And I think it will personally and professionally give to you too.
• 43:39
  Becky Endicott: So I'm just telling you all come around this table, thank you for being here. And listening, you're already a part of this table. But embrace these little hacks that we have these mindsets, because we're talking to people who like Amy who are so empathy based, and so brave in the way that they're trying to embrace innovation, tech, and just these new growth mindset strategies. And I just love that you're seeing the fruits of that labor, Amy, and we're just truly rooting for you. So tell everybody how they can connect with you. We know you're on LinkedIn, you have an awesome vibrant presence on LinkedIn.
• 44:15
  Becky Endicott: How can people connect with you or the University of Wisconsin if they want to learn more about your donor relations team?
• 44:20
  Aimee Furrie: Yeah, absolutely.
• 44:20
  Aimee Furrie: I'm happy to connect with people. I love meeting new people in the field. And so please do reach out, you can find me on LinkedIn. And you can also find me in the we are for good community. So a couple of options to be able to stay engaged with both but I look forward to meeting some new friends in the field.
• 44:40
  Becky Endicott: It was our joy to just kind of sit back and say, you know, Thanksgiving week, we want to live on our people. We are so grateful for the Amy's of the world who are sitting in our community pouring into it pouring into each other.
• 44:54
  Becky Endicott: It is such a gift to be able to just pass the microphone along and just say, hey, what you guys are doing is radically awesome.
• 45:01
  Becky Endicott: We need to share it. We need to evangelize it. We need to democratize it. And we just need to put its pour some gasoline on it because we want it to be replicated in every shop. So rooting for you, Amy, and just so appreciative of your time today and just being involved in our community.
• 45:16
  Aimee Furrie: Thank you so much.
• 45:16
  Aimee Furrie: It was a pleasure to get to talk with you.
• 45:20
  Julie Confer: Hey, friends, thanks so much for being here.
• 45:22
  Julie Confer: Did you know we create a landing page for each podcast episode with helpful links, freebies and even shareable graphics. Be sure to check it out at the link in this episode's description. You probably hear it in our voices but we love connecting you with the most innovative people to help you achieve more for your mission than ever before. We'd love for you to join our good community. It's free. And you can think of it as the after party to each podcast episode.
• 45:41
  Julie Confer: You can sign up today at we are for good.com backslash Hello.
• 45:44
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• 45:53
  Julie Confer: Thanks friends. I'm our producer Julie confer and our theme song is sunray by Remy Boris boom